Grapevine Studies- Joseph

Hey people! I just wanted to let you know that I just featured a review of what I think of Grapevine Studies newest addition- Joseph, a Timeline Study- over on BOLD Turquoise! If you haven't heard of Grapevine Studies you should really go read about what we thought! You'll be glad you did!

Curriculum Choices for 2011-2012- K & Tot School!

 

 **UPDATE** I originally posted this about a month ago, but wanted to update to say that I have officially finished Rhythm's lesson plans for the year!  Wahoo!  I am now working on wrapping everything up for Lion Cub and co-op, along with working on our school room- which I am very excited about and can't wait to share with you all!  My posting has been sparse in recent months but I fully plan to dive back in and being documenting our year as soon as we start, the week of August 22, so subscribe and stick around!  I'd love to get to know you!***

I can't believe that Rhythm is actually heading into Kindergarten this fall!  How can this be possible?!  Needless to say, we are both very excited!  In fact, I have been considering curriculum for almost two years to figure out what we would be using this next year and began the official buying of books and working on ideas in February!  I have been slowly writing our lesson plans now for the last two months, but have been feeling the urgency lately to get things wrapped up since we plan on starting school August 22!  I am currently up to Christmas and plan to finish the rest when we get back from our little holiday.

Before I really get into the details, though, I feel the need to not really apologize, but I guess explain that my little plan for this year really doesn't seem to look like a lot of the other Kindergarten plans I have recently come across in blogland.  I come at things from a Charlotte Mason, Unit Study, slightly eclectic style because I believe in it and think it will work best for my children.  It is definitely a method that takes more planning, preparation and organization on my part, but I really believe that both of my boys are going to learn well from this approach and we are all going to enjoy the process more than we otherwise would.

Much of my inspiration for this style of learning has come from this wonderful lady- Susan Evans at Hands-on Learning!

I stumbled upon Susan at last year's local Homeschool Conference and was instantly enthralled with her energetic, immersive style!  You could just tell that her kids LOVE to learn!  She takes the hands-on, unit study style to a whole new level!  I was thrilled to be able to attend both of her workshops at this year's conference and learned so many awesome ideas for incorporating journals into all sort of study and art projects with history lessons.  You have just got to go check out her site!  Her blog also has some wonderful articles and her You Tube Channel beyond rocks!  I really hope to incorporate more and more of her approach over the next couple of years, and honestly wish we were friends and I could just go sit with her family while they do school for like a week to see how they do it all!  Although, her videos do offer an awesome glimpse.

Anyway! Alright, now that I have given that little disclaimer, here we go...

Rhythm- Kindergarten

Bible-
We will be using Grapevine Studies, Beginner Level as our main curriculum to really get in the word and learn the actual accounts.


With that said, Bible will be our main, over-riding daily focus and I am going to do my best to incorporate it into as many aspects throughout our day as I can.  We will start our morning by reading/reciting our memory verses (using the system from Simply Charlotte Mason) during breakfast and going over Bob Jones' Bible Truths for Christian Growth K5.  The boys will be having their own quiet times in the afternoon where they will listen to The Word of Promise Audio Bible or praise music while looking through picture Bibles and spending their own little time with Jesus.  During dinner we will read a short chapter from Leading Little Ones to God and go over our memory verses again.  Then before bed The Carpenter will read the boys a story from The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Math-
Horizons K- In all honesty I think Rhythm is going to fly through this curriculum fairly fast because he has a natural pension for math, but I plan to just meet him at his level and we will move on to 1st grade math as soon as he is ready.

Reading-
This is a harder one because Rhythm has a harder time focusing in this subject.  Our plan right now is to start over with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, use You Can Read for sight words, use Abeka's Blend Ladders for some drills and hopefully incorporate some word play ideas from 1+1+1=1 as well.  If All About Reading comes out with their level 1 curriculum this summer I may also consider using it if it seems like a good fit.

Spanish-
We will be listening to Spanish podcasts during lunch every day and using some spanish learning apps on my phone (and hopefully my iPad if I get one by fall), then we'll see where it goes from there.  I am also considering getting a subscription to Speekee, if money allows and it is also kind of dependent on that iPad thing since my computer is too slow to play video very well.

Piano-
I will be teaching Rhythm some very basic piano using Bastien's Young Beginner series. We were going to use these last year but he just wasn't ready.  I think he finally has enough of an attention span to start again though.

All the rest-
Ok- this is where I get all carazay! The rest of our subjects (yup- geography, history, science, art, writing composition, handwriting and whatever else you can think of) will be covered unit-study-style using a combination of Galloping the Globe and Expedition Earth.  We will be incorporating a lot of hands-on projects, copywork, lapbooks, narration and living books to accomplish this.  This is where I think the bulk of my blogging will come into play to document how we are taking this little journey into unit-study land.  This is also the part we are both most excited for and I hope to be able to tie Lion Cub into our studies as much as possible as well!

Co-op-
We will being attending a co-op this fall where Rhythm will be taking three classes- Music, Learning with Playdough and Lego Build.  He is beyond thrilled and we love that we get the best of both worlds- he get's the "school" experience with teachers, friends, backpacks, lunch boxes and all the rest, while also being homeschooled.  We are thrilled to have found this independent & Christian option so close to us.

In addition I will also be teaching two classes at the co-op, which I am totally pumped about!  I will be teaching Improv for junior highers, since I have extensive experience with both acting and junior highers, and A Becoming an Explorer class for 2-4th graders!  And yes, I will be posting all the fun details about this class right here on the blog so that hopefully some of you can utilize them in your homeschool or co-op as well!

Hip-Hop & Breakdancing-
Rhythm will be continuing his hip-hop and breakdancing classes at a local breaking studio which he totally loves!  He is really coming along and being introduced to more power moves this summer!  It is absolutely hilarious and, even better, Lion Cub is really catching on!

Lion Cub- Tot School (2 Years Old)

As I mentioned above, I really am going to try to include Lion Cub into most of what I am doing with Rhythm, but at his own level.  I do want to do a few things just for him though because I really think he will thrive on things geared just for him and absorb them quickly.  We tried out some of Carisa's Tot School printables last week and he ate them up, so we will likely be doing one letter a week.  As far as printables go I will also probably be mixing in some Tot books and packs, just to keep things fresh for him.

In addition, I plan on having a selection of tot trays for him each week and a monthly themed sensory bin.  I made a very basic one for him recently and he has adored playing with it.  My only hang up is finding a way for my house to not get covered in beans or rice or whatever happens to be in the tub while he and Rhythm play!!  These are the themes I have planned out for the year:

September: Asia/geography
October: Fall
November: Thanksgiving
December: Christmas
January: Winter
February: Valentine’s
March: St Patrick’s Day
April: Spring
May: Spring cont... Butterflies & bugs


So that's the break down!  It's all still a little subject to change as I nail things down (more so for Lion Cub than Rhythm), and I still have a TON of work to do to get ready, but we are really excited and looking forward to a great year!

What are you doing for school next year?  I'd love for you to leave a comment and a link!

Giraffe Copywork & Fun-Review

I was blessed recently to receive a copy of Giraffe Copywork and Fun by Homeschool Bits, to review.  This copywork study has 32 pages full of copywork, activities and internet links that thoroughly address grade levels K-5, but could easily be used for younger or older students as well.  Homeschool Bits has a history of making very versatile homeschool tools and this study is no exception.

The first thing that jumped out at me about this copywork study was the wide variety of copywork options that are given.  Some of these options include:

• Fill in the blanks 
• Fill in the blanks with traceable letters
• Traceable printing passages
• Traceable cursive passages
• Blank ruled lines for independent copywork
• Blank standard lines for independent copywork

Each passage offers each of these options, making it quite simple to assign the same copywork to a number of children at different levels, and also gives you the option to use this same study again in later years.  Interspersed throughout the copywork pages are also numerous pictures and clipart of giraffes that help keep the work engaging and interesting.

Rhythm working on a traceable fill in the blank page.

In addition to the copywork being well thought out and put together, the actual information is top notch.  The writing is interesting and the facts are not tedious to read. We have been working on it currently but I am even more excited to break it back out when we do our studies on Africa next year.  It will be a wonderful addition to the curriculum we will be using, but is informative enough to stand alone if you wished for it to as well.

Giraffe Copywork & Fun by Homeschool Bits can be purchased for only $0.50 at CurrClick!  That is a total bargain for a resource that can be used time and again and really helps put the fun back in copywork!  I would highly recommend this product.

Thanks to Heart of the Matter for supplying this unit study for sample review in their reviewer application process.  All opinions are honest and completely my own.

All Frogs Unit Study by Homeschool Bits- Review

We took a little break from our Farm Unit Study this week to tryout a new curriculum by Homeschool Bits called "All Frogs." This study is geared for grades K-5 but I found it very easy to simplify for Rhythm, who is doing Pre-K4.  The curriculum consists of a plethora of elements to create a very well-rounded study, including:

• Information pages that cover the differences between frogs and toads, 5 different frog species, the life cycle of a frog and more.  These pages also contain pictures and links to frog sounds.
• 2 different varieties of quiz pages (fill in the blank and multiple choice)
• Coloring pages (including a frog parts diagram)
• Activity pages (including a word search, two different levels of mazes and frog jokes)
• Frog Fact Cards
• A frog fable mini-book
• 4 different varieties of copywork (beginning guided printing, guided printing, guided cursive, and standard lines for unguided copywork)
• Lapbooking Components (very colorful and including extra frog clipart)
• Links to websites for additional learning about frogs (including information and video sites as well as crafts and even how to draw a cartoon frog).

