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First Day of School...In Between-y

Well yesterday was our first day back to (home)school and it went...alright. I think I've figured out if I call it school it will be horrible! awful! not to mention long! but if I never say the word 'school' again, I'd have perfectly attentive little activity masters, calm and sitting engaged kids, and... anyway.
Lukka is in an 'in between' stage now because although he has already mastered half of the Kindergarten curriculum that regular schools learn in a year, he's still quite young at 4 (just turned, in fact, in June) and I don't want to squash that free-play loving sprite who wants to just play outside with more hours of sitting still. Instead I've written a plan for each day that involves at least 3-4 subjects, and includes a recess time (which means nature walk, free play in the backyard, playing at a friend's house, etc.). Each subject takes between 10 minutes and 30 minutes. I'm also teaching the kids basic French this year, and so far they know the song Frere Jaques and a few colors. I'll make a list of my resources for tomorrow, and all the books we'll be going through or reading, but I wanted to share a fun little craft Lukka and I did last week before ' school was in ': The Daily Chart.
I first saw this idea awhile back on a blog reviewing the book "Crafting with Kids" by Jennifer Casa. I loved the way it mixes numbers, months and days of the week with weather in a fun way. The one above took me about an hour and a half to make (cutting out all the little felt pieces isn't hard, just time consuming). Then I took a fabric marker and had Lukka write in the days of the week and the shorter months onto linen by dictation. Then I cut the pieces out for him and with fabric glue he nudged them on to the different colored strips. This will be something we do everyday in "circle time". It encourages him to look outside and predict the weather, and learn the days of the week & months of the year--something little minds have a hard time figuring out! So far, he has enjoyed doing this, and along with our seasonal banners we have up in our school room (waiting to put up that Autumn banner soon!), I hope he is able to grasp the changes throughout the year.
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What have you made lately? Leave me a link to see!

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