School's out for the summer!
We finished the Kindergarten year strong with two really awesome units and a pretty consistent schedule. That feels really good. I also spent a lot of time this month thinking about what I will do next year! I am planning to keep with the Waldorf-y stuff for Carl but I think that Soren (who will be in first grade) would benefit from a more rigorous and varied curriculum. So I've been exploring our options, which is daunting as well as exciting.
Soren is so ready for first grade. He is bored with the many repetitions inherent to our Kindergarten structure. He is also excited about formal math instruction, getting his own library card, reading Grimms' fairy tales, and possibly learning to play the piano. He has asked me several times in the last month to start first grade early. I am glad that he's excited about it and glad that I have three months to get it exciting for him.
Carl, on the other hand, has loved every minute of Kindergarten. He especially likes having other kids in the neighborhood join us on a regular basis. He enjoys the stories so much that he looks for books about them at the library, wanting to continue them beyond the bounds of our school time. He also incorporates them into his free play, drawing pictures and making up games about them. He kind of wants to learn to read but not enough to sit down and do daily lessons, which is fine by me. If he asks, we work on it. And if he waits until first grade to learn, that would be awesome. I can think of nothing better for him than another year of play.
In the meantime, summer is here! Our plan is to learn new chores, play outside every day, read lots of books, and get ready for a new school year. I am so excited!
In Kindergarten
Thumbelina - This was my last unit for the year so I pulled out all the stops. The story I told was adapted from the Hans Christian Anderson Tale, a simplified version I found in The Book of Virtues. It includes Thumbelina's rescue of the wounded swallow, which our visiting girls (Kylie and Evelyn) enjoyed very much. Because I wanted to keep it fresh for Soren, I tried to vary the telling of the story a little every day. One day, we did a finger puppet show. On another, I played a Thumbelina song on my lap harp. The kids told the story for one of the days and on the last day, we used a beautiful picture book of the original story. I wanted to make thumb cookies for one of our projects but I didn't think of it until the last day. For nursery rhymes, there was "The Wee Melodie Man", "Little Tommy Tittlemouse", and "There was an Old Woman", all rhymes about little people.
Robin Hood and Little John - For Megan's last unit, she told the story of Robin Hood and Little John. Soren was, apparently, very distressed by her opening, which talked all about how Robin Hood was an outlaw. But the story did inspire some awesome stick fights.
We finished the Kindergarten year strong with two really awesome units and a pretty consistent schedule. That feels really good. I also spent a lot of time this month thinking about what I will do next year! I am planning to keep with the Waldorf-y stuff for Carl but I think that Soren (who will be in first grade) would benefit from a more rigorous and varied curriculum. So I've been exploring our options, which is daunting as well as exciting.
Soren is so ready for first grade. He is bored with the many repetitions inherent to our Kindergarten structure. He is also excited about formal math instruction, getting his own library card, reading Grimms' fairy tales, and possibly learning to play the piano. He has asked me several times in the last month to start first grade early. I am glad that he's excited about it and glad that I have three months to get it exciting for him.
Carl, on the other hand, has loved every minute of Kindergarten. He especially likes having other kids in the neighborhood join us on a regular basis. He enjoys the stories so much that he looks for books about them at the library, wanting to continue them beyond the bounds of our school time. He also incorporates them into his free play, drawing pictures and making up games about them. He kind of wants to learn to read but not enough to sit down and do daily lessons, which is fine by me. If he asks, we work on it. And if he waits until first grade to learn, that would be awesome. I can think of nothing better for him than another year of play.
In the meantime, summer is here! Our plan is to learn new chores, play outside every day, read lots of books, and get ready for a new school year. I am so excited!
In Kindergarten
Thumbelina - This was my last unit for the year so I pulled out all the stops. The story I told was adapted from the Hans Christian Anderson Tale, a simplified version I found in The Book of Virtues. It includes Thumbelina's rescue of the wounded swallow, which our visiting girls (Kylie and Evelyn) enjoyed very much. Because I wanted to keep it fresh for Soren, I tried to vary the telling of the story a little every day. One day, we did a finger puppet show. On another, I played a Thumbelina song on my lap harp. The kids told the story for one of the days and on the last day, we used a beautiful picture book of the original story. I wanted to make thumb cookies for one of our projects but I didn't think of it until the last day. For nursery rhymes, there was "The Wee Melodie Man", "Little Tommy Tittlemouse", and "There was an Old Woman", all rhymes about little people.
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