The Joy of the Body 1

Today was the first day that Luc joined us. Hailey was excited to share joy school with him and kept telling him that there is a surprise. (that was the way I introduced it to Hailey)

We started talking about our bodies today. When I told Hailey this before the lesson, I also asked what is her body. She bend over and pointed to her bum. It was a funny sight. We started potty train recently but it's not going well.

So to start the lesson, we shaped our bodies into different letters. Both got into this activity. Then we walked in different ways following what the CD sang. Then we looked at different pictures from "Your Insides" by Joanna Cole. I finally had the time this morning to go to the library and really look for books. They were all in the nonfiction section even though they were for children.

Our little act activity is to put back the body that I cut out. They had me outline the body on the paper first which I thought was a great idea but something I wouldn't have thought of myself.
Luc saw me cut these out and so ask me when we were ready to do it.

Hailey still wanted more help from me even though I know she really could have done it herself.

Then we read a quick book about feet to more onto our finally activity...painting with our feet.

Chloe came here right in time to join us. They got the sidewalk pretty messy but really enjoyed themselves.

And that ended our Joy School for the day. Luc was talking to Chloe later about having his picture on the school house with his own window. I was afraid that he would think that this was too childish for him but he had fun today. He is a more active boy who needs to move. Robert is like that too so it's great that I have this chance to work with Luc to learn how to work with Robert.

Preschool School: B for Birds and Bats

Today for preschool we focused on bats and birds. So we read "Stellaluna". It's kind of a long book but both girls enjoys books and so they sat through it.

Then we made bat puppets. Audrey did great and only needed help with the wings and eyes. Hailey wanted a little more hands on help and Robert just tore everything that that I put together for him.
Then we made birds. The kids were able to color their wings with stamps, while I cut out the bodies for it. They had a lot of fun stamping and also got it on the table a little. Hailey also got some on her mouth by not paying attention to what she was doing.

They got a blast out of flying them when they were done.

Robert, however, tore him up within the first five minutes.

This lesson surprisingly took 55 minutes. So afterwards they played outside.

Joy School Intro 2

Hailey couldn't wait to start Joy School. She goes to the calendar and counts the numbers. At the start of Joy School we did the weather chart. At first it was just cloudy. We moved on to the calendar and then before we set down for the lesson, I noticed that it started raining. So we changed our chart. By the end of Joy School, Hailey pointed out that it stopped raining and was sunny now. This was a great chance to further explain the weather.

For this lesson we are still introducing Joy School, so did a lot of singing and finger plays. We learned "I got Joy." Hailey who is generally shy when put on the spot, still repeated after me and really tried to learn the song. Later that night we went over the song the daddy and Robert. The next morning, Nathan started saying the words and Hailey went over and wanted him to repeat after her. Grant it that Hailey can only really remember nine words but it's a great start that surprised me.

For the actually learning session, we talked about the last three rules. We talked about how following rules can make us happy.

Then for the craft we cut or tore colored paper to make a design on a blank sheet. Hailey got frustrated in trying to cut that she gave up. She wanted to color with markers instead so we did that for a little.
Here's my pretty picture to demonstrate to Hailey what she can do.

We didn't get to everything on the lesson plan but Hailey enjoyed our time which was the main point.

Joy School Intro

Besides the fact that instead of getting "books" and I have to download all the materials, there were a lot of other preparations I needed to do. I like having paper copies, so I print it all out and had Staples bind it together. Also, I need to make family puppets. The orange puppet is the brother, the pink patterned one is the sister. The dad has the tie and the mom has a weird vest or collar.

And I made three different charts that we will be using everyday. Here's our school house so that Hailey can open her window when she's ready for school. This is meant to also be a tool to control behavior but our windows don't stay open. Also Hailey is very excited about Joy School so that eliminates behavior problems.

Here's our weather "clock" as Hailey calls it. She's been interested in the weather recently so this is great that we can visually describe the weather.

Finally, we have the calender. I don't think Hailey is ready for this concept yet, so I'm going to focus more on the days of the weeks before I try to explain what a month is.

So on Sunday, I had most things ready. After Hailey's timer went off for quiet time. I told her I had a surprise for her. Since Hailey doesn't understand waiting or time, I generally don't tell her future plans. So she had no idea Hailey School was starting again.

Hailey came downstairs and saw the posters in our kitchen and was excited. I explained what they were and then continued with the introductory lesson Joy School provided. The lesson main purpose was to get the kids used to each other and a school environment. So we went over some finger plays and songs.

There's a little part where a puppet talks to the class and tries to get the kids to introduce themselves. I feel strange about using puppets. We used the sister puppet and called her Sally. Hailey was very shy and wouldn't really talk to the puppet. However, after Joy School, Hailey grabbed Sally and asked me the questions I asked her earlier.

Then we talked about Joy School Rules and went through the first three. We learned the song about the rules.

The craft was meant to show how crayons follow rules too. "When crayons get hot, they melt." So, I shaved the crayons and we made pretty designs on one side of the paper. Then I melt it with an iron. It was a very cool craft. Hailey liked it a lot.

This is Hailey's.
This is the one I did.

We did Joy School for about an hour maybe even an hour and a half. It was a good experience and I know things will run more smoothly once I get use to the flow of things and learn the music.

Preschool: A for Apples

Monday was our first day for Preschool. I decided to do apples again like last year. First we read "Ten Apples Up On Top". Then I cut into the apple to show the star. With the apple they could dip it in the green paint to color the letter A page.

Audrey just wanted to use the paint brush.

Robert had fun with the paint. Luckily, it came off the tray pretty easy.

Then we talked about where apples came from. They put their own apples on the trees using their fingers.
After we quickly cleaned up, we read about Johnny Appleseed. Since Robert found the bubbles while I was reading, we played with bubbles when I finished the story. Then we had apples for a snack. All this took 30 minutes.

Then for the next 20 minutes they were pretty happy with play-dough. We finished up preschool with dress-up. I think the kids enjoyed their time together. I was very surprised at how smooth things ran today.

Getting Started

As Nathan heads off to school for the start of the fall semester, I decided to start up Hailey School again. Robert naps from 12-3 and Hailey does quiet time for the first hour in her room. She has a timer which has help her a lot. So we have from 1-3 to do Hailey School.

I received some Joy School material from my mother-in-law a while ago, so I was going to try to do that. However, going through the notebooks I got, I was very confused. At the last minute, I decided that it was worth the money to get new material from Values Parenting. It's a two year program that I'm going to do in one year. It is designed to only be twice a week but I want to do it four times a week. Also it is supposed to be do with other children, so Luc will be joining us since I'm watching him during that time.

In addition to Joy School, Hailey will be doing a preschool with Audrey on Mondays and Wednesdays for an hour. We are switching off who house preschool is at and when it's not at my house, I don't have to stay so Robert and I will have alone time.

Hailey is going to be pretty busy this year which is great. Once a week she will also go to tumbling for 2-3 year olds. Hailey is a very social kid and loves being with other kids. I'm glad we are able to give her this opportunity.