Kindergarten Curriculum | 2014-2015 School Year

I am often asked by other moms of how homeschool is going, what we use for curriculum, and any other general homeschool questions that non-homeschool moms ask (or moms considering homeschool but don't know where to start). This is only our first official year, so I am by no means a pro. But I have done a lot of research on what works for us and how and what I want my children to learn. So far, it is working and I couldn't be more pleased.

I started Bridget in Kindergarten back in August but it has been very slow moving because of the newest addition to our family arriving in July. I've been primarily focused on reading, writing, and math. We dabbled in some history but it took a lot of time that I didn't have (having a five year old, a toddler, and a newborn in the same house makes for a very demanding day for mom).

Now we're back into a regular routine (as regular as can be with a constantly changing infant), and are adding a few more subjects to our daily studies.

We start our homeschool day with our core subjects: reading ,writing, and math. If we finish those in a timely manner, we work on history and then science. I save science for the very end since it often includes experiments, which Bridget loves. It provides a bit of motivation for her to get her school work done.

Kindergarten

• Reading: The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, BOB Books (We used only the BOB books in 2014, but beginning in January 2015, I began using the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. After one month of using this book, I only wish I had started it sooner. We both love it!)
• Writing: Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Kindergarten (After months of "free-style" teaching of basic handwriting, I decided to finally get a structured curriculum. Zaner-Bloser won because it is the style of handwriting I've been teaching her, and she's doing very well.)
• Mathematics: Math-U-See Primer
• History: Story of the World - Ancient Times, Elemental History - Adventures in America (We love SOTW but we stopped to focus more on reading. Now that Bridget is doing well with reading, we've added history back to the curriculum. But this time using Elemental History since it's gentle enough that we can breeze through it in a shorter amount of time. It also includes a states study. SOTW will be used again at the beginning of 1st grade.)
• Science: Elemental Science - Intro to Science (Once I had decided on a science curriculum for first grade, I discovered that the same company had some more basic texts for K4 and K5. We're trying the K5 level and so far we really like it.)

We both like having a longer homeschool day. In 2014, every time we'd finish up the lessons, my daughter asked me if there was more. She was never ready to stop. Now we've got a full school day for her, but also keeping it fun and simple.

Christmas 2014

Christmas was not everything we had hoped it would be. The kids spent most of December with a runny nose and cough, and poor George got a fever we just couldn't get rid of. Even Liam couldn't avoid getting sick. But we did try to enjoy ourselves as best as we could.

 

Bridget was the first one to start feeling better, just in time for us to attend The Nutcracker. It was a special mommy-daughter date we had planned. She fell in love with the story and with Clara. During intermission, we went out to the lobby and got her a special Clara ornament.

 

 

Christmas came quickly. Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve, and both boys were still sick. We unfortunately did not get to bake any cookies for Santa this year, but we did leave him some oreos to snack on. Christmas morning came and Bridget was ready. George threw a little tantrum first thing before he realized there were toys from Santa in the living room. I blame the tantrum on him not feeling well (he was still running a fever).

 

 

This was Liam's first Christmas, so I really took more photos of him. He was excited by the sound of the paper ripping. He did a great job opening his own gift from Santa (more bibs!).

 

 

Sadly, George spent the second half of Christmas Day looking and feeling like this:

 

It feels awful as a parent to see their child feeling so yucky, especially on a holiday. Thankfully, by New Years' he was feeling much better. Our family Christmas picture got postponed until after the New Year, the day before taking down the tree. All three kids were healthy, happy, and smiling. I guess things turned out to be alright after all.

George's First Haircut

On December 21, 2014, I finally decided to give George his first haircut. In fact, it was the very first haircut of any of my children. So it was a big deal. I wanted to be ready before I cut off his precious baby curls. I knew the moment I cut them off, he would turn from 'Baby George' to 'Little Boy George'. December 21st was the day. I had to go ahead and do it before I changed my mind.

 

 

I knew I wanted to keep his hair somewhat long. So I started with the scissors. While George was very cooperative and excited about getting a haircut, he's still a wiggly 2-year-old. I gave up on the scissors and my husband got out the clippers.

