Kindergarten Unit: All About Me!

Last week's thematic unit in Homeschool Kindergarten was "All About Me!"  It was a lot of fun for the girls to learn more about both their physical bodies and their personalities.  As usual, I had so many ideas that we didn't get to, but the activities we fit in were a lot of fun and I know that we have many years of homeschooling to come for revisiting the subject!  Here are the highlights of our week:

Homeschool Kindergarten Lesson Plans - Week 10

We're getting into a good rhythm with our homeschooling time and the girls have been enjoying a wide variety of learning activities.  I've been starting to integrate some themed units 2-3 days a week (like our mini unit on Johnny Appleseed and more learning units I'll post about next week), so this really helps to break up the monotony and makes the kids more receptive to the 'regular' school activities that we do the rest of the week.  Here's the latest from this week...

Johnny Appleseed - Kindergarten/Pre-K Mini Unit

Earlier this week, the girls read a story about Johnny Appleseed and we decided to turn it into a mini-unit.  E actually refused to participate, but L and I had a great time with Johnny Appleseed crafts, learning about the parts of a plant, making observations about apples and more!  Take a look...

Homeschool Kindergarten Lesson Plans - Week 9 {and Halloween!}

 

This was a fun and laid back Homeschool Kindergarten / Pre-K week for us.  I tried to make most of our activities centered around the Halloween theme to give the girls something special to get excited about.  Here's what we did:

Homeschool Kindergarten Lesson Plans - Weeks 7 & 8

 

We went on vacation for a week, so our school has been less formal lately (but still a lot of fun).  While we were visiting my in-laws, the kids had a great time playing in corn kernels, feeding goats, riding on a barrel train, exploring a corn maze, and picking out mini pumpkins.  We're continuing our fall theme with some seasonal crafts and learning games.  Here's some of what we've been doing..

Tot School - 25 Months

H (25 months) wants to do everything his older sisters do, so when he gets to work on his own learning activities, he just glows and I can tell he feels like a "big boy".  I've been trying out some new tot trays on him lately and he tackles each new challenge with so much enthusiasm.  Here's a glimpse into what he's been up to..

Making Tiny Clay Pumpkins

 

Last week, the twins (4 years old) and I made some cute little pumpkin decorations out of Crayola  Model Magic.  It was super easy and lots of fun.  Here's how we did it..

Homeschool Kindergarten Lesson Plans - Week 6

After going to two fall festivals last weekend (and another one this weekend), we've all been enjoying some autumn-themed learning activities in our homeschool (like the autumn leaf scratch-art in the picture above).  It's amazing how some simple seasonal crafts can elevate the girls' level of enthusiasm about school.  Here's what we did this week.

Learning About Desert Habitats - Pre-K/ Kindergarten Unit

The Geography workbook we're going through (Evan-Moor Beginning Geometry Grades K-2) includes overviews of the various types of animal habitats, and I wanted to extend this into a series of mini-units.  After watching The Magic School House Dries Up, the girls and I explored desert habitats further with some fun hands on activities and crafts..

Homeschool Kindergarten Lesson Plans - Week 5

L and E are doing great with homeschool Pre-K/ Kindergarten this year.  We engage in learning activities 7 days a week, so some days end up being more formal instruction (activity trays that I set up for them to complete) while other days are filled with reading together and playing.  Here's a recap of what we did this week:

Draw Write Now Review

My 4 year old twins are little artists, and in the search for drawing books for them I ran across the Draw Write Now series and bought the 1st (farm animals) and 8th (land animals) books for the girls.  My kids have been enjoying learning to draw animals using this program so much that I felt compelled to write a review..

Tot School 24 Months {Yes, My baby is 2!!}

I'm still in shock that my little dude is 2 years old!  My tiny helpless baby has turned into such a sweet, amazing, and independent toddler.  I've been having a great time playing alongside him and watching him learn and grow in leaps and bounds.  Here are some of the activities we've been enjoying together lately during our Tot School sessions..

Egyptian Hieroglyphs Free Printable Worksheet for Pre-K through 2nd Grade

During our study of Ancient Egypt last month (for Story of the World), I had a hard time finding activities for learning Egyptian Hieroglyphs that were appropriate for my 4 year-olds.  After a lot of searching, I decided to just make my own worksheet, which I'm sharing with Learners In Bloom readers for free at:  Egyptian Hieroglyphs Printable Worksheet for Little Kids .  Here's what's included..

Cooking with Kids: Watermelon with Goat Cheese Snacks

I've been cooking with my twin girls (4 years old) since before they were 2 years old.  Now they're finally starting to be real helpers and we've been having a great time trying out all sorts of recipes together.  It's a great way to practice Montessori Practical Life skills, fine motor skills, math, and to get the kids to experiment with trying new foods.  A couple weeks ago, we tried out a flavor combination that was completely new to us - watermelon with goat cheese.  Here's how we made them..

Homeschool Kindergarten Math Lesson Plans - Month 1

The twins and I have been having a great time "playing math" during our first month of Homeschool Pre-K / Kindergarten.  The system that is currently working for us for learning math is to cover a variety of topics every week and then revisit them later in new and interesting ways.  This seems to work better than trying to drill a certain math concept until the kids get it - I'd rather demonstrate math in context using hands-on activities and games.  I know that they will get an understanding of each topic when they are ready.  Here are some the math skills we've been working on and the activities we do for learning them..

Tot School - 23 Months

Baby H will be a 2-year-old in less than a month!  He is such a fun little kid to play with and I find great joy in our special Tot School time when I can interact with him one-on-one.  Here are some of the learning activities he's been enjoying this month...

Ancient Egypt Unit: Building a Pyramid

A couple weeks ago, my girls learned about Ancient Egypt in our homeschool Kindergarten.  We read about Egypt in The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer and then added additional books, videos, and hands-on projects for enrichment.  One of the activities we did for this learning unit was to build a pyramid.  L and E worked on their pyramid every day for an entire week, and it turned out great.  Here's the process we went through..

Homeschool Kindergarten Typical Daily Schedule

We don't have a strict schedule for our homeschool Kindergarten work, but we do have a basic daily rhythm that we follow.  As part of the iHomeschool Network's "Not" Back to School blog hop, homeschooling families we'll be sharing a "day in the life" posts this week.  Here's a glimpse into one of our typical days..

Pony Cake for 4th Birthday

 

With all the educational fun the kids and I have been having lately, I almost forgot to post a photo of the pony cake I made for the twins' 4th birthday.  This is about as close as I'm going to get to a Martha Stewart moment!

It's surreal to think that four years ago I was taking care of two little preemie babies and now my little girls are already school-age and constantly impressing me with all the incredible things they can do...

Kindergarten Curriculum for Our New School Year

This month I am joining other homeschool bloggers at the 5th Annual "Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop.  The topic for this week is "Curriculum".  L and E just turned 4, but they are reading at a mid-first-grade level, and have mastered about 75% of the items in Common Core for Kindergarten Math, so I'm just going to go ahead and start Kindergarten with them this year (with some first grade materials thrown in as well).  We already started our school year earlier this summer, but I think the first month was more for getting into a rhythm and seeing what will and won't work.  Here's our curriculum right now...