homeschool: the beginning

Written By Flora and Fauna
Oh gosh guys, where do I even start? First of all I want to thank you again for your constant support, all of the endless advice and recommendations. It is thanks to you that I was able to walk into this experience with an open heart and mind and faith that I could pull this off. It is with deepest humility that I share our resources with you and with an understanding that I am no expert in this field, just a mother consuming books and resources until the wee hours of the night with the hope of coming out of this experience with children that are ready for the next step.
Before I begin sharing about our books, resources and supplies I want to take a moment and talk about the general educational philosophy that I am allowing to guide our curriculum. I was a psychology major in college and have an unfinished MA in early childhood education. And after studying all of the various theories of education I have decided to pull what I find to be the strongest aspects of each one. For example when it comes to language arts and math I really love the Montessori method. I think teaching the alphabet phonetically is key to reading readiness. However, I have found that in general Montessori stresses "work" a little too. So in regards to the arts I love the Waldorf method. I've found there a much stronger connection with nature and inner creativity. I have a lot of hikes, visits to nature centers and art projects planned for the coming months. I have at the same time purchased resources that give me a good idea of general benchmarks of children at this stage of learning that I am going to use to guide all of my lesson planning. It is very important for us that both children feel prepared and on pace with the rest of their peers next year when they enter a more traditional environment.
So that is a general overview of where we are heading this year. Practically speaking our school day will start around 9:00 am and end around 12:00 pm with me doing a some additional work with Birdie during Teddy's nap time in the afternoon. We're going to start slow until we find our rhythm. The most important thing for me is for both kids to fall in love with what we are doing, once I have them hooked we can really take off.


Below I am going to break down our materials by subject matter. And at the very end I will list the different books that I purchased for myself to help prepare me for this task.

LANGUAGE ARTS

MATH
I also purchased an easel, different types of paints, crayons, construction paper, scissors, markers, paint brushes and other crafting materials like pipe cleaners, felt, stickers, string, etc. Ikea is great for affordable school accessories. 

And then here is my list:

If you would like a copy just give me your email and I'd be happy to email you one. And if you have any other questions or if I forgot to cover something just let me know and I'd be happy to help in any way I can. I'll also try and share periodic updates on how we're progressing and what I've learned so far. 

Here's a great school year for all of us!

Flora and Fauna
Previous

hello you gloomy, rainy day
Next

wishing you a relaxing looong weekend