Week 2: THE MOON  

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God really is amazing.
 The creator of the Universe and yet he knows everything (large and small) about us.
We decided to go to the library one day and low and behold they had a
"VISIT TO THE MOON" exhibit!
The kids had so much fun!


I learned something too during this unit. The Moon does not actually give off light. So why does it shine? It shines because it reflects light from the sun.
Spiritual lesson: We are like the moon. There is no light in us. But we can (if we choose) to shine because of the light of God's 'sun.'

I was also impressed cause my 2.5 year old actually learned from the activity we did
learning about the Full moon, Half moon, Crescent moon, and New moon. We decided to read books outside in the evening before bed and she saw the moon and declared that it was a half moon. She was right!

Kindergarten Plans/Goals/Curriculum  

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I have been avoiding doing this for a month or two simply because I have a million things going through my mind and not sure how to get it all in order. I am hoping that putting it on paper  a blog post may help my little brain make some sense to all of this.

I know, I know. IT IS ONLY KINDERGARTEN!

So here is what I've got:

Lesson #1: Student learns that school starts and ends when Teacher(mom) says so. We are going to have to work on this one. But what kindergartner doesn't have ants in their pants?

Bible/Character Building
AWANA Sparks
My Father's World Kindergarten
Leading Little Ones to God: A Child's Book of Bible Teachings
Gotta Have God: Fun Devotions For Boys
Character First Character Cards


Reading
Explode the Code

Explode the Code 1

A Handbook for Reading (A Beka Book Reading Program)


Handwriting
Handwriting Without Tears

Get Set for School

Explode the Code
Explode the Code 1


Math
RightStart Math
Daily Calendar


P.E. (a necessity for a 4.5 year old boy)
Work Out Videos with Mom
Outdoor Play
Running


Science
My Father's World From A to Z: A Complete Kindergarten Curriculum


Music
Simply Music (Piano Lessons on DVD)
Musical Instruments by Ellen McHenry (Coloring Book)
Classics for Kids

School Pictures are in!  

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Kindergarten
2010-2011

 

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Here a few things we have been up to at 'school' lately.

Large motor activity while learning to count by two's.


This started out as learning about perpendicular lines and planes (from out RightStart Math)
But it ended up as building bridges. Fun for a moment. A little frustrating for a 4 and 2 year old.
I think this counts as school. Vocab? Reading?
Walking on homemade stilts made from baby formula canisters.




We have are now on unit 4 of My Father's World Kindergarten.
We are starting the Apple unit now.


Worried About Socialization?  

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Me too. That is one of the bigger reasons I DO homeschool.
I stumbled upon this hilarious article about incorporating socialization into the homeschoolers day.

 click on this link:

Home-schooled kids can receive similar socialization

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran  

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Roxaboxen

This is a really cute book about neighborhood kids who create an entire city out of a pathway of stones. The ideas remind me of childhood times of getting completely engrossed in imaginary play.
If I had a million dollars....I would own this book too. Instead of owning it I will occasionally borrow it from the library.

After this post my son spotted the book on the table and decided to make his own Roxaboxen...with a little help.
Every city needs a zoo!
A page out of the book.

We did a little construction and widened the city streets so the emergency vehicles could safely pass through. This is the fire engine and the police car.

While we were 'building' the city. My four year old was saying, "I go to prepare a place for you."
We often talk about the great city that God is building for us.

Week 1: Sun  

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eah! We completed our first full official week of MFW K! The unit on THE SUN.
I have to be honest. I was completely discombobulated when it came to:

what to do
when
and
how.
The teacher's manual could be a little more user friendly....what is she trying to do? Scare us first year homeschoolers to death? Cause that is almost what happened.

But, with the help of the Homeschool Lounge and some friends who have used MFW K, I made it through and this next week I will be a little more laid back.

So here is what we did.

We practiced little curve and little curve that makes an 'S' from Handwriting without tears. Then we made it with our foam pieces. ( If you would like to know more about this... just ask).
We wrote out 'S' on our chalkboard tablet and we found the 'S' is for SUN card.

we loved this National Geographic Book! It explained very well how the earth moves around the son and why we have night and day AND different seasons!
They suggested we do this fun lesson. We did and he loved it! What is even better... he learned from it!

For some reason this picture flipped on me. Sorry.
He drew a picture of himself. We taped it to a ball. Turned out the light and turned on a flashlight (which was the sun).
I rotated the ball on it's axis to see how we get night and day. Then I rotated it on it's axis and made it orbit around the light to see how we get seasons. It clicked. He understood it!

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We made Chicken Florentine Ring cause it looks like a sun.
This was a fun experiment. Now we have a place mat.


P.S. sorry for the glitches. I had some technical difficulty and can't fix it without rewriting this post.

Creation  

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Our first week was great! G. Was diligent in his school work and often begged for more. I was quite impressed with his cutting skills!
He is quite proud of his very first book!
I instead of stapling it together I used the 3 hole punch and put it in a folder.
He even wrote the title on the front cover CREATION.
Then his name.

He is really enjoying writing his name too.
That is one thing I wanted to mention. Since he already can identify his letters and even knows the letter sounds. We are going to be using Handwriting Without Tears and substitute that portion with practicing writing.

I am still working on the actual planning. Trying to piece it all together. I really want to add in Phys Ed and Music pretty much daily. Too ambitious? We will see how it all transpires. Again, that is another bonus to schooling at home. Keep tweeking until our needs are met.