Pre-School Update

It’s only been a day but a decision was made yesterday about how we are going to embark on this journey. The most financial part will be purchasing Sonlights P3/4 Newcomer set. It comes with a great variety of books, a Paren’ts guide, and other accessories. I am considering adding all the books to my cart and then purchasing the construction paper at a craft store or walmart when school shopping starts in August. The set, if we buy it complete, will cost about $300.00 and I want to see if just buying the books that can not be purchased elsewhere will be cheaper opposed to the entire set. I know I can certainly get child safe scissors, construction paper, etc. cheaper during school shopping season however with everything combined in one, I may be making a better deal.

We’re also going to supplement with work books. The Sonlight P3/4 is based mainly around reading and activities but does not include any workbooks. Right now Hooked on Phonics is having a fantastic 70% off sale and you can get an additional 50% off using the SLICK50 promotional code. I’m waiting till tomorrow to make the work book purchases because I am receiving a refund from a purchase I made on ebay. It’s only a $9.20 refund but it was unexpected and it should cover at least 3 different work books including shipping! I’ll also stop at Olli’s over the summer and check out the work books available there. As well as scope out what WalMart, Toys R Us and other online stores may be providing at decent prices.

I likely won’t be purchasing the Sonlight program until the end of the summer but work books I plan to gather over the summer months. And this way, even if we don’t have our ideal package ready at hand yet, we have something to begin until we do have it. Being that our decision to home-school did not happen till late April-Early May we did not have the winter to save to make all these purchases and I want to make sure that buying it, does not affect our family financially. So I’ll save $50.00 every two weeks, $100 a month, and by the end of August have the $300.00 it will cost to buy this preschool set.  I also plan on using School Express’s free work sheets as well. These we’ll be doing in the summer and throughout the school year, if we haven’t completed the ones I already approve of by then.

There are a lot of free home-school work sheet printables available, however, I am nitpicky. Not exactly nitpicky about how they have a certain letter shaped, etc. but I don’t like paper clutter all too much. Having tons of computer printed paper scattered around with doodles is not my idea and I’d rather it all be glued together in a book, opposed to every where around the house. I do think I’ll print out their entire alphabet work sheets for Ages 3-6 for both kiddos and bind them so they make a book but that may be the extent I go to until the kiddos have learned about paper control.

Pre-School at Home

I think over the course of the last few weeks I’ve talked about how we decided that we are going to pre-school at home and chances are continue through with home-schooling. We made this decision based off of a number of things finances, work schedules, pre-schools available, etc. And it’s an awful brave decision as I can tell you, three years ago (almost 4!) when I had my first daughter, this thought never crossed my mind and it was only discussed a handful of times in the past few years. Lately, it’s been a big topic in my home and something laying heavily on my mind.

If your venturing on this path to, I think my biggest tip at the moment: Don’t overwhelm yourself. You don’t need a lot to do pre-school at home. Most of the things in your home are learning tools!

Our biggest decision is how exactly we want to go about it. There are many packages, small craft projects, books, etc. that can get you started. And I’ve saved a lot in my favorites. But I think my biggest task will be simple. Thinking of activities for the kids, that they will enjoy and learn from at the same time. I talk to friends of mine (who mind you, live all over the USA) that are putting their kids in pre-school and what they will be learning. Apparently Baby V’s pal, Al, will be learning to write, basic mathematics, the alphabet, how to spell and even write his name. I don’t remember learning that in pre-school. There seems to be a lot of pressure now to make kids learn quick and know many things before even reaching kindergarten. I would prefer an ‘at your own pace’ method, honestly.

To say I’m not nervous and a little lost as to where to start with this adventure would be a lie. I think for anyone it would be a bit intimidating to decide to homeschool your children. Whether you start in pre-school or with kindergarten. There are a lot of state laws and they vary state to state. Thankfully, with pre-school, I do not have to worry about that and have about a year before really learning the laws of my own state. There is also a plethora of information from different types of learning/teaching, to work books, to collections to start with, to opinions. Right now we’ve been having a huge toss up on where we want to begin.

Would it be better for us to pay about $300.00 and use Sonlight’s Preschool 3 & 4 set? Or should we pick up hooked on phonics pre-k to second grade set and start from there? The hooked on phonics I know I can find at Olli’s for much cheaper than directly through the site but at the moment I’m not exactly focusing on the initial investment. Or…should we come up with a variety of activities (at home and out of the house), pick up some pre-school age work books and games, and go from there?

I’m definitely a person who likes to have a plan, something sort of set in stone so that I know what I’ll be doing the next day. I think as a teacher and Mother for my children, I might feel more comfortable going with a ‘already made’ pre-school set and go from there. Being it the first year, I’d rather start off with something that is focused on what I’m looking for and then expand my horizons. So yes, as many times as I’ve been told that there is no need for a curriculum, that the majority of preschool is reading, I might go with the Sonlight program because I believe it would help me to be a better teacher instead of all over the place.

Really, I’m not sure where to begin. And I think, beginning is going to start with my first purchase. I’ll be continuing to update as we begin this adventure and prepare for pre-school!

Why researching pays off.

With the new baby on the way and with this one being a girl, just like my first two, there aren’t a lot of things that need to be replaced or purchased. Thankfully. However, the house we are living in, the basement slowly leaks moisture from one side. Thus my research begins because when resurrecting the old infant car seat from the basement, we discovered mold on the seat pad, canopy and head support rest.

I wasn’t sure if we could actually replace those three things. I was sure that we could probably find replacement straps, snaps, etc. if we need to. Which we may need to replace the straps but as of right now, I think they are going to work. So I popped a search into google ‘Grace Car Seat Cover Replacement’.

It immediately listed Graco’s website. I had looked there a couple of years ago but didn’t recall being able to order a replacement. I went ahead and checked. To my surprise, pop in the model number, manufacturing date and here is an entire list of replacement parts for my exact car seat. Including the seat pad, canopy and head rest. And even more lucky for me, the seat pad, canopy and head rest are combined into one group for $40.00.

Now I could go out and buy a Safety 1st car seat for $60.00 and some change but it’s nice to be able to reuse what we originally had. We really invested into this current car seat when it came out, we spent $150.00 on the car seat alone. Safety before Financial gain was what we had in mind. We didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars but we have always relied on Graco from day one and knew this car seat would last us.

So if we wanted to replace the entire car seat and get a replica, we’d easily be spending another $100 – $150.00 for a car seat. If we went cheap and didn’t want to focus on safety, reputation, reviews, etc. we could spend $20.00 more than the replacement pads for a brand new car seat. I think I’ll stick with my original car seat and just buy the replacement pads. Yay!

Let’s add in that I am a fan of ebay as well. I’ve been hawking ebay for a small lot of 0-3 month summer girl clothes. Both of my oldest girls we’re winter babies so I don’t have any summer newborn clothes, whatsoever. Yesterday, I scored a lot of 30 items, name brand, lightly used baby girl clothes for $32.00. Which means, each item cost me a total of $1.32 (including shipping). Better than buying 30 items from walmart at an easy $7.00 – $10.00 per item. That definitely satisified me. One season of clothes down. Just need to buy some fall items and I’m good to go! I’m thinking of adding to the older girls wardrobe from ebay as well for this summer and fall. But we’ll get the baby’s stuff done first.

Summer 2010

A post over Organizing Your Way got me thinking more about our plans for this summer and what we can possibly due to make it memorable without leaving the state (or going 200 miles west).

We already decided to get involved with our YMCA for at least the summer. Sign the kiddos up for swimming lessons and gymnastics, plus throw in family swim nights etc. According to the schedule, that already fills up 2 nights plus per week for 7 weeks!

It’s been in the works to make a trip to Knobels amusement park which is under an hour away from us and is pretty small. Despite how small it is compared to many mainstream parks (Six Flags, Disney, Dorney, etc.) it is full of rides that my kids can now go on. And walking through that park shouldn’t be too difficult for me. Perhaps I’ll bring a stroller for myself just in case hah. We’re hoping the grandparents come along with us as well. If they do, we’ll be doing this around July 4th.

And then outside time. My girls love to go outside and I can’t deny them that. After being cooped up for a long harsh winter with so much snow that I could barely walk through, let alone my girls, we’re kind of stir crazy. So what else would I like to throw in before baby #3 makes her debut and things slow down (or get more chaotic!)…

1. I’d like to take the girls to The Bloomsburg Children’s Museum. I have a doctor appointment out that way at the end of this month and would like to spend the afternoon at the museum. If not then, sometime before August 1st!
2. Fishing. I’m not a big fisher, neither is my hubby but my Father loves to fish. I recently asked if Baby V would be able to start this year. He said yes. While my 2 year old isn’t quite ready, Baby V will get to go fishing for the first time this summer. I really hope she likes it or rather sits still and holds her fishing pole hah!
3. Grow a standing garden. I haven’t even begun to start this and I better get started soon. While this isn’t outside of the house I think it will provide a wonderful learning tool for my girls and not to mention, fresh veggies right from the garden. I’m a huge fan of veggie from the garden, have been since I started picking at my Grand Mother’s when I was a toddler!
4. I’d also like to take the kids to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, however, Philadelphia is a good 2 1/2 hr trip from where we are living. This isn’t something set in stone but an idea, if we can manage it. I’d like to plan a small day there since it is a long trip there and back. We’ll see if accomplish this.
5. Chuckee Cheese. We have a Chucke Cheese within 20 minutes of us and we have yet to take the kids there. A friend of mine wants to meet there for a long lunch with the kids next weekend. If that happens, we will see. But beside then, I’d like to take the kids once or twice before summers end.