To say that I was pleased and impressed with this curriculum would be an understatement!  Our first day of reading, in which we read about the differences between Frogs and Toads, Rhythm was able to actually participate in narration for the first time!  I was so delighted by this (I think he was too!).  We have tried before but he generally always responds with "I don't know."  This text, however, was well written and engaging enough for even a typically distracted 4-year-old boy to glean and repeat the facts from.

Lapbook Cover

Inside of lapbook

Flap of Lapbook with trimmed down copywork page

Back of lapbook w/Frog jokes, frog cartoon drawing & maze

I also loved being able to write all of his narration down on the lapbooking components as he dictated to me.  The lapbook comes together so nicely and doesn't have an insane amount of printing to do.  It was very easily customizeable and can easily be used for any grade level.  Rhythm and I both love being able to not only make the lapbook but use it for review- it is so much more engaging than a boring fact sheet or series of notes!

Working on the simple maze

All the links provided have been very helpful and interesting.  Rhythm loved learning how to draw his very own cartoon frog and hearing the frog sounds also really helped to keep him interested in the lessons.  I was also extremely surprised that he was able to complete the simple maze from the activity pages.  The beginning guided copywork pages have been fun for him to try as well, since he is just getting started with writing.  They work well because they only have a few key words to trace, instead of the whole passage, so they aren't too overwhelming for him.

Clearly impressed with himself that he actually did it!

This lesson is also flexible enough to complete over a varied amount of time, depending on what works best for you and the level of your child.  For older students you could finish the study in probably less than a week if you really wanted to, but it also lends itself well to spacing out over a couple of weeks if you only did a component or two a day.  It has been perfect for us to just do a couple of things at the end of our day and has really brought a little bit of extra life to our school day.  I think this study would also work well with a number of children at varying ages.

I think the only thing that I could be critical of was the design of the mini-book, as it did not leave much room for stapling and would not have gone in the correct order if I had assembled it per the instructions.  That is really the only thing I could think of though- the rest of the study we genuinely loved and thought was expertly put together!  I would definitely purchase a study from Homeschool Bits again, hands down.  Oh, and did I mention that this whole study is only $1 at CurrClick!?  Insane, right?!  I couldn't believe that!  I would have paid much more for a study that was this well put together!

Thanks to Heart of the Matter for supplying this unit study for sample review in their reviewer application process.  All opinions are honest and completely my own.

New Year, New Curriculum!

I don't know if I mentioned over here on this blog that back in December I won an ENTIRE YEAR of Itty Botty Bookworm curriculum from Jolanthe @ Homeschol Creations (who also runs this meme- hop over and join in the fun!)!  Well, obviously I couldn't have been more thrilled since I had toyed with the idea of purchasing this curriculum many times but just couldn't afford it!  So, what a HUGE blessing to have received it for free! 

We started the first week of the new year, had a bit of a snafoo (aka- R-Man got and abbreviated version of the flu and I lost my mind!) last week that allowed us only to get a few of the projects done, but we are back again this week with a vengeance! 

First of all, I have to just say that we are genuinely LOVING this curriculum!  It is so much better than I even dreamed it would be!  Incredibly simple to follow and having everything laid out already really simplifies things and makes it much more doable. 

Beyond the actual logistics of how well written the curriculum is, R-Man is getting sooooo much out of it!  I have seriously been shocked!  It may be partly because he is getting older also, but all of the sudden things are just clicking for him!  He is really starting to get his letters down and beginning to acquire basic reading concepts.

Plus, he adores the projects!  When he found out that he got to cover this icecream cone with frosting and marshmallows as a counting activity he about peed his pants!  Of course, getting to lick the knife was pretty thrilling as well!

If any of you are looking for an amazing curriculum for preschool, you will not be wasting one dime of your money if you invest in Itty Bitty Bookworm!  I have even heard rumors that they may be coming out with a Kindergarten curriculum- so keep your ears peeled!  I am just hoping it will get finished int he next year and a half!

So yup- that's where we are!  You can expect lots of Itty Bitty Bookworm related posts and progress throughout the rest of the year!  Awww- how good it feels to finally have a curriculum that fits!