Homeschooling Help Booklet - Free Printable

I've been helping out a couple of friends with preparing for their year ahead in the homeschooling world. For those of us that have been doing this for years we know how crazy it can get when trying to make the best possible decisions for your children, your homeschool and your family environment.

It's easy to get caught up in the frenzy of what all your homeschool friends are doing and comparing your list of ideas against theirs. It is always in these moments where we need to come back to us. To our children, to our family and to the things that we hold dear.

To help my friends in a way that is as least overwhelming as possible I put together a very simple Free Homeschooling Help Printable Booklet.

It contains all the important stuff when it comes to thinking about the year ahead. Not only what we will utilise for specific grades but it also covers some of the heart stuff. The things that are truly more often, more important than the subjects and the resources.

The booklet is twenty pages, with a very no frills design. Simply print it off, grab a cuppa and start completing it. If you're anything like me though you'll work on this over quite a few different sittings.

If you have friends that are new to homeschooling or that may be feeling a little overwhelmed please share this blog post with them.

 Download The Free Homeschooling Help Booklet Here

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

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History with Story of the World

This year we are using the very popular Story of the World program within our Learning Circle (we meet weekly with a couple of other families). The process for our history block follows the same simple steps each week.

This assists us, the facilitators to plan effectively and also the children as they know what to expect each and every week during our time spent on history.

We begin in our homes, reading the chapter together aloud.

The Activity guide which you can purchase to use along side The Story of the World has been invaluable. It takes all the hard work out of the planning for you. Each chapter is laid out with Review/Discussion Questions, ideas for further reading, map work, colouring pages and lots of hands on activity ideas.

We begin as a group, discussing the chapter we all read at home. Here we use the questions in the Activity Guide, as the weeks have progressed we've found that the children are discussing more and answering less. Exactly what one of our aims for the group was. They are still answering the questions needed but they are now beginning to discuss the chapter together with their peers, as opposed to just simple answers to the questions asked, building, learning, growing from each other.

During the discussion time we write 'key words' on the white board. At the end of the group discussion the children take notes on the keywords and using the principles they are learning in their writing group using IEW they complete a note booking page that I created, at home during the week that follows.

The younger members of the group complete a colouring page from the activity guide and where appropriate they will write something they can remember about the chapter.

Each child has started a time line, here they add a card to their timeline each week, that in some way relates to the chapter they have been reading. I am trying to prepare the timeline cards several chapters in advance as often it takes awhile to find a suitable image.

The maps are all included in the activity guide and a simple step by step process on completing them is detailed in the guide also. You simply can't go wrong with the mapping process regardless of your own personal geography skills.

That completes the sit down/book work style component of how we are using Story of the World. This normally takes approximately 30 minutes to work through as a group.

Then it's time for the hands on activity. Again the activity guide generally gives you a few different options for creative hands on activities, there are also a myriad of ideas found online if you had the desire to seek them out.

For chapter one we chose our activity from the guide, but supplemented the paints with oil pastels. A simple cave painting recreation. Scrunch a sheet of brown paper into a ball then flatten it out again as best you can, this gives the children a rough, rocky like surface, something similar to a cave wall to draw/paint on.

Whilst drawing on their caves we discussed elements of the chapter and things that the earliest people drew on cave walls and their reasons for doing this. Many people use this program without the hands on activity and whilst you certainly can, I honestly feel that it is during the hands on component that the story truly comes alive. The children are imagining what it might have been like to be there drawing on those cave walls. A fun and important element of the program not to be missed.

Given that the majority of hands on activities from the guide are creations that simply will not lie flat in a notebook I've put together a simple page where the children can photograph their finished piece and adhere it to the page. Here we were able to glue the actual cave drawings to the page itself. These are then added to the children's history notebooks along with their note booking page and map work.

Week by week they are working their way through history and are slowly building their very own Story of the World.

Each family then has the option of delving a little deeper into the particular chapter during the week that follows, with subsequent books, activities and research. The timelines have been designed so that the children can add their own images or pieces of research that they choose to investigate at home.

Now that we are in a routine of sorts and we all know what to expect from the program and our history time together as a group we are seeing the value more and more of working on projects such as these collaboratively.

Do you tackle the subject of history with others? Please let me know if you do, I'd love to hear about how you go about it all.

