Home Schooling Plan and List of Goodies :)

I know a lot of family members are getting nervous about kindergarten.  About us keeping Maryn home for kindergarten.  "Are they really going to do it?!"  I hear you saying under your breath.  YES.  I feel 150% positive about homeschooling.  My reasons are maaaaaaaaaaaaany.  I can hardly come up with any reason to send her away to school.  Hmm...nope.  Not one.  I just imagine her going into a school bus and the whole  idea of school comes to a halt.  No way!

In Kentucky, the district recommends our kiddos be 5 by August 1st to enter kindergarten, so Maryn doesn't necessarily have to start this year, and we don't have to register as official homeschoolers until she is in first grade.  But with her being such an overachiever and me being such an overachiever, we have collected a wish list of things we are looking at as we begin our homeschooling journey.

Language Arts

Here are a few of the books I'm looking at for teaching reading, spelling, and phonics.  I haven't really made a decision yet which one I'm going to use.  The main thing we need right now is just phonogram cards or tiles.  There's also a book called The Writing Road to Reading (Spalding), which I used as a teacher, which would be great as well.



History/Social Studies
Little House on the Prairie things (we have the books, but there are many activity books, cookbooks, etc. out there)
American Girl books and activities (We currently have Samantha, Kirsten and Addy books 1-3)  Samantha is Maryn's favorite American Girl--anything that might go with her books would be great.  We'd love any of the other American Girl books too.
United States Puzzle with individual pieces for the states, in their shape, like this:

Books about our state (Kentucky), and other states that are special to us (Ohio, Florida, Kansas, Tennessee, Minnesota, etc.), or states in general.  Coloring books about states or that contain maps.  We love these Alphabet books about the individual states:


Science
We are going to be doing a lot of nature study.  We'll be hanging out outside, taking nature walks, collecting things, etc.  We could use a little explorer kit (magnifying glasses!!), a book to help us identify bugs and mushrooms (we have trees and birds nature guides), non-fiction books about plants, animals, the human body, physics, space, etc.

We will hopefully find time to take a few trips to the zoo and the Louisville Science Center, as well as all the beautiful parks in the area.  And the Smoky Mountains of course!

Hand Crafts
A little kids' size set of tools, wood and nails.
A little loom for making hot pads.
There are also a lot of cute little craft kits, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Toys-First-Sewing-Kit/dp/B000F3V2MW/ref=sr_1_23?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1367976844&sr=1-23&keywords=craft+kits Josiah is pretty good at crafts too, and there are many simple kits out there for his age group. He is good with stickers, glue, cutting, and even simple painting.

Math
We have a lot of math manipulatives already.  But maybe something like this geoboard would be fun.
Also, we have great pattern blocks, but these picture cards would help the kