Archive for the ‘Homeschooling’ Category

2010-2011 School Year

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

We have already begun our new school year. I am anticipating taking some time off when Annabella arrives, so I decided we would go ahead and get started.

The boys have been pretty involved in our curriculum so far. They really enjoy our school time and even ask for it throughout the day.

Below is a curriculum outline for what I want to cover with the boys this school year. We may cover more in some subjects, and less than others, a lot will depend on the boys’ maturity, grasp of concepts, and interest level.

Bible, Language Arts, and Math are our core subjects. They will be studied on a daily basis. Social Studies, Science, Fine Arts, and Foreign Language will be studied two or three times a week.

Bible

Our study of the Bible will focus on three main areas:

Bible Knowledge

We will begin our year using A Child’s First Bible to learn various well known Bible stories.

Memorization

We will be learning the Catechism for Young Children and ABC Memory Verses during the course of the year using this memory system found at Simply Charlotte Mason.

Character Development

We will be using the One Year Book of Devotions for Preschoolers.

Language Arts

Our study of Language Arts will focus on three main areas:

Beginning Reading and Handwriting

We will be using the Explode the Code beginning with the primer workbooks A, B, and C. Although the boys both know their letters and letter sounds, we will be using these books to develop handwriting skills and following directions skills.

Literature

My literature goal for the boys is to expose them to variety of well written and well illustrated picture books through read-alouds. I will choose one book to be read aloud to them during school time, and they can choose others that we can read throughout the day.

Poetry

We will begin the school year using The Random House Book of Mother Goose.

Math

We will be using a variety of different activities including hands-on activities, worksheets, and online activities to reinforce and learn the following pre-K math skills:

  • Shapes
    • identification of circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles
  • Counting to 3
    • counting dots, shapes, and objects
  • Counting to 5
    • counting dots, shapes, and objects
  • Counting to 10
    • counting dots, shapes, and objects
  • Counting to 20
    • counting dots, shapes, and objects
  • Comparing
    • groups (more or less), in charts (fewer or more), in mixed groups
  • Positions
    • inside and outside, left and right, left, middle, above and below, top and bottom
  • Classification
    • same and different, by color
  • Size
    • height, weight, capacity
  • Money
    • identify coin types, count pennies

Social Studies

  • People in the Neighborhood
  • Basic Geography Concepts
    • Globes and Maps
    • Continents
    • Oceans
    • Rivers, Lakes, and Mountains
  • Around the World: Continents
  • Holidays

Science

  • Your Body
  • Five Senses
  • Animals
  • Taking Care of the Earth
  • Taking Care of Plants
  • Seasons and Weather
  • Physical Science Concepts
    • Shadows
    • Light
    • Color
    • Sound
    • Motion
  • Rocks and Dirt

Fine Arts

Visual Arts

  • Elements of Art: Color, Lines, Types of Art
  • Artists and Their Works

Music

  • Elements of Music: Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Pitch
  • Composers and Their Works

Arts and Crafts

Foreign Language

I want to teach the boys Spanish, but I am still looking for a good preschool curriculum to accomplish this task.

Preschool 09-10: Term 1 Overview (Sensorial Activities)

Friday, October 16th, 2009

This term we have been working on the following skills:

  • Visual Discrimination of Size:
    • Nesting Stacking Blocks (We have the Melissa and Doug Alphabet Nesting and Stacking Blocks.)
    • Color and Shape Gradation (MS)
  • Visual Discrimination of Color:
  • Visual Discrimination of Shape:
    • Down on the Farm
    • Puzzles (We are currently using wooden puzzles with small peg knobs. We have worked with the puzzles that have color pictures under the pieces and Ethan finds those very easy. We are now working with the puzzles that have black and white pictures under the pieces. This is much more challenging for Ethan.)
    • Shape Safari
    • Color and Shape Gradation (MS)
    • Shape Memory Game (MS)
    • 10 Shape Categories (MS)

**For each activity, I have linked the website that I used as a source for the activity. For the activities that are not online, I put an abbreviation for the book or the name of the material we used to complete the activity.

BM=Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives by David Gettman

MS=Montessori on a Shoestring: A Make-It-Yourself Guide to 101 Hands-On Learning Activities by Jody Erickson

Preschool 09-10: Term 1 Overview (Cultural Studies)

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Geography

This term we have explored the following geography topics:

Visual Arts

This term we have completed the following projects from the book Climbing Art Obstacles in Autism:

  • Airplane
  • Alligator
  • Ant Hat
  • Ant Hill

Natural Science

This term we have explored the following science topics:

Spanish

My parents purchased Muzzy, the BBC Language Learning Course for Children,  a couple of years ago. We used it with Ethan when we first got it, but he started screaming every time we used it so it was shelved.

We haven’t had any problems using it this fall. We watch a portion of the video twice a week and both boys love it.

Preschool 09-10: Term 1 Overview (Math Activities)

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

This term we have worked on the following skills:

**For each activity, I have linked the website that I used as a source for the activity. For the activities that are not online, I put an abbreviation for the book or the name of the material we used to complete the activity.

BM=Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives by David Gettman

MS=Montessori on a Shoestring: A Make-It-Yourself Guide to 101 Hands-On Learning Activities by Jody Erickson

Preschool 09-10: Term 1 Overview (Language Activities)

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

This term we have worked on the following skills:

**For each activity, I have linked the website that I used as a source for the activity. For the activities that are not online, I put an abbreviation for the book or the name of the material we used to complete the activity.

BM=Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives by David Gettman

MS=Montessori on a Shoestring: A Make-It-Yourself Guide to 101 Hands-On Learning Activities by Jody Erickson