Homeschooling a Preschooler {God's Little Explorers Weeks 1-3}

Three weeks have already passed since Charlie and I started school together. I had good intentions of doing a weekly update, but that just didn't happen. So I'll just do a recap of the past few weeks.

I have figured out that the best time for us to do school is around 1:00 when Wyatt is napping because honestly we wouldn't get anything done otherwise. It only takes us about 45 minutes to do each day's activities. And I can truly see a lot of growth in Charlie from the routine and structure of the day.

Let me tell you a few things that I like about this preschool curriculum before I go into the recap.
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• It is Bible based. Each week has a different Bible story to focus on.
• It is flexible. There are lesson plans for each week. But they are adaptable for the needs of your child.
  
   
• It is FUN! The lessons are not boring but things that a preschooler will enjoy doing.

Now let me show you a few things that we did each week. I am sure that I will forget about something. I try to take pictures along the way but sometimes we get caught up in an activity and I forget about the picture.




X marks the Spot- Letter of the week is X

This was our introduction week. We started by making binoculars from toilet paper rolls, tape, and string.

We then went on a treasure hunt for our school supplies- which were hidden around the house marked by the x's. We talked about God's Word being a treasure.

We enjoyed a snack with x-shaped cheese on top of crackers.

Other activities this week included:

• making a treasure map that will be used all year
• making an alphabet notebook that is also used throughout the year
• sang The B-I-B-L-E
• went on a shape hunt for rectangles
• glued a rectangle out of craft sticks
• played tic-tac-toe with x made from craft sticks

Week Two

G is for Garden

This week was a lot of fun. We started by reading the story of God's Creation. While writing this I realized that I don't have a picture of the awesome book that we made all week long. Bummer. I might add one later.

This is the flower snack that we made one day with strawberries and bananas.

Here is our alphabet wall. We add a letter each week. This week we made thumbprints on the 'g' then added stems to make them look like flowers.

These are pumpkin seeds that we wrapped in a wet paper towel and left in a warm, dark place. This is what they looked like at then end of the week.

These are the cucumber seeds.

Other activities that week included:

• Reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
• drawing g's in the alphabet book 
• singing He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"
• singing "The Creation Song"
• counting seeds in egg carton

Week Three:

A is for Apple

This has been my favorite week so far. it was jam- packed with activities. Our Bible story for the week was Adam and Eve. We made apple prints using an apple half, and we used these all week long in various activities.

Here is the verse Romans 3:23 written on different apples. Charlie picked the apples off the tree.

Then we put the words in order. We were talking about sin a lot this week. He had a hard time understanding that he was a sinner. He could tell me what sin was and he didn't mind saying that his sister or even I was a sinner. But he didn't want to say that he sinned. But by the end of the week he understood.

This is an apple tree that we made over 3 days using his feet as the trunk, hands as branches, and fingers for apples.

We also did a taste test using various kinds of apples. He decided that a Golden Delicious is his favorite kind of apple. We made applesauce in the crockpot as well.

We picked apples from my artificial tree. I had to post this picture because while hiding the apples in the tree, I found a block in there. See the blue spot in the tree. Oh, the joys of having small children in your home!

Here we had written down names of sins using invisible ink (lemon juice). Then we heated it up over the stove and watched the words reappear. We talked about how Adam and Eve tried to hide from their sin, but we can never hide from God or from our sin.

It has been a good three weeks. I look forward to teaching Charlie each day. We do have some difficult days. I have learned that flexibility is key. And I also plan to implement the advice a friend just recently gave me about homeschooling boys...and that is take lots of breaks. Don't try to sit down and do it all at once.

Thanks for reading! Your comments and advice are always appreciated!

If you are interested in God's Little Explorers preschool curriculum Click here to view more details.
All proceeds go to fund an orphanage in India.

Colored Pasta Activities for Prechoolers

This is one of Charlie's favorite activities to do. Sorting pasta. The activities that you can do with colored pasta really are endless, but he really likes to sort. And coloring the pasta is a fun activity in itself.

 Making Colored Pasta

 

 

 

You will need:

• Different types of pasta (bowtie, macaroni, penne, rotelle, shells, fusilli (corkscrew)

• Alcohol

• Food Coloring

• Ziploc bag

• Cookie Sheet

• Waxed Paper 
• Small dish to mix alcohol and food coloring
• Paper Towels

How to Make:

1. Place one cup of pasta in ziploc bag. You can mix types or make each type a different color.  
2. Put 1 Tbsp of alcohol in small container with 8-10 drops of food coloring. Stir.
3. Pour into ziploc bag and close securely. Shake the bag gently, turning a few times to get the color spread evenly. Sit on paper towel for 10 minutes. Turn bag over and sit for another 10 minutes. For deeper color add another 10 minutes. Do not leave in bag for hours.
4. Place waxed paper on cookie sheet and carefully pour out the now colored pasta. Make sure it is in a single layer for faster drying.
5. Dry thoroughly before storing.
6. Repeat for other colors.

Tips and  Suggestions:

• I used regular  shades of food coloring. The neon food coloring will give you even brighter results.

• The macaroni pasta is very small and tends to be hard to work with for small hands. It is not my favorite pasta.
  
  
  

  Activities with Colored Pasta 

  Sorting.
  
  
  
  For this you will need a muffin tin. Have your child sort the pasta into the muffin tins by type or color depending on how you colored your pasta. We colored ours a different color for each type so we are sorting by color and type.
  
  
   Patterns.
  Start a pattern for your child and see if he/she can finish it. (Ex. red macaroni, blue shell, blue shell, red macaroni, blue shell _______). See if your child can create his/her own pattern.
  
  
  
  
  Counting.
  Write numbers 0-10 on the bottom of cupcake liners. Place in muffin tin. Have your child place correct number of pasta in each cup.
  
  
  Stringing.
   Make necklaces and bracelets. 
  
  
  Create Art.
  Just let your child use his/her imagination with this. Get out the construction paper and glue and the options are limitless to what they can create with their colored pasta.
  I'm sure there are several other activities that can be done with colored pasta. If you have a favorite way to use colored pasta or have questions about making it at home, feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!