Oh my word. When I was coming up with our theme for the letter Q, I had such a hard time deciding: Queen Elizabeth, Queen Cersei, or, perhaps the best ever, the band Queen! It was a super hard decision but I eventually decided on Queens from the Disney franchise: Queen of Hearts and Queen Elinore from Brave.
None of this is really relevant to this blog post other than I have a hard time deciding things, and I will find anyway I can to sneak pop culture into my kids.
Homeschooling can feel very isolating, which is why I think I sometimes add movies and music into our homeschool day. It makes it feel like there is another grown up in the house I can talk to. And the funny thing is, you don’t realize you miss talking to another adult until you are actually talking to them and you realize, “Man, it’s nice conversing with another grown-up!”
Homeschooling can feel lonely at times, especially the preschool years because our kids are starting to learn how to play by themselves. They are at an age where we don’t have to watch them every second and worry about them chocking on something, tipping something over, throwing something, or destroying our house 😉
I have found the secret to helping kids with their independent play is to fill up their cup. Not a literal cup, but attention cup. If you give your child your undivided attention for a specified period of time in the morning, they are more likely to play independently during the rest of the day. They have received their attention from mom so they don’t feel the need to go to her all the time during the rest of the day.
This is why I loved using the “Letter of the Week” format for our home preschool. We would spend about 30 minutes to an hour each day doing a few sit-down activities and crafts. They rest of the day they would spend playing!
Related Reads:
- Unschooling Curriculum
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Beginning a Home Preschool
I have taken some of my favorite activities and books and put together a simple 3 day/week preschool plan. It’s simple, literature-based, and flexible. Something I think all homeschool parents need!
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Letter Q Activities and Books
Day One – The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen and Printables
The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen by Thelma Lynne Godin
“A spunky girl has a hula-hooping competition with her friends in Harlem, and soon everyone in the neighborhood—young and old alike—joins in on the fun.”
What I love about this book, besides the wonderful illustrations and messaging, is how a Queen doesn’t have to be royalty, in fact, a queen has a wide variety of meanings. A band ;), a chess piece, a beauty queen, or an ordinary woman who is the freaking best at what she does. Including hula-hoopin’!
Check out the two blogs below for some queen printables to go alongside this book.
- Q is for Queen Crafts | The Measured Mom
- Queen Printables – 14 pages of Q printables! | 1+1+1=1
Day Two – The Keeping Quilt and Alphabet Book
The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
“From a basket of old clothes becomes The Keeping Quilt, passed along from mother to daughter for almost a century. For four generations the quilt is a Sabbath tablecloth, a wedding canopy, and a blanket that welcomes babies warmly into the world. In strongly moving pictures that are as heartwarming as they are real, Patricia Polacco tells the story of her own family, and the quilt that remains a symbol of their enduring love and faith.”
For each letter of the alphabet, my kids added to their ABC book, and Q was for quilt! The inspiration for this specific letter came from CrystalAndComp.com.
Click here to be taken to her blog post!
We used patterned scrapbook paper and cut out squares to make a patchwork quilt-type pattern on the Qs.
Day Three – The Very Quiet Cricket and Crafts
The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
“One day a tiny cricket is born and meets a big cricket who chirps his welcome. The tiny cricket tries to respond, but there is no sound. The quiet cricket then makes his way into the world, meeting one insect after another, each of whom greets the little cricket with a cheery hello.”
This is one of my favorite picture books, and the repetitive nature of it, like other Eric Carle books, is that it helps children learn to read, recognize patterns in literature, and familiarizes them with how sentences are structured. Much of early reading is about decoding, so the easier it is to decode, the easier it is for the child to read.
For quiet cricket inspired crafts (and other activities!) check out the links below! I LOVE the paper plate one!
- The Very Quiet Cricket Insect Insect-Inspired Unit Activities | Proverbial Homemaker
- Paper Plate Cricket Craft | Glued to My Crafts
- Footprint Cricket Craft | Powerful Mothering
Letter of the Week Activities
Looking for ALL our Letter of the Week work? Check out this round-up post!
Letter Q Books
Some additional letter Q books you can read with your kiddos!
Little Quack by Lauren Thompson
One of my favorites that I used to read to my kids. “Little Quack is a duck out of water. As his brothers and sisters splish, splash, and splosh their way into the pond behind their mama, he is left all alone on the shore. Little Quack wants to join his family. Can he find the courage to be a very small duck in a very big pond?”
Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
“A young boy describes himself as ‘loud as a lion,’ ‘quiet as a clam,’ ‘tough as a rhino,’ and ‘gentle as a lamb.'”
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark
Another version of a queen! Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer code “tells the riveting story of a trailblazing woman. Grace Hopper coined the term ‘computer bug’ and taught computers to ‘speak English.’ Delighting in difficult ideas and in defying expectations, the insatiably curious Hopper truly was ‘Amazing Grace’ . . . and a role model for science- and math-minded girls and boys. With a wealth of witty quotes, and richly detailed illustrations, this book brings Hopper’s incredible accomplishments to life.”
There you have it, activities and books to help your child learn the letter Q! I hope you found everything you need to start sitting down and reading with your kids!
Dig Deeper:
- All our Letter of the Week Work
- Thinking of Homeschooling, Read this First!
Thanks for reading!
