2014/15: Year 2"... study hard what interests you the most ..."

“...study hard what interests you the most 

in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” 

― Richard P. Feynman

I know I mentioned before that I was renaming the years from K/1/2 etc. to "Year 1," with this being "Year 2,"  but when we did our back-to-homechool pictures this week, I still but "1st" on there.  That being said, today was our "first day," but we spent it at the Dallas Arboretum and then the Perot Museum to catch the end of the "Largest Dinosaurs" exhibit before it moves on.  

So, tomorrow will be our first day with our new "Year 2" schedule and curriculum.  We are heading to DisneyWorld in mid-September, so our first two weeks will be a bit lighter, with the project-based subjects like history, science, and writing/literature not starting until after we get back.  When we return, our schedule will be 8am-2:30pm on Mondays - Thursdays, with a few quick things like a spelling test and some different, challenging math on Friday mornings before piano lessons, with the afternoon free for field trips, meet up with friends, or just hanging out and free time.

We put some of the subjects on the back-burner last year (or took them much slower) as we adapted to life, as I wrote about before, so some of what we are doing this year I had originally planned for Year 1.  However, most of what I had planned for Year 1 was at least "1st grade" level, so I am not worried about it being "too easy" for this year.  In fact, while SC is advanced in understanding-type subjects, things like penmanship are still on target for her age, which meant working ahead in some things means either I did most of the writing for her, or we adapted (or in the case of some stuff, we held off for this year).  In the end, here is a look at the curriculum I have planned for Year 2:


LANGUAGE ARTS:

Language Smarts level B (finish)
Language Smarts level C
Jacob's Ladder Primary 1 (finish)
Jacob's Ladder Primary 2
Vocabu-Lit level B
SpellWell levels A and AA
Explode the Code (various levels to reinforce phonics, not necessarily to teach reading)
Handwriting Without Tears
Reading Detective Beginning
BraveWriter - Jot it Down
  *We are doing a fairy tale project all year that came from the Bravewriter book Jot It Down, where we will be reading and studying ten separate fairy tales from Perrault, Andersen and the Grimm brothers
BraveWriter - Arrow
  *The BraveWriter "Arrow" program is technically for 3rd grade, but we will be reading books on SC's level and modifying the dictation portions into copywork and more manageable amounts for her physical writing ability.  We will not be following their choice plan for this year, as I was able to choose individual books from past years.  Our list is:
        Sarah, Plain and Tall  by Patricia MacLachlan
        Turtle in Paradise  by Jennifer M. Holm
        The Lemonade War  by Jaqueline Davies
        Charlotte's Web  by E.B. White
        Because of Winn-Dixie  by Kate DiCamillo
        Henry Huggins  by Beverly Cleary
        Detectives in Togas  by Henry Winterfeld
        In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson  by Bette Bao Lord
        Harriet the Spy  by Louise Fitzhugh
        All-of-a-Kind Family  by Sydney Taylor


HISTORY:

History Odyssey Ancients (finish)
History Odyssey Middle Ages (begin)


MATH:

Singapore Primary Mathematics 1B (finish)
Singapore Primary Mathematics 2A
Zacarro's Primary Grade Challenge Math (begin)
Mathematical Reasoning level B (finish)
Mathematical Reasoning level C
various logic books from Critical Thinking Company and others


SCIENCE:

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding K-2 (begin)


SPANISH:

Song School Spanish (finish)
Sabio Octavio grammar, math and reading/spelling


BIBLE:

Telling God's Story Year 1 (finish)
Telling God's Story Year 2


ART/MUSIC/PHYSICAL ED:
Meet the Masters
piano lessons, Broadway class at the local theatre, swimming, gymnastics and soccer, plus we got a subscription to a local symphony for the year and are very excited to be able to take SC to these concerts

Also, part of the BraveWriter "lifestyle" is experiencing the stories of life through nature hikes, poetry tea parties, listening to all kinds of music, watching movies, ballets, operas, stage performances, and then being able to understand the narrative and retell the stories in your own words.  This is one of the reasons I chose BraveWriter, as it encompasses so much of what else we will already be doing.

