101 Things To Do With Your Preschooler

Wondering what you are going to do with your Little Ones or your Big Ones when school is out? Here is a CheckList to help you get started. Follow us as we go through this list for our "Incredible, Summer School!"

If you don't need a checklist, you can print Pg.1  Pg.2  Pg.3  Pg.4  

Preschool/Kindergarten Curriculum Review

Are you overwhelmed by the homeschool curriculum you can choose from for your preschooler? Here is a short, breakdown of some I've used or looked at:
 Abeka, love their phonics with blend ladders. This curriculum is very thorough and uses reward pictures for getting the answer right (feed a bone to a dog for each right answer)
 Sonlight, if you want to bond with your children through read aloud books. Again, very thorough and laid out with a daily plan for you to follow. Great Books!
 Five in a Row, for a literature based unit study. You read award winning books and learn about history geography and other subjects while reading.
 Saxon Phonics, they use different manipulatives to make learning to read hands on.
 My Fathers World, I haven't used this curriculum but have heard great things. It's a Charlotte Mason influenced curriculum. It has an all-in-one, classical unit study approach. Strong Biblical base, uses real books and its hands on.
 Sing, Spell, Read and Write for my 4yr. old. He started by learning his colors and shapes, then on to his numbers and ABC's. 
 Alphabet Island each letter has been created into a character and they live on alphabet island. There are stories and songs that clearly enforce the phonic rules. 
 The Phonics Road teaches you the letters and letter teams and after a few weeks are already introducing beginning readers.  
 Dollar Store Workbooks, Winnie the Pooh will help with numbers, Cookie Monster will help with shapes. I love this affordable route to introduce your preschooler to fun learning.
ABCMouse.com that goes through K. It costs $80 for the year or $7.95 a month. My son has had a lot of fun. There is a learning path and he follows it and has learned a lot. Every time you play a game or finish a path lesson, a mouse gives you tickets. My son would go to the "mall" with his tickets and buy things or pets for his virtual room.
 Starfall.com Free or pay for a wider variety of activities. You pick a letter, then follow the "stars" to go through the reader and hear the sound that letter makes and words that begin with that letter sound. 


I hope you find this helpful. Picking a curriculum can be so overwhelming. Even going to convention or talking to your homeschooling friends can still leave you feeling unsure. Every child is different with their own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. I have found that just by spending this time with your little ones, they are developing confidence and security in who they are and the education will come.

10 Chores Your Preschooler Can Help With

I need all the help I can get, so I start giving my little ones things to help with pretty early. They love to feel like they are big and helping. I may have to redo what they did, but it's a training process. Some jobs I like to give them are:

1. Spraying the windows *
2. Emptying the little trashcans
3. Putting silverware away
4. Holding the dust pan while I sweep
5. Vacuuming (we have a shorter, light-weight vac)
6. Hand Vac on the stairs
7. Dusting with duster or spray *
8. Picking up shoes or toys and putting them away
9. Scrubbing toilet with toilet wand
10. Folding Laundry (washcloths, dish towels or his own clothes)

     My little guy is 5 now, but I started getting him to help when he was 2 or 3. He wanted to help. I started him on gathering shoes.
     It's a funny story. My older children were never putting their shoes where they were supposed to go, so one day we were about to leave and my older son is looking for his shoes. JJ (about 2 at the time) walked to the table, picked up his brothers shoes and brought them to him. We were amazed! He paid attention to their shoes. He knew which shoes everyone wore and knew where they took them off. He had a shoe gift and I knew just the job to give him. :)

*Please remember to supervise your little ones, especially with spraying jobs.

Birthday on a Budget ~ Party Theme

What will the theme of your party be? With 5 children, boys and girls, we have had just about every type of theme.We have planned ahead and ordered things from Oriental Trading (you can buy summer themes on sale in the winter, if you plan ahead). I have gotten everything I need from the Dollar Store for a few parties.
    For the girls, we have had:

•  princess parties (dress-up items at the dollar store) 
• mystery parties (invisible ink pens and mystery solving sets at the dollar store ~ made clues to follow that lead to the goodie bags) 
• tea parties (tea sets at yard sales and good will)
• animal parties (stuffed animals at dollar store) 
• horse parties (also found at dollar stores).

    For the boys, we have had:

• cars parties (make cars out of cardboard boxes and have them wear them to race) 
• minute to win it parties (follow the blueprints and get  few items from the dollar store ~ ping pong balls, dice, popsicle sticks, coins, candy treats for junk in the trunk game) 
• paintball parties (for my teenager, we set up a paintball course in the woods and made sure everyone was covered and protected and had an umpire monitor the game) 
• buzz lightyear parties (made recycled jet pack out of 2 liters and cardboard wings) 
• treasure hunt party (made clues in Homemade Rocks around a park that lead to the goodie bags)
• Easter egg hunt party (I had a son born on Easter morning, so he has had many Easter egg hunt birthdays, but he loves the hunt) 
• nerf war party(I asked kids to bring their own guns, but we had plenty if they didn't have one. We bought extra bullets because most families know the bullets go where the missing socks live.

