Category Archives: Homeschool Resources

Classical Music My Preschoolers Love

Bernstein Favorites: Children's ClassicsYesterday as I was driving Ian home from his music lesson, he requested the same music we’d listened to on the way over.  It made me smile that he enjoyed it so much, and it got me thinking about some of the classical music that has really “clicked” with him over the last year or two.  So I thought I’d share some of our favorites.

When Ian was two, I decided to start being intentional about providing him with classical music to listen to and enjoy.  The first thing I thought of was Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.  There are many different recordings available, but I chose the one from the CD Bernstein’s Favorites: Children’s Classics because it also contained some other pieces I liked.  To introduce the story I read it to him from a couple different books.  I bought the first one because it was a nice stand-alone story even without referencing the music.  Then I ran across another version at the library bookstore and figured it was worth 50 cents for another one that talked a little about the instruments that play the themes for each character.  (It’s an older copy and I couldn’t find it on Amazon, but it’s similar in idea to this one, which comes with a CD.)  Ian also loved the old Disney video of the story.  (I saw a number of VHS copies on Amazon, but as far as DVD, I could only find it on Make Mine Music, a collection of different musical vignettes).  Ian was enchanted by this story right from the start, and it continues to be one of his favorite things to listen to in the car.  (His enthusiasm is contagious, because now Elijah is really getting into it as well.)

The second piece I thought Ian would like was the Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens.  This one took a little longer to grow on him, but we’ve listened to it a lot, and there are certain parts he really likes (the “Royal March of the Lion” and the “Fossils” are his favorites).  We have two recordings of this.  It is also on the Bernstein’s Favorites: Children’s Classics I mentioned above.  In this recording, Bernstein provides some explanation for the music that goes with each animal, which can be helpful at first, but I find it a little tiresome after a while.  I prefer listening to the straight music on the CD that came with a book that helps kids know what they’re listening to with each piece.  The book is better for older children, but I just summarize the information for Ian, and he loves looking at the pictures.

Hansel & Gretel/ Alice in WonderlandThe latest addition to our children’s classical library was Hansel and Gretel.  I wanted to introduce Ian to the music from Humperdinck’s opera without overwhelming him with the entire thing.  I was hoping to find a CD version of the Disney vinyl record I listened to growing up, but it doesn’t seem to exist.  So then I searched for something with just highlights in English, preferrably with some narration.  The only album I found that met those criteria was this one that also included a telling of Alice in Wonderland set to music.  (However, Ian’s been so thrilled with Hansel and Gretel, we keep going back to listen to it again and haven’t made it to the second half of the CD, so I can’t comment on that yet!)

If your preschooler has become attached to a particular piece of classical music, please add a comment–we’d love suggestions!

Update: For more ideas, check out “More Classical Music My Kids Love“!

Scripture Memory Songs–and a giveaway!

If you’ve read any of my posts about our Bible lessons, you know how much I value music for helping us memorize Scripture.  When possible I love to find a CD with our verse on it so I can include it in our iPod playlist.  If I can’t find one, I’ll try to set the verse to a familiar tune.  Here are the CDs we have in our personal library right now:

And I’m always looking for new ones.  I’ve had my eye on the “Seeds Family Worship” CDs for a while, and today I found out about a giveaway of a couple other CDs that sound wonderful!  So I thought I’d write about it, both so I can enter the giveaway and to share with you!  Here’s a quick glimpse at what’s being offered:

“God’s Word From A to Z”

Abe & Liza Philip have produced an album for children called God’s Word From A to Z. This album is a delightful collection of 26 important Bible verses (from A to Z) set to music.

“Ascending”, “Pure Words” and “Songs From the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s” 

Jamie Soles has produced three albums of Psalms set to music. Nearly all of the Psalms on these albums are word for word taken from the English Standard Version and each song is a full Psalm (Psalm 46 is divided into two songs).

Ascending – Psalms 120-134, The Psalms of Ascent

Pure Words – Psalms 1-16

Songs From the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s – A collection of Psalms from Psalm 42-69

For more details on the CDs and how to enter the giveaway, check out Raising Olives (one of my favorite blogs!)

