P is for too many words

As Margaret Wise Brown would say, the most important thing about preschool is that it's educational, with lots of numbers, letters, and playing. But the most important thing about preschool is that it's playing.

At least for today that is, since I am having trouble getting these little ones to sit still. hmmm...could it be because P is also for Preston, who is a new little boy joining our little school, or should I say a big boy joining our little school...for Preston is a head taller than my Alex. So, boys and girls, that's 1 , 2, 3 little children I am teaching today. 3 is a lot more than 2, let alone 1! All the counting and opposite words are getting to my vocabulary.

Preston likes doing the How do you Feel Today and Weather exercises as much as Alex. All three of them choose happy, and are chattering away as they draw their faces. I am quite ecstatic that Amy is also drawing her own circle and working hard at getting the face right. I discover that children love to talk about the weather, and after Alex and Preston run to the window, they discuss it in great detail and at great length (like some other adults I know). They finally come to an agreement that today is cloudy. I don't have to do anything as my little boss girl is showing Preston how you put the cloud on the easel, using our W magnet which stands for Weather. Amy and I just stand in the background and watch everything.

Show and Tell is all about orange and things that start with P. Alex takes the teacher chair first, totally comfortable now with this lime light moment. However, Preston is a little unsure and continues to sit. Amy and I go next with P is for piggy and P is for purse. Amy loves piggies, and she takes her moment to hug and nuzzle her bedtime friend. I have to tear her apart from the piggy love or we will be here all day. My orange item to show is a carrot. Preston asks for it, and decides it looks good and takes a nice chomp out of it. Alex is staring at him in horror, because eating anything that is raw and has not been cooked down to mush is not her idea of a treat. I try not to laugh as Preston the bunny rabbit, continues to chomp and chew. He is really enjoying this.

But the real enjoying starts when we do our exercise for the day. I just can't take my eyes off the huge grins that come over these kids' faces when they like something. If only we all could have that innocent smile again at discovering something new that we like. Before the song and dance, I read a book about scarecrows and crows. All three of them seem like they understand the concept because they are shaking their heads viciously when I repeatedly ask them if they get the how's and why's of what a scarecrow is...standing in the field all day and scaring birds from the corn fields. The scarecrow song that I find on the internet is a big hit, and goes like this -
"Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around, touch the ground.
Scarecrow, scarecrow, stand up tall, blink your eyes, now raise your hands up to the sky.
Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands, tap your knees, now touch your nose.
Scarecrow, scarecrow, swing your arms very slow, now very fast!
Scarecrow, scarecrow, scare those crows, caw, caw, caw!
Scarecrow, scarecrow, jump up and down, all around.
Scarecrow, scarecrow, not sit down without a sound."

They enjoy the exercise so much that I totally forget the letters and writing at Activity 1 at first and jump right into my planned scarecrow skit ( P is for puppet show). The show includes our wonderful Ikea puppet frame, my own scarecrow decoration, plus 3 construction paper crows, that Allen and I have spent a good hour of our TV time last night drawing and cutting. I end up doing the drawing and design and leave him with the cutting, because his drawing comes out like something out of the Sci Fi monster shows he watches.

He is crabby about it, and I know it's just because I draw a better crow than he does. So I end up teasing him all night about it. We are the ones acting like pre-schoolers now but at least we are laughing, right? I realize at about 11:00 p.m. , when we finally finish the darn things, that I should glue them to some kind of holder...a popsicle stick. We don't have any that I know of...so the hunt begins through my cupboards. Allen takes off, and I think he is escaping to bed, but really my hubby is instead, on his own hunt to the basement where he discovers two freezer-burned, lonely popsicles. P is for popsicles and they have probably been down there for eons, and I want to throw them out and just take the sticks, but Allen rips his open and plops the icicle-covered thing in his mouth, telling me it's funner to do it this way... so we both enjoy our midnight snack together, and end up with some hand-held puppets afterwards.

This puppet show is the funnest one yet, and the smiles on their faces now are even bigger than before. I can't help but join them, this game is really fun. To the tune of I'm a Little Teapot, I crawl under the table and through the puppet frame perform the following scarecrow rhyme and dance with my scarecrow decoration. While I sing it, the kids hold the crow puppets and act their parts, cawing and trying to get at the scarecrow who is bellowing right back at them.

We each take turns being the scarecrow, and I can't believe how much everyone is laughing. Sadly though, I have to end the show, or we will never get back on track.
"I'm a little scarecrow stuffed with hay,
standing watch in my field all day.
When I see a crow, I jump and shout!
Hey, Mr. Crow,you better fly South!"
Allen's fun is just beginning. The night before, right after our icicle snack at about midnight, I gave him his honey-do list of items. It has been a hectic day and I have not had a chance to tell him until now...And so, when he wakes up the next morning, he must go and find me a bale of straw, a couple different-sized pumpkins, and some pumpkin seeds. Luckily we live in the country, but he calls from his cell , as I am in the middle of our letter writing now, to tell me that the Amish have no pumpkins, and are not picking them until next week... so his trip must be extended since he has to go to a "big" town to get them.

While Allen continues his wild goose chase for some pumpkins, I am hoping to get a break and make some pumpkin bread for our snack today while they are writing, but it doesn't go that way. I realize how far Alex has come because I must spend some time with Preston showing him how to write lines up and down. At this point I can leave Alex by herself to write her letters, she is that good. This is one of those moments when I realize the learning is actually taking place in great leaps and bounds. I may be boasting here, but I think she is already beyond a pre-school level or will be soon with the way she is taking to the writing.

Allen arrives back way later than planned, and his jobs for today do not end there, as he must do all the background work for our next activity. I tell him to just remember his days in theater at college, because today we are doing a pumpkin hunt with scarecrow stuffing, and a staged introduction to the whole thing...which starts with one of C.J.'s childhood books, Who Took The Farmer's Hat? by Joan L. Nodset. This book has good descriptive words and talks a lot about the color brown. Before reading the book, I give them each a straw farmer hat. The story is about a farmer who loses his hat in the wind. He walks around his farm asking the animals if they have seen his hat. The hat is in each picture doing different things, as the animals mistake it for "a fat round brown bird", "a big round brown mousehole", "a flowerpot, "a brown boat", and lastly, "a nice round brown nest" that a bird has it's egg resting in. Needless to say, the farmer decides his hat is needed elsewhere and goes out to buy a new one.

So at this point I ask the boy and girls if they hear the wind blowing, and I make some pretty weak wind noises with my mouth shaped in an O. They immediately start imitating me, and it honestly sounds like some winds are coming now. While they are busy blowing, and sometimes spitting in their excitement, Allen comes in to join me. He acts like the wind is blowing him around, and I grab the hats as they blow right into his hands and out the door with him. I tell my students that the wind has just blown Allen outside the door with their hats! But they don't need to be told because they are all up on their feet and have been watching this whole charade with their mouths still shaped in O.

The farmers are jumping up at down to go out and get their hats. But first I coax (bribe?) them back to circle for some reading - a poem (P is for poem) and a couple books about pumpkins growing and pumpkin patches. The poem is called The Un-Scary Scarecrow by Jacqueline Horsfall . It is one that I have saved from my son's preschool days. "Swoop over my head, pluck straw from my back, build nests in my pocket..." It has a fun picture with it, and the kids can point out the birds as they listen closely to the descriptive words.

We work on workbook pages that help identify colors orange and brown, while waiting for Allen to give the sign that all is ready in the pumpkin patch outside.
The weather is cooperating, and it is breezy. The farmers are surprised by the scene, and I try to hold them back at first. Preston and Amy are holding hands and it is cute to watch. After finding their hats (which they wear very seriously, I couldn't get them to take them off inside), each farmer takes a turn searching for hidden pumpkins. They load them in the wagon and we discuss which ones are big and small. Afterwards, they stuff a scarecrow and use a pumpkin to draw a face. They play and play, and I let them go, wishing I was a kid again, as I watch them pull the wagons and jump in the straw. It is some time before we go in for snack...and it's a good one. P is for pizza, and we discuss their triangle shape. I serve it on my Mickey farm plate. While they eat, I read them the Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater rhyme (and discuss P is for Pumpkin)followed by The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuyler which discusses our opposite words big and little.
We do two crafts today. P is for painting so we paint our little pumpkins. We then make a scarecrow that has a lot of activites that go with it - dot-to-dot legs, a blank face to draw in a face, a brown hat to color, plus arms and legs to glue our straw to. It is is very quiet, and no one is making a sound, and I watch those little furrowed brows as they work hard at their crafts. Allen is still busy as he is now making peanut butter pumpkin bread for the end of class.
Activity time 2 is all about a lot of fun counting. After doing the number song, we count pumpkin seeds, and pepperoni. Melissa & Doug puzzles are my favorite, and this one is a wooden pizza with slices and toppings that all velcro together. I order pizzas from my little chefs by telling them "I want a pizza with five pepporoni "or "a slice with 2 pepperoni".
We end the day discussing long and short pencils (P is for pencil) and pencil workbook pages.

Trying to find pencils at different stages in their life cycle was challenging. What I am not saying here is how exhausted we all are. Preston has had it. This is all new to him, and he wants to play. Alex is discussing her toys with him, and I give up trying to get them to focus on their brains...so P is for Play! and I end our day here. Allen cuts the bread with pumpkin-shaped cookie cutters and we enjoy the treat, while the farmers go outside for some play and this ending shot. I kiss my hubby because without him and all his work, today would not have been P as in Perfect!.

