School Days

I get lots of questions about what we're doing in homeschooling, so I like to post about it every once and a while. Carter is now five which just boggles my mind still, but I'm getting used to the fact. Today we have that infamous well-check, the one all kids talk about and dread. One of the nice perks about homeschool is there is less of a time crunch to get shots done which works great for us because we only do two per visit, but it will make for a series of unpleasant appointments :(

Anyway, now that Carter is five and more than developmentally ready we are completing more of our kindergarten requirements. With kids preK-1st grade, schooling is a lot of hodge-podge piecing together and many people have asked me how to know what they should be teaching. One of the best resources available are the Department of Education sites for each state. I use the ones for VA where I taught and am licensed. You can reference each grade level and subject and pull up the corresponding Standards of Learning. Not only that they include enhanced Scope and Sequence with free lesson plans, worksheets, and activities for teaching them. This makes a great checklist for evaluating gaps in your child's education.

We typical do formal schooling three to four days a week, on average, for 2-3 hours each time. We stick to the days that work best for us, sometimes weekends, to work with our schedules and how everyone's feeling. I use a lesson plan book with divided subjects: Calendar, Bible/ Emotional Intelligence, Art/ Music, Literature, Phonics, Beginning Reading, Math/ Logic, and Social Studies/ Science. We don't necessarily hit every subject every day, but do over the course of a week.

CALENDAR: I love the Learning Resources calendar and we use it for the date, weather, holidays, days of the week, predictions, abbreviations, calendar math, scheduling, and skip counting.

BIBLE/EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We do a short devotion together during breakfast. We just started using Jesus Wants All of Me which is a year-long devotional for 3-7 yr olds and love it! Thanks Amy for the recommendation. We also do Carter's weekly Awana book and verses during this time. I keep all the verses in a box on index cards so we can review easily. We're also working on emotional intelligence which is often neglected and actually more essential to success in life than IQ. Carter is hesitant to talk about his feelings anyway, so it's definitely good for us. Right now we are using 20 facial expression cards with corresponding questions to talk about our feelings, the feelings of others, and how we would respond in each situation. We also use God's Mighty Warrior Devotional Bible (for boys) by Sheila Walsh.

ART/MUSIC: This is kind of self explanatory and varies depending on what we feel like doing. I love the Kindermusik program and do their activities with the kids. The Kindermusik website and Oriental trading are great (cheap) places to get your own instruments for home. Art can be almost anything.

LITERATURE: This is where the hundreds of library books we check out every month come in to play. These include picture books, nonfiction, and chapter books- almost anything. Carter loves the Matt Christopher sports series (just check the subject for age-appropriateness) which I read aloud.

PHONICS: Essential to being a strong reader. We use lots of workbooks and wipe-off books. I also love Flipping Over Making Words (TCR) which emphasizes word patterns (for this crazy language of ours called English!). There are many more books in this series as they progress. This is also where we do handwriting and copy work. At this age it's important to practice their writing without much correction. I am in love with the Expos student wipe-off boards from WalMart (primer lines on one side, blank on the other, and really cheap). When he gets bored or resistant to practicing writing on paper, we switch to a shallow dish of rice, much more fun :)

BEGINNING READING: We use the Scott Foresman readers, but any will do and practice our sight words. We also just started The Reading Lesson (thanks Kim) which makes daily lessons very easy with no prep needed. We also like to play ABC Sound Bingo and What's That Sound?.

MATH/LOGIC: This is by far Carter's favorite subject and obvious strength. I am using the Horizon K Math to give him the repetition he needs and to get him use to 'testing style' worksheets. This series has a great spiral sequencing built in to ensure the kids have mastered each concept. We also do pattern blocks, Brainy Blocks, Quiz-a-tron (I love this thing and it's a Sears product that was mine as a kid- still works!!), Castle Logix, wipe off workbooks (LeTrend), a 100s chart, and Kumon workbooks In the next few months we will be adding the 'K-1 bundle' (includes core subject areas) from The Critical Thinking Company. I used many of these same materials in logic class when I was in school, as a teacher, and can't wait to do them with Carter. In addition it will force him to think outside the box which is something we are both naturally resistant to and the sooner he can practice, the better off he will be.

SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE: If it were up to Carter we would spend most of the day here. He loves geography and will read an atlas over a book any day. (He actually announced last week he was finished with math and reading for the year and would just be doing geography now. Sorry kid!) We do sometimes work with an atlas. We also use wipe off maps to do states, capitals, oceans, and continents. He loves to do experiments of any kind and measuring, data collection, and graphing. We also started a new book My Big Book of 5min Devotions Celebrating God's World (Kennedy) which selects a different animal each day to explore scientifically, but also connects it with a virtue (2 for one!, really cool way to do science!).

We also supplement activities in all of these areas with activities corresponding to our 'topic of the week' from co-op preschool. You have seen many of these in the lapbooks I've posted previously. All of this is free on the internet. Before you take the time to make a chart or worksheet always Google it first. Some of our favorite websites are:
Homeschool Share
The Crafty Crow
Making Learning Fun
Lapbook Lessons
Nearly Free Homeschooling
Donna Young Printables and Resources

And probably the most fun part for all of us is playing games. Such a great learning tool for math, reading, social skills, etc. Our current favs are chess (Collector's Chess Teacher), Othello, Uno, Sequence Dice, Parcheesi, Whose Home? Domi-Knows, Izzi, Kanoodle, Cat in the Hat I Can Do That!, Castle Logix, Elefun, Jam Pack Jam, Armor of God, and HiHo!Cherry-O. Carter also loves to play computer games, the Wii, the PSP sports games, and Leapster (Get Puzzled, LeapFrog Kindergarten, I Spy, Diego Animal Rescuer, and Talking Words Factory).
Now I am by no means saying this is the right way, the only way, or the best way of teaching your kids. This is just what works for us right now. I put it out there to give you ideas, share resources, and to encourage you to have fun learning with your children- even if you are not homeschooling. And just in case you're thinking we have it all together..... It has been a very interesting month for us. We spent the bulk of December doing Christmas-related activities, then took off 3 weeks during vacation when we went on day trips instead. It was a rocky transition when we started up again. We just weren't clicking. Both of us we're getting frustrated. We had a two bad days in a row. I actually threatened to send him to public school- it was that bad! (Not that I have anything against public school, but I was at a loss.) It was not my proudest mommy moment by a long shot, but God was working on my heart as a mother and teacher. Through prayer, Bible study, and some 'divine appointments' with friends I was given a better insight into what Carter needs and what kind of learner he is designed by God to be. I was reminded that...

• one size never fits all,
  
• what works for one family can be totally wrong for another,
  
• we need to slow down in some areas and jump ahead in others,
  
• God knows what's best,
• this is supposed to be enjoyable,
  
• and our learning needs change over time.

This is one of the blessings of homeschooling that we can be so adaptable and tailor our program to our child's needs. Things have been going along great the past couple weeks. This is another area of life where it is vital to abide with Christ, face to face, and listen to His guidance in our hearts and interactions. And sometimes the answer is right in front of your face. All that really matters is......