A week on Counting

This past week was spent on counting. Ashley had learned to count awhile ago (up to fourteen) but didn't connect it with anything, so I wanted to work on it this week. She did a great job and can now easily count/match items up to five, and is doing pretty well with 6-10. Here are some of the books we used this week.

When we read books, we used puff balls to count along with the book. Here is a page from "Five Little Ducks."

We got the next sheet pictured from confessions of a homeschooler. She has lots of free printables. I printed multiple sets. One I printed on cardstock, and laminated whole (in sheet protectors taped closed) for Ashley to use her bugs (from discovery toys) to count.

The next one I printed out the first page (1-5) cut out each one, and laminated with packing tape. We added puffy ladybug stickers to each one, and spent a lot of time putting them in order from 1 to 5.

The third set I printed on regular paper and we used stickers to put in each square and counted them.

This sheet came from 1+1+1=1. We printed two copies, one to put stickers on and one to cut into cards and use with little gems (under supervision of course)

Some other things we did this week: Number Tracing. I think this was a 1+1+1=1 page also.

Counting puff balls next to little foam numbers.

Using our "Melissa and Doug" Number mat, counting one side, and coloring and counting the other side.

A few more things that I don't have pictures of... We have a sesame street video called "the number game" which we watched several times. Also, we counted EVERYTHING. food, trees, cars, whatever. Ashley learned so much this week and we had a great time! See you next week. This post is linked up to Totschool!

Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM

I love the book Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM, so we had to do a week on it. There are so many projects you can do with it, depending on your child's age. Here are some of the things we did.

Read the book - obviously. many many times. I have most of it memorized!

Watched a video of the book that I found on you tube.

I made a coconut tree using a coloring sheet I had from my college teaching days, and I colored it and used packing tape to put it on our dryerase magnet board. Then Ashley had fun having the letters climb the tree!

I had Ashley color a copy of the same tree to use for her lapbook.

She watercolor painted five smaller trees (I colored the trunks with marker) for her lapbook.

Lapbook cover I printed from online somewhere, if you recognize it, please let me know so I can link it.

Inside the lapbook. I cut out the trees and we glued them. We glued sets of coconuts (1-5) on to the trees.

I made the numbers, cut them out, and used packing tape to make them square, so they are easy to pick up, but see through. The numbers climb the correct tree!

On the back, we glued ashley's colored tree. I made the letters of her name the same way as I made the number cards, so that her name can climb the tree. There are storage envelopes on both pages for the letters/numbers to be stored in.

She loved that it spelled her name!

Tree made from a paper towel tube. I cut the leaves out and attached them. Ashley helped by putting the alphabet stickers on the tree.

The other tree we did, but it was too hard for ashley. There were holes poked in the tube for the feathers to go in, and the pompoms are glued on top as the coconuts.

What a fun week!

This post is linked up with TOT School. Check them out!!!

April Update

It's only been three months this time, doing better!

One thing about blogging, when I forget to blog, I don't take pictures. So there aren't many. sorry!

My big kids went back to public school in February, so it's just Ashley and I most of the time now. Long story, but anyhow we do plan to homeschool Ashley as she grows.

We finished our weekly alphabet with Z the first week of March. We have been doing some short units - a hungry catapillar one, and one on cats. Also on being a princess of God.

A couple of pictures for you...

Name Tracing in January...


Reading on the table 2/6/12


Playing with shaving cream! This is a huge deal because it was the first time (after many many tries) that she played with it!


4/5/12 - Ashley brought me this and said "I make you a car mommy." LOVE IT!


Happy Spring!

This post is linked up with TotSchool

Slacking Off - heres a quick version of school since last april!

Hi! I've been neglecting this blog. I feel terrible! At least I have not been neglecting tot school. Here are a few photos and a recap of our last eight months! sorry!



The rest of April - writing board, beans, and Easter Tactile Tub. She loved finding the eggs and putting them in the carton. She was not as big of a fan of it on Easter morning!

Summer was really busy for us, as Ashley's dad and I finally got married. May and June and the first half of july was a blur of wedding prep and family coming in and out and cleaning and parties (Ashley turned 2!) and wedding!



After the wedding I was busy preparing not only to teach Ashley at home, but her older brother and sister as well. We began homeschooling this year! 1st and 4th grade, along with a toddler, makes things busy but fun! Only big sister (8th grade) is in public school.



I'm using Tot School ABC pages from 1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com. Most of them are a bit over Ashley's head at this point, but she likes to color and she has learned some shapes, all of her basic colors, some numbers and several letters since we started. In one of the pictures you can see her working on the letter A page. We started school on August 1st, but only for two hours a day, which left plenty of time for playing outside!



