Our Jewish Homeschool Preschool Curriculum 5776/2015-2016

My babies are officially Preschoolers and want to 'do school' like their older siblings.

So here is our Jewish Homeschool Preschool Curriculum for this coming year, hope you find it helpful!

I will go through each subject in more detail:

Davening

We use The Chabad  Children's Siddur. They have a boys one and a girls version. We love it because there are beautiful colorful pictures on almost every page and the letters are nice and big for little ones to learn to recognize the words and letters. Click Here to buy it Online.

We used to use My Sing Along Siddur with the CD to go along with it and my kids absolutely LOVED it. But as they got older, they wanted to be like their older siblings and have 'big kid' siddurs, so there we have it.

Hebrew Reading

Click Here to Buy Alef is for Apple

I have used the above books with ALL my kids and they have loved them.

Click Here to see a Full Review I wrote a while back on Alef is for Apple.

Hebrew Writing

I don't like to do a lot of writing with my preschoolers as I prefer to build up their fine motor skills so they will be ready to write by 6-7.

Here is a great book I made on ways to Explore the Hebrew Alphabet through fun fine motor skills and activities:

Click Here to Download and Print it, its FREE!

Parshah

We love love love these books! I print a lot of coloring pages from www.Chinuch.org and feel free to search my blog for ideas of projects and sensory bins for the Parshahs of each week.

Holidays

And depending on the month, I like to read story books, cook and bake foods for that holiday with the kids, print coloring sheets and do fun hands on projects which you will find here on the blog.

Now remember- at this age, it is really not your job to drill facts into their little brains. This is the age for them to explore and play and develop a love for learning. In my opinion, playtime should be more of a focus then school time at this stage. After davening, go play outside on the swings. Do a page of Alef Beis under a tree on a blanket. Read about the Parshah while all snuggled up on the couch before bedtime. While baking honey cakes for Rosh Hashanah, let the little ones help.

Preschool is a time of magical growth and discovery- don't stunt it because of your personal agenda to have your child reading Hebrew by age 5. And if they are reading Hebrew by age 5 because it is something they LOVE to do, by all means, read away- but every healthy child will learn to read and write at their own pace, trust them and trust yourself.

Good Luck with the New Year and I look forward to posting a Review on what looks like an incredible Davening Curriculum very soon!

Enjoy your week!
Always,

Creating your own Jewish Homeschool Preschool Curriculum

I have received numerous emails in the past few weeks asking if I know of any Jewish Homeschool Preschool Curriculum that covers everything for the year.

In answer to those questions, the only two Jewish Preschool Curriculum that I own and think are really wonderful are:
From Plan to Product- Click Here to Check it out
Curriculum of the Arts- Click Here to Check it out

There are so many websites and blogs out there with Jewish Preschool resources that honestly, you can really make your own Jewish Homeschool Preschool Curriculum. Its just about proper planning and not getting overwhelmed by all the information that's out there.

At this stage in the game, its really not about content. Its about developing skills. If you take the average 4 year old in a Jewish Preschool who comes home with a state of the art Arts'n crafts project every day as well as a 5 page newsletter at the end of the week going into detail of everything the teacher covered in class that week about Rosh Hashanah, chances are if you ask them what they learnt about Rosh Hashanah they will give you the same answer as the Jewish Homeschooled 4 year old who spent the week playing, coloring, helping mommy bake round challahs and honey cakes and munching on apples and honey.

What we do need though, are things to keep our little preschoolers busy and challenged, things to help them develop those little brains of theirs. We also need our sanity so having a curriculum helps us stay focused.

With the help and guidance of my good friend and fellow Homeschooling Mama, Altie (she did a guest post on Kids in the Kitchen Here) I have put together some guidelines for creating your own Jewish Homeschool Preschool Curriculum. So grab yourself a notebook or iPad or open a word file on your laptop and answer the following questions...

What are your Goals?

In order to have a successful year, you need to figure out your goals for your days, weeks, months and year. You also need to know that as much as you plan, things will always come up and throw everything off, and that its okay.

