It's that time again!

I love the start of the new school year.
It makes me smile- planning and organizing for the year ahead and getting new school supplies and setting up the school room.  I love it!
I am so proud of James.  He will be finishing up MFW 1st grade in a few weeks and will begin with Heart of Dakota's Beyond Little Heart's for His Glory by October.  I can't wait for the books to come in!!! It is geared for 6-8 year olds and isn't ordered by grade...so we will continue on as a 1st grader for the sake of ease :)
Last week we started school, picking back up where we left off in the spring.  We have 6 weeks left in the rest of  MFW 1st grade.  He is awesome in his reading and math skills.  So much happened this year and I feel so privileged to have been able to be there and see his eyes light up when he "gets" a new concept, or masters another area.  He is such a cutie.  And a great big brother helper for Bella.

 (only my kids....I say smile...and this is what I get!)

I  added a few things to our "Circle Time" routine to include Bella this year. 

Color of the Day and Shape of the Day

Since this is a new element, this week we took out all the cards and laid them out on the floor and reviewed each one.  I let her pick out her favorite...no surprise she picked out purple things. :)

(The extra cards are stored in an envelope behind the sign)

Most everything we do (printables and how we do it) is found on these three sites:

• http://1plus1plus1equals1.com/Calendar.html
• http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-calendar-board.html
• http://www.jmeacham.com/calendar/calendar.htm

James has a Binder that he does along with our Circle Time, and each time I ask him to get his binder, she asks for hers...then proceeds to get a random coloring book...then asks me every minute or so after that to write 001100 on her paper.  That's her version of spelling for now.
Originally, my plan for Bella after circle time when James begins his workboxes,was to place about 5 interesting/educational things a day on the table to keep her occupied during the school day and to "loosely" focus on various early learning skills, like colors, counting, ABCs, shapes, colors and more. 

But that isn't working out-

the loosely part, I mean.  

Bella wants to do "real" school just like James...and keeps on interrupting to get attention.  So...after much thought...(well, since last week anyway), I have decided to set up her own set of workboxes (not sure how many yet).  The first two of James' workboxes will now be for the both of them.  1)Morning Circle Time   2) Music.  She's been doing that with us anyway.  No change there.   Anyway...

I am officially going to transition Bella into purposeful and planned preschool this year.

Each week we will introduce:

• Letter of the Week
• Weekly A-Z Bible Verse 
• Arts & Crafts for each letter
• Daily Calendar and Weather Activities
• Read aloud books
• Phonics practice
• Capital/lowercase letter recognition
• 1-10 Numbers recognition
• Counting practice
• Colors
• Shapes
• Fine Motor skills: Lacing cards, cutting, coloring & pre-writing
• Logic skills: Puzzles, size sorting, matching games
• Large Muscle Movement: Large Floor Numbers/Letters Hopscotch
• Singing: Leapfrog A-Z letter sound songs, Bible Verse Songs 

Her workboxes will mainly be filled with  things from the following programs (no need to reinvent the wheel):

Confessions of a Homeschooler-Letter of the Week

Totally Tots Now I Know My ABC's and Songs for Saplings/in my heart Series

Hubbard's Cubbard

3's Curriculum "Bible and Rhyme"

and Monthly Playdough Recipes and Sensory Tubs

No Time for Flashcards and Tot School Tools

 

We started today with having her own "work" to do, and she did great!  

I still have to figure out how to successfully balance my time between them...but for the first day, I was really encouraged.  Tomorrow we are heading over to my parents house to go visit with my sister's family who is town for a few weeks until they move to California :(  But the kids are soooo excited to see their cousins and can't wait!  So we will take Thursday and Friday off and hang out with them.