The Start of Homeschooling - Preschool Style!

It is finally that time for our family - time to start schooling. While many were gearing up to send their kids off to their first day of preschool, I was preparing goals for our first year of schooling and picking up extra items I knew we would need throughout the year!

 

 

Preschool - for us, its definitely not 'formal.' While Caelyn may spend some time writing, our school is much more hands on and more everyday life.

My main and most important goal for homeschooling all of my children is to help cultivate a love of learning, which I believe often can be lost in normal schooling. I want my children to pursue their natural interests and passions first.



 

 Caelyn - on her first day of school

We are 3 weeks into school and we are finally getting into a groove that is working for us. Actual 'school' isn't more than an hour of our day - really, how much can a preschooler take? It usually involves our everyday activities:

• Writing out the date
• Checking the weather for the day!
• Saying our prayers and reading the Bible verse we are focusing on for the week
• Doing a few worksheets that revolve around the letter of the week.

 Brayden and Caelyn at the fire station - learning about community helpers!

Besides that, we spend a lot of time reading. At this age, reading is a wonderful way to learn and books can transport kids anywhere. We have read books about sea creatures, polar animals, whales, the Indians, Johnny Appleseed, and Abe Lincoln. I love to read and I pray that my children have the love for reading as I do once they are older.

Pinterest has become my absolute best friend! So many fun preschool activities can be found there. I usually pick one per day - whether it be a graph for numbers, a clothespin wheel, or some kind of nature activity. Whatever I pick, it tends to be fun and educational.

Two of Caelyn's number graphs

I try to tie in learning as much as I can and Caelyn is more than happy about it. Everyday has opportunities for learning, if we try to find them!

Overall, it is going fabulous! I cannot wait to reflect back on our first year and see what we learned (her and I both)!

Caelyn is 3 Years Old!!

Dear Caelyn,

You are officially 3 (as of two days ago). Mommy is having a hard time believing it has been 3 years since I first held you and looked at your beautiful face.

It is amazing how much you have grown in 3 years!

You are such a joy to our family!

 You have truly turned into a 3 year old - full of spunk, attitude, life, excitement, energy.
You tire mommy out just by watching you.
Your love of life and fascination to learn is contagious.
You give me a reason to get up every morning and to be a better mother everyday.

 Little girl, you tell me you love me more times a day than I can count. You strive to help me every second of the day. Your heart is so beautiful. Your personality is more than I can comprehend sometimes.
Everyday, I try to be a better person because of you.

 Your birthday was so much fun. You were so excited to have your family over to celebrate. Presents, cake, dressing up and family made your day!
You received a lot of great presents, but I think what made you the happiest was your family and party time.

You are so smart. I have people tell me all the time how impressed they are because you speak so well and have for months - full sentences and so clearly. You are so giving and wonderful with Brayden. You love being a big sister!
We are starting preschool officially next month with you (homeschool) and I know you are so ready to learn. You know most of your ABCs, numbers, colors, shapes, you can match and make patterns. So many more things! I can't wait to teach you.

I love you and I cannot wait to watch you grow!

Starting Preschool

Andrew and I decided that on Monday we were going to 'officially' start preschool - as official as preschool can be.

 

We have had preschool in the works and been talking about it for awhile, but I have noticed that Caelyn truly needs some kind of structure to her day and adding in an hour of schooling has helped a lot throughout the day.

Preschool is pretty much fun - loosely based activities that aren't too structured. Its important to go with the flow of your child. Caelyn can do workbooks for hours on end if I let her. She just loves to learn. 

 Popcorn garland for the tree! We are planning on making more :)

 

Paper chain for the tree as well - doing crafts AND learning about patterns!

 I love free printables! We printed out a few things from 1+1+1=1 and Confessions of a Homeschooler - both two AWESOME homeschooling blogs that I follow.

We are working on the letter A - upper and lower case. She had to identify them inside of the apple.

 A pattern with Mary, Joseph & baby Jesus. We made a big strip like this - working on patterns and we talked about the real meaning of Christmas. She is so excited for Jesus' birthday!

Grouping pictures into the correct box. She loved this.

We also have been doing some flash cards and work sheets, along with a lot of work book pages - tracing letters and such.

It's so heartwarming to see your child GET it. Today, she was reading a book after school and said "Mommy, this is an A and right here, and here, etc." She found all of the A's in the book - proud Momma!

We start school with a prayer and I am working in bible lessons as well. We may read a verse and I tell her what is about. Yesterday, we read a verse and talked about patience. She told me she has a hard time waiting for ice cream! Such a sweet heart this one has!

Changes Always Happening

Its crazy how fast things can change in a household with babies. Babies are amazing - they do more changing and growing in one week than adults do in months, maybe a year. No wonder their sleep is often so messed up; its hard work growing!

