So, I think there's maybe one person following this blog -- hello, Mandy. But for you, I just wanted to let you know that I realized it doesn't make sense for me to maintain two blogs. Homeschooling is part of our family life for now and I already have a family blog. I also realized I get bored writing primarily about organization on the blog -- it doesn't work for me as well as I pictured it would or as well as it seems to for others. And when it's not pure organization then I usually feel like it belongs on my family blog. So if you want to do know what's up with us -- homeschooling and all -- you're welcome to visit us on our family blog at whatinthehootenanny.blogspot.com.
Thanks!
Keegan
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Week 3 Reflections
We're on our third week of homeschooling, and I'm noticing that the novelty is beginning to wear off. The kids are more rambunctious, and there is a little more power play going on between me and Mario (5) again. It's soured the last few days a little. But these moments of irritation and butting heads aren't the whole of our school experience. They are also interspersed with the kids enthusiastically asking for a new goal chart to set their second goal of the year after completing their first; or they are interspersed with Mario surprising me by finishing a sheet of math when some friends came over to play and I told him he was free to go (after which he went exploring through a maze with them, dodging bad guys and smiling from ear to ear); and they are interspersed with us browsing a book about the body and reading most of a book about germs. So does every day, every moment go perfectly? No. Still, overall I'm glad we're doing it and, despite the frustrations of this week, I think we can still call it a success.
On Tuesday evening, I was reading The Well-Trained Mind now that I have my own copy, and I was highlighting/taking notes, etc as I read. Wise and Bauer's philosophy is that you spend the first five years of your child's life surrounding them with language and making them familiar with numbers. During that time, she also believes you should teach them to read. She does not promote formal preschool or even kindergarten. It was comforting to remind myself of that this week. Right now, my goals are to help Mario to read, for me to read to my kids a lot, to familiarize them with math, and to encourage curiosity. If I'm doing those things right now at the 4k preschool level, then my kids are going to be just fine. I also remind myself that playing is learning at this age, so if I get out blocks to talk about shapes and my kids only listen to my explanations and only do what I suggest for a minute, and then start building with them, then they are still learning about shapes.
On Tuesday evening, I was reading The Well-Trained Mind now that I have my own copy, and I was highlighting/taking notes, etc as I read. Wise and Bauer's philosophy is that you spend the first five years of your child's life surrounding them with language and making them familiar with numbers. During that time, she also believes you should teach them to read. She does not promote formal preschool or even kindergarten. It was comforting to remind myself of that this week. Right now, my goals are to help Mario to read, for me to read to my kids a lot, to familiarize them with math, and to encourage curiosity. If I'm doing those things right now at the 4k preschool level, then my kids are going to be just fine. I also remind myself that playing is learning at this age, so if I get out blocks to talk about shapes and my kids only listen to my explanations and only do what I suggest for a minute, and then start building with them, then they are still learning about shapes.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Introducing the World
This week, I started introducing the concept of continents. Mario (5) learned a song last semester about seven days in the week, so remembering that there are seven continents seems to be simple for him. Just by chance, it happened that one of the books we got from the library was a book with maps from around the world. The first section just had lots of discussion about maps and a view of different maps. Then the rest of the sections were divided into continents -- perfect! So our social studies this unit is going like this.
Day 1 -- Introducing the World
-- look at a large world map (we have one up in our play room); discuss how the earth is divided into seven continents
-- look at different kinds of maps; talk about the different things a map can show (political divisions, population, geographic markings, etc.)
Day 2 -- Introducing Asia
-- Look at the section on Asia in National Geographic's Student Atlas of the World (checked out from the library)
-- Look at the section on Asia in What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know
-- Read a story that originates in Asia either from WEKNTK or from the library
Day 3 -- Introducing Europe
(Follow pattern from Day 2 and continue that through Day 7.)
