The Whole Child e-zine brings you free preschool activities each week to maximize your child's potential, build skills and parent-child relationships in just a few minutes per day. Useful tips, quotes, resources, opportunities and articles will be added for extra value!

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16 September 2007, Issue #042

1. Hello from Shirley

In homeschooling circles, there is the image of the stereotypical Supermom – she has about 5 children, she works at home, homeschools, homebirths, they don’t own a TV, her kids love reading, love writing and they often get on with their schoolwork alone and so on.

Now, there is nothing wrong with any of those things…but I don’t suppose you’d think she was a Supermom if she told you that her kitchen floor is frequently covered in dirt and crumbs or that the living room is in disarray, that her children are sometimes whiny, slow to obey and cheeky because they are still in training, that she spends too much time at her computer and that she actually doesn’t enjoy cooking?

Well, I hope you won’t unsubscribe if I say that all of the above is true of me! You see, I would prefer to only tell you the good stuff, but actually, we are all just real people, each with our own weaknesses and struggles… and although some of us have overcome some difficulties and learnt to master others, no one is Supermom. She doesn’t exist, so don’t measure yourself against a myth…just make sure that you are diligently doing the best you can in your circumstances!

Myth-buster: You can read a description of a typical week day in our home on my friend, Wendy’s site here. Shirley’s Story

“But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be”…

2. What’s New at Shirley’s Preschool Activities?

Afterwards, it occurred to me, that I often promote the site-building option that I have used to create my website and that maybe, this also sounds like one of these dubious get-rich-quick schemes!

If it has, I must apologise. My heart’s intent is to encourage moms to start an online business like I did, so that more moms will be able to be at home with their kids and still enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.

If you have been a subscriber for some time, you will probably have noticed that since I fell pregnant with baby Samantha late last year, I have not added many new pages to my site at all – less than 10 in over a year.

Yet, I am proud to tell you, that my site, which I only started at the end of 2005, is still in the top 1% of websites in the WORLD and has just been ranked on the show-off RESULTS pages by Sitesell (Click on "Miscellaneous" and scroll down a bit). This, in spite of the fact that I hardly work at it anymore. You see, SBI helped me build it correctly from the word go, so that my success would be almost inevitable!

If I can do it – then you can do it too – remember, there are no Supermoms, just moms that are willing to take on the challenge of learning something new! By the way, the logo for SBI is the tortoise – she learns, builds and progresses slowly, one tortoise step at a time – No Pressure! No Performance!

Maybe you should consider it - Site Build It!

Updates

Although I believe that little children do not need a formal preschool curriculum, I realized that mothers need quality resources to create a stimulating learning environment for their children, as an introduction to their world and God’s creation and to lay a foundation for their later learning and so I have written an article that describes The Benefits of a Preschool Curriculum.

There are also some gentle, age-appropriate resources on the Preschool Curriculum page as well as some Ideas by Subject.

To view updated or new pages added to my site, go to Shirley’s Blog or subscribe to the RSS Feed.

3. Preschool Activities at Home Egroup

4. Quote

“If I am a stay at home mum, why am I always in the car!” (Unknown)

5. Tips

6. Book Reviews

You will find my favourite parenting or teaching books that I recommend at Shirley's Store on my site.

The Three R’s by Ruth Beechick
This is one of my favourite books to recommend to parents of little ones.

Dr Beechick gives an explanation of how to follow a homespun, natural system of teaching that does not require expensive teaching materials and that is tailor-made for you and your child.

She gives practical advice and guidelines for what to do for each step or each age group. This book will raise your confidence levels, as well as inform you about how to teach the three R’s effectively. A great investment for any parent who wants to teach their child!

Read this series before you face the sometimes overwhelming task of choosing the "right" curriculum for you and your child.

"A wonderful alternative to the tedious workbooks and overly academic approaches usually used. The best little teaching aids I have ever read. With my children as proof, these ways are far above other methods we have tried."

7. Readiness Activities

The following activities are aimed at ages 2-3. For older children, adapt the activity to their ability or alternatively repeat the activities previously suggested for ages 3-5 in the earlier Backissues of The Whole Child publication.

To download the activities in a printable pdf, click here.

You will need to have Adobe Reader installed. Its a free download.

Repeat these activities often - with your own variations too!

1. Gross motor skills

Hold your child by the ankles and let her walk on her hands like a ‘wheelbarrow’. This strengthens the muscles of the shoulder girdle.

2. Fine motor skills

Manual Dexterity: Give your child some colourful clothes pegs to play with. She can clip them around a piece of card or the opening of a wide plastic container.

3. Visual skills

Colour Perception/Classification: Let your child sort coloured clothes pegs or building blocks according to colour. She might not know the names of the different colours yet, so name them as you play.

4. Auditory skills

Auditory discrimination: Ask your child some easy questions to which he knows the answer first in a normal voice, then in a whisper that becomes softer and softer each time. He will probably also talk increasingly softly and will need to figure out any words you say that are not clearly audible to him. Continue the activity, speaker gradually louder and louder.

5. Mathematical skills

Numerical Conceptualising: Ask your child to perform any action either once or twice eg. Two jumps, then ask her to do one clap, two nods of the head, one step forward etc to help her to distinguish between one and two.

6. Language skills

Active Language Development: Read a book about animals together and ask your child to imitate the noises that the various animals make.

7. Faith-building

Whenever your child gets a bump or a scratch, comfort her and tell her you are sorry it happened, then ask Jesus to heal her.

Bible Reading: Continue with your Bible reading and prayers as part of your bed-time routine. My little ones have enjoyed reading The Beginners Bible.

Many blessings Shirley

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