Life Lessons Preschool: Listen to the Holy Ghost

--Life Lessons Preschool--  

Everything I want my children to know before they start school

Lesson 2

"Listen to the Holy Ghost.  He will keep you safe."

"We live in a noisy, contentious world, where it is possible to be viewing or listening to information, music, or even pure nonsense virtually every waking hour. If we want to have the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we must find time to slow down, ponder, pray, and live so we are worthy to receive and act upon His promptings. We will avoid major mistakes if we heed His warnings. It is our privilege as members to receive light and knowledge from Him even to the perfect day."

Quentin L. Cook, "We Follow Christ", Ensign May 2010

I picked a moment when the kids were especially loud, a moment that coincided with Guy also wanting a doughnut, to have a little chat with him about listening to the Holy Ghost.  I entered the chaos of the living room and sat on a chair across the room from Guy.  I started talking to him in a whisper.  At first he didn't notice, but then he sought my voice out and crossed the room to be closer and to hear the message that I had to deliver.

I told him that when he goes to school, he won't have Mommy and Daddy around to help him figure out the right things to do all of the time.  And not everyone around him will know what he likes, and they might not always tell him to do the right things.  So this is why he must learn how to listen to the Spirit, even when it is loud--even if it means that he must excuse himself from a situation to be alone and to pray and then to hear and feel what the Holy Ghost tells him is right.  I asked him to promise that he would remember and do this, because
Listening to the Holy Ghost will always keep him safe.

--Busy Work--

Fun, Cheap, and Slightly Messy Educational Activities to Do At Home

Old-style Marquee Letter Sign

As promised, here is the first installment of my "Busy Work" series.

Technically, last week's sound matching game called "Shake, Rattle & Match" was the first.
If you end up making one of your own, please let me know.  I'd love to see it!
(And don't forget to VOTE for my project here.  Today is the final day of the contest!)


Moving on:


My Mom gave this letter sign to me a long time ago.  I don't really know what the proper name for it is.  It used to hang in my kitchen until I realized what a fun toy it would be for my kids, and how useful it would be in helping them with letter recognition.  This letter board is always a huge hit when it comes out in our home.

I use it a couple of different ways:

-I usually start by spelling the child's name using the letters and let them just practice putting letters on and taking them off.

-Later, I write words, preferably a brief message, such as "We love Dad" or "I Love Robots" or something of interest to them, on a piece of paper.  I then allow them to find the letters and put them in the same order on the sign to spell out what I have written.

-I have also placed a favorite book in front of them and had them spell out the title.
-My son loves to put letters together and sound them out or ask me "what word is this".  It makes him laugh to hear what the words that he has created sounds like.

I organized the letters in this embroidery floss organizer.  Notice that I labeled each box with lowercase letters.  The plastic letters are actually uppercase.  This way, they must practice associating the lowercase with the uppercase letters.

Sorting and searching for the letters is half the fun.

I don't fret too much about letters being strewn about, but my kids know that this means letters could be lost in the process, so they try to be careful.

In the picture above, I gave my son a pile of random letters and asked him to sort through the pile to find and spell his name.  This is another fun game to play.

What other ways could this activity be used?

I'd love to hear your ideas!

Life Lessons Preschool will be back in session on Monday.
I am taking a little field trip to NYC for my sister's baby shower tomorrow!

Days Left Until Guy starts Preschool: 33