Charlotte and Reading.

So I've been experimenting with Charlotte and reading.

First choice was using All About Spelling and adapting it to use a reading program. The first problem.....adapting....I don't like doing it. The second problem....busy fingers + little tiles that I would like to keep in order for Sam's spelling lesson.....who needs that drama on a daily basis? We will re-introduce AAS when we are ready for a spelling program.

Second choice was Phonics Pathways. PP is working GREAT for Sam for a quick phonics drill/review. It is crazy boring for an active kid who is learning to read. I want to help her develop good habits for school not have a daily battle. PP was going to be a battle.....sit still....look here.....

I still had MFW K. I had looked at it and decided against using it because I really just need a phonics program. So I took the phonics worksheets, placed them in our file folders and tried it for a couple of weeks. Good fit! The lessons are short, varied and multisensory. It is a little "crafty" with lots of cut and paste which just happen to be a specialty of Charlotte....she LOVES crafty. She gets to touch, cut, paste, and learn a little about letters.

It keeps her interest and she is developing good habits for school. What more could a mama want?

The beginning of Charlotte's Kindergarten Year.....

Where oh where has the time gone? Little Charlotte --whose big claim to fame at the start of the little blog was that she had just moved from her crib---- is almost 5 and it is time for the schooling to begin.

She has been enjoying a long and wonderful Charlotte Mason Preschool but it is time to add in a little bit of schoolwork each day. We have added a little bit this past year as she desired but in no way have we've been consistent or required that she participate.......and most days she did not. However, she would often stand beside Sam as we worked through a concept and she has been able to pick up quite a bit in this manner.

Our Kindergarten philosophy is still the basic plan for this next year. We will still spend a great quantity of time outside exploring our world but we need to add something to start developing the habit of schooltime. The difference between Sam's Kindergarten year and Charlotte's Kindergarten year is that Charlotte will have a slightly older brother's studies to tag-a-long. She already participates in some of the science projects, craft projects and read alouds that are scheduled in MFW Adventures. There is little need to plan on scheduling extra stories----unless she requests a re-read of her particular favorites of the past few years. So the big additions will be handwriting, math and phonics.

We will use Handwriting without Tears and Math-U-See Primer just as we did with Sam.

The big questions is phonics. She has already picked up quite a bit of the phonics by listening to Sam's lessons. 100 Easy lessons is going to be a step back. Honestly, I just don't think I'm willing to work through 100 Easy lessons for a 4th time! Since I plan on using All About Spelling with her next year for spelling that is the first option. I hear rumors of people who are using this spelling program to teach their children to read. Phonics Pathways is the second option. For the next month we are going to experiment with these two resources and see which "clicks" with her and is easy enough for me to pull together with minimal effort.

So the plan for Charlotte's Kindergarten year.

---Daily use

MUS Primer,

HWOT,

and our phonics program to help develop the habit of schooltime.

---Encourage her to participate in Sam's studies with MFW Adventures.

---Continue to spending lots of time in play both indoors and out.

Let the Adventure begin!

Quarter Update-Spring 2008

Reading-worked out way to lesson 35 with 100 EZ lessons before switching gears. We are back to using LLATL blue doing 4 lessons per week just finished Part 2 lesson 6. All the little pieces that drive me nuts fulfill something in Sam so we will continue using this.

MUS- currently on lesson 27. Will finish Primer then start Alpha this summer. MUS is a winner all the way around.

Handwriting-Finished HWT Kindergarten.

Speech- Almost done! We are weaning off Speech Therapy and are currently only attending 1x per month. Speech Therapy is our blankie and we aren't quite ready to give it up. I need a few more months of security.

Sam has really been enjoying our new books especially Burgess' Seashore book. SOTW co-op has been a hit except when we meet at the park......he loses interest quickly when he sees his younger friends running around and playing!

Art with Big Sis' just didn't happen but we have an Art Class during the time our history co-op meets so my desire to add some art/drawing will be met with this activity.

During the summer quarter we will continue to transition to Year 1 but not extend the length of our school day. Our daily schedule will flip/flop and we'll start adding our Year 1 books to our reading rotation.

Mondays schedule - schoolwork in the mornings so we can attend our co-op in the afternoon.

T/TH Mornings will be pool time in the morning with schooltime in the afternoon.

Friday mornings we will do our nature study in the morning with schooltime in the afternoon.

Our Year 1 booklist

Daily we'll work on

-LA- LLATL blue lesson with a copywork selections chosen from HWT or LLATL

-MUS lesson

-Speech work/Memory work 1 poem this quarter

-Daily reading with narrations

-review Spanish

-listen to composer during playtime

Weekly

Monday

-SOTW/ Art Co-op.

Tuesday

-Handicraft activity

Thursday

-Artist Study

-Introduce new Spanish phrase or words

Friday

-Nature study

I have made our summer schedule and for 9 weeks of school and I used only 2 sheets of paper. I have one page that includes all of our daily activities to check off using Donna Youngs Quarter Planner. The second sheet I created with AO Year 1 reading schedule that I tweaked to allow for our substitutions and to make sure we have only 1 reading selection per day. I kept our daily activities separate so I could re-copy that sheet for each quarter if we don't have any major changes during the year.

Time for a few weeks break-Should start the summer schedule June 16.

Green Hour #14

Pressing Flowers- Green Hour #14

The flower of the week was our Hibiscus. We reviewed the anther and filiment and our new flower part is the stigma which is quite prominant on a Hibiscus. Our plant had flowers in all stages from buds to faded blooms. We also took a good look at our Huisache-Daisy and were able to see them in all stages as well.
Sam watched the video from Green Hour #14 , helped me gather supplies and gathered our Huisache-Daisy and Hibiscus. He was upset that there weren't more variety in our backyard! Charlotte brought us a few Dandelions to press as well. Sam is thinking about what to do with these flowers after they are pressed - his suggestions was to make bookmarks.....we'll see how they turn out.

This was the simplest flower press to make! He could do it all by himself!

Green Hour #13

We wanted to take a closer look at our Stargazer Lily but there were no blooms. Sam found perhaps the saddest looking trumpet lily in a much neglected part of our yard- I had quite forgotten that it existed.

We laminated the front and back of one card with the parts of the flower from Barb- Harmony Art Mom's Green Hour Challenge #13. The second card has our Stargazer Lily on one side and our Trumpet Lily on the other.

I wanted to ID the anther and filament since they so prominent on these specimens. Sam wanted to ID all the parts so that is what we did. I think Sam is going to have an easy time remembering our terms for this week-our lily's anther was LOADED with pollen and he was covered with it by the time he was done examining it.

We walked around the yard taking photos of our flowers for the upcoming week and we came across these bugs. I'm not sure what they are but we'll keep an eye on them to see if we can figure it out.

Green Hour #12

New Nature study focus-Green Hour Challenge #12

Sam has had his eye on this particular kit for a while so when I mention that we were going to plant some seeds there was no doubt which seeds we were going to plant! I purchased the fly trap terranium and we kneeded the peat moss and then Sam added the water to make the mixture.

He created a "river" with rocks and added a mini snake for good measure. Now we finally get down to business and plant the tiniest seeds you can imagine. The next step is to........place terratium in the refrigerator and leave for 8 WEEKS before continuing the planting procedure. This is know as stratification. AHHHH.....I know I did this with the older kids but I don't remember this particular step! Check back with us sometime in August.....we'll have some Venus Fly Traps to show ya'll.

Rocket boys

Dear hubby, John, did mention that he was doing science experiments with the kids .....I just didn't realize that it involved explosives.

Evaluation of Sam's Kindergarten Year

We still have 2 more weeks before we take a short break from school but it is a good time to sit back and evaluate before making plans for Sam's year 1.


I use What Your Child Needs to Know When by Robin Sampson to evaluate the kid's progress. I don't use it to plan the year but use it as a benchmark that I review quarterly to make sure we are making progress. Sam accomplished all of the K level requirements by March and has done about 1/4 of the 1st grade as of today.


At Sam's 5th birthday.....

-he only knew the names of a few of the letters and even fewer of the letter sounds. He can now read simple 1st grade level books.

-He could count to 10 but did not recognize numbers. He can now count to 100+,understands place value, can do addition to sum of 10, and skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s. He has started to answer the addition problems and then check his answer with blocks.


-He could write his name in block letters. He can now write all the letter in upper and lower case and has started doing some simple copywork.

Beyond the basics, Sam enjoyed many good books and through them he explored geography, science , history and literature in a fun , easy manner. He also did a very thorough study of the human body on his own initiative. Dad and Sam have enjoyed doing science experiments together when I'm at work including but not necessarily limited to magnets, rockets, and a few that I don't recall since I didn't get to participate.

I have learned that CM is a good fit for my younger children-I now have a solid framework to work with when planning this upcoming year. I have also learned that using manipulatives is very important for Sam and I need to be willing to work with that need during his learning to read phrase.


Looking forward to working with a 6 year old boy soon!

Spring Update.

Things are changing around here. Sam has grown completely out of the stage of hearing a story over and over so we have abandoned FIAR and reading 1 story each week. Instead we are reading SOTW story on Monday, Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson on Tuesday, Burgess Seashore Book for Children on Thursday, and a Fairytale/literature selection on Friday.

We are also planning on taking a break from 100 EZ lessons. I feel like we are nearing a wall and instead of frustrating Sam and actually hitting it we are going to do something else for awhile. He is getting bogged down with the sounding out of words as the reading selections have increased in length. I have pulled out the cards that I have laminated from LLATL and made a few more to correspond to what he has learned from 100 EZ lessons with the idea to spend some time drilling while playing games. I found a game board online and laminated it. I will see how creative I can get with this over the next few weeks. Concentration, Go Fish type games are a given. I think I can come up with a couple of ideas with the game board....roll the dice and you get to move X number of spots if you read X number of words....that sort of thing. We will also spend this time reading the booklets that we have from LLATL and the stories we have already read with 100 EZ lessons. I will also try to create some CM styled reading lessons with The Primer by Treadmill that I have on hand. Lots of ideas and I'll just have to wait and see which one works best for him.

Green Hour #10 & #11

Green Hour Challenge #10 asked us to have an outdoor picnic. My kids thought I'd lost it when I took this picture of them eating today. We eat outdoors several times a week most of the year-although usually not junk food like today!

Green Hour Challenge #11 asked us to start a seasonal tree study. Our focus area this quarter has been trees and we are ambitious and are going to try to follow 6 of the trees in our yard. We shall see how that turns out this year.....

Big Sis' joined us for a hike after lunch. We were able to climb the bike trails which is far more exciting then walking the flat walking paths. Sam calls this off-roading and it is one of his favorite activities.
We also toured a local sea turtle facility. Awesome! We've toured one during a recent trip to Florida but yesterday we were able to get up close. It was SO hot in there the kids were beet red and our clothing was drenched with sweat when we left.

Charlotte was amazed by the babies and didn't want to leave their tank. Sam was fascinated with the 2 year old turtles and we learned that in nature it would take these loggerhead turtles 7 years to reach this size.

Green Hour #9

We spent the day attempting to volunteer at the butterfly garden and chasing Charlotte which didn't work out very well. While we were there we got a chance to watch this baby armadillo do some serious rooting around in square foot area.

Be the armadillo, Sam! We did not have as much luck finding items as the armadillo but it sure was fun pretending.

Green Hour #8

Magnifying glasses have always been well used around here but our absolute favorite was a Brock Magiscope which proved to be indestructable but not toddler proof. Charlotte managed to hide the shaft so well that we have never been able to find it. Our new favorite device is the Eyeclops.
You really can see your sweat as it emerges from the gland and nothing gets our whole family involved in one activity than this cool device. Far better that an microscope because everyone can "ohhh and ahhh" at the same time. Today we looked at leaves, a couple of the wildflowers in our yard, and of course body parts....we can't seem to get the eyeclops out without trying to find something on somebody that is disgusting. It was remarkably easy to get Sam in the shower tonight after he saw how much microscopic dirt was on him after our outing this afternoon.
This week we added an entry for our Texas Ash tree. Sam disliked my attempted outline of a Blue Jay so I found a website with a picture that I printed off for him to color. He is very specific about what he wants to include in his notebook. This entry has a drawing of the bark , a leaf rubbing, a Blue Jay, and a drawing of his treehouse that is under this tree.

A pan of seeds, assorted funnels and containers to fill and refill and you have entertainment for the kids, seeds for the birds and hopefully plants in a few weeks.

Up close and personal- Green Hour # 8

Spring Schedule

Our spring got off to a rocky start with an unplanned 2 1/2 week break due to illnesses. Our daily rhythm has not changed too much since winter but we have added a few things to our week.

We are still doing our schoolwork in the mornings starting around 9am.

We work through

MUS, primer
HWT- Kindergarten
our story of the week-chosen from amblesideonline Year 0 and Five in a row
100 EZ lessons
Speech work.

