I’d love to tell you what a “typical” day in the life of US would look like, but there really is no “typical.”  It’s so random, actually that I don’t even bother with a concise lesson plan or schedule for our day.  Because. It. Will. Not. Work!!  (For us, anyway.)

Every day, I CAN count on the following to happen:

- 1 minor OH CRAP moment
- some sort of food being smashed into the floor
- someone crying or screaming…generally, both.
- naptime
- something not going the way I had originally planned.

But, nonetheless, here’s how we generally hope our days go (and they are usually some version of this):

7:30 AM – Lorelei wakes up and runs into our bedroom, announcing that she must pee!!  I shove the pillow over my face and tell her to “GO!  Pee!  Then go back to bed!!”

8:00 AM – Start getting up and taking my shower.

8:30 AM – Get the girls up.  Change Aurora’s diaper and clean up any blowouts if there were any.  Lorelei makes her bed.

8:40 AM – Bananas and/or yogurt for breakfast all around.

9:00 AM – Girls get dressed for the day.  I try to get smushed banana off the floor/couches/walls/etc.

9:20 AM – Begin homeschool.  Generally, we start with the letters or numbers since those are the subjects that require a LOT of focused attention.  Aurora plays.

9:40 AM – Quick chore or two.  Lorelei helps.  Aurora tries to help.    (Laundry, sweep or mop, etc.)

10:00 AM – Tackle another homeschool subject – subject will vary depending on what’s on the agenda.  Aurora plays.

10:30 AM – Lunch begins!

11:00 AM – Aurora and Lorelei wipe the “table” (coffee) off really well.  Lorelei and Aurora pick up their toys and put away.  Aurora gets wiped down and cleaned up.  By this time, Lorelei usually has lots of energy, so I have her bounce on one of those balls with a handle.

11:15 AM – Learning with stickers while bouncing!!  Generally, by this time, Lorelei’s attention is dwindling so I have her use stickers (one of her favorite things) in whatever subject we’re learning.  Aurora uses stickers to stick all over her body.

NOON – Story time with the girls OR an educational video (online or dvd)

1:00 PM – Naptime!

2:00 PM – Ashley does chores/crafts/etc

3:30 PM – Girls wake up.  Formally tackle another subject.

4:00 PM – Play time and snack

5:00 PM – Girls pick up and put away their toys.

5:30 PM – Play together until daddy gets home.  Generally something more physical (exercises, running, playing outside when weather permits, stretching, bouncing, etc) to burn off extra energy.

6:00 PM – Daddy time

6:30 PM – Supper

7:00 – 9:00 PM – Family time and clean up and end of the day chores for everyone

9:00 -9:30 PM – Girls’ bedtime

Yes, she does have a princess dress on.  Yes, that’s relatively normal.  She usually has some sort of dress on.  Yes, the baby is mostly naked.  Yes, it’s how she prefers it (except she’d prefer no diaper.  That’s not okay with me.)

This picture captures a moment in our homeschooling.  We live in a place where a bonafide kitchen table isn’t really something we have room for, so the coffee table is all of that.  This little table (which was a gift from my father in law) has been very well used!  Here, Lorelei is using quarters and number magnets to practice simple addition.  Aurora is eating.  Aurora is always eating

Welcome back!

We don’t technically EVER stop homeschooling – it’s a continual thing, all day, all year long.  But, yesterday was our OFFICIAL first day (where we keep more of a schedule about it).

Here are Lorelei’s Preschool First Day Of School Pictures:

This month, here’s what we have been/are learning:

Reading

• Recognition of letters A-O (we use a variety of ABC books, flashcards, sticky letters that you use to make bulletin boards, paper and pen, worksheets, and books with small amounts of large print).  With the exception of “K,” Lorelei has done really well.  We’re currently 2 weeks ahead of our schedule for this!
• Practice writing letters L, O, T, I, and A
• Practice pairing said letters with pictures (T is for Tiger)
• Practice recognizing the sounds each letter makes
• Read together and let her point out certain words by using books that repetitively use the same words.
• Watch My Baby Can Read Beginner DVD
• ABC videos
• Sing ABC song
• ABC soup!
• Leapfrog ABC magnetic fridge game
• Help write letters to her penpal (who is the child of a friend of ours that lives in another state)
• BrainQuest “Max” cards (comprehension)

Math

• Practice verbally counting to 20
• Practice counting objects to 20
• Practice recognizing numbers 1-10
• Practice writing numbers 1-10
• Introduction to a number line – we don’t expect her to have this completely down at 3, but plan to continuously re-introduce it so it becomes a part of learning
• Recognize More/Less than and The Same
• Intro to simple math (You have 5 crackers and give 2 to your sister, how many do you have left?)

