Home Pre K week 1

As I am staying home this school year (eek!) I am tackling homeschool Pre-K with Rusty. He turned five in June, but because I believe so much in outdoor, free, and risky play - I was really adamant about him having another year to be home and wild and free before heading off to public school. B and Rusty agreed so here we are - home together but doing some important learning though too. 

To prepare, I did a lot of research on daily rhythms (hi, Waldorf, I love you), and really reflected on what we were all going to need to get us into a comfortable routine here at home. We have the two little babies (2 under 2!), the farm and house chores, and I'm hopeful that I can start taking some time to get my own soul a little recharging (writing, running, and reading). Once I figured out our rhythm, I knew I was not about to reinvent the wheel , so I looked into some secular homeschool curriculums and followed a lot of homeschoolers on Instagram that inspire me. I knew I wanted most of our day to be about free play, chores, and the outdoors with about 45-60 minutes of sit down homeschool. 

I really appreciated the Five Senses Literature curriculum; it was created by an OT mom which I purchased. It has various secular units that mostly line up to the seasons and include book lists for read alouds. The activities have all  been great jumping off points that I have been expanding on using my own educational background as well as lots of freebies from teachers pay teachers. I love that there is a main focus, but then within that we can practice all kinds of traditional skills (like language arts and math) but more homeschool bonus things like dramatic play and cooking. I also ordered the Good & Beautiful Handwriting booklet (Doodles & Pre-Writing Part 2). 

Unit: Autumn

Lesson: Apples

Books we read:
Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
Barbie Let's Pick Apples Step into Reading by Random House
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Memory Verse
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. 

Language Arts:
I See Apples foldable book
Read aloud reflection on The Giving Tree
Descriptive words list (spoken while I wrote)
Name Letter sequencing

Math:
Apple Patterns
Apple seeds & ten frame

Handwriting:
6 pgs of the Good & Beautiful Doodle Part 2 workbook

Art:
Apple stamping with paint

Science:
Sink or Float hypothesis

Physical Play:
Bobbing for apples
Picking apples
Cutting apples

And we had a great first week. Rust was a little cranky about doing homeschool on Friday, ("again!?") but once we got to the bobbing for apples he was all in. That might be a good thing to do each week - something really fun on Fridays as a little celebration to keep him motivated. He was also really proud to say his Memory Verse loud and proud for the whole family on Friday too. 

I'm feeling mostly hopeful and grateful for our daily rhythm. I has kept us moving through the day at a nice, steady, but comfortable pace. I don't feel stressed about getting chore done because there is time built into the schedule for it. It has honestly been such an incredible relief to wake up each morning and be able to see all the big kids off to school in the morning and then spend long days with the other three babies while taking care of our home and meals. It's like I can't even believe I don't have to rush through the day to try to tie all the ends together (for real blowing my mind every single day). I am so so grateful for this decision - even though it was a hard one (I love my students!) and a scary one (8 people on one income!) but it was definitely the right one.