Growing Together

Grade 2 Spelling List

2008-09-01T23:24:00.002-05:00

This looks really promising! Second Grade Spelling List. Includes free printable worksheets, plain list, abc, and unscramble for each week. And there are 36 weeks!

Remember D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language), I found a site with some free ones for each month here.

Bingo!

2008-09-01T17:25:00.002-05:00

The first day of school is always a "Back to School Party!" We bake a special treat the day before, and play a fun game of Bingo while we eat our treats. This year we are baking Neapolitan Cupcakes the recipe is in the amazing book, "Cupcakes! from the Cake Doctor." And for bingo I went on the search for some to print.

I found quite a few that seemed swell and fabulous, but then I found this gem (imo).
Custom Bingo Cards

You can select blank or among many of their themes, including holidays, characters, shapes, math, and so forth. You can choose to print in color or black and white. I landed with Shapes in black and white, and will be coloring these in tonight and then putting contact paper on them so they hold up.

I'm super excited to print sets for the different holidays!

I found this blank bingo card from Bingo Card Printer. But am definitely going with the time saver bingo in the first link.

2008-2009 Schedule

2008-09-01T16:53:00.002-05:00

Grade 2 - Sonlight Core 1 - Reader 1; NOEO Biology I
Kindergarten/Pre-K - Hubbard Cupboard Themes & Letter of the Week

First week is short and will not begin Sonlight until the following week, the first week will be a light theme unit, learning/reviewing writing name, phone numbers, and what to do in emergencies.

School Year: September 2, 2008 - June 12, 2009
Term 1: September 8, 2008 - November 7, 2008
Term 2: November 10, 2008 - January 30, 2009
Term 3: February 2, 2009 - April 10, 2009
Term 4: April 13, 2009 - June 12, 2009

We need to meet with our supervising teacher a minimum of one time during the above terms.

Vacations (15-16 weeks off)
Thanksgiving Break - November 24 - November 28 (1 week)
Christmas Break - December 22 - January 2 (2 week)
Spring Break - (to be decided in future, time alloted in Term 3 for 1 week off)
Summer Break - Begins June 15th (11 or 12 weeks off, to be decided later)

Audio Stories

2008-08-17T15:57:00.003-05:00

Compiled this list from different threads at MDC Homeschool Forum

*links open in separate window

The Story Home - reads stories outloud
Kiddie Records Weekly - Classics From the Golden Age - Fabulous forgotten treasures - children's records from the early 40s and 50s, including many classic stories, some of which were extravagant Hollywood productions. Downloadable to listen to FREE.
Storynory - downloadable and available as podcasts.
Storyline Online
Robert Munsch - free audio downloads of his books.
Librivox - use this personally for novels I listen to while crafting. - Heidi and Our Island Story is available.
BBC Radio Has shows archived, kid friendly, nature and science shows.
Chapter a Day Adult novels read aloud.

Reviews on Audio Books:
MDC Thread
MDC Thread #2
MDC Thread #3

A list someone gave of hits her family loved: Socks, Rabbit Hill, Frances the Badger stories, Harry Potter 1 and 2, Pippi Longstocking, Peter and the Starcatchers, Uncle Wiggily, The Secret Garden, The Little Princess, Tuck Everlasting, The Cricket in Times Square, Frog and Toad, the American Girl series about Kaya, Sarah Plain and Tall.

Peter Pan
Spiderwick Chronicles
Eragon

Nursery Rhymes

2007-10-02T10:21:00.001-05:00

Racking my brain to come up with the perfect unit for Language Arts for both my first grader and preschoolers. And this is where I landed. Absolutely perfect in my opinion, because I realized the other day that my kids sorely did not know Nursery Rhymes. Well they know a few, but this was an area that I sadly overlooked in all of our reading adventures.

So below are the links I've found for Nursery Rhymes, and off to the library we go this afternoon to get some books!

Master List of Nursery Rhymes This site has a GREAT list of Nursery Rhyme links.

A Rhyme a Week I really like the idea behind this!

Nursery Rhymes at A to Z

Preschool Nursery Rhyme Activities

Twinkle Little Star Activities

Mother Goose at Squidoo This site has lots of interesting links, like different versions of the book, flickr illustrations, and some sites that have vintage versions scanned, and tools near the bottom.

First Grade Lanugage Arts I thought this site would be helpful when I reach a rut with LA ideas. I definitely want to do the Alice in Wonderland one (its under Standard>Lesson Plans).First Grade Lessons Search. This site really has things laid out neatly, I've used them before with great success.

This year I had to notify our state that we are homeschooling, and I had the option to choose Annual Testing, or having a teacher watch over us. I choose the latter. DH's cousin is a teacher, so we are meeting once a month until the holidays, and then every other from then. She is having me make a spread sheet of a Scope & Sequence. Basically when we finish a unit/month (depending which makes sense for the subject), DD should know - A,B,C... check them off and make sure she does, or make sure we go back and learn them. I got most of the subjects done for the beginning part, and think this is GREAT! It really gives me focus and shows me her exact progress. Something others might find useful as well.

