Tentative plans for the fall 2013 semester

I'm going to view this school year in two semesters. Thinking about 9ish months of academics for kids who are 2 and 4 years old...yeah that's too much for me to take on. It's a third of my daughter's life and a big chunk of my son's.

Factor in the baby coming in September/October, and yeah I think it's best for me to just consider August - December and evaluate what we'll do from January-May closer to the time.

Here are my objectives:

Preschool: Johnny, age 4.5 (as of June)

• Bible: Become more familiar with Bible stories, memorize verses, memorize songs
• Expose to concepts in math via real-life and hands-on examples
• Continue exposing to phonics sounds and decodeable words through books we're reading together, words we come across in real-life situations, and words he's otherwise curious about
• Continue developing fine motor skills through coloring, cutting, pasting, folding, doing mazes and dot-to-dots, lacing cards, etc.
• Demonstrate and practice correct letter and number formation, as Johnny likes to add words to his pictures 
• Read lots of fun, age-appropriate literature together with the goal of enjoyment of the story, building listening skills, prereading skills, and critical thinking

With Johnny, I decided he and I both need a little bit of structured preschool before we dive into MFWK. In my last post, I debated whether to start MFWK in August or delay it until January or even the following year, and based on feedback I got from some forums and just listening to my gut, we'll wait a little while on this. I think we'd all do better by waiting. 

My primary goal with him this semester is to get into some sort of more structured rhythm and be deliberate with educational activities and endeavors. It has to be fun! If it's not fun, it's dropped. He's 4.

Tot school: Vivie, age 2.5 (as of June)

• Bible: Become more familiar with Bible stories, memorize verses, memorize songs
• Learn to play quietly/do her 'work' while I'm working with Johnny
• Expose to coloring, cutting, pasting with the goal of having fun
• Read plenty of stories together

Vivie is still super young, and she's only getting tot school because she wants to do everything her big brother does. I ended up keeping things simple when Johnny was that age, and I intend to do the same with Vivie, except she'll have specific activities for our school time. Mainly to keep her occupied, but also to work on her "it's ok to share Mommy" attitude. That one needs some work.

Coming up in my next post, I'll elaborate on how I hope to achieve those objectives.