Resolved

So I started writing this back in September, and am just now getting around to posting it.  I guess I’ve been spending my afternoons in preschool instead of blogging.  We started doing some preschool curriculum at home with Caleb this fall since he’s not enrolled in an actual preschool program.  As we started, I wanted to define what we wanted it to look like in our family this year.  Here’s what I came up with:

As we start preschool, I am resolved…

• to take the education and teaching of my children seriously.  (Proverbs 1:1-7, 22:6, 29)
  • Train a child in the way he should go,
    and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
  • Do you see a man skilled in his work?
    He will serve before kings;
    he will not serve before obscure men.  (Proverbs 22:29)
• to serve others and consider others more important than ourselves.  We will sacrifice our school plans if it means encouraging and helping others. (Philippians 2)
• to instill the joy of learning more than the facts of academia.  What good is knowing the structure of a snowflake if you never play in the snow? (Psalm 34:8, 66:5)
  • Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf! (Psalm 66:5)
• to address character issues before and in the midst of academic ones. (Proverbs 9:10, 6:20-23, 26:12)
  • The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)
• to model a work ethic that doesn’t give up at the first sight of failure, but perseveres even in difficulty. (1 Cor. 10:31; Proverbs 21:5; James)
• to spend more time reading good books together than completing workbooks. (I have no specific biblical foundation here, just a desire for preschool to be more relational than task-oriented.  I also believe, as a former English teacher, that story and good literature pays immeasurable dividends in the long run.)

Halloween

A recap of Halloween festivities this year:

Ready for trick-or-treating.  This is the first year Caleb asked, “Why are we turning around, Mommy?  Let’s keep going!” 

Creating costumes (Sophia got to paint her own airplane.)

Fall Fest at church

Pumpkin decorating

We’ve also enjoyed pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bars, and a pizza night while watching Winnie-the-Pooh.  The scary Backson monster qualified it as a Halloween movie.  ;-) 

Sophia, 2 1/2

This blog has been a bit Caleb-centric lately.  It’s past time for a spotlight on Sophia.  At two and a half, Sophia loves

• saying “amen” at the end of story instead of “the end.”
• pretending to be a kitty cat.
• playing with her stuffed animals.
• writing the letter H.
• coloring with markers.
• reading Peter Rabbit.  (I love hearing her chime in at her favorite parts.  “Don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden.”  “Stop, thief!”) Her favorite page is when Peter hides in the water can and gets all wet. 
• eating cheese, milk, meat.  Like father, like daughter.
• playing games like Pengaloo, Zingo, hide and seek, and tag.
• watching Word World.  “Let’s build a word.  Let’s build it.  Let’s build it NOW!”  (If you haven’t had that catchy tune stuck in your head or sung to you by my cute 2 1/2 year old, you’re missing out!)
• making up songs, usually made up of one line sung repeatedly.  This morning she serenaded us with a song about a bunny hopping in the jungle. 
• helping Mommy or Caleb.  Several times recently Caleb has left his job of emptying the silverware from the dishwasher only to return and find that Sophia finished it for him. 
• pretending to be a gymnastics teacher.  “Now hop, jump, and then spin, Mommy!”

Helping Mommy make noodles:

Playing tag with Caleb:

Preschool Snapshots

As you know, I’m a bit behind in my blogging.  Here are a couple pictures from Caleb’s first day of his “friend preschool”—in September.  One day a week, he goes to a preschool co-op with 6 of his friends.  Sophia would love to join him!

And here are some snapshots from our preschool time at home: 

Creating a lake and drawing ripples and wakes to show movement.  Caleb’s not into drawing, but he caught the concept.  On a walk around a pond several weeks later, Caleb said, “Mommy, look!  Look at the lines in the water!  The ducks are moving.”

Counting all of Ping’s cousins and family members from The Story About Ping.  There were too many “cousin” blocks to stand up straight, so they had to sleep.  Caleb decided to “join” them.

Here Caleb built a visual representation of our extended family so he could compare it to Ping’s family.  At first he only included one block for his sisters, but then he remembered that he actually has 2 sisters!

This is a map of Alto, Ohio from the book Lentil.  We retraced Lentil’s steps all over town and talked about how his music made everyone smile. 

One week we also learned a little bit about the digestive system in conjunction with reading Madeline.  Here Caleb is “feeding” his paper self. 

Showing Paper Caleb’s appendix. (Madeline had her appendix removed in the book, hence the importance of the appendix.)  The green and black yarn represent the large and small intestines.  Caleb was amazed to learn that the small intestines stretched most of the way down our hallway!

It may seem arbitrary, but I only promised snapshots!

The Truck Lives On

Caleb came up with a new invention to help clean our floors. 

I came across this picture today, and it reminded me of several years ago:

Gymnastics

This fall, we enrolled both Caleb and Sophia in gymnastics classes.  They love it…as you can plainly tell from Caleb’s expression in the following pictures.  Caleb is in an independent class while I assist Sophia through her class (which is why there are no pictures of Sophia). 

We enrolled Caleb in the class because we thought it’d be good for him to experience a class setting in one of his strength areas.  We enrolled Sophia because it was convenient, and I have been amazed at how much she has learned and how well she is doing. 

One of the first weeks of class, the teacher (who was surprised at her ability) asked if Sophia had any gymnastics background in her family.  Um, no.  Then he asked if she had played a lot on the playground.  Uh, yes.  I think it also helps that Sophia is not afraid to try anything.

Cheese!

Don’t you love family pictures?

Would you prefer cheesy?

Casual?

Silly?

Or just plain awkward?