It’s WEDNESDAY and the FINAL day before my kids go BACK TO SCHOOL! And by BACK TO SCHOOL, I really mean, “Before they go back to virtual school for the next three weeks”. Today, Shay and I are LOOKING at our DESKS!
Since the pandemic, Tab has mostly been working from home so he’s taken over my office and my desk. I’ve created a little makeshift workspace on our dining room table that covers travel, blog stuff, and soon to be virtual school. Is it ideal? ABSOLUTELY NOT! But, we’re doing the best we can and making it work for now!
Since the pandemic, Tab has mostly been working from home so he’s taken over my office and my desk. I’ve created a little makeshift workspace on our dining room table that covers travel, blog stuff, and soon to be virtual school. Is it ideal? ABSOLUTELY NOT! But, we’re doing the best we can and making it work for now!
Isn’t that everyone’s motto right now?
DOING OUR BEST!
MAKING IT WORK!
This is my little workspace exactly how it looks right now…
{This post might very well turn into a, “Give a Mouse a Cookie”, kind of situation. Just buckle up!}
I have my computer and stuff set up. Most of my other items are still in my office and I just go grab them if I need them.
Like I said, virtual school begins tomorrow! Eeek! When it comes to where my kids will be virtually learning, the plan is to have them all in different places. Bowen’s gonna work beside me in the dining room. I don’t plan on sitting beside him the entire day but when I’m working I can keep an eye on him. The big kids are gonna be in other common areas that hopefully allow them to have some quiet. I have these four little bins-one for each kid that holds their Chrome book {from school}, pencils, paper, etc. Right now they’re kind of empty but we’ll make sure they have what they need for school in there each morning, they’ll move their little basket to their work space, and then at the end of the school day they’ll bring them back. This way HOPEFULLY we keep with all our school supplies, chargers, etc. in one place.
Let’s talk preschool! Britt was supposed to have the most fabulous preschool teacher and to be honest-I was putting probably too much stock in Britt getting ALL caught up and ready for kindergarten simply because of her. I one hundred percent believe she could have had her ready. But things have changed and she won’t be returning to preschool. {And I should add-that Britt’s new teacher might be equally amazing!!} However, it led me to believe we need to be working on things more at home in preparation for kindergarten next year. That’s where you come in…PLEASE HELP, preschool moms! Do you have any preschool recommendations we can work on at home that are really easy and won’t require hours of preparation?
Here are a few recommendations I’ve received or tried for myself…
*I’ve recently downloaded and set up an account on Homer. It’s an online preschool game that covers letters, shapes, colors, etc. to get kids ready for kindergarten. Britt loves it and so far that program is really working for her. My big kids all used Starfall and we liked it but I like the Homer program better.
*Playing Preschool Program…this downloadable kit includes nineteen weeks of activities and games to play with your child. There’s a general list of items you’ll use quite a bit. We’re gonna get started on this tomorrow and while the big kids work Britt and I will get our preschool on. The negative is you do have to get certain items rounded up as well as books, but the first two weeks are really pretty simple. Fingers crossed!
*A friend recommended The Good and the Beautiful Pre-K Curriculum…this seems very easy in the fact that everything you need is at your fingertips. No prepping required. But I’m not sure it’ll hold her interest? If anyone has tried this, please tell me your thoughts?
If you’ve tried anything {no matter if you love it or hate it}, please share! I’m not looking to spend hours every day gathering supplies to do preschool at home. Hopefully Britt gets to go back to preschool in September, but I am looking for a few things we could do throughout the week at night or before school just as a bonus as well as continue it through the summer/breaks. I’m dusting off my teacher hat and we’re working hard to get this girly ready for kindergarten next year!
See what I mean about giving a mouse a cookie? Showing you the pictures of my makeshift office turned into, PLEASE help me with preschool at home suggestions!
Next month we’ll be sharing our school pictures. This will be FUN! I hope you join us!
*A friend recommended The Good and the Beautiful Pre-K Curriculum…this seems very easy in the fact that everything you need is at your fingertips. No prepping required. But I’m not sure it’ll hold her interest? If anyone has tried this, please tell me your thoughts?
If you’ve tried anything {no matter if you love it or hate it}, please share! I’m not looking to spend hours every day gathering supplies to do preschool at home. Hopefully Britt gets to go back to preschool in September, but I am looking for a few things we could do throughout the week at night or before school just as a bonus as well as continue it through the summer/breaks. I’m dusting off my teacher hat and we’re working hard to get this girly ready for kindergarten next year!
See what I mean about giving a mouse a cookie? Showing you the pictures of my makeshift office turned into, PLEASE help me with preschool at home suggestions!
Next month we’ll be sharing our school pictures. This will be FUN! I hope you join us!
Thank you for reading today!
XO
Check out Play to Learn Preschool’s Facebook page. She has been doing “virtual preschool” since the Spring.
