Planning Time

In February when M was diagnosed with apraxia, we thought about preschool. Preschools are a language-rich environment and can be very beneficial. We don't know if she will qualify for the developmental preschool with the speech and language classroom, but we did decide not to put her in a regular preschool this fall. Hopefully we'll know later this month or early in September if she is going to the developmental preschool. In the meantime, we'll do a bit of preschool at home. As a mom I have the opportunity to be such a huge influence in my children's lives. I want to take it. M loves to learn. So hopefully this month I will get everything ready and prepared for our own mini-homeschool. I don't consider myself to be a homeschooler. I'm just a mom, wanting to teach my children. However, I am the type of person who needs to plan. (But don't ask me how my meal planning went for July...) So that's why I am going to use some resources for curriculum...but it will be very loosely, not strictly. M will not be in kindergarten for three more years. There is absolutely no need to push her now. Therapy pushes her a lot. I want our school to be fun, but structured for me, so I know what to do and have a plan to implement it. I also think she will enjoy the structure. At this point, I'm looking at a few sites for ideas. Some are Christian sources, with plenty of "other" academics included, too.

• Hubbard's Cupboard - Detailed lesson plans. It has a curriculum for many different ages. It seems simple, and it has lots of pictures. A Christian curriculum.
• ABC Jesus Loves Me- This may be a bit advanced for M, since it starts at age 3, but it's still an excellent resource.
• Preschool Express by Jean Warren. Jean Warren also has lots of books at our tiny local library for preschools. Great learning resources, but not a curriculum. You can find great unit ideas though.
• Bible Story Sundays- This is new and awesome. I want to do some major themes from the Bible, and I already see this as a great resource for ideas. I will also be able to share what we do, if I want to.
• Various other blogs/sites that I frequently visit like ABC and 123 and The Home Teacher's Wiki site for ABC ideas. Many of the blogs I visit incorporate lots of meaningful actitivities into their lives each day, but these two sites I am including bc they have their activites so organized.

Of course my local library (especially when I can use two county (on-line) libraries, plus our church library!) is a great resource. I will continue to use it for children's books as well as preschool teaching resources. I really appreciate having two libraries (in two states) within 15 minutes of my home. Where I grew up there wasn't (and still isn't!) a local library within the school district.

I have signed us up for Community Bible Study (CBS). It's a national interdenominational organization that does a great job teaching adults and children. The children's program is awesome, too. I was part of it for two years before. I'll be starting at a new location this time though. If M doesn't go to preschool, this will be a good, structured learning environment for her to supplement Sunday school and Toddler Church.

I'm just starting to think about what to do, but it's hard since I only want to plan a bit since we may not need it for too long. Some things I hope we do before mid-October are apples, moon, family/me, Creation, and Noah's ark. We'll see what happens in reality.

Any tips for organizing my thoughts? Any recommendations for anything? I just hope I don't get overwhelmed!