Brightly Beaming Resources

I can't wait for you to visit this site! Katrina Lybbert has put together curriculum for children from 3 months through age 8. One of my favorite features about this curriculum is that it is absolutely free! That's right; you can download all the helps and ideas you want for free.

What could you possibly teach a baby who is less than a year old? How about Literature, Nursery Rhymes, Poetry, Bible Selections, Speech and Vocabulary, Classical Music, Baby Games, Lullabies, Sign Language, Foreign Language, Exercise, and Baby Massage?

From 12-24 months of age, follow the Brightly Beaming Toddler curriculum. In addition to the categories of information taught to infants, your toddler will be exposed to Children's Songs, Arts and Crafts, Musical Exploration, Puppetry, Nature Study, and Art Appreciation.

The Brightly Beaming Steps to Reading Program is created to be adapted to many ages. It is broken down into four steps:

• Step One: Preparatory Curriculum - teaches the child to recognize letters, numbers, colors, and shapes and is recommended for children between the ages of 2-4.
• Step Two: Letter of the Week - this step teaches the child the sounds of the letters of the alphabet and is recommended for children ages 2-5.
• Step Three: Sound of the Week - this step focuses on teaching the child phonics, sounds required for reading success, and is recommended for children ages 3-6.
• Step Four: Story of the Week - this step teaches the child to read simple stories and is recommended for children ages 4-7.

Once your child has completed all four steps in the Steps to Reading Program, he should be ready for the Kindergarten curriculum which includes Science of the Week, Country of the Week, and SpellBright Level One.

The Primary Curriculum offers SpellBright Level Two, Primary Journal Ideas, and Orchestral Beams (a music appreciation guide for children ages 5-7)

I plan to begin using this with all three of my girls this fall and am eager to see how this works. If it doesn't go so well, at least I haven't spent a lot of money on it, but I really do think that this will prove to be a wonderful program.

If you already use this curriculum, would you please leave me a comment detailing your experience with it? I'd really appreciate it!

The Shield of Faith

Vacation Bible School is in full swing, so I can't promise that I will post very often this week. Here is another of the armor of God stories I wrote.

The Best Shield

"Pillow fight!" yelled Kathy.

She and her friend Jane, who was spending the night, were getting ready for bed, but Kathy thought a pillow fight sounded like more fun. Jane grabbed a pillow and swung it at Kathy who blocked the attack with her pillow. Soon the girls were laughing very hard as they tried their best to hit each other with the pillows.
Hearing all the noise, Kathy's mom came into the room.

"Girls, no more pillow fights. It's time to get in bed," she said.

"Yes, ma'am," both girls replied.

As the girls climbed into bed, Mrs. Davis said, "You know, a pillow fight is a lot of fun. I remember having pillow fights with my brothers and sisters growing up. Sometimes we would pretend that our pillows were shields and that we were fighting a big battle."

"That sounds like fun, Mom!" Kathy replied.

"It was a lot of fun, and it makes me think of something else. You remember our family devotions from last night - when we read Ephesians 6, right? Well, this pillow fight is a good example of the battle every
Christian faces. Of course, your pillow fight was just a bit of fun, but the war Christians face is serious, and instead of pillows, Satan tries to hit us with things that can really hurt us."

"Like what?" Jane asked.

"Well, Satan hurls darts of discouragement and discontent our way. He might try to make us doubt God and
His Word, or he may just try to get us to have a bad attitude. All of these darts can really hurt us. Do you know what the Bible says is our shield?" Mrs. Davis asked.

"Sure, Mom, I remember that! Ephesians 6 says that we have a shield of faith. But how does faith protect us from those darts that Satan throws our way?"

"Faith trusts God and believes that He is in control of every situation that comes into our lives. Faith doesn't get discouraged or discontented. Faith doesn't have a bad attitude because faith always looks to God and knows that whatever He does is best."

"So you mean that when I want to be discouraged or have a bad attitude, I need to trust in God instead?" Jane questioned.

"Exactly, Jane. If you girls will remember to have faith, you will find that Satan's darts can't hurt you." Mrs. Davis replied. "All right, end of story. Go to bed now and sleep well."