Day 4 -- Introducing Africa
Day 5 -- Introducing Australia
Day 6 -- Introducing South America
Day 7 -- Introducing North America
(I purposefully ended with North America. In The Well-Trained Mind, the authors suggest that early focus on the familiar, the local, the present encourages ethnocentrism. My taking this approach was a simple way to start with the unfamiliar to make it more familiar and then end with the local.)
Day 8 -- Review the World
-- Look at a globe and try to find the different continents. Talk about where they are in relation to each other and some things that are unique about them.
Day 1 -- Introducing the World
-- look at a large world map (we have one up in our play room); discuss how the earth is divided into seven continents
-- look at different kinds of maps; talk about the different things a map can show (political divisions, population, geographic markings, etc.)
Day 2 -- Introducing Asia
-- Look at the section on Asia in National Geographic's Student Atlas of the World (checked out from the library)
-- Look at the section on Asia in What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know
-- Read a story that originates in Asia either from WEKNTK or from the library
Day 3 -- Introducing Europe
(Follow pattern from Day 2 and continue that through Day 7.)
Day 4 -- Introducing Africa
Day 5 -- Introducing Australia
Day 6 -- Introducing South America
Day 7 -- Introducing North America
(I purposefully ended with North America. In The Well-Trained Mind, the authors suggest that early focus on the familiar, the local, the present encourages ethnocentrism. My taking this approach was a simple way to start with the unfamiliar to make it more familiar and then end with the local.)
Day 8 -- Review the World
-- Look at a globe and try to find the different continents. Talk about where they are in relation to each other and some things that are unique about them.
Language Arts
Since we have the reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary etc. all mixed together, I'm just including them all in one post. So far, this is what we're doing.
a. Doing one lesson out of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
b. Writing a daily "note" to Dad in a kindergarten notebook with lines and dashes. Patrick reads them every evening and writes a sentence back for Mario (5) to read. I bought a book for Sprecher (3) because he didn't want to be left out. He dictates a sentence to me and I write it for him. There was some debate about whether or not to have Mario spell correctly, but we decided not to stress about it. I help him sound out the word and if he uses a 'c' in place of a 'k' all the better to see his improvement in a year or two. This way he's practicing sounding out words and he's getting fine motor practice.
c. Have Mario read some out of a book daily. We've liked Elephant & Piggie books for this purpose as well as Pete the Cat books.
d. Read several to the kids. Based on a suggestion in What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know, I've been focusing on nursery rhymes, poems, and fairy tales especially. The fairy tales have been tied in with social studies because I tried to choose a story from the continent we're learning about. For the second time I checked out Poems to Learn by Heart by Caroline Kennedy from the library. I really like it. The kids have seemed to enjoy "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "Casey at the Bat" as well as "Casey's Revenge." We don't stress about reading every poem. We just pick out ones here and there. And we don't read poetry every day.
a. Doing one lesson out of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
b. Writing a daily "note" to Dad in a kindergarten notebook with lines and dashes. Patrick reads them every evening and writes a sentence back for Mario (5) to read. I bought a book for Sprecher (3) because he didn't want to be left out. He dictates a sentence to me and I write it for him. There was some debate about whether or not to have Mario spell correctly, but we decided not to stress about it. I help him sound out the word and if he uses a 'c' in place of a 'k' all the better to see his improvement in a year or two. This way he's practicing sounding out words and he's getting fine motor practice.
c. Have Mario read some out of a book daily. We've liked Elephant & Piggie books for this purpose as well as Pete the Cat books.
d. Read several to the kids. Based on a suggestion in What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know, I've been focusing on nursery rhymes, poems, and fairy tales especially. The fairy tales have been tied in with social studies because I tried to choose a story from the continent we're learning about. For the second time I checked out Poems to Learn by Heart by Caroline Kennedy from the library. I really like it. The kids have seemed to enjoy "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "Casey at the Bat" as well as "Casey's Revenge." We don't stress about reading every poem. We just pick out ones here and there. And we don't read poetry every day.
Fine Arts: Music
I've decided Tuesday and Thursday will be our music days. I will be using Lives of the Great Musicians by Kathleen Krull with illustrations by Kathryn Hewitt. My mom got this for me when I was a kid taking music lessons.
Tuesday
a. Read a biography.
b. Listen to a piece by the musician.
(First we tried to sit quietly and listen. Then we listened again moving. I've been trying to play Vivaldi around the house throughout the day, but I doubt the kids would ever recognize it while we were out and about if they suddenly heard it. Nor would I for that matter. This sort of thing isn't really my strong suit. In any case, it's a start.)
Thursdays
a. Talk about a music concept.
(I'm not sure I have enough knowledge or material on my own to keep this up at my kids' level. Today we didn't have a discussion actually. We just skipped to b. However, adding in an a sometimes would be good.)
b. Sing fun kid songs.
(Today we sang the "Hoky Poky" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," and we did the little finger play song Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree.)
Tuesday
a. Read a biography.
b. Listen to a piece by the musician.
(First we tried to sit quietly and listen. Then we listened again moving. I've been trying to play Vivaldi around the house throughout the day, but I doubt the kids would ever recognize it while we were out and about if they suddenly heard it. Nor would I for that matter. This sort of thing isn't really my strong suit. In any case, it's a start.)
Thursdays
a. Talk about a music concept.
(I'm not sure I have enough knowledge or material on my own to keep this up at my kids' level. Today we didn't have a discussion actually. We just skipped to b. However, adding in an a sometimes would be good.)
b. Sing fun kid songs.
(Today we sang the "Hoky Poky" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," and we did the little finger play song Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree.)
Fine Arts: Art
I've decided Monday and Wednesday will be our art days. I will be using Lives of the Great Artists by Kathleen Krull with illustrations by Kathryn Hewitt. Conveniently, we already had this because we picked it up years ago at a sale to match the musician book I already had from my childhood.
Mondays
a. Read a biography.
b. Look at works by the artist.
(We browsed the works of Da vinci on the computer because the book I have talks about his life and works, but it doesn't have examples of his work. I would prefer to find a book with examples.)
c. Do something hands-on.
(This week it was play-doh.)
Wednesdays
a. Talk about an art concept.
(I'm not sure I have enough knowledge or material on my own to keep this up at my kids' level. I used What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know to talk about warm and cool colors this week.)
b. Do something hands-on.
(This week it was painting on the easel.)
a. Read a biography.
b. Look at works by the artist.
(We browsed the works of Da vinci on the computer because the book I have talks about his life and works, but it doesn't have examples of his work. I would prefer to find a book with examples.)
c. Do something hands-on.
(This week it was play-doh.)
Wednesdays
a. Talk about an art concept.
(I'm not sure I have enough knowledge or material on my own to keep this up at my kids' level. I used What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know to talk about warm and cool colors this week.)
b. Do something hands-on.
(This week it was painting on the easel.)
Shapes Activities
I was pretty pleased with the varying shape activities we came up with for this theme this week. I thought it would be helpful next time I work on shapes with my kids. It was nice because I could do things for the different levels the boys are at.
1. Color the shapes.
a. Cut out shapes and glue them on paper so that there can be different examples of rectangles and triangles especially.
b. Cut out free-standing shapes to accentuate the lines even more. Then the child is holding just a circle, etc. That way it's tactile as well as visual. I did this with card stock, but it would have been good with cardboard to make the shape stand out even more.
2. Create shape pictures.
Notes: We have a game for this, but with different-shaped blocks, this could be done even without the pictures.
3. Reach in a paper sack for shapes.
a. For my three-year-old, he could look in and pull it out and try to identify it.
b. For my five-year-old, I told him a shape to search for and had him try to find it by touch. He already knows the shapes, but it helped him be involved and have fun with it.
Notes: Items I gathered: a ball, some blocks, some foam shapes from the game mentioned in #1, a quarter, a note card, a puzzle piece.
4. Race for shapes.
Notes: Start in one spot. In one direction (for the three-year-old) have the physical shapes. In the other direction (for the five-year-old) have the written words. Send them for a shape and have them "race" back. However, I did emphasize that they weren't racing each other. They were just trying to be as fast as they could be.
