Forward Progress, Drip by (Oil) Drip (Pan)

WooHoo.  We picked up our oil drip pans from wally world (walmart) today.  We also picked up some circular and rectangular baking sheets from the dollar store.  The goal was to use it for piano lessons, but with so many ideas at http://pinterest.com/joni_spencer/oil-pan-fun/ (thanks Tonya for sharing!), who knows what we can do.  I'm sure there will be future posts with pics of them in use.  For now, this post is all I can muster.

Also, I ordered dry erase rolls to put on the walls and on the oil drip pan.  I'm really hoping it turns out like I envision (or better!).  Here's a link to that: http://www.amazon.com/Gowrite-Erase-Rolls-White-AR2420/dp/B00377TWSE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1360300294&sr=8-2&keywords=dry+erase+roll.  Who knows if it works by the time you read this, but hopefully you get the idea.  Just type "dry erase roll" into amazon or google.  Yes, I hope to update once that actually comes in.  Oddly enough, I am pretty excited by this, especially since it means that I can finally turn one of our walls into a massive, colorful, constantly-changing learning center. Yay!

As for our progress today, the best that I could do was add a bit to our routine guide, and complete the morning activities, plus jam the music lessons in after we returned from an indoor playgroup and errands (drip pans and baking sheets).

I've set a goal for the next thirty days to really focus on reading, math, and music.  That's not to say that motor skills, memory building activities, geography, art, history, etc, are going by the wayside.  It just means that I'm feeling guilty about the time I've taken from my kids to return to school, and that I'm hoping to focus on my kids a bit more now (hopefully not to the detriment of my classes!).   Wish me luck.  :-)

PS - I'll post an update of our schedule some other time when it's a bit more finalized.  I got no sleep last night and need to go to bed NOW.

Calendars, Routines, Assessments - Oh My!

I finally have pocket charts - woohoo!  Whodathunkit?  Anyway, I'm a busy bee now trying to put it all together to my liking, but I wanted to share some great links for free printables, skill assessment sheets and more!

Here's the one for skill assessments (of course, I'm altering it and will eventually post that too) - http://www.daycareresource.com/skillsheets34678.html (i like this one because i can edit it)
http://www.nationalschoolforms.com/index.php?option=com_ixxocart&Itemid=11&p=catalog&parent=25&pg=1 (i like this one bc it seems like an 'official' guide that i can help gauge our progress vs what the masses are up to). But still, assessment rubrics are so great when homeschooling.  Here's another great source for a math one: http://www.jmeacham.com/docs/math.centers/math.docs/Math%20%20Assessments%20%20Rubric.pdf.

And here are a few for calendars and other pocket chart goodies - http://www.daycareresource.com/preschoolprintables.html (i love the assessment pages and a few other items)
http://kellyskindergarten.com/Calendar/calendarmaterials.htm (i love the chart idea and the template for the calendar pockets)

And what good would printouts be without a good ol' laminating (we've already have had a few casualties that weren't protected). I haven't yet tried it out, but I heard from the grapevine that this works well enough and is so much cheaper - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Duck-Laminate-Peel-and-Stick-Shelf-Liner-Clear/16224481.  We'll find out soon enough! I plan on picking it up tomorrow.

Although it's not completely ready, Joey and Kaelie have both expressed interest, and Joey has even helped in putting the numbers in place (a few at least).  This will be so great for them when we start using more frequently! Can't wait :-)

Here are more links for counting and weather: http://www.mathwire.com./routines/weather.pdf from http://www.mathwire.com./routines/morning.html.