Weekly Report

Good week. We're finding our groove again.

Math: We're really moving through this. TJ is doing a great job with the concepts we're covering. Lessons 55-57 completed.

Reading: We're still working our way through section 13 (it's a long section!). My goal for next week is to have her read aloud to me more often. I've been slacking off in that regard.

MFW: This week our theme was quail - "I don't grumble or complain; I am thankful." No big projects, though.

Geography: We didn't get to our geography plans this week so we'll study Canada next week. We're all looking forward to having poutines.

Other stuff: French and handwriting are the same as always - going well. Our current read aloud is The Dragons of Blueland. We'll finish that next week and I'm looking for our next book - any suggestions? The music lesson went well. We're really enjoying the God Made Music program. Haven't gotten to our science experiment (forgot to buy soda) so we'll do that tomorrow afternoon.

We had a good week here! :)

Enjoying Life

Today I took the time to stop and enjoy my daughter's laughter while she played with our new puppy. Usually I'm telling them both to hush so I can get some work done. I've been so busy with planning, and doing, and cooking, and cleaning, (you get the idea) that I forget to just enjoy the moment - those everyday moments that don't seem that important at the time but are gone all too quickly as a child grows up. I'll always have work and laundry and a million little everyday things to do but I won't always have a five-year old. Soon she'll be grown up and gone. I just need to remind myself more often to stop what I'm doing (let's face facts, there will ALWAYS be piles of laundry to do) and hug a little body and kiss a sticky face. Go give your kids a hug. It's way more fun than doing the laundry. :)

A Few of my Favorite Things

Back for another month of favorite finds! The weather is cold and the snow is piled high and I am hoping for an early spring because I'm tired of the snow :)

Thankfully, my daughter likes the snow and I found some fun ideas to keep her entertained while she's outside (with daddy, of course, while I'm snuggled up in the house with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book!)

But, if you happen to like the snow this project for a footprint snowman t-shirt is really cute.

I used to love buying boxes of girl scout cookies - and these were my absolute favorite. I think I'll have to try making a batch.

I'm always looking for new projects for my daughter and I love this idea for button bracelets from flipflops & applesauce.

Did you ever eat those Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies as a kid? I bought a box last week in a fit of nostalgia and then today I found a recipe for them at Nosh with Me.

Hope you had a wonderful January!

I've joined the Masses

Well, I finally did it. I joined Facebook. Nick (my hubby) has been on there for awhile now and is always telling me about one of our friends or someone we used to know from college days (which seem so long ago! Yikes, I'm starting to feel old.) But I kept putting off. I've got lots of excuses - I don't have the time, I'm already on the computer too much, and I've got to start writing, etc., etc. But it seems like everyone I know keeps in touch on Facebook now and I'd like to be kept in the loop. Okay, maybe I'm just nosy. :) Anyway, I've given in to the peer pressure and joined Facebook. Don't hate me too much.

What's on your Nightstand?

I've been reading the posts at 5 Minutes for Books for awhile now and I've decided to jump in! I'm starting with an easy one - the books piled up on my nightstand (or in my case on the coffee table!) And here is the current pile of books:

The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is always on my table because I use it as a reference for my history/literature studies. This book has taught me how to analyze books and I wouldn't be without it.

Mere Christianity is on my list of books to read this year and I'm about half-way through it. I have to read it in small chunks because there is just so much to absorb from this little book. What I find most amazing is that even though the book is over sixty years old the things discussed are still so relevant for today. Very good book.

This year I'm focusing on ancient history for my self-education and these are the books that are sitting in that pile at the moment:

The Iliad - it's been on my list for a long time and I keep putting it off so now my goal is to have it finished by the end of March. To help me along with my study I've discovered that my library carries Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver's Teaching Company course on The Iliad.

And in my search for some Teaching Company video courses I discovered another one by Dr. Vandiver - Classical Mythology. So I've got Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology and Edith Hamilton's Mythology on my coffee table as well.

And, just because I need some light reading I'm reading The Widow of Larkspur Inn by Lawana Blackwell.

So, there's a trip around my coffee table! :)

Weekly Report

We are still taking things slow here - it's hard to get going full steam with a new puppy in the house! :) But we did get the basics and a little bit of the extras done.

Math: We are really plugging along through RightStart. More adding 1s to a number, adding 2s and counting by 5s.

Reading: OPG is going really well. We are still working our way through section 13. TJ is using Explode the Code online as a reinforcement. The newness has worn off but she still enjoys it (as long as she gets to play on the polly pocket website after a few units) :)

MFW: This week we talked about dinosaurs - "Big and small, God made them all." Read a few books but no big projects.

Geography: This week we did a quick overview of continents and oceans. Next week we'll start touring the world, country by country - starting with Canada! To get us started on our tour of the world we read a few good books - How to Make an Apple Pie and see the World, Everybody Bakes Bread, and Everybody Cooks Rice. I just noticed that my library carries another book by the same author - Everybody serves Soup - so I'll be checking that one out too.

Other stuff: French is coming along - we listen to the weekly vocabulary each evening. Handwriting is going well - TJ writes a few words a day. We finished Elmer and the Dragon and have started on the next book in the series. We'll do a music lesson and a science experiment tomorrow.

It was a good week - we didn't get to everything that I had planned but I think it's going to take some time to get used to the new puppy and a new schedule.

What I've been Reading

I've been busy housebreaking our new puppy (five days and no accidents on the floor - happy dance time!) and haven't had time to write about what I've been reading. Here's a quick recap -

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins -is the on the table for discussion this month at the Well-Trained Mind reading group. I finally finished reading it! Pretty good book though kind of long. I really enjoyed how the author writes from the viewpoint of various characters. I'm impressed with his ability to make each character sound unique. Good detective story.

The Man who was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton is next on the list for discussion at the Well-Trained Mind reading group. Definitely shorter than the first pick :) After I finished reading this one I put it on the coffee table, looked at Nick and said, "I think I'm just too dumb for this book because I really didn't get it!" After giving myself a few days to mull it over I think I've made a few insights into the book, but certainly not as many as the author probably intended. I get that each of the detectives represent different days of creation but, beyond that, I'm kind of stumped. Is it about Christians having to live in a sinful world struggling to maintain their purity? And I read somewhere how it references Job but I missed that too. I think I'm just to literal for this type of book. I still don't get it.

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea by Thomas Cahill was on my 888 list and is now on my 999 list and I put it on my list of books to read for the Winter Reading Challenge. Good book but I enjoyed one of his other books - How the Irish Saved Civilization more than I did this one. Maybe it's the subject matter - I'm not to keen on the ancient Greeks. Maybe it was his use of the F word. I understand why he used it but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Call me a prude :)

The Host by Stephenie Meyer was a good book! I'm actually kind of surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did because I'm not a huge fan of the science fiction genre, but I liked this one. Thick book but easy to read chick lit.

That wraps up what I've been reading! Besides the books I've just mentioned, I've been busy reading books and websites about dog training. My favorite so far - Before and After getting your Puppy by Dr. Ian Dunbar. I think it is a must for anyone who has gotten a new puppy.

Evan-Moor's All About Animals

All about Animals around the World is one of the books in the Early Childhood Thematic Series from Evan-Moor. The series consists of ten different reproducible books on a variety of topics. I've only used Animals around the World but each book in the series follows the same format. The listed ages are PreK-K which seems on-target to me.

Content

The book is divided into five sections, each section focusing on a different habitat - savanna, forest, desert, arctic tundra, and the rainforest. Each section includes a full-color book to read to the child, a black and white reproducible copy of the book for the child to color, a comprehension worksheet, full-color storyboard pieces, an art activity, a cooking activity, a language skills worksheet, a math worksheet, and ideas for music or dramatic play, along with a few other things to do.

For example, in the section for the "Animals of the Forest", there is a full-color, 10 page story to read to the child followed by a black and white copy for the child to color, cut out and staple together. Following this there is a simple comprehension worksheet titled, "What did I do?" with instructions for the child to match the animal to the appropriate action. Next you will find full-color storyboard pieces to cut out and use as you like (there are a few ideas included in the book). The art activity follows this - a reproducible copy of a bear getting honey from a tree. A child colors the pieces, cuts them out, glues them on his paper and uses a small square sponge to paint leaves onto the tree. The instructions for the cooking activity are included next - a robin's nest made from chow mein noodles and butterscotch morsels with blue M&M's for the eggs. After that you will find the worksheets for language arts (Listen for the Sound of B) and math (Animal Count), followed by a full-color puzzle activity. Rounding out this section on forest animals are some chants, poems and a group activity.

Thoughts

Overall, my daughter and I had an enjoyable time. Her favorite parts were the cooking activities - especially making the robin's nests. It is a light program but enjoyable for a young child.

I think that if I had just planned on using this book alone we would have easily finished one section a week, so we would have completed the entire book in about a month. I imagine for a school environment this could work because you would use a different book for each month, but I didn't want to spend that much money! :) But, since it was part of some simple plans to study one animal a week we could use the book as a jumping off place and spend six weeks on each section. So, overall it was worth the investment.

The listed price is $21.99 and can be purchased from Evan-Moor or your local bookstore.

208 pages, ISBN #1-59673-034-X

Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival

The 3rd edition for 2009 of the CHE blog carnival is up now! There are two new bloggers and some great things to read, so head on over and check it out :)

And, just in case you've been wondering what's keeping me from posting - I've been a bit busy lately!

K4 at Home

Kindergarten with a 4 year old certainly isn't a necessary thing but TJ and I enjoyed having a fun-filled K4 year. She was ready to "do school" she told me quite often, so we started small and added things a little at a time.

The first thing we did was start with phonics lessons. She started reading on her own before her 4th birthday - simple words like "cat" and "dog". I figured that since she had learned the blending thing we could try out some reading lessons. I ordered the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and we started going through the book. At times we set the book aside and played games when she needed a break. She still loved workbooks so I added Explode the Code as a fun reinforcement to her phonics lessons.

Once we had a good handle on reading lessons I added in some math. We started with a simple workbook but I really wanted something hands-on so I ordered RightStart Math Level A. Talk about fun! We have both loved the interactive nature of this program.

While the focus was on reading and beginning math, TJ still enjoyed her workbooks, so we kept a magazine holder with a bunch of workbooks that she could use whenever she felt like it. Her favorites: Preschool ABC series, Kumon workbooks, and The Never-Bored Kid Book.

A few of the other things we've enjoyed:

1. Play and Learn French - we live in Quebec so it's important to us that TJ learn French. This book and CD combination was a fun introduction.
2. Science! TJ loved having books on different science topics read to her so I organized a simple animal and habitats study - Animals Around the World
3. And just for fun we used Literature Pockets: Folktales and Fairy Tales.

We continued with our routine of Bible reading. For TJ's K4 year we used The Beginner's Bible and Everything a Child Should Know about God. And, of course, we read lots of books - here are our favorite read-alouds for the year.

Books for Beginning Readers

It is hard to find phonetic, leveled readers for a young child who is learning to read! I found sets of "Early Readers" that had no natural progression and were not appropriate for a child who is just learning consonant-vowel-consonant words. After many searches at the library I found some that worked! Here is the list for those very early stages of reading -

Controlled Vocabulary, Leveled Phonics Readers - these sets of books start out at the very beginning with the C-V-C combinations and progressively get more difficult as more sounds are introduced

1. Bob Books by Bobby Lynn Maslen
2. Now I'm Reading series by Nora Gaydos
3. Itty Bitty Phonics Readers from Creative Teaching Press
4. Phonics Practice Readers from Modern Curriculum Press

First Books - After a bit of time your child will be asking for "real" books and these are the best books to give him. These books focus on the C-V-C combinations, short vowel sounds, consonant blends and digraphs, and some sight words. There will be some words here and there that you will have to help your child with, but on the whole, these are good books for a beginning reader.

• Early Step into Reading, Level 1 (many of the books in this series are not phonetic and will introduce many sight words or other vowel combinations. The books listed below are the few that I found at my local library that would be useful for a child that is just learning to read. Be sure to check your library for other books that might fit in this category.)

6 Sticks
Big Egg
Cat Traps
Ducks in Muck
Hot Dog
I Like Bugs
I Like Stars
Jack and Jill and Big Dog Bill
See the Yak Yak
The Berenstain Bears Big Bear, Small Bear
The Berenstain Bears go In and Out
The Berenstain Bears go Up and Down

• Real Kids Readers, Level 1 (These books are great! They have controlled vocabulary and only use those sounds that are appropriate for this level. Be sure to check your local library for more books in these series.)

Big Ben
Dress Up
Hop, Skip, Run
I am Mad!
I Like Mess
I Like to Win!
Mud!
My Pal Al
No New Pants!
Spots
The Big Box
The New Kid
The Pet Vet
Wash Day

• Green Light Readers, Level 1

Dot and Bob
Rick is Sick
Sam and Jack
Jack and Rick
A New Home
Jan has a Doll
Down on the Farm
The Van
Just Clowning Around
What I See
Popcorn
Todd's Box
Get up, Rick!

• Other Books (More books that a beginning reader would enjoy. These will have some words that you will have to help your child with but they are still enjoyable for a young reader.)

Hop on Pop
Go, Dog, Go
The Foot Book
Old Hat, New Hat

Have fun with your new reader! Encourage them with a good book :)

Weekly Report

We had a slow week trying to get back into gear after having so much time off. And TJ was super-excited about getting a new puppy so that has occupied much of our time this weekend.

Math: RightStart is going well. We've almost finished with Level A. This week we worked on counting by tens and twos and adding 1 to a two-digit number.

Reading: We're plugging along through the reading lessons - this week we started section 13 and TJ isn't having any problems with it. She's also started using Explode the Code online and is having lots of fun.

MFW: This week we talked about jewels - "Jesus is more valuable than anything else." We looked at some pictures of Queen Elizabeth's jewels but didn't do much beyond that because I wanted to keep our routine light this week.

Geography: TJ wanted to start geography so we dived into that this week talking about maps. Nick made a treasure map and she had to use it to find the treasure hidden in the house. She had lots of fun looking for her treasure.

Other work: French is coming along - we listen to the weekly vocabulary each evening. We are still working through Elmer and the Dragon as our read-aloud. We took a break from it over Christmas to read other things. TJ did a science experiment but we are still waiting for the results so I'll post pictures of that later.

All in all it was a good week - we took our time and didn't jump back into everything too quickly. I'm not sure how much we'll accomplish next week with the new puppy in the house. :)

Favorite Books for a 5 year old

Picture books:
Also see the favorite books for three and four year old kids - we still love many of those as well!

10 Minutes till Bedtime
The Adventures of Taxi Dog
Another Celebrated Dancing Bear
Aunt Minnie and the Twister
Blueberries for Sal
Brave Irene
Catastrophe Cat series
Curious George series
Doctor De Soto
Doctor De Soto Goes to Africa
Everybody Bakes Bread
Everybody Cooks Rice
The Five Chinese Brothers
The Great Fuzz Frenzy
Harold and the Purple Crayon series
Here Come the Aliens!
A House is a House for Me
How to Make an Apple pie and see the World
If you give a Mouse a Cookie (and others)
I Stink!
Ira Sleeps Over
Jesse Bear series
Koala Lou
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
Little Critter books
Madeline series
Make way for Ducklings
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Miss Nelson is Missing!
Miss Rumphius
Mrs. McNosh series
Music, Music for Everyone
The Mysterious Tadpole
Niccolini's Song
The Pumpkin Runner
The Rag Coat
Regards to the Man in the Moon
Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper!
Rocks in my Pockets
The Seven Chinese Sisters
The Seven Silly Eaters
Snip Snap! What's That?
Somewhere in the World right Now
Stone Soup
Suki's Kimono
The Surprise
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
The Wolf's Chicken Stew
Who took the Farmer's Hat?

