#math-u-see

It kills me to say it, as I am not one of those homeschoolers who believe in waiting forever for formal education, but that was a good decision for us. In that year, his vocabulary expanded, his fine motor skills improved, and his attention span grew. 

Where he was bored out of his mind listening to me read to him last year, he is engaging in the chapter books we are going through this year. In the first four weeks, we’ve enjoyed The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner and Dolphin Adventure by Wayne Grover. Now we are digging into My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. BigE thinks it is particularly funny that the cat can talk. 

Beyond literature, we have enjoyed learning about many different world cultures, like the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. While BigE is not in love with this particular topic, he loves finding each new place on our big map and helping me mark it. 

The subject he has most enjoyed so far this year, though, is science. It could not have been more timely that we were scheduled to learn about solar eclipses in the first few weeks of school. He loved getting to see one in real life.

Then, as we discussed hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanos, glaciers, and more, YouTube videos became a fantastic resource for seeing each one in action. 

BigE’s next favorite subject has been math with Demme’s Math-U-See. He has had it easy these first few weeks as the beginning of Primer is all about counting, but we have been flying through and are headed into some new material with lesson #9 next week. I am looking forward to watching him take on this new challenge and he is looking forward to getting to use some of the bigger manipulative blocks. 

While we are keeping Kindergarten light with the core subjects, further into August I decided to go with BigE and check out our community homeschool PE and Art classes. 

The art class was so much fun as he tried out painting for the first time and got to make foil sea turtles. For the first time, I got to see BigE enjoy being creative without expecting perfection from himself.

This was a serious bonding experience for me as I understand the drive for perfection that he struggles with daily. In that struggle, nothing has been more relaxing for me than painting. It was so cool to see him take to it in the same way, that we had to pick up painting supplies on our way home from the class. 

Now, the PE class was a very different experience. While the coach was so patient and the class was on par with his ability, BigE just does not do things that seem embarrassing or silly to him. So, when the entire class started swinging around their arms and stretching their legs, he was having nothing to do with it. After watching him stand perplexed through each warm-up, we called it a day and headed home. 

In the end, we decided that playing on the playground with friends is more than an appropriate PE for a five-year-old. The plan from here on out is to get to the park each week and pull out those fun paint supplies with Hugs while JJ naps. I can’t wait to see what they create!

Alright, last but not least, we also got to go for a field trip this month exploring our local zoo. 

It’s been a while since we last got to go and the boys enjoyed this trip more than any before. They were excited about every exhibit and could not get enough of the sand dinosaur excavation area at the end. 

The friends we went with got the boys some lettuce to share with the giraffes and as Hugs’ favorite animal it was the hit of the whole event. Hugs ended up sneaking the lettuce through the fence to the giraffe before I ever had the chance to pick him up.

Considering how much fun we had and our new year passes, we’re excited to go back with Daddy this upcoming long weekend.

With how disappointed I was last year, not making it past the second week, this month has been a wonderful experience. It is incredible to watch BigE become more confident in his writing, watch his hand get more steady with the pencil by the day, watch him cutting straight lines with his little scissors, and listen to his responses to the books we read. He’s learning and I am so glad I get to be a part of it. 

Through this month, though, I think my favorite part was listening to BigE in his room with a line of cars in front of him and Hugs beside him as he pretended to be the teacher and teach his students. 

To start, these are all of the Level K Read-Alouds and Readers. BookShark is a literature-based curriculum, which means no textbooks. Through fiction and nonfiction alike, the children get to experience history and science on a whole new level. You can read more about BookShark’s Methodology here.

Now, I want to take a moment to mention that veteran BookShark moms suggest starting Kindergarteners on BookShark’s Preschool Level and working your way up from there. This is because some of the history books can be a little intense for younger kids. I, however, am taking this advice on a kid by kid basis and feel BigE can handle these books.

The books I have pictured may change over the years or be updated, so be sure to check the website for the current list. 

Up next, are some of the many ways BookShark encourages hands-on learning. 

On the top left is the Level K Science consumables. The science box houses a wide array of items to be used in weekly experiments. You will need to supplement these items with a few of your own from around the house. The DVD includes videos of each of these experiments being performed, either for your own viewing to get an idea of how it should go or for showing to the kids. 

On the top right is BigE’s favorite part of our lessons. Once a week, we use the Primer DVD to watch the new lesson, then BigE gets to use the manipulatives to solve his math worksheets. 

On the bottom is another favorite. With these wooden blocks, we shape the letter of the week and practice starting each letter from the top. 

At the bottom here, we have two more items that make history and geography a little more hands-on. On top is the Timeline book. This book will be used over the entirety of BigE’s homeschool experience. Each year he will color the timeline figures as we discuss them, then stick them into the book on their respective pages. By the time we finish, this will be a very full book. 

Underneath is a foldable laminated map of both the world and the United States. As you read the books, some activities utilize the map to mark where the characters trek. By the end of the year, you can see all of the places you’ve visited through the literature. 

Now we’ll get into the part that holds it all together. The part that keeps me a sane mom who knows exactly what we’re supposed to get done each day. 

When you receive the big box full of BookShark goodness, you will find Instructor Guides and Student Worksheets for each subject. You also receive a massive 3-4 inch binder for housing it all in order by week. This binder was a bit much for me, so I picked up two 2-inch binders to separate my Instructor Guides from my Student Worksheets. I then picked up two .5-inch working binders. In these, I keep four week’s worth of work at a time, and we use those daily.

My Student Worksheets binder also contains my Math-U-See Primer worksheets broken up by week and our Handwriting Without Tears book sits on top as the pages are used in too much of a random order to be placed in their respective weeks. While my Instructor Guides binder looks a little depleted, you’ll notice that it starts with week 5. Weeks 1-4, as well as the introductory pages, all live in my .5-inch working Instructor Guide binder at the moment.

Another note here. As this curriculum will be used with all four of my kids, The Student Worksheets binder remains untouched. Instead, I make copies to be written on. 

I won’t get into the details of what each week or each day’s schedule looks like as the easiest way to see is to head on over to BookShark and download their Instructor Guide sample sheets. They are very generous and allow you to see the first three weeks of each subject.

Finally, my favorite part is how nicely our entire year fits on one bookshelf. From left to right are the map, timeline, working binders, science consumables, books, manipulatives, and BigE’s crayons and other supplies. On our work-table sits all of the books we will be enjoying that week.

Homeschooling has been something I have wanted to do since BigE was about eight months old. One day, I was chatting with my husband about frustrations with the public school system. He off-handedly joked that we should just homeschool instead so we wouldn’t have to deal with it. That joke got me thinking, and once the idea was planted, I could not let it go. 

What followed was a couple years of intense delving into the world of homeschooling. I talked to homeschool moms, homeschool graduates, and researched statistics and opinions on both sides of the socialization argument. Before I knew it, I was pouring over teaching styles, learning styles, and curriculum reviews. I wanted to do this, and I wanted to be ready.

 At last, five years later, BigE is finally old enough to begin, and we could not be more excited.  

After all of that curriculum research, this year we are using: 

BookShark Kindergarten (History/LA/Science) 

Math-U-See Primer (Math) 

We just finished week two and so far are loving it. I will post curriculum reviews throughout the year as we work our way through.

Click here to read more about this year’s curriculum.