Wednesday, June 12
Sunday, June 9
Newby Thoughts on Preschool Homeschool Materials
I've spent countless hours - way too many hours really - poring over homeschool materials. I think we've figured out what we want to do for now, which is really not that much. Well, not structured learning anyway. Kids learn whether you want them to or not. Any materials we choose to purchase or utilize at this time will be for our benefit as the parents and used mostly to keep us moving forward. We will not require Baby Bird to do seatwork or set curriculum until such time as we deem it appropriate.
Below are some of my thoughts on three popular choices for PRESCHOOL homeschool curricula. If you are interested in purchasing any of these materials, please note that the prices I've listed are for NEW materials. I don't get any kick-back or anything, this is just information for sharing :). Some materials (such as the Five in a Row Volumes) are available USED for more reasonable prices.
Sonlight (P3/4 or P4/5 - includes ALL the books needed) - $285 - $425
Below are some of my thoughts on three popular choices for PRESCHOOL homeschool curricula. If you are interested in purchasing any of these materials, please note that the prices I've listed are for NEW materials. I don't get any kick-back or anything, this is just information for sharing :). Some materials (such as the Five in a Row Volumes) are available USED for more reasonable prices.
Sonlight (P3/4 or P4/5 - includes ALL the books needed) - $285 - $425
- can buy just the teaching guides OR find the reading list free online
- don't waste the money on materials available for free (or a few late fees) at your local library
- instead invest some time and a little cash in great hands-on long-term materials such as moveable alphabets, map puzzles, learning games, paper, binoculars, all-weather clothes, good shoes
- almost all the books are available at the library (a few are apparently hard to find because they're out of print)
- buy a good world map
- unless you love spending time and money laminating things, just buy the premade story disks
- go ahead and spend the money for the manuals. they're full of great extension ideas for each recommended children's book. no sense in reinventing the wheel!
- kids at this age really aren't ready for seatwork anyway. let them get dirty. if they don't want to finish a book, fine - go have a tea party instead. they'll learn more from interacting with you than they will from any book or curriculum.
- pick and choose certain pieces for now
- will use as our core starting in K (but using grade 1)
- most interested in their lesson plans - look like easiest and most flexible on the market! again, why reinvent the wheel?
SUMMER Topics of Interest
We went to see Disney's The Lion King on stage this afternoon - INCREDIBLE! My jaw hit the floor in the first minute of the production and I was as wide-eyed as our three-year-old all the way to the final curtain. Amazing. Gorgeous. Breathtaking. Intriguing. Go buy tickets. Now.
This show piqued both my and our daughter's interest in so many areas; we have lots of new and exciting things to explore this summer!
I foresee a whole summer of learning about Africa :D
This show piqued both my and our daughter's interest in so many areas; we have lots of new and exciting things to explore this summer!
- Facepainting
- Batiking
- Puppetry
- Theater
- African Dance/Music
- Costumes
- Measurement
- Science Experiments: Ice
- Flags
- National Anthem
I foresee a whole summer of learning about Africa :D
Friday, June 7
Favorite Books about... BEES
Eventually I suppose I'll get my act together and start logging our homeschool adventures in a portfolio or something of the kind. However, for now I need a place to stash pictures and thoughts before I simply forget them!
We read... a LOT. Generally I watch to see what's piqued Baby Bird's interest for the moment and just run with that for awhile. We choose books from our home library and local public library, we may do some activities that somehow tie into the subject of interest, and we explore till we're ready to explore something else. It works for us :).
Inspired by Five in a Row's suggested book The Bee Tree and Baby Bird's interest in gardens and bees, we spent spring this year learning all about honey bees. Here are some of our favorite books about BEES:
The Bee Tree
by Patricia Polacco
The Bumblebee Queen
by April Pulley Sayre
We read... a LOT. Generally I watch to see what's piqued Baby Bird's interest for the moment and just run with that for awhile. We choose books from our home library and local public library, we may do some activities that somehow tie into the subject of interest, and we explore till we're ready to explore something else. It works for us :).
Inspired by Five in a Row's suggested book The Bee Tree and Baby Bird's interest in gardens and bees, we spent spring this year learning all about honey bees. Here are some of our favorite books about BEES:
The Bee Tree
by Patricia Polacco
The Bumblebee Queen
by April Pulley Sayre
Saturday, January 19
Healthy Changes?
