ALOHA ACADEMY

So I guess we need to change the name of our school, since we are no longer
on Chestnut Grove Rd (Chestnut Grove Academy).
We are getting settled in, and I have been busy preparing for next school year, since it will be the 'real deal'. Cole will be in Kindergarten!! It's hard to believe that my baby will be 5 this summer. School starts August 1st here, and we will run until May 4th. So here is the game plan:

Social Studies/Geography - we will cover the 50 states, and then talk about continents, and maps. We will start with Hawaii (#50) and work our way back to the first state. We will also be marking places on the map we have been, and where family lives...with pictures. We are getting the material about each state here

Usborne Books - My Street, My Town

Handwriting - we will be using Handwriting without Tears for Kindergarten

Math - we will be picking up in the middle of Saxon Math K, and then move onto Saxon Math 1. This is the picture of our math cabinet, we have tons of manipulatives, which is why I love Saxon...it's VERY hands on. Even Zane likes to participate.



Music - Pfiffer Music K and Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies


Art - Adventures in Art by Chapman (this book was recommended to me by a friend that is a former art teacher, I was luckily enough to find it on paperbackswap.com to get a FREE hands on preview, and I really like it. I have found the others in the series on ebay and plan to order them. There are 6. I will also be using How to Use Child-size Masterpieces for Art Appreciation and I Spy: An Alphabet in Art

Phonics - Continue with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, Explode the Code 1 and Happy Phonics. We use a magnet board and magnet letter tiles for the OPG, which helps keep his hands busy ;)

Science - Dinosaurs, The Human Body, Oceans (each using Usborne Books Ten Terrific Weeks Program). Here are just some of the books I have to go with the curriculum, more are coming and we will hit up the library. I also have some games on the way. For First grade we will do Biology...so this is sort of a percursor to that. Cole will also be attending Science Class, there is a Homeschooling mom who has a BA in Biology that does classes. He will attend for May, June, July and November.

r

Usborne Books Kid Kits - Dinosaur Sticker Book and T-Rex Excavation Kit

Usborne Books Ten Terrific Weeks Adventures of the Human Body , Going to the Doctor Kid Kit, Flip-Flap Body Book, First Encyclopedia of the Human Body, Going to the Dentist and Science and Your Body.

Usborne Books Ten Terrific Weeks Adventures at Sea, First Encyclopedia  Seas and Oceans, Uncle Pete the Pirate, Puzzle Journey Under the Sea and On the Beach.

Usborne Books Ten Terrific Weeks Adventures with the Dinosaurs, First Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Stencil Book, The Great Dinosaur Search, The Incredible Dinosaur Expedition

P.E. - Cole, Quince and I have all enrolled in Karate

Chinese - Better Chinese program


Scriptures - Discover the Book of Mormon We have ordered a new reader, it's on order. I haven't figured out how I'm going to implement this program just yet...it actually is pretty short if you do it as outlined, but I want to include reading from the actual scriptures as well....right now we use this outline
and I print color pages from The living scriptures website that goes with which story we are reading, if they don't have it...I just google it and find something.


*I think that covers it all*

I'll be working with Zane as well. He likes to go along with what I do with Cole, and we will be doing a letter (or two) of the week...I'll match it up with which ever letter we are doing in the HWT program. He likes to do math with us as well as participate in the other subjects too.

I'm still looking for a Co-op group, researching homeschooling groups here in Hawaii, is like looking for the secret underground or trying to join on with the secret service! It's ridiculous! I have gotten a few leads, and the first one I have jumped on is a Military Group. It is questionable as to if I'll be able to get on post or not, so I figure I'll take the last month of the current school year to try it out, before I count on the group for next year. There are two more possibilites from that point, if I need them. But man did I have to dig to come up with anything.
The other option is doing my own co-op, though I haven't found anyone Cole's age that is interested, only 4year olds. But I def want to do a group for 2-4 anyway, so that I have something for Zane, unless I find a group that has a preschool option as well. Zane really enjoyed the co-op we did before moving here.

So I have been typing my entire school year plan into the computer using this free program HOMESCHOOL TRACKER/ , it's really nice. Then I can print off the plans to have in front of me, or to provide for the school, should they want them. I still have to file my intent to homeschool form.

ADDED:  The great thing about homeschooling is versatility, We started using workboxes and we have added a few more things as the time has gone on (we started June 1st).  We have added the Little Passports Program (see my sidebar), and the Expedition Earth Curriculum from Confessions of  a Homeschooler.  Typically we cover one country a month (one lesson a week).  Feel free to check out the Homeschool tab to see how our curriculum has been going so far!

http://educatinglayton.blogspot.com/2011/06/show-off-your-curriculum-link-up.html

CHORE CHART FOR CHILDREN

I have also instituted a new chore chart. The kids are loving it, even Zane...it's amazing how quick they catch on to 'prizes' at such a young age.
We are using this format, with a few changes of our own
Chore Chart
I only give one prize a day (I have a 'small' prize bucket), but they have to do all the chores that day to get the prize. They also get a sticker for doing all their chores for the day. When the sticker chart is full (9 spots) they get a big prize, like she mentioned. Then we also have a seperate set of prizes for best beehavior cards (which they have yet to get, lol). Nothing was said of the black cards...so I put these behind the names, and they can choose 'extra' chores to earn money...a quarter per chore. Though, they haven't done that either...yet. I just added to Cole's chore load a bit, b/c the karate teachers sent home this whole check list asking how his performance at home was for all sorts of things, and most of it was stuff we have never even had him do...so time to start. Simple things like, making his bed. Anyhow, it has been pretty effective, and he only fights me slightly. Zane is such a happy helper at his age, I never have to ask him twice :D Sometimes he is too helpful, he broke a bowl the other day helping me unload the dishwasher. O well.

I have also joined an online service called Enchanted learning , it's $20/yr and has all sorts of printables, I have already printed off a ABC book for Zane, and several dinosaur activities for them both to go with our first science unit.

BTW we picked dinosaurs first b/c the Bishop Museum in Honolulu has a dinosaur display up through September, so I thought it was a good place to start.

I joined Paperbackswap as well to add to my curriculum books (as previously mentioned). I had so many books that I was no longer using, or weren't gonna work out for what I had bought them for. So I decided to just swap them...it's a great program. Check it out and use me as a reference, please! (jqaltman@yahoo.com). As I mentioned I got my art book from there, and I have several dinosaur books on the way, and lots more on my reminder list. I have mailed out over 20 books, I'm just waiting for them to be received so I can get my book credits and trade them in.

I haven't been having 'formal school' since I had Caige, figured there wasn't a point since we were moving soon, but now that we are settled, I'm trying to get in more of a routine. The last two days we have been talking about Easter, and tomorrow we will be making some cupcakes and a small cake for Z's birthday...he is turning 2!

I'll have to post pictures of the school room later. It's coming along nicely. The landlord had some spare cabinets that he put up in a room that was sort of lost when the addition was put on...so that's our homeschool room now, sort of a glorified hallway to the toy room, but it works well for our needs.