We Love 1st Grade

Yes we do! We are sticking to our same curriculum that we used for kindergarten, My Fathers World. I'm still so happy we found it. It is perfect for our family and the planning being done for us is perfect for this mama.

We started 1st grade over Christmas break (well Dan's Christmas break). We had finished K about 3 weeks before Luke was born and I decided to just wait on 1st until after Christmas was over. It really worked out perfect, just as all things do when God is involved : ).

This year in first grade Zachary will be learning so many things, and Emma and I are excited to go on the journey with him.

The whole year in Bible is based in Proverbs. Zach learns a verse a week, and copies the verse on the second day. He is getting much better at using lower-case letters instead of just resorting to upper-case as he did so often before we started school. He is learning sentence structure through copying his verses (capitals, periods, commas, etc.). Later in the year, as he is reading more, he will be reading a Bible reader on his own (so exciting!!) and then keeping a Bible notebook by writing about what he read and illustrating it. I imagine this will make quite a keepsake.

Zach is also diving into phonics, which is opening up his world of reading. He learns a new phonic rule every day and practices marking the words and reading them. This will lead him to the Bible reader soon.

We learn a new science concept every week. This week is rain. We check out many books from the library every week on our subject and read them throughout the week to enforce learning while having fun (this is also a part of school which is easy to do while nursing an infant).

Math is done very gently, or so it seemed at first. It really is quite full. We do our calendar everyday and talk about the number of the day. We put the number of the day on a number line. We add coins to his coin jar and count them, trading for larger coins when he can. We add beans to a bean cup everyday and when he gets ten, they get glued to a stick to teach him his 10's and 1's. He writes equations using these concepts for the number of the day. Each week we also learn a new concept (counting, comparing, adding, geometry, time, money, etc...). We also check books out from the library that enforce these concepts in a fun and practical way. (By the way, all the books from the library are suggested in the curriculum. Another great thing for this mama!! I just go on-line and reserve them and swing by the library and pick them up. So sweet!)

We also are doing a drawing program. This is also gentle and fun, and great for me too. This will help when we get to the Bible notebook for his illustrations. Do you know any adults that say they are a good artist? This program helps you learn to "see" what you create as your own original - no negativity.

So we are schooling Monday through Friday, with Wednesday being our Exploration Day. This means we use this day to do hands on "stuff" on our science concept for the week. We get outside and explore God's world. We sketch in our notebooks in the yard. We don't do any structured math or reading that day, but we do usually "play" with our pattern animals which teaches reasoning and math (but, shhh don't tell him). We also are learning art appreciation that day in two awesome books that are teaching us to look deeper and differently at some awesome paintings of both portraits and landscapes. And lastly we are doing music appreciation by learning about a different instrument each week.

Sounds exhausting, doesn't it? But it's not. It's really quite do-able, even with a four year old wanting to tag along and a baby nursing alongside. We get it all done in an hour or so each day, and if we skip a day, we've made it up on the weekends.

I still can't believe that I am homeschooling my children. I had never even thought of or considered homeschooling before Zachary was 3 or 4. I never knew anyone that was homeschooled. I find it odd that this is what we feel called to do. I really want a God- centered Christian education for my kids and I would have to have a full-time job out of the house in order to be able to afford a Christian school for them. I want to be the one raising my kids, not strangers. We do have to sacrifice a great deal by having me home, but it is so worth it. I am startled by stories from friends about what goes on in their kids public classrooms, and I am so thankful for this option to be the educator of these children that God in-trusted us with. God is so good, and he has a reason for everything that He does. I wrote recently on Facebook that if He leads you to something, He will see you through it. Yes, God is good. [I didn't even notice that I stepped up on my soapbox, I'll get down now. Please know that I am completely aware that every family is different. What is right for our family, may not be right for another family, and that is great.]

We start every school day in prayer. Zachary leads it. He often prays for family or friends that his little (huge) heart leads him to. Can I ask you to pray for us too? Pray that we are persistent and have the endurance that it takes to learn and to teach. Pray that what we do is pleasing to the Lord, first and foremost.

I need to have my camera more handy during school, but below are some photos of the end of Zach's kindergarten years. (I can't wait to do it again with Emma and then Luke!!)


This was our penguin week.


Zach's 100th day of school. He got to count out and eat 100 pieces of trail-mix.


Yes, we often school in our jammies : ).


I guess we do have a 1st grade photo. Multi-tasking mama/teacher. Nothing is better than school on the couch. Don't you wish you were taught this way? I sure do!

