Daily Schedule

I will be doing a "letter, color, shape, verse and character trait to learn each week." I will be scheduling our daily curriculum around these subjects for the week. Our school week will be from Monday-Thursday. Fridays will be for field trips, outings with mommy and me groups or special projects.


5:00am wake up...dressed...clean bathroom
5:15am make bed...pick up Master room
5:30am coffee...prepare for day...clean kitchen floors
6:30am wake boys..bath..teeth..get dressed...clean boys bathroom...start load of wash
7:30am breakfast time...feed dog...vacuum living room floors...clean kitchen table/counters


8:30am School Begins....Pledge of Allegiance...sign in with their name sheet (practicing writing their name)
Sing: America the Beautiful, verse CD, days of week/mos of year, alphabet song by The Hallow Trees (or Larry Groce and Disney ABC Song or ABC Song by Ralph Covert)
Calendar: go over "Today is": Month, Day, Year...review yesterday/tomorrow
Weather: Put up daily weather card
Read Verse of the day


Circle Time
Introduce Letter of the week, sing song of what the letter sound makes
Introduce Shape and Color of the week and sing the Color song
read chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Read some more


Activity Work boxes
lacing cards, sequencing games, magnetic letters, working with blocks, letter crafts, mini books, lapbooks


Snack Time


Worksheet Work boxes
Tracing sheets, cutting practice, math sheets, anatomy and health sheets, Spanish worksheets, coloring pages, dot-to-dots, etc.


Lunch Time


Outdoor or Indoor physical activities


Sensory Table, Cooking or Craft Time (working on fine motor skills)


Snack Time


Bible: sing the B-I-B-L-E song....read stories and discussion


Reading: read books on subjects to do with the letter of the week


After school: Tae Kwon  Do, swim lessons, piano


End of week: read chicka Chicka Boom Boom: put Letter on Alphabet tree

Where Can I Find My Local Homeschooling Group

I have researched on Co-Op Homeschooling and I think I will be skipping that. My understanding is that you can have other homeschool teachers teach your children in other areas like music or someone who specializes in art etc. I plan to be the "do-it-all" homeschool mommy for my boys =D I did join a Meet up group...a couple of them who also homeschool in my area and get together for outings, playdates and to get advice. You can find one in your area to at www.meetup.com

I also found a Homeschool Organization in my State of Washington that I could join. If you would like to find a local homeschooling group in your area and you go to this link:

http://www.edanywhere.com/homeschooling.html

Types of Homeschooling and Our Way

There are several ways to find homeschool support on the web. But first for newbies & the curious, what exactly is homeschooling?
Homeschooling means to educate your children at home rather then in public or private school. It exists in a myriad of ways:

Unschooling or child-led education is when you follow your children's natural interests & curiosities to educate them.

School at home is when you purchase the textbooks for all subjects & follow much the same ideology put in practice in traditional school.

Another approach that is gaining in popularity called the Classical Approach or Trivium. This approach goes back to the old ways of teaching, concentrating on the basics, classic languages such as Latin & Greek, & higher order thinking skills.

The Montessori Method is named after its founder, Maria Montessori. This method is very natural & uses a lot of manipulatives.

Unit studies are a way of integrating most, if not all subjects under a single topic of study. For example, if you were studying Ancient Greece, you would cover the history of ancient Greece, the science of the time period, practice writing skills through reports, short stories, etc. based on what you have learned, & you may practice reading by reading the mythology of the times.

Many people also use a mixture of the above or sign up with a satellite school which can perform different tasks or help you with different tasks for your homeschool, such as designing a curriculum, having the security of a teacher you can communicate with, writing transcripts, etc.


 Read more about homeschooling methods from an article written by April Morris.

My kids thrive on routines and structure so we will be doing school at home approach with text books/worksheets and also incorporating some Montessori Methods. I will also be teaching in a Christian atmosphere. We will be having Bible time but I won't be making them memorize scriptures. I will be incorporating the "un-schooling method" when it comes to teaching them the Bible. I plan not only to teach them Christian ways and Bible stories but I also plan to teach them "life philosophy" such as in Buddhist teachings. My goal is also to raise them with manners, good social skills and street smarts. What I mean about street smarts is how to protect themselves from bullies and how to be safe in the world around them. I will be doing a "letter, color, shape, verse and character trait to learn each week." I will be scheduling our daily curriculum around these subjects for the week. Our school week will be from Monday-Thursday. Fridays will be for field trips, outings with mommy and me groups or special projects.

Summer Water Table Sensory Activity

This is what my boys are up to right now =D they are having a blast outside. I have been researching "discovery or sensory tubs/tables" and came across a water sensory table. I knew my boys LOVE playing with water so I set this up...took their sand tables and filled them with water and dish soap. Gave them sponges, cleaning bottle brushes, funnels, boats, plastic fish, their play kitchen dishes and other little plastic toys and told them to give them a wash.