Some favorite picture book authors - Beatrix Potter, Robert McCloskey, Virginia Lee Burton, Ezra Jack Keats, Charlotte Zolotow, Patricia Polacco, William Steig

Short stories and Chapter books:
My Father's Dragon, series
The Random House Book of Fairy Tales
James Herriot's Treasury for Children

Poetry:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Random House Book of Poetry for Children
Now we are Six
When we were very Young

Bible time:
The Children's Bible in 365 Stories
The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers
The Jesus Storybook Bible
My ABC Bible Verses

Favorite Books for a Four Year Old

Picture Books:
A Baby Sister for Frances (and others)
A Giraffe and a Half
A House for Hermit Crab
Aaron's Shirt
All Join In
All the Colors of the Earth
Anna's Secret Friend
An Octopus is Amazing
Around the Clock with Harriet
Arthur's Chicken Pox
Beady Bear
Caps for Sale
Caps, Hats, Socks, and Mittens
Catastrophe Cat books
Catherine and the Lion
Changes, Changes
Chewy Louie
Chicka Chicka 123
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Chicken Soup with Rice
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Clyde Monster
Corduroy
Crafty Chameleon
Cranberry Thanksgiving
Crictor
Dandelion
Deep in the Forest
Donald says Thumbs Down
Duncan and Dolores
First Nature Encyclopedia
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Five Little Monkeys sitting in a Tree
Franklin's Family Treasury
Froggy gets Dressed
Giraffes can't Dance
Good-Night, Owl!
Guinea Pigs Far and Near
Happy Birthday, Moon
Harold and the Purple Crayon (and other Harold books)
Harry the Dirty Dog (and other Harry books)
Henry and the Dragon
Here are my Hands
Hippo goes Bananas!
How the Rooser saved the Day
I Get Wet
If I Ran the Zoo
If you Give a Mouse a Cookie (and others by the author)
Jamberry
January Brings the Snow
Let's try it out in Water
Little Bear's Trousers
Little Miss Spider books
Look who lives in the Desert
Lost in the Woods
Maggie and the Monster
Make way for Ducklings
Mama, do you Love Me?
Marcel the Pastry Chef
Mary Wore Her Red Dress
Max
Max Cleans Up (and other Max and Ruby books)
May I bring a Friend?
Millions of Cats
Miss Nelson is Missing
Moongame
Mr. Bear's Chair
Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash
Mrs. McNosh hangs up Her Wash
My Five Senses
My Little Sister ate One Hare
No Jumping on the Bed!
No Peas for Nellie
Norman the Doorman
Not the Piano, Mrs. Medley!
On Market Street
One Crow
One was Johnny
Papa, please get the Moon for Me
Peabody
Peace at Last
Pet of the Met
Picnic
Play with Me
Rosie's Walk
Sheila Rae, the Brave
Sitting in my Box
Small Brown Dog's Bad Remembering Day
Something is going to Happen
Ten Black Dots
The Beautiful World that God Made
The Bee Tree
The Big Sneeze
The Cake that Mack Ate
The Chick and the Duckling
The Day the Teacher went Bananas
The Deep Blue Sea
The Flea's Sneeze
The Greedy Triangle
The Grouchy Ladybug
The Jacket I wear in the Snow
The Lion and the Little Red Bird
The Little House
The Little Red Hen
The Luckiest one of All
The Mixed-Up Chameleon
Thy Mysterious Tadpole
The Napping House
The Popcorn Dragon
The Rag Coat
The Secret Birthday Message
The Secret Shortcut
The Snail's Spell
The Story about Ping
The Wing on a Flea
Three Little Kittens
Water Dance
What do you say, Dear?


Transitioning from picture books to longer books:
Storytime with the Millers
The Complete Adventures of Curious George
Usborne Little Book of Bedtime Stories
Winnie-the-Pooh
The House at Pooh Corner
The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter


First Chapter Books:
My Father's Dragon, series


Poetry:
When we were very Young
Now we are Six
The Random House book of Poetry for Children


Bible Time:
Everything a child should know about God
The Jesus Storybook Bible
My ABC Bible Verses
The Beginner's Bible

Book Talk Tuesday: Canadian History for Dummies

Canadian History for Dummies, written by Will Ferguson was an enjoyable read. I'm trying to brush up on my non-existent knowledge of Canadian history (since I do live in Canada and should probably learn more about the place!) and this was a good way to start.

Starting at the beginning - with the people of the First Nations and the first viking settlement and ending with former PM Chrétien, this book covers many topics in between. I knew a few small facts - it's hard not to when you live so close to the Capital - but I learned so many interesting things. It was especially enlightening to read about the War of 1812 from a perspective decidedly *not* pro-American. :)

This had to be my favorite part:

An international conference is held on a certain subject. Let's say, "elephants." France submits a report entitled "The Love Life of the African Elephant." The English hand in "Elephants and the Empire." The Americans: "Building Bigger and Better Elephants." And the Canadians? They submit a report entitled: "Elephants: A Federal or Provincial Responsibility?"

Ferguson was able to make this sweeping overview of Canadian history entertaining with jokes like the one above that fit with the subject matter at hand (and the subject being the tug of war over control between the federal and provincial governments). It also helped to lighten some otherwise depressing points in the narrative (war and politics do tend to get a bit boring).

Overall I give it two thumbs up. Now I've got to find another book about Canadian history to add to my list. Any suggestions?

Preschool at Home

There really is no reason to have a curriculum for preschool, but I found it very handy to have some materials available - especially in the winter when we were stuck inside for long periods of time. I wanted to share a few of our favorite items - the things we did most often when my daughter was younger.

1. Bible Time: We wanted to introduce our little girl to some simple Bible stories and the book we found and enjoyed was The First Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes.

2. Workbooks: TJ went through a long phase where she just LOVED workbooks, so I found some that were fun but also great for developing motor skills as well as working on some simple concepts. These are the products we loved the most:
Preschool workbook set
Kumon First Steps workbooks
And, if your child is beginning to show interest in reading and really loves workbooks, I recommend the Explode the Code Pre-primers A, B, and C.

3. Activity Bags: Another thing that I found valuable was a box full of activity bags. The objective is to fill various gallon-sized ziploc bags with different items that will keep a young child occupied for a few minutes (especially helpful while cooking dinner!) Here are a few ideas:
Preschool Activity Bags

4. Read-Alouds: And, of course, the best thing you can do with a young child - read to them. It enlarges their vocabulary, helps to lengthen their attention span, and introduces them to the wonderful world of imagination. Our Favorite Read Alouds

5. Other fun items: the Leapfrog Letter Factory video, wooden pattern blocks, magnetic dress up dolls and play-scenes, and puzzles.

Scienceworks - Learning about Animals

Learning about Animals is the first book in the ScienceWorks series that I have used in our homeschool and I haven't been disappointed. This book is lots of fun for a kindergarten child but could easily be used with a slightly older child as well. The listed ages are K-1st.

Content

Learning about Animals covers the following list of concepts:

• Animals are living things.
• Animals live in different habitats
• Animals are many sizes
• Animals are many colors
• Animals' bodies have different kinds of coverings
• Animals have different types of appendages
• Animals find and eat food in different ways
• Animals have different methods of self-defense
• Animals need air, food, and water.
• Animals grow and change.

Each concept is developed through an introductory discussion, a hands-on activity, a worksheet and a list of books to enhance the lesson. For example, in the lesson "Animals are many colors" starts with a few simple questions like, "Can you name a green animal?" You are then encouraged to make a list of animals and their colors. After the lesson has been introduced you can move on to the activity. The activity for this lesson involves coloring a frog green and finding places where the pictured animals can hide from danger.



