Welcome to our Kitchen Pre-School

 I love how making lunch is now pre-school...  colors, shapes, counting balls of cheese & adding and subtracting them. Even division! By the time we sit down to eat Kat has covered all mandatory subjects!

Next time you're making lunch invite your pre-schooler in to help... no matter what you're making I'm betting you can find creative ways to make it fun and educational. 

Sure you can invite your older kids to get in on the learning fun. 

But for us. 

For now. 

Meal time is pre-school time. 

Just Momma & Kat

making lunch,

learning lessons,

and storing treasured memories

in our hearts!

Riding Bikes at Grandma's

Hope it doesn't bore you to death but I'm going to keep posting these journal entries just in case something horrible happens and we loose the real thing. Gotta love the security of an online copy! :0)

(underneath Kat's hand reads "Grandpa is blowing leaves off the blacktop."
Bottom left corner reads "This alien is down from space and is trying to get back up.")

My sweet Kat obviously mixes reality with her imagination.
Love that I get a sneak peek inside her head with this!

Purple Underwear & Journaling



I have been going through things trying to find stuff I don't need anymore. I'm trying to get rid of junk to make my life less stressful these days. A pile of scapbooks I didn't like because they weren't the type that had the nifty plastic page protectors found themselves thrown in my yardsale marked $1 each.



I took them back out of the yardsale when they didn't sell with the brilliant idea to turn them into journals for my kids.  At ages 5 & 4 they aren't quite ready for a whole lot of heavy writing so I figured they could draw pictures instead. I didn't exactly come up with this idea all on my own. I'm pretty sure I read about it or saw it somewhere at one time and mentally filed it away for later. Now is later. So whoever it was out there who originally game me this idea. Thanks!



Both my girls were SO excited to get to pick out their own journal! I asked them to think of something that happened this past weekend that they didn't want to EVER forget? After they shared I asked them to draw a picture. (& yes that is our laundry hung out to dry on our old dog run...
...you might be a redneck if...)



Kayli sure put a whole lot of concentration into her drawing... look at that girl think.

I actually had them both turn to the back of the first page for this first journal entry. We are going to go back to the first and let them draw self-portraits. I figured we'd make it our goal to start every year with a new journal from here on out. Kayi is working on her 'kindergarten' journal right now.

In case you are wondering why we are journaling on the back porch, its because it just now turned cool enough to enjoy the great outdoors in our area and we are soaking up every minute of it.



When the girls were finished I had them dictate to me the story behind the picture they drew.
I wrote it all down word for word. No grammar edits allowed!



As usual Kat kept getting distracted...

Kayli's finished journal entry.. she wrote the names and arrows herself.
Yes I noticed we need to work on our lowercase d's!



She was so proud of her artwork and let me tell you she giggled the whole time she was working on it.
The purple underwear thing sure does make her laugh!



For the record the only truth to this story is the part about Mommy trying to make Kat laugh.
And there you have it. Memories my girls will never forget... purple underwear and all!

Three Letter Words

My little Kayli Bug is officially five years old *sniff* and according to Daddy it is high time she start reading. {Even though she officially doesn't start Kindergarten until next fall. } Since Daddy requested it, we have been stuck in a hotel room for three weeks with nothing else to do and Kayli has mastered pretty much every letter sound, we decided to dive into reading with some simple three letter words.

I picked up some blank notecards and got to work.

By placing different letters beside this notecard...

Kayli was able to practice reading different '-at' words.

I then wrote a silly book "Rat-a-tat-tat" that had nothing in it except for '-at' words and the occasional "A" or "on." Since I didn't have the resources to make a cute book here in the hotel room I put it together in a slideshow for her to read. I can't wait until I get home and make her a book. When I do I promise to put it online for everyone to use.

We even had a spelling test with the '-at' words. Kayli surprised me by doing really well. She only had to ask me how to write one or two different letters and numbers.

Since then I have moved onto writing "A Bug and A Pug" and am continuing to work on other three letter word books. I must admit it is challenging to write stories only using the correct three letter words (and the occasional sight word) but it has been fun and Kayli is doing beautifully.

Just yesterday we were at a thrift store and found this book. ->
With a little help she was able to read the whole thing! We are all ecstatic and are having fun with our reading adventures.

With minimal planning we have added alot to our homeschooling lessons in just a few short days.

Reading

Writing &

Spelling

Now I just need to do a little research to determine what my next step should be in teaching Kayli to read since we can't stick to three letter words forever. (My aunt gave me a big binder full of phonics lessons so when I get home I'll probably be getting it out and reading through it!) Thankfully we have plenty more three letter words to keep us busy for a while!

