Homeschool Kindergarten

Thanks Amanda and Mari for your kind words on yesterday's post. I'm not really sure what had me so emotional yesterday, except possibly hormones. Your support and friendship means the world to me! That being said, I'll move on to today's topic: school!

When I started this blog, back in February of 2008, I was a novice homeschool mom, just starting out. We had pulled Ashley, then 15 out of a totally unacceptable public school and were embarking on a new journey: learning at home. Now, two years later, she is only a few credits from graduation and Aspen is 5 and eager to begin kindergarten. And, all things considered, I still feel like a novice. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, as for kindergarten, the original plan was to start "officially" in the Fall, but Aspen is so eager to get started we decided to start right away. I spent the last 2 weeks planning and decorating our classroom/playroom. This coming week will be her first week of structured lessons. I've decided to do unit studies with her, month by month, and each thing we do (reading, math, art, etc) will relate in some way to our topic.

Our first theme will be the ocean. In week one, we'll learn general things about the structure of the ocean, like how much of the Earth is water, how the ocean is salty (vs. pool and drinking water), and a little about zones, waves, tides and currents. For Bible we'll be studying Jonah and learning how you can't hide from God and how God loves and forgives us. We'll also study whales. For week two, our focus will be sea life. Week three will be about ways we use the ocean, such as for food and travel. And last but certainly not least we'll talk about ocean conservation.

I've decided for our basic school structure we'll use the Workbox System. I love the simplicity of it and Aspen is thrilled with the idea of having her school work set up this way. I already had a plastic drawer unit with 7 drawers that will work perfectly and seven activities is perfect. In addition we'll be doing calendar and weather activities every day. Since it's summer, swimming, biking and playing outside will be movement/PE. Later when the weather turns cold again we'll start doing indoor movement games and more music.

I've gotten quite a few raised eyebrows over starting school in June, but personally I think it will really work for us. I'm planning to be flexible and figure out what works for us. The extra months, I feel like, will give Aspen an academic jump start and give our days some much needed structure.

Stay tuned for my Open House post that will include pictures of the room, our setup and the mini students at work!