Week 1!

We started preschool on Monday, and it went really well! Here is a little synopsis of what our days/weeks look like.

On Monday, we started the day with Abeka K4 math. It starts out pretty easy (numbers 1-3), but K enjoyed doing the activities. It's very hands on, which is great for her. You actually only use the workbook once or twice a week until later in the year. So far I am very happy I chose this!

We moved on to phonics and reading from there. I had only planned to do 2 or 3 pages in Get Ready for the Code a, but she kept asking to do more. The first day she did 7 pages! I am going to have to hurry up and get the next book. For reading we are using The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and Hooked on Phonics. I am using both because I am trying to figure out what will be best for her. She keeps asking to learn to read, but then when we sit down with either program she gets very antsy. We are just taking it slow, and eventually she will learn to read...hopefully!

Next on our agenda is science. I just made up a little science curriculum based on the DK First Nature Encyclopedia. Thanks Ruth for giving me the idea to just make it up myself! Basically, we look over each section (2 pages) and talk about it. Then I had her draw a picture of something that we talked about. Later in the week we pick one animal that lives in the area discussed, and learn more about that animal.

In the afternoon, we have read-aloud time. I bought Sonlight P3/4, and I think it will work really well. There are so many great stories in this program, and so far K has liked all of them. There isn't really a curriculum that goes along with this, but there is a list of the books and a little activity you can do with each one. This week we read The Cat Club, Goodnight Moon, Baby Says, and the poem "Singing Time". I try to do read-aloud time for 20 to 30 minutes, so I let her pick whatever stories she wants after our Sonlight story for the day.

We finish the school day with art! She either does a Kumon book or an art project (painting, etc.). Eventually, I will add in some kind of music, but I haven't decided what I want to do yet. I wasn't sure if all of this would be too much, but not counting the read-aloud and the art, it was only 15 - 30 minutes of work per day. :)