Week 2, P is for Potato

I love ringing the school bell. It always brings such a smile to both our faces each time I ring it whether it is in welcome or for farewell.
Something I realize though, is that on those first couple days, my smile is a little different from hers. Mine is because I am laughing at myself , and the idea of doing this preschool. Sometimes it feels ridiculous, and I wonder if I am crazy for doing it. However, just looking at my daughter's face keeps me in line. There is no joke to her smile. Upon entering or leaving the dining room (now referred to as the classroom) for our class, her face shows nothing but pure excitement for what is to come or what has taken place. This learning is very serious to her, and she keeps me serious, too, giving me the confidence to keep going with this teaching thing.
I notice that even my husband is always close by and listening in, for I often hear him chuckling in the background.
For two people out of work, this preschool is giving us something to do and focus on. It is causing a lot of happiness to our days, and that is very serious in itself in light of how negative our moods could be, and as to how far we could actually let ourselves fall into a despair if we wanted to.
One last thing that I have been worried about is being able to keep Alex in the dining room. I assume that she will probably want to run off to the living room or her bedroom to play, and I will have to coax her back or even yell at her to come back. But so far, not once has she ventured off to any other room in the house, or even looked away in boredom as if she wanted to be somewhere else.


For our greeting today, Alex is on cue with my name. She never slips back either by mistakenly calling me "Mom". I am teacher the entire time of class. I love how she looks me right in the eye to get my attention, "You are teacher now, right?". I remain serious, but have to turn away quickly to smile over this.
Alex remembers the month, and I can't help but give a "woo hoo!" to this.
We do the apple tree song for exercise, and she is doing the motions before I do.
Show and tell starts with a quick look again through The Important Book. I flip through the book fast and ask Alex, from each page, what do we know about this item? I am surprised because she knows exactly what makes each thing important, as discussed in the book. For example, in the book the words are "The important thing about grass is that it is green. It grows, and is tender, with a sweet grassy smell. But the important thing about grass is that it is green". I don't even care what she says really, just that she is learning how to describe things, which will help her when she does her show and tell time. I ask her for grass, "So what do we know about grass?" Alex picks the one word mentioned in the book that makes it important for each item, almost every time. I comment on this and praise her. But she looks back at me like she is smarter than me, like I should know what the important thing is, too about all these items. She raises her hand palm up, as if to say "green, of course". Does the author and my child know something about the importance of things that I don't? Either that, or my daughter is one good listener. And for later on, in her own life, maybe this is a good sign that she will remember all the important things , just like she remembers all the important parts of these things in the book.
All three of us take turns at the Teacher chair showing our baby picture. Both girls are full of giggles over their baby days. We describe the faces in the picture, which of course, are both happy (because as every mother knows, you have the happiest baby). P is for picture and that leads us to our letter of the day.

Activity time 1
P has a lot of words with it. I spend a lot of time over the weekend stressing over which P words to use. I mean HOURS. So, I pick P for potato and it really works today because it's P for Mr. Potato Head along with a game of hot potato. Over the weekend, I find a coloring book that is Mr. Potato Head which has been shoved to the bottom of the pile, not used once. I can understand really, I think Mr. Potato Head is quite ugly, and even when we describe and hold some potatoes, Alex's face is grimacing. There are blank potato heads and stickers for faces in the book. Once again, she is very detailed in making her face. I forget about the ears, but she does not and her little brown spud is even sporting a mustache above the nose, but hey, a lot of people have hair in weird places, right? A lot of time goes by in her choosing of stickers. Sometimes I do walk away when she is working on her pages, but I notice she does not like it. She calls for "Teacher!" while I try to sneak in the living room to fold a pile of laundry. So for now I make sure that I am standing in our classroom, otherwise it breaks the "spell" of it being "school".

We also discuss P for Princess. Alex and Amy put together a Princess Potato head (how convenient to have this in our "toy stock" for our letter P) and color princess pictures. P is also for pretty (see what I mean? There are a lot of P words), and we want to look pretty so we don princess crowns on our heads as well. We are focusing on opposite words, so I put out some big and little potatoes for her to line up in order appropriately. Let me say here, that Allen and I did receive a couple of stares at the grocery store, as we were in a highly engaged conversation, okay, I will say it. It was a fight... over what bag had a wide assortment of big and little ones. I also grab a sweet potato, and we discuss the colors brown and orange to tie in.

Handwriting is easy. I was not expecting her to catch onto P so quickly. I do a "sing-song" to help her figure out the correct order to write it. "Start at the top, go down, back to the top, and around". Otherwise, she just traces it however she likes.


Hot potato takes about three games for Alex to catch on. She doesn't know why the heck I keep giving her the potato back, even though the music is on. I also thought I was being clever by heating up the potato for a minute in the microwave so that it was "hot" as the song goes. But I blow it here, because it is pretty hot, and Amy will have nothing to do with it. So our game is down to just us two, and I call Allen in for backup. Once she understands the concept, which I agree is a little bit bewildering, I mean why pass a hot potato anyway...but she absolutely loves it and is whipping it between Allen and I, and I mean really throwing it, and Allen is caught unaware a couple of painful times before we calm her down.


The weather is cloudy and rainy (as Alex has again chosen correctly), not to mention pretty darn cold, but we venture outside anyway for our lesson on opposite words as we look for tall and short trees, like our workbook page earlier. ...as well as birds up in the trees and down on the ground. P is for pinecone and our hunt is very successful, along with wet and muddy, and ten minutes later even Alex is ready to go back indoors. The pinecones and birds tie in with our continued tree theme this week. I love how Alex picks and chooses her pinecones carefully. She has all the time in the world, while I am scurrying around just grabbing the wet, muddy things. She slows me down, and I notice her eye for beauty and art, as she shows me one that she is studying. It really is quite striking with pine needles carefully threaded through it.


