Motor Development: Scrubbing the Sink

Little Kid blew flour all over Grammy's bathroom when I wasn't looking. So, he learned to scrub a sink.

This routine is a mixture of fun, responsibility, fine and gross motor skills, and practical living. It's beautiful. It's all kinds of pinching, squeezing, grasping, and twisting practice. Great for kids with trunk weakness, low grip strength, or writing motor skill struggles. Develops those growing hand and arm muscles in a sneaky, somewhat fun way. (Well, fun the first time or two.)

Materials needed: sink, small grater, bar of soap, handbeater, towel for drying

1. Have child grate soap on the counter. (See above)

2. Have child brush flakes into sink of warm water and use hand beater to get the suds going.

3. Soak and squeeze a sponge until it's bubbly.

4. Scrub counter in little circles, moving left to right, top to bottom. (This is obviously not 100% necessary, but the more you can sneak this in on little kids, the easier math and reading are later.)

5. Drain sink. Rinse sponge. Wipe down to remove suds.

6. Repeat until not longer soapy.

7. Dry with a towel and put away supplies.

Sometimes little kids want to "practice" big people skills. If you're little person thinks of scrubbing as a big person thing, he might want to do it a few times in a row. Remember that the clean sink isn't the goal. It's all that motor practice and self-esteem building that comes from mastering a "grown up" skill. So be sure to allow them to repeat the whole process as many times as they like.

*Note: If you don't have a handbeater and grater, you may, of course, show them how to put a drop of soap on the counter, however, you miss out on all that lovely motor work that comes from the grating and beating.

Kindergarten Curriculum

We use Mother of Divine Grace for our curriculum.  I am enrolled in their school, but that enrollment allows me some flexibility in curriculum choices if I keep to the school standards.  I definitely organize the school day in my mind differently than they, but the essence is the same.

Here's the original:
Religion:
The Golden Children’s Bible (Golden Press)

Math:
Golden Step Ahead Workbooks: I Know Numbers (ed. Kathleen A. Cole)
Golden Step Ahead Workbooks: Numbers 1-10 (Lois Bottoni)
Golden Step Ahead Number Flashcards

Reading/Phonics:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (Siegfried Engelmann)

Handwriting:
Writing Can Help Series, Book A: A Creative Alphabet (Marie Picard)
blank composition book

Poetry:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Laura M. Berquist)

Art/Music:
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! - Text (Aline D. Wolf)
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! - Easy Steps 1-3
36 Traditional Roman Catholic Hymns: A Book for Singing with Accompanying CD Recordings
St. Michael Wooden Rosary Holder
Olive Wood Rosary Kit
Rosary Case Lacing Project
Lourdes Marian Grotto Kit
Spiritual Bouquet Card Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)

Literature:
Free choice from classic children's literature, liturgical year recommendations, and selections from The Book of Virtues.


My Real Curriculum:  

Poetry:  
We follow the syllabus except I add address, phone number, birthday, and songs about ABC's, days of the week, states, books of the NT, and months of the year to his memorization.

Reading:  

We follow the syllabus, except we generally get way ahead for lessons 1-20 and then switch to twice a week sessions when it gets hard, but we still cover the recommended one Lesson a week.  The only adaptation is the "sound writing" task at the end of each lesson is often a Sandpaper Letters task instead of pencil work, as he usually hasn't learned to write those letters yet.  On the off days when he just can't bear to do this book, we make up nonsense words with the sounds he knows using Phonogram Rocks or we sort objects by first letter sound.  Also, he takes a turn reading Bob Books to us at night when the other kids are doing their easy-reader read aloud time.

Writing:

We follow the syllabus pace, but we do the letters out of order so that the child first learns the letters in his first name and then we follow the same general order of the phonics text.  Alternatively, we use these notebooking pages for more practice or for variety if he's getting tired of the book. For extra pencil practice, he does Walmart workbook mazes (voluntarily...loads of them) while the other kids work.

'Rithmetic
We followed the syllabus until the Golden Books got too writing intensive.  He found writing the numbers really difficult, so we quickly did the rest of the non-number-writing activities and then switched to other things.  I used a lot of the activities from Montessori at Home to teach 1-9, the teens, and the tens, but aside from playing the Exchange Game, he wants "big boy" math, which means worksheets.  Go figure.  I use hers, because the number writing builds up slowly.  But there's weirdly advanced stuff in there, so I skip some things, like the less-than-greater-than puzzles.  Also, I already have an Abeka 1 workbook.  We might play in there too.

Religion
The Golden Bible is TOO HARD for my kids.  I already had to fight him for phonics and writing, I didn't want to fight him for Bible too!  It wasn't just "challenging", it was impossible for him to understand.  I might as well read the New York Times business section to him.  We like Lovasik's Children's Picture Bible mixed with the very cartoony, Catholic Bible Stories for Children for review and easier retelling. We go much faster than the syllabus, since I like to get through one Testament or the other in a year.  All the kids listen to the saint of the day and he tells me something he remembers from the story.