I hope everyone is off to a great start to their 2014/15 year, whether in their homeschool or in school away from home!

"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full."

"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full."

Henry Kissinger, quoted in The New York Times Magazine, June 1969

We are only one week away from our official first day of kindergarten, and I have been working on lesson plans and making sure I have a schedule that (1) will fit in everything comfortably, and (2) is doable.  A few weeks ago I thought I had the schedule down, but then SC met a new friend whom we really want to spend time with weekly, so I adjusted everything and was able to clear an entire afternoon.  

I am linking up this post for the final week with iHomeschool Network's "Not Back to School" Blog Hop, and while it is supposed to be a post that details a "day in the life" at our homeschool, since we won't actually be starting until next week, I will instead be focusing on what the ideal week would look like, based on my latest version of the schedule.  On this year's curriculum post, I mentioned the times I had planned, but did not go into any detail about what specifically we will be doing during those times.  So, here is what I hope things will look like during our upcoming days.

Monday, Wednesday and Fridays will look very similar in the mornings, as will Tuesdays and Thursdays.  SC will be going to a "bridge" kindergarten twice a week at the same church she has been at for the past few years for Mother's Day Out.  I just cannot compete with the monthly themed activities.  Every weekday SC will need to complete one activity from A Reason for Handwriting level A, as well as a few pages from Explode the Code for phonics reinforcement.  This will happen in the evenings, before free time is allowed.  

M/W/F

7:00-8:00am:  Wake up, walk the dog, eat breakfast

8:00-8:10am:  Warm-Up [either listening activity or short reading passage/questions]

8:10-8:40am:  Bible

8:40-9:00am:  All About Spelling OR All About Reading [I have two separate sessions set up each day for AAR/AAR, but I am going to try to do them simultaneously, so some days we may do two sessions of AAS (NOT two lessons, but I have planned for much reviewing), or two AAR, or one of each.]

9:00-9:30am:  Junior Great Books [language arts]

9:30-9:50am:  Grammar [Language Smarts B]

9:50-10:30am:  Math [Singapore]

10:30-11:10am:  History

11:10-11:30am:  All About Spelling OR All About Reading

11:30am-12:00pm:  Spanish

12:00-12:30pm:  LUNCH

Mondays, after lunch, we will be traveling to a friend's house, and be listening to an audiobook on the way.  We also have gymnastics in the evening.

Wednesdays we will use Draw.Write.Now for some art instruction, combined with writing instruction (that I create - not handwriting).  Then we will hopefully meet some of our homeschool group at the park before heading to a short 30 minute dance class.

Fridays we will do some brief logic work before heading to piano lessons, and then have the afternoon free for a possible field trip to the zoo, one of the local museums, or more time with friends.

T/R

7:00-8:00am:  Wake up, walk the dog, eat breakfast

8:00-8:10am:  Warm-Up [either listening activity or short reading passage/questions]

8:10-8:50am:  Jacob's Ladder [language arts]

9:30am-2:30pm: away from home kindergarten class

2:30-3:10pm: listen to audiobook in the car on the way to afternoon activities (T: swim, R: dance)

Tuesday evenings SC will also have soccer practice (and I will be coaching for the first time).

Finally, as mentioned on the curriculum post, we will be doing a few homeschool activities Saturday morning, so that we can keep our afternoons mostly free for friends, park days and field trips.  

Sat

7:00-9:00am:  Wake-up, walk the dog, eat breakfast (we won't have a hard wake-up time)

9:00-9:50am: Science

9:50-10:20am: Math [Life of Fred]

10:20-10:50am:  Grammar [Grammar-land and Primary Language Lessons]

10:50-11:50am: Teatime and classical music to relax from all our hard work!

