My Search for Preschool Curriculum

I have a problem with the teacher supply stores, you know the type that sell everything from huge bundles of #2 pencils to classroom furniture and charts. We have a store like that not far from the house. It's an "education super-store" for sure. And I get totally overwhelmed every time I go there.

I can browse this store for hours and end up buying nothing or, worse, things I don't need. So to save time, I now put together a list first, which I (mostly) follow.

Today I got my list and with Mr. M and the hubby in tow drove to the teacher supply store. I really meant to strictly follow my list, but got a bit side-tracked by curriculum books. This place has dozens of preschool curriculum books - general, arts, science, math, nature, multiple intelligences, literacy, seasons, you name it.

I really tried to stay cool, but couldn't help but think that Mr. M, being homeschooled, is missing out on much of the education he's supposed to be getting. Panicking, I grabbed a couple of the thickest books, but willed myself to put them down once I saw their price tags. Instead, I got back to my list - letter stamps, red poster paint, blunt-end scissors - alternating between anxiety and sticker shock.

This is not the first time I ask myself this question - is Mr. M learning what he's supposed to learn age-wise? I tried searching for homeschooling curriculums for 2-3 year-olds and found quite a few, but none fit our needs. Turns out, secular bilingual preschool homeschooling curriculum is a sort of white unicorn (if you sight it, let me know).

Fortunately, some time ago I bought a wonderful book by Rebecca Rupp, Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School.

Here's what Rebecca has to say on the subject of preschool curriculum:

... preschoolers should be given the freedom to explore. Chances are, they'll learn more in an afternoon spent making mud in the sandbox than they will from even the best-designed curriculum.

Ahh, I'm breathing the sigh of relief every time I re-read these words. I think I might make a wallet-size copy of the above paragraph and carry it with me.

I Am Thankful for Shaving Cream

Once again, my sensory little Mr. M surprised me. At first he didn't want to even touch the shaving cream foam.

So we played a little "it's snowing in the kitchen" game...

and 20 minutes later I had to get Mr. M into the tub for some much-needed washing up.

I Am Thankful for Corn Cobs

Last week we ate corn on the cob. Nothing remarkable about it. Except that I washed and saved one of the cobs. You're thinking it's not remarkable, just weird. Well, I was going to use it for one of the art projects (cover the cob with paint and let the little one stamp the designs or roll it on paper).

Yesterday I asked Mr. M if he wanted to paint with a corn cob. He was excited (has to do with a particular episode of Word World where Chef Pig gets stuck in a pot). And so he painted and stamped a bit with the cob and, of course, got some paint on his fingers.

And that's when things started getting remarkable. He didn't insist on washing the paint off right away. Instead, I showed him how to do hand prints and he loved it! He got so into the project that next thing I knew he was covering his hands with thick layers of red paint and requesting more paper.

Yes, my little sensory Mr. M was finger-painting and LOVING it for the first time in his life! Nor did he mind some paint getting on his clothes. I have some more corn in the fridge and you bet I'm saving the cobs!

My Giant Book Tower

I love library book sales! Ever since moving to Raleigh, we've gone to the annual Wake County Public Libraries Booksale. It's a giant thing - this year there was 300,000 books for sale (some were brand new, from public donations).

But you know what is the best day for a library book sale? It's the last day, the $5 per box or $2 per bag all-you-can-carry day. It's so awesome!

This year I went twice - on the opening day (stood in line for over an hour) and on the closing day (stood in line for about 20 mins). And it was a blast. On the last day, hubby and I filled a giant box full of books (including a brand-new non-library copy of the Da Vinci Code), paid our $5, and got out with enough reading material for the entire 2010 (plus some gifts).

That evening I couldn't wait for Mr. M to go to bed since I wanted to build a tower of all the books we bought. Call me a dork, I dare you.

What do we do when we finish reading these books? Well, we'll keep some. We'll put others on PaperBackSwap.com, my hubby leans towards releasing a few into the wild via BookCrossing.com, and the rest will be donated back to the library so that they can be sold in 2010.

Homeschooling Day by Day - Week 4

Last week I made a mistake of planning too many activities that required advanced preparation, such as a geoboard (which, by the way, we haven't yet made). I really don't have much time in the evenings to make toys/games/activities for the next day. And it doesn't always work out to prepare those during the day, when I'm busy with Mr. M.

Monday

Art - making greeting cards for grandparents
Math - counting dishes and silverware
Writing - yes, I know, it's really too early to teach writing, but we can practice building words like mama, papa, grandma, grandpa, etc out of magnetic letters

Tuesday

Fine motor - I have a few pictures of family members that would be great for making puppets with
Language - if the above goes well, we might even put on a little puppet show
Math - we'll make award buttons for each puppet in the show

Wednesday

Art - I'm thinking about something like making a family tree
Cooking - time to make cookies
Language - we'll look at family photographs (something Mr. M really loves) and make up little stories

Thursday

Thanksgiving - lots of cooking, setting up the table, reading Thanksgiving books
Table game - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Art - we haven't practiced drawing faces for quite some time

Friday

Fine motor - folding laundry, pretend ironing
Language - we might try family puppets again
Math - matching socks