Our Choice of Music Program for First Grade!

We are actually finishing World's Greatest Composers Volume 1 and then start World's Greatest Composers Volume 2 both from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Towards the last third of the school year I'm hoping to have Little V starting to learn to play some instrument, but as for now I'm focusing on getting her acquainted with Classic Music, learn to appreciate it and have some knowledge regarding world's greatest composers.

World's Greatest Composers Volume 1, we still have the following composers to study about:
- Peter Tchaikovsky (unit we are currently studying);
- Igor Stravinsky;
- George Gershwin

World's Greatest Composers Volume 2, we will learn about:
- Johannes Brahms;
- John Philip Sousa;
- Duke Ellington;
- Aaron Copland;
- Leonard Bernstein

The books that are needed for the unit studies are a collection from the author Mike Venezia, and I must say he has a special way to make the information very interesting for kids and even for adults. There are really cool illustration to the stories and the added humor just make it all so much easier to learn, we love it and recommend it.

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers by Mike Venezia:
- Peter Tchaikovsky
- Igor Stravinsky
- George Gershwin
- Johannes Brahms
- John Philip Sousa
- Duke Ellington
- Aaron Copland
- Leonard Bernstein

Want to take a peek at what we do? Soon we will be posting more about it!

What are you doing for Music in your Homeschool? We would love to hear from you!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Our Choice of Reading and Spelling Curriculum!

No secret here that we love the All About Reading and All About Spelling Curriculum. I love the fact that the child doesn't have to simply memorize how to spell the words, but she actually get to understand the sounds of the letters and how they work together to form words. They teach some rules that are vital and believe me you have plenty of opportunities to inculcate those rules in your child.

Just as an example: you teach your child that the consonant C followed by e, i and y make the sound /s/. Then you do some activities to practice the new learned rule and keep moving on, then when doing some spelling practice you come across the word key for example, your child spells it right and then you ask why did you choose C instead of K, and guess what's the answer you'll hear? "Because C followed by e, i and y makes the sound /s/ and I need for this word the sound /k/. when you get that type of feedback from your child you know the curriculum is right! If your child doesn't remember the rule, that is an opportunity to see the practical application of the rule and teach them a proper pattern of spelling.

Regarding the Reading curriculum, we love it too and it kind goes along with the All About Spelling lessons. Together they work just fine for us! So we will continue the Level 2 for both All About reading and All About Spelling.

For our Literature Units, we will be reading and working on some activities for the following books:
- Little Women (Louisa May Alcott),
- Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder),
- Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain),
- Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery),
- Pollyana (Eleanor H. Porter),
- Heidi (Johanna Spyri),
- Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)
- and others that will add to the list as we progress with the units.

We already started with our Little Women Literature Study, the lapbook activities I purchased from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

What are your choices for Spelling and Reading? What books will you be reading this year? Any suggestions of books you think are good? We would love to hear from you!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Our Choice of Geography Curriculum!

Last year, we worked on the Road Trip U.S.A from Confessions of a Homeschooler, we didn't finish all the 50 states, but my objective was just to get her acquainted with studying Geography, using maps and whatever she would get out of it would be a huge plus. She did surprise me a lot, as to memorizing the capitals of the states we learned. I'm sure some will come easy to her and other she will need some help to remember now.

Giving that I liked the curriculum Road Trip U.S.A and how exciting it is, I decided to to the Expedition Earth this year - First Grade. We will be "visiting" 31 super cool countries and learn as much as we can from each one of them. I like how Erica suggests to try some of each country food, just some added fun to the "trip".

Here are some pictures of the curriculum and the books we will be using this year.

List of the books we will be using:
- The Usborne Geography Encyclopedia with Complete World Atlas
- A Trip Around the World - Carson Dellosa Publishing
- A New Trip Around the World - Carson Dellosa Publishing
- Another Trip Around the World - Carson Dellosa Publishing
- Animal Habitats by Donald M Silver and Patricia J. Wynne


We started by learning about the continents, oceans, locating them on the map and getting her acquainted with the world map. Then we read the book Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney, and she drew a map of our house.

Next post, we will share the first country we visited, so don't miss it!

What are you using for Geography? we would love to hear from you and get to know other curriculum as well!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

First Day of First Grade!!!

I just can't believe my little girl is getting to be a big girl, she's already in first grade!!! Believe me, we are still struggling with the idea that she's already in first grade, as it seems it was yesterday she was pushing whatever she could find to get her moving around the house and giving her first steps... Wasn't it just the other day that she started babbling!?!?!

