Sanchez Homeschool Kindergarten!

WELL, I had wanted to write this two years ago when Thomas was in Kindergarten, but, yeah, I didn't get to it............

So, now that I'm teaching my EIGHTH Kindergartener, and I had a recent inquiry about how to do Kindergarten, I thought I had better get up a post about it.

I practice the "Kindergarten is LOW stress" homeschool method. In most (maybe all?) states Kindergarten is not a requirement. But, of course, because schools do offer it, we moms feel that our children will be behind for their entire academic career if they aren't reading by the end of that year.

In our homeschool, if my Kindergartener wanted to do the work, then we would do work. If they didn't want to, then we wouldn't.

Since I have older kids now (who aren't given that option) the little one who is in Kindergarten usually wants to do work so they can be like big brother or sister.


PHONICS

Brittany (my oldest) was interested in learning to write when she was four, so we started then with phonics. We made a simple ABC book that used magazine cutout pictures for every letter of the alphabet. Now I know some programs discourage using picture/sound association, but I found it helpful if she would forget what "m" sounded like, we could open the the little book and see the picture of the moon or whatever. So, I've used this for every child.

I used to just write simple silly sentences with Brittany like "Brittany is a red man." to introduce short vowel sounds. Then I found the Bob Books which are basically the same thing. I didn't realize that there were five sets until I was teaching Tyler (my 2nd) to read and so I bought them and have used them with all the kids since then.

I was really excited to find some other moms had created activities to go along with the books!

Walking By the Way has activities for the first two sets, but not the last three.

This Reading Mama has activities for all five sets.

This Reading Mama also has lessons plans for all five sets (also included in the lessons plans are activities from several other bloggers).

She also has extra activities for set one and could maybe be adapted for other sets also.

So far, I have used the first two sets from Walking By the Way. She has simple activities that require minimal supplies. I take about one week to read the book a couple of times and do the activities for that book.

Supply list for Walking By the Way:

Basic school supplies: pencil, crayons, scissors, glue stick, computer for typing (if your child likes to type)

Extra: bingo marker, small stickers, pair of dice, "markers" for tic tac toe (I used some construction paper squares in two colors), abc tiles (I used foam and made an upper case and a lower case set) and a brown paper bag

All of these things I found at Dollar Tree. I just keep it all in a ziploc so it's together and ready when we pull out the activities.

I have not used the This Reading Mama activities yet, but just glancing through the supply lists, it looks about the same.

I keep all the printout sorted by book and paperclipped together in a folder. (Because I need to be organized like that.)

Since I have many more children that will be using these, I decided to laminate some of the sheets.

We also check books out from the library that I read aloud to them, and I use read alouds for history and science for the older kids as well, so there is plenty of opportunity for reading comprehension practice for the Kindergartners.

After the Bob Books we move onto easy readers and increase the levels until they seem pretty proficient then move to age appropriate chapter books.

**Homeschooling provides the perfect opportunity to move at your child's own pace. If your child needs more time to "take off" with reading, then you are able to do that. I hate to sound cliche, but some kids, and especially boys, may need a little extra time with reading.

As for writing, I've printed some practice sheets off of the internet or in the early days when my older ones were little I just bought a tablet and wrote a few things that they could copy.

These sheets came from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

MATH

I've been using Math U See for a long time. Instead of creating a bunch of busywork worksheets that seems to overtake everything, I laminated the some of the lessons for the Primer and put some of the cutouts on notecards, so they could be used over and over. Really, you could start the Primer for some kids at age 4, because the first half of the book is really very basic. But, if your child finishes the Primer in Kindergarten and stays on track to finish one level per year, then by 7th grade they will be completing PreAlgebra which is the average college level track.

Also, there are activity sheets for Primer if you'd like to use those. I did print off a few and laminated them.

I made these numbers for decimal street years ago. I printed off some clip art cars and numbers and just laminated them.

This is also the same decimal street I made years ago.

I also keep various puzzles, file folder games and such on hand so that my Kindergarteners can rotate through activities (which is especially helpful when I need some quiet time to work with the older kids.) It's mainly stuff I've made or picked up at the dollar tree or yard sale.

For everything else........

I think the two biggest "sit down" subjects to work on for Kindergarten are phonics/reading and math. Everything else (science, social studies, etc.) can easily be learned by reading books aloud, nature study, games, puzzles, etc. I would say, even until maybe the fourth grade, you could keep the focus that way. But, if you prefer to do things differently, then BY. ALL. MEANS. It's your choice. ;)

If you only have a Kindergartener, then you could just add things in that they are interested in, or maybe put up a calendar and go over the days of the week and months. Keeping a weather chart is great, too.

I like to use this devotion for the younger ones for Bible Study.





And, that's about it!

Frugal Friday: Ten Ways to Homechool on a Shoestring Budget

Homeschooing doesn't have to break the bank. It doesn't even have to come close. There are so many quality resources available for free, or almost free, that homeschooling can be done on even the most miniscule of budgets.

Here are TEN ways you can homeschool on a shoestring budget:

1. Utilize your library. There are books, magazines, dvd's, etc. on just about every topic right at your disposal- for free.

2. Buy used curriculum. Many homeschool organizations offer up yearly used curriculum sales, typically toward the end of the school year/beginning of summer. Depending on participation, you may be able to find everything you need for your upcoming year at the one sale at a small fraction of the retail cost.

Also, there are several options to find used curriulum online. Ebay, HSLDA's Curriculum Market, Curriculum Exchange, and  Yahoo used curriculum group are great places to find what you need.

3.Yard sales. I have found so many things at yard sales from flash cards, books, puzzles, vidoes to actual homeschool workbooks and curriculum. One of my favorites was a teacher who was retiring. I got so many great things from her for just cents.

4. Library and Private school book sales. These are great places to find supplements to your curriculum. Novels, children's books, geography and science books and really just about anything is possible to find at these sales.

5. Scholastic Book Warehouse Sales. These sales offer a wide variety of books at a 50%, and often times more, discount. This is a great opportunity to build a homeschool library and find supplements to your curriculum at a greatly reduced cost.

6. Set up a freebie/curriculum swap table at your homeschool group meetings. At one homeschool group I was part of, we just brought in what we wanted to give away and set it out on a table. It was a great way to declutter and give something to someone who could use it. On a larger note, I've also been part of an area wide book benevolence. If you have a willing host (in this case a church) who has a little space to spare, anything homeschool related can be donated, kept in a central location and, the doors can be opened once a month to anyone needing curriculum.

7. Dollar stores. These days many dollar stores are offering up a large selection of teaching supplies. Recently, I've been able to find simple workbooks, worksheets, file folder games, flashcards and all kinds of supplies from stickers to cutouts.

8. Borrow what you need from a friend. If you are in need of something, ask a friend if you could borrow their resource. (Just please keep it away from the two year old with the sticky peanut butter and jelly fingers. Just ask me how I know.)

9. Browse the web. There are literally TONS of free resources on the internet on every subject in every time period for every thing.  Click on the "Homeschool" page tab at the top of this blog to find links to many great sites I've come across over the years.

10. Write your own. If you just can't find the resource you need, or maybe your can't find the perfect resource for your family, you can always just write your own. Now, I am going to offer you a shameless plug for my book, "Overcoming Curriculum Anxiety! A Ten Step Guide to Writing Your Own Curriculum".  I've been writing my own curriculum for over twelve years now, and I've shared my "how to" process with you! Only $10!

I Can't Believe It's Butter!

The older boys and the younger kids are studying 1800's American History this year. I've been reading Little House on the Prairie to the younger kids and we decided to make butter.

First, take a little cream......

Then, take a jar with a lid. We didn't have a glass jar, but we did have Daddy's hunting thermos.....

After you shake, shake, shake.........

Yummy, creamy, butter!




They like it!

The New School Year Has Begun!

Here is a run down of what all the kids will be doing this year.

Brittany: 9th grade

History and Literature: Middle Ages British History (focus on the royalty of the time period) with studies of Shakespeare's "Julius Ceasar", "Hamlet" and also "A Tale of Two Cities". She'll also read various biographies and research on the kings and queens of that time.

Science: Abeka biology (I tweaked this around a bit to fit what we needed.)

Math: Math U See

Fallacy Detectives: One chapter per week

Writing: One Year Adventure Novel

Bible: Kay Arthur's "How to Study Your Bible" intro. to Inductive study; A series of lessons on the book of Mark that I created for a college class I was taking a few years ago

Tyler: 7th grade

History: study of the 1800's American History

Science: Astronomy and Geology

Math: Math U See

Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing

Liturature: Reading/completeing study guides for "Across Five Aprils", The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "The Red Badge of Courage" and "With Lee in Virginia"

Spelling: Spelling Workout G

Bible: Kay Arthur Inductive Studies for Kids

Timothy: 4th Grade

History: study of 1800's American History

Science: Astronomy and Geology

Math: Math U See

Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing

Literature: Reading/study activities for Chronicle of Narnia books

Spelling: Spelling Workout D

Bible: Kay Arthur Inductive Studies for Kids

Bethany: 2nd grade and Brooke: 1st Grade

History: Little House on the Praire Books and activities

Science: activities for Astronomy and Geology (with the older boys)

Spelling: Spelling Workout B, Brooke will be in book A

Literature: various book based activities-we'll do one per week

Math: Math U See (with some Abeka on the side. We started with Abeka last year, and I need to get into Math U See and really figure out where they are because Math U See is different from most programs.

Bible: scripture memory, songs, worksheets, etc. from the New Testament-put together by me.

Tristan and Thomas: Preschool

Bible: will do the same with Bethany and Brooke

Preschool time: 45 minutes of fun activities based on books


Various worksheets and color sheets with the correlating subjects the older kids are studying during history and science times.

Fridays: All Together Time

On Fridays, all the kids will be doing school together.

In the mornings: Bible, Manners, Spanish, and on a rotating basis poetry, art and music.

In the afternoons, Geography: an Africa unit the first half of the year; an Alaska/Iditarod study the second half.


I know this sounds like a lot, it is.

Yes, we are still here.

No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth, or spontaneously combusted, nor has the rapture occurred. I am just trying to get my school planning done because the kids are dying to start school by the first week in September. Which is in less than two weeks.

So, I am trying to get everything finished and planned because you all know, because I've said it a million times, that I like to get my planning done over the summer. No more planning gets done by me during the school year. So, if we are doing it, I have to plan it now.

Yes, I did say the kids are "dying to" start school, not "dying at the thought of" starting school. I try to make it interesting to me fun for them and they also enjoy the structure our day has when we are doing school. I do have to occasionally remind them of this when they are complaining about their math lesson. Or the occasional spelling lesson.

The First Day of School

We survived the first day of school-barely! We did manage to get quite a bit done today. Brittany will be doing independent work this year. Tyler will be doing independent work except for the second half of the year he will be doing history with Timothy and the little girls, and all year he will be doing science with them. So, my main focus this year will be on Timothy, Bethany, Brooke, and Tristan when he wants to be a part of it. They will be working on Bible, math, spelling, language arts, writing, history and science on Mondays through Thursdays, with Fridays reserved for all the kids to work together on Bible recitations, and art, music and poetry which we'll do on a three week rotation. Park day is Friday afternoons. However, since I don't have my spelling books yet, or Tyler's math book, and I have a few more small details to work out, because I didn't get everything done, I decided to do one of the five week long unit studies this week. We did the government/election unit I had planned. The other four units which I will disperse throughout the rest of the year will be: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Passover, and Economics.
Today was challenging. School is just flat out challenging with a toddler, which we seem to have had every other year for the past 7 years or so. Preschoolers are easy compared to a toddler, who has no concept of "don't crinkle that paper", don't eat that glue stick", "don't write all over yourself with the marker your sister left out". Sigh.
I have to be constantly right on Timothy (3rd grade) or he will not finish what he's doing. He gets so very distracted-constantly. I feel like part of it is that he is an 8 year old boy, and I take that into consideration, but he gets distracted on the way to brush his teeth thirty seconds after I've told him to go do it. If he were in public school he'd probably be on ritalin by now. He's very bright, and he's also very giggly, and silly. Hopefully we can work on the attention span and the silliness this year.
The only extra activity we are committed to right now is a book club, which only meets once a month. Our Spanish class sort of dissolved and we are on indefinate leave from Tae Kwon Do at this point. But, it certainly is nice to not have to run out, and that means lots of extra time to get plenty of stuff done at home. It is definately not a bad thing.

Learning to Read

I've been working through the Bob Books with Bethany (age 6) and Brooke (4) asked if she could start also. So, a few months back I had her start a phonics book, which I do with all the children when I teach them to read. We take a 3 ring notebook with page protectors and 13 sheets of paper. I print off each letter of the alphabet on a separate sheet and stick them back to back in the sheet protectors. I got the letter print offs from www.hubbardscupboard.org. Then we take magazine cutouts, one for each sound the letter makes and paste them onto the letter sheets. We go over these periodically and then once they've grasped all the sounds then we move on to the Bob Books. I bought all five sets when my oldest was learning to read because we like them so much. (I bought them at a book store with my educator discount.) I've found that after the Bob Books, they are ready to move on to Easy Readers of various levels.
So today Brooke asked me if she could read the Bob Books. She had tried maybe 4 months ago and just wasn't ready. Today she read through the first three and did great. She was very excited and I was excited for her.
Also, I found that the Spelling to Write and Read Curriculum, I think available through www.rainbowresource.com has these great flash cards with 72 phonics sounds and blends. These are practically all of the sounds that english letters and letter combinations can make. Although we didn't stick with this particular curriculum, the kids have really benefited form using the flash cards.

Homeschool Field Day

I missed monday musings yesterday because I was stressing over planning a homeschool field day that two fellow TKD and homeschool moms and I had planned. You know, it's sometimes hard to get people interested in something, and then even if they seem interested it is hard to get people to commit and even harder to get them to follow through. So, we amazingly had 41 kids signed up. (We thought we'd have to beg people to come!) And out of the 41, only 5 didn't show up. We were very pleased, yet surprised.

Things went very well, and all the moms thanked us for putting it together. We had the event at our Tae Kwon Do studio. We had dodge ball, an egg relay, our instructor taught a small TKD class with warms ups, front kicks and board breaks. We also had an obstacle course, refreshments and certificates for each child. All this accomplished in an hour and a half. It's always nice to breathe a sign of relief when it's over.