My daughter had a great time with this activity and a year later still pulls out these puppets to "play camouflage", as she calls it. To wrap up the lesson there is a simple worksheet activity for the child to complete and a few suggestions for some books to read.

Positive Aspects

The book is very user-friendly, the activities are fun and engaging and the book suggestions are always great. Every suggested book that we could find at our library was a hit with my daughter and read many times.

The lesson I described above was one of the shorter plans. Many of the other lessons include more activities, mini-books, and worksheets.

Negative Aspects

The one negative that stands out to me is all of the photocopying necessary to do the activities if you buy the reproducible book. Other than that, this book is great for young children who want to learn more about animals.

Final Thoughts

Very enjoyable introduction to animals for a K-1st grade child. It took 12 weeks for my daughter and I to work through this book, doing the activities, worksheets, and suggested books for reading, so it is the perfect length for a unit study on animals.

The listed price for the guide is $12.99 and can be purchased through Evan-Moor or any good-sized bookstore.

80 pages, ISBN #1-55799-771-3

Planning our week with "My Father's World"

TJ and I are really enjoying our adventure with My Father's World kindergarten program. Each week we pick a different topic and do a few projects, read some books and learn our weekly "Words to Remember." I added this program to our school plans because I wanted to add something that would be fun and interesting but also instill some knowledge about God and His work in our lives. Please note: We are not using the complete program (no math or phonics). I am only using the teacher's manual and the message board to come up with our weekly activities. So, if you are looking for a review about the full program this isn't the right place! :)

Since we don't follow the order laid out in the teacher's manual I don't use the day to day guidelines that are listed. Instead, I pick our topic for the week, check the MFW message board for ideas and books that we could add to our unit, and fill in with other ideas from the teacher's manual. To organize each topic I came up with a simple planning form that I could use to map out each week's activities (you can see the form below).

The Plan:

1. Pick the weekly topic and write it at the top of the page along with the page numbers from the teacher's manual.
2. Find one or two "informational" books (by checking the library and the MFW message board for ideas) that will give a simple overview of the topic.
3. Write down any notes (under the section titled "discussion") you find necessary after reading about the Biblical concept listed under day 1 of each unit in the teacher's manual.
4. Write down the "Words to Remember" for the week.
5. Make a note of the Bible references listed and plan to read these to your child.
6. Make a list of good books that go along with the theme (checking the manual, message board, and library for ideas).
7. Now is the fun part! Find 2-4 activities or art projects that go along with the theme, using the teacher's manual and message board for ideas.
8. Make any notes at the bottom about ordering books from the library or materials that you need to add to your weekly shopping list.
9. Now you are ready for a week in My Father's World! :)

We usually take three days to do everything that I've planned - about 30 minutes to an hour each day. Here is the break down:

Day 1: Introduce the theme with the informational book. After reading the book discuss the Biblical concept and tie in to the theme. Write the words to remember on a circle and add to our caterpillar poster (instead of doing a unit badge we are making a long caterpillar). Do an activity (art, cooking, science, etc.)

Day 2: Repeat a bit of the previous day's discussion to refresh the child's memory. Repeat the words to remember. Read any relevant Scriptures. Do an activity.

Day 3: Read literature books. Repeat words to remember. Do another activity. Read all the words to remember from our poster.

Some weeks we are a bit crunched for time or there aren't many things to do for the theme so we will combine days 2 and 3.

Overall, TJ and I enjoy this special time spent together. I especially appreciate that I have some interesting ways to present some Biblical truths to her in simple but memorable ways. We are enjoying our My Father's World journey.

Weekly Theme 1 Page Doc

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Education mfw

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful visit with my sister and her family. It was so much fun to have them here with us and we were sorry to see them leave - but we'll be visiting them in March! :)

Now to go clean up the kitchen - those teenage boys can eat! :)