 Goals for the School Day:

The average Homeschool Preschool Day is 2-3 hours. There is so much that can get done during that time, so if used right, those hours are gold. It may take a few days/weeks to find the routine that works for you. Start out with a lose plan and tweek accordingly. If your kids work better in the early morning, take advantage of that time. If baby naps in the afternoon, grab that hour. With Homeschooling, you really need to let go of 'the norm' and do what works for you and your family. 

Circle Time- Honestly, circle time never really went down in my house. It got old really quick, so if it works or you, go for it, but don't be too hard on yourself or your kids.

Davening- It's always a good thing to start the day with giving Tzedakah, singing a song about Tzedakah and then davening. Decide what prayers make sense to do with the little ones. Too much will have them yawning, acting up, scooting across the carpet and getting into trouble. Start small and add on new tefilos when you see they are ready. Have a special mat or blanket where you do it every day. Bring in a CD if you have (I recommend My First Sing-Along Siddur ) and props (a stuffed Torah, musical instruments, standing up, doing motions)- make it exciting for them. Remember, this can take only 5-10  minutes. It's okay, have realistic expectations and have lots of activities lined up for the rest of your school day. 

Here are some things to include in your davening time-

Alef Bet- Hebrew Reading and Writing-  At this age, its about introducing the letters to them. Make it fun, very tactile. Giving your 3 year old a matching worksheet will buy you about 1, maybe 2 minutes. Giving her a big letter Alef with finger paints to color it in will give you a good 5, maybe even 10 minutes, so plan accordingly!

 Here is a list of Alef Bet Curriculum you can explore:

Aleph Champ

Cap It Learn to Read Hebrew

Dot by Dot Creative Kriah Workbook

There are TONS of  FREE worksheets, games, books and Aleph Bet curriculums on Chinuch.org

And I have a bunch of worksheets and ideas you can check out

Goals for the School Week:

How many days is your school week? Some do Monday-Friday, Some do Monday- Thursday (thats me!) and some include Sunday. Decide what works for your family and plan accordingly.

Parshah- The Weekly Torah Portion- The weekly Parshah is a great time to learn about Halachos and Midos from that specific Parshah. It's always nice when things are connected so try bring out those gems each week for your kids.

My First Parsha Reader

The Little Midrash Says  

Parshah Workplans made by Me

Chitas for Kids

Chinuch.org- Parshas Hashavua

A Jewish Homeschool Blog

Jewish Story Books

Goals for the School Months/Year:

Yom Tov- Jewish Holidays- It is really easy to get overwhelmed when planning your school year. You know yourself and you know your kids. Take some time at the beginning of each month and write down each Holiday and underneath each one write down a bunch of fun and easy Arts'n crafts projects and activities that you will do. Designate, however many days or weeks as you want to work on these projects. Make yourself a Pinterest Board and closer to the holiday, start jotting down the days you want to do each project/activity and get the supplies you need. You dont need to do 25 fancy projects with your 4 year old. Keep in mind that simply peeling an apple by themselves and cutting it up with a plastic knife is a fantastic and very rewarding activity for them.  

Here are some resources:

Monthly Workplans made by Me

Chinuch.org- Yomim Tovim

Creative Jewish Mom

Challah Crumbs

And here are some Jewish Holiday Crafts Books:

The above is your very basic Jewish Preschool Curriculum. Yes, it's so much easier to just 'follow' a curriculum, but chances are your child may not be interested in everything in the book. If you know your child, work with them and give them things that they love doing. I know my son has no interest in coloring, so giving him a Rosh Hashanah coloring book as an activity to fill up 20 minutes is not going to work. But giving him clay and asking him what Rosh Hashanah things he would like to make and then paint can buy me a serious half hour, maybe more! But give my daughter the coloring book and she will be busy busy busy with her crayons, markers, colored pencils and paints as she creates masterpiece after masterpiece.

So as we get to know our kids, take each holiday, Parshah, Special Jewish Day, Hebrew Reading/Writing and gear it toward them. You will both benefit because when the kids are happy and busy, mom is happy too. No need to fight with our kids to do something they clearly have no interest in doing. We all lose that battle.

