Preschool in progress! Part 4

The one thing I like most about Preschool, is that it doesn’t have to be complicated.  We just find things we like and use them. Recently the kids 'discovered' the library when I took them there for a visit. My daughter told me "I like this store!" Well, I'm glad they like books too!!

Here's a few of our favourite books that we read around our house.

Cowgirl Kate... these are some of my favourite, probably because they are humorous and the little girl is a responsible farm girl!

 Like me, my kids love the pictures in these books, I'm hoping that one day they'll take off reading the simple words.

 My Grandma Kliever introduced these books to me when I was little. I have all of one casset tape and have not been able to find more of the old tapes. I would love to get my hands on the tapes as the kids love listening to the stories. The top two books there are reprints of 8 of the original story books, and a CD can be bought to listen to these stories, though they are not the original tape recordings.

 Another favourite from my growing up years and for a while I had to read this one every night to my daughter!

 The kids love these ones, if not for the stories, the pictures. Miss Potter was a genius with pictures and stories!

 One or more of these Bible stories gets read every night. The kids love the Muffin Family bible story books, and I hope to find more for them.

 As for actual preschool work, my Mom picked this up for me at a second hand store for free, and my daughter loves it when we turn on the old tapes and she can say the sounds with the flash cards.

 I wonder if there are old CDs some where that I could get my hands on, but needless to say, it has been a good asset and probably will be in the future.

On that note, I would highly recommend The Reading Bear website. It has videos for the kids to watch and helps them sound out simple words, with an explanation of what the word means as well. The kids think they're being entertained, and I know they're learning!

 Another gift for the kids and something that has been added to the fun list of things we do around here. I like it cause it's MESS FREE!!!! And what mom doesn’t like that!

well, there you have it, another peep into our preschool!

S.L. Kliever

Preschool in progress! Part 3

Hello again!

I see I've neglected my blog for two months... that, I believe just shows I'm a mother and motherhood comes first.

So what have we been up to in our preschool at home? come take a look-see.

With the book I mentioned in a previous post, the kids are learning to sound out the simplest words. No they're not taking off with it at this point, but they are getting a foundation for later.

We also have fun with other activities, such as puzzles. They love these ones.

 What could be a better way to learn for a little boy who loves Thomas, than to learn letters, counting and colours with Thomas books?? :D Also, I picked up a Thomas magazine that has lots of activities for children.

 Alphabet stamps!! These have been great as we've learned to make Thank You cards for a few people, and Mommy helps them form the words.

Also activities colouring books and painting books, both gifts to the kids, have been a fun addition to our daily routine. 

 A friend of mine passed on a link, and through Pinterest I downloaded these counting worksheets and the kids have loved a different way to learn about counting.

 And because it's spring, we got the kids two pots each and they picked out their own flowers to plant. What excitement!! They were so eager to do this, and when we couldn't do it right away the day we bought them, they asked the next day. Then after their seeds were planted, they checked their pots every day to see if anything was coming up. You can imagine their excitement when they saw green shoots coming up!!

More adventures to come!!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for February

Calico Critter Bathtub!

I took an old shampoo bottle that was oval shaped, removed the labels and cut the bottom half off.

 I used blue crafting foam to put in the bottom of the tub

for water and a nicer finished look.

 Ribbon around the top for decoration, also covered up the rough edges from cutting the plastic. I would recommend using a wider ribbon than what I used, it would work better.

 I cut out some crafting felt and stitched around the edges to make a bathmat,

wash-cloth and towel. 

And there you have it, a bathtub for the critters. 

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for January

Critter Swing!

I don't remember much about my great grandma... but one thing I do remember well, was the doll house in an orange box that she had made, and all the little furniture she had made to go in it... all of which was made from things around the house, such as bottles.

Here is a swing made for Calico Critters... from a bottle.

I'm working on someone's birthday gift, so shhh! :)

I took an old vitamin bottle and cut the bottom off, about an inch deep.

