Originally posted on July 23, 2009
Okay, you caught me - the blog isn't a new idea. I actually started it LAST fall, with the intention of updating throughout our kindergarten year. That didn't work out so well, as kindergarten was largely chaotic - especially when I had to hold Milly practically all day on top of everything else we were doing! This year will hopefully be easier. Milly is old enough now to sit at the table with us while we "do school", and will very likely be doing a bit of school herself this year - although she won't know it. Alphabet coloring pages, here we come!
Even though we're still in July, I'm already looking forward to beginning this school year. I haven't set an official "first day" yet, although I imagine it will be in mid-August. I still have a few textbooks to buy, plenty of planning to do, an overflowing bookshelf in the kitchen to organize (and figure out how to KEEP it that way!) Rachael is ready and would gladly "go back to school" just anytime now - so as soon as everything is in order, we'll get going.
Before I tell you what we'll be up to this year, a quick word to the grandparents (and anyone else unfamiliar with blogs) that I'll be inviting to read along with us... A blog is basically an online diary. Bookmark this website; you'll need to come back and check in to read our udpates. Assuming that you want to know, of course. :) The newest entry will always appear at the top of the screen - which means that, if this is your first visit, you'll need to scroll all the way to the bottom to read the first entry. When you come back, just scroll down to the last entry you read and work your way up. I'll attempt to update every day or so, at least - and also have every intention of making Rachael dictate a bit about what she's doing and learning. And of course, there will be pictures - especially when we do FUN things and field trips!
Now, about our school year... To begin with, if we were not homeschooling, Rachael would be starting kindergarten at Drewry Mason Elementary School this fall. I must admit to some degree of curiosity, being that I spent three years there during middle school - I'd love to see how they've revamped the place to accommodate even smaller children. Henry County's first day of school will be a little bittersweet, knowing that my baby would be gone all day to "real" school - I might even be tempted to drive her over there, just depending on what kind of day we have here. ;) But sending Rachael to kindergarten this fall would be a huge disservice to a child who is already reading books with several chapters and very few pictures. We can do better - and we will do better.
Here's what Rachael will be studying this year at Regalia Academy...
MATH
We will once again be using the Math-U-See curriculum, which relies heavily on manipulatives (ie, "little blocks") to help kids figure out number concepts. For instance, two "5" blocks laid end to end are the same length as the "10" block. 5 + 5 = 10. Makes perfect sense, right? We made good progress through the first book (Primer) last year, but got hung up with skip counting by fives. Need to figure out a way to make that click for her, then we'll be moving on - and probably into the next book (Alpha) before the school year is over.
LANGUAGE ARTS
I'm excited about this one! We'll be using a curriculum called Learning Language Arts Through Literature, which focuses on...well, learning language arts through literature. It's kind of an all-in-one phonics, spelling, reading, grammar and handwriting course. Thankfully, you can browse the curriculum pretty thoroughly online, which led me to buy (are you ready for this?) the second grade books for Rachael. Kindergarten and first grade were simply too easy, and even the second grade readers are no challenge for her - she picked one up, read a few pages, and fixed me with the "I AM NOT A BABY" glare that said she expected more difficult fare. *sigh* However, she needs practice with her handwriting (we may also use a book called Handwriting Without Tears for extra practice) and skipping ahead any farther would also mean skipping over punctuation, parts of a sentence, nouns/pronouns/verbs/adverbs, etc. As it is, that ought to provide her with an adequate challenge this year, even if the included readers do not.
We'll also be learning spelling words from a book called The Natural Speller, and reading lots and lots and lots of things other than what's included with the curriculum. There are so many wonderful reading lists online, and I've snagged the public and private schools' first grade reading lists from the public library. We shouldn't have any trouble knocking those out! Rachael will very likely have an independent reading time each day as well as read-to-Mommy or listen-to-Mommy-read time. All three of them are pretty important to me and, as much as she loves her books, I don't expect any argument from her.
SCIENCE
We'll be using a book called Exploring Creation with Astronomy, published by Apologia. The Apologia series sounds wonderful - it's a Christian curriculum consisting of five books that teach about the world God created. The first year focuses on astronomy (because in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.) After that was done, God created vegetation - so the second year in this curriculm focuses on botany. The next three years cover the animals in the order that they were created - one year of winged creatures, one of aquatic creatures and finally, land animals. Pretty neat, huh? We're looking forward to digging into this one - Rachael loves looking at the stars, finding constellations, looking for planets - so this will be right up her alley. And of course, with the whole WALL-E fascination and his propensity for space travel...it'll be easy to throw him in there to get her attention as well!
HISTORY
Her history text is called The Story of the World: Volume I - Ancient Times. This book covers the years 5000 BC - 400 AD. We've already read about the nomads and how they had to hunt and gather for their food. Rachael and her friends all thought that was pretty neat until they were turned outside with baskets and told to go find lunch! Now we're on to ancient Egypt - we've written in heiroglyphs and cuneiform, mummified an apple (that was interesting!) and will be building a pyramid out of sugar cubes when we resume studies. I'll be incorporating Bible lessons into her history - Moses and Pharoah's daughter, the plagues of Egypt, etc. My goal here is to take the "stories" - both from the history book and from the Bible - and help her to see that these were real people, real events. That's hard to understand sometimes when you just read the "story"!
Rachael is also VERY into the American Girl books right now. There are about a dozen girls, each one with eight or nine books, and each lived in a different area and time in history...so they're great story books, and great history lessons too. We've read all of the books about Samantha, a wealthy Victorian girl circa 1904. Now we're reading about Kit, who is weathering the Great Depression with her family in 1934. Next up, I think, is Kirsten, a little pioneer girl whose family immigrated from Sweden - and Rachael's tentative plan is to be Kirsten for Halloween this year! So we'll keep reading the American Girl books and learning about different eras in American history along the way.
BIBLE
Of course! We'll do a refresher course on her A-Z memory verses from last year (probably rusty by now). Daily devotions from the God's Little Princess Devotional Bible. Doctrine from the A Beka curriculum we didn't finish in kindergarten. And I'll be needing to make another trip to the Lifeway store in Danville. That can be a dangerous place - so many awesome books to choose from!
Those are the "big" subjects, but certainly not all of them. She'll be learning about health and hygiene, manners, social studies (gleaned from holidays, current events, etc.), art (seasonal crafts, projects to go along with her lessons) and hopefully some music. We'll start watching the Muzzy DVDs to expand on her French vocabulary (already pretty impressive, thanks to the Fancy Nancy books.) As for extracurricular activities, she will continue in gymnastics and in Girl Scouts. She's itching to play soccer too, but we'll have to see about that...don't want to stretch her (or us) too thin.
So, there's our current plan - now to get busy implementing it! YOUR assignment is to check in here regularly to see what's going on - and feel free to offer suggestions, ask questions, or just leave encouragement if you're so inclined. Although I'm comfortable in our plan for this school year, homeschooling for the long haul is still a bit of an overwhelming thought. And as always when working with children, there will be good days and bad days...here's hoping the 2009-10 school year consists of more good days!
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