Pre-K Fall Theme

2007-09-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

I homeschool my first grader M-F, and my pre-k kiddos on T & Th. Naturally they are all together on T & Th, and participate together. I wanted to start the Pre-K theme off with a theme on Fall, it's already in the 60's/70's here and the leaves are beginning to fall, no perfect time like the present!

Here are some of my findings:

LEAF MOBILE
Glue colorful and different fabrics to both sides of several pieces of heavy paper. Cut leaves from this. Tie a string on each leaf. Suspend the leaves from a small branch. Hang where the leaves will catch the breeze and flutter.

LEAF RUBBING
To help children notice the veins in leaves and the different shapes of leaves, let them place a variety of leaves (underside up) under a piece of light colored construction paper. Using the sides of crayons that have had the paper covering removed, children make crayon rubbing of the leaves.

WINDOW PAINTING
Paint a fall scene on your window. Use the following recipe and the paint is easily removed. Give each child a window to decorate. Window Paint: 2 Tbsp powdered tempera paint, 1 Tbsp warm water, 1 tsp Joy dish washing liquid Measure powdered paint into a container. Mix in water thoroughly to achieve a smooth paste. Add JOY, mixing completely, but gently, to avoid making paint too sudsy. Dries on windows in 5 - 10 minutes. Washes off easily with a solution of water and vinegar.

LEAF BOOKMARK
Need construction paper, contact paper, leaves and scissors cut construction paper into 3x6 inches have them collect leaves on a nature walk children arrange the leaves onto contact paper. Put the construction paper over the contact paper and cut around the edges.

FALL COLLAGE PLACE MAT
Go on a fall nature walk and pick up things off the ground that have fallen off the trees. (leaves, acorns, pine needles, etc.) Come back to the classroom and discuss the different things the kids found. Discuss how the leaves are changing different colors, etc. Put down a piece of contact paper. Tape the sides to the table. Have the children create a collage out of their findings. Afterwards put a piece of construction paper against the contact paper.

Wreath of Leaves

You will need:

corrugated cardboard
yarn
poster board
glitter
fabric
newspaper
glue
scissors

1. Cut a doughnut shape from the cardboard to make a wreath. Wrap yarn completely around it.

2. Draw and cut out leaves from colored poster board. Working on an old newspaper, spread glue around the edges of the leaves and sprinkle them with glitter. Attach them to the wreath.

3. Cut a strip of fabric and make a bow for a decoration.

4. Attach a loop of yarn to the back of the wreath so you can hang it up.

the above are found here
------

Make a scarecrow out of clothes, stuffed with newspaper.

Go outside and try and find nuts to store for winter, learn about squirrels hibernating/preparing for winter.

------
Lots of unique arts and crafts here at Kaboose.

TinSnips Autumn Theme

Fall Theme - Step by Step

Curriculum - to buy list

2007-08-03T13:16:00.000-05:00

Handwriting without tears

Singapore Math

History Odyssey

REAL Science

*pre level 1 biology is set to be released in the near future, if it arrives before I have my texts bought, I will be doing pre level 1 biology.

Oak Meadow

*Beginning Recorder
*Songbook
*Song CD

Extras

Roughly $290 before tax/shipping and handling, excluding the extras.
$250 buying only first semester of Singapore Math to try it out.

book lists

2007-07-30T11:14:00.000-05:00

Looking for a good book to read? These lists below are very useful!

Trelease Reading List
Lexile - very good rating system by difficulty and recommendations.
Book Adventure
Chinaberry
Classics for the Young
Kids Classics - divided by recommended reading ages.

First Grade Prep

2007-07-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

Time to start preparing for the first grade. I poke around a bit during the summer, but get down to business in August. Which is nearly here, I can barely believe it!

When I started my research I was planning to go with Oak Meadow, I like the philosophy behind Waldorf style teaching, I'm reading more into Charlotte Mason, and I like the idea of this too for the most part. So it's just finding more so what DD does well with.

Here's my links and thoughts, for organization purposes. That's why I keep this blog, to help me keep bookmarks organized paired with my thoughts, and then for anyone else that can use them.

Tanglewood Plan Your Own Curriculum
This provides a sheet to help plan out your curriculum, it's intended to be used with their curriculum, but you could easily print this out and fill it in with whatever curriculum you choose.

Singapore Math - $76
recommended on the site:
# Primary Math Textbook 1A U.S. Edition (code:PMUST1A)
# Primary Math Workbook 1A U.S. Edition (code:PMUSW1A)
# Primary Math Textbook 1B U.S. Edition (code:PMUST1B)
# Primary Math Workbook 1B U.S. Edition (code:PMUSW1B)

I'm leaning heavily towards this curriculum for math.

Noeo Homeschool Science Biology I -$135.58
I think this might be the science route I go, DD has a very high interest in science, and I really like how the information is provided.

