What I'm Lovin' These Days

When WM and I decided that I was going to stay home with the kiddos and not work we also decided that they were going to have Patrick and Josie take this year off from pre-school. I mean, I quit my job to be with my children, not send them away all day to preschool. Josie could've started pre-school this year and Patrick would be well into a preschool program, but this year, we are keeping them home with me. We'll rethink it next year (yes, Patrick could go to Kindergarten next year, but he has a late summer birthday and we know first hand what can happen when you're the youngest in the class, so he's going to start Kindergarten when he's six years old).

Anyway...one of my challenges is teaching the kids age appropriate lesson (letters, colors, etc) to make sure they can do what will be expected of them when they do go to Kindergarten. And also keeping Katie on track at school.

I recently found these sticky Post-It notes at Mardel and Target that is helping immensely.

Each sticky note has a Sight Word or a letter (there are other options, too, numbers, number words, etc).

(Sorry about the ridiculously spotty/dirty windows--it's been raining here for, oh, 3-4 weeks, there hasn't been an opportunity to go out and wash the windows. Bear with me).

We can stick them on the window to look at and talk about when we eat meals. Or we can move them to the bedroom or living room. Wherever.

I like them because to the kids it doesn't seem like they are sitting down and doing schoolwork. We make games out of them. This is one our favorites:

Hide & Seek Letters (or Words): There two versions to this.

Version 1: I choose one of the stickies (letter/word) and go stick it/hide it somewhere in our house and then they kids go find it.

Version 2: I choose several letters/words and stick/hide them around the house and then tell the kids "go find the word 'that' or 'letter B'. And then they go search around for the correct letter.

They are learning their words/letters in a fun way--to them it's just a game.

You could easily make these on your own with blank Post-Its. I think these cost maybe $1.99 or $2.99.

So...these Post-It Sight Words/Letters are what I'm lovin' these days.