School is starting...

So, last week, I got some time to myself. Actually, I got (almost) three entire days to myself!!! Can you believe it? (well, I can't - it seems as though it had been about 5 1/2 years since I had been alone...crazy!). I could have spent my free days lying around, reading a book or watching tv. But no...I decided to spend my time cleaning and organizing (crazy again!!). Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, as I finally had the opportunity to clean out and organize all of my school stuff.

M is 5 years old and ready for Kindergarten. Since I have my crazy work schedule (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), we will be doing school on Friday, Saturday, Sunday (very little) and Monday. Now, I know that school is not "supposed" to start until the fall, but we are going to start this summer (tomorrow, actually). Since we are schooling over the weekends and I know that lots of life-things are going to happen over the weekends, we are going to school year-round so that we have plenty of time to fit it all in.

My plans for school - my goal for school this year is really just to foster a "love of learning" in M's life. He is such a curious kid (aren't all 5 year olds?) and I want to keep that curiousity alive. Here is the curriculum that we will be using:

Five in a Row - This is an awesome curriculum that I found years ago when I was just researching homeschooling (thanks again to my cousin, Marla). It incorporates awesome picture books into learning. This is how it works - you read a great picture book 5 days in a row. On each of those days, you do a different activity pertaining to that book dealing with Social Studies, Language Arts, Art, Math, Sciece or Bible. It will be a great (and fun!) way to learn.

RightStart Math - RS Math is a hands-on math program. What I like about it is its heavy use of manipulatives and the way that it encourages you to "see" numbers.

For phonics, we are using a combination of two programs: Explode the Code and Happy Phonics. Explode the Code is a workbooky curriculum and Happy Phonics is phonics games. For ETC, we are still working on the primers (which teach letter sounds), but M is doing so well with them that I think we will be moving onto Book 1 in no time.

Handwriting Without Tears - Obviously, this is a handwriting program and it is great for left-handers! We went through the preschool book last year and M did great!

So, there you have it...my curriculum plans for the year. In one of my next posts I will write about how I am planning our school days, but for now, I will leave you with pictures of my bookshelves, which I oh-so-happily organized during my "alone-time" last week.