Monday, April 18, 2011

Preparing

We are getting ready to start first grade. J is excited, but not nearly as excited as I am.

But first, a brief introduction.

J is almost 6 and beginning first grade, using WinterPromise's "Hideaway in History" curriculum. We're using a number of other things for math, art, etc, but Hideaways is the core curriculum and should prove the most interesting to blog about!


(notice one missing? neither did I until I went back to the kitchen and found Science Fun sitting on the counter! so pretend it's there)

My hopes are to have HER write (or at least narrate) about what she's learned for the week, and then I'll post pictures I've taken of their hideaways and possibly construction pictures as well, if they prove photo-worthy.

I have two other children; B proudly announces she's in Pre-K, though in reality she'll be following along with J. She does her own reading lessons (we've finished "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and have moved on to Pathway Readers) but will probably do the rest of the stuff that her sister does.
H is 2 and will not be formally learning, but I'm sure you'll be seeing pictures of him from time to time, as he's pretty cute ;)

So to prepare, I pulled out all the books we'll start the first week. They now all have little "flag" tabs, color-coordinated for which day of the week we'll turn to that page.

I can only hope that it's organization I can keep up with as the year progresses! Between that, and the pages I created listing all the materials I need for the following week and all the songs I want to teach them that coordinate with the week's topic, I'm either way more organized than I can keep up, or it will prove to be a lifesaver. It's pretty obvious which I'm hoping for.

Countdown: 13 days until first grade starts!!

6 comments:

  1. Good luck. Great program. I have been using it since January. It always helps to be over prepared.

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  2. Thank you!! That's great to hear :D Since kindergarten kinda fizzled (wrong curriculum for us, young child, lack of organization on my part) I'm doing everything I can to make sure it really works this time!

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  3. So excited to see your weekly posts! We too will be starting HIH for 1st grade in June. I'll be following....so keep posting ;)

    Thanks!
    Angela

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  4. I love organization!! It helps things along so much! Also, I hope that you enjoy your blog experience. I know that my blog has kept me very accountable in the fact that I pretend my millions of readers will be disappointed if I do nothing. lol :)

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  5. Fun program! I have a 1st grader and a Kindergartener that I've been doing HIH with since December. We enjoy the program, have been doing it at our own pace and have modified things a bit to work better for our needs. My kids and I are looking forward to following your adventures with it as well.

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  6. Thanks so much for all the comments! You all make me MUCH more excited and motivated, and I'm with you, Jess. Thinking that all my fans will be disappointed should *definitely* help keep me going!!

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