This post is linked at

2013 Plans & Curriculum

I know here we are in March already and I'm only just now sharing with you our plans for the year. Oh well, that's just how I roll. This is not a complete detailed list of resources, just an overview that includes the core parts of each subject area.

Lego Lover  11 years

Language Arts: Growing With Grammar, All About Spelling, Institute of Excellence in Writing, Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing, Reading both Independent & Assigned

Maths: Australian Curriculum Maths and Math U See

Outside Activities: Dancing includes, Jazz, Hip Hop & Musical Theatre. Drama Group at local theatre

Fairy Princess 8 years

Language Arts: Explode The Code workbooks, Fitzroy Reading Program, Montessori Pink, Blue, Green Series work, FIAR Literature Program, Aussie Book Adventures Literature Units

Maths: Australian Curriculum Maths and Math U See

Outside Activities: Gymnastics. Drama Group at local theatre

Little Surfer Dude 4 years

Language Arts: All About Reading Pre Level, Explode The Code– Before The Code, Montessori Activities, FIAR Literature Program, Aussie BookAdventures Literature Units, Preschool Fun Drawers & Letter of the Week type activities

Maths: Fun Activities that I find or come up with. Australian Curriculum Prep book that he works in when he feels like it.

*** Absolutely no pressure for this little guy, he really does what he pleases. I just make a variety of things available to him.

Outside Activities: Gymnastics

All Together

Five In A Row: we are using this program with our Learning Circle group, so it is mainly for the younger two, however where I can fit it in I do have Lego Lover participate in some way. For example when we rowed Caps For Sale he did some Monkey research for his Animal Kingdom Notebook. When we rowed The Glorious Flight he rowed it in his own time as he took a great deal of interest in that particular topic.

Aussie Book Adventures: quite simply we use the FIAR concept but work with Australian books.

History using Story of the World: this poor program has been picked up and put back on our shelves a few times now. This year we are using it with our Learning Circle Group, reading a chapter at home, we come together for a group discussion, notebooking, map work, time lines and a hands on activity. It’s working really well that way.

Science using Real Science 4 Kids: again using this program with our Learning Circle in the same format we are using STOW.

Geography/Social Studies: We are covering via Country Themed days such as the one we completed at the end of last year on Japan. Lots of hands on activities with a lapbook to compile all that we do.

Art: I have purchased Harmony Art Year 1 program, just waiting on one more book to arrive before we start. We will also be making some use of this book throughout the year. A large portion of unit studies include art and craft activities also.

Nature Study: This is one area that is dear to me but one area that I’ve just never been able to make consistent time for. I’m considering grabbing another family and trying some nature study that way. It seems when I lock in with others I am much better at doing what needs to be done. I visit and enjoy reading all of the Outdoor Hour Challenges, hoping we can try and give these a go at some point during the year.

Learning Circle Group: We’ve joined with a small group of families (11 children in all) to work on some of our subjects collaboratively. During this time we cover Writing (non writers doing FIAR), History/Science (alternates each term), Music (keyboard), Practical Life Skills and a Newspaper study. The Learning Circle meets once a week, during school terms.

Other: We attend regular park meets, excursions and play dates with other home schooling families.

So in a nutshell, that's us for the year ahead.  We are nearing the end of the first term already and I'm very happy with the direction we are headed in.

NBTS Blog Hop - Our Plans For The Year

This year we've decided to focus on our own Country as much as possible.

So what does that mean for our curriculum plans?

We will still complete our Language Arts and Maths work as per usual. All of our other 'subjects' will be covered via an all Australian focus.

We kicked off our year celebrating Australia Day with a mini printable unit that gave a quick overview of the meaning behind Australia Day.

There is so much we could cover that at times it was hard to know where to even start, history seemed like a good place to anchor everything else to.
]
Finding a great Australian History spine isn't the easiest, we simply don't have a huge selection to choose from.

I've chosen to use Our Sunburnt Country, which can be purchased from Homeschooling Down Under.

As we read each chapter we will stay awhile, take up any interests, follow any rabbit trails and simply see where things take us. My hope is that the children will direct much of the learning that takes place around this great country of ours.

I have also purchased The Wonderland of Nature and have been fortunate enough to pick up some fabulous Australian nature stories from past Lifeline Bookfests, that will help us along our way.

Where suitable I will put together printable activities and of course will share them all with you. I know how far and few between free Australian resources are!

Ok, so what about the basics?

Lego Lover - 10 years old

Language Arts

Reading:

·        

•            Drawn Into The Heart Of Reading Program
• ·         Book Reports for Australian Unit Study
• ·         Daily Independent & Read Aloud

Penmanship:

·        

•           Copywork

Spelling:

• ·         All About Spelling

Writing:

• ·         Institute of Excellence in Writing Program
• ·         Daily Journal
• ·         Copywork
• ·         Use of Writing Centre  – Poetry, Letters, Notes, Cards, Scrapbooking

Grammar:

• ·         Grammar Once A Week (still undecided on a formal Grammar Program, so for now this is it)

Math:

• ·         Mathletics Online
• ·         Math U See 
• ·         Maths Online
• ·         Qld Targeting Maths
• ·         Times Attack Online Game
• ·         Other games where appropriate

Mavis Beacon Typing is a new addition for the year.

The Arts

• Private Art Classes
• Musical Theatre
• Dance Tuition
• Ukulele
• Keyboarding with Grandad

Fairy Princess - 7 years old

Language Arts

Phonics:

• ·         Explode The Code
• ·         Montessori Pink/Blue Series Works
• ·         Fitzroy Reading Program

 Sight Words:

• ·         On Track Reading Sight Word Program and Readers

Penmanship:

• ·         Copywork

Spelling:

• ·         All About Spelling 

Writing:

• ·         Use of Writing Centre  – Poetry, Letters, Notes, Cards, Scrapbooking

• ·         Copywork
• ·         Daily Journal

Grammar:

• ·         As part of Fitzroy Reading Program

Math:

• ·         Maths Online Subscription
• ·         Math U See
• ·         Qld Targeting Maths
• ·         Montessori Math Activities
• ·         Math Games
• ·         Australian Money

Mavis Beacon Typing is a new addition for the year

The Arts

• Private Art Classes
• Musical Theatre
• Dance Tuition
• Ukulele

Little Surfer Dude - 3 years old

His Montessori inspired shelves are being brought back to life!

I have also been planing some Picture Book Units that we can all do together, on our Australian theme.

He is participating in our Home school network Junior Sports Program and loving it.

Plus the myriad of things that the average 3 year old gets up to on a daily basis.

The children also attend regular Extra Curricular days with our registered school, which they love immensely and get a great deal out of. All subject areas are covered during these days with a strong emphasis on the Performing Arts.

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What about you? What are your plans for the year? Join us in the all Aussie Not Back To School Blog Hop and share your stories. Grab the button and spread the word.

<a href="http://ourworldwideclassroom.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Not%20Back%20To%20School%20Blog%20Hop/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk224/realworldlearners/NBTSButton125px.jpg" alt="Our Worldwide Classroom" /></a>

A big thank you to those of you that linked up last week, it was lovely meet all of your children.

Add your plans for the year to the list below.

Term 1 2010 Wrap Up's

More for me than anything, following are our wrap ups from Term 1. I have not linked to any posts or included any photo's but I have my Weekly Wonders all linked seperately if I need to find something.

B (8) Term 1 Wrap Up 2010

Language Arts

Fitzroy Reading – completed Level 11 – 20, along with the workbook of weekly lessons. Includes phonics instruction, sight words, comprehension and grammar work.

Explode The Code – completed Lessons 1 – 6 of Book 2 (blends)

Book Journal – George’s Secret Key

Montessori Language:

Blue Series Work (blends)
Moveable Alphabet
Story Writing Cards – Theme ‘The Garden’
Metal Insets – Improving Handwriting

Read Alouds – Minimum of 4 Readers per day with a mixture of books at his level, just below his level (to build confidence & fluency) and just above his level. This includes children’s picture books.

Quiz Tree Software for Sight Words Practice and Sentence Construction Practice

Mathematics

Qld Targeting Maths Year 3 - Completed Pages 2 – 12. Topics Covered:

Numbers to 100
Counting by 5s and 10s
O’clock, half past and digital time
2 digit numbers
Hundred Square
Naming 3D Objects, Faces
Bridging Ten, Making 20
Comparing Mass & Measuring Mass

Targeting Mental Maths Year 2 (3 for Qld) – Completed Units 1 – 6.
Topics Covered:

Addition Using Number Line
Number Words
Addition Using Counting On
Space and Shapes
Word Problems
Less Than More Than
Money Addition
Subtraction Using Counting Back
Length
Estimation
Making Ten
Time – O’clock, half past
Counting in 10’s & 2’s
Addition in 10’s
Space and Symmetry
Patterning
Looking for tens
Mass
Fractions – halves & quarters
Multiplication – groups of
Doubles

