Preschool Curriculum

Gabriela is now out of Tot School and into Preschool!  However, I still plan to keep a shelf of tray activities, sensory tubs, and imaginative play sets for her to do when I’m busy with the older 2.  We’ll also continue working on some Montessori stuff.

With Isaac and Moriah, I used the book Early Education at Home.  It contains weekly plans but no set daily schedule.  Each week has us studying one letter of the alphabet, one number, one color, and one shape.  Each week also includes ideas for theme units (relating to social studies and/or science), some ideas for math and language readiness, and ideas for snacks, stories, and field trips. 

Along with this book, I also use Singapore Math for the preschool level, and various other books (mazes, dot-to-dot, color by number, etc.).

Now, here’s where I’m going to attempt to fit in something new and different.  For a long time now, I’ve been very attracted to the Five in a Row series.  I’m already firm in my K-6 plans, so I thought maybe I could try the Before Five in a Row book with Gabriela.  However, I don’t have all the required books.  In fact, I have only 15 of them, which isn’t too bad I guess.  A few of the books are so rare, they’re nearly impossible to find for a reasonable price.  For this reason, I decided it would not be worth paying full price for Before Five in a Row.  Lucky me!  I only JUST found this book at my favorite used book store.  It was priced $10, and I happened to be visiting on their 40% off every book sale.  So, I got the book quite cheap.  Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has free printables to go along with most of the books in this volume (others coming soon), so I am planning to make use of them.  I’m not quite sure how I’m going to manage 2 programs at once, but we’ll see how it goes.  Obviously, I won’t be doing every single unit in the book since I don’t have all the books.  Unfortunately, I can’t just go to the local library to find them.  Our local library in England has very few American children’s books.

For more information on Gabriela’s curriculum, see the Amazon widget on my sidebar.  Funny, but I put that up last year thinking I would do preschool with her then, and I never did…and never removed the widget…

I’m linking this post to the “Link Your 2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!” blogroll at {School} Days Gone By.

3rd Grade Curriculum

Wow, I can’t believe my daughter is already in 3rd grade!  Luckily, I already have lesson plans for most of these subjects.  Listing everything by workbox number, here are my 2012-2013 picks for Moriah’s school year:

In brief

Box 1:  Math—Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)

Box 2:  Reading—Doors to Discovery

Box 3:  Bible—Wisdom and the Millers, book of Proverbs

Box 4:  Language—All About Spelling, Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1, and Explode the Code (books 5-7)

Box 5:  History and Geography—Story of the World, Volume 1:  Ancient Times and my own geography units

Box 6:  Science—Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space

Box 7:  Story Time—various books

Box 8:  Extracurricular--Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills, Seatwork, Typing

With explanations

Box 1: Math—Primary Mathematics 3 (Singapore)

Unlike Isaac, Moriah has been doing Singapore Math since preschool.  She’s doing so well with it, I decided to continue at least through this coming year.

Box 2: Reading—Doors to Discovery (reader)

Like Isaac did, Moriah is using this set of readers only through 3rd grade, so this is the final year we’ll use a reader.

Box 3: Bible—Wisdom and the Millers, book of Proverbs

This fictional chapter book has interesting stories that illustrate specific verses from the book of Proverbs.  When we finish the book, we’ll read through the book of Proverbs.  She’ll have memory verses as well.

Box 4: Language—All About Spelling, Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1

Spelling:  All About Spelling, books 3 and 4 (as continued from last year)

Language—Language Lessons for the Elementary Child includes short lessons on grammar, poetry, copywork, and picture study

Phonics--Explode the Code (books 5-7)

Box 5: History and Geography—Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient History and my own geography units

History:  Isaac did Story of the World, Volume 1 (Ancient Times) in 2nd grade, but last year I chose for Moriah and Isaac to do volume 3 (Early Modern) together.  Along with the book, I’ll have supplemental books and stories, and we’ll also do a study of the book of Acts, using an illustrated version of Acts.

Geography:  I haven’t finalized my plans yet, but I think I’ll do one geography unit (country studies) a month but only a few days a week.  I have lesson plans already for some of these countries, since I did them with Isaac.  There will be a few new units I’ll have to create.  This is a list of countries we may study (I’ll add 3-4 more to this list when I get it figured out):  Egypt, Israel, Greece, Ghana, Italy, India, China. I just bought the book Galloping the Globe, which has similar units, so I'll use it as well.

Box 6: Science—Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space

Along with the book and projects, Moriah will be doing lapbooks this year—one for each unit.

Box 7: Story Time

I will be reading the following books aloud to Moriah, and we will make a lapbook for each one:

Biography— Abraham Lincoln

Adventure— Stone Fox

Historical Fiction—Door in the Wall

Fantasy— The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Mystery— Key to the Treasure

Nonfiction— Horse Heroes: True Stories of Amazing Horses

Humor— Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Realistic Fiction—Justin Morgan Had a Horse

Folktales— The Apple and the Arrow

Box 8: Extracurricular--Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills, Seatwork, Typing

Art--Joseph the Canada Goose

Music—mostly singing (Singing Made Easy) and piano

P.E.—Various games and exercises (see THIS post for more explanation of how we do P.E.)

Thinking Skills--Logic Links, Analogy Challengers, Venn Perplexors, various games and other books

Seatwork:  Spectrum Test Practice, Grade 3

Typing: I'm also adding in a new typing program for Moriah and Isaac to use this year, Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum.

If you're interested in any of this curriculum, follow the links on the amazon widgets on my sidebar.

I’m linking this post to the “Link Your 2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!” blogroll at {School} Days Gone By.

6th Grade Curriculum

I’ve just about finished ordering curriculum for the upcoming school year.  As of right now, here are my plans for Isaac’s 6th grade.  I will list his subjects by workbox number, but there will only be 8 instead of 12 this time.  I made this change so that Gabriela could have her own boxes, and because I didn’t have the space to add another 12 for her.  I’ll post Moriah’s and Gabriela’s (3rd grade and preschool) separately.

Isaac’s 6th Grade Curriculum

In brief:

Box 1:  Bible—Discover 4 Yourself series

Box 2:  Math—Teaching Textbooks 6 and Life of Fred: Fractions

Box 3:  Reading—Drawn into the Heart of Reading

Box 4:  History—Story of the World, Volume 4: The Modern Age

Also Box 4:  Read aloud time (classics)

Box 5:  Language Arts 1--Easy Grammar, Daily Grams, Vocabulary Cartoons, copywork

Box 6:  Language Arts 2--All About Spelling, Story Builders (writing)

Box 7:  Science—Investigate the Possibilities set (Physical Science) and Exploring Creation with Botany

Box 8:  Extracurricular—Fine Arts, P.E., Thinking Skills (Critical and Creative Thinking Activities)

With explanations:

Box 1:  Bible—Discover 4 Yourself series (This year, we studying Genesis and 2 Timothy).  We’re using the following books: 

God’s Amazing Creation

Digging Up the Past

Abraham: God’s Brave Explorer

Extreme Adventures with God

Joseph: God’s Superhero

Becoming God’s Champion

Box 2:  Math—Teaching Textbooks: Math 6 and Life of Fred: Fractions

Box 3:  Reading—Drawn into the Heart of Reading (I haven’t finalized the book choices)

Biography: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Jean Lee Latham)

Adventure: The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Historical Fiction: Adam of the Road (E.J. Gray)

Fantasy: Tom’s Midnight Garden (Phillipa Pearce)

Mystery:  The Mysterious Message (Stephen and Susie Castleberry)

Folk Tale: Tales of the Greek Heroes (Roger Lancelyn Green)

Nonfiction: The Great Fire (Jim Murphy)

Humor:  Ginger Pye (Eleanor Estes)

Realistic Fiction: Treasures of the Snow (Patricia M. St. John)

Box 4:  History—Story of the World, Volume 4 (The Modern Age), supplemental books (historical fiction, nonfiction, biographies), History Pockets: The Civil War

Read-Aloud Time—I will be reading aloud to Isaac from a number of classics.  I’m choosing stories that take place during (or were written during) the same time periods that Isaac is studying.  So far my list includes the following (although we may not get to all of them):

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Little Women (I may only do the first half)

The Mysterious Island

Treasure Island

The Story of the Treasure Seekers

White Fang

Pollyanna

Box 5:  Language Arts 1—Grammar and Vocabulary/Handwriting

Easy Grammar: Grade 6 (Monday-Thursday)

Daily Grams: Grade 6  (daily)

Vocabulary Cartoons (Friday)

Handwriting Practice (Friday)—I’m going to have Isaac do copy work on Fridays (using Bible verses, quotations, book excerpts, etc.) because he needs the practice, particularly with cursive capital letters and overall neatness.  And yes, I am a believer in teaching neat penmanship!

