Home Schooling Two Toddlers Part 1

Last night I finally began a book a dear friend (Lisa Coyle, and Christy Weaver had passed it to her) called, "Night Light for Parents" by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson.  What a tear jerker so far, and that was only reading the intro and days Sunday through Wednesday to catch up.

Reading the book is going to be my new bed time ritual, because I really could use the extra encouragement.  As moms, we work so hard to plan our day, meet everyone's needs, make lunch for our husbands, cook meals, bring little miss to the potty while little brother follows...and sometimes, I feel so tired that I am completely worn out and numb by bed time.  And for me that takes a lot.  I'm usually a well oiled machine by 6:30 a.m...you know after coffee, breakfast and quiet time it is go, go, go, or rather chase, chase, change!

I've been planning mini lesson plans for both my kids for pre-school, of course I'm gearing most things for my Julia's well being, my little man will not be ignored, and I plan to include him with every single lesson somehow, even if it is as simple as M is for Marky, or God loves you too Marky, or Marky we color with crayons, noooooooo mou-outh!  Somehow everything turns into a song for my Mark, and Julia and I love to sing and make up silly songs.  Just today in the car we were listening to a CD made by the Lambertson girls and the song was "Adore, Adore, Adore, Jesus I adore you...ooh oooh oooh oooh, well Julia sang Zach's name to the entire tune just to be silly...oh my Julia what will you think of next?



Julia Update: Potty Training and Sharing

About 2 or 3 weeks ago, seriously it's hard to keep the days straight they seem to blend in...sound familiar?  I called my friend JaneAnn to pick her brain about how to get my Julia to share with Marky, and after sharing how frustrated I was, and how naughty Julia was being JaneAnn asked me some great questions that I hadn't thought of...Have there been any major changes recently (yes, daddy's hardly home and I know she misses him) Does Julia get a lot of attention?  (sort of, I mean I'm home all day, but with 2 it is a lot harder to give undivided attention) Does Julia get big girl time when just you and she get to do something special? (rarely, we went to see Elmo at the theatre but that was months ago) How is potty training going? (well, I kind of dropped the ball on potty training bc Julia just wasn't interested and it was a lot of work, and it became more of a sporadic thing instead of an hourly thing like it should be)  Then JaneAnn suggested that I start the potty training more intensely again and each time sharing a Bible story on sharing and how important it is ...the little boy and the five loaves...the Good Samaratin sharing his time and money...talk about how sharing blesses others...talk about sin...What? Talk about sin, to a 2 year old...well wouldn't you know I started doing all of this and not only was Julia potty trained within 2-3 days, and has been doing awesome ever since, but we got our girl bonding time, and it was in the bathroom, the place where most girls bond, right?

I love this pic of me and my precious kids, it's priceless!

August 23 Home School Begins

Technically I'm not going to start math and reading concepts til after Labor Day, but I've been so excited with my research of teaching Bible that I decided to start 2 weeks early.  This way I will see how the time will go and how much stuff I'll need planned.  Sometimes you plan too much or too little so I'd like a practice week or two to get the hang of it.

Pre school Bible is going to be fun, fun, fun!  I've decided to do a new Bible character or story each month and throughout the month add to the story and do crafts, and learn songs, etc...here is what Aug/Sept will look like:

*Pick a time that works for  your family...I chose 8:45 because we have eaten, changed clothes, I've showered, Mark's taken a quick a.m. nap and I've made the beds and done a load of laundry and cleaned up after breakfast by then.

Bible Time: 8:45-9:15 (30 minutes...but not straight thru, we will be doing all sorts of things, I don't expect a 2 year old to sit for 1 minute forget about 30)

Monday- 1. Read The Story of Noah (Children's Version)
               2. Talk about how Noah was a good man and obeyed God.
               3. Coloring page 
               4. craft: Easy Paper Crafts Book #1p. 20 "Obey" Plague
               5. Sing a few Bible Songs about Obedience (teach the kids the hand motions)
               6. Memory Verse: Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Tuesday-Ladies Bible Study (no home school)

Wednesday- 1. Re-Read the Story of Noah...and add the part about how the people were wicked and sinning against God and so God told Noah to build the Ark because of the Flood.
                    2. Talk about sin and how there are consequences
                    3. Coloring page
                    4. craft: Easy Paper Crafts Book #1 p. 32 Noah's Ark
                    5. Noah's Ark song
                    6. Memory verse

Thursday-1. Re read story of Noah and continue to add a new paragraph.
                 2. Talk about Noah's obedience, his wife's obedience and his 3 sons.  Talk about how God told    Noah to put 2 of each kind of animal on the Ark.
                 3. Coloring page
                 4. work on ark from yesterday
                 5. Obedience song and Noah's Ark song with hand motions
                 6. Memory verse

Friday-  1. Re read story of Noah and continue to add details like Noah was 500 when he started to build the ark and the flood came when he was 600...so it took 100 years to build the ark.
              2. God always keeps His promises. (rainbow, consequences for sin, etc)
              3. Coloring page
              4. Animal crafts
              5. song time
              6. Memory Verse

How to include my one year old in pre-school Home School

Mommy loves cuddling and kissing you Marky.

My goals/objectives for Mark this year:

When Julia is coloring or working on her craft Mark and I will be practicing some things as well.

1. Teaching Mark to pray (how to fold hands, bow head, close eyes) say "Amen!"
2. Teach baby signing (Cereal, Milk, More, Mommy, Daddy, Thank You)
3. How to hold crayon properly to color (he does pretty good so far)
4. Teach him how to say, "Julia"

*When we read our Bible story Mark will be on my lap listening too.
*He will color with us, craft with us (at least try) sing with us, practice the Bible verse
*When we watch a learning video Mark can learn to watch too, and we can play with puzzles and manipulatives quietly while Julia watches

We are excited for school to begin!

Have a great weekend!