Heading into first grade and our last year of preschool

This is going to be a great year of learning.  CJ will be a 1st grader and EMan will be in his last year of preschool.  I will be teaching a 3 year old class and a 4 year old class oer at Little Adventures Preschool this year.  EMan will participate in both classes just to make sure that he has a solid foundation for moving forward.

CJ will enjoy one day a week at a program set up for homeschool students where he will take classes like PE, Robotics, Science, Karate, Art, World Geography and Language Arts.  He will get to be with his friends learning things we can't do as well at home and EMan and I can work on Preschool stuff with our friends. It's a win, win.

Through CJ's homeschool program we get to check out curriculum through their curriculum library.  This year I decided I'll be doing Book Shark, 1st grade; Singapore 1B and 2A; and Rosetta Stone Spanish from the check out library.  I'll also be utilizing TouchMath 1st Grade and TouchMath 2nd Grade  (he's already done most of TouchMath 1st grade at this point).  I'll be utilizing the Moffatt Girls reading materials to suppliment book shark, he'll still have weekly piano lessons, recorder lessons and we'll do some writing.

I'm utilizing the Melissa and Doug magnetic chore chart to keep track of school work for the week.  It lists the subjects (with a wet erase marker): Reading, Math, Piano, Recorder, Spanish, Brush Teeth, Extras (items are written on the daily spot such as laundry, pick up room, clean bathroom).  YES.  Brush Teeth is part of our school work right now.  It's the best place to get it in front of their faces that they need to brush them every day.  Eman's chart simply lists: Reading, Math, Brush Teeth, Extras.

It should be a great fun year!

Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum and Records : The End of the Year

I have kept most of the work CJ has done for Kindergarten in a file box.  I’ll most likely only keep the binder contents after a couple of years.  Now that the school year is over his records book is completed. Here is what it contains: 

In the first pocket is an invitation from his birthday party and a picture craft he did.  Next are page protectors containing an outline of the curriculum we used throughout the year. 

 I keep these pages as a working document throughout the year and I add details as things pop up, as they always do.  I also have them hyperlinked so I can quickly remember the source and any evaluator can quickly see what I'm referring to.  It includes dates of completion and references to quantity of time in class, etc.

Here it is in the folder:

Next, there is a report card that is part of a K-5 series aligned with Common Core that I'll use each year.  I have a huge issue with Common Core (totally against it).  I don't use the report card to guide what we do, but it is nice to see what items we can improve on. 

After the report cards are the certificates and documents from completed programs and classes throughout the year. 

I've also included his vaccination record as well as a few doctor reports for my own organization.  There are also camp outlines and some art. The rest of the box contains his actual workbooks that he used throughout the year.  Like I mentioned earlier - I'll most likely only hang on to the blue folder after a couple years (most likely after EMan completes Kindergarten I'll get rid of it, but it'll be a nice reference for that).  I'm not required to keep work pages as documentation but if opting out of formal testing (I will be) it will be nice to show the evaluator what we've been up to. 

I like to date everything with a start/completion date for easy reference. That way I can sift through the papers and add dates to the first sheet if I forgot them and easily have date references to his learning.

It's so nice to have all these things organized and ready!  I can now say CJ is officially Graduated from Kindergarten.  Woo Hoo! Perhaps now I'll take the boys out for ice cream :).