The past year with my little girls has been a little rough. Between having a new baby in the house and three older brothers whose lessons I cannot neglect, I am afraid that I let my girls down a bit. I have not managed to spend as much one on one (or one on two) time with them as I would like. I have honestly found it difficult just to accomplish the bare minimum with the older boys. So now I am in the process of revamping our days so that I am once again putting my youngest children first on the “schedule” each day rather than trying to finish up lessons with the boys first thing. The boys spend the morning working on their chores, the lessons they can do on their own, and playing. Silas is either with me or with his brothers.
I needed something that would help me with some loose structure and ideas for Beatrix and Larkspur and I think I have found it in a sweet little program called Twenty Six Letters to Heaven. I typically politely decline to review books or curricula here, but when Sarah, the author of this program, wrote me asking if I would be interested in taking a look at it, I felt like she might actually really be filling a need for us. This Catholic curriculum is geared toward preschoolers in a traditional letter each week format, but it is easy to include older children as well, and that is how I am using it. I have honestly never followed a letter each week program before. I guess I have always found myself wanting to do my own thing, and felt too limited by curricula of any sort for younger children. Now that I am homeschooling with such a wide range of ages though, I find that my spontaneity and creativity skips out on me in the face of all the good, the bad, and the busy that make up our days. I am easily overwhelmed by homeschooling materials, but this program is so simple to carry out that I am not intimidated by it at all. I spent about twenty minutes looking over it before I knew I could do it.
This week we began with letter “A.” Following along with Twenty Six Letters, the girls and I have focused on a virtue (amiability,) a simple verse from scripture for memorization that enforces that virtue, and we’ve talked about St. Anne. We have read books selected from the booklist (there is a list for each letter of the alphabet,) colored coloring pages of St. Anne and other “A” themed pictures that I found online. We’ve also done a few simple crafts both from the book and our own ideas. Simple construction paper ants were created along with angels from wool roving. Included in the lesson plans for each week are math or science activities and recipes alongside the arts and crafts ideas. I intend to plan a couple of things for each of four days per week. While Larkspur is beyond learning her letters, she still enjoys playing along with Beatrix and I. I do additional work with her in the areas of math, handwriting, and phonics but love that she and Bea can work together learning about virtues, the saints, and memorizing scripture.
My girls are loving the simple format we have followed each morning this week. I am finding that they play together far more happily during the afternoon after they have had me to themselves all morning. This is allowing me to spend Silas’ afternoon naptime working with my older boys. I pray that this system continues to work for us!
If you are interested in winning a copy of Twenty Six Letters to Heaven, just mention so in your comment and I will randomly choose a winner on Monday.
The winner is Katie: “I would love to look at 26 Letters to Heaven for my little girls! I too, have avoided a lot of curriculum for the littles, but would enjoy trying something a little more structured. Your girls are adorable!”
Melanie says
Oh, I knew I wanted this before I even clicked on the link! I too have older kids and babies, and try hard do justice for the preschoolers. This looks beautifully simple and thoroughly Catholic. I would love a chance to win a copy. Thank you! (and thanks for the simple description of your days, I love hearing how other people with numbers like mine are doing things.)
Kris says
Oh this sounds lovely for my preschooler who keeps getting left out of the learning around here.
Emily says
Just beginning to head down the homeschooling path…and a bit overwhelmed! This looks like a great resource.
Open Roads Mama - Amber says
I can not get enough of looking at your girls beautiful dresses! The colours, the cuts!
And, yes, definitely, please enter me in for the book draw, this sounds like something we could use around here too 🙂
amy@to love says
yes please!
kaylovesvintage says
love the dresses ,so pretty
and yes please
rebekah says
i would love it!
Angela says
Oh yes, please, I would love that!
Lisa G. says
It sounds ideal.
Christine says
ps. Pics. did not show up for me either.
Ginny says
Okay, just uploaded them again…hopefully that fixed it?
Christine says
Hoping this works for you! I would love a copy for my little girl soon to be 3..ok not till feb.
Christine says
Wow! Looks like the perfect book for teaching my daughter her letter sounds this summer.
Sarah says
Sounds interesting! I just ordered yet another language arts book for the kids, but it’s not Catholic based.
Shannon says
Sounds wonderful, I’d love a copy,
Shannon says
Sounds wonderful, I’d love a copy.
Jennifer G. Miller says
I have been eyeing this for my son…he gets neglected too often!
chantelle says
Goodness – would I ever love a copy. My 3 year old twins don’t get much attention during an average homeschooling day. That book looks promising.