Science

• Temperature
• Seasons and Weather
• Like and Unlike plants
• Stars and Planets continued (an introduction that they exist, not too in depth yet)
• Colors and the mixing of colors – using colored water
• sunlight and the sun (We will talk about the sun and what it does and then make sun prints)

Social Studies and Skills

• Japan 2
• Korea 1 and 2
• Simon says (following directions)
• Introduction to chores and responsibilities in a scheduled manner
• Introduction to Money and denominations of money (penny, nickel, dime, quarter, dollar)
• Saving, Giving, Spending (10,10,80)–Which we will probably end up making a 50, 10, 40 rule since she’s 3.

This week, we’ve been really busy with homeschooling! – (Among other things)

I thought I would try using a REAL lesson planner with Lala’s lessons.  I know it’s only “preschool,” but I feel like I’ll be more accountable if I have my plans and ideas written out.  PLUS, I love the idea of writing down FUTURE references or ideas as she gets older…things that may not apply now.  And then, there’s also the idea of keeping track of things that appeals to me, being able to know when I did what and what I did when.  So, I ordered The Homeschooler’s Journal.  For only $8.95, it’s a great planner and record keeper and can be used for more than one child but was made specifically for homeschoolers with lots of room to write!  It’s been great!

This week, we focused on the letter A and “apple.”

The printer was broken, so I couldn’t make a copy of the worksheet I had planned to.  Instead, I just drew the letter “Aa” with a permanent marker and an apple.  Lala practiced identifying the letter A and coloring and tracing it.

Then, we washed apples, practiced using a mandoline to slice the apples, laid them on a baking sheet and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.  We baked them at 250 degrees F, turning them over ever 30 minutes for about 2 hours.  Lala was able to do pretty much everything but put them in the oven.  She helped eat them too!  So yummy!

We borrowed a few books from the library as well…actually we borrowed several, but these 3 were our favorites.  The common theme (if you haven’t already guessed ) was APPLES!  The Apple Pip Princess, The Apple Doll, and Pepo and Lolo.  We borrowed these from the library (and will be returning them this weekend), but the links work if you’d like to buy them.

In the apple doll, we read about a little girl who made a doll out of an apple, so we thought we’d have a go at it.

We peeled an apple and then carved a little nose out and made eyes and a mouth.  We covered the head in lemon juice that had been mixed with 1 T salt and let set for 30 minutes.

This last picture is what the little apple looks like today after a couple of days of drying.  In about a week, she should completely be dried!  It’s fun to watch the process and Lala will have an apple she can keep!

We’ve been talking about apples and their colors (brown, green, yellow, red), shape (circle), and different things you can do with them.  But, we’ve also been learning the difference between BIG and SMALL, and Lala has gotten pretty good at identifying big toys versus small toys.

Life skills that we’ve been working on:  Picking up after herself.  Baking.  Using the Mandoline.  Washing fruits.  Rinsing dishes.

Next week will be extremely busy as I prepare for a large event, SO I’m hoping we can accomplish a decent amount.  I’m really excited about starting the letter “B” and exploring new things with Lala.

This past week has been much of the same as far as learning goes – independent learning with LeapFrog Tag, Max in BrainQuest, Toddler Signing Videos, and Alphabet and Counting.  But, then Gigi and Pa invited us to join them for a quick trip to St. Louis, MO.

First Stop: The Magic House.  This place was seriously AWESOME.  Although, I must say that it would’ve been much more awesome with fewer (undisciplined) children.  I love kids, I really do…I just have no patience for kids that bully other children and who are “cut loose” from their parents (and apparently any sort of civilized behavior) as soon as they get through the door.  Taking turns, being patient, being courteous and polite are all things that  I THINK children should learn at an early age.  It’s one thing to have unrealistic expectations (like expecting a baby not to cry or a toddler not to have little breakdowns when they’ve not had naps or are hungry), but it’s another to totally let them be disrespectful on account of them being CHILDREN.  Seriously.  Seven and Eight Year Olds should know better than to shove two year olds out of the way because they couldn’t wait 30 seconds to have a turn.  They should know better than to shove their shoe into another child’s forehead JUST BECAUSE they weren’t paying attention to what they were doing.  Repeatedly.  But, apparently, some didn’t…

We finally had enough, though and used a little bit of our “grown up size” to er…block them off…and make them wait their turn.

Climbing through a tunnel with Lala.