Art and Music Friday
We follow the syllabus for Art, but not music.  We sing songs together and he hears the older kids Music Masters on Friday.  Well, that's not true completely.  I don't do all of the crafts.  We have other handcrafts, like weaving looms, stitch boards, and art insets on our busy shelf. 

30 Minutes of Reading
Our school recommends 30 minutes a day of read-aloud time.  I do all three kids together.  We split our time between Burgess and Holling C. Holling stories, The Book of Virtues, tall tales and fairy tales, picture books, and the occasional Eggleston history book.

Motor Development: Melty Beads

I think they're commercially called "Perler Beads". But, these little guys are ridiculously entertaining.

Most importantly, they're MAGIC for that "pinch" in the tripod grasp. Little Kid struggles with writing and fine motor. He doesn't like to color or do anything that resembles it. These itty bitty wonders, though, have him practicing his fine motor for hours.

Now, I'm not an art mom. I don't want my kids activities to produce beloved creations that we have to save forever. I. Hate. Clutter. But these little guys are so stackable and petite that I don't mind keeping them around.

We've tried a mix of brands and let me tell you one thing...they aren't all the same size. The ones from Walmart won't fit the peg boards from the Dollar Store. That, and they iron differently. Some melt faster than others so you really don't want to mix them. Pick a brand and stick with it.

Materials Needed: melty beads with peg boards and ironing sheets, two dollar store cookie sheets, one tupperware to hold some beads, foam or construction paper for a cookie sheet liner, and an iron.

How to set up the center:

1. Pour a reasonable amount of beads into a tupperware with a TOP. (Do not get out the whole 8500 beads!) Set out one peg board per child.

2. Put out a tray with a lip for the work area. I use dollar store cookie trays lined with walmart foam or construction paper.

3. The tray at the top of the picture is usually for finished creations, ready to iron. Beware, your child should not carry these around the house before they're ironed. They fall apart really easily. Having a deposit spot on the table for those awaiting ironing avoids a lot of tears.

4. Iron the creations at the end of your school day.

Motor Development: Hammering

This center seems dangerous, until you learn the clothes pin trick!  My five year old LOVES it.

Materials Needed: small-ish hammer, nails, Dollar tree tray, construction paper or foam liner, small tin to hold nails, stump, clothes pin.

Set-up and Presentation:

1.  Call child over and tell him you have something (awesome) to show him.
2.  Carefully choose one nail from the tin and place it in the clothes pin.  I use the end, but my five year old likes to place it in the mini-hole close to the spring as seen below.

3.  Place nail on stump, show child how to grip hammer, and start the nail into the wood.
4.  Remove clothes pin (placing it back in tray) and hammer in the rest of the way.
5.  Observe child's first attempt to set nail with clothes pin and correct (for safety.)

Notes:  If you have more than one child, you may need to let them know how many nails they can each have.  Otherwise, first child may use all the nails.

Variations:  On the second presentation, show child how to remove nails as well and place in another tin.  These nails will likely no longer be useful for hammering due to warping.

Sorting: Glowing Stars

This is an entertainment center to keep the kids busy while I work with one, but it sneaks in some math skills without anyone realizing they're doing it.

Materials needed: Dollar Tree glowing stars, Dollar Tree cookie sheets.

How To:

1. Place stars on cookie tray IN ONE LAYER on the bathroom counter.

2. Turn on the lights on in the bathroom to "charge them up."

3. Place a mat on the floor.

4. Show the child how to remove the trays from the counter to the floor, close the door, and turns off the lights.

5. Show him how to sort the stars according to size or color.

6. Show him then how to finish the activity: turn on the lights, return the stars to the trays, places them on the counter, and open the door.

Motor Development: Sifting

Materials needed: Three bowls, flour, scoop, sifter, dollar store boot tray.

How to:

1. Show child step by step how to place the sifter in the small bowl and fill it by scooping flour from the large bowl.

2. Show her then how to carefully move it to the large bowl and sift.

3. Show child how to place sifter back in small bowl and pour contents of medium bowl back into the big bowl.

(If you are a really clean-type person, this may be a bath tub or back porch activity.)

Motor Development and Sorting: Tweezing

Materials Needed: Dollar Tree cookie tray, Dollar Tree set of ramekins, Dollar Tree tweezers, three sets of Dollar Tree erasers, mini load pan, one sheet of construction paper or foam as a liner

How to:

1. Demonstrate how to hold tweezers.

2. Demonstrate how to use tweezers to grasp erasers and place them into separate bowls.

3. Show child how to return all erasers to the load pan when finished.

Notes: I'm not into seasonal activities, so since they only see this activity every 4-6 weeks, I use these objects year round.

Motor Development: Sensory Gym

This is my garage. We don't actually park in it. So, my generous parents helped me convert it into a gym for the kids. There's a mini-trampoline, a trapeze with rings, a punching bag, a workout ball, and a twizzle stick. We got gym mats on sale from Amazon and I picked up a few packages of interlocking flooring from Home Depot.

The swings hang from the ceiling where we screwed a 2x6 into the rafters. My rafters run long ways in my garage, not across. So, we ran the beam across the studs and drilled 1/8th inch holes to screw in the hooks. The punching bag has fallen out twice, so we need a bigger hook, but the rest of the equipment hasn't budged.

All in all, this is the best thing we've ever done to the house. No matter what the weather, my kids can get all kinds of physical activity and scream they're heads off. We send them out to the "dojo" several times a day. They've spent hours out there. Every day before homeschool, I sent them out for 30 minutes. I do it before church, or any other time thy're going to be expected to sit still. It's done wonders for them. And not just for attitude.

Big Kid has low grip strength. He has language challenges. And did you know that in your brain your language centers are tied primarily to your hands? Not your mouth! So kids who have language issues often have grip issues. It's common in kids that didn't crawl long to have underdeveloped hands and language problems. But guess what hanging from a trapeze bar five times a day does? HAND DEVELOPMENT.

And it's MAGIC for their sensory issues. Sensory defensiveness decreases with heavy work, which is great since I don't usually take the time to do the Wilbarger Protocol. I'd rather send them out to hang from the ceiling than simulate all that deep pressure and joint banging in my living room. Wouldn't you?

Motor Development and Grading: Key Locks

This activity is an entertainment center for my kids while I work with one in the other room. I have three locks and three keys. If they grade the locks according to size and grade the keys the same way, the locks will open.

This is one of the most expensive centers if you don't have unused locks lying around the house. If you must buy them, like I did, get identical looking locks and the prettiest ones you can stand to buy. The more attractive an activity, the more likely the kids will gravitate to it.

This activity works on gross motor, fine motor, grading (math skill), orderly problem solving, and teaches a practical skill. It's one of Little's favorite. And anything that sneaks in those foundational math skills is fine with me.

Materials Needed: three or more identical key locks, Dollar Tree tray, construction or foam liner for tray.

How to:

1. Call child over and tell him you have something to show him.

2. Pick up each lock and examine it, placing it in order of size on the tray.

3. Do the same with the keys.

4. Try the keys in the corresponding locks and see if they open.

5. Remove keys, close locks, and mix them up on the tray.

Motor Development: Punch Pins

Materials needed: One Dollar Tree tray(for finished work) and one cookie sheet(for paper and patterns), Walmart corkboard (4 for $5 in a pack), tape for securing patterns to paper, one push-pin, half-sheets of construction paper, printouts of at least four different patterns. Free here, paid here.

How to:

1. Call child over and tell him you have something to show him.

2. Select a pattern and a piece of paper.

3. Show child how to carefully tape the pattern to the board with SMALL tape pieces.

4. Demonstrate how to hold the pattern with one hand and punch in small increments around the edges with the dominant hand.

5. Show child how to remove his creation from the corkboard and place it and the pattern in the finished work tray.

Motor Development: Cutting, Cracking

The innovative part of this activity is not cutting carrots or cracking eggs, but the 1/4 shower curtain underneath. I'd wanted to let him do this for ages, but I wouldn't relax until I made the "splat mat."

Anyhoodle, he was really proud to help me make lunch. He cracked over a dozen eggs in the step by step fashion I showed him. (I love this age, they're so methodical, if shown.) Not a single shell in the bowl. Very impressive.

To do the egg activity, you only need a splat mat, two bowls (one is for shells) and a carton of eggs. Tell the child you have something to show him and demonstrate slowly the egg cracking technique used in your home.

In addition to being a great motor development activity, this is a great concentration building experience.

Carrots Activity

Materials needed: cutting board, knife, carrots, splat mat, peeler, bowl, sink, towel.

1. Call the child over and tell him you have something to show him.

2. First demonstrate how to peel carrots into the sink, scraping away from you.

3. Allow child to finish the rest of the carrots and place them in the bowl.

4. Direct child to the table or counter where the mat, cutting board, towel, and knife are prepared.

5. Show child how to gently cut carrots with fingers curled to avoid cuts, and place the cut carrots in the bowl.

6. Supervise as he cuts the rest.

Carrying: Montessori Cards and Base Ten Blocks

Middle Kid, doesn't get carrying in addition AT ALL. We've been over it and over it and it's just not going in. She's already up to adding three digit numbers in Abeka, so I decided to try it with some manipulatives. So, I got a box of base 10 blocks and printed out some Montessori Large Numerals.

In the above and below pictures, you can see that the cards are made so that the child can build the number with its component parts and then stack them to read it as they would see on a page. I HEART this idea.

So, we built the numbers, and now we combine the piles.

Then we made the "exchanges" so that there weren't over ten in any column.

She "read" the new number on the mat and wrote it down.

