Mary and the Mouse and the Mouse and Mary

I Am An Artist

I am an artist. My definition of art is creating something with my hands that is an expression of who I am. Art is a part of me. I can't escape the urge to create, to get out my feelings in the way of paper and glue. Or losing myself behind the lens of my camera. I am so thankful for my art. It's my own personal therapy. And in the process I am leaving my mark in the works I create. I am an artist. And there is nothing else in the world I would rather be. -Unknown-

Over In The Meadow

Explode the Code

Getting Ready for the Code, Explode the Code, and Beyond the Code are amazing tools for alphabet recognition, phonics and comprehension. I always use this series as an add on to our curriculum. For those that need a little extra practice the Explode the Code Series has 1/2 books to reinforce between each level. All six of my children have greatly benefited from this series. This series is very user friendly. Explode the Code does an amazing job building a child's confidence all of the way from learning their ABC's to becoming a fluent, confident reader.

The Big Green Pocketbook

Today we read the book The Big Green Pocketbook. This is a great book to focus on reading comprehension, order and detail. While little ones today don't know about bus tickets, drugstores with ice cream, typewriters and the five-and-ten store these "olden day" places/concepts did not seem to confuse Phoebe.

Blueberries for Sal

Blueberries for Sal is a wonderful children's book. Today Phoebe and I read Blueberries for Sal and did many activities that involved reading, cutting, gluing, painting and comprehension.

Ladybugs

Phoebe learning about ladybugs. Phoebe used watercolors to paint the ladybug and glitter and glue to make the web. Little Ladybug, Little Ladybug, where do you fly, up, up, up, in the sky so high. Little Ladybug, Little Ladybug, where do you land, down, down, down, on a little girls hand.

Using Pinterest to fill in the gaps...

Gone are the days of having to go to the library to check out books and copy material from reference only books. The internet is and can be a wonderful place to learn, Pinterest being one.

Why Rod and Staff is my favorite Kindergarten Curriculum

Having homeschooled six children I strongly believe that Rod and Staff has the easiest and complete curriculum to give your Kindergarten student the academic advantage. Rod and Staff does not use colorful pages to appeal to students, rather they make learning fun through their series of A,B,C workbooks. They currently have books A-K and are working on book L at this time. Rod and Staff makes learning the basics painless and easy. By the time your student has finished all of the books in this series they have a wide range of concepts mastered. I typically use this curriculum for Preschool but not all children will be ready to attack this series until Kindergarten. http://www.milestonebooks.com/item/1-10020-GHIJK/?list=Rod_and_Staff_Preschool

How we do HISTORY

Instead of using boring textbooks that only give you a surface understanding of events in history I prefer to us autobiographies, historical fiction, and historical non-fiction books to learn History. I love Sonlight Curriculum to accomplish this. There is one problem though, Sonlight is way to expensive for our budget. To make this literature based curriculum a possibility I use Amazon, Half-Priced Books and various other online sites to purchase the books that Sonlight uses. In addition to Sonlights approach, I love the "A History Of Us" series. I find this series very informative and interesting. The series is the perfect compliment to the literature based History approach.

Wrapping up the year

May brings beautiful weather and an increasing desire to be done with schoolwork for the year. The end of the school year reminds me of the storybook, "The Little Engine That Could". I try to be my children's cheerleader as I repeatedly tell everyone that they can do it. This year brings another first for our family, High School Graduation!!!! Our oldest child is graduating.