Homework for 2 Little Boys

We have been playing "school" almost everyday here. During and after breakfast on non-preschool days we are hard at work on writing and learning colors and doing all sorts of things. At night, after Alex goes to bed, Andrew works on his reading. They are both doing really well with their "homework" and even ask to do some more. Well, we will keep going until they are done, right?

Isn't he getting really good at writing?? I am so proud of him!!

I have to remember to grab some pic of Alex doing his "school work" - he plays with a ABC Puzzle and some flash cards. He's doing really well, too!!

Working on his "reading" before bed with his Tag Jr books.

 Other days we work on numbers with the help of play dough and some cookie cutters (here is one similar to this set that we have)

 It's good to change things up around here and keep it fun. 

They are really enjoying it and we love seeing how much they learn every day!

Andrew & the Mass

This past Sunday, Andrew attended Mass with us. Unfortunately, our parish ended the Growing with God program for 2 & 3 year olds. So it is either he goes to the nursery with Alex or goes to Mass with us. Well, he is 3 (as of this coming weekend) so he is going to Mass. All his other 3 year old friends are at Mass and are learning to sit quietly, too. So he is to. And he did a WONDERFUL job!

We sat in the front row - of the balcony section. He could see EVERYTHING. The people sitting below us, the ushers, the priest, the alter servers, the reader - everything. And he WATCHED everything. He was pretty quiet until he had questions or wanted to point something out. He asked about the kids that were helping the priest - the altar servers. He asked about the organ (that he couldn't see but could hear very well). He was so good!!! He (thankfully) even whispered when he needed to go to the potty - which he is doing well with that, too! YAY! He made his Daddy and I VERY PROUD!

Before Mass, I printed out some coloring pages about the Mass from the Catholic Toolbox. This site does a great job in having age-appropriate material for those little ones who attend Mass and are just learning to understand it. Here is one of the pages showing how Jesus heals a deaf man:

I know, it may not look like much, but I'll explain: I took this page out of Andrew's tote bag that we brought for him. I told him that he could have his coloring page and crayons after the Gospel reading. So the Gospel reading is over and I hand it to him so he is occupied during the Homily. Ok, this is where the story behind the coloring page begins. Andrew is STARING at our priest, Father Jaya. Then he grabs 2 crayons - green and brown. Green for Jesus' (in the picture) robes and brown for his face, arms, and hands. Then, he hands it to me happily whispering, "Our priest!"

What?!

I love this kid. We both explained to him that Jesus was in the picture and he was fixing the man's ears that didn't work (brought it down to his level). Green for the robes that our priest was wearing for Ordinary Time. And, brown because Father Jaya is from India. How funny? He just figured that they were similar somehow. And he's right in a way.

If you don't know anything about our faith or don't know about the Catholic priesthood, how about a quick lesson?

The priest serves a wonderful part in our faith. The role of the priest is traced back all the way to Jesus himself. He was our first priest. He was/is teaching us the way, wasn't he? During Communion is where his role is the greatest. In our faith, during consecration (when we believe that the bread/wine are consecrated into the Body/Precious Blood of Jesus) the priest is able to act in the person of Jesus to make this possible. This is traced back to the Last Supper. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything who does not believe our denomination of Christianity. 

But, I am pointing out why this was exciting to my husband and I because this is something that he saw that we did not even try to explain yet. Father Jaya must have really made an impression on him.:)



Note: As this is a post concerning our faith and while any comments are welcomed, please understand that any negative remarks will be removed. I am not "pushing" our beliefs on anyone. I am a Christian mother who loves everything about the Catholic faith. It makes us proud parents when  our children can see these things that make our faith so special. Thank you.

Preschool Learning - Letter C {Alex}

A little late in the week, but here is what we are learning this week:

Letter C
Circles - Alex loves this. Everywhere we go, I ask him to find a circle. He is doing great at finding all sorts of things that look like this shape!

