I mentioned in my last post that Matthew is not attending Preschool. He already has many of the academic skills they would teach him. And I try to expose him to opportunities to learn other things like cooperation, playing with other kids, obeying teachers, working in a group, etc, through other activities we do like playdates and classes. I feel comfortable delaying his "formal" education until he is a little older, reinforcing and teaching things as he shows interest, but not forcing things or making "academic" time a formal part of our day. This isn't an indictment against preschool or school outside the home. I taught preschool and I think it can be great for a lot of kids. But I relish the opportunity to be home here with him and I can give him the same things, so we've chosen to skip it at this time. If we need to reevaluate, we will.
But I don't want to delay his Bible Education. We've always read to him from our Bible and his, but I want to be more formal about it.
So, we're starting on a little Bible School for him and me. I am going to try to use an ABC format. He knows his letters already, but I figured it gave me a good place to start so I could narrow down to a theme or topic. Having some sort of parameter is good for me so I'm not overwhelmed by my choices. And it can't hurt to reinforce the alphabet. A actually came pretty easily to me but if I start flushing it out and it doesn't work well within the alphabet rubric, we'll abandon it.
I love Children's storybook Bibles. We have 8 or 10 of them. So most of what I will be using is just readings from them. I'm not really using any curriculum. I'm just sort of developing it myself.
My plan is to read the scripture every day, and then read one of his story book Bibles. Throughout the week we'll read other story books we have that reinforce the topic. We'll have a Bible verse to memorize. I am toying with the idea of adding a Bible person of the week, and a place of the week too, but I haven't decided. This week the person goes with the lesson and they both start with A, but next week I am going to do B is for Bodies. God made Boaz' body, but it doesn't really reinforce the lesson. So we'll see. Same thing with songs. When we want to color, we'll color something that corresponds.
This fits well for my and Matthew's personalities. He really really loves to read and sing so he will think these things are fun to do, without feeling like it's crunching on his "play" time, which is what I want him to spend a lot of his time doing.
So without further ado, this is our game plan for the week.
A is for Adam and Animals
God Created the World
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-31
Monday: Toddler Bible, pages 12-19
Tuesday: New Bible in Pictures, pages 14-18
Wednesday: Jesus Story Book Bible, pages 18-27
Thursday: Jesus Calling Bible Storybook, pages 16-23
Friday: Big Picture Storybook Bible, pages 16-32
Person: Adam
Memory Verse: "All things were made by Him" John 1:3
Song: "All Creatures of our God and King"
Books: Creation Story, All Things Bright and Beautiful
These are other letters I have noodled on so far. In some I have multiple ideas, on others I don't have one yet. In some, I may just spend multiple weeks on the same letter so we can go through each one. I may also do a theme one week, and a person the next week. Who knows. That's the nice thing about this--we can do as much or as little as we want, at any pace we want!
B: Body, Bible
C: God takes Care of us, Christmas
D: Disciples, Discipline
E: God made everything, God gives us everything.
F: Forgiveness, Family, Friends, Food, Fear
G: God is good, Good news of the Gospel
H: Heaven
I:
J: Jesus
K: Be Kind
L: God is Love, God Loves Us, God Listens
M: God made Me
N:
O: God wants us to Obey
P: Be Patient, Praise God, Pray to God
Q:
R:
S: Sin
T: Be thankful
U:
V:
W: God gave us work to do, God made the world (focusing on other places rather than creation), God made us to Worship Him
X:
Y:
Z:
ABC People in the Bible:
A: Adam, Abraham
B: Boaz, Barnabas
C: Caleb
D: Daniel
E: Esther, Eve
F:
G: God, Gideon
H: Hezekiah, Hannah
J: Jesus, John, John the Baptist, Joseph, Joshua
K: King David
L: Lazarus
M: Mary, Matthew, Mark
N: Nathaniel
O: Obadiah
P: Paul, Peter
Q: Quirinius
R: Ruth, Rachel, Rebekah, Rahab
S: Sara, Simeon, Samuel, Satan
T: Timothy
U: Uzziah
V: Vashti
W: Wise Men
X: Xerxes
Y:
Z: Zachariah, Zaccheus
So, homeschooling mamas and mamas of preschoolers, what do you think? Would love your tips and tricks.
Sounds fun! What about a topic or person, instead of sticking to just one. I can see how hard it would be to match them up each week. If you were open to either, you can do whatever is most interesting to you and Matthew (or what fits with the season, your time, etc.). You could maybe do quiet or rest. They're not quite like patience or kindness, but they are demonstrated in the Bible and I think we often forget them. You could also do Queen Esther (to fill Q) or Jonah (littles always like that story!). Whatever you do, I say have fun!
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