McCullough Schoolhouse :: 1st Grade + Kindergarten

We are back to {home}school! Eli and Maddie started 1st Grade, and Aiden started Kindergarten :)

We had our traditional "back to school" breakfast to kick off the day right. Mickey waffles were on the menu this morning :)

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It's our second year homeschooling! I am feeling a little more confident this year, but also a bit more pressure, as we have to provide proof of progress for Eli and Maddie. I know they're on track, but it can be a little nerve-wracking. There's always the question of whether or not I'm doing enough, if they're getting a "good" education, if I'm ruining them haha. But we have a solid plan in place, and I'm excited about what we have scheduled for this upcoming school year! 

Once again, it looks a little overwhelming at first glance. But I know now that each subject takes only a small amount of time each day, so it goes a lot quicker than you might think. One of the beauties of homeschool is that we can get SO much done in a short amount of time, which leaves lots of time for fun and play and non-school things. Each year will require more and more, but for now, we get to enjoy kinder and 1st grade with lots of play :)

Bible: This time is going to consist of multiple elements to help kickstart our days:

• Daily hymn
• Catechism
• Character Cards
• Bible Time

We will continue with learning/singing a selected hymn each week. After using several books last year, I have found that most of the ones we want to sing can be found in Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan. We will also continue learning our catechisms by walking through The New City Catechism for Kids from The Gospel Coalition. They have a curriculum that goes with it {mostly for Sunday School classes}, but I will use some of the activities/illustrations to help walk more in depth for each catechism. And we will use the songs in the app again too; the kids LOVE the songs and will often request them outside of school! It's honestly the best way they learn the catechisms.

About halfway through last year, we started using the Character Matters Cards from September and Co. They're an easy way to introduce character traits, without over-emphasizing moralism. Integrity and virtue are good and important, but we want to make sure that we are training to our kids' hearts, and not just trying to construct "good" behavior. With these cards, we can introduce a character trait, read a Bible verse that connects, and talk about ways we can express the trait. We'll continue working our way through these cards this year.

For our Bible curriculum this year, we will continue walking through the Bible Road Trip, but this year we will complete Year Two from Thinking Kids Press. The kids did really well with this curriculum last year, and we are excited to finish walking through the Old Testament. We will start reading through the ESV Big Picture Bible, as we transition away from storybook Bibles and to a full-text version. We will also add in some notebooking pages for Eli and Maddie, to help practice handwriting and start developing some narration skills, but otherwise the format will be the same.

Language Arts: 

• Spelling- Eli and Maddie will start Spelling this year! I have chosen Modern Curriculum Press' Spelling Workout A, and we will plan to do that daily. We will work on reinforcing sounds and letter recognition with Aiden during this time.
• Grammar- We will do grammar twice a week, and we will use First Language Lessons- Level One from the Well Trained Mind. Aiden will sit in on these lessons, and can do the narration portion with us, but otherwise won't be expected to engage fully quite yet. But as with everything else that is technically "first grade work," we'll include him and see how much he picks up!
• Writing- We will continue our daily handwriting practice with Zaner-Bloser Handwriting workbooks. They did well with these books last year {it was Maddie's favorite subject!}, so Eli and Maddie will move on to the Grade 1 book, and Aiden will start the Kindergarten book. We will also start Writing with Ease Level 1 to introduce literature and writing skills.
• Reading- Eli and Maddie made great progress last year in reading, but it wasn't without a learning curve. I learned pretty quickly that we were not going to make it straight through The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading {OPG}. So we took a few breaks here and there to practice with the BOB Books and to use the ABC See Hear Do books. It allowed me to stick to the phonics-based learning, by also providing breaks and opportunities to learn in different ways. So we didn't make it 100% through the OPG, but that's ok! We were flexible and found ways to keep the kids engaged and learning. It was also a great way to get Aiden engaged, before we started him on the OPG this summer. We will continue the same rhythm into the fall.

Family Read Alouds: We have the following books planned, and we will add {or subtract} as we have time:

• Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
• The Prairie Thief by Melisa Wiley
• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Heidi by Johanna Spyri
• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travis
• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Math: We will continue our previous math curriculum, moving forward with Kate Snow's First Grade Math with Confidence. The kids did well with it last year, so I am looking forward to building on the progress we have already made. Aiden was even able to keep up with the concepts, so he will do the 1st grade work with us, and I will just reinforce concepts for him from the Kindergarten book when needed.

History: We are adding History this year, and I am really looking forward to this! We will use The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times, supplementing with the following:

• Usborne Book of World History
• The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
• The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World
• Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History
• Relevant library books

We will have a mixture of read alouds and narration, maps/coloring pages, and activities/crafts. This will be a broad overview, and hopefully a good introduction to history for the kids.

Science: I actually didn't love our Science curriculum last year. It was pretty informal, but it wasn't super engaging, and was a bit of a drudge {for all of us} to get through. But we're going to try again with something new! Our plan is to start introducing the animal kingdom, the human body, and plants. We will use the following texts this year:

• DK First Animal Encyclopedia
• Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia
• Green Thumbs: A Kid's Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening 

And just like with history, we will check out relevant books at the library, based on the topics we are covering that week. We will do narration and keep a notebook of what we learn. It's meant to be a high-level introduction to get kids engaged in learning about varying animals, the human body, and plants. We have a good plan outlined, so I'm hopeful we'll all be more engaged this year.

Foreign Language- Spanish: The kids asked to learn Spanish, so I figured out a way to add it! We will be using Sing A Lingo, which is actually a preschool program, but is perfect for our needs. It provides a fun, engaging curriculum, with songs and activities; a good way to introduce Spanish and keep things simple for our first try!

Co-Op: We also joined a brand-new co-op with a few families in our church. We won't start until mid-September, but will be doing more of a Charlotte Mason riches study {artist and composer studies, hymns/folksongs, handicrafts} with field trips. We don't necessarily need these additional studies added to our curriculum, but we are looking forward to building relationships with more families in our church. The kids are in Sunday school with them, so it will be a good way for them to connect with friends.

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We have really enjoyed the freedom of homeschooling, and the time it has given us as a family. I love being able to tailor their education to each of them individually, and I love going at their pace.

It doesn't come without challenges; it's A LOT of behind-the-scenes and prep work for me, and it can be a challenge to manage everyone's individual needs. This year seems pretty packed, in terms of study, and I am not quite sure how we will fit it all in. But I also felt that way about last year, and somehow it all worked out. So we'll so how things go!

Here's to year 2 of homeschooling!