Toddler School / Pre K

Since I'm not sure when Tot School (Toddler School) ends and Pre-School begins, I figure as long as I'm working with the littlest things are good! So here is my plan

This is the 3rd and final time I race through age 2-5 materials with my kids, so you'd think by now it would be old hat! But no! Each time I re-invent the wheel having either discovered something new or trying a new method so of course this time is no different.

I'll be using Letter of the Week Prep to cover the basics
* Colours and Shapes
* Reading Readiness
* Listening and Sequencing
* Numbers
* Size
* Position and Direction
* Motor Skills
* Nursery Rhymes

I'm adding in sensory boxes like I have found on many Tot School blogs and other arts and crafts type things that suit dd's tastes. Hopefully I'll have more to share this year! :)

I will continue to update as we progress through this first year! :)

Grade 1 (2011/2012)

This is our 2nd time through 1st grade and things have changed a ton. The first time I did this, I had no clue what I was doing. This time around, I'm still winging it, but have a better idea of what I want, and how to teach my budding learner!

Where we live school commences in mid August and if you are not 6 on or before September 1, you would not be permitted to start 1st grade til the following year. S has a December birthday but is ready to get started. Again I'm not a stickler for time at this point and won't be cracking any whips to get her going, these items are a reference and my goal is forward progress no matter how big or small! At this point, I'm still learning about her learning style and things that work best for her which means things are apt to change through the course of the year!

I will continue to update as we progress through 1st Grade! :)

LANGUAGE ARTS
- Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons - DONE (Oct 2011)
- Various reading level books - read alouds and reading together
- Explode the Code (1, 1.5, and 2)
- (no spelling yet) - eventually Spelling Workout
- writing practice - some cards to family and various workbooks
- lapbooking nursery rhymes, folk tales and fairy tales
- (no Grammar yet) - Growing with Grammar 1

MATH
- Singapore Math US Edition (1A and 1B)
- Various online computer games

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY
-K12 Grade K and 1st History

SCIENCE/HEALTH
- K12 Grade K and 1st Science

LANGUAGES
- Sign Language at home
- Possibly Rosetta Stone (French or Spanish)

ARTS/CRAFTS/MUSIC
- various projects
- Baltimore Curriculum Art and Music

EXTRACURRICULAR
- Swimming
- Soccer
- Possibly Dance Class
- Daisies (??)
- others as interests permit!

I will continue to update as we progress through this first year! :)

Grade 5 (2011/2012) - Current Plan

We're always fine tuning and making adjustments here and there.

LANGUAGE ARTS
- Growing with Grammer 4
- Various Reading materials.
- Creative Writing assignments from various topics
- Penmanship various letters and thank-yous to family

MATH
- Singapore Math (5A & 5B)
- Various online computer games
- Various Worksheets for practice

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY
- K12 History (Grade 5)

SCIENCE
- K12 Science (Grade 5)
- various topics (including Junior Badges and other subjects of interest)

LANGUAGES
Considering either French or Spanish Rosetta Stone
Re-visiting ASL

ARTS/CRAFTS/MUSIC
- Extra Curricular Art Projects
- Junior Arts, Crafts and Music Projects
- extracurricular classes as appropriate

EXTRACURRICULAR
- Swimming
- Piano
- Junior Girl Scouts
- Soccer
- outside classes as interest deems necessary

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If anyone out there reading has an absolute favourite program that they want to share, I'd love to check it out! :)

I will continue to update as we progress through this year! :)

K Science

Yes, i have been a bad blogger. My excuse is 3 kids keep me busy and schooling at least 2 of them has posed gigantic challenges this year! LOL! Its May now, and we're slowly settling into a routine (gufaw, gufaw - that's a tongue in cheek giggle for those of you that aren't familiar!) :)

So today I present you with our learnings. The middlest has been slowly working through her Science and History materials. We're doing Kindergarten this year, and on no set schedule, just when I feel that we've been slacking too much or she has been playing far too much time on online games.

Anyway, now that the formalities and apologies are over! We've been learning about the 5 senses courtesy of Aliki's "My Five Senses" book. We've been studying the sense of smell, so this morning I had her sniff the spice cupboard with her eyes closed and a few random selections from the fridge. We compiled a list of things she liked the smell of, and thing she didn't like so much!

So her 5 fav smells are Oranges, cookies, flowers, perfume and lemons
Her 5 not so fav smells are rotting apples, rotting food, paint, poo, and we put skunk on there because he was cute to look at! :)

We then experimented with how smells travel through the air. So one bathroom smells of bath and Body works Twisted Peppermint body spray (which I dislike!) and the other of lavendar Aromatherapy mist! She sat on one side of the room while I squirted the scent into the room and when she got a wiff, of it she let me know. It travelled slow and she has a stuffy nose... but it worked! :)

After that we made a digital collage of her fave and not so fav smells, which we glued into her notebook.