So the bottom line is, have realistic expectations from your kids. If they are playing on the floor happily, don't stop them to tell them its time to do an activity. Let them play, use that time. If they are busy doing an activity, don't stop them to tell them its time to go play outside. Have lots of flexibility within your day and you will all be happy.

Most important- Breathe. Allow LOTS of playtime- work it into your schedule. I am working on a Jewish Homeschool Planner and hope to post it soon.

Have a wonderful Shabbos and I hope this was helpful!

Always,

Some more Chanukah activities and Planning and Preparing

Here are a few more Chanukah activities that we have been doing over the past few days:

Made a dreidel out of ICE by pouring water into a plastic dreidle that usually comes with candy inside- the little guy really got a kick out of trying to spin it since it was so cold:)

We then made a Menorah out of Legos, he did this all by himself, very proud mama!

And here is our human dreidle!

And last but not least, Chanukah cookies!

Suri at http://jewishul.blogspot.com/ asked me how I find time to prepare all the things we do-

So I figured I would turn it into a post, maybe it could be useful to others!

The truth is, I would love to say that I have a planner and sit down every week and make a plan for the week- but I don't. We have alot going on in our busy lives with some very unpredictable little ones at home and so I found a system that really works for us right now- this is it:

Every Sunday I fill the drawers with new activities and worksheets that I either made or from the Jewish curriculum resources on the side bar that I listed.

Then as the week goes by, I will refill them with new things. Its a nice way to organize, kind of a tweak on the Workbox system.

We also do ALOT of things spur of the moment, like baking and projects, games, etc.

I think that as the kids get older I will have a more organized schedule and curriculum, but for now, this really works for us!

Wishing all a happy last days of Chanukah!

Menorah, Parshah Project and Workboxes

We made a project for this weeks Parshah, parshas VaYishlach. The munchkins colored a picture of Yakov meeting up with Eisav. Then we made a little wheel that pokes through a window on the paper showing the 3 things Yakov did to prepare to meet up with Eisav (prayed to Hashem - drew a Siddur, sent Eisav gifts- colored goats and sheep and prepared for war- colored bows and arrows). The little guy loves turning the wheel to see which picture shows up in the window...

Here is the full project:

This is just a little activity I did with Munchkin to help her practice coloring inside the lines:

Using pipe cleaners, I made them into shapes and glued them onto index cards. She then took markers and colored them in. She loved it:)

And here is just a peek inside our little Workboxes... I find it a great way to keep organized and to plan for each day:

The night before, I put a different activity in each drawer with any supplies they will need for the activity. Here are 3 examples:

A Beading Activity: I put the pipe cleaners shaped as dreidles with the beads in the drawer. The drawers come out, so I just put it out next to them.

A Chanukah Stamping Activity: Stamps, Ink pads and paper are all inside.
Menorah Activity: Paper, Popsicle sticks, tissue paper flames (under the paper) and glue...

One of our favorite activities is gluing- here is a little Menorah that we made out of the Popsicle sticks. I gave each munchkin a piece of colored construction paper with an outline of a Menorah. They each got Popsicle sticks and glue and glued each stick onto the line I drew. They then took yellow tissue paper and cut out flames to glue on... and voila:)

We also did a lot of practice with our Hebrew reading, as well as lots of singing and dancing to our favorite CD "Morah Music: Music and Movement"

We have a few of her CD's, the kids absolutely love them and all her songs of filled with information.

And so, thats been our week so far!

Oh, and today is the LAST day to vote for me in the Homeschool Blog Awards, so if you haven't yet voted (and if you have, thanks!!!) please take a minute, and vote for me! Vote Here!

My blog is titled "A Jewish Homeschool Blog."

Wishing you all a wonderful Shabbos,

Weekly Plan- Parshas VaYeira

So I found a fabulous weekly planner somewhere in my files. I have no idea where I got it but it looks perfect for us and the way our week goes.

