Week 4- Sonlight, Joseph, and Madeline

Joseph's Coat of Many Colors

I almost cringe as I write this, but our family is still in the throws of sickness. This is a record for our family...three solid weeks of one or many of us being sick. My husband and I are just now getting over the flu and now the baby has it.

Nevertheless, we pushed through and did accomplish most of what was on my lesson plans sheet!

I wanted to talk about a few changes that I made with the Sonlight Bible Curriculum for Core A. The daily reading was getting a little monotonous and Lily wasn't seeming too interested in what she was hearing. I want to make the Bible come alive to her, and mean something to her. So I decided to examine what stories were suggested for the week and then do a 'character' study on the main people in the stories. So this week, I decided to focus on Joseph from The Old Testament. We did a fun 'Coat' Craft shown above from Challah Crumbs, and the girls (even my 4 year old) actually absorbed the information which I am thrilled about!

Lily really enjoyed transforming her name into Hieroglyphics using DiscoveringEgypt.com. This was a great site that allowed us to dig deeper into the early Egyptian Civilization. We really love the Usborne Book Living Long Ago that comes with the Sonlight Curriculum. Lily enjoys the small excerpts that explain about food and travel.

We also 1/2 Rowed the FIAR book Madeline , and the girls had a grand old time trying to make the Eiffel Tower out of vanilla wafers and marshmallow fluff. I would call my attempt a 'Tower FAIL'. When I went to nurse the baby, I came out and found an entirely different type of Landmark of the mess variety...I'll post more about our FIAR Madeline experience a little later this week when we finish! But for now, enjoy the picture of the mess I found when I came out of the baby's room...

The sticky marshmallowy mess on my dining room table

 We are moving along with our Math and All About Reading. Lily is definitely beyond what we are going through right now, but I just want to make sure she knows all the basics before moving on. 

This coming week we will be taking a look at the Vikings, and doing a few fun things with that, along with studying Job. Should be a great week!!

Thanks!
 

The Seasons {Craft Tutorial}

I shared a photo last week of our Seasons craft to go along with The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature  and I wanted to share a little more photos and explanation of how we did it. My inspiration came from a post by The Art of Teaching. I wanted to add a little more to it, so I used her wonderful craft as a jumping point.

Here is what you will need:
Template from The Art of Teaching Site
Watercolor paper
India Ink- This is needed because it won't run when using watercolors.
Watercolors
Multi-colored Tissue Paper
Scissors
Glue- Old fashioned Elmer's worked best for us

Template for tree

If your child is old enough, he or she could sketch out the frame of the tree and draw the lines on watercolor paper as shown in picture above. If you are just going to use crayons like the original craft, you could just print this template out on a regular piece of paper.

Once  the sketch is dried, you can begin to talk about the different colors one might see in the different season. Your child can then paint the background of the tree in the colors of their choosing according to each season. Then have your child paint the tree itself.

Once this is completed, grab your tissue paper. Cut the paper into strips, and then into squares.

The next step is to ask your children again what colors would go with each season. We started with winter, and the girls had fun pulling out greens, blues, whites and dark blues.

The children can then start gluing the squished up pieces of tissue paper in the proper season section. I think this craft turned out beautiful and would highly recommend it as a keeper for years to come!

Thanks!

Week 3- Sonlight, Pink Eye and The Seasons

Our week was still filled with sickness. We had a double ear infection, and four pink eyes in the house... I'd say we were in full on infirmary mode. So again, we didn't get as much accomplished as I had on my lesson plans, but I feel pretty confident that Lily is learning!

We are WAY ahead on the Sonlight Read Alouds... We finished My Father's Dragon last night, which is not even started until Week 5. I have decided to take a little detour and spend some time reading more of The Boxcar Children series since my girls loved the first book so much.

Lily is doing very well at her Math-U-See, and it seems that one lesson a day is appropriate and just the right amount of work for her. She loves using the manipulatives (shown above) that come with the curriculum.

Lily also loved writing a story based on the picture of the boy and his robot...She could have gone on forever about their relationship!

Our favorite activity by far was our watercolor and tissue paper Seasons Tree. We read through the first part of The Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science which takes you through the four seasons. We loved reading the rhymes and looking at the funny pictures!

My next post will be a tutorial of how we made our seasons craft!

We did however, slack a little on our history this week due to all the sickness. I reserved a bunch of books on Egypt and we will be reading them as we continue our study of Early Civilizations. 

Thanks!

Week 2- Lesson Plan for Sonlight Core A & F.I.A.R.

We are heading into week 2, and I am a very visual list type person...well, actually, I need a visual list to keep me anywhere near organized and on task, because I'm actually a 'get distracted by everything' type person:)

I thought I would post my 'goals' or lesson plan for the week, and then at the end of the week post a summary of what we did as well as photos of something fun that stood out to the kids!

Here is the lesson plan for Week 2:

Circle Time: We do a circle time every morning before we technically 'start' schooling. I'm going to do a more in depth post about this, but basically, we light a candle, pray for others and our day, sing our memory verse song, and read our FIAR (Five In a Row) Book.

Then we head to our kitchen table and begin or morning activities.

FIAR: Our book for the week will be:  Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans.

We get all of our books for FIAR at the library. 

I put them on hold a week in advance and they are usually waiting for me

 whenever I can go pick them up!  

We will be learning about Paris, France by locating on our Map, 

and talking a little bit about the culture at the time of Madeline along with landmarks that make places recognizable- ie The Eiffel Tower.