Snack time is all about potato, with potato chips and (color orange)sweet potato fries . While eating we also, differentiate between big and little pinecones.

Craft time continues with our other P word for the day. I have bought Nutter Butter cookies and peanuts in the shell to help our description talk. As we munch, I tell them they aren't the only ones who like peanut butter. So we spread peanut butter on our pinecones for the birds, and cover them with seed. Playing in the seed is way too much fun for them, and I turn into Mom here, as I notice the floor covered in sticky clumps of peanut butter seeds. Sorry to say, but craft time ends abruptly.





Activity 2 begins with more learining on opposite words, and the girls build tall and short towers of blocks. We follow with the number song. Alex is now counting backwards perfectly. She says the numbers fast and with confidence. Instead of the acorn game, we now change it up and use peanuts. This time I add in some opposite words to the game, so that in addition to counting the peanuts and putting the correct number on each strip, she also has to tell me which "peanut line" is long or short. We end with a very fun book and game. The Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard is the story of a bird who is so grumpy he is walking down ( I get to use our opposite words again for this book) on the ground, but by the end of the story he is so happy that he is up in the sky flying. He gets in a better mood, because other animals begin to follow him and do whatever he does. Hence, a perfect opportunity to learn what it means to walk in a line and Follow the Leader. Allen joins us and this is great fun, as we each take turns being the leader and doing different things like stopping, holding up one leg, or raising an arm, all at different points as we walk in a line.

For the closing prayer, I have found one that I take parts of to use with easy hand motions - "Now, before I run to play, let me not forget to pray, to God Who kept me through the night, and waked me with the morning light. Be with me, God, through the day."

Today was a busy day, and I can't believe we did all this, but we end almost on time. It is just after noon.
One other moment to mention as we start this week - the next day, Alex and I attend preschool story time at our library. During craft time, one mother decides to write her child's name on his drawing. The child traces it. I can't help myself and tell Alex to write her name. Everyone is still, watching my little girl. Alex writes the most beautiful A you ever saw, and looks up at me with proud eyes and an "I did it." smile. How's that for one proud student and teacher? Or should I say one proud child and parent...We definitely are doing the letter L soon.

End of Week 1

The last day of the week is a special one...

School Bell: only 7 minutes late today, we are getting better.

Prepare: They are trying to do it with no help, but the zipper on the backpack is quite challenging.

Circle Time and Greeting: "Teacher, I like your shirt," Alex says. I am wearing an AC/DC rock tee. I realize now I must give some thought to my clothing. But hey, there is an A on my shirt! This can work, and I point out all the letters while Alex recites.

Prayer: I think of some hand movements as we do it this time. "World", "birds", and "everything" now have signs, and both girls do it this time with a lot more enthusiasm.

Weather: Alex picks correctly, and I don't have to tell her to go hang the cloud on the easel - this routine stuff is kicking in already.

Month Day and Date: She does not say September on her own yet but I am waiting for that moment . Too bad September is over in a few days, she is just learning how to pronounce it.

Exercise: I think of this "sing-song" myself moments before our "class" and I am pleased at how well it is received. I want to make sure I do it again next week. Later at "home", I hear Alex doing the actions and song to herself, and I am one proud teacher.
1. Apple seed, apple seed, you start so small. You start so small.
(Curl up in a ball on the floor as if you are a seed on the ground.)
2. But then you slowly grow up tall. You are so tall.
(Rise slowly, stretching and holding your arms out which are your branches.)
3. Apple tree, apple tree, reach for me. Reach for me.
(Now we stretch on our tippy toes, hands and arms straight up.)
4. Let's pick some apples off the tree. One, two three. One, two, three.
(On your tippy toes, stretch each arm high, bending and using your hands to grab apples.)
5. Autumn days, autumn days, feel the wind. Stretch and bend. Stretch and bend.
(Our arms are our branches and we turn and bend at the waist as the wind pulls us.)
6. Apples falling to the ground. Apples falling all around.
(Your hands are straight up like the apples themselves, now let them fall, slapping the floor like apples falling to the ground.") Alex and Amy really like slapping the floor and are hitting it as hard as they can.
7. Pick the apples up for you and me. Pick them all up. One, two, three.
(Walk around bending over and stretching as you pick up your imaginary apples.)
We walk through the motions first, and by the second time they follow teacher with much gusto. Teacher can't stop watching those bright, beautiful eyes...nor stop listening to those soft and shy voices as they learn the words for the first time .

Activity Time 1: They immediately ask if we can do a puppet show, as they now notice it is all set up and ready to go on the table. I let them do one themselves today, and they sing Old MacDonald, each one taking a part, voicing their favorite farm animal's noise. Handwriting for Alex is the best yet. I don't have to follow my hand over hers as she writes. We continue on to coloring pages with circle and shape recognition. Alex is quite talkative and colors with a lot of effort. We end workbook time pretty fast though, and move to Circle for another one of my favorite books, A Tree is Nice by Janice MayUdry. Another Caldecott Medal winner, I decide to read this book each week for as long as we continue to do trees as our theme.

