A Typical Day in a Preschool Homeschool

As a former public ed teacher, I loved a set routine!

It allowed the students (and myself) to know exactly what to expect, providing a sense of comfort knowing what is coming.

However being a part-time Children's Pastor and Homeschooling Momma, has forced me to live a life where our days are more fluid than structured.  Throw in a 3 year old who is also transitioning from naps to quiet time, and everyday becomes a new adventure.

Tuesdays- Fridays are our days to do Preschool using our Mother Goose Time in the afternoon.

MGT has daily activities laid out for us including:

-Circle Time

-Community Challenge

-Creative Art

-Small Group

-Table Top

-STEAM Station

-Story Corner

-Music and Movement

-Closing Time/Reflection

We don't do all of these, but we usually do 3-4 activities.
The bolded activities above are the ones we usually do.

 During Sweet Pea's nap or quiet time, I prepare our activities so that we can start our fun after she wakes up which is usually around 3pm.  

We always do our Circle Time which includes our calendar, weather, and daily topic poster. 

Here's a little video of it in action... and FYI... it took me almost 20 days to realize we were not in the month of August anymore, but September.  I'm going to play the  "pregnancy brain" card.

She really got me with that tiny orange island!  She's so observant.

After Circle Time, it's time to do some of our other activities.
Sweet Pea loves to color and create so we always do the what is suggested in the Creative Art section.

She also loves to read, so we always read and do the discussion in the Story Corner.
 (This page was about eyes, and Sweet Pea was showing where hers were.)

I also prep the Table Top activity and STEAM station; although we might not get to them.

If she is still into what we are doing, then we will do the Music and Movement activity, but we don't always get to this.  I think I should probably incorporate it into the Circle Time... hmmmm.....

   Because it is just Sweet Pea and myself, we don't usually do the Small Group activity or we wait and do this when daddy comes home.

We will then play and learn until about 4:30 pm when it becomes time for me to prep dinner if I haven't done so already. If dinner is already prepped, we continue playing either outside or in her playroom until daddy comes home.

Once he gets home, they play or relax together while I finish up dinner and then we enjoy dinner at the table together every night.

As I type this, I am truly realizing how blessed I am to live the life I have.

Is everyday a perfectly structured day? NO WAY!

But everyday is filled with little moments to treasure.... sometimes I need to focus on searching them out and holding on to them.

I am just so grateful to have little moments with her each and every day and for our little family of three... soon to be four.

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Writing Her Name...All On Her Own!

 She's growing leaps and bounds yall.  

On Leg day during our Mother Goose Time unit on About My Body, 

Sweet Pea and I read the book Whose Knees are These? 

After reading, I asked her what she used her legs for, and recorded her responses in this short little video.

I love that she said cooking.  I know that her kitchen is right there, but we do cook a LOT together in the kitchen.  It's one of her favorite things to do.

However, this post is not about cooking- it's about how my 3 year old wrote her name for the very first time all on her own and totally out of the blue! 

Here's what brought it on...

After our discussion on legs, we made our Make and Play craft from Leg day, which was a pocket.

The main focus was on being able to lace the pocket.  I taped the end of the yarn to make a makeshift needle for Sweet Pea. 

I had to hold the pocket together and she did an amazing job at lacing through all the holes!

"Down and around....down and around..."

Her completed pocket below.

See that yellow marker there on the tray? 

I was about to write her name on her pocket in yellow marker, so she could then trace the letters with another marker.  When she saw me pick up the yellow marker, Sweet Pea hollered, "No Momma!  We need blue!" She is a stickler for how things should look, and since the example had the name Ben in blue, she felt she needed her name to blue as well and not yellow.

I first noticed this behavior (of making things look like the picture) using MGT last year and wrote about that experience here.

Sweet Pea's real name is Avaleigh.

I just refer to her as Sweet Pea on this blog.

She knew immediately without me telling her, that the first letter in her name is A, and as she drew the letter, she said "A".

I could not believe it! 

She had never done anything like this before! 

These are the moments why I became a stay at home mom.

I told her the next letter was "V" and she didn't need any help in drawing it either!

She needed help with the next letter, and since Avaleigh is a long name, I told her to just draw an "A".

I love how her "A's" are little triangle shapes with the bar cutting through.

And there it is.

Her completed pocket with her name on it.

Her name that she wrote all on her own.

For the very first time.

I am so grateful I was able to capture and see this moment for myself.

Happy Learning!