Homeschool Preschool: April Lessons and Activities

lessons and activities


Yesterday, we received our curriculum and materials of Sing, Spell, Read and Write. I need to review the teacher's manual and get everything set in preparation for the coming school year. But before I get all too excited with SSRW, let me share with you the lessons and activities we did last month.

My son enjoys playing all the time and has a short attention span when asked to sit down and "study." So most of our activities and lessons revolved around play. For the month of April, we based our theme with that of our activity box from KaHone. Read more about our April KaHone box with the movie Frozen as theme.

Our lessons and activities focused on the following areas:
  • Phonics (letters T and M)
  • Life of Jesus
  • Developing fine motor skills
  • Plants, sunlight, and water
  • Reading-aloud


Phonics

As an independent homeschooling mom, I rely most of my materials from the net and bookstores. To use as a guide in introducing phonics to Little V, I purchased Deluxe Edition Beginning Sounds workbook from National Bookstore for Php99. This workbook has colored illustrations and activities for writing. I liked it because I get Little V's attention when we point out examples of the sounds letters T and M make.

Purchased from National Bookstore for Php99
Whenever we play with his toys, we review the beginning sounds of the words. Good thing we can get a lot of beginning sounds examples from his toys like truck, Transformers, train, Tayo the Little Bus, etc. 



Life of Jesus

We had a hiatus on learning phonics on Holy Week. We spent our time on reading-aloud sessions about the life of Jesus. His aunt gave him an illustrated Bible for children that he now enjoys asking me to read for him. Little V had some serious and funny questions which reassured me that he is interested. He says he loves Jesus. :)

Illustrated Bible for Children




Developing Fine Motor Skills


We had several activities for developing his fine motor skills. Most of the time, we mold clay together. He enjoys molding "food" and gives them to me and Hubby. We had so much fun! I suggest you buy a brand that doesn't stick in their fingernails which is by the way a nightmare during hand washing time. We experimented with some brands and now we're using Play-Doh. We got each for Php44.75.

For writing, we did tracing exercises from Frozen-inspired worksheets. My son enjoyed working on them. Thanks to his godmother who provided the link! :)

Also, we gave Little V some time to doodle with his crayons. A Manila paper laid on the floor and a box of crayons will give your little ones opportunities to develop their coordination and stir creative juices. 

Working on wooden puzzles is another activity that he did. He enjoys flipping the boards and putting the pieces upside-down. I really love it when he heartily laughs because he purposely placed them incorrectly. Pilyo!


Wooden puzzles



Plants, Sunlight, and Water

For a long time, Little V has been asking for a plant. His grandmother gave in to his request and handed him a flowering plant from her garden. When we got off the car, we unfortunately dropped and broke the clay pot. Now his little plant is nestled in its plastic makeshift pot which he waters everyday. Every morning, I ask him to place his plant where the sunlight was. He now knows that plants need sunlight and water to live. We also use this as a chance to make him understand why we ask him to go out in the early morning to receive his sunshine. I told him that like the plant and Superman, he needs sunlight to grow healthy and strong. 




Read-Aloud

I bought Little V's first book when he was a few months old - a Lamaze soft cloth book titled, "Where is Caterpillar?" He enjoyed "reading" his book when he turned 1. As he got bigger, I started collecting some books that I thought he would like. So far, almost all (there's 1 left) of the books I purchased were his favorites. For the month of April, his most favorite was Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. He asked me to read it to him at least 5 times a day. Hubby and I were thrilled when we heard our son saying lines from the book!

We got our books from Booksale, CashCash Pinoy, Book for Less, FullyBooked, and The Learning Basket.

His fave books at the moment


Other Activities

Here are other activities we did - simple ones really but there were lessons to be learned.

  • Photography - Little V liked taking pictures. In fact in a wedding we attended, he was the littlest cameraman. One morning we went out and I gave him my camera. He started taking pictures of the grass and flowers, then the people he met. Watching him smiling at his accomplishment is priceless.
  • Household chores - He loves helping out in the house. Sometimes I have to beg him not to try everything (like ironing clothes!). At least twice a week, he washes the dishes for us. I make sure that he does it correctly, and he willingly complies. Good thing our dishes aren't fragile.
  • Baking - We baked Blueberry Muffins one afternoon
  • Caring for the environment - We are raising our son as a conservationist. He turns off the fans and faucets when they're not in use. Sometimes, he's the one who tells me to turn off the TV because he's done watching. We have also instructed him to segregate. He knows in which bin his soiled diapers should be in. Every time I ask him to throw rubbish for me, I tell him to which bin he should put it. I am hoping that in a few months time he'll be able to distinguish which are recyclables, kitchen wastes, and residuals.




Our approach in homeschooling Little V, I should say, is relaxed. We don't have a steady schedule and I usually ask him if he wanted to study, write, do an activity, or read books together. Like all 3 year olds, he prefers to play. And play he shall! We can always inject lessons while playing - like learning how to count the blocks we use, identifying shapes and colors of his toys, and distinguishing beginning sounds of these items. 

I think that even if we use the SSRW curriculum, we would still follow a relaxed approach until we feel that he's ready. Kids all differ from each other, and the best people to assess their readiness are their parents. So, hurrah for us parents! 

How about you? What other activities have you done with your kids? Would love to hear your stories (and pointers, too!). :)




Comments

  1. I love SSRW! I can't wait to read about your experience with it with V! Did you get the one with the CD?

    Good Night, Moon is such an easy favorite for the children in my classes, too! It's one of my go-to soothing books when a child is a little anxious or upset.

    Oh, and I just noticed now that you've put me on 'Blog I Follow'--thank you so much for that! :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mars! You're welcome! Your site is my newest go-to and am happy to share your link to other moms :)

      Yes, we got the one with CD. We're excited to start SSRW :)

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