Though she has several offered (and more coming) after researching those available I chose Animal Play for 2 and 3 year olds.  I had been wanting something a little more structured for BigMan (my soon to be 4 year old, like this month) and this really fit the bill for us.  I’m normally not a proponent of “curriculum” for “preschool”.  I believe in playing, freedom, and learning in life at this age.  But I saw that he wasn’t getting as much one-on-one time since school work with the other three has increased this year.  He also had begun to ask for school work like his siblings.  So I wanted school work combined with play.  Structure but flexible fun.

I think I found it in this.

Also, confession time.. Four years into homeschooling and I’m a complete nervous wreck chicken anytime I have to buy school books.  I love talking about them.  I love looking at them.  I love getting them in the mail.  I love using them.  But I break out into a cold sweat when I have to fork over the money for them.  It’s not the money so much as the fear of wasting the money on something I won’t use.  But it was much easier to step up to this one.  The price was already very reasonable and then she had a half-price sale going.  Which doesn’t seem to be a one-time fluke – she currently has a 20% sale going.

What You’re Paying For

A download.  All the paperwork and worksheets for your child to complete, flash cards, a memory game and the weekly layout of what you should do when.

It’s an extensive printing download so get a ream of paper and a new ink cartridge.  But every printout can be printed black and white (that SO matters to me).  I printed the entire thing at once.  Well, there was that my-printer-jammed-in-the-middle-of-it-issue, but that was resolved quickly (and caused by me, incidentally, unlike this most recent printer hitch that involved a wadded up pipe cleaner).  I stacked the printouts according to category, used my 3 hole punch to punch holes in all of them, and set aside to organize later.

I already had 2 binders around the house – a large one and a small one.  Perfect for my teacher’s book and his completed work book.

After everything was printed I set about organizing it by day instead of categories.  I wanted this quickly usable each day so it was worth the work upfront.  And I love detailed organizational work like this, in my former big city life I was the perfect Administrator’s Assistant.  I’m a helper like that.

In his binder (per her suggestion) I put a separator between the alphabet work he would be doing and his numbers.  I didn’t have pre-made separators so I just cut a manilla folder to fit, punched holes and used the other half to keep my place in the teacher’s guide.  A bookmark, if you will.

I keep the teacher’s binder, his completed binder, the books, and that week’s craft supplies in a bucket in my homeschool cabinet.  I just pull it all out when we’re ready.

I didn’t have card stock so for the flash cards and memory game I printed it on regular printer paper and glued them onto construction paper.  I will go back and contact paper them for durability now that I know I will use them.

It was all pretty self-explanatory as to what went where once I sat and looked at it a bit.  Which I planned on doing anyway, I just separated it as I went.  I left the clip art grouped together and put it in the back of the binder to pull from at my will.  I also punched holes in some blank printer paper and put it in the back of my teacher’s binder.  That way when it calls for painting, gluing, crafting on plain paper it was already done and ready to hand to him.

What Else You Should Buy Ahead of Time

In the download you get a product overview and suggested book list.  I printed both of these as well and put them in the very front of my binder.  I’ll use the library for the suggested book list.  But the daily recommended books I wanted to buy.  Now, again I was tempted to break out in a buyer’s remorse sweat, but then I realized they were really good books (with a Wee Sing cd thrown in and we all know how much I love Wee Sing!).  These are books I would buy anyway.  That I would use even if my (and BigMan’s) desire fizzled out on the curriculum.  So, I looked around and ordered the suggested books.  I will tell you, she suggested some animal homes books (four of them to be exact) and I didn’t get them.  One of the main reasons I didn’t get them was while searching I realized the author wrote palm reading books, a Golden Compass book, and some other books I wouldn’t allow my kids to read.  I’m normally not a “boycotting” kind of person, but it didn’t set well with me and I figured I could buy something else or just skip that section.  So, I did.

Here’s the list of what I bought with sample pages from each.  I LOVE them!  Well worth the prices and if you order through my Amazon links (the titles of the books are links to my Amazon account) below I get a kick-back – just so you know!

My Big Book of 5-minute Devotions

The Rhyme Bible Storybook

Bible Animals (My Little Church Book)

Alphabet Art: With A-Z Animal Art & Fingerplays (Williamson Little Hands Series)

Wee Sing Animals, Animals, Animals

Not listed in her list, but something I love for this age to learn to cut and build hand strength are these Let’s Cut Paper! (Kumon First Steps Workbooks).

