C is for Camping

Art project: Making a campfire

Roasting marshmallows with daddy later that night

Cooking project #1: Making trail mix


Cooking project #2: Ant cookies


Math & Science activity: Fishing with a magnet "fishing rod"


Sensory table activity: Pond animals (1 frog, 2 ducks, and 3 fish) in the water. A net was provided for scooping out the fish and foam lily pads for the frog to hop on. Concepts such as least and most were also explored.

Animal sort: Animals sorted into categories: farm, forest, and zoo

Lily and I went over the letters "A" and "B" over the summer. And for some reason, Lily kept saying that she wanted to go to camping school. So, we started the year off with the letter "C" and a camping theme. It was a lot of fun, and I was amazed at the projects we were able to do with mostly things found at home.

We started the week off by putting up the kiddie-sized tent from Lily's Grandpa Deetz in her preschool room to set the scene. I then packed a bag full of items that one would take camping, and we went talked about the uses for each item. We reviewed these items and their uses later with a fun Camping Trip Song. Above are pictures of some of the activities that we did throughout the week. Overall, it was a very successful and fun week.

Vocabulary for the week: canteen, lantern, hike, trail, binoculars, compass

Camping Field Trip #1

For our first field trip, we went on a short hike at a nearby state park.

Lily was set with all necessary hiking supplies in her backpack.

The wildlife there is just fantastic. This picture of the bison was taken from our car.

There wasn't a lot of zooming necessary when taking these pictures. The animals were very close to the driving paths.

Neither the ducks nor Lily were afraid of one another.

The pond was teeming with turtles.


Projects made from collected items from our hike as well as items found in our own backyard.

Camping Field Trip #2

For our second field trip, we went to the Nature Center. We actually had registered for the class at the Nature Center well before we even knew that we were going to do a camping theme this week. It just so happened that the class (called "We Like to Move It") matched perfectly with our theme. I also have to say that I was completely and totally impressed with this class. It was informative, fun, age-appropriate, and chock-full of great activities, including a short walk around the grounds in the middle of the 1 1/2 hour event. We will definitely sign up for more of these *free* classes in the future!

For a portion of the program, the children were divided into groups and then rotated through 5 stations, each featuring different types of forest animals to explore.

The sticky "tongue" was used to catch little pretend bugs.

The children were allowed to fish for minnows using their hands. I love that Lily dove right into this activity while the majority of other children wouldn't even try. She was great at it too! She caught several of these quick little guys and examined them and put them back without hurting them at all!

In this activity, children used clothespins as bird beaks to pick up the bugs - great for fine motor skills!

Lily in the indoor treehouse after the program

Preparing for the year

I debated quite a bit on how to organize our year together. I considered many different approaches including a project-based approach, literature-based curriculum, etc., but ultimately what I think will work best for our situation is a more simple theme-based approach that ties into the alphabet. I've always maintained that you can teach young children any concept in thirty different ways, using just about any topic. The framework is really just to make teaching the concepts and skills more interesting and engaging for the child. So, we are going to try this approach and see how it goes. I have to say that this is a huge learning experience for me. Teaching one child (especially your own) is so different than a classroom environment. It has its own unique challenges, but it is nice to be able to give Lily 100% attention (for now anyway!) and to know exactly where she stands with all her skills. It is the ultimate in individualization! I am still a huge advocate of early childhood education in learning centers (quality ones anyway), but we are going to make the most of our current situation and hopefully we will both benefit from this arrangement. Of course, the mom side of me loves being able to spend my days with my girl, and I feel so lucky to be able to be at home with her during this stage of her life!

School year 09-10

This blog was created with the intent of having a sort of online scrapbook of Lily's "school" year at home. It is mostly just a convenient way for me to keep a record of our projects and her progress, and some day Lily may enjoy seeing this as well. Anyone else that cares to follow along, feel free! :)

We rather arbitrarily chose August 17th as the start of our school year. It seems that most schools in the area are starting back around this time, so why not?! And away we go....