School
I used to blog regularly about what I'm doing for school. I not only don't have as much time as I used to, but last year school was not as exciting to me. Kind of sad, I guess. I miss that excitement I used to feel. With so many of my older kids in school it feels different. I feel less like a homeschooling mama - maybe because I'm still so tied to the school calendar.
That said, we are doing some really fun things in school this year. I really wanted to spice things up to make them interesting for the kids AND me.
I've organized our school year by month, and each month has a weekly rotating subject.
Week One: "Jot It Down" Fairytale curriculum
Week Two: Ancient History
Week Three: Science
Week Four: American History
Our fairy tale curriculum has been loads of fun. We do a different fairytale each month and I check out as many different versions of the chosen story as I can find. This month we did Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There were some fun versions to read including "Goatilocks", and "Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs". We read several versions a day and talk about them. On Friday we do a final project. We illustrate a scene (trying to add dimension and texture for fun) and the girls narrate the story to me. At the end of the year the idea is that we will have a book for each of them of 10 illustrated fairy tales that they created themselves. It's definitely one of our favorite weeks. The girls remember so much of the stories that my hand gets tired writing! Narration is a wonderful pre-writing exercise but it takes a LOT of parental patience!!! I love to hear them pull words, phrases, and ideas out of the funky versions of the fairytales that we read. For instance, this week Natalie used the word "sheepish" which came from the Goatilocks version. Good vocabulary expansion!
For Ancient History I pre-selected 9 topics to study this year. All my curriculum is very literature based. I depend upon my library! We read a lot of books about the topic - a mix of both fiction and non-fiction. We try to do a hands-on project and we always check out maps of the area and learn about animals and culture for the region. This is a fairly laid back week because I don't actually expect them to remember a lot. It's just exploratory.
Science has been fun. I think selecting topics makes it more interesting for me. There are lots of great science videos, books, and online resources. We studied skeletons last month (halloween, you know) and are doing birds this month (thanksgiving!). Today we read a book about John James Audubon that was really interesting as well as a great classic about scientific observation. Science is easy for hands-on, even if it's just taking a walk and pointing out things about the birds we see.
American History is divided by rough categories that should get us roughly through WWII by the end of the year. This is always one of my favorite subjects partly because of the sheer volume of excellent books written about almost all american history topics. It's incredible, the resources there are.
Anyway, we do a LOT of reading every day. Which I love. ;-)
The final thing we are doing this year that is kind of new is I've been more consistent than ever before with having a Friday Art Day. Sometimes we do our week's topical art project that day, but more often I do it on Wed. or Thurs. so that we can do some fun creative art on Friday. I've been using the blog www.deepspacesparkle.com for my inspiration. It's really been a wonderful resource that has taught me what is AGE-APPROPRIATE art. Teaching five and six year olds about lines, shapes, color-mixing - it seems so basic but it is what they need.
First Grade and Kindergarten are really easy because the main focus is on letters and numbers. Therefore, our day really revolves around that. Math games, writing practice, reading, and free play are the four main things we try to do every day.
That said, we are doing some really fun things in school this year. I really wanted to spice things up to make them interesting for the kids AND me.
I've organized our school year by month, and each month has a weekly rotating subject.
Week One: "Jot It Down" Fairytale curriculum
Week Two: Ancient History
Week Three: Science
Week Four: American History
Our fairy tale curriculum has been loads of fun. We do a different fairytale each month and I check out as many different versions of the chosen story as I can find. This month we did Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There were some fun versions to read including "Goatilocks", and "Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs". We read several versions a day and talk about them. On Friday we do a final project. We illustrate a scene (trying to add dimension and texture for fun) and the girls narrate the story to me. At the end of the year the idea is that we will have a book for each of them of 10 illustrated fairy tales that they created themselves. It's definitely one of our favorite weeks. The girls remember so much of the stories that my hand gets tired writing! Narration is a wonderful pre-writing exercise but it takes a LOT of parental patience!!! I love to hear them pull words, phrases, and ideas out of the funky versions of the fairytales that we read. For instance, this week Natalie used the word "sheepish" which came from the Goatilocks version. Good vocabulary expansion!
For Ancient History I pre-selected 9 topics to study this year. All my curriculum is very literature based. I depend upon my library! We read a lot of books about the topic - a mix of both fiction and non-fiction. We try to do a hands-on project and we always check out maps of the area and learn about animals and culture for the region. This is a fairly laid back week because I don't actually expect them to remember a lot. It's just exploratory.
Science has been fun. I think selecting topics makes it more interesting for me. There are lots of great science videos, books, and online resources. We studied skeletons last month (halloween, you know) and are doing birds this month (thanksgiving!). Today we read a book about John James Audubon that was really interesting as well as a great classic about scientific observation. Science is easy for hands-on, even if it's just taking a walk and pointing out things about the birds we see.
American History is divided by rough categories that should get us roughly through WWII by the end of the year. This is always one of my favorite subjects partly because of the sheer volume of excellent books written about almost all american history topics. It's incredible, the resources there are.
Anyway, we do a LOT of reading every day. Which I love. ;-)
The final thing we are doing this year that is kind of new is I've been more consistent than ever before with having a Friday Art Day. Sometimes we do our week's topical art project that day, but more often I do it on Wed. or Thurs. so that we can do some fun creative art on Friday. I've been using the blog www.deepspacesparkle.com for my inspiration. It's really been a wonderful resource that has taught me what is AGE-APPROPRIATE art. Teaching five and six year olds about lines, shapes, color-mixing - it seems so basic but it is what they need.
First Grade and Kindergarten are really easy because the main focus is on letters and numbers. Therefore, our day really revolves around that. Math games, writing practice, reading, and free play are the four main things we try to do every day.
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