Craft Time: There is a little bit of prep work involved for teacher with this one. Draw and color trees on some poster-size paper. Using paint sponges, cut out a circle for the apples and a triangle for the acorns. Alex and Amy reach hysteria once I start putting on their paint smocks. This is a great way to end our "unit" on circles and triangles, as well as apples and acorns. I use our naked wall in the hallway (which we still have not got around to painting) as our showcase for their art work. Snack Time: Each week, I plan to do one "letter sandwich". Alex is quite amused by this, and eats it all, which is amazing to Mom, not teacher.

Outside: We sit at Circle first to discuss another farm animal. I give them feathers that I have pulled off of one of Alex's dress-up boas. They do not take long to guess where we are going on our walk today. We put on some farmer hats and head to Farmer Grandma's.

The farm girls begin with a story-telling of Little Red Hen. Rooster Bob is supplying great "cockle doodle doo" sound effects.

A tour of an Amish barn goes along with our farm animal theme. Learning about farms shines through when a day later, we take a drive to dance class, and Alex begins to point out barns to us. It ends up a game of fun as we continue our barn hunt, naming their colors and any farm animals on back roads that we see through the beautiful countryside. Amy screams "Animals live in barns!" and I can tell this is a revelation for her little mind, and I praise her right along with her sister.

The fun is just beginning as the farmers shake it up with The Chicken Song by Laurie Berkner. With gathered eggs in hand below, the girls help Farmer Grandma with the morning feed.

Activity 2 time is short and sweet with the number song and a couple workbook pages. Alex spends some time using the Fisher Price piggy bank to count coins. We end class with The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown. This is a great book, and I plan to use the theme here on out. Simple items get described in this beautifully illustrated picture book, including "you" at the end. A great way to approach our Show and Tell time, I assign one homework assignment for Alex to bring a baby picture.

I leave this week with the above picture just for laughs. We happend upon Farmer Grandma's cat , "Mamma Kita" under the table striking this pose. We assume she is trying to get in on some of the chicken action going on.

Week 1 leaves me having a lot to live up to for the rest of the year, I hope I can keep up the energy. Not included here is a field trip to an apple farm and showing of Wizard of Oz at the cinema. Both girls are wide-eyed and excited through the entire showing. With apples, scarecrows, corn fields, witches, and great costumes, I do not believe there is a better movie choice for the fall season.

Home schooling leaves me exhausted, but happy, for what better thing to be doing with my time than spending it teaching my children? I get to witness and control everything in their learning environment, and that leaves me feeling that I have the advantage. That is a very different feeling now than one month ago, when I was filled with disappointment over being told that there would be no options for Alex and school this year. I was worried that she would be at such a disadvantage. I know now I have made the right choice.

Week 1, Day 2

1. School Bell (okay so we start at 9:15a.m. Fifteen minutes late but at least the teacher is flexible. )
2. Prepare - hangs up school bag on the cupboard doorknob, puts out folder and school book on the dining room table, then goes to "Circle Time". (Not really, she is not doing it today, I do it for her since she is having a meltdown over breakfast and being rushed from her usual hour and a half time period that it takes her.)
3. Circle Time - Greeting I greet her but I get no response. I see that Alex is very crabby since I made her eat all of her french toast, heaven forbid. I remind her that I am Teacher now, not Mom, so we move on.
4. Prayer - We make the sign of the cross before and after. She likes this part best, I am going to have to add some hand motions to the prayer. I have picked a prayer that will work for every day: "Dear Father, Thank You for the world so sweet, Thank You for the food we eat, Thank You for the birds that sing, Thank You, God for everything."
5 How Are You Feeling Today - ME Book She has no trouble deciding that she feels mad, and her face that she draws sure does look it. Next, we glue her picture onto the cover.
6. Show and Tell I give Alexandra the "teacher chair" while I take her place on the pillow. I need to mention now that my other daughter Amelia who is 2 is very much a part of our preschool, but she is known to disappear every so often. She comes to the parts she likes. She calls me "Mom", and her and Alex get into it at about this point. Alex yells at her "No, Amy. That is not Mom. It is Teacher!" Amy wails "Mom!!" Amy has a pillow, a chair at the table, her own Me Book and workbook to color, so she is by no means left out from the learning. So as I turn into Mom and yell at them both as they fight about my name, I eventually get Alex to get up on the chair. I love watching her face as she experiences an audience for the first time. Teacher and Amy are watching. She is shy at first but smiling and I can tell she likes this. She picks Elmo for something red and her barn animal is a horse. Before long all three of us are neighing like wild horses. Next she shows us her coat that is for cold weather. I help her put it on and we talk about the long sleeves, hat, and zipper. I tell her okay, get down, and give Teacher her seat, but she wants to talk some more, and I can tell she is gearing up for a doozy as she rests her hands on her chin and sighs, "now I am going to tell you a story...:" That's as far as I let her get, I know, ain't I mean ? ...But the girl tells stories that last for hours, and I am on a schedule. Staying up all night on Sunday has caught up with me, and I haven't had my morning coffee yet...which I plan to get while she does her activities.
7. Month, Date & Day Alex does not remember the word September, but she is ready for the page when I flip to it, waiting patiently until I get there, shaking her head "nope", "nope", "nope", to each month. I forget to sing the days of the week, oopps.
8. Weather She loves doing this! I know I have said that already, but she gallops to the window where the world outside is dark and gloomy. She decides it's partly sunny. She's still worried about that frowning sun. I tell her to look again, and she hangs the cloud on the board, with our "W" magnet, looking a little defeated.
9. Exercise Today I use Just Me by Marie Hall Ets to tie in with the farm animal theme. Amy and Alex LOVE this book (no wonder it is a Caldecott Honor), and doing all the actions of the animals takes us almost twenty minutes. They hop, crawl, run, jump, flap their arms, and even curl into a ball like the turtle. This is better than the Elmocise dvd I am thinking.

