Here's the first little freebie I have for you this month.

Everyone loves to give (and get) sweet things as gifts, especially to those we're sweet on, so here are a few options for some tages to attach to a bags of sweet treats.

I'm sorry I don't have a photo of these in use.  Things have been a little busy around here lately.  My Sweetest is working night shift, 3 on, 3 off, and is in the middle of his on shift.  Makes for some full days for the Mama at our house.

Now on to the freebie.  Enjoy!

Hi there!

I'm gearing up for fourteen days of fun downloads for home and family.

Make sure you check back every day to see what's new...

. . . and leave me a comment when you download.  It's fun to see who's liking what!

Don't you just love it when 'life' (read unexpected situations) gets in the way of those 'really important' things you have to do?

Yes, I've been dealing with one of those unexpected situations.  As a friend put it, "Someone helped your computer have a problem!"  Yes! a problem with my hard drive costing over $250, not to mention the hours I'm having to spend reconstructing my applications and relocating my recovered data.

Needless to say, I've been so busy with this project that I haven't had the time to keep up on posting.  Oh yes! There is also the fact that I haven't had computer capabilities for posting, either!

I think I'll have my system restored to proper running condition by the end of this week, or the middle of next at the latest.  I just hope I can also recover the momentum I had going for this site!

Thanks for your patience!

Elizabeth

I love to read. 

When I consider all that is available to me through the pages of a book I am astonished . . . amazed, even, . . . but mostly thrilled!

I can travel to any place in the world, learn any skill or concept communicated through print, and experience the emotions and opinions of others, even long after they have perhaps, faded away.

The second page of the Early Learner Daily Notebook is where we have fun and practice some of those fine motor skills, as well as some more fundamentals.

I carefully evaluated the preschool daily notebook pages  found on other sites and then considered the approach I wanted to take.  I wound up including more things on my pages, and I have more than one option for the second page so we can mix things up a bit.

Wow!  It's been intense around here!
I spent most of June putting together our school lessons, a necessity since we started our school year last week.  In the midst of that, we were having issues with our well which added a few things to my 'to do' list each day.  Thankfully the well is fixed, school has started.......and I'm thrilled with our Daily Notebook system!

I couldn't stop at just the plain and simple.  I found some wonderful graphics on Teachers Pay Teachers and promptly began designing a fun set of pages with a sketchy school theme.  I even made pages for all my younger children . . . Early Learners, Pre 5, Lower Primary, and Upper Primary!  All my kiddos are using these and it is making school so much easier and a lot more fun for us right now!

I've been working on school things this last week.  I decided I wanted a new look to my school lesson planner so I went to work and created this one and then I thought I'd share it with you!

I'm simplifying my life these days, so I've made the pages in a basic block style that would be suitable for homeschoolers or a teacher in the school system.  We'll see if I stay with the simple pages, or wind up customizing a bit before the year is out!

Here's what this file includes:

• weekly lesson plan pages in two styles, both with and without 'subject' in the heading
• a two page spread, 12 month calendar [July 2013-June 2014] for tracking and planning your year
• two sided, lined full page 'notes' notebook page
• front and back covers

Enjoy! and leave me a comment if you try this.

Elizabeth

It was one of those head slapping moments where I asked myself..."Why didn't I think of that??"

You know the old saying "Practice makes perfect."  Here it is Early Learner Notebooking style!

Little bits of information repeated often; one of the easiest and surest ways for little ones to learn something.  I mean, after all, don't we teach them to talk by starting with short words, pertinent to their daily activities that we, and they, can use often??  And then repeat them.....often??  Why not carry that on into the beginning of their academic studies!!  Brilliant! 

So.....I don't know who thought of it first, but as I was surfing the net one day, I bumped into the 'Daily Notebook' idea which uses this principle to reinforce for children various necessaries like writing their name and recoginizing numbers, as well as teaching life long learning habits like observation and evaluation.

A couple of the daily notebook ideas I came across can be found at Confessions of a Homeschooler and Homeschool Creations.

Now, I have to say, although these are very well done, I don't think they work  for preschoolers in the Early Learner category so I went to work and made up some of my own.  I have two versions of the same page to share with you today that I will be using with my 3yo this year.  This is just the basic page we'll start each day with, and then we'll add other pages and activities to incorporate the skills and acedemics I think fit into her level at this point.

I know these are very basic, really plain even.  I'm working on some more that will have a few graphics as well as other pages that will fit the daily notebook theme, but incorporate the other things a preschooler needs to learn and practice. 

Let me know how you use these pages for your Little Lamb and check back to see what else I come up with!

Elizabeth

In the United States, preschool is a level of education that comes before Kindergarten and is commonly refered to as Pre-Kindergarten, or Pre-K.  This is an adequate label for children who are too young for Kindergarten but may be receiving some sort of structured education in a school or day care environment where the ages are mingled together for the day's activities.

For those of us who homeschool, or maybe those who simply choose not to send their children to school until Kindergarten, or even first grade, Pre-K as a level can be a bit too general when it comes to choosing lessons and activities for children who may range in age from 3 (or maybe even 2!) up to 5 years old.  We have the abiity to choose material that is more age and ability appropriate and for this reason I divide the pre-grade school category of children into three sub-groups:

Although preschoolers are all learning the same fundamentals including following directions, fine motor skills and the basic academics of learning the alphabet, numbers and counting, shapes and colors, among other things, what and how much any toddler can do in these areas varies.   The resources I recommend and the materials I create will be classified according to the categories I have listed above.  I think you'll find, like I did, how much easier this method of labeling is for coordinating and scheduling notebooking lessons for your little ones.

Hi, I'm Elizabeth and I'd like to welcome you to the refreshed and renewed Shepherding the Lambs.  Thanks for joining me in exploring the early years of childhood education.

One thing I've learned in life is that structure to our days and our life is a good thing. 
For the sake of the whole family, and Mom's sanity, having things for preschool aged children to do is a necessity.  And why not make it work for you as well!

With a little planning and then some investment of your time~one on one with your preschooler, you will be giving them the training and skills they need to make life a fun and profitable learning experience, all through a process called Notebooking.

Notebooking is the basic method of schooling I use, loosely following a CM {Charlotte Mason} style of education.  Some may think Notebooking is too advanced or involved for preschoolers, but I find the opposite to be true.  Hopefully, as I share with you the hows and whys of what I do, you'll find Notebooking with your preschoolers to be the best thing that ever happened to you...and them!