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Elijah will soon be 6. He is Busy with his Grade 0/R/Kindergarten year.
Every Tuesday Elijah has an Creative Expression assignment that we do. He narrates and Mommy takes notes.
There are two that have been my favourite! I wanted to share a little bit of my son with you.
(I did not correct him on anything so this is, as they say, straight from the horses’ mouth)
What do I want to be when I grown up? (11 April 2012)
A Policeman.
Because I can catch crooks and get faster.
Criminals are bad.
Or a fireman, so I can watch emergencies, like fires. I will fight the fire.
Or an ambulance man.
Or all these stuff.
If there are any people hurt I can help them.
I must tell them about Jesus. If there are any people sick or don’t have any food, I will catch fish and give them food for their lunch and dinner.
The End!
How to make a Chocolate Sandwich (21 February 2012)
First you need a knife and a loaf of bread.
And the Chocolate in a bottle. You need Ham
Cut the bread, put the chocolate on the ham. Put the Ham on the bread.
Now you need some vegetables. Cut the Apple and put it on the sandwich.
Put some Hamburger on the sandwich.
You need a Big giant Pear. Cut it and put it on the sandwich.
Put another bread on the sandwich.
Now you have a big Giant Burger Toast Sandwich.
It is the Longest food in the world!
The End!
Hope you enjoyed my son’s narration.
Blessings
To be honest, if I let myself I could *almost* feel a complete failure right now in this area.
While Elijah is busy in Grade 0, Jessica does what she wants, because that is just who she is, I think. My Miss Independent has no use for me unless she can’t reach it/open it/needs specific help. Gabriel loves getting involved in everything which upsets Jessica and Elijah in whatever they are trying to do.
I have come to believe Timing is everything. If it is possible to keep Jessica and Gabriel out the school while Elijah is busy – it happens, but more often than not they come creeping in. Jessica sees Elijah is getting attention and she wants IN! Gabriel is just there to create Havoc. He is starting to sit on a chair so hopefully soon we will be able to get him a bit more constructively playing on his own for a bit.
I have not managed to get Jessica to follow many directions – Her way is Her way!
I have tried following some kind of ABC order – It didn’t interest her at all  We tried themes – She would just carry on or refuse. It has been a case of Mom’s maximum effort in preparing and such and Minimum output on her side…such are the breaks!
What does work – Crafts that her brother is interested in, so we will keep it up – more crafts for them all – ouch for me.
Stories work great – so we will start more officially with Sonlight P3/4. We already do bible using 100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs.
I will include a stART project every week.
We also have playdates every week but I want to try make them more structured.
You are welcome to give me many other great ideas!
Blessings,
This is one of the Lapbooks we made last year with Elijah.
Our South African Map.
The National Anthem and Map
National Flower, Animal, Tree, Fish, Bird
Shade Match game with the Big 5.
Coat of Arms
This is a great Lapbook that we can go through again and again. If I had to redo this one I would Laminate the Animals and attach them with velcro.
Blessings
The idea for a mini-office is to have a lapbook full of reference pages that he can use during his school day. Some people have specific subjects, i.e. Math or Language Arts.
As Elijah is in Grade 0 I thought to just join all the most important information in one Lapbook.
Elijah helped by making handprints for left/right. I put the Math signs he will be using this year in there, a hundred’s chart, Unit bars that he uses in Math-U-See primer, Numbers formation chart from Handwriting without Tears, Months of the year, Days of the Week.
I have examples of South African Money, Map of South Africa, Coat of Arms, Flag, Shapes, Ordinal Numbers and Colours
At the Back we have formation Charts for the Capital and Lower case letters from Handwriting without Tears
We are using Math-U-See Primer for our Math curriculum. One of the suggestions was to make a poster type Decimal Street. Unfortunately This can take up quite a bit of space and makes it awkward to work with.
Then I can upon this Decimal street lap book. So I converted our poster to a Lapbook.
We use Three little cars that I laminated to write the numbers on.
Folded up and ready to close, the laminated cars are kept together using a paper clip attached to the side of the folder.
Blessings
Each age has different aspects for creative learning. Since my kids are all under 6 it is easier to get things together.
One of the best activities we do – which we followed a blog for years ago but it can to an end was Open Ended Art. We chose either just a few supplies or use a specific topic, if the kids are old enough give an explanation and let them create.
 (Elijah’s Henri Matisse impression or something)
Another Aspect of Early Creative learning is Home made activities. There are too many ideas for the preschool age.
I love sensory boxes. It could have a theme or just be fun!
The small Sandbox is a Great learning tool for kids. By inserting a piece of textured paper – like sandpaper – you can promote a different experience too.
This is great for writing letters or drawing shapes.
A bag of dry powder paint would be equally fun.
Toys can be made by drawing a few things (or downloaded and printed), by sticking some things together too. Here is a fine motor activity my 2yr old daughter loves. She is feeding the cat. The Cat was printed off a website (going to look for it), and using discs to feed into the mouth – the cat face is attached to the bucket using prestik. You could always gut out little fish and laminate them too – but I am too lazy for that one.
Some other learning ideas:
* For my smaller child – Get a large “sandpit” shell…cut loads of coloured cellophane, add in some balls, animals, plastic scourers, sponges, cars, use raffia – any sensory item but preferably safe.
