THE KINDERGARTEN ROTATION part 1
We've been homeschooling Evie in Kindergarten for almost 9 weeks now and I'm still working out the kinks. We started with just the basics, since Evie hasn't been the easiest child to school, and are just starting to branch out the past two-three weeks now.
For language arts, we started with Veritas Press Phonics Museum last year. She really liked it at first but it became a little too hard a little too fast for her attention span. So, I pulled and dusted off my copy of Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons and tried that. Well, it was a perfect fit for her! She just started and is on lesson 60! I'm impressed with this little gem once again. I used this with Jon when he was 6 and it was perfect for him too. But most of all, I think that she was JUST PLAIN READY. You can't rush these things, believe me, I know.
We've been using VP Phonics for the writing portion and it's working well in that area.
For our extra reading, I use some very old books that just came back in print.
These were Eric's kindergarten readers! They are the " I See Sam " books. I have a "Caterpillar reading list" on our wall that Evie can add to every time she finishes a reader. It already goes around a corner!
For math, we began Math U See Primer last year but she didn't like following the rules so I had put it away for later. Well, later came and it's also a perfect fit. She LOVES Steve and so do I. I could almost kiss that man.lol Evie's wisking along at a brisk pace and is already in lesson 15. Already 1/2 way through and we're only in week 9 of our school year. I guess we'll be ordering the next book soon.
For our extra subjects, it was really hard to choose! I had two full curricula to choose from.
1. I had purchased Winter's Promise: Animals and their Worlds used from an online friend. When I looked at it though it seemed like it would be better for a first grader. Maybe someone who had a little reading under their belts. So I put it aside.
2. Five in a Row. I purchased this from a friend (Hi, Jodi!)last winter, but at first glance, it looked too hard for Evie. She really hasn't been too receptive to learning and the projects looked pretty hard for someone with NO background knowledge in the different areas. I thought that I would save this for another year but three weeks ago, I pulled it off the shelf and looked through it again. In my amazement, Evie had gained that base knowledge that was missing over the past few months on her own and was more than ready for this program. I collected the books from my shelves and we started in earnest three weeks ago. This has been a FUN curriculum! We don't do everything, only the projects that we have everything for and that she is interested in but so far it's been a real hit. We've gone through the books, The Story of Ping, Lentil, Madeline, and we just began A Pair of Red Clogs. Today for our project we ate like the Japanese do, with Chopsticks! I had just purchased some cheater chopsticks at Target a few weeks ago for an activity bin and they were the perfect first try with chopsticks. I also set the little's meals up Bento style with our cafeteria trays. They ate better than they EVER do for lunch! We've decided to do this more often.lol
Well, that's what we've been up to. I'll try to post more later, but Sophia has declared my "me time" over for now.lol
Blessings,
7 comments:
Perfect! I'm realizing that J is about six months younger. I just have to keep following your footsteps - first preschool now kindergarten. ;-) It sounds like you've hit on what it working well.
Kindergarten is my world right now. I like your approach of trying things, if one doesn't work putting it away and trying something else, maybe pulling it out later...That's the beauty of homeschooling. We really can tailor our teaching to the child's learning needs.
We've started more formal schooling with Nathan this year as well.. He's almost done with the PRIMER book!
Lisa, you sure are cruising this year with your schooling. We also love MUS and FIAR. The Littles are doing very well with these.
PS-I've given you an award. You can check it out at my blog.
I'm glad that you're liking the FIAR now that Evie is old enough!
Sounds like you're off to a flying start this year.
Forgot to say... LOVE your reading caterpillar! My kids are older than K age but Tristan is just learning to read and I think he would love this type of thing to show progress.
lol! I must be a trail blazer for you Lisa! It has been a good year for us. We don't always have such good years, but this year will be one that I remember when we hit the bad ones.lol
Yes, Paula. You have to be flexible around here. Otherwise, I'd always be frustrated.lol What's more, sometimes, it NEVER works for the child you bought it for but I've found that if you keep having kids, it'll someday get used.lol
Makes perfect sense, Cindy! Nathan is about 6 months older than Evie.lol
Thanks Debbie!
Jodi,
That caterpillar came from Allison. We did that for her and it really appealed to her... It REALLY appeals to Evie.lol FIAR has been a big hit for Evie, and even a little bit with Isaac. He likes to listen to the stories and will occasionally try out a project.
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