Preschool and the Overworked Mama...

Once upon a time there was a Mama who decided that she could be her son's preschool teacher.
Money was tight since Mama had decided to stay home with her three little boys and leave behind her job teaching ornery teenagers to love literature. The days started a lot differently now that Mama was home all day and, though she missed her quiet mornings planning at her desk with a cup of coffee and an empty room, she hadn't yet started to miss those ornery teenagers.

When Mama decided to pull her oldest son, a quite spirited 3 and a half year old, out of preschool to save money she knew that she couldn't just sit back and expect him to entertain himself. So, with twin brothers in tow, she began to develop curriculum, determine themes, and build a mini classroom in a closet.

The lessons began in earnest and the spirited 3 year old was quick to challenge his Mama who was not, in his quite determined opinion, a teacher. Lessons had to be fun and engaging or he was quick to begin developing potty talk stories or destroying Mama's hard won supplies. So, Mama worked after the boys were in bed to come up with ideas, to organize the preschool space, and to figure out the themes that would keep the 3 year old on his toes!

The story is still unfolding, but Mama is ready to call her little preschool project a success! Sure she has to cram most of the instruction into the 45-90 minutes of each morning when the twins nap, and she has to load up all three kids for the weekly library trip, and the field trips are a bit harder to plan knowing that two 8 month olds will be joining the class...but, an amazing thing has begun to happen...The three year old has begun to ask Mama to teach him new things...he talks about his learning at the end of the day...he can name the planets and talk about amphibians and reptiles...and, he is always thinking about what he will get to learn next.
So, Mama keeps on planning and the twins keep on growing and the three year old keeps on learning and all is right in the world!

Week One: SPACE

Space Breakfast!

homemade rocket ship

Our map of the solar system

Saturn with a sideways ring

Space on the ceiling!

Week Two: INSECTS

hunting for insects in the wet backyard!

Maybe they are hiding in the trees?

or in the flower pots?

examining our "sowbug" (not really an insect, but all we could find!)

identifying the sowbug as a crustacean

writing in our bug journal

The sowbug!

Learning the parts of an ant

Week Three: AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES (still in process)

The life cycle of a Frog

drawing the cycle

working on numbers

Other activities in our Preschool:

Sorting beads (color identification/matching)

Using tweezers to move the beads (fine motor skills)

Using a model to make a pattern (identification & patterns)

Magnets!

Add caption

Painting!

Learning about colors and blending

Working with numbers