Entertaining Elijah (tips for toddlers)

Elijah playing with “rainbow stones”

“What do I do with the toddler/preschooler while I’m homeschooling an older child?”  I know I’m not the only mom who has asked that, because when I started looking online for answers, I found lots of great suggestions.  So I thought I’d share the list I compiled.  Most of these are activities you can set the child up with and let them “work” independently, but there are a few “preschool-type” activities that are for you to do with them.  I was too lazy to separate them out.  (Just being honest!)

A few of these are original ideas, but the vast majority are copied from various other sites (which I’m afraid I can’t cite because I either forgot to note it down or else I found it in multiple places).  I broke them down into categories because, well, that’s just the way my mind works best.  I haven’t tried them all, especially the ones that would be better for an older preschooler, but I’ve found it very handy to have a list for when I’m not feeling very creative.  (Activities in bold are favorites around our house.)

NOTE: Many of these suggestions involve small pieces that could be a choking hazard.  You know your child best!  (Some of mine could be trusted… others not so much!)

“Seatwork”

  • New Coloring Books (in order to keep them new, just tear out unused pages and staple them together)
  • Paint-with-water books (where the color’s already on the page and you just run a wet brush over it)
  • New Crayons (try to keep the crayons fresh by sharpening them or melting old crayons and making new ones in fun shapes)
  • Color Wonder Paper and Paint/Markers
  • Chalk or light colored crayons on dark construction paper.
  • Sticky notes and pencil.
  • envelopes, labels, paper, and stickers.
  • Stickers & Wax Paper (they can reuse the stickers that way)
  • glue stick and white glue, scissors, construction paper and paper scraps
  • Easy-to-use paper punch and strips of paper.
  • Scissors and paper (no other objective in mind!)
  • Stencils, paper, colored pencils
  • rubber stamps
  • Put paper clips onto paper
  • Tear paper (use for a mosaic-type art project later?)

Sorting/Matching

  • Matching shapes – cut out shapes, then draw around them on another sheet of paper. Let the kids match the shapes.
  • homemade cards to play as a memory game or in any other creative way.
  • Sort Duplo blocks by color & size.
  • Look through a button box.
  • Magnet and paperclips, washers, a nail, etc.
  • Magnets and a Small Cookie Sheet
  • Ice trays/muffin tins/egg cartons and buttons, beads or marbles for sorting.
  • Various colored pom-poms to sort out into colored cups with a small spoon/tweezers/tongs

Tactile Play/Small Motor Development

  • Lacing Beads (easy to make a homemade set with colorful beads or cut up straws and a shoelace or pipecleaners.) Older child can do patterns
  • Lacing cards (I bought some Melissa & Doug ones but you can make your own with just cardboard shapes with holes punched around them.) Attach yarn, wrap masking tape around the end.)
  • plastic canvas and a large plastic needle with yarn
  • Chalk & Small Chalkboard (you can get them at craft stores for about a dollar)
  • Make a necklace or snack chain with yarn (masking tape on the ends) and any cereal with holes (like cheerios). If the toddler is old enough, they may be able to string them himself. Older child can do patterns
  • Nuts and bolts to sort. Go to a hardware store and pick out several sets of large nuts, bolts, and washers that fit together. Buy several of different diameters. Use them as an assembly project. This builds eye-hand coordination and estimation skills.
  • Writing tray; Put a layer of rice or cornmeal in a cookie sheet or baking pan. Good for spelling practice or picture-drawing or practicing A B C’s. (vacuums up!)
  • Colored rice to pour through a colander or funnels.
  • Rice/birdseed/lentil bin:This is a fun alternative to a sand box that can be used indoors or out by children who do not put things in their mouths. Fill a large, shallow plastic box ¼ of the way with rice or birdseed. If you’re using it inside, t’s a good idea to keep an old sheet underneath, or put the whole box inside an old wading pool to keep the spills under control. Add spoons, funnels, measuring cups, a two-liter bottle, a metal strainer, etc. for play. Play figures and toy cars work well, too. Activities: stand the two liter bottle upright. Try to fill it up using the measuring cups, and then the funnel. Compare/learn math: See that two halves equal one cup, etc. Add a container of salt to the mix. Have the children use the strainer and see if they can separate the two. Just playing with the rice/birdseed is soothing to children and will engage them for a long time.
  • Pouring Beads: small tray and 3 different containers and a spoon used to pour small beads.
  • Play-dough with a plastic knife, rolling pin, cookie cutters, small plastic toy, play dishes (my kids love the stuff in the set I linked, but there’s so much you can do on your own)
  • Refrigerated cookie dough and a cookie sheet. They can play with it and you can eat all the results.
  • Using a spoon, tongs, or tweezers, pick up and sort objects such as blocks, spools, coins, beans, marbles, cotton balls, pins, buttons, straws, nails, nuts, bolts, popcorn, etc.. and place them into containers of varying sizes (i.e. egg cartons, cups, mugs, jars, etc.)
  • Rice table: have a mixture of rice and several kinds of beans. Child uses a large slotted spoon and picks up a spoonful of rice mixture. They are to carefully shake the spoon back and forth until the rice falls through the slots and only the beans are left. Pour the beans into a small container. Goal is to continue until the container is filled.
  • Put ping pong balls into a dish tub of water (or bathtub), then have the child tongs to transfer them to another bucket.
  • rainbow stones“: we have an ice cream bucket full of colored glass stones like you use for silk flower arrangements.  Both boys LOVE playing with these (just running their fingers through them, spooning them into containers, sorting them by color, etc.)
  • Geoboards with rubber bands

