Hi friends!
I shared our relaxed homeschool plans for preschool recently and I wanted to follow up with a peek into what themes we are planning to dive into each month. We are also going to be working on reading since Willow has shown a lot of interest in this recently (I talked more about this in my homeschool plan post). But aside from that, it will be a whole lot of reading surrounding the themes I have chosen, art, painting, hands-on fun, documentaries/educational episodes, exploring outside, and playing! We’ll also keep working on calendar work, writing her name, and learning emergency phone numbers and our address… so simple stuff. I am so excited, but let me tell you, Willow is even more excited. She has been asking to do school all summer.
So here’s a look at the monthly themes we will be covering. Well, this is my “plan,” anyway. I am an extreme planner but I am going to do my best to let her lead. If we switch gears on subjects or other things come up, I want to honor that. So we will see how this pans out! But hey, as long as I have a plan for now… I feel good.
I also say “possible activities” because these may also shift or change but these are the things I have found and are interested in doing. We may not get to everything but it’s nice to have a running list to pick and choose when the time is right and if it fits into our day/week. I am also not the craftiest person so these are all pretty simple and straight-forward! :)
Here we go.
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September
Themes: Autumn, Apples, and Leaves
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn
- Ten Apples on Top
- How to Make Apple Pie and See the World
- The Apple Pie Tree
- An Apple Tree’s Lifecycle
- How Do Apples Grow?
- The Apple Doll
- Apple Cake: A Gratitude
- Secrets of the Apple Tree
- Apples
- Johnny Appleseed
- We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt
- The Little Yellow Leaf
- Leaf Man
- Red Leaf Yellow Leaf
- Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
Possible activities:
- Apple halves & paint craft
- Apple variety taste test
- Go apple picking
- Make apple pie
- Apple tree paper plate craft
- Leaf collecting & identifying parts
- Leaf rubbings
October
Themes: Pumpkins and Halloween
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- Porcupine’s Pie
- Too Many Pumpkins
- The Rollaway Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Jack
- Pick a Pumpkin
- How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow
- The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin
- Gilbert the Ghost
- The Scariest Book Ever
- How to Make Friends with a Ghost
- Bonaparte Falls Apart
- Room on the Broom
- The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
- The Little Kitten
Possible activities:
- Pumpkin painting
- Pumpkin carving and counting seeds
- Make pumpkin pie
- Make pumpkin bread (sub the butternut squash in linked recipe)
- Pumpkin patch
- Hayrides
- Halloween craft from Dollar Tree
- Trick-or-treating
- Candy counting
November
Themes: Outerspace, Thanksgiving, and Gratitude
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- There Was a Black Hole That Swallowed the Universe
- If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon
- Max and the Tagalong Moon
- I Am the Moon
- Zoo in the Sky
- I Took the Moon for a Walk
- The Moon Book
- A Hundred Trillion Billion Stars
- What We See in the Stars
- Planets, Moons, and Stars
- The Planets
- Stargazers
- The Scarecrow
- Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message
- The Very First Americans
- Peyton Picks the Perfect Pie
- Thanksgiving in the Woods
- Possum’s Harvest Moon
- A Turkey for Thanksgiving
- The Great Turkey Race
- ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
Possible activities:
- Play-doh planets
- Oreo cookie moon phase activity (!!)
- Visit planetarium
- Handprint turkey craft
- Visit Plymouth, MA
- Cook Thanksgiving dinner together
December
Themes: Christmas and Giving
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- The Story of Holly and Ivy
- The Polar Express
- This Is Christmas
- Gingerbread Mouse
- Bear Stays Up for Christmas
- Olivia Helps with Christmas
- The Nutcracker
- The Twelve Days of Christmas
- The Little Reindeer
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- The Night Before Christmas
- The Tree That’s Meant to Be
- The Wild Christmas Reindeer
- Olive, the Other Reindeer
- Pick a Pine Tree
- All the Colors of Christmas
Possible activities:
- Meet Santa
- Make candy/gingerbread house
- Bake Christmas cookies (our favorites to make are butter balls, peanut butter blossoms, and gingerbread cookies)
- Write letter to Santa
- Decorate tree
- Make dried orange garland
January
Themes: Winter, Snow, and Arctic Animals
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- Winter is the Warmest Season
- Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter
- Over and Under the Snow
- The Snowy Day
- The Snowman
- Animals in Winter
- A Warm Winter Tail
- The Story of Snow
- Baby Beluga
- Over in the Arctic: Where the Cold Winds Blow
- Hello World! Arctic Animals
- Cozy
- Here is the Arctic Winter
- The Three Snow Bears
- The Polar Bear Son
Possible activities:
- Make paper snowflakes
- Play in snow
- Make snow cream
- Make ice bird feeders
- Arctic animal sensory bin (using figurines like this)
- Polar bear craft
February
Themes: Black History, Love, and Kindness
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- Our Skin
- Skin Like Mine
- The ABCs of Black History
- Ambitious Girl
- Magnificent Homespun Brown
- Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
- I Am Martin Luther King Jr.
- Rosa
- Hidden Figures
- Hair Love
- I Am Enough
- The Love Letter
- A Kiss for Little Bear
- The Day It Rained Hearts
- Love Is
- Planting Seeds of Kindness
Possible activities:
- Bake Valentine’s Day cupcakes
- Make/write Valentine’s Day cards for friends and family
March
Themes: Dinosaurs, Volcanos, Backyard Birds
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- How to Catch a Dinosaur
- Dinosaurs A-Z
- Colorful World of Dinosaurs
- National Geographic Dinosaurs
- Volcanoes!
- The Magic School Bus Presents: Volcanoes and Earthquakes
- Pop Up Volcano
- A Nest is Noisy
- An Egg Is Quiet
- Birds, Nests, and Eggs
- How Do Birds Find Their Way?
- Outside Your Window
- The Little Book of Backyard Bird Songs
- My Backyard Bird Book
- Backpack Explorer: Bird Watch: What Will You Find?
Possible activities:
- Volcano experiment
- Dino dig sensory bin
- Frozen dinosaur egg “hatch”
- Make fossils with clay
- Dino exhibit at museum
- Bird watch & draw
- Listen to bird songs
April
Themes: Dirt, Seeds, and Flowers, Easter, and Earth Day
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- A Seed is Sleepy
- Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
- The Imaginary Garden
- Lola Plants a Garden
- Planting a Rainbow
- Flowers Are Calling
- Miss Rumphius
- From Seed to Plant
- Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring
- We Are the Gardeners
- The Easter Egg
- Peter Rabbit
- Too Many Carrots
- The Little Rabbit
- Thank You Earth
- We Are Here
- What a Waste: Trash, Recycling, and Protecting our Planet
- Recycle!
- Planet Earth/Inside Out
Possible activities:
- Plant seeds in the garden
- Use nature as paint brushes
- Observe flowers and label parts
- Nature walks and watercolor what we see later
- Visit local botanical garden
- Bake sweet bread for Easter
- Tracing & counting with jelly beans
- Watercolor Earth
- Plant flowers
- Recycling sorting activity
- Beach clean-up
- Layers of the Earth using Play-Doh
May
Themes: Trees and Caterpillar/Butterflies
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- The Magic and Mystery of Trees
- Because of an Acorn
- Seeds and Trees
- The Busy Tree
- A Tree is Nice
- A Log’s Life
- Trees, Leaves, and Bark
- The Forest in the Trees
- Tall Tall Trees
- A Butterfly’s Life Cycle
- A Butterfly Is Patient
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Flutter Butterfly
- Butterfly Park
- Monarch Butterfly
- Monarch Butterfly: Explore the Life Journey of One of the Winged Wonders of the World
- Magic of Monarchs
Possible activities:
- Label parts of a tree
- Pretzel & grape tree snack
- Watercolor trees
- Butterfly growing kit
- Lifecycle of a butterfly
June
Themes: Summer, Sun Safety, and Beach
Books to get from our shelves and/or the library:
- Sun: One in a Billion
- The Skies Above My Eyes
- Save the Ocean
- Seashells by the Seashore
- What Lives in a Shell
- National Geographic: At the Beach
- Hello Ocean
- Seashells, Crabs, and Sea Stars
Possible activities:
- Beach day – collect shells, sea glass, and other treasures
- Paint collected rocks and shells
- Sun layers using play-doh
- Sun paper plate craft
- Waterbeads and ocean animal sensory bin
