Home Preschool - Week #1

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all as happy to be here as I am. :) I have started something new this week. My little man is going to be 5 in November. Unfortunately, that is past the cut-off for him to go to Kindergarten. Taking him to Preschool isn't really an option for us because around here they are half days, and although right now I am only working 3 days that will not be the case during tax time. So, after a lot of thought, I have decided to put my experience in Daycare's and studying Early Childhood Education to use and do a home preschool with him.

I have scoured the internet (mainly Pinterest), and I have come up with lots of great ideas. We will be working on 1 letter a week, with 2 "themes" to go along with that. So, here is our schedule of activities for the first week. Our letter was "A" and our themes were "Apples" and "Ants".

Reading: Little Man and I went to the library. He searched the aisles choosing books that started with the letter "A". I also chose a non-fiction book about both of our themes for the week. So, during the week we read: Apples Apples Everywhere, Marching with the Ants, Airplanes - Soaring Diving Turning, Alphie Runs Away, The Apple Doll, The Apple Orchard Riddle, and Astronaut PigglyWiggly.

Writing: A few weeks ago I purchased an alphabet learning workbook from the store, so Little Man did the pages corresponding with the letter "A" throughout the week. We have also started practicing writing his name. He can spell and write his first name completely on his own, so now we are working on adding his last name.

Math: I used my Cricut Expression, along with the Cheerful Seasons cartridge to cut out 2.5 inch apples. I wrote the number 1 through 20 on them. Little Man first put all the numbers in order, and then we practiced our addition. I would choose 2 apples, and he would pick the apple with the correct answer on it. We also started a math journal. Once or twice a week, I will write a prompt to help Little Man's problem solving skills.

Science: Our science experiment for the week was about learning why apples turn brown. We took 3 apples slices (little man loved that he was able to eat the rest.. lol), and watched to see what happened when they were left out. We put 1 in a small bowl of water, 1 had a little lemon juice squeezed onto it, and the other had nothing. I explained that the apple is made up of different chemicals, and that when oxygen in the air hits some of those chemicals it has a reaction. The reaction is how the apple turns brown. After the experiment was done (later that evening), we discussed the differences in the time it took the apples to turn brown, and made an entry in his science journal.

Music: For music, the Little Man and I sang The Ants go Marching and This is My Apple

Arts/Crafts: Little Man made fingerprint ants and a superhero apple paper craft. He also colored a few pages with things that started with the letter "A".

Nutrition: When it was time to go to the grocery store, I decided it was a great learning opportunity. We got to the store, Little Man picked out his own little grocery cart (I love that our store has those), and he went around adding things to it that he noticed started with the letter "A". This included some items he had never had before, but he was excited to try. What a great way to get him to try new things! He had: Apples, Asparagus, Avocado, Acorn Squash, Atlantic Salmon, Arborio Rice, Animal Crackers, Apple Jelly, Apricot Mango flavored Greek Yogurt, Apple Juice, Almonds, and Applesauce.

Please keep in mind that all of these activities are spread throughout the entire week. It's been a great week, and we are excited to start week 2: Letter "B": "Balls" and "Beach"!

Dorothy