Monday, August 28, 2017

Creating a Preschool Homeschool Space

Do you ever feel like your kid's stuff has just overtaken every room of the house?

Last year, I set up most of Sweet Pea's preschool items in our breakfast room next to the kitchen, which you can see here.  It worked great!
However, I had also turned our front formal family room into her playroom, which she hardly used unless to get a book.  I really hated the fact that she hardly played in there. Then she had stuff in the living room and I was going nuts with just stuff everywhere.
So on a Saturday, as my husband watched over our girl, I combined everything into one room- her playroom, thus creating a Preschool Homeschool space perfect for us.


Here's how I organized her space:

Reading Area:


Tepee: handmade by my friend Julie for Sweet Pea's 2nd birthday, adorned with paper flowers I    
            made for different baby showers.
Shelves: rain gutters from Lowe's attached to 2x4 mounted to studs in the wall.  My husband built 
              these last year.
Mirror: reflective play with blocks (see end of post for links)
Artwork: created by Sweet Pea

She absolutely loves hiding out in her teepee with her books. Sometimes when she needs a time-out, 
she'll go hide in here as well :) 



Display Wall:


Art Display: twine, pushpins, and mini clothespin hold Sweet Pea's work.
Map: provided by Mother Goose Time
Magnetic Dry Erase Board: Theme poster is sticky tacked to it.  Can't wait to use our story magnets
                on this board!
Trunk: I've had since college.  Building manipulatives in clear containers from Dollar Tree.  Above 
            the trunk, our Experience God posters for the month are displayed.


Bookshelf: from Walmart.  Houses counting manipulatives, stickers, puzzles, trays with activities set 
                   up on them, and a few books.  The puzzles and manipulatives come each month in our 
                   Mother Goose Time kit and I have combined them together here.



Window Wall:


Table: handmade by my husband.  It has a chalkboard painted top which is useful to draw on.  This 
           table gets a ton of use and is probably one of my most favorite things.  The chairs were 
           donated by by neighbor, a pediatrician, who was moving offices and couldn't use these chairs 
           anymore. 
Measurement Board: handmade by my friend Julie for Sweet Pea's 1st birthday. Julie is the best!
Window: displays our Mother Goose Time Circle Time numbers, weather, shapes, and day of the 
                week cloud


Cabinet: Inside are our paints, Mother Goose Time box, and scrap paper.  On the middle shelf is a CD                player Sweet Pea can work that holds all our Dance and Beats music CD's that come with   
               our monthly curriculum.  On top of the cabinet is our book of the day/invitation to create 
               display, a Sterilite container holding letter cookie cutters, stamps, and scrap paper; a 
               magazine file holding all my teacher guides; and a smaller Sterilite container holding 
               manipulative and calendar supplies.  The front of the cabinet has our topic of the day, and on                the left side of the cabinet is our calendar and day of the week clouds.



Kitchen Play Area:


Kitchen: donated by one of my husband's co-workers whose kids outgrew. We surprised Sweet Pea
              with it for her 3rd birthday.
White cabinet: from my public school teaching days.  Turned on it's side, it becomes the perfect
                         height for Sweet Pea to cook on and houses her play food and things in the little
                         square areas.  A little lamp makes the perfect accessory that Sweet Pea can turn on
                         and off when she wants.


Well my friends, that's it.  
It took me all day long, but I am so pleased with the outcome.
Sweet Pea loves to spend time in here now which was one of my main goals when combining everything into this space.
And this school teacher at heart can not wait for the first day of our Preschool Homeschool!
If you are a homeschooling momma and tired of spending hours digging through Pinterest, take a minute to look at what Mother Goose Time has to offer!  It truly is a life (and time) saver!


Now to decide when to start the school year... before or after Labor Day?




Saturday, August 26, 2017

Superhero Study: Speed

Superheroes can be known for a lot of things: strength, speed, invisibility, and so forth. 
Today with our Superhero Unit from Mother Goose Time we studied the quality of SPEED.
However, my girl is a cautious and quiet observer... she is definitely not known for her speed.

Our first activity was supposed to be about how fast the child could match the letters, 
but we accommodated it to Sweet Pea and her love of reading. 
Our manipulatives this month are upper case magnetic letters and magnet wands.
Sweet Pea worked on picking up one letter with the wand at a time and matching it to it's lowercase counterpart.  She did a great job at this and only was a little confused by d and b... naturally.
This activity triggered her mind to remember her Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! 
"Wait, mommy.  Wait!" 
She got up, ran to her bookshelf, and pulled out the book.
"Read Mommy."
I love those little moments; the ones where I can see all the little connections her brain is making.



Here's a little video I made of our activity in action.


Later that day, after Daddy came home, we talked about how some Superheroes are known for their speed.  Some wear special shoes to help them go fast.
In our Invitation to Create, we were supplied with some paper, a shoelace, and a colorful graphic of a variety of shoes in a circle formation.
Sweet Pea grabbed 2 of her favorite shoes and traced them on different colored papers.  She worked really hard on her cutting skills and trying to cut along her lines.  
Daddy ended up cutting one shoe out, but she did the other two with some help from him.
I love it when he gets to participate in her learning activities. 






As I watch her do some of these skills I wonder, would I even be allowing Sweet Pea to cut yet?
Honestly, probably not.

Mother Goose Time has really stretched me into providing learning opportunities for her I know I probably wouldn't be doing yet otherwise.  So grateful for this curriculum, seeing my girl grow, and being pushed out of my comfort zone.


Happy Learning!