I'm going to see if I can find some of the books at the library and get away with buying:
Biology I: Seeds, Scales, Feathers and Tails! Instructor's Guide - $19.95
The Young Scientists Club - Experiment Kits - 65.94

Pandia Press History
I found this through a recommendation and I'm leaning on adding this to our first grade year. DD is very interested in history and science, so I really want to get a curricula that does her justice. samples here; buy the History Odyssey Ancients Level One Study Guide here - $31 or whole curriculum here - $105; level 1 book and supply list for ancient history *pdf;

Growing with Grammar - $24.99
I'm not sure where I lean on this, I think it might be good for DD to learn proper grammar, but I think we have a lot going on this year, with learning to read more fully, that I might put grammar back until she has reading down. If I see this for a low price though I might pick it up, it's 24.99 for first/second grade in one book.

Royal Fireworks Press
I wont be purchasing this, but they have a good list of Aesop's fables on that above link that would be good to borrow from the library.

Ambleside Onlinr year 1 - free
Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum, provided for free. I do not plan to use this curriculum, I found with my DD that a fully literature based curriculum was not the best fit for her. But we both enjoy reading, so I will be using this site for reading recommendations. ::year 1 book list::

I'm considering a few workbooks from Evan-Moor to have on hand. They give out free lessons a month that you can print, you can find them here (grades 1-3). they have other grades if you click at the top. July has camping, which I think might be fun to print the book out they have, and do this on our August trip.

I would like to do these free lessons: Big Pig; In the Garden; Couplets - 2 line poem; -am word family

Many of their books come with "page by page" views, so you can see exactly what you are paying for, and if it's worth while for you to do so.

Some books that were of interest to me:
word family
Native Americans
Basic Phonic Skills, Grade 1

I plan to renew my subscription to ed helper when it expires this year. It was nice to take our theme we were working on, go to that site and find printables for her to color in or fill out. She really liked their Sudoku puzzles, and many of those came in themes that related to our current topic. Instead of always printing and using papers for their online stories, I would just set up the laptop on the table, and read from there to DD. It worked out well, and while the stories aren't prize winners, they didn't bore her, and many she enjoyed.

Bulletin Boards & File Folder Games/Learning Centers
We don't have a bulletin board, just my dining room wall and I sticky tack everything up, this was a HUGE hit last year, so I plan to get some more to spice it up a bit! Accent Punch-Outs

Free Jan Brett Alphabet cards I am thinking I will print these out, I wanted to get an alphabet train, and haven't been able to find exactly what I'm looking for. Jan Brett has gorgeous art work, and these are free, so I may do these. Need more ink before I can do anything.

*Scholastic Last year I bought my bulletin board displays from here, and a few misc. items. The shipping was very quick, the items are great, I had nothing but good results here, and plan to buy from them again. Grade 1

Carson-Dellosa
bk's schoolhouse
education for kids
teacher store house
Teacher's Paradise

File Folder Games:
I made a lot of these last years, and WOW did it take a lot of time. The kids really enjoyed these and still use them. So I'd like to buy a few more, because contact paper is not my friend, lol. I'd like to buy some felt too, since cutting out felt took a lot of time. This year I have a lot going on and don't want to spend as much time on things I can get for a relatively good price.
a to z teacher

These word walls look like you could easily make them at home and print yourself.

Free Curriculums

2007-07-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

This was posted at the homeschool board, and thought I'd put it here for safe keeping.

Baltimore Curriculum

Curriculum Information
Core Knowledge Samples
Ambleside Online ~ Charlotte Mason
Tanglewood Education
Letter of the Week
Old Fashioned Education

Mathematics Enhancement
Kindergarten Math
Kindergarten Language Arts
Faith/Bible Curriculum

There was a thread on file folder games; I plan to make a few more so here they are as well.

Childcare Land: I found this to be a great resource last year, and many of her free printables are found in our classroom.
Preschool Printables
Childcare Land to buy
Nuttin but Kids
We Beans
File Folder List
Carson-Dellosa Catalog

I'm starting to research even more heavily on our plans for first grade, I love this time of year!

Insects & Fireflies Theme Unit

2007-06-20T09:16:00.000-05:00

DD wants to learn all about bugs, and first on that list is Fireflies, and how they light up. This will be a summer theme unit for our household, and here are my findings.

How do fireflies light up

Why do fireflies light up?

Firefly Facts

Painting with glow sticks

Bug-Go like Bingo

Wings, Stings and Winged Things *pdf

Firefly Printout

Little Old Lady Who Swallowed a ... Activities

Felt Board and Print outs for Little Old Lady Who Swallowed..

Complete Insect Theme

Lots of Links

Insect Unit at EdHelper, subscription site

The World of Insects Unit

--------------
Plants Unit

Waldorf Units

2007-06-15T20:52:00.003-05:00

Preschool Waldorf Free Units

First Grade *pdf

First Grade Overview

Daily Rhythms & Routines

Seasonal Stories, poems and songs

Your Child's Temperament

I really like the basics and ideas with the Waldorf approach, and am going to do a lot more reading up on this.

Preschool Curriculum

2007-04-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

I asked my friend what preschool curriculum/sites she recommends. This is the list she gave me:

http://www.mothergoosetime.com/ (more bang for your buck, with little to no assembly time)

http://www.preschooleducation.com
http://www.preschoolprintables.com
http://www.starfall.com
http://www.preschoolrainbow.org (great for supplementary curriculum ideas)
http://lessonplanz.com/Preschool/
http://www.preschoolbystormie.com/
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/

Good place to buy workbooks:
http://www.kumonbooks.com/home/wheretobuy_retail.aspx

I am planning to do preschool with the boys and my youngest daughter, I'm actually considering a light version for the summer months, since I will continue with my oldest daughter and her reading.