Entertaining Household items

  • Several cardboard boxes (cereal boxes, shoe boxes) to make a train or a town or just to stack and build with.
  • Sticking crayons into an old parmesan cheese container
  • Small cars or super-ball in a wrapping paper tube.
  • A retractable measuring tape to measure with.
  • Game pieces from lost games & cards. Find old games at garage sales if you don’t have lost pieces.
  • Pringles can with a slit cut in the top to drop cardboard or plastic coins.
  • Draw roads, houses, etc. on large paper or cardboard and have them use cars and trucks on it.
  • A large box (that’s all they need – they’ll do the rest).
  • Throw a blanket over a coffee table or card table. Give them clothes pins. They’ll figure it out.
  • A plastic bottle (clean milk jug, well rinsed detergent bottle, etc.) and small items like clothespins, pennies to drop in and shake out again (this can be a little noisy during school).
  • Damp washcloth and wall or window to “clean”. Paper towels and a spray bottle with a little water in it.
  • Let them “wash” a few plastic dishes. Put an egg beater, measuring cup and baster in the water.
  • Soft foam balls or daddy’s matched socks in a ball to pitch into the laundry basket.
  • Poke holes in thick cardboard with a tack. (Just be sure you know where the tack ends up!)
  • Mini-sandbox; Put a layer of sand in a box the size of a banana box. Add trucks, cars, popsicle sticks.
  • Shallow bucket on a towel on the floor. Add water, boats. Plastic fish, measuring cups, etc.
  • Make a tunnel of kitchen chairs.
  • Give them a crochet hook and a length of yarn. Demonstrate chain stitch a few times. This is not for everyone, but if you refuse to do it for them, you’ll be surprised at what they figure out.
  • Scrap wood, hammer, nails.
  • Bucket of water and a paintbrush-for outside painting. Works best on wood or concrete.
  • Chalk on sidewalk or steps.
  • A cup with non-toxic soapy water and a straw to blow bubbles. You may put it on a sheet of paper and add food coloring to the water.
  • Watch a bug ! At the table, at an anthill, wherever.
  • Sort/Stack Poker chips
  • Use sprayer bottles filled with water and sponges to have the child “clean” a desk or table, then squeeze the excess water into a dishpan.

