A few of my favorite (homeschool) things...

 Here are just a few of my favorite items I have purchased over the past school year for Daniel

 

This lovely little clock has been so great for teaching Daniel how to tell time!  Most evenings before bed he asks me to "show me some times" (as he would say) and so I set up a time on the clock and show it to him and he tells me what time it says.  He has gotten so good at it now that we have moved on to the "grown up" clock in the dining room.

 

 This map of the United States I actually purchased as a puzzle.  He has taken it apart and put it back together countless times and is now able to name nearly all the states and some of the capitols. 

This world map I purchased as the map and is hanging in our schoolroom where he can easily look at it.  It's a very colorful fun map and Daniel and I both love it.

 I love all things "Melissa and Doug".  Their products are such good quality and a lot of them are made out of wood which I love. 

 

I discovered these little "Tell Me a Story" card packs at the local educational toy store and they are so much fun! They are story cards with no words just pictures so you pick cards and make up your own stories.  Daniel hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet but I'll keep prompting him.  I am hoping this is something fun we can do in the car and while camping on our vacation the end of July.  

 I LOVE the Brain Quest card sets!  They keep Daniel's attention and they are at just the right level to stimulate his mind right where it is developmentally.  I highly recommend these for EVERYONE whether you are homeschooling or not. 

These little readers are so perfect for little minds that are just beginning to read.  Daniel loves them and I let him read them when he is going down for his afternoon rest time and even some evenings when he is going to bed and he hasn't quite lost all his energy yet.  He'll read them until he falls asleep.  He has started to recognize a lot of the words.  I have been doing lots of phonics flashcards with him and other little flash cards I have made myself.  I also really like www.starfall.com.  It is a great website that has lots of free phonics based games for him to play.  He thinks he's just playing games but he has soaked up so much from that website! 

This is just a sample of the things I have been using for school.  I will put up another post soon with more of my favorite homeschool things.  :)

Have a lovely first weekend of summer everyone!!! 

First Day of Preschool...

This past Thursday was my little man's first day of preschool!  I can't believe we are already there!  Where did my little baby go?  He's turning into such a handsome little man!  We have decided I will home school him.  I can't even tell you how much fun I have had getting ready to teach him.  I turned our spare room into his little classroom. 

 Daniel loves the collage I made of our hikes and camping trips this summer.  He likes to point at the pictures and tell me the story behind them. 

 And he loves the alphabet train because well...it's a TRAIN!  

I also put leaves and pumpkin die-cuts all around the room for fall.   

 A bulletin board for a calendar, current work and incentive charts.  

It's so nice to know that as we go along I will be able to adjust my teaching style according to his needs and just be able to teach him one-on-one.  If needed I can spend extra time on a certain subject or jump ahead if he catches on to something quickly.  One of the many benefits of homeschooling is that he doesn't have to speed up or slow down based on other students around him.  There are many benefits to homeschooling but the only thing I am worried about is him getting to play often with other kids.  He LOVES being with other kids so I am going to do my best to make sure I am taking every opportunity for him to play with others.  Thankfully we have a wonderful church we attend with lots of kids his age and my dear childhood friend has FOUR boys for him to play with. He and her second boy Billy are only three months apart. 

He was a little discouraged because he couldn't write the letter "A" right away. I held his hand and helped him write it.  Then he did the third one on the third row there on the paper in the picture all on his own.  We cheered and cheered because now he could see that he can do it!  We will work on the lowercase "a" when he feels confident writing the uppercase. 

Just as he will be learning as we go I will also be learning as I go.  I welcome advice any homeschoolers out there can give me!  I am looking forward to this new adventure!  :)