Workbox Wonders

  Welcome to Workbox Wonders Wednesday!

We loosely follow the workbox system, I'm working on changing how we use them, and plan to share soon.  Want to know what curriculum we use for kindergarten? It's right here.  Want more ideas?  Confessions of a Homeschooler shared workbox ideas for Second grade. 

Bible

• Memory Verse copy-work: Hebrews 4:14
• Illustrated memory verse - and divided the 12 disciples into two groups of 6 - so cute, this was little girl's idea!

• Listened to John 20 at www.youversion.com
• Illustrated bible reading

Science - Weather/Temperature

• We are taking the temperature three times each day this week and tracking changes in temperature.
• Abeka God's World page 34 - Summer/Sun.
• And it was raining - so a little playing outside was part of the fun!

• Played thermometer math game

Social Studies

• Abeka Social Studies K page 73
• We are studying the country of Peru, and continuing the study of Japan (Red Clogs - FIAR).

Math

• Practiced counting by two's. 

• Abeka Math K - page 103

English

• BJU Kindergarten Beginnings Lesson 117 "ine, ire"
• Handwriting - writing words "nine, pine, line, mine, vine, fine, shine//tire, fire, wire"
• I made up some memory cards using our words for the day - this was a fun way to review our silent e/long vowel words.  I put some CVC words in there too, like pin, so that she would have to think if it matched with pine, which she did need help with.

   

Now off to start another day!

Allison

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

 

In my life this week...

It's been a normal (not too busy) week for us, which is nice.  I've had time to run and have quiet times, which helps me keep a good attitude throughout the week! 

In our homeschool this week...

• At school Abigail is learning about Japan through her FIAR reading "A Pair of Red Clogs".  It was timely for our discussion this morning of the earthquake in Japan.  We looked at the globe and talked about what a tsunami is, and why Hawaii was involved, etc.  We prayed for the people of Japan and Hawaii.
• We are also working on the long "a" sound (when the silent marker "e" is present). 
• In Math we are continuing are practice of counting by 5s, 10s and telling time by the hour and half hour.
• In English, Science & History we are learning about Alaska, the weather and Japanese culture.
• We are also starting work on a diorama for Abigail's book report for next week (more in another post).

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

This week we had a play date with our good friends and spent a beautiful day at the park.  We had a picnic and enjoyed the lovely spring weather!

My favorite thing this week was...

Definitely our play date!!  It's so much fun getting together with friends.

What's working/not working for us...

Working: I've been trying to be better about how we progress through our schoolwork.  It's been helpful to space things out....like handwriting, coloring, something at the computer, something at the table...look at the globe, then the next handwriting page...etc.  Making sure we move around and aren't sitting in one spot doing the same thing for too long!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

Thinking about how to make things a little more exciting for us in the next couple weeks.  We definitely need some more hands-on activities, maybe a field trip??...

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

I recently bought a recorder and some books to start incorporating some music in our homeschooling.  I thought, I'll just work with her a little each week and we will progress slowly...(PS I am SO not musical, so I was hoping it would be easy)...

WELL...the book I bought is so good that little girl has moved forward on her own.  I taught her the A and G notes, and she taught herself the C and D...I was thrilled, and she is having a great time with it. 

Here is a short concert for your viewing enjoyment!  (This is the third day or so of practicing)

Some things I <3

The post where I share some of my current favorite things...hope you find some new things to love!

On the web

www.starfall.com - amazing site for teaching phonics and reading with lots of fun activities.  This is a definite favorite for my daughter.

www.ixl.com - this is a great site for math games.  One freebie is allowed each day, and subscription is also available.

www.enchantedlearning.com - a plethora of free educational information and resources on so many different subjects, subscription also available.

http://www.mrsperkins.com/dolch.htm - awesome list of the Dolch sight words for pre-school through third grade.

Calvary Chapel Children's Ministry Curriculum - great resource for bible story coloring pages.

Books

We started teaching a new parenting curriculum at our church this year.  It has made such a huge impact in our home, it has changed our parenting goals and how we connect and relate to our children.

 

In my women's small group we have been studying the curriculum that goes with the book Extraordinary by John Bevere.  I worked for John and Lisa Bevere many years ago and have always admired and appreciated their teachings.  This book has truly been a life changer.

iPhone apps

For the kids:

Teach Me - we have the Teach Me Kindergarten and Teach Me First Grade for my daughter and she LOVES them.  I honestly think she is doing so well in addition and subtraction because of this app.  That is a. big. deal.  We recently downloaded Teach Me Toddler for my three year old, and he is doing great with it.

Trace - little girl has enjoyed playing this game - simple concept but challenging...I like it myself!

For me:

Get Running - I have just started using this application for my workouts.  I love it so far, it's challenging for the first week but I'm excited to see my progress.  This app guides you while your listening to your favorite tunes from running eight minutes per workout to running for a continuous half hour in nine weeks.

Textropolis - addicting.  love. it.

Have any favorite learning sites you want to share, or great books?  Please do tell!

This post has been submitted to Helpful Homeschool Hints.

My Five in a Row post

Five in a Row?  I know, sounds a little strange.  But, if you are considering homeschooling in the early years, you will want to take a look at the Five in a Row curriculum (also referred to as FIAR). 

When I first came across this curriculum in my early research I was very intrigued.  The more I read about it the more I liked it.  It was actually the curriculum that got me really excited about homeschooling.

I know a couple of friends who have preschool children or younger that are considering homeschool for the first time, if that is you, I highly recommend researching this curriculum...I think it would actually be the perfect place to start even before Kindergarten.

So what is FIAR?  I would like to share a summary (found here) that I think explains it well:

HomeschoolShare.com - FAQ - What is Five in a Row?

...It's a wonderful curriculum that pulls lessons from classic children's literature. In the original FIAR curriculum (ages 4-8), you will read a book for 5 days "in a row" and each day you will do different lessons and learning activities related to the story.  FIAR also offers curriculum for preschool (Before Five in a Row) and for upper elementary grades (Beyond FIAR and Above and Beyond FIAR).  We strongly encourage you to check out Five in a Row  and to use it with your children before jumping in to the units at Homeschool Share.

A note from Celia:
FIAR changed our whole homeschooling journey.  My public-schooled mind thought that my children had to be sitting at their little school desks to do all their work from workbooks; FIAR taught me that we could all snuggle together on the couch and read a great children's story and learn far more!  It taught me that school could (and should!) be enjoyable and exciting.  FIAR feeds the natural interests of a young mind...causing students to want to learn more about God's great big world.

I completely agree with Celia.  The school that we work with uses FIAR (which was one of the selling points for me) and it is actually the main work that K-girl does when she is on campus two days a week.  At home we work on the core subjects but at school they teach using FIAR.  I think this curriculum is so effective because it allows the child to learn reading, math, science, history, geography, art, etc. in a fun way and allows the parent to impart a love for reading and literature.

K-girl just recently finished the first unit study at school using FIAR.  They studied the book "Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans.  They studied it over the course of a couple of months, spreading out the lessons, but it would normally be compressed into one week of study.  They were able to study Geography by learning about the France; Math by discussing symmetry; Science through studying the parts of the body (Madeline gets her appendix removed), as well as balanced eating and hygiene; and English through vocabulary, rhyming words and even a little French!

I would recommend looking at what Homeschool Share has to offer, they so many great  lapbooks and unit study resources.  I was giddy when I found this site!!

I am planning to work with Before Five in a Row (for preschoolers) with Josh this coming year.  I look forward to sharing that journey as well!

Workbox Wonders Wednesday

It's Wednesday!  I thought I'd share what's in the box for Kindergarten today.  We are linking up with Confessions of a Homeschooler, who shared some great Pre-K boxes today.

 

Box 1 Bible - today we continue reading in the book of Matthew, chapter 24.  We will also practice writing our memory verse for the week.

Box 2 Reading - today we will be reading "Are you my mother?" by P. D. Eastman.  This is going to be the book we use for our first "book report".  Next week we will be putting together a Plot Mountain and will illustrate three parts of our story, the beginning, middle and end.

Box 3 Abeka Number Skills K - today is day 37 of our count to 100 days of school.  We will count our popsickle sticks, practice our grouping of 10+10+10 = 30 and 30 + 7 = 37.  We will practice writing numbers 35, 36, and 37.  We will work in our workbook on page 29 (coloring by number and practice writing the number 7).

Box 4 Magnets - today English we will be talking about "Bookshelf Friends" - Science books.  So we will be playing with magnets!  After we talk about and play with the magnets, we will practice writing the sentence "A ____ stuck to the magnet." and draw a picture about our experiment.

Box 5 English - After completing our magnet activity, we will work in our WorkText & Phonics Practice books.  We are continuing our letter P activities.  We will also review our sight words, including this weeks new words:  love, orange, up, help, big, his.  She also practiced writing her letter P's in her A Reason for Handwriting K book.

Box 6 Abeka God's World (Science) - went outside and talked about the weather.  Wrote sentences "It is 74 degrees.  There are no clouds in the sky." (Love Florida, it's just starting to feel like fall!)

And for fun we went out to lunch together!  I love homeschooling!

For more information on the curriculum we use, see this post.

Our home school curriculum - Kindergarten

We are working with a great school locally that provides us with all the lesson plans for the school year.  Abby goes to on-campus classes on Tuesday and Thursday to work with her teacher.  She is in a class with 4 other little girls.

I am enjoying this approach for my first year, it gives me the support of a teacher and a school that wants me to succeed, and also allows for some social time for both of us! :) I feel like for us, it’s the best of both worlds.

Here is what we are using this year:

Bible – Foundations 2

Math – Abeka Number Skills K

Science – Abeka God’s World

Social Studies – Abeka Social Studies K

Reading – Five in a Row (these are done on campus, they will be completing lap books for:

About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese

A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley

English – BJU – Kindergarten Beginnings (Work text, Phonics Practice)

Handwriting – A Reason for Handwriting K

We have been using my interpretation of workboxes (for more information on workboxes, visit http://www.workboxsystem.com).  So far it is really helping keep me organized, and gives Abby a visual way to see how much work we have for the day – I’ve already gotten many “are we done yet”-s and have been able to point to how many more boxes until we are done (or until computer time/break,etc).