BFIAR: Corduroy

Back in February, we rowed Corduroy by Don Freeman.  Maverick and Anchor were pretty sick that week, so it ended up taking us two weeks to finish the row. One of the things I love about homeschooling is that we can be flexible with our schedule and do school anywhere in the couch. Most of the week I was laying on the couch with the sick ones, while Joshua did school on the ottoman.

Corduroy is a classic children's book! We already owned it and had read it several times. But BFIAR definitely gave us a new appreciation and deeper love for Corduroy.  It's the story of a bear who wanted a friend and a home. A little girl comes into the store and wants to buy him, but her mother says no because he he had lost a button. That night, Corduroy sets out to find it, but is unsuccessful and gets caught by the security guard. The next morning, the little girl returns to the store, buys Corduroy with money she had saved up, takes him home, and sews on a new button. We talked about money/saving, manners, sewing, friendship, and aspirations.

Our companion books were all about teddy bears.

• A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman
• Bear in the Air by Susan Meyers 
• Wash-a-Bye Bear by Thomas Docherty
• Where's My Teddy by Jez Alborough

After our first read, I had Joshua make patterns with his counting bears. He did a great job, and then pretended the bears went to see Corduroy the Movie! I love seeing him use his imagination.

I love to start each new row with a fun breakfast or food.  Joshua loves food (and that's an understatement).  So I know that this gets him excited about the new book. This week we made chocolate chip bear shaped pancakes!  They were a huge hit!

We also added to our Animal Classification cards. Joshua enjoys finding the animals throughout the book and learning interesting facts about them.  I know right now he can't remember that a lion is a mammal, or what makes a mammal different from a reptile. But one thing I learned in my Montessori training is that early exposure to these big words instills a love and desire for learning and someday he'll understand what the mean and want to learn more about them.

Of course, we had to find Corduroy! So we set out on an adventure and found him at Barnes and Noble!  Then we enjoyed a Chick-Fil-A lunch in the courtyard and made sure Corduroy wore his seatbelt on the way home.

Joshua learned how to sew! It took him a while to understand the concept, but once he got it, he did great! Afterward, he kept asking to do more. I love it when that happens.

Then we learned about money. We talked about how important it is to tithe and save, but how we can also have some spending money too, just like Lisa. I made a chore chart for Joshua and told him he could earn money by doing chores. We also made jars that say "give," "save," and "spend."  When the boys are older, we plan to do Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. to teach them how money works and how the Bible teaches us to use the money God has blessed us with.

For fun snacks, we had teddy grahams and gummy bears. I had Joshua graph his gummy bears according to color. He's getting really good at this!

We also played a dice game where he rolled the dice and graphed the number of times a button was rolled. We did this before in Caps for Sale and he still seems to love it. I'm thankful they are so easily entertained at this age.

Another fun activity was learning about different types of fabric. Joshua did a great job learning the names and has actually used them in conversation! We learned about:  burlap, netting, flannel, lace, corduroy, minky, plaid, cotton, denim, fleece, and satin.

We also painted corduroy bear and made him a pocket. 

This was a really fun row!! All of the books we've rowed so far have been great. But this one was special because we already knew and loved Corduroy.  I love how Before Five in a Row gives us so many opportunities to make memories. That's what childhood is all about.  People often ask me if I'm homeschooling Joshua, to which I respond "Yes!" And while we are learning lots of things many preschoolers are never exposed to, it has never felt like work or "school" in the sense that he sits at a desk and completes worksheet after worksheet.  I know those days will come, though they won't be filled with worksheets.  Eventually he will need formal education.  But for now, we are enjoying the memories we are making and instilling a deep love for learning along the way!