We have added to our weekly schedule-

1. Composer study done informally- This season Handel. I have a a CD that I play during the little kids morning indoor playtime.
2. Artist study done informally- This season Da Vinci. I have been using various Da Vinci works as the computer wallpaper and taking a good look at a particular work once a week usually Mondays.
3. History Co-op on Mondays- Sam started participating in a Story of the World co-op and loves it so we will do a Monday SOTW reading with this group. He really felt like a big kid in this group. I have to be honest and say that SOTW isn't a favorite but it an awesome group of families and the co-op is the resource that I'd be foolish not to participate in.
4. Started reading Burgess' Seashore Book. Doing 1 chapter a week usually on Tuesdays. When finish will start Burgess' Bird Book
5. Started reading Little House in the Big Woods. Doing 1 chapter a week spread over 2 days usually on Thursday and Friday. When finish will either read another free reading selection for AO year 1 or perhaps start a AO year 1 literature selection.
6. Participation in the Green Hour Challenge doing our planned activity on Friday afternoons.
7. Poetry- poem related to our nature study that I recite to the kids several times a day. I keep a copy on the fridge so I remember to do this! No one has memorized it yet but it keeps sounding better and better each time it is read.

Our Afternoons are spent -

Monday- History Co-op 1-2 hour. 1-2 hours outside time.
Tuesday- Speech Therapy alternating weeks and 2-4 hours outside time
Wed- the kids are at grandma's while I work
Thursday- exploring various parks in the area - 2-4 hours outside time
Friday- Planned nature study time- 2-4 hours outside time

Kindergarten- Charlotte Mason Style

"Home the best Growing-ground for Young Children.––All the same, whatever be the advantages of Kindergarten or other schools for little children, the home schoolroom ought to be the best growing-ground for them." Home Education pg. 171




A look at a typical week in the life of a CM Kindergartner as examined by Charlotte Mason's Six Points (Home Education pgs. 178-179)






"(a) That the knowledge most valuable to the child is that which he gets with his own eyes and ears and fingers (under direction) in the open air."



Kindergarten is a continuation of all the activities that he started in our preschool program. It continues to be important that he experience the world using all of his senses in the great outdoors.






"(b) That the claims of the schoolroom should not be allowed to encroach on the child's right to long hours daily for exercise and investigation."


We spend less that 4 hours a week on the types of activities that many associate with kindergarten work. It seems like a shocking small amount of time to spend on his education doesn't it? But that 4 hours a week over a course of a year he will complete our phonics program and be reading 2nd grade level books.....although he could easily start this at age 6 if it caused stress. He will complete a math program designed for 5 yo ....although he could easily start this math program next year and cover the material faster. Five years olds are usually ready for a bit more than previous years but it is foolish to think they need to spend hours a day satisfying that desire. The trick is to find that balance that satisfies his need to learn but is not a burden.

"Again, the child in the Kindergarten is set to such tasks only as he is competent to perform, and then, whatever he has to do, he is expected to do perfectly." Home Education. pg. 181



"(c) That the child should be taken daily, if possible, to scenes––moor or meadow, park, common, or shore––where he may find new things to examine, and so add to his store of real knowledge. That the child's observation should be directed to flower or boulder, bird or tree; that, in fact, he should be employed in gathering the common information which is the basis of scientific knowledge."


His observation on this excursion.....

"This pine cone is smaller than those from my pine tree and the needles are different from my pine tree. They are similar but different, why? "

My job is to find the answers to his questions, supply the names of these trees and not make it into a lecture that spoils the fun.

"(d) That play, vigorous healthful play, is, in its turn, fully as important as lessons, as regards both bodily health and brain-power."


I cannot imagine him spending the day sitting in a classroom. I wonder how many "naughty" boys are sitting in a classroom wishing they could just run and play a bit.






"(e) That the child, though under supervision, should be left much to himself––both that he may go to work in his own way on the ideas that he receives, and also that he may be the more open to natural influences. "



If you listen to a 5 year play you will hear them reenact all the stories that you have read to them. Choose wisely.....









"(f) That the happiness of the child is the condition of his progress; that his lessons should be joyous, and that occasions of friction in the schoolroom are greatly to be deprecated."


Kindergarten is the foundation of your child's future school years. Lessons should be enjoyable and not a burden-there is nothing that cannot be learned next year if it becomes a source of conflict so structure your day so you see lots of smiles. You will be thankful you did in the years to come.