Ok, let's face reality then! She is in first grade and we are still digesting but we are excited. Each new phase comes with the good and the great and the challenges. I have a great student, she is eager to learn, she loves and she tells me quite often that she loves that I am her teacher, and boy that melts my heart and just gives me the strength to move on even when sick. I do also love to be her teacher and watch her grow, love the look on her face when she understands something new, it is priceless to be living this everyday!

We spent a few days in NY before we started school, and when we came back neither one of us was feeling well. She developed a mysterious rash for two days, it would come and go, but the doctors (yes we visited more than one), assured me was nothing serious as it promptly went away when we gave her the proper medication.

Mom, however had a terrible cold and I just felt miserable, but she was so excited to start school, use all the new stuff that she had seen coming in... I just couldn't let her down. So we started school, slow pace for those days that I wasn't feeling my best. Daddy was home at the first day and that was a plus, he helped out a lot.

I made an "explosion box" with her favorite treats inside, and her initial on the box. We took the traditional first day picture with the grade sign and had lots of fun on our first day of First Grade!

How was your first day of school? What types of tradition do you have? We would love to hear from you!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

First Grade Science Curriculum!

We have been 5 days into our First Grade School year already and we are enjoying it very much! So, today I want to share with you what is our choice for First Grade Science Curriculum.

We are using the Biology for the Grammar Stage from Elemental Science, and the required books for this curriculum.

This is our first year using this curriculum, and as I mentioned before we've been 5 days into the school year, and so far we are very pleased with the activities, the flow of the curriculum, the books required. I love the activities and there's also an option too purchase the lapbook templates which is one of our favorite type of activity.

Little V will have 20 weeks to learn about animals, 10 weeks to learn about the Human Body and 6 weeks to learn about plants. The lessons are well planned and easy to teach. They provide a list of material needed for each week, to make sure you'll be able to complete the Scientific Demonstrations.

Another thing I liked about this curriculum, is the fact that they give you two possible schedules to be used, and believe me this is very helpful. The options are 2 days a week and 5 days a week. I decided to use the 5 days a week schedule.

While I was checking their sample classes online, I was also able to see the list of books that are required for the curriculum, and that was another plus, as ahead of time I knew what books we would have to purchase and therefore no surprises later.

As you can see in the picture above, I purchased the online version and printed the student workbook and teacher manual at home. The lapbook templates are in the same binder as the student workbook.

Come back to check more about this curriculum and to see Little V having fun while learning Science!

What is your choice of Science Curriculum? We would love to hear from you!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Swimming Classes Progress!

If you wonder how Little V did during her swimming classes, today you'll find out that she did very well! She progressed from the White Level to the Red Level. It was really nice to accompany her progress and cheer with her. I have so many videos and pictures, but I was able to narrow it down and give you a highlight of her summer swimming classes!

In the White Level, the main objective is to get the child very comfortable with the water and get her to learn some safety skills for the pool, such as getting out of the pool independently, jumping in the water, and learn how to float on her back.

Quickly, she felt very comfortable and was able to float on her own.

Then, after mastering all 6 main skills she was able to go to the next level.

The following video will show a few of her new skills from the second level - Red Level:

Hope you enjoyed this post! What did your kids do during the summer vacation? We would love to hear from you.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Last Week of Vacation!!

This summer vacation went by so quickly and I hardly had a chance to do all we wanted to do, but these few days left we will be enjoying very much!

This year I was able to choose the curriculum ahead of time and order the books and other supplies needed in time. Very different from last year!

We have some changes in our school area. We needed a bigger space and Daddy and I have been working hard to get it done the way we wanted and the way could afford it! Soon, I'll be posting more pictures of the area as it still not ready. 

I wanted to share more of the activities we did last school year - Kindergarten, but time really escaped me. So I do apologize for that. As you can see in the picture below, we had lots of activities and I wanted to save them in a way that would be organized, easy to access in case I needed.

So, I went to Walmart and bought these clear plastic bins in which you can accommodate the hanging file folders and started to organize all the paper activity.

I was able to fit both Pre-school and Kindergarten material in one big box and I bought a smaller one for 1st grade, hopefully it will all fit in there!

I created these tags with cliparts from Creative Cliparts by Krista Walllden, the wallpaper from Pretty Grafik and the font from Kimberly Geswein. Next, I laminated them and adhered it to the boxes.

I also made smaller tags and adhered it to the clear shoe size boxes where I'm keeping all the smaller stuff organized as well. 

 

I'm really hoping this new school year will be a lot smoother and organized than the previous year. Homeschooling is a continuous process of learning for both Mom and Little V! 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki