Curriculum and Organization

This is so much fun! I've been working on writing lesson plans, getting curriculum together and organizing for school to start tomorrow. The boys and I went "school shopping" last week and had all sorts of fun supply ideas for "homeschool" - it was really crazy but really, really fun (next time I won't take the baby and I definitely will not choose the shopping cart with the big plastic monstrosity of a child-restrainer attached to the front). My first step in getting all these supplies organized was to find a place to store them out of sight. I cleaned out my two linen closets, condensed our blankets - storing the ones we rarely use upstairs - and combined towels, sheets and a few of our favorite blankets into one closet; the other closet is now used entirely for school supplies and cubbies for the boys.

I purchased Sterilite containers to hold everything needed for each subject (i.e. everything needed for math - workbooks, teachers manuals, games, cards, supplies - in one container; all phonics materials in another and so on) as well as a container for craft supplies and another for computer/notebook paper. I also purchased two crates in the colors the boys chose for their cubbies, which will hold their "learning notebooks", Nature journals, school boxes, math manipulatives. Underneath their cubbies is a two-drawer plastic thing - it's holding supplies in one drawer and educational books in another.

For their workspace, I wanted to have something other than the kitchen table so I purchased two little folding tables from wal-mart and put them in a nook in our living room (away from the kitchen and away from the food!); they're sturdy but also light and will be easily folded up and stowed away on the weekends and whenever we're not having school. The boys like having their own "homeschool place" to work.

My favorite new supply is the laminating machine. I guarantee that from now on if it can be laminated it will be laminated.

Math

For math I have both boys in McRuffy Math Kindergarten - it looks fabulous and I can hardly wait to teach it!

Language arts

I purchased McRuffy's phonics and reading for Joel and it too looks amazing - I can hardly wait to begin!

The boys will also trace one word and it's meaning each week for language arts; these words will be ones that define what it means to be a godly man; we will also use words from the Bible such as "revelation", "knowledge", "understanding". Along with that, they will practice writing their letters correctly and Elijah will use sight cards to write entries in his journal each day while Joel and I work on phonics.

Here is a toy made by Leap Frog that helps kids learn how to write their letters correctly; the boys absolutely love it and play with it throughout the day.

Science

Make Nature Journals. Learn about one animal each week. Record what we learn in our journal. Go exploring. Read about God's creation. Make crafts and do projects.

We already made our nature journals - it was too fun! We took a walk and collected leaves, small branches and flowers. We then painted two pieces of cardstock (one for the front cover and one for the back), used painted leaves as stamps and glued branches to our artwork. After everything dried, we laminated them then took them to Staples to have each notebook spiral bound with 30 sheets of plain white paper. By the end of the year we'll have journals filled with interesting facts and pictures of 3o different types of animals, along with anything else we discover along the way.

Top left: Joel's journal

Top right: Elijah's

History

In this subject, they are going to learn their address and phone number; they're also going to learn about the American flag and then two states a week - we'll learn fun facts about each state and what God says about them - especially Missouri, the "Psalm 24" "Show Me Your Glory" state! I plan to use a few workbooks, readers and maps I picked up in different places, as well as printouts and crafts.

Here are a few laminated sheets I created to help our homeschooling days go as smooth as possible - I threw the bathroom one in while I was thinking of it - and I plan to use velcro on the wall so that when and if I need to change out rules or schedules it won't require reconstruction of the house.

Tomorrow our new adventure begins!