This row took two weeks. We had a lot going on medically (see here for more info) plus Labor Day holiday so it didn’t flow as nicely as previous two did. I like doing it in one week because it makes it easier to stay focused on the story and culture. Oh well. The next two books I have planned will also take two weeks because of “life” so I will just have to adjust. Most of the activities are straight from the manual. I will list our activities by subject since we didn’t do it daily:
Social studies & History
We read the story and placed our story disk on Venice, Italy. We looked back through the book and talked more about Venice itself. We discussed what we would like and dislike about living there (with all the water). Then we watched youtube videos of Venice and gondola rides and singing gondoliers.
Language arts
We read the book and learned some of the vocabulary words and Italian words in the book. The girls pretended to ride a gondola to my café where I served biscotti and hot chocolate. We pretended to be Italian and used some of the words we had just learned. The cookbook had a recipe for biscotti but I just purchased some at the grocery store.
Character Study (sorta)
The weather was beautiful (finally!) so we ate an Italian snack outside (fruit with Nutella) and said lots of Italian words. We read the book again and talked about Papa Piccolo teaching the kittens and then talked about what their dad has taught them (riding a bike, washing their hair, etc). They got distracted so we didn’t get to finish our discussion.
For lunch we had an Italian grilled cheese sandwich (pesto, provolone, and mozzarella) which we dipped in marinara.
That afternoon, we watched Venice City Guide on Globe Trekker on PBS. I would recommend the first 5-10 minutes (tour of city) and last 10 minutes (shows regatta). There were some inappropriate discussions for kids (gondolier telling what adults like to do on his boat) but luckily Abby wasn’t really paying much attention and I had the sound turned down pretty low.
Another day we were watching Barney on PBS and he went to Venice.
Art
We read the book and named all the colors on the 2 page spread in front of book (and made up our own names-golden yellow, sunshine yellow, etc).
We got out watercolors and made a color wheel and mixed the colors to make new ones. Then we made our own paintings. Except I didn’t know how to use tube watercolors-I didn’t add water! Oh well. Our paintings turned out lovely anyway.
That night we ate spaghetti by candlelight and made the ricotta cake from the cookbook. It was delicious! Daddy sang “That’s Amore” to us and pretended to speak Italian. The girls thought it was hilarious. Abby spontaneously reviewed all she had learned-she just started giving vocabulary words and definitions and talking about Venice. I was glad to know she had learned something!
Applied math
We skipped math this time!
Science!
I did milk/food coloring experiment that I found here. You place one drop of each color of food coloring on milk then touch it with dish soap on q-tip. The colors dance all over the milk! The girls loved it!
That was our last day of Papa Piccolo so we had pizza for dinner (and leftover ricotta cake) to celebrate. Daddy pulled up Venice on Google Earth and they looked at that for a while.
I had many other ideas for this book but with all the stress of our life right now, this was the best I could manage.
Our 3 R’s are still going well. The only problem is handwriting-she hates to do handwriting! I am not ready to switch programs yet but I may have to if this continues.
For the next two weeks we will be “rowing” How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World! I have some great stuff planned plus we will be going on our first home school field trip!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Five in a Row-Lentil by Robert McCloskey
We had a great time with Lentil this week! Most of the activities are straight from the manual. The other ideas are from FIAR forum archives and Homeschool Share. I will list our activities day by day:
Monday
Social studies & History: We read the story and placed our story disk on Ohio. We did a little worksheet from Homeschool Share about what direction we would have to go to get to Ohio. It was her first introduction to direction. We talked briefly about how the book was written in 1940 and you could tell by the pictures in the books-one room school house, horse and buggy, the girls all wearing dresses. We talked about what schools, stores, cars, and clothes look like now.
Next we looked at all the flags they used to decorate the town and got out our own flag (we say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning). We talked about what the flag looked like and what the stars and stripes meant. I explained what patriotism was and why we should be glad we live in the USA. I had a video from the library about the history of the flag so we watched that. It was a little over her head but she did learn a little from it. We read a few books from the library about patriotic songs and sang a few. Then we looked up some songs on youtube-I love Ray Charles singing “America the Beautiful.” I cried, the girls were bored. Oh well.
Abby wasn’t a very enthusiastic learner during all this. I guess it was a little over her head. I tried to make it simple but if I had it to do over I think I would have focused more on the difference in the 1940s and now. I had a lot of ideas on that after the day was over. Oh well.
We also got out our new harmonicas and watched a few youtube videos of harmonica players. Macy really liked listening to the girls play them. Those harmonicas entertained us all week!
Tuesday
Language arts: We read the book again and talked about the elements of a good story. She wrote a story using those elements (we wrote it piece by piece-she couldn’t remember all those elements and neither could I). She loves to write stories so this was right up her ally!
She also asked me about a few words in the book-expert, citizen, and tone. I don’t know why I didn’t think to teach her some of the vocabulary in this book! I explained them to her and tried to use the words the rest of the week.
We made lentil stew (from the FIAR forum) and lemon bars (from the FIAR cookbook) for supper that night. Both were really good. Abby helped me peel carrots with our new veggie peeler. She did a great job-she will have to help me more often with that! She and Lyla both helped with the crust for the lemon bars. I had borrowed “The Andy Griffith Show” from the library and we watched a few episodes after supper. We talked about how life in Mayberry was probably a lot like Alto (even though Andy Griffith was 1960s).
Wednesday
Art: We talked about what the artist used to draw the pictures (charcoal) and how he used shading to make the characters look more realistic. We read the book again and looked carefully at all the pictures. She wanted to play I Spy with the pictures-there are a lot of details in this book. We noticed the writing on the buildings and found the letters we had been learning in Abeka K5 phonics.
Next I had her draw a picture to illustrate the story she wrote the day before using charcoal. She got so frustrated with it! It smeared and smudged and was just a mess. I didn’t realize she was such a perfectionist with her artwork! We put up the charcoal and used a pencil. I tried to spin a lesson on it-Robert McCloskey must have had to practice really hard with charcoal to become such an expert at it, just like Lentil and his harmonica.
We also got out our train set and she pretended that Colonel Carter was on board! We were going to set up the town of Alto but Godzilla (aka Macy) interfered with the building project, lol.
Thursday
When we read the book today Abby commented that it was really good that Lentil couldn’t pucker since he ended up saving the celebration. I used it as an opportunity to incorporate the bible supplement-everyone has special gifts and talents and we aren’t all the same. I have had a hard time figuring out where to work in the bible portion so Abby really helped me out!
Applied math: We learned about fractions. I showed her what they were by using a sheet of paper that we cut in half, then in fourths. We also divided our snack (an apple) and a Melissa and Doug velcro pizza set. I also showed her that 4 quarters make a dollar. She looked amazed that 4 quarters is the same as $1 and declared that I am the smartest mom ever!
Friday
Science! Our experiment was on taste buds. I set up 4 tastes: salty, sour, bitter, and sweet. We blindfolded ourselves and tasted each thing then told what taste it was. We drew a map of our tongues and colored the different areas. We talked about which taste we liked best (sweet) and which we liked least (bitter). We read a little about taste buds in our Flip Flap Science Book from Usborne. Then we made lemon slushies (from FIAR forum).
At lunch, we picked up daddy and went to the library which is on Main Street of our small town. Our Main Street is historical so we took a walk up and down the street and talked about what it must have been like for Lentil to walk down Main Street practicing his harmonica. I had printed off some old pictures of our Main Street (probably 50s era) and we looked at those and talked about how our Main Street had a hardware store and a drug store, just like in Alto. We also have a train depot but I forgot to drive by it on our way home. Oh well. I took a funny picture of Abby sitting on a bench pretending to be Old Sneep! In front of our courthouse is a Civil War monument so we stopped and looked at that. She was excited that we had a monument just like Lentil. We also have a bell and the plaque used the word citizen over and over. Yea for carryover! We had a lot of fun!
Our 3 R’s went really well too. I solved our too much tv problem but created a new one! On Saturday we reorganized their bedroom and got some toys out of storage. Now they are having so much fun playing in their bedroom that I have a hard time getting her to come to the table for school work!
For the fine motor problem, I found some worksheets online with simple shapes for her to cut out. We do one every other day or so.
Next week we will be “rowing” Papa Piccolo. It’s off to Italy!
Monday
Social studies & History: We read the story and placed our story disk on Ohio. We did a little worksheet from Homeschool Share about what direction we would have to go to get to Ohio. It was her first introduction to direction. We talked briefly about how the book was written in 1940 and you could tell by the pictures in the books-one room school house, horse and buggy, the girls all wearing dresses. We talked about what schools, stores, cars, and clothes look like now.