5. Hunt for shapes.
Notes: I made my hands into binoculars, but it could be cute to glue toilet paper rolls together for the purpose. Anyway, we called ourselves explorers and we went looking for shapes. We did one at a time. First, we hunted for circles. Then squares, etc. "Do you see any interesting examples of that specimen? Oh, look a triangle!"
Other ideas we didn't end up trying, but might be good:
-- trying to make the shapes with our bodies
-- using some dice that have shapes on them (either the shapes or the words) --> the kids roll the dice and identify which shape it is
1. Color the shapes.
a. Cut out shapes and glue them on paper so that there can be different examples of rectangles and triangles especially.
b. Cut out free-standing shapes to accentuate the lines even more. Then the child is holding just a circle, etc. That way it's tactile as well as visual. I did this with card stock, but it would have been good with cardboard to make the shape stand out even more.
2. Create shape pictures.
Notes: We have a game for this, but with different-shaped blocks, this could be done even without the pictures.
3. Reach in a paper sack for shapes.
a. For my three-year-old, he could look in and pull it out and try to identify it.
b. For my five-year-old, I told him a shape to search for and had him try to find it by touch. He already knows the shapes, but it helped him be involved and have fun with it.
Notes: Items I gathered: a ball, some blocks, some foam shapes from the game mentioned in #1, a quarter, a note card, a puzzle piece.
4. Race for shapes.
Notes: Start in one spot. In one direction (for the three-year-old) have the physical shapes. In the other direction (for the five-year-old) have the written words. Send them for a shape and have them "race" back. However, I did emphasize that they weren't racing each other. They were just trying to be as fast as they could be.
5. Hunt for shapes.
Notes: I made my hands into binoculars, but it could be cute to glue toilet paper rolls together for the purpose. Anyway, we called ourselves explorers and we went looking for shapes. We did one at a time. First, we hunted for circles. Then squares, etc. "Do you see any interesting examples of that specimen? Oh, look a triangle!"
Other ideas we didn't end up trying, but might be good:
-- trying to make the shapes with our bodies
-- using some dice that have shapes on them (either the shapes or the words) --> the kids roll the dice and identify which shape it is
Monday, January 6, 2014
Day 1: The Homeschool Adventure Begins
We got started just a little after 8:30 today. (My goal is to start soon after baby Dash goes down for a nap.)
I. Reading/Writing
I'm working on shapes with Sprecher (3) this week. He can draw a fantastic circle, but he can't consistently state that it's a circle. For the other basic shapes (triangle, rectangle, and square), he can neither draw nor describe them. So I gave him four different pieces of construction paper, each with a different shape featured on it. I included the word for the shape. Although I know that means almost nothing to him, I did it more for Mario's (5) benefit because it was relevant to an activity I had planned for the end of school time. While I worked on reading with Mario, Sprecher was given those to color on and I tried to make sure to take a break long enough to state the shape and describe some features of it.
Mario completed lesson 41 of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons today. It's worked pretty well for him and the pace of one lesson a day is just right for him now. Earlier on, we sometimes did two lessons, but we haven't for about ten or fifteen lessons now. Afterwards, we started a new activity. At Walmart recently, I picked up a Kindergarten notebook that has a half-page empty for an illustration and the bottom half of the page is lined with Kindergarten lines for writing in. Patrick and I agreed that he and Mario would keep up a little correspondence. Mario's message today was: "hidad. Iluvyu. Todartnwwerlrningtwrit." (Among other things, we need to work on spacing out words.) I was only planning on encouraging him to write one sentence -- and "hidad" would have been okay with me, but he was excited with the activity and went much longer than I expected.
II. Carpet Time
In my planning notebook, I referred to the next stage at "carpet time" and, in fact, I have carpets I kept from when we participated in Joy School. But really it became couch time because it's just my two little boys and we could all cuddle up next to each other it -- oh, how I'm beginning to love homeschooling!
