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Learning with Ladybug ~ age 4 y, 5 m

Learning-with-Ladybug-Preschool-at-H[2]

Welcome to our weekly preschool at home blog feature, Learning with Ladybug!  As you probably know, I scrapped our preschool plan and built a new one based around our current needs. 

We have a few main preschool categories, you can read the entire plan here, I will break my weekly posts down by category so you can see what she did each week within a certain area. If we have a letter focus, I will do a separate post to make searching easier.  I will do the same for any themes we do.

See our entire Home Preschool Plan here!


Spielgaben ~ Play Based Learning

 

Again,  Spielgaben has been lots of fun! I didn’t use the materials too much this week, but we did have fun the couple of times we got them out.

We used the wooden shapes from set 2, sphere, cylinder, and cube.  Through play we work on basic attributes and identification. She insisted on having the animals from our Australia Continent Box joining us!

Home Preschool -8323

She had fun making matches, using a different set of items and finding the same shapes in that set too!

Home Preschool -8326 Home Preschool -8330

Finally, we copied patterns…

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She used her dry erase center to work on her worksheet, matching the shapes.

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FYI ~ I am not being paid at all to continue to share about Spielgaben, I was given the set to review and write one post {this one}.  What you will see from here on out is just because we are loving it so much!


Messy Fun

We have always had lots of messy fun but I am making it a more intentional part of our plan.  Almost all of my ideas are pinned here on my Sensory play board.  I am trying to have one planned messy creation experience per week, even if it just making a new batch of something we’ve already done. 

This wee we tried something new, SLIME!

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We actually tried two different recipes.  They are both all over the web, but I will share the blogs that inspired me.  The first recipe uses liquid starch and glue, I followed the example shown here.

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Ours turned out a little runny at first and I {by mistake} added more glue.  Duh-once we added more liquid starch it got more slime-like and was awesome!

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We also made the recipe that uses Borax {yes I know it is a bit controversial, I decided it was ok for our family}. We followed this recipe!

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We all liked this one too, it was thicker and didn’t get your hands as messy.

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She {and the boys} played with both all week!

Home Preschool -8543 Home Preschool -8544

 


All By Myself Preschool Boxes

She spends about an hour in the afternoon playing with her boxes. Usually this hour starts right after lunch, but if she wants to play messy stuff first, I let her.  I am basically requiring her to float between her boxes or the messy play table, or if she wants to be difficult, she can take a nap.  I sneak in to snap photos, but mostly she plays alone.  Sometimes she comes to get me to show me something too.

All By Myself Preschool Boxes Sept 2013

In her 5 small sensory bins this week: shells, cotton balls, mini erasers, popcorn kernels, rocks

Favorite: popcorn

Home Preschool -8942

 

Somehow I managed to get lots of pictures this week.  Here’s a peek into her box play time…

She has ignored the shape sorters for a long time, I was surprised to walk in and see her enjoying them!Home Preschool -8034

Same thing with the color puzzles, all of the sudden they appealed to her!

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She ran in to get me and told me this was a museum!

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Love the set up I walked in and found, created mainly with the Who Lives Where pieces.

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A little force feeding for the horse.

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Sorting ping pong balls into matching craft cups

Home Preschool -8258 Home Preschool -8262

Lacing beads on a pipe cleaner…

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Automoblox…

Home Preschool -8270

The mini eraser collection…

Home Preschool -8428

Favorite items this week: Who Lives Where?, Scrabble Alphabet Soup, and sensory items.

See all items that rotate through our boxes here!


All the Rest

C is for Cooperation!  Integrity Time was fun again this week!

Integrity Time -8666

We discussed the meaning of cooperation, and sang a few of the fun songs {and danced of course}

Integrity Time -8662  Integrity Time -8668

For our object lesson, we all cooperated to make a smoothie.  I gave each child different ingredients {spinach, banana, pineapple, plain yogurt, coconut milk, avocado, mango juice}and used this to discuss how working together makes things better.

Integrity Time -8675 Integrity Time -8678Integrity Time -8703 Integrity Time -8713

They all LOVED this lesson, and the resulting smoothies!  We make smoothies almost daily, but making it into a lesson was fun for them.

Integrity Time -8709

 

We are using  Questions with Answers 1: God & Creation as our background music during much of our quiet and play time.  She calls it her “Bible verse songs” and is slowly learning the words.  Already they have sparked awesome spontaneous discussion, mostly with her asking questions!  I am so glad I decided to use this CD for her this year!

We got a new library stash, which always includes Llama Llama books, we don’t own any, I really need to get her the collection for Christmas! We also always grab a stack of Laura Numeroff books {the ones we don’t already own}.

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Still loves our letter construction set.

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Snuggly iPad learning time, she spends about 30 minutes a day on specific “school games".

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She really likes one of the new ones we recently got when it was free, 123 Tracing HD.

