A is For Apple

I am attempting to be my 3 year old's teacher. She loves school so much....just the idea of it, that she imagines it and makes up stories. She talks about riding the school bus, things she learns in class, things her teacher says and does. It's quite amusing. But she's just 3 and a half, and we didn't think she needed to go to school just yet. So I asked her if I could be her teacher this year. She said "Ok! But you need to wear teacher clothes, Mom." I said "Oh yeah? And what do teacher clothes look like?" "Ohhh I don't know, like doctors clothes, and runners clothes, and maybe pirate clothes." Totally random Cami Lamb- gotta love her.

I actually started really looking forward to this opportunity to "teach" my child. I'm the kind of Mom who, for the past 3 years, have enjoyed being on the go. So we usually go at least somewhere every day...whether it's to the bank, or the grocery store, or the library, or on fun outings...Cam and I have always been little buddies spending every day together. But I've never been real good at providing enriching learning activities at home, or doing arts and crafts, or actually teaching. I love seeing my sister in law Kate in action- her blog My Oatmeal Kisses is full of activities that she does with her children every day. It's inspiring and amazing! And a little exhausting, just thinking about all the work and energy she puts in to it. :) But she inspired me to at least try, and to do my best to help Cami learn and have fun. Oh and Lexi too, if she'd ever sit still enough to pay attention.

I've been obsessed with food and recipes and cookbooks for a few years now. I just pour over it, and watch cooking shows, and live vicariously through people who can eat the things that I can't. But it's probably not the best preoccupation for me. My mom suggested this summer that I should find a new hobby...something that would take my mind OFF of food. I thought I know I know! I just don't know what my new hobby should be. Scrapbooking...nahhh. Knitting....tried it, can't do it. Photography....takes money for equipment, and training. Crafting...just don't have it in me. Couponing was great for awhile and still enjoyable, but not as beneficial anymore, seeing how we now don't buy half the stuff coupons are for.

So I thought, well why don't I follow Kate's example and have my own little preschool at home? I would've done Joyschool, which is what I did when I was a little lass, but couldn't find anyone around that was doing it. So one on one with Cami it is. I'm feeling better these days and have lots more energy than last year, so I'm capable of doing this. And she's totally ready and eager to learn. She's always been our little bookworm, and has an awesome memory. It's also great having library storytimes offered 2 times a week right by our house. We love going to the new West Jordan Library, where they have drop in preschool storytimes with books, songs, and crafts. Cami loves them, although she's pretty reserved and shy. And Lexi's kind of all over the place. :)

So where does one start, when starting a preschool? With the letter A, of course! First I followed Kate's advice here and went out and bought some supplies to have on hand. I still haven't gotten tempera paint (don't even really know what that is), or popsicle sticks, but I think I've gotten everything else. We set up Cami's "classroom" in the empty basement bedroom, with her little plastic picnic table as her desk, and a fun placemat from the dollar store as her work space. I looked online at some really cute ideas for the letter A, and this is what we came up with our first week:

We made a letter A alligator, idea from this site. I think it'll be fun to have an alphabet of animals/objects by the end of the "school year". We read a book about alligators to go along with it. I got a bunch of A books from the library, but couldn't find ones I wanted about apples. We did get this book :

It's a cute one about a bunny who goes apple picking with his school class, but spends so much time helping his classmates that he doesn't have any apples when it's time to leave. His friends end up sharing their apples with him, and he takes a bunch home and his mom makes apple pie out of them. :)

For snack, I made Cami this super cute and creepy idea from here. She loved it...especially the marshmallows. And asked for it again and again throughout the week.

 We also made this cute cardboard apple, covered in torn pieces of red construction paper. I kind of combined a few ideas I'd seen on pinterest, and just let her have fun coloring the apple first, then gluing the paper down.

 Then the BEST part is the adorable little worm sticking out of a hole in the apple! You just slide some Cheerios or Fruit Loops onto a pipe cleaner, bend the end to look like a head, and stick the other end through a hole punched in the apple and twist it to stay. Yay for our first real craft! (Baby steps, baby steps).

 I found on another site cute ideas for learning the uppercase and lower case letters. I'm too cheap to print them out, so I just drew circles in the shape of a big and little A. Then Cami took pom poms and placed them over the outline. With a few extra. :)

 Pom poms are just fun to handle. What kid wouldn't like a pom pom. It's even fun to say! Lexi was fascinated, but she just wanted to eat them. :) Reminded me of when he eats cottonballs on Elf.

 I also drew a regular big and little A on a separate paper, and had her put it on the carpet and poke holes along the lines with a toothpick. Kind of fun and different for her.

A is also for artwork, so we broke out the watercolors (cheapo dollar store ones that don't show up real well) and did some art. She's even wearing her little homemade apron we made one Saturday at Lakeshore Learning. Did you know they have free crafts for kids every Saturday?? This was Cam's first time painting at home, I'm sorry to say! I love her little concentrating face. She wanted to try out every color, and was pretty good about washing her brush out in between each one, but sometimes she forgot. So they're all a little greenish brown now. :)

 I'm gonna have to come up with some stimulating activities for this little 1 year old! A is for Active. Nothing keeps her occupied for very long. She's a flinger and a climber.

 We also played with the shapes we got from storytime.

 We read books about airplanes, astronauts, and the alphabet. She enjoyed ants on a log (celery, peanut butter and raisins- for those who were deprived in their childhood). And we finished off the week with A is for Ari. Ari came over and spent the night, and went to Gardner Village with us on Saturday morning.

A is for Adventure! And that's precisely what this preschooling thing will be!