Curriculum Plans 2012 - 2013

Our new school year starts on Monday. (Hip hip hooray!)  The following lists our carefully thought out, over researched, and much discussed curriculum plans for the new year:

Together

Circle Time
Family Time Fitness (Dad)
Classical Conversations

 

Toddler

Together:

• CircleTime activities with resources from: Recitations: MFW K WTR, Nursery Rhyme, Calendar from 1+1=1 (toddler and other calendar pages)
• Family Time Fitness

With Mom:

• Abeka Preschool 3: Letters and Numbers
•  NurseryRhymes Activities that match-up with MFW K letters
•  Book Basket: Learning books and fun to read books

With Pre-K’er: (He won’t HAVE to do these activities, but he will be included according to his attention span.)

• SaxonMath K
•  My Father's WorldK
• OrdinaryParents Guide to Teaching Reading  

o 

Pre-Kindergarten

o   

•  CircleTime activities
•  Math: Saxon K
•  Phonics: OPGTR and MFW K
•  My Father's World Kindergarten (Bible, Science, Literature)
•  Classical Conversations Cycle 1

          Other:

•  MPact girls: Daisies
• Hands On Learning Co-op class
• Draw Write Now Class
• Family Time Fitness 

First Grade

• CircleTime activities
• Math: Christian Light EducationMath 1 (finish), begin Saxon2 after completion of CLE Math 1
•   Language Arts:

-        Reading: Memoria Press Storytime Treasures and More Storytime Treasures

-        Spelling: All About Spelling

o   Complete level 1 and begin on level 2

-        Handwriting: Memoria Press New American Cursive

-        Grammar, Poetry, Narration: First Language Lessons

-        Literature: Memoria Press

-        Book Basket: Our Classical Conversations Cycle 1 inspired list

-        Copywork: Memoria Press

• ClassicalConverations: Weekly Presentations, Science Experiments, Fine Arts, Memory Work: Timeline, History, English Grammar, Latin, Math, Scienc, Geography

-        CC online for review

-        Wisdomand Righteousness lapbooks

o   History: using History Highlights from c3, hands on history group with friends, and book basket list

• Science: Christian Kids Explore Biology (non Anatomy portions) and Earth/Space (non Space portions) to match-up with CC Cycle 1
•    FamilyTime Fitness

Other:

-         Ranger Kids

-        Co-op activities

-        Draw Write Now class

-        T-Ball (Fall)

-        Hands on History class

-        Junior Bible Quiz

-        Piano 

Linking up to: Preschool Corner and 

W is for Water part 1

This week was W is for Water week.  However, I did not get to everything that I had planned for this unit so we will finish up next week.

New things we added to our week

We added in CLE Sunrise Math 1.  To say that Bud likes his new Math curriculum would be an understatement.  He loves it and asks to do his Math lesson everyday including on our free day (today) when he asks to do two lessons instead;)   It's safe to say this kids loves numbers---I mean he did have a numbers themed birthday party after all.

We also started prepping for our garden.  I find it funny how the kids love playing in the dirt like a sandbox...'look at this snail', 'I'm digging a hole to China', 'I killed this ____ many grubs today'.  It's funny to me because I was raised in the city and in the A/C capitol at that ---so to see my kids enjoying nature just makes me chuckle.  We planted some seeds inside and are growing nicely in their little egg cartons at our kitchen window.


The great outdoors

We've stayed on target with our goal of spending an hour each day outside.  We are not journaling right now--just enjoying.  I hope to add in some narration/journaling soon.  But, if we not we will start it in the Fall with a more focused Nature Study.  We are all enjoying this gorgeous weather.  We are on the look out and have spotted different butterflies and birds (blue jays).  Maybe we need to get a water feature or bird feeder---thoughts?

Read Alouds

 We finished up "The House at Pooh Corner" and our starting "Winnie the Pooh" by A.A. Milne.  It is quite exciting to see how the kids respond to read aloud books with very few pictures.  It is a great exercise in using their imaginations.  This is one habit we intend to keep.


Bud and Sissy especially love the 'tiddely pom' song: 


hummed by Pooh in Chapter One of "The House at Pooh Corner", by A.A. Milne.

The more it snows
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
On snowing.
And nobody knows
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
Are growing.

W is for Water

We use MFW K for our core unit of study.  The theme for this week was

W is for Water
Words to remember: Jesus gives my spirit living water to drink
Bible Reading/Focus (Hubbard's Cupboard): Esau and Jacob
BFIAR: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

I'll post the information books we used on next week after we finish the unit.

