Category Archives: Schooling

Today we took a little excursion into the country with some friends before beginning all of our appointments this week. We had a great time and got some great pictures (and a lot of pictures of the kids NOT looking at the camera)!

Running through sunflower fields, cotton fields, pumpkin fields, and peanut fields!

Great shot of John!

Cute one of Jessica’s friend not looking at the camera!

Adorable one of John’s little friend!

All of our friends!

The whole crew on a hayride!

The girls having fun at the back of the trailer!

Not such a great one of Jess but great of her friend!

Great one of Jess but not quite as good of her friend (see a trend here….it’s very difficult to get great shots of 4 children 4 and under!!!)

A picture of John smiling on the hayride! (The rest of the time we couldn’t get him to look at the camera)

Me hanging onto the youngest of our crew (he prefers his mommy but we’ll pretend that he enjoyed hanging out with me!)

So he’s not looking at the camera…but still turned out stinkin’ adorable!!

Another one of John not looking at the camera but still cute!

Let me just go ahead and say that my kids LOVED playing in the dried corn!!!!!!

Apparently if I want pictures of Jessica looking at the camera and smiling, I just need to take pictures of her in a pile of dried corn!!

Obviously this trick didn’t work on getting John to look at the camera, but he did have a good time in the corn!

When we got ready to leave I had to go in and haul him out he was having so much fun!

Even the baby had fun in the corn! (And didn’t I do an awesome job on that picture?!?!?!)

Mommy and Baby enjoying the corn! Hmm num num….dried corn!

Burying Jessica with corn! (I got in with them later and made corn angels with the girls!)

Riding the tire swing that was made to look like a horse!

Baby had to have a turn too!

John and Jessica’s friend were way more interested in the big sand pit….what pumpkin patch in Florida is complete without a sand pit?!?

Jessica on the zip line!

And her friend on the zip line!

The kids checking out the goats!

John terrorizing the chickens….he loved banging on the chicken wire to see them jump…

I forgot to get a picture of the big hill these tunnels were running down, but the kids had a great time sliding down them!

Jess went down them several times too (after I went with her the first time or two….yes….I slid down the slide too), but the pictures of her didn’t really turn out.

John coming down the slide…

…landing…

….Yay!!!!!!

And a picture of the 3 of us….actually probably the best picture of the 3 of us EVER!

We had a lot of fun today….a good way to start a very very busy week!

Today at our neighborhood preschool group, we studied Spain. I traveled to Spain in high school, and absolutely loved it! The people are relaxed and friendly (especially if you don’t speak the language), and the food is fabulous (a traditional tapas usually has a selection of meats and fried items)! I think it’s about as close as you can get to The South in Europe! At any rate, we had a great time and are meeting Friday to do our mosaic stepping stone craft! I was particularly proud of the tapas I prepared for preschool….especially the Tortilla Española I made from SCRATCH! It turned out perfect….just like the picture in the cookbook!!!

The taquitos were a compromise….I didn’t want to make any of the other recipes from scratch, and we wanted to make sure the kids had something that we were sure they would like! And of course no tapas is complete without olives, almonds, veggies, and drink (in our case grape juice…which fyi is a traditional option). We also had some strawberries too! If you weren’t thinking last week that you wish you were in our neighborhood preschool group, you are thinking it now!! Doesn’t the food look just so yummy!?!?!?!

We have a neighborhood preschool group that meets at our house. It has been just perfect for us because with all of Jessica’s appointments it is at least one day a week that we can stay home and spend time with our friends, while providing her with a preschool experience that is not too overwhelming. It has also worked out really well that the majority of the curriculum is planned and taught by a kindergarten teacher! This year in Preschool we are traveling the world, and this week we traveled to Paris!! We had a lot of fun, but the best part was a trip to La Crêperie!

Our crêpe stand complete with felt crêpes! Didn't it turn out absolutely darling?!?!!?!?

Note: The crepe stand was constructed using: an old umbrella, a piece of pvc pipe, string, fabric, black poster board, a white paint pen, and a boat David built for Jessica. (I am hoping David will make a tutorial of how he made the boat on his blog. We use it almost every week at preschool for all kinds of things!)

Jessica manning the crêpe stand with Ms. Kami! (Aren't the different colored French berets adorable????)

Definitely a lot of happy customers!!!!

A close up of our felt crêpes complete with strawberry jam, chocolate, and sugar fillings!

Jessica and her best friend really got into the crêpe stand!!!

Oh, and then we had real crêpes with an assortment of toppings!!!!! Doesn’t it make you wish you went to preschool with us?????

Yesterday we went with our Neighborhood Preschool Group to a Pumpkin Patch! We had a great time!! Jessica especially loved having all of the space in which to run around!! She also enjoyed all of the many mechanical things there are to be found on a farm!

Best Friends!

Photo Op with all the kids!

Mommy and John

Mommy with both of her babies

Jessica enjoying rocking on the porch.

On our way to enjoy a hayride!

Jessica with her new friend, Melvin the farm hand.

Enjoying our hayride all the way around the farm!

The girls after a tumble in the hay!

All of the kids checking out the peanut plant Melvin pulled to show them!

Jessica trying to decide if her peanut was edible (it was actually too green).

Disembarking from our hayride.

The best part of the trip for Jessica….Melvin let her climb up on the tractor!!!

The perfect end to a perfect day (in Jessica’s opinion)!

Like most parents there are things we feel it is important for our children to learn before they leave home. Things like: how to cook, how to do laundry, basic sewing skills, how to use a gun, how to defend yourself, how to drive a car, how to fix a car, how to fix a computer, how to manage money, how to clean, a good academic foundation, etc. We also think it is important to have a firm grasp of both the Constitution and the Bible. The Constitution is the guiding document for how we live in this country, and the Bible is the guiding document for how we live in general.

We have really enjoyed our one-day a week Preschool! I have been meaning to add a Bible component at some point, and I finally did it this week! Jessica, John, and I had a lot of fun doing it!! We are using some church nursery curriculum that my mom wrote on the Creation in conjunction with some hands-on activities and crafts. I plan to continue using nursery curriculum and focusing on what God made until Jessica is ready to move on to doing a different story every week using storybooks, videos, felts, puppets, etc. I used to love writing Sunday School curriculum, so I am having a blast with this!! I don’t know who is having more fun….me or Jessica!!!!!

It has been about a month since I last updated you on our neighborhood preschool group, and yet again we are up for anything wild and crazy!! This month we took a spring break and an extra week off as we will be loosing 2 students due to their dad being deployed very soon. We spent time this month learning about the letters F and G, St. Patrick’s Day, the color Green, the shape square, and sequencing. This week, we had a Preschool Passover! We had a total of 6 kids ranging in ages from 2 to 5 and had a great time!!

One of my hobbies is genealogy, and as I have mentioned on here before, some of David’s family is Jewish. While we attend a church, I have spent time studying Hebrew and Jewish beliefs and holidays to better understand my genealogical research. One thing that has struck me over and over is the excellent teaching methods used in the Jewish faith. While Christianity does use some hands on learning, it is not anywhere close to the extent the Jews go to. Everything is all about eating, drinking, moving, participating, etc in learning about your faith. There is very little of the “sit down, be quiet, and listen” approach that is so very often prevalent in churches today. As everyone in our preschool group follows the Christian faith, we used the Preschool Passover to teach some of our own beliefs, and the kids seemed to have a great time!

Breaking and hiding the matza. Getting ready to color and do the sedar plate!

First we had the kids clean up the toys for Passover. Then I hid piece of bread around the house for them to find, and we made a big to do about throwing all of the bread out of the house! (As you are only supposed to have flat bread during the 8 days of the Passover celebration.) Then we lit the holiday candles. (I actually got to use the candlesticks a relative had brought David’s grandmother back from Israel!) I recited the candle lighting blessing in Hebrew and English. Then we had our first glass of grape juice. Then we blessed each child present. That was the last of the blessings we included (since most of our crowd was 3 and under)! Then it was time to wash hands and tell the story of why we celebrate Passover. I made a tent and dressed up in clothes similar to a Jew during the time of Passover (The costume wasn’t exact, but it was as close as I could get in my very pregnant state).

In the tent we told the story of the 10 plagues and how Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go. I have to say, you don’t realize it until you are telling a bunch of two year olds, but it has quite a few gross and sad details. We also had snacks and tried bits of parsley (that was not popular). We also broke the matza and hid a piece for the kids to find later. Then it was time to wash our hands again and head back to the table for coloring our Passover booklets, snacks, and yet another cup of grape juice! At this point we also went over the different parts of the sedar plate and what each symbolizes. Then the kids got up to search for the hidden piece of matza in hopes of earning a prize! Then we had a little outside play time while lunch was finishing. We had Matza Ball soup, Israeli couscous, Mediterranean crackers, matza, as well as an American appetizer platter. The kids were a little unsure about the Jewish food, but it was a good experience. Finally we had the after dinner prayer, more grape juice and matzah, and all shouted “Next year in Jerusalem.”

More pictures of the kids attending so well!

It was a lot of fun and a great way to teach Christian children about the Bible and the Jewish traditions/holidays they read about so often in the Bible. It is also an excellent opportunity for me to teach my children about the traditions and beliefs of one side of our family. Preparing for our Preschool Passover also further impressed on me the significance of the Passion Week events. For example, Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) came into Jerusalem (the Triumphal Entry) on the day that Jews would have been selecting their lambs to sacrifice. He was crucified at the time of Passover (exact times tend to be up to interpretation). He rose from the dead on the Day of First Fruits, when the first of the harvest is coming in, and His Spirit came to dwell with his disciples after the Counting of the Omer, on Shavout, which commemorates the giving of the 10 commandments. If you are interested in learning more about Passover or Christian beliefs relating to Passover, I read information from many different sources and many different branches of Judaism; however, from a Christian perspective, my favorite site is www.hebrew4christians.com

Wow…I can’t believe it has been 3 weeks since I last posted about how preschool was going! Since the last time I posted we have started a new theme! This month we are studying the 5 senses and introducing colors. Most of our themes for the year are science related, which works out well since you can see, touch, and experience science. History and Social Studies are really too abstract for preschool. At this age, they are still very self-absorbed. It is all about what I can see, what I can touch, how I feel…..get the picture?

We also worked some review weeks into our schedule at the beginning of the year so one of the last 3 weeks was a review of what we have learned so far. The other two weeks we introduced the letters D and E as well as the numbers 1, 2, and 3. We have also been working on colors and the heart shape. Our Focus Wall (or window shade) is really beginning to look more like a learning wall and less like a white vinyl shade!

We have continued going through a box of items that start with the letter we are studying as well as creating a page for our Alphabet Book. We have also created a Numbers Book in which we glue, stick, etc the number of items we are studying. We also create patterns by gluing two different colors of paper over the number. Jessica is quite the perfectionist! This last week she had to peel up the stickers because she felt that she had placed them in the wrong place!! She most definitely gets that from her father!!! Who knows she may have the makings of an engineer! However, she also seems to have spark of wild and crazy….definitely from my side…

Obviously, this week we celebrated Mardi Gras!! I learned a lot….for example Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday which basically means “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry for tomorrow is Lent” (ok…I changed the words up a bit from the original)! The kids really enjoyed it!! Obviously…

In case you are wondering why there are never any adults in the pictures…..while we have made a valiant effort to get the kids photo ready and start reasonably close to on time, half the time we actually teach preschool in our pajamas!! This is actually no big change for me as I frequently went to my college classes in my pajamas!! Preschool has further reinforced for me that I am an experiential, edible, and casually dressed learner!!! Thankfully most preschoolers are as well!!!!

On Tuesday we took a field trip to the Naval Aviation Museum, which was a lot of fun! Click here to see pictures from that trip! On Thursday we had our regular Preschool class. We reviewed the calendar, the letter A, the letter B, circles, sorting by color, and added the letter C. We had a great time digging through a box full of things that started with the letter C. We also used a catapult to lay siege to the backyard! The kids really enjoyed that!!

For snack we had letter C cookies, crackers, cheese, celery, cauliflower, carrots, and cucumbers, quite a spread! We also colored letter C coloring pages with crayons, colored pencils, and markers. We made cereal necklaces out of Fruit Loops after sorting them by color! We played with toy boats in the water table and read a story about boats! We also placed stickers of cars, planes, boats, and trains on a picture! The kids had a wonderful time!

Today, our Preschool group took a field trip to the West Florida Railroad Museum . David got to come too, since he was off work (he took all of the pictures). The kids had a lot of fun!!! Jessica particularly enjoyed climbing in and out of all the cars!

Both kids (some of our group stayed home sick) loved riding in the child-sized train!!

Jessica’s friend particularly enjoyed the model train they had set up!

The other teacher (who had to stay home) sent a snack of grapes and railroad cookies! She baked sugar cookies with a popsicle stick in them and then iced them to look like railroad crossing signs!

It is a small museum, but it is free and a great outing for kids!

David and I had decided about a year ago that we wanted to provide preschool for our children at home. One of the biggest factors that played into this decision was the expense of sending your child to preschool. We both hate the idea of paying someone else to do something we could do ourselves! Besides, we usually get a better quality product when we do something ourselves because we are personally invested! The other big factor that played into this decision was that by doing preschool at home you are able to tailor to your child’s needs. We were also very fortunate to meet other parents with toddlers in the area, particularly parents with toddlers who had different strengths from our toddler! Not only are the kids getting lots of practice with academic and social skills, but they are also learning about areas they do not excel in as much by watching each other! I also like the fact that we have the opportunity to have siblings in class together. There seems to be a more open dynamic when brothers and sisters are involved!

Today, we started out going over our calendar and talking about how it feels outside in January (I think that is a bit of a lost cause as we are wearing t-shirts again!). Next we reviewed the letter A and introduced the letter B. We went through a box of things that start with B: a picture of a baby, a book about beavers, a blanket with a bear on it, a button, a ball, a bag, a toy bed, a Bible, a toy boat, a bowl, a book about bugs, and a book about the Wheels on the Bus. Next we had a snack of apples, bananas, and letter A and B cookies! We put bug, balloon, and letter B stickers on a letter B coloring sheet, and then we went outside and played with a bucket of dried beans and bubbles!

For the second half, we came back inside and talked about things that go in the air. The kids loved sticking the airplanes and helicopters in the sky! (Once again Jessica felt all things that go should be in the sky! I think we may have a budding aerospace engineer on our hands!!) We plan to laminate this poster and the pieces so they can be used next year with stick on velcro! Next we read a story about things that go. Then we made airplanes out of foam, colored them with washable markers, and flew them around the room while singing flying songs! Finally, we sorted blocks by color and built an entire town!! I wish I had gotten a picture of Jessica’s skyscraper! It really did look like a skyscraper! We had a wonderful time at preschool today! It is amazing to see the kids really excel at things they love and slowly catch bits and pieces of things they find less interesting!