Back to Preschooling

I wish I remembered to update this blog more often. Blogger, for some reason, doesn't let you change your log in email address. I'm stuck using an old gmail address and I hate having to deal with remembering the extra information.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that I'm getting back into the swing of doing preschool with Kayla. We were going to start Five in a Row last month, and I was super excited. In fact, I'm still excited to start, but I realize now that it's just not the right time for that for her. My friend, Jen, sent us the curriculum and we started buying some of the books to go along with it. It's really geared towards kids who are slightly older (around 4) or maybe kids who are her age but not so crazy. I struggle as it is to get her to listen to stories- even shorter ones. These books are a little longer and require some actual concentration. She's too hyper to get anywhere at this point. My plan is to try to read them in parts to her from now until we try again, and also keep them for bedtime. She likes stories at bed time best and I think enjoys longer ones so she can stay up a little later. I think it'll be the best way to introduce them to her, so when we start again she'll be really ready.

For now I'm back to using the next step in the Letter Of The Week program I was using before. We just finished the first week and I think it's going well once again. For now, she learns best when we can involve a lot of play, music, and art. Plus, this curriculum allows for a lot of flexibility and I can be a little more creative. Instead of focusing on one story, I can basically do anything I want as long as it focuses on a certain letter.

The site is letteroftheweek.com and I recommend it. Kayla learned a ton with the preparatory curriculum and she's showing a lot of promise with the preschool curriculum, too. I like that each day only calls for an hour worth of 'school' stuff, but Kayla tends to do things spread out over the whole day that add up to much more than that. We do a ton of art and coloring things because she's very interested in that stuff. I know that I'll have to start working on a more structured day for her, especially once we get closer to Kindergarten, but it's so far away that I don't want to even worry about it right now. She's thriving this way and learning a lot so I don't want to risk it.

This week is B week. I'm looking forward to finding a bakery and taking her there!! I wanted to go Apple Picking for A week but came down with a massive cold/cough thing and haven't been really up to getting out and about so that had to be skipped for now. I'll still probably take her anyway but it won't be so relevant. Oh well, still fun.


*****Off topic----- In unrelated news, baby is doing well so far. I'm 21 weeks and 1 or 2 days, and we found out last week it's a second girl. I'm happy, and Kayla wanted a little sister so I'm even more excited she gets what she wanted. Brian was disappointed because he wanted a son, and we know after this baby we are D-O-N-E, done! M-O-O-N, that spells DONE! (The Stand, anyone?). Anywho, I'm still very glad. Aside from the fact that we get to reuse most of Kayla's stuff, I feel comfortable with girls already. A boy would have been sort of scary. Like I'd have to relearn everything over again for some reason. So I feel more prepared and ready to go. The nursery is coming along. I'll make another post soon once the room looks less disastrous and more nursery-like. I made the curtains and they turned out pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself! Not PERFECT, of course, but for my first time I was very content. I have a lot of plans for DIY things in there, if only I could get Brian to get HIS mountains of stuff out so we can get baby's stuff in! GAHHH!!
Baby is still nameless, btw.


That's all for now! I just came online to print up some letter B things and decided to drop in. I'll really try to update more.

Letter Success- Our first breakthrough

FINALLY.

Weeks (14, now, to be exact) have gone by without a semblance of a trace of an interest from Kayla in letters and their sounds. I know she's not even three, but there will always be a part of me that expects her to show me how smart I know she is, even when I know she's a toddler and prone to being easily distracted or stubborn.

I made a letter board and hung in it her little book nook. I toss the letter of the week up there and then add pictures of things that start with that letter. Last week I had M hanging up, and added pictures of Muno, Mommy, Mouse, Monkey and Moon. Several times a day, as I have for the past two months (plus), I ask her what words start with the letter M, and finally, FINALLY, this week she actually got some. "Muno! Mommy! Mousie!" Of course I'm pretty sure she's not gasping that it's the MMM sound, but remembering the pictures from the board is a start. I guess we'll see how the other letters go, but for now I'm reveling in our minor success.

Today's happy mommy moment brought to you by the letter M.

Another Random Update

Kayla's been doing pretty well. We're on week 12 of the letteroftheweek.com preparatory curriculum, and she's picked up on quite a bit. She's very successfully added several words to her vocabulary (vines, claws, duckling, dough, etc.) and she can identify new things like lighthouses and crescent moons. She also knows the difference between a full and crescent moon. We're beginning to have some issues learning numbers- we're slow to pick up 11 and 12, and although she can usually count up to 14 if she's in the mood, sometimes she struggles with identifying the numbers by themselves or remembering what they're called (for example, she'll say 'eleventeen' instead of 'eleven'). As far as letter sounds go, she can't care less. She identifies the letters just fine, but so far we're not connected them to specific sounds. Gotta keep working on it.