Math U See Alpha – Completed Lessons 8 – 11.
Topics Covered:

Addition
Skip Counting 10’s & 2’s
Solve for the Unknown Addition
Shapes
Word Problems
Decimal Numbers to the hundred
Unit Test for Lessons 1 – 10 completed with100% accuracy

View & Do Maths Investigations Level 1 Completed Investigations 1 and 2

Science

Mini Plant Study using Montessori:

Parts of a Plant, including labelling
Coloured Flowers Experiment
Several books

Documentaries:

Tornadoes
Whales
Magic School Bus Dinosaurs & Reptiles
Magic School Body Basics

Living/Non Living/Never Living/Once Living Work using Montessori

Read Aloud: George’s Secret Key To The Universe (Space)

Bubble Science Experiments:

How to prepare bubble solution
Bubble Structures & Principles of Bubbles
Bubble Harmonica’s
Bubble Chains
Giant Bubbles
Coloured Bubbles
Bubble Prints

Social Studies:

James May Toy Stories, weekly series about Toys of yesteryear:

Plasticine
Meccano
Scalextric
Airfix
Model Train
Lego

St Patrick’s Day Mini Study:

Where is Ireland
Map Work
History of St Patrick’s Day & St Patrick
Symbols of St Patrick’s Day & Ireland
Story Writing
St Patrick’s Spelling Words
Craft

History

Through Picture Books:

Born With A Bang – Full Narration completed along with watercolour illustrations
From Lava To Life

Geography

Land/Water/Air Montessori Presentation

Art

8 Week Program with Art Teacher.

Topics Covered:

Week 1: Colour landscapes. Students practised primary and secondary colour mixing. While creating a landscape city at dusk. Students mixed blue to purple to red to orange to yellow.

Week 2: Artists and colour: Piet mondrian: Students looked at shape and colour and how it is used in art. We designed an abstract city after looking a Mondrian work, using cut outs shapes and lines.

Week 3: Fantasy Fish. Elements of design line, shape, colour, texture were used to create a finished fish drawing. We then used colour theory to complete the fish.

Week 4: Start of portraits. Students discussed the shape of faces, proportions and position of eyes, nose, mouth and ears. We used cartooning discoveries to find out how to create emotions and feelings in faces.

Week 5: Students made mixed media Picasso portraits. This incorporates elements of design such as shape line and proportion. Allows students scope to create using different mediums.

Week 6: Portraits. Drawing and Gauche. Over 2 art lessons the students will compose their own self portraits.

Week 7: As above.

Week 8: Clay faces. Relief sculpture. Students learnt about clay and design, how to join clay and they used additive and subtractive methods to make an expressive face

Bunnings Hardware Workshop:
Wooden and Wire Bird Feeders

At home Art:

Sydney Harbour (Opera House & Bridge) Drawing and Painting in Acrylics
Playdough Sculptures
Bubble Prints
Shape Game Drawings
Toot Toot Beep Beep Paintings
Annual Canvas Painting (landscape)
Various Drawings in pencil and felt pen

Nature

Paperbark Trail Nature Walk (Daisy Hill Forest)
Creek Exploring (Cedar Creek)
Taronga Zoo Sydney
Percy The Platypus Read Aloud and Sketch Book Entry

Sport

Swimming:

5 days of intensive training with swim teacher
Free swimming on holidays and in our backyard pool

Mixed Sports – 8 week program covering various sports & skills:

AFL Auskick
Ball Handling and General Sports Skills

Gymnastics – 8 week program covering basic gymnastics skills and use of various apparatus. Mini Balance Beam Competition on last day of term was won by Brayden.

