In starting our homeschool journey I felt like my toddler was at a point that he wanted to read, but I wanted to make sure he was completely confident with his ABC's. I was also overwhelmed by the price of many curriculums and felt like I could better suit his needs by using things we already had and tailoring the learning to his interests.
I chose to do a little ABC review for our first month. This was a great way to slowly get us into the groove of homeschool without too much effort or expense. We did one letter every day and we incorporated that letter into nearly everything we did for the day. I wanted to share some of the things I used for the first few letters.
This post is a place to get ideas, but more than that just a way to show how you I have created my own curriculum with inexpensive or free materials, items I have around the house and free online resources. Take this and use the things you have and already do to make learning fun for your little ones.
I started by making these notebooks for each kiddo. I used printable coloring sheets from Disney Jr. and printed one page for each letter. These worked for us, but there are hundreds more out there if Disney is not your thing, or you could easily make your own. Each morning, they colored the coloring sheet for the letter of the day. Then we used old magazines and found the letter of the day or words that begin with that letter. I then used a worksheet from a basic Preschool workbook for letter writing practice and it also had a little activity at the bottom of the page.
During our bible story, I also incorporated the letter using this awesome coloring book I found for $1. I tried to coordinate the story we read with the letter of the day as well (J for Jonah, M for Moses, etc.), but many days, I just used a verse to go along with what we were learning.
Just to give you some examples of how this worked for me, I will share our first few days.
A day: For this day, we picked apples from our backyard tree, made and ate applesauce and watched Avengers before naptime. We also talked about Angels for our bible lesson and incorporated these verses:
Psalms 91:11 - For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Exodus 23:20 - Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
B day: For this day, we picked blueberries in the neighbor's yard and ate them, with bananas, for breakfast. We also incorporated the color blue into our worksheets for the day using blue crayons and this sheet. We also made blue Kool-Aid!
C day: Today we celebrated my Carter! We ate chicken nuggets and corn and learned about cars and circles using this worksheet. I had everyone color a picture for Carter and practice tracing his name. I love using their "letter day" as a way to celebrate each child and make them feel special.
D day: For D day, we ate donuts for breakfast and learned about dogs and danger. I used a safety book called "That's Dangerous!" to talk about dangerous situations with a funny twist. To go along with our danger lesson, we read these verses and discussed how God can help us in times of danger:
Job 5:20-21- In famine he will ransom you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes.
2 Samuel 22:2-4- The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent men you save me. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalm 9:9- The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
E day: For E day, we ate eggs for breakfast and made an elephant craft. I used paper plates and toilet paper rolls and ears and eyes cut out of construction paper.
F day: Today, we ate fish sticks and made a fish craft. I used kids meal coupons the boys had gotten at a local restaurant, but you could easily make your own. They had a dot-to-dot using numbers 1-10, so we used that as our number lesson and then used different colors of tissue paper to decorate the fish. We talked about farms today as well and utilized Carter's Little People farm for playtime. The verse we read for this day was:
Matthew 4:19- And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:19- And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
G day: G day was all about God, giraffes, grapes and the color green!
H day: H is for Heather and Hot peppers! Today I created this worksheet with a picture of Heather at the top and had them practice writing the letter H. We then created these hot peppers from this template. Then, we journeyed into the backyard garden and picked some peppers. (They weren't exactly hot, but they did the trick!).
I is for Ice Cream!! This is one of my favorite crafts! I made puffy paint (half cup Elmer's glue, half cup shaving cream, food coloring as desired) and let them make ice cream cones. They had a blast and clean up was fairly easy because it's half soap! After our snack, I used a Phillipians 4:13 (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.) coloring page and asked them to pick out and color the I's.
I hope that these ten ideas can help you think about how to create your own learning experience inexpensively or using what you already have. Journeying through 26 days of letters was a great experience for all of us and they really enjoyed learning from what is around them everyday!
