Logic of English

I decided to switch gears on our phonics approach.  I liked what we were using and Carson was doing really well with it but there was just something missing.  He was asking a lot of questions about things we were not covering yet.  I felt like I was constantly telling him we would learn that later or there was a rule for that and we would learn that later.
I was researching other approaches to teaching phonics when I came across The Logic of English by Denise Eide.  I loved what I saw but Essentials is geared toward older students and I wasn't really sure how to make it work for us.  I heard that the author was in the process of writing a foundations program for Kindergarten students but it was still in beta testing.  I inquired about it and found out they were opening up more slots for people to beta test.  I was a little skeptical about doing it because it's not finished and there are a lot of unknowns.  I decided to go ahead and try it after emailing with the author and asking some questions.
I am absolutely LOVING the looks of this program.  It teaches all the sounds of the phonograms up front.  It teaches spelling rules and incorporates handwriting.  It also teaches grammar.  I'm not sure I'll use it for grammar but it will be a great supplement to use if we choose something else.  The author has done a wonderful job of making this program so open and go.  We love that there are so many ideas and games to reinforce the phonograms and what we are learning.  I went ahead and bought the Essentials book and Teacher manual.  I doubt we are going to catch up but if we do and the program has not gone to press yet I wanted to have the other material to use.  The plan is to do foundations this year in Kindergarten and then start Essentials and work through it over a year and a half.

2012/2013 curriculum

I'm actually ashamed to admit how much curriculum I have for a Kindergartener.  I've heard some homeschoolers use the term "curriculum junkie" and now I understand.  I think I have learned my lesson and next year plan on attending a homeschool convention to look at the stuff I'm interested in instead of just buying it.  There is just soooo much good stuff out there it's hard to choose just one :)
My plan for Kindergarten is to just focus on the 3 R's (Math, Reading and Handwriting).  We always do Bible time while eating breakfast.  I also wanted to make sure we were reading a lot of good books.  I printed out several book list and we've been making our way through it.  So here is what we are actually using this year :)
2012/2013 curriculum
Bible-finishing 100 bible stories, 100 bible songs and then start Family bible story book
Singapore Math-Essentials A and B (almost finished), Primary 1 (standard ed) will probably start after the new year
Phonics/Handwriting-The Logic of English
Geography-reading a lot of books on countries and cultures, including:  Children like me, Around the world in 80 Tales, Atlas of the world, Stories from around the world
Science-we are reading a lot of books on bugs, birds, weather,etc.
Art-Draw Write Now
We are really loving our first year of homeschooling.

Draw Write Now

Carson has been asking to draw and color more lately.  I heard about this program called Draw Write Now and so I bought the 8 book set.  We are loving it so far.  It's really easy and it's a lot of fun for both of us.  This is our first picture, a hen.  I'm planning on scheduling this one day a week and then we can just do more if we want.

Morning time

This is how we start our day.  I love that my sweet boy wants to read his Bible with me.  I have so many hopes and dreams for my boys.  The most important one being a close personal relationship with God.  I have really worked on making this quiet time a priority.  It's really hard with three little ones and sometimes it doesn't work out like I hope but we are getting there.

My boys and dolls

The boys love to play with dolls.  They love to hold them and comfort them.  They nurse them, read to them, rock them and put them down for naps. 
Last year my grandmother gave me several dolls that I use to play with as a little girl.  I decided to bring them out and let the boys give them some love.  Carson can't believe that the dolls were mine and he seems to think that is pretty special.  It's really sweet seeing him love on them.
They are going to be awesome fathers one day.

Wordless Wednesday

Homeschooling pictures

I'm a little behind on updates so I'm just going to overload this post with pictures of what we have been doing. 

He was not in the mood for pictures :)

Making "clean mud" to play with

days of creation

Handwriting

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the littles destroying the house