And my list will probably goal. These aren’t all ‘we must dos’ but they are things I’d like to try and do with my girls before another baby comes home and we aren’t able to do a lot of traveling and activities for a short while. Perhaps the hubby will be content with taking the girls out after baby is here to a few places. We shall see!

Pre-School

My oldest is going to be 4 in November. It’s so shocking to believe but she’s ready for pre-school. My youngest (well current youngest) is going to be 3 in January and in my opinion, that’s not to young for pre-school. So of course, I browsed the web and searched high and low for the ‘perfect’ pre-school for my girls. Many seemed absolutely wonderful. Not many downsides to a lot of the programs offered in my area. Except of course when you start factoring in price.

So the bottom line question? Am I going to deny my children pre-school because they want to charge anywhere between $250.00 to $400.00 per child, per week? No. It was this very thing, other than being a one-car family and hubby’s work schedule, that made us start considering other options. My sister-in-law home-schools. She’s home-schooled since Pre-K. While her oldest two did go to pre-school, that was the extent of their ‘public’ education.

I began thinking about home-schooling my own children. Even through the pre-school years. The benefits are astounding, in my opinion and the options are huge. I of course thought that I would have to venture into pre-school at home with lesson plans, curriculiums, etc. Not such the case. Pre-School, while a lot more advanced compared to my toddler/pre-school/pre-k years, is basic. Colors, Shapes, Fine Motor Skills, Recognition, Pre-Writing, Identifying, Differences and Similarities. Many of these things can be taught without a text book, without a guide. But being myself, I like to have a plan. My plan is definitely in the works and rough draft mode.

What do I have already? Well I know that I want to focus on a letter each week, or two weeks, going at the pace with my own kids. I have work-books I’d like to get them and have a list of activities and games highly suggested for home-school pre-schoolers. My favorite thing about all of this? We can go at their pace instead of jumping to the next subject when they might not be ready for it.

I don’t have to worry about age-limits, qualifications, etc. And what I love most? I get to spend the time with my kids doing a large range of different things they will enjoy.

Now, the biggest worry and one big thing a lot of public-education supporters speak about is socialization. Where I live, we don’t have a lot of friends but we do have family with children so the source of my kids socialization is mainly them. Our children use to have a large group of kids to play with when we we’re a military family and we certainly miss that. Our solution? The YMCA and possibly in the next year or two getting together with other home-schoolers and maybe play groups.

Our YMCA offers quite a variety of activities for our kids to be involved in with other children. We intend to sign them up for swimming classes and gymnastic classes for this summer and hopefully continue throughout the fall, winter and spring when we begin pre-school at home. I’m hoping that by getting them involved at the YMCA it will help boost their sharing, social, and patience skills and we’ll be ready for play groups and home school groups in no time!

Here’s to pre-school and home schooling!!!

We’re Potty Training

Baby V, as I lovingly call her here, is not such a baby any more. My baby, my oldest, the one who now rocks the kitty and sings her songs, the one who turned my life upside down (or rather right side up), is in underwear. We’ve been working at this since she was two. Going through stages of enthusiasm to times where the potty was an absolute no-go because she didn’t want to. We finally buckled down. No more of Daddy and Mommy giving in and giving up. No more letting her decide when its okay and when it’s not. We are potty training because after all, she’ll be four  years old soon.

I think the worst piece of information I was given when it came to potty training girls was that girls are easier. Not my girls. Perhaps they don’t fall into the normal category. Now granted, I’ve never had to potty train a boy and as far as we know, we won’t ever have to (all girls here) but this potty training shin dig has not been easy. But I also could not be a more proud mama. This past Sunday was the day of reckoning. The ‘Diaper Fairy’ came and took Baby V’s diapers and replaced them with underwear and good night pull ups. She had 3 accidents out of 7 potty times. Which personally, for day 1, I think was fantastic. Yesterday, 2 accidents and so far Today *knock on wood* no accidents.

We reward with stickers and gummies. Gummies, while loaded in sugar and so unhealthy, are a favorite and treasured treat here. They are like black gold for my family and the kids refer to them as ‘berries’ since we try to buy the ones that have the most natural fruit juice rather than the 100% fake processed fruit snacks. So while we’ve loaded our systems with fruit snacks and have stickers in too many places around the house other than our shirts, we are on a path to success and I could not be any happier.

One down, two more to go!

So my suggestion to anyone beginning their first round of potty training: Reward, never punish for accidents and don’t give up or give in. Also, don’t let anyone tell you that it is easy, it’s not. But, you will get through it and diapers one day will no longer be requested or required.