The Tools and Materials

For the actual education portion of our summer homeschooling, I am using workbooks. 

For Ruthie, the workbook is called "Summer Bridging Activities" (Pre-K to K) and I got it at Mardel for $14.99 (plus tax).  It's basically a workbook that is a review from everything she has learned in Preschool this last year.  Her teacher reminded her class that "If you don't use it, you lose it." (Which I have found is also true about foreign languages)  This portion of our day, for Ruthie anyway, goes by pretty quickly.  Her Pre-K teachers mentioned to us that she is fairly advanced and is definitely ready for kindergarten.  Right now, she is really into coloring, puzzles, and watching episodes of TV shows on PBS.  Her favorite is "Fetch with Ruff Ruffman."  She does not take a nap and really never has...not even as an infant.  But, her teachers actually got her to take naps in her Pre-K class and for the last 2 days, she has taken a small one.  And that has been nice...because mom needs a nap, too.

For Zeke, the workbook is a Preschool Workbook that I found at WalMart for $24.99, but I couldn't find a link to it.  It's mostly learning colors, shapes, etc.  He mostly scribles on the pages, but Ruthie is helping him learn the colors.  Zeke has been my challenge because he has a short attention span and is in that 3 year old phase...requiring a lot of discipline.

For our "Devotional Time," we are learning The 10 Commandments.  Each week, we go over the same ones every day (like this week, we go over 1, 2, & 3 every day).  For the month of June, that will be our Devotional time.  At night we, as a family, read a Bible story from The Jesus Storybook Bible.  We've read through it 7 times and it is awesome.

Now, you may be wondering about the P.E. portion of our day...We have outside playtime in the morning for about an hour.  They play in the backyard while I sit on the porch.  Because of my UV allergy, I can't actually stay outside in the sun with them for very long.  But, the real P.E. time is with Joshua when he gets home from work.  He takes them to ride their bike, jump on the trampoline, play on the swingset (more than in the morning), and splash around in the blow-up pool he got at WalMart for $10.  I've always been the "inside" parent and he's been the "outside" parent.  Our nextdoor neighbor came over to ask if she could have an egg for something she was making.  She said, "So, I notice that I never see you outside with your kids, it's just your husband...why aren't you ever outside with them"  I told her I was allergic to UV rays (essentially, the sun).  She said, "That's probably why you're so pale, huh?  Well, you're husband is so good with them."  Ya think?  Tact much?  I'm use to that kind of reaction.  But, I did resent the implication that I'm not as good of a parent.