My oldest child is 5 1/2 (Keaton). My next child is 4 1/2 (Sienna). And then we have a (nearly) 3yo (Reagan) and a 10 month old (Savannah). I decided to start both the older kids in Kindergarten together. So we'll see how that goes.
I planned to start school around 9 this morning. We started closer to 11. I remembered that my first day of school was rarely learning anything but was mostly social interaction with classmates and a lot of details - you know, covering books, prepping for classes, getting an overview of what we'd be learning, and the like. So I decided to make today similar for my kids. I handed out school supplies, discussed what we would use each thing for, and then - the best part - I let each of the kids pick out two pencils.
These pencils have been accumulating (although not so much as of late) since I was a small child and I've finally come around to the fact that they are completely useless if not...well....used. So use them we will!
Then we did a little bit of actual school. We talked about the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters, reviewed how to spell their names, and discussed today's date and how it falls in the calendar.
Then we made personal pizzas.
Please note the educational part of this: round bread, red sauce, stringy cheese. Oh yes. Highly educational.
Then we ate our pizzas. I think you know where I'm going with this.
And that was pretty much the end of the first day of school. To my amazement, Reagan actually sat at the table the entire time we were doing school, making our pizzas, etc. I told her more than once that she was free to get down and play if she wanted to. But I think she must have thought she was going to be left out of something really awesome, so she stayed.
We'll see how tomorrow goes.
4 comments:
Sounds like awesome first day!! Kindergarten is lots of play, lots of pointing out what things are, labeling, cooking, singing & having fun. You'll be surprised how much Reagan picks up from you teaching the older two! You are doing great!! Keep it up!
Are you following a curriculum? I wanted to try to home school my youngest, he misses the cut off for school by 26 days and I think he is kindergarten ready but Minnesota law wants him to go back for a 3rd year of preschool :p
I just am torn between him being home with younger daycare kids and at preschool with other kids to interact with.
If you have any suggestions let me know! :) Good Luck!
@Phoenix, I have a few books that I'll be mainly using, but for this week and possibly next week, I'm just going to be making sure we have all the letters and numbers down really well before moving into phonics and math.
I looked at several curricula at the homeschool convention, but after talking with several homeschooling parents, decided against a full curriculum for kindergarten. Most moms said it was a waste of money. I mean, who can't teach their child how to read and write?
We'll be using How To Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons (or I'm debating on buying Hooked on Phonics) for phonics and I was given the new Saxon Singapore Kindergarten curriculum which we'll probably use.
I also went to the Dollar Tree and picked up several workbooks for practicing letters, numbers, phonics, etc. that I'll be using. Then I plan to do lots of interactive learning: field trips, cooking, lots of library books, crafts, etc.
I don't know about Minnesota law, so you definitely want to check into that before making a solid decision. Indiana is the BEST state in which to homeschool. We have basically NO requirements from the government except to meet the 180 day standard, but other states are not nearly as lenient.
Check out this link for more details on your state:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=MN
Sounds like your first days are going well...and that IS pretty much what the first day is like everywhere. BTW, making pizzas and cooking is very educational! I always cooked with my first graders when I was in the classroom. The processes of watching ingredients changing; melting, cooking, etc is SCIENCE! :-)
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