2012 "Curriculum"

Pre-K "Curriculum" for Greyson (will be 4 in September)

Thinking about Curriculum for the upcoming year was flat out exhausting and overwhelming.  There are WAY too many choices and for a newbie like me, I would give myself headaches just thinking about all of it.   I'm scared to even write this out b/c I know that it will change.  I don't really know Greyson's learning style yet and I'm still trying to understand how to do this whole homeschooling thing.  I'm scared :)

I took a step back and thought about my goals and focused on what Greyson's interests were.
*I knew that my ultimate goal for the year was to make learning fun for him and that I didn't want something too structured.
*I knew that we would be doing a lot of learning through play.
*I didn't know how he would do with workbooks or how he would do with sitting still.

But, I DID know that Greyson absolutely loves books and that's what drew me to Sonlight - a literature based curriculum.So, we will be using Sonlight P4/5 "with a twist".

The P4/5 core "Exploring God's World" is broken down as follows:

• Bible
• Storybook (nursery rhymes, bedtime stores, and tales and stories)
• Readiness Skills (focuses on perceptual growth (motor, visual, auditory, and comprehension skills)
• Science (farm, seasons, weather, ocean, machines, plants, animals, etc etc)
• Language Arts
• World Cultures 

Check out all of the books that we get to read :)  

We got our box of books over the summer and have peeked in and started to read a little. 

 

Now, the "with a twist" part -

• The Instructor's Guide (IG) says this is a 36 week curriculum.  I plan to spread it out and know that it will probably take us longer.

• Another commitment that I made was that if Greyson was not ready or interested in a certain book, then we will just put it on the shelf for a later time.  This is a fun year and I don't want to force anything

Bible
Family-Time Bible in Pictures
We start each day with a story out of this bible.  The pictures are rich and colorful, it's easy to read and understand, and includes questions that we explore.  

• Memory Verses:  The IG also includes a memory verse but, for now we aren't memorizing those.  Greyson is memorizing his verses from Sunday school throughout the summer and then in the fall will be back in his second year of Awana Cubbies.  We all loved Awana and can't wait for it to start again.

Read Alouds We read every day at breakfast, lunch, nap, bedtime and anywhere in between!  Did I mention that he loves books?  So, although I do like how the instructor's guide has everything laid out - by day, etc, I'm not going to get hung up on following it exactly week by week.   For example, the first book that Greyson picked up was Eric Carle's Animals Animals.    The IG may only have us on schedule to do 1 page out of the book for the current week.  We currently have this book at our dining table and read at breakfast or lunch.  If he wants to read more than 1 page from the book in a given day, then that's what we will do.  And the IG may have us skipping all over the book, we are just reading it in order and putting it down when we are ready.  My point is that we will be reading and learning through life whether we are at the dining room table or in a waiting room.  I, of course, will still be checking off what we read in the IG b/c I will want to feel accomplished but, we just won't be following the week by week exactly.  

Readiness Skills
Developing the Early Learner, Volume I from P4/5 - pre-reading experience focusing on the areas of perception: visual, auditory, motor, and comprehension skills.  We will aim to do these daily.

Science I plan to stretch out the P4/5 Science with supplemental books and activities.  He is interested in many of these topics right now so we will camp out on some of these for as long as he is interested.


Language Arts We have the Language Arts K from Sonlight but, I have no idea when I want or should start this piece.  Some of it is a bit advanced for him so, this is still up in the air.  

Math I didn't order anything for Math yet and don't really have a plan for that either.  Suggestions welcome?  I don't think (I could be wrong) that he would sit and do worksheets.  He may be more into hands on learning in this area but, I'm stuck in figuring out #1 - what he SHOULD be learning this year and #2 if I even need something formal.

 Co-Op He will also be in a Preschool Co-Op in the Fall (once a week)

This is the plan (or lack thereof) for now.    I mentioned above that we've peeked in to a few of the books throughout the summer but, I have officially marked August 6th as our official "First Day of Pre-K".  I'll begin updating the blog each week with our progress, what's working, what's not working, and whether I'm ready to throw in the towel and sign him up at the Preschool down the street... Ha ha - just kidding.

With a lot of prayer and grace, I think we can do this!

Let's Go :)