Homeschooling Update

We are making a few changes to our homeschool schedule.  I mentioned here that we were finishing up the curriculum that we had been using and I was reading/researching other curriculums and methods of teaching.  

Our new schedule looks like this (with much flexibility worked into it)

Our morning Read-Aloud is for both girls and will consist of Bible stories, favorites, library picks, and/or phonological awareness books.  The afternoon Read-Aloud will be for Norah (assuming Lucy continues to nap).  She will read to me and I will read to her.  We will have one chapter book that I will read from - the content will vary.

I have debated what to use for a math curriculum, but for now I decided to make math time more of a free time.  I have a shelf in the basement that has become our life skills/math shelf. 

Each shelf has a different activity (I also intend on rotating activities with other things we have).  For the 30 minutes of math time, the girls can pick and choose what activities they want to do.  If they tend to gravitate towards the same thing each day, I will encourage them to choose something else.  Some of our math manipulatives and life skills activities currently on the shelf include: Counting bears with activity cards that I downloaded from here, pattern blocks and pictures that I also downloaded from here, money with picture cards,

 geometric solids, unifix cubes, bottles and lids (for screwing and unscrewing), number puzzles, egg carton with tongs and pom poms, shape sorter, number puzzles, and Hi Ho Cherrio.

Norah's Spanish lesson involves her playing Foreign Language Friends and then doing and extended activity related to the vocabulary she has learned.

For art we are going to learn about an artist or a specific piece of artwork.  She will try to imitate some the art we study.

Music is going to be kept as simple as possible.  The girls will listen to various types of music by a variety of musicians.  That may happen while they color, eat a snack or just while they are playing.  

Of course, with me having Daphne, we haven't been baking/cooking.  I am hoping to get back into that but for now Norah and Lucy will alternate every other week.

We having slowing started doing some of these various activities, but just randomly.  Next week I am hoping to get into a normal routine.