So I did some research and seen curriculum's of different preschools and decided to combine ideas of others and customize my own. Each week there will be a different theme, along with a letter, shape, and color. I had my son tell me some of the things that he would like to learn about for ideas on themes. His first answer was, " I want to learn about why plugs shock you if you put your fingers in them." I sat in awe for a moment. How incredibly inquisitive that was and at the same time...definitely something a child would ask. So not really sure on a theme for that one...maybe energy? If anyone has any ideas...please let me know!
So anyway...This week's
Theme: All About Me
Letter: B
Shape: Circle
Color: Green
So here is how our day went:
7:30 a.m. After hitting snooze a couple of times...I finally roll out of bed. My dogs who usually jump up the moment my feet hit the floor to go out...never moved a muscle. Wusses. I get myself woke enough to put in my contacts, brush my hair, and get dressed. I then go to my office where school will be held and make sure I have all my things in order. I also check my business emails and get a bit of paperwork done.
8:34 a.m. I have lost track of time...I was going to get my son up by 8 a.m. Crap. So I go in and lovingly wake him up. As excited as he was last night I thought he would bound out of bed. Instead he stretches and says " can we not do that later today?" I swear day after day he gets more like his father. So he FINALLY gets out of bed and gets dressed. I fix our breakfast. I go to sit down and my lazy dogs have decided to become part of the living...and they need out. Grabbing a bite of cereal and telling my son to hurry and eat...I lead the dogs downstairs. My 10 year old Scottish Terrier waits patiently as I go to unlock the door, while my 3 year old teacup Yorkie is doing so many circles that he is surely about to hurl himself into the air. So the dogs are out and I run back up to finish breakfast. I find my son playing airplanes with his pop tart. It is now 8:52 a.m. and I am NOT wanting to start late! I am late for EVERYTHING...but I can surely do THIS on time. I again tell my son to hurry. I sit down...then I hear an awful rumbling growling sound followed by a sound that I will just simply say unfortunately is the common sound that comes from a man's bottom side....my husband was awake. He then hollers at me and asked if I had made his doctor's appointment. Double crap. And yes... I do just about everything for my husband. I am surprised he wipes his own butt. BUT.. :-)... I love him dearly and don't mind it. So I take another bite of cereal and grab my phone and make his appointment. I rush back to find my son has finally finished his Pop Tart, my cereal is smushy, and it is now 9:08 a.m. Already off to a great start!
9-ish: So we finally get into my office...his classroom. I have the desk cleared and everything ready to go. New pencils, markers, crayons, glue, scissors, paper, dry erase board, and even an American Flag hanging. Austin's eyes were wide with amazement! He sit down...speechless as he looked at everything.Then he said, "Wow momma! You finally cleaned off your desk!" Kids....you gotta love 'em. So I explain to him what we were doing and for how long. Then we done the pledge of allegiance. He says that's a lot of words to remember. Then we talked about the date and so I had made him a calendar and put it on my cork board. I then took a fuzzy craft ball, put eyes on it, drew a mouth, and glued him to a tack. Austin then takes this little "dude" as he calls it and puts it on the correct day. Next we do weather. I made some weather cards out of blank index cards. I had sunny, rainy, partly cloudy, cloudy, stormy, windy, and snowy. I had him look outside and tell me which one matched the weather today. He did great...partly cloudy! Now it was time for the lesson. Today we were talking about the body. I showed him a picture of a "cute" skeleton. We talked about what a skeleton is and why we have one. We also talked about other creatures that have skeletons. I took out a worksheet that I had made about skeletons. I had downloaded pics of different animals skeletons and then pics of the actual animals and had him draw lines to match them up. Then I had drew a replica of the "cute" skeleton and then cut in different pieces: Head, torso, hips, arms, hands, legs, and feet. His job was to glue the skeleton together the way that the original skeleton looked. He done really well! Here are some pics:
So now we talk about muscles and why we have them. He of course has to show me the only muscle he knows, thanks to his Daddy...his bicep. Hey...at least it was a muscle! So then we talked about the things that we needed to do to maintain our bodies. He come up with a great idea...he said..."Well if our bodies run down...we just need to put new batteries in them. Mommy? Where do our batteries go?" Stone faced I told him to ask his Daddy after class! :-) hehehe!10:30 a.m. Snack and bathroom break. He gulps down some fruit, his favorite snack, and I refill my cup for my much needed sugar rush from Sweet Tea. Breaks over! Back to work!
10:45 a.m. We are making a life sized Austin. He is soooo excited! So he lays down on butcher paper and I trace the outline of his body. Now I am VERY artistic and can paint, draw, and sculpt really well...however...my tracing skills are the result of sleep deprivation in this instance! :-) After I get done tracing him I have him draw his face, hair, and clothes. Then he asked where his privates were on his drawing of himself. All I can think about is I only have a year to deprogram his Daddy-isms out of him! So he forgets that and goes along. Here are those pics:
So the whole body drawing was a success. He even draw his plaid shorts! It was very cute! Now it was back to the classroom. So we hang paper Austin up. Now Austin wants to draw me a picture. So I let him and while he is drawing we listen to the song "Dem Bones". This is a bluesy style and he loves it. And he draws an adorable picture of me with one of my favorite things...flowers. And he is obviously listened to what I have talked about. He included a head, neck, arms, hands with fingers, torso, hips, legs, and feet with toes! Normally when he drew people it was a circle head with face, a stick body, and sticks for arms and legs! So that was really cool!
Its now about 11:30 and we have 30 minutes till lunch. So I squeeze in the 5 senses and we practice writing some B's with a green marker. Then circle the ones that are really good.
12:00 p.m. Lunch
12:30 This time was suppose to be for outside play...but I had to end up putting him to bed early because I had to get ready to take my husband to his doctor's appointment. Gramma was home to watch him. So I read him a story, snuggled a bit, and then tucked him into bed.
Day one...all I can say....unexpectedly fun. Really. As chaotic as it was... it was fun teaching him things and seeing him actually using what he learned. It was a great one on one with my son that I hadn't had with him in a while. I stay so busy that I just couldn't slow down for hardly 30 minutes. So the past three and a half hours were a lot of fun. Now I am not naive and think that everyday is going to be like this...but I will take it for what it is...one day at a time! So can I do this? Today...yes. Let's see what Wednesday holds! :-)
I loved reading this Lisa! I think you are off to a terrific start! Austin is an extremely bright child. He is going to enjoy this time with you and its going to pay off!
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