Archive for August, 2009
Posted on August 31, 2009 - by Kay
First Grade Here We Come!
We’re starting a new school year tomorrow and I can hardly believe that my big girl is going to be starting 1st grade! I still feel like she’s a kindergartner in some ways, but then I realize that she is sooo smart and mature and geesh where has the time gone?
I’m looking forward to settling into a little different rhythm this year compared to last. I feel like this year is a little more planned out for me, which makes me so much more comfortable. We are going to be following AmblesideOnline’s curriculum for Year 1. For those who aren’t familiar with it, AmblesideOnline (AO) is a curriculum based on the educational approach developed by Charlotte Mason, an amazing educator from England in the late 1800s. (You can read more about her and her educational philosophy here.) Most of the books used in this curriculum are highly literary and are available for free online.
As we go through this next year, I’ll be posting our weekly lesson plans here on the site under the “Curriculum” category. Feel free to use whatever works for your student(s), drop the things that don’t, and add the things you feel are missing. And by all means, please leave me a comment that lets me know what your thoughts are – I’m still very much a novice here and look forward to hearing other educators’ input!
Ready or not, here we go!!!
Posted on August 27, 2009 - by Kay
The 14 Days of Homeschool
Just a little funny to help start off your homeschooling year with a laugh. Enjoy!
Posted on August 24, 2009 - by Kay
How to Plan for the Year
Everyone has their own system of planning their homeschooling curriculum for the year. It’s just a matter of finding the method that works best for you and digging in. With that in mind, I thought I’d document my own journey this summer in case it might be helpful to someone else learning how to plan out their year.
I started this summer by digging in on the AmblesideOnline website since that is the main curriculum we will be following this year. I pulled up the booklist for Year 1 and printed it out. I looked through our own personal library and my parents’ library (my mom LOVES children’s books), talked with friends who have already gone through Year 1, visited several used book sales, and looked for online resources, including our local library system’s catalog. Every time I would come across one of the books on this year’s list, I would mark on my printout who owned that particular book. (Continue reading this article…)
