the bean sprout

(home)school starts

... TODAY!  Beginning a new school year on the Monday following the Feast of the Assumption will be our set tradition.  The date is easy enough to remember and it allows us to finish the school year by the end of May, leaving the long summer months to enjoy.

 

Blessings to those of you starting school as well! 

the sidebar

... has been updated to include our newest lil' sprout.  Baby Girl (I know, really original) was born on June 7, 2009.  Life was hectic for a few weeks as we got off to a rough start, but we are now settled into somewhat smoother days.  I imagine that things will certainly get quite interesting when we add homeschooling into the mix in about a week.

Now, about this blog ... I have gone back and forth in deciding whether to switch back to my old blog on blogspot since it is FREE.  I do not really feel like I have gotten my money's worth with Type Pad since I post so infrequently.  When I made the switch last year, I intended to document more of our home learning with all the nice features of Type Pad in hopes of putting together a good Kindergarten portfolio.  When the end of the school year came around, I did not have much in terms of blog posts for Little Man's portfolio and what I came up with in the end was adequate, but not stellar.  The portfolio did not turn out to be the keepsake I had hoped it would be.

So ... I may try just one more time this year, to do a better job at documenting our learning and posting more frequently.  Wish me luck!

i love that

... I am home with the lil' sprouts and get to witness first hand their stages of development and milestones in learning.

... a lot of the lil' sprouts' learning has been self-directed and self-motivated and that I am here to provide the support they need.

... after a year later, Little Man is STILL writing and illustrating books with wild abandon.  He has gone from dictating stories to us to write them down to writing stories on his own, with some help for spelling out words.

... Miss Girl has recently followed in her big brother's footsteps, dictating stories to us to write them down and illustrating the stories with the cutest drawings.

... Little Man reads several stories in a row to Miss Girl cuddled up on the couch or rocking chair.  This has been a huge help in these days of my pregnancy.

... after being read a story, Miss Girl (in her loud voice) reads the story using picture cues and adding ideas of her own just to make things interesting.

... the lil' sprouts learn from each other. 

... I am constantly learning so much from them.

i just love that.

what works for us

... in our little homeschool and our home life, in general, are the following:  

• a daily rhythm, rather than a rigid schedule to follow;
  
• no more than two hours in the morning of formal or structured lesson time;
  
• plenty of free play time, preferably outdoors;
  
• opportunities for artistic and creative pursuits - drawing, music, painting, handwork;
  
• following the Liturgical and natural seasonal rhythms of the year;
  
• including Miss Girl and making her feel a part of lesson time;

I can now see and understand the wisdom of Montessori and Waldorf schools in grouping three to six-year-olds in Kindergarten together.

• setting the bar high when choosing quality children's literature;

I do believe that our days of phonics readers and phonics instruction were (thankfully!) short lived due to frequent reading/cuddling time on the couch and exposure to good books beginning at an early age.

• healthy food and nutritious meals;

Last summer, I became a Feingold member in an effort to eliminate specific preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, and highly processed foods from Little Man's (and our) diet hoping to help him with a few health issues.  Cooking from scratch with healthy and fresh ingredients is always a good thing for anyone to do, but the biggest challenge has been trying to stay away from offending foods outside of our home, especially at events where highly processed candy, cookies, and cakes are abundantly available.

• and last, but not least, adequate rest and sleep for all;

If any of us are sleep deprived, we become cranky and have unhappy days.  Late afternoon naps or quiet time are especially helpful in transitioning toward peaceful evenings.

What works for you?

four weeks have passed

... since Little Man began Kindergarten at home.  He is doing quite well, which definitely makes for a very happy mom :)  He is generally very focused, but our biggest challenge is including Miss Girl in the activity or even keeping her at bay.  She's a wild one!

Here is a rundown of our first month:

We usually start the morning with me reading a short story from Devotional Stories for Little Folks, a picture book related to the season or Liturgical Year, Magnifikid!, or any other book we get from the library.

Then we begin the daily subjects:

Reading (aloud to me)

Little Man finished four books (more like booklets) from the Easy Reader Classics series on Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.  Whenever I can get to the bookstore, he will start on the series for The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.  He also read A Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

Spelling

Throughout the Spring and Summer, Little Man was and still is on a book writing - book making frenzy.  He comes up with an idea for a story, usually related to something he has already read, draws the pictures, and dictates the sentences for me to write.  He expressed a desire to learn to spell so he could write the stories on his own.

