If you are local to the Kansas City area, there is an excellent resource available for your preschoolers. This is the second year that the Mid-Continent Public Library system will be offering their ten-week story time series to help preschoolers develop essential skills for kindergarten. Here is their link for more information: link. The program runs from September 10 until November 17, and parents will be able to track their attendance through Beanstalk (which is also the online tracking for the Summer Learning Programs, Adult Reading Programs, and 1000 Books Before Kindergarten programs). This program offers a fun way for kids to begin learning how to read, and my daughter loved last year's programs. She has always loved story time at our local MCPL branch (hello bubbles), but she thrived in the Kindergarten Readiness story time series. She would leave story time singing the chant that was repeated every week: "The cow, the cow, the cow got on the bus." She had to go through as many animals as she could remember, and while she did not always get the correct action with the animal, it was nice to see that she was learning. For kids who go to at least eight of the sessions, there will be a special certificate available, and they will be entered into a raffle for MCPL's own storybook Grow a Reader: An Interplanetary Tale and a Marty the Martian plush. Unfortunately, we didn't win one of the prize packs last year, but I have my fingers crossed for this year. We also filled out a survey that covered her skills in certain areas at the beginning of the story time series and after all sessions. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much she learned in this time.
Each library branch has a slightly different schedule, but here is a link for all of the story times. If your child isn't quite ready for the Kindergarten Readiness series, there are story times available for birth through kindergarten, so all kids and their caregivers have a chance to participate in story time. What are morning baskets?When I started exploring the different methods of homeschooling, I found myself drawn to aspects of each of the popular methods. Although our family's teaching and learning styles tend toward the eclectic, the idea of a peaceful morning basket from Charlotte Mason resonated with me. I'm not a "schedule-y" person by nature, but my husband is. I loved seeing his morning rituals, and I wanted that for my daughter too. Morning Baskets to the rescue! If you are not familiar with the concept of a Morning Basket, it's fairly simple. It's basically a collection of activities and resources that people use with all of their children to begin the morning in a peaceful, beautiful way. A phrase that often comes up is the good, the beautiful, and the true. As we are secular homeschoolers, we have mindfully adapted these ideas, using inspiration from Up Above the Rowan Tree and Blossom & Root. Seeing the lovely baskets in others' homeschools has inspired me to dedicate the energy to building this into our rhythm for this new school year. At this point, I intend to use our Morning Basket as a way to hold our supplies for music, nature study, and informal drawing. While the themes for each of these will change, these elements will remain as foundation for our school this year:
Morning Basket for September 3 - 9Because we are just beginning officially, we don't have a country theme. We will introduce the general themes of cultural differences first.
This week we have the following in our basket:
I would love to hear about your experiences with Morning Baskets and any brilliant ideas you have. |
Author
I'm Heidi, the lead teacher for Stone Bridge Academy. We are a homeschool serving one fabulous student. This blog occasionally uses affiliate links, which means that we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only link to products or services that we use and love in my family. These commissions allow me to continue providing helpful content here. Thank you for your support.
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