10. Activity Time 1 - We jump right into the workbook pages after singing the alphabet. She is in a good mood now. She does wonderful on her A handwriting and is writing her own A for her name at the top of her pages. She is having a hard time with the point at the top, and would rather curve it. I try and tell her to make it a point like a triangle. I am pleased that she is writing A's now on everything, even when she colors in her coloring books on her "day off".

We do some more left and right line workbook pages that have cute farm animals on them.

Her favorite page today is the barn that she colors red. I give her some farm animal stickers and she spends a long time decorating her barn, I hate to have to tell her to stop, since I am also enjoying my cup of coffee at this point.

Activity Time is a long time today since I move on to give both Alex and Amy (who has joined us again) a farm puppet show. I bought three farm animal puppets and a puppet frame for under 20 bucks at Ikea a few months before.

I crawl under the dining room table and smash myself up against the wall and start to sing Old McDonald, with my hands in both a sheep, and a horse puppet above the table. The girls are into this, trying to crawl on top of the table and over to the puppets. I realize I don't have enough hands and call for backup. Allen joins me under the table, he is very tall and it is not easy to join me under there, but we share a smile and think how fun this could be in another circumstance. I yell at him to "Grab piggy and oink!". We laugh hysterically and the girls are howling like some farm animals I have never heard of. At the end of the song, I then read Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown. This book is great at teaching big and little, and I make them point to the pictures as we read.

11. Craft Time Her craft is a bowl with apples to glue inside it. The apples are cutouts that I have used from a workbook. Each apple has a picture of an a-sounding word, or not. She first has to pick what apples to put in accordingly. This seems a little beyond her, we talk through it together, both trying to sound out the words of the pictures. She tries to cut the bowl and is once again determined to do it but is having trouble. It is hard for me not to help her but I don't. Once she tires of the cutting, I finish cutting the curves of the bowl. She glues the apples in and puts her craft on the easel.

12. Snack Break We start with cows. I have rummaged up every cow animal we have, including some farm puzzles. At Circle, I give Amy and Alex each a cow and we describe (black and white, brown, "mooo", etc.... We talk about cows making milk and I read a simple poem called Cushy Cow by Rusty Fletcher that has a great picture of milking. "Cushy cow, bonny, let down your milk, And I will give you a gown of silk". .. I try and explain the udders, and how milk comes from cows. Why? So that we can have milk and cheese for our snack, of course. They really listen to what I am saying and I love it that their little brains and lit-up eyes are trying to process this new bit of information. As we snack on milk and cheese in cow-patterned dishes that I dug out, we do all kinds of Melissa & Doug puzzles all about farms. I am amazed at how fast Amy is putting them together and wonder why I have not noticed before. I am really having a good time with them today but that is all about to change when we go outside!

13. Outdoors I first read Sara the Squirrel and The Lost Acorn book. I talk about acorns again and our tree theme. I then ask them both "Who lives in a tree and eats acorns?" At this time, I give them each a little Ty beanie baby squirrel to hold while I hold a Anne Geddes doll dressed as a squirrel. We describe (furry, brown, white tummy, pointy ears, great big bushy tail). They take turns with the Geddes doll (it is the cutest). We head out on a squirrel hunt singing"We're going on a squirrel hunt, we're going to catch a big one" just like the book We're Going On a Bear Hunt. It is sprinkling and they have umbrellas and this is more interesting to them than a darn squirrel.

It's a good thing because we walk the entire 30 acres and through the graveyard; Alex is holding her own but Amy is being held by Daddy, and we don't see one squirrel. I am stubborn like Alex, and determined to find one, so I rustle up a few trees but not one shows itself, and now I am crabby instead of Alex. We have spent twice the time we should have and it's almost noon when we get inside.
14. Activity 2 Time Our workbook pages include tracing triangles. We sing the number song, and work on counting and recognition workbook pages that have apple trees and acorns on them. We play the acorn game again. I am excited with one workbook page which is ice cream cone triangles, because I am getting ready to give them both an ice cream cone to also tie in with our "cows make milk and cream" theme.
15. Sticker Time, Review, and Me Book We use farm stickers for all her workbook pages. We then finish our day by reviewing our poster, ending with her answering the other questions in her ME Book. She is spent and does not want to think another second, I can tell because either do I after that long walk. She is laying on both pillows looking up at the ceiling. I practically answer for her so we can be done with it all and have that ice cream that is now melting on the counter. I let them both make their own sugar cones, and we discuss how they are shaped like triangles. I forget to tell her about homework, lucky for her, her teacher is her mom, and Mom will tell her tomorrow since we are busy slurping creamy vanilla.
16. Closing Prayer . . . is said real fast.
17. School Bell ...rings, finally! We are both smiling; Alex as she runs to the living room to watch TV...and me, too as I grab that second cup of coffee. It is 12:52p.m.