It's been 1 week since I decided my life needs a change. I'm turning 30 this year (eek!) and am in the worst shape of my life - overweight, out of breath going up the stairs, chronic pain and fatigue, and the worst part is I just plain can't keep up with our daughter. She's two. There are no excuses.
After receiving some great encouragement and advice from friends and family I started back to tracking calories and trying to making healthier food choices. Livestrong.com has a great FREE food and exercise tracker that I highly recommend. I'm doing well on calories but it's definitely been an adjustment. Baby Bird nursed till just a few months ago. While nursing I was hungry all. the. time. When she slowed down then weaned completely I just kept eating as if she was still nursing like a young toddler... not so good for my waistline. I was feeling good about making some healthy changes.
Life has a way of throwing curveballs though.
The day after I announced my goal of getting healthier I felt the teeniest tickle at the back of my throat. By Thursday all three of us had full-fledged nasty coughs, fiery throats, and aches all over. Thursday was supposed to be my PCS work day... A whole day dedicated to cleaning, sorting, and packing while Baby Bird played with friends. The ONLY day we had available to get that amount of work done without a little helper. A whole day. Spent coughing in bed instead of packing.
Well, the movers come in just a few days and the house still looks like a tornado blew through it. Our suitcases aren't packed, the shipments aren't sorted, the fridge and pantry are still full of old food, and we're still hacking, coughing, and sleeping away our sickness. We don't have TIME to be sick right now.
I'm trying to make some healthy changes in my life right now, but I think for this week I'd be thrilled with NOT SICK!
After receiving some great encouragement and advice from friends and family I started back to tracking calories and trying to making healthier food choices. Livestrong.com has a great FREE food and exercise tracker that I highly recommend. I'm doing well on calories but it's definitely been an adjustment. Baby Bird nursed till just a few months ago. While nursing I was hungry all. the. time. When she slowed down then weaned completely I just kept eating as if she was still nursing like a young toddler... not so good for my waistline. I was feeling good about making some healthy changes.
Life has a way of throwing curveballs though.
The day after I announced my goal of getting healthier I felt the teeniest tickle at the back of my throat. By Thursday all three of us had full-fledged nasty coughs, fiery throats, and aches all over. Thursday was supposed to be my PCS work day... A whole day dedicated to cleaning, sorting, and packing while Baby Bird played with friends. The ONLY day we had available to get that amount of work done without a little helper. A whole day. Spent coughing in bed instead of packing.
Well, the movers come in just a few days and the house still looks like a tornado blew through it. Our suitcases aren't packed, the shipments aren't sorted, the fridge and pantry are still full of old food, and we're still hacking, coughing, and sleeping away our sickness. We don't have TIME to be sick right now.
I'm trying to make some healthy changes in my life right now, but I think for this week I'd be thrilled with NOT SICK!
Tuesday, January 1
Oops, sorry.
Well, that was fun. In an effort to make this blog address easier to type and remember I decided to change the web address. It didn't occur to me till AFTER I'd already changed the address and entered a new post for 2013 that it would mess with my followers' blog feeds. Sorry!
I've changed the web address back to the original:
meanderingsofaclutteredmind.blogspot.com
I will be changing it to a NEW address this Sunday, 6Jan2013:
drops-inabucket.blogspot.com
I'm sorry for the confusion; please let me know if you have any questions or run into any more glitches!
I've changed the web address back to the original:
meanderingsofaclutteredmind.blogspot.com
I will be changing it to a NEW address this Sunday, 6Jan2013:
drops-inabucket.blogspot.com
I'm sorry for the confusion; please let me know if you have any questions or run into any more glitches!
Monday, December 31
Home Preschool Journal
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
2013 is starting with a bang for our family. It seems every year we've experienced big change of one kind or another, but this year may take the cake. My husband's enlistment runs up in just a few weeks and we still have no certain plans for where we're going or what we're doing. We know God has only good plans for us and we're trying our best to trust and remain stress-free!
One thing we do know for sure is we will be homeschooling. Long term. Baby Bird is not quite three years old, but this is a lifestyle we've prayed about, researched, and discerned is best for our family.
I'm a teacher by training and by choice which is proving to be both a help and a hindrance. We've been blessed with some fantastic homeschooling mentors over the last several years - families who have opened their hearts, brains, and bookshelves for us togrill ponder. I don't think we would feel nearly as confident or comfortable with this choice if it weren't for them (you!). One challenge for me, given all those years of teacher "education," has been letting go. I'm glad we're getting a bit of a head start on this... I'm gonna' need it.