Now, I will tell you, that this didn't solve our problems, but it did help. "Why can't I have 14 ten bars? I don't want to exchange. How many is the limit?" I think this will be one of those concepts that we're going to make head way little bit, by little bit.

One caveat, if I had a million dollars, I'd have bought these instead.

It's harder to tell on the plastic blocks that a ten bar is ten ones. It just looks like it's own thing. It's easy to go, "I have one block, one stick, and three cubes(113). That's more objects than just three blocks (300)." Montessori bead material has WEIGHT. You can tell that the thousand block is a thousand beads because you can FEEL it.

Grading: Knobless Cylinders

When my decade-experienced math teacher husband saw these, he just gushed over them. "Oooo, that's really going to help their spatial reasoning!" Grading by height and diameter is an important foundational skill for mathematics and two of my kids are really resistant to anything that smacks of math. Grading the size or thickness of triangles on paper wasn't going to happen. So finding something that looked attractive and fun in this department was a must.

That "spatial reasoning" hubby was talking about is what helps a kid see something like a top down drawing of a cube and understand what he's seeing and what will fit into it. Very important for math!

The knobless cylinders are four boxes of wooden cylinders that vary in diameter and height. The yellow cylinders increase in height with diameter. The green decrease in height as diameter increases. The red only change diameter and the blue only change in height. Below is one of the traditional ways to stack them.

Since this is a foundational skill for math, it's no surprise that my math-is-easy Big Kid took to these like a duck to water. However, it's Middle and Little that really need the work out. Since math is a hard language for them, I'll likely have to "assign" this work to them from time to time to develop their skill. Montessori schools encourage free choice, but I've found with my kids that they often avoid activities that are related to subjects they need work in. So, don't think you can just lay these out and the kids will go wild. That may be only true for your math-heads.

Like most Montessori Materials, these little guys don't look like much, but they have DEPTH to them. They aren't one-hit wonders. There's no way to be FINISHED with them, really, but this video will get you kid started.

These were initially designed for young children, but I've found that they work for all ages, especially if appropriately challenging activity cards are supplied. I found the ones at abcteach.com to be the most age appropriate for my kids. My kids are older and need a challenge. For younger children, these are just fine. I also found lots of pictures online and printed those out too.

I got my cylinders from IFIT. They were on sale for $38, which is crazy. IFIT delivered the materials extremely quickly. I have already noticed some chipping, but their prices fit my budget best. That, and if I really care too much about chipping, I'll truck them over to Depot and get a little paint jar color-matched to them.

There are certainly less expensive ways to work on a child's grading and spatial reasoning, to support growing math skills, but since I have a ten year age range (so far) with my kids, I prefer evergreen activities that will last for decades. That, and Little and Middle are both VERY tactile learners. Traditional grading by size on paper and whatnot doesn't work as well. Catering to tactile learners can make homeschooling EXPENSIVE, but when I have room in the budget, I'd rather spend the money on some quality natural materials that the kids are naturally drawn to, rather than plastic throwaway material.

Definite keeper! This center will be on our rotation for years to come.

Deanna

1 to 10: Tactile Cards

I've found tactile number cards indispensable for teaching numbers.

The tactile number set above is from The Knowledge Tree and the set below is a traditional sandpaper set from Montessori Outlet.

It seems that the Knowledge Tree set are his favorite and have the added benefits of going all the way up to 30 and directional visuals for tracing the numerals.

The set below is the traditional Montessori sandpaper numbers, but as you can see, if you want to go ahead and teach the number 10, you have to put the 0 and the 1 card together. I'm undecided on how much I like the traditional sandpaper numbers...I think if had I only intended to teach 1-9, then 10-19, I would like them better. But as it is, they kind of tripped me up by not having a "10" card.

They certainly are "prettier" and while that's really important in some activities with my kids, that attractiveness of these numbers didn't make this any easier.

Additionally, the Knowledge Tree cards can also be used with food counters...as long as your food item is non-greasy and small.

Our School: No Dedicated School Room

We have a LITTLE house. We homeschool down the street in my MIL's LITTLE house. Why the hike? Well, the chores in her house don't call to me while I'm trying to concentrate on the kids. When I'm there, I just do school. AND I ALWAYS CLEAN UP. At my house, there's no deadline for things to be tidied up...so it won't happen until it's DREADFUL. At her house, it all has to be put away by 3PM when she gets home, unless I wanna be Rudey McRude.

This means is that there is no dedicated school area, which is no big deal for using the curriculum as assigned. That's mostly books and papers. A crate for each kid is sufficient.

But for all the centers I set up? Everything has to be set out and put away each day. That seems like a lot of work, but it's not that bad. Well, Monday is tough, but once the trays are set up, I just tuck them into a crate at the end of the day. Set up and and take down are a few minutes each.