At Home:

Indoor Obstacle Courses
Scooters, Bikes, Kicking Ball, Swings, Trampoline

Technology/Construction

Lego
Box Construction

K (5) Term 1 Wrap Up 2010

Language Arts

Focus on initial sounds, working through Alpha Tales Picture Book Series, playdough mats, various printable worksheets

Montessori Language

Eye Spy using Montessori Methods and miniatures for use with initial sound work
Metal Insets (Montessori) Aids in pencil control & handwriting skills
Story Writing Cards – Theme ‘The Garden’

Read Aloud

Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales

Software

Reading Eggs Software Level 1 discs 1 and 2
PBS Kids Website
Starfall.com

Mathematics

Singapore Early Bird Maths Book 1B
Lessons 1 - 18 Topics Covered:

Solid Shapes
Reading & Writing of Numerals
Cardinal Numbers
Counting
Arranging Numbers in sequence
Zero
Counting backwards from 10
One to One Matching
Picture Graphs
Even & Odd
Counting in Two’s
Time Sequence
Ordinal Numbers
Shapes & Patterns

Singapore Early Bird Maths Book 2A
Lessons 1 – 5 Topics Covered:

Reading & Writing of Numerals
Counting Orally
Arranging numbers in sequence
Equal Numbers
Greater Than/Less Than
Comparison of Numbers

Telling Time to the Hour
Days of the Week
Months of the Year

Montessori:

Number Rods
Number Cards & Counters
Spindle Boxes
Bead Stair 1 - 10
Introduction to Decimal System with Golden Beads

The Arts

Sleeping Beauty Play for family

8 Week Program with Art Teacher.
Topics Covered:

Week 1: Colour landscapes. Students practised primary and secondary colour mixing. While creating a landscape city at dusk. Students mixed blue to purple to red to orange to yellow.

Week 2: Clown colour wheels. Introduced the colour wheel and warm and cool colours. Colour wheel discovery through making a clown in a circus background.

Week 3: Artists and colour: Piet Mondrian: Students looked at shape and colour and how it is used in art. We designed an abstract city after looking a Mondrian work, using cut outs shapes and lines.

Week 4: Start of portraits. Students discussed the shape of faces, proportions and position of eyes, nose, mouth and ears. We used cartooning discoveries to find out how to create emotions and feelings in faces.

Week 5: Students made mixed media Picasso portraits. This incorporates elements of design such as shape line and proportion. Allows students scope to create using different mediums.

Week 6: Portraits. Drawing and Gauche. Over 2 art lessons the students will compose their own self portraits. What I want to be when I grow up.

Week 7: Students continued portraits and the started mixed media Collograph collage (portrait)

Week 8: Students saw printing process and experienced print making of there people Collographs

Bunnings Hardware Workshop:
Wooden and Wire Bird Feeders

At home Art:

Mixed Media Collages
Playdough Sculptures
Bubble Prints
Shape Game Drawings
Toot Toot Beep Beep Paintings
Annual Canvas Painting (landscape)
Various Drawings in pencil and felt pen

Sensorial Activities (Montessori)

Colour Sorting Tasks
Knobbed Cylinders
Fabric Sorting (textures)
Knobless Cylinders

Science

Documentaries:

Tornadoes
Whales
Magic School Bus Dinosaurs & Reptiles
Magic School Body Basics

Living/Non Living Work using Montessori Principles & Materials

Bubble Science Experiments:

How to prepare bubble solution
Bubble Structures & Principles of Bubbles
Bubble Harmonica’s
Bubble Chains
Giant Bubbles
Coloured Bubbles
Bubble Prints

Mini Plant Study using Montessori:

Parts of a Plant
Coloured Flowers Experiment
Several books

Nature

Paperbark Trail Nature Walk (Daisy Hill Forest)
Creek Exploring (Cedar Creek)
Taronga Zoo Sydney
Percy The Platypus Read Aloud

History

Through Picture Books:

Born With A Bang – Full Narration completed along with watercolour illustrations
From Lava To Life

Geography

Land/Water/Air Montessori Presentation

Social Studies

James May Toy Stories, weekly series about Toys of yesteryear:

Plasticine
Meccano
Scalextric
Airfix
Model Train
Lego

St Patrick’s Day Mini Study:

Where is Ireland
Map Work
History of St Patrick’s Day & St Patrick
Symbols of St Patrick’s Day & Ireland
Story Writing
Crafts

Sport

Swimming:

5 days of intensive training with swim teacher
Free swimming on holidays and in our backyard pool

Gymnastics – 8 week program covering basic gymnastics skills and use of various apparatus. Mini Balance Beam Competition on last day of term was won by Brayden.

At Home:

Indoor Obstacle Courses
Scooters, Bikes, Kicking Ball, Swings, Trampoline

Technology/Computer

PBS Kids Site
Starfall
Box Construction
Lego

2010 Curriculum, Thoughts and Plans

Well it’s that time of year again, time to get organised for the beginning of a new school year.

We have lots of new Montessori Materials that we are all excited about using. I’ve been printing and reading my new Teacher Manuals that I got from Montessori R & D. Gee those little Monti kids are definitely streets ahead of public school kids aren’t they. We have no rush and are just going to enjoy the materials, as I know the kids will.

B especially will get a quick overview of all of the basics so that he can move ahead with the Montessori curriculum, K will fit more nicely into the 3 – 6 program and little C is the perfect age to get some real Tot School fun happening.

So even though we are going into Montessori in a big way this year I never utilise just one curriculum and/or one school of thought. I still believe in using the best of everything available and when I say best, I mean the best things that work for us. After 2 and a half years at this (and finally listening to myself and my kids, instead of everyone else) I can say that we are actually starting to get there with what works and what doesn’t.

For the most part it will be flexible, with lots of choice available for the children. We will have two main areas that we will spend our time in when at home (apart from the back yard). Our Montessori room and our ‘messy’ room (the garage), where things like science experiments and art and crafts will be completed. The messy room will still be set up in much the same way as a Montessori space, with activities set out ready to go, but allowing the children to make their choice on any given day.

B and I have been talking considerably about choosing work that is appropriate and at times even challenging for him. Last year he opted on the side of always choosing the easy stuff and things that were far below him, which granted from time to time is ok but not with each and every choice he makes from the shelf. So that is one area I will need to monitor closely.

We will also continue with a small amount of bookwork, this is, I admit mainly to satisfy me and my worries of showing what the kids actually do with their time. Even though I know that they learn more from everything else we do, but I am not prepared to give up on bookwork all together. I am big believer in everything in moderation.

I don’t make resolutions but there are a few things that I really want to do more of this year.

• Spend time in Nature: I hope to do this weekly and not just park visits either. I know this won’t happen every week, but I am scheduling more time in nature. Ideally I really would like for us all to start Nature Journals, (we have done so before but never filled more than a few pages) but I’m not going to force that. Being in nature is more important than the journaling of it, so if it happens it happens. I have been considering joining one of the Nature McLinkys but dearly would love something Australian if anyone knows of anything please point me in the right direction.

• Spend more time Cooking: With the kids I mean. Even if it is only cookies, spending more time together in the kitchen is a priority.

• Spend more time Reading: We do read aloud every day but again I’d like to increase how much reading aloud we actually achieve in a week. I may even consider keeping a log of sorts to monitor how we are going.

• Circle Time: Well as close as you can get with 3 children. But I love reading how other families have that time together at the start of the day and am working on what I would like to include in our Circle Time. I think I will need to start off slowly and add in more as the routine gets set in place. I think it will ground us though, give us that together and the children will know exactly what is coming up for the day.

• Chores and Responsibility: I am working on a ‘What Next Chart’ so everyone knows what is happening in our day. I don’t do schedules, they just don’t work for us and I don’t want to be tied to a schedule anyway. However having a basic plan for the day should hopefully make our day run more smoothly. The What Next Chart will also include chores, now that they are 8 and 5 I think the time has come for the children to be more productive around the house (without overloading them with household duties).

So those are my main ‘goals’ for the year and even if I only achieve half it will still be an improvement on last year. What’s the saying, Aim for the stars and you may just hit the moon.

We will also be continuing on with our fabulous Homeschool Group and the extra curricular activities that the kids get involved with there. We love our friends and the social aspect of the group is an integral part of our homeschool. For the beginning part of the year the kids are doing:

Mixed Sports
Gymnastics (very excited about this)
Art Classes

These are weekly classes (all held on the one day) and this time around we have roughly 30 children participating in some way or another.

Once a month we also have:

Book Club
Bunnings (think Home Depot) Workshop
Art Gallery Workshops
Playground and Swimming Meet ups

These are a lot of fun and all free, which is a bonus.

We are also aiming to have more quiet one on one (as in one other family) play dates, as soon as our ‘messy room’ is functioning well I will start to put those in place. It is the one on one time where true friendships are made, well in my opinion anyway.

I will post in more depth on each of these areas as I get underway with them, with pictures and more details, and I’ll probably even have some questions for you.

Looking at the Curriculum side of things for 2010 has been fairly straight forward. We don’t do grade levels, but roughly B is doing Grade 3, K is in Prep (kindergarten in the US) and C will turn 2 halfway through the year so lots of Tot School fun for him and lots of mess….hence the implementation of the ‘messy room’.