For my birthday, my mom got me a school clock/calendar, so we did that. Then we read a short story from the last General Conference. Finally, we read a story from the Joy School curriculum. We're just picking up where they have it at because they plan it well according to seasons and holidays. For the start of the year the topic is the Joy of Order & Goal Striving. So we read a story about a boy who set and achieved a goal and then set and achieved an even harder goal. We're building up to them choosing a goal to work on.
III. Fine Arts: Art
I have two great biography books, one called Lives of the Artists and one called Lives of the Musicians. We read about Leonardo Da Vinci today. The books are pretty advanced for my kids and there was plenty that they didn't understand, but we talked about some new words and the kids really enjoy the caricature illustration style. We followed this up by playing with play doh.
If I managed to plan better, I would try to find a book that was full of pictures of the actual work of the artist. They are familiar with Mona Lisa, so at least there was something they could connect Da Vinci to, but more connections would have been better.
IV. Math
For math today we used the shape activity Mario got for his birthday. There is a picture of a bird, or a boat, or a castle that is made up of shapes. Then there are foam shapes to put into place to create the picture yourself. I just brought this out as they were starting to wrap up the play doh. Unfortunately, I couldn't work on it with them as much as I wanted because Dash woke up from his nap and needed to be fed, so I fed him in his high chair and tried to help, but my contributions were limited. They would have lasted longer if I'd been able to work on them with them.
V. Social Studies/Reading
For social studies, we went upstairs to our playroom where we have a big world map and I told them there are seven continents. They I put my hand on each one while we counted them. I had a great book I stumbled on at the library by National Geographic that we then looked at to see all the different kinds of maps that can be made about the earth. We flipped through that longer than I expected because Mario was pretty curious about each one. (Sprecher could have finished that much faster.)
Afterwards, Mario and I read Happy Pig Day (an Elephant & Piggie book) together. He read Gerald's parts and I read all of the pig-like characters. These books are great for beginning readers when used that way.
Next, I used What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know to read through the nursery rhymes and short poems they had there. I was actually surprised that Sprecher wasn't familiar with more of them, so I will work on bringing them into our day more just for fun. Mario did know quite a few.
VI. Active Learning
This was my favorite activity today. I had a collection of a bunch of different shaped blocks upstairs. In the basement, I had slips of paper laid out on a large plastic tote with the names of the shapes. We all started from the main floor in the living room. I then told the kids a shape and Sprecher ran upstairs to choose a block and Mario ran downstairs to find the word. Sprecher needed help for pretty much all of them (especially because blocks are trickier than just 2-dimensional figures for 2-dimensional shapes), but Mario could do them all. This wasn't because he knew the spelling of each of the words, but he did know what they started with and most of the time that's all he needed. Once they found what they were looking for, they brought it back down to the living room and matched it together on our little black table. Then I sent them off for another one. I was really pleased with this activity.
I. Reading/Writing
I'm working on shapes with Sprecher (3) this week. He can draw a fantastic circle, but he can't consistently state that it's a circle. For the other basic shapes (triangle, rectangle, and square), he can neither draw nor describe them. So I gave him four different pieces of construction paper, each with a different shape featured on it. I included the word for the shape. Although I know that means almost nothing to him, I did it more for Mario's (5) benefit because it was relevant to an activity I had planned for the end of school time. While I worked on reading with Mario, Sprecher was given those to color on and I tried to make sure to take a break long enough to state the shape and describe some features of it.
II. Carpet Time
In my planning notebook, I referred to the next stage at "carpet time" and, in fact, I have carpets I kept from when we participated in Joy School. But really it became couch time because it's just my two little boys and we could all cuddle up next to each other it -- oh, how I'm beginning to love homeschooling!
For my birthday, my mom got me a school clock/calendar, so we did that. Then we read a short story from the last General Conference. Finally, we read a story from the Joy School curriculum. We're just picking up where they have it at because they plan it well according to seasons and holidays. For the start of the year the topic is the Joy of Order & Goal Striving. So we read a story about a boy who set and achieved a goal and then set and achieved an even harder goal. We're building up to them choosing a goal to work on.
