Sunday, September 30, 2012

A Letter a Day - pre Pre-School Prep


We just decided that we are going to wait until next Fall to enroll Ivy in Pre-School. She turns 3 this week. I know she's ready to learn, but the logistics of pre-school just don't work for us right now. I know everyone makes these decisions for different reasons. Here's ours:

1. I work in the afternoons (3:00pm-7:00pm usually). So Ivy would head to pre-school all day, then when it's time to pick her up, I would be leaving for work. :(

2. She has a late birthday, which means she would be in pre-school for 3 years if we enrolled her now.

3. Money. We have been working really hard to get out of some debt, and we're very close to meeting our goal. Adding on a monthly pre-school payment would set us back. We live next door to my parents, who work from home, so it's not like we need "day care." They gladly let Ivy come over anytime we need her to.

4. Germs. This isn't a real reason, but it does sit in the back of my mind. I have had huge trouble with my immune system, and I do all that I can to not get sick, especially since I work with kids all week long. In the last year (via diet change, herbal supplements and acupuncture), I've made leaps and bounds boosting my immunity. If right now Ivy went to school and started bringing home all those little illnesses, I think I'd be right back to square one, health-wise. In another year, my immune system will be that much stronger. Lucky for Ivy, when she gets sick (which is rare) she's over it in a day or two, just like her daddy. For me, I'm down for the count for about 2 weeks. 

With all that said, I know Ivy is craving a piece of academia. So I started doing "A Letter A Day" with her. We started at the beginning of the alphabet. Here's how we do it:

1. On a piece of paper, I write the letter. Then I draw a dashed version of the letter for her to trace. Then I have her try to write it on her own. For now, I just do uppercase. Some of the books show the lowercase, and I briefly say to her "big H, little h, uppercase H, lowercase h" but I really just stick with learning the uppercase.
2. I tell her the sound that letter makes, then recite a bunch of words off the top of my head that start with that letter. For 'H,' I said, "hand, head, happy, hurry, help..." It's really neat when she "gets it" and then says a word. When we did the letter 'J,' she interrupted me with the word "juggle"! I was overjoyed. :)


3. I gathered these Alphabet items we already had: 3 books and a stacking block set. After we write our letter, she knows to go get these things.

4. We go through each book and find the page with that letter, and say the name of the picture that goes along with it. The "Elmo's Alphabet" book is cool because it has a whole little paragraph that goes along with the letter. 




5. Then we get the Alphabet Block with the letter on it, and I have her find the letter on it. It also has a corresponding picture, which gives her more chances to hear the sounds.






6. Then we go to our bookshelf and try to find the letter in the titles of the books.





7. Lastly, we take the letter we wrote and put it on the refrigerator with the rest of the letters. When daddy comes home from work, we show it to him proudly!


I will also usually write the letter on our main family calendar, so I remember which one we're on, if we happen to miss a day. Ivy watches me do this, and that's kind of the beginning of teaching her about dates!

If you have a toddler at home, I hope you can take something from this post and use it!
Ivy just loves doing her Letter A Day, 
and reminds me about it all the time. 

How did you come to your decision about pre-school?

Aloha, Rebecca

8 comments:

  1. Great idea, They did a letter a week the first year at my son's preshcool. Plus I don't think she even meets the age requirement around here. She will top of her class next year! Thanks for linking up on Super Sweet Sunday!
    Stephanie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful Idea...we are doing something a little similar that you may like to add to your activity each week. Here is the link:http://fabulouslysmitten.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-note-on-letter-of-week.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great ideas. I could have used a lot of these ideas when my boys were young.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great ideas, very creative and loving of you. It is such a really wonderful idea from you to her. Thanks for sharing your inspiration with Sunday’s Best – you helped make the party a success!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is great! I'm homeschooling my Preschooler (he's 4, with a late birthday too, so he'll start Kindergarten next Fall)...we chose many of the same reasons you did to not do traditional preschool right now, and like you I sort of made up my curriculum, but I do see progress and he's loving learning! I use print outs from education.com (free!) to help him trace letters etc., and even learn to count! You're doing great, keep it up!! Thanks for joining the party at Keep Calm and Link Up!
    Barbara at Chase the Star
    www.chasethestar.net

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great ideas! There is so much you can show her at home! Thanks for sharing.
    Freemotion at the River Linky Party Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is AWESOME becca! I love it and love what you are doing with her. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Find out how 1,000's of people like YOU are working for a LIVING online and are fulfilling their dreams right NOW.

    Get daily ideas and guides for making THOUSAND OF DOLLARS per day ONLINE for FREE.

    GET FREE ACCESS TODAY

    ReplyDelete

Talk to me!