Today was day #1 of our 2009-2010 school year. Nicholas has now begun the 3rd grade and Sydney has started a pre-k program, all right here at home of course :) Sydney was most excited, she asked straight away if school had started, this just after she woke up and was still wiping the sleep from her eyes. I told her we needed to wait until we ate breakfast, daddy was cooking this morning and everything. Nicholas was a little more hesitant to say goodbye to lazy summer days but his interest perked back up when I asked him to journal about what he wants to learn about this year. His entry was this: " I want to learn about Egypt. I would love to learn about space. I would die to learn about forest animals. I would bug you all day to learn about Presidents." I laughed so hard when I read that last part! I am so proud of him for expanding on the "I want" and getting creative with his wording. Very good progress.
The first day went smoothly with both kids getting to see some of their new school books and supplies. They both worked on the letter "A" today, Sydney had an apple tree craft and Nicholas got to start writing in cursive, starting with the first in the alphabet. Nicholas helped Sydney with her new ABC puzzle (voluntarily even!!), they both painted, Nicholas and I did some coin counting practice from his Marvel math book and worked on some grammar review as well. I think we are off to a great start!
I am still working on my weekly plans, although the basic outline of what we are covering between now and December is done. I have found some cool field trip opportunities for this year as well, I'm just not sure what we will actually be able to fit into our schedule,budget, and of course what will work for both kids. I am looking into signing both kids into program of their choice, Nicholas would like Gymnastics and Sydney has chosen Ballet. I think I can keep them good and busy and learning though :)
Here is our basic outline for this semester, looking forward to adding more as I find things:
Science - dinosaurs, astronomy, anatomy and germs
History - more on Egypt (Nic's request), ancient Rome, Vikings, early American history
Language - learning Spanish as a family...might need to push this off until next semester, we'll see...
Art/Music - the works of Eric Carle, basics of music and rhythm
Math - completing the Marvel Comic math book, learning multiplication, more focus on money
English - more grammar review, reading many new novels including the Harry Potter series, learning cursive, expanding vocabulary
Photography - (this is for me) learning how to get a picture of my kids where I can see more than just their backs...that would be GREAT
I am still using the Core Knowledge Series as my basis for topics covered throughout the year, but we use more living books than textbooks.
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