Check out how cute these are! We made them today and Cutie was playing with them for hours:) All were made out of construction paper, pretty easy actually- any questions, just ask!

 ”Froggy”

 ”Buzzy”

 ”Moo”

 ”Lion”

For the Jewish Homeschoolers who want an English grammer curriculum, this looks pretty good (I personally have not used it though)

http://www.sfreading.com/index.html

A fabulous support network of Jewish Homeschoolers- http://imamother.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=213

Today Cutie asked me if we could make a firetruck out of construction paper. So I cut out the shape of a firetruck out of red construction paper and cut out 4 black wheels for him to glue on. He then asked me to make a fireman for the firetruck. So I cut out a yellow fireman and he glued a red firehat onto him. We glued a little pocket on to the firetruck for the fireman to sit in. We then made a yellow fire station out of paper with a garage door for the firetruck to go in and out of and to top it all off, we made some roads out of black paper. This kept him busy for almost a half hour! Who would have thought?

I stuck paper to our outdoor table and let the kids have a finger painting mixathon. They kept experimenting with all the mixing of the different colors and the best part was, once they were done we went swimming and all the paint came off of them!

Cutie asked to make his own Thomas the Train that he can ride in. So we took a Huggies Diaper box and covered it with blue paper. Then glued on red wheels on each side and Thomas’s face to the front. I took string and attached it to the sides so he could wear it. He loves it so much, he brings it everywhere we go!

Another great activity Cutie loves is Dominoes- he lines them up and knocks them down, he just loves the effect of each domino knocking the next one down. I think we are onto something with this one!

I got these ideas from http://www.momrecommended.com

“Sensory tables expose your child to new experiences and helps strengthen the connection between the left and right sides of the brain. Learning and retention improves when many senses are engaged at the same time.

Sensory tables usually are tables or tubs with materials designed for hands-on exploring. These types of experiences are important to how your child learns on many levels, including:

• Cognitive Development – by manipulating the materials, your child learns math skills and the concepts of more/less, full/empty and sink/float.
• Language Development – by having experiences interesting enough to talk about. Sensory experiences also helps develop pre-writing skills and hand-eye coordination.
• Social and Emotional Development – as your child learns to control his actions and the experience. Self-discovery, learning to cooperate and work together are all part of sharing a sensory table.
• Physical Development – through practicing small motor skills while pouring, measuring and manipulating the materials.
• Creative Development – by using creative thinking skills to create something using the basic materials at hand.

Building Your Sensory Table

The easiest way to build a sensory table is using a low flat plastic storage container, like what you would use for under-the-bed storage. Set this on a child-size table and fill with mediums and materials from the list below.
If using water, make sure to place it in an area that will not become slippery with spills. To contain spills and any mess, use a floor covering that can be removed for cleaning.

Mediums
Water
Sand – dry and wet
Dirt – dry and wet
Cornmeal
Flour
Peas
Oatmeal
Rice
Macaroni
Beans
Birdseed
Fingerpaint
Playdough
Clay
Confetti
Whipped Cream
Shaving Cream (not methol)

Materials
Spoons
Molds
Waterwheels
Tongs
Rolling Pins
Whisks
Bowls
Funnels
Measuring Cups
Combs
Food Coloring
Wooden Blocks
Legos
Pipes (plastic)
Straws
Magnets
Small metal vehicles
Seashells
Sponges
Colanders
Buttons
Spools
Rocks
Balls
Buckets

I read a GREAT article on homeschooling preschoolers- check it out:

http://www.besthomeschooling.org/articles/lillian_jones_ps_kdgtn.html 

Summers here and time to have fun fun fun:)

One of the nice things about Homeschooling is having so much freedom during the school year that when summer comes, its more like a bonus-

This summer we are definitely going to spend lots of time at the beach, the aquarium, the parks, the pool and doing lots of fun outdoor activities… going to start collecting ideas so if anyone has fun preschool age outdoor creative fun ideas, bring’em on!

I will post any cool things we do, so look out summer, here we come!

There is a song that my cutie loves:

“Hashem gave us a present, do you know what it was?

He gave us the Torah, so we can keep it’s laws…

He asked the other nations, do you want this gift of mine?

But they said, ‘no thank-you, for Torah we have no time’

Then to B’nei Yisrael, Hashem did go,

They said ‘Naseh Venishmah’ because they love Him so!”

And based on this song, we made a really cute project- just used a piece of scrapbooking paper and folder it in on both sides, added yellow ribbon and stuck a pocket on the inside to put the Torah in. He absolutely loved playing with it and showing it off the whole Shavout!

I found this site on a Literature Curriculum- it looks pretty interesting, secular literature with a Jewish point of view:

http://www.mosdospress.com/index.html