Saturday, October 10, 2009

Okay, I need to post what we have done!

And this is not the post, but I have our stuff from week A. It turned out really good, then our lives got busy. This coming week, we will do the B activities. And then we will be back on track.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

A place for school

I worked hard to make room for our preschool lessons. This is in our linen closet. In the box to the left I have our supplies, scissors, markers, pencils, crayons, and glue. The empty box in the middle is going to be what I put the weekly items in. The books, craft activities, etc.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

New School Year

With the current economy, I cannot send my daughter to preschool this year like I was planning. I have been able to teach her a lot over the past three years, but she is ready to blossom with her reading, writing, math, and science skills. I have been wanting to do a more formal Preschool/Joy School experience with my children than our current sporadic teaching times.
Last year I tried and failed to set up a sharing preschool with various friends. I wanted a happy and positive first school experience for my daughter. So for the past year, I tried to become motivated to do my own home-preschool. But I have had no one to be accountable to besides myself. So this year is the year.
Starting August 31, we are formally beginning our at home Joy School. We will have a class of two, my daughter 3 1/2 and my son 1 1/2. I will be following the state standards of Arizona for Preschool and Kindergarten to plan my lesson plans. I will also plan my lessons this year around the letters of the alphabet - 1 letter per week - to help focus our studies. I am also excited to include some "field trips" in our weeks. My goal is to incorporate our daily life into more teaching moments and to increase my direct interactions with my wonderful children. I will be posting my lesson plans, preparations, and reflections of what is working and not working.

Arizona Preschool State Standards:
http://www.azed.gov/earlychildhood/downloads/EarlyLearningStandards.pdf

Arizona State Kindergarten Standards:
http://www.ade.state.az.us/standards/GradeLevelsAll/GradeKAll.pdf