where I come up with these crazy things we do around our little Garden State Homeschool.
First I head over to this site
and pick out which holidays,anniversaries or birthdays
will work for me. I write them out on a calender I keep just for this.
If there is more than one per day, I will "borrow" one for a day without a celebration
or just combine if need be.This week I have
- Monday- Wright Brothers 1st Flight 1903
- Tuesday-Play Bingo Day
- Wednesday-Oatmeal Muffin Day
- Thursday- Sacagawea Day
- Friday-National Flashlight Day and The Day the Pilgrims Landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620
- Saturday is the First Day of Winter
to find books to order for each day.I do that online too.
If I cannot find what I need, I may look for a different celebration.
Princess is in Kindergarten, so we do a lot of "play" in our day.
We read,sing,dance,color and craft, every day.Some "lessons" will
be heavier in "academics" than others, but our goal is to instill a love of learning,
not stuff a lot of facts down her throat to be regurgitated for the "pop quizzes" of relatives
at family gatherings.I do try to keep it fun, and if she is not interested in a subject, we move on
to something else from my "busy box" under my desk or just read more.
Monday I have several books about the Wright Brothers sitting next to me and a
picture of an airplane to be colored with a song/poem on the bottom of it that we will sing.
Princess has asked to learn about how planes land, so we will look this up and talk about it.
I am hoping Farmer Dad will show her how to make a paper airplane (since he will be home)
and they can play with that.I have a "Backyardigans" paper airplane craft I had saved for such an occasion.
I know the books I have are a bit "over her age", but I will float them on the river as bait, and see what happens.
If she is not interested in hearing more, we will look at the pictures and talk a bit about them and move on.
I write it all down in a small "baby's first year calender" that I have been using as my "planner".
I list the books or other things I will use in my "lesson" and I often mark if she liked the subject or not.
I do this for myself, we do not have to keep these records for the state at this time here.
I print everything I think I will use and put the printables along with the books (if they fit) into a gallon size
ziploc bag which goes into a small tote with handles I keep also under my desk. The bags are numbered,
and kept in date order (one bag for every school day in the month) All I have to do in the morning is pull out my bag for the day and set up. If we do not get to a lesson, I put the sheets and book list in a binder in month/seasonal order within a plastic sleeve. Hopefully I will have time to post pictures of these for the people who have asked.
We also do worksheets and other projects for reading,math,science and social studies
following the Making the Grade Everything Your Kindergartner Needs to Know
"curriculum".
11 comments:
I absolutely love this. We use "today in history" as the heart of our homeschool as well, but I am nowhere near as prepared as you. Not having a functioning printer at the moment makes it Very Hard.
I love the idea of the plastic bags. I've been thinking of doing something similar.
Thank you, thank you. Consider yourself inspiration.
Me again :-) I visited the historic events site you linked, but was concerned that some of the dates were different from what I'd read elsewhere. For example, World Peace Day isn't in January, its in September. Do you find it hard ascertaining which are the correct dates; for that matter, do you really mind? I know many people read Susan Bauer's history textbooks even though they know they're full of errors, because they say the stories are "good enough." But I feel nervous teaching history if I'm not to sure about it.
I use Wikipedia but I'm still nervous about that too, after being caught out last week!
Patience,
LOL- I use more than one site to double check, and since I look for more info online, I usually can spot a problem before I teach it, although..if it were "National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day"..we would celebrate it anyway! (as it should be,lol) Real history I would be a bit more diligent.
Thanks for letting me know I wasn't clear on this point. It's hard to blog with DH home all day. ;-)
What a fun way to go about learning. Very organized! When she gets a little older, you can continue this way and add in a timeline, so that she can start getting a sense of chronology!
I think I want to come to school at your house in January, and let my kids fend for themselves!
LOL,Angela...any time!!
I love this post. Such great ideas and organization. P sure is lucky!
Thanks for sharing Kate, It helps to "see" what you are teaching so I can follow. I think I need to be more organized like you,
LOL, My DH thinks it's funny that any
body would call me organized.lol
Wow, I am impressed!
Those are great ideas. You are so organized.
p.s. I got my blog fixed.
Kate, I think your a natural. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Kate, have I ever mentioned that I think you're brilliant? Because you are!!! ;>)
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