hitting the books

I started kindergarten with Rachel on Tuesday and eventhough it's only been a few days, it seems to be going pretty well. Rachel told me before we started that she thought it would be boring since it's just her and me. After the first day, she told me that it wasn't boring at all. Whew, I was worried, not really. (:

Rachel's first day of school outfit. She changed out of this though before we even started. (:



What am I doing for currics and such? Here's a little breakdown.

Phonics/Reading/Writing

I chose the Veritas Press Phonics Museum. It's got EVERYTHING and I got the kindie/1st grade kit since it was cheaper and I'll most likely homeschool next year too. Puzzle pieces, CD of songs, a standup museum with paperdolls, primers, workbook, teacher manual, game pieces and flashcards.

This is Rachel's own museum of things she found around the house that starts with the short A sound.


What I love about this kit is that it incorporates the fine arts with the flashcards, pieces for the museum-each piece is a letter of the alphabet, and coloring pages. She'll be learning about Van Gogh, Monet, Durer, just to name a few.
She enjoys most of it although she's not a big fan of practicing writing out the letter. Yeah, we're only on A right now...


Math

I'm using the Abeka kindergarten curriculum. Math is her favorite subject just like her dear old mom. Yesterday she asked me at least 3 times when we were going to do math. This is the third day and we've already done the first 7 lessons. I'm fully expecting that we'll be delving into 1st grade math halfway through the school year which is fine with me!


History/Geography

I found a cute activity book and coloring book just for our state that we'll be doing later on. Right now, we're doing some basic geography with some maps that I have and she seems to like that. Probably next month we'll do a little bit of civics with the election approaching and visit the state capital for a field trip. Yes, I know she's only in kindie. But let me put it this way, she knows who the 2 candidates are, who we prefer and can recognize President Bush when she sees him on the news.

Science

Rachel is on a waiting list for a co-op in the area. They are using the Abeka Science Book so I already bought it just in case we end up doing it at home. Today, we actually put together my herb pot that I got for my birthday back in February! Totally didn't plan on putting it off that long but I put it away until the weather got warmer and then forgot about it. She had fun so it's all good.

Counting out 20 seeds

Super cutting skills

A little spritz spritz



Bible

I got The Child's Story Bible as suggested by the veritas press curriculum. At first, I didn't like it because it's not at all like most kid's condensed Bible stories. This is more like someone telling you a story from the Bible. I like it very much. Rachel sits on my lap as I read, precious time. I also got an Old Testament sticker book from the local Christian bookstore to use as application from the Bible Stories.

Art

This is my hub's department being all graphic artist and such. We got the drawing book from the veritas press suggestion and he loves it. He told me that the concepts they teach in this book is the stuff he learned in highschool and that he wishes he had learned it younger. This is all foreign to me so I'm like, whatever sounds good to me! So he will be doing art with Rachel once a week.

Music

I found this pretty neat website: www.lessonplanspage.com. It has suggestions for each subject as well as by grade or even grouped by holidays. I plan on using this for some music activities. Also, I may teach her piano lessons starting in January.

So this is long but that's the run down. We do school while Emma naps. I love it. What I've discovered in just a few short days is the privilege of seeing how Rachel learns, comprehends, retains information, and finding out her interests in relation to school topics.
It's an adventure, for sure!