How I organized K this year

This post is a long time in coming. I don't feel "qualified" to give advise on homeschooling, but I've always been an organizer. I have my messy piles around (all over right now), but I do enjoy planning and organizing. This has been our first year homeschooling, and I have a ton to learn... but I thought that someone may glean an idea or two from how we set up our school this year. So here it goes...

I'm writing this to a My Father's World user (since this all we know), and again it's for teaching only Kindergarten (again... this is all we know, so far!!).

This is our "School Cabinet". It was a Target buy, years ago, and perfect for all our supplies. I outfitted it with drawers (also from Target). The bottom cabinets hold all of our arts & craft supplies. There are bins for colored pencils, one for paints, one for glue - tape - glue sticks. One compartment on the very bottom holds the boxes of extras that came in the deluxe package (ant hill, butterfly garden). In the top of the cabinet we store our "daily" stuff. Drawers that hold our Cuisenaire Rods and Rods Alphabet book, textured letters, preschool bins that came with the MFW preschool package, a roll of the ever handy contact paper, and my "teacher's file boxes". At the very top of the cabinet are horizontal paper holders which house our construction paper. Really my "go to" item daily is just the one green lidded file box in the top cabinet. Here it is:

In it are two hanging files. One of which houses the things we use sporatically: Blend ladder chart, Bingo game cards, extra calendar pages, etc. The other hanging folder houses the manila folder for the unit with all the worksheets in it, our 100's chart and calendar page, Lucy's awesome Kindergarten Daily Schedule (from the MFW-K Yahoo group), and my Teacher's Manual. In the front of the box are our jars with our 1's and 10's sticks in them, our flashcards, a ziplock with the textured letters we've learned to date, and teacher's pencils, stapler, eraser, etc. (stuff I use everyday). This box is all we need for school most days. We've gone for camping trips where all I need to do is grab this box, and we are good to go. I store the other unit manila folders in an additional box, pictured here...

The folders are put in order of the curriculum and as I find things that I can use for that unit I just stick it in the appropriate folder. If we happen to have books around the house that go with that unit, they go in here too. I've torn out all the worksheets and also put them in the right folders. I put sticky notes in the folders several weeks before the ant and butterfly unit so I remember to order the critters. I also put in notes about special things we may have done for that unit that may come in handy in two years when we repeat K with my daughter.

When we get to the end of a unit, I simply take the 100's chart, calendar page, and my Teacher's Manual out of the current unit's manila folder, and I file that folder back into this box. Then I take the next unit's folder out of this box, and put in in my "school" box : ). Easy peasy!!

My kids each have a box of their own too. They are the same as my box, but in it are their school supplies (pencils, dry erase board, their badges for the week). When it's time for school, I just tell them to get their school boxes and the three of us sit at the dining room table and go to it. By the way, my daughter (3 years old) has coloring books, and some MFW preschool items in her box, as well as some age appropriate worksheets to keep her busy when I need one-on-one time with my son.

I've noticed some posts on the MFW board asking what mommies do with all the worksheets once they are completed. What is working for us is a large 3", 3 ring binder with page protectors. (You'll see this in our cabinet next to my file boxes. At the end of each unit I put the worksheets for that unit into his "K Binder". My son loves to show this off to people, and it's a great reminder to me of how far he's come this year. As for the "stuff" (art projects, etc.) that don't fit into page protectors, I either put it in the pocket in the front of the binder, keep it on display around the house, or it goes into his school box (for now).

One other important part of our school day is our "book basket". Quite literally a basket... Not required in Kindergarten, but this is where we house the books we've found around the house that have to do with our current unit. The "bag" in the basket houses the books we've checked out from the library on our unit. A cozy corner that I can send my kindergartner to when my 3 year old needs one-on-one time with her "school".


I hope this helps someone. More than anything, I pray that other mommies that are using MFWK for the first time are as blessed as I've been this year. I would love to hear other ideas too that may be helpful, as well as ideas for years to come...

Thanks for reading - Amy

School Year, Here We Come...

We have (slowly) started up our school year again and are looking forward to sharing our antics with friends and family. We have enjoyed a very busy summer and are ready for our pre-school/kindergarten year.

For our 5 year old son we are using My Father's World for kindergarten... and still LOVING it. We're currently on the "Leaf" unit, which tied in great with a Labor Day weekend camping trip to Silent Valley in Idyllwild.

For our 3 year old daughter we are using My Father's World and Heart of Dakota's, Little Hands to Heaven for preschool. This takes us 30 minutes or less a day, but it's a great time of Bible stories, devotions, and fun with both the kids.

I have what we need for school organized and ready to go and I am praying that God gives me and my husband wisdom and courage this year to train our children in His ways. I hope you join us for some fun and please leave comments if you have them.