Monday, March 7, 2011

Learning Fun

With all of the expenses of preschool (for TWO), we simply cannot afford to have our children in both 3 & 4 year old preschool (not one I approve of anyway). I have decided that I will HOMESCHOOL Chyenne and Cohen until they are 4 and depending on their development, we will see about furthering mommy-ed or placing them in a "real" school.

I'm getting beyond excited. I have always loved learning and seeing the passion my sweet girl has for learning has really inspired me to step up to HER standards and allow her mind to flourish. Firstly, I looked up a TON of homeschooling information and "lesson plans". I am a huge fan of the Montessori approach and any other child-led education. I found an amazing blog confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com and ordered the disk for "Letter of the Week" to get us started. I also bookmarked all of the links for FREE printables from her site and many others. I also had to order more ink for my printer before I can get started. CHECK! Then I found an amazing deal for the xyron creative station. Oh it's so wonderful. I can laminate, make stickers, magnets, etc! SO EXCITED! I love the idea of making the learning materials durable enough to withstand my clumsy children a year or more worth of education and be easily passed down to the next sibling.

The best thing about all of the learning I wish to provide my children with is that it is CREATIVE. Oh arts and crafts galore... right up their alley (and mine).

I already do so much with Chyenne and Cohen that I'm really using "homeschooling" as an excuse to buy more materials to teach my children. :)

Chyenne's intelligence far surpasses her age. She is totally ready. She is so excited to start "school" so I'm sure I'll have no problem getting her to sit down for a long-ish period of time to do a few lessons. She already knows all of her letters and the sounds that they make, but I want to make her learning a bit more concrete. She knows her numbers, colors, shapes, animals, etc. She's also learning to READ as it is, so this just ups my excitement. I'm also planning on working in mathematics and science experiments with her. Of course we will throw in some real-world experiences to set us off as well. Trip to the zoo for animal exploration anyone? Grocery shopping for math and reading practice?! Oh yea, I'm going to be THAT mama. Oh yea, I already AM that mama! *blushes*

And we can't forget about little Cohen. He's going to be learning up a storm too. I have a lot of pages bookmarked to help me with his learning. Hopefully he'll begin talking more so I know more of what he understands. We'll further his knowledge about shapes, colors, and animals. As well as work on letters and numbers at HIS pace. I can't wait. He is also a little sponge. He soaks everything up and he loves to do things by himself. He also loves to do whatever sister is doing, so having him seated for a "lesson" should be fairly simple as well. He loves arts and crafts so that will definitely be a huge part of his learning.

Do you feel my excitement here? This is going to be SO fun! I hope we can stay on track with it all. I follow many of the blogs that I have gotten ideas from, so please, feel free to check them out. I cannot wait to post our first lessons! EEEK!
Until next time. <3

3 comments:

  1. Awesome. I bought the cd from her as well. I can't wait to get everything printed out and get started on it!! I can spend HOURS looking at everything on her blog...lol!!

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  2. Oooooh, I'll have to check that one out :) I think you'll be a great teacher to you lil ones-you already are!

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  3. I am homeschooling my kids too :) Love the homeschooling blog you linked, I use that often as a reference.

    Another thing that we are about to start using is the My Father's World curriculum. (http://www.mfwbooks.com/) and I love it!!

    I hope to be able to homeschool my children completely but I am not sure if I have the patience, discipline, patients, and mental capability to do it while running a daycare!! We'll see!!

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