Anyway, we use the simple word lists from My Very First Catholic Speller as a starting point.  I come up with different activties to expose him to the spelling words and additional words.  About two times a week, he writes and illustrates the words in a Main Lesson Book.

So far, the lessons have been on short vowel "a", "o", and "i" words.

Handwriting

Little Man is working on capital letters using Handwriting Without Tears.  I really like this program a lot.  It was developed by an occupational therapist, and just from reading the teacher's guide, you can see that she has put a lot of thought into the details of what will help a child succeed in handwriting.

Also two times a week, Little Man practices his handwriting in a Main Lesson Book.

Mathematics

When I decided to use Saxon Math, I was advised by many a homeschool mom to start with Math 1 rather than Math K.  Since Saxon uses a spiral approach to teaching math, there is constant review of old concepts with a new concept or two added right in.

Most of the first part of Saxon 1 has been a review since the concepts are fairly basic information Little Man has already picked up on his own in the past.  So far, he is using our own calendar to determine the date by day, month, and year every day.  He is counting past 100, sometimes knows right from left, and is beginning addition.  I also teach him patterns by using the piano, which he tremendously enjoys playing.  And he helps with measuring and pouring of birdseed to maintain our bird feeders.

Weekly Subjects:

Monday - Literature

For Term 1 (nine weeks), we are reading from The Original Volland Edition of Mother Goose.  I read two selected rhymes and Little Man reads after me.  Then he reads the same two rhymes for the next four days, after which he basically has them memorized.

Tuesday - Nature Study

The extremely hot weather has kept us indoors lately, but when the weather cools I hope to do more walks around the neighborhood, hikes at a national park, and water and sand play at the beach!

This past month, Little Man sorted and classified some shells we collected at the beach during the summer.  Our Peterson First Guide for Shells and our Audubon Society Field Guide came in very handy.

We are also wrapping up a bird count of birds at our feeders.  I will show Little Man how to make a graph of our count (Nature Study AND Math!).

Wednesday - Journal Page

I give Little Man a page on which he writes his name and the date and draws "A Picture Thought I Am Sharing Today."  He draws ALL THE TIME and I cannot save everything, so having one designated weekly picture in a journal is a nice keepsake.

Thursday - Craft/Handwork

We have been doing simple crafts lately and I see the need to focus on things in which Little Man can learn to use the scissors well on his own.  I also hope to include some practical and useful skills like embroidery and sewing by hand.  I do have a basket of cut burlap, embroidery hoops, taspestry needles, and embroidery floss ... I just need to PUT IT OUT and make it available at all times.

Friday - History

I read one to two chapters from A Child's History of the World.  Sometimes I will have my dear husband go on Google Earth with Little Man to look at places we read about.  I am finding that I really need to invest in a world map.

Wow!  When written down, this seems like a lot, but amazingly enough, all the daily and the one weekly subjects are completed in the morning in about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Outside the Home

Religious Education

Little Man attends Religious Education at a local Catholic Church and enjoys it a lot.  The class is just his speed with a few minutes of instruction, playtime at the playground, snacktime, and a few minutes of instruction again at the end.  They say a little prayer at the beginning of class, before snacktime, and at the end of class as well.

Thanks for reading if you have made it this far ... I would love to see what other home learning families are up to, too!  Leave me a link if you do such a post.

 

since labor day weekend

... Miss Girl has been determined to master this puzzle of the United States.  While the tiny eastern seaboard states are proving troublesome for her two-year-old hands, I would say she has all the mid-western and western states down pat.

for handwriting practice

... Little Man uses Stockmar block crayons, Stone beeswax crayons, and a lime green Main Lesson Book.

Handwriting has never been so wonderfully colorful until now.

throughout the day

... we hear various renditions of "C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C."

Yes, it can be played in many. many. ways.  The piano has given Little Man confidence and joy in playing those, oh so few notes.

And the piano is his go to spot when he needs comfort in times of anger or frustration.  We eagerly await for the day he agrees to take lessons.  Then we could hear various renditions of other notes.