Bible Links

2007-04-26T10:51:00.000-05:00

Drawing near to the end of the year, next fall my baby will be in first grade! I will start researching what we will do sometime this summer and I imagine updating here as I go. We are finishing the year off with the 3 R-s - reduce, reuse, recycle. My husband remembers having to recycle as a teen and hating it, he doesn't realize that his kids are young and want to do all they can. I am hoping to teach and learn with the kids, and add it to our life even more then it is. My absolute favorite blog to read is here. She has lots of great insight and thought provoking posts on this issue.

I have not had a chance to check out these links yet, I plan to for next fall's curriculum, but am posting them here so I don't lose them before I get a moment to check into them. :)

http://msssbible.com/memoryverses/
http://www.child-bible-lessons.com/
http://www.dltk-bible.com/coloring.htm
http://www.coloringpages.net/bible.html
http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/clr-indx.html
Christian Books

Curriculum:
http://www.oakmeadow.com/curriculum/demo_select.cfm

This site I hear is AWESOME, I spent a few minutes there and was getting the same impression -
A to Z Home's Cool

If you haven't yet, I suggest finding a local or internet based homeschool group or forum. You can find lots of great ideas there, even if you don't post regularly. I visit the Mothering homeschool forums. I would estimate that the majority practice "unschooling" while I am more of a middle ground gal. But there are those who use curriculums, and what I like about it, is that there is such a variety of homeschoolers that you can receive lots of different ideas, and more then likely there are some who are nothing like you, and their insight could be great, something you would of never thought of on your own! So check out Mothering, check out local, or check out something else entirely. All I suggest for sure is to make sure there is variety, someone who will test you to break outside your personal mold, and go even farther!

Long time no post!

2007-02-27T09:54:00.000-06:00

We have been doing the ocean unit and are finishing that up tomorrow. What I have found to be a great resource, now and for the future is The Magic School Bus books. When you are starting a new unit, look into these books, and check them out if your library has them! They are chock full of information, and absolutely fascinating for me and the kids!

I found at Scholastic that they have some Units at Scholastic for some of the books in the series, you can look here. There are videos too, that I hear are great. Our library only has them in VHS, and we don't have a VCR anymore, so I haven't been able to watch them with the kids.

Here is a copy and paste from my Word Pad document. I keep everything I want to do in one Word Pad document labeled - Kindergarten Lessons - Divided by month, then unit.

We found the IMAX to be very informative and the kids really enjoyed themselves. This unit we will definitely be revisiting when the kids are older, because it is such a huge unit, that some of it would be above a 6 year old's level. In general most of the Unit's I found were for 3rd-4th grade.
Here is some of the stuff we used:
- Ocean Theme -

Thematic Unit (science, math, decor, english, all of it) -> http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/ocean.htm
Decorate the wall, facts on animals, oceans, compare 2 oceans, a relief map of ocean floor
make an ocean mobile
*songs, wave bottle & starfish craft -> http://www.angelfire.com/fl/preschoolfunzone/sealife.html
sea life mural painted
tons of themes links -> http://atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Ocean/
http://www.pickens.k12.sc.us/hesteachers/laboonac/Web%20Pages/ocean_links.htm
http://themes.mrdonn.org/K-2.html
create an ocean scene -> http://www.geocities.com/sseagraves/createanoceanscene.htm
deep sea memory game -> http://www.mbayaq.org/lc/kids_place/concentration/
http://themes.mrdonn.org/TheFishTank.html

::CRAFTS::

Finger paint with shades of blue. When dry, chalk draw different sea life.

Fish Bowls
Find a pattern of a good size fish bowl, and cut it out of a paper plate. Paint it blue like water. Before paint dries sprinkle any color of glitter around the bottom of the bowl. Then after its all dry, glue on one big fish or lots of small fish, now you can cover this with saran wrap but don't have to.

Semester 2

2007-01-01T17:00:00.000-06:00

We start back up with our lessons on January 8th, I am planning out our lessons up until spring break. Locally its in March, but most other places its in April. I'm not sure yet when we will have spring break.

Upcoming Themes (links to follow shortly)
Leopard Seal short unit
fairy tale (links posted below)
ocean - this winter with a trip to Mall America and the local Imax
Egypt - anna's suggestion
space - IMAX in May

Arctic / PolarTheme Unit

2006-12-03T23:22:00.000-06:00

With some delays getting to the library, I have put off the Fairy Tale Theme, so we have plenty of time to enjoy it, so more links of that will come, probably the end of December, during Christmas vacation. So we will be doing an arctic unit study. We have been watching lots of shows on discover and the travel station even about arctic animals and the kids are fascinated with all of it.

December Unit - Fairy Tales & Christmas -

2006-11-26T13:02:00.000-06:00

We are starting a 2 week Fairy Tale unit, and then the remainder week and a half will be a Christmas/Winter theme that will lead us up to Christmas Vacation.