I’m going to break down what we plan on using for each level, more for me than anything else.

2010 Curriculum, Plans & Thoughts for B (turns 9 in October)

Mathematics

Qld Targeting Maths Year 3
Math U See Finishing Alpha, Beginning Beta
Various Math Software Titles
Math Living Books
Montessori Math Manipulatives

Language Arts

Fitzroy Reading Program (continuation)
Explode The Code (continuation)
Various Software Titles
Montessori Language
Journaling: Book Journals, Poetry Journaling (also copywork) Nature Journal
Creative Writing: Write Shop

Science

Montessori
Various Science Kits we have on hand
Nature and Nature Journaling

History

Story of the World: we are restarting this, unfortunately with a baby in the house history got put on the back burner last year. We just weren’t getting to it enough so I decided to shelve it all together. Even if all we do is use it as a read aloud/read alone it will still be far more history than B would get in a public school environment.

Geography

Montessori: I love their geography materials and again they offer so much more than what the average child learns in geography. I think B will really enjoy the Montessori geography materials as he loves map work.

Technology

Momma Snail is creating an online ‘work at your pace’ course for homeschool kids that I plan on introducing B to this year.

Human Society and its Environment

Nature Journaling, Montessori Cultural work and I have plans to begin a Comparative Religion study (brief overviews) but after writing all of this out, wow I’m beginning to wonder where we are going to find the time!

The Arts

Art Classes with Homeschool Group, Montessori Artist Study, Free Access to art supplies and more structured activities in the ‘messy room’. He has been talking about learning an instrument, tossing up between guitar and keyboard, but I need to find someone to come to the house. We also always get to a few productions throughout the year and will continue doing that. Drama has also been on the list of things to try.

Personal Development, Health & Physical Education

Mixed Sports and Gym with homeschool group. Soccer starts at the end of term 1 also. There is always lots of free time spent playing outside or at a playground. B will also be working on more responsibilities around the home, including care of oneself and one’s belongings. We also aim to attend the annual homeschoolers sports day that a nearby group organises each year and our own group is hoping to organise our very first camp this year, which is very exciting.

We also enjoy putting together lapbooks, they are a great way to showcase the learning experiences that we have taken together. In the past we have enjoyed the Before Five In A Row series as well and although we really could not possibly fit another thing in I am considering looking at FIAR to do during the holiday breaks as this would also encompass our lapbooks in some way shape or form. If only you could do it all!!!

B is slightly behind his schooled peers with his reading as we have taken a very stress free, work at his pace approach to reading. That doesn’t mean that we haven’t been working on reading we have, but we DO NOT move ahead until he is ready, even if that means staying in the one place for weeks, or taking breaks where needed. I know at school he would be attending some kind of reading recovery program and I just shudder to even think of that. How awful for any child, not only are they struggling with reading they are also removed from the class for extra reading practice.

No thanks!

Thank goodness we have all the time in the world for this. I want a son that loves to read not one that was forced to learn and finds reading a chore. We have already started back with small amounts of school work (I like to ease the kids back into it after a big break) and I was pleasantly surprised at his fluency, he will be moving ahead another level come the first week back of official school.

If you follow my blog you will probably also notice that the Montessori works that are made available for him will be beneath his years, in terms of how Montessori place the children. In one part this will only be for a short time, as he becomes familiar with the materials and on the other there are many components of Montessori that are streets ahead of public schools, Geography is one example of that. I don’t think I even know a 3rd grade child here in Australia that has done even half of the Geography work that a Montessori 3 – 6 classroom does. The more I look, read, handle and play with the materials myself the more I know the children are going to flourish.


2010 Curriculum, Plans & Thoughts for K ( 5 turns 6 in July)

I had slowly eased K into ‘school time’ last year so she is well aware of what is expected of her this year. Even though she is only doing Prep, I think she is ready for more, however she is the sort of child that will not be pushed into anything and so again this is where I feel that the Montessori components of her work will really allow her to move ahead in leaps and bounds. I also do not need to meet all of the KLA’s until K is 6 and 3 months but I have still listed them so that I can come back and read this at anytime if need be.

