From my oldest son's blog...

I only have a year left before I'm on my own." I can't help but wonder, "Did I do everything right?" or, "Am I going to function on my own or just implode?"

That's funny; I sometimes wonder the same thing, though not nearly as often as I used to.  You see, dear boy, you don't have to do everything right and neither do I.  We just have to get the important things right:  faith and family. The rest is just details. And you will never be on your own, never truly alone, despite the way it looks right now.  You will always have those important things--your faith and your family--with you wherever you go and whatever challenges face you.  That is the real fruit of a truly happy childhood: you get to be a grownup knowing that God loves you without end and that we do, too...It's all good.

Language Arts for Little Ones

This post is the third part of the preschool series.

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

(First, a disclaimer:  Please remember that my current three-year-old is the seventh child. There have been many gift giving occasions for all our children in the last eighteen years. And remember, that before I was a mom, I was a teacher in an early childhod classroom, where many of the materials were my own.  So, we have years and years of materials.  Certainly, not all of this is necessary.)

A Language Arts "curriculum" for little ones is really the air they breathe.  From the first time you hold an infant, you talk to her.  And so language acquisition begins.  Houses where children are educated at home tend to be print-rich environments where reading takes a high priority.  That's as it should be.

If we sit down to really plan a "curriculum" for the under-5 crowd, quality picture books must be its foundation.  For Katie, those books will come from three sources initially and then hop merrily off on rabbit trails.  The booklists are those found in the early years of the Real Learning list, and the ones found in the manuals of Five in a Row, and the list of books used in Catholic Mosaic. From there, we can go anywhere.

A child learns to read most easily when she has a reason for reading.  So, we give her one.  We open those books all the time and we share with her the excellent stories and pictures inside.  Doing so, we inculcate a strong desire to want to "own" those stories for herself.  She wants access to the richness of language without having to depend on someone else to bring it alive for her.  And so, with most children, the quest to acquire reading skills begins.

To help her along the way, we provide much contact with the letters and print.  Real contact for a three- or four-year-old is tactile.  Let's touch the symbols that stand for sounds.  Sandpaper letters and a moveable alphabet are the gold standard in a Montessori classroom.  We can use those certainly to present classic Montessori lessons. But I don't try to imitate a perfect Montessori classroom. Our language arts shelf is not limited to authentic Montessori materials.

I include several different alphabet puzzles, both in wood and in Lauri foam.  There is also a chunky ABC picture block set and a magnetic ABC puzzle book. First and foremost, puzzles are fun.  They are engaging and appealing and can be used over and over again by the same child for several years. A puzzle with alphabet letters (and sometimes pictures representing sounds) serves several purposes.  It develops fine motor skills and fine tunes visual perception skills.  It allows a child to "get the feel" of the shape of a letter before attempting to make it abstract in the written form. Puzzles let children play with language from the very beginning and the best writers will tell you that composition is really playing with words.  Begin great composition at the very beginning:  nurture the sense of language play!

Also on the language arts shelf is a wooden sign language puzzle. The pieces depict the sign language alphabet. Lift the pegged puzzle pieces and the print alphabet letters and an object wich begins with those letters are pictured below. This is the puzzle that began our sign language adventure. And it's this puzzle that led us to Signing Time and the wonderful DVDs that are a daily part of our language study.  So much has been written about the benefits of sign language to hearing children.  I'm firmly convinced that it is a valuable tool--not only for pre-speaking but for pre-reading.  It's a tactile, kinesthetic way to represent abstract words.  What could be better? The DVDs are engaging, endearing and effective.  Lots of moms need that half hour television break--these are far better than most "educational" televsion shows.  The only drawback?  Instead of scurrying off to empty the dishwasher or fold laundry while the wee ones are engaged, you'll probably find yourself watching, too.  Some Sign Babies flashcards round out our multi-sensory approach to signing.

I really like Handwriting Without Tears' readiness program.  The wooden block letter pieces allow a child to construct a letter before ever attempting to write it.  Then, we can make letters out of dough.  When she's ready, she can practice writing letters on a magnetic screen like an Etch-a-Sketch and on a special slate. Finally, there are some workbooks:-)

The decision to use Handwriting without Tears was one I made under protest.  I loved the Italic handwriting that my oldest learned so easily.  But when Christian really struggled with that and every other traditional handwriting program, I saw that this program, while not beautiful, makes a great deal of sense for the child.  The letters are clear and legible and the entire program is laid out with the thought and care that an experienced occupational therapist can bring to the teaching of writing. For my children who can handle it, the switch to Catholic Heritage Curriculum handwriting books for copywork in the middle grades is nearly effortless.

Not all of language arts can or should be confined to shelves.  Singing songs, chanting Mother Goose, sharing CDs in the car, and drifting to sleep while Mommy nurses the baby and we all listen to bedtime stories are all a part of the picture.  Don't forget lots and lots of Rhymes, Songs, and Fingerplays!  We only get to be little once, but when we're really, really blessed we can revel in the joy of early childhood and see the bright hope of a happy today and a happy tomorrow through the eyes of our own precious child.

Next up:  Number Fun!

Play Date at Dawn's

Oh, how I wish I could send my little boys to play at Dawn's house!

19 Minutes!

Are you kidding me?! According to the Daily Mail, that's how long the typical working parent spends looking after her child.  I received an email this morning, referencing this article and reminding me what John Paul II had to say about being a mother at home.  Nineteen minutes a day, indeed...can you imagine?

The Art Box

This is the second installment of a series.  Part one is here.

A well-stocked arts and crafts shelf is such a blessing in a home education household.  There is no limit to a child's creativity and moms who step back a bit and relax in their roles as educators will find that there is no limit to their own creativity either.  When inspiration hits, it's nice to have supplies on hand.  And often, the right tools will be inspiring in and of themselves.