DISCLOSURE: I'm a PREP WORK gal, but not a supervision or clean-up gal. I want to do all of my work ahead of time so life is really easy during and after school time. This makes me lean towards a certain flavor of activities for my kids. I don't want activities that generate a lot of end products. So, if you look at this and say "GOSH, that's a lot of work, I'd rather just give them a bowl of cornstarch goop and food coloring, " realize that we're pretty much doing the same amount of work, just I have no clean-up or in-the-moment supervision. It's all about WHEN you like to work. If your Effort Happy Place is supervision and clean-up, my methods may not be for you.

So how do I manage all these centers?

1. I limit the number of activities I set out each week. Somewhere around ten for the free choice activities. In a traditional Montessori environment, there is a lot more choice and variety, but ten seems sufficient for us. By the end of the week, they've tried it all, even the stuff that looked boring. I only change an activity if I guessed wrongly.

For example, Zach used to be really interested in fingernail clips. I didn't realize that he'd mastered them. So when I set out a cool clipping activity, it got NO action. "That's for little kids, Mama." So I changed it the next day. 

2. I choose activities that don't have beloved end products that must be cherished and stored. Well, most don't. The melty beads have one small end product. The punch pins and stamping don't seem to generate anything people want to hang up. But, I would NEVER set out a huge pile of paper and colored pencils. What a mess! If I need an art station, I give them a their own sketch book so that there aren't papers everywhere. Any cutting activities are set up in such a way that the clippings are contained. 

3. I use uniform containers. Dollar store cookies sheets lined with foam or construction paper fit perfectly into Walmart crates. Dollar store rectangular trays stack well on top. For water activities, I use over-sized dollar store muddy boot trays which I store on top or beside the crate stack. 

4. I try to keep them "mat-trained."  At the table, they rotate between the centers. For floor activities, they each have a mat. It's their area that no one is allowed to bother. If an activity is on their mat, it's theirs until they are done. That mat is where THEY make the rules. They decide if others are allowed to enter and play. They decide what activities come and go. But, when they want to switch activities, if they want their new activity to have the same protection, they have to keep it on the mat, which usually means that other activity has to be put back. Very rarely can they fit two trays on one mat. And the excitement of being the ruler of their own square of the universe is enough motivation to get them to put things away. But, it's important to keep that square of the universe small, or the auto-clean up won't happen.

5. I set out activities in the same spots each week. Activities that can have food and drink near them are on place mats on the table. Activities that will be ruined if spilled upon, are on the fireplace. Activities that have real mess potential or are really physical are outside.

Our School: Third Grade Curriculum

We are enrolled in Mother of Divine Grace homeschool. MODG is a CLASSICAL curriculum.  I am enrolled in their school, but that enrollment allows me some flexibility in curriculum choices if I keep to the school standards.  I definitely organize the school day in my mind differently than they, but the essence is the same.  My additions are in italics.

The GRAMMAR stage of the Classical curriculum is about memorizing all kinds of relevant facts and whatnot that are helpful in navigating the planet and life.  In the next stage, these facts will be used for detecting logic and truth and later debating these thing to establish a pattern for life, but in these early stages, it's more about acquiring the building blocks.  

Example:  Latin.  Dorothy Sayers famous said that learning Latin is important because it cuts the effort in learning any other subject in half.  My kid has no idea what all this Latin stuff is about, but his brain absorbs it like a sponge and later it will be golden. 




Here's the Original:



Religion:
St. Joseph’s Baltimore Catechism No. 1 
Child’s Bible History (F.J. Knecht) 
blank sketchbook 


Math 
(Option 1): Recommended in Syllabus
Arithmetic 3 (www.abeka.com)
Arithmetic 3 Tests & Drills (www.abeka.com) 
(Option 2):
Saxon Math 3 Homeschool Kit (www.saxonhomeschool.com) 


Reading/Writing:
Primary Language Lessons (E. Serl) 


Spelling:
Writing Road to Reading (R. Spalding) 
Starting a Spelling Notebook: A Nuts and Bolts Guide to The Writing Road to Reading (M.
McAlister)


Poetry:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Berquist)


History 
(Option 1):
How Our Nation Began (P. Furlong)
Leif the Lucky (D’Aulaire) 
(Option 2):
Our American Heritage (www.abeka.com) 
Our American Heritage Tests & Quizzes (www.abeka.com) 
Our American Heritage Tests & Quizzes Key (www.abeka.com) 
The Boston Tea Party by Steven Kroll 
Gold Fever (V. Kay) 
Little House on the Prairie (www.amazon.com) 


