"Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

OK- I am down to the wire getting this post done,
but I REALLY wanted to participate in the
"Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop,
since it really helped me out quite a bit
as a newbie to schooling...

So, here goes nothing!

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The Basics:

For my yearly "guide" in curriculum, I use...

Sonlight curriculum

They have it all!

(and I am BLESSED to have a friend who lets me borrow
it ALL!)

Just take a gander at the books that we are
"scheduled" to encounter this year...

These books are read aloud and individual reader
(for my 3rd grader)....

...and these books cover Science and American History.

Now, I say we are "scheduled" to encounter these books,
but we will not get to all of them.

I follow the BIG teacher guide and pick and choose
weekly what I think will benefit the kiddos best,
based upon our schedules.

We also have been participating in a USA post card exchange,
and I hope to "explore" a couple of states weekly
and create a notebook
to tie into our USA History curriculum.

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Reading:

Baby Girl, who is entering 1st grade,
cannot read yet.

She is also my singer.

All the time.

Even on the toilet.

So I thought...

...Sing, Spell, Read, and Write would be
a good fit for her.

We shall see...

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Math:

All the kiddos will be using some level of...

...Math-U-See again this year.

I also have revved up...

...Calendar Time this year by adding...

...a Calendar Board
(I found A LOT of the "stuff" for the board
over at Mama Jenn).

Money has been added...

...as well as colors, shapes, and Skip Counting.

I also want to put a temperature chart on the board,
once I find a good one.

Calendar Folders will also continue with our
Calendar Time...

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Extras for Jungle Girl:

Jungle Girl will be taking a class
with our Enrichment group this semester about...

..."American Girl" Addy.

She gets SO MUCH out of these novel studies!

She will also be learning...

...Cursive this year.

I plan on using
Peterson Directed Handwriting
to teach her,
since I am writing a review of it for TOS-
I think it's gonna be a GREAT help!

Also, Jungle Girl did not do well with her ...
...Phonics knowledge portion of her standardized test last year,
even though she did well on her comprehension.

I plan on putting together some kind of lapbook review for her
to help "cement" the rules in her beautiful brain.

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Extras for Baby Girl:

My MAIN focus for Baby Girl this year will be reading...

...but teaching her to tie her shoes
would prove helpful also!

I hope this book makes it fun...

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Extras for Little Wild Man

Since Little Wild Man is only on the pre-K level,
I will continue developing his pre-reading skills with
the use of...

...his ABC Book.

It's a 3-ring binder containing...

...Letter Art...

...and other fun letter activities from places
such as KidsSoup and Make Learning Fun.

I also want to do some Montessori type activities
(like I often see over at The Shafer Family)
with him...

...hence these goodies from the Dollar Tree.

If you are considering ANY type of Montessori activities
with your kiddos,
make sure to snap some of these display boxes whenever
your Dollar Tree has them-

They don't last long!

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Whew!

Hope all this makes since-
I am looking forward to a year of
FUN LEARNING!!!

AND, for more ideas of all the WONDERFUL
homeschooling curriculum that's out there,
check out the
"Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week!