homeschool recap
After a few weeks of having a summer break from school we were all itching for the comfort of a routine again. I had been planning to start our school year after we arrived in DC and were settled, but decided that it was time and we just finished our first week of the 2018/2019 school year. I really hope to have the stamina to do regular updates here with what we are working on along with links to our resources.
Earlier in the year I started doing preschool activities with Desmond, and while he responded well to some of it he was uninterested in a lot of it. After reading some suggestions from some other homeschool moms I decided to put off formal learning for a bit. Some kids like learning early on and others are better with free play and just being read to a lot. I think Des is ready now because he has loved this week of learning. He still hates working on anything related to handwriting and letter formation, so we will keep working on strengthening his grip and approaching the subject slowly as to not overwhelm him.
We are starting back again with the letter a week schedule for Des. He was annoyed we were doing letter A again, but repetition is good, even if Des thinks it's dumb, haha. You can see other letter A activities here and here.
(a) I found those awesome alphabet clip cards in the Target dollar spot last week. They come with one flimsy, plastic clip. I tossed that clip and we used clothespins instead to work on his grip. He loved this activity and I was amazed how well he knew his letter sounds.
(b) Letter A 3-part cards from Treehouse Schoolhouse. Des is a still too young to match up the words so I have him match up the pictures. He says what the picture is and then matches it to the matching card.
(c) Letter A identification dot-a-dot printable from Over the Big Moon. I had Des stamp the uppercase letters with red and the lowercase with green. We also worked on his Pre-K language arts lesson from The Good and the Beautiful. The flip book is also from The Good and the Beautiful.
(d) Initially I set out a salt tray for Des to trace the letter A with, but after a few frustrating attempts I realized I needed to take a step back and try a different approach. I pulled out something he loves, cars! Zooming the cars around to form the letter A was fun and stress free for him.
We are following two different science units this semester. One is the Arthropods unit from The Good and the Beautiful and the other is a nature-based science unit from Exploring Nature with Children. This week we started on the Seeds unit from ENWC and it was so delightful and fun. I decided that this year I would participate more in my children's learning. Instead of just teaching I would do the activities with them. I purchased my own mixed media journal and did the same journaling entries at them. It's been relaxing for me and I've found Zoey doesn't complain as much about the handwriting portion when I am sitting next to her doing it with her. I buy these journals on amazon.
(a/b) We cut open an apple and a bell pepper to see their seeds. We also followed an experiment to see if we could sprout bell pepper seeds. We have the seeds sitting in our kitchen window for observing, so time will tell! The science kit is from amazon here.
(c) Testing what we know about seeds and how they are dispersed with a definition match-up I quickly created and printed out.
(d) We went in our yard and gathered different types of plants to observe their seeds. We also read a few books* about seeds. We then journaled our work.
(a) I think I have shared these printables before, but they are a favorite that I have held onto since Zoey was 2 years old. Gumball counting with pom-poms from The Measured Mom.
(b) Apple pattern printable from Simply Learning. Des didn't quite understand the concept of "what comes next" but no sweat because I just had him color match and say the patter as he did it.
(c) Zoey's math isn't ever as exciting, much to her chagrin. But I thought I would show her dividing bread into two different ways to get equal pieces each time.
(d) These vehicle counting cards are also from The Measured Mom and are well-loved. They are for 1-20 and I am happy to say that Des now can identify all of those numbers by sight now!
(a) More from the Letter A unit from Simply Learning. I had a tray of a bunch of red, green and yellow play dough balls to signify the apples that fell down in the orchard. Des had to put the apples back on the tree with the correct number.
(b) This year we will be doing a weekly scripture focus based on the letter that we are studying that week with Des. This week it was A so we focused on Ammon. Bonus, Ammon cuts off the bad guys' arms. A for Arms...get it? Nice. As always I find a lot of resources from LDS.org in the "children" section. I usually supplement with videos there and coloring sheets. I also find a lot of fun activities from A Year of FHE.
(c) A look at Zoey's daily language arts lessons. She reads from her reader for 20 minutes, then works on her phonics cards, practices spelling and then does her workbook pages. The level is supposed to last a year but I am thinking we will be done with it by December. It's been nice being able to let her lead herself since she doesn't need help with reading directions or anything. It gives me a chance to help Des more.
(d) For language arts this week the focus was on nests. We worked on memorizing a poem, that we also recorded in our journals.
As I mentioned above, I suspect we will finish out with Grade 1 Language Arts by the end of fall semester before moving onto Grade 2. The program comes with a stack of about 150 phonics cards. For the entire year the children are supposed to work on mastering 124 of them. Well, by Tuesday Zoey had gone through the entire stack of 150ish and mastered all of the sounds. She also had gone through the entire list of challenge words for the year. She amazes me!
Books used this week:
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
A Seed is Sleepy by Diana Hutts Aston
Magic School Bus: Plants and Seeds by Joanna Cole
Plant the Tiny Seed by Christie Matheson
Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss
Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman
