Tomorrow is our first day of school. I like to start the day after Labor Day because it feels natural to start then and seems to make sense to me. Since I have 4 kids in different grades and stages of life, it can get a bit complicated making homeschooling work day to day but I think I have it all figured out (at least I hope so). Let's start with the little kids, mainly with the 3 year old since the 23 month old is usually napping during our school time. As a former preschool teacher, I feel pretty confident in planning his curriculum and have a lot of fun with it. He is excited to learn and readily participates in whatever activity I have planned.
1. We start preschool time writing his "plan" on the whiteboard.
THE PLAN FOR TUESDAY:
1. Circle Time: calendar, weather, songs, book
2. Reading Lesson
3. Art
4. Workbook
2. Our theme for September is Learning About Ourselves. The theme for this week is Getting to Know Me
3. Circle Time
1. I start circle time with the Good Morning Song in English, Spanish and Japanese:
Good Morning, Good Morning
How Are You? How Are You?
Very Well Thank You, Very Well Thank You.
How About You? How About You?
Buenos Dias, Buenos Dias
Como Estas? Como Estas?
Muy Bien Gracias, Muy Bien Gracias.
Y Usted? Y Usted.
Mooshie Mooshie Ano Nay
Ano Nay, Ano Nay
Mooshie Mooshie Ano Nay
Aso Deska.
I know the Spanish and Japanese aren't spelled correctly but thought I would write the songs out phonetically for practicality.
2. Calendar
Sing to the tune of "Oh My Darling Clementine."
There are 7 days, there are 7 days, there are 7 days in the week.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
We then go over the month, count the days of the month in English, Spanish and German and discuss the weather and seasons.
3. Song: If You're Happy And You Know It
4. Book: Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle.
Before reading a book, we discuss who the author is, what an author does (writes the book), who the illustrator is and what the illustrator does (draws the pictures). We then point out the spine of the book and how it holds the pages together just like the spine on our backs. While reading the book, we take a lot of time to discuss the pictures and before turning the page, I ask what he thinks will happen next.
2. Reading Lesson
I use the program Frontline Phonics. I used this program to teach my older 2 children to read when they were 3 and had fantastic success with it. They were both reading fluently by age 4 and were both reading Harry Potter in 1st grade with 100% fluency and understanding. So far, the 3 year old is doing great and is reading simple BOB books.
After finishing the letter of the day, we then go around the house and label all objects we can find that start with that letter. For example, our letter for Tuesday is "R." We will place 3x5 cards around the house on objects such as: Radio, Rabbit Hutch, Restaurant (we have a play market stand).
We then do a simple finger play. For the letter "R" our finger play is "12 little rabbits:"
“Twelve Little Rabbits”
Twelve little rabbits in a rabbit pen;
Two hopped away and then there were ten. (Hold up 10 fingers)
Ten little rabbits with ears up straight;
Two hopped away and then there were eight. (Bend down two fingers)
Eight little rabbits doing funny tricks;
Two hopped away and then there were six. (Bend down two fingers)
Two little rabbits found a new friend;
They hopped away, and that is the end.
3. Art
Our art activity for today is painting "I'm Happy."
On the easel, he will paint "I'm Happy." Today, I will have primary colored tempura paints with paint brushes for him to use.
4. Workbook
My 3 year old absolutely loves workbooks so I let him do a few pages each day. Today he will do some pages out of the Giant Basic Skills workbook that I bought at Costco. He will trace broken lines and color some pictures.
That's it for preschool Tuesday, now on to the big boys.
This year, the boys will be attending a one day academy on Monday's. They will be given assignments in English, Art, Science, Music and the 13 year old will also take his math class there. I am a bit sad because I love teaching those subjects but I thought it would be good for them to be in an environment with the same children each week. The academy is very open to what the children are interested in and also lenient in working with the parents as far as the amount of homework.
At home, I will be continuing their education in the following subjects: Logic (13 year old), Critical Thinking (11 year old), History and Geography, Spanish/Latin/Greek, Religion, Typing, Controversial Issue (13 year old), PSAT (13 year old) and Math (11 year old).
Our school year is 30 weeks. Each child has a cubby with a folder of their assignments for each week. It is up to them when they do their assignments but everything has to be turned into me by Friday night so I can grade it over the weekend.
Week 1:
Logic: The 13 year old is using Traditional Logic. It is part of the Clasical Trivium Core Series.
Critical Thinking: The 11 year old is using Critical Thinking, book one by the Critical Thinking Co.
History and Geography: This year the 13 year old is studying 1850 to present. He is starting the year memorizing The Gettysburg Address. He is using History of the World as his primary text. This week, he is also studying the Jackdaw portfolio of The Civil War. This portfolio is super cool, it includes documents such as: a letter from Lieutenant George Herbert of the Union artillery to his brother, a recruiting notice for a local volunteer force in Charleston from 1862, photographs, plus lot of other primary source documents that are very interesting.
The 11 year old is studying the years 400-1600 this year. His primary text is also the History of the World.
For both children, each week they study about 5 pages from the text. Each page is full of a lot of information. For each page they do the following: 1. Pick out 7-8 of the most important or most interesting facts. They have a history notebook in which they list the facts in one section. 2. On the wall above their desks, they each have a timeline. They write their facts on their timeline. 3. For each fact, they find it's location on the globe, in the atlas and on the wall map. 4. In their history notebooks, they outline each page from their text. If they are also studying a primary source (like the civil war portfolio), they also have a section in their notebook where they have questions to answer about what they learned.
Spanish: This year, we are using Visual Link Spanish. I went through 2 other Spanish programs and think this is the best for us. It has a good mixture of conversational Spanish along with grammar, pronunciation and education.
Greek/Latin: We us English From The Roots Up. This is our second year using this program and the kids absolutely love it. They memorize Latin and Greek Roots and then use the root words to figure out what English words mean. This is their favorite part of the day. Each day, I put a new word on the white board for them to figure out. They love solving the puzzle of each word and the sense of mastery they achieve when they figure out that they actually know what large, complicated sounding words mean. Today we will be reviewing roots from last year and the word for the day is: Thermotropism
Can you figure out what it means without cheating?
Religion: We use Lifepac Bible by Alpha Omega Publications
Typing: We are using Letter Chase Typing Tutor. The boys were so excited about this that they have finished the first few lessons and love it.
Controversial Issue: Each week, the 13 year old researches a controversial issue. He writes down the pros and cons of each side and then decides on where he stands on the issue. He then presents what he learned to me and we discuss the topic. This week his issue is Standardized Tests.
PSAT: The 13 year old is using a PSAT study guide to prepare for the test. I help him figure out the solutions after he answers the practice questions.
Math: The 10 year old is using Teaching Textbooks. It is a computer program that also has a workbook.
That is it for week one!
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