Simply Living with Sprouts and Paws: 1st week of School

Tuesday September 3rd was our first day of school:

I wasnt really planning on tackling school until next year, but thought I would try a little preschool with the boys and see how they liked it. I spent many hours online researching all sorts of curriculum for school, I wanted to start them on something that was going to flow easily into whatever Kindergarten curriculum I was going to use. I finally settled on Oak Meadow, seemed like the perfect fit for what I was looking for. If you want to know more about Oak Meadow curriculum and school you can visit their website http://www.oakmeadow.com/

I am very excited about this program and look forward to using it for many years to come.

The preschool curriculum is really simple and is based on getting your child used to some sort of daily schedule with certain activities planned out. We have a general schedule that starts when we wake up and goes all the way till bed time. It really just expanded on what we already did on a daily basis and is there to remind me not to leave things out. My main focus is on Zander, but Drezden has been following along amazingly. Syler participates at his own level. LOL Our schedule does not have exact times for everything, it just has an order. It goes something like this:

Wake up, eat breakfast: During this time the boys help get dishes and decide what they will eat. They help with prepping whatever we are having for breakfast.

Get dressed: They are responsible for picking out their own clothes and doing their best to put it on.

Circle time: This includes a few verses with motions and a song with motions or finger play. The verses stay the same for the whole year, but the song changes weekly.

Imitation activity: Life skills, this is a time when they help me with what most people would call chores. I try to focus on just one big one each day with them, but some days they want to do more. This includes things like Laundry, dishes, washing windows, dusting, cleaning the bathroom, making beds, vacuuming, etc. The list goes on and on.

Creative play: Also known as free time. I may choose to set out something specific for them to explore on their own, or just let them do what ever they want. Playing on their own is such a vital piece of their development.

Lunch: Similar to breakfast they assist in making lunch, getting dishes and clearing the table when we are done.

Shared Experience: This is an activity that I plan ahead of time, something we all participate in together, the options are endless. We do nature walks 2 times a week. I try to make this activity take up at least an hour of time.

Creative play: Same as above creative play

Dinner/evening ritual: Same as breakfast and lunch, also includes discussion and review of the day. This is a great way for Paul to get to hear what we did for the day.

Creative play with daddy: Exactly what it says, Daddy time.

Bed time ritual: This takes about an hour, includes cleaning up/put away of toys and books, bath if its bath day, brushing teeth, bedtime stories and 10 min of quiet in bed time before lights are out.

Pretty nice dont you think? Of course the best part about homeschool is its flexibility, I can change any of it at any time I want. Or if something extra special shows up for the day we can skip out on a few things and not really miss out on anything. Its wonderful.

Now for some pictures.

1st day of school photos (part one of our shared Experience on first day, part 2 was self portrait drawings.)

I dont think I could have boys more excited to start school then these two were.

Some photos of our activities:

Circle time, during our song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes.

Imitation activity: Laundry

Imitation activity: Cleaning with spray and rag: They did the windows, the front of stove, the front of the cabinets, I couldnt stop them, they LOVED it. :D