Journey through Homeschooling

First Grade is Almost Here!

2010-09-27T17:28:00.001-05:00

I have not blogged in over two weeks! Every moment I thought about doing it, I had something more important to do. What can possibly be more important sharing with the homeschool community? Planning FIRST GRADE.

Most homeschool parents seems to follow a traditional school year calendar; which results in approximately 3 months to plan, gather, and construct the upcoming school year. Well, I only plan to take 2 weeks between grade levels. Guess what that means? I have only 2 weeks to do everything!

Fortunately, I realized this a couple weeks ago and been consumed with getting everything together. Especially because we only have 1.5 weeks between grades this year. YIKES! I am very relieved that I purchased Math, Phonics, and Handwriting for our first grade curriculum in May and kind of already have Reading, Writing, Social Studies, Art, Sight Words, and Spanish planned out. The main cause of my stress is Science, History, and Geography. I have NO CLUE what curriculum to choose!

SCIENCE
It is a toss up between Nancy Larson Science One and Real Science-4-Kids Pre-Level 1 Chemistry. I have spent days comparing the two and keep going back and forth. One great thing about Real Science is that I can download individual chapters {for $3.50} to try out. But do I really want to focus solely on Chemistry? For this reason, Nancy Larson comes out on top because it teaches life, physical, and earth science {with emphasis on life science}.

GEOGRAPHY
At the homeschool convention in May, I purchased Cantering the Country {US Geography} and Galloping the Globe {World Geography}. I have read about Galloping on several blogs but did not find anyone that uses Cantering. Galloping seems like a TON of fun but shouldn’t I make sure she knows more about our country?

HISTORY
I have spent countless hours searching websites and have not found a single curriculum I fancy. I am thinking of using the state requirements as a guideline and putting together my own thing.

Please, please voice your opinion in regards to what you think is best for Science, Geography, History. I would absolutely LOVE to read your thoughts.

Hope your school year is off to a great start!

Telling Time

2010-09-10T11:21:00.000-05:00

The past couple of weeks, I have been teaching Kangaroo how to tell time. We have been focusing on the hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour. Of course telling time to the hour has been a cinch, but the others are a bit more challenging.

This week I made her a Telling Time Booklet . The first several pages are clocks with only the minute hand on them at 5 minute increments {5, 10, 15, …} and the remaining pages have clocks with various times to the hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour. {I plan to include additional pages with clocks at 5 minute increments later.}

To make the booklet:

print each sheet on 4x6 cardstock
laminate
hole punch the top
secure with ribbon
{Please note, if you print on 4x6 cardstock, go to the Adobe Reader Print Menu and select Choose Paper Source by PDF page size. Also, remember you can print front-t0-back to save laminating sheets.}

You could also:

print on letter-size paper
insert in page protectors

I prefer to use Vis-a-Vis markers to write the answer. Make sure you use a damp cloth to erase.

If you are interested in downloading, check out the Scribd box below :)

Enjoy!

Telling Time Booklet

Our Homeschool Calendar

2010-09-03T11:51:00.000-05:00

One major thing I failed to do when we first began homeschooling was plan a calendar for our school year. Well, I kind of had a plan: We would finish Kindergarten on date XYZ. Did I mention I did not schedule breaks {besides Thanksgiving and Christmas}? After finally realizing my mistake, I looked online to find out what other homeschooling parents were doing and used 5J's.com as a guideline.

After months of trial and error I have finally figured out a schedule that we plan to implement when we start First Grade {November 1, 2010}.

Term 1 (7 weeks) November 1 – December 21
- November 24-26 off for Thanksgiving
- December 22-24 off for Christmas
Term 2 (6 weeks) December 27 – February 4
- 1 week break February 5-11
Term 3 (7 weeks) February 14 – April 1
- 1 week break April 4-8
Term 4 ( 7 weeks) April 11 – May 23
- 1 week May 30 – June 3
Term 5 (9 weeks) June 6 – August 5
- School year completed!
Start Second Grade August 22 or August 29

We will only take a 2-3 week break between grades because I see no reason for us to take months off from school. We get antsy! If we have to miss a day of school because of an illness or such, we will make up that day on the weekend.

The breaks that are scheduled during the school year will be used for family trips or personal trips. The GREAT thing about homeschooling is that we can take vacations during the off season and save $$$.

In case you are wondering why we are starting First Grade in November, it is because I decided to restart Kindergarten in January 2010 {we originally started August 2009 but the previous curriculum was too easy and Kangaroo learned nada.}

What is your school year calendar like? If you are up to sharing, I would love to read about it!

Winners! Curriculum Clean-Out Giveaway

2010-08-31T20:18:00.000-05:00

Hi there everyone! This late afternoon I emailed the four winners of the curriculum giveaway. Make sure you check your email!

Many thanks to all of you that entered. It is great to know that you all were very interested in the giveaway and that I am able to bless a few of you.

Please know that this will not be the last of the giveaways! I am pretty sure I will find additional items that need a new home.

I also want to thank those that are now following my blog and want to apologize for the trouble you encountered. Hopefully there will not be any hiccups during the next giveaway :) I finally have an audience!

Had trouble leaving a comment?

2010-08-26T18:50:00.000-05:00

Hi there! My apologies to anyone who had a problem leaving comments for the Curriculum Clean-Out Giveaway. Apparently, the word verification is not visible if the blog is viewed using Internet Explorer.

I have disabled the word verification so you should not have any more problems entering the giveaway {keeping fingers crossed}. If you are still having problems, please email me & I will enter you in the giveaway myself.

Thank you for being patient with me!!

Ps. I think I should change my blog title to “Journey through Blogging”

Curriculum Clean-Out Giveaway {4}

2010-08-26T12:03:00.000-05:00

This giveaway is for a *like new* book to teach your child writing. There is a daily lesson plan and dozens of student samples included!

This smart, simple approach ensures that kindergarteners write at or above a first-grade level by the end of the year. Master teacher Randee Bergen shares her yearlong plan for daily writing, providing complete lessons and tips for motivating all learners, managing writing time, and assessing children's work effectively and efficiently. Includes guided lessons for the whole group as well as individualized mini-lessons to support learners exactly where they need help. For use with Grade K.

To enter leave a comment telling me why you’d like to win this curriculum.

For an *extra* entry, subscribe to this blog!

Winner will be contacted by September 1 and I will ship immediately thereafter. Please make sure you leave contact info in your comment.

Good Luck!

Curriculum Clean-Out Giveaway {3}

2010-08-26T10:32:00.000-05:00

This giveaway is for a *brand new* File Folder Games book you can use to make games for language arts & math. There are 8 language arts games and 10 math games.

This resource is comprised of 18 full-color games that can be assembled with ease. Just glue the colorful games onto file folders and cut apart the game cards. A perfect tool for children who need a little extra help, this book includes games that are ideal for honing skills such as phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, visual discrimination, and pattern recognition. Other skills include counting sets, categorizing shapes, coin recognition, and much more.

To enter leave a comment telling me why you’d like to win this curriculum.

For an *extra* entry, subscribe to this blog!

Winner will be contacted by September 1 and I will ship immediately thereafter. Please make sure you leave contact info in your comment.

Good Luck!

“Houston … We have a problem”

2010-08-25T22:53:00.001-05:00

Just noticed something really weird about my blog …. the Comment bubble was not working. It has been fixed & is ready to go!

A MILLION & ONE APOLOGIES!

Curriculum Clean-Out Giveaway {2}

2010-08-25T21:26:00.001-05:00

This giveaway is for (2) My First Draw & Write Journals and (1) Daily Reading Book Log. All three are *brand new* and will be given to one lucky winner!

50-page journal has room to record each book kids read for the entire school year, including titles, authors and dates. Plus, there are special pages for detailed reading responses—every week!

The perfect journal for beginners! Kid-friendly pages have lots of room on top for drawing, and writing lines below—so kids can add simple words and sentences to their pictures. There are even alphabet reference pages for extra help! 8" x 10 1/2"; 60 pages.

To enter leave a comment telling me why you’d like to win this curriculum.

For an *extra* entry, subscribe to this blog!

Winner will be contacted by September 1 and I will ship immediately thereafter. Please make sure you leave contact info in your comment.

Good Luck!

Curriculum Clean-Out Giveaway {1}

2010-08-24T17:43:00.001-05:00

This giveaway is for a great book to use for teaching sight words! There is not a single marking on the pages but about 40 pages have been carefully ripped out so I could copy them. I will included these pages held together with a binder clip.

With reproducible word wall cards and a 6-page reproducible activity booklet for each of 170 sight words, this resource has everything you need to help students build strong sight word identification skills. Improve comprehension and fluency with rainbow writing, tracing and printing, word building, word pyramids, word blending, missing letters, a variety of word and letter puzzles, and more. Supports NCTE standards.

To enter leave a comment telling me why you’d like to win this curriculum.

For an *extra* entry, subscribe to this blog!

Winner will be contacted by September 1 and I will ship immediately thereafter. Please make sure you leave contact info in your comment.

Good Luck!

Half Price Books Haul #2

2010-08-17T17:29:00.000-05:00

The purpose of this HPB Haul was to find great history book to add to our homeschool library. {Truth: I did not plan to make the trip. I was driving by on my way to the farmer’s market and just HAD to run in for a few minutes.}
I did not have time to REALLY look through the entire History section but I did find these great books within 5 minutes!

