I’m a bit unsure about what to do with Ryan next year. He will turn 3 in September. I hope to start some preschool activities, but I know he isn’t ready for too many printables. We are taking the next few weeks to experiment with some of the lessons in Erica’s Letter of the Week Curriculum. Today we did dot markers and they were a big hit.
He actually tried to hit the dots this time instead of just painting his hand. These pages are from Erica’s LOTW and from DKTK.
I am also giving some of Alex’s lessons a trial run. Next year’s school is going to look a lot more classical than Kindergarten did. I plan on incorporating notebooking for a couple of our subjects, including science. We spent one week this summer reading about plants and he created his first notebook page.
He did so well on this first one. I led him a little on what to draw. At first, he wanted to draw something completely unrelated to the unit and his narration. I wrote out the narration for him and will continue to do so through most of first grade until handwriting and spelling improves. The narration reads,
When plants don’t have enough water, they get droopy. When they do have enough water, their leaves change from droopy to dark green.
The picture is of a droopy and a green pea plant. We had peas in our garden box around this time, and I imagine that is where his inspiration came from. He was very proud of this page and has taken more of an interest in drawing lately.
Before we learned of Cooper’s impending arrival, I had planned to school year round with a short break in May. Then I decided to take a more extended break instead of trying to start school with a newborn. I’m kinda glad I did. The summer break is giving me more time to test ideas and really have a solid plan for the upcoming year. So, next year I am going to try to do the same thing. I have scheduled to start at the beginning of August and end about mid-May. I almost wish I could start in July and end in April, but there is no way I am ready to begin school in a month!
Good luck with your planning for next year and have a great summer!
~ Catie
