I seem to be getting a lot of similar questions, so I thought I’d address some of them in one spot, so here goes…
1. What age did you start doing your prek activities with your children?
- I started doing our prek stuff with my daughter at 3.5. Really I think this is sort of on the young side, the main reason for it was that she has 2 older siblings doing school already and wanted to have her own boxes! We started with motor skill stuff from 1+1+1 Tot Tray ideas, and it evolved into my letter of the week program!
2. How many boxes do you do with your 3 year old?
- Typically she gets 5-6 boxes on M,W & F. On T and Th, she gets 3-4 boxes of fun games, or motorskills stuff (see tot tray link above). I also found a bunch of fun prek activities on My Montessori Journey, Shannon’s Tot School, Totally Tots, and more!
3. What is the “Workbox System”, and where do you get your boxes?
- Click here to read how our system is setup! I got my boxes at JoAnn’s – 10 drawer rolling cart. I used a 50% off coupon and bought them a few at a time!
4. Where do you get all of your clipart/images for your prek activities?
- Most of them I make them myself in Photoshop Elements 7.0. Some are public domain clipart that I find online. I do try to be VERY careful about making sure an image I use is indeed public domain before using it though. I’d rather not worry about copywrite laws!
5. What software program do you use to make your downloads?
- I use Photoshop Elements 7.0, though at the time of this post, they have released 8.0. I find PSE very user friendly and there are TONS of free tutorials to get you started. I also use it for my digital scrapbooking. One of my favorite tutorial sites is Jessica Sprague, she offers some free ones that include graphic image downloads, as well as online classes. She is a very good instructor and her videos are great quality. Plus most of her classes come with great digital downloads to help complete your projects!
- After creating the images, I save my photoshop files as JPGs then use a Word program and just insert the JPGinto the document. Finally I save that document as a PDF file (I use PDF Creator) and upload them to 4shared. When I post them, I simply make a link to the 4shared file for you all to download.
- I use ACDSee 2009 to manage all of my digital scrapbook elements as well as my images for homeschool. Although Photoshop Elements 7.0 comes with an organizer, I found that once I got a certain quantity of images in it, that it was very slow and had a tendency to crash. ACDSee seems to do a better job of managing my images. Although it was fairly easy to understand, there is a “How To” class offered at Jessica Sprague for ACDSee.
6. What laminator do you use?
- I use a Xyron 900 9″ Creative Station
. I also go to my local teacher supply store when I have to do large projects. Office Max also offers lamination services. You can get refills for the Xyron at Michael’s or JoAnn’s as always I use coupons! Click here to see my lamination/money saving tips.
- The Xyron has cartridges that you put in, so instead of “heat” laminate its “sticky” laminate, kind of like contact paper. I like it better for cutting objects out as it doesn’t peel off. They also sell adhesive cartridges so you can make stickers, as well as the magnetic laminate that is magnet on one side and laminate on the other, so you can make magnets!
- Scotch Laminator: This is a heat laminator, and though I don’t own one of these, several people have said they love it! You can get it at Wal-mart for around $28 and the refills can be found at Sam’s club, I believe it was about $20/200 sheets.
7. Where did you buy…
- Desks/whiteboard: I got mine from a church school that was closing for $5 each! Check craig’s list in your area for student desks.
- Plastic Tot Trays: Lakeshore Learning $14.95 for 4 trays
- Tiered Bookshelf: Lakeshore Learning on sale!
- Games/Toys/Etc: I get my stuff from all over the place! One fun place to look is TJMaxx in the back they have a toy section and usually pretty good prices for Melissa and Doug toys, puzzles, books etc. I also go to www.lakeshorelearning.com. They have TONS of fun educational games, manipulatives etc. Also, places like Wal-mart, Target $1 section etc, you can find great cheap stuff that can be used for school, for example I just got some fun valentine stuff, foam hearts that I’ll put numbers on for my dd to count and sort by color/size etc. And of course Michael’s and JoAnn’s as well for craft supplies. Remember “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have” Hebrews 13:5a. That said, if you can’t afford to buy something, try to think of a way to make it yourself! Popsicle sticks, paper plates, cups, beans, pom-poms etc, can all be used for sorting, counting etc. You just have to be creative!
9. How do I get started homeschooling? Click here to see my post on Getting Started!
I hope this helps answers some of your questions, if you have any other questions not addressed here, please feel free to leave a comment, or email me by clicking on the link found in the “about me” section of this blog.
Hi, just letting you know I linked to this page, specifically for the workboxes. I mentioned them in my post and wanted to provide a link. You have such a great system!!!Here's the post:http://momovertheedge2009.blogspot.com/2010/03/from-www.html
Also – what do you do to occupy the little one? My 2 year old likes to "Help" too much!
Hi, first off, I LOVE your blog. I visit often and use your alpha letters all the time! I have a question for you regarding your blogging. I am trying to start a blog mainly for my out of town family to see what we are doing. I am starting it on homeschoolblogger.com since I am new to blogging and they seem pretty easy. They only have settings that let either everyone see or only users see. Since most of my family are not users, I was thinking of just marking it as everyone. Would you recommend this? I am planning on posting pictures of the kids and that makes me nervous. I'd love to hear your thoughts since we are in the same situation generally. Jennifer
Jennifer: Hi, I'm not sure how to contact you, so I'll reply here: I think you have to figure out what your point of blogging will be. If you mark that everyone can see your blog then anyone can see it! You could always just make your family sign in with an acct to see your kids? If you're not planning on sharing homeschooling stuff with the blogging world, I think I'd probably just tell my family that they have to create an account to see our photos.If you are planning on sharing with the homeschooling community, then like I said, I'd just be careful about what you post.I basically try not to use my kids names anywhere, I also make sure they are fully clothed for any shots I take of them if possible.Although according to my husband, if people really want to find you they will. I just want to minimize strangers coming up to my kids at the park and knowing their names you know?Hope that helps!
I love your blog. I didn't see my question answered in the FAQ, so if you have a minute I would like to know what printer you use. I have a cheap printer that gives me trouble when I use cardstock and the cost of printing in color seems alot. I tried using your printouts last year, but this was stopping me. I really want to use your letter of the week, but need a more cost effective way of printing everything. What do you use?Thanks,Lori
LORI: I have a Canon i9900 which I LOVE, but its a large format printer (13"x19") I got it for printing 12×12 scrapbook pages, so you probably don't need anything that big for homeschool printables.I have heard good things about HP & Epson Printers if you're looking for a new one though.I also have a friend who is going to try printing through http://www.copiesincolor.com she says they are pretty cheap, not sure about quality though she's going to let me know!
You may have answered this somewhere else BUT, is your preschool curriculum download (or CD) compatible with Linux?
OCEAN: I'm assuming that it is compatible with Linux, it is just PDF files, so if you can read those you should be good to go!
I was wondering if your friend ever let you know how the copies from http://www.copiesinprint.com turned out? I was looking at getting some items printed there, but with their prices so low, i was a little nervous. I was hoping someone else had used them and could share their experience. Thanks!
This may seem a bit perfectionistic of me and I am working on it, but my sister and I have printed off some of the cards to laminate and noticed they all your web site on them. I do not want to steal the ideas but is there a way to get them without the website showing? If we buy the letter of the week system, is this still on them or will it be removed. Thanks ever so much 🙂 Heather