Bryse really wanted to go to preschool this fall. She asked and begged and so we went looking around at what was available here. I didn't want her somewhere 5 days a week, 2 or 3 would be more than enough and really she just wanted to hang out with other kids, so I didn't feel the need for her to be "taught" a lot. So I looked at Mother's Day out programs for her at churches along with preschool programs. What I found was that if your child is over 3 for Mother's Day out programs, they expect you to leave your child for atleast 4 days a week. I could've dropped Cal off for 2 or 3 days a week because he's only two, but.... he's....only....two. ??? Just, personally, I don't feel the need or want to leave my two year old for a few days a week somewhere when I'm a stay at home mom anyway. And of course that carries over to Bryse's situation too. We don't have the money to pay for her to go somewhere for several days a week, plus I don't have the need. I also checked real preschools. I found one private preschool that had a part time program five days a week from 8-1, but they didn't do lunch there. They had a "snack time" at 11 (our usual lunch time at home) and then I would need to feed her when I picked her up. Which of course, 1pm is naptime for the rest of the kids. So that means that i would be driving 25 minutes to that school to pick her up and feeding her lunch while trying to get Deakin and Cal asleep. Not fun, and again, not necessary. I checked out the Headstart program here because we did that with Darby in Missouri and enjoyed it. They had a part time program that was four days a week 9-1 there which I felt was fine and Darby really loved. They don't have that here. Here it is five days a week 8-3 or nothing. Soooo, we did nothing. And I promised Bryse that I would "homeschool" her. That seemed to make her happy. So then I started trying to figure out an easy way to give Bryse structured learning while nursing a newborn and the other duties that come with my other children. Here's what I came up with.... I bought folders for four days of the week. Labeled them with Monday-Thursday and drew squares on them for star stickers when the day is completed. Then I went through all of my education workbooks and ripped out age appropriate worksheets for her. I ripped out around 40. Then I wrote about 40 journal entry titles. Mainly art journal entries. Once a week she does a "self portrait" and a free journal entry, where she can color whatever she feels like. Another day of the week she has a journal entry that is about feelings. Like, "What do you feel like today" or "Draw a happy face" or "What makes your sad?" And the last day of the week it is more of a direct entry. Like, "Draw some shapes" or "Draw your family" or "Draw your pets", that type of thing. So I put all the worksheets in one of the black folders above and all the pre-made journal entries in the other one. So, once a week, all I have to do is take one sheet from each and put them in each day's folder. On Monday, when she is ready, she goes to her Monday folder, gets out her work and does it. She brings it to me to see when she is done or to get help. When she is all done, she puts her journal entry in a three ring binder and then puts a star sticker in the appropriate box on the folder for finishing! : ) She loves it, and it's super easy for mama! Here is a picture of her finished journal entries notebook:
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LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
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