Cael's Kindergarten Curriculum 2011-2012

It has been a fun process choosing curriculum for Cael's first year of school.  I find I am having to rein myself in!  There are so many wonderful options out there.  Who knew this would be so fun?

Bible- Daily Devotions & Bible Memorization

Devotions- We have two devotional books we are using right now.

Growing with Jesus by Andy Holmes takes a verse, discusses it and gives a very simple daily application for the topic.
My Bible Pals Storyboook tells a Bible story and gets the children involved by having them make hand motions or answer questions that go along with the story.  It contains a couple discussion questions, verse and prayer with each Bible story.  I love how concise, but lively the stories are.
These two books are great for our family considering our oldest is 5. 
We are also doing "character studies." I knew I wanted to pick something along the lines of obedience and character to work on, but wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to go about it. You can see how Erica does it over on her blog.  Unfortunately for us her character studies are a bit too advanced for my young children, but I am hoping to come up with our own simple version.

Memory- We memorize one verse a week.  Bible Forget-Me-Nots has been a fun way to get started memorizing.  The boys love listening to the CD that goes with the verses.
We also memorize verses they are working on in Sunday School or anything else we think would be valuable for their age.


Poetry- IEW Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization (Book & CD)
I absolutely LOVE this program.  The boys have so much fun listening to the CD and memorizing the poems.  To be honest I didn't know what the point of memorizing poetry was, but it seemed like a good idea.  :-D  But as we have begun to memorize the poetry I see how we are working on our vocabulary, annunciation, attention to detail, and public speaking skills (every stray person that comes to our home is another opportunity to practice our new skills!).  And we love, LOVE Andrew Pudewa's voice, the boys are always asking to listen to the CD when we get in the car.  I cannot say enough good things about this program.


Phonics/Reading- The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise
One of things I really love about this particular reading program is that it is scripted.  This is my first time teaching a child to read; I want to know exactly what to do and then I can build from there.  It contains 231 lessons beginning with the alphabet sounds and ending with sounding out words such as "extraterrestrial."  I can use this book for Kipp to start learning the sounds of the letters and for Cael who is beginning to read.  We will be getting plenty of use out of this book, let me tell you!  I like that I don't have to juggle several books.

Our beginning reader books- BOB Books & Playful Pals by Nora Gaydos
Today Playful Pals came in the mail and we have already read the first book 3 times, this is the same boy that would rather take a nap than read (he hates naps)!  He loves it!  It is very colorful, yet doesn't contain too many sight words.
 
Math- Right Start Math
I was able to purchase this previously owned, but unused.  Cael loves it, I.... ugh... it is a ton of work.  We are going to TRY to do it this year, with Sean's help.  There are just so many little parts.  It just doesn't seem realistic for us, but Cael enjoys it so much I want to at least attempt it for a bit longer.

Handwriting- Zaner-Bloser
Our writing curriculum is currently en route!  Cael's letters look nice, but we need to really get started with proper technique I really believe we should have started this a year ago with him.  I chose Zaner-Bloser because it is what The Well-Trained Mind (WTM) recommends and after looking at it online I liked it.  I am excited to see how it works for us.


Latin- Song School Latin
We have just started using this and love it!  I have been very apprehensive about teaching Latin since I DON'T KNOW Latin, but with this program I can see it going very well.  Our first lessons have gone great and are tons of fun.

Classical Conversations- I am VERY happy to announce we are beginning Classical Conversation (CC).  This is the first year for the program in our area and I am so happy we are able to participate.  We will be covering the following subjects with CC.

Subjects
History
Latin
Science
Geography
English
Math

Activities
Hands on Science
Fine Arts

Every week they also give a presentation in front of their class.  This week's recommended topic is "Tell a Bible Story" Cael will be telling Jonah and the Big Fish.  I love it!