Next we looked at all the flags they used to decorate the town and got out our own flag (we say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning). We talked about what the flag looked like and what the stars and stripes meant. I explained what patriotism was and why we should be glad we live in the USA. I had a video from the library about the history of the flag so we watched that. It was a little over her head but she did learn a little from it. We read a few books from the library about patriotic songs and sang a few. Then we looked up some songs on youtube-I love Ray Charles singing “America the Beautiful.” I cried, the girls were bored. Oh well.
Abby wasn’t a very enthusiastic learner during all this. I guess it was a little over her head. I tried to make it simple but if I had it to do over I think I would have focused more on the difference in the 1940s and now. I had a lot of ideas on that after the day was over. Oh well.
We also got out our new harmonicas and watched a few youtube videos of harmonica players. Macy really liked listening to the girls play them. Those harmonicas entertained us all week!
Tuesday
Language arts: We read the book again and talked about the elements of a good story. She wrote a story using those elements (we wrote it piece by piece-she couldn’t remember all those elements and neither could I). She loves to write stories so this was right up her ally!
She also asked me about a few words in the book-expert, citizen, and tone. I don’t know why I didn’t think to teach her some of the vocabulary in this book! I explained them to her and tried to use the words the rest of the week.
We made lentil stew (from the FIAR forum) and lemon bars (from the FIAR cookbook) for supper that night. Both were really good. Abby helped me peel carrots with our new veggie peeler. She did a great job-she will have to help me more often with that! She and Lyla both helped with the crust for the lemon bars. I had borrowed “The Andy Griffith Show” from the library and we watched a few episodes after supper. We talked about how life in Mayberry was probably a lot like Alto (even though Andy Griffith was 1960s).
Wednesday
Art: We talked about what the artist used to draw the pictures (charcoal) and how he used shading to make the characters look more realistic. We read the book again and looked carefully at all the pictures. She wanted to play I Spy with the pictures-there are a lot of details in this book. We noticed the writing on the buildings and found the letters we had been learning in Abeka K5 phonics.
Next I had her draw a picture to illustrate the story she wrote the day before using charcoal. She got so frustrated with it! It smeared and smudged and was just a mess. I didn’t realize she was such a perfectionist with her artwork! We put up the charcoal and used a pencil. I tried to spin a lesson on it-Robert McCloskey must have had to practice really hard with charcoal to become such an expert at it, just like Lentil and his harmonica.
We also got out our train set and she pretended that Colonel Carter was on board! We were going to set up the town of Alto but Godzilla (aka Macy) interfered with the building project, lol.
Thursday
When we read the book today Abby commented that it was really good that Lentil couldn’t pucker since he ended up saving the celebration. I used it as an opportunity to incorporate the bible supplement-everyone has special gifts and talents and we aren’t all the same. I have had a hard time figuring out where to work in the bible portion so Abby really helped me out!
Applied math: We learned about fractions. I showed her what they were by using a sheet of paper that we cut in half, then in fourths. We also divided our snack (an apple) and a Melissa and Doug velcro pizza set. I also showed her that 4 quarters make a dollar. She looked amazed that 4 quarters is the same as $1 and declared that I am the smartest mom ever!
Friday
Science! Our experiment was on taste buds. I set up 4 tastes: salty, sour, bitter, and sweet. We blindfolded ourselves and tasted each thing then told what taste it was. We drew a map of our tongues and colored the different areas. We talked about which taste we liked best (sweet) and which we liked least (bitter). We read a little about taste buds in our Flip Flap Science Book from Usborne. Then we made lemon slushies (from FIAR forum).
At lunch, we picked up daddy and went to the library which is on Main Street of our small town. Our Main Street is historical so we took a walk up and down the street and talked about what it must have been like for Lentil to walk down Main Street practicing his harmonica. I had printed off some old pictures of our Main Street (probably 50s era) and we looked at those and talked about how our Main Street had a hardware store and a drug store, just like in Alto. We also have a train depot but I forgot to drive by it on our way home. Oh well. I took a funny picture of Abby sitting on a bench pretending to be Old Sneep! In front of our courthouse is a Civil War monument so we stopped and looked at that. She was excited that we had a monument just like Lentil. We also have a bell and the plaque used the word citizen over and over. Yea for carryover! We had a lot of fun!
Our 3 R’s went really well too. I solved our too much tv problem but created a new one! On Saturday we reorganized their bedroom and got some toys out of storage. Now they are having so much fun playing in their bedroom that I have a hard time getting her to come to the table for school work!
For the fine motor problem, I found some worksheets online with simple shapes for her to cut out. We do one every other day or so.
Next week we will be “rowing” Papa Piccolo. It’s off to Italy!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Our First Week-The Story About Ping and the 3 R’s
We just finished up our first week of kindergarten! It was wonderful, better than I could have ever imagined! Abby said it was awesome! Lyla and Macy did a great job being my helpers, haha. Lyla thinks she is a kindergartner too and sat with us during “school” and did any work I put in front of her with 100% effort. She is precious. Macy mainly ate cheerios and jabbered.
Phonics/Reading
Abeka K5 Phonics went really well. I think I am going to like it. Abby learned the vowels I, U, and E this week. It uses a multisensory approach: play doh, flashcards, dry erase board, real objects, songs, and even some action games. I thought it would be too much work to get all those things together every day but it really isn’t. I did have to order some flashcards that I tried to get away with not buying. I could have really used them this week. Hopefully they will be in soon and then it will be even better for us.
Math
We love our math program! I am using Little Hearts for His Glory teacher’s manual math suggestions and Singapore Earlybird workbook. Every day has been some fun, hands on activity to reinforce the workbook pages. This week we worked on writing 1-5 and of course counting to 5. I can’t believe how good she is able to write those numbers!
Handwriting
Abby really doesn’t like handwriting. She says it is boring. I am trying to liven to up for her but haven’t figured out how yet. Luckily it takes less than five minutes.
Bible
We are listening to The Jesus Storybook Bible on CD every night before bed. We love this! I could listen to it for hours. It is very well written and I love how it is true to the front cover “every story whispers His name.”
Five in a Row-The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
I can’t even explain how much I love Five in a Row. I was only going to use it as an extra activity when I felt like it but this will probably be the heart of our home school this year. Most of the activities are straight from the manual. The other ideas are from Delightful Learning, FIAR forum archives, and Homeschool Share. I will list our activities day by day:
Monday
Monday was history/geography/social studies. We read the story and placed our story disk (small, round picture of Ping) on the Yangtze River in China (we have a huge wall map). We talked about how long the Yangtze River is and how there a lot of people in China. We looked at the pictures in the book of the clothing and hairstyles worn by the Chinese people in the book. We talked about living on a boat in the river and what that would be like. Later on we read a book about inventions and other things that originated in China. Some of the things were kites, rice, goldfish, kung fu, etc. That led us to youtube to watch some videos of the Dragon Dance on Chinese New Year, kids doing kung fu, and Chinese acrobats. We did a little kung fu and learned how to say hello and goodbye in Chinese. It was a very fun day!
Tuesday
Tuesday was language arts. We read the book again and talked about what a classic is and what fiction is. We compared the year the story was written to when her grandmas were born.
Wednesday
Art day! We talked about what the artist used to draw the pictures and how he made the sunset and how to draw movement in the water. We read the book again and looked carefully at all the pictures. She noticed things that she hadn’t the other two days (which is why you read the book over and over). She asked why the water of the Yangtze river is yellow and some other good questions that I can’t remember now! After we read the book we got out our colored pencils and she drew a wonderful picture using some of the techniques we had talked about. Her sunset was beautiful. She drew a boat with wise eyes just like in the book. And the water was yellow! Then we used an idea from Delightful Learning, found here, and drew a duck out of the Draw Write Now book. She did ok with it but then drew her own duck and it was much better than her first try. Maybe she doesn’t need guide books for her art! Abby absolutely loved art day. She wanted to draw with colored pencils all week!
Thursday
Applied math: We did a worksheet from Homeschool Share where you color all of Ping’s family. She liked it and did a good job counting to 42! Later that day we read a few books about China and one about ducks that I got at the library.
