This year we are Galloping the Globe! For anyone unfamiliar with it, it is a geography based unit study that includes history, science, literature, language arts, etc. Pretty much everything but math and reading.
Our first week was an introduction to maps and the globe and the continents. This week we started on Asia and we are learning about South Korea. Over the next few weeks we will be "visiting" China, Japan, and India, a few more Asian counties and then off to a different continent. We are using the library for resource books and stories from the counties. Our county system seems to have everything on the GtG list if I wanted to hunt them down but the branch down the road seems to have a more than adequate selection for our needs so I think I'll be sticking to that. Crafts and cooking (Eat Your Way Around the World) will help to make this a hands-on fun year (hopefully). As our science subjects come up we study them (tigers in India, coral reefs in Australia, etc). I picked up a bunch of Usborne beginners science books that I'm really impressed with - great illustrations, short but information packed books. These work well with GtG even though they aren't on the list.
I love the flexibility that GtG provides but while giving you the outline. You can spend as much time on a country as you want. From what I've read, some people take a year to do it all, some take two. Some people only do one country from each continent but spend a whole month on it. You can do all of the readings and activities if you wanted to. But everything is organized for you. They provide lists of age appropriate stories. They point out what science fits in where and books to read to learn about them. They list websites for the different subject matter.
Our plan right now is to spend a week on each country to go for an overview/exposure effect. December will be "Christmas around the World".
I organized Max's preschool list (the SL preschool I've used with K and A) to fit in the best it can. It doesn't always fit but it is fun when it does. All of the kids are listening in to that - who doesn't like nursery rhymes, fairy tales, classic stories and fun books!
As much as I love the idea all of the subjects working together, I couldn't abandon the workbooks all together. Some people are great using unit studies and getting kids to learn their language arts things just fine...I admit I like the security of a book. Maybe some day...but then again maybe not. So we are sticking with our Abeka language and math programs and Veritas Press for reading (with a little Abeka/SL reading to gain confidence since those seem to be easier for for Katrina). I'm also thinking we will read through the Abeka health and history books at some point this year. (Abeka history is US focused at this grade which I wouldn't mind Katrina hearing a little since we are focusing on the world with GtG).
So I guess that is the plan...we'll see what it shapes up to be!
Showing posts with label Academy/school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Academy/school. Show all posts
September 7, 2011
October 9, 2010
Start of School
Well, I'm a little late posting beginning of school pictures but better late than never I hope!
Katrina is in Kindergarten this year! Where did that come from?!?!?! That is such a milestone to me and is filled with mixed emotions. The toddler/preschool years are over but new adventures are on the horizon.
Alex is following right behind his sister in preK. Totally a different bird, I'm learning that some things Katrina loved and worked wonderfully with her aren't his cup of tea. Definitely a boy in the roll on the floor, energetic, rough and tumble sort of way!
Max is catching bits and pieces at the beginning side of preschool. He's keeping up well in the superhero department!
Tristan is crawling and cruising and eating and smiling away.
We are at Academy again this year.
Some first day of Academy pictures...
Backpacks ready!
Max is ready
Katrina's excited
Alex (with the Wii remote)
The gang
A quick glance back to make sure Mom is coming...
And they're off!
Katrina has science (S. Avila), Five in a Row (M. Avila) and gym.
Alex is in the same science class, preschool (Stear) and the same gym class.
Max and Tristan are in the nursery but Max sometimes joins the preschool class with the other "nursery seniors" Noah and Caroline.
Katrina and Alex are in the Academy bowling league so get to bowl one game (with bumpers) each week. After that is done they may start Irish dance in the afternoon or free play...that is TBD.
At home we are using a variety of things for each of them. I still feel I'm in the trial stage so some of what I planned for the beginning of the year may be stretched over two years, saved for next year or scrapped altogether.
Katrina: Abeka K for math, Veritas Press K for reading. Sonlight K (Intro to World Cultures) for history/read-alouds/. Abeka K Social Studies (complements the world cultures and adds in community helps and some US history) Explode the Code 1. Reason for Handwriting.
