It's hard to think that I just finished planning our last week of Kendi's Kindergarten. This last year has been so great. We have learned so much, not just academically, but about homeschooling, patience, work and how to inspire my kids to love learning. We have come a long way and I don't think I would have learned a lot of the lessons that I did if it wasn't for homeschooling. My kids can be very enthusiastic which makes homeschool fun, but they can also be very intense which can make some days difficult. I'm so glad that I am able to teach my kids, one on one, in an environment that can be tailored to them and their personalities.
I wanted to write a post about how a typical day goes for us. I'm sure things are going to continue to change and evolve over the years. I want to be able to come back and remember how we did things at this stage of our lives.
Our schedule is pretty laid back. I've tried to make homeschool feel like we are doing things that we would normally be doing at home together anyway. Dad doesn't even have to be at work at any particular time so we don't stick to any time constraints. I do like to get going as soon as possible so that lunch isn't too late in the day. I only have energy in the mornings so the sooner the better for me. We usually get started some time between 8:30 and 9:30 am.
We start with Scriptures. This year we've been studying the Book of Mormon. We've been using materials from
bookofmormondiscovery.com. Instead of reading the chapters from
Book of Mormon Stories we watch the videos on lds.org found
HERE. We watch the video and talk about the story one day, then do a page out of the manual and talk about the story more on another day. We illustrate the story the next day and make a journal entry on the last day and then start over again with the next chapter. We also go over the memory verses everyday. Kendi amazes me with memorizing. It only takes her about two days to memorize a verse. I have really liked these materials. They have been a good gathering activity to transition into doing school time.
After Scripture Time we do a reading lesson. We've been using reading lessons out of How to Tutor by Samuel L. Blumenfeld. Kendi learns a new "word family" or two everyday. We talk about the new consonant blend and sound them out as I write them all on the white board. After they are all on the board, Kendi erases them one by one as she reads them back to me and I make a flash card for each word. After we've learned about four word families we play games with the flash cards. Our flash card games include, but are not limited to:
Bang: We start with our stack of new cards with a bunch of old ones mixed in too. I take about eight cards with the word BANG! written on it and mix them in too. I hold of the stack of cards and Kendi reads the one on top and we keep going through them until we get to a card that says BANG! (about eight or ten cards) I hide the next word and Kendi has to spell it for me. If she gets it right then she gets to keep the stack of cards we made since the last BANG card came up. If she gets any of the words wrong or struggles with it enough that I feel like she needs to practice it more then I put in back in the stack of unread words. When Aydri wants to join in then we put some letter flash cards in the mix and she gets to read those when they come up.
Dodge: This one is Kendi's favorite games and is very good for her hyperactive energy level. The girls have to stay on a rug. They take turns reading either a word card for Kendi or a letter card for Aydri. If they get it right then I throw the card at them and try to get them with it. If they get it wrong it goes back into the stack of cards to be read again. If I get them when I throw it then I get to keep the card. If they dodge it then they get to keep it and we just leave it on the floor until we're done. The person with the most cards at the end wins. I limit the amount of cards we go through so we don't get burned out. I always try to stop while it's still fun.
Relay: I lay out five cards on the piano bench. The girls have to stand behind a designated line in the living room. We start a timer for one minute and I yell out a word (or letter for Aydri) from the cards on the bench. They have to run and find the right card and run back to the line and I yell out another word. They see how many they can get in one minute and then we try to beat their scores. When it is Aydri's turn I have Kendi be in charge. It's fun to see her helping and teaching Aydri.
Sentences: Kendi and I take turns drawing two flash cards out of the stack and reading them. Then we have to come up with a sentence with both of the words in it. This is another favorite game of Kendi's and it can get pretty silly.
Those are the games that we play the most. If we get tired of them, then we'll come up with new ones. Once Kendi can read a word with automaticity I will remove it from the stack. I've lost count, but we have made around a thousand flash cards this year. Kendi also loves to read from some little reader books too. We use books from The Family Literacy Center that Grandma gave us a few years ago. Kendi also will pick up any random book and try to read it.
After the reading lessons we do read aloud time. We read from the list of classics that
Thomas Jefferson Education suggests for young children. We are currently reading Charlotte's Web and the girls are loving it. We stop and talk about morals that come up in the story, the types of characters in the story and how they impact what happens, and we look up words we don't know. Kendi has learned to stop me when she doesn't understand something. I love that. When I would read a book as a child I would just get confused and not know what to do and the story would become vague and uninteresting. I would just pass the words in front of my eyes because it was required. Reading a book is not just about entertainment its about stopping to learn the lessons along the way. After we've finished a book we will do a project about what we learned. I will have the girls create or write something that shows what they learned from the stories. I try to get them to share and talk about it with other people too.
When we are doing read aloud time I will let the kids so something quietly. I'll print off coloring pages from the stories we read or let them play with a small toy. Lately, they have been bringing in the kittens to play with on the floor. These kittens are so much fun. It will be hard to see them go to new homes in a couple of weeks.
After reading from the classics we take a break. I use this time to teach about nutrition and we have a healthy snack. After they are settled with their snack I turn on a timer for thirty minutes just so we don't loose track of time. The kids will go play outside and I fold laundry. I have been able to keep up with laundry like never before in my entire married life because I stick to this.
After break time we usually do Math Time. We are very slowly working our way through Math U See: Alpha. Kendi doesn't sit and do worksheets very well so we mix it up by doing problems on the board and playing games and doing
The Great Math Adventure activities. This is a little advanced for Kindergarten so I'm not pushing it at all. I hope that I never have to push anything.
About once a week instead of doing a Math Lesson we will do a History Lesson instead. We've been using
I Love America: part 1. This material started out super fun, but we lost interest about half way through the year. I just picked it up and found out that this month's lessons were about Pocahontas so we've been using it again. The lessons on the Preamble were just a bit over my girls' heads. Maybe I should have waited a few years. I really love them learning about America with the religious history included.
The last thing that we do everyday is always something different. And it's usually more activity based and fun. We try to end on a fun note. Some of the things we have done lately are: put on a play of Goldilocks and the three bears, learned about feelings, learned about the five senses, physical fitness and nutrition. We study all those things you typically learn in Kindergarten. I plan these lesson myself. I do a bit of research and decide what will be fun for our girls. Planning these lessons is one of my favorite things about homeschool. I love finding new ideas and the best ways of teaching my girls. I'm a research junkie. I guess that is a good thing for a homeschooler.
Here is Aydri as baby bear.
On Fridays we do Project Day. Kendi and I take turns deciding what we'll do for Project Day. On Kendi's week she will pick something that she really wants to learn more about. In the beginning of the year she always wanted to do baking. Last week she wanted to learn about clothing and make up design. We happened to be learning their parts for Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We put together their costumes and make up and had a dress rehearsal. When I decide what to do for project day we work on something for the family or household. We have painted door-jams, purged (dejunked) the house, planted the garden, organized food storage and put together 72 hour kits all the while learning why we need to do those things.
This last year has been full of abundance for us. I really struggle with my health and am not able to be as active as I wish I could, but homeschool gives me a great sense of fulfillment. We are already making plans for next year. Kendi says she is excited for summertime and wants break from school, but I know that she will be begging to do something after one day. We are going to make a simple summer school plan for her.