Throughout the school-week, SC will have the opportunity to earn free time, which will include watching taped PBS shows, using the computer to play games (usually pbskids.org), playing on the iPad or other electronic devices, as well as just playing with the multitude of toys we have.  However, she will have a checklist that she needs to complete some of first, during that free time period.  Here is an example of the checklist I have made:

I am hoping that this will be a baby-step in teaching her to prioritize tasks and how to manage her time.  We shall see how it works.

So, that is an ideal "day in the life" at our homeschool.  Don't forget to check back at the end of the first week of September to see how things actually went.  

What do your school days look like?  Leave a comment below, then check out all the other bloggers' posts at the iHomeschool Network 5th annual "Not Back to School" Blog Hop.

2013-2014: K5/1st "Look what a lot of things there are to learn..."

"You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn..."

T.H. White, The Once and Future King

So we really would fall into the "eclectic unschooler" category of homeschoolers going by how things have happened this past year for Pre-K/K4.  If you remember our great plans, I will tell you now we did not complete even half of them.  Some of this was due to SC racing past where the curriculum was in math, necessitating a change mid-year, and some of this was because some of the choices were just too much for her at four.  Also, I did not strictly enforce the routine I had set up at the beginning of the year and allowed lazy mornings that moved into chores, playtime and errands, and then forgotten lessons for weeks at a time.  We also did quite a bit of traveling, which I feel is hugely important at SC's age, but I think I could have handled it better rather than completely eschewing school.  On the bright side, SC hasn't suffered from a very relaxed Pre-K/K4 year and testing has shown she is still years ahead in both math and reading.  In fact, she seems to just absorb information as she goes along.

This year, though I love the lazy time we get to spend together, we have to step up the routine a little.  I honestly think SC would manage some of her meltdowns (one day I will post about these) a bit better if we had a more routine schedule, and I am really excited about doing kindergarten with her this year (though much of what we will be doing is solidly 1st grade).  She is very excited, too, and keeps eyeing the box (see picture above) I have keept everything corralled in as I work on the plans.  By the way, in case you think I am nuts, not everything in that box will be completed this year, but in some cases is was cheaper overall to buy a "package" than just what we might complete this year.

Also, SC will be continuing to attend the preschool she was at as they have added a twice-per-week "bridge" kindergarten class.  Though academically she will be past most of what they are learning, the experiences (like "book character day" and other themed days) cannot be replicated well in a one-child home (in my opinion), and there are some things that she will learn (like the Pledge of Allegiance) that I probably wouldn't think to teach if going at it solely on my own.  In the future I may have to get one of those books that lists out things like this.  So, that means, our homeschooling schedule for the fall currently looks like this:

M: 8am - 12pm
T: 8am-9am
W: 8am - 1pm (including lunch break)
R: 8am-8am
F: 8am - 12pm
Sa: 9am - 11am

I could probably cram everything into M/W/F but I wanted to leave time for us to go on field trips and have park days, so AC and I agreed Saturday morning would be an okay time to get some schooling in.  I have also purposely scheduled science for Saturday morning so AC can do it with us.  I have also added one language arts activity on T/R mornings before our out-of-the-home kindergarten class.

Finally, without further ado, here are our plans for K5/1st:

BIBLE

After a friend posted a link to Telling God's Story, I knew I had found the perfect study for our family.  From Olive Branch Books' website, the program is described as one that "treats the Bible as a unified, exciting, true story with Jesus as the most important character."  YES!  This is my problem with story-based or thematic studies, because I feel they minimize Jesus and what Jesus did.  They are important to the Bible, but only when the Bible is taken as a whole, with the climax of the story being Jesus.  If you are at all interested in this, author Peter Enns writes a Parents' Guide that is a quick, easy read that describes the program and how he will follow the classical education model in developing this twelve-year study.  The first year of the study, which is what we will be doing, is focused on "Meeting Jesus," and what a wonderful place to start when telling God's story.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Since this is a "real" school year (though still not actually required by the state of Texas), I wanted to find something more than just a mix of random handwriting and phonics programs with a few read-alouds thrown in.  Though math seems to really be SC's thing, mine is reading and literature.  I am really excited that I heard about the Junior Great Books  "Read-Aloud" curriculum.  Even thought it is typically used in a group setting (which may pose a problem if we stick with it in later years), I think it will be a good, easy introduction for SC into some great literature (short stories and poetry), as well as the process of discussing what is read.  We will spread out the lessons so that each story takes two weeks, and do the "Sailing Ship Series" during the fall and the "Dragon Series" next spring, and then move along to the other two "Read-Aloud" series next year.

To go along with this I have also found a program from the Center for Gifted Education called Jacob's Ladder, which (at this level) takes picture book stories and helps guide kids through "ladders" of reading comprehension.  I am sort-of doubling up between this and the Junior Great Books when it comes to reading, but each program has its own areas of strength, and the reading choices in Jacob's Ladder are such that as SC develops her reading skills she may be able to read the selections on her own and then work through the comprehension.

Finally, though SC has tested at the level of someone 6.8 years in reading, she still struggles when it comes to sounding out new words and will typically just shrug her shoulders in hopes that I or AC will just tell her the word, which she then commits to memory.  This year, in an attempt to give her the tools to boost her reading confidence, we are going to be trying All About Reading Level 1.  I am actually pretty excited about this program too, as I have heard great things about it.

We will supplement when we feel like it with Explode the Code because SC likes it, but it won't be something I schedule into our regular schedule.

To go along with All About Reading we will also be using All About Spelling Level 1, though I am still unsure how to schedule these together.  I have read that some people start AAR and then later start AAS, but others seem to do them simultaneously.

We are still working slowly on A Reason for Handwriting level A, though that is due more to the fact that it is something to be done five days per week and we have only been schooling three days (when we stick to a schedule at all) rather than SC not wanting to or lacking the fine motor skills.  In fact, she writes daily when she makes "cards" for AC and I, or doing other schoolwork.  We will continue level A this fall (and hope we can get it done daily) and then move on to level B when we get there.

Another thing we will add in is some time working on writing, and specifically creating a narrative.  I saw WriteShop Primary at the Homeschool Book Fair, but there was just so much extra stuff that wasn't really writing that I decided against it.  So, I am sort-of modifying the Draw-Write-Now program to take the pictures, allowing SC to draw them as part of her "publication" (as well as practice following precise instructions), but then using that picture to create a story.  We will start by just copying the "handwriting" portion, and then build on that, brainstorming characters, plot, and making sure there is a beginning, middle and end.  We did the first lesson this summer as a trial and SC kept asking to get back to "Happy Mrs. Chicken."

Finally, as SC has been manipulating words and loves that they have classifications, I have decided to add in some light grammar once a week.  We will be reading Grammar-Land, the first third of Primary Language Lessons, and using the Critical Thinking Company's Language Smarts level B as a supplement.  I don't expect 100% mastery in this area, but I think she will enjoy it.



For our current list of prospective read-aloud books, check out this late summer post.

HISTORY

We started using the History Odyssey "Ancients" Level 1 last fall and I absolutely loved it.  However, it was just too much work for SC, and I really wasn't prepared to do all the activities  (and how much time it was taking) last year.  This year, I have planned three forty-minute sessions during the week, which should be ample time to complete everything.  We will probably start back at the beginning, as we only made it to week three last fall before shelving it.



MATH

We started Singapore Primary Mathematics level 1A at the end of last spring when we realized Math-U-See was not a good fit, and my hope over the summer was that we would be ready to start 1B for this fall.  However, we have been having a fun summer, and though we have done some math, we are not ready for 1B yet.  So, we will finish 1A first and then start on 1B.  However, I must say that this program is working very well with us and where SC refused to use the manipulatives to do the work for Math-U-See, she loves the other ways that are taught in Singapore (like using a number line).  We have also purchased some magnetic foam counters to use on the whiteboard and she has to come up and move them around to "show" me what she has been learning.  They have been a wonderful purchase!