Katrina was very excited to receive her books
Alex: Abeka ABC-123. Abeka K4 reading though I think I want to move him to the VP reading program. Sonlight K and Abeka K Social Studies with Katrina. Explode the Code A, B, C. Reason for Handwriting.
I have some more pictures but can't seem to find the folder they are hiding in so that will have to be all for now.
Katrina is in Kindergarten this year! Where did that come from?!?!?! That is such a milestone to me and is filled with mixed emotions. The toddler/preschool years are over but new adventures are on the horizon.
Alex is following right behind his sister in preK. Totally a different bird, I'm learning that some things Katrina loved and worked wonderfully with her aren't his cup of tea. Definitely a boy in the roll on the floor, energetic, rough and tumble sort of way!
Max is catching bits and pieces at the beginning side of preschool. He's keeping up well in the superhero department!
Tristan is crawling and cruising and eating and smiling away.
We are at Academy again this year.
Some first day of Academy pictures...
Backpacks ready!
Max is ready
Katrina's excited
Alex (with the Wii remote)
The gang
A quick glance back to make sure Mom is coming...
And they're off!
Katrina has science (S. Avila), Five in a Row (M. Avila) and gym.
Alex is in the same science class, preschool (Stear) and the same gym class.
Max and Tristan are in the nursery but Max sometimes joins the preschool class with the other "nursery seniors" Noah and Caroline.
Katrina and Alex are in the Academy bowling league so get to bowl one game (with bumpers) each week. After that is done they may start Irish dance in the afternoon or free play...that is TBD.
At home we are using a variety of things for each of them. I still feel I'm in the trial stage so some of what I planned for the beginning of the year may be stretched over two years, saved for next year or scrapped altogether.
Katrina: Abeka K for math, Veritas Press K for reading. Sonlight K (Intro to World Cultures) for history/read-alouds/. Abeka K Social Studies (complements the world cultures and adds in community helps and some US history) Explode the Code 1. Reason for Handwriting.
Katrina was very excited to receive her books
Alex: Abeka ABC-123. Abeka K4 reading though I think I want to move him to the VP reading program. Sonlight K and Abeka K Social Studies with Katrina. Explode the Code A, B, C. Reason for Handwriting.
I have some more pictures but can't seem to find the folder they are hiding in so that will have to be all for now.
May 14, 2010
Academy End
Another year of Academy comes to a close! Today was filled with parties and games and setting up for open house. Katrina's and Alex's class dyed eggs, frosted (and ate) cookies, and played games. My science class had snacks while presenting their science project posters to each other and then set up their display. Tonight and tomorrow the jr/sr high kids are performing the musical "Seussical" and Open House is Sunday...should be a crazy weekend.
March 6, 2010
Preschool Update
Continuing the updates...onto school.
Katrina and Alex are still doing Academy on Fridays. They are together for the first three periods (music followed by the assortment class - activities, snack, science experiments, stories, crafts, playtime, etc). Then Alex stays with the younger preschoolers for another assortment class based on letter of the week - coloring, story, Bible, play, etc and Katrina and the older preschoolers join the K-2's for gym class. Neither of them have anything structured in the afternoon. They usually join in the active games (often dodgeball, tag, or nerf guns) or playing house with their friends.
Katrina at home:
ABC-123: Been pleased with this in general. Overall I think I don't like how the math and phonics were in the same book. The math was cute (mainly number concepts to 20) but things she already knew. The phonics in the beginning was quite challenging for her but she has come a long way with it and now it seems to be right on for her. She is sounding out three letter short vowel words pretty well and we are starting on long vowel. I think it would have been better had the two subjects not been linked since she is at two different levels but it worked.
Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code: Katrina has like these - fun and pretty easy/straightforward. She is almost finished with the last book. The books have done the same skill introducing each letter in the alphabet and some basic handwriting practice. Because of them she is great at beginning sounds of words.
