Benjamin’s Preschool

We started Sonlight’s Preschool for 3 and 4 Year Olds (P3/4) with Benjamin after he turned 3 in November. With breaks for holidays we’re on week 5 this week. Since Hannah went through P3/4 2 years ago, they haven’t changed anything except switching to a new bible which we already have. This doesn’t impact us much since Nate does bible time before bed and we don’t stay in line with the Instructor’s guide very well anyway.
Sonlight expects this core to be very laid back and fun, so they don’t provide any ‘schedule’. Last time around, I just listed out all the stories one a day with science, social studies, bible, and poems spread out along the way. I ended up with a 21 week schedule, which we’re using again. We’ll probably end up doing it at least twice through over the year.

I’m also doing the Handwriting without Tears Preschool book with him. Its a slow but methodical introduction to handwriting where they learn all the straight line letters first and then move into curves. Supposed to help with flipping b’s and d’s and stuff. He’s not as interested in writing as Hannah was, but he will do one page a day if I ask him to and he knows how to write a few letters already even though the book is still working on correct grip and coloring. He’s been having fun writing the letters in his name (not always in order) on anything he finds to write on.

With his one story a day and one page a day, we probably spend about 30 minutes specifically on him. Of course, he’s listening to the stuff I’m doing with Hannah too and soaks up a lot of it without much effort on my part. 🙂 I’m enjoying going through the fun little stories again. They have some great treasuries in this set.

This Spring, we put Benjamin in a gymnastics class. He’s been doing cartwheels in our living room. He might be a little bored in the class. Hopefully they keep him moving. 🙂

I have images for all the stories here. It looks like a lot, but they are all very short and light.
And here is the list of the books:
101 Favorite Stories from the Bible
20th Century Children’s Book Treasury
A First Book of Fairy Tales
Make Way for McCloskey
The Bee Tree
Eloise Wilkin Stories
Go, Dog. Go!
Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales
Horton Hatches the Egg
Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle
Mighty Mind
Mike Mulligan and More
Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs
Noah’s Ark
Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm
Poems and Prayers for the Very Young
Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day?
The Tall Book of Nursery Tales
Teddy Mix & Match
Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics
The Usborne Flip-Flap Body Book
Wee Sing Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies
Level P3/4 Parent’s Companion: Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Fun for Little Learners