In addition to the great ideas and activities from MFW K and message boards, we used the following:

Water Cycle Coloring Pages

http://www.kidzone.ws/water/index.html

ice/salt experiment

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/phenom/risingice.html

Rain in a jar:

http://mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com/2009/04/storytime-and-creative-play-rain-rain.html

Water cycle song:

http://www.proteacher.org/a/12048_Water_Cycle_Song.html

planting sunflowers with Daddy

it's an adventure not work

helping Daddy

I love those sweethearts!  Can you believe Little Bear climbs up there by himself?

Bud digging his 'hole to China'

chulo!

Water as a liquid experiment --ready

pouring water into different shaped containers

observing that water as a liquid has no shape

I found a bug!

Look what I can do Mom!

up in their play house

Bud and Sissy---silly faces;)

Dump trucks, dirt and boys---c'mon they kind of go hand in hand right?

my boys

Some of our Math 'manipulatives'

looking through his Math workbook

Quiet time - picture books on the big comfy chair

Linking to:

Preschool Post @ Homeschool Creations

Weekly Wrap-up @ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

D is for Dinosaurs

The past few weeks have had it's ups and downs with bad weather and illness.  But, we've turned a corner!  Signs of Spring are starting to show and hopefully we'll put these stomach bugs and sore throats behind us.

So I'll post what we have for D is for Dinosaur week using MFW K.  Bud was not too crazy about Dinosaurs.  I thought he would love it---but, no--he doesn't like the ferocious looking meat-eaters thank you very much;)  We did have some really good discussions from reading some of the books on our book list.  We had some fun crafts and messy art projects.

The Words to Remember for D is for Dinosaur were: Big and Small God made them all


We used Enchanted Learning for a lot of the crafts and printouts.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/animals/thisdino/

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/printouts/d.shtml

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/DinosaurEaselArt.htm

We read:

Ken Ham's What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs

A Picture Book of Dinosaurs by  Claire Nemes

DK's "Meet the Dinosaurs"

to go along with Syd Hoff's Danny and the Dinosaur

They woke up on Valentine's morning to heart shaped waffles and a note on their plates from Mommy and Daddy--with a few other goodies, too;)

Bud really enjoyed coloring and writing the names of some of the dinosaurs.

That's Stegosaurus with a really big G in the middle;)

Sis trying to get the hang of color by number.

Shapes dinosaur

Making paper plate dinosaurs....Little Bear getting in on the act of course.

I threw in color mixing with white to make light colors like: baby blue and lavender.

Painting

The whole crew busy painting

Now they just have to wait until it dries to put the paper plate dinosaurs together.

I've mentioned our devotional that uses the alphabet--so here's a pick of our D devotional.

Linking to:

Preschool Corner @ Homeschool Creations

Weekly Wrap Up @ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

T is for Turtle

Last week was T is for Turtle week in our MFW K curriculum.  By the way, I highly recommend it--it is fantastic.  This was a fun week for Bud.  He really enjoyed the books that we read for this unit.

The words to remember were: I do not give up; I persevere.   Those words to remember brought up a lot of discussion.  I have been able to refer to it often since we covered this topic.  I love the connections Bud is making with MFW.

We focused on The Hare and the Tortoise (Aesop's Fables).

Some of our favorites were:

The Hare and the Tortoise retold by Helen Ward.  This is a beautifully illustrated book.  Great detail of the animals.  This is one inappropriate word.  (s----d).  We skipped over it....and I actually read a different version and showed them these illustrations.

Diego and the Baby Sea Turtles by Lisa Rao

Terrific Turtles by Anders Hanson (Sandcastle books)

In addition to the MFW K activities, we enjoyed articles and printables from the following:

http://www.smithlifescience.com/SeaTurtleInformation.htm

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/TurtlePrintablesandIdeas.htm

http://www.dltk-teach.com/fables/tortoise/index.htm

The kids also went to a pet store with Dad to look at turtles.  There was only one there and it was hiding...but they enjoyed looking at the aquariums and other animals.  We learned the difference between sea turtles and a tortoise.  And learned different features of a turtle.  

We also used Mama Jenn's great copywork pages.

Turtle shape cut and paste

Coloring in action

Bud's finished product....Titus the Turtle

This kid looooves color by number sheets---looking it over with a bowl of Blue Bell.

Re-enacting the Tortoise and the Hare race.  They made tortoise and hare finger puppets.

His finger puppets ready for the race

Sissy's puppets

Looking through a Turtle book

Working on his copywork page



Linked to:
Preschool Corner @ Homeschool Creations
Weekly Wrap-Up@ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

N is for Nest

I have not been matching up Before Five in a Row lately for Sissy.  Instead I've been using this routine with Sissy and Little Bear.  I really enjoy having all three at the table or listening in to the story or doing a craft or science experiment together.

Last week was N is for Nest week (animal homes).

The words to remember were: God takes good care of us.

