HomeSchool Plans

So yesterday was a slow relaxing day around here. To give you an idea of how relaxing it was, Elizabeth (3 mos.) took at least a 2-2.5 hour nap after each feeding, Natalie (18 mos.) took a 2 hour morning and 3 hour afternoon nap, AND Noelle (3.75 yrs) slept for about 2.5 hours yesterday afternoon. We are all much more rested today. : ) Right now, the littlest ones are napping and Noelle is at her desk playing with her school supplies. We are trying to remember to get them out when Natalie is napping. I don't mind Natalie coloring (on paper and herself, of course) but sometimes it's hard for big sister to really get work done on a project with she has a little "helper." : )

What did I do during nap time? Planning! : ) I typed up our tentative schedule for the fall. This won't be the norm everyday, and the times are obviously not set in stone, but I needed to give myself a little more structure so things that I want to accomplish get done. Several of you had graciously offered up preschool suggestions for me last week and that was so helpful. My starting plan is to aim for three mornings of semi-structured preschool/table time for Noelle. Why three days? Well, we have Bible study at church on Wednesdays and this gives me a little time with other adults and the two big girls some playtime with friends. Then one day will also be for errands/library day (probably Friday mornings). I found this great list of preschool goals and will use it starting place for some things to work on with Noelle. Other things that I will be doing as well as resources will be:

~ Before Five in a Row
~ putting together a nature journal of things we find on morning walks
~ concentrating on one letter per week and while doing that we'll...
~ make an ABC notebook, cutting pictures out of magazines and printing them on the computer
~ lots of time with markers, glue, scissors, and other crafty things
~ Bible memory (we'll use her Awana materials for this)
~ helping with special Mama projects whether housecleaning or cooking something
~ lots of reading aloud

We're planning to start officially after Labor Day, but next week will have several trial runs, I'm sure. And I can already tell a difference with Natalie by making sure she has a morning rest time, even if she doesn't sleep. It's been good for her to have that structure back ... I kinda messed her up thinking that she was going to be dropping her morning nap and she (and I'm) not ready for her too.