Hey there! Welcome to October! We absolutely love September and October for the weather, the lack of summer hustle and bustle, and lack of tourists! So we are excited for Fall! Miss B started Kindergarten at the end of August, so we have successfully made it through our first six weeks of Kindergarten! Woo hoo!
Although it is a bit tricky at times with five little ones under five, it’s also been a blast! I love watching Miss B do her thing. Sometimes she gets on a roll and I don’t even need to be in the room. There are other days where she is crying, I’m crying, and the dog is hiding under the table eating someone’s toy… but hey we all have those days right?!
Preparing for this year
I’m a planner, so when I was planning this all out in my head I knew that I was going to need to differentiate A LOT this year. I needed little preschool for the twins (colors, shapes, letters), and Pre-K for the boys who will be starting Kindergarten next year, and then Kinder for Miss B. What I’ve found is that while they are all in their own places they all still enjoy doing the same activities.
So when I sit down to do the math lesson with B, they all want in. I can honestly say that all five have mastered graphs, AB patterns, and counting to five! I don’t go into the lesson expecting them all to pick it up right away and yet it always amazes me how much they absorb even when I think they won’t.
So… enough of my gushing! Here is just a little review of our first six weeks!
Our Curriculum
We are using Sonlight curriculum with Miss B, and while I’ve heard mixed reviews and was a little skeptical, we love it! I’ve been patiently waiting for the phonics to kick in… patiently as in tapping my foot with my hand on my hip waiting. Sure enough at the right moment in week six they very sneakily dropped in some phonics and she did it, without assistance!
Now, I’ve been trying to teach her phonics for months and she refuses, I repeat, refuses to sound anything out for me properly (little stinker). Yesterday, she read “mat, fat, rat” without skipping a beat! I love it!
September Activities
Shape Monsters! I love letting them explore shapes and be creative! This went perfectly with our Letter M week.
I have incorporated a morning basket into our routine which we love. We also love to use our Nature Anatomy book for our nature journals The kids love to draw different aspects of nature from the book and then go exploring to find them.
Miss B has memorized her whole name, address, and phone number is just these first few weeks! Here she is practicing with her last name.
Fine motor and letter recognition! Like I mentioned differentiation. The littles still need help recognizing letters so while the big kids have handwriting practice, the littles did fine motor.
Who knew math could be so much fun? The kids love creating things with these shapes! They’ve learned how some fit together and others don’t, they have learned shape names, and the number of sides each shape has.
Another fun fine motor activity at Storytime. We love to visit our library each week.
Nature walk! We get outside as often as possible! This fun walk was right behind our house, but we also venture to local parks, state forests, and fun trails!
Painting with a string!
One of my all-time favorite homeschool supplies is these magnetic pompoms. Throw a cookie sheet under anything and it can instantly become an activity with them. Number recognition here for Shrimp!
What did September look like for you? I’d love to hear how you incorporate the changing of the seasons into your homeschool?
Feel free to follow our adventures on Instagram!
Until next time,
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