Friday
Science! We read a few books about ducks, and I focused on how they float and how they stay dry to go along with our science experiments. I got these ideas from Delightful Learning. First we blew up a balloon and saw how easily it floated in a pan of water and how you couldn’t make it sink. Then we took an empty balloon and compared how it was easy to sink (although it does float). We read about why things float from Usborne’s First Encyclopedia of Science. They were distracted by their balloons The next experiment was about how ducks stay dry (it’s called preening). I cut 2 ducks out of brown lunch sacks. One duck we painted with canola oil (lots and lots of oil) and the other we left alone (after much convincing that we HAD to leave it plain). Then we poured water on them to see the difference. It worked good except my sacks must have had a coating because I had to rub in the water on the plain duck to get it to soak it up. The girls didn’t care-they loved it! Then we packed a lunch, picked up daddy from work, and went to the duck pond. We fed the ducks some bread and watched them swim around and quack. We even saw one preening itself. Quite entertaining. Then Lyla had to go potty RIGHT THEN so we had to leave (this happens everywhere we go).
That night we cooked a Chinese dinner from the Five in a Row cookbook: egg rolls, fried rice, and egg drop soup. The girls helped when they wanted (mainly eating while I prepped veggies). We read in a book that in China they put all the food in the middle of the table and serve it like that. So we did too. The food was really good and the girls had a blast.
The week was wonderful but there are a few things I may have to tweak. Lyla wanted her own work to do so I may buy her a few workbooks (maybe Abeka or Rod & Staff). I also realized we didn’t do many fine motor activities so I may need to come up with some cutting tasks for Abby. I am also trying to brainstorm more activities for Abby because school doesn’t take very long and she wanted to watch too much tv. Her and Lyla play in their bedroom for long periods of time but when you are stuck inside all day (when will 100+ heat index days end?), you get bored with your toys fast. She doesn’t take a nap any more (but does rest for one hour) so she has a lot of time to fill. When the weather improves, we will spend all the extra time outside but for now I need to come up with something to keep her busy.
Next week we will be “rowing” Lentil. I love this story and can’t wait!
Phonics/Reading
Abeka K5 Phonics went really well. I think I am going to like it. Abby learned the vowels I, U, and E this week. It uses a multisensory approach: play doh, flashcards, dry erase board, real objects, songs, and even some action games. I thought it would be too much work to get all those things together every day but it really isn’t. I did have to order some flashcards that I tried to get away with not buying. I could have really used them this week. Hopefully they will be in soon and then it will be even better for us.
Math
We love our math program! I am using Little Hearts for His Glory teacher’s manual math suggestions and Singapore Earlybird workbook. Every day has been some fun, hands on activity to reinforce the workbook pages. This week we worked on writing 1-5 and of course counting to 5. I can’t believe how good she is able to write those numbers!
Handwriting
Abby really doesn’t like handwriting. She says it is boring. I am trying to liven to up for her but haven’t figured out how yet. Luckily it takes less than five minutes.
Bible
We are listening to The Jesus Storybook Bible on CD every night before bed. We love this! I could listen to it for hours. It is very well written and I love how it is true to the front cover “every story whispers His name.”
Five in a Row-The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
I can’t even explain how much I love Five in a Row. I was only going to use it as an extra activity when I felt like it but this will probably be the heart of our home school this year. Most of the activities are straight from the manual. The other ideas are from Delightful Learning, FIAR forum archives, and Homeschool Share. I will list our activities day by day:
Monday
Monday was history/geography/social studies. We read the story and placed our story disk (small, round picture of Ping) on the Yangtze River in China (we have a huge wall map). We talked about how long the Yangtze River is and how there a lot of people in China. We looked at the pictures in the book of the clothing and hairstyles worn by the Chinese people in the book. We talked about living on a boat in the river and what that would be like. Later on we read a book about inventions and other things that originated in China. Some of the things were kites, rice, goldfish, kung fu, etc. That led us to youtube to watch some videos of the Dragon Dance on Chinese New Year, kids doing kung fu, and Chinese acrobats. We did a little kung fu and learned how to say hello and goodbye in Chinese. It was a very fun day!
Tuesday
Tuesday was language arts. We read the book again and talked about what a classic is and what fiction is. We compared the year the story was written to when her grandmas were born.
Wednesday
Art day! We talked about what the artist used to draw the pictures and how he made the sunset and how to draw movement in the water. We read the book again and looked carefully at all the pictures. She noticed things that she hadn’t the other two days (which is why you read the book over and over). She asked why the water of the Yangtze river is yellow and some other good questions that I can’t remember now! After we read the book we got out our colored pencils and she drew a wonderful picture using some of the techniques we had talked about. Her sunset was beautiful. She drew a boat with wise eyes just like in the book. And the water was yellow! Then we used an idea from Delightful Learning, found here, and drew a duck out of the Draw Write Now book. She did ok with it but then drew her own duck and it was much better than her first try. Maybe she doesn’t need guide books for her art! Abby absolutely loved art day. She wanted to draw with colored pencils all week!
Thursday
Applied math: We did a worksheet from Homeschool Share where you color all of Ping’s family. She liked it and did a good job counting to 42! Later that day we read a few books about China and one about ducks that I got at the library.
Friday
Science! We read a few books about ducks, and I focused on how they float and how they stay dry to go along with our science experiments. I got these ideas from Delightful Learning. First we blew up a balloon and saw how easily it floated in a pan of water and how you couldn’t make it sink. Then we took an empty balloon and compared how it was easy to sink (although it does float). We read about why things float from Usborne’s First Encyclopedia of Science. They were distracted by their balloons The next experiment was about how ducks stay dry (it’s called preening). I cut 2 ducks out of brown lunch sacks. One duck we painted with canola oil (lots and lots of oil) and the other we left alone (after much convincing that we HAD to leave it plain). Then we poured water on them to see the difference. It worked good except my sacks must have had a coating because I had to rub in the water on the plain duck to get it to soak it up. The girls didn’t care-they loved it! Then we packed a lunch, picked up daddy from work, and went to the duck pond. We fed the ducks some bread and watched them swim around and quack. We even saw one preening itself. Quite entertaining. Then Lyla had to go potty RIGHT THEN so we had to leave (this happens everywhere we go).
That night we cooked a Chinese dinner from the Five in a Row cookbook: egg rolls, fried rice, and egg drop soup. The girls helped when they wanted (mainly eating while I prepped veggies). We read in a book that in China they put all the food in the middle of the table and serve it like that. So we did too. The food was really good and the girls had a blast.
The week was wonderful but there are a few things I may have to tweak. Lyla wanted her own work to do so I may buy her a few workbooks (maybe Abeka or Rod & Staff). I also realized we didn’t do many fine motor activities so I may need to come up with some cutting tasks for Abby. I am also trying to brainstorm more activities for Abby because school doesn’t take very long and she wanted to watch too much tv. Her and Lyla play in their bedroom for long periods of time but when you are stuck inside all day (when will 100+ heat index days end?), you get bored with your toys fast. She doesn’t take a nap any more (but does rest for one hour) so she has a lot of time to fill. When the weather improves, we will spend all the extra time outside but for now I need to come up with something to keep her busy.
Next week we will be “rowing” Lentil. I love this story and can’t wait!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Our Kindergarten Curriculum
After a ton of research and reading and blog browsing and going to the home school convention and praying and thinking and pondering and fretting and praying some more…I was finally able to decide on our kindergarten curriculum.
I was going to use Heart of Dakota’s Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG) but I decided I wanted a slightly gentler approach. It looks awesome but I wasn’t so sure about history for a kindergartner. I think I might use it for 1st grade. I kept being drawn to their math though. It uses Singapore Earlybird but the author has included tons of hands on activities to go along with the workbook so…I bought the LHFHG manual and the Singapore workbooks.
For phonics and reading, I went with Abeka K5. I was very unsure about this and almost switched to the Reading Lesson. I didn’t like all the materials you needed: flashcards, books, etc. I ordered off Ebay and went with the minimum I thought I could get by with. We shall see how it goes.
I am using A Reason for Handwriting for handwriting. Again, I was unsure and almost went with Handwriting Without Tears, but after looking at the workbooks over and over at the home school convention I finally made a decision.
Finally, I am using Five in A Row (FIAR) for everything else. With FIAR you read the same story every day, with a different emphasis each day. The first day is history/geography, second day is language arts, third day is art, fourth day is applied math, and fifth day is science. I was very excited when I ordered it but was extremely disappointed when it came in (its hard to find samples online of this curriculum). It seemed vague and general to me. Some books had a lot of suggested activities and others had very few. Then I went online and looked at blogs of people who “row” (that’s what they call it) and became overwhelmed with the amount of work that went into it. I put it aside for a few months and when I came back to it, I fell in love. After spending so much time looking at workbooks and lesson plans, I was drawn to its simplicity and gentleness. I read a post from the creator, Jane Lambert, about how all the extras were good and fine but if you will stick to the manual you will be surprised at what your child can learn. I decided to go with this approach. I am now super excited to start “rowing.”
I don’t have anything formal planned for music or PE. And there may be other area I have neglected but I can always add to it.
We will also be joining the home school co-op in our area. Abby and Lyla are very excited about this! We will go on Mondays for a few hours to have some learning time with others their age. It will also give us the opportunity to go on field trips with others. I am looking forward to meeting others who home school-I don't know many other home schoolers yet.
So those are our choices for our kindergarten year. I am sure we will have to tweak and change a little but hopefully all that praying led me in the right direction.
I was going to use Heart of Dakota’s Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG) but I decided I wanted a slightly gentler approach. It looks awesome but I wasn’t so sure about history for a kindergartner. I think I might use it for 1st grade. I kept being drawn to their math though. It uses Singapore Earlybird but the author has included tons of hands on activities to go along with the workbook so…I bought the LHFHG manual and the Singapore workbooks.
For phonics and reading, I went with Abeka K5. I was very unsure about this and almost switched to the Reading Lesson. I didn’t like all the materials you needed: flashcards, books, etc. I ordered off Ebay and went with the minimum I thought I could get by with. We shall see how it goes.
I am using A Reason for Handwriting for handwriting. Again, I was unsure and almost went with Handwriting Without Tears, but after looking at the workbooks over and over at the home school convention I finally made a decision.
Finally, I am using Five in A Row (FIAR) for everything else. With FIAR you read the same story every day, with a different emphasis each day. The first day is history/geography, second day is language arts, third day is art, fourth day is applied math, and fifth day is science. I was very excited when I ordered it but was extremely disappointed when it came in (its hard to find samples online of this curriculum). It seemed vague and general to me. Some books had a lot of suggested activities and others had very few. Then I went online and looked at blogs of people who “row” (that’s what they call it) and became overwhelmed with the amount of work that went into it. I put it aside for a few months and when I came back to it, I fell in love. After spending so much time looking at workbooks and lesson plans, I was drawn to its simplicity and gentleness. I read a post from the creator, Jane Lambert, about how all the extras were good and fine but if you will stick to the manual you will be surprised at what your child can learn. I decided to go with this approach. I am now super excited to start “rowing.”
I don’t have anything formal planned for music or PE. And there may be other area I have neglected but I can always add to it.
We will also be joining the home school co-op in our area. Abby and Lyla are very excited about this! We will go on Mondays for a few hours to have some learning time with others their age. It will also give us the opportunity to go on field trips with others. I am looking forward to meeting others who home school-I don't know many other home schoolers yet.
So those are our choices for our kindergarten year. I am sure we will have to tweak and change a little but hopefully all that praying led me in the right direction.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Where Have I Been?
I can’t believe it has been a year since I posted anything on this site! I really wanted to keep up with this blog so I would have a record of all the fun things we did but life got in the way. The last month of my pregnancy I was pretty tired and cranky and I pretty much gave up on the idea of keeping up with blogging.
Macy was born in October. She has grown so quickly! She is a wonderful baby and the three of them keep me hopping! We did some school stuff off and on when I had time to get it together. I learned an important lesson…I am not supermom. I couldn’t keep up with all the printing and cutting and preparing that the Raising Rock Stars and Confessions of a Homeschooler preschool curriculums required. I also got tired of printing the Learn Your Letters curriculum (its great but a lot of pages). So we spent most of the time playing and reading with occasional memory verses, crafts, and letter/number games thrown in there. They didn’t suffer any :) I also learned that although those curriculums are great, they just aren’t for me. I need something that is open and go. No cutting, printing, making, etc. It really helped me pick a better curriculum for kindergarten.
Around April or May we decided to home school Abby for kindergarten. It had been on our hearts for a while but we had been unsure if it was the best thing for our family. We just wanted to do God’s will and it took a while to discern that. One of these days I will write all about our reasons for home schooling but for now just know that we really felt like it was what God was calling us to do.
In May we found out that we were expecting another baby, due in January. I still can’t believe how blessed we are! I get scared from time to time (daily?) and wonder how I can possibly manage all this but I remind myself that God is the one steering this ship and I just have to sit back and enjoy the ride!
Macy was born in October. She has grown so quickly! She is a wonderful baby and the three of them keep me hopping! We did some school stuff off and on when I had time to get it together. I learned an important lesson…I am not supermom. I couldn’t keep up with all the printing and cutting and preparing that the Raising Rock Stars and Confessions of a Homeschooler preschool curriculums required. I also got tired of printing the Learn Your Letters curriculum (its great but a lot of pages). So we spent most of the time playing and reading with occasional memory verses, crafts, and letter/number games thrown in there. They didn’t suffer any :) I also learned that although those curriculums are great, they just aren’t for me. I need something that is open and go. No cutting, printing, making, etc. It really helped me pick a better curriculum for kindergarten.
Around April or May we decided to home school Abby for kindergarten. It had been on our hearts for a while but we had been unsure if it was the best thing for our family. We just wanted to do God’s will and it took a while to discern that. One of these days I will write all about our reasons for home schooling but for now just know that we really felt like it was what God was calling us to do.
In May we found out that we were expecting another baby, due in January. I still can’t believe how blessed we are! I get scared from time to time (daily?) and wonder how I can possibly manage all this but I remind myself that God is the one steering this ship and I just have to sit back and enjoy the ride!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Preschool Days 4-8: Letter I
We had a busy school week and I felt good at the end with all we had accomplished. There is still a lot of improvement to be made, but I am happy with our overall plan.
This week we focused on the Letter I, using a little of this and a little of that. We stick close to our Raising Rock Stars Preschool curriculum but I add in items from Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve and this week I began adding in activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week curriculum.
You can look here to see our new school room set up and our new routine. Our new set up is really working for us and so is the routine.
OUR WORKBOXES
RRSP:
Tracing the "I" on the vocabulary cards
Cutting out more vocabulary cards
Coloring the color sheet
The finished coloring sheet and her taped verse
Alliteration book: We will be doing this every week from now on and will make a book with it after we go through the alphabet. We looked at our vocabulary cards from RRSP to get ideas then came up with a silly sentence using only letter I words. Our silly sentence was something like Izzy Inchworm is inside Iggy Iguana's island igloo. Then Abby drew a picture to illustrate the sentence.
Confessions of a Homeschooler:
Inchworm Graphing
Big and Little I Sort
Inchworm Building
Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve
Ice Cube Melt: we wrapped ice cubes in a variety of materials and timed them to see which melted first
Igloos: built igloos out of mini marshmallows
Praying for...: this week we prayed everyday for two people in our church whose names begin with I and for missionaries in India and Indonesia
Sand Tray/Paint Bag Writing: trying out new ways to practice handwriting skills, neither worked out very well for us but I will try these again
Non I Activities
Fish Count Game
Tangrams
Magnifying Quilt Match
Wee Sing Nursery Rhymes & Lullabies CD: this came with our Sonlight P3/4 package and we love it! We listen to it very often
BOOKS WE READ
Every morning we read 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible (part of Sonlight P3/4). About every other morning we read the "I" story from My ABC Bible Verses (part of RRSP).
Other Sonlight books we read:
Make Way for Ducklings
Katy and the Big Snow: The day after reading this, we were outside and heard some loud noises coming from down the road and decided to check it out. It was a bulldozer (just like Katy!) We sat and watched him work for a long time.
Busy Timmy
Guess Who Lives Here: They loved this book! It is from Eloise Wilkins treasury (Golden Books). They love all the pictures in this collection but they really loved this story.
Baby Listens
FUN
This week we went to visit my dad. He lives on our family farm owned by my grandmother who is about 85. He raises cattle and keeps up the place with help from my uncle and other various family members. It is beautiful there and I love going to visit him, my stepmom, my grandma, and my great aunt who all live on the farm.
The girls love to see all the cows and horses and wildlife in the area. We spent the day riding around in the farm truck and eating treats from our family (grapes, cookies, ice cream sandwiches, etc.)
LIFE
The weather was so nice this week so we were able to spend lots of time outside. We went for walks and picked flowers. It was great for both the girls to be able to run off some energy outside!
We worked with Abby on being a better helper for me and being patient while waiting for me to do something for her. She wants it done NOW and since her baby sister will be arriving soon, we have been trying to help her learn the value of waiting patiently.
How was your school week?