III. Fine Arts: Art
I have two great biography books, one called Lives of the Artists and one called Lives of the Musicians. We read about Leonardo Da Vinci today. The books are pretty advanced for my kids and there was plenty that they didn't understand, but we talked about some new words and the kids really enjoy the caricature illustration style. We followed this up by playing with play doh.
If I managed to plan better, I would try to find a book that was full of pictures of the actual work of the artist. They are familiar with Mona Lisa, so at least there was something they could connect Da Vinci to, but more connections would have been better.
IV. Math
For math today we used the shape activity Mario got for his birthday. There is a picture of a bird, or a boat, or a castle that is made up of shapes. Then there are foam shapes to put into place to create the picture yourself. I just brought this out as they were starting to wrap up the play doh. Unfortunately, I couldn't work on it with them as much as I wanted because Dash woke up from his nap and needed to be fed, so I fed him in his high chair and tried to help, but my contributions were limited. They would have lasted longer if I'd been able to work on them with them.
V. Social Studies/Reading
For social studies, we went upstairs to our playroom where we have a big world map and I told them there are seven continents. They I put my hand on each one while we counted them. I had a great book I stumbled on at the library by National Geographic that we then looked at to see all the different kinds of maps that can be made about the earth. We flipped through that longer than I expected because Mario was pretty curious about each one. (Sprecher could have finished that much faster.)
Afterwards, Mario and I read Happy Pig Day (an Elephant & Piggie book) together. He read Gerald's parts and I read all of the pig-like characters. These books are great for beginning readers when used that way.
Next, I used What Every Kindergartener Needs to Know to read through the nursery rhymes and short poems they had there. I was actually surprised that Sprecher wasn't familiar with more of them, so I will work on bringing them into our day more just for fun. Mario did know quite a few.
VI. Active Learning
This was my favorite activity today. I had a collection of a bunch of different shaped blocks upstairs. In the basement, I had slips of paper laid out on a large plastic tote with the names of the shapes. We all started from the main floor in the living room. I then told the kids a shape and Sprecher ran upstairs to choose a block and Mario ran downstairs to find the word. Sprecher needed help for pretty much all of them (especially because blocks are trickier than just 2-dimensional figures for 2-dimensional shapes), but Mario could do them all. This wasn't because he knew the spelling of each of the words, but he did know what they started with and most of the time that's all he needed. Once they found what they were looking for, they brought it back down to the living room and matched it together on our little black table. Then I sent them off for another one. I was really pleased with this activity.
The day would have been perfect . . . if only Mario hadn't thrown up right around dinnertime. Poor buddy! There may be more R&R than school tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see how he's doing in the morning.
Resources for Math
As I'm making lesson plans, I thought it would be helpful for me to keep track of what resources are available to me.
Resources We Own
1. cuseinaire rods
- pre-k booklet at http://nurturedbylove.blogspot.com/2008/12/cuisenaire-discovery-book.html
- addition/subtraction worksheet http://www.helpingwithmath.com/printables/worksheets/addition-subtraction/1oa6-addition-subtraction08.htm
2. Sum Swamp (board game)
3. shape building
(I threw away the box for this because it was kind of flimsy, so I don't know what it's called, but it's a great activity Mario was given for his birthday. There are pictures of things like flowers or boats that are made up of shapes. Then there are foam shapes that the kids match with the pictures until they finish it to create the complete picture.)
4. puzzles
5. manipulatives
6. cards with numerals and dots to match
7. wheel with colors to match with clothespin with colors
8. wheel with numerals to match with clothespin with numerals and dots
9. container with beads and shoelaces to make patterns
10. shaving cream and "sand" to write in
11. blocks (different shapes)
12. dry erase board with lines and spaces
13. clocks (real and play)
14. pair of dry erase dice
Resources We Own
1. cuseinaire rods
- pre-k booklet at http://nurturedbylove.blogspot.com/2008/12/cuisenaire-discovery-book.html
- addition/subtraction worksheet http://www.helpingwithmath.com/printables/worksheets/addition-subtraction/1oa6-addition-subtraction08.htm
2. Sum Swamp (board game)
3. shape building
(I threw away the box for this because it was kind of flimsy, so I don't know what it's called, but it's a great activity Mario was given for his birthday. There are pictures of things like flowers or boats that are made up of shapes. Then there are foam shapes that the kids match with the pictures until they finish it to create the complete picture.)
4. puzzles
5. manipulatives
6. cards with numerals and dots to match
7. wheel with colors to match with clothespin with colors
8. wheel with numerals to match with clothespin with numerals and dots
9. container with beads and shoelaces to make patterns
10. shaving cream and "sand" to write in
11. blocks (different shapes)
12. dry erase board with lines and spaces
13. clocks (real and play)
14. pair of dry erase dice
Goals for Sprecher (preschool)
Sprecher just turned three in November. I'm not in a rush to "school" him, but he's anxious to do school with his brother. During Mario's three-year-old year, he was participating in Joy School with a group of our friends. I taught about once a month, two times a week. The other weeks he was at the home of his friends with their mothers teaching. I don't have that option for Sprecher, and now, even if I did, I wouldn't use it because part of the pleasure of homeschooling at this stage is the simplicity of it -- particularly, not driving kids all over the place constantly. Still, I like the Joy School principles and I want to introduce them to Sprecher (and I would be happy to reinforce them with Mario too), so I'm including a Joy School discussion in our daily schedule. Also, Sprecher doesn't know pre-k things that Mario knew at the same age, so I'd like to work on that with him.
So here are my goals for Sprecher for this next semester:
Language Arts
-- learn to recognize the letters of the alphabet
-- start introducing the sounds of the letters
-- read together voraciously
Math
-- work on getting a firm grasp of shapes (circle, rectangle, square, triangle, oval)
-- talk about same/different
-- start introducing the concept of patterns
-- start getting him familiar with numbers
Science
-- Keep an interest notebook with things we are curious about or interesting things we notice.
Fine Arts
-- Have fun making music and making art.
Active Play
-- Get exercise.
-- Be able to move while learning.
Spiritual/Emotional/Social
-- Introduce the Joy School values he's learned before.
-- Introduce him to stories from the last General Conference that can reinforce his faith.
-- Get together with other children to play.
So here are my goals for Sprecher for this next semester:
Language Arts
-- learn to recognize the letters of the alphabet
-- start introducing the sounds of the letters
-- read together voraciously
Math
-- work on getting a firm grasp of shapes (circle, rectangle, square, triangle, oval)
-- talk about same/different
-- start introducing the concept of patterns
-- start getting him familiar with numbers
Science
-- Keep an interest notebook with things we are curious about or interesting things we notice.
Fine Arts
-- Have fun making music and making art.
Active Play
-- Get exercise.
-- Be able to move while learning.
Spiritual/Emotional/Social
-- Introduce the Joy School values he's learned before.
-- Introduce him to stories from the last General Conference that can reinforce his faith.
-- Get together with other children to play.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
2013 Possible Schedule
8:30 - 9:00 Reading/Writing Training
-for Mario: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
-for Mario: write a message to Dad everyday
-for Sprecher: coloring page with letters/numbers/shapes
9:00 - 9:30 Carpet time
-calendar/clock
-devotional story from the last General Conference
-Joy School discussion/story
9:30 - 10:00 Fine Arts (Art M/W & Music T/Th)
-biography of an artist or musician
-active/hands-on activity
10:00 - 10:30 Math(M-W) & Science (Th)
10:30 - 11:00 History/Geography & Reading
-History/Geography lesson/discussion/reading
-Mario read a book
-fable, picture books, etc.