First Day

The first week in September I find out our public school will not receive any state funding for their preschool program...I am frustrated but understand that we have a struggling economy. Not soon after, my family joins that sluggish economy as my husband goes through a layoff. I apply for the local, federal-funded Head Start program, but I am told there is a waiting list and on that list I am eighth. After going to two preschool orientatons, one private and one co-op, where I am quoted $900 to $400 in tuition, I think oh well, it's only preschool for my daughter who will just be turning four in December. No way and no how can we afford this price, plus I just can't reason why I should have to pay this much anyway. So, why not do it myself? It couldn't be that hard to learn numbers, letters, shapes, and colors. Could it? I really have no choice but to do it myself, that is, unless I just don't do it, which really isn't an option either since I can tell the girl is ready to learn.

This blog is going to follow my daughter's progress, my lesson plans, and the great memories we will have doing it together, I am hoping anyway. I begin the first day, rather the first early morning, by staying up until 4:00 a.m. planning our first week's schedule of three hours a day, three days a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:00a.m until noon. Above all, I am a perfectionist and I want to make sure my daughter experiences this "school time" to the fullest!...That is, if I don't try and push her too hard.

First I decide I have to start with a weekly theme. I am choosing A. Why not? It's A for Autumn, Apples, Acorns, and Animals. I pick two colors and two shapes to tie in- red for apples and barns, and brown for trees, acorns, and squirrels. I pick circles and triangles since they mirror the shapes of apples and acorns.

Next, I want some science, how about trees? This could be a topic for the next three months possibly. I will do the parts of a tree, what animals live in a tree...and with the season of autumn about to do it's show, I can see plenty of nature walks talking about leaves.

I have to do everything with very little or no money, so I spend the most time in my preparation hunting around the house and our basement storage for "visual stimulation". We have an easel with dry erase board on one side and chalk on the other. I pick the dining room for my classroom. By pushing the table to a wall, I am able to get floor space, and I pull some pillows off the bed for her to sit on for "Circle Time". I will need to set up the easel every day with magnetic numbers 1 - 10, letter of the week, a "W" for weather, and basic geometric magnets to create the week's shapes. I use crayons and pencils to draw my own poster for the week, that I then clip to the chalkboard side of the easel. The poster will work as an overview and review. This easel, I see, is going to be the most important visual aid.

So for this week's poster, I draw a tree, an apple, an acorn, some farm animals, and my chosen colors, plus symbols for different activities such as a hand for craft time, a sun for outdoor trips, a car for field trips, and music notes for music time.

For all the activities, I want to make sure that I am doing repetition along with some everyday rituals - she needs to have a set routine, and so do I! It really is a lot of work for what seems like simple stuff. The first day goes well, even getting ready is exciting as Alex picks out a very colorful dress to wear on her first day. She is just as excited as I am. Here is my schedule with notes:

1. School Bell ( I find an old cow bell, God only knows why my husband has this)

2. Prepare - hangs up school bag on the cupboard doorknob, puts out folder and school book on the dining room table, then goes to "Circle Time".

3. Circle Time -
Greeting (the cutest thing is Alex referring to me as "Teacher", she does it very seriously)
Prayer (this is a nice perk that comes with teaching at home since you cannot do this otherwise!) I hope to eventually pick one that is easy for us both to recite with some hand motions.
Show and Tell I am going to give her homework that ties in with whatever we are learning, I will highlight any "homework" in red.
How are you feeling today? (I bought my daughter a small blank book with a decorative cover that has a picture framed into it. Each page will be for one day, so I divide the page with sections labeled How I Feel, My Favorite Part of School Today, What I Learned Today, and Sticker of the Day. I think I will call it her "ME Book

For "How are You Feeling Today?" in her Me Book, she traces my circle for the face, and then draws the eyes, nose, and mouth herself. Eventually she is going to draw her own circle. The mouth is the fun part - she decides if she is happy, sad, mad, or crabby. I keep a magnetic face on the easel for her to look at to help her draw and decide what mood. Today she is happy.

Month & Date. I use A Child's Year by Joan Walsh Anglund which is also one of my favorite illustrators. Each page is a different month and Alex picks the month by watching me flip the pages until she recognizes by pictures of the season or the word itself as I say the months for each page. For today, I introduce the book and describe September as the month we start school. For the date I will buy a calendar and have her sticker each day off, but for today I tell her the day and she repeats it and puts the date in the form of cut-out numbers onto the magetic board. We follow this with our days of the week song. I will do this song every day.