Sitting at the “President’s desk” with my secretary.  Ah, the life.

Look at us.  All ready for court!

You, there!  GUILTY!

Lala playing with plastic coated pins and making hand-prints.

Next stop: The City Museum in St. Louis, MO

The magic house had tons of fun (including mini-me grocery store and house and other set ups), but the City Museum had much more fun stuff for the “older kids.”  The floor and walls were filled with beautiful colorful mosaics, and there was art EVERYWHERE.  Not framed art, but beautiful structures made from odd and everyday objects.  It was amazing!  There were surprises everywhere, from the underground cave system to the tunnels in the walls and ceilings!  Lala was able to do a lot, but then got to rest with Gigi and Pa as Sir, myself, and Amburger (Sir’s sister.  Not her real name.) all went to “play” in the tunnels.  Outside, there was more climbing…3 stories up.  We climbed through iron structures where one could easily lose a flip flop, and then slid down a two story slide, after walking through small planes.

Last:  The zoo.

Lala loved the snakes and monkeys and turtles.  We were running on almost zero sleep at this point from a late-night tummy ache, but she held out pretty good.

Lala focusing on the …railing?

Ooooh…there are the turtles!

She also got to see a HIPPO swimming closeup!  She was SOOO excited.

We’re already thinking about taking a return visit to the Magic House, but hopefully we can go DURING THE WEEK, when most kids are in school.  That, and not on a holiday weekend.  We had a blast though, so thanks Gigi and Pa and Amburger for letting us tag along!  Lala loved getting to see some animals in real life that we’ve been learning about for a while now in our books, and she had some great one-on-one time with Aunt Amburger (now, they’re big buddies) and learning a new sign: Hamburger.

Everyone has begun their homeschooling, and in an effort to feel like we aren’t completely letting our child’s brain waste away, we thought we’d do a little bit of PRE-K with Lala. She’s 28 months old (2 years and 4 months), so we aren’t pushing it too much. Mostly, lots of play time with some focus to vocabulary, ABCs, numbers, songs, and the like. A few days ago, I hopped on Worldbook.com and looked up the Pre-K curriculum list (which is AVERAGE across the US). I printed the list off and began marking through the skills Lala had so we would know what to work on. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she’d already mastered HALF of a list that was intended for 3 and 4 year olds.

Sir and I have been prompting Lala to save money here and there – from birthdays to money she finds when she helps do laundry, etc. Yesterday, we headed to town and she found what she wanted to spend her stash on – a leapfrog tag game. Originally, she bought the starter set and then leapfrog tagjunior books (2 of them). But…after I had downloaded everything, we realized that the Tag and Tagjunior books WOULD need different sets. I had been hoping that you could use the same stylus pen for both, but NOPE. So, we explained it to Lala and told her we’d need to take it back. However, she had a different idea. She calmly told us that she’d like to keep her starter set but we could take back the two JUNIOR books. So, that’s what we did.

Here she is with the carrying case and all…

She LOVES this thing. We thought it’d be too old for her, but actually…I’m thinking it’s best that the simple aBC 123 Junior books didn’t work out… She’s having a good time with a book that actually has a plot. These are also super cool because they will tell the story, have extra sound effects, and other little games included. PLUS it tracks how much she plays with it and what she clicks on so when I attach it to the computer, it can kind of gauge how much she was exposed to each thing. Pretty cool, right?

This book actually came IN the starter kit and look! ABCs! Woohoo! Oh, and one of my favorite things about this thing? It comes with a headphone JACK! OH YEAH!

Still going…

Another favorite of Lala’s has been this Brainquest set. We found it at Walmart for about $10 for a set of 3. It’s for ages 2-3 and it’s pretty great! The little monkey’s name is Max and it basically asks questions about what Max is doing as well as introduces new vocab words!

I had only planned for a short round of this, but she wanted to keep going. And going.

We also have a set of inexpensive ABC flashcards with the letter and a picture on the front and the letters again on the back. We’ll identify the letters, the pictures, and then I’ll ask her to find certain letters for me. Sometimes she will, sometimes she won’t. I’m thinking it’s more of a matter of she doesn’t feel like doing this activity. SOOO…maybe this should be one of those things we do before she gets too tired but when she’s not as riled up about the “more exciting” activities. She adores singing the ABCs with one of the online toddler websites BUT the catch is…she likes doing it with her Mimi the most. *sigh* I was trying to find an ALTERNATIVE to that. She’s a very independent learner, so I think the LeapFrog Tag stuff will be great for her.

Oh, and did I mention we’re exploring circles? Yeh. She LOVES drawing circles.