Halfway through k and have learned so much.

Hello there fellow homeschooler's.  The Summit Street Schoolhouse here. We have finally settled into a groove and thought we would share;

DAILY SCHEDULE FOR THE SUMMIT STREET SCHOOL HOUSE
OUR MONTESSORI/ STEM/ CLASSICAL/ MULTIAGE CLASSROOM


Brought to you one segment at a time I am very busy.  That being said 85% of all our learning happens in this first segment of our day.  EVERYONE knows this is when to NOT interrupt. lol

MON-FRI

Kids have had breakfast gotten dressed, brushed teeth  before school starts, I have also gotten them each ice water and myself a coffee.

10:00 School Begins
*Movement/Dance (two songs; "Moving" song and "Days of the Week" song)
*Sign In   - They each have their own mini clipboard, I tear a standard sheet of paper in half and clip on half on each board.  Our preschooler writes her first name and our Kindergartner writes his first and last name.  On top of the paper I neatly write; I am here today {sight word reading practice} with little boxes to check yes or no.  I write the date in numbers and also write it on the board and talk about it it various ways.  During this time I also draw a demo drawing on the board.  An octopus, snowman, sun, spider web, anything simple.  My husband drew a goal post.
*Sometimes I read a short story to clam kids if needed in here a few if necessary.  There are some stories kids just cant refuse.
*Writing  - For this we use Star Wars Phonics, Reading, and Writing workbooks for Kindergarten and Tracing workbooks or paint with paint circles workbooks for preschool and hand  our stickers for completed pages, two pages for Kindergarten.
SNACK TIME -I hand out chips and fruity snacks. Kids can earn more by answering math questions with their first pack. Show me 2 X 3.  Two groups of three.  They ALWAYS earn for each other and are encouraged to express appreciation so one wins they both win.  This goes for everything they do together.
At snack time we do lessons that require my reading and their answering questions.
Always begining with Bible.  We have been using a reader from Christian Liberty Press
I have various used reading comprehension books I have collected and read and Q, Alphabet books, and other Non Fiction books we have in our classroom collection.
I will use this time to "teach" as much as I can while I have their focus, this includes quick sight word review, or refreshing something we may have already covered to make sure they fully comprehend the concept.
11:55 get kids ready for go time with daddys/ shoes correct gear for weather.
12:00  BIG BREAK/LUNCH see ya back at 1:30

Summer Preparations

Hello my name is Jenine, welcome to our blog about our homeschooling experiences in Maine.  We have started this blog to share and gain feedback from other parents who also dare to teach complex information to young minds in little constantly moving bodies.  

Kindergarten and Preschool 2016-2017 school year

 - Our First Year "officially homeschooling", although last year we did a very relaxed  practice version, (for our benefit as well as theirs).  To be certain homeschooling works best for our family, and it does for sure.We are looking forward to meeting up with other families if we ever find the local group we heard was in our area, we will make more of an effort in.  We are now in the process of cleaning out last years mess and adding some new bookcases  and desks.  Just waiting on free time and  a nice day to take it all out to the deck and put it all back several time till it works.  Go go teenage boys!   We will Blog later this summer about curriculum choices and upcoming plans  for this year, as well as post new pics of the classroom and all it's changes.

Things were going to make, because we love how well they work;

Signing in: Last year we made our own Name Writing practice work using a yellow highlighter and a copy machine, which copies the yellow to a soft gray. Perfect for tracing their names to sign in. We always turn it over to draw a face progressing to a person on the back,  looking to each other to remember not to forget any features.  This year we would like to add our last name too, also take a min so the kids can describe these created characters  which we will write for them.  This is a quick signing in, done first thing.  I would like to make a few months worth for each kid.  I would like to use this same idea for numbers 0-9 (maybe four rows horizontally that could be cut into strips, using 1 per day).   

Thanks for stopping in please come again, have a great day!
Your friends at the Summit Street Schoolhouse.

                 

Getting our kids ready to dominate Kindergarten!

Getting the kids Ready to dominate Kindergarten!