History (Options 1 and 2 – some are either/or in Option 2):
Christopher Columbus (D’Aulaire) 
Three Ships Come Sailing (G. Waring)
Pocahontas (D’Aulaire) 
If You Sailed on the Mayflower (A. McGovern) 
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims (C.R. Bulla) 
Visiting a Village (B. Kalman) 
Life in a Colonial Town (S. Senzell Isaacs) 
If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days (B. Brenner) 
The Courage of Sarah Noble (A. Dalgliesh) 
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (A. Dalgliesh) 
Paul Revere’s Ride (H.W. Longfellow, ill. Rand) 
George Washington (D’Aulaire) 
Meet Thomas Jefferson (M. Barrett) 
Benjamin Franklin (D’Aulaire)
George the Drummer Boy (N. Benchley) (I Can Read series)
Sam the Minuteman (N. Benchley) (I Can Read series) 
The Boston Coffee Party (I Can Read series) 
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution (K. Moore) 
If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon (E. Levine) 
Sarah, Plain and Tall (P. MacLachlan) 
The Josephina Story Quilt (I Can Read series) 
The Drinking Gourd (I Can Read series) 
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (Roop) 
Abraham Lincoln (D’Aulaire) 
If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad (E. Levine) 
Robert E Lee: Young Confederate (H.A. Monsell) (Childhood of Famous Americans series)
Clara Barton (A. Stevenson) (Childhood of Famous Americans series) 
Little House in the Big Woods (L.I. Wilder – 1st in Series of 9 Books) 


Geography 
(Option 1):
Our American Heritage Map Study Skills (www.abeka.com) 
States and Capitals Flashcards
(Option 2):
atlas along with a standard map skills book
States and Capitals Flashcards 


Science:
Exploring God’s World (www.abeka.com)
Exploring God’s World Student Quiz, Test & Worksheet Book (www.abeka.com)
Exploring God’s World Quiz, Test & Worksheet Key (www.abeka.com)


Latin:
English from the Roots Up, Volume I Word Cards 


Art:
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, it’s a Renoir! – Text (Aline D. Wolf) 
Child-size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! – Step 4 
Child-size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! – Step 5 


Music:
Let’s Learn Music #2 (pub. Hayes) 
Music Masters, set 3 (Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Strauss, Verdi, Berlioz, & Foster/Sousa)


Reading:  
30 minutes/day





How it Shakes out for my Family:


Religion:

We begin the day with a prayer and a group retelling about the saint of the day.  We follow the syllabus, though we do it all together so that the younger kids hear the questions a million times before they have to memorize them.  And the older kids, hear the younger kids doing the earlier questions, so we can double dip on the review.  


Math 
We did option 1 for half the year, but my son is really distracted by the Abeka worksheet style once things get challenging.  And all that drill on things he already knew was busywork for him.  He wasn't losing skills if he left them alone for a week or two, so we switched to Math Mammoth.  I totally forgot that Saxon was the recommended alternative since it's not got lesson plans in the syllabus.  


Reading/Writing:
We follow the syllabus.  MODG does a wonderful job of turning the mountains of busywork in this sweet, old book into doable, applicable activities.  For example, instead of all the copywork on fake letters, they have you write a real letter and send it to your relatives.  And they skip all the Aesop's retellings and copywork since we did SO MANY of those in previous years.  Some Charlotte Mason schools spend two years on this book, but since it's so streamlined by the MODG syllabus, we get it done in one.


For reading, we use the Faith and Freedom readers.  He reads and retells them to me.  Also, we read easy readers in the evening for more practice.


Spelling:
I dictate six words a day and orally test the previous 18.  


Poetry:
We follow the syllabus, except that instead of writing the whole poem after it's memorized, we trace the weekly stanza twice and then copy it into the poetry notebook and illustrate it on Friday.  


History 
We use Option 1 according to the syllabus...EXCEPT...and this is the only time you'll ever hear me say this, the history assignments are unrealistic!  It's not too much to get done in a year, just the way it's scheduled is NOT GOOD.  We have weeks of no supplemental reading and then BOOM, we're supposed to read Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims in a day!  I've had to rework the schedule a lot to spread out the reading and get it off that one day.  Also, we don't usually do the study lessons at the back of the chapter.   My son isn't a strong enough reader for that yet, so we do notebooking pages instead for each chapter and reading selection.


Geography 
We follow the syllabus, but generally end up doing the workbook orally.  We also use my Montessori United States puzzle for reviewing states and capitals.  We play games with the puzzle too, trying to tell the states with our eyes closed and feeling the edges, putting the puzzle back together without the frame, etc.  In fact, this was so effective, that the last ten pages or more of the workbook were irrelevant.  He already knew all the state locations.


Science:
We follow the syllabus, minus the tests.  


Latin:
We follow the syllabus.


Art:
We follow the syllabus.


Music:
We follow the syllabus, but use Hayes#1 since we didn't do it last year.



30 Minutes of DAILY Reading

Our school recommends 30 minutes a day of read-aloud time.  I do all three kids together.  We split our time between nature stories, tall tales, picture books, and the occasional liturgical year story.  I also dabble in Baldwin and Eggleston history books and Holling C Holling geography.  Chapter books happen on car trips.

Our School: First Grade Curriculum

I don't have a first grader this year, though I've already taught it twice and have one next year, so I think I can tell you how it goes for us.

