I've spent the last week intermittently cleaning out the schoolroom. The walls are bare; all papers have been sorted and stored (and believe me, that was a JOB); furniture has been rearranged and cleaned; shelves are in the process of being reorganized.
With a clean slate, I'll be ready to let the creative juices flow and get things set up for my 5 year old! I'm still feeling a bit strange about not having to plan for my 8 year old, but I'm sure I'll get over it!
I'm starting to feel excited about this new school year!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
A Second Try
Clearly, I wasn't very good at this last year, so I'm going to try again this year. It's only August, and we don't start our school year around here until September. This year, Angie will be attending the local elementary school as a 3rd grader. So I only have Maddie to work with for now.
As I'm beginning my planning, I have a dilemma to deal with. Maddie is 5. She's very smart and is doing 1st/2nd grade work. Unfortunately, she's 5, so she doesn't deal well with paper and pencil work. She'll do a bit of it, but much prefers play-like activities. So, this year, I'm going to make sure I focus on that aspect. But, I don't want her to stagnate academically, so I need to design it so that she will advance while having fun.
I've decided to go ahead with a standard Theme format for our kindergarten year. I'm going to try very hard to make each week a theme around which we base our academics. Here's the thought process.
Each day of the week will involve the weekly theme, and each of her academic subjects will revolve around that theme. We'll try to stick with the basics: reading, writing, math, social studies, science, spanish and crafts. And each day will contain about 4 or 5 subjects. No more than 2 hours of directed school work, in other words. Then we'll add in a lot of other activities and pretend play.
As for Angie, I'm hoping that she enjoys school and that the material is something that she is comfortable with (and that I am comfortable with) and that I don't have to supplement too much at home. If we do, it's going to get tricky, what with me working nights and all.
So, this is to be my accountability with Maddie, and my progress report with Angie!
Wish me luck!
As I'm beginning my planning, I have a dilemma to deal with. Maddie is 5. She's very smart and is doing 1st/2nd grade work. Unfortunately, she's 5, so she doesn't deal well with paper and pencil work. She'll do a bit of it, but much prefers play-like activities. So, this year, I'm going to make sure I focus on that aspect. But, I don't want her to stagnate academically, so I need to design it so that she will advance while having fun.
I've decided to go ahead with a standard Theme format for our kindergarten year. I'm going to try very hard to make each week a theme around which we base our academics. Here's the thought process.
Each day of the week will involve the weekly theme, and each of her academic subjects will revolve around that theme. We'll try to stick with the basics: reading, writing, math, social studies, science, spanish and crafts. And each day will contain about 4 or 5 subjects. No more than 2 hours of directed school work, in other words. Then we'll add in a lot of other activities and pretend play.
As for Angie, I'm hoping that she enjoys school and that the material is something that she is comfortable with (and that I am comfortable with) and that I don't have to supplement too much at home. If we do, it's going to get tricky, what with me working nights and all.
So, this is to be my accountability with Maddie, and my progress report with Angie!
Wish me luck!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
In Which Maddie Makes a Coloring Page
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| by Maddie I sow Maddie wocing a dog. She wus gwing home. (I saw Maddie walking a dog. She was going home.) |
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