Term Two: December, January, February

In an attempt to be a reflective teacher for my children and to meet their current learning needs I have decided to forgo a full year long plan and just focus on three months at a time!  If you would like to read more about our plan please read the post, "How To... OR Not Do... A Year Plan."

I have formulated my outlook or direction for two year old school and you can read about this in the post, "Where Do I Start? Choosing a Direction for 2 Year Old Home School." 
 
Term Two encompasses December, January, and February.  I am planning to stick to the ideas below and save any new changes for the next term.   This is my current lesson plan document.  I like to make my own because I tend to change it.  I keep it in a three ring binder for organization! 

Bible:
Every morning during breakfast we read a daily devotional.  Currently I am using "Day by Day" by Betty Free.  I highly recommend this book!  It is simple yet presents real gospel stories and lessons for children.  It is gospel driven with biblical application.

I am happy to share an amazing resource I have come across to help present biblical lessons to toddlers!  Please visit Ministry to Children for free ideas and print outs to help communicate God's word to our youngest of learners!!  I have been using the creation lesson ideas to help me begin a two year old creation journal that I hope to be sharing with you soon!

Our main focus this term in bible will be our daily devotionals, finishing our creation journal, and moving on to "Toddlers Knowing God" a free resource provided by Ministry to Children.

Read Alouds:
Most of our read-aloud stories are seasonally themed or books of high interest.  During the month of December we are reading all Christmas focused books.  If you missed the post, "Reading our Way to Christmas" check it out here!

I refer to these two lists of recommended living books to read aloud...the first is "1,000 Good Book List" (from classical-homeschooling.org) and the second is "Favorite Read-Aloud Books for Preschoolers" (from  simplycharlottemason.com). 

Music/Art/Poetry:
During the month of December we will be focusing on listening and singing to Christmas Carols.  I have been introducing gospel hymns and will continue to pursue this.  So far we have become familiar with the Doxology and the hymn All Creatures of Our God and King (which corresponds with our creation theme for bible).

We will continue to listen to classical and instrumental music with a goal of listening to specific instruments then recognizing and identifying their sound.  My mother-in-law was sharing with me the love she has for Serge Prokofiev's musical Peter and the Wolf.  I feel this will be an excellent way to listen and learn specific instruments!  Enjoy the video clip below (or click the link here)!!

Before I had children I had the wonderful privilege of taking guitar lessons from a wonderful musician.  I will be using my own skills to play songs, sing together, and enjoy music with my children!  Currently I am using the resource "Storytime Songs" to print off simple songs and guitar chords.  So far we have been singing Five Green and Speckled Frogs with the guitar while also using the correlating book and felt frogs for interaction and play.

Art will be discovery of different materials and mediums (crayons, markers, pencil, paint, etc.) with a goal to create one complete art project per month!

Poetry will simply be read aloud for enjoyment!

Nature Study:
We have begun our nature journal and it is going very well!  We focus on completing one page per week.  If you would like more information on how to begin a two year old nature journal please see the post, "2 Year Old Nature Journal: Getting Started."  Please continue to check back in as it is my desire to share our nature journal pages with you!!

I've ordered the magazine Ranger Rick.  We will be using this resource to help us explore nature that we cannot see in our backyard (for example we recently we studied giraffes).  This provides us with an opportunity to see a different genre and form of reading material as well!

Academics:
Beginning Reading: I will continue to focus on ALL letters as well as a letter per week.  We do this through several activities such as books, puzzles, environmental print, and games!  I recently printed off our first simple reading book from readinga-z.com.  This is a resource that I am familiar with from teaching at my local elementary school, it does require a paid membership.  I will be using this book as one way to teach concepts of print.

Beginning Mathematics: We continue to review numbers with various activities.  We count aloud and count one to one correspondence.  Recently we began sorting items and looking at the calender!!

Beginning Writing:  Our main focus is exposure to writing and encouragement of pretend writing.  I occasionally provide assistance to help my child hold the pencil correctly (encouraging good habits yet not discouraging her discovery and enjoyment of independent writing/scribbling).

Play:
My two year old loves to independently play with dolls, trains, bracelets, purses, babies, stuffed animals, and much more.  I give her things to play with such as water and rice for sensory activities, straws, pots/pans, and other random items that are much more fun then fisher price!  We spend many hours outdoors as well.

We have recently introduced her to pretend food!  This has been so much fun for her.  She will be receiving a kitchen for Christmas that we are currently working on.  My husband and I were inspired by a DIY project online of converting a simple nightstand into a kitchen.  When our project is complete I plan to post our before and after pictures!  Stay Tuned!

Other:
I love seasonal learning!  Although my home school philosophy is not driven by thematic or seasonal units I love to incorporate seasonal themed activities, learning, and projects!  The following topics will be our focus for our first term; December-Birth of Christ, January- Snow, February- Love & Friendship.

Our learning occurs from morning till night, outside, inside, upstairs, downstairs, in the car, at the store, visiting grandparents, or in our community!  I'm so thankful I can teach my children!!  They have so much to learn (and so do I!).

Please visit soon as I share how our second term is going!  I look forward to sharing our learning with you!