Linky Link

Today is going to be a heavy link day, because I've been browsing around the internet a lot lately. If you're looking for homeschool preschool links, stay til the end, because I'm planning on posting what I've been using!

I recently read this article, which is AMAZING. Seriously, everyone should read it. Especially moms. It then led me to the writer's blog, Momastery. This blog is awesome. Like, I can't stop reading. She's real, she talks about motherhood like it really is. Like this post. It's perfect, and I couldn't stop laughing at it. And finally, she had this post in the Huffington Post about the SAHM vs the WOHM. Well worth the read too. Anyway, enough about her blog, but I'm sure I'll be reading it more in the future.

Then there was also this lovely piece by a woman some women I know, know. How's that for complicated haha? To the Mother With Only One Child. And my final non-homeschooling link is this one. It's about Mary, the Mother of God. It's a new site I've heard, and it talks all about Mary. I honestly haven't looked at it much, but I've heard it's awesome, so am kind of putting it here to remind myself to come back and look at it. ;-)

Now... homeschooling. I've been posting lots of pictures with our homeschooling on Facebook, and many people have asked me what websites I'm using, so here's a run down of a lot of them.

I started off with the idea from a letter a week, doing just that. However, I really wasn't a fan of everything there, even though many said they loved it. So I decided to stick with the idea of a letter a week, but do my own thing. First, I wanted to include scripture memory in for each letter. These are the two sites I found that had fabulous scripture help for children. Impress Your Kids and I Can Teach My Child.

Everyday, we talk about what our letter is, the scripture, and words that start with that. With "C" I gathered a bunch of things from around the house that started with "C" and put them in a 'grab bag' and let them pull them out and talk about how they started with "C". Then, because they LOVE writing on the dry erase board, I let them practice writing the letter on the board. My 4 year old definitely writes them better than the 3 year old, but I'm not going for perfection yet at all.

I also printed out cards with site words, from this website. I colored all of them, and hung them on the wall. We are only on "C" and my site word wall is very full, so we may have to figure out a different plan eventually. We also have a "learning wall", that we hang all of our Bible verses on, and the things they've made, like cotton ball clouds for "C".

I also like to throw in a Bible story or Saint story, or both, if I can. This site is great for Bible stories. The Catholic Toolbox. and if you're Catholic and never checked out her blog, Catholic Icing is FABULOUS for Catholic ideas and crafts, for Saints, Holy Days, Feast Days, etc. She also has a Catholic preschool Curriculum, but I didn't want to be tied in to one curriculum, and wanted flexibility for the preschool years. (Ut oh, what does that say about me and homeschooling in the future?? I've always said I'll use a curriculum when we get in to the serious years. ;-))

This site is AWESOME for craft ideas for kids. I mean, AWESOME. Preschool Alphabet.

Someone also told me that "Confessions of a Homeschooler" was a good website, but i haven't checked in to it yet.

Anyway, I hope you found some of these links helpful! In all honesty, I take one night on the weekend, and sit down with my computer and start googling for ideas. For example, I found this days of creation mini book just by googling. Not sure if this was the site I used, but it was the same book. The kids colored it and can easily read it to you and tell you what was made on each day. It's amazing to see a 3yo and 4yo tell the story of creation!