We had a great time at parks and playing in the water during the month of August!



September brought us to a more focused schedule for Ashley's siblings, so her work has been pretty basic, though consistent. We covered one letter per week and did various activities based on the letter. We also did as much outdoor play as we could while the weather stayed nice. Lucky for us it stayed warm for awhile.



October seemed to be the month where Ashley made the most progress. Potty training really took (though we're still working on it) She made her first faces on paper, stacked 16 blocks completely unaided, colored a ton, and started really talking. She loved Halloween and it was a beautiful day! The random picture of the dog in the snow is on Oct. 26. Lucky for us that cleared up by halloween, as you can see by the halloween picture outside by the tree!



November brought us cooler weather and fun art projects! Circles are really starting to look like circles. We still got outside as much as possible!



We only did school for the first part of december and I didn't really get any school work pictures. Ashley really started to get into pretend play. Here she is serving a meal to her stuffed bear, and also coloring with her. She also really got into playing in the snow, and learned to make and throw snowballs!

So that catches me up... See you in eight months! KIDDING!
We will be finishing our weekly alphabet (we are on "S" this week) and then doing some various themes for the rest of the school year. Hopefully I will do a better job with blogging it!





This post is linked up with Tot School over at 1+1+1=1. Check it out!

Colors week #2

This past week has been crazy, and I didn't do much - only two days, pink/brown on one day and black/white on the second day. Here are some pictures...



Pink day - Colored, tried a puzzle (these are too hard for her, but she enjoys playing with the pieces and watching me complete the puzzle)
Colored with a marker (she's holding her finger out because she got marker on it and she didn't like it) After she colored I tried to have her glue some tissue paper hearts onto the pig. She cried when she got glue on her hand, but eventually was willing to stick them down if I put the glue on first. She did however, enjoy showing off her finished work!
Pushing her baby - I took this stuffed doll, opened her up, and shoved a bag full of marbles in, and closed her back up. She weighs almost 2 lbs (we used the scale at the grocery store!) Ashley really likes her. I don't let her play with her unsupervised (I'm not sure I trust my sewing skills) but she's a favorite toy for sure.
The last picture is playing with her other "pink" toys.



Same day but not related to pink or brown - a ziplock bag of hairgel. I hoped she'd like it because she didn't have to actually touch the hairgel, but she was not a fan. She did like to smell it, and eventually was willing to lay it down and push on it a little with her fingers, but over all she didn't seem to like it.



Brown Day - we just colored and played with another puzzle.



She had a great time with the black and white day. The first picture, she's coloring, and pointing out that the dog on her coloring sheet matches her toy. Played with a puzzle. Read a color book. She loves the doggy/kitty page. She enjoyed putting little puff balls in a paint tray, but didn't really understand how to put black on one side and white on the other. In the last picture, she is playing with a black feather and a white feather.



This was her favorite part of the day. I printed out a picture of our conviently black and white dog and cat. She loved the print out! We then went on a search through the house to find them. The dog really has no opinion of her either way and accepted sitting for a picture. The cat however, was completely unwilling to come out from behind the chair.

So that was our two days... This week isn't looking promising, but I'll get something up next week.

Linking up to TOT School...

Fun with Feathers!

Color Week #1 (3/28-4/2)

This past week was our first week doing a specific set of projects every day. I didn't get pictures of everything, but we did coloring with crayons, talked about things that are the color we were using, found things outside in each color, dressed in the color, and did lots of activities related to the color. Here are some highlights...


Red - I forgot to take pictures in the morning, so she's in her pjs at this point, but you can see some reading/red toys, and putting together a three piece puzzle (which she didn't get at all yet)


Orange - Coloring, dressing up in her Home Depot apron, Feeding the baby (orange juice!), Stamping


Yellow - The yellow tub, acting out "five little ducks," playing with the items in the box, trying out some yellow playdough (which she would not touch with her hands, only the plastic cup)


Green - Coloring and Dancing to the music the green caterpillar plays. I had to include the bottom picture because she was having so much fun!


Blue - watching the clothes in the washer get dyed blue, building with blue blocks, wearing a blue hat, coloring. The shirt she has on (though not entirely blue) was colored by Ashley the night before. All of the kids got to decorate shirts with fabric markers for spring break.


Purple - Coloring, Reading the purple penguin book, riding the purple bike, throwing the purple ball.

We're taking a break from the colors for a few days so I can get the next set of stuff together. Look for Pink, Brown, Black, White, and Grey next week!

Linking up to TOT School for the first time!