Habits-

Although not one of Charlotte Mason's Six Points, I notice that the 5th year is the year the habits that I work on with my children really become ... well...Habits. Requests that a few months ago would have resulted in a meltdown are now answered with a cheerful ," Yes, Ma'am." We still have more work to do but progress is being made...


"Education is the formation of habits." Home Education pg. 98

Quarter Update- Winter 2008

It has been a great quarter -everything has just falling into place.

Sam is doing very well with 100 EZ lessons. He has just completed lesson 22 and the blending is coming along nicely. He has started completing 3 lessons a week this week. He is excited about the stories and will probably start completing a lesson a day shortly.

MUS is working out well for him. He usually insist on doing math first. He has finished lesson 17 and we are doing 1 lesson a week. He is remembering the +1 and double math facts with just a little help. We just started learning counting by 2s this week.

Five in a Row has been a really enjoyable resource to use. I've read books that I would have never picked off the shelf and they have been a joy. The is a great resource for 5yos....it is helping Sam look at more in the story than just the entertainment value. I am hoping that this extra attention to specific aspects of each story will help him develop that habit of attention that Charlotte Mason encourages and thus will help him with the narration next year.

We have finally started lowercase letters with HWT. I want to work with encouraging him in doing copywork in his brand new Nature Book that he just started this day.

We have added a Nature study following the Green Hour challenge. Love, love ,love it! Sam started his Nature Notebook today. I didn't plan on starting a NN until age 6 but he really enjoyed doing it. He is usually reluctant to draw or write anything "special" that will be kept so this is a huge development!

He has been doing school at Grandma's on Wednesdays. Grandma picked up some items at a local teacher supply and they have been doing arts/crafts, practicing his letters, and playing educational games.

Speech is still ongoing - we attend biweekly. He is so very ready for ST to be done but we aren't quite there.

I started this blog. I've been concentrating on the little kids mainly to not mortify the older kids by blabbing about their ups and downs. I don't even think I mentioned the older kids names yet. This blog has helped me to "switch gears" with my thinkings and doings in regards to school and to actually see just how much I am actually doing with Sam.

Habits- Sam is now going to bed all by himself. Wow what a difference. Charlotte is now the trouble maker at bedtime since moving to her big girl bed. Sam has been such a helper with picking up. He has started picking up his toys without being asked.


Things I want to change next quarter.....absolutely nothing!

I want to encourage him to copy his words into his nature book.

I want to encourage more art/drawing....not only in his nature book but also start an art book. Perhaps I can ask Big Sis to draw with him. They spent an evening this week drawing together and he really enjoyed....I think she did as well. I think there is a copy of Draw Write Now up in Big Sis' stuff from years ago perhaps she'll be willing to devote a special time just the 2 of them. I'll suggest and see how this works out.

New Habits to work on....??? I need to think on this a bit. Perhaps limiting tv/computer time.....our tv/computer time increased substantially this winter due to poor weather so I would like to get it back under control. This should be relatively easily replaced with outside time. Sam has learned how to completely operate the computer and can find his games and I find him on the computer at all times of the day....so I need to either block his access or redirect him when he gets on. Computer time is going to be harder to control in the evenings because he likes to play games while Dad is online next to him. Perhaps this will be easily replace with activities outside when the time changes and it is light enough to go for a family outing when Dad gets home from work.

Green Hour #3

Assignment #3

"Why do pupils dislike writing English exercises? Simply because they are not interested in the subject they are asked to write about, and they know that the teacher is not interested in the information contained in the essay. But when they are interested in the subject and write about it to a person who is interested, the conditions are entirely changed." Handbook of Nature Study pg.16

May I always remember to help them find their interest before requiring them to write.






Sam's words for this week...

Silence

Red Beetle

Rough Hard Bark

The specimens were the pine trees in our back yard. Sam has been collecting pine cones all week.










Sam hard at work on his first entry to his Nature Notebook. He did not want to copy his words but wanted me to write them for him.








He is quite proud of the results. I don't think his smile could be any bigger!





Sam's only complaint was that my camera could not take a picture of the red beetle that was climbing on his tree. I need to upgrade my camera!

Green Hour #2

"...although I have used these outlines once, I am sure I should never be able to use them again without making changes." Pg. 24 HNS

I love this. All to often homeschool moms use a curriculum and think they need to use it exactly as it was written or they will miss out on something. Anna Comstock is telling us the she wouldn't use her own volume in such a manner but would tweak it each time she did a lesson.



Sam's words...

Cooing
Gray Pigeon
Fresh warm wind





Charlotte's words...