1 ( 3/4) and 3(3/4) year old Pre-school/Pre-Kindergarten- Homeschool Subject Choices:

Based on the curriculum we have purchased for Kindergarten

Subjects will be the same in K just more regimented and with more curriculum included.

Morning Meeting-  (A lot of quick lessons- also used during transitions - FUN!)

Concepts I want to drill them on a regular basis, 

review and further investigations on current topics, 

word/ sound review,

read aloud's,

number songs using number line and props,

mental math using number line,

pledge and patriotic songs,

Riddles, Logic in story and discussion

Reading and Spelling- (to have sucess this must be worked into the calmest point of your child's day and we STILL offer a fruity snack to earn for good work.

We can not say enough about how well the following two products by different companies work so perfectly together. Inside the front cover of each Bob Book you will find a list of the beginning sounds for the Book.  We pull the cards from these sounds from our All About Spelling box, and use the tiles to go over sounds and our word family and short vowel (for book one).  Each week adding to our words, and keeping track of it all on our word tree, our word family books, and our phonogram chart.  The chart is a copy, it came with the AAS program, we use stickers with the letter rewritten on them to show the sounds we've learned.

Bob Books - We are on Book Three of level 1 "Dot"

All About Spelling-  I have introduced the phonogram cards as they appear in the beginning of each Bob Book instead of following the manual as we are only in preschool.  We also use the tiles at times.

We have mastered 8 so far, we continue to review and will eventually review through teaching his little sister in his presence. 

We make cards for the words in the books.

We focus on the word family introduced in the book and elaborate with activity's based on the words and sounds.  We have been moving very, very slowly and have finally begun to pick up speed.  

Word family Book - We made our own "AT" book, after weeks of working on our at words.  Our next book will be on "AM".

Word Tree-  We only hang words here we know without needing help and can read the first time without hint's.  We only have three words on our tree at the moment which are; on, at, and am.

Sight words-  Learning through games and labeling and using in sentences with other words.

Everyday learning- just pointing out common words in our world.

As a family we try to encourage everyone and everyone,as well as ourselves,to read as much as we can to our kids in an attempt to 

display a love and enjoyment for books that has no label.  We also play audio books while the kids are doing there writing practice.

Phonics-

We purchased Explode the Code, but have questions to whether or not we are going to use it as it seems to be more of a review at this point as our little guy is advancing quickly.  I may photocopy a few lessons and save it for his little sister we'll see.

For now, we focus on letter sounds and blends when reading aloud. Also sing the alphabet, and sing the alphabet sounds.  You tube has so many phonics songs to play as well.

Language- 

Curriculum chosen for Kindergarten;

Language Smarts 

Wordly Wise

For now we have just introduce sentences and punctuation marks.

Mathematics-

Curriculum chosen for Kindergarten:

Primary Mathematics Standards Edition (Singapore)- were using as our main program

Life of Fred- were want to use this entire series as a word problem supplement.

Math Analogies- as our warm up

For now we have been working on numbers 1-10 and just this week have begun introducing the teens.  We have learned the hours of the clock and that the long hand points to the minutes but only know that 12 is o'clock.  We know that the clock measures the time.

We use as many different ways as we can to teach math, using objects, numbers, number words, patterns, weight, and so much more.  We count everyday throughout the day but are sure to spend some time everyday working on various ways to ensure a concrete foundation they can build on.

Bible / Ethics

For now we are reading through the Help me to be Good series the kids like it more than we do, also making are way through the beginners Bible for children for the second time.  I started the KNIV for preschoolers but the kids weren't into it.  We also pray and talk about his hand in all things we are learning of and our thankfulness for that.

Curriculum chosen for Kindergarten;

Studying Gods Word by Christian Liberty Press

Books of the Bible a reference book for kids I found used.

Science- 

Curriculum chosen for Kindergarten- Focus on Elementary Biology

For now we are using books from our classroom library and our subscription to Ranger Rick magazine.

