New ideas for the New Year

I've decided it is time to do a little more school-wise, and although I touched on this in my latest Quarterly Review, I wanted to be more specific so I can have a reference for myself and a little accountability as well.

So far, we've been great about doing math, reading, art study, and memorization almost every day.  The major reason for this is because we do them either during, or immediately after lunch when the younger two girls are down for naps.  However, these subjects about max out that time and I want to do handwriting, read alouds, and exercise daily as well.  Mornings are mostly out because we either have therapy appointments or social obligations most mornings of the week.  So that leaves afternoons and evening.  Knowing this, here's my new plan:

Continue to do math, reading, art study, and memorization during and right after lunch.  As it is a new "semester," We're doing a new art study along with Ambleside Online's schedule focusing on Jacob van Ruisdael and Pieter de Hooch.  We're also listening to a new composer, Bach.  I've also added a few more memorization selections to our list.  Lydia seems to pick up poems faster than scriptures, so she still has tons of religious selections left but only one poem and fact.  So I've added "The Rainbow" by Walter de la Mare and "A Dragon-fly" by E. Farjeon to our poems list.  I've also added Lydia's, Mommy's, and Daddy's full names and Mommy's cell-phone number to her facts/lists memorization section.

After naptime (which is now quiet time for Lydia and Ellie because they almost never sleep anymore) I think I'm going to try to be consistent about doing a chapter book read aloud.  I'd love to work our way up to half hour at at ime.  Daddy does picture books every night before bed time and we do family scripture study before bed as well.  The girls and I have just really gotten out of the habit of doing a chapter book together.  It is tricky to pick books for them, though, because they still don't really follow the stories very well.  So basically I need to pick books that I would enjoy reading aloud that they might get some enjoyment out of.  It is especially helpful if there are at least a few pictures.  So here's my book list.  Some of these I've read to Lydia before, but she was very, very little and didn't get at thing out of it other than some cuddle time:

Little House on the Prairie, starting with Farmer Boy
The Hobbit, illustrated by Alan Lee
Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner

I think I'm going to try to do handwriting right after read alouds.

And I mentioned exercise.  I found some awesome children's yoga videos on YouTube called Cosmic Kids Yoga. They are adorable and the girls have enjoyed them the few times I've turned them on.  I'm thinking I'll try to make it something that we do in the morning around 9 or so.  If Lydia is at therapy, she just misses those days, but at least Ellie and I will get in the habit.

So that's it.  That's my new plan.  Here's hoping I can stick to it. 

Trying to Round Out Our Preschool Experience

We are doing great with my current plan for preschool right now.  Lydia loves learning and once we get started with a subject, we often spend 45 minutes or more on it because she wants to keep going.  As I've mentioned, right now we're doing reading, math, and memorization.  I got to thinking about my teaching style and our preschool as it is, and it occurred to me that I'm not a project-doer.  I have never loved doing crafts more than 2 or 3 times a year.  It is just not something I am naturally attracted to.  But when I thought about what preschool should be like, I realized that I want my daughters to be able to do fun stuff like that.

After talking to my husband about it, he agreed.  Most of our memories from early schooling are of fun projects we did, and he especially doesn't want our kids to miss out on those types of experiences.  As a result, I think I'm going to try to follow a preschool curriculum, complete with books, crafts, and fieldtrips.  I could do this on my own, but I think that because I don't really want to do it, it probably wouldn't happen if I had to piece it together.



The curriculum I'm planning on following is the free preschool one over at Wee Folk Art.  It is a waldorfy, seasons-based curriculum, but it appears to be very gentle and the crafts appeal to me.  We are right in time to start the Harvest Time one, too.  My plan is to do week one starting next week.  I already have the books for it from the library even!  I'm not going to do the art appreciation or poems because I already have my own plan for those, but everything else is fair game.  I think I might even attempt the quilt!

Another thing I'm adding in is art appreciation and starting up music appreciation again.  I'm still happy to follow Ambleside Online's classical music appreciation.  This term they are studying Debussy.  I made a playlist of the recommended songs and will be playing it every day while the girls are playing.  For fine art, they are studying Renoir.  I've ordered prints of the 6 paintings and am going to put them on the wall in the playroom so the girls will see them often.  We'll also talk about the paintings' names every day and maybe a little about the individual paintings too.

I'm sure I'll go into detail more as we progress through all this, but this is my new plan!