2016-2017 Homeschool Curriculum {1st grade}

Here's a little peek into the curriculum we'll be using this school year! So far, each year I've done exactly what I HAVEN'T wanted to do...switch curriculum. When we first started, I promised to myself that I would never do such a thing. Each year, I SWORE that I had found THE perfect curriculum. But, the more I learn about my kids and their learning styles and the more we find our homeschool groove, it just happens. That's the beauty of homeschooling for us so far. I have the liberty to change things up. BUT, I'm hoping that what we're using this year will stick! ;)

So, here's what we have planned for the upcoming school year!

Mason :: Age 6 :: 1st grade

{DISCLAIMER}
I am not affiliated with any of the following companies. The views and opinions expressed are my own. 

Reading/Phonics - All About Reading level 1 and 2

We started level 1 last year and are just about to finish up. However, reading has been very challenging for us this year. Mason has worked so hard, but he's really struggled through this subject. He's definitely not ready to move onto level 2 yet so we're going to go back through the lessons at a faster pace. I recently bought the games with Ziggy Zebra so we'll play those too! Our goal for this year is to gain confidence in reading and have lots of opportunities for practice. We'll move on to level 2 when he's ready!

Math - RightStart Math level A

We're still working through this level since we started mid-year last year. We made the switch from Horizons K math and never looked back. RightStart has been a perfect fit so far!I love how RightStart engages the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses. Yes, this program is expensive, but so far it has been worth every single penny. The bulk of the cost involved all the manipulatives, which will be used year after year.

Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears K

We're still working through the K level. With math and reading struggles last year, handwriting got put on the back-burner. Such is life. We'll start 1st grade once we're done. He'll also be working on Tapestry of Grace copywork using memory words.

Science - Elemental Science (Intro to Science)

I needed a science curriculum that was full of fun science experiments that I could easily have younger kiddos sit in on, but still be engaging enough for a 1st grader. The experiments look fun and cover basic chemistry, physics, geology, meteorology, botany, and zoology.

Bible/History/Literature/ - Tapestry of Grace Primer

I am SO excited for Tapestry. I'm slightly overwhelmed with how to plan out our year, but mostly excited! This curriculum uses great books, interactive hands on projects, games, and a conversational approach. We'll be taking a broad sweep through history from creation through modern times through various unit studies.

Devotional- Adventures in Obedience

We saw this program at our local homeschool convention and are planning on doing this 3 evenings a week as a family! We'll go through character development cartoons using the Cat and Dog Theology books along with reading missionary stories from the I Heard the Good News Today! book. We read a few missionary stories with Sonlight last year and the boys really enjoyed them!

Chocolate Chip Day

We celebrated Chocolate Chip Day with our homeschool group! The kids enjoyed listening to "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and learning some interesting chocolate chip facts. 

In the kitchen they learned about the ingredients needed to make the cookies and had fun getting their hands dirty! 

This was the fun part. Each kid got to pretend to bake an edible cookie dough "cookie" in the oven! They all loved it. 

Happy chocolate chip day!

Little Hands to Heaven: Week 3

Week Three: God Blesses Abraham (Cc)

Welcome to week three of Little Hands to Heaven! Here are some of the highlights and favorite moments from our week!

Much to my surprise, we're still enjoying the fingerplay activity. This week it's all about the letter C and Abraham.

 We made our number 3 page to add to our number book.

We read about Abraham and Lot,

then acted out the story.

Some All About Reading activities with the letter H

We don't do a ton of structured math around here. Just lots of play!

This week the boys got to drive their cars on the large letter C.

In Bible, we learned that God promised Abraham a son and that he would have more children than stars in the sky. The craft below reflects this Bible story. This craft is a little different from what was in the lesson plans, but I liked how the boys were able to get a little fine motor skills practice in by peeling off their own stickers.

Here is Mason acting out the above story!

In week three we had our first official "school in pajamas day". Ha! In Bible, we read about the three men that visited Abraham and then pretended to have our own three guests. The boys were so excited to choose which "friends" they were doing to act out the story with. The boys had to get the right amount of plates, bowls, utensils, and napkins for their guests. We practiced being gracious and having good manners.