 

 

All smiles and he hadn't even looked in the mirror yet:

 

 

George has since had another haircut, this time going all around with the clippers rather than leaving the top longer. It's much easier this way especially since boys have much more frequent haircuts. He sometimes misses mommy brushing his hair. Occasionally he'll bring me the hairbrush and ask me to brush his hair, and sits there like he's getting a massage. It's cute.

Kids 2014 Photos

Getting photos of the kids is always an adventure. The main reason for the photos was to get Liam in his blessing outfit. Since I already posted those adorable photos here, now it is time for photos of the older two, and then the three babies together.

 

Bridget is a very shy girl, especially when it's time for pictures. She's trying to smile, but just can't relax enough. She was excited about wearing her new dress and getting her hair done though. George on the other hand, he's not shy about getting his picture taken. His problem is trying to keep still and not play with the props.

 

      

Bridget finally began to relax and be comfortable with the photographer. She started dancing and playing. It would have been a great photo except for the fact that her hair is a bit out of place from all the twirling. But I do like the action shot!

 

George looks so grown up in this photo...

 

... until he lets out a big dinosaur ROAR!

And finally, all three of these precious children together:

Kid Convos: December 2014

The kids spent a lot of time being sick in December, so I was unable to record a lot of the things they said. But here's a gem.

Me: Here is a picture of mommy and daddy when we were young. We used to be skinny.
Bridget: And then you got married.
Me: Yep. And then we got married.

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving was celebrated over a month ago, but I need to record it before I forget it.

 

I hosted our Thanksgiving dinner at my home again this year. It was just a small meal (by typical Thanksgiving meal standards), as it was only my parents coming over this year. The menu was:

 

Tofurkey (cooked with onions and the gravy that came with it)

Mashed Potatoes

Mushroom Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Stuffing (made by my dad)

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Candied Corn

Cranberry Applesauce

Whole Wheat Rolls (made by my husband)

 

 

For dessert, we had:

Caramel-Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Cookies (pumpkin and peanut butter, both made by my mom)

 

Holidays with kids are always fun, and this Thanksgiving was Liam's first. Of course he was not able to partake in any of the delicious food, but his company was nice. 

 



 

Bridget was excited that she was able to fit in her turkey outfit one more year.

 

I was unable to get any good photos of George on Thanksgiving, but these are the photos from the day before. As I had mentioned in a previous post, George had a little run in with Granny's hot glue gun.

 

On the day before Thanksgiving, my parents came over to watch the kids while I made a quick run to the grocery store. Before I left, I handed Liam over to my dad and set Bridget and George up with play-dough at the kitchen table with my mom. When I got home, the play-dough was still all over the kitchen table and my mom had brought over some crafts to do with the kids (I did not know about this). I came inside, unloaded groceries, and saw Bridget and my mom using the hot glue gun. I took a deep sigh, and went back to the van to grab more groceries, and came back inside. Bridget was done with her craft, and my mom seemed to be putting away the hot glue gun. I went and got Liam from my dad to go change his diaper and get ready to feed him. As Liam was still on the changing table, my dad and I heard George let out a huge scream. My dad went running, I diapered up Liam, and met them in the kitchen. My mom and George were sitting at the kitchen table with the hot glue gun. After a couple of minutes, my mom finally gets up with George and brings him to the kitchen sink (he's still screaming bloody murder). At this time, I handed Liam over to my dad and took over with George. He wouldn't stop screaming and his finger looked raw. I took him to our bathroom and applied some ointment and a bandage to get him to calm down. This worked, so we sat down and ate a quick lunch and my parents went home.

 

After they left, I wanted to get  a closer look at the burn. This is when I took the following pictures. It looked so painful, so I called the doctor and they said to come right in. They made sure he could still bend his fingers, and they determined that it was a second degree burn. They gave us some special burn medicine and bandages to put on every day and they wanted to see him back the following week. George wanted his burn to be bandaged for almost 2 weeks (he didn't mind looking at it when we changed his bandage, but he wanted it to be covered when he played and ate). It was three weeks after the burn that George finally stopped holding his finger out. It was a very traumatic experience for him, and he still remembers it. I don't think he'll be doing anything with a hot glue gun for a long time!