Caterpillars - We are reading Charlie the Caterpillar and, of course, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Both the boys are loving these books. Andrew thinks that it is the coolest thing that they turn into butterflies. Alex laughs and laughs about how the very hungry caterpillar eats every thing in sight. Sounds just like my Alex... :) The other book has a wonderful lesson in it. You will just have to read it. It is so sweet at the end.

Circus/Clowns - I was going to leave this out until I found the book Circus Train - hello? That is just calling their names. I also picked up Circus Caps for Sale and  C is for Clown

Cookies/Cupcakes - PERFECT for this week as it is Andrew's birthday celebration week! So, we have been reading If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Those are such cute books. I love all of Laura Numeroff's books. She is great!

Cars - Of course we can't leave out Cars - as in Disney/Pixar Cars. How great is it that the library has the Cars Read-Aloud Storybook. Alex found it, too! He's just pulling books out and got crazy excited when he saw this one. And, Cars (the first movie - the 2nd one is just stupid and pointless - my thoughts on that are found here, if you are interested in why...) has a really good message in the movie/book, too. One blogger put together a discussion guide for teaching pride and humility through this movie. Love that!

Alex is doing great with learning these letters and their sounds. He is pointing out letters A and B now whenever he sees them. Andrew is doing well, too. He works on his letter writing and letter mazes (his new obsession is doing mazes).

This week's Bible verse: "God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit." Psalm 51:10 (NJV). Wow, right? Teaching some of these verse, while wonderful, is quite a task sometimes. This blogger did a great job with teaching this verse and we will be working on this tomorrow.

There you have it! This is what we have been up to while learning about the letter c! :) Have a great rest of the week everyone.

Preschool Learning - Letter B {Alex}

Alex has learned SO MUCH last week while we were working on the letter A!!

Last week, Andrew joined in on the learning fun. He was all about the coloring while Alex was all about the snacking!  

He has started to point out all the A's that he can find - signs, menus, tv, other books, etc. It is so great that he is really catching on quickly with this.

This week we are working on the letter B.
We will start with the My "b" Book (a My First Steps to Reading book). 
B is for Birds - I plan to take the boys to the Botanical Gardens this week (if the weather cooperates...) and go bird-watching toddler-style. We will be reading There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems (an Elephant and Piggie book).

B is for Bugs - While at the gardens, I am sure we will come across more than a few bugs. We will also make fingerprint bugs, too - hopefully, of the bugs we saw.
B is for bunnies - Alex's favorite animal is a bunny (and a lion, too). His first baby was Pat the Bunny and his birthday party theme, too. Alex actually picked out some bunny books while we were at the library today: Curious George and the bunny and I Spy Little Bunnies. We will also be reading: I am a Bunny, You're My Little Bunny, and The Runaway Bunny.
Bible Verse: "Be kind to one another and build each other up." 1 Thessalonians 5:11
We also have some flash cards of the letter B that shows a few different words/pictures. Andrew will have the big B/little b puzzle pair cards to work with - I found them at the Dollar Spot at Target last year. 

Other books: The Wheels on the Bus and Blue Train, Green Train

Let us know what you will be doing this week and/or if you are following along. Suggestions are welcome! :) 

Understanding the Bible {Toddler Style}

We just love Andrew's school! Not only do they TEACH (it is NOT a daycare, mother's day out, etc), but they also incorporate Bible stories. As it is the beginning of the year, they are starting with the story of Creation, naturally. Well, Andrew has been a Mr. Man (shocker) lately and was not into sharing his school day - until today.

While he is sharing his treasure box treat with Alex (ah, so so sweet! makes me smile every time!), I tried again to ask about his day and shared what Alex learned while he was gone. I asked about everything - coloring pages, shapes, etc. But when I got to, "Did you read any stories or books today?" This is how the convo continued:

Andrew: Um, no. Wait! Yes, we read Bible.

Me: (trying not to jump out of the drivers seat in excitement and calmly asking) Really? What story was it?

Andrew: Oh, Garden Den (aka Garden of Eden).

Me: Wow. What happened in the Garden? Who was there?

Andrew: People, bad snake, trees and apples.

Me: A bad snake? What did he do bad?

Andrew: Girl touched the apples and dat baaaaaaad. (enter angry face by Andrew) God dead.

Um what? Ok, I know that this school is Church of God and we are Catholic, but I KNOW that these stories are the same, people. But, let me continue and explain.

Me: What? Honey, God can't die. He is everywhere. (at this point we are home now and I go get their Bible.) Andrew come here a second (he's my big boy and ran to the potty!!! Hey, I'm a mom and I can SO say that in a post! LOL)

We sit down (before getting anything else started to figure out what he is really trying to say and correct it) and look at the picture. By the way, this is the Bible they have:

My Take-Along Bible

Alex's Baptism gift from Rachel (and family!!) :)

Me: Andrew, is this the story? (showing him the Garden pages) And what do we see on the pages? What's happening here?

Andrew: That Garden Den. Those people went to the tree and it was baaaaaaaad, Mommy!!!(he was rather annoyed I was not getting it...I mean we had the facial expressions, hands flying, etc.). Bad bad and God died!!!

WHAT?! What is he really trying to tell me????

So then I go get my Bible. I tell him that all Bibles look different on the outside, but they say the same thing pretty much. So he and Alex are both sitting with me on the floor and we are reading the story of the Garden of Eden (i.e. Paradise and the test of free will). So, we are reading it and - DUH! - I figure out what he means and which I should have known. However, someone saying "God died" kinda threw me off a bit...Here's where I finally got what my almost 3 year old was trying to tell me:

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for, the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die." Gn 2:17, NJV

At this point, Andrew says...ok, yells, "See? Dead!"

Wow.

So, we sit for a minute more while I explain carefully that it is not God that dies. It is people. They did a bad thing by not listening and now they are doomed. I told him that it was ok though, because God send us his Son, Jesus, to help us out. Short, sweet to the point for now.

He was glad I got it (and that I corrected it) and said, "Yes, people die. Can I have ham cheese crackers now?"

Preschool Learning - Letter A {Alex}

Andrew has had a wonderful first week of school and was super excited about what he learned today. Alex, on the other hand, is missing his brother. Poor guy. But, his morning does go by fast now that he has started learning a few things, too. I told him that he has school work like Andrew. He is very happy about having something to do like his brother. It is so cute, too!

This week Alex is learning about the letter A. I have taken a few different ideas from some of my favorite blogs (Totally Tots, I Can Teach My Child, and Catholic Icing) and used what fit Alex's personality/age.

 Here's what we will be doing this week: 
"A" is for Alex - letter names/sounds, read Alex Alligator, alligator coloring page, Baby Alligator
"A" is for ant - ant fingerprint art, read 100 Hungry Ants
"A" is for apple - read Ten Apples Up on Top, Apples, Apples, Apples, apple coloring page
Shapes - the letter "a" is like a triangle (using craft sticks)
Bible verse "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

The days Andrew is home from school, he will get to work on some of these activities. He also has a few things he is learning at school that I plan on working on at home with him, too.

Alex and I had to drop by the library first to grab a few books that we needed for the week. (Sadly, there it is not as organized as I had hoped - instead of putting author names in alphabetical order, like any other library, they just put all the books together. Meaning, anyone with the last name starting with S went together in no order. It was SO hard to find the books I wanted. I am going to request the books for next week later this afternoon.).

Anyway, Alex loved the library and loved working on his project while he heard the stories. Here's what he worked on today:

If you are doing some preschool/toddler activities with your child, share with us in the comments. We would love to know!

1st Day of School!! {Prek-3}

WHAT A WEEK!!!

Andrew started PreK-3, this week!! :) He was (and still is!) so excited about school! The night before we got ready by reading a few "back to school" books.

Of course, like last year, we read The Night Before Preschool!

We also read If you Take a Mouse to School and The Mine-O-Saur. Jason read Andrew and Alex the mouse book while I was getting their treats out. I made rice krispy treats for every one - yum!

Then, we reminded the boys how it is nice to share and not be a Mine-O-Saur. Then, once they got into bed, we read the last book. So sweet :) 

The next morning, Andrew was SO excited to go to school! He couldn't wait!! He wanted to leave when he got up, but Jason and I told him that breakfast always came first. He didn't want his tummy to be sad. Of course, he has become a smarty pants and reminded us that he does have snack time at school. Goodness... Speaking of snack time, here what he got for his first snack:

This was his little snack baggie from last year. It is from a shop on Etsy called Pineapple Spice (she may not be in business any more. I cannot find her store now.)

 Ready for school!! 

 Looking for his teacher and friends. 

Found someone he knows - his teacher!! Time to go! We love you :) 

Alex and I went to get a goodie and coffee at Starbucks. Alex wasn't too interested in it...he was trying to figure out where Andrew went. I told him he went to school. He said, "Coo?" And, then got a little bit sad. Poor guy misses his buddy. 

He got over it pretty quick once we got back, though. He helped me make cookie pops for Andrew :) 

While those were baking, Alex worked on some school work of his own. This week I am introducing the ABCs to him. I wish I had gotten pictures of what we were doing, but he was so involved and interested in school stuff like Andrew, that I didn't want to interrupt. I'll definitely get some next week when we do the letter A. I am following the lesson plans from Totally Tots - "Now I Know My ABCs." I love their website!! 

Books Alex and I read this week:

Chica Chica Boom Boom (Alex walks around the house now saying BOOM BOOM! Andrew really liked this book, too!)

Alligator Alphabet (library book)

The Jet Alphabet Book (this was a book that my little brothers gave to them that they read all the time!)

All Aboard ABC (Andrew's favorite book from the fabulous Rachel!)

 

We are also working with our Leap Frog Fridge Phonics, too. We had just ABC out this week, but next week the letter A will be out only. 

It was time to go get Andrew, and Alex dropped everything to run to the door. He was kind of annoyed he had to wait the 2 minutes to put his shoes on...LOL

 As you can see, the shoes never went on either.. And he is he asking where "And go?"

 Home from school!! Told us he has a great day and went right back into the routine - hot dog? playground? LOL 

 This is the sweetest thing EVER. Andrew got to pick a prize from the treasure box and he wanted to share it with Alex. LOVE IT!

I just love it :)

Lunch at the playground - so happy that this weather has been AMAZING these past few weeks. We were out he until nap time!

It was a great start to a great first week of school for Andrew (and Alex!). The first day, Alex was upset that Andrew left. The second day, Andrew was so sad that Alex couldn't come to school with him. I wonder what will happen next week.

Summer Lessons

Andrew has been doing some school work each day since we got back from our trip. He's been loving it! Most days he asks for more pages to do. We have been working with the Big Preschool Workbook and the Scholastic First Steps to Reading books/activities. The workbook I got here at Barnes and Noble. The Scholastic books I got from the awesome Rachel before she moved - thanks, girl! The set comes with the "first book" and then a book for each letter, plus flash cards for the sight words. We review a few words each morning and then throughout the day. The worksheets are done at snack time.

Alex gets to do some "school" stuff, too. He is learning his colors by using the "color of the day" crayon (he picks a color he wants to color with and it become the color of the day). He is catching it pretty fast, too! Today, he told me "lellow" when he pick up a lego - yay! He was right! I will get some more pictures of them doing their "work" soon.

I am so proud of my little guys! They are doing great!!

Learning Letters

Andrew is learning the alphabet!! Well, ok, letters of the alphabet...not in any order or anything. But still. He is learning them!! I bought him this Melissa & Doug ABC puzzle at the beginning of the year and he's been playing with it almost every day since last month. He knows letters S, O, M, P, I, T, and R. Go Andrew!! We are trying to work on his name now. He knows the letter A sometimes. He says the letter names/sound (the ones he knows) when I ask him what [this one] is and he copies me when I tell him the other letter names/sounds. He catches on so quick!! I've only been doing this when he grabs the puzzle to play with and we make into more of a game then a learning thing. Let's see how many more letters we can learn before Alex gets here - 16 days to go!