I am a preschool special education teacher. This is what I would suggest, teach the alphabet letters by picking 1 or 2 a week, do many things related to that letter, practice counting a variety of items with the goal that she could count out 20 items by kindergarten and verbally count past 20 by Kindergarten. Rhymes are great for preschoolers so any rhyming book, nursery rhymes, etc are great. If she of course does not know colors or shapes start with that prior to learning letters. I like to do some crafts related to those concepts, hunts in which you find them and play bins related to the colors. Making busy boxes that include concepts she is working with along with fine motor skill activities is perfect ( she should be cutting and should be able to write her name by the END of preschool). Print out some prewriting pages and put them in a clear plastic sleeve to use with dry erase markers. I really love Kumon books for this age, they have excellent cutting books and mazes. The paper is thick and perfect for these little guys. Also remember that they have little hands, small broken crayons are the best as it forces a tripod grasp. Stay far away from those thick fat crayons and markers. Read to her, have your older kids read to her, get audible books etc. the goal is 1000 hours by K ( that’s from birth)
Beth Gordon and http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/ are good places to find activities.
But… The MOST important thing to do with her prior to Kindergarten is PLAY. What we know is that the kids this age learn the best through play and learn skills such as taking turns, sharing, and having flexibility in play is a predictor of success later. Adding to her chores and responsibilities at home are also important. There are so many directions given in K, starting asking her to do tasks that involve 2 or more directions.
I am a Pre-K teacher and I think that the most important thing that you can do is have her gain independence….able to dress herself, self sufficient in the bathroom, able to open and close her lunchbox etc. I definitely would have her practicing with scissors and writing first and last name. Pick a letter a week and practice those! She will do great!
I have a ton of Pre-K things from the spring when Mades was home that I'll bring over for you!!
I love the idea of everyone having their own bins! All the school stuff can stay in one place and not get misplaced! Genius!! Good luck with the first day of school tomorrow!!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Play to Learn Preschool on YouTube is amazing! You can follow on Instagram and Facebook, Ms Jamie has it all!!
You can do this, mama!!!!
Just did day one of The Good and the Beautiful and it was good and QUICK which I liked. Worked on the letter A today….recognizing uppercase vs lowercase letter, repeating the A sound, quick cutting exercise. I'll probably also do some activities from Days with Grey (I got her Breakfast Invitation bundle) to keep them busy
My 4 y.o. Is going to do Handwriting without tears. It’s what her preschool uses for their curriculum, but is also available for purchase. I’m not buying the whole program, but am ordering a few of the things to help supplement her learning along with other free curriculum.
That's SO good to know about The Good and the Beautiful! I might order that just to see how it goes! Also, great to hear on that Handwriting Without Tears. Checking it out now!
Carrie…THANK YOU for your help!
I just bought Bush Toddler’s preschool program and I’m going to be doing it with my Pre-k son on the days he’s not going to preschool in the fall. I love how easy it is and that it supports a stay at home mom. She has a bunch of info in her highlights, check her out on Instagram!
It seems like you have lots of suggestions. We homeschool as our primary way of educating our children and we use Memoria Press. They have a Jr K program and it is wonderful. Good luck! Prayers for you all.
"Give a mouse a cookie" is soooo the story of my quarantine life! haha Its definitely been a contributing factor for me being a super sporadic blogger over the past few months! I've always got some little side project going on that takes precedence, like "Hmmm, I really want to paint the laundry room. But if I do, then I might as well paint the cabinets too. And then they'll need new hardware. And a new rug. Oh but wait…the new rug is too big so it can go in the bathroom instead. But wouldn't it look so much better in here if I painted these walls too?" And so on and so forth (as old school Big Brother would say. Haha)
That Inspired Chick
Starfall is a nice educational site for Pre-K and Kinder. We use it at my school and my grandkids also enjoy it when they get to do a little tech.
https://www.starfall.com/h/
Look at Play to Learn Pre School 30 minutes each morning
So many of those preschool skills are learned through play, songs, and just talking/ having fun. Are there specific skills she needs help with or just preschool stuff in general? Starfall has lots of fun and free online games for learning ABC's and colors and simple math skills like counting.
As a former preschool teacher and a forever homeschool mom, I'd suggest learning what I consider to be the basics. Independent dressing, handwashing, opening things for herself, cutting with scissors, coloring, tracing and eventually drawing shapes and letters. Work on letters individually or two at a time. Lots of songs, finger plays, talking about colors and counting things in daily life. I used lots of printables from pinterest and then laminated or put in plastic sleeves so that tracing lines, shapes , letters and numbers could be done repeatedly with dry erase markers.
Have her write letters and numbers things like sand, rice, shaving cream, hair gel, and paint. For the messy ones, put them in a ziplock bag first. You can also add food coloring to the shaving cream one and let it mix as she writes.