Weather I use a capital "W" on our magnetic board and cut-out shapes of a happy-faced sun, a cloud with rain drops on one side, and a sad-faced sun with a cloud glued partly over it. She loves doing this! After she looks outside and decides what type of day, she hangs the shape on the board, with our "W" magnet. Today it is rainy and cool. She is not sure about the sad-faced sun, and asks me over and over why the sun is so sad. I try to explain it's because the cloud is taking over. I am second-guessing putting the darn smiling faces on the sun since it is confusing her. We talk about the weather getting colder along with what kind of clothing she now will need to start wearing. Her homework is to bring in one item of clothing to wear in colder weather. This will be for Show and Tell.

Exercise Today I use Sesame Street's Elmocize. I pull out a large stuffed Elmo and put it on the floor in our living room. I play about 10 minutes of this DVD and I can't believe how she is really moving, I am getting into it right along with her so that we are both panting and worn out, now it's time to sit!

4. Activity Time 1 - I divide up her "subjects" between two activity times, her subjects being letters, colors, shapes, numbers, and reading. Always separate the writing and letters from the counting and numbers! For today, we start with apples by reading Dr Seuss' Ten Apples Up on Top, followed by an apple to hold and describe (red, hard, round, crunchy, juicy). She even bites into the apple, and this surprises me since she is such a picky eater. We continue on with singing the alphabet, using the book Chickaboom for visual aid. Workbook pages and handwriting I am keeping short. I know how my older son despises dittos, some kids just don't do handouts, and I am finding that the creative teacher is few and far between. But the workbook handouts that I have purchased are a lot of fun of course for this age level. There are plenty at the dollar stores, plus I like Curriculum (available *web insert here*). The web has tons of ideas and printables - some that I like are...*web insert here*. Today we do workbook pages on the color red, tracing circles, and writing left to right lines, followed by hand-writing the letter A. At the end of activity time, I give her homework - bring something red to class for Show and Tell. Activity time is short with plenty of variety. I know she has a short attention span and too much at once just shuts her right down as I learned over the summer. But I am happy to say she does not complain once - instead she talks very enthusiastically over each workbook page I give her.

5. Craft Time Today she cuts out an apple, and glues an "A" stem. After she draws a small circle on her apple, she glues a green worm on that I have already cut out for her. She then glues her apple to the tree on the poster. She has a very hard time with the scissors, but she can at least cut lines and I am proud of her determination. I want to make sure we use scissors a lot.

6. Snack Break I am going to try and use the snack with whatever theme, today I do applesauce, repeating like a broken record that this is from an apple (as if she doesn't get it by the number of times I have said it now!).

7. Outdoors I first read The Apple Pie Tree, and then we talk about the parts of a tree. To go along with our science theme of trees. Today we go outside on the trails for an acorn hunt

with song. After she finds ten or so acorns, we stop and sing the following London Bridges tune with actions "See the acorns falling down, falling down, falling down...Pick the acorns off the ground...Throw the acorns to the sky, to the sky...then all fall down." Alex is my "nature girl" and it doesn't matter what we are doing out there anyway, the girl lives for outside time and her smile is always the biggest and brightest outdoors. What can I say, she takes after her mother.

8. Activity 2 Time I think I am going to reserve the second activity time for numbers and counting. We discuss the acorn some more to tie in with our shape of the week, the triangle. Our workbook pages include tracing triangles. We bounce between the pillows and sitting at the dining room table and chairs which is okay because it's keeping her busy. We sing the number song, this will be an everyday activity. We count by singing 1 to 10 to the tune of Do RE Me. We do the count song one more time but backwards. She is really confused by this, and tells me the numbers "don't go that way". Cute. Alex enjoys this. She does counting and recognition workbook pages. We play an acorn counting game that I made up - cut up strips of red paper, put different amounts of acorns on each one, cut out squares with numbers 1 through 10. She has to count the correct number and put the correct number to each strip. This is a hit. I think Alex really likes numbers. She repeats how fun the acorn game is over and over, calling me "Teacher". I realize that this moment in time is so precious.

9. Sticker Time, Review, and Me Book This is Alex's time to sticker all of her work. She spends a lot of time on this. She looks at everything again and I can tell it makes her feel rewarded. We then finish our day by reviewing our poster, ending with her answering the other questions in her ME Book. She spends a lot of time thinking about this before she answers. Today she answers that her favorite part of the day is counting numbers. For the next section, What I Learned Today - she says "that apples come from a tree", so I write what she tells me in her book, a nice momento. She then picks one last reward "sticker of the day" for her ME book, and I tell her it is for a great day and all her hard work. She beams, as I give her two more things for homework - to find a picture for the front of her ME book, and bring one farm animal to tell about.

10. Homework I try to include review and introduction for the next day plus any workbook pages that we didn't have time for. It seems like a lot but it's not that hard, and besides, it will keep her busy tomorrow on her day off school.

11. Closing Prayer

12. School Bell Rings - "Get outta here, I am Mom now!" I tell her!
Pheww...it really is a lot of work and time, but I find that it is worth all the fun - I am excited for Wednesday.