It's been a long time!

I haven't updated this blog for a really long time. I haven't been "in the mood" to write anything. And it's not that nothing has been happening. We've stayed pretty busy.

This summer we tried to take advantage of activities provided by local businesses and libraries. We use the Pharr library because it is larger than the San Juan library and they have more to offer for kids Chloe's age. We also discovered Quinta Mazatlan which is one of the World Birding Centers here in the RGV. They had a Story & Stroll time on Tuesday morning and Family Night on Thursday evening.

Last week, I officially started teaching Preschool/Kindergarten to Chloe. In her words, "Let's play school." Ha! I hope she keeps that attitude. I've decided to use a different theme each week. There is so much available on the internet. Some amazingly creative people have blogs with which they provide us with free printables. One of my favorites is Homeschool Creations with Jolanthe. I love her Preschool Packs and use those as the foundation lesson and then add other printables, crafts, activities and books. Another favorite blog of this kind is 1+1+1=1 with Carisa. Again, I get a lot of ideas and printables from her blog.

The first official week, our theme was Gardens. I wish we could have planted a garden but we can use this theme again later and do some actual planting. This week the theme is Bugs. One of the preschool packs is called Pretty Bugs. The drawings are cute feminine bugs in pink, purple and green. Chloe has an aversion to real bugs so I'm hoping this exposure to bugs will help her get over that. She was really excited about studying bugs this morning. We went to the dollar stores and got some really cheap plastic bugs, a bug catching kit and butterfly net. I also bought a shallow storage container that we will use as a sensory box. This week we will put some potting soil in the bottom. Add the plastic bugs and some sticks, leaves and rocks. Chloe can play with that sort of activity for long periods of time thanks to her very active imagination.

Next week our theme will be Ponds. Do you see a nature theme happening here? Next week we will transform our sensory box into a "pond". We will use either aquarium rocks or colored rice for the bottom. Then we'll add pond creatures like turtles, frogs, lizards, ducks, dragonflies and such. We'll put in some old plastic aquarium plants we have laying around. We'll add some logs for the turtles to sun themselves on. We also dragged an old washtub on legs out of the garage. It was something that was here when we bought the house. It has a drain on the bottom and we always thought we would fix it up and use it for drinks at BBQ's. Well, it's been stored in the garage since we moved in 8 years ago! So Randy got it out, added a hose valve thing to the drain and filled it up with water. He put a stool in front of it for Chloe and she had fun playing with it for a little while last night. I plan to make some lily pads out of green craft foam and take some of her plastic pond creatures outside to play "pond".

I think the following week might be "Birds" mainly because we have a real birds nest on a branch from a tree we cut down last spring. We attempted to study birds a few months ago but it wasn't really official and I hadn't really prepared. I think we'll use the Preschool Pack again. I'm thinking of making a birds nest with yarn on an inflated balloon with watered down glue. I'll be doing most of that planning next week. For now I'll just plan one week in advance.

Besides all this, we've been using a computer based reading program called Funnix. Chloe is starting to be able to sound out certain words! That is so exciting for me because I love to read and I really want to pass that on to her. We are only doing about 2 reading lessons a week. I don't want to push her too hard. She's not even 4 yet. In September, I plan to begin the Funnix math program as well and take it lesson by lesson to see how she accepts it. She loves counting things, so I really don't anticipate her disliking the math program.

Some other areas I want to focus on this school year are clocks and money. I want to introduce the clock face to her and have her learn where the numbers go and what the hands are called. Maybe begin with the o'clocks. I also want to teach her to identify the coins and begin to understand the values of pennies and nickels. If she catches on to that, we'll move on to more valuable coins.

I'm hoping to update this blog more often. I know that was my intention when I first started so I guess we'll see how things turn out! :-)