- Jackson: Confessions of a Homeschooler
- Alex: 1+1+1=1
LDS Scripture Verse: "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." -Isaiah 53:4
The weather has been absolutely beautiful! The boys and I have been enjoying the great weather by playing outside as much as possible (as little boys should).
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| Alex counting garden boxes at some apartments nearby. |
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| Exploring a little stream on the first day of Spring. |
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| Making leaf boats to send down stream. |
Because of this, I was finding it harder and harder to get 5 days of school in. Granted, each "day" of school only lasted about an hour long, but I really want to encourage outdoor play (and independent play, when it happens). I was all stressed out because of the lack of five days, and then I realized...that's the great thing about homeschooling. I make the schedule based on what I think is best for Jack and Alex. SO...I decided to start planning only three days worth of school each week. This way, I will be sure to find the time on three separate days, and I wont feel so tied down to indoor school time when we can be outside enjoying nature. With that being said, here is what we accomplished during Letter S week...
THEME INTRODUCTION
I have been eyeing these superhero mask patterns for months now. In fact, I even printed them off to make as stocking stuffers this past Christmas. I planned on making them out of felt and I knew it would be easy once I started, but I just struggled to get started. On Monday I found some sheets of heavy-duty foam left over from an old project and I realized that maybe I could use those foam sheets instead of felt to make quick masks. Not much later, I was finished! I used hot glue to attach elastic on the backs (cutting each piece to 13" instead of 14", as suggested) as well as the extra pieces for Captain America and Iron Man. And I just used a black Sharpie and a compass to draw the lines on Spiderman. It was so easy!
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| Captain America, Spiderman, and Iron Man |
I used these masks to introduce the Superhero theme for school this week. The boys LOVE these masks...even Jackson who hates costumes and masks. These just bumped up our superhero play to an even cooler level.
DAY 1
Our scavenger box included a foam letter S, our sign-language card, a saw, a screwdriver, Spiderman, swiss cheese, a spoon, a snake card, a strawberry card, socks, a toy soldier, castile soap, a toy sausage, and a picture of Sully from Monsters, Inc. We like to go through all the objects together, as well as do a quick demonstration on how to write the letter using the foam letter from the basket.
We read My "s" Sound Box to learn more "s" sounds. And then we read Superhero ABC to introduce the theme for the week (again). This was a super cute book, but they use superheros invented for the book and not any familiar ones (fyi). It was hilarious to see what the author came up with for each letter.
Coloring time! I found some superhero coloring pages here and we used markers to color them in. I am very happy that the boys have longer attention spans for coloring than when we first started doing school together.
After we cleaned up coloring, it was time for some Superhero Training! I found our old Exercise ABC cards (starting on page 52 of the pdf download here) and we turned on a fun station on Pandora. We took turns choosing the card and then we all participated in the exercises, including...
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| kicking, |
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| jumping over pillows, |
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| and flexing our muscles. |
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| Little superheros in the making. |
We all had a blast.
We had so much fun with our exercises, that the boys were just plain tuckered out! I had one more activity planned for the day but decided to save it for later.
Reading List:
1. My "s" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
2. Superhero ABCs by Bob McLeod
3. The Avengers: an origin story by Rich Thomas
4. Meet the Super Hero Squad! by Lucy Rosen
5. Meet the Villains of Villainville by Lucy Rosen
6. Superhero Me! by Karen Katz (for babies/toddlers)
7. 5-Minute Marvel Stories by Disney Book Group (a well-loved birthday present from last year)
DAY 2
Jack came into my room in the morning with four of our foam letters: M, A, J, and D. He explained he had M for Mommy, A for Alex, J for Jackson, and D for Daddy. I love this boy! So cute.
In the morning I pulled out a new card game the boys had never seen - War. Not only was it War, but the pictures were all kids dressed like superheros. Perfect. I dealt out our cards and taught them the game, step-by-step. It was still a little too tricky for Alex, but Jackson seemed to be into it.
*During Alex's nap in the afternoon, Jack and I played this again. This time, I laid out the number cards from our calendar and with each round we placed the cards on our "number line" to see which one was bigger. Jack really started to grasp the concept of the game while using that added visual.*
After playing War, I took out a pair of cards for each number and set up a game of Memory for Jackson to work on. Alex had already moved on to some puzzles, but Jackson LOVES memory/matching games. And he did great!
Official school time started in the afternoon. The boys worked on their activity trays around the kitchen table while I worked on dinner:
Tray 1: Number Clip Cards
These cards came from 1+1+1=1. I included ten mini-clothespins for the boys to mark the correct number of objects.
Tray 2: Letter S Play Dough Mat
This mat is from Lavinia Pop's Alphabet Playdough Mat set.
Tray 3: Superhero Number Puzzle
The next three activities were found in the Superhero Pre-K Pack at Over the Big Moon.
Tray 4: Spiderman Size Sort
Tray 5: Superhero Magnet Page
DAY 3
Jackson asked if he and I could do an activity together while Alex was napping. We decided to play with our magnetic letters and pan. Jackson first spelled out his name and Alex's name, then I challenged him to match up all the upper- and lower-case letters. He gladly accepted the challenge, and he aced it!
After Alex awoke from his nap, we began school. Jackson completed his letter hunt worksheet.
Tray 1: Cutting Practice
Trays 1-4 all came from the Superhero Pre-K Pack at Over the Big Moon.
Tray 2: 4-Piece Superhero Puzzles
Tray 3: Superhero/Villain Sorting
Tray 4: Hulk Coloring
Tray 5: Letter Sound Assessment
This page was part of the Batman Preschool Pack at 1+1+1=1. In this activity I planned to work one-on-one with Jack to confirm that he knows all his letter sounds. I found these cute masks and capes for finger puppet superheros, so I cut them out and used them for the child part of the assessment.
Jackson did a fantastic job cutting to the superheros. I can't even begin to explain how much his scissor skills have improved since we started doing school together.
Alex finally joined us when he saw the Hulk coloring activity. Alex LOVES "Hulk Smash," so I had a second page already printed out and waiting for him. He decided to color with markers instead of the crayons I set out.
Both boys loved those mini-puzzles. I am happy to have those for a future busy bag.
Having recently discovered Superhero Squad on Netflix (and from our reading books for the theme), Jackson had no trouble distinguishing between superhero and villain.
And those little masks and capes...
Jackson was in love. I would ask "where is the 'sss' sound?" and Jack would use his finger puppet superhero to point to the correct bat letter (s, in this example). So cute! And, not surprisingly, he knew every one. Alex definitely would have aced this assessment, as well, if he could sit still long enough to take it. ;)
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