Monday, August 20, 2007

Back To School


Emily seems ready to do something, however small, for schooling this year. So, after talking with a few friends and doing some research myself - this is what our plan is. We will have school 2-3 days per week beginning after Labor Day and our goals are:

* Establish school routines
* Learn to use scissors, how to hold a pencil and start tracing letters. Learn to recognize lowercase letters (she currently recognized uppercase only).
* Continue Scripture memory.

Our material will include:
* Letter of the Week Curriculum
* My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts
* Animals Animals, by Eric Carle
* The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays and Chants
* Music that goes with the rhymes: CD
* Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills (found for $1.00 at Goodwill!); selected pages
* The Pledge of Allegiance, Pledge to the Christian Flag and Pledge to the Bible

I know already that there are MANY options for homeschooling and that some of you will have different opinions on what to choose than what I have selected. This is what seems right and good for Emily and for our family.

But, I am excited about getting started and trust that God will use whatever we do to teach and train Emily to know and love Him as well as be educated in the process! I know that I will also learn things I may want to change in the future - but that is part of the learning process.

7 comments:

Leanne said...

Monica!
I love the homeschooling website...I'm going to get my little guy started on it next week! He loves to learn and I want to take advantage of it now!!
Thank you for the resource.
Leanne

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to hear updates on how things are going. Bill and I are still trying to decide what we want to do and also depends on what type of schools are around when the Kids get to school age. Also i am seeing Bri tends to listen and follow better without me around.

Darcy said...

I'm sure you are going to do a wonderful job homeschooling...you are so creative!

3boysmama said...

Sounds fun!

Here is a fun phonics website we just discovered. It has different levels. www.starfall.com
My son loves it!

When I researched preschool homeschool options last year I got some advice from an experienced homeschool mom: for preschool, don't stress over it too much. Let your child be the guide and don't push them too much. It all depends on your child but i've kept that in the back of my head and have really appreciated it !

Another tip: if you go to sonlight, they have a preschool curricullum that they sell. If you click around you can get the names of the books. I wrote those down and checked them out from the library. They have some really neat books!

Carmen at Old House Homestead said...

2boysmama,
I love the Sonlight catalog! I get the ideas for extra books from that catalog. I also like the suggestions that veritas press has to offer.

I'm sure you'll do a great job homeschooling Monica! It's fun and exciting to teach our children!

Hugs,
Carmen

jenny said...

There's so much to wade through, isn't there? I decided to pray for wisdom in selecting what was just right for each of my children. People have all sorts of advice, but you can't go wrong with God's!

I will add that starfall.com is wonderful!

Jessica said...

Just wondering how the homeschooling is going. Are you following the Brightly Beaming Steps to Reading Program or skipping around. My oldest son is turning 3 in March and I'd like to get started with something. Just wondering what you recommend. Thanks.