A New Unit

Today we are starting a new unit! We will be covering medival times and botony, learning a medival craft (boys: whittling, Raeley: Calligraphy), disecting plants, planting an herb garden, studying on the health benefits of herbs, and doing the unit extra fast since there's really not that much history (hence the dark ages). Raeley is visting my sister this week so she can play with my new great neice, Mackenzie (sister Karen's son Michael's 7 month old baby girl)! We will miss her and as resident kitchen cleaner and babysitter, it will take some juggling on my part to adjust! She's going to have a great time, but I'm already lonely with out her to visit with.

Egyptian Finale and 3 course meal

Tonight Raeley Robert and Jonathan welcomed my parents and Mark into the land of Ancient Egypt with art reliefs, pyramids, and authentic food. There were lots of questions and did you know statements throughout the evening. We forgot to do several items that we had planned on doing, but with only a little bit of prep time on Wednesday, I was very proud of how well the children did. I appreciated all the help my mom was in the kitchen and there was way too much food! The menu was taken from the curriculum we use, and it consisted of Lentil soup, barley cakes, fresh melons, figs, onions, leeks and cucumbers for the first course. The discussion consisted of the culture of Egypt, primarily the food they ate. There was a nice interlude of scripture quoting from the kids, and it was followed by barley casserole, lamb meatballs, asparagus, and potato hash. The course of discussion centered around the climate of Egypt and deserts. It was all followed up with Honey Cake which was not too sweet, so we broke from traditional Ancient Egypt and added icing. The course of discussion was the history and rule of the pharohs. It was a great evening. I must say, however, I am thrilled that our next unit it Ancient Greece. I'm going to start researching good greek restaurants in the area for our Greece finale!

Cameron's Kindergarten Book

A friend of mine, Michelle, binds her children's work into a book. I thought that was a great idea. I was looking at the math curriculum for Kindergarten and I was looking at spending $18-26 . Sounds like a lot for pages on pattern and number recognition. So I went to the internet. I get her alphabet pages for free off the internet. There were so many worksheets floating around, I started on a one-stop workbook for kindergarten. I put together 3 or 4 worksheets for each day on the alphabet, numbers, colors, patterns, cutting, Rod and Staff books, or anything else fun we would use in school. The pages either came off of teh internet of I cut the binding off of workbooks such as Rod and Staff. I took it to Office Max and had it spiral bound for a little over $4. The spiral bound is great because it can open flat all the way. Some of the pages (from Rod and Staff) were a little smaller, and they fit in fine. I also used pages from e-books I purchased for under $3 at Currclick (http://www.currclick.com/). All total, I spent under $20! I have my own printer, and it costs me three cents a page for black and white. Add workbooks in, and it would probably still be under $30. I also listed 50 activities by topic from some of my favorite activity books mainly The Instant Curriculum. This should make it easy for me to decide what we will do that day (or week). I will check the activities off as we do them. I arranged the alphabet pages according to what letter she will be learning in her 100 easy lessons reading book. Cameron loves the book. Mommy made the book just for her. There is no doubt about what she is expected to do that day, either. She likes knowing before her day begins her expected "work". Raeley designed the cover for her.

Learning Adventures Curriculum

I really like the curriculum we are using this year. It is new for us, and it is a unit study from Learning Adventures. http://www.learning-adventures.org/

It is based in history, with everything tying into that. For instance, the first unit is Ancient Egypt. The bible story is Joseph, Israelites in the desert, Joshua, idolitry, 10 commandments). Science is the desert (including erosion, temperature, weather, plants). It encourages children to discover information on their own by independant study times. It covers everything but math, and I like the writing lessons. The kids really like it and are having fun. We do school together (grades 4,5, 7) with me expecting a little more from my 7th grader. She has to write 2 or 3 5 paragraph essays with each unit. Each unit lasts a month. Once a semester she will write a research paper. I do supplement with Easy Grammer and Daily Grams. I was going to substitute with Wordly Wise as well, but the curriculum covers vocabulary extensively.

It takes me 2 to 2 1/2 hours to cover the work with them, with 1 hour or less independant study on topics discussed, 30 minutes independant reading, 1 hour of math, and 30 minutes of whatever elective we are doing that day. The school day is usually done in 5 hours, with us being done around 2 or 2:30. Last year our days seemed to drag on, but I have learned that more is not neccessarily better. My kids are learning quite a bit. The science activities are frequent and easy and they work, which I appreciate.

Kindergarten

Books and Websites I use:
Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons
When I use this book to teach my children to read, I don't do a lot of alphabet work beforehand. I guess I just was never that organized in preschool. I tried with my oldest, Raeley, and she got mouth ulcers because she found it so difficult to remember her letters (and probably because I was so distraught that she wasn't remembering her letters).
The first letters introduced are m, s, and a. Before I sit down with her to do a lesson, we do a worksheet on the letters, including writing them and saying the sound each time she writes a letter. There are only two or three lessons where more than one letter is introduced.
BOB Books after 100 Easy Lessons

Here are some of the websites that I use to find letter pages:
http://theteacherscafe.com/Teacher-Directory/Preschool_Games.php
Links to other sites
http://www.tlsbooks.com/kindergartenworksheets.htm
letter activity pages
http://www.underfives.co.uk/wshtalph.html#alphabet%20worksheets
alphabet sheets for handwriting

Here is anothere site that has "vintage" records your child can listen to while doing a craft. They are great stories on records from the 40's and 50's.
http://www.kiddierecords.com/bonus/index.htm

Math:
Essential Math by Singapore Math

Art:
Usborne's I Can Draw books and I Can Cut and Stick
Abeka Art K
Mona Brooks Drawing with Children (very teacher involved, but does not require artistic ability to teach, just patience and humility)

For Art Activities:
Encouraging the Artist in Your Child by Sally Warner
Art Adventures At Home by Pattye Carlson and M. Jean Soyke

I also use the book The Instant Curriculum by Pam Schiller and Joan Rossano. I used this for Pre-K, but it is so much fun, and jam packed with activities, that we will use it during K also.

History and Science are done by hanging out with the big kids. I also go to the library and use the referrence books on children's books that catagorize picture books by topic (the thick book with A to Z in the title is my favorite). I look up picture books about science and history to read with her.