Over the summer, I planned some of the subjects, topics, themes, etc that I want to introduce to Isaac in the next year. However, I still haven't quite figured out how much I want to do and what approach I want to take. The perfectionist in me wants structure and order like a real classroom, but my heart tells me that approach is in conflict with one of the reasons why I want to homeschool. I want to go with his interests and have fun. I want him to be a kid. I want him to LOVE learning.
It is really ironic. I saw an article in a recent Parents magazine that talked about helping your kids continue to learn during the summer while they are not in public school. It was saying that "unstructured" learning and going with their interests keeps them engaged, and they actually learn more. Then it goes on to list all these fun things you can do at home during the summer to keep your kids learning (pretty much everything on the list sounded like it was written by a typical homeschool mom). Basically they were saying this is the best way to get their minds moving yet----send them back to school in the fall where the majority of kids won't be learning this way. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing public school. Hello?! I have a degree in it, but I know that it is just a simple fact that it is impossible to meet every child's need. Every classroom would be better if the teacher-student ratio was smaller. That is one thing that draws me to homeschooling. More one-on-one. Freedom to go with their interest, excell in their best, pick up where they need to when we need to.
So with all that being said, I'm gonna just list some of the topics I want to encourage; topics I want to find opportunities to teach, but he may take us into a study of pumpjacks for all I know!
Bible- memory work, continue with BSG for all ages.
Language Arts - lots of reading, print awareness skills, review of letters and sounds, rhymes, opposites, position words, left and right, alliteration, word families, sight words
Math - height, weight, graphing, patterns, sorting, finger patterns, dot patterns, Recognizing numbers (as high as what challenges him??) shapes, measurement, money (mainly identifying coins), 5 Frames, writing and drawing shapes (not being formal with this)
Science - the kids is obsessed with Space and the planets, ants, magnets, static electricity, float/sink, simple states of matter as with water, weather, shadows, animals, bugs, life cycles
Social Studies - state name, age, birthday, self dress, make bed, manners, giving, maps, local community, transportation, jobs, Oklahoma, United States
Motor Skills - fine and gross motor, kicking, throwing, running, hopping, etc, fingerpainting, sand, shaving cream, playdough, tongs, cutting, stringing, lacing, tracing, stamping, writing
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