Quack!
Duck-Duck
Flowers!





Mama's words...

Laughter
Happy children
Hugs, kisses, love.

Green Hour #1

I'm a total newbie to this blogging thing but I came across the Green Hour Challenge.


Very timely.....I have just recently started rereading my old beaten copy of Handbook of Nature Study. The kids and I have had a long standing habit of nature study although perhaps not as focused as Charlotte Mason intended, especially with my younger two.

This week we found out more about the Roseate Spoonbill and Great Egret birds. We have been seeing these birds all over town this week. Next week I will remember to keep my camera handy because I've missed some great pictures!

Friday we will head off to a local lake and I hope to get some pictures of these birds at that time.

This week I started the Nature Study page element on my blog. Nature study is going to be SOOO much easier in 2008 then it was in 1994!

Our Daily Rhythm

Our day does follow a predictable pattern. It is very flexible .....it is not governed by time although I do use time as a benchmark. This is our our days look like this winter....

We wake , fix and eat breakfast. The little kids then get to play until about 9am. At 9 I bring out all the books that Sam and I are working on-

MUS, primer
HWT- Kindergarten
our story of the week-chosen from amblesideonline Year 0 and Five in a row
100 EZ lessons
Speech work.

We rotate through these until done for the day. Sometimes we will need to put one up when he loses interest and come back to it during are daily morning time. Everything will get done in this morning session but sometimes a lesson is done in 2 short segments instead of 1 longer segment depending on his attention. Charlotte comes and listens and colors with her books as she sees fit. This portion of our day can be shorter if Charlotte is content to play in another room and Sam is very eager or it can be longer when Charlotte joins us for most of the lessons. Either way is fine.

I am trying to implement a little yoga at the end of this time. This is something new and somedays it is a better experience than others. This is not a habit yet but a habit in progress. It usually works out better when older sis joins in.

The little kids then have the rest of the morning to play inside. I use this time to do chores and to work with my older daughter as needed. There are days that I spend most of this time helping the little kids entertain themselves. This is especially true when we haven't had a great deal of time outside during the week.

Lunch is next at 12pm followed by a rest time. Rest time is really hit and miss after lunch.

Around 1pm we either head out for errands, a local co-op, or a nature walk depending on the day of the week.

Around 2pm I hope to have the little kids outside to play and I hope to stay out there for about 2 hours.

Around 4pm we head indoors for a snack and a rest time. They are ready to lounge after being outside for 2 hours. They then play inside until dinner time. I use this time to check email, do a pick up and start dinner. My older kids are usually chatty at this time and I spend time listening and talking with them.

Dad is home at 6pm and we eat dinner followed by baths, more play time -usually on the computer next to dad. Next is a story and then bedtime.

We have been really lax about a bedtime for Sam which all started during the 9 weeks that I was on bedrest for Charlotte. This is the habit that we have been working on this month.

That's a really good day.

Tuesdays don't follow that pattern.

Tuesdays the teens have a class that meets at 9am.and Sam has speech at 10am. We drop teens at their class head over to Speech.On good weather days we play in a park until 10 am ....the past 2 weeks we did Sam's schoolwork in the car. This actually worked surprisingly well. We pick up teens at 11am , eat lunch and the teens have another class that day at 1:30. The little kids and I either head back to another park or to grandma's house depending on weather. We arrive back home at 3pm. If Sam and I did not do anywork in the morning we will try to finish it now. Thankfully, we only have about 10 more of these Tuesdays left this year.

Sam's 5yo booklist

Our Kindergarten philosophy explains how we put it all together.

Reading-100 Easy Lessons

Math- Math-U-See Primer

Handwriting-Handwriting without Tears-K

Stories - Chosen from Ambleside Year 0 and Five in a Row


Specific stories that we read this year.....

A Story of Ping- Marjorie Flack

Lentil by Robert Mccloskey

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen

How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills.

Winnie the Pooh series by AA Milne

Beatrix Potter series

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola

Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz

Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

Night of the Moon jellies by Mark Shasha

The Giraffe That Walked to Paris by Nancy Milton

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

For the Children's Hour by Carolyn S. Bailey

Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson ( 1st 6 chapters )

The Seashore Book for Children by Thornton Burgess ( 1st 8 chapters)

Story of the World Vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer ( Ch. 36-42 ....participation in local history co-op)

The Child's Book of Stories by Jessie Willcox Smith ( Shorter selection)

+ others that I forgot since last fall