Sunday, August 14, 2011

2010 - 2011 School Year End

Our first year of official homeschooling has ended!

My little girl is done with Kindergarten! We have had our end of the year evaluation, but I still need to mail it in to the school board. Tsk, Tsk .... I know.

I think we did a good job covering the majority of the goals we had set for Kindergarten. We did miss the mark on a few things, but all in all we did okay. Not great, but okay. We lost a lot of steam last year between living with family, searching for a new home and ultimately finding and moving into our new home. All the packing and unpacking and trying to get settled took a lot out of us and put a halt on a lot of things I had previously planned.

Anyway, here is what I had hoped to cover for Kindergarten as well as how the Princess fared.

Reading:
  • Learn vowels vs. consonants and the sounds they make - Done!
  • Read CVC words - Done!
  • Read sight words (for Kindergarten level) - Most, but not all.
  • Be able to retell a story in detail - Done!
  • Put events of a story in order - Done!
  • Write simple sentences using sight words and phonics skills - Has lots of trouble with this still.
Handwriting:
  • Continue to improve manuscript with focus on lower-case letters - Improving, but still needs practice.
  • Introduce script? - Never attempted on my part.
  • Write own last name - Done!
Math:
  • Recognize and Write numbers to 100- Done!
  • Count orally by ones, fives and tens to 100 - Can count by ones to 100 only.
  • Name ordinal numbers first through tenth - Done!
  • Add and subtract using manipulatives - Done!
  • Compare quantities by estimating, weighing, and measuring - Never introduced this concept on my part.
  • Use graphs to gather information - Never introduced on my part.
  • Tell time to the nearest hour - Done!
  • Count coins - Pennies only
  • Recite the days of the week and months of the year - Done!
Science:
  • Understand the five senses - Done!
  • Weather - Done!
  • Animal Habitats - Never done on my part.
  • Plants and Farming - A few plants and gardening concepts introduced.
  • Recycling - Never done on my part.
Social Studies:
  • Identify major religious and civic holidays - Done!
  • Identify major Historical figures - Never introduced on my part.
  • Understand our community- Done!
  • Understand different roles in community (Community Helpers) - Done!
Art & Music
  • Experiment with different materials and methods - Done!
  • Learn how to draw some simple pictures - Done!
  • Learn about music notes (different notes and what they mean) - Never introduced
  • Learn the notes of a piano - Never introduced
Health
  • Learn essentials of nutrition - Just a bit, but no detailed lessons.
  • Learn basic functions of the body - Done!
  • Importance of personal hygiene - Done!
  • Learn why our bodies are special and are to be kept private - Done, but will continue this always.
  • Safety in public places - Done, but will continue this always.
  • Proper manners in different situations - Still working on this always.
Foreign Language: (Spanish)
  • Learn to count orally to ten- Done!
  • Basic colors - Knows some, but not all.
  • Common items in the home - Nope.
  • Animal names - Nope.
Bible
  • Going to follow an age appropriate Lesson Book for bible instruction


In preparation for another year of schooling, I attended the FPEA Homeschool Convention back in May. It was a great motivator and slef-esteem booster as well as a new experience. The curriculum hall was HUGE! It was nice to be able to physically go through tons of curriculum choices in person. I have pondered over what i will use for first grade. There are so many choices, but I had to make a decision. I'm not certain if everything I ultimately decided on will truly be a good fit for us, but homeschooling is sometimes trial and error. Only time will tell if I have made the right decision for my family.

I'll post about our curriculum choices next time.

Here's hoping!

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