The Original:

Religion:
St. Joseph’s First Communion Catechism
Any Lives of the Saints Book

Math:
(Option 1): Recommended in Syllabus
Arithmetic 1 (www.abeka.com)
Arithmetic 1: Tests & Speed Drills (www.abeka.com)
(Option 2):
Saxon Math 1 Homeschool Kit (www.saxonhomeschool.com)

Reading/Phonics:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (Siegfried Engelmann)

Handwriting:
Writing Can Help Series, Book B: Manuscript Practice (Marie Picard)
blank composition book

Poetry:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Laura M. Berquist)
A Child’s Garden of Verses (R.L. Stevenson)

Art:
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, it’s a Renoir! - Text (Aline D. Wolf)
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, it’s a Renoir! - Intermediate Steps
Aesop's Fables
Our Lady of Guadalupe Marian Grotto Kit
Advent Candles Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)
O Antiphon Christmas Card Kit
Stations of the Cross Grotto Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)

Music:
36 Traditional Roman Catholic Hymns: A Book for Singing with Acc. CD Recordings
Peter and the Wolf (narrated by Janet Schulman) with CD (www.amazon.com)
Carnival of the Animals (comm. by B.C. Turner) with CD
Bach's Goldberg Variations (A.H. Celenza) with CD
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (A.H. Celenza) with CD
The Farewell Symphony (A.H. Celenza) with CD

How it Shakes Out for Us:


Religion:
We follow the syllabus with the addition of daily saint reading.

Math:
Will likely use Abeka 1.  At this level, the math is easy enough that we don't find it distracting.

Reading/Phonics:
We will likely follow the syllabus, but start out ahead in the lesson numbers.

Handwriting:
We will likely trace our poetry stanza for the week and then copy it into our notebooks to illustrate on Friday.

Poetry:
Follow the syllabus, except with the change mentioned above.

Art:
Follow the syllabus, minus some of the art projects.

Music:
We well likely continue our Music Masters rotations.  We also read the hilarious, "Lives of the Musicians" , color a page in our notebooks, and do a retelling.

































FIRST GRADE


I don't have anyone in first grade this year, bubasically how I would, if I did.


Recitation
Poems from Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson (2-4 lines/wk)
Catechism prayers and questions

Reading
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (2+ lessons/wk)


Writing
Handwriting Without Tears  (2+ pages/week)
Whatever copy work I could get them to do daily from poem
Chalkboard or review sheets for all the letters and numbers


'Rithmetic
Math Mammoth (2 pages/day)


Religion
St. Joseph First Communion Catechism  (1 lesson/2wks)

My Philosophy: Imagination is Morality

rickerbh

Whether your child is homeschooled or homeworked, it's a sacred parental responsibility to ensure that the child's mind is filled with noble stories. K-5 kids don't understand abstract concepts (like justice), so they're moral system is based on the stories they know. Fairytales, true tales of heroism, and the like are important for the child to align himself with proper values. If his mind is filled with stories of children sassing their parents and teacher, being poor friends, or telling white lies without consequences--his behavior will reflect that value system.

Here's how to choose good literature and television for your child.

• Characterization. A child may not understand the broad concept of a value, but he knows that he doesn't want to be the evil queen in Snow White. In a morally healthy story, the bad are bad and the good are good. Bad guys aren't the heroes.

• Consequences. The good are rewarded. The bad are punished. If the hero tells a fib in the course of saving the princess, there WILL be a comeuppance at the end.

Watch out for stories that show "good" consequences from bad choices. You see it in adult television. People have serial one night stands and experience no emotional damage. That's a lie. Live that way for a while and you know it starts to eat your soul. Duh. Same with these ridiculous stories where children talk down to adults or sneak around disobeying in the name of saving something...and there's no comeuppance. In some stories, that behavior is actually REWARDED. That's a lie. If your child tries to live that way, he won't be happy. So, while he's young, make sure he has good stuff going in.

So, it's important during these early years to fill the young mind with plenty of noble stories. Don't worry about whether or not there's magic in it as much as how the characters behave. The author's value system is communicated through the story's events.

My Philosophy: Kinesthetic Learning Strategies

My youngest boy is VERY physical. If he doesn't get enough heavy work and deep pressure activities in a day, he seeks them out in all of his school work. So, the more ways I can find to incorporate physical force into his learning, the happier he is with the schoolwork.

Additionally, heavy work and deep pressure activities are bottom-up up solutions for concentration. These activities calm the system and help reorder the senses. It's not just about burning energy. The propioceptive and vestibular systems (joint and inner-ear senses) do not get enough activity in our culture so a child starts to instinctivly seek motion if he's not getting enough. Assigning something along these lines for 10 minutes or more (it's like hunger, the child can tell you when he's done enough) to buy yourself some effortless full-attention concentration time from a wiggly kid.

