Wednesday, September 2, 2015

A peek into our home school week!

Playing letter-sound bingo, one of Anna's favorite games.

Completing a cross puzzle to go along with our Jesus Storybook Bible lesson.

Learning about the life cycle of a frog.

Part of Anna's Creation Lapbook.

Part of Anna's Creation Lapbook.

Decorating frogs and toads based on their characteristics.

Highlight of our week: Creation Lunch! Even little brother got to participate.

Creation Lunch: We had a food that represented each day of Creation, and I managed to make them all allergy-proof.
Our classroom, in our basement for now.
My little girl and I have been having so much fun with our kindergarten home school! I'm really enjoying the freedom of not using a specific curriculum this year, but instead planning out my own weekly lesson plans by using a variety of resources from around the Internet (Pinterest is a life saver)!

Consequently, I've been much more excited to teach and Anna has been much more excited to learn; it also enables us to work at the pace and with the learning style that works best for her. I've already seen great leaps and bounds in her reading progress in just one week compared to the frustration and lack of success we were experiencing last year!

In case you're interested, here's what our school day consists of:


  1. Opening: We say the Pledge of Allegiance, pray the Lord's Prayer, have a prayer request and praises time, followed by prayer, go over our weekly letter/sight words/math problems, and then work on our calendar notebook
  2. Bible: We're going through the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones currently, completing a chapter a week. I'm using the wonderful resources here to supplement additional activities to go along with each chapter. 
  3. Geography/Science: We're using the Window on the World: When We Pray God Works by Daphne Spraggett and Jill Johnstone for geography. This book has information on a variety of different countries as well as information on the Christian population with ways to pray for each country. We also use an inflatable globe, which helps in understanding where places are located. For science, I'm using various ideas from around the web, such as this week we learned about frogs and toads and all their differences/similarities and life cycle. 
  4. Phonics/Reading/Writing: I found this amazing word families resource that we're currently using for phonics. Anna has already learned to identify her letters and their corresponding sounds last year in home school, so we are beginning the fun of reading! We also use Bob Books and some fun online reading sites such as Starfall and Progressive Phonics
  5. Read aloud: We have a read aloud time with books from the library or that I already own. We've been reading Fish is Fish by Leo Leonni and Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel this week to go along with our science unit. 
  6. Math: I purchased a math workbook that we are working through. Anna does really well in and loves math! She's already at first grade level, so we're focusing more time on reading this year, with math as a fun reward afterwards.
Anna also gets to participate in a local Christian school's afternoon art/music/PE classes. She is really enjoying the time there with friends and I'm enjoying the structure and motivation to complete home school on time each day (as a mom who tends to be Type B)! 

I've found myself extra tired since school began, even managing to give myself a decent burn while trying to cook popcorn over the stove late one night, but we're enjoying the start of school and looking forward to the new year!

4 comments:

  1. You are amazing. Such a great program and approach to teaching and learning. Anna has the best academic teacher and a great afternoon program of specials at NCCA. Love it!

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  2. Good job, Kelly! I'm proud of you. What a great momma and teacher you are!!!

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