School around here
Shannon and Forest begged all summer for "school," and so we
started when the boys did. After struggling for a couple weeks to get
organized every day, I finally came to the {highly original} idea to plan
a month at time. I guess like anything else, some things you have to
struggle through yourself, ha! Now things are running a bit more
smoothly around here. This is how we do school around here . . .
1. The kids ask to do school and one of their biggest "complaints" is that I "don't have enough work for them." When they'd rather play than "do school," we play. But that only happened once.
2. Our focus-
* Bible- I am using coloring pages from HERE and doing a chronological study through the Bible. We do this three days a week. The other two days a week I use the Family Way workbook, which is what I'm using with the boys. Often my kids are in the room when I'm leading morning devotions with the boys, so I'm not always doing two devotions. We color the coloring pages, too. I can't recommend this resource enough! Phrases like "We honor and obey our parents in the Lord, with a respectful attitude" are wonderful for both our little ones and our "bigger ones."
* Alphabet/Reading- We are using Handwriting Without Tears (the pre-K book first). Very simple and easy to do, we do one letter each day. To go along with that, I use the materials from "Confessions of a Homeschooler" for each letter. I just pick a bunch of activities the kids enjoy, print, laminate if necessary. Coloring is probably their #1 activity, so we usually do at least 3 pages a day that are just coloring or drawing.
And yes, Forest is definately more "hands on" than Shannon.
* Math- I busted out the Cuisinaire Rods! At this point we're just playing with them- getting used to them, building all kinds of creative sculptures and such. Eventually we'll start on some simple math activities. Other math things we do (besides counting the heck out of everything in the house!), are sorting, pattern building, matching games.
* The World- We are using "confessions" Expedition Earth to learn about our world. Have I mentioned the decorating theme in our dayroom (boys' living room) is maps & globes? And when Shannon plays, she pretends she is in Malaysia? As you know, the world is important to us, so it's naturally something we talk about, look at pictures of, etc.
Can't study England without a tea party & seed cake!
* Life- We learn best and most naturally from daily life. Finding a turtle in the dining hall (don't ask).
Trips to the library.
And lots of other fun things . . . but I'm ready to be done for the day, so that's all you get!
1. The kids ask to do school and one of their biggest "complaints" is that I "don't have enough work for them." When they'd rather play than "do school," we play. But that only happened once.
2. Our focus-
* Bible- I am using coloring pages from HERE and doing a chronological study through the Bible. We do this three days a week. The other two days a week I use the Family Way workbook, which is what I'm using with the boys. Often my kids are in the room when I'm leading morning devotions with the boys, so I'm not always doing two devotions. We color the coloring pages, too. I can't recommend this resource enough! Phrases like "We honor and obey our parents in the Lord, with a respectful attitude" are wonderful for both our little ones and our "bigger ones."
* Alphabet/Reading- We are using Handwriting Without Tears (the pre-K book first). Very simple and easy to do, we do one letter each day. To go along with that, I use the materials from "Confessions of a Homeschooler" for each letter. I just pick a bunch of activities the kids enjoy, print, laminate if necessary. Coloring is probably their #1 activity, so we usually do at least 3 pages a day that are just coloring or drawing.
And yes, Forest is definately more "hands on" than Shannon.
* Math- I busted out the Cuisinaire Rods! At this point we're just playing with them- getting used to them, building all kinds of creative sculptures and such. Eventually we'll start on some simple math activities. Other math things we do (besides counting the heck out of everything in the house!), are sorting, pattern building, matching games.
* The World- We are using "confessions" Expedition Earth to learn about our world. Have I mentioned the decorating theme in our dayroom (boys' living room) is maps & globes? And when Shannon plays, she pretends she is in Malaysia? As you know, the world is important to us, so it's naturally something we talk about, look at pictures of, etc.
Can't study England without a tea party & seed cake!
* Life- We learn best and most naturally from daily life. Finding a turtle in the dining hall (don't ask).
Trips to the library.
And lots of other fun things . . . but I'm ready to be done for the day, so that's all you get!
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