Content Oriented

• Sidewalk Smash or Dash: I draw letters or numbers on the driveway in chalk and call out names. He "smashes" the correct answers with a big ole' river rock until the rock is dust or he's sick of it.
• Pillow Crash: I call out questions and he answers as he runs full force into the couch or leaps off the stairs onto a pallet or falls backwards on the bed.
• Tamborine or Wrestling Recitation: We do review of his poetry or counting in rhythm while I smack him all over with a tamborine or jar his arms and legs, throwing them around roughly.
• Water bottle toss: My oldest loves this. When we're reviewing something, we play "catch with a half full water bottle.
• Crashing Rewards: When Little Kid is finished placing all the magnets on his numbers, he holds the pan over his head and I beat on it to make the magnets fall on him. He loves it. That or I tell him, "After you finish your reading, I'll swing you upside down for a minute."

Content-Free Brain Breaks

• Rock walk: We have lots of river rocks and bricks in our yard. I send him out to make a path from them (propioceptive: heavy work) and then to walk or hop them back and forth (vestibular: balance)
• Hammering: Teach the child to set nails in a stump with a clothespin and let them hammer their brains out.
• Trampoline or Punching Bag: If you don't want to do this with content, just sending them out to beat the tar out of the bag or jump their legs off for a while makes a great brain break.

In addition to whatever, spontaneous nonsense I employ during of after learning, I also keep fidgets around for them to fool with while they're working on other subjects. Kinesthetic learners incorporate information faster if they can move their hands. So, I don't make them look at me or stop fiddling during work. I just ask questions periodically to make sure they're actually paying attention (in their own way).

My Philosophy: Skills Versus Content

Any of you who are using the classical method of homeschooling already know something about this distinction. Classical ed presents children with beautiful, important content for observation, imagination, and memorization, but the complete absorption of the particular content itself is not the goal.

Example: It's great to know the fifty states and capitals in second grade, but exercising that memorization muscle is the key. Training that little developing brain. We want them to have something beautiful and important to work that muscle, but it's no sweat if they practice the whole year and only get ten of them.

However, there are several primer skills that must be in place for the early grades to go smoothly. Verification and practice on these skills helps ensure a smooth acquisition of basic reading and writing skills. I mention activities to acquire and strengthen these skills in this posts, but click on the links provided to get a fuller list with pictures and instructions for implementation.

(As I've said before, I am not a special ed teacher. I am just an opinionated mama with a rusty MA in Counseling on the shelf and a whole lot of "special" up in my house, so this list is not comprehensive.)

1. Patterning, Go Togethers, Opposites: The concept of things "going together" or fitting a pattern is VERY important for reading and language skills.

Example: Think of the last time you talked to a non-native English speaking customer service representative. You needed to have a bank of realistic possibilities and a way to eliminate the outlandish options, if you had any chance of getting through that conversation. If "put toffee in the border" is just as likely as "turn off the recorder," then you had no hope. Same for your kids. Words and sentences have patterns as do math problems. Developing the skill of detecting and working in patterns is SUPER IMPORTANT for reading and math.

2. Order in Problem Solving: Have you ever told your child to go look for an object and see them run from room to room without systematically searching any one room? Children have to learn that there is a system to problem solving, or it takes, like, a billion times longer to do anything, including school work. Skill one is about learning that there is a pattern, this skill is about learning how to systematically work the pattern to efficiently find answers. Luckily, this skill is developed in the presentation of the other tasks on this list. Teaching a child to line up the options and try them one at a time from left to right helps develop mental order, systematic problem solving, and correct eye-teaming for reading.

3. Rhyming, Isolating and Ordering Sounds: Skills one and two teach the child how to detect and orderly work a pattern, whereas this skill works on the specific patterns involved in reading. A child may be already skilled in this area, but it is important to verify these skills before a child can be expected to read with any kind of fluency. This can be done with or without knowing any letters. Kids can sort objects or pictures based on rhyme or beginning sound well before they can identify sounds with the written figure.

Example 1: Cards depicting bear, chair, pear, hat, rat, cat, dog, log, and frog can be sorted long before letters are learned.

Example 2: A small box of real and toy objects like nut, nail, nickel, dog, duck, deer, rat, ribbon, and rake can be sorted by beginning sound into three piles long before letters are learned. After letters are starting to be learned, simply include letter tiles along with the objects.

4. Three Dimensional Fine Motor Development: Mastering the pencil grasp is the main fine motor skill for early learning. However, there is more to writing than grasp and it's frustrating to be mastering letter forms while trying to acquire pencil control skills like wrist twisting, pinching, and pressure skills. Again, your child may have already mastered these, but verifying the skills is recommended.

• Placing your child's paper on a styrofoam surface encourages gentle pencil pressure and force
• Spooning beads from one container to another or using a manual egg beater work on twisting motions
• Designing with perler beads and working with tweezers, tongs, chopsticks, fingernail clips, and clothes pins all help develop a controlled pinch.
• Punch pin tasks directly strengthen the tri-pod pencil grasp.

Now I don't use these with every child. I leave them out to play with while I'm working with another child, but the only kids that "have" to do these as a part of school are the kids who need some support in that area.