Things have been so hectic lately with Randy's acting career really getting busy and finishing up his first grade year! We're also trying to get our house ready to sell, and we've chosen a builder and a home design! Things are exciting around here, but I am back to blogging.
I have been working on reorganizing our office/homeschool room/craft room, and I will be posting about that soon.
I've also stumbled upon a new curriculum that I think is going to be great for my boys next year. They are so excited to start it.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Saturday, May 3, 2014
WDWD: Week of April 28, 2014
MM (Kindergarten):
Tuesday -Finished School Zone Reading Readiness Book 1 - Letter Match (pg. 31)
Leap Frog Ready for 1st Grade Math - Addition (pg. 21-25)
Played with lego and trainset
Playdough crafts
Wednesday -
Disney Time and Money: Telling time to the nearest 5 minutes, Arranging times in order (pg. 14-15)
LeapFrog Ready for 1st Grade Math: Addition, counting by 5's, addition word problems (pg. 26-31)
Disney Addition & Subtraction: Subtracting minuends to 6 (pg. 9)
Thursday -
LeapFrog Ready for 1st Grade Math: Subtraction (pg. 34-38), Connect the Dots (pg. 40)
Friday -
LeapFrog Ready for 1st Grade Math: Subtraction Word Problems (pg. 39), Subtraction (pg. 41, 43-45), Addition/Subtraction Word Problems (pg. 42)
BB (Preschool):
Tuesday -played with trainset and lego, playdough crafts
Wednesday -
Read Rapunzel, Curious George Goes to a Costume Party, Curious George Goes to the Library
7 minutes of "KidsFunTv kid's learning train DVD Full Movie," "Garbage Trucks Teaching Colors...," "TuTiTu Garbage Truck," "Big Trucks and Vehicles, Cartoons for Kids. Learn numbers..."
MobyMax: Language - Identifying letters, Identifying uppercase letters, identifying lowercase letters; Literature skills - Question words: choosing the best question for the picture
Thursday -
Reader Rabbit Preschool - Part 1: ABC Diner (Ticket 1) - MM joined in
Reader Rabbit Preschool - Part 6: ABC Diner (Ticket 2) - MM joined in
MobyMax - Stories: "A Red Ball"; Numbers: 1-9, Counting 1-5
Friday -
Sick :-(
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
First Placement Tests with MobyMax
Last Friday, April 25th, I had the boys do the math and language placement tests because I was curious. MM (5) tested 1.6 grade level (equivalent to being in the 6th month of 1st grade) for math and 1.9 grade level for language. BB (3) tested 1.2 grade level for math and 0.3 grade level (equivalent to being in the 3rd month of kindergarten) for language. It's a nice program, and has a basic option that is free to homeschoolers.
So what does this mean for us? Not much. It's just a starting place to see how much they learn over the next year. I'll probably have them do a placement test at the beginning of each quarter or semester.
As a side note, I took the tests also, and placed at the end of 8th grade. This gave me the idea to use the program myself to refresh things I would need to teach my children later. Then, I realized the program is for K-8. So, keep that in mind with your older students.
As a side note, I took the tests also, and placed at the end of 8th grade. This gave me the idea to use the program myself to refresh things I would need to teach my children later. Then, I realized the program is for K-8. So, keep that in mind with your older students.
Summary of Post Types and Abbreviations
Welcome to Hedge School of Creative Play, the homeschool blog for my family. This post is a basic summary of what I plan to post on the blog as well as what the abbreviations I use mean. This post may be updated in the future if I add abbreviations or post types.
The WDWD (What Did We Do) series of posts is an online journal to keep track of what each of my children have done each day.
We have also recently discovered MobyMax, which is a free website that caters it's material to your child. They take placement tests and the website alters what they are learning based on their skill levels. So there will be posts to update on their MobyMax grade levels.
Beginning of Semester- These posts will basically go through what we are using for curriculum each semester as well our intended schedule.
Monkey Man (MM) is 5 and finishing up kindergarten.
Bitty Bear (BB) is 3 and finishing up his first year of preschool.
For MM, we are trying to finish up his kindergarten workbooks before our summer vacation. BB's interest in "doing school" varies, and we just go with it. Some days he wants to do workbooks, some days he likes learning videos, some days he just wants to play.
The WDWD (What Did We Do) series of posts is an online journal to keep track of what each of my children have done each day.
We have also recently discovered MobyMax, which is a free website that caters it's material to your child. They take placement tests and the website alters what they are learning based on their skill levels. So there will be posts to update on their MobyMax grade levels.
Beginning of Semester- These posts will basically go through what we are using for curriculum each semester as well our intended schedule.
Monkey Man (MM) is 5 and finishing up kindergarten.
Bitty Bear (BB) is 3 and finishing up his first year of preschool.
For MM, we are trying to finish up his kindergarten workbooks before our summer vacation. BB's interest in "doing school" varies, and we just go with it. Some days he wants to do workbooks, some days he likes learning videos, some days he just wants to play.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Organization and Set-Up for Toddler Preschool
I have spent years searching the internet for resources on homeschooling. My plan is to compile and post links of the better websites I have found, as well as information about books, curriculum, and anything else that could be beneficial to other homeschooling families. I also intend to include information about how I have set up my family's homeschool and what we are doing.