 

 

We have been a busy household lately, from Church, to basketball practice (Andrew is coaching), to cleaning, date night and everything in between. This week upcoming is even more busy! Our calendar is quite full for the next few weeks, especially with Christmas approaching fast.



 

 I officially deam little man a 'supported sitter' and he sure loves sitting up and playing with sissy. This boy is growing too fast and I want him to slow down. Looking back, Caelyn was supported sitting before him and sitting all by herself right at the end of 5 months. I was pushing her though because I wanted her to grow I was so excited. Now, I have learned to appreciate the current stage that my babies are in versus wanting them to get to the next phase.

 He loves to hang out in his high chair and play with the toys that came with it. (PS - its THIS highchair and we love it!)

 He made the recent discovery that he can reach up and grab his feet. Boy, who knew feet could be soo exciting ;-)

 Our little girl has been just as busy. After Andrew and I's date night on Wednesday, we went to Walmart, looking at toys and trying to decide if Santa had enough.
When we got there, I found the Fisher Price Nativity Set. I was soooo excited! I had been wanting to get this for Caelyn forever! She broke parts of my really nice nativity set.
Ever since then, she has played with it everyday. She likes to call baby Jesus baby Moses, but thats ok I suppose ;-)
Its a great tool/toy to use to teach children about the real meaning of Christmas.

 Speaking of the real meaning of Christmas, we decided that one of our Christmas activities this year was going to be making cookies for our neighbors - showing love and kindness during the advent season I think is so important.
We made sugar cookies. Brayden and Caelyn were my little helpers :)
Well.... Brayden ate some pears and Caelyn kept trying to get her hands into the batter to eat!

 What really excites me lately is the ever-growing bond between brother and sister. He is starting to interact with her more and its amazing (and tearful for me) to watch. I LOVE watching her with him and how much he looks at her with amazement and everything he does makes her laugh and then in turn he laughs.

And yes, he pulls her hair ;-) A LOT!

 We are introducing some foods over here. We have tried a few fruits (every veggie causes him to gag, so whatever.. there will come a day when he likes them). He is doing awesome. When he started grabbing food from us and crying and whining when we were eating, I decided to try and he is so happy!

But, boobs are still the best ;-) always to Brayden!

Nighttimes are changing as well. We are beginning new routines to get the kids to sleep better. With Brayden, we cosleep at night, so its a matter of getting him to sleep a few hours at first in his crib while we spend adult time watching TV, crocheting, playing video games, whatever we want to do. We are really trying to focus on his nap times the most. For Caelyn, its about creating a quiet, calm evening after dinner to lead her to an easy bedtime.
Before, we were going from hardcore playing to lets go to bed and thats a hard transition with lots of tears.

Whoa, thats quite an update!
Tomorrow will be grocery shopping day - we desperately need it. I will be posting our meal plan and grocery list ASAP!

School - Kickin It Home Style

Andrew and I are pretty solid in our decision to homeschool, but we still have over a year before she would enter preschool so things could change. But lately, I have noticed that Caelyn is super bored at home. She needs something more and whenever I would engage her in learning, she would eat it up. By learning, I don't mean the normal singing ABCs or reading books. I had bought her a workbook for tracing and she went crazy over it.

So, now that student teaching is done I decided I have plenty of time do some Tot School. I got the idea from many great homeschooling blogs like 1+1+1=1
We started this week with doing the letter A. I got some great printables from the above linked blog. Today we started on working with some crafts. She enjoyed crafts way more than I thought! We spent over an hour working on crafts.

 Caelyn is totally into birds. So, while reading a magazine, I saw this great picture of baby birds. So, I glued it on a sheet of construction paper, cut up some yarn and she had some more pompoms.. I put the glue down and we began. The whole time I talked to her about nests and baby birds (what I know about birds - Mom needs to brush up on some learning herself!) We talked about how she watches birds in the front yard finding worms for their babies. She really enjoyed making a nest!

 I love these! We have a dry erase board in the kitchen. I found these and scoped them up! Perfect! I write the letter out that we are focusing on, along with some words associated with the letter A. At this age, its more learning in context. She can do a worksheet, but the attention span doesn't last forever. We talk about letters, words, and pictures she knows already. I write out letters and tell her what they are.

 That faces tells you she is having a good time! ;-)

 Another crafty favorite we have right now! These are foam stick on letters. The back is sticky. She picks whatever she wants and we talk about the letter she picked and the color. She put down the purple E then a few other letters. She picked up the green E and she said "Green E, Purple E" and pointed at the purple one. I was so proud! This picture was for daddy - or so she said.

