A is for Acorn…

One of the lovely (and not so lovely) things about homeschooling is the wide variety of educational philosophies and curriculum choices. There’s so much out there that it can be overwhelming….

But I need to remember that I do have an advantage here. My mom taught me through example that its not the particular curriculum you use or educational philosophy YOU like most that matters… A hodgepodge of stuff that works best for YOUR CHILD can still produce a child that loves to learn and becomes a lifelong learner. Strict adherence to a particular method can be frustrating for mom and children…. and it doesn’t really matter as long as they have access to good books, very limited access to tv and video games, and curriculum that teaches them in the way that they learn best.

I’m experimenting a bit with unit studies. A friend down the street loaned me Before Five in A Row. Basically, you take a good children’s book, you read it every day for 5 days, and each day you do a different activity related to the story. For instance, we read The Carrot Seed yesterday. We talked about how carrot seeds grow, and then we cut the top off a carrot, put it in a dish on the windowsill with water, and we’re going to attempt to grow a carrot top. He’ll need patience, just like the little boy in the book, and he’ll need to check in on his carrot every day, etc., etc.

But I’m not sure that unit studies alone are best for his particular 3-year-old boy mind right now. So I’ve come up with the fly by the seat of your pants, lots-of-little-learning-experiences-that-take-less-than-an-hour-while-the-baby-naps curriculum. Today’s curriculum…

A Is For Acorn

- Write the capital and lowercase letter A on the Magnadoodle. Tell him the two sounds they make. Give word examples- alligator, ant.

- Do the Letter Bag. Fill a bag with things that start with the letter A and have him draw them out.

- Make an acorn man with the glue stick. Write the word “Acorn” on the page with the Acorn Man. Have him practice writing a letter A there.

- Dance to a music and movement song together.

- Read Imogene’s Antlers. Stop and let him say “antler” every time it appears in the story.

- Do one worksheet of line drawing practice. Let him cut it with scissors after he’s done, not fussing too much about exactly how he’s holding them. =) Let him color on the back.

- Make Ants on a log for snack together. (peanut butter on celery with raisin Ants.)