Two-and-a-half students

Here are Things 1, 2, and 3.  (We were having a little technical difficulty with the glaring sun and squinty eyes.)

The two Chinese-Americans are ours and the other lives next door.  Since she finds her way to our house most every day, I figure that will continue once school starts.  I'll just plan on including her in our science and history escapades.

[The cute signs came from I Heart Naptime.  I photoshopped the P and the K into one sign.]

The Pre-Kindy Kiddo



The First Grade Girly



The Fourth Grade Drop-In


I'm super excited to get started on our first day tomorrow.


I'm linking up to HOTM again.  Click the logo to go see other student pictures.

Fun Stuff! First Grade and Pre-Kindy curriculum for 2011-2012

I've had tons of fun researching and choosing curriculum.  I had initially been drawn to Sonlight but I was leery of plunking down a big wad of cash for a boxed curriculum.  Plus I know me.  I like to tweak and change things up.  After I read The Well-Trained Mind I found the structure I was looking for as well as the freedom to pick and choose elements and resources.  I found most of our books at used-book sales.  For those things I needed to buy new, I bought downloadable PDFs when I could.  I've also found tons of free or super cheap resources here and there on the interwebs.

Here is the plan for the 1st grade girl:

• Bible: Awana + other bible story books, activity books, and devotionals
• History: Story of the World 1 (Ancient History through Christ) with lots of associated activities + a creation unit
• Science: We'll be studying animals, the human body, and plants.  We'll be doing some experiments from Janice VanCleave's books.  We'll be documenting using the student pages from Elemental Science.
• Language: All About Spelling 1 and First Language Lessons 1 (grammar) + FLL lapbook. Lots of reading pulled from WTM book lists and various other book lists. (This is an area stressing me out a little. We're not using a formal writing program but will have plenty of narration and copy work in other areas. We're not using a formal phonics program because so many say that AAS included enough phonics teaching. We'll see. I've got Explode the Code and OPGTR [see below] if needed for additional phonics practice.)
• Penmanship: no formal program but beginning to learn D'Nealian cursive following the plan outlined by Nadene at Practical Pages
• Math: Singapore Primary Mathematics 1A and 1B
• Music: Kindermusik
• Physical Activity: Thinking about karate for the fall. Might see what our YMCA offers also.  Also, daily guided activity as well as free-play time.
• Arts & Crafts: Monthly craft club kit + various activities to tie in to our other subjects.

Some days I think we are doing too much. Other days I think it is not enough. I figure that means the plan is just about right.

The plan for the pre-kindy boy is much simpler:

Bible: same as sis
Music: same as sis
Physical Activity: same as sis
History/Science: same as sis if he is interested
Unit Study: Five in a Row
Math: workbooks + Funnix Math + playing with manipulatives + free printables from the web
Language: Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading + Get Set For The Code B + various workbooks, Bob Books, and letter of the week activities
Penmanship: plenty of D'Nealian manuscript copy work

I'd like us all to start learning Mandarin Chinese, too.  We've got some beginner books we'll use if I can find the accompanying CD.  I'm looking into some additional resources, as well.  Everyone says it is imperative to get a tutor to correct our tones.  Maybe there is someone at the hospital where I used to work who could lend us a hand with that.

Field Trips: We'll putting our zoo pass to good use.  We'll take some nature walks at Burr Oak Woods.  I'd also like to check out the arboretum.  Our city has an excellent museum with some great artifacts from ancient history.  The Chinese collection was always a favorite of mine as a kid.  Appropriate.  Of course, we'll have to have apple picking and pumpkin picking trips this fall.  We'll be celebrating the Autumn Moon Festival for the first time with Families Blessed with the World's Children.

I think this will keep us plenty busy and engaged.  Anyone else out there following some version of classical education?

I'm linking up to the "NOT Back-to-School" blog hop at the Heart of the Matter blog.