Store-bought Toys

  • Wooden Puzzles (no more than 2 puzzles per activity box)
  • Wooden Train Set
  • Shape Sorter
  • Peg Boards
  • Lace & Link (made by Lauri)
  • Fit-a-Space (made by Lauri)
  • Blocks (my boys like making roads and tunnels out of them more than building up so far, but they’re still a hit!)
  • Beanbags and a bucket.
  • Tops- bought or made with ½ toothpick and cardboard disk.
  • A marble maze – set it in a shallow cardboard box or cookie sheet to cut down on the lost marbles.
  • Ziploc bag or “Toob“of small plastic toys such as farm animals or little people.
  • Little People“- we have various sets (house, school, barn, etc.) from my childhood that entertain for HOURS
  • Have a stuffed-animal tea party with real crackers.
  • Dominoes (my boys especially like our colored set)
  • Toy shopping cart to collect things around the room.
  • Unifix cubes and numbers printed on cardstock. Helps with number recognition and 1:1 correspondence.
  • Arrange blocks by size, color, or shape
  • Cuisenaire rods
  • Felt board play: Betty Lukens Felts makes beautiful, full-color felts for counting, telling stories, and so on, or you can make your own by using a black sharpie to outline or draw shapes, numbers, letters, animals, and so on onto heavy duty interfacing (find it at your local fabric store). Color with pastel crayons and cut out. You can also cut pictures out of magazines or discarded books and apply iron-on interfacing to the back. For the board itself, use a large piece of heavy cardboard, wrap in blue flannel, and secure with tape/hot glue.
  • Nest/stack cups or containers of different sizes. Discovery Toys’ Measure Up Cups are pricier, but have correct measurements and are great to use with sand or water.  We’ve also loved the Fisher Price Stack-and-Roll set
  • pattern blocks (either by themselves or with design cards)
  • Melissa & Doug “See & Spell

Other

  • Books (make sure to pick some out that are ONLY used for special times)
  • Small CD Player, Headphones, & Fun Music or stories to read along

If you want help finding anything let me know!

Free is GOOD!

Just thought I’d take a minute to pass along a few of my favorite spots online for finding FREE ways to enrich our homeschool experience.

Freelyeducate.com  is a wonderful blog that daily posts free resources for homeschoolers.  If I see something that interests me, even if it’s too advanced for my children, I usually go ahead and download it to have available in the future.

Sometimes those freebies are from CurrClick.com, but I like to check that site out directly as well.  I’ve found several fun ideas here, some for preschool, some for later on.

HomeschoolShare.com is probably the site I use most regularly at the stage we’re in (and I anticipate it remaining so for the next couple years as we continue using Five in a Row).  It’s a great place for unit study resources, especially those that are literature based.

As far as curriculum, obviously we get tons of great preschool ideas from ABCJesusLovesMe.com, but I also love AmblesideOnline (as I’ve written about before).  Most of it is geared toward kids older than mine (elementary on up), but the preschool/Kindergarten booklist and suggestions are a wonderful resource.  Learning about the Charlotte Mason method has also really helped shape my vision for our homeschooling journey. I realize not everyone is as nuts about books as I am and AO is definitely not a “school at home” type of curriculum.  Check out this post from freelyeducate.com that discusses several options available for free online.

I know there’s a lot more out there, but these are sites I access regularly for great free ideas, so I thought I’d pass them along 🙂

Learning as we play…and drive…and live

I recently realized that so much of our day could qualify as “school,” but I don’t necessarily think of it as such because it’s just life for us.  I’m talking about the audiobooks and read-alouds that Ian listens to throughout his day.  Yes, we listen to the iPod playlists I put together for our Bible lessons, and sometimes he requests other Bible stories too.  But I realized I had the opportunity to introduce some quality children’s literature through my iPod as well.

It started when I stumbled upon some recordings of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.  I have always loved the stories and thought I’d see if Ian would enjoy listening to them while he played as much as watching the movies.  (He’d found my old VHS tapes and was asking to watch them far more than I wanted to have the TV on.)  They were a big hit from the start.  He started listening to them at bedtime.  And in the car.  And playtime.  Everyday.  I liked the initial recordings I’d found, but they were a dramatization, rather than a true reading of the book.  Different actors (big names like Stephen Fry, Judi Dench, all fabulously talented!) read the parts of the different characters and they were so much fun to listen to, but I missed the full flavor of Milne’s writing.  So I bought a complete set of A.A. Milne’s Pooh Classics recorded by Peter Dennis.  They are everything I hoped they would be, and even now after a year of listening to both sets of recordings, I’m still not tired of Pooh.

