Our Farmhouse Blessings

Homeschooling Days 

Our homeschooling days usually keep to a specific rhythm.  

We always start the day together with breakfast and Ancient Faith Radio.

We love to listen to Abbot Tryphon as well as some other podcasts.
We also will recite our memory work and read the Bible.  Then, the boys will usually bring their grammar down for me to work with them.  Afterwards, we will tidy up from breakfast and all separate.  The big boys will work on math and piano and I will have some special time with the littles.
Preschool Time:

We usually start with songs about the day of the week and the weather.  Then, we usually will work on our calendar.  This Lenten season we also have a Lent calender I made.  Taking the idea I found from charmingthebirdsfromthetrees.blogspot.com, I water colored a poster board and made a little butterfly.  Each day, the butterfly moves one day closer to Pascha!  

Then, we sit down for seasonal stories and songs and usually a craft.

I have to say,  I LOVE little preschool activities and find it such a blessing I get to do this over again.

I love to put together our little preschool activities. 

 Felt story boards, puzzles, busy bags...

 It's usually a mix of Montessori, Waldorf and Classical methods all in one-a very eclectic mix indeed!

After the boys are done with their morning work, we come together again for lunch time.  Sometimes, we will listen to poems, sometimes classical music, other times Story of the World. 

Most times, we just enjoy each others company.

After lunch and cleanup, I will put little Juliana down for a nap.  Then, I will read a story to Joe and he will retire to his bedroom for quiet time.  It seems that he has mostly grown out of naps, but, while quiet time is not his favorite part of the day, he does enjoy looking at animal books and listening to stories on CD during that time.

After the littles are settled, I will once again meet up with the boys for our time together.  This usually involves watching CNN student news, going over math concepts they may have trouble on and reading a book together.  Presently, we are reading, Everyday Saints and Other Stories by Archimandrite Tikhon.  Nicholas is so engaged in this book he often asks me to not stop reading.  He says this is his favorite part of the day and I have to agree.  Reading aloud to my children is definitely a favorite part of my day!

Here are some recent shots of a recent morning.

Our preschool calendar. Joseph loves to do this part all by himself.

 This little board I made at the beginning of the school year.  I can't recall where I found the idea, so I can't give credit, but a quick search on preschool morning circle ideas should land you there.

We sing about the weather and the day of the week.

The little ones love to look out the window to see what the weather is so we can put the corresponding sticker.  I laminated this and use Velcro rounds on the back so they are interchangeable.

 

 This is the watercolor Lent calender I made. 

 Our little butterfly travels each day closer to the glorious resurrection of our Lord.

 

I get lots of neat ideas from Pintrest. 

This is just an egg carton with 1-5 dots that I placed in each little hole.

The little ones take rocks and place that number of rocks that corresponds with the number of dots.

This is one of the little ones favorite spots in the home school room.

I made a felt board and we hung it on the wall.

We use it for songs and stories.  We also use if for the children to explore.

Here, I cut different shapes out of felt to make a train

Joseph puts it together in anyway he sees fit and loves to make up a story to go along with it.

Puzzle time!

These puzzles are a little easy for Joseph, but he is supporting his little sister (:

This was such a fun activity for the kids.

I found these blank body and head printables online.

I then laminated them and let the kids go wild with creativity.

We got out the play dough, googly eyes, cut up pipe cleaners, buttons, beads, etc.

They had such a great time decorating them.

(even the big boys wanted to take a break from their schoolwork to join in the fun)

I highly recommend this activity.