We're Baa-aack!!

Have you missed us?!?

Well, folks...it's been a crazy summer to say the least! We had 2 offers fall through on our house in Houston...still managed to buy a house in Arizona...packed up and moved over 1ooo miles with only one broken bookshelf casualty...been through swim training (lots of kid tears!), potty training (lots of mommy tears!)...and now we're adjusting to our new life in a giant house that belongs in an 80's montage!

But instead of taking a deep breath (and possibly a Sleeping Beauty sized nap), we've decided to jump right back into preschool. So here's the plan for the big 4 year old:

1. As you'll see below, we are spending most of the first semester reviewing what we did last year. These are the most crucial letters/sounds and if they are not thoroughly mastered it's pointless to continue on to anything else.

2. We will be starting Saxon Math K for all our math activities this year. I bought mine off Ebay for 14 bucks so it's a really manageable option. I also plan to use The Dangerous Book for Boys as a resource for my science and some history activities.

3. We will be doing Preschool for 2 hours on Tues./Thurs. (most likely still during Taryn's naps). As of now, the plan is to do math and phonics both days and alternate reading/writing and history/science...however I reserve the right to change my mind!

4. If you have purchased the Recipe for Reading (Bloom and Traub) book, here is the breakdown of what we'll be covering this year (don't ask me to remember why it's broken down this way, but someone, somewhere did some study and this is what s/he came up with):

1st semester/ 2nd semester

week

1: c,o,a,d / ck

2: g,h,l / ph

3: k,m / magic e

4: t,i,p / magic e

5: j,u / er, ir, ur

6: ch, sh, th, th / ar

7: f,e,s,w / or

8:r,n,b / ea, ee

9:y / ai, ay

10:v / oe, oa

11:x / oo

12:z / ge, dge

13:qu / tch

14: initial consonent blends / ng

15: initial/final consonent blends / nk

16: final consonent blends / review

(sorry this is so confusing...blogger won't publish it in columns)

I am planning to reorganize the blog to have all the 3 yr. old plans in one file and the 4 yr. old plans in another. I should also be posting Week 1 lesson plans in the next few weeks...we plan to start Aug. 16th!