Summer was fun...but now Fall's begun!

Where have we been all these months?! Well, we've been on summer break ;) And yes, even home preschools need one! It may not have been my intention to take one, but once it stopped raining and feeling cold...it was awfully difficult for my kids and I to stay focused on our preschool routine. So we took a break, went to the beach, played at the park, rode bikes, went to bed late and slept in :)

Ice cream at the beach? Yes, please :)

Best. Sensory. Medium. Ever. 

Picking flowers at the park

This was taken on Aislin's birthday...which is why she's fully dressed in princess apparel!

On the hunt for seashells :)

Journeying together

Alas, summer is ending and the kids are definitely itching for more to do. In fact, I'd say they miss the structure of a planned day just as much as the activities themselves! So we've begun our transition back into school mode--slowly but steadily. We've been working on redecorating our bulletin board this week, and should be done by tomorrow (pictures and post to come). We've also started a new idea for choosing our lesson plan each day. Instead of preparing our lessons myself and laying them on the kids each day, I've decided to try out a less stressful, participation-friendly and fun approach:

I labeled each card with song titles, story ideas (Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes, Dr. Seuss, etc.), scriptures stories, group time activities and the word "Art" (for which I'll soon have a list of art ideas that the kids can choose from, but for now those particular cards are sitting on my desk), and each day both my kids get to choose a card. Today for example, Des picked out a song card ("My Hands") and Aislin picked out a group time activity card ("Phonics Fun"). We spent a good chunk of time on these two things, and so far the kids haven't complained about their choices :)

A simple jar with simple cards

Now, I figured the same would have to be done for Aislin's skillbuilding lessons too...so I labeled her cards with things like, "Practice Writing Numbers," "Play with Number Puzzle," "Work in Alphabet Workbook," "Match Picture Cards with Alphabet Cards (Phonics Activity)," etc. We tried it yesterday for the first time, and she chose "Work in Alphabet Workbook." She finished an entire (phonics) activity, A-Z, in which she drew a line from a picture to its corresponding letter. It was a lot of work, but she did a great job! 

I'll keep you posted on our finished bulletin board, and our progress with this new card-in-a-jar idea!