Saturday, August 11, 2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with an Official Preschooler



Well it's official. We have  a preschooler in the house. The very last one. I may just flunk her every year so she can stay in pre-k forever, sniff.

Since Mackenzie was at a music camp this past week, I thought it would be a good time to start up preschool with Kayleigh. We could do everything we wanted with no interruptions for help with fractions. And we could throw in some special stuff just for her since poor Kayleigh generally spends her life waiting for big sister to finish her activities or on field trips with sissy's friends.

It went exactly like one would expect it to with Kayleigh. What you thought she'd like she didn't and what  you knew she'd like she didn't. lol Typical Kayleigh. She did like a lot of stuff. She just doesn't want you to know because she's persnickety like that.

If you're interested in what I'm using for preschool you can either click the preschool page link at the top of this page or click HERE and read my post about it. Or THIS post. The choice is yours. And no, I don't have an obsession over curriculum. Buying or writing about. I don't know what your talking about. lol

Bible


We're kind of mixing up Sonlight's core P 4/5 Bible with the memory work from our Raising Rock Stars Preschool from last year. We have all kinds of nice printables with those verses plus the ABC Bible Verses book. So I wanted to reuse those verses again so she can really commit them to memory. Plus I added in Right Choices from the old core P 4/5. Why they removed that  wonderful book is beyond me. Maybe it's out of print? If you can find it, buy it.

And boy are those verses really working on her heart. lol

Picture my two children bickering, Kayleigh being the instigator this time around. I remind her of this week's verse, "A soft answer turns away wrath, Kayleigh." (And I was really proud of myself for not doling out the wrath that I was feeling over the bickering. Woot!)

Kayleigh's response, "I CANNOT do that at all mommy!"  ROFL Apparently this week's virtue, gentleness, didn't sink in either.


Language




Well first up was books. Lots of them thanks to Sonlight. She loved the reading as I knew she would. Her favorite was the Berenstain Bears Book of Science and Nature. Just like her sister. We read a weeks worth of that in one sitting.

She also liked looking up story locations from The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book and Stories from Around the World on the globe.

Developing the Early Learner was a surprising hit with her too. I thought that would definitely be an issue for her.


We also started using Language Lessons for Little Ones this week. I was excited to try this one because it gives a very gentle introduction to narration through picture study mainly. Kayleigh does like to look at art, and narration was something that Mackenzie would struggle with, so I'm hoping starting her with this gentle approach early will help Kayleigh in the future.



It even contained some "copy work." LOL  She did alright with it considering we haven't really worked on handwriting a lot. I gave her the option to skip it but she didn't want to.
That child is always surprising me. I'm sure she'll get better at it once we actually start working on printing.




We started the second section of All About Reading Pre-1, the lower case letters. We did 'a' this week. In the poem book there was a poem about animal crackers so we made a really cute snack that I saw over at Delightful Learning, an animal cracker carousel. All you need is an apple, peanut butter or nutella, one berry, and some animal crackers. Kayleigh was thrilled!!! She also had fun doing her craft for her alphabet book and with the syllable activity. The activities they come up with to teach reading are so clever in their simplicity. If you haven't checked out their products, you should.





On the "written language" front, we started Handwriting Without Tears' Get Ready for School activities. No book work here. Just getting familiar with the wood pieces through songs and games. Always fun! We polished the pieces, used them for a guessing game, and made music with them. Afterward Kayleigh wanted to teach me the names of the different pieces. And Strawberry Shortcake knows them too now. lol



Math


We started working with our new math choices this week. I think her favorite was actually the Math-U-See. That really surprised me. I thought for sure that the Family Math for Young Children would be the winner with her. One would think that a math activity involving the outdoors, chalk, jumping and running would be the preferred method of learning. Especially when deal with a child who is famous for her loathing of coloring and the like. Just goes to show how little that I know. lol  She did the activity, involving positional/directional words, for a short stint but she quickly turned it into an art activity.

Other Stuff


We did some apple printing using the leftover apple pieces from our special snack. We had her BFF come over for lunch and a playdate. We were supposed to do some water play but the weather wouldn't cooperate so we made cloud dough (flour and baby oil) instead.

We did a lesson in Artistic Pursuits that she loved. She got to give a me a tour of her room so she could show me some of her favorite things. Then she drew some of them.

We went to Chick-fil-a another day to lunch and play with her BFF again. Took an impromptu trip to Krispy Kreme.  And blew bubbles.

All-in-all, I think she had fun. She's having some major 'tude about some review items but other than that it was pretty smooth sailing. For her. lol


So how was your week?



Photobucket
Linking to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Homeschool Creations, Homeschool Mother's Journal, and Homegrown Learners

11 comments:

  1. Oh, how did the cloud dough work out? Sam loves stuff like this; it's very calming for him. I have it on my list to make as something to "warm up" for school (or relax DURING school).

    Really, it looks like you had a great week! She accomplished a lot! And is adorable as always. (She couldn't possibly be a girl with opinions! LOL)

    Oh, and the Tooth Fairy is generous around here too! HE brought Sam a Lego set with some Transformer like thing. No quarter around here! LOL

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  2. Adorable! Love the dress!! Looks like you two had a wonderful week, I especially liked how you incorporated a practical life skill polishing the letters. Just awesome.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  3. I love the Animal Cracker Carousel - what a cute idea!

    We have used SONLIGHT materials in the past and it was always such high quality.

    I know what you mean about wanting to freeze your littlest one right in time - my youngest is second grade this year. :-(

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  4. I thought for a couple of years we would be Sonlighters, but it didn't end up that way. It will be fun reading about your pre-k year as it goes along. It looks like you will be having a good time.

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  5. It's so hard to believe that Kaleigh is a preschooler! Seems like just yesterday she was refusing to do tot school :).

    Love the snack with animal crackers and Nutella. Nutella makes everything better!

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  6. She IS growning way too fast. I think Math U See looks pretty cool, too. I can't blame her :). If we weren't already doing Montessori math we would do Math U See. I think it might be cheaper!

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  7. I love her picture and how she wrote it herself- she is darling! Also, how nice to be able to start with just her!

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  8. Official! I did LOL at some of your comments.

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  9. Congrats to Kayleigh on being official! ;-) Loved the Animal cracker carousel, what a cute idea.

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  10. I love the photo of her holding her name! What a great idea!

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  11. My son and I will be starting Sonlight's P4/5 with Handwriting Without Tears Get Set for School in a few weeks. Glad to hear it is working out for you and your daughter!

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We love your comments. It makes the girls giggle even more.