Snazzy Snacks & Handwriting
**Mrs. Madden's 2nd grade website
Primary Teacher Resource

Fairy Tale Unit Study - Theme -

Fairy Tale Unit #1 (some good ideas, and book recommendations)
Huge Fairy Tale Resource (tons of links)
Thorough Fairy Tale Unit
Cinderella Around the World
ABCTeach Fairy Tale Printables

I'll update this thread with more later.

Native American Unit Theme

2006-10-26T21:36:00.000-05:00

We are doing a native american theme for the month of November, there is a lot we want to do, so I marked the entire month to learning and crafts! Here are just a few things we will be doing -

American Indian Tribes - Second Grade
Resource Page with specific tribes
Thanksgiving Unit Theme Mayflower
Native American Theme (complete with literature suggestions)
Thanksgiving - Native American Theme (Under November)
Native American Social Studies Unit
Core Knowledge Native Americans - Third Grade
Traditional Literature - Lesson Plans

More to come later!

Halloween Crafts!

2006-10-24T14:29:00.000-05:00

Curious George is a new program aired on PBS, check your local station for times. I have our DVR set to record it, and the kids absolutely love it.

They have a site set up with printables, teacher guides, activities, and games - Curious George

* Haunted House Cut Out -
* Egg Carton Spider
* Painted Rocks
* halloween frame (going to make into magnets)
* Craft Stick Haunted House
* Pumpkin/Haunted House Tic Tac Toe
* Haunted House Box
* Pumpkin Garland
* pumpkin frame - magnet
* black cat stand up
* halloween paper dolls
* Halloween Math Sheet Addition
* Halloween Math Sheet #2 Addition
* Glue Ghost
* Lacing Project
* Pumpkin Carving Patterns
* draw in the details
* Large paper witch assemble/glue

printable blank calendar

2006-09-20T11:56:00.000-05:00

One of the experiments from our Science Play book, is to keep track of the weather. So I found and printed this calendar (in landscape) mode for this exact purpose. I am thinking of doing this for the entire school year, but at least until winter to see how the seasons change. We also have a thermometer and we will write down the temps too. Thinking of taking a picture and pasting it on the back, or having her draw a picture on the back of the paper, i used cardstock for the print out. So she can remember September, October etc... as the months go by. :)

neat link printables games etc.

2006-09-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

Childcareland.com

Eric Carle & Autumn

2006-08-29T12:34:00.000-05:00

I broke down about bought Brown Bear and Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I got them through overstock.com (just be sure that if you want the large board book to buy the more expensive one. The cheap ones are smaller books.

Ill be doing activities with these, brown bear templates are found in a post or two back -

Very Hungry Caterpillar

Sequencing Cards

Lots of stuff, and simple coloring pages, good for felt templates

Eric Carle's Official Site - BB of ideas

Autumn Felt Templates
Pumpkins, and leaves

Autumn Stuff - cute color by number too

Free Coloring Pages Index

Spring Ideas

I think this spring we will do a fairy tale/nursery rhyme theme.

Record Page for growing your own bean plant

Bean Planting

Tons of neat ideas and games for Learning Centers, Christmas and Halloween

Felt Template Mania!

2006-08-22T16:18:00.000-05:00

Brown Bear Activites & Name Cards *pdf

5 Little PUmpkins plus printable book

Tons of shapes and transportation AND gingerbread man (shapes 6)

Jackpot! Tons of great felt templates!

Shapes Templates

Crayola Basic Shapes, TONS of fun ones like wizards

Halloween Bingo and templates

scroll down to "My Ideas" for some fun ones including alphabet with chicka chicka boom boom

2006-08-21T15:56:00.000-05:00

Bulletin Boards

Word Wall Themes

certificates & Great Job certificate *pdf

Felt Templates

5 Little Pumpkins Story and felt Template, 3 Little Piggies& more

Google of more Felt Templates

Cultural Paper Dolls -free printables-

2006-08-18T17:10:00.000-05:00

Pretty neat site! Making Friends Themes

Online Math Manipulatives

2006-08-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

Math Manipulatives - All Grades & Free! You do them online at their site.

Neat Links

2006-08-14T21:24:00.000-05:00

Lesson Plans 4 Teachers *neat link!*

Like these themes!

More Themes & Report Cards!

Elementary Weekly Planner *pdf*

Physical Education Games and Activities

3000 Free Lesson Plans

Kindergarten Core Lessons *complete with native american history yay!*

More Lesson Plans by grade

Back to school theme

All About Me

Kindergarten Themes & All About Me

Lots of Book Recommendations

Great Activities and Craft Ideas!

Word Wall & More

New School Feel

2006-08-14T20:16:00.000-05:00

Don't you love the excitement a new school year brings? I loved it as a kid, and I love it now as a happy Mama! We will be jumping into Kindergarten and Preschool this year, with my daughter, my son, and the boy I babysit.

