3d shapes for preschool – Home School On A Dime

First off, I have to share my new favorite planner. I found it for free on Confessions Of a Home Schooler! It has made back to school preparations (more of) a breeze this year. This planner is normally (or used to be?) five dollars, but you can download it for free now.

I’m going to have to redo my cover. It got wet. =( I used a plastic pocket brad folder that matched the arrows theme quite nicely. There are three different themes for you to choose from just so you can have a pretty one that you like. That’s important considering you will be staring at it each day for the entire school year.

The PDF file includes the following:

Homeschooling Vision Statement
Notice of Intent to Homeschool
Household Rules Chart (There are a couple versions of this, one partially filled in and one blank.)
Behavior & Discipline Chart
Our Family Schedule
Our Commitment Worksheet
Our Curriculum
Curriculum Plan Overview
Weekly Subject overview
Weekly Schedule Overview
Our Book List
My Reading Log
Planned Field Trips
Extra-curricular Activities
Craft Supply List
Homeschool Supply Shopping List
Photocopies Needed List
Unit Study Planner
Preschool Assessment Form
kindergarten Assessment Form
Sight Word Assessment Form (Covers Primer – 3rd Grade)
Homeschool Attendance Records
Homeschool Long Term Grade Records
Super Mom vs. Abiding Mom Printable
Year at-a-Glance Calendars (2013-2016)

I only needed a few of these pages, but she really thought of everything! It even has all the forms for first time homeschoolers.

I’m loving my new planner!

We are using two different weekly schedules right now because that’s how my brain could put it all together. Eventually I will make them one and the same, but for now, I have a homemaking one and a homeschooling one:

I altered the lesson plans pages to include both plans and assessments and records. It’s my journal and my planner in one.

I don’t know if you can see it well in the photo, but the rows are color coded (grey, dark grey, grey) on the side and leave room for adding text. I alternated the captions “subject/resource” and “how did it go”. Under “subject/resource” I simply plan out what we are going to do for the week and where it can be found. Under “how did it go” I write whether it was completed, if it was too easy or hard, and if we completed it on the same day it was planned for. This way, I can assess everything as I go. Whether they need harder or easier work and whether they are taking well to the outlined schedule are both recorded in the same notebook- even better- the same page.I have my “how did it go” notes color coded. Blueberry Ball’s favorite color is orange and I chose green for Raspberry Bug.

Their folders are the same way. I’ve labeled the top left corner of each one by the day of the week. One for each day, for each kid:

Aren’t they cute?! She has wildlife and puppies. He has dinosaurs (and one Angry Birds folder he begged me for a couple of months ago).

I got them at Fisher’s Hawaii (my new favorite store) for less than thirty cents a piece. I’m not sure how many followers I have who are actually from Hawaii, but their price-points are comparable to mainland blowout sales. We were able to use our semester’s budget and get almost everything we needed for the year!

Our Curriculum mainly consists of:

Grade 1 Complete Curriculum by Flash Kids Harcourt Family Learning The Flash Kids Book is a little beyond Blue when it comes to reading skills so I hope it’s an appropriate challenge. We may need to alter or take away certain aspects of this book in order for it to fit our needs, but I’m excited to give it a try. The lessons start out pretty basic and build on each other throughout the year.
ABC Jesus Loves Me Bible Lessons

These are just perfect for the age ranges I’m working with (2 and almost 5). I’m not going to use the entire curriculum this year, just the Bible stories. And I’m not even necessarily going to stick with one grade level. I’m going to try and let the Lord guide me on this one as I choose which ones my children need to hear. This won’t be the only Bible source we use, but it will be our primary one.

A Free Printable Pack of choice

Blue Loved the printable packs we did last year and he really learned a lot. I think they are part of the reason Red is so excited for school this year. We are going to be using these again for supplementing Blue here and there. This will be the magority of what Red does for her schoolwork. A few of our favorite pack sites are:

3 Dinosaurs

1+1+1=1

Home School Creations

I take our weekly schedule each week and print off each subject/ resource listed then sort them into the individual folders. Hopefully I can have a four-week-preparation checklist soon like this one we used last year.

At least one sight word should be covered a week

I want at least all of the Dolch Pre-primer words memorized by the end of the semester. Red is very close (if not already there), but my math-mind, Blue still needs encouragement in this area. We will have at the very least one sight word pack, craft, or game consisting around sight word(s) each week. The hope is that I can make it fun enough for Blue to want to do reading activities more.