Because we dont have a strict routine, I like this planner because it just highlights what I want to get done. It dosnt matter when or how long each activity takes, but as long as it is done over the week, by Shabbos, then I know I am in good shape!

Now it is just a Theme Planner, meaning that it is planned around the weekly Parshah or Jewish Holiday. It does not include Hebrew Reading or writing, although I would like to incorporate that at one stage. For now, here it is:

And here is a pdf version with clear boxes:

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B1yNhR_r8JrmMTQyZGI5MTUtYTRjZC00YzNjLTgxMzctYzZjMTVhNjBlMDg1&hl=en

(I usually love color and graphics, but for this planner, I left it pretty simple)

And here is how I filled it in for the week:

Theme:

Parshas VaYeira

Mitzvos:

Hachnasas Orchim (Hospitality to guests), Bikur Cholim (Visiting the sick)

Numbers/Shapes/Colors:

Triangle Tent

4 Entrances

3 Malachim

99– age Avraham Briss

100– age Sara gave birth

Hands-on Activity:

Build a tent with 4 entrances, someone pretend to be Avraham with food to offer “guests”

Snack:

Eat snack inside the tent that is built

Art:

Make a Tent out of paper with 4 entrances

Glue real sand to the floor

Make a welcome mat

Science/Discovery:

Discuss ways we can stay healthy, make a chart of healthy and unhealthy foods

Discuss ways that you are and how to be hospitable and host guests

Related Activities:

Discuss North, South, East and West

Make a compass (from http://www.youthonline.ca/crafts/makingacompass.shtml):

Supplies

Sewing needle, 1 inch long.

Small bar magnet (refrigerator magnets may work)

A small piece of cork.

A small glass or cup of water to float the cork and needle.

How To Make It

1. Your compass will work better if you first run a magnet over the needle a few times, always in the same direction. This action 'magnetizes' is to some extent.
2. Cut off a small circle from one end of the cork, and drive the needle through it, from one end of the circle to the other, instead of through the exact middle
3. Float the cork and needle in your cup of water so the floating needle lies roughly parallel to the surface of the water.
4. Place your compass on a still surface and watch what happens. The needle should come to point towards the nearest magnetic pole (north or south as the case may be)
5. If you want to experiment further, try placing a magnet near your compass and watch what happens.

Notes:

The earth produces a magnetic field. This field, although weak, is sufficient to align iron and other paramagnetic compounds such as your needle within it. By floating the needle on the cork, you let it rotate freely so it can orient itself within the earth's magnetic field, to point toward the north or south poles of the planet.

Books:

Hope someone finds this somewhat helpful!

Review: Tasks Galore- I'm hooked!

Okay, I am officially in love with this book, Tasks Galore by Laurie Eckenrode, Pat Fennell, and Kathy Hearsey. Although it is geared toward children with special needs, mainly autism, I have found SO many activities to do with ALL of my kids who are all not special needs kids and different ages from Preschool down.

I love the way the book is laid out, since I am a visual learner, I absolutely loved the fact that each activity is shown in the form of a very clear picture, no instructions are even needed to figure out how to do each activity. And you can tweak the different activities to suite your needs or even apply it to a Jewish subject or holiday.

Here is an example of how all the pages are set up- so simple, so clear:

The subjects are divided up as follows:

Fine Motor Skills

Readiness

Language Arts

Math

Play

I am constantly looking for these types of things to do with my tykes, and here is a book FILLED with them! I was so excited to see this, I haven't stopped planning and making these different activities, and so far the kids have loved every one I have made. There are also so many great ideas of activities to put into workboxes if you are using the workbox system.

Lets just say, we were so busy enjoying ourselves and lost in the moment that I didn't take any photos- so next time I will make sure to do so to show you some of the awesome things we did and how we tweaked them to fit our needs.

Check out their website, they have a few different types of books- and your kids don't have to have special needs to benefit from their little tasks.

The book they sent to me costs $42.95 and is worth every penny in my humble opinion- click here for a full list of their products and prices.

Tasks Galore is a fabulous homeschool resource and I highly recommend every mommy to have this book available in their homes!