Box 6: Language Arts 2--Spelling and Writing

All About Spelling, Levels 4-6 (Monday-Thursday)--We are most of the way through book 4 and will continue at a normal sort of pace and see where we come out at.

Story Builders: World of Animals (Friday)—I absolutely love WriteShop; however, I felt I had too much for Isaac to do each school day, and he will be doing a lot of writing in other subjects anyway.  I already had the Story Builders set we hadn’t used yet, so I’ll let him do this on Fridays.  I feel like WriteShop C gave him the skills he needs to progress with his writing.  Hopefully it was enough of a foundation, and I think it gave him the confidence he needed. I may change my mind and get WriteShop Junior, book D later in the year

Box 7:  Science—Physical Science and Botany

Investigate the Possibilities set

Exploring Creation with Botany

Box 8: Extracurricular--Fine Arts/P.E./Thinking Skills

Fine Arts (Monday/Friday):  I haven’t decided yet how to teach this.  I found 2 programs that I can purchase online (ebooks), and I love both of them.  However, both programs require supplemental books.  They’re just not in the budget this year.  I may come up with my own program, or I may substitute just art and music.  We’ll see.

Thinking Skills (Tuesday/Wednesday):  Critical and Creative Thinking Activities and other books and games

P.E. (Thursdays):  We do different things for P.E., but the focus is mostly on fun exercise and basic skills.  You can read my P.E. post HERE to see what we generally do for P.E.  I recently purchased a long jumping rope and some plastic bases to add to our P.E. equipment.

I'm also adding a new typing program (Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum) and maybe a little art and music.

I’m linking this post to the “Link Your 2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!” blogroll at {School} Days Gone By.  If you have any questions or need links for any of the curriculum I mentioned, let me know.  Adding links to everything on this list would take more time than I currently have. I did add nearly everything to Amazon widgets in my sidebar, so you can click on that as well.

Continent Boxes: Additions

I have so many additions to my continent boxes that I decided to do a separate post on them instead of adding to my original Continent Boxes post.

We recently took a family trip out West, with stops in several states, so I picked up several fun things along the way to put in my North America box.

I have postcards for Arizona, New Mexico, a chili con carne recipe, Indian symbols, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Route 66, Mesa Verde, Navajo art, and a map of New Mexico.  I also have a small Talavera pottery sun (handmade in Mexico), an arrowhead, a beaded bracelet thing, a Southwestern scene on woven cloth (made in India, actually, but I’m still putting it in my North America box), and an ocarina (an instrument) handmade in Peru (I will put that in my South America box).  I had fun collecting these little souvenirs.

I also put in an Amazon order last week and got some cool things for my boxes.  I’ve ordered Safari Toob and Wild Republic sets before (penguins and Australian animals), and I really do like them.  The figures are nice quality, and I will probably buy more.  However, I do have a few gripes about these particular sets (although I’m still happy I bought them).  But first, let me show you which ones I bought.

The Wild Republic set (pictured on the left of the above photo) is Asian Mountain animals.

The Toob set in the middle of the above photo contains rainforest animals.

The final Toob set is called “Around the World” and contains famous landmark figures.  I first saw this set on someone else’s blog about their continent boxes. 

Okay, here are my gripes.  On the Wild Republic set (Asian mountain animals), I didn’t feel it contained enough variety for the price I paid.  It came with 10 pieces including: ibex, snow leopard, snow leopard cub, giant panda, panda cub, Himalayan black bear, red panda, Siberian tiger, Siberian tiger cub, and a white explorer.  While the animals are very nice, I could have done with different animals in place of the cubs.  Also, I would have preferred either a native Asian explorer or no human at all in the set.  I do really like the container these came in, though!  It’s a softer plastic, more spacious, and has a nice zipper.

On the Toob sets, I like the variety of figures.  The rainforest set comes with 12 different pieces, which is nice.  That set includes: caiman, iguana, macaw, anteater, toco toucan, emerald tree boa, jaguar, poison dart frog, red-eyed tree frog, tapir, spider monkey, and another white man (which I don’t really care for…it just doesn’t seem to fit).  Luckily, all but 3 of the animals can go in my South America box, which is what I wanted them for.  Two are Central America (which I’ll include in my North America box), and one is Asia.

