Week 8

This week went alright. I don't know why, but by Thursday I was feeling done for the week. I think it may have had to do with the fact that I didn't have a printer to print out my plans for the week. Sad that I need that, but I think it may have helped with my motivation. I really hate when there is a box I can't check off!

READING
My daughter does not like OPGTTR. I can't say that I really do either. I want to, but I'm not sure it is going to work for us. She is much more of a worksheet girl then a listening girl. I was hoping it would improve her listening skills, but I think she is just bored. I decided on Friday to skip ahead to lesson 27 where the reading actually begins. She was a little more interested, but still resistant. I think we may be taking a little break from this and then try again in a few weeks.

MATH
This week she started counting to 20. She is doing pretty good, but will sometimes mix up numbers 14 - 16. We continued review of number 7, and did some fun games that are in the Abeka K4 numbers curriculum.

PHONICS
She started the Get Set for the Code B book on Monday and finished the first letter (P) on Friday. She loves doing this book, and I usually have to make her stop. This is why I am thinking I may need a reading program that is a little more hands on and worksheet oriented. I may give Abeka a try, since I already have the workbook (the numbers one included the LA as well). I just need to get the teachers manual.

SCIENCE
This week we continued learning about forests, and focused on the forest floor. K made a page in her notebook about hedgehogs. We looked them up in our animal encyclopedia, and read a few books from the library about hedgehogs.

ART
We didn't do anything this week. :O

SONLIGHT
We read one book a day from Sonlight P3/4, and then read books from the library and our own library. This week we only read our Monday and Tuesday books (Baby Looks from Eloise Wilkin's Stories and A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog), and of course lots of fairy books!

Hopefully, next week I will get some more of the fun stuff done. I have a new printer, so I will have a better chance!

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. :)

Preschool

Even though I plan to homeschool, I was going to send my daughter to preschool. I thought it would be nice to have some time alone with my son, and it would give my daughter some time with her friends. BUT with the economy the way it is, it is hard to justify paying $175 a month for something she doesn't really need. She already knows everything she would learn in preschool, so I have decided to officially start the homeschooling journey a year earlier than I had planned.

My daughter, K (I'm not going to use her real name on here since this blog is public), is 3. She loves learning (in short stints), and she needs structure. She is artistic and imaginative, so I want to keep this fun and not overwhelm her. I decided to go with the Sonlight P3/4 program, because it is low key and she loves reading (listening) to stories. We will also be doing all the things I have listed over there in my curriculum list, but at most 10 min/3 times a week. I will be posting every week about what we are doing, how I like the curriculum I am using, and on how K is progressing. I am a planner, so I will write about what I plan to do in the future as well.

My goals for this year are:
- she will be reading on her own by the end of the school year (May '10)
- her attention span will be longer
- she will have mastered numbers 11 -20 (she is really good up to 12 right now)

We are going to start on July 6, and I am very excited to get going on this adventure!