* Shaving cream goes a Long way in this house – we spray some on the glass door and the kids have at it. It is easy to clean but lots of fun.
* Use an medium to large Canvas Art board (PNP hyper or Makro sells them ) and put out some blobs of tempera paint. Kids “paint” a worthy picture!
* If you are stuck for an idea – take a book, read it and plan a craft to go with it – the ideas come easily if I have a topic. -
Have a Creative and Fun learning Journey
Blessings
Some useless information here but my first car was a little green VW Chico (Golf). I drove that little car all over the place- never fearing i would get stuck anywhere or that I would need assistance. I drove that little car well over 10 years.
With the addition of our kids – space was becoming a problem. It could get really hot in that car- which was a problem with the kids. I had a burning desire to get a bigger car.
My sister and her family were immigrating to New Zealand and were selling their (very reliable) 2005 Grand Scenic 1.9Dci. It was quite different. It drove really well. I loved the big car with so much space and it came in time as we found out Gabriel was on the way. I could just fit all three kids in the middle row in car chairs and if needed could quickly open the back row for friend’s.
Three weeks into driving I hit a pothole with these low profile tyres – Two rims were damaged – over R1000 to fix. But then it was all great
About 6 months into this – what I thought was Bliss driving – we got our second problem – the Cluster (computer) died! Renault paid most of the cost as it was a factory fault but we needed to pay in some. All great for a few Weeks and then another dilemma- supposed Turbo went – very very expensive but thankfully cost a few rand to fix as it was a pipe and not the turbo.
Then while waiting in the car with my unruly kids for Church to finish, My son managed to jump and hit the Windshield with his head and it cracked quite badly the Head was fine but it cost R2500 in excess and the insurance paid R12000. We had glow plugs replaced a while after, then had a really big service done with a few extra things needing to be done.
We had an accident which cost us nothing but time – the insurance paid it all thankfully. Then another error about the Glowplugs…I drove like that for a few months because I could just not face the Renault dealer.
But then a Big problem again – Alternator! In my mind that is synonymous with the fear of an Alligator! Very expensive to fix and We rather took it to our mechanic than Renault dealer. The Mechanic (After Days of working on the car) managed to find a cheaper Alternator from a VW car – can’t remember which one, and saved us about R2500. HE also brought his labour done considerably. We were so grateful but at this point decided to sell it before something else went wrong.I was shaking in my shoes that anything would go wrong.
 So here we arrive home with out 2009 Mazda 5. WOO HOO. I love the sliding doors at the back – parking will be great now. We all love the white car. It is a bit easier to drive as (I think it’s called) a turning circle? is smaller. We were quite lucky in the Renault on extra interior features though. But then this time around we have less than could probably go wrong (i pray) as well more affordable to replace.
Moving from a Diesel to Petrol again will take a while to get used to – I tend over-rev the car in the beginning, but one of the First things I noticed was it was SO quiet compared to the Diesel. it is a bit smaller inside – a bit lower to the ground, but I think it fits very well for me. I don’t mind having a few less controls. The tyres are also very different as it is not low profiles! Cheaper to replace and better suited to our bad roads – loads of potholes.
Praying for a Happy journey with this Car!
Blessings,
Hi I am Donette, married to William for 11 wonderful years. Mother to Elijah (5), Jessica (2) and Gabriel (1). We live in the Vaal Triangle. We have been homeschooling mainly preschool and now Grade 0.
I could state many reasons for Homeschooling but I think I just KNEW this was what we were going to do – as early as when I was pregnant with our first son. I get lots of opposition for our decision but am Glad I know God wants me to do this. I love the freedom it gives as well as the sense of completeness that I get as a mom to witness all the precious moments I would possibly/probably be missing out on.
My Five Favourites:
1. I love to see the Lord working through my Children. My Son aged 5 loves sharing his favourite things about God and how much Jesus means to him!
2. There is not greater sound than that of my children’s laughter. Those first Giggles and later the full on belly laughs.
3. I love the smell of a Spring!
4. I am a food lover – especially sweet things. Chocolate is probably my number one rated food of all time 
5. I love cuddles from the kids more than anything!
This year I am determined to focus on the Lord’s will for me. I am determined to share God’s love and plan for my Children with them. I want to settle properly into our homeschooling year and then I am determined to focus on the house and clear all “collecting” corners around the house.
Blessings,
So this year I am quite excited as I have managed to purge the schoolroom from all other Non-School items like bicycles, baby items/unnecessary clutter…there is a still a bit of clutter but i can handle the school clutter much better than the non-school…
The reading corner. I bought the beanbag for a great bargain around Christmas time.
Storage boxes half in use and current school table. I was offered the use 2 of those Antique type school desks so they need to be fitted in later this week
Our school storage area – looks quite messy and unfortunately my Husband didn’t get to making the cupboards we intended to make this time of the year. It is all our stationery/craft supplies, puzzles, manipulatives, other games and equipment.
There might still be some rearranging – especially if i get the desks this week.
Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings
Elijah’s Sonlight Curriculum arrived after waiting almost 3 months. It was well worth the wait.
Looking forward to using all these wonderful products this coming year
Blessings
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Copyright Please do not use any photos of my children or any other photos or text that I post before obtaining written permission.
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