Changing It Up

So I've been thinking a lot about how we are doing things each week, and I've decided that it's not working the way I'd like.  One thing that especially has been bothering me is the weekly themes.  Every week we've been going to the library and getting 4 or 5 new books related to our theme.  Every week, we try reading them all a few times, but we never get super comfortable with them before we are on to something else the next week.  Everything is just too fast.

I've also been reading a lot about the workbox system.  It makes a lot of sense, but it is a bit much for my preschooler.  However, I like the idea of having boxes that we complete every day.  It seems like it would be easier for me to get things organized for each day and to have a visual reminder of things that we get to complete that day.

I mentioned in my last post that scheduling out each minute isn't really working but instead I want to have 2 or 3 activities that we do each day that we can complete at our leisure.  I still think this is doable and worthwhile. We also need to find some more baby activities for Zach so we can do our preschool stuff without distraction.

So here is my new plan....

• Every day we will have 3 "workboxes" for preschool.  There will always be a "Seasonal Workbox," a "Rotating Workbox," and an "Extra Activity Workbox."  There will also be a "Baby Workbox" for Zach to do.
• A Seasonal Activity will have something to do with whatever season we are in (fall, winter, spring, summer).  Activities will include: reading a seasonal book, a craft, sensory bin, coloring/painting, etc.
• A Rotating Workbox will be a different subject each day of the week.  For example, we may have an alphabet activity on Monday, a baking activity on Tuesday, a music activity on Wednesday, and so on.
• An Extra Activity Workbox will have an extra activity for the day in case we ever need it.  It is an optional box that will have activities like playdough, playing preschool games, dress-up, puzzles, etc.
• In the spring, we will add a "Letter Workbox" as we will be doing a different letter every week. Actvities in this workbox will include coloring pages, upper/lower case sorting games, etc.
• Our Baby Box will have a lot of the same stuff that our extra activity workbox has, but more age appropriate for a one year old.  It will have blocks, playdough, or other baby things.
• We will rotate books on a monthly basis instead of a weekly basis.  We will try to always have the following on hand:
• 1-2 books on that month's artist
• 1-2 books on our composer
• 1-2 alphabet books
• 4-5 seasonal books
• We will continue to have a new memory verse, artist, and composer each month.
• We are going to add activities for the weekend: Science Saturday (so Daddy can be involved as our scientist) and Bible Sunday.

That's about it.  I feel a lot better about this plan, but I reserve the right to change my mind!  =)