I hope you are finding this helpful. Let me know some frugal birthday theme ideas you have.

Birthdays on a Budget ~ Games People Play

Lightning McQueen Pinata

I Love Party Games! Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Pinata, Limbo, etc.

One year, I found a Christmas pinata on clearance. I bought it, sprayed it white and added a picture of a puppy, which was the theme of my daughters birthday.

   You can also make your own Pinata. You can make a paper mache figure that matches your theme, Instructions Here
   We do the same thing for Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I find a picture or draw a picture that matches our theme then, blind fold the child, give him a good spin and let him tape an item to the picture. It could be a tire for a Cars theme, a crown for a Princess theme, etc. 
   We love doing the Limbo and that's as easy as getting a broom handle and some fun music. 

Some other GAMES:

• Sticker the birthday boy/girl (a mix between marco polo and pin the tail ~ someone blindfolded calls out "Happy" and the birthday child says "Birthday" and the blindfolded child tries to put a sticker on the child.
• Treasure Hunt
• Balloon Races
• Face Painting and Balloon Animals
• Battle at Sea (You need 2 huge boxes (divide into 2 teams), and ping pong balls or water balloons (for a water party) One team at a time and when the other team has "launched all its missiles, tally up the number that made it into the other teams ship)
• Boomer-Whiz (hide a toy in plain sight and find it ~ Make it a toy to go along with your theme ~ The birthday child hides a toy and when it's hidden says "Boomer-Whiz" then the others find it and whomever finds it becomes the new hider
• Relay Race ~ Race to dress-up, Shoe Pile (race to get their shoes out of a pile),
• Charades
• Minute to Win It Games Blueprints Here 
• Hot Potato
• Hula Hoop or Jump rope contest
• Animal Safari or Seashell Hunt (use little plastic animals, dinosaurs or seashells to hide around the yard)
• Follow the Leader
• Red Light, Green Light
• Fishing for Favors (set up a fishing game for the goodie bags)
• No Lose Musical Chairs (when you take a chair away, no one sits out, but they sit on someone elses lap. The end of the game is when everyone is sitting on one chair)

Outside Games

• Bail Out The Boat ~ Use Sponges or Cups to move water from a big bucket to a cup with a line on the top
• Aim and Squirt ~ Use a Strong Water Gun or a hose with a nozzle to take turns squirting a beach ball across the finish line
• Bucket or Flower Pot toss with water balls
• Bubble Fun (from little blowers to Hula Hoop size blowers)
• Water Balloon toss

Balloon Games

• Balloon Bop ~ Have children hit balloon over a string and earn two points each time for a set amount of time.
• Balloon Stomp ~ Put wrapped lollipops in the balloon before inflating, inflate and then have the children stomp on them to get the prize
• Catch the Balloon
• Floating Balloons (keep the balloons in the air the longest

For tons of other games and instructions, go here

Birthdays on a Budget ~ Invitations and Venue

          There are so many different ways to save on invitations and where you want to have your party.

Invitations:

• You can print your own invitations with software on your computer (it's the price of ink that gets you)
• Buy a pack or 2 at a dollar store that matches your theme
• Handmade invitations never go out of style. Have your little one draw a picture and you write all of the important information.
• Online Invitations ~ You can use Facebook, Evite, Punchbowl, etc. to create a really nice invitation to your event and then just sit back and count your RSVP's

 Venue:

• Start looking at Groupon, Living Social or another local sites for great deals. If your child doesn't have his heart set on a specific place you could get a great deal on a fun place. (We went 1/2 price to an inflatable place in our area and had a great time!)
• Check the restaurant or play place's website to get discounts and coupons. Most places will give you a discount if you have your party on a weekday.
• Go to a public park. They have pavilions to use, usually first come, first serve. There will be equipment to play on and a grill to cook on. 
• Have your party at home. I love opening up my home for a party, but it's the cleaning I need to do before they arrive and after they leave that makes me wish I had the party somewhere else ;)

This last party we had was very simple. I knew it would be after church, with family, so I texted everyone to let them know there was a party happening after lunch. Everyone texted me back, right away, to let me know if they were going to be able to come.

Keep it simple and affordable. The details are lovely, but usually overlooked by your guest of honor. They love playing with their friends, eating cake and getting a few presents. Have a Great Party!

My Preschooler Is 5 ~ Happy Birthday

At this age, my baby's best friends are his cousins. So, when his birthday fell on a Sun. I just asked if he wanted to have a party after Sun. lunch with his cousins and he said, "Yes."
                                                          *Hallelujah, save some money*
We had a wonderful lunch. My husband made a roast and some family add to it. We took the kids outside to smash the pinata, came back in and sang Happy Birthday and then he opened his presents. He had very happy day.