Linking up to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.
This week we focused on the Letter I, using a little of this and a little of that. We stick close to our Raising Rock Stars Preschool curriculum but I add in items from Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve and this week I began adding in activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week curriculum.
You can look here to see our new school room set up and our new routine. Our new set up is really working for us and so is the routine.
OUR WORKBOXES
RRSP:
Tracing the "I" on the vocabulary cards
Cutting out more vocabulary cards
Coloring the color sheet
The finished coloring sheet and her taped verse
Alliteration book: We will be doing this every week from now on and will make a book with it after we go through the alphabet. We looked at our vocabulary cards from RRSP to get ideas then came up with a silly sentence using only letter I words. Our silly sentence was something like Izzy Inchworm is inside Iggy Iguana's island igloo. Then Abby drew a picture to illustrate the sentence.
Confessions of a Homeschooler:
Inchworm Graphing
Big and Little I Sort
Inchworm Building
Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve
Ice Cube Melt: we wrapped ice cubes in a variety of materials and timed them to see which melted first
Igloos: built igloos out of mini marshmallows
Praying for...: this week we prayed everyday for two people in our church whose names begin with I and for missionaries in India and Indonesia
Sand Tray/Paint Bag Writing: trying out new ways to practice handwriting skills, neither worked out very well for us but I will try these again
Non I Activities
Fish Count Game
Tangrams
Magnifying Quilt Match
Wee Sing Nursery Rhymes & Lullabies CD: this came with our Sonlight P3/4 package and we love it! We listen to it very often
BOOKS WE READ
Every morning we read 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible (part of Sonlight P3/4). About every other morning we read the "I" story from My ABC Bible Verses (part of RRSP).
Other Sonlight books we read:
Make Way for Ducklings
Katy and the Big Snow: The day after reading this, we were outside and heard some loud noises coming from down the road and decided to check it out. It was a bulldozer (just like Katy!) We sat and watched him work for a long time.
Busy Timmy
Guess Who Lives Here: They loved this book! It is from Eloise Wilkins treasury (Golden Books). They love all the pictures in this collection but they really loved this story.
Baby Listens
FUN
This week we went to visit my dad. He lives on our family farm owned by my grandmother who is about 85. He raises cattle and keeps up the place with help from my uncle and other various family members. It is beautiful there and I love going to visit him, my stepmom, my grandma, and my great aunt who all live on the farm.
The girls love to see all the cows and horses and wildlife in the area. We spent the day riding around in the farm truck and eating treats from our family (grapes, cookies, ice cream sandwiches, etc.)
LIFE
The weather was so nice this week so we were able to spend lots of time outside. We went for walks and picked flowers. It was great for both the girls to be able to run off some energy outside!
We worked with Abby on being a better helper for me and being patient while waiting for me to do something for her. She wants it done NOW and since her baby sister will be arriving soon, we have been trying to help her learn the value of waiting patiently.
How was your school week?
Linking up to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Tot School: Days 6-8
Things didn't go as well this time as last. Lyla really wants to do what her big sister is doing and hasn't really cared for anything on her trays. She just sits at the table watching her sister or crying and trying to take sister's stuff. I am going to try to focus on her more in the coming days and see if I can figure out some things that will keep her attention.
THE TRAYS
Puzzle: She did the puzzle every day (and somehow I didn't manage to take a picture of it).
Small spaces: I put out colored popsicle sticks and the tall ice cube tray. She did this two times, kinda. Both times she put in about 5 sticks and then was done.
Stickers: This kept her attention for a while. She was able to do the stickers all by herself which surprised me.
Spooning: I put mini pom poms in a bowl and gave her a scoop (for coffee) and a muffin tin. She did this twice.
Clank can: I put out the clank can again because she likes it so much but she barely touched it. Again, no picture of this.
I know I had another tray out, but can't remember what was on it.
I tried to incorporate her with her sister's activities as much as possible. She helped make igloos out of mini marshmallows, colored a memory verse page, and played with her sister's tangram magnetic shapes.
She also sang really loud every day during our calendar and RRSP board time.
LIFE
Lyla made big strides this week in becoming a big girl. She went to sleep by herself and stayed in her own bed all night for 5 consecutive nights now. She slept with us until a few months ago. When we finally moved her to a bed in her sister's room she had to have someone lay down with her until she fell asleep and even then she would wake up 2-3 times a night and try to get in bed with us. I was exhausted from taking her back to her bed that much. So we bit the bullet and prepared ourselves for a fight, but there was none. She cried for 30 minutes the first night and got up several times crying during the night. But the next night, no crying, just getting out of the bed. During the night, she did not get up a single time. By the third night, no fussing, no getting up, YEA! Now we have to work on getting rid of the pacifier!
FUN
We went to visit my dad this week. He lives out in the country near my grandma and great aunt. His wife runs a small restaurant there. He raises cattle and takes care of our family land (about 300 acres or so) and of several leases for my brother who also has cattle. Anyway, my girls love going up there. My grandma (who is about 85) always has grapes and some kind of treat for them. My great aunt also keeps cookies for them. My step mom fixes them whatever they want from the restaurant. Then they get to ride around in the farm truck and look at cows and deer and turkey. It is so peaceful up there and I always leave wishing we could move farther out. Our area is rural but we have neighbors and a small yard.
That was our week, how was yours?
Linking up to Tot School at 1+1+1=1!
THE TRAYS
Puzzle: She did the puzzle every day (and somehow I didn't manage to take a picture of it).
Small spaces: I put out colored popsicle sticks and the tall ice cube tray. She did this two times, kinda. Both times she put in about 5 sticks and then was done.
Stickers: This kept her attention for a while. She was able to do the stickers all by herself which surprised me.
Spooning: I put mini pom poms in a bowl and gave her a scoop (for coffee) and a muffin tin. She did this twice.
Clank can: I put out the clank can again because she likes it so much but she barely touched it. Again, no picture of this.
I know I had another tray out, but can't remember what was on it.
I tried to incorporate her with her sister's activities as much as possible. She helped make igloos out of mini marshmallows, colored a memory verse page, and played with her sister's tangram magnetic shapes.
She also sang really loud every day during our calendar and RRSP board time.
LIFE
Lyla made big strides this week in becoming a big girl. She went to sleep by herself and stayed in her own bed all night for 5 consecutive nights now. She slept with us until a few months ago. When we finally moved her to a bed in her sister's room she had to have someone lay down with her until she fell asleep and even then she would wake up 2-3 times a night and try to get in bed with us. I was exhausted from taking her back to her bed that much. So we bit the bullet and prepared ourselves for a fight, but there was none. She cried for 30 minutes the first night and got up several times crying during the night. But the next night, no crying, just getting out of the bed. During the night, she did not get up a single time. By the third night, no fussing, no getting up, YEA! Now we have to work on getting rid of the pacifier!
FUN
We went to visit my dad this week. He lives out in the country near my grandma and great aunt. His wife runs a small restaurant there. He raises cattle and takes care of our family land (about 300 acres or so) and of several leases for my brother who also has cattle. Anyway, my girls love going up there. My grandma (who is about 85) always has grapes and some kind of treat for them. My great aunt also keeps cookies for them. My step mom fixes them whatever they want from the restaurant. Then they get to ride around in the farm truck and look at cows and deer and turkey. It is so peaceful up there and I always leave wishing we could move farther out. Our area is rural but we have neighbors and a small yard.
That was our week, how was yours?
Linking up to Tot School at 1+1+1=1!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Days 1-3 and Letter H
School started back in our area August 19th and it got me motivated to really buckle down and establish some routine at our house. This was the first week that I actually stayed consistent for more than one day! Yea! And all went fairly well. We had been working on Letter H for RRSP but finished it up this week. This post contains activities we did August 18th through 20th (I am behind).
RRSP-Letter H
Both of my girls love the RRSP curriculum. I love hearing them recite scripture!
We had already done some of the letter H on other days. Here is Abby cutting her cards apart.
Both girls working on their mom and dad craft. Lyla is only 2 but she enjoys most of the activities too so I now print out 2 copies of the coloring sheets and craft projects.
Here is Abby's completed mom and dad-she even wrote our names "mom" and "dad"!
WORKBOX ACTIVITIES
Perfection: I found this at Dollar General and both girls really liked it. Kinda like a shape sorter but works on fine motor skills since the pieces are so small.
Ladybug Visual Discrimination Game: You draw a card and make your ladybug's spots match the ones on the card. One day she did not want to do it, the next day, she did and really liked it.