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My little bug collector, we’ve always got something in a jar.  She keeps her pet for about a day and then sweetly lets it go back to nature..

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Home Preschool -8651


See our LETTER M work here, and our Mouse Paint fun, it was done this same week as what you see above!

Home Preschool Letter M  Mouse Paint Preschool Fun

 

Visit Preschool Corner to see more home preschool families!

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Filed Under: Preschool Tagged with: Ladybug, Learning with Ladybug, Messy Play, Preschool, Spielgaben

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What a day! We moved @kyler_hinson into college to What a day! We moved @kyler_hinson into college today at @greenvilleuniv! Such a fun new chapter beginning for him! He moved out here a couple of weeks ago to train with his gymnastics team so I got my crying out then. I’m purely excited for him today!!! 

So thankful for this awesome school, everything about today was just perfect! We are all so happy with his choice and future here. 🧡🧡🧡
Kyler leaves tomorrow to head to @greenvilleuniv t Kyler leaves tomorrow to head to @greenvilleuniv to begin his NCAA gymnastics journey with @gupanthersmgym and I am beyond excited for him, although it is bittersweet, of course. 

His amazing coach for the past 10 years has been such a constant in Kyler’s life and it’s hard to imagine him not having by a daily place in Kyler’s life. 

His gym had a little surprise goodbye party for him and one of the awesome gym moms made the sweetest video filled with memories of Kyler’s gymnastics journey. The love for him  from our gym family just blows me away. We have been so blessed to be surrounded by many families and teammates through the years who have been amazing. He truly has had a home away from home for the past 10 years.

Thanks @lisabethcooper for EVERYTHING you did. ❤️
My daddy left this earth to be with Jesus on July My daddy left this earth to be with Jesus on July 9. It has been a rough couple of weeks to say the least. It was a shocking end although he had been sick and was in the hospital. We fully expected to bring him home but septic shock stole that from us. 

The first photo is my final photo with him, taken on our cruise back in late May. The rest are a few favorites of mine from my childhood and another from a cruise.

Although things have calmed, nothing feels right. My momma lives close to us now (she is 6 miles from us) and soon will live in the house she and my dad were building in our backyard. Praise God we got them moved into their rental back in April, His timing is everything. We got to have our final cruise as a family right before daddy got really sick. On the night we lost him, we were all able to stand around him and pray together and share our hearts with him before his body was done. 

Oh how I wish he would be living in the house being built in my backyard and that we would have had the years we expected and hoped to have. I trust God’s timing while also being devastated. I miss him terribly.
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My parents generously took our family on @royalcaribbean Wonder of the Seas and it was incredible! We went to Coco Cay, Honduras, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.

Best part about family cruise is the laughter and time away together. It truly is unlike anything else and I’m so so grateful! I took hundreds of photos, narrowing it down to 10 was hard!
His final state championship meet! Still so hard t His final state championship meet! Still so hard to believe our boy is a senior and moving on to college gymnastics next year at Greenville University in Illinois. We couldn’t be more excited for him and the journey ahead while soaking in these final moments with him as he closes out his final season as a junior gymnast.

He is the NC state champion one final time and hit an all time high score at this meet. We have regionals next and then nationals, and then his junior gymnastics career is done!

#krashthegymnast
Merry Christmas! We enjoyed the past few days so v Merry Christmas! We enjoyed the past few days so very much. So much laughter and joy. Christmas with littles is fun but Christmas with bigs is a whole different joy I love these kids of mine! ❤️❤️❤️
It’s the beginning of an emotional year as a gym It’s the beginning of an emotional year as a gym mom. His final season as a junior athlete has begun with his first meet this weekend. He’s been doing the sport he loves since he was 6 and here we are starting the final year before he competes in college! He had a great first meet hitting 4/6 events and winning the all around and several events. I just love watching him, I’ll miss being able to go to all of his meets next year so I am soaking up the moments this year!

#krashthegymnast
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Their annual trip to the mountains! I just love th Their annual trip to the mountains! I just love their tradition and love that it was enhanced by going with Pop Pop (my husband’s dad) in his RV this year! They sent me these great photos! 🍁🧡🍁
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We are a little over 2 weeks in with @studydotcom We are a little over 2 weeks in with @studydotcom and I wanted to share a small update. 

Click the link in my profile to read my blog post: Why We Chose Study.com for Homeschool. In that post I promised to be transparent and give updates along our journey. Consider this the first update! We switched courses for 9th grade science already! I originally had her in Physical Science and honestly it was too much, too fast - even I was a bit overwhelmed when I went in and did some of the lessons and quizzes. We have switched her to earth science for now. All other courses are going really well and both of my kids like the format. I LOVE the parent dashboard and how easy it is to keep up with them. 

