Decision Made!

Most of you probably remember our stressful decision making process this past summer! It was a difficult time and I really did not want to go through that again!....

Well, I am thrilled to say that I have already come to a decision as to what to do next year for schooling! Like last year, I went back and forth a bit about whether we should homeschool or send Kendyl to public. Thankfully, this decision process didn't take as long, and wasn't as stressful and rushed as last year!

We will be homeschooling Kendyl again next year, using both 1st and 2nd grade curriculums. Aden will be going to the Fremont Christian School Preschool program with Mrs. Breuker. We were extremely happy we sent Kendyl there, as it put her in a 'school' mode for homeschooling this year.

Kendyl's curriculum programs are pretty much decided upon (and in my possession or purchased).

Math: Switching from Saxon 1 to Math-U-See Alpha (still a first grade curriculum, but I'm just seeking to solidify all the things she learned in Saxon 1 this year by doing 1st grade again). This is a FUN program and we are very excited for it! If need-be, we will order the next level up. :)

Reading: Kendyl will have completed the 5 levels of Hooked on Phonics for Reading. She will be reading easy chapter books by this time. I am still looking into different reading curriculums, but have a bunch of different resources for making my own (or just using them).

We hope to start a homeschool kids' book club next year. In the club, we would encourage the kids to bring their favorite books, share about it, do projects related to the book, read aloud to each other, etc.

We will of course be taking MANY trips to the library to get some great literature that David and I will read to her, that she will understand and respond to, but may not be able to read on her own.

Writing: Continuing with the Hand Writing Without Tears program for hand-writing.

Will be doing many more writing assignments: writing books, poems, jokes, etc. We will also be doing more word processing on the computer.

We will continue using a journal.

Spelling: Using Dolch list of words, as well as others we notice she spells incorrectly in her writing assignments.

Phonics workbooks will be used to help with spelling practice as well.

Vocabulary: Working on making her own 'dictionary' of words we come across in our reading in all subjects. Practicing ABC order, using a dictionary, etc.

For the other subjects, I have many resources (thanks to my good friend Molli), that I am going through to find the best fit for us.

I also plan to do more unit studies next year (I will design these).

SOOOOO.... I am so thankful that this decision has been made! Hoping to get most of the real planning done before this summer, so that we can truly have a GREAT summer vacation!! :)

100th Day of School!!!

February 26, 2010: Our 100th Day of School!!!

Kendyl was thrilled to reach this day (had been counting down for about 20 days!) We had a somewhat 'party' day to celebrate. We did many things with the number 100.

Breakfast: The kids ate a mini sausage link & 2 mini pancakes (looked like the #100).

Math: We counted to 100 by 2's, 5's, and 10's.
We worked on place value and how to read & write 100.
Kendyl made 100 tally marks (in the reg. groups of 5).

Reading: Kendyl cut out (the day before, with my help) 100 words that she can read. She glued them onto a piece of paper. (she can read many more than 100, but for the sake of the 100th day, that's what we did)... I was picking words like, 'me', 'you', 'to', etc.... Kendyl cut out words like, 'school', 'mother', 'homemade', etc. :)

Reading/Gym/Group work: I made a list of 100 different things to do in groups of 10. (ex. jump 10 times, spin 10 times, etc.) Kendyl brought the list to the Tree House day care at Tamarac and led the other kids in this activity.

Music: We sang, "100 days of school" (100 bottle of beer) and counted backwards from 100!!

Art: We made & wore glasses with the number 100 on them.
Kendyl used 100 misc. art supplies (buttons, pompoms, etc.) to decorate a large #100.

Science/math: Kendyl observed 5 bags with 100 items in each bag (each bag a different item). Kendyl made a hypothesis of which bag would be the heaviest, etc. She weighed the bags on a balance scale with polly pockets on the other side! :) Then she made a chart of her results.

It was a fun day!! We are over half-way through the school year and I am so pleased with how well it has gone overall! Looking forward to the weeks ahead!!! :)