What You’ll Be Teaching

Alphabet letters

Numbers

Shapes

Colors

Music, Fingerplays, and Musical Activities

Bible Stories

Memory Verses

Animals and their habitats

How You’ll Be Teaching It

In a unit study, 3 days a week style.

For instance, week 1 you’ll cover the letter A, the number 1, and the animals Alligator and Ant.

There are 32 weeks of planned activities with new information all the way up to the last week and fun systematic reviews built in all along the way.

You can choose to do the 3 days or like us, do it everyday that all my other children “do school”.  Between the ample info for each day and the extra activities section for each week, plus the extra printouts I got from Enchanted Learning and sticker books from the dollar store it was very easy to stretch it to 5 or 6 days a week.

The Pros and Cons (I haven’t already addressed)

I love that once you’ve done the organizational work that it’s super easy to see what you’re going to do today.  And next week.  Speaking of the next week, I also love that there is a list of “This Week’s Supplies” so that when I’m making my regular shopping list for payday I can glance at that and jot down any items I don’t already have around the house like this weeks bubble paper, color tissue paper, and contact paper.  I also buy for two weeks at a time (since our paydays and thusly our shopping trips are every two weeks).

It can definitely be a con for you if you’re not fond of organizing like I am, but I say again, push on through (or bribe someone else to do it!) it is worth it.

Also, noteworthy.  I’ve had several people ask about the age appropriateness of the material.  They’ve asked about doing these things with their 2 year olds.  I say again, I’m starting this with my almost 4 year old.  I watch for readiness from my children to know when to start their actual “school work”.  With this child (and it would’ve been the same with my 2 older boys at this age) he hasn’t been ready to do this work until now.  Some of the Bible and devotions reading is a tad long for his attention span.  That’s one of the reasons I have been able to easily stretch it out to 5 or 6 days.  And his fine motor skills would’ve been sketchy to do stay in the lines and trace the letters before now.  But my girl would’ve been ready for this right when she turned two.  She was a sitter, listener, be-still-er, and she loved writing even then.  So, yes, it is age appropriate if your child is ready for this kind of work.  If not, I would totally suggest relaxing, taking it easy, waiting til they’re ready (like I did with my nearly 4 year old) and not push them to do work that will only frustrate them and you.

Another huge pro for me is that my other much-too-old-for-this-kind-of-work children join in too.  They want me to wait until they get to a stopping place in their age-appropriate work so they can come sit with us and listen to the Bible Stories, devotionals, and animal facts.  They love learning the actions to the songs and singing and dancing with BigMan.  And BigMan loves that he’s a part of the group, not doing “baby work” all alone.  It gets everybody moving, singing, and crafting together.  A good fun break from all that language arts, history, and math work of elementary school!

I do know this: two week’s of lessons in and my 3 year old boy can’t get enough of it.  This is working for us and I love it!  And I know that I am anxiously awaiting the Kindergarten curriculum this summer.

If you have questions please feel free to ask me!

Hey guys, I’m slowly trying to answer all your questions on that fun “Let’s Play A Game” post.

Today I’ll answer one of Dawn’s questions from My4Sweetums.  She asked me several good questions and I’ll get to all of them, but today’s is her “What are your favorite Christmas books?” question.

Last year I did a weekly Children’s Book Tuesday for awhile before I realized Elise over at A Path Made Straight had my marvelous idea first!  Be sure to go visit her and see all of her wonderful Children’s book picks.

I pack these books up each year after Christmas and it’s so much fun to get them out again each season.  Like old friends visiting.  And new ones for my younger kids.  I love that it’s new all over again for them.

Here are the links to my reviews of each one from last year.  And a few people joined the linky last year, but those linkies are now gone.  I’m sorry to see that happened, but be sure to relink this year.

Children’s {Christmas} Book Tuesday

Week One

1. The Stable Where Jesus Was Born
2. One Wintry Night

Week Two

1. ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas
2. Silver Spurs

Week Three

1. The Crippled Lamb
2. The Shepherd’s Christmas Story
   

Week Four

1. Christmas (Touch and Feel) (Board Book)
2. Baby In A Manger

And then bookmark this page, go take some pics of your fav Christmas Children’s Books (or pull them from your archives, if you’re like me) and link up – I always like meeting new friends – of the real life and the written word kind both!