Some of the seat work for the the day. Mason's still working on counting by two's

and finding the Cc in the Hide and Seek fingerplay. As you can see, Maxden just enjoys finding alllll the letters. I help him find the C's, then he ends up dotting the rest of the letters.

This week we made our fun letter of the week craft...and boy, we're on a roll. PJ's and shirtless all in the same week! ;) No dress code at our school!

 On day 5, the boys had to go collect some of their favorite toys along with the Bible. I had the boys hug their toys (you can see Mason picked his two Hot Wheels cars), and say "I love you more than anything". Then they had to pick their Bible up and say, "I love you more than anything." 

We were able to discuss which attitude pleases God more. Love for our earthly possessions, or a deep love for him and his word. Then, we talked about how we can show God that we love him. Mason said, "We can talk to God and tell him we love him when we pray and when we read our Bible."

I am so thankful I decided to use Heart of Dakota this year. I love how every single thing we do points to God. For our family, that's the most important thing we can learn! 

We finished the week by looking at some baby pictures of the boys and talking about how they have grown up, just like Abraham's son, Isaac. They loved seeing how cute and tiny they were as babies! 

That's a wrap!

Little Hands to Heaven: Week 2

Week Two: The Earth and the Flood (Bb)

We had such a fun week learning about all about Noah and God's promises this week. Here are some of our favorite moments from our second week with Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven!

We learned a new finger play! Here is Mase showing us part of it:

And the boat did float...

/b/, /b/, /b/ (he's making the letter b sound while rocking back and forth...just like Noah might have on the ark!)

We pulled out the wikki sticks to have fun making letters.

We made another page to go in our number book. The two handprints were a reminder that Noah used his own two hands to build the ark.

We acted out all the different types of animals going on the ark. A lot of the Bible lesson plans involve acting out the story that was read each day. This is such a fun way to help the stories that they read in the Bible come to life.

We really do have a lot of fun in school. But, please don't think that our school is always perfect and my children love every single second of it, because we all know that would be a lie! Remember, we're talking about teaching a 4 year old and a 2 year old! There are plenty of moments that look like this. Just keeping it real for ya!

But, then I tell them it's time for "Ziggy school", and all is magically right in the world. They sure do love All About Reading lessons.

Here Mason was playing a game called "Get out of the wagon" I put three cards on the wagon, and he takes the card that does not rhyme with the others and tells it to, you guessed it, "get out of the wagon". He's super dramatic about it and literally throws the card that doesn't rhyme.

This week, we had some dear friends come over so their mama could get an idea of what a typical homeschool day looked like in our home before she began her homeschooling journey. She probably came away with three lessons:

1. Megan gets her children through their "school" time with lots of snacks. 
2. It's pretty chaotic...in an organized sort of way.
3. Have fun and go with the flow (seriously, it's only preschool).

We had a lot of fun with all four kiddos! 

Their favorite activity was the sink or float science experiment. The key idea for this lesson was that God told Noah how to build the ark so that it would float.

Every week we do a Hide and Seek page where they learn how to recognize the letter of the week within text. They also do a Count on Me page. Here, Mason drew 2 raindrops (since we were learning about the flood) so he can practice counting by twos. Younger kiddos can draw 1 item in each box to practice counting by 1s.

Each week, I've been trying get books that go along with the unit we are doing in Little Hands. We had Noah's ark from Sonlight P3/4, but found Big Bear Hug, The Busy Beaver, and letter Bb book at the library. All of these books went along perfectly with this week's fingerplay and theletter B theme.

Maxden's favorite part of school is our morning calendar time! And yes, this shows you all just how far behind on blogging I am...

The boys had fun building their own "ark" and bringing all of their stuffed animals into it.

We learned about rainbows and God's promise to never send another flood. I deviated a bit from the rainbow craft in the LHTH lesson plans, but I knew the boys would love painting their own rainbows. I think they turned out so cute!

Each week in little hands, there is a day where me make the masking tape letter on the floor. This is such a fun activity for the boys. It gets them moving and thinking about the letter of the week. They loved putting blocks on the letter B and I had them say the /b/ sound every time they placed a block.

Once they were finished, they wanted to continue playing with the B. I love how it became a race car track...

and then a church service! See Mason delivering the sermon?! ;) The things these kids think of!

We also made the cutest letter of the week craft! 

We really enjoyed our second week of school!