It took a whole year for me to realize that it just. didn't. matter. how many letters of the alphabet our daughter knew. She was ONE. I didn't have to write it down, or report it to anyone, or worry that she wasn't meeting the benchmarks for her grade. Yeah, I can be a littlestubborn reluctant to change sometimes.
However, as Baby Bird gets closer to compulsory school age I realize we WILL need to keep records of some kind. It's also nice to be able to look back and remember the funny things she's said or done... or share stories with our family who gets to see her for only short snippets on Skype.
I know from experience that if I write down a lesson plan or even the most general of goals for the week something undoubtedly changes. I don't want a record of what I thought we'd do, I want a record of what we did. I've also learned that the more blanks there are to fill in, the less likely I am to fill in any at all.
I've dug through the internet and perused our bookshelves and have yet to find a good way for us to keep records without getting either bogged down with lesson plans (dude, she's TWO) or putting it off till some future date when we can finally pull out all the scrapbookingtoys supplies and make a baby book.
So. I made my own. And I thought I'd share. Feel free to print as many as you'd like. If you share online please be nice and include a link back to this page. Thank you!
LINK TO GOOGLE DOC
We plan to use one journal per calendar year with a goal of filling out one sheet per week. We might get ambitious and do more, but I doubt it. Even if we do only one per month it'll hit the high points. The front page includes a spot for a 4"x6" photo or drawing. The "Important Things to Share" pages we'll likely put at the front and use to list whatever curricula we choose for that year and major events such as moves. When we hit the need for more detailed records we'll switch to lesson plans or whatever works for us at that time, but I think we'll use this setup for a few years at least.
It's formatted to print double-sided and either spiral bind or hole-punch for a 3-ring binder. Apparently my husband can't handle sideways text next to horizontal text so there are two options for the individual journal pages... A happy hubby makes a happy home :).
Here's hoping we've found the balance! May this year bring you and your family abundant blessings and joy.
2013 is starting with a bang for our family. It seems every year we've experienced big change of one kind or another, but this year may take the cake. My husband's enlistment runs up in just a few weeks and we still have no certain plans for where we're going or what we're doing. We know God has only good plans for us and we're trying our best to trust and remain stress-free!
One thing we do know for sure is we will be homeschooling. Long term. Baby Bird is not quite three years old, but this is a lifestyle we've prayed about, researched, and discerned is best for our family.
I'm a teacher by training and by choice which is proving to be both a help and a hindrance. We've been blessed with some fantastic homeschooling mentors over the last several years - families who have opened their hearts, brains, and bookshelves for us to
It took a whole year for me to realize that it just. didn't. matter. how many letters of the alphabet our daughter knew. She was ONE. I didn't have to write it down, or report it to anyone, or worry that she wasn't meeting the benchmarks for her grade. Yeah, I can be a little
However, as Baby Bird gets closer to compulsory school age I realize we WILL need to keep records of some kind. It's also nice to be able to look back and remember the funny things she's said or done... or share stories with our family who gets to see her for only short snippets on Skype.
I know from experience that if I write down a lesson plan or even the most general of goals for the week something undoubtedly changes. I don't want a record of what I thought we'd do, I want a record of what we did. I've also learned that the more blanks there are to fill in, the less likely I am to fill in any at all.
I've dug through the internet and perused our bookshelves and have yet to find a good way for us to keep records without getting either bogged down with lesson plans (dude, she's TWO) or putting it off till some future date when we can finally pull out all the scrapbooking
So. I made my own. And I thought I'd share. Feel free to print as many as you'd like. If you share online please be nice and include a link back to this page. Thank you!
LINK TO GOOGLE DOC
This journal will (I hope!) be the happy medium between needing a record and my laziness desire for flexibility.
We plan to use one journal per calendar year with a goal of filling out one sheet per week. We might get ambitious and do more, but I doubt it. Even if we do only one per month it'll hit the high points. The front page includes a spot for a 4"x6" photo or drawing. The "Important Things to Share" pages we'll likely put at the front and use to list whatever curricula we choose for that year and major events such as moves. When we hit the need for more detailed records we'll switch to lesson plans or whatever works for us at that time, but I think we'll use this setup for a few years at least.
It's formatted to print double-sided and either spiral bind or hole-punch for a 3-ring binder. Apparently my husband can't handle sideways text next to horizontal text so there are two options for the individual journal pages... A happy hubby makes a happy home :).
Here's hoping we've found the balance! May this year bring you and your family abundant blessings and joy.
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