Sep. 21, 2008 - A new school year!
So, we began school in Mid-August, since "the teacher is going to have a baby" and we need all the extra time we can get. (the teacher is me!) I am due in early December, so we may just take that whole month off. It's a crazy month anyway, and I may try to get all of my shopping and gift-making done in November. We'll see!
The first two weeks of school were a chaotic adjustment period for all of us. It is the first year that I am totally homeschooling TWO kids (K and 4th grade), and my 22 month old DD is not napping in the mornings anymore, like last year. So it is a bit of a juggle for me. She is prone to screaming when she is not getting any attention, and we are working on that. She is getting better at "using her words" but she still has her moments. My 5 year old DS is starting kindergarten, and is doing pretty well. He has surprised me several times already. I am using a little bit of the KONOS curriculum with him, and with my 9 year old DD. We are liking KONOS so far, it is very interesting. It is amazing all the ways we are applying the character trait learning to other things! The first character trait is attentiveness, and sometimes the kids are not very attentive to the teacher and goof off. So I have to rein them back in, and discuss being attentive!
Also with my DS, I am using a ABC curriculum that I made up from several books I have, and I used with my older DD when she was in kindergarten. It was really fun! It is fun to use it again! We are discussing a letter a week, and we are up to G week this next week. So we talk about things that begin with the letter, write the letter and words that begin with it, eat things that begin with the letter, read books, play games, etc., all with using the letter. For instance, for G week, we will talk about gingerbread men, read GB man books, compare and chart stories, make GB men, and maybe playdoh, eat grapes, goldfish, griddle cakes, etc., do beginning geometry, geoboards, graphs, and so on. It seems to really help them understand the letter and how it is used in many words. My son likes brainstorming words that start with the letter of the week when he is eating lunch or in the car. It's neat because he is thinking about it more than just in school!
Oh- the book I have used for this "curriculum" is A is Amazing by Dayle M. Timmons. It works for preschoolers as well as kindergarteners! I also have used Mudpies to Magnets for science ideas.
I have been finding activities to keep my now 23-month-old DD busy. I have pulled out all kinds of cards and games, the pegboard, puzzles, let her play in the kitchen sink, etc., I have a few idea books for Things to do with toddlers and twos (that is actually the title! by Karen Miller) from when I was in college. So I have grabbed those and used some of those ideas. One of them was to get out an ice cube, and a cookie sheet, and give her a spoon. She loved chasing it around the cookie sheet trying to pick it up! We talked about it being COLD, and how it melts. She went through four ice cubes before she was done! We also got out shaving cream last week and all three kids loved smearing it around the table. It was messy, and I had to watch my toddler to be sure she wouldn't put it in her mouth, but they all loved it! I have a small co-op group that I am involved in, and we discussed trading bins/ bags of activities for toddlers to do. For example, one of the gals has more little plastic cars that she can trade with me for a bin of bubbles and supplies. I have a whole list of bins I can pull from (partly ideas from Preschool Pizzazz by Renee Ellison) and I grab those things for her to do too. She likes to color with markers and play with dolls of course. Maybe tomorrow I will pull out the doll for her to wash in the kitchen sink! So she has her own learning time too!
We did an Olympics lapbook so far, and have been working on our Orchestra lapbook in our spare time. I think I got them both from homeschoolshare.com. The next one I have ready is on Attentiveness. It will fit in well with our KONOS curriculum. If my 9 year old gets her work done, and we have a little extra time, we will work on our lapbook. Sometimes it is an incentive for her, becuase she enjoys being crafty! She is doing more of the writing this year in her lapbook. I have done three mini-lapbooks with my DS. They are called "Tot Books", that I got from another homeschooler. (lapbooks by carisa) She has several little themes, and she cuts one file folder in half for it. Then she has a few little activity books that go inside. She makes them for her 2 year old, but they have been great for my 5 year old as an introduction. He likes having his own lapbooks. I may look at Jamin's lapbooks to see what she has done with her younger son for some ideas too. We did VeggieTales, Thomas the Tank Engine and Cars lapbooks so far. He loves those characters, and it is a review of shapes, counting, colors for him. I need to do something more advanced!
Well, I am off to bed. If you have questions about anything, please leave me a comment and I will try to respond ASAP. Thanks! Enjoy your school year!