Karla in MN says
I would LOVE to win this and give it to my little God-daughter! It sounds simple for my friend to do with her, and maybe I can even pop in once a week and do it with her…it sounds lovely. I wish I still had my own “littles” to do this with…
Carrie says
Good morning! This book sound wonderful, I would love to be able to read it, and share with my girls!
Rachel~At the Butterfly Ball says
I would like to be entered in the giveaway! thank you
Nicole says
Oh this would be such a HUGE blessing for us, as I will begin homeschooling my little C this fall (with no clue whatI am doing!) and I want to follow a Catholic curriculum. Thank you for the chance and for this homeschooling post!!
Arianne says
I’d love to try this with my little ones.
Corinne says
Hi Ginny!
I’ve been following your blog since the fall and am thankful for your inspiration (your pictures have prompted me to pick up my camera more often, your knitting is just wonderful and your list of recommended books is so helpful). I’m gearing up to start homeschooling for my 4 & 6 year olds this fall. I downloaded the free copy from the program, all about the letter B. Yes, very easy to follow with great ideas. What a neat program! Thanks for sharing.
eve says
Oooh, sounds perfect for Istra! I really need something like that for her and I bet Dominique wouldn’t feel too old to join in. Pick me!! 🙂
Susannah k says
Sounds wonderful!! Would LOVE to win this for my 3 and 4 year old daughters!
Sophie says
would love a chance to win this for my 4 yr old! Everything I see seems way too daunting for me to take one. This looks lovely!
Anne Marie says
How perfectly lovely. Would like to win for my 3 and 5 year old.
Erin says
What a wonderful pre-school curriculm! My five-year-old is still working through his letter sounds and my three-year-old is not far behind. It would be such a blessing to us to have this book in our home! Thanks for the giveaway. By the way, your girls are just lovely.
Mary-- The Yellow Door Paperie says
This sound like something I need this summer. A way to keep their brains engaged but also work on their hearts.
(:
Janine says
This sounds great. I would love to win.
Paula says
I would love to win that curriculum. Hope your new schedule works. I need to do something about our days too. Too much time saying ‘no’.
Heather says
I would LOVE to win a copy of this! Thanks Ginny!
servant says
Twenty Six Letters to Heaven looks wonderful! I would love to win this for dd, who homeschools and has several little ones! I especially like the fact that book lists, saints for the letter and recipes are included. Thank you for offering this give away!
Leslie in VA says
oh! Oh! I would love a copy! Thank you for the opportunity!
Andrea says
This sounds like a lovely curriculum for my little girls to experience together. They also often get “pulled along for the ride” of daily life of their older siblings and now there will be a new baby in August as well. I like your idea of carving out time for the little ones in the morning-I am going to give that a try too!
jennyann1126 says
This sounds wonderful! My preschooler is looking to do more with his learning! thank you!
Jen says
Wow how awesome! I’ve just started (this week) looking into some preschool homeschooling ideas for my 2 1/2 year old. I want something to loosely begin with her this fall and was thinking of doing the letters!
Rebecca says
This looks awesome! I’m new to homeschooling and this looks like a great start, count me in!
KellyJ says
Thank you for sharing with us about this program. I hope it is a program that works for your family, and I would certainly like to win a copy of it for my own family.
Katie says
I have an almost 4 year old daughter and a 2 1/2 year old daughter so this would be a great place to start with them!! Thanks for the chance 🙂
Stephanie says
Wow that sounds like a fun program! I would love to see it!
Anne says
That sounds really intriguing!! We are just beginning our homeschooling journey and I’d love to check it out!!
Jane says
I am homeschooling a smaller age range than you (and less kids! I have a 5 yr old, a 17 month old and am due with #3 any day now!) but I can definetly relate to trying to fit it all in! We do a very relaxed curriculum with our daughter, and this curriculum looks lovely.
Noscythes says
Of course I’m interested, thank you!
Bridget says
Same here about photos.
Rachel says
so funny because i just decided i would buy this book for me and my girls next year! getting it as a giveaway sure would help the budget…
Molly Makes Do says
I’d love to have this as part of our family library!
annita says
In all my years of homeschooling (my oldest is 25 and was homeschooled from the third grade on), I have never used this method. However, my youngest will be turning four at the end of this month, and I would love to win this! God bless
Jessica says
Hi! No need for the curriculum. Just wanted to mentioned that your first four photos are not showing up. Don’t know if it’s just me.
Michele says
Sounds lovely! I’d like to win a copy!