E-Courses Archives - home is where my story begins...

My Playful Living Room

Becca — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 14:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I shared two of my favorite Playful Learning classes. Playful Learning Spaces was the first eCourse I took from Mariah. I signed up for this class a few years ago and fell in love. The Playful Learning style is exactly what I want in my home, the homes of my students, and in my classroom. I have shared the books and eCourses with countless parents in my classroom over the years.

Today, I’d like to share a space in my own home that has become a family favorite. Welcome to our living room.

When my kids were really little, I thought of this as a formal space. I had really beautiful lamps and over priced pillows with really pretty tassels. Guess what… no one ever went into the formal room! They knew I’d freak out if they used my pillows in their forts. There were no games or puzzles in this room, and really nothing to do except sit. In my brain, I was planning how I could add a bonus room above my garage because the kids needed a place to play. Then one day, it came to me. I had plenty of space in my house. We just didn’t use it. Long story short – I sold the fancy stuff on Craigslist, bought some fabric to make pillows and curtains, and hit Target for lamps, cheap decor, and an ottoman to throw our feet up on.

Just like that, we had our bonus room.

I moved all of the board games and magazines into this room too. Yes, we even broke down and bought a tv, so it could be a video game space when my son had friends over.

Then, Mariah came along.

One of her Playful Learning eCourse lessons was about looking around your house to find unused nooks, and make way for playful learning. At the time, my son kept all of his guitars, stands, music, and amps up in his room. I decided that if they were downstairs, where we all live and play, he’d use them more. As a result, he does in fact play more. I play more often too. Just yesterday I grabbed a guitar, flipped to Amazing Grace, and played just for fun. My daughter even ran down and picked up a guitar to join me. It was only 3 simple chords and 10 minutes of time, but it was something we did together. More importantly, it was something that we wouldn’t have done together if the guitars had been hiding upstairs.

Why, yes, there is even a microphone in this space! Call us crazy!

If you have kids, you know exactly which songs we are hearing belted out these days.

Let it go. Let it go. Can’t hold it back any mooo-ooore. Yep, that microphone plugs right into the guitar amp and there is some serious Frozen going on! My daughter has also been taking piano lessons and we had just enough space to fit a small keyboard. It’s not fancy, but it does the trick.

I’d have to say that creating this Playful Space for music has added some noise, but it’s a joyful noise.

Happy music making!

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Sewing Camp Pillow Pattern

Becca — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:29:00 +0000

I’ve been working on a pillow pattern for Grown Up Sewing Camp.

If you can sew a straight line and know how to use an iron, you can make this pillow! I can’t wait to show you how to do it! The end result will be a 19×19 inch throw pillow.

Sewing Camp for Grown Ups, coming soon!

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Becca — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000

My Enjoying Preschool At Home e-course is open for registration! I’d love to have you join us!

I decided to start this online preschool resource for parents, as a way to support families who could not afford preschool, or would like to supplement their current preschool curriculum. Registration for Enjoying Preschool at Home begins today. The e-course will begin in mid-April, and run for 6 weeks. During those six weeks, I will provide a weekly video with ideas, lessons, and lots of fun learning experiences for your preschooler. We will also form an online community through Flikr, where we can post pictures and share experiences with other families in the course.

The cost of the course is $49. You can register for the course and pay online by clicking this link. Once you have registered, please send me an email. Let me know that you have registered, a little about your preschooler and yourself, and what you are hoping to gain from this course. I will tailor this course for you, so be honest and let me know your needs! Please send emails to homeiswheremystorybegins@gmail.com.

I can’t wait to meet you! Let the preschool fun begin!

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Enjoying Preschool At Home – Registration Begins!

Becca — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:24:00 +0000

It’s here! It’s here! I’m so excited! Registration is officially open.

I decided to start this online preschool resource for parents, as a way to support families who could not afford preschool, or would like to supplement their current preschool curriculum. Registration for Enjoying Preschool at Home begins today. The e-course will begin in mid-April, and run for 6 weeks. During those six weeks, I will provide a weekly video with ideas, lessons, and lots of fun learning experiences for your preschooler. We will also form an online community through Flikr, where we can post pictures and share experiences with other families in the course.

I can’t wait to meet you! Let the preschool fun begin!

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E-Course for Parents of Preschoolers

Becca — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I don’t talk about my work life too much on my home blog. I reserve my home blog for cooking, baking, gardening, organizing, sewing, and fun stuff like that. I write two other blogs, one for my kindergarten families and one about early childhood literacy. All of my blogs can be found at http://www.homeiswheremystorybegins.com/. My literacy and kindergarten blogs are packed with activities and resources for families with young children. I’d like to share my new adventure with you! It has to do with my work life, but I think some of you might be interested, or at least can pass it along to someone who may be interested.

I’m starting to offer E-Courses! Here’s how this idea started:

Every year, in October, we have parent/teacher conferences. As a kindergarten teacher, it’s a time for me to get to know families better, learn more about the kids, and begin to make connections. I always ask families to tell me about their child’s background, preschool experience, and homelife. I have been quite surprised to find out that every year, about 50% of my kindergarten students do not attend preschool. FIFTY PERCENT! That’s a whole lot of kids who come to me with no preschool background. Most of the time, parents tell me that preschool is just too expensive and they couldn’t afford preschool. Sometimes, parents have chosen to homeschool. Other times, parents have just waited for kindergarten to start to let classroom learning begin.

I could hop on my soapbox right now and tell you all about the benefits of preschool, why I think it should be state funded for all families, and how standards have changed over the past few years making preschool absolutely necessary… but I’ll save that for another post.

Every year, at our conferences, I could see the need for a low cost preschool option. I just couldn’t figure out how to make it happen. Finally, this year, it hit me. I had recently taken an E-Course and loved it! I was able to interact with the instructor, share photos with other moms and teachers, and learn at my own pace. I could watch the videos in 20 minutes, after the kids had gone to bed, and still have enough time to think about how I’d like to use the information.

So, I’ve decided to offer an E-Course for Parents of Preschoolers. I’m calling it Enjoying Preschool at Home. I will share videos each week, provide resources through suggestions and printables, and have a forum for parents to share ideas with other parents. Each session will last 6 weeks, and cost $49. It’s a bargain price for 6 weeks of preschool!

Enrollment will begin on April 1st, and the course will begin in mid-April. It will last 6 weeks, taking us right to the end of May. Spring is a perfect time to work with your preschooler. The swimming pool isn’t quite calling yet, and there are so many wonderful thematic learning experiences in the Spring! I’ll be catering this e-course to the preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten crowd. It’s great for parents of kids who are staying home full time, in part time preschool, or part time kindergarten. I hope you’ll join me on this new adventure! If you have any questions, please let me know. If you aren’t a parent of a preschooler, but know someone who would be interested, please pass this along!

Registration will be on April 1st, on the E-Course tab of my website.

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