Mathematics

Singapore Preschool Math (continuation)
Montessori 3 – 6 Math
Math U See Primer (I’m not actually sure if I will use this but I have it if needed)
Various Math Software Titles
Math Living Books


Language Arts

Montessori 3 – 6 Language Program
Reading Eggs Software
Explode The Code (will begin Book 1 when can read initial cvc words)
Journaling: Book Journals, Poetry Journaling (also copywork) Nature Journal (these will mainly be picture journals with some scribing by mum)
Creative Writing: Write Shop (she is on the lower end of the age bracket for this but it is a very gentle program and she loves to make up stories so I am going to give it a go with her)

Science

Montessori 3 – 6 Science
Various Science Kits we have on hand
Nature and Nature Journaling

History

Story of the World: (see B’s note above) She will sit in on this read aloud but I will not require any more from her unless she wishes to.

Geography

Montessori 3 – 6 Geography

Technology

Mostly from life, basic computer use, building and constructing with Lego and recycling, things like that.

Human Society and its Environment

Nature Journaling, Montessori Cultural work and if we do make a start on our Comparative Religion study (brief overviews) she will sit in on that.

The Arts

Art Classes with Homeschool Group, Montessori Artist Study, Free Access to art supplies and more structured activities in the ‘messy room’. I plan on setting up Mister Maker type activities and taking ideas from the Usborne Art Books for Kids. We also always get to a few productions throughout the year and will continue doing that. For example she is off seeing her first ballet production as I type with her Grandma. Drama has also been on the list of things to try.

Personal Development, Health & Physical Education

Gym with homeschool group. K is also very active outdoors and spends a great deal of her free time on the trampoline, climbing frame and swings. She has briefly mentioned that she would like to play soccer although I’m not sure how serious she is about that. K will be joining in on working on more responsibilities around the home, including care of oneself and one’s belongings. We also aim to attend the annual homeschoolers sports day that a nearby group organises each year and our own group is hoping to organise our very first camp this year, which is very exciting.

I am excited about this year with K to watch her grow and develop and see how she takes to all of the fabulous materials. She helped me unpack most of the Montessori order when it arrived and was very intrigued with everything.


2010 Curriculum, Plans & Thoughts for C ( 1 turns 2 in July)

LOL Curriculum, that’s funny!!

He will be right into Tot School and in fact the ‘Messy Room’ was inspired by him. Not because he’s messy but because I want him to have a space where he can be. Where he can do all of those things that toddlers love to do, paint, collage, play dough and just generally make a mess without messing up the house and the school room. I have already set up the art/craft studio corner but have a long way to go with the rest so photo’s on this area may be awhile away. We will still use the space it just isn’t up for ‘showing off’ just yet, if you get my drift ;-)

I also knew that there was no way I could have him with us in the Montessori Room, he is far too young to understand, don’t touch and quite frankly I don’t want to be saying that to him every second for 2 – 3 hours every day. So for now we are revolving around him and his sleep.

The mornings we are at home we will spend part of in the ‘messy room’ where C will have all of his Tot School activities and the bigger kids will have the opportunity for some free play, messy science experiments, art and crafts. After lunch, when he goes down for his nap the 3 of us will spend that time in the Montessori Room. The plan his that C will continue napping until he is 3…..yes yes I know even the best plans can fall by the wayside but at least by age 3 he will then be old enough to join us in the Montessori Room and we can all enjoy that space together. In the meantime once he becomes ready for the first materials he will use them in the ‘messy room’ or in the lounge room.

Ideally I want to start having activities prepared for C also. Not that we have to do them but if they are ready to go it is so easy for me to grab them off the shelf and get started.

I love how Mozi Esme has structured her Tot School around the Alphabet, you can read her approach here and this is something that I would like to do. Anyone got a few spare hours they could give me so I can spend some time getting organised? Pardon? Oh yeah I didn’t think so!! LOL

So that’s our year, or how it looks in my head at the moment anyway.

Did you make it this far, gee that was a lot and too think I only have 3 kids. I really take my hat off to you mummy’s with lots of kiddies running around, truly I do.

I’m going to keep this as a quick link so that I can check on it regularly, especially if we fall off the bandwagon so to speak. Although falling and still learning isn’t always such a bad thing now is it. This post will also give me the opportunity to assess part way through the year and see where we need to make any adjustments. Come the end of 2010 it will provide the opportunity for reflection.

I’m looking forward to this year, having a baby is just a gorgeous time but newborns (and under 1’s) take up so much of it (even if it is only spent staring at them and cuddling them) thatwe just didn't get through as much as I would have liked to last year.