Week One: Good Night Moon
Alrighty!
Here we go.
This is the first blog about our adventures in Before Five in a Row. I'm so excited!
I knew I wanted to do BFIAR for a long time. I've heard a lot of good things about the program. It's for ages 2-4, it's Christian, it's diverse, and it delves into a lot of great classic books. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out their site here.
Before we started this curriculum, I was just winging it, which was fine for learning color and shapes and letters, but now that he's really preschool age, I need structure. Flying by the seat of my pants just isn't working anymore, because when I don't have anything planned for the day, we don't do school. Just how it works. So now I have something to follow, and something he really enjoys. Because if the Sheriff doesn't enjoy it, it's just not happening. He will make all wheels of learning screech to a halt. Since we've started doing BFIAR, he asks to do school every day, even before I'm ready. It's friggin' awesome.
As I've said, BFIAR is meant for 2 to 4-year-olds. That's a huge leap, so some of the things on the curriculum are too young for him. No problem. I have a secret weapon: Pinterest. I'm able to substitute activities or lessons for things that will challenge him, and things he will enjoy.
So... our first week. We read Goodnight Moon. For all you more type-A mothers following along, you may yell at the screen, "BUT THAT'S NOT THE FIRST BOOK! YOU'RE GOING OUT OF ORDER!" And I will say now, BY GOLLY, YOU'RE RIGHT! It's a book we already had without going to the library or Amazon.
The first thing you should know about me is that I work with what I have. I'm not going out of my way for things to be perfect. Soup sandwich, remember?
Activity #1: We made mush, just like the little bunny has in the book.
I lost the recipe, but I was something like 1 cup cornmeal, 2 cups water. I simmered it on the stove until it was thick, then added butter, milk, and maple syrup.
It was pretty good, but it had a tiny little bit of a bitter aftertaste, so the Sheriff wasn't a fan. He ate it, though, with enough syrup.
Activity #2: We noticed the little Bunny wrote his name on his brush. So I drew an oversized brush just like it on a piece of paper, and Sheriff practiced writing his name. He loved it!
Activity #3: Rhyming. He was just starting to notice rhymes when we did this book, so we went through the book and found the rhymes and drew them out. Then we just thought of a few of our own words and rhymed them. Three weeks later, he's still trying to rhyme words. He's obsessed.
Activity #4: Time. I noticed that the clock progresses through the book as the stinkin' little bunny keeps procrastinating at bedtime and I pointed it out to the Sheriff. After that, I pulled out this book we already had, and we read through it. He's too young to count by 5's to get the minutes, but he got the hours just fine! He was so proud to show his dad that is was 7:00 when he came home that night.
Verse: We touched on Psalm 4:8 because the Sheriff is sometimes a little nervous about the dark. It says, "In peace I will lay down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety. (NIV)"
Mostly we focused on Psalm 8:3b, "The moon and the stars... You have set in their place."
It was a fun first week, and I have to remind myself to go over some things again, like verses and time so it will really stick. As you may have noticed, it was a short week because we were sick for half of it.
Stay tuned next week for Corduroy!
Here we go.
This is the first blog about our adventures in Before Five in a Row. I'm so excited!
I knew I wanted to do BFIAR for a long time. I've heard a lot of good things about the program. It's for ages 2-4, it's Christian, it's diverse, and it delves into a lot of great classic books. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out their site here.
Before we started this curriculum, I was just winging it, which was fine for learning color and shapes and letters, but now that he's really preschool age, I need structure. Flying by the seat of my pants just isn't working anymore, because when I don't have anything planned for the day, we don't do school. Just how it works. So now I have something to follow, and something he really enjoys. Because if the Sheriff doesn't enjoy it, it's just not happening. He will make all wheels of learning screech to a halt. Since we've started doing BFIAR, he asks to do school every day, even before I'm ready. It's friggin' awesome.
As I've said, BFIAR is meant for 2 to 4-year-olds. That's a huge leap, so some of the things on the curriculum are too young for him. No problem. I have a secret weapon: Pinterest. I'm able to substitute activities or lessons for things that will challenge him, and things he will enjoy.
So... our first week. We read Goodnight Moon. For all you more type-A mothers following along, you may yell at the screen, "BUT THAT'S NOT THE FIRST BOOK! YOU'RE GOING OUT OF ORDER!" And I will say now, BY GOLLY, YOU'RE RIGHT! It's a book we already had without going to the library or Amazon.
The first thing you should know about me is that I work with what I have. I'm not going out of my way for things to be perfect. Soup sandwich, remember?Activity #1: We made mush, just like the little bunny has in the book.
I lost the recipe, but I was something like 1 cup cornmeal, 2 cups water. I simmered it on the stove until it was thick, then added butter, milk, and maple syrup.
It was pretty good, but it had a tiny little bit of a bitter aftertaste, so the Sheriff wasn't a fan. He ate it, though, with enough syrup.
Activity #2: We noticed the little Bunny wrote his name on his brush. So I drew an oversized brush just like it on a piece of paper, and Sheriff practiced writing his name. He loved it!
Activity #3: Rhyming. He was just starting to notice rhymes when we did this book, so we went through the book and found the rhymes and drew them out. Then we just thought of a few of our own words and rhymed them. Three weeks later, he's still trying to rhyme words. He's obsessed.
Activity #4: Time. I noticed that the clock progresses through the book as the stinkin' little bunny keeps procrastinating at bedtime and I pointed it out to the Sheriff. After that, I pulled out this book we already had, and we read through it. He's too young to count by 5's to get the minutes, but he got the hours just fine! He was so proud to show his dad that is was 7:00 when he came home that night.
Verse: We touched on Psalm 4:8 because the Sheriff is sometimes a little nervous about the dark. It says, "In peace I will lay down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety. (NIV)"
Mostly we focused on Psalm 8:3b, "The moon and the stars... You have set in their place."
It was a fun first week, and I have to remind myself to go over some things again, like verses and time so it will really stick. As you may have noticed, it was a short week because we were sick for half of it.
Stay tuned next week for Corduroy!
Fun stuff!
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