What we're learning: History

This year, for History, we have chosen Abeka History for our fist grader. Although the book is geared towards first grade, we do it as a group.  Our preschooler and "Tot school" girl enjoy learning right along with her.  On occasion, our first grader sometimes reads the lessons for us.  

One of our favorite units in the book,so far, has been about the Symbols of the United States.  

The girls enjoyed learning about many of our famous and internationally recognizable symbols. This is how we made it a bit more hands on:  

I found some printables of the symbols online and printed them for each child.  

The girls then colored and cut out the symbols to make a collage. 

What are you learning this week?

Our 2013-2014 Curriculum

Yes, it's mid December, we are slowly beginning our Christmas break and I'm posting about our curriculum...but I haven't posted our curriculum choices for the year and I wanted to do that before the year is gone : (

I really enjoy seeing what other homeschool families choose to use in their studies, so I thought this post may be of interest to some?!  I've also chatted with several friends recently who are considering educating their children at home and don't know where to start. So, I'm giving them my two cents. 

You can probably tell from our choices that our style is very eclectic with a mix of approaches - classical, Charlotte Mason, and even some unschooling thrown in the mix.  I'm all about taking it a year at a time, even a semester at a time (heck, one day at a time) to see what works best for us.

Here's where we're at:

"Tot" School

• Letter of the Week Curriculum (when she's up for it)
• a LOT of puzzles (she loves them)
• manipulatives (counting bears, lacing, patterns)
• much playing, Playdoh, baking and fun

K-4

• Phonics/Numbers: Abeka ABC-123
• History: Abeka History (with big sister)
• Bible: Awana Program and our own studies
• Reading: Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Kindergarten, story time at library
• Spanish: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1
• much playing, baking and fun

1st Grade 

• History: Abeka History
• Reading: Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read 1st Grade and loads of books from our local library and reading programs
• Math: Math-U-See Alpha (and a supplemental workbook with time/money from Target $1 bin)
• Phonics: Abeka Letters and Sounds 1 Language 1/ Hooked on Phonics
• Literature: Classical Literature Units
• Bible: Awana Program and our own studies
• Spanish: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1
• Spelling: Abeka Spelling and Poetry
• Science: various topical studies from our library ("Science Projects" workbook from Target $1 bin. Love those bins).
• Art: for now- whatever art projects interest us
• much playing, baking and fun 

Some things I'm considering adding some other items for the spring semester:
Grapevine Bible Studies and Road Trip USA.

This is what we are doing this year - thus far.  However, I'm all about adjusting if something doesn't seem like a good fit or appropriate for their level. That's one of the beauties of homeschooling : )

I would enjoy hearing what curriculum you use for homeschooling if you have a minute?!

What we're learning today: Kindergarten

This year, we are using My Father's World From A to Z A Complete Kindergarten Curriculum as our main kindergarten curriculum.  So far, we have really enjoyed it.  I have decided to supplement with a few other items/activities because my kindergartner is a bit further along in her reading/phonics skills than some of the lessons are, at this point in our school year.  The blend ladder activity sheet is what you see in her workbox drawer above.  I give her magnetic letters which allow her to build several different short words to choose from for this activity.  

                                   

We are also using these blend sound cards from A Beka. Someone actually gave these to us, so I don't have a link nor can I find information about them.  I'm not sure if they have been discontinued or something?! I am really thankful for them though.  They are large, colorful and very helpful in learning the sounds. 

I found this cute sight word caterpillar that we use to add new words (body segments) as we learn them. : ) It's a nice colorful addition to our school room, too!

Anyway, that sums up some of the things we are working on today.

What learning is happening in your corner today?!

School's Out

So, this week we are concluding our school year - appropriately with the letter "Z".  As I mentioned before, we started homeschooling our kids in the fall.  This year, our oldest was in preschool (and our younger ones in "tot school" :))), so we are just scratching the surface as far as homeschool is concerned.

I was wavering in my thoughts about sending her to preschool somewhere else just to get the ball rolling, but when we discovered how expensive preschool can be these days, we decided to begin at home and invest some of that money in other areas of experience for the girls. (I'll be honest and say that the thought of getting three small children and a new baby ready and out the door early to take her, was not exciting to me either).

I can say that we had a really fun time doing this together. (I hope the girls would agree?!?!)  It was VERY relaxed and one of the main goals for doing this was to develop more of a routine - a groove if you will.  It took a while and changed a lot (since a baby was added to the mix part way through), but I guess that is the beauty of at home learning.  I loved having my babies home with me...all of them. 

In case you want to know what in the world we did, I'll tell you : ) :

Letter recognition/sounds/numbers:

The Letter of the Week Curriculum

Calendar/Weather:

 Learning Resources Calendar and Weather Pocket Chart

Music:

B. Parum Pum Pum Drum 

Crazy Praize Vol. 1


Character:
We Choose Virtues

Bible:

The Big Picture Story Bible (Book with CD)


Read and Share DVD Bible Box Set

The Big Picture Story Bible (Book with CD) .

Adventure Bible Storybook

Spanish:
Check out this blog page

Arts and crafts:

Orb Factory Magnetic Color Cubes 

and mommy's best attempts at other things : )

Play, play, play and discover, discover, discover!!!

Disclaimer:  Many of these items were given to us as gifts (birthday/Christmas) or bought using Swagbucks on Amazon.  You do not have to spend a fortune on materials for children to learn.  

 

Next Tuesday, I'll share what I've learned thus far in this journey.