Monday, September 9, 2013

Week In Review

The first week of school here was fantastic!! Both kids worked really hard this week, explored a ton, enjoyed many hours of more free flowing learning and had fun!
 
Hudson had a great time learning with his preschool week. This week his theme was centered on apples. He practiced colors, letters, numbers, counting and creating in sets of ten, reading short vowel a words, learned the life cycle of an apple, taste tested eight varieties, looked at an apple tree through a magnifying lens and observation, baked apple hand pies, did a load of art, mastered some fun puzzles, watched a video on apple orchards and the harvest, spent some time on Starfall.com and read a lot of books with me!! An excellent week that he loved with full rich days of learning and playing... he could not get enough of!!
 
Holly also enjoyed an amazing week of third grade! She started the week off with brand new curriculum and a mix of some familiar curriculum too. The week starts off in review for math as she masters some skills learned last year, a book study was kicked off with Little House In The Big Woods, she finished up her chemistry unit with a final project in baking bread from a cold yeast start and a warm yeast start and a review test which she rocked, loads of art, many great books, a look at ancient civilization, learning about history and how we learn from it as she created a history pocket and notebook project, learned about becoming an archaeologist, watched a video on archaeology, jumped into the country of France as we start year two of Expedition Earth, she started a poster from her new health program and did some reflection writing. It has been a full week with so much more than listed... a wonderful week!!
 





Friday, September 6, 2013

New Year

We kicked off our new school year this week. Our home is now enjoying a third grader and a preschooler. Both kiddos are very busy, loving their lessons and growing up all to quickly! We have some fun projects planned for the year, outings and field trips, extra curricular activities, experiments and challenges for the year ahead.... we are all excited!!


Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Hudson's Preschool Year

This year Hudson is moving up to preschool. I am not sure if being in a homeschool setting has moved him forward or if he is just naturally interested in learning...either way, he is now a preschooler and more than ready for it. We only plan to do preschool for one year at this point which means next year Hudson will be a kindergartner. He will track younger than many peers however a benefit with homeschooling is that I can track with him and nurture his learning path and if the need ever arises to slow down a bit later for more focus or maturity, we can gently do that too. For now, this is our path and he is well on his way!

I have chosen to do his preschool year based on books. We will take a book for each week and I will create and gather his school work based on that book or theme. All reading (extra themed books and augmenting books story lines that intertwine), writing, letters, number, social studies, art, science, sensory, motor skills, field trips, cooking, music and movement will be based on the book of the week. I will create some of this myself, refer to the handy dandy internet and those who have gone before me, some various preschool packs, the library, field trips, what we already own as well as my previous education and experience. It will be a fun, full year!!

To kick off this is how his first few weeks will play out (book/theme):

Week 1   ~ Apple Picking Time by Michele Benoit Slawson / Apples
Week 2   ~ Owl Babies by Martin Waddell / Owls
Week 3   ~ Corn by Gail Gibbons / Corn
Week 4   ~ Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone / Harvest
Week 5   ~ Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by Leslie Evans / Fall
Week 6   ~ All Around the Farm: DK book, John Deere/ Farming
Week 7   ~ Farm by Elisha Cooper / Farming
Week 8   ~ Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington / Pumpkins
Week 9   ~ The Boy Who Drew Birds by Davies & Sweet / Wintering Birds
Week 10 ~ Every Autumn Comes the Bear by Jim Arnosky / Wintering Animals
Week 11 ~ Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault / Letters
Week 12 ~ Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell / Thanksgiving
Week 13 ~ Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes / Thanksgiving
Week 14 ~ The Mitten by Jan Brett / Winter
Week 15 ~ Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry / Christmas