A wonderful week to all,

Disclaimer:
I was provided with the featured item(s) at no cost by the manufacturer and/or its PR agency in order to test the products and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and are not influenced in any manner by monetary means.

Our "Curriculum" Part 2

The Torah says to "teach a child according to his ways" and so I have 2 munchkins who have 2 very different styles of learning. My little guy (5) is extremely academic. He can read books for hours on end and loves worksheets, workbooks, math and anything Science. My munchkin (3) is text book Montessori- she loves fine sensory activities, sorting, cutting, sticking, beading, anything like that.

And so I made her a little station with workboxes that she can do by herself. Each drawer is numbered and she does them in the order of the number. As she has finished each activity, she puts it back in the drawer and sticks a "check" on it, notifying me that she is "done" and then moves on to the next drawer. I have 6 drawers in total and she loves loves finding what surprises mommy has put in there every day.

Now my little guy, he has folders with different "assignments" in each one. Some are worksheets, some are little reading books, some are hands on activities (which I put on the trays) and he picks and chooses which activities and assignments to do. There is no quota for how many things he has to do a day and so he can spend as much time as he needs on each thing. He loves the independence of picking and choosing what to do. Some days he does all of them, some days he does just a few, depending on his mood as well as the activity.

He is enrolled in an online Yeshiva and so he does his Judaic studies in the morning for an hour and a half with the rest of his class. Its pretty awesome as he has kids in his class from all around the world who are all little Yeshiva boys and girls just like him living in the middle of nowhere! We have a big world map on the wall and he has pinned all the different countries/cities of his classmates (Cancun, Mexico, Guatemala, France, England, St. Thomas VI, and around the continental US), he really loves it and it covers so much- his Hebrew reading, writing, prayers, holidays, customs etc.

Here is his system which works really well for him. He also has little "I'm all done!" cards to let me know which activities he has completed so I can "refill" it for the next day:

Sometimes my munchkin wants to be like her big bro and so I give her Alef Bet work sheets from this book:

They are fabulous for beginners in letter recognition, and she feels like a big girl doing her worksheets. I have a little folder that she keeps them in and feels really proud of herself:)

So thats what works for us so far-

Hope you find what works for you!

Thanks for stopping by,

Rosh Hashanah Activity Pack

I made a few fun worksheets and put them together for my Little Einstein (Preschool age) and Munchkin (toddler)-

Feel free to download either or both and either print the entire package or just a few worksheets you think your little tykes will enjoy!

Rosh Hashanah Activity Pack for Preschoolers

Rosh Hashanah Activity Pack for Toddlers

Here is our Jewish Studies Weekly Routine

I did this for myself, to get a little clarity on what I need to do with the Little Tykes over the next few weeks.

This is just for Tishrei and not exactly a calendar, more of a schedule to follow. Note how there are no specific time slots- we kind of do things when the moments seem right (early in the morning, later afternoon)

Here it is:

and here is the PDF version

And these are some of the books, CD's and DVD's that we use in each subject that I highly recommend since my kids love love love them!

Alef Bet:

Parshah:

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah:

As we do each activity or project I will post more details about each one.

Hope its helpful or inspiring! More details to follow~

Establishing a Jewish Homeschool Routine

While my oldest is not even 5 yet, I really am trying to implement some sort of system/routine that the kids can expect daily.

I have been following a Homeschool blog (not Jewish) and her organization skills are just awesome. She has some of the most fabulous ideas, some that work for us, some that don't- but check it out, I am sure you will find something that works for you- http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/

Jolanthe (the blog creator) has a "workbox system" which I absolutely love and think will work really well with my little tykes- and so she has made labels, which I will use accordingly (whatever our family does) and have made my own Jewish labels, which you are welcome to print out and use for your family if it works for you-

Here is the PDF version

And here is one more link to some regular labels that Jolanthe has made- http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/search/label/Workboxes

I have received a few requests as to our daily homeschool routine which I will post when I get a chance.

Right now it is geared toward Preschool age and as they get older and learn more, the labels will increase.

Wishing all a wonderful day!