Turkey Mosaics

I hate throwing away anything. So if I have construction paper that needs to be tossed I always cut as many squares out of it as possible before succumbing to the trash can. As a result we make different types of paper mosaics all the time. My kids LOVE it when I let them go at it with a glue stick. Especially Kat who is especially thrilled when she can participate and do an activity with her big sister without any modification. In honor of Thanksgiving I put together a fun crafty box on their book shelf. They chose it as soon as they saw it. I captured the fun while dodging the sticky glue! (At the time of completing this fun craft my children are just turned 3, and getting ready to turn five. )

Re-Purposed Garage Junk & Other Cool Stuff

In an effort to utilize some great ideas I learned from a veteran home schooling Mom I recently went digging through my garage. {Think dumpster diving, but in the comfort of my own home :0) } I am oh so excited about my finds! I just had to share what is currently working for our family.

Welcome to my refurbished Garage Junk Tot/Pre-School! This bookshelf is one I bought at a yardsale for $5. I have big plans to paint it one day but for now I just took the time to wash off all the dirt and grime.

The plastic boxes and baskets are my version of trays. I found some cheery colorful fabric I had bought super cheap as a remnant and lined all of the boxes. Inside each is a different activity. When its time to change I put the contents into a ziplock bag and in my storage cabinet until its time to bring them out again.

This nifty wire rack is something Josh and I bought when we first got married. We had a tiny bathroom with absolutely no storage so this is where we kept shampoo, make-up, washrags, etc.. It has gotten a little bent out of shape over the years, (its been through no less than 7 moves!) and has been collecting dust in the garage for the past year or two. Not anymore! Kayli & Katherine each have a spot to put their completed work. Daddy gets to look through what they have done when he gets home and then I get to decide which papers get trashed and which ones get stored in a binder showcasing their work for the year. {I intend to keep a binder of each year of school to keep as a record of their education. Maybe one day they will be cute creative scrapbooks but for now they simply consist of a 3 ring binder and sheet protectors! }

I discovered a site called File Folder Fun I used some of their free resources to put together some really cute learning games. I didn’t have any file folders so I adapted by using construction paper and a presentation folder. It works for us! Mostly we are using math related ones, but they have a wide variety of games relating to all sorts of subjects in an assortment of grade levels. Kayli is working on simple math problems right now. I printed a gazillion little acorns and she uses them to help her complete her math work. Since its Thanksgiving week I’ll probably be putting up the turkey’s, acorns, and leaves this week so I better get to work finding wintery/Christmacy replacements! That or I just might make my own! Cautionary note: I did find some misspelled words/typos in some of the files at filefolderfun.com but was able to make the “folders” without having to use them.

These binders hold my girls ‘official school work.’ I buy huge workbooks when I can for the girls. I rip them all apart and try to make ‘packets’ for the girls to do each day. I try to make sure there is a balance between different subject levels and a few fun activities mixed in. Each day I put the packets in the front pocket of the folders. They also have a pocket for their necessary supplies. Sometimes they need certain color crayons, scissors, or glue. I try to make sure everything they need is there. If needed I put in construction paper, scrap paper, and lined paper. They know they need to get their packets done each day before Daddy gets home. Its teaching them at a very young age to be responsible to make sure and get their work done in a timely manner. I don’t “make” them do it first or at any certain time. I let them decide when and for how long to work at a sitting. So far its working VERY well for us.

I am keeping a book series I got a yard sale for super cheap on the bookshelf right now. {Buried in a plastic tote of books I got for $5! } Each book features one letter of the alphabet. Kayli is currently trying to learn which sound each letter makes. Step one of learning to read. These books are perfect for this because even when I can’t sit down and read to her she can flip through it and name some of the things in the book, each which start with the same letter. I looked on Amazon and was able to find the set, it looks like a better updated version of the one I found. I am including this link just in case you're interested in getting a set for your little one who is learning/ preparing to learn to read.

The chalk & white board are hanging on wire stands that funeral flowers came on. They are now very functional easels and the perfect height for little girls. They come in handy for a variety of activities.


That is just about it. This little set-up takes up just a little bit of space on one wall of the house


A special thank you goes out to Carisa. Her tot trays were definitely the inspiration of this school set-up. I love how I was able to personalize her idea to make it work for our needs of a blended area that works flexibly for use by both of my children.


So what is working for YOUR family. What are you doing to organize your school area? What is unique to your home school? Do you have any great ideas for me?