"Preschool" Themes 2012-2013 - Revised

When I first sat down last summer to plan Adrian's mini-units, I knew I'd have to be flexible with my thematics. Sure my themes were based mostly on Adrian's interests (plus a few thematics I felt he should explore to "enlarge his horizons") but I knew I'd have no control over sickness (gulp!), a lack of ideas on my part for a unit (double gulp!) or relatives dropping by for a little while. Overall, I'm proud to announce we stuck to our "curriculum" for the most part. See below what we've gone through so far (plus a clickable link to the first post published on the theme) and what we are planning on covering for the remainder of the school year.

2012-2013 Mini-Unit Thematics

(with link to 1st part of the post published on the theme)

September
All About Me
On the Farm
Fall
Apple

October
Pets
Trains
Halloween

November
Angry Birds
In the Woods
Thanksgiving

December
Robots
Christmas
(No posts published - 2 weeks)

January
Outer Space
Winter
Transportation
In the Kitchen

February
Mardi Gras
Valentine's Day
Knights, Castles, and Dragons

March
Zoo
St. Patrick's Day
Candy
Easter (two weeks)

April
Weather
Earth Day
Spring
By the Pond

May

Dinosaurs
Community Helpers: Dentists
Bugs
Pirates

June
Summer
By the Seashore

Now, I've been debating for a while whether I should hold or not a "summer enrichment" program. I know what you're thinking, "please, do, we'll miss you!" LOL Just kidding. The thing is, in the past, I have used my summers to plan for the school year ahead. I have also used them to recuperate some energy. It might not look like much but putting together one unit per week is very time consuming. Don't get my wrong, I absolutely love putting together all these units. Brainstorming and researching are some of my favorite things but it leaves very little time for other aspects of life when it's due by a certain date and it can get a tad bit stressful at times. I also have to consider that Zahavah did not have much "planned" school at all this year. We played and improvised learning activities as she is only two but comes fall, she will be ready to enter proper Montessori activities too and will be looking forward to "school with mama" as well. I cannot let her down and will most definitely need some time to plan for her work as well (I cannot possibly re-use some of Adrian's as sadly, I started with "A" when he was a 3.5, not 2.5). 

On the other hand, I remember how bored Adrian was last summer. Despite my suggestions, nothing seemed to completely engage him. I knew he missed "school with mama" as he calls it and I, just like him, couldn't wait for it to start, especially for his sake. The little guy can barely make it through a week-end without "school with mama" (yes, I do get requests for school lessons on Saturdays and Sundays!!!) so two months was a LONG time for him (and for me to hear about it...) At this point, I am thinking we'll give it a try at my own rhythm over the summer, with no pressure. I anticipate we'll span a theme over two weeks or so and cancel school completely when friends or family are in town. The units will possibly be "lighter" in content and focus more on "kindergarten" preparedness and outdoorsy activities. I haven't mapped out all our thematic units yet and we'll probably have a week or two on full break but so far, I'm thinking of something along the following lines:

Potential Summer Enrichment Themes 2013

At the fair or  Circus

Space Camp (because Adrian would love another "Outer Space" Week)

Sports

"Legos"

Multicultural World

The 7 Continents

Luau?

There you have it. A summary of our 2012-2013 themes for my 4 year old.
Enjoy!

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Today, I'm happily linking up to

Montessori Monday, The Kids Co-Op, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, TGIF, Share it Saturday, Mom's Library, The Sunday Showcase, Sun Scholars's For the Kids Friday, Stress-Free Sunday, Thursday Toddler & Preschool, Tuesday Tots, Preschool Corner &5K, and We Made That.

If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!