My head is spinning though! There is so much organization, I am doing this for three months, then Ill take December to plan for the next 3 months. Sounds good to me, we shall see how great I do. I need to make a complete school list, for items for the kids, and items/organization for me! Organizing this, is so hard for me. I am not an organized thinker by start, so it's work for me to even think of how I *may* organize, and I usually find that its not the best way.

I'm going to start collecting things here in posts, I do plan to fix this blog up, and the design, its all wacky right now. I was going to design, btu I am so busy with paying customers, and planning that I dont think I will have the time. Id like to organize this whole place better, maybe in the future, til then... this is my sounding board and organizational haven sincem y favorites folder is a mess.

Curriculum for Fall

2006-07-22T15:35:00.000-05:00

I am going to be doing lessons with 2- 3 year old boys, and my 5 year old dd. These are the two sites I'm going to be using the most, to keep searching a minimum.

Kinder Themes
Kelly's Preschool Room Themes

They are both theme sites, which is how I prefer to do things with the kids. We have a basic that we are working towards, and find themes that will correlate along the way. Like for DD we are working on the alphabet recognition and phonics, but we learn about dolphins, and circus, and elephants etc. along the way, taking our time with them as we go. I've found she hasn't forgotten what we learned a year ago, and we have fun with it.

I also found with DD that if there was something I wanted to "stick" that a printable book did just that. I get them from Enchanted Learning. You need to be a member ($20 for one whole year and gives you pdf files if you choose), and there are TONS of books!

She learns from seeing the books, coloring the books, writing the letters/words in the books, and cutting and stapling the books together. So far its been a no-fail teaching method with her, and she loves making them!

love this!

2006-07-22T12:07:00.000-05:00

Dinosaur Theme (Dino Dig)

I am going to bury our plastic dinosaurs in our sandbox and do a dino dig with the kids to find them. This is going to be a blast!

More dinosaur links:
Dinosaur Theme (looks like a lot is for a bit older of kids then Kindergarten)
Dinosaur Alphabet Coloring book
Tons of Dinosaur Hands on Activities
tons more here

Planning for fall...

2006-07-17T20:39:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be starting preschool with my son and the boy that I babysit, as well as the offical year of Kindergarten for my oldest daughter. I'm starting the plannng now, even though we are still finishing up the final month of our lessons. We are 3 months on/1month off, next term starts September.

Fall 2006

Holiday Activities

More to come!

** my favorites

Dolphin Theme & Dr. Seuss

2006-06-21T19:33:00.000-05:00

Dolphin Links
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7 *looks neat, research too*
#8
#9
Ocean Math
Ocean Crafts
Dolphin Audio & Video
Photo Gallery
How to Draw a Dolphin Tutorial for Kids

Kinder Themes

Dr. Seuss
#1
#2
google search
Book Diorama Craft

5W's for stories

Random Themes

Kinder "Garden" Web Ring Links

Kindergarten Web Ring

resource links

2006-06-14T20:39:00.000-05:00

Resource links that I were suggested at the adoption forum:

http://amblesideonline.org/
http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php
http://www.yourhomeschoolinganswers.com/
www.classical-homeschooling.org
www.veritaspress.com
www.abcteach.com (preschool-grade school print outs)
www.donnayoung.org (orgainzational forms, calendars, schedules etc.)
www.puzzelmaker.com (fun to print out spelling words in a puzzle format)
www.gdbdp.com/mulitflyer

http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/
http://www.homeschoolzone.com/main.htm

curriculum

2006-05-25T10:17:00.000-05:00

Ive decided to do homeschool in a year round curriculum, 3 months on; 1 month off. In the 1 month I can gather information for the next three months. Its not as daunting, and it seems to work well with our schedule. Im going to be picking up some curriculum for our next starting session.

This is my goal:

May-July - On
August-Off
September-November -On
December - Off
Jan - March - On
April -Off

So Im checking out information that will be for our September chapter, I want to get some math, and science into our curriculum. For now we've been doing ABC themes, and shes really picking up on the sounds of letters, in everyday words, and shes getting the letter sounds right away now, instead of taking 7-14 days to get it. So I think we will be moving faster through the alphabet at this point. Im adding sight words in, I keep wanting to, but keep forgetting to look up a printable poster, and what sight words would be the best.

Science PreK-K
Science 1-2 *I think I will go this route, the other one seems too easy for her, we browsed the book and she could do most of it without second thought or any explaining on my part.

Phonics K-1 It seems a bit advanced for her now, but the lower one wouldnt be challenging. Will hold off for now and reanalyze later.

K Math Cheap price, am considering.
Skill Sharpener Math : K Seems to have some good math help and ideas, may be easy to find printables on this though, but then for 10.00 and free shipping through the month, maybe its better/easier.

Skill Sharpener, Reading: K some of the activities seem to be good, most we already do though.

How to report on Books: K I like this, its on my list to buy. My daughter would love the story aspect, story lines, and the fun activities to correlate. And for the price, even better! She is such a story teller, I think she would really enjoy this kit.

Natives of Americas, Woodland Indians
Natives of Americas, Plains Indians
I believe I will do one of these in the fall, we tried doing some activities last fall, but was as certain where to begin. I like the idea of these books, and the price is good too. Not sure which one of the above two I would get.