Lacing Cards: I bought several sets of these a long time ago from various Scholastic book orders. She didn't want to learn how to do it until I told her it was the first step in learning to sew (like I know anything about sewing).
Counting Cows book: I think this came from Scholastic too. It has animal and number magnets. You read the story, find the animals, and the right number. Too easy for her, I guess. She did a few pages with no problem and then gave it to her little sister who was crying for it.
Cloud Math Mat: This was a fun game that led to a science experiment and art project! First, the game. You roll the dice and add that number of clouds (small cotton balls or pom poms) to your mat. The first person to cover all their mat wins. She loved rolling the huge dice!
After that game, she wanted to play with the cotton balls so I got a dish of water and told them about the water cycle. I had read this somewhere else and it stuck in my mind. I am sure I could have explained it better if I would have been prepared but I did my best. Anyway, we talked about how light the cotton ball was and how heavy it got when wet. In fact it gets so heavy and full of water that the water has no place to go but down, exactly what happens to clouds and water and rain. Both girls loved playing with these in the water.
We also "weighed" 10 dry cotton balls and 10 wet cotton balls and talked about why the same number of cotton balls weighs more when wet.
While they were playing with the water I dug through our books and found two about clouds. I thought one of them explained the water cycle but I was wrong! They enjoyed them anyway.
After reading "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" we decided to make our own clouds. I got out paper and white paint (all I had was acrylic). I let them put a glob in the center of the paper, fold it over, then we opened it and told what we thought it looked like. They had a blast with this! We kept making clouds until we ran out of paint.
When they dried (which took a while) Abby wanted to make them into a book so we stapled the pages together and we made our own Spilt Milk book, copying the wording from the book but changing out the cloud labels. I don't have a picture of the final product but it is cute.
LIFE
Life was interesting during this time. All of our family started back to school. My confidence in the decision to homeschool was shaken. All of the talk of back to school, school buses, first days, new teachers, etc. made me wonder if I am keeping Abby from something that is important. I got over it pretty quickly but wondered if other homeschoolers struggle with the same thing.
My stepdad had knee surgery that week and the girls and I "checked on him" every day. My mom and him live across the street from us so we walked over every day to make sure all was well. One day we made him cookies. This was the first time they had used the mixer. I hardly ever use it and they were a litte unsure about it at first.
We also made our "every 3 month" trip to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for a round of appointments and an MRI. Abby has a brain tumor. It is a miraculous story that you can read about here (at the bottom of the post) and at my other blog, Abby's Army, which documents the full journey (I have a condensed version on the sidebar). Praise God-she is doing great, this MRI revealed no change to the tumor, and we go back in 3 months to do it again. She really is a walking, talking miracle and proof that prayer works.
I forgot my camera on our trip to Memphis but we managed to squeeze in some fun while there, visiting the Children's Museum of Memphis. This was the first time during all of the craziness around her diagnosis, surgery, appointments that I forgot my camera. I was so mad at myself!
That is our first few days of official school at our house-what were the first few days like at your house?
Linking up to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations!
RRSP-Letter H
Both of my girls love the RRSP curriculum. I love hearing them recite scripture!
We had already done some of the letter H on other days. Here is Abby cutting her cards apart.
Both girls working on their mom and dad craft. Lyla is only 2 but she enjoys most of the activities too so I now print out 2 copies of the coloring sheets and craft projects.
Here is Abby's completed mom and dad-she even wrote our names "mom" and "dad"!
WORKBOX ACTIVITIES
Perfection: I found this at Dollar General and both girls really liked it. Kinda like a shape sorter but works on fine motor skills since the pieces are so small.
Ladybug Visual Discrimination Game: You draw a card and make your ladybug's spots match the ones on the card. One day she did not want to do it, the next day, she did and really liked it.
Lacing Cards: I bought several sets of these a long time ago from various Scholastic book orders. She didn't want to learn how to do it until I told her it was the first step in learning to sew (like I know anything about sewing).
Counting Cows book: I think this came from Scholastic too. It has animal and number magnets. You read the story, find the animals, and the right number. Too easy for her, I guess. She did a few pages with no problem and then gave it to her little sister who was crying for it.
Cloud Math Mat: This was a fun game that led to a science experiment and art project! First, the game. You roll the dice and add that number of clouds (small cotton balls or pom poms) to your mat. The first person to cover all their mat wins. She loved rolling the huge dice!
After that game, she wanted to play with the cotton balls so I got a dish of water and told them about the water cycle. I had read this somewhere else and it stuck in my mind. I am sure I could have explained it better if I would have been prepared but I did my best. Anyway, we talked about how light the cotton ball was and how heavy it got when wet. In fact it gets so heavy and full of water that the water has no place to go but down, exactly what happens to clouds and water and rain. Both girls loved playing with these in the water.
We also "weighed" 10 dry cotton balls and 10 wet cotton balls and talked about why the same number of cotton balls weighs more when wet.
While they were playing with the water I dug through our books and found two about clouds. I thought one of them explained the water cycle but I was wrong! They enjoyed them anyway.
After reading "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" we decided to make our own clouds. I got out paper and white paint (all I had was acrylic). I let them put a glob in the center of the paper, fold it over, then we opened it and told what we thought it looked like. They had a blast with this! We kept making clouds until we ran out of paint.
When they dried (which took a while) Abby wanted to make them into a book so we stapled the pages together and we made our own Spilt Milk book, copying the wording from the book but changing out the cloud labels. I don't have a picture of the final product but it is cute.
LIFE
Life was interesting during this time. All of our family started back to school. My confidence in the decision to homeschool was shaken. All of the talk of back to school, school buses, first days, new teachers, etc. made me wonder if I am keeping Abby from something that is important. I got over it pretty quickly but wondered if other homeschoolers struggle with the same thing.
My stepdad had knee surgery that week and the girls and I "checked on him" every day. My mom and him live across the street from us so we walked over every day to make sure all was well. One day we made him cookies. This was the first time they had used the mixer. I hardly ever use it and they were a litte unsure about it at first.
We also made our "every 3 month" trip to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for a round of appointments and an MRI. Abby has a brain tumor. It is a miraculous story that you can read about here (at the bottom of the post) and at my other blog, Abby's Army, which documents the full journey (I have a condensed version on the sidebar). Praise God-she is doing great, this MRI revealed no change to the tumor, and we go back in 3 months to do it again. She really is a walking, talking miracle and proof that prayer works.
I forgot my camera on our trip to Memphis but we managed to squeeze in some fun while there, visiting the Children's Museum of Memphis. This was the first time during all of the craziness around her diagnosis, surgery, appointments that I forgot my camera. I was so mad at myself!
That is our first few days of official school at our house-what were the first few days like at your house?
Linking up to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations!
Our New School Room and Routine
The Room
I wanted to share with you all the changes we have made to how we do school around here. Not long after we got started with tot school and preschool, I took pictures and put together a post of where we worked and where I stored things. Most of that has changed now. Before you read on: I did not clean up before I snapped these pictures. Sorry for the overflowing trash, the messy shelves, etc.
Our “school room” is now in our laundry room. About 4 years ago we built an addition to our house and this laundry room was part of that. It is about a 12x12. I wanted it big because our house is so small, I knew I would need the extra storage. It stayed a mess most of the time. We moved our computer and office stuff in here when Lyla was born to make more room for her. After doing school in the kitchen and dining area, I knew I needed a dedicated space for all of our stuff with a kid sized table so I went to work cleaning out and setting up.
It is now an office, school room, and laundry room! I am happy with the new space and the girls love it! Laundry can’t be done while we are in there but I have never been good at keeping the laundry up anyway, at least now I have an excuse! The lighting is not good in there and my big person chair is not comfy at all. I would like to install a storm door on the outside door so we can get more natural light in and look outside while we are working in there.
I leave the tot trays and workboxes out all the time (except for scissors, glue, markers, etc.). It has been a problem a few times but I gently remind them that our school stuff stays in that room only!
Storage
I have a large shelf in the laundry room where I keep supplies (in the corner in the picture). Anything that fits in one of my boxes goes here.
I keep odd sized supplies in a closet in our hallway. My husband just installed the shelves and it makes it so much easier to find things!
Books are still in their room except for our Sonlight books, which are kept out of reach on a built in bookcase in our living room.
The Routine
Our usual routine is to get to work shortly after breakfast. That is why the girls are in their pajamas in most pictures. They are usually eager to get started and it helps eliminate excuses and distractions. A few days we got dressed, went outside, etc. and it was really hard to get them in there to do anything.