As Mrs. Davis walked out of the room, Kathy and Jane snuggled into bed, secure in the knowledge that faith in
God would protect them from Satan's attacks.

Word World

I recently stumbled across Mom Central, a site that describes itself as "Smart solutions for busy moms." While there I noticed that they were offering parents a free sneak peek at Word World, a new show that will be premiering on PBS Kids on September 3. (If you follow the above link to Word World, you can download your own sneak peek.) I signed up and recently received in the mail a DVD containing a 2-minute introduction to Word World as well as 2 11-minute episodes of the show.

Word World is a cute and unique concept that will familiarize your child with letters and words. The main characters - pig, sheep, bear, frog, duck, and ant - are all created from the letters in their name. They are really cute! Many items in the show are created out of letters - a hay stack is formed out of the word "hay"; a barn is formed from "barn"; and even a water splash spells the word "splash." Individual letters are also predominant in the program, and each episode contains at least one instance where the characters join letters to create a word, which then becomes whatever that word is - b.o.x. joined to form a box.

All of my girls loved the pilot DVD. They watched the entire DVD several times, always clamoring to watch it again each time it ended. As I sit here typing this post, my oldest daughter (Pookie Bear) climbed up in my lap and named the individual letters in the dog and house pictured above. I have not worked with her on any letters except the ones in her name, and these are not all in her name. That's a great tribute to this show! For more information, read Word World's About page.

Word World images courtesy of Word World.com

Child-approved Corn Grilled in Its Shuck

photo courtesy of fotosearch.com

It's summer, and that means it's time to fire up the old grill. Thrifty Mommy is hosting this week's Carnival of the Recipes, and the theme is "grilled food." I thought you might like this recipe for grilling corn. All three of my girls love this version, and it is quite simple to make.

Corn Grilled in Its Shuck

You need one ear of corn per person. Rinse off the corn, leaving the shuck on. Throw on a preheated grill and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes, or as needed to make sure the kernels are tender. Remove from grill and strip off the shuck and corn silk. Serve with salt, butter, or whatever seasoning you desire. (In Mexico, vendors cover the corn with mayonnaise and chili powder. That may sound strange, but it's absolutely delicious.)

I have posted two other recipes that, grilled together with this one, will create a full meal.
Zesty Mustard Chicken - posted at Rants, Raves, and Rejects
Grilled Seasoned Potatoes - posted at The Porch Light

If you have a favorite grill recipe, why don't you participate in the Carnival of the Recipes? Submission is easy, and the deadline is noon on Saturday.

Letter X crafts and activities

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

We are nearing the end of the alphabet, but since I started in the middle, we are actually only about halfway through this series. *smile*

The letter X is, to me, one of the more difficult letters in our alphabet. I mean, what X letters can you think of other than xylophone, x-ray, and xenophobia? (I bet I caught your attention with that last word, didn't I?)

As usual, you can find wonderful "X" resources over at First School, Apples4theTeacher, Preschool Express by Jean Warren, and DLTK's Growing Together. Here are a few sites that are new to me and offered several X activities and ideas.

• Brightly Beaming Resources was by far the best site I encountered. The Letter X page offers ideas for Language Arts, Music, Snacks, Bible Story/Character Traits, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, Games, and even a Field Trip. Take the time to browse through the Brightly Beaming Curriculum - a free online curriculum for infants through children age 8. I like this site so well I am adding it to my sidebar!
  
• Everything Preschool offers X Songs, Art (make an X-ray or a treasure map where X marks the spot), Games (remember Tic Tac Toe?), Science (look at real X-Rays), Coloring Pages, and More.
• Just Preschool Themes.com offers good general suggestions for teaching the alphabet (make letters out of sandpaper and play-doh). Their letter X file is rather small, not surprisingly. As I said, this is a tough letter; however, they offer plenty of ideas for other letters.
• A to Z Kids' Stuff Alphabet Letter X page contains links for Letter X Patterns, three coloring pages, and ideas for X art and games.
• A to Z Teacher's Stuff offers this easy yet fun X Relay for preschoolers.