Homeschooling in Texas

2010-08-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

I remember when I decided to homeschool like it was yesterday. I was VERY nervous about this endeavor. Before starting a new project or putting something together, you research or review directions right? Therefore, the place to begin was finding out the homeschool laws in my state.

In my opinion, the homeschool laws in Texas are very very lax. It seems the only thing I have to do is use

a written curriculum consisting of reading, spelling, grammar, math and a course in good citizenship; no other requirements apply.

Really???? That’s it?!?!? How many days a school year am I required to teach? What about other subjects? What do I teach at each grade level? Who do I send paperwork or a portfolio to? How do I prove that she is learning? When do I HAVE to teach? Do I have to follow the standard school year calendar?

I should consider myself lucky that the laws are not as strict as Pennsylvania or New York. But I ended up stressed out because I did not have any guidance. I think there should be a tad more oversight from the state. Then again, maybe my idea of ‘tad’ and their idea is completely different. Maybe I don't want Texas law to change.

Fortunately I worked everything out and homeschooling has been a SUCCESS {so far}.

Half Price Books Haul #1

2010-08-06T01:09:00.000-05:00

As you know, textbooks are very expensive! A friend recommended I visit Half Price Books for used {and sometimes new} books & textbooks. I did not think I would find a. single. thing. but decided to give it shot.

Wow! There are lots and lots of books there (depending on the location you visit). And better yet, there is a ‘homeschooling’ section!

Check out my purchase!

These Art textbooks are for second through fifth grade. I hit the jackpot! Four great textbooks for four consecutive grades!!! The downside is they did not have a first grade textbook in stock. Rats :(

I am very excited about these textbooks because Kanga will have a true art education. In addition to various art & crafts projects, Art Everywhere covers

art theory
art technique
art appreciation
art history

Did I mention these books were only $7.98 each! What a bargain!!!

I look forward to sharing my future Half Price Books haul with you!!

A Reason to Blog

2010-07-26T21:13:00.001-05:00

Today I read a blog posting featured on Carisa’s site 1+1+1=1 that details the history of how her site began. She mentions that she was a “reluctant homeschooler” who began as a blog reader and eventually created her own WONDERFUL site. Reading how she began let me know that it is normal to not be gung-ho when starting out.

I started homeschooling my 4.5 year old August 2009. I was against homeschooling but thought I should “try it out” because it was best for my child (“Kangaroo”). My plan was to teach Kangaroo Kindergarten and WHEN it did not work out, Kangaroo would enroll in a private Kindergarten August 2010 and not be behind. Genius right? Turns out, I enjoyed teaching Kangaroo! However, things got hmmm…

I was not excited to teach Kangaroo & Kangaroo no longer enjoyed learning. It wasn’t until December 2009 I realized what was wrong: the Kindergarten curriculum we were using was TOO EASY! I was depressed for a couple days and beat myself up. What took me so long to see it? Why did I purchase this curriculum? How do I fix this?

Initially, I refused to purchase new curriculum because I had spent a lot of of $$$ on the current one. But I had to; there was no way I could make the other one work. I spent a week researching different options and found one I thought would challenge Kangaroo.

In addition to purchasing new curriculum, I decided I wanted to implement a system and find something new to supplement it. But what? I spent an evening Googling ‘homeschool ideas’ and found a couple great ideas I had never heard of before: lapbooks and Sue Patrick's Workbox System. I looked at homeschooling blogs for examples and developed a plan with my own spin on things. It was a very hectic week in our household! Imagine redoing things the week of Christmas!

We restarted Kindergarten January 2010 and it went great! Kangaroo was finally challenged and learning. As the months went by, I started to miss the blogs I visited. Reading blogs by other homeschooling mothers made me feel I was not alone in this journey.

So … April 2010 I decided to regularly follow these blogs:

I have thought of starting a blog for months but do I really have anything of value to share? I think I do not but I should let you be the judge of that. The blogs I mentioned above are full of resourceful information and it is only fair that I share my experiences with this homeschooling journey and help someone else.

If you are interested in reading the blog post I mentioned, here is the link: The History of 1+1+1=1.

Blog Design

2010-07-24T09:28:00.000-05:00

It has been very FUN trying to figure out how to design a blog. The last time I used HTML & CSS was almost ten years ago to format a webpage on AOL! YIKES! Does anyone use AOL anymore?

Hopefully I will get the hang of this in the following week so I can actually start posting.

First Post Ever!

2010-07-22T18:34:00.001-05:00

This is my first time writing a blog. I created this blog because I currently homeschool my child and wanted a spot to record what we are doing. Eventually, I would like to post information I think other homeschooling parents could use. I am by no means an expert but have learned more than I could have imagined this first year of homeschooling. Please enjoy and feel free to leave questions or comments.