Update

Between travels and moving across the country the first half of the year, I didn't make much time for this blog. But it doesn't mean we haven't been doing any school!

I have been working like mad to get stuff put together in time to officially start Monday, August 16th as that is when public school starts here. I probably won't always follow their schedule but it seemed like a good official start date. My husband and I only made our final decision last Friday, a week ago. So while I've been bursting with ideas and curricula for several months I am only now getting around to gathering it all. It is quite overwhelming but so exciting at the same time!

I made up a weekly schedule of sorts last night using Homeschool-ideas.com's outline. I tailored it to our needs but liked the overall look of it and ability to just write in the lesson # or book we will be reading.

I love that I can just fill it in each week, print it off to look at, then store it in our portfolio. Easy peasy! I also updated my Curriculum Page as well as About Me, so check those out if you're interested. Thanks for reading!

Day 1

Today we started Moving with Math - Kindergarten. My son loved it! I like that it includes picture books into the curriculum, although I didn't really see a connection between the book and the lesson other than bears and caves. I guess that's enough and if you wanted to you could plan a whole unit on bears (which is actually a great idea). Once I had read the books and done the lesson with him, he was able to do the worksheet on his own, which was nice. Afterwards he played with the bear counters by making them dive into a pretend swimming pool.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is always a bit more of a challenge to get him to do. We started back in summer, but he told me he didn't want to learn how to read until he was 5. So the day after his birthday he was ready. I made him a "Road to Reading" poster with 100 squares along a winding road. Every 20 squares he colors in he gets to choose a "date night" with mom and dad to any place he wants. His first choice was Jungle Jims, similar to Chucky Cheese. Today we did lesson 31 and his next outing will be to a sledding hill with a tow rope. He also earns TV time each afternoon after he completes his 100 EZ lesson and writing practice.

Every homeschool source I read said "start where you are." So I took it to heart and that's what we've been doing. I am adding one subject at a time, hopefully each month. We're doing a mix of preschool and kindergarten learning. I've gathered what he should be learning from the state's scope & sequence as well as The Core Knowledge Foundation's two books: "What Your Preschooler Needs to Know" and "What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know."

In February I hope to do a few mini-unit studies. We'll be reading about and doing activities for Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, and of course The Olympics! Right now I'm getting whatever I can for free online and at the library.

I hope to develop a good reader base so I can get good tips and suggestions. I am also hoping that by blogging about our homeschool experience I will someday help someone just starting out, like myself. I can't even tell you how many blogs I have read in the last 6 months or so all having to do with homeschooling! I've read countless curriculum reviews to decide what direction to take with my son. I am so excited about this journey we are about to embark on! (Although really it's a continuation of what I've been teaching him from birth.)

Enjoy!