My littlest boy is six years old and has a strong desire to learn to read. He has no patience to learn the sounds of each letter, just wants to jump right into reading full books! :) Learning to read is our main goal this schoolyear. I have tried to combine phonics and sight reading by using CHC's Little Stories for Little Folks. This collection of tiny books is just the right size for small hands and has an endearing Catholic theme throughout the series. We will also work with letter tiles, sandpaper letters and a moveable alphabet to help him to master the sounds of the letters as well as learning to write them all properly.
Chris is making a Liturgical Year notebook based on Catholic Mosaic as well as Catechesis of the Good Shepherd presentations. We also will begin a First Communion Notebook as he slowly begins to prepare for his special day, keeping track of all the prayers he has memorized and catechism he has learned. Along with many books on the saints, he will be using St. Joseph Baltimore First Communion Catechism.
Science for my first graders is relaxed and fun. We spend much time outdoors and study nature, keeping journals of drawings and findings. Chris knows the names of dozens of birds as well as insects. He loves to do pond study and is very good at catching critters for observation. He has benefited greatly both physically and intellectually from all the time in the out of doors, which is his very favorite place to be. We are very casually studying Biology this year, focusing on the human body, animals and plants. Currently we are reading the First Animal Encyclopedia, which he eats right up. He also enjoys watching the Magic School Bus television series.
He is quite fond of math and will be working on adding and subtracting this year, using Math-U-See Alpha level. He is not one for manipulatives but would rather do his workbook pages without building the problems and solutions. A big fan of card games and Yatzee, he has already learned his multiplication tables up to six thanks to the fun math games he plays each day.
Poetry is such fun for the kids to memorize. For first grade, he will be learning and enjoying the works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Currently, he is working on Bed in Summer.
We will all be exploring Ancient History together this year, using The Story of the World, Volume I as a spine. I have listed other living history books in the sidebar. We will have some fun doing hands-on projects as well. Chris is especially interested in building his own pyramid out of sugar cubes...hmmm, I wonder why? :)
All in all, I will be thrilled if we come away from this schoolyear having learned to read and having spent much time in the out of doors. I am grateful for this little cheerful, hardworking student who always has a smile on his face. :)