Biology- Animal Study / World Geography - often child lead we choose an animal, study it then rescue it and sail home on our ship.  

Concepts-  We do these randomly and constantly go back and discuss things we know.  Friction and Force are two examples of concepts we've covered.

If we get these subject done we feel acomplished.  The rest are bonus and add on's,  subjects that will become more serious as we go.

History- Daddy's class

Curriculum Heritage Studies- they have already begun learning the world map, direction, and land and water. The creation has been covered and continue to go over and remind.  We have also introduced all the planets, the sun, and moon.  As well as the concept of Gravity.

Engineering- 

We come up with a problem, the try to come up with a way or several ways to solve the problem and explain how it all worked out.  What we use can range from simple to complex,  It can be anything

Legos, Kenex, Marble run, Marshmellows and toothpicks, Snap Circuits, Simple Machines,  Dirt Roads, and cardboard castles.  

Other Electives we try to include are;

Art-

Music-

P.E.- 

Computer-

Library-

Foreign Language-

Health- 

Study of our home State/Maine-

Introducing Sentences

My sentence,

 their sentence (with finger location dots), 

and our broken sentence.

Note: one new word was introduced in this lesson; Can 

I plan to use this word again in our next sentence where it is spelled with a lowercase c

We have been working on the "at" word family,

and have just begun the "am" word family.

We do these lesson with magnet letters on a white board.

Beginning Counting

This is a lesson we started our little guy on
and have now begun to use with the baby (18 months).   

ART

We have invited everyone close to us to come and teach anything,

 even it's just a few times  a year. 

 Auntie J has volunteered to teach Art.  

We picked up some smocks  at the dollar tree, as you can see the kids just love this special time.

Sharing some of the things we do.

How We Learn 

A learning environment for our entire family.

Morning Meeting

“Does anyone know the month?”

 “Let’s count from the first day of the month to today.”

We count to any holiday or birthday, then push the number of today and take the elevator up,up up to discover the day of the week.  We all have our own pointers for this.  Next we sing the days of the week song, in one or two ways.  I then point, my pointer to the blue even numbers on our hundreds chart and yell TWO, FOUR, SIX, EIGHT Who Do We Appreciate? The kids yell names of people in our family, God, ext…   We then sing the months of the year twice, pretty fast.  The second time ends with us rolling on the floor yelling NOOOOOOOOOO! I take the pointers and put them away as we go to roll, this helps them let go of their pointers.

We enjoy this spot near the warm wood stove vent.

 Our youngest's desk :). 

 Aquatic Life Tray tucked under our writing drawers.

Our Number Line 

used throughout the day and everyday for;

Mental Math Game - I'm guessing a number?

 Clue 1- between 4 and 7

Clue 2 - it's an even number

Math addition or subtraction song

We are enjoying 5 little monkeys and Sally the Camel (as shown)

Reading

 we are just beginning.

We are using Bob Books and All About Spelling Phonogram cards

along with Homemade Flash Cards

Tic Tac's {grape} and finger lights.

Biology-Geography 

We study a different animal everyday 

using classroom resource books and magazines.

The animals are chosen by request from the kiddo's or by their interests.

After reading and talking about our animal we pretend to travel to it's location and rescue it.

Leaving on our ship the North America we head off traveling various oceans 

to our destination where we can defeat the bad guy rescue our animal and return hero's. 

Investigation station at a very low level 

 Our Boom Boom Tree lol

 Color Sorting

Welcome to 

Our Home-school Classroom 

2014-2015

Learning as we go

.

Our classroom is finally complete and school is officially underway.  We are very thankful for all we have gathered and feel the Lord has truly blessed our classroom.  Our little ones, just eighteen months and three and a half, are really digging our new learning environment.  We have many items  with little pieces resulting in a bit of temporary clutter in the math center.  Our classroom will grow with our children.  As the children begin to become more responsible, we will take down items with smaller parts or fragile items.  We have many “ten cent- fragile” items for their use even now, along with things like our pretend(broken) microscope, to teach the kids to be gentle with our classroom equipment and tools.