The Homegrown Preschooler - Gryphon House Review

I recently was given the opportunity to read The Homegrown Preschooler by Kathy H. Lee and Lesli M. Richards ($29.95) from Gryphon House Publishing.  We are basically on the very upper level of the "preschool" stage, but I found this a very interesting and informational read.

In our culture today, it's believed that the only way that children can learn is by having a very structured and expensive curriculum.  Parents spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars to ensure their children have the best education from the start.  If they are homeschooling, they spend large amounts of time researching the best box curriculums and structured schedules for their kids.  All the while forgetting about how much that kids (as well as ourselves) learn from just living daily.  How much kids can learn from just baking cookies with their parents.

Some parents start planning for their kids schooling from the time they discover they will be parents.  That's a lot of planning to do.  But expensive preschools and box curriculum does not work for every child.

The Homegrown Preschooler is broken into two sections.  First it helps parents to evaluate your priorities for your children and what your family can invest.  It paints a picture of what life will be like if you embark on this journey.  In the first section there is also information on how to organize your home to maximize the educational benefits.  There are lots of helpful tips from parents who have lived the life and know what you will be experiencing.  They know the hiccups that life can pose and show you examples in how to overcome these obstacles.

The second half of the book gives you lots of ideas for activities that will help to give your child a life long love of learning.  There are examples for teaching science, art, sensory, math and a love of nature.  And best of all, the section on how to help organize yourself to take on what seems like an overwhelming task.

Spread throughout the book are tons of recipes that you can make with your children for lunches or quick and easy dinners.  They even include the plans how to make a really fun light and sensory table and a Plexiglass easel.  There is also a full list of where to get the fun things that they use in their own homes.

I really like the advice that is spread throughout the entire book.  One of my favorites....Quit comparing yourself to others.  No one can be the Duggar family, except the Duggar family.  What works for one, will not work for another.  But it is possible to homeschool your children through high school.

Even though we are basically on our way out of "preschool" now, I really enjoyed this book.  They presented some wonderful ideas that even our elementary students will enjoy.  The Novelty bins are a great way to steer kids away from the computer for more imagination time.  The Baggie On-the-Go ideas are some that I will be putting together for when we travel with Joe.  And I know I mentioned recipes, but there are some super yummy recipe ideas for snacks and meals....even some gluten free options.

There are also ideas for helping your kids with learning daily life of cleaning, organizing, gardening, and helping children with special needs take on these tasks also.

Would I recommend this book?  Yep...in fact, this is a book especially for all those parents that are planning for their child's preschool life while they are yet unborn.  I can see this being a great gift for their baby shower!!!  Homeschooling can be overwhelming but this book can really give a boost to those new to homeschooling and also help the veterans to remember how simple it really needs to be.

There are several ideas that I plan on using for all our kids, so really for me it was not just a book for those with preschoolers.

Several members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew were given the opportunity to read The Homegrown Preschooler as well as Global Art from Gryphon House.  Please take a few moments and read how these products worked out in their homes.

Caty School

In Caty school this week, she worked on the Letters F & G.  And we read Night of the Moonjellies:

We learned about jellyfish:

And watched this little segment on a jellyfish lake:

She made jellyfish handprints:

And took a bath with "jellyfish"....and this is now a favorite way to take a bath!

 For another science project, we worked on how plants drink through their roots....

Now I have never had this be successful, until this time.  Instead of food coloring, I filled the solo cup halfway with water and a whole packet of red Koolaid.

 And it worked!!!

She filled out her sheet.  Lydia thought this was cool too, so she had to do it too.  Maybe by fall I'll get them together on science.

We played Hooked on Phonics games for her letters through G.

We also learned about Maple Syrup by visiting a Maple Syrup demonstration.  It was so yummy smelling!!!

Caty practicing how they tap trees.

We had a fun week wrapped up with swimming and shopping with Grandpa & Grandma.  Next week we are taking a school breathier, and then start back the first week of April.  Hope everyone has a great week!

Caty School

Our topic this week was the Moon.  We also learned about Moon Bears.  So I chose this story for us to read.

Caty is making a textured bear for her art project.

 I cut out her bear shape.  She painted it with brown tempera paint and while it was still wet, she sprinkled coffee on it.

This was her final project.  She really liked this project.

Lydia, Caty and I colored in this book and another one that was Spongebob this week.  I bought Caty some of those triangle "antiroll" crayons to help with her pencil grasp.  They seem to be helping already!  So will probably get her some pencils also.

She helped Lydia and I build a structure out of mini-marshmallows and spaghetti.

In math, we worked on creating patterns and following them.  ABABAB, AABAABAAB, ABCABC, etc.  We labeled them and then used our blocks to create some just like them.

I used the Evan Moore Teacher Filebox Science files on the Moon Phases with Caty.  We took Oreos and made them look like the different moon phases.  Caty was adding "moon rocks" she said. .....I wasn't going to argue because she did her science without complaint..lol!!

She and I read this book together about the Moon.

 While playing Sequence Letters to start practicing our beginning sounds....

We watched a video on the mistreatment of the Moon Bear.  It was really sad!

Because puzzles are great for Visual Perception and fine motor, really trying to get her to like them more.  Found this one at Dollar Tree....it's Mickey Mouse so she liked it.

She actually finished all her work, so I was pulling out our busy activity stash to make up some fun work for her on Friday.  So I dug out these DUPLO cards I found at Money Saving Mom.

We also started a project seeing how the water goes up the stems of flowers.  This will be in next weeks post :)

We had a nice week......she aslo work on her Hooked on Phonics.  The Letters E and F.  But didn't have any pics of that this week.

See everyone in next week's post.....if you have any suggestions to help with pencil grip, I am all ears. Please let me know!

Thanks ;)

Caty School

My iPhone doesn't always take the best pics, so I apologize in advance.  I need to work on taking pictures with it.

Miss Caty has a few days of "school" and lots of play.

Here she was playing with Lydia in the Ancient Egypt Art box we borrowed from our local art museum.

I broke down and bought Caty her own crayons.  She is struggling with writing and holding her writing utensils.  So I remembered going through this with Joey.  I bought her the big thick pencils and triangular crayons.  Those crayons have been AWESOME for her!!

 She insisted that she try and use the stapler on her own.

 We talked about what clothes are important to wear in different types of weather.

 We started learning the red song and blue song.

Here she is cutting on her Letters, Numbers and Shapes lapbook from Journey through Learning.

I have been taking advantage of Caty's love of songs.  I have been finding Kindergarten shape songs on YouTube...she loves it!!

This is one of those fun "Friends" magazines.  We pull these out every so often.

We finally were able to bring cookies to the local Fireman.  They were very grateful.  One of the EMTs took the girls through and showed the the inside of an ambulance and then let them ring the siren on a 1928 Fire Truck.

Caty worked on her art while I was doing a lesson with Lydia.

 She took this picture herself.

We've been pulling out some old favorites (from a busy bag swap)...letter writing practice

 We got this from a free curriculum giveaway.  Of course there is music involved, so Caty loved it!!  She likes the poster too.

 This was from a recent busy bag swap....and the girls love it!  Butterfly symmetry.  Caty plays by the cards for a bit and then "creates" her own.

She played with magnets this week....

 Paper clip under a tissue.

It was very funny watching her discover.  We used all kinds of materials.

 Alphabet find...she was really using her head on this one!

 Working on patterns in math.

This upcoming week, we'll be working on the Moon and learning a bit about bears....we will be reading Moon Bear.  And learning how important the sun is to us.