We will be doing more of the Challenging Word Problems book, which we have not really touched, along with Process Skills in Problem Solving level 1.  We will also be starting up Life of Fred Apples, reading one lesson per week for "fun."

We will continue to work on Lollipop Logic books, plus Connections: Activities for Deductive Thinking once per week.

SCIENCE

Last year I bought Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy to try, and it was just too demanding for SC, even using the Junior Notebooking Journal.  We shelved it before we even finished the first week (when it asked for her to create a mnemonic phrase to memorize the order of the planets).  I still think it will be a bit much for her this year, but I discovered a set of "change" themed units by the Center for Gifted Education that are K-1 level and look perfect.  There are three units of twelve lessons each, which will be perfect for our year.  First we will do Survive and Thrive, which covers life science; then we will do Water Works, which covers physical science; finally we will finish up with How the Sun Makes Our Day, the Earth science unit.  Hopefully this will be a good transition into the Apologia Astronomy next year.  Also, we did get a membership to the Perot Museum, and have many field trips planned for this year already, as well as to the nearby zoo.

SPANISH

I hope you aren't reading this and wondering what happened to our learning French last year.  Needless to say, I definitely over-scheduled what would work for a four-year-old.  We have decided to switch to Spanish, however, instead of just trying again with the French sitting on the shelf, because SC has really noticed that there are quite a few people in Texas who speak Spanish and wants to learn it.  At the Homeschool Book Fair I came across the SongSchool Spanish program and it looked like a fun introduction to the language.  Coupled with Muzzy DVDs from the library, some books of coloring pages and other printables, flashcards, Oh, Noah! and Salsa on the computer, hopefully we will be set for success.

MUSIC / PHYSICAL EDUCATION / ART

SC started piano lessons last fall, but struggled with "waiting for the other kids to catch up" because she picked up what the instructor was teaching so quickly.  We tried moving to private lessons, but it was with a new instructor who just could not handle SC and her mobility.  After waiting all through the spring semester for the original instructor to still not have space, she recommended another teacher and this one is very good with SC.  We went for a few trial lessons over the summer and are now waiting expectantly for lessons to start back up at the end of August.

For physical education, SC will be attending gymnastics, swimming lessons (her favorite), and dance class twice per week.  I am also trying to institute a "walk-the-dog" ritual in the morning (more for my physical education than hers), but it won't happen until it is no longer over 100 degrees!

While we will not be doing formal "art" instruction this year, our Bible program includes many art history studies/projects, as does the History Odyssey program.  She will be creating art with the Draw.Write.Now books to accompany her writing, as well as at other random times throughout our weeks for her own personal reason (she likes to make cards for people).  Also, I have a number of Dover coloring books that cover the history of art and some of the "great" artists, and we will utilize these in conjunction with various other subjects and read-alouds.

I realize this seems like quite a bit, but it really does fit into the schedule outlined above (I will do a more thorough post in a couple of weeks as to what our days will actually look like).  The only thing I haven't included here are the audiobooks (read-alouds) that we will be doing thrice a week, but I have written a separate post about that.  We are also going to finish off our week on Saturday mornings by having a traditional British elevenses and listening to some classical music.

What does your new school year look like?  Have you used any of these programs, and did you love them/hate them?  Leave a comment and let me know!

I am also linking up with the 5th Annual "Not Back-to-School" Blog Hop from iHomeschool Network.

Top Ten Tuesday: "So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away..." Summer 2013

So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.

-Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Well, things have changed over the course of the last year and I have learned quite a bit about SC, her learning style, and what type of curriculum will work for us.  If you read my curriculum post from the beginning of this past school year, I said something very similar.  Who knew that kids keep changing as they grow up!  I will go into more detail about the changes for next fall in a later post, but I wanted to highlight the few things we will be working on over the summer.  Honestly, I was never a child who loved summer "break."  I liked having a short break from school, but I quickly got bored with daytime tv (I am probably one of the few people who really does not like The Price is Right) and I was ready to go back to school.  I don't quite know how summer with SC would look without doing some sort of schooling at home, but I do know she hasn't stopped asking to do school yet for more than a day or so break, and I am not inclined to force her to quit just because the public schools happen to give their teachers time "off."

So, here are the few things we will be working on for the summer, plus some fun activities.  Any new curriculum I will give an overview of, but if you want more details about some of the things we are continuing, check them out here.

1. BIBLE

For Bible lessons we will be continuing with the "Beginner" pages from Bible Study for All Ages.  I like this program because I am actually reading straight from the Bible to SC, and reading whole chapters, not just what some might consider familiar stories.  However, I will be switching to another program in the fall that I think will actually fit our family even better.  More on that when it is closer to fall.

2. PHONICS / READING

We are on Book 2 of the Explode the Code series, and should finish that this summer.  We are using Explode the Code more of a supplement than an actual core curriculum and will continue this way in the fall with a new reading program. 

We only have Collection 3 left of the BOB Books, and with our new reading challenge in place, I think it will only be a matter of days before we are completely done with these.  We have a large quantity of the I Can Read!  books that I am trying to guide her toward.  She is really apprehensive to read anything other than BOB books, but the reading challenge, for now, has given her a little push in the direction of at least trying.


3. WRITING / SPELLING

We are working on A Reason for Handwriting level A, which has Bible verses to work on as practice.  She really likes doing "day 5," which is creating her Bible verse on a coloring sheet to give to someone (usually AC).  We got way off schedule with this, so we will go through into fall and start level B once we get there.

In conjunction with the Bible verses in A Reason for Handwriting level A is the spelling lessons in A Reason for Spelling level A.  We are using this for the summer, but in the fall will switch to something that goes along with the new reading program instead.

  

4. MATH / LOGIC

 We switched away from Math-U-See at the end of last year when it was becoming a struggle to get SC to do the problems with the manipulatives.  She also seemed to all of a sudden be much further past where the program was.  After some research, we started Singapore Math Primary Mathematics level 1A and it has so far been a great fit.  We will continue through the summer and start level 1B in the fall.  We will also be adding some Lollipop Logic, mazes and other critical thinking activities.

5. SCIENCE / HISTORY

Instead of working on a curriculum for science and history this summer, we will be spending a lot of time going on field trips to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and the Fort Worth Zoo.  We have already been to the Perot once, and had a great time, including getting to see James Cameron's DEEPSEA Challenger submarine.

6. SPANISH

We attempted to begin French last year, but having a curriculum to follow just ended up being too much for SC at 4 years old.  So, we took a break, and since then, she has actually asked if we can learn Spanish first instead.  We live in Texas, so there are many people we come across who speak it, and opportunities for practice.  Also, our sponsored Compassion child lives in a Spanish-speaking country, which  has helped spark some interest.  For the summer we will be watching Muzzy dvds and  Little Pim dvds, all free from the library.



7. MUSIC

Last fall we started a group "piano readiness" class at a local university and it will both well and not-so well.  SC picked up on things very quickly, which was great, but then didn't have the patience to wait for the other students to catch up.  She would spend her waiting time wandering the teacher's office and trying to figure out how to get the other pianos (keyboards) or other mechanical devices to come on.  The teacher loved SC, but recommended she switch to private lessons.  Unfortunately, this teacher did not have space to teach SC herself and we tried a graduate student, which was not a good fit.  So, the original teacher has recommended another teacher (who is even closer to our home), and after a trial lesson last week, we will be starting weekly lessons.  I am very excited, and so is SC, who loves to sit and just play on our piano at home.


8. PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Though dance comes to an end for the summer, gymnastics does not.  SC will be taking one gymnastics lesson a week.  She is also enrolled in swim lessons for the summer, and we will probably continue in the fall.  We started SC in swim lessons when she was one year old in a "parent-n-me" style class, and we continued until last summer, when the place we had been attending switched management and got rid of our favorite teacher.  Now, a year later, we have found another place we really like, and SC is thrilled to get to swim again.


9. CAMP

The preschool SC has been attending holds a twice a week summer camp that runs the same times during the day as the preschool was.  This year the theme is "Under the Big Top," and SC is very excited to see what sort of activities this circus theme will entail.  I love that the school holds this camp, because I really like having a little time to myself each week to do things that I cannot necessarily get done efficiently with SC in tow (even if that is just sitting at the bookstore and reading a book for a few hours).  Next year the school will also have a "bridge" kindergarten class twice a week that SC will attend, which will give us a good chance to give real homeschooling a try, but still keep things similar to how they have been in the past, making the change a little less.


10. SWIMMING

I know I mentioned swim lessons, but we will also be spending a large amount of time at grandma's pool, as well as the local waterpark that has an amazing area for smaller children.  We bought a season pass there last year at the recommendation of a few people, and it was great to have that, because we could go a few times a week for just a little while and not feel we had wasted the large entrance fee.  


What are your plans for summer?  Are you doing any school or summer bridge activities?  Leave a comment, and then check out some other Top Ten Tuesday posts here:

Thankful Thursday: "The curriculum is so much necessary raw material ..."

"The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, 

but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."

-Carl Jung

This week, I am hugely thankful that our curriculum order arrived from Rainbow Resource.  Last week it was held due to one item on backorder.  Well, that one item did not arrive, but the rest of it did. So, next week I will be focusing on planning out our year and, hopefully, the week after that (September 24) we will have our first official day!  I guess that is a big plus for homeschooling - no need to stress that our supplies did not arrive on time, because we can just figure it out on our own timeline.

By the way, SC's favorite thing to come out of the box was ... the air packs and brown paper that kept everything from moving around during shipping.  Yay for simple pleasures.

Curriculum 2012-2013: K4

Since we started to homeschool PreK officially in January, we are really only mid-way through our first  whole year.  However, we have learned quite a bit about what we like, what we do not like, how SC learns, and the direction we want to head, so we will be making some changes and additions for this 2012-2013 year, which I am considering a K4/1st year.  For those who did not read my first post, I will briefly sum up the decisions made and what we have already done as I move into what (I hope) this year will bring.

BIBLE

For Bible lessons we will be continuing with the "Beginner" pages from Bible Study for All Ages.  I really like this program because I am actually reading straight from the Bible to SC, and reading whole chapters, not just what some might consider familiar stories.  It has each reading broken down into five or six blocks to color, with questions and a summary that is very age appropriate.  Then, it has a short story that helps the young student relate it to life, plus a coloring page to go with that story as well.

PHONICS / READING / WRITING / SPELLING

We have already finished Get Ready and are most of the way through Get Set from the Explode the Code series.  Even though SC is really strong on her letters and their sounds, I think it couldn't hurt to finish the Go for the Code book before moving on to Books 1 - 4 of the series.  I have been doing a "letter of the week" along with a read aloud that focuses on that letter as well.  We are also thinking about using the online program if we have extra funds after the rest of our school supplies are purchased for the year.

For reading we have been going through Collection 1 and the K/1st Sight Words Collection from BOB Books.  We will continue with this, plus add in I Can Read!  books that we have and others like that.  For read alouds, I plan to create a list that backs up the history program I have chosen, as well as adding in some classic literature.  SC is fairly jumpy, so we do not get very far when we cuddle up on the couch to read.  My goal is to work our way up to her being able to listen for a thirty-minute session.

