A few months back I realized I needed to be making more of my time as a stay-at-home-mom. Not that there was a lack of teaching, but it was not a focused and planned part of the day. What's a mom to do? I have zero teaching background. Definitely not an area where God has gifted me. I compiled a few generic ideas and created my own project:
Each week we will be studying a letter of the alphabet. We will incorporate crafts, snacks, a memory verse, etc. that coordinate with that letter. What I love about using paper lunch sacks is leaving the open end toward the outside edges of the book. Every activity/craft we do that is flat (or a picture of field trip/bulkier crafts) can slip inside for safe keeping. In the Big Book of Playtime Activities I found our first craft--a painted alligator. LilE LOVES to paint and thought this was the most fun!
We will also be making a collage of things that start with the letter of the week. I went though magazines, found clip art on the internet/Microsoft Publisher, and printed pictures of our friends. Throughout the day, we talk about different things we come across that start with that letter.
A few weeks back I mentioned scripture memory for young children. Here is my confession--we didn't do it in our home. No better time to start than the present. Simple verses have now become apart of my "curriculum". We also listen to Seeds Family Worship CDs. With the letter A I found a song on the Courage CD to play along as we painted on day (although the chorus isn't exactly found in scripture, it is a nice paraphrase of Psalm 34:10--which is what I used the first week). These songs are verses straight from the NIV. LOVE LOVE LOVE them!
This week we are studying the Letter B with the same general idea, but trying to add more activities such as reading books that begin with the letter B, maybe taking a field trip to the library to see the Books, or going to the pool to play with Balls, etc.
I have had to learn not to worry about getting messy. We have a bathtub. I make sure we use washable paints. This week I put my old painting shirt on LilE and she loved getting to wear Mommy's shirt. We also talk about how the glue stick is DIFFERENT than chapstick! :)
Here are some resources I used to formulate what works best for my family:
- Big Book of Playtime Activities
- Family Fun Magazine
- No Time for Flashcards
- Gymboree Play and Learn
- Seeds Family Worship
- Wondertime Magazine
Sounds like a great place to start with yours;) The projects are super cute and they seem to like it;)And as a homeschool mom, the earlier you start some structured time the easier the transition to "school age" work;)
ReplyDeleteOH, and I LOVE Seeds, too!!! We have the entire collection. It's amazing to hear the kids SING Bible verses (and me too)!!
I DO have a elementary teaching degree, and I have to say that your brown lunch bag Alphabet book is the most creative alphabet book I've ever seen! I am now a homeschooling mom with a 7 and a 3 year old, looking for preschool activities for my 3 year old. I'm definately going to use this idea!
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