11:00 - 11:30 Active Play (indoor or outdoor)
11:30 lunch
-for Mario: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
-for Mario: write a message to Dad everyday
-for Sprecher: coloring page with letters/numbers/shapes
9:00 - 9:30 Carpet time
-calendar/clock
-devotional story from the last General Conference
-Joy School discussion/story
9:30 - 10:00 Fine Arts (Art M/W & Music T/Th)
-biography of an artist or musician
-active/hands-on activity
10:00 - 10:30 Math(M-W) & Science (Th)
10:30 - 11:00 History/Geography & Reading
-History/Geography lesson/discussion/reading
-Mario read a book
-fable, picture books, etc.
11:00 - 11:30 Active Play (indoor or outdoor)
11:30 lunch
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Goals for Mario (K4)
Mario's birthday is just after the year cut-off, so this year we put him in 4k. While his teacher was great, I hated the chaos of getting him there and back. I also hated missing the best part of his day. Besides, I felt I was teaching him the new material he was interested in more than the teacher and I felt it made more sense to just use my time more advantageously for all of us.
I am sure this will change and be modified as I learn more about what he can do already, but here is my current list of goals for Mario for the rest of this school year while he's home with me:
Language Arts
1. Complete Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
(Note: This is primarily a goal already because he started reading on his own and it helped give me guidance in teaching him what he was already eager and ready to learn.)
2. Read together voraciously
(fairy tales, poems, etc.)
3. Begin getting him to read to me
4. Practice writing (Keep a "notebook" to write a sentence everyday back and forth with Dad.)
Math
1. Practice patterns.
2. Practice writing numbers 1- 10
3. Make sure he knows numbers 1 - 10 (I think he already does)
4. Practice simple addition.
5. Practice simple subtraction.
6. Practice categorizing in groups (same, different, etc.)
History/Geography
1. Look at a globe.
2. Look at different kinds of maps.
3. Learn the 7 different continents.
4. Learn the oceans.
5. Get a basic introduction to each of the continents.
6. Start looking at books about ancient history.
Science
1. Keep an interest notebook with things we are curious about or interesting things we notice.
2. Look for books on those subjects at the library.
3. Do simple science experiments. Write down things we learned or observed.
Fine Arts
1. Learn about some famous artists and musicians.
2. Become familiar with some of their work
3. Have fun making music and making art.
Active Play
1. Get exercise.
2. Be able to move while learning.
3. Learn to pedal.
Spiritual/Emotional/Social
1. Reinforce the Joy School values he's learned before.
2. Introduce him to stories from the last General Conference that can reinforce his faith.
3. Get together with other children to play.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Goals as a Parent -- My Mission Plan
For now, as far as I know I could just be homeschooling for this one semester. As I've pondered and prayed about this, my answers haven't been really absolute and clear for the long-term. I feel really good about keeping Mario home for 4k, but I don't know beyond that. What I do know is that considering the possibility of homeschooling has made me begin to be more educated about education. It's also helping me to be more purposeful in my parenting and more conscious of my goals for my children, both long-term and short-term.
When I consider what I hope for my children in the future, here are some things I think:
-I hope that my children will have the absolute knowledge that they are children of God.
-I hope that they will learn to pray and study in search of truth and direction in their lives, and I hope that they will be able to recognize the Holy Ghost directing them in their lives.
-I hope that they will be empathetic, kind, and generous, and I hope that they will understand that everyone else is a child of God as well.
-I hope that they will be able to be successful parents in the future.
-I hope that they can experience, recognize, and feel joy.
-I hope that they will be hard-workers, that they will be willing to take on a challenge and do difficult things to succeed towards their goals.
-I hope that they will be curious and interested in people and the world around them. I hope that they will try to understand how people and things work and why they do the things they do.
-I hope that they will be able to think things through deeply. I hope that they will be able to discuss these things intelligently and thoughtfully.
-I hope that they will be able to think things through deeply. I hope that they will be able to discuss these things intelligently and thoughtfully.
-I hope that they will have a broad knowledge of the world around them.
-I hope that they will find things they are passionate about and that they can learn to support themselves doing it.
-I hope that they will be willing to try new and difficult things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)