First thing we do is our “circle time” board and RRSP board. The circle time board has a calendar with removable month, calendar, and day. I write in the date with dry erase marker. There is a seasons chart, days of the week which we mark as today, tomorrow, and yesterday. I try to talk about what we did yesterday and what we will do tomorrow to help with these concepts. Next we do the weather. We go over our address and phone number. All of these components are from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Then we talk about who we are praying for and what countries we are praying for (part of Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve curriculum). I point out the countries on our world map.
Then we go through our RRSP board (somehow I don't have a picture of this but you can see it in other pictures).
Next we pray then read a bible story from 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible (part of Sonlight P3/4 curriculum). Then we read a story book from Sonlight. We always read one but sometimes more, depending on their attention level.
Then we move on to tot trays and workboxes. I have Abby work through her boxes in order. I fill them with various activities. Some go along with RRSP, some with Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve, and some from various sources.
Then we are done! We read and learn throughout the day but that is the routine in the school room. They go in there during the day to color and play but they aren’t allowed to take anything out of the room and they have to clean up what they get out, no matter what time of day it is.
That’s how we do school now!
I wanted to share with you all the changes we have made to how we do school around here. Not long after we got started with tot school and preschool, I took pictures and put together a post of where we worked and where I stored things. Most of that has changed now. Before you read on: I did not clean up before I snapped these pictures. Sorry for the overflowing trash, the messy shelves, etc.
Our “school room” is now in our laundry room. About 4 years ago we built an addition to our house and this laundry room was part of that. It is about a 12x12. I wanted it big because our house is so small, I knew I would need the extra storage. It stayed a mess most of the time. We moved our computer and office stuff in here when Lyla was born to make more room for her. After doing school in the kitchen and dining area, I knew I needed a dedicated space for all of our stuff with a kid sized table so I went to work cleaning out and setting up.
It is now an office, school room, and laundry room! I am happy with the new space and the girls love it! Laundry can’t be done while we are in there but I have never been good at keeping the laundry up anyway, at least now I have an excuse! The lighting is not good in there and my big person chair is not comfy at all. I would like to install a storm door on the outside door so we can get more natural light in and look outside while we are working in there.
I leave the tot trays and workboxes out all the time (except for scissors, glue, markers, etc.). It has been a problem a few times but I gently remind them that our school stuff stays in that room only!
Storage
I have a large shelf in the laundry room where I keep supplies (in the corner in the picture). Anything that fits in one of my boxes goes here.
I keep odd sized supplies in a closet in our hallway. My husband just installed the shelves and it makes it so much easier to find things!
Books are still in their room except for our Sonlight books, which are kept out of reach on a built in bookcase in our living room.
The Routine
Our usual routine is to get to work shortly after breakfast. That is why the girls are in their pajamas in most pictures. They are usually eager to get started and it helps eliminate excuses and distractions. A few days we got dressed, went outside, etc. and it was really hard to get them in there to do anything.
First thing we do is our “circle time” board and RRSP board. The circle time board has a calendar with removable month, calendar, and day. I write in the date with dry erase marker. There is a seasons chart, days of the week which we mark as today, tomorrow, and yesterday. I try to talk about what we did yesterday and what we will do tomorrow to help with these concepts. Next we do the weather. We go over our address and phone number. All of these components are from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Then we talk about who we are praying for and what countries we are praying for (part of Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve curriculum). I point out the countries on our world map.
Then we go through our RRSP board (somehow I don't have a picture of this but you can see it in other pictures).
Next we pray then read a bible story from 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible (part of Sonlight P3/4 curriculum). Then we read a story book from Sonlight. We always read one but sometimes more, depending on their attention level.
Then we move on to tot trays and workboxes. I have Abby work through her boxes in order. I fill them with various activities. Some go along with RRSP, some with Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve, and some from various sources.
Then we are done! We read and learn throughout the day but that is the routine in the school room. They go in there during the day to color and play but they aren’t allowed to take anything out of the room and they have to clean up what they get out, no matter what time of day it is.
That’s how we do school now!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Tot School: Days 1-5
I have already changed our plans! We moved into a new room and started a new plan with my preschooler so tot school is taking place there too. We are counting the days of school so I think from now on I will tell you what days we have done instead of what week or month or whatever. So these activities took place over 2 weeks but we did 5 days of school.
Our new "school room" is in our laundry room. Both girls have loved the new set up and everything is running pretty smoothly. I will post pictures of the space as soon as I know it is going to work. My tot tray method has changed a little too. I am trying to leave out as much of the same thing for the whole week as possible. I am only changing out what did not go well (too hard, too easy, etc.) and I leave the trays out where she can get them out and put them up by herself. I have had a few occurences of sneaking in while I am not looking and playing with the trays but so far it is working out well (but it has only been 5 days). I do not leave scissors, markers, glue, paint, etc out.
TOT TRAYS
Do A Dot
She loved this! I love it too because it is not as messy as regular paint.
Puzzle
She is getting so much better at puzzles!
Matching Bears
This came with our Sonlight P3/4 curriculum and both girls like these sturdy bears.
Snipping Paper
Big sister was working on some cutting, so she had to also!
Color Sort
I tried this two different ways. Sorting into the plastic cups was better than sorting on the circles. She really liked the colored popsicle sticks, I got them at the dollar tree.
Dry Erase
This is probably her favorite thing to do. I have several different boards and markers and she loves them all!
Spilt Milk art
This was an impromptu activity for big sister that Lyla got to help with. Both girls absolutely loved doing this. I used a whole container of white craft paint. We would have been making these pictures all day if we would have had enough paint! Basic directions: glob of paint in center of paper, fold in half, open and see what it looks like. We did this after reading the book "It Looked Like Spilt Milk". After all the papers were dry, I stapled them together, and we made our own Spilt Milk book. It turned out great!
FUN
I don't have any pictures, but we were able to spend more time outside thanks to a dip in the heat and humidity. We also went to a pool party (again, no pictures) and The Children's Museum of Memphis (where is my camera?).
LIFE
My preschooler (Abby, 5) has a brain tumor and is a patient at St Jude Children's Research Hospital. She was diagnosed over a year ago and despite all the doctors predictions, she is doing great. We have not had to undergo any treatment (she did have brain surgery and they removed a portion of her brain) and the tumor has remained stable (has not grown). It covers about 30% of her brain but she has no side effects (other than seizures which are controlled by medication). We travel to Memphis to St Jude every 3 months for an MRI which tells us if the tumor is growing or not. Last week we had to go back for an MRI, and thankfully, the tumor is still stable.
Lyla went with us this time and was wonderful! We usually don't take her with us because it is a time of great anxiety and it is hard to listen to all the doctors and nurses with a 5 year old and 2 year old running around. I am so glad that she was able to go. It put her sister at ease and they both had a great time together. St Jude is an incredible place and there is so much for the kids to do while there. The city of Memphis also is great and we get discounts on lots of attractions, including the Children's Museum. It makes our trip so much better!
Lyla worries about her sister and shows so much compassion for her. After the MRI, Abby was very groggy and couldn't hold her cookie, she kept dropping it. Lyla picked it up and fed it to her. She stroked her hair and talked sweet words to her. My heart melted. Lyla had to be left behind a lot during the initial diagnosis and surgery and everything that went along with it. She still seems to get left out because everyone asks about Abby wherever we go. We try not to make that difference at home, but I know that God will use this to make her a strong, compassionate person. She already is! If you want to read more about our journey, go to my other blog, Abby's Army. And please pray for my sweet girls!
That's how we did Tot School! Go check out the other entries at 1+1+1=1!
Our new "school room" is in our laundry room. Both girls have loved the new set up and everything is running pretty smoothly. I will post pictures of the space as soon as I know it is going to work. My tot tray method has changed a little too. I am trying to leave out as much of the same thing for the whole week as possible. I am only changing out what did not go well (too hard, too easy, etc.) and I leave the trays out where she can get them out and put them up by herself. I have had a few occurences of sneaking in while I am not looking and playing with the trays but so far it is working out well (but it has only been 5 days). I do not leave scissors, markers, glue, paint, etc out.
TOT TRAYS
Do A Dot
She loved this! I love it too because it is not as messy as regular paint.
Puzzle
She is getting so much better at puzzles!
Matching Bears
This came with our Sonlight P3/4 curriculum and both girls like these sturdy bears.
Snipping Paper
Big sister was working on some cutting, so she had to also!
Color Sort
I tried this two different ways. Sorting into the plastic cups was better than sorting on the circles. She really liked the colored popsicle sticks, I got them at the dollar tree.