I am still working on making Classical Conversations flow with what we are already doing.  The hard part is figuring out how to make CC work for us.  Eventually I want it to be our spine, but to be honest it may not happen this year.  It may work best for us to concentrate on phonics, handwriting & math with CC filling in for the other subjects.  This seems a bit bare bones, but with this being Kindergarten, our first year homeschooling and our first year in CC I am okay with that. :-) Once I have a better grasp of CC I know it will all flow well.  I am looking forward to a fun year!

Additional info on Classical Conversations:
Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood
Mt. Hope Chronicles: Classical Conversations In Detail: Part I

six beautiful years

Today is our anniversary.  Oh, happy day! 

I know I seem to be saying this a lot lately, but I cannot help it.  I am SO HAPPY!  Life could not get ANY better.  God is so AMAZING!  I have a peace and a happiness that I have never had before.  God has given me an amazing husband that gently leads me and blesses me every day.

Who knew life could be this FUN?! 

Thank you Lord for your many blessings!

Happy Anniversary husband, I love you more than ever.

our first day

What a GREAT day!  It amazes me how my days are SMOOTHER when we are doing school than when we aren't.  Does this make sense to ANYONE?  It is a reminder of how much my boys need structure, a task and someone to help focus them.

For the most part we stuck to our schedule.

Here is  a quick run down of our day.

6:45am- slept in so I wasn't able to get my run in, made a yummy breakfast of cinnamon oatmeal.  
8:00am- ate breakfast as a family and did our devotions & character study, this week we are going over  selflessness, something I REALLY want to work on.  We kissed daddy goodbye, I sent the boys out to play and I did dishes, vacuumed, started laundry, fed and changed the babies.
9:15am- Time for school.  Our subjects today:
Bible Memory
Poetry
Phonics
Math
Handwriting
P.E. (a family walk/run this evening)
Kipp and I also reviewed colors and shapes.

We will aslo be doing CC Memory Work (I will explain this another time), Grammar, Latin, Science, Geography, Music & Art.  These will be on other days and some of these subjects are included in our CC Memory work. 

To see the details of our curriculum see Cael's Kindergarten Curriculum 2011-2012.

While Cael and I work on school, Kipp plays nearby or outside (today he was using my duster to dust daddy's grill!).  The babies should nap, but of course Finn slept in so he was up playing and Remy was roaming around the living room looking for anything the big boys may have dropped.

In between subjects we take a 3-5 minute break.  While Cael & Kipp go outside to play, I prepare the next subject,  switch over laundry & change diapers.

Now with all the little ones napping and Cael HAPPY to be playing (school makes him appreciate his play time so much more!!) I am blogging.  YAY!  Although, I hear the laundry calling my name.  I have already done four loads this morning, but I still have at least 2 more and it all needs to be folded!  Oh, and DINNER, sigh...  If only we could all just forget about the dinner part of the day.

Here are a few pictures from our day

While I was taking pictures of Cael coloring, he started posing all on his own for me!  Love that boy!

I am very thankful for our great start! 

Classical Conversations begins tomorrow!  We are super excited.

and school begins

Tomorrow is Cael's FIRST day of Kindergarten!  He of course is sleeping peacefully, but I have butterflies in my stomach.  This is a big day for us.  We are officially beginning our homeschooling journey.  My prayer is that I can keep everything in perspective and Cael will learn nothing matters without the Lord.

If he could also learn to read and write that would be FANTASTIC! :-)

Please be praying for us as we head down this new path.

Remina

Since my brother is in town this week.  I sat in the back of the van with the big boys, which gave me a great view of the babies. It seemed the perfect time to snap a few photos with my phone of my precious sleeping babes.

Before Church

Remington

Finnian

After Church

Remington in a "daddy's girl" onesie

During church Remington had an "explosion" and of course today was the ONE morning I didn't bring a spare set of clothes (we were running behind), usually I have so many extra things my bag weighs a ton.  Thankfully, a very kind, prepared mom of a DAUGHTER had an extra onesie to lend us.  Thank you to the random mom for lending me clothes for my poor naked son.  

And you thought it was bad to take your child to the store in a diaper!  Remington almost had to strut the diaper at church!

August

Another exciting month around here!  My brother is in town visiting for a week, we bought the boys a used redwood play structure (that's about the size of our back yard), Sean is best man in his best friend's wedding and Cael is starting KINDERGARTEN!!

We officially have a school age child!

Can you believe the summer is for the most part OVER?!  It went so fast.  There were so many things I was hoping to do that never got done.  We really need to have a week where Sean stays home and we do a complete overhaul of the garage and "hot spots" in the house. 

I am officially giving up on the garage sale I have been trying to have for OVER A YEAR now!  It obviously is not going to happen.  A few of the big items we will put up on Craigslist and the other stuff we will donate.  All I want is a BARE garage!

Before the summer ends I still need to...
figure out a space for school supplies
write thank yous
meal plan... ugh
take family photos

Maybe by the end of next summer it will get done? ;-D

love my gluten-free life

Can I just say I LOVE my new life?!  I have been gluten-free for over a year now and what a difference!  My life has drastically changed.  Even my attitude has changed.  Life seems so exciting and cheery!  Yes, CHEERY!  No longer does that darn glass look so empty!  My house is cleanER. I am happy. I can go hiking.  I can care for my children all day without feeling like a total failure, because I am so exhausted that I cannot meet their needs properly.  The funny thing is before I was diagnosed with Celiac's Disease (CD) I thought, "I must be lazy.  Why can I not spend all day on shopping spree with the girls or do the basics like CARE FOR MY FAMILY?!"

When the doctor told me I had CD I cried.  Let's face it I LOVE to eat!  I have ALWAYS eaten whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and however much I wanted.  A diet change was not something I wanted to do... SO I went out, ate some glutinous cake and cookies and moped around the house (having no energy to do anything else).  It took me a few weeks to work up the courage to begin the diet.  Never in my life have I dieted and this wasn't going to be a "lets just make healthy choices this week, this month or this year" type of diet.  This was not a New Years resolution I could let go by the wayside in the middle of February.  This was going to be LIFE, FOREVER, PERIOD.  No cake, no cookies, no pasta, no teriyaki dinners, FOREVER.  I was discouraged.

That was last year.  THIS year I am rejoicing that the doctors discovered I had Celiac's.  Yeah, sometimes it sucks to watch everyone else eat birthday cake, BUT I have energy. Nothing taste as good as life.   I am healthy.  I am happy.  I can LIVE LIFE!  No longer do I have to send my husband and kids out hiking without me!  I can strap on a baby and go too!  I am so thankful that we discovered WHY I could barely function.

Please, do not feel sorry for me.  Yeah, I cannot eat the same things you can, but I am finally enjoying life.  Be happy.  Getting up and dressed is not the chore it was (and I didn't even realize at the time how draining every little activity was, but now that I am healthy the difference is amazing!) The Spoon Theory says it perfectly.  In a nutshell it explains life through the eyes of someone with less energy and how difficult that can be.  How thankful I am that CD can be corrected with just a diet change.  At the time it seemed huge, it was huge, but now I am able to put it in perspective and be ever so grateful for my CD diagnosis.
 
I even have the energy to cook, IF I want to that is... shhhh... don't tell my husband!  Right now I am LOVING recipes I find on Everyday Foods.  They are NOT specifically for Celiacs, but they are recipes with fresh ingredients that are realistic for me, a busy mom of 4 to make without doing a million substitutions and of course they are so TASTY!

Now I am having FUN experimenting with different flours and foods.  I am learning so much about them!  Really, who wants to learn about flour?  I sure didn't, but now I cannot wait to figure out what Teff is and if I prefer millet or quinoa flour (really enjoying quinoa right now).

My gluten-free life is a wonderful life.

If you have just been diagnosed with CD don't despair, you will be happy in the end I promise.