We will also talk about human relationships in the story.

We will be going over our Daily Routine in the mornings, and comparing them to Madeline's...

trying to get back into a daily rhythm before the start of homeschooling.

       

Bible: Read up through the story of Jacob

We will record events on our Timeline, discuss the different stories.
 

I am also going to start a project with Lily where she finds her own  'favorite' verse this week. I want her not just to memorize verses, but realize that they have a big impact on her life, and they are God's Word that he has written for her.  I will give her a bunch of verses and have her read them to see if any stand out to her. We will then do some sort of art to create a verse card that she can keep in a frame by her bed to remind her that God speaks to her! 

History/ Geography:  

We will learn about how the Early travellers moved around, and will actually make a mini coracle!  

Coracle

We will also begin to explore the homes and clothes of early Egyptians. 

(Still working on some hands-on activites for egypt)

Read-Alouds:

We will continue reading The Boxcar Children  which my girl's love! I'm so excited that they are able to pay attention to a chapter book, be genuinely interested, and have wonderful conversations after each chapter!!! This is why Sonlight is awesome! 

We will also continue reading poetry out of 

The Llama Who Had No Pajama and The Mother Goose Book.

Math: 

Lily will continue her review of her Math Skills with the Primer book from Math-U-See.  I don't have a plan as to how far she will get because she can do about 7 lessons in one hour... once the subject matter gets a little more difficult, I will slow her down and do more daily lessons.

Handwriting: 

Continue with Handwriting Without Tears, 3 Worksheets a week.

Reading and Language Arts-   

Start All About Reading Lesson 1-3, Continue with Creative Expression-

 Summarizing stories we read, and work on story sequencing.

Science:  Work on the Seasons- Going to do this shutterstock photo I found on Pinterest...perfect for Lily!

 I'd like to do something like this using cue tips, and a tree template like this.

That's about all I have for now...I may add some things during the week, and I'll definitely share in the end of week Summary Post !!

Thanks!!

Kristen

Week 1- Sonlight and Cavemen

We just completed Week 1 or Core A from Sonlight and  I am only just now starting to catch a glimpse of how I can incorporate fun things that I know my kids will enjoy into the curriculum. Don't get me wrong, I think the base curriculum from Sonlight is awesome, my girls are just a little more 'craft' oriented and can tend to get bored just reading out of books and not using their hands.

We read through the first parts of the Bible which included Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Abraham and The Tower of Babel...pretty cool stuff. Sonlight incorporates dinosaurs into this week, and I wanted to expand on this a little more but given that it is our first week homeschooling and we were attempting to find a new rhythm, I chose to let it go for now.

In addition, this week we also learned about the Cavemen! We discussed how different things were back then...the girls were pretty amazed!

We learned all of the different skills that they had to aquire in order to live a better life at that time. I explained how there was no electricity, no washer and dryer, not even homes! My oldest couldn't believe that they lived in caves. One of the skills they used often was weaving. I decided this was a great first 'Hands On' learning experience. I think I am going to call anything that I add on that involves a craft or activity will be called 'Hands On'.

Here's how we did it:

First we gathered sticks, and palm fronds, and I cut up yarn into 2' lengths'

Then we attached the yarn to both sticks to create a loom

This was a great activity in increasing dexterity as well!

 Then we started the weaving process,

' in-out-in-out', 'front-back-front-back...'

great way to teach opposites! 

Make sure to start your weaving at the bottom because you will build going up!

 

Getting closer to the top, the pattern really starts to show!! 

 

Lily's finished product!

 She was so proud! We attached yarn at the top to hang their creations on the back patio...beautiful!

I am also going to continue teaching about Cavemen and early civilization by painting with berries, crushing them and making our own 'paint', as well as making our own 'coracle' boat as suggested in Sonlight. My kids thrive on hands on activities, so I am going to try to incorporate as much as I can!

 We also ROWED the book, 'The Story About Ping' which allowed us to look a little deeper into China using Confessions of a Homeschooler's curriculum called Expedition Earth,  and it allowed us to delve into the culture...there are also many wonderful teaching tools in the FIVE IN A ROW Curriculum which we will be using often.

Thanks!

Kindergarten Curriculum for 2012-2013

 Sinead

Summer is rolling to an end, hence...
 I have officially enrolled my daughter, Lily, into homeschool.

Over the past two years,
I haven't posted on here much because
 we have gone through much transition. 

My two girls both went to afternoon preschool last year,
and I am happy with that decision.

 But I knew that I would always homeschool the children
 as they got older and I transitioned into having more children.

I thought I would start off my new blogging journal posts
 with an overview of what we will be using for Curriculum,
along with some helpful websites that I use.

I have been very much influenced by Michelle over at
Delightful Learning. 
She is such an inspiration as a mother as well as a homeschool mom.

I am using a lot of the same curriculum that she uses with a few minor changes.
 You can find her curriculum list for this year here.

For Lily (6):

Sonlight Core A- Intro to World Cultures

All About Reading Level 1

Math-U-See w/ Manipulatives

The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature


For Lily and Claire (6 & 4):

Before Five in a Row: A Treasury of Creative Ideas to Inspire Learning Readiness

Five in a Row (Five in a Row): Volume 1 

 Grace Homeschool Connection: A church where homeschoolers go and take classes with other homeschooolers.  Lily will be taking Art, Latin and Memory. We started last week, She loves it!!  

That's about it, I will be journaling about our experiences an fun things we do on here... stay tuned!!