Dry Erase
This is probably her favorite thing to do. I have several different boards and markers and she loves them all!
Spilt Milk art
This was an impromptu activity for big sister that Lyla got to help with. Both girls absolutely loved doing this. I used a whole container of white craft paint. We would have been making these pictures all day if we would have had enough paint! Basic directions: glob of paint in center of paper, fold in half, open and see what it looks like. We did this after reading the book "It Looked Like Spilt Milk". After all the papers were dry, I stapled them together, and we made our own Spilt Milk book. It turned out great!
FUN
I don't have any pictures, but we were able to spend more time outside thanks to a dip in the heat and humidity. We also went to a pool party (again, no pictures) and The Children's Museum of Memphis (where is my camera?).
LIFE
My preschooler (Abby, 5) has a brain tumor and is a patient at St Jude Children's Research Hospital. She was diagnosed over a year ago and despite all the doctors predictions, she is doing great. We have not had to undergo any treatment (she did have brain surgery and they removed a portion of her brain) and the tumor has remained stable (has not grown). It covers about 30% of her brain but she has no side effects (other than seizures which are controlled by medication). We travel to Memphis to St Jude every 3 months for an MRI which tells us if the tumor is growing or not. Last week we had to go back for an MRI, and thankfully, the tumor is still stable.
Lyla went with us this time and was wonderful! We usually don't take her with us because it is a time of great anxiety and it is hard to listen to all the doctors and nurses with a 5 year old and 2 year old running around. I am so glad that she was able to go. It put her sister at ease and they both had a great time together. St Jude is an incredible place and there is so much for the kids to do while there. The city of Memphis also is great and we get discounts on lots of attractions, including the Children's Museum. It makes our trip so much better!
Lyla worries about her sister and shows so much compassion for her. After the MRI, Abby was very groggy and couldn't hold her cookie, she kept dropping it. Lyla picked it up and fed it to her. She stroked her hair and talked sweet words to her. My heart melted. Lyla had to be left behind a lot during the initial diagnosis and surgery and everything that went along with it. She still seems to get left out because everyone asks about Abby wherever we go. We try not to make that difference at home, but I know that God will use this to make her a strong, compassionate person. She already is! If you want to read more about our journey, go to my other blog, Abby's Army. And please pray for my sweet girls!
That's how we did Tot School! Go check out the other entries at 1+1+1=1!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Catch Up
What a busy month! My last post was about our activity bags and all my planning. Shortly after that life got extremely busy. We had a vacation, birthday party, record heat, trips to Granny's, and a lot more going on! I will try to do a brief catch up. Both tot school and preschool were sporadic. These pictures and activities are from the past month (or longer). I have become more intentional with school lately but still not in a groove. I am beginning to think a groove may never happen for us!
Tot School
Lyla is 28 months old
Lyla has been very cooperative with her activities. Our only conflict is that she wants to do whatever her sister is doing and vice versa. So I try to find similar activities for her that she will be successful at. Here is the run down on her tot trays:
small spaces with a pringles can (mini) and chenille sticks
sorting with pom poms and star ice cube tray
beading
sorting, I got these animal erasers and tray at Dollar Tree, the tray had a busy pattern on the bottom so I taped some pink paper down
color file folder game, I made this when I was in grad school, all children love it
Lyla knows most of her colors, some still trick her up though
sticking toothpicks in a styrofoam circle, found the toothpicks and sytrofoam at Dollar Tree
Abby did this activity too but I tried to encourage her to make patterns or shapes with her toothpicks
matching objects to pictures, these are actually patterning cards that I found in a Scholastic book order ages ago, she likes to use it for matching
Preschool
Abby is 5 years old
Abby has been more defiant with her activities. She doesn't like to use the materials the way they should be, she wants to make up her own. I like that she is creative but I also want her to learn to follow directions. I usually have to make a deal that if she will do it "right" first, she can play with it any way she wants after. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Here is what Abby has been working on.
Raising Rock Stars Preschool, she loves reciting the memory verses
"cooking" with a recipe book
Lyla was in on the cooking too!
sorting colors and shades with paint chips, found here
counting cards, found here
a puzzle she completed with very little help
pom pom game, huge hit, found here
see and spell she got for her birthday
patterning, found here, she isn't a huge fan of pattern activities but she really liked this one
measuring activity, found here, she did not enjoy this at all
She didn't enjoy it because it was too easy for her. I am going to make her a game where she actually uses a measuring tape. I will save this for Lyla to use soon.
ABC train puzzle, she got this for her birthday, everyone had fun with it
I had Lyla find the pictures I named and Abby had to find the letters I called out. Lots of running and giggling went along with this.
farmers market game, found here, this sparked her imagination and she played farmer's market all day with our play food
popcorn sensory activity, made a huge mess, my blood pressure went through the roof, the girls loved it
Heat
Our area has been under heat advisories for weeks. It does not cool off, even at night. It is hard to keep little ones cooped up for so long but I think we dealt with it fairly well. A few things we did to burn off energy included:
ribbon dancing
ballet, I found a ballet video for her birthday and both girls love to do "ballet class". It is called Baby Ballet. I highly recommend it.
Life
Abby turned five this month. She wanted a ballerina birthday. I had so much fun planning and hosting this party. It was in my mom's garage and it couldn't have went any better. She loved it.
We also went on vacation this month. Branson, Missouri is close to home so we took the girls for a long weekend. It was extremely hot but we still had a great time.
That wraps up the last month (plus some) at our house. We have started a new routine in a new room this week. Can't wait to share the details with you next week!
I am linking up to the Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations and Tot School at 1+1+1=1. Go see what other kiddos are up to!
Tot School
Lyla is 28 months old
Lyla has been very cooperative with her activities. Our only conflict is that she wants to do whatever her sister is doing and vice versa. So I try to find similar activities for her that she will be successful at. Here is the run down on her tot trays:
small spaces with a pringles can (mini) and chenille sticks
sorting with pom poms and star ice cube tray
beading
sorting, I got these animal erasers and tray at Dollar Tree, the tray had a busy pattern on the bottom so I taped some pink paper down
color file folder game, I made this when I was in grad school, all children love it
Lyla knows most of her colors, some still trick her up though
sticking toothpicks in a styrofoam circle, found the toothpicks and sytrofoam at Dollar Tree
Abby did this activity too but I tried to encourage her to make patterns or shapes with her toothpicks
matching objects to pictures, these are actually patterning cards that I found in a Scholastic book order ages ago, she likes to use it for matching
Preschool
Abby is 5 years old
Abby has been more defiant with her activities. She doesn't like to use the materials the way they should be, she wants to make up her own. I like that she is creative but I also want her to learn to follow directions. I usually have to make a deal that if she will do it "right" first, she can play with it any way she wants after. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Here is what Abby has been working on.
Raising Rock Stars Preschool, she loves reciting the memory verses
"cooking" with a recipe book
Lyla was in on the cooking too!
sorting colors and shades with paint chips, found here
counting cards, found here
a puzzle she completed with very little help
pom pom game, huge hit, found here
see and spell she got for her birthday
patterning, found here, she isn't a huge fan of pattern activities but she really liked this one
measuring activity, found here, she did not enjoy this at all
She didn't enjoy it because it was too easy for her. I am going to make her a game where she actually uses a measuring tape. I will save this for Lyla to use soon.
ABC train puzzle, she got this for her birthday, everyone had fun with it
I had Lyla find the pictures I named and Abby had to find the letters I called out. Lots of running and giggling went along with this.
farmers market game, found here, this sparked her imagination and she played farmer's market all day with our play food
popcorn sensory activity, made a huge mess, my blood pressure went through the roof, the girls loved it
Heat
Our area has been under heat advisories for weeks. It does not cool off, even at night. It is hard to keep little ones cooped up for so long but I think we dealt with it fairly well. A few things we did to burn off energy included:
ribbon dancing
ballet, I found a ballet video for her birthday and both girls love to do "ballet class". It is called Baby Ballet. I highly recommend it.
Life
Abby turned five this month. She wanted a ballerina birthday. I had so much fun planning and hosting this party. It was in my mom's garage and it couldn't have went any better. She loved it.
We also went on vacation this month. Branson, Missouri is close to home so we took the girls for a long weekend. It was extremely hot but we still had a great time.
That wraps up the last month (plus some) at our house. We have started a new routine in a new room this week. Can't wait to share the details with you next week!
I am linking up to the Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations and Tot School at 1+1+1=1. Go see what other kiddos are up to!
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