2006-05-20T11:10:00.000-05:00

Circus Theme #1
Circus #2
Circus #3
Circus #4
Circus #5
Circus #6 (songs too!)
Circus #7

File Folder Games

2006-04-25T13:55:00.000-05:00

Craft Chic

Enchanted Learning

Farm Animals

Homeschool Hut

Busy Teachers (Math)

Daycare Resource

More Links

Easter Links

2006-04-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

Some links I have found for Easter.

Resurrection of Christ Lesson Plan

Easter Biblical

LOTS of Easter Lesson Plans

Free printable Handwriting Paper

Speech Therapy

2006-04-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

I found some sites on speech therapy and am sharing them here.

Speech Milestones

Activities to do at home

More Activities

If you have more links, Id love it if you'd share them! :)

2006-03-25T09:37:00.000-06:00

Its spring at last!!! I feel rejuvenated and ready for this rainy season of growth. As I always tell my daughter, the rain makes the earth grow and live, we need it. We took a short break because of some medical problems on my part, and we just called it spring break. Now its time to start up again, and I found some great and fun links to share! Hopefully you'll enjoy them too!

My biggest goal with this blog is to share some thoughts & insights, as well as watch DD and mine's growth... and most of all, be a resource of links and ideas. I know it helps me to have these saved in one area instead of my VERY overloaded bookmarks folder.

My Dad asked if we had signed DD up for Kindergarten yet, he wrote to me in email from work, so I responded in email, and said that we were going to continue homeschool. He didnt know we did this to begin with, incase it didnt work out or something. I didnt need the pressure, and he never asked. He didnt respond to the email. I am 99% sure he will be against, honestly I think hes against most things I do. He compares me to his new wife, they are raising three daughters right now from 5-10. And he thinks highly of her, and her ways, but they are not MY ways. We are not the same, I do things more naturally, a lot different. I think different things are important, and they disagree. So it should be an interesting conversation when I finally talk to him ether on the phone or at Easter.

But all this made me want to get my butt in gear, because there are somethings Ive been wanting to do, but never got around to... one of which is... Bulletin Boards tada!

I dont have a real bulletin board, I am going to use the side of my dark/black fridge to liven it up and brighten the kitchen. DD has already been filling it with lots of beautiful work, but now I want to do what I set out to do, and make a bulletin board display on the side of it.

I think for spring we are going to do something like "Blooming into Spring" something of that sort. Im thinking of having tulips and maybe some of the letters of the alphabet that we will be working on for the next few weeks, or something else. I dont know that part yet. Ill try and remember to take a picture when I get it done to share.

Heres the links:

Kelly's Bulletin Boards *I really like this site and find myself going back time and time again for her great themes, and wonderful ideas.

Bulletin Board Displays

TONS of ideas, and lots of photos

More ideas and lots of photos! * I really like the Seeds Of Learning

I decided on this one! Fluttering into Spring fits perfect, is super cute and I have all the supplies.

PRINTABLE STENCILS

Butterfly Stencil

Also I am thinking about getting a live caterpillar from Insect Lore. A Mama friend on a board did it last year and it was a great success, and it fits perfectly into the theme of things. I think itd be great to let loose in our garden that we are planting this spring. :)

One day I gave DD a certificate to say how proud I was of her trying hard at her handwriting. She was so proud of that piece of paper she carried it around with her and showed everyone. From tiem to time she asks when she will get another certificate. I dont want to do them all the time so that they lose their meaning to her, but I did find these Little Notes of Praise that I plan to try with her. I give her verbal praise and hugs every single day, but these little things are just a little extra something to give her that feel good, Im gonna keep trying hard feeling.

Ice Skating Writing Paper

Hand Washing Curriculum PDF I dont agree with all of it, like bleach in soap, but I like the concept of teaching her how to wash her hands better. Not going to get into any germ phobia though.

Alphabet Themes

Caterpillar to Butterfly

2006-02-22T09:45:00.000-06:00

This is where we will be starting in the next day or so. We are finishing up the letter "b" and are going to have the theme go into caterpillar.

I found some great links that I'll be using for this theme :

Caterpillar to Butterfly
Butterfly & Caterpillar Activities
Butterfly Curriculum
Exploring Butterflies

I know DD will really enjoy this theme, if you have any great sites, feel free to share them in the comments section, butterfly related or not. :)

Here is a great curriculum for learning to read:
Preparatory Curriculum
Letter of the week
Sounds of the Week
Story of the Week

I have these in the order from the site, they all link to the same site, but the different curriculum's pages. I will definitely be using the sound of the week when we get further, we are still working on letter of the week over here, and most of what I do is from the Little Hands/Hearts to Heaven (I can never rememeber which one we have). And then I supplement with longer themes like the butterfly above. :) Right now we are doing Baker, and DD is going to go to the bakery this week.

2006-02-15T13:42:00.000-06:00

Where we left off was the search for some curriculum, after my post I found and bought Little Hands to Heaven by Carrie Austin.

