Pumpkin Lapbook for Kindergarten

Sources I used:
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag64.html
http://www.teachingheart.net/apumpkinunit.html
http://www.kinderprintables.com/fall1.htm
http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_62/1292000/1292244/2/source/Pumpkin_Lapbook.pdf
http://www.kizclub.com/Topics/food/pumpkin.pdf
http://www.kidsrcrafty.com/pumpkin_a-z.htm
http://www.first-school.ws/t/alpha3_pumpkinbw.htm
http://www.first-school.ws/t/ap/pumpkinpatternsbw.htm
http://www.first-school.ws/t/ap/pumpkinpatternsbw.htm
http://members.enchantedlearning.com/books/easy/pumpkinjack
http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/types/pumpkin/shapebook/
http://members.enchantedlearning.com/books/howmany/pumpkinpatchsubtract/

6/1 Update

After pulling our Explode the Code books back out earlier in the spring, Elizabeth has really flown through the lessons. The first two books are finished and we began the last book! She has been so eager to start the cow book, she was giddy when I pulled it out. After this one is finished, we’ll wait to start the next one when we begin our year (probably late August or the beginning of September).

Last week we finished a section on subtraction and began groupings for 20s and 30s. She gets fuzzy somewhere around #16 so this should be helpful. We’ll finish this book by the end of the month. We’ll wait to start the next book in the fall.

I have pictures from the volcano lapbook we did before our vacation. I’ll try to get those posted soon along with the links we used.

Fall Plans

I think I’ve settled on curriculum for next year. If we were to put her in public school, we would put her in Jr. K/pre-K because, while she’d qualify for K here in Hawaii, she wouldn’t in most other states. I’m planning to start a K curriculum but expect that we’ll spread it out over more than just a year.

The main curriculum will beHeart of Dakota’s Little Hearts for His Glory.

Math will be Singapore Math 1A & 1B. (We’re doing K now and 1 seems to be a big jump up. If it is, I’ll either do our own supplementing or purchase the Horizon’s K 2 book to use as a bridge.)

I am considering switching to A Reason for Writing for handwriting. We liked the Pre-K version of Handwriting Without Tears but I’m beginning to think she may do better with the three-line format. I haven’t decided yet.

We’ll continue with Explode the Code for phonics. She is making huge strides with it and I hate to deviate from what is working. She’ll be ready for books 1 & 1 1/2.

I’m still undecided about science. I will probably purchase The World God Made which is the K-level choice that HOD recommends. I *want* a science curriculum but I really believe the best for this age is to do a lot of free study, time in nature, experiments, etc. We’ve completed several science lapbooks already and they’ve been great for learning. So, while I think I’ll get that book, I plan to do a lot of supplementing.

I’m planning to get her into some kind of dance or gymanstics program. Or maybe swimming. Something that is a physical activity with some semblance of structure. There is a nearby program that does art classes with homeschool day classes, so I will look into that.

To Start or Wait

I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing more structured school for E come the fall.  We currently do schoolwork a couple times a week but the times aren’t structured and what we do isn’t necessarily structured and we often have weeks where we don’t do anything.

On the side of starting:
1) We’ll be pulling her out of her preschool in the fall.  She’ll turn 5 and will be one of the oldest.  While the program is decent, its really geared to 3s and 4s.  So doing more at home would be a natural transition when we bring her home.
2) Jim comes home in the fall and, with all that upheaval, structured schoolwork would give her some predictable rhythm.
3) She loves to do schoolwork and would likely love to do more on a more consistent basis.
4) *I* am eager to get started. LOL
5) She is so eager to soak things up and is learning at such a rapid pace. Just this week she’s started with double-digit adding, learned about how the sun and earth rotate and has a great start on volcanoes (we’ll work more over the weekend).

On the side of waiting another 6 months or year:
1) We’ll be moving sometime next winter or early spring. That will likely mean we don’t do much for a month or more.
2) With Jim coming home, he’ll have shorter work days and a long block leave. It’d be wonderful to not feel tied down to school work then.
3) One of the biggest reasons….I want her to keep playing! She learns so much through play. Her imagination is so active. I worry that starting too soon will kill some of that.

Trying again

Back in the summer, I had purchased Explode the Code.  To put it simply…it was a disaster.  So much so that I doubted my ability to HS on that one episode.  LOL  I filed it away, hoping to forget about it.  My sister recently mentioned that she pulled it back out with my niece (two weeks older than DD) and she did well with it.  I took a couple weeks to work up the courage to pull it back out.  Oh my!  Elizabeth has sailed through it!  We’ve almost completed Book A in just a week’s time.

Some things…you really can’t force!

Coming Out!

I’m officially outing myself with our plans to homeschool.  What that will look like for us, I’m not sure.  All of our kids?  Only a few?  Every year?  Only some years?   Who knows.  There are so many variables that play into it, not the least of which revolve around the military & deployments.

As a recap (or intro for anyone who doesn’t already know me)….I’m Tricia.  My DH is in the army.  We’re currently stationed in Hawaii.  We’ll be embarking on another deployment this year.  Elizabeth turns 4 next week and Ben turns 8 months this weekend.

We do a lot of loosely-structured, pieced-together curriculum.  She adores workbooks & worksheets, so we do a lot of those.  We’re working through Handwriting without Tears (the green book).  I’m falling in love with lapbooks.  We’ve completed two so far and we’re starting a new one next week. I do a lot of Montessori things around the house and have since she was a babe.  I don’t foresee a school-at-home atmosphere for us and I’m not disciplined enough to ensure that an unschooling approach would work well.   Huge range in between for us to find our fit.

In the interest of full disclosure, Elizabeth attends a part-time play-based preschool a few days a week.  I enrolled her for a social outlet rather than an academic one.  She is like me in that she’s an introvert who is energized by the company of others.  She can’t get enough of being around other kids.  Even with the other social things we do, it wasn’t enough.  I’m not sure I’m thrilled with the program and I don’t know how long she’ll stay in it.