I made the corner of the bottom of the stairs Kayla's reading nook. Kylie kept eating all Kayla's paperback books, so I moved them up onto the landing and moved the kitchen set down where the books were. I put her little soft chair up there and a corkboard above it where I hang the letter of the week and pictures of things that start with that letter. I'll get pictures soon.

Kylie's parents are very happy about the preschool thing... they look forward to seeing how Kylie does picking up on information. I'm glad I'm surrounded by so much positive feedback!

VERY Tentative Preschool Plans

Since there is nothing set in stone at this point, I think I'll just share my thoughts and the goings-on around here.

Brian and I have been talking about doing preschool from home for Kayla. I know that when I mention this to the families, it will cause an uproar. To put it simply, they are all very pro-preschool. The expected her to be in one by the age of 3, so I know the topic will be coming up soon.

Financially, it's just ridiculous. We have looked for some options that wouldn't put us in the poorhouse in two months, but it's just not happening. So, we decided to look into just doing preschool at home. Surprisingly, I'm loving the things I'm reading and the prospect of it. I'm so excited that this may be happening that I can barely focus on anything else lately. I've stayed up late to work on projects for it, putting together information and organizing papers and outlines. I have found two websites that I really like and have been using them as my basis for 'lesson plans'.

Five in a Row-
http://fiarhq.com/fiveinarow.info/index.html

and Letter of the Week-
http://letteroftheweek.com/

Both are awesome, awesome sites. Since my original goal was to have her in preschool at around age 3, anyway, I figure that I will begin immediately with the preparatory curriculum from Letter of the Week. I have plenty of time to go through all, or at least, most, of that before September, when I thought would be a nice time to begin the Five in a Row curriculum. I would also continue the Letter of the Week in addition to the Five in a Row, too, because I just love it, and it's very simple and easy to incorporate. Five in a Row is highly literature-based, so I am loving that aspect of it. I also have a friend who's has first-hand experience with it and is even sending me one of the Volumes. (Thanks, Jen!!)

Since I don't really feel like taking and uploading more pictures at the moment, I'll do that soon. I raided The Dollar Tree today and found a bunch of cute things to help with some lessons I've already been working on for week 1 of the the preparatory Letter of the week program. The great thing about this entire thing is that it's mostly based on play. A toddler learns best through play, so it's not difficult at all to teach them things. All I have to do is think of creative ways to keep her interested in the themes and subjects I'm focusing on that week. I also love that this program breaks things down into days, for some of the topics, and gives a few suggestions for activities to reinforce those themes. The first week's theme is Cows. The vocabulary word is 'calf'; the shape of the week is a square; the number is 1; the letter is A. On Friday of each week you learn a nursery Rhyme or song that pertains to the them, so this week's will be "Hey Diddle Diddle" and throughout the week, you sing songs, read books, and do art projects all about that particular theme- in this case, cows. I'm very excited about all this.

Since socialization is an important aspect of preschool, as well, I have to make it a specific effort to take her different places on a regular basis, especially once the weather warms up a bit. I have posted on a several message boards asking for advice, and a preschool teacher responded to one of my posts explaining that most Kindergarten teachers can't expect much more than at least a 10 minute attention span and for them to be potty trained. Aside from the INFORMATION aspect, which will be much easier to provide for Kayla, there are certain other things that she needs in order to be successful in Kindergarten. She has to learn how to play with others, how to share, and how to take turns. She also has to be able to sit still for extended period of times when she may not really want to and learn to speak in turns. The poster suggested that I take her to story time at the Library, book stores, and other places that may offer it. That will not only give her time to interact with others but help her to learn to sit quietly while the reader is reading. If I also take her to parks, zoos, museums, science centers, activity/jumping places, and other public places to give her time to explore the real world, then I should do enough for her for Kindergarten. I can also plan 'field trips' for her by finding apple orchards or other places that are unique. For example, if I wanted to wait to do the theme on cows, I could have possibly taken her to a farm nearby (we live near several) to see actual cows in person.

Anyway, that's the general idea of it all. I will post more, I'm POSITIVE. I don't have a huge outlet for this stuff just yet so I'll need to vent somehow!!

Wish me luck breaking the news to the family!