So far, I like it. I've already started deviating and adding my own things, but that is what I wanted to do anyway. My 3 year old son has been taking part and enjoying himself, which is great! And I like that it has activities that I can do with all of my children, it makes planning that much easier. With my 5 year old, we are adding a few other things like handwriting. She wants to write, so with each letter of teh week, she does writing activities a few times.

Here is a great resource for themes, including alphabet themes. I think this is one of my favorites now. I love all the pages for printing for the alphabet, the fun and simple crafts the kids can on their own. My daughter likes being able to start and finish a project without mom needing to do something, then she can say, I did it all by myself!"

Heres the URL: Kids Crafts & Themes That takes you straight to the theme page.

Looking for a curriculum

2005-12-15T09:27:00.000-06:00

Im hoping to at some point purchase some curriculum, why? Because it is hard to find great online resources, organize everything, keep it straight, and then teach it. I do plan to supplement, and think overall I do ok, but it would be nice to have a binder or a booklet, something, that I didnt have to hound for, that we can easily use.

So my search begins, if you have any suggestions for Kindergarten curriculum, I will take it, ether email me (to the left) or leave a comment here. Ill share my findings as they come about.

Here is a link a friend gave me for homeschool reviews: Homeschool Reviews

2005-12-06T11:23:00.000-06:00

Some great links for Winter/Gingerbread themes:

Kinder Themes **

Kelly's House Winter

Gingerbread Book Study

**My favorite site right now! Along with this one:

Jan Brett

I LOVE Jan Brett's site! She has so many fun and awesome activities, easy tools for teachers. I love the calender and the daily planning sheet, the videos are great. Just a lot of fun stuff here!

Welcome!

2005-08-20T14:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our lil homeschool journal. I will be updating as regularly as I can. I would like to use this area to give information to others as well as note progress and to keep track of the year. We are both very excited to begin, and as of this morning I have found a place for everything. I still have some planning to do, and things to print off. But we are in pretty good shape.

The classroom will evolve as the year progresses, I imagine more posters on the wall. Not pictured is a craft table that will move where the tall bookshelf is this weekend.

We will begin this school year September 6th, and have approx. 13 weeks in the first semester. I'm really looking forward to learning and growing with my daughter.

Online Resources

2005-08-20T13:49:00.000-05:00

Included below are many of the sites that I have bookmarked. I have not necessarily used them all, nor do I endorse these sites. If you find one located in the wrong category or objectional, please e-mail me.

Printables:

http://www.kizclub.com/activities.html

http://abcteach.com/

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/

http://kidsfonts.mivox.com/

http://www.createdbyteachers.com/index.html

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/coloringpages/

http://www.funlessonplans.com/free/printables.htm

http://members.tripod.com/~bobbie24tj/color.html

http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/writing-paper/handwriting.htm
http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/mommy/index.htm

Free Curriculum:

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/

http://www.starfall.com/

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/index.html

http://www.learningpage.com/

http://www.edselect.com/writing.htm

**Kindergarten thru Gradeschool Requirements:
http://www.cbsd.org/curriculum/elemcurriculum/grade/kindergarten.htm
http://www.marlborough.k12.ma.us/currbrochure/kindergarten.htm
http://www.dmps.k12.ia.us/programs/5curriculum.htm

Stories:
http://www.magickeys.com/books/ (interactive)

Crafts:

http://www.familyshoppingbag.com/preschool_toddler_crafts.htm

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/toddler/

Math:

http://themathworksheetsite.com/

Organization Printable:

http://organizedhome.com/printable/index.php

Blog & Web Design:

http://www.dragonflylily.com

**Just added!

Classroom Pictures

2005-08-20T13:35:00.000-05:00

Updated August 2007 - Since DD moved up to Kindergarten, her lessons have all been in the dining room, for the most part. Everything is kept in here as well.

The wall above the globe is the area I decorate with our bulletin boards and projects. Her back pack is in the corner between the two and the lamp, I want to get a peg to put on the wall. We use this to take books to/from library, nature walks, and car rides. She loves this backpack!

-----------

We started out with homeschool in our extended living/play area, these are the pictures from back then. DD was in preschool age at this time.

Room View

Left: Organizer (workbooks, crayons, markers, puzzles, Leap Pad and Reader with books; Desk, & reading area.

My Desk with yarn/current projects; to the right: my supplies, workbooks, supervision crafts (paints, clay)

Curriculum Pre-K thru Grade 1

2005-08-20T13:16:00.000-05:00

What we have done in the past & plan to do in the future.

Preschool:
Kinder Themes
Kelly's Preschool Room Themes
Letter of the Week

Offline Curriculum:
Study Workbooks: First (All About Me & Five Senses); then an Earth Study/Holiday
Spanish Word/Flash Cards/Games
Days of the Week/Month
Handwriting Preparation

And ofcourse misc. things that come up. :) Music and crafts will be a regular part of the day.

Kindergarten:
In the end we did a lot of theme units, look through the 06/07 school year to see the different themes we did. 99% of our curriculum was found free on the internet.

Holiday Activities

**my favorites

Grade 1:
This will be the 07/08 school year and we haven't started. You can view my findings though here

Entries I've made in the past about curriculum, many are free:
Preschool Curriculum
Speech Therapy