Mama School

Some of you have commented or asked about mine and Emorie's "Mama School." If you don't know what I'm talking about, she and I have been working together on some early math and literacy skills on the days she doesn't go to daycare. We've also thrown a little arts and crafts, sensory play and pre-school appropriate science for good measure. I tried to start working with her in writing letters, but she isn't quite ready. We're working on some pre-handwriting activities I found on Pinterest instead.

We've always read to Emorie and have talked to her since she was in utero. I believe this is what led to her speech development- she has a large vocabulary and her pediatrician says she is above average in her speaking skills.

Ever the teacher and ever the worrywart, I was really stressing her not being ready for preschool. Turns out I needn't worry- Emorie is a fast learner and picks up on new concepts quickly. She also has a heck of a memory. I was never concerned about her literacy skills, but I did notice while she has memorized the numbers 1 through 20 in order, she really wasn't "counting." She would keep calling numbers after there were no more numbers to count. I struggled with math as a child and didn't want the same for her. I decided to work hard with her this summer not only in early math skills, but also in letter recognition and letter sounds. She is doing well.

Some skills we've practiced this summer are sorting, colors and shapes, comparisons (like big versus little and different shapes), patterns, letter sounds, letter recognition, matching upper case letters to lower case letters, and she has learned how to spell her name. We've also learned about water and weather, different sounds, hot and cold, butterflies and frogs, and textures.

I didn't spend tons of money on this, either. I have a pretty nice stash of arts and crafts supplies due to teaching Sunday School.

I also have a few things left over from teaching elementary school, such as the root viewer and the bug boxes. These colorful counters came from the dollar spot at Target when I was teaching second grade. My silly girl is using them to sort by color.

We use these wooden magnetic letters to spell words and talk about letters and letter sounds. I bought them from Dollar Tree when I was in grad school. 

 I've also been able to use several books, puzzles, related toys, and games from Emorie's playroom.

These things are fantastic! I bought them from Books Are Fun, this company that sells books at our school. 

This really neat travel Memory game contains different pages that you slide into the back. There are lots of different pages, and they've all been useful this summer. 

           I did go purchase a few workbooks from Dollar General for $1 each. I bought this one, one for colors and shapes, and one for the alphabet.

I also found countless ideas for teaching preschoolers and sensory play on Pinterest and parenting blogs. Some great sources are The Artful Parent, Modern Parents, Messy Kids, and Growing a Jeweled Rose. Have fun, and thanks for reading!