Most of the suggested books were ones that we have read before.  But, it was good to revisit them.  We also kept our eyes open to animals and their homes.

Here are some of the books we enjoyed reading:

In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Stuck Into a Tight Place from Winnie the Pooh, Milne (Rabbit's burrow)

Two of the stories were from one of Bud's favorite books, The Best Nest and Are You My Mother, Eastman

But, the favorite of the week was Tanglebird by B. Lodge.  The kids loved this sweet book and thought it was so funny how his nest was so tangled at the beginning and how he learned to make a neat nest.  When it was time to turn in other library books for nest week, Bud wanted to keep this book a little longer.



In addition to the MFW  activities, here are some other links to things we enjoyed this week:

Great animals and their home match up from this great site: http://www.kizclub.com/animals.htm
http://www.kizclub.com/Topics/animals/animalhomes.pdf

 Mama Jenn's wonderful MFW K words to remember copywork  sheets: http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/2010/08/words-to-remember-mfw-kindergarten.html

And nest, bird, egg craft: http://www.first-school.ws/activities/alpha/n/nest.htm

Oh and before I forget we watched Donut Man's video At the Zoo and it went along great with this unit.  There is a time in the show where the Donut Man even says the words to remember.  A perfect song on that video for this unit is 'Home sweet home' ---it talks about three  different animals and their homes.

**Not too many pictures this week for some reason;(**

Animal and their home cards and match ups

Sis working on her match ups

Little Bear got new jumbo crayons---he was a happy camper.

Links:

Preschool Link-up @ Homeschool Creations

Weekly Wrap Up @ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

A is for Apples

Last week we started school again! We're back to school after a long Christmas break and before that two back to back unit studies on Thanksgiving and then on Christmas.

It was great and no pressure type of holiday, but boy was I ready to get back to our routine.

The first lesson back with MFW (My Father's World) K was A is for Apple.

The words to remember were: If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit.

Bud enjoyed this unit because it touched on the fruit of the Spirit. He really liked learning those and rattling those off. It made for great teachable moments, too.

Our routine has been to open up with a 'circle time' of sorts at the kitchen table. We review house rules and then go over:

• Calendar
• A in Big Thoughts for Little People by Kenneth Taylor
• Rainbows Verse (Elephant Badge)
• Helping Goal: Keeping Desk Neat (before 5pm)
• Phonics

I then introduce the Lesson for the day, Bud works on the worksheets that are included for the day, any activity or craft.

I get asked a lot how I do this with the other two littles.  Well, the easiest way to explain, is that Sissy usually sits in with us for the circle/table time.  She usually runs off to play with Little Bear when Bud starts on something on his own.  Then the younger two join us back at the table for any type of craft.  I usually just give them extra paper or print out something along the same theme for Sissy.  See apple stamps craft below.

When Bud is finished and starts writing or playing or working on an activity on his own.  I then shift my focus on reading time for the little ones.  I read at least three books to each one---many times more---basically whatever they can handle.  For Little Bear, it's great for helping him to pronouce words and identify pictures/objects.  Sissy loves books and will hear me read a story and then will want to run and retell the story to her dolls.

Here is some pics from A/Apple Week:

Bud working on a diagram of an Apple

We sampled different varieties of Apples--  Pink Lady apples were the family favorite

his labeled diagram

Handwriting practice

bead sorting and counting fun---Bud and Sissy spent a lot of time with this.

We made mini pizzas even though it is not an A/Apple activity--it was fun though!

The finished product!

Bud couldn't wait

You can barely see the stairs and little rooms Bud drew on his Apple in this photo---it was his picture of the worms new home from Grasshopper on the Road by Arnold Lobel.

writing out the fruit of the Spirit

All three at the table for a craft: Bud working on artwork after hearing a story, the other littles working on an apple craft

making the apple stampers

Little Bear having fun!

Sissy's apple stamps

Fruit of the Spirit cards by Bud

The school/play room---another configuration

I brought a slide in from the outside--it was too cold to go out and they need to burn energy.  You got to do what you got to do;)

Little Buckaroo

He loves having his own desk/table

Little Bear on saxophone, Sissy on oboe and Bud on bassoon...they love to pretend they are in an orchestra.

Some other Apple Resources we used:

http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/2010/08/words-to-remember-mfw-kindergarten.html

http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/rrpreschoolsamplefruit.html

-          Apples facts

-          http://www.motts.com/ApplesAndHealth/AboutApples/Facts.aspx

-          Apple seasons

-          http://www.motts.com/ApplesAndHealth/AboutApples/Growing.aspx

Apple diagram sheet

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/docs32465/johnny_appleseed/diagram.pdf

http://www.coloring.ws/fruit.htm

Tasting Sheet

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/docs32465/johnny_appleseed/taste_test_4.pdf