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Our Curriculum and Plan for 2019-2020 School Year

August 26, 2019August 26, 2019

This is our second year homeschooling. Alexie just turned 4 this summer and she has gone through some pretty big changes in the last 6 months, which will really change what we are doing this year.

Back in March, Alexie was diagnoses with 67 food sensitivities which were triggering her sever eczema. Since eliminating those things from her diet her eczema has cleared up completely. And so has her napping. She quit napping which has really opened up our afternoon for more “activities” as she calls them. So we have a little more time to do some more exploring, outings and activities.

(If you are wondering about Zoé, she doesn’t need as much sleep and she isn’t as chained to her routine as Alexie. She’s more go with the flow and is happy to bop around with us wherever we go. As long as she gets an hour or so nap at some point, she’s happy. She’ll also join us for as much as she wants. She loves reading, so she’ll be sitting on my lap as we read all our books. And she’ll love getting messy with any art supplies we put in front of her.

Math

For math, I decided on Math Lessons for a Living Education as a curriculum. Why? I loved the use of stories in this math book. Level 1 has characters that visit their grandparents on the farm. While there many mathematical questions come up naturally and they solve them together. The situations are very real world, from baking to having to figure out how many egg cartons there are to using life cycles and seasons to teach patterns. I also loved that it’s kind of a middle level. With her love of numbers, I’ve found that many kindergarten programs are to simple. But the Grade one is too advanced. I found this book more like a second year kindergarten level.

Science

Alexie is a little bit of a scientist. We nicknamed her “our little engineer”. With that being said, we aren’t doing any “formal” science units. We’ll be kind of “Unschooling” it this year, letting her steer and determine what we’ll be learning about.

To encourage her love of engineering-type stuff, we’ll be doing lots of free play with our LEGOs, blocks and trains.

But we’ll also doing homeschool program at our local science centre. Once a month we’ll go and participate in mini-lessons with other homeschoolers. I think it’ll be a great way to introduce her to other science topics and to meet and hang out with homeschoolers.

Language Arts

Alexie has a goal of learning to read by the end of the year. Now we’re not talking novels, but a very simple book. She loves books and looking at the pictures. She’s even taking to “reading” stories to Zoé, telling her a story based on the pictures. She’s got most of her letters down, so now we’ve got to work on the letter sounds and stringing them together.

With that in mind, I found All About Reading. I loved that it had some interactive elements and games. It’s also a program that builds reading confidence. In the lessons, the child is introduced to words and then those words are used in games and activities. Only once the child is comfortable with the words, do you move on to the reader, where you’ll find all the words you’ve worked on. I’m very excited to see how she does with this program and to see her confidence build as she reads.

We’ll also do an author study in the winter. We found that we had a little dull period in January, after all the holiday excitement. So I’m looking to add some excitement with something fun. So we’ll be studying the works of Barbara Reid. Since her works are available in both French and English, it would be a great fit for us. And then we can also dive into her artistic work in plasticine (or in our case play-doh).

We are also going to be doing lots of read alouds. Later this year (like late spring) I’m hoping to introduce reading novels to Alexie. She already likes series and books that connect, so I’m thinking this will a hit with her. I’ve picked out Charlotte’s Web, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Pippi Longstocking and Winnie the Pooh. I think these texts will be funny and entertaining to Alexie while also fitting in with some of our unit studies.

In honour of her request, we will also try to have monthly tea parties. We will try to incorporate the idea of Poetry Tea Time, but considering I’m not a huge fan of poetry, we are going to be very loose with what we read. But still reading while drinking tea and wearing fancy hats.

Arts

Coming from an artistic family, we really want to include a well rounded arts education for our kids. But we also want to encourage creativity. I’m hoping have at least a weekly block of time when we can explore various mediums and get our hands dirty. My plan is to always have the basics available (crayons, paper, scissors, glue stick, etc) but also have a special material that I can change out every few weeks. I’m thinking of rotating watercolours, pastels, natural/found materials, different paper products (tissue, construction, newspaper), play-doh for our author study, and a few others.

I’m also hoping that a little more exploration of the musical instruments that we have in the house (we have a keyboard, guitar, ukelele, harmonica, kahone drum and hand bells) might prove exciting. Maybe she’ll find something she’s keen on learning. She loves singing right and certainly has her favourite radio hits. If singing along with radio is all we do then, that’s great.

Socialization

We are social people and we love to get out of the house. So we have a few weekly groups that we are going to be joining up. We are going to continue to go to the French preschool program at the school around the corner from us. And we are going to continue to go to our weekly playgroup meetings. And the girls are already signed up for gymnastics classes. But we do have some new things. We are going to be going to our local science centre on their homeschool days. There is also talk with some parents in our area of starting a new homeschool co-op and we are super excited to be a part of that!

That’s our big plan for the year. From September 2019 to August 2020. A little reading and math and a whole lot of exposure to different experiences, materials and activities. We are excited to meet and hang out with more homeschoolers and we can’t wait for our year to start!

Sink or Float

July 12, 2019July 12, 2019

We have finally been getting hot summer weather! That means we’ve finally been able to pull out our kiddie pool and enjoy it! Both girls love to splash around in their pool, pouring water, shooting water guns and throwing things into the pool to make them swim.

It was precisely the girls’ excitement at throwing things into the pool that sparked a question. What sinks and what floats? So, we set out to do an experiment and see!

We gathered a bunch of things from the house and the yard. They were things that I didn’t mind getting wet. And I made a point of adding a few items that I thought would be interesting, like a metal bottle.

Then, we headed out to the pool. We introduced Alexie to the idea of a “hypothesis”, making an educated guess. Before throwing each item into the pool, she had to guess if it would sink or float. Once the item met the water and we had the result, we sorted them by category (sink, float and later both).

This experiment was so much fun and was a great way to mix summer play and fun with math and science. If we got a little wet along the way, it was just a bonus!

Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment

July 10, 2019July 10, 2019

Alexie has recently watched Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph. One of the scenes involves some Mentos candies dropping into a lake of diet coke resulting in a huge volcano-like explosion. It was a hilarious scene, but she wondered if it could actually happen.

So we set out to see if it was possible.

Our first attempt didn’t quite go as we planned.

But it was a great lesson in failure.

Failure can be a great lesson. This time it gave us a chance to try again, revise how we dropped the mentos in and learn from our mistakes. Don’t let failure be a stumbling block to learning. It can actually be a great teacher.

How to Socialize Your Homeschool Child

July 4, 2019July 7, 2019

Ask any homeschooler and they will tell you that the most common question they get is about socialization. While it’s not an issue (see our post here on putting this question to bed) some parents do worry that their children aren’t getting enough socialization.

The truth is, unless you are living under a rock and never leaving your house, your child is probably getting enough socialization. But if you are looking for ways to give your child more oppertunities to interact with others here are some of our favourite ways we socialize our homeschool kids.

Where we like to take our kids to socialize:

Playgroups/ Hubs
Preschool Programs
Errands/Appointments/Shopping
Visiting Family
Extra-curricular Activities
Our Neighbourhood
Public Spaces (like a library)

Hopefully this will give you some ideas of where you can take your children to interact with others and help them socialize. Where do your kids do their socializing? Let us know!

We Planted a Garden

July 4, 2019July 7, 2019

We planted a little garden in some raised boxes in our yard. It was a super hot day, but we had fun and some popsicles along the way.

We planted several things including tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, beans, carrots and mini pumpkins. We are also lucky that we have raspberries and apple trees that grow on our property, too. Hopefully we get a good little harvest and learn some great life skills!

Did you plant a garden? What did you plant?

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

July 4, 2019July 7, 2019

Looking for an easy but super educational activity that helps kids learn their letters? This alphabet scavenger hunt is honestly one of our favourite learning activities.

All you need are some letters, a piece of chalk and place to hide them. We like to use the foam letters from our playroom puzzle mat. And we love to hide them in our playroom, back yard or even our local park.

I hide the letters around and have a list of letters to match them up with. Matching up letters is great for 3 reasons;

To help further identify the letters and practise their names and sounds
Work on learning alphabetical order
Make sure you have all the letters before you leave the park

Let your kids run around and gather the letters. It’s also a great way to add some physical activity to your language lesson.

Egg Catapult …and Splatter Art

April 19, 2019July 4, 2019

We love STEAM activities. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Whenever you can combine multiple subjects into a single activity, you activate whole brain learning, meaning you are making more connections and are more likely to remember the lessons they learn. And, when we can connect an activity to a season or holiday, it makes it all a little more real for our kids. This Easter, we decided to do something fun and launch some eggs with a catapult and we added a messy touch to it.

First, we built a catapult. It was easy enough, especially with the instructions on Little Bins for Big Hands. We used some tongue-depressors, a few rubber bans, and a plastic spoon. And then we filled some eggs with paint.

Filling eggs isn’t really that hard, but it is a little messy. We got a dozen eggs, something pointy and sharp (I had a cake decorating tool) and a skewer. At one end poke a hole roughly the size of a chickpea. Insert the skewer and mix up the contents of the egg. This allows you to empty the egg into a bowl. You can still use it to make some yummy scrambled eggs. Then, rinse the shells with a little water and fill them with paint. We used water-based paint that was pretty runny. If your paint is too thick, you can add a little water to the paint to make it runnier. Now you have eggs that are ready to smash.

We took the girls outside with a piece of craft paper and we started launching eggs. It was so much fun and a little messy. It really was a good thing that the paint was water-based because it washed off very easily.

After a few eggs the girls got a little excited and just wanted to throw the eggs, which was a lot of fun too. This was a really fun activity that combined engineering and art. We love S.T.E.A.M activities and this was a great festive, Easter activity. You really should try it!

Decorating Easter Eggs

April 12, 2019April 12, 2019

Growing up, decorating Easter eggs was an annual tradition. We tried all kinds of different kits and techniques as kids.

This is the first year that Alexie is really old enough to decorate the eggs. We decided to start with the classic approach and do a more traditional technique.

Last year, a few weeks after Easter, I was wandering through my local Michael’s craft store when I noticed a bin of discount bags. Each bag was filled with random Easter stuff and cost $10. I sifted through the bin until I found a bag that was worth my money. It had 6 Easter egg decorating kits as well as 2 cake pans (a cross and a bunny). Well for $10, I couldn’t pass it up. I stored the kits in a cool dry place until we were ready to use them this year.

I hard-boiled a dozen and a half eggs earlier in the day so they would be cool enough to work with, especially for little hands. We used some regular crayons to decorate the eggs with our own special designs. Then, following the instructions, we made the dye. We placed an egg into each cup of dye and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. We pulled them out and let them dry. Then we added either the shiny paint or the glitter to the eggs. These were the bonus items in the kits.

Decorating eggs may seem like a strange thing to do, but it’s actually very educational. We counted eggs and cups of dye, learned about colours and how dyes work. And then there’s the artistic side of things. The kids got to express themselves on an egg. It’s really the perfect blend of tradition and art.

Birdwatching: How to Set-Up a Bird Feeding Station

April 8, 2019April 8, 2019

Alexie loves birds.

She always has. Especially flamingos. Not that we get many flamingos up here in northern Ontario, Canada. But a girl can dream, can’t she?

We decided that with spring approaching, it would be the perfect time to set up a bird-feeding station in our front yard, so we could do a little bird watching. It was simple enough to do.

First, we set up our front yard. To do that, we had make a few things first.

Alexie’s last birthday party was actually bird-themed (we said she liked birds, right?) and as guest favours we gave out these little wooden bird house sets we got from the dollar store. They cost a $1.25 and came with paint and a brush. It was perfect for the party and we happened to have 2 extras leftover. So we pulled them out and let the kids paint them.

Then we made some simple bird feeders. We used some old toilet paper tubes (yah for free craft supplies), peanut butter, bird seed and ribbon. They were super quick to make and easy to hang.

After hanging everything up in the trees in our front yard, making sure that they were in view of our picture window, we got to work setting up things inside.

It’s still pretty chilly up here, and will be for several more weeks. So we set up in our home so we can enjoy the birds, while staying warm. By the window we kept some kid-sized binoculars (Stéphane’s from when he was little) and a few bird books.

It’s really a simple set up, but the girls have really enjoyed checking the feeders and seeing the birds that have been flying by the windows. And the occasional squirrel.