I’m thankful so far because my life is busier now and my kids are older, having something they are independent with is so helpful for them and for me. We communicate often and I’m checking in and very involved but I don’t do the actual teaching. 

So, overall it’s going well so far. Stay tuned, I’ll continue to share!

#homeschoolhighschool 
#homeschool #homeschoolers #homeschoolingrocks #homeschoolingmama #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife  #homeschoolfamily #homeschooliscool  #homeschooldays #homeschoolblogger 
#homeschoolteacher #homeschoollookslikethis #homeeducation #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #homeed 
#homeschoolcommunity #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooled #homeschoolcollective #homeschooladventures #affiliate #sponsored #studydotcom
I can’t believe my youngest child is entering th I can’t believe my youngest child is entering the high school years. We have made some changes and choices that are totally new to us! Click the link in my profile to read more!

#homeschool #homeschoolers #homeschoolingrocks #homeschoolingmama #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife  #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolfun #homeschoolkids #homeschooliscool  #homeschooldays #homeschoolblogger 
#homeschoolteacher #homeschoollookslikethis #homeeducation #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #homeed #homeschoollifestyle #thisishomeschool
#homeschoolcommunity #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooled #homeschoolcollective #homeschoolideas #homeschoolinspiration #homeschooladventures #homeschoolhighschool
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#homeschool #homeschoolers #homeschoolingrocks #homeschoolingmama #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife  #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolfun #homeschoolkids #homeschooliscool  #homeschooldays #homeschoolblogger 
#homeschoolteacher #homeschoollookslikethis #homeeducation #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #homeed #homeschoollifestyle #thisishomeschool
#homeschoolcommunity #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooled #homeschoolcollective #homeschoolideas #homeschoolinspiration #homeschooladventures #homeschoolhistory #compassclassroom
I tried explain these friends to my daughter last I tried explain these friends to my daughter last night. It was hard to find words. 

They have been a huge part of our life since before having children, and we have walked through life together, even when they all lived here in NC and we lived in Philly for 11 years. We began as the “young married couples Sunday school class.” We have been back in NC for 8 years and although we live an hour from all of them, it’s still the same. We get together every month or so, and although we were missing a few last night, we are always thankful for everyone who can make it. 

Lili, being our youngest, doesn’t know them as well even though she has been around them on and off her whole life. She’s finally old enough to really get it and appreciate how much they mean to us. Last night as we drove the hour home we explained the long story of our deep friendship and how thankful we are. ❤️ 

Love y’all beyond words and missed those of you who weren’t there last night. ❤️
Our 8th grade year-end post is up on my blog (link Our 8th grade year-end post is up on my blog (link in profile). I definitely didn’t like all of our choices, but I loved most of them. 

Lili was pretty independent this year for homeschool, but we did a few subjects together: logic, government, writing. I loved the addition @compassclassroom for history and vocabulary. We always love @teachingtextbooks for math. @iew wins for writing and grammar with us. You’ll see in the post I didn’t like what I chose for science. She took another course from @theanimcourse and continues to love them. We loved the books we read for logic and government, see post for those!

#8thgradewithladybug #8thgradehomeschool #middleschoolhomeschool 
#homeschool #homeschoolers #homeschoolingrocks #homeschoolingmama #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife  #homeschoolfamily #homeschooliscool  #homeschooldays #homeschoolblogger 
#homeschoolteacher #homeschoollookslikethis #homeeducation #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #homeed #homeschoollifestyle #thisishomeschool
#homeschoolcommunity #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooled #homeschoolcollective #homeschoolideas #homeschoolinspiration #homeschooladventures
Athlete of the Year! Kyler’s end of year gymnast Athlete of the Year! Kyler’s end of year gymnastics awards ceremony was today and once again he received this award from his coach! It still means the world to me, knowing the bond these two share and how blessed we are to have him as Kyler’s coach. He’s been his coach since he was 8, and we enter their final year together in the fall. Time flies. 

#krashthegymnast
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Sailed on @royalcaribbean Harmony of the Seas and everything was outstanding except for the teen program - it sucked (compared to Carnival). But the rest was wonderful! We love cruises and the last one they took us on was in 2019, it was so fun to be back on a ship!
Silver medal at nationals on parallel bars in the Silver medal at nationals on parallel bars in the Junior Elite 17 year old division! So so proud of his fight! 

He had a fall on his first day(Thursday) of competition and sprained his thumb/hand and we weren’t even sure he could compete day two. He competed today and hit all 6 events! He pushed through and really focused on parallel bars since he was sitting in 6th after day one. Well, he did even better and pulled his placement to 2nd!! 

#krashthegymnast #region8mensgymnastics
Birthday dinner with the grands. Celebrating my Ap Birthday dinner with the grands. Celebrating my April/May babies! Pax is 21, Lili is 14, and Kyler will be 17 next week!
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