Paint

Fingerpaints are fun and they offer so much sensory satisfaction.  Do buy washable fingerpaint and it is well worth it to buy fingerpaint paper.  Fingerpaint paper is glossy and allows the sliding that is crucial to the fingerpaint experience. 

Alternatives to traditional fingerpaint include pudding!  Stir up vanilla pudding, add various foodcoloring if you like and allow your child the ultimate sensory experience--touch, smell, sight and TASTE! Play Mozart as you paint if you really want to cover all five senses. These paintings are not "keepers"--it's about the process, not the product.

Another alternative to traditional, storebought fingerpaint is one I discovered in Better Basics for the Home:

First, make some natural dyes. Combine 1/4 cup plant dyestuff and 2 cups water.  Simmer over low heat for 2 hours.  Use a tablespoon or two to dye the paint.  Dyestuff includes: 

Blue:  blueberries, red onion skins

Brown:  Walnut hulls, paprika

Green: oak bark, crab apple leaves and bark

Orange:  yellow onioin skins, oats

Purple:  purple grapes

Red:  cranberries, beets

Tan:  coffee and tea

Yellow:  apple tree bark, white onoin skins, turmeric

To make the fingerpaint, you need:

I cup cornstarch

1/2 cup cold water

1/3 cup finely grated bar soap

1/2 cup boiling water

and the juice dyes

Place the cornstarch in a large bowl and stir in the water.  Place the grated soap in a separate, heat-resistant bowl; add the boiling water and stir until the soap has melted; then pour the mixture into the cornstartch mixture.  Stir to blend.  Let the mixture rest until it has become a thick, fingerpaint texture.  Divide in to separate bowls and add the juice dyes.  This will last about a week in the fridge stored in glass jars with screw tops.

For tempera paint, my first word of advice is to staunchly resist any urge to buy powdered tempera and mix your own.  As Tomie de Paola remembers in The Art Lesson, once powdered tempera dries on the paper, it's very likely to just be blown away.  Better to buy premixed washable tempera.  You can thin it if necessary for projects that take a thinner medium. There are some ideas for using powdered tempera mixed with other media in Preschool Art:  Painting; so if you've got some, don't toss it!  There are lots and lots of other great painting and printing ideas there, too.

Watercolors come in two varieties in our house.  Once upon a time, I spent just enough time teaching in a Waldorf school in Charlottesville to fall in love with wet on wet Waldorf watercolor painting.  Waldorf paints, while truly amazing, can be prohibitively expensive.  I have found watercolors in tubes at AC Moore to be a suitable substitute. Watercolor paper stands up well to the wet on wet watercoloring of a young child.  Essentially, the paper is wet before painting.  Then, using liquid watercolors (not pan watercolors) the child is encouraged to play with the colors (as opposed to trying to paint realistic forms) by blending one fluid color into the next.

For our nature backpacks, however, we use pan watercolors to be brought to life by creek water as often as possible!

Crayons

In addition to wet on wet painting, you can encourage play with color over focusing on form by providing flat, broad block crayons and modeling filling a blank paper with wide strokes of colors.

And for everyday coloring, we use good old Crayola crayons. There's plenty of inspiration at that site too!

Modeling dough and such

Another lovely Waldorf art supply is modeling beeswax.  This is sweet smelling and very hard at first, compared to typical play doughs.  I give it to my children to warm in their hands while I read aloud. Because it holds its form so well, it can be molded into very delicate shapes. It's really never permanent though.  Don't set a detailed figure on a windowsill--it's sure to melt.

Preschoolers should have some good old soft modeling dough too.  Lakeshore makes one that is scented (warning to moms in the throes of morning sickness:  it's very sticky-sweet scented).  Give a child modeling dough and he's going to ask for rolling pins and cookie cutters and the garlic press for making hair!

And when you are weary of commercial prepared dough, crack open Mudworks and feast on the plethora of great recipes for making sand dough, edible dough, permanent dough, salt dough, and more and more and more dough!

For older siblings, Model Magic and Sculpey are favorite modeling compounds. 

Colored pencils

Once a year or so, I buy everyone a package of colored markers (usually for Christmas stockings or Easter baskets).  Our preference really leans toward colored pencils. And for colored pencils, Timberdoodle and Prismacolors have been mainstays since the very beginning of our home education adventure.

For three dimensional inspiration, you might check out Craft and Collage. Other items to inspire creativity and to assure that you have what you need when inspiration strikes include plenty of "lttle things" for collages. Many of these I've stored in Mason jars or empty Adagio tea tins (upper lefthand corner of the bookcase in the picture):

• popsicle sticks of various widths
• collage boards
• googly eyes
• buttons
• beads
• small pompoms
• small shells
• stick-on rhinestones
• tissue paper of various colors
• glitter
• gel glue
• drawing paper
• colored paper
• paintbrushes

Some favorite resource books include:

• Preschool Art: It's the Process Not the Product
• Science Arts
• Good Earth Art
• The Fabulous Book of Paper Dolls
• Preschool Art: Collage and Paper
• Storybook Art
• Eric Carle's You Can Make a Collage

Next, we'll have a peek at language arts for little ones.

While I appreciate the beauty, the materials and some of the methods of Waldorf education, I am not a follower of Rudolf Steiner, his educational philosophy, or his religion. I am a practicing Catholic who is very clear in teaching the faith to her children. Please see this post for any further explanation of incorporating methods or materials that might also appear in Waldorf schools into your home. Take inspiration from what is good and what in in harmony with the true faith and leave the rest. If you can't discern, then leave it all alone.