It's January 1st. The day of New Year's Resolutions. People will have failed at their new diet, gym routine, change in behavior, or attempts to stop some activity by the end of the week. High achievers may make it to the end of the month, others won't even make it through the end of the day. Today is the day that people all around the world will set goals for themselves, and then either beat themselves up trying to achieve those goals, or hate themselves for failing. Maybe both. Regardless, you can rest assured that they are all completely forgotten no later than February. 

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted about preschool. Don't let my lack of posting make you think it's from lack of schooling. It's the opposite, actually. We've been working just about every day through a "school time". At first, I tried the three-day-a-week method...thinking that wouldn't exasperate Jonah, or bore him of school. I was wrong. In fact, having school for an extended amount of time three days a week frustrated him, and me. He got bored, wouldn't pay attention, and I realized my plan was.not.working. So now, we're doing shorter periods of dedicated school time every day. Or that's the plan. Some days it's fifteen minutes, some days it's thirty, and some days it's three and half. I sort of leave it up to Jonah and his attention span. I figured out really, really quickly that if it didn't work that way, we were both frustrated. And let me be transparent, there are totally days that he just isn't feeling it, and we paint something or do a project in the kitchen floor instead of even attempting school time. Or go to the pool. In my mind, he's still learning. I think most people would agree with that. And if you don't, that's okay. Sure I get behind on my plans, but there are worse things.

Now, when I say dedicated school time, that definitely isn't the only period of learning Jonah has during the day. Like I said, some days our school time doesn't happen. Not directly, and in a planned way, anyway. I consider school time the time where he sits at his little table in his room*, and I teach him very specific things in a planned way.  I have lesson plans, he does worksheets, traces letters, practices colors, and learns shapes, letters, numbers, days of the week, etc. I like to think the bulk of his learning comes from the various other activities that may not be sit-down-at-your-desk-learning, but are (probably, likely) more beneficial to him. We do lots of those. Ya know, helping around the house, exploring outside, imaginary play, cooking with mama, play dough, building towers, and crashing trains. Everything pretty much gets related to whatever I'm teaching him that week. And he helps with that...few seconds go by that I'm not answering (or asking) "What color is that one?" or "What does dat start with?"...it's fun and makes his school and learning more of a lifestyle.

*For now, Jonah just has a small table and chair dedicated to school time in his bedroom. I'll post about that soon. Eventually, I would love to have an entire room dedicated to school. Eventually.

Okay...on to how it works for us. My plans go that we do a letter, number, shape, and color each week. Initially, I planned to keep up with that pattern, but decided to extend colors a little more than one per week. We are sticking with just the primary colors until I can see that Jonah has really grasped those, then we'll adjust from there. Letters are still one a week, as are the rest. Shapes may extend soon, too. I don't want to overload him, so I adjust according to how he's grasping something. Oh, we're doing days of the week, too. Basically just telling him each day what day and date it is, then asking him throughout the day if he can tell me those same things.

Here are a couple of the worksheets we've used recently...feel free to use them as well. All I ask is that you not share them as your own. If you would like to share them, just link back to my blog!



I have a certain toddler who is totally unhappy with this hotel room and is begging to go to the pool. I think I'll oblige, and squeeze a little school time in after he's gotten some energy out! Have a lovely day!

When we lived in Wilmington, we went to a church called PC3. This church had a huge impact on both mine and Andrew's lives, spiritual and otherwise, and both of us continue to listen to messages from the church. Mike, the pastor, is gifted with the ability to deliver the word of God unlike anyone I've ever heard speak before.

In my quiet time, I've been supplementing my regular reading with reading through the devotionals on the PC3 website. The recent series, The Art of Practice, focuses on spiritual disciplines and Proverbs 3:1-8. I know lots of people aren't big on devotionals, but these are encouraging, convicting, and thought provoking. If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen at least one tweet a day with some quote from the PC3 devos. I really enjoy reading them. And, because my word for the year, again, is discipline, having something to keep up with daily does actually help me be just that.

I sound like an ad. I should be paid for that. Really just a heartfelt sharing, though. Maybe somebody else will be encouraged, too! :)