I did want to expand Ian’s horizons a bit, however, so I started introducing him to other stories as well.  I found some fun CDs at the library, such as Stellaluna, Thumbelina, and other classics like The Three Billy Goats Gruff (from a wonderful collection read by actors like Ben Kingsley and Holly Hunter)I knew there were tons of classic books out there that I wanted to share with my kids and I didn’t want to be limited by our library selection or my wallet, so I started looking at free recordings of books in the public domain.  There are so many great books available at librivox.org! That’s where I downloaded Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess.  (I’d never read anything by Burgess, but some of his books are part of the Ambleside Online curriculum I’m planning to use later on, and someone had said their 3-year old enjoyed these stories, so I thought we’d give them shot.  I was surprised at how even after one listening Ian recalled details of the stories and requested them for bedtime that night.)  There are several books of “Mother West Wind” stories (all about the escapades of various little animals), so I downloaded some others as well.  I tried Uncle Remus stories (remember Br’er Rabbit?), but the dialect was a little hard for Ian to follow and he didn’t get into them.  I decided to save those until he’s older and his grammar is better established anyway.  I’m going to try him on some of the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy stories once we need a break from the animals in the Mother West Wind books.

The other free site I like for audiobooks is Lit2Go.  They don’t have as wide a selection, but I like they way they put their info at the end of the book rather than the beginning.  Sometimes Ian has lost interest before we even start a new story because he had to listen to the long promo for librivox.  This is where I got a great collection of Beatrix Potter stories (like “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”).  Podcasts are also a great source for children’s stories.  I really like Tales from the Forest, but there are a number of good ones available on iTunes.

We rarely drive anywhere without listening to stories.  As the boys play in the living room, Ian usually asks for stories.  And every naptime and bedtime he likes to listen to stories before he falls asleep.  Is he a little too addicted?  Yes, probably.  Especially since we also read picture books throughout the day.  He (and Elijah, who is constantly bringing me books to read) is proving to be a lot like his mama when it comes to a love of books.

Still, I think all this listening has been SO good for Ian’s language development.  I catch him using words and phrases he can only have picked up from the stories he’s heard.  It gives us so many new things to discuss (though sometimes I have to clue Daddy and others into what on earth he’s talking about!)  In addition to our audiobooks, I’ve started adding chapter books to our bedtime routine.  We’ve always spent time reading a few picture books before bed, but now we read a chapter from whatever novel we’re going through as well.  We started with Beverly Cleary’s Ralph Mouse books.  I thought the first one The Mouse and the Motorcycle would capture Ian’s attention because of the subject matter, and boy was I right.  As soon as we finished it, he wanted to keep going, so we moved on to Runaway Ralph the next night.  Now we’re a little more than halfway through Ralph S. Mouse.  I think we’ll try Stuart Little or Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White for a change of author.

So now you know our secret.  Our days are not just Ian, Elijah, and Mommy hanging out alone at home.  We have lots of friends like Pooh, Peter, and Ralph who share life with us throughout each day!

Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach

As I shared in this earlier post, I really want to focus on the Bible as the center of our homeschool.  Along those lines, I have been reading the Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach by Robin Sampson.  I think I first stumbled across the Heart of Wisdom website looking for teaching ideas back when we started with Creation.  Although much of what she has is geared toward older children, I find her site  (and the book) very encouraging, and I know I’ll be spending lots of time gleaning from Robin’s years of experience.

I haven’t finished the book yet, so I can’t write a review (though I plan to eventually!), but I wanted to go ahead and share because she’s doing a giveaway on her blog!  Check out the fabulous reviews on Amazon if you’re interested.  You won’t be sorry!  (You can also download an excerpt from the book to get started!)

still to come

Now that I’m almost caught up to where we are with our Bible lessons, I just wanted to mention that I do plan on posting on other subjects as well.  We’re just about done with our first run-through of Before Five in a Row (B4FIAR), where we’ve pretty much just read the books.  As we start going through them again, I’m hoping to do a few more activities with Ian related to each book so I’ll be sharing about those.

I also want to be able to share some of the great homeschool resources I’ve come across. My oldest may only be three, but I LOVE research.  I also like to know where I’m going, so I’m usually a few steps ahead of where we need to be.  I read marriage books as a teenager, parenting books as a single teacher, and I started looking into homeschooling before Ian had turned two.  So nowadays I’m reading a lot about the early elementary years, and I’ve come across some great resources for families trying to homeschool on a strict budget.

The other thing I hope to post on are parenting books and other resources that have really impacted me.  I think it’s so important to be intentional in the way we raise our children, rather than just reacting to the issues that come up.  I’m looking forward to reviewing some of the books that have shaped my vision for parenting.  (Again, my oldest is only three.  I’m no expert.  BUT that researching bug has helped me discover some of the REAL experts out there.)

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