Down on the Farm

My little man on the Gus Gang farm in NE in 2007. Isn't he adorable?! I can't believe he has grown up so much since then.

It's Back to School, well home school anyway. If you are new to my blog, I incorporate lessons with my family and day care children in hopes of making each day purposeful as well as educational. My goal is to make learning fun and encourage a lifelong love of learning. In fact, if they are learning and don't even know it the better! This year we have a four year old and a six year old on top of my three year old son so we are really trying to get focused. (Our six year will attend public school and the rest of the children will eventually as well, but learning at an early age is always better as it helps prepare them for a life of school. Just so you know it is not my intent to home school for the long haul. A choice each family must make for themselves.)

My curriculum outlines units that are two weeks long focused on areas of interest to kids in particular. Such as animals, dinosaurs, occupations, construction, bugs, seasons, etc. Again, the idea is to make learning fun. This year we are also working on our letters and numbers, in addition to last year's colors and shapes. I even am reading the ABC's with phonic sounds now to help the kids on their path to learning to read. Three days a week for 30 minutes is the goal of time set aside for "learning" at the table together, but the rest of the day we also have topic related crafts, activities, books to read and toys to play with too. Everything revolves around the topic. Also new this year we are also adding a monthly Bible verse to familiarize the kids with memorization and God's Word. Each month has a social/moral and emotional characteristic as well which will relate to our Bible verse and teaching of the month. Did I mention we have a calendar time in the morning too?! (Routine and schedule help us all!)

So what are we up to this month?

Farm Animals (Sept. 1st - Sept. 18)
Orchards/Apples/Fall (Sept. 21st - Oct. 2nd)

Emotional: Shyness and Trying New Things (new day care family, starting school and pre-school all relate well)

Social/Moral: What is a Friend? How do we treat Friends?

Spiritual: God Love Us, Love Each Other!

Month's Verse: "[Jesus said] 'Love each other as I have loved you.'" John 15:12

Our units include a story kit from the library, a farm set with a wide variety of farm animals, farm crafts (some of which I found simple googling ideas online), an array of books from the library for story time (30 min. each day before afternoon quiet time), and hopefully a group trip to an Apple Orchard with some small farm animals for petting. Of course we will have to do some baking with our apples too!

I will try to give you a heads up each month as to what we are doing. This is helpful to keep me on task and I hope some of you may find it helpful to use in your own homes as well. Even taking a 30 minute time to read to your children in a purposeful way will help you students on their path to higher education!