I'm back! Summer has been busy as usual for me. It's always my craziest time of year-nannying for 2 families, working for a local company & a friend from home & this summer doing the musical Ragtime too. This summer has been so much fun & I'm sad to see it come to an end.
Since summer is winding down I've been thinking about the older kids going back to school which leaves the majority of my days spent with N who is 4 1/2 & L who is almost 6mths old. I am excited for less commotion especially since I spent most days of summer watching anywhere from 4-6 kids! So now I'm gearing up for year 2 of homeschool preschool with N. Last year I was all gung ho and read every book on homeschooling the library had (seriously!). I wrote my own curriculum and we had a blast. This year I'm a little more relaxed. N will be in actual preschool a few mornings a week which means I won't have as much time for fun lessons with him but I still plan to have a few activities for each day I watch him.
Looking over last year's curriculum I'm amazed at all we learned and I love that he still brings up his favorite lessons. We did lessons on Vikings, Ancient Egypt, the Titanic, Pompeii & Volcanos (his personal favorite-he literally painted volcanos everday for weeks!), French, Chinese, All 4 seasons, Every letter & numbers thru 10, Ancient Rome & Greece, Magnets, Colors, Rainbows, Holidays, Archaeology, Character lessons with the Help Me Be Good books, Jamestown & the American Revolution,Chemistry, Butterflies, Airplanes, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Martin Luther King Jr. & studied Russia, China, Japan, Italy, & India. We watched documentaries, did crafts & took field trips to correspond with our lessons. I tried to get children books on these topics whenever possible & the best part is it was all free with library resources. But my favorite thing of all was him asking his parents for magnets & a javelin for Christmas. How many 3 year olds ask for that! In my reading on home schooling I often read about how children lessons don't have to be dumbed down & I can attest to that. We had so much more fun learning about the Vikings that reading See Spot Run. I am thankful for the fun year with had and can't wait to start learning all over again and this time we have another little one learning with us. I'm thinking of starting her with baby sign language! For all you mommys & nannys out there do you have any fun lessons or ideas for preschoolers???
