Planning for September

Well, it's August now, so I'm thinking what I want to do in the fall.  I'm not even sure I want to do a full-scale playgroup, much less preschool.  I want to focus on homeschooling M and R, and really developing the curriculum for them.  Maybe have a playgroup day on Friday, to make challah and sing Shabbat songs with friends?

Here are my priorities:

1.  Maintain a morning routine:  Songs, prayers, circle time, lesson, snack, playtime
2.  Skills:  Reading for information and entertainment.  Library day?
3.  Judaism:  Each week, pick a verse of Torah from the week's reading, write it in big print, and put it up for M and R to study.  R should be able to pick out letters, and start to sound out simple words.  M should start gaining fluency with reading words, and understanding the meaning of the sentence.   We will also talk about the themes from the Torah portion.
4.  Art:  M is gaining leaps and bounds in both drawing and scissors work.  R is trying really hard to catch up to him!  Create opportunities for both of them to work on these skills together with other curriculum themes
5.  Calendar and time:  Include in circle time.  Stick to a clock schedule for activities to instill sense of time and reading the clock   Integrate math into this part of the curriculum.
6.  Swimming:  I want to take the boys swimming at least twice a week to encourage developing comfort in the water and swimming skills.  The schedule of the YMCA pool will really drive this.

I would like to also include some music in a more formal way.  Drum rhythms, beginning piano, etc.  Not sure yet what it would look like.