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Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts

March 14, 2015

Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

J-Bug is more than halfway through his kindergarten year, and I decided it would be fun to share details about the curriculum we've been using.

Hands on homeschool curriculum for kindergarten - tons of great ideas here!

How to Homeschool Kindergarten

I don't often blog about our homeschool journey, but I realized that I should!  I get so many questions about our curriculum choices, schedule, and organization, so as time permits I'm going to share bits and pieces of our homeschool life.

April 27, 2014

My Father's World Kindergarten

Kindergarten Unit Studies



We use My Father's World as our core curriculum.  Last year I blogged about many of the weekly unit studies I did with JZ.  I stopped part way through the year, because it became too time consuming to take photos of our daily homeschool life and to write each detailed post.  I recently started kindergarten with J-Bug, and I decided I'm going to share some of our favorite hands on activities from each unit.  I won't go into full detail about everything we do each day, but I hope to hit the highlights.

September 13, 2012

5 DIY Manipulatives for Preschool and Kindergarten


DIY Manipulatives


Do you homeschool or add after school enrichment activities to your child's day? Are you looking for supplies on a budget? Look no further! Here are five of my favorite manipulatives for early learning. It took me about an hour to make all five, and the only supply I purchased specifically for this project was magnets. I've mentioned most of these at one point or another in my Tot School and Tot Preschool posts, and I thought it would be nice to post the specific details in one place for anyone interested in the details.



1.  Milk Cap Alphabet
These are self explanatory.  I washed and saved milk caps until I had enough to make the full alphabet.  I wrote each letter on a cap with a Sharpie.  Eventually I saved enough for one set of capital letters and one of lowercase.  These are great for letter matching, beginning sounds exercises, word family games and more.  Even better, they can be used for more than just alphabet games.  They can be sorted by color then graphed.  They can be stacked.  They can stand in as place markers for homemade games and much more.


2.  Clothespin Alphabet
These didn't even take five minutes to make.  All I did was write a letter on the head of each clothespin.  This set can be used for letter matching and beginning/ending sound games, and it is great for fine motor development.  My three year old needs more practice with these. 


3.  Pom Pom Magnets
These are probably the favorite are here.  My boys, especially J-Bug who is three, could play with these every day.  He loves pom poms in general, so pom poms with magnets are the bees knees to him.  The benefit to using pom poms as manipulatives is the texture.  The added sensory stimulation pom poms provide helps children retain what they are learning.  I've seen these on many blogs.  I think the original idea came from Mama Jenn.


Pom Pom Magnets are simple to put together, although out of all the manipulatives, these and the gems below were the most time consuming.  All you need are pom poms, a glue gun and sticks, and craft magnets.  This is our second set.  For the first I used magnets that were much stronger, and the pom poms pulled apart after just a few months.  This time I got smaller magnets without as much strength.  (But still enough!)  They are adhesive backed, but I used hot glue to reinforce the adhesion.


4.  Gem Magnets
These were made exactly like the Pom Pom Magnets.  I got the idea to use glass gems from 1+1+1=1.  I made two sizes and vary which I use depending on the project.  These are terrific for developing the pincer grasp.  I use them in similar exercises as I use the Pom Pom Magnets.  These ones take more strength and precision of grasp than the pom poms, so I like to alternate which I use.


5.  Duplo Number Blocks
What child doesn't love building with blocks?  I used a chalk marker to write the numbers 0-9 on the blocks.  A Sharpie could be used for a more permanent solution.  The chalk markers wipes clean.  I used a wipe-able pen on purpose, because my oldest is a bit picky about playing with blocks that are marked up.  ;-)


I made two sets, so my boys can make two digit numbers by place the blocks side by side.  Before too long I will write out "thirty-two" on the bottom block and have JZ (who is five) find the 3 and the 2 to put together.  I might end up buying another set of Duplos, because the list of possibilities with these is sky high.


Each set of manipulatives is stored in these pencil boxes.  These can be found at Dollar Tree, Target, or any school supply store.  I just bought two more the other day in the clearance section at my local grocery store!


Stay tuned for ideas for uses and multi sensory learning suggestions for these DIY manipulatives.  I love hands on learning and have lots of ideas to share!

 For more ideas follow my Preschool Ideas board on Pinterest.

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September 11, 2012

Homeschool Organization Quick Tip #1 - The Traveling Caddy

My mom nicknamed me the Product Queen at a young age.  I have a product for everything, and am obsessed with organization.  Have you ever been to The Container Store?  It's like a little piece of heaven.  In fact, if they put a Starbucks inside of one I think it would be just one step below heaven.  Anyway, now I'm rambling (and dreaming about sipping a latte while shopping at The Container Store.)

Well as much as I love The Container Store I'm on a stay at home mom's budget now.  My new best friend?  The Dollar Tree.  They have neat little buckets, baskets and caddies.  I found this green caddy in the dollar bins at Target (who by the way DOES have a Starbucks inside.)  I've seen similar items at Dollar Tree.


This is the first of many Homeschool Organization Quick Tips I plan to post.  Each will be short and sweet.  We have a studio where we keep all our art and school supplies.  We often do school work in there, but we also do school in many other parts of the house including outside.  Moving around is great for the boys, but it was beginning to be a pain in the rear for me.  We'd be right in the middle of a lesson, and I'd realize I didn't have markers or scissors or something crucial to the project.

I put this traveling caddy together for easy access to the most common supplies we use.  I included pencils, a pencil sharpener, scissors, glue sticks, markers, colored pencils and dry erase markers.  Obviously it isn't a comprehensive list of necessary school supplies, but it covers every item we use every single day.  I can't tell you how many trips up and down the steps this simple caddy has saved me.  

A caddy like this could also be made for homework, crafting on the go, kids crafts, or whatever your hobby is.  Anything to make life easier, right?


For more handy household tips follow my Around the House board on Pinterest.

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February 3, 2012

Ocean Animals and Phonics Squishy Bag

We love squishy sensory bags.  They can be used for babies through older children.  Toddlers can play I spy with squishy sensory bags.  Preschoolers can practice writing letters with these tactile bags.  Babies can explore toys and small objects safely when inside a sensory squishy bag.  (Always monitor babies and toddlers during play.)  We love to make games out of sensory bags.

All you need to make a squishy sensory bag is a ziploc baggie and hair gel.  You can add food coloring if you want it tinted.  I left ours clear and added the animals from our sea creatures pack and the beginning letter for the following ocean animals:
  • fish
  • walrus
  • crab
  • lobster
  • eel
  • shark
  • octopus
  • (sea) anemone

I put the squishy sensory bag on the light box and let JZ (4) and J-Bug (2) explore it with their hands for a bit.


After awhile of squishing, poking and naming the sea animals I started asking JZ what letter each one started with.  He sounded them out and pushed and prodded the correct letter until it was next to the corresponding sea creature.


The picture isn't clear.  There is an A next to an anemone.


J-Bug had fun just squishing and saying, "Look at all those ABC's, Mommy!"


Squishy sensory bags are a wonderful tool for fine motor practice.  The muscles needed for pushing and prodding the animals and the letters towards each other are the same muscles used for writing.  This is a fun way to strengthen those muscles.


In addition to fine motor practice this is a fun and simple way to reinforce letters and sounds.


Sensory bags can be used without a light table.  We love the added sensory bonus with a light table.


For more ideas for letter sounds and beginning readers visit my ABC Activities board on Pinterest. 

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More phonics games:
Do your children enjoy squishy sensory bags?  I'd love to hear about the bags you've created for them.


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