As I prepared to begin homeschooling my 19 month old son, I realized that I did not have an adequate supply of toddler and preschool learning materials. I began searching specifically for these materials. One great website that I found is the Brightly Beaming Steps to Reading Program (also known as The Letter of the Week). This website has a curriculum that is intended to prepare your child to read and learn from 3 months to 8 years. Step 0 is for infants, Step 1 is for Toddlers (this is where we are starting), and it goes up from there. The website includes ways to incorporate music, art, reading, numbers, and many other subject areas into your child's day. So this is where I decided we would begin our journey.
After compiling the information I needed from the website to start Randy's education, I decided to customize his learning plan. I used the World Book Standards for Preschool to determine the skills that most preschoolers learn. Additionally, I looked at the standards for my state, Oklahoma. The standards for each state can usually be found at the website for your Department of Education. For pre-school, these will all be fairly similar, though minor differences exist. I took these two lists and created my own checklist for Randy. I put a check next to each skill he has already mastered. For those skills he has partially accomplished I listed where he is at. For example, Identifies Parts of Body: Can point to Eyes, Nose, Mouth, and Belly Button. Finally after every skill, whether mastered or not (because I plan to have more children), I listed books and activities that could aid in the process of mastering that skill. I have not completed all sections, but for those of you who are more visual, here is a sample portion of the spreadsheet:
Mostly I have listed books so far. This is because I have listed each book in his library on another sheet of his preschool excel workbook. I then listed which areas the books could help with teaching: numbers, colors, shapes, letters, animals, sharing, etc. I believe that at 19 months hands on learning is a great tool, so that is the next set of activities I plan to put into his checklist. I have started with some of the basics of the toys that he has. After I put more thought into it, I am sure I will come up with more from what we have. I also intend to purchase some learning supplies as we get into homeschooling a bit more and see how he likes to learn.
As I prepared to begin homeschooling my 19 month old son, I realized that I did not have an adequate supply of toddler and preschool learning materials. I began searching specifically for these materials. One great website that I found is the Brightly Beaming Steps to Reading Program (also known as The Letter of the Week). This website has a curriculum that is intended to prepare your child to read and learn from 3 months to 8 years. Step 0 is for infants, Step 1 is for Toddlers (this is where we are starting), and it goes up from there. The website includes ways to incorporate music, art, reading, numbers, and many other subject areas into your child's day. So this is where I decided we would begin our journey.
After compiling the information I needed from the website to start Randy's education, I decided to customize his learning plan. I used the World Book Standards for Preschool to determine the skills that most preschoolers learn. Additionally, I looked at the standards for my state, Oklahoma. The standards for each state can usually be found at the website for your Department of Education. For pre-school, these will all be fairly similar, though minor differences exist. I took these two lists and created my own checklist for Randy. I put a check next to each skill he has already mastered. For those skills he has partially accomplished I listed where he is at. For example, Identifies Parts of Body: Can point to Eyes, Nose, Mouth, and Belly Button. Finally after every skill, whether mastered or not (because I plan to have more children), I listed books and activities that could aid in the process of mastering that skill. I have not completed all sections, but for those of you who are more visual, here is a sample portion of the spreadsheet:
| Randy's Preschool Checklist | ||||
| Category | Skill | Achieved | Standard | Activities |
| Size | ||||
| Understands big and little. | World Book | Sesame Street: Big Bird and Little Bird's Big and Little Book; Opposites; Mom and Baby Tiger, Big and Little Pooh Bears, Big and Little Cows, Stacking Rings | ||
| Understands long and short. | World Book | Opposites | ||
| Matches shapes or objects based on size. | World Book | Sorting Blocks Bucket, Legos, Shapes | ||
| Colors and Shapes | ||||
| Recognizes and names primary colors. | World Book | Legos, Crayons, Colors, Crayola My First Book of Colors, Sesame Street: Color Fun with Elmo and Friends, Sesame Street: Elmo's First Book of Colors, The Rainbow Fish | ||
| Recognizes circles. | World Book | Sorting Blocks Bucket, Shapes | ||
| Recognizes rectangles. | World Book | Shapes | ||
| Matches shapes or objects based on shape. | World Book | Sorting Blocks Bucket, Shapes | ||
| Copies shapes. | World Book | Desk Work, Shapes | ||
Mostly I have listed books so far. This is because I have listed each book in his library on another sheet of his preschool excel workbook. I then listed which areas the books could help with teaching: numbers, colors, shapes, letters, animals, sharing, etc. I believe that at 19 months hands on learning is a great tool, so that is the next set of activities I plan to put into his checklist. I have started with some of the basics of the toys that he has. After I put more thought into it, I am sure I will come up with more from what we have. I also intend to purchase some learning supplies as we get into homeschooling a bit more and see how he likes to learn.
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