I then cut some holes in either side, and strung a ribbon through. (String would work too). The cushion I made by tracing the outside of the bottle on some fabric, and then sewed it up with some cotton balls inside.

 Nice added touch was hot gluing some ribbon around the outside and putting a bow in the front. And there you have it!

The ribbon across the middle, holds the critter in place.

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for December

 Dresses for Calico Critters...

...And Dollies!

 
Well, it's that time of year again. My favourite time of the year, I might add. Growing up we didn't have a lot of the stuff that goes in people's wallets... but what we did have was creativity. So when Christmas rolled around, we would get to work making gifts for each other. It actually is so meaningful now to look back and think on, because as a family, even if we kids didn't always get along, we loved each other, and we certainly showed it around Christmas time, as we worked hard to make each other gifts.

So this year, for my daughter, I set to work making dresses for her Calico Critters, and dolls. I will show you the simplest way of making a large variety of dresses.

First off, you're going to need a rectangle. Make sure it's bigger than the size you actually need for a dress. As you can see, when you sew in all the sides, it gets considerably smaller.

 Then you're going to want to gather it in. I did this on the sewing machine, with a wide stitch, then pull on the threads to gather it in. Have your doll or critter on hand to check out the size, making sure it goes all the way around, and over laps in the back!

 I then added lace. This piece I sewed on, but adding ribbon or lace is easy with a hot glue gun!

 Then on the back, you're going to add your straps, using ribbon or lace, and don't forget Velcro. Before you hot glue it all on, make sure you try it out on the doll or critter to be sure it's all in the right place.

 And there you have it!

You can also do this same thing with (I believe it's called) Eyelet lace.
This required no sewing, only hot gluing! I love this lace!!

Now come see all the different kinds you can make with ribbon, lace, different fabric, and different sizes.

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever

Preschool in progress! Part 2

Hello Again!

Here's another peep into our preschool at home.

We've made it through the alphabet doing a letter a week, and now we are reviewing a few letters at a time.

 Using this book as a guide, we are reviewing the letters c, o, s, a & t
working hard on letter recognition and especially the letter sounds.
Once we have these down pat, then we will finish this 'lesson' in showing them how these letters go together in small words, such as sat, at, cat, so, to etc..

Another thing I've done, is print off a bunch of these practice sheets (found on Pinterest) and laminated them. Then bought some Crayola Dry Eraser Crayons so that they can practice, practice, practice, and we're not using a ton of paper!!

And they think it's great fun being able to colour, then erases and do it again!

And, as it's the month of December, we've done some other fun things lately.
Here I made them snowflakes to paint, and then we hung them in our window.

And we've been focusing on the story of Christ's birth, as Christmas is approaching. I was able to find some Advent colouring pictures, (again off of Pinterest) and they've been having fun colouring those and hanging them up.

We've also read the Christmas story several times lately, from their children's story book Bible, and in the evenings, we have Advent decorations (no picture) that have scripture verses about Jesus coming, and all the prophecies He fulfilled, and have been reading those, and then the kids get to put them up on the tree.
Some days I don't know who enjoys this more, me or them! We do have our not so great days like everyone, but I am so grateful for these two and the opportunity to be their mommy and teach them new things! 

Thank you for coming to read a little bit about our adventures.

S.L. Kliever

Christmas shopping?

Hello! Well I have a special announcement to all you homeschoolers out there.  

I don't think I've mentioned my books on this blog, but I am the author of

The Chronicles of Exmoor series!

I'm not the kind of person that likes to put myself out there, but I am becoming more comfortable with advertising (on the web) my books.

If you're shopping for Christmas gifts this year and need something for, oh say, ages 10-99... (haha) check out my blog here, and follow the links to buy my books.

Also if you notice the post below, I have just released a children's book!! The Heart Princess, is perfect for the little girl in your life!

My biggest fans are homeschoolers, if that tells you anything! And if you've already read the books, please take the time to go to Amazon or Christianbook and write a review so that others can see how much you like the books!

Merry Christmas!

S.L. Kliever