Our year so far...

We just finished our 3rd week of our new school year and I though I would share a few things with you all and tell you how we are doing with the curriculum we decided on this year. You can see my post on that here

Road Trip USA



me on the map idea found here

I have found out that this one we are not ready for just yet, I have looked it over and loved the idea of it but when we put it into action it just was not for us. There is a lot of writing that Olivia is just not ready for that yet and she really was not interested in the topics as well so we will save this one for later when she is a bit older.

When I decided to drop Road Trip USA I had to figure out what we would do for Social Studies and History this year.  While at the library I found a book called “What Your 1^st Grader Should Know and went over the Geography and History section and picked out the topics I though Olivia and I would enjoy and I am going to find some fun ways to teach each topic.  We had so much fun learning about maps last week I think that this is just what we needed.  It is going to be a lot more involved with me figuring out the lesson plan each week from scratch but it will also be a lot of fun.

Math Mammoth

This one I was a little scared of because it is math and while we have done really well teaching her numbers and counting and even started a little addition I though I was going to need a scripted program, I did not know how I was going to explain to Olivia the hows or whys for the concepts in math but so far it seems that Olivia learns just like I do so us working the teaching section together she picks it up pretty easy and I love the games that the author suggests. I know that it will get harder but for now we love the curriculum that we have.





Explode the Code



playing a game using flash cards

I love this workbook, it is hard enough that I feel like Olivia is learning something but not too hard that I have to sit over her the whole time she is working on it.

I also like that each lesson we have done so far has a little grammar work as well in the teachers book. This was something that I have not figured out what I am going to use to teach so I am glad that we are getting little work in each week for now until I find a grammar book.


I have also made flash cards and word games to go along with the lesson because even though Olivia loves to do the worksheets it “clicks” better when there is some fun thrown in there.

 

Elementary Life Science

This is another book that we are loving, we are slowly working through the book we started it last year.  Reading the text and answering the questions together. To be honest it has mostly been me reminding her about the answers. A super exciting thing that happened this week though Olivia got a lot of the answers correct with out any prompting from me.  whoohoo!! The experiments and activities in the book are super fun so we are enjoying learning science.

 

Other things

We also have done a couple of lesson in our just right mini lesson book this is one thing that I am so-so about but we are going to stick with it for now. 

Olivia still enjoys working through the you can read lessons so even though it is mostly too easy for her it is good to get the sight word practice in so  I let her work on that as she wants to.

Right now my main focus is on reading and math I know if she gets the basics of those two things down she will do well with what ever life or school throws at her. The other things while still very important in the long run are just an added bonus right now I am trying to make it fun and keep it pointed to things that she is interested in. 

This year is our first year to join a co-op and we had our first outing that was really fun thank you FFHSC for making us feel welcome. Another new thing going on this year Olivia has joined a soccer team and we have enjoyed meeting new friends through that as well

 

I am still looking for a good handwriting and grammar program so if anyone has any suggestions let me know in the comments down below.

-Becca