I wish this picture would rotate, but I will show it again later. This is our felt board I made. I covered an unused cork board in some felt. I went to WalMart and bought a ton of felt sheets. I am in the process of cutting out tons of different things for the board. Today, we did patterns and she loved it. I would make a pattern and ask her what shape came next. We played this for at least 20 minutes. She totally enjoyed it and it was an easy craft for me to make which I will explain later!

School is a little over an hour, at least today. I finish whenever she wants. Throughout the day, learning always continues. She really enjoys flashcards throughout the day of pictures. I am thinking of more crafts to make everyday and ways to engage her in learning. Not every child would enjoy this, but she seems to eat it up and is excited for school tomorrow which is going to involve a collage making from magazine clippings and some more writing and tracing.

Spring Photos - A Peak!

Happy Easter - 2012!!

Happy Easter all! I hope everyone else had a fabulous day like we did! It started off with just the Caebug and I. Andrew worked :( and because of a large amount of call offs, he was unable to get done early, like he had hoped :(.
But.. We started off the day. She dug into her basket which included two dvds - Team Umizoomi and Max & Ruby, a gardening set, sidewalk chalk, some crayons, and a coloring book. She also got a swing! Plus candy. Duh.
She dug into the candy ASAP which of course resulted in a sugar high!

After awhile, we made our way to Andrew's parents house. They enjoyed watching her dig into their basket at their home - including lots of goodies as well :). Then, Pap Joe hid Easter eggs outside and we went out for an Easter egg hunt!

As a kid, I never did Easter egg hunts every year, but I think its so much fun and she had a BLAST. I think we created a new tradition.

We had such a nice time, despite Andrew missing out on it all. After we spent time with them, we were off to my parents house. They gave her some more goodies and presents, like an awesome bug catching net (my kid is a bug fanatic).

It was my Dad's and Grandma's birthdays today! They decided that they wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner, so off we went. It was a lovely meal. Caelyn was so good - despite her having to stay seated for soo long (about 2 hours). She ate very well - it was just an overall good dinner out.

Plus, there was birthday cake... and who doesn't love birthday cake?!

Afterwards, we went to Andrew's grandma's house and met up with him and the rest of their family. We all relaxed and talked and enjoyed time together. Then.. we came home and she crashed!
Easter is a very tiring holiday ;-)

I hope your day was fabulous! Ours sure was.

Tomorrow is the last day of my break :( then I have 8 more days of teaching before my student teaching is finished and I am so ready to be done! So excited! Tomorrow is going to be full of things that need to get done!

A Vacation Is All I Needed

Oh boy.. I sometimes pull a disappearing act and I did it again. I sometimes forget that I love to blog and I get distracted with everyday life. But lately, I've been feeling that drawing to going back to blogging and wanting to expand - wanting to expand into things I love such as gardening, home decorating, and my favorite - saving money, oh plus that little thing called parenting :)

But.. I wanted to give you all an update on how we are over here in this world.

Andrew and I are doing great. I don't think I ever updated this but in the beginning of September, we got engaged :) - my ring is perfect and lovely. Our wedding date - well its always up in the air, but I will explain why very soon ;-)

Caelyn is 26 months old - *cry* - my baby is growing into this little person all her own. On a daily basis, I am in awe of the wonderful things she does and says.
She is just as stubborn as I am, not that I expected anything less. She is beyond smart, loves to play, loves the outdoors, and her parents :).

Today, we went to the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Pottery Addition Volunteer Fire Department - Andrew recently became the new Assistant Chief. She had a blast!

She played on 'Daddy's Truck' for awhile and later this evening, he took her back over because she had such a blast playing on the truck - future firefighter? Maybe!

We bought a home! I will give you a tour soon :) Its a 3 bedroom home sitting on just over an acre of land. Currently, we are in the middle of adding an addition/sunroom area/family area over top of the garge, so it will look a bit different.

We had a lot of reasons to move. Our other home was just too small, it was a box basically. It was beside a bar and who wants that? Weekends were a nightmare... Plus this leads to one of the biggest announcements....

Our family is expanding as well!

That is right :) We are expecting! This is why our wedding is currently up in the air. We found out at the end of October, right when I found the dress of my dreams - God works in funny ways, right?

My due date is July 9th, 2012 and we are expecting a little BOY - Brayden Joseph. We are so excited. A bigger home was definitely needed for our growing family and we are so happy to welcome him into our home and grow as a family. I can't wait to see Caelyn meet him! I get teary eyed thinking of it.

In this picture, I am 26 weeks 3 days.

So, that is why is going on in the Hayes' house.

I am happy to be blogging again. I want to document the rest of this pregnancy.

