Kindergarten Update and Curriculum

I’m think I’ll review some of the curriculum we’ve been using. I’ll have more in depth posts in the future. Here is a basic list:

Math: Horizons - Kindergarten (abacus, flash cards, etc.)

Reading: Explode the Code – We completed Books 1 and 2, currently half way through book 3.

Writing: For most of the year, Explode the Code has doubled as our writing curriculum. We also wrote a lot of stories and letters this year. We recently began using How to Write Book Reports PK-K and Grammar & Punctuation 1 (both by Evan Moor).

Social Studies: Ignacio is a huge fan of Geography. We have many maps and globes. We recently began using Beginning Geography K-2 by Evan Moor.

Science: We have been using Teaching the Fun of Science to Young Learners PK-2 by Janice VanCleave.

Spanish: Teach Them Spanish! K and Everyday Words in Spanish by Usborne.

Art: He takes a weekly art class. We also craft a lot and have a variety of art books by Usborne.

Gym: He takes a weekly P.E. class and a weekly swim class. He was in a dance group the first half of the year. We also play a lot and take many walks.

Additional info: It is worth mentioning that we also read a lot of library books. The topics vary, but they are usually about science or geography. We also play computer games. Also, his art and gym classes are specifically for homeschoolers. How cool is that?

At five years old Ignacio can:

• Count past 200. He gets bored and chooses to stop, usually somewhere around 220.

• He can also count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, 100’s, and by 3’s if he uses his fingers to keep track.

• He is adding and subtracting single digit numbers and double digit numbers.

• Is beginning simple word problems.

• Can read! Just today he finished reading Little Bear all by himself. He has also read the entire Piggie and Elephant series by Mo Willems.

• He writes using basic sentences. Always uses upper case letters and ending punctuation correctly. He has recently begun using apostrophes as well.

• He knows all 50 states by name. He recognizes each by shape and knows where they are located on a map. He also knows some state capitals and can recognize a variety of countries.

• He knows more about the solar system than I do. He knows all of the planets and dwarf planets. He also knows some of their moons and can recognize some constellations. When looking at the night sky, he almost always knows if he is looking at a star or a planet and is actually pretty accurate at naming the planet he is looking at. This is without a telescope, judging by brightness and location. He likes to use my GoogleSky ap to see if he was right.

• He is understanding a lot more Spanish now. His accent has also improved a lot. He can recognize color and number words when they are written.

• He has always been afraid of the water, but last week he learned to float.

Where has time gone? When life takes over…

Oh my poor neglected little blog. It is hard to believe that I have not posted in over a year.

What happened? Life happened.

My baby was born October 2010. We decided to name him Francisco. I won’t go into details now, but in a span of thirteen months I had four surgeries. Four surgeries, while caring for an infant and continuing to homeschool Ignacio. I had to prioritize my life and when it came down to it, this blog didn’t make the cut. Also, did I mention the internet stopped working on my laptop? Or rather, it only works when it is plugged directly into our router, which happens to be in the basement. I have kept a journal though. I try to write in it weekly. It was nice to read through my older blog posts, see how far we have come. That was the point in creating this blog. I want to document this time in our lives. I’ll be back soon. I think I’ll just pick up where I left up, might have a few catch up posts.

I’ll introduce Francisco with this layout I made prior to getting sick. He was so tiny then. Are you familiar with digital scrapbooking? It was a major hobby of mine, haven’t really done that either. Note to self: scrap!

Goals For Our First Year

For the most part I’m going to let him set the pace of our first year. I want him to be excited about learning, especially about learning at home. I know at this age it will be a little difficult for him to understand why he is not going to “school” when all of his cousins and friends are. He asked me about it a lot this summer. Now when he meets people he tells them that he goes to school at home.


I’m going to focus on teaching him math, reading and writing. After all, this is the foundation of learning everything else in the future. I am also making it a point to teach him Spanish. I am fully bilingual, unfortunately he would always refuse to speak it and would act as though he didn’t understand me when I spoke in Spanish. I was asking him about it earlier this summer and he told me why that is. He explained that none of his cousins speak Spanish and he doesn’t want to be the only one that speaks does. I’ve been trying to keep our little Spanish lessons lighthearted. Whenever he speaks it on his own or catches on to a new word I make sure to show my excitement. After one month of trying this new approach, he is not fighting me on it anymore. As far as the other subjects go, I am going to follow more of an interest led approach. If he asks me a question about something I make sure to expand on it. We go to the library and check out books on the subject. I come up with art projects and sometimes he even chooses to use a new word for tracing/copying practice. I plan to continue with this approach.

I also want to use this year to set the rhythm of our home. I’m going to let us naturally fall into a routine and base our schedule (or lack of) on that. I’ve decided to have our school year run August through July, taking breaks as needed. I would also like to meet other local homeschoolers and join a co-op.

Our Journey Begins…

My husband and I decided we would homeschool around the time our son Ignacio turned a year old. I’ve had a lot of time to research and prepare as best as I could. I began to purchase material whenever I found a good deal and storing it. I’ll say my style is eclectic; I have quite a little collection of books. Although, I began “officially” homeschooling this year- I think its fair to say I’ve homeschooled Ignacio his whole life. I started building his library before he was born. I decided to use this summer as a transition into our homeschooling. I quickly realized that my collection of Preschool books was pretty much useless to us. They are so basic, at this point they really have very little to offer him. I’m saving them for future use with the baby. I’ve had to come up with a new plan. (Separate post for our curriculum.)


I should clarify that Ignacio will be turning four in November, according to our local school system he is not able to start K-4 until the 2011-2012 school year. Lucky for us, that’s not an issue. We’re ahead of the game!

At three years old Ignacio:

• Can count to 20 in English and fourteen in Spanish.
• Can count to 100 by 10’s
• Can write his numbers from 0 to 10
• Knows all of his colors (and is currently learning them in Spanish also)
• Knows the following shapes: square, rectangle, circle, oval, triangle, diamond, octagon, hexagon, pentagon, crescent, trapezoid, star and heart.
• Knows the alphabet and the sound of most letters.
• Recognizes all uppercase letters and about two-thirds of lowercase letters.
• Can write his first name.
• Has already begun sounding his way through Brand New Reader books.

I decided to do a few assessment tests on Ignacio earlier this month... just to document our "official" starting point in homeschooling. I used the Pre-K Assessments forms available through Cindy Downes website. I just had to share his alphabet. I told him to write the alphabet- by memory. That's right, I didn't show him the alphabet or show him what the letters looked like. I told him he had to show me how he thought they were written. He skipped a few that he didn't know how to write, but he wrote almost the whole thing.  I have to admit, I was taken aback by how well he did on all of the tests. I know he is smart, but he knew a lot more than I was expecting him to. I'm so proud of him! Can you believe he is three years old?!