So, after taking many weeks off for the summer....Joneschool has begun again! A few weeks ago I finished gathering my curriculum, got a plan of attack underway, and here we go! I had not originally planned on beginning until the end of August, but being a firm believer in staying child-lead I had to make a change of plans when BabyGirl kept begging me to start school again. It will work out better this way anyhow, giving us lots more free time throughout the next year to see the sights and just enjoy ourselves along the way!! We will truly take the time to smell the flowers!
We are continuing out 1st grade phonics/spelling program. (Open Court Reading) It has a little lesson we do each time we have school. It's very interactive with games, songs and puppetry. BabyGirl absolutely loves it. I decided to continue this program even though she is at a much higher grade level in reading. (she started reading Harry Potter over the summer) My decision came after watching what a truly great speller she has become so effortlessly! For example, the other day she was working in her workbook and she was to identify whether or not the picture began or ended with the "m" sound. The picture was of a thumb. She looked at me and said "Mom, thumb is spelled t-h-u-m-b. It doesn't even end or begin with m! They must have made a mistake!" It was so cute and I'm so proud of her!
For math we have just started Everyday Mathematics for 1st grade. Right now we are just doing a refresher of what we did last year, but she really seems to be enjoying the games and fun stuff it came with. She looks forward to doing this every time.
For History/Geography this year I ordered the Core Knowledge program for 1st grade. Every other curriculum for 1st was very simple and boring to her. We had one for 1st grade we started at the end of last year and she did not even want to do it after the first couple lessons, so we put it away. So far, we've only done one lesson from out new program but she really got into it. She really absorbed all of the information and was interested in all it had to offer. The pictures were engaging and she imagined herself in them. In my opinion, it's a bit wordy for 1st graders and needs to be summarized by the teacher. But, it's far more advanced than any other one I've found and offers me the chance to have everything in front of me this year than trying to gather it all every week from the library. A major plus at this point in my life! We'll keep you posted on our progress....
I've decided we're doing A LOT more science this year since that is BabyGirl's favorite subject! In fact, we have some to do every day that we do school. This includes some reading out of our books, and an experiment or investigation for each section! She is so excited about this, and so am I. This gives her a chance to not only learn about science but every other subject as well! We log everything in our science journal and are having a blast. We're using SRA and Harcourt both so we have plenty to last throughout the whole year. We've started out learning all about animals. So far, we've learned about how to identify what animals eat by making observations about them. We've discussed their teeth being sharp or straight, and about beak structure. Our first experiment was making beaks. We used tongs, tweezers and a clothes pin to try to pick up yarn, nuts and seeds. She loved it!
We are continuing out 1st grade phonics/spelling program. (Open Court Reading) It has a little lesson we do each time we have school. It's very interactive with games, songs and puppetry. BabyGirl absolutely loves it. I decided to continue this program even though she is at a much higher grade level in reading. (she started reading Harry Potter over the summer) My decision came after watching what a truly great speller she has become so effortlessly! For example, the other day she was working in her workbook and she was to identify whether or not the picture began or ended with the "m" sound. The picture was of a thumb. She looked at me and said "Mom, thumb is spelled t-h-u-m-b. It doesn't even end or begin with m! They must have made a mistake!" It was so cute and I'm so proud of her!For math we have just started Everyday Mathematics for 1st grade. Right now we are just doing a refresher of what we did last year, but she really seems to be enjoying the games and fun stuff it came with. She looks forward to doing this every time.
For History/Geography this year I ordered the Core Knowledge program for 1st grade. Every other curriculum for 1st was very simple and boring to her. We had one for 1st grade we started at the end of last year and she did not even want to do it after the first couple lessons, so we put it away. So far, we've only done one lesson from out new program but she really got into it. She really absorbed all of the information and was interested in all it had to offer. The pictures were engaging and she imagined herself in them. In my opinion, it's a bit wordy for 1st graders and needs to be summarized by the teacher. But, it's far more advanced than any other one I've found and offers me the chance to have everything in front of me this year than trying to gather it all every week from the library. A major plus at this point in my life! We'll keep you posted on our progress....
I've decided we're doing A LOT more science this year since that is BabyGirl's favorite subject! In fact, we have some to do every day that we do school. This includes some reading out of our books, and an experiment or investigation for each section! She is so excited about this, and so am I. This gives her a chance to not only learn about science but every other subject as well! We log everything in our science journal and are having a blast. We're using SRA and Harcourt both so we have plenty to last throughout the whole year. We've started out learning all about animals. So far, we've learned about how to identify what animals eat by making observations about them. We've discussed their teeth being sharp or straight, and about beak structure. Our first experiment was making beaks. We used tongs, tweezers and a clothes pin to try to pick up yarn, nuts and seeds. She loved it!
Our next investigation was creating an animal habitat. We gathered soil, rocks, snails, pill bugs and a huge beetle. We put them all into our habitat and drew our observations. Needless to say she totally dug this one! Looks like this year is shaping up to be a fun one!! 
We've been doing lots of cooking together using things from our own garden. Recently we've made salsa, enchilada sauce, and zucchini bread. All of these were so wonderful and fresh! She's also been helping me freeze for the winter months.
We're both looking forward to all of our 1st grade adventures!! We'll be doing dance, gymnastics, art classes, joining lego club, attending some musicals and plays, introducing a new baby brother or sister, and so much more!! I treasure every moment of this, and continue to be thankful for this priceless opportunity to educate our daughter independently at home. This truly is THE LIFE! Until next time......
1 comment:
Your yard is awesome for pics!!
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