I have been student teaching since the end of January. My last day in the classroom is April 19th and I am so ready. Student teaching has confirmed that...

- I am meant to be a SAHM - at least for awhile

- We will soooooo homeschool ;-)

- Teaching is definitely one of the hardest, yet most rewarding careers one could pick.

I know, some people cannot believe I have student loan debt but want to be a SAHM and thats right, I darn do. Andrew recently picked up a second job at Lowe's - its seasonal but we hope it'll become a part time job afterwards or I will apply for subbing after i graduate... I just am meant to stay home, as much as possible! Its God's calling for me.

Happy Easter! I will be back tomorrow evening with some lovely photos from our day ;-)

19 Months Old!!

My little princess is 19 months old today! Holy cow, has timed flown by!!

She is growing and learning with leaps and bounds. This is such a fun (and difficult) age. Something that excites me sooo much is seeing her love for reading, as noted in both of these photos! Currently, she is sitting in front of our bookcase reading out loud (well gibberish but she understands her own self). Its precious and I am so glad that all of our reading to her and encouraging her to read books has paid off.


She runs everywhere. I don't think walking is possible anymore.
She understands so much now. She loves to be a big helper and throw things in the trash for us when asked. She has her own little "chores" such as filling the dogs bowl with food, helping Mommy dust, and picking up her clothes off of the floor and putting them into the dirty hamper.

I think its so important to do things with her such as this. Don't let anyone tell you that they can't because they can AND they find it fun!

What really excites us is her ever-growing vocabulary! Watch out! And don't say anything if you don't want it repeated!
Lately, she has been telling me that things are mean: Mommy is mean, PapPap is mean, Ni-Ni (bedtime, naptime) is mean AND bad lol.
She likes to watch Buddy go outside and will tell me that he is outside and going potty.

There are so many more but it is just exciting to watch her learn! This month has just reminded me how much of a blessing motherhood is!

Sweet Springtime!

How can that face just not make you smile?!
This weekend was so much fun! Friday I worked, but Saturday turned out to be totally beautiful. Andrew was in a wedding, but Caelyn & I went down to his parents house to spend the day with his mother. Their backyard is paradise for children.. a swing set, so much room to play, bushes to play in, plus toys. Yup, my girl loved her time!

She has a sandbox there.. And my girl just loves to play in the sand. Its more that she likes to scoop it and throw it everywhere. But, its enjoyable and I just love to watch her.

Her favorite thing to do is swing! Donna, Andrew's mother, found this cute dolphin swing at the flee market for like $1!! They put it on their wooden swing set that his father and grandfather built when he was a kiddo.
At parks, she hates swings. I think that the sides make her feel insecure. But this thing provides hours of play. She can swing all day if someone will push her.
They have a little dog named Gracie and her and Caelyn are best friends. She "throws" the stick and tennis ball for her and Gracie follows Caelyn wherever she goes in the yard.
I just know that this summer is going to be sooo much fun for us. Last summer, she couldn't crawl yet, but now.. she is a ball of energy and fun. I guess I better get used to being outside because this girl from the time she wakes up wants to run outside and play.
This is the back back of their yard.. with Andrew's dad's barn in the back. They have a nice piece of land and she just likes to be able to wander around.

She is amazed by God's creation - nature. Everything just fascinates her. The trees, birds, flowers, and bushes are just fun to her. She loves to investigate and I find it so exciting to watch her learn. Her excitement when she points and says tree and is correct is just amazing. Her excitement is contagious. Our day went so fast, 6 hours outside flies by!

Using Utensils

Well, we reached a point that Caelyn feels as if she is more independent and wants to feed herself.
She does well with finger foods, but I am talk utensils. I never looked forward to this day.
She still allows us to feed her but after a while, she gets angry and will spit everything back out until we give her the spoon herself and and allow her to do it by herself.

I love that she is growing up and that she is trying to do things by herself! Thats so totally awesome... the problem? Its really messy and it takes a long time. It results in outfit changes and she gets very angry when, after 30 minutes, you take it away but she forgets quickly.

I am really proud of her though! In two days, I can tell how she is learning. Its like, I can see the wheels in her head turning as she figures it out. It requires a lot of hand/eye coordination.

She has figured out which way is the right end (although I think I am going to invent a spoon with a spoon on both ends because sometimes she dips the handles into the bowl).

She knows to put the spoon into the bowl. The issue is that she doesn't understand yet the whole scooping task. She dips the spoon in and, if it is baby food, some sticks to the spoon naturally, then she puts it into her mouth. But, she does turn it upside down.

I guess it is just going to be a learning process. I am in no way forcing or rushing her. I just have noticed the desire and also the anger that she gets because of how much she wants to do it herself. I love watching her learn! She is so stinking cute!