Tot School - The Week we Set up

We are starting preschool on Monday.  Kinda crazy, but we are, so this week I've tried to focus on getting out "room" (aka the dining room) ready, making sure that everything I need is ready for week 1, writing lesson plans for weeks 6-9 (weeks 1-5 are done) and getting everything ready for week 2 - I'd like to always have the week we are starting and the following week completely done in baskets on the shelf.  Than, the next 8-10 lessons written.  There is often stuff (books, games, learning items) that I need to order so I'm budgeting a certain amount each month and will always try to order a month ahead of time so I'm ready to go!  I'm excited to start this but also know that it is a commitment - it means I have to set aside things I want to get done and purposefully focus on teaching each day.  I'm a little ADD sometimes so . . .I have to really focus on one thing LOL

First things first - our schedule.  I've mentioned before that I'm not a morning person but I am going to really work on this new schedule so that I can get things done that I need quiet time for first thing in the morning.

5:30 (ouch!) - Get up, walk on the treadmill for at least 20 minutes
6:00 - Shower and get ready for the day
6:30 - My quiet time and breakfast
7:00-8:00 - Munchkin arrives in this time frame, he usually plays for a bit and is ready for a nap
8:00-10:00 - This is time that I have to get laundry going, do my weekly chores, and work on my to do list.  My kids wake up sometime during this time frame and eat breakfast.  This will be their playtime too.
10:00-11:00 - Bible and ABC/123 time.  This is something that both Josh and Nate will participate in each morning; The Munchkin also gets up between 10 and 10:30 so he'll be eating his snack with us too.
11:00-12:00 - Playtime for the kids/chore time for me. 
12:00-1:00 - Lunch time/clean up and our Circle Time
1:00 - Nate goes down for a nap/quiet time for Josh (he usually watches cartoons)
1:45 - Munchkin goes down for a nap between now and 2:00
2:00-3:00 - This will be focused time with Josh working on Math and Reading skills.  Most things will only be 20 minutes long but sometimes we may have other activities to do. 
3:00-4:00 - Kids wake up, snack time, play time
4:00-7:30 - This is our busy time - the munchkin is picked up, I get dinner ready, we eat, clean up, play as a family, clean up toys, kids take baths and than bedtime.
7:30-8:00 -Time with my husband (he goes to bed by 8:00)
8:00-10:00 - Time for me to work on lessons, blogging, scrapbooking, or just relax watching TV.  I'm going to really work at going to bed by 10:00 since I'll be getting up at 5:30. *A disclaimer - I also get up in the middle of the night with my husband because of his work schedule which is why that 5:30 time is so hard!

It is actually a pretty straight forward schedule.  Because we are a family that tends to sleep late - I've pushed things to lunch time/afternoon that others may get done all in the morning.  One of the great things about homeschooling is making a schedule to fit you :-) 

Here are some pretty pictures of what our room looks like and a few things I made this week for school!

This is our center wall.  It includes our monthly calendar, our Magnetic season/weather calendar, a palm tree to go along with Chica Chica Boom Boom and a bulletin board (still missing !)  My husband will hang it for me this weekend and we'll use that to post our weekly verse, song, letter, number, color, ect. 

This is our current shelf.  The top still houses my Creative Memory albums but the bottom three shelves are for school.  The bottom shelf houses our sensory bin, a bin with games for future weeks, and it will also include a bin for each of the boys.  The second shelf houses bins with supplies and than the third shelf up holds my baskets with two weeks of plans and our arts and crafts bucket. 

This is one of the projects I worked on - quilted letters :-)  I made an "A" for each boy and will be making the entire alphabet over the course of the next few months. 

Finally, this is my new "baby" - it is the perfect printer!!!  I love it so much because it has just made getting stuff ready each week so much easier!!!  It is a dream :-)

Starting next week, I'm planning to move this post to Sundays.  By doing that, I can include activities from the entire week instead of just a few days. 

On a separate note - I have become an Amazon Associate which just means I can link items to their site and, if you click on those items anywhere on my blog and purchase that item, I will be compensated.  Thanks for clickin'!