Merry Reading, Sweet Friends!

You can click the image above to see the Amazon page for more information.

I talked about reading from this Bible during Easter week.  My boys each got an Adventure Bible a year or two ago.  TheOldest got the straight NIV, but TheMiddlest got this version.  I love it.  I always wanted something more than the Bible storybooks.  I wanted verses I could give them.  And the NIV or the NASB is great for that, but I always wanted one that I could read whole passages at a time and “feel” more on their level.  This is that Bible.  It’s also great for your younger readers to read on their own. 

The Product Description on Amazon says:

Now kids 6-9 can share in the love for God’s Word with The Adventure Bible for Early Readers. Based on the bestselling Adventure Bible and written in the New International Reader’s Version (NIrV—’The NIV for Kids!’), this Bible is designed especially for early readers who are ready to explore the Bible on their own.

And From The Back Cover (also from Amazon):

Ready for Adventure? The Adventure Bible for Early Readers takes you on a fun, exciting journey through God’s Word. Along the way you’ll meet all types of people, see all sorts of places, and learn all kinds of things about the Bible. Most importantly, you’ll grow closer in your relationship with God. Here’s a quick tour through the features: ‘Life in Bible Times’ Articles and illustrations describe what life was like in ancient days ‘People in Bible Times’ offer close-up looks at amazing people of the Bible ‘Did You Know?’ provides interesting facts that help you better understand God’s Word. ‘Let’s Live It!’ include hands-on activities to help you apply biblical truths to your life. ‘Words to Treasure’ highlight great verses to memorize. A Dictionary/concordance for those tricky words. Book Introductions for basic facts about each book of the Bible (who wrote it, where it took place, and why it was written). 20 color pages with games, a scavenger hunt, and other Bible fun, with a jungle safari theme. 8 pages of color maps.

This is the Bible for that step between the story book Bibles and my “real” Bible.  Hope you love it as much as we do! 

This post is linked up with Children’s Book Monday at A Path Made Straight.

And get this, I didn’t come up with it. 

I slacked and didn’t keep up with the days and finally quit doing the Children’s Book Tuesday.  Then one of my sweet bloggy friends (who found me looking for Children’s Books posts in the first place, hi Kathi!) had a link last week to a Children’s Book Monday.  SoVainMe thought “Huh, I do that on Tuesdays, not Mondays.  She seems confused.”  And then I went alookin’.  A Path Made Straight has been doing Children’s Book Mondays for much longer than I had even thought of doing Children’s Book Tuesdays!  Hello?  A little research always helps, right?  Measure twice, cut once? 

So here’s my children’s book for this week.  (or for the last 2 months, whatevs) 

And then go comment on her site and leave your children’s book fav over there!

Little Colt’s Palm Sunday
Written by Michelle Medlock Adams
Illustrated by Wayne Parmenter

What a sweet little book.  And for us it’s a great way to start the week before Easter!  It’s all pretend based on the real story, a poem told from the donkeys’ points of view.

Jesus the Christ stroked Little Colt.

He had a gentle touch.

“He’s pleased with me!” thought Little Colt.

“I like him very much.”

And then the men took off their coats

And pulled the colt real near.

They placed their coats upon his back,

And said, “Jesus, sit here.”

We read the real version found in Matthew 21:1-11 and the we read this sweet cutesy book.  Hope you enjoy!

I fell in love with one of the lesser characters.  Mrs. Sowerby.  I found myself not only wanting to sip tea in the cottage with her, but wanting to be her.

She had so many children.  She baked.  She had a cottage.  She stood up to powerful wealthy people when she was decidedly neither.

She loved not only her own children, but these two nearly orphaned kids as well.

And my favorite chapter of the book was the one where she listened to her son.  Really listened.  And then commented to him to let the two children laugh.  The two that had so very little to laugh about.

It was a good reminder.  One that I will paint on my wall.  And in my memory.

Because sometimes I don’t.

I stop them in the midst of their play for chores.  For school.  Just because I don’t want to hear the chaos anymore.

But I don’t want to cut that time short anymore.

I want to remember to..

let them laugh.