Math-U-See: I'm not a huge fan but Katrina seems to really like it (loves the video aspect) and she seems to be getting it. We've done shapes, counting, place value to 100's and now we are beginning adding. If we are given the next level I may let her keep going in it since it is fun for her but I won't be purchasing this.
Create-A-Calendar: I had always somewhat laughed at this idea thinking it was more of a craft than a learning tool (not that that is bad to have a craft!) but I really see it as a fun learning tool now. Katrina thinks she is just playing with stickers but is learning the days of the week, months of the year, number order, seasons, holidays, birthdays, etc. She's having a ball with it! I think I would do this for her again.
Alex:
Letters and Sounds: Alex didn't get into this book as much as Katrina did. He mainly draws giant circles on the pages. But he feels involved and has fun. Don't know how much he has actually learned...
Numbers and Skills: Again going slowly. He likes any cutting and pasting days.
Everyone:
Reading list: Moving along on this. They seem to like the individual stories better than the ones in treasury editions, even the ones that have all the pictures of the originals in it. In the future I may post what we read and ones I really liked. Animals have been a big hit.
Katrina and Alex are still doing Academy on Fridays. They are together for the first three periods (music followed by the assortment class - activities, snack, science experiments, stories, crafts, playtime, etc). Then Alex stays with the younger preschoolers for another assortment class based on letter of the week - coloring, story, Bible, play, etc and Katrina and the older preschoolers join the K-2's for gym class. Neither of them have anything structured in the afternoon. They usually join in the active games (often dodgeball, tag, or nerf guns) or playing house with their friends.
Katrina at home:
ABC-123: Been pleased with this in general. Overall I think I don't like how the math and phonics were in the same book. The math was cute (mainly number concepts to 20) but things she already knew. The phonics in the beginning was quite challenging for her but she has come a long way with it and now it seems to be right on for her. She is sounding out three letter short vowel words pretty well and we are starting on long vowel. I think it would have been better had the two subjects not been linked since she is at two different levels but it worked.
Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code: Katrina has like these - fun and pretty easy/straightforward. She is almost finished with the last book. The books have done the same skill introducing each letter in the alphabet and some basic handwriting practice. Because of them she is great at beginning sounds of words.
Math-U-See: I'm not a huge fan but Katrina seems to really like it (loves the video aspect) and she seems to be getting it. We've done shapes, counting, place value to 100's and now we are beginning adding. If we are given the next level I may let her keep going in it since it is fun for her but I won't be purchasing this.
Create-A-Calendar: I had always somewhat laughed at this idea thinking it was more of a craft than a learning tool (not that that is bad to have a craft!) but I really see it as a fun learning tool now. Katrina thinks she is just playing with stickers but is learning the days of the week, months of the year, number order, seasons, holidays, birthdays, etc. She's having a ball with it! I think I would do this for her again.
Alex:
Letters and Sounds: Alex didn't get into this book as much as Katrina did. He mainly draws giant circles on the pages. But he feels involved and has fun. Don't know how much he has actually learned...
Numbers and Skills: Again going slowly. He likes any cutting and pasting days.
Everyone:
Reading list: Moving along on this. They seem to like the individual stories better than the ones in treasury editions, even the ones that have all the pictures of the originals in it. In the future I may post what we read and ones I really liked. Animals have been a big hit.
September 11, 2009
First Day of Academy
Today was the first day of Academy and all in all it went pretty smoothly. Katrina and Alex are in the same preschool class - which seems very strange to me. After a brief stop in Papa's office, Katrina told him that she had to go to class and happily went down to her room - such a change from last year when she would only go down when her favorite teacher would come to get her.
Their day consists of a music class, then a class that is based upon a letter a week with stories, activities, crafts, games, etc, and then a class that I really don't know much about yet. When I saw them at lunch they were both very excited about their morning...ate "ants on a log", played on the playground, sang songs, made pictures and glued things (no idea what they were gluing as it didn't come home this week).
I am teaching 7/8 general science again this year. Looks like a pretty fun group of kids so that should make for a fun year.
Their day consists of a music class, then a class that is based upon a letter a week with stories, activities, crafts, games, etc, and then a class that I really don't know much about yet. When I saw them at lunch they were both very excited about their morning...ate "ants on a log", played on the playground, sang songs, made pictures and glued things (no idea what they were gluing as it didn't come home this week).
I am teaching 7/8 general science again this year. Looks like a pretty fun group of kids so that should make for a fun year.
August 28, 2009
Our Preschool Routine
So it seems like we are establishing a routine for our days. I'll be interested to look back in the spring to see how much has changed.
I am doing preschool at home with Katrina and Alex and then they will be going to the Academy preschool class on Fridays.
We are using a mixture of things: most of the books are from Sonlight P4/5 with the addition of some 5IAR/classics and some suggestions from "Janet's Preschool Schedule" off the yahoo Sonlight preschool group. I greatly modified her schedule to fit in our needs and wants but it was nice to have a framework. Alex is using A Beka Numbers and Skills and Letters and Sounds. Katrina is using A Beka ABC-123 and Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code. Recently a friend gave us the kindergarten level of Math-U-See. I tried it out to see if she likes it (it presents the concept on a video and then there are workbook pages for the week, she LOVES videos so I thought it may be a hit) and since she did two weeks worth in the first sitting I decided to keep going with it.
So we start with breakfast, usually job time though sometimes this waits until our first break. Then we read some stories, take a break to play, stories, break to play, etc. Sometimes stories are long and play is short, sometimes we get in one short one before they are bouncing out the door to play outside. Lunch. Max goes down for a nap shortly after lunch then the big kids color (markers are the hot tool right now which is why we wait until Max is down, on crayon days Max gets to color too). Then Alex goes down and Katrina does her "reading" with me - we are up to two letter blends with the occasional three letter word. Then Katrina has her rest time. If she doesn't sleep she is up first and we do her math or coloring while I prep dinner. Then the boys get up, more stories and play depending on the day.
We definitely don't run on a schedule - we won't be doing the same thing at 10 AM every day - but the days have naturally flowed into this routine and it seems to keep everyone happy, and me feeling like I'm doing something with my days, so I'll stick with it as long as it works!
I am doing preschool at home with Katrina and Alex and then they will be going to the Academy preschool class on Fridays.
We are using a mixture of things: most of the books are from Sonlight P4/5 with the addition of some 5IAR/classics and some suggestions from "Janet's Preschool Schedule" off the yahoo Sonlight preschool group. I greatly modified her schedule to fit in our needs and wants but it was nice to have a framework. Alex is using A Beka Numbers and Skills and Letters and Sounds. Katrina is using A Beka ABC-123 and Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code. Recently a friend gave us the kindergarten level of Math-U-See. I tried it out to see if she likes it (it presents the concept on a video and then there are workbook pages for the week, she LOVES videos so I thought it may be a hit) and since she did two weeks worth in the first sitting I decided to keep going with it.
So we start with breakfast, usually job time though sometimes this waits until our first break. Then we read some stories, take a break to play, stories, break to play, etc. Sometimes stories are long and play is short, sometimes we get in one short one before they are bouncing out the door to play outside. Lunch. Max goes down for a nap shortly after lunch then the big kids color (markers are the hot tool right now which is why we wait until Max is down, on crayon days Max gets to color too). Then Alex goes down and Katrina does her "reading" with me - we are up to two letter blends with the occasional three letter word. Then Katrina has her rest time. If she doesn't sleep she is up first and we do her math or coloring while I prep dinner. Then the boys get up, more stories and play depending on the day.
We definitely don't run on a schedule - we won't be doing the same thing at 10 AM every day - but the days have naturally flowed into this routine and it seems to keep everyone happy, and me feeling like I'm doing something with my days, so I'll stick with it as long as it works!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)