We are in the middle of A Reason for Handwriting level K and it has been a very easy introduction for SC to writing.  I do not push her too hard to make the letters perfect, but I do know what she is capable of.  She tends to get silly when she writes (turning her letters into people, adding "babies" for the letters to take care of, adding bugs or monsters for the letters to run from), so only having one letter to focus on each day helps her to get at least a few that are good.  I have started circling the ones that are really good, and she loves that, so she strives to get a few good ones before decorating.  When we are done with level K, we will move on to level A, which has Bible verses to work on as practice.

In conjunction with the Bible verses in A Reason for Handwriting level A is the spelling lessons in A Reason for Spelling level A.  We will not start working on spelling until we can start level A handwriting at the same time.  I am interested to see how this program works together, with the spelling words coming from a story that is based on the Bible verse, which is the verse she will be practicing writing.

HISTORY

Not really liking Before Five in a Row for us, I was in the market for a new main curriculum.  I had a friend who suggested Sonlight as a good literature-based core program.  I looked into that, and had actually decided on it, but as I was searching through the great Well-Trained Mind forums, someone mentioned History Odyssey and I absolutely loved the look of it.  The one problem I was having with Sonlight was that I personally think history needs to be taught from the beginning on, and like all subjects, taught deeply rather than widely.  I have never liked "survey" courses, even when I was in school.  Sonlight's Core A, which is where I felt SC should start, teaches history from the beginning all the way through to WWII.  I couldn't help but wonder how much SC would actually get out of a history that goes that fast.  So, we will be starting Ancients Level 1in September.
  
MATH

We are also halfway through the "Primer" level of Math-U-See, and will start the "Alpha" level.  I really like this math curriculum because it makes so much more sense to me than how I learned even things like addition.  In "Primer" has gently introduced SC to addition, but not in a way that she is counting, but in a conceptual way that she is "knowing."  For example, 2 + 3 = 5 is not 1, 2 plus 3, 4, 5 equals 5, but 2 and 3 together are equal to (or the same as) 5.  I doubt the way I explained that makes any sense, but I am so un-mathematical that I cannot explain it any better.  Anyhow, I am really looking forward to moving her on to Alpha and getting deeper into math.  We will also be adding some Lollipop Logic, mazes and other critical thinking activities.

SCIENCE

Science was another area that I really did not like the way Sonlight blended multiple areas of the sciences together in a wide, rather than deep, focus.  After research on many blogs and forums, I decided that we would give Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy a try for this year.  I have read many, many great reviews, and was able to physically take a look at both the text and the junior notebooking journal, and it looks like it will be perfect for SC's first taste of real science.  We are contemplating getting a membership to the local Natural Science and History Museum so we can take advantage of both the astronomy exhibits and the planetarium, but like the online Explode the Code, it will depend on how much of our budget is left after purchasing supplies.



FRENCH

While I appreciate and understand the reasoning behind the classical learning model to teach Latin so that students may read the great thinkers in the original, for our family, we are going in a different direction.  SC already has very worldly ambitions and loves learning about other places, so we have decided to teach French to her as a beginning second language.  Part of this decision had to do with the fact that my father-in-law is fluent, so we have someone we can pester about things and to practice with.  Part of it had to do with my own desire to learn French, and I think that doing it alongside SC would be great.  So, after much research, we have chosen to use Le Francais Facile! junior level, plus Little Pim dvds from the library and any worksheets or coloring books we can use to supplement with.



MUSIC / PHYSICAL EDUCATION

I am very excited that I just signed up SC for a piano readiness class at a local university.  I had attempted to teach her piano fundamentals on my own, but it had been so long since I had taken lessons myself, I just couldn't keep up with her desire to learn.  After much searching, I finally found this "early education" music class that actually teaches piano (and not simply "music appreciation") to four-year-olds.  SC also takes two dance classes each week, plus also attends a gymnastics class.


If anyone has any questions or wants to offer advice or just their own opinions on any of the choices I have made, I would love to hear from you!