I love the Toob set of landmark figures.  It comes with 10 figures including: Leaning Tower of Pisa, Big Ben, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Arch of Triumph, Temple of the Inscriptions (Mayan), Pyramids of Giza, and Parthenon.  My only gripe about this set is the container—it’s way to tight, and these pieces are very hard to get in and out.  Luckily, I’ll be putting them in my continent box loose (and discard the container).  Also, I do wish they’d come up with a second set of landmarks; I can think of a lot more I’d like (such as the Colosseum, Neuschwanstein, Stonehenge, Great Wall of China, Sydney Opera House, St. Basil’s Cathedral).

I’ve also been going through boxes in our storage shed, partly because we just had a yard sale and partly to see if there is anything I want to take back to England with me this time.  Anyway, I ran across my old postcard collection.  Here are some I found (and I will put them in my continent boxes when I get back to England).

Foreign postcards:  Israel, Canada (British Columbia, Quebec), France, Morocco, and Singapore.

State map cards:  I really want a whole collection of these, one for each state.  Yeah, that would be pretty cool.

Postcards from Western USA:  Utah, Kansas (flag and sunflowers), Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Postcards from Eastern USA:  Florida (heron and Miami Beach, Tennessee, Iowa, New York (Niagara Falls and NYC), Missouri, Minnesota, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia (Mount Vernon, Monticello), and Washington D.C.

In case some of you missed the post, I have a give-away going on right now.  The items I’m giving away are from England and would be great in a Europe box if you’re doing continent boxes; otherwise, they can be used during a study of England or just to put in your house as interesting souvenirs.  If you’re interested, go to my Pay-it-Forward Giveaway blog post to enter!

I’m linking this post to “History and Geography” at All Things Beautiful.

Pay-it-Forward Giveaway!

Back in fall of 2010, I entered a pay-it-forward giveaway, given by Kylie at Our Worldwide Classroom.  I was one of 3 winners, and I was very excited to receive a package from Australia.  It contained a boomerang and a lovely kangaroo tea towel.  They were perfect for my Australia continent box! 

In return, I was supposed to host my own Pay-it-Forward giveaway.  However, I decided to have only 2 recipients instead of 3, and I chose to wait until I was back in the US, in hopes that my postage would be cheaper.  Sorry, but I’m on an extremely tight budget…it’s life. 

Anyway, after my package arrived, I slowly worked on collecting items for my giveaway, things that will ship easily in a smaller-size padded manila envelope.  I brought them back to the US with me, and I have them ready to send to two of my readers.  These items are from England and will work nicely in a continent box or as a complement to a study of England.  It may not be much, but I'd be happy to receive something similar, so I hope they’re well-received.

If you enter this giveaway, you’re supposed to be willing to pay it forward by having your own giveaway.  It doesn’t have to be geography-related or even educational.  It can be whatever you want.  If you choose 1-3 people to give your prizes to, or if you wait as late as I did (year and a half), that’s okay.  If you win and later find you can’t keep the Pay-it-Forward moving, don’t worry about it.  Just do the best you can.  It’s alright.

So, that’s it.  This give-away is open to anyone in the world.  Just leave one comment (and one only) below, telling me you’d like to enter.  That will be your entry.  I’ll leave this open for 2 weeks, unless I find I only have 0-1 entries.  So, that means this give-away will close at midnight (Central Standard Time) on Tuesday, June 19.  I’ll choose 2 winners (if I have at least 2 entries) on June 20, 2012.  Please make sure I’m able to email you.

Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed. I had two entries, so both of you are winners! Congratulations to Phyllis from All Things Beautiful and to Amanda from Like a Bird. As soon as I have your addresses, I'll get your England packets in the mail. I hope you enjoy them!

Geography Travels: Venezuela

This is the 2nd country of our South American travels and the 4th country we studied last school year.

Week 1

Located Venezuela on world map and globe; discussed capital (Caracas) and major cities.

Listened to the South America song (Geography Songs)

Colored flag (Homeschool Creations) and listened to the national anthem.

Discussed the government, currency, and language (Spanish).

Labeled a map of Venezuela (Homeschool Creations).

Discussed terms from Geography from A to Z: mountains, beaches, plains, rainforest, tabletop plateaus, waterfalls

How Stuff Works Videos:  The Real Lost World

Discussed animals of Venezuela: capybara, oncilla (tiger cat), margay, brown spider monkey, anaconda

More YouTube videos on animals:

Los Llanos Venezuela: Anaconda of 6 Meter 

Weird Animals of the Andean Cloud Forests

Bush Dog

The Oncilla Presentation

Margay-The Climber Cat

Filled out our notebook page (Homeschool Creations)

Week 2

Discussed Simon Bolivar, history of Venezuela.

Simon Bolivar (YouTube)

Discussed Venezuelan culture (dance, music).

YouTube videos:

Venezuela Music in Caracas

Venezuela Music and Images

Traditional Venezuelan Dance

Venezuela y Alma Llanera (dance)

Explored our South America continent box.

Read folktale from Around the World in 80 Tales.

Discussed Angel Falls (now called Kerepakupai-Merú officially) and Jimmy Angel; sketched the falls:

Canaima National Park (YouTube)

Watched the movie “Up” and also the bonus feature which has a documentary on the Angel Falls area.

Here’s the trailer:

Other Websites:

A to Z Kids Stuff

Venezuela for Kids

Kids Konnect

Country Reports: Venezuela Facts

Kids Culture Corner

Fun Facts on Venezuela

Geography Resources: Venezuela

Homeschool Creations (Lesson plans)

I’m linking this post to “History and Geography” at All Things Beautiful.

Geography Travels: Peru

I thoroughly enjoyed our Peru unit.  Maybe it’s because the Andes are so spectacular and Machu Picchu so fascinating…or maybe it’s because llamas and alpacas are so stinkin’ cute!  Peru was the 3rd country we studied this past school year.

Week 1

Located Peru on a wall map, globe, and in a world atlas. Located capital city and major cities (Lima, Arequipa, Trujillo, Chiclayo).

Listened to “South America Song” (Geography Songs) and also the national anthem:

Colored a flag page (Homeschool Creations):

Discussed government and currency of Peru

Labeled a map of Peru (Homeschool Creations):

Discussed terms from Geography from A to Z: mountain, mountain range, pass, coast, plains, rainforest, basin, river, desert, jungle, lake, volcano, canyon

YouTube videos:

Lima, Peru

Tourism in Arequipa

Week 2

Discussed Peruvian history: Norte Chico and Inca civilizations, Pizarro, Spanish conquest and colonization (The Incas for Kids website), Power Point on Inca empire

Discussed Machu Picchu and did a sketch:

YouTube videos:

Empire of the Incas

Peru: Land of the Incas

Machu Picchu Peru Travel Video

Discussed Peruvian culture: Spanish, music, dance, clothing, and crafts.

Charango and cajón (musical instruments)

YouTube videos:

Toro Mata (Susana Baca)—song, no video (see song explanation HERE).

Marinera Dance

Colca Canyon, Peru: Traditional Dancing

Inca Traditional Dance:

We recently visited Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO during the World Fest, and we got to watch Peruvian Scissor Dancers.  Accompanied by Peruvian folk music, this group danced with large pairs of scissors…very interesting.  Although this happened months after we studied Peru, the kids really enjoyed it.

I took this video:

“Collecting Firewood” story

Discussed animals of Peru: alpaca, llama, Andean condor, chinchilla, vicuña, Andean cat, Guinea pigs, jaguar (Discover Peru website for more)

“The Frog and the Condor” story

Notebook Page (Homeschool Creations)

“Wish Upon a Star” from Around the World in 80 Tales

Field trip to Oaklyn Alpacas—I knew there were some alpaca farms in England, so I looked online for a local farm.  I emailed one about a possible visit, and we arranged it.  This ended up being one of my favorite field trips.  The owner of the farm did an excellent job of showing us around, and she let us feed some of the alpacas.  Hers weren’t from Peru, but they were still alpacas!  We learned lots of interesting information.  When we finished, we visited her little shop where she sells things made of alpaca wool.  We bought each of the kids an alpaca finger puppet.

I ordered two children’s books that take place in Peru.  We loved these!

 Carolina’s Gift

The Littlest Llama

Websites:

Travel for Kids: Peru

National Geographic Kids

Time for Kids

A to Z Kids Stuff: Peru

Peru: Kids Culture Corner

How to Draw a Cartoon Llama (we didn’t do this, but it looks neat)

I’m linking this post to “History and Geography” at All Things Beautiful.