October Means Holidays

And I love holidays.  This month, we got a little off course between our family vacation and being sick.  I decided to post pictures about our vacation because taking vacation whenever you want?  Yep, an awesome perk of homeschooling!  

   

   

September School

September was our first full month of school.  We've been thinking about doing four days a week year round, but honestly, everyday the Kiddo wakes up asking to do his reading lesson.  So.....  I guess that will work itself out.  I guess we'll never have to worry about hitting 180 days!  



One of the BFIaR we did this month was Little Blue Boat.  We talked about watercolors, and one of our* favorite activities is painting suncatchers.  

Working hard on suncatchers!

Yes, yes, I painted this one.  Who doesn't
want to sit and paint suncatchers?

Next up, we celebrated the National Day of Encouragement.  I wrote the encouraging quotes, the Kiddo colored them and handed them out at the Farmers' Market.  It was great because most people responded really well.  My hope is that the Kiddo learned at least a couple things about approaching people and putting yourself out there:

1. It's okay if someone takes it and immediately throws it in the garbage can.  You can't win everyone.  BUT maybe it will mean something to someone.
2. When you approach someone, you shouldn't charge them like a bull.  The way to approach is to say "Hi, there" or "Excuse me" and then approach slowly.  Otherwise, you'll scare people.  

Another BFIaR book we did was The Little Rabbit.  We made a lapbook for it and also made a trip to a local petting zoo to talk about animal care.  We decided that monkeys are super cute and super fun, but somewhat stinky, so we'd leave those to the petting zoo.  

I got a little overzealous and started our Halloween fun.  Go ahead, judge me.  I don't care.  We put Mr. Bones together while singing Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dancin' Bones!  I find activities like this on the cheap after the holiday and save them for the next year.  It's always kind of a gamble whether or not the kids will have grown out of the activity or not, but I've had pretty good luck thus far.  

The last BFIaR book we did this month was Blueberries For Sal.  Everything about this book made it an immediate favorite.  The book was written a few years before Grandma was born, so we decided to talk to her about her childhood to compare and contrast to the Kiddo's childhood.  Grandma taught the kiddo about making cornmeal pancakes and apple fritters, listening to stories her Grandma told her, and picking berries with her cousin.  

Of course these are the highlights.  We also do a fair amount of routine stuff like library trips and a reading lesson per day.  And I'm always looking for fun math games.  How are you settling into Autumn?  

*I'm not being one of those weird people who always says "our" when one person in her family likes something.  Suncatchers are genuinely a favorite activity for the the Kiddo and me!

Our (first) First Day of School

Here we used a pegboard to work
on patterns and what comes next.

 This very well could be the last first day of school we ever have.  We're leaning towards the idea of doing year round schooling with not stringent school days.  I love riding the wave of enthusiasm and not forcing school.  That's a luxury I have because The Kiddo loves doing anything school, and The Toddler loves doing anything The Kiddo does.  I really love that The Toddler will just grow up being immersed in learning.  This is our August report:

Working on TYCTR

We're currently on lesson 20 of Teach Your Child to Read.  I'll admit, from the very beginning, every completed lesson earned a small candy treat.  When The Kiddo got the rhythm of a lesson, we switched to earning 3 pieces of candy if it went off without a hitch.  However, playing around or lack of focus resulted in taking away pieces.   

We've recently gotten to the part where there are stories, which he enjoys a lot.  Those are second only to drawing the sounds.

The Toddler trampolining 

Open gym time

We have also started to take advantage of opportunities around us.  We frequent the open gym (that't like gym class, right?) for both the kids to make friends and for me to make friends.

Working on his Jesse Bear, Jesse Bear,
What Will You Wear paper doll

My first goal with Before Five in a Row was to do one book per week, but I think we're going to just be very loosey goosey with that.  Some books have a lot of activities, others not so much.  I HAVE to remember that homeschooling is about us, not about what fits into cute, well-meaning boxes.  (And yes, if you're looking at the picture, that is indeed a laundry volcano on my couch!)

What's school without a packed lunch?

Our goals are constantly evolving, but currently here are some:

1. Remember that school is NOT a competition.  This is tough to remember.  I keep thinking, Well, he's not where he should be with this, or Look how advanced he is in this!  I just want to shake myself.  He's exactly where he should be.  Learning at his own pace in his own methods. 
2. Read 50 books we haven't read yet before advancing to a Kindergarten curriculum.  This actually seems like a low bar because the library is a weekly event, but this leaves room for The Kiddo to pick out Horton Hears a Who for the ten thousandth time.  
3. Learn to keep accurate and detailed records of our school days.  I tried a spreadsheet.  I was really impressive about having it all filled out and neat.  Yeah, that wasn't going to work.  I am back to a simple spiral bound notebook.  That's what works for us, and that's okay!
4. Pick a third option association. This sounds simple, but we need one that isn't so religiously formed that they offer help in "How to defeat Darwin."  Yes, we have encountered that.  No, it is not in anyway acceptable to us.    

How was your schooling August?

Curricula

Our first week is behind us.  What an adventure. 

Last week we began our homeschooling.  Our state doesn't require schooling until age 5 (and even then you can sign a waiver to wait until six), but we figured that an extra year to make all of our big mistakes couldn't be a bad thing.  Also, over the summer, it became very clear that The Kiddo was ready for some organized learning.

After a homeschool conference (I cannot stress enough how much help this was in organizing our thoughts and giving us a jumping off point), this is the set of curricula that we decided on for our preschool:

Before Five In a Row:  I love this curriculum.  It's sweet and gentle and really focuses on learning through reading, play, and experiences.  Even though BFIaR only provides a few lapbook templates, other templates for the BFIaR books can be found all over the internet.  My only complaint is that some of the books in the curriculum are hard to find. 

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lesson:  I was skeptical at first because reading seems advanced for a four year old.  By lesson number 5, The Kiddo was starting to sound out words.  He's confidant, he loves it, and for the past two days his first words in the morning are, "Can we do my reading lesson?"
   

A couple of basic math concept books that I found in Target and Barnes and Noble:  Finding a preschool math curriculum has been a bit elusive.  I have a few workbooks, but nothing feels very cohesive.  I'm not sure what the expectation is, so I have decided that I will teach shapes, numbers, patterns, tracing, and comparisons.  Once we pass that we will look into elementary curricula, which will hopefully prove more useful.
  

Karate/ Gymnastics:  I've added this in because it's my school of thought that The Kiddo needs physical goals as well.  He is a high energy/high enthusiasm kid, so I am hoping good things for this.  My trouble is wondering how committed to be.  Should I let him change his Physical Education at will?  Should I force him to commit to any particular amount of time?  Decisions, decisions...

Our own Spanish introduction:  Once again, a great curriculum has yet to be found, so on the advice of some other home school parents, we have begun reading books, watching movies, and singing songs in Spanish.  Since DH is fluent, it works out really well.  I figure we will add in some vocabulary after Christmas.

What are you learning this year?