Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Our School: 2009-2010

Nate's School (Kindergarten)

Nathan is a hands-on active little boy who wasn't the least bit interested in school last year. He'd rather be out climbing trees or playing with his stuffed animals, so I let him. After all, what use is preschool to a child who would like the world to be their teacher? This year has been Nate's first year of school proper & he's doing well, but mostly loves the relational part of school. He's learning to read, excelling in math and quick as a lick with memory work and poetry.

I find that Nate does well working in short spurts and thrives off quality rather than quantity work.

For Nate's Kindergarten year we have used the following books and curricula:

School Proper:

Saxon Math
Handwriting Without Tears
Bob Books
Alpha Phonics
Classical Conversations Cycle 1
Story of the World (Vol.1-4)
Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization
Seeds Family Worship

Read Alouds:
Little House in the Big Woods
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory


Extracurricular:
Soccer
Basketball
Swim Lessons
Choir

Hobbies:
playing outdoors
drawing
building

friends
hiking
trampoline play
caring for pets






Elijah's School (PreSchool)


The beginning of the school journey, I believe should be very much about relationship, character and self-discipline. I find this is what I come back to again & again as I teach preschool, this being my last year. *sniff* So no matter what Eli and I are working on or though, I think the heart of his school is learning about who he is and how he learns. It's about Eli learning that book work is a regular part of a childs' life, and that reading is one of the best things on the planet. It's learning that school time is about listening and interaction, asking questions and stretching his mind. This year has been a fun journey for us and it's lovely to watch Eli grow into a little boy who will soon take off on his own, reading away.

A side note, Eli is very quick to learn all of our CC memory work, Scripture and Poetry Work. This is fun and not work for him, I take note that this learning comes as second nature to a child of 3 or 4.

Eli's varying school curriculum goes as follows:

School:
Various Workbooks on numbers, counting, shapes and other concepts

Flash Cards of both for both letter & number recognition
Dot to dot & Maze books
Puzzles
Board Games
Libaray books, and books and books. This is a huge part of our time, reading, him on my lap.
Seeds Family Worship
Classical Conversations Cycle 1
Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization
Story of the World Vol 1-4


Read Alouds:
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
Little House in the Big Woods

Extracurricular:

Soccer
Basketball
Swimming

Eli's Hobbies:
Playmobile
Nature diggin'
Playdoh
Trampoline Play
Keeping Big Brother Busy
Looking at books

Joe's School 2009-2010 Second Grade

Joey is a bit of a traditional student in the sense that he doesn't mind sitting and working at length. He excels in most subjects so long as he doesn't feel pressure to perfect. He enjoys creative writing (on his own) and loves reading & being read to. This year Joe is able to work on his own for periods of time, but does best when I'm within arms reach to be sure he's on task.

Joe's Second Grade Curriculum is as follows

School:
Math- Saxon Math
Language Arts- First Language Lessons
Writing With Ease
Spelling Plus
Classical Conversations Cycle 1
Story of the World (Vol. 1-4)
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization


Read Alouds:
Little House in the Big Woods
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

Extracurricular:
Soccer
Theater: The Best Christmas Paegent Ever
Basketball
Swim Lessons
Choir
Hand Bells
BoldArt

Hobbies:
Legos
Reading (Magic Tree House, Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys)
Trampoline Play
Friends

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