...Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Ruth 1:16 This is the journey of our lives...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Home Schooling

This post is for Heidi:)

I am starting Noah on the Abeka level K curriculum and I really like it. Its a Little slow for him because we did kindergarten last year unofficially. But its great to really drive home the basics and gives him a lot of confidence.
I ordered the level K kindergarten pack but not the Teacher guide. Its so easy to follow you don't need to spend the other $200 on teachers guides. I'm sure as we get into the next grade levels we'll want to.

Letters and Sounds K- has an assortment of coloring, multiple choice and fill in the dots to answer questions. They can actually work on their own which is a good thing, because a lot of homeschooling kids get so dependent on mom helping them, they can't work alone.

Writing with phonics is great. I love how Abeka teaches them to write, using the basement, upstairs and attic to teach them how far to draw their lines when writing a letter. (ie. i - would only be in the upstairs and the dot is in the attic space a j - is in all three spaces)

Kindergarten writing tablet - this one is kinda redundant. We don't use it much, only when he needs extra writing practice. I've been incorporating homework he can do on his own time with this one.

They also include quite a few Small learn to read books that go from I learn to read, I do read, and I read well. Noah is liking the stories and moving through them quickly. They have a Word Blend Book that just focus's on vowels. All good stuff!

Numbers Skills - we did Singapore math last year, so this is really a review for him. But its very colorful and incorporates learning money and telling time with every math lesson. So I really like how its all put together. This is his favorite book.

Numbers writing tablet - a practice book for writing numbers and seeing numbers written in patterns to learn to count by 2,5,10's ect.

I purchased separately - God's world
Its a science book. It's a great beginner book about the 5 senses, the weather, the seasons, animals, seeds, and ocean. it incorporates God's plan in all these things and how they apply to us. Very simply stated so Graham is enjoying it as well.

Art Projects - I love this one. They are already printed and ready to go art projects. hardly any planning required. he can pick the project he wants to do and do it independently for the most part. They don't require a lot of extra art supplies and are very colorful.

The only thing is we might be done a little early this year. So I may add some Singapore math back in just to keep him busy. We will do the second year kindergarten math they have.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the ease of it and how he enjoys it.

My bible curriculum is my own Right now, but I will probably order Stick Figuring Through the Bible http://www.grapevinestudies.com/to start in August. Its artsy and fun, Graham can do it too.

Hope this helps!

2 comments:

heidi jo said...

when i read "for heidi" i almost felt like i was on doni's blog. i am REALLY getting spoiled in the blog world to have 2 of you catering to my whims and requests aren't i? ha ha! THANK YOU THOUGH!

your review really helps me. it really sounds like a curriculum that would fit well with seth's personality too.

question - both the art and God's World are abeka too - right?

oh thank you SO much for taking the time to write out your review. it really has me thinking that we'll consider this one even more. thank you thank you!

Brooke Zimmermann said...

Yes, the other two added books are Abeka. My pleasure:)