Every time I get a blog notification or jump on Pinterest, I feel like I learn something new about homeschooling. Well, maybe not every time, but it feels like I am constantly evolving in my knowledge of this little adventure of ours.
For instance, someone somewhere wrote a post about having goals for your kids. Each year, this mom picks a character trait to focus on for her kids, then makes a short list of educational goals for each child. Simple, intentional, deliberate, focused. I liked it.
Here's my little list of how we will spend our time for the rest of 2012. I'm not even sure these are in line with their grade level, but it's what I foresee them learning over the next 6-10 months. These goals will act as our compass, pointing us toward North, when we get off course. In addition to these things, we will continue to cook and do our History lessons, plus we'll begin learning basic Spanish and are excited to incorporate in Science for the first time, in a weekly co-op (to share the burden of planning experiments and buying supplies) with our favorite homeschooling friends.
Ryan - age 7 (almost 8)
- Reading: learn to read quickly and fluently, learn to enjoy reading, read a book aloud to Kaylin and Jason daily.
- Handwriting: improve printing, learn cursive.
- Writing: independent writing increases in creativity, consistently using proper punctuation and capitalizaion, focus on the six traits of writing - conventions, ideas, voice, word choice, organization and sentence fluency. (Thanks, Alison!)
- Spelling: better understanding of rules, decreased errors in writings.
- Grammar: able to easily narrate stories, comfortable with basic parts of speech.
- Math: faster with addition/subtraction facts, double/triple digit adding and subtracting, learn multiplication, begin managing money.
- Other: patience with siblings, better ability to mediate sibling conflict unemotionally, learn to cook meals independently, complete chores without reminders.
Kaylin - age 5 (almost 6)
- Reading: read level 1-2 books independently, learn rules of sounds.
- Writing: proper direction fo strokes, use continuous strokes to prepare for cursive later, focus on correct capitalization, begin independent writing.
- Math: basic addition and subtraction, telling time, basic money, skip count for 2s, 5s and 10s.
- Other: break competitive spirit with brothers, develop short periods where she works with/"teaches" Jason.
Jason - 2 1/2 years old
- Reading: letter recognition, sitting still during stories, beginning letter sounds.
- Writing: drawing pictures in counter-clockwise motion, write letters with his finger using different media. (sand, pudding, paint, etc)
- Math: color and shape recognition, count forward and backward.
- Other: sit still during school time, listening and obeying the first time, taking instruction from Ryan and Kaylin when they're "in charge" or with safety issues.
As for me, I am SO excited about the simplest little thing...I bought a $5 teacher's daily planner (week-at-a-glance) from the teaching store last week and it has serisously helped me corral everything that's swimming around in my head. Silly things like focusing one theme for each month to do seasonal crafts with a common thread for learning purposes.
The months with holidays are easy, but for months like May, instead of focusing on Mother's Day (like the schools usually do), we're going to do crafts that center around flowers, gardening, caterpillars and butterflies. I'm saving summer/beach stuff for June and fun apple crafts that I've found for September...you get the idea. It's not rocket science, but it makes sense why public school teachers organize it that way. There are just SO many possibilities...it's overwhelming!
For instance, someone somewhere wrote a post about having goals for your kids. Each year, this mom picks a character trait to focus on for her kids, then makes a short list of educational goals for each child. Simple, intentional, deliberate, focused. I liked it.
Here's my little list of how we will spend our time for the rest of 2012. I'm not even sure these are in line with their grade level, but it's what I foresee them learning over the next 6-10 months. These goals will act as our compass, pointing us toward North, when we get off course. In addition to these things, we will continue to cook and do our History lessons, plus we'll begin learning basic Spanish and are excited to incorporate in Science for the first time, in a weekly co-op (to share the burden of planning experiments and buying supplies) with our favorite homeschooling friends.
Ryan - age 7 (almost 8)
- Reading: learn to read quickly and fluently, learn to enjoy reading, read a book aloud to Kaylin and Jason daily.
- Handwriting: improve printing, learn cursive.
- Writing: independent writing increases in creativity, consistently using proper punctuation and capitalizaion, focus on the six traits of writing - conventions, ideas, voice, word choice, organization and sentence fluency. (Thanks, Alison!)
- Spelling: better understanding of rules, decreased errors in writings.
- Grammar: able to easily narrate stories, comfortable with basic parts of speech.
- Math: faster with addition/subtraction facts, double/triple digit adding and subtracting, learn multiplication, begin managing money.
- Other: patience with siblings, better ability to mediate sibling conflict unemotionally, learn to cook meals independently, complete chores without reminders.
Kaylin - age 5 (almost 6)
- Reading: read level 1-2 books independently, learn rules of sounds.
- Writing: proper direction fo strokes, use continuous strokes to prepare for cursive later, focus on correct capitalization, begin independent writing.
- Math: basic addition and subtraction, telling time, basic money, skip count for 2s, 5s and 10s.
- Other: break competitive spirit with brothers, develop short periods where she works with/"teaches" Jason.
Jason - 2 1/2 years old
- Reading: letter recognition, sitting still during stories, beginning letter sounds.
- Writing: drawing pictures in counter-clockwise motion, write letters with his finger using different media. (sand, pudding, paint, etc)
- Math: color and shape recognition, count forward and backward.
- Other: sit still during school time, listening and obeying the first time, taking instruction from Ryan and Kaylin when they're "in charge" or with safety issues.
As for me, I am SO excited about the simplest little thing...I bought a $5 teacher's daily planner (week-at-a-glance) from the teaching store last week and it has serisously helped me corral everything that's swimming around in my head. Silly things like focusing one theme for each month to do seasonal crafts with a common thread for learning purposes.
The months with holidays are easy, but for months like May, instead of focusing on Mother's Day (like the schools usually do), we're going to do crafts that center around flowers, gardening, caterpillars and butterflies. I'm saving summer/beach stuff for June and fun apple crafts that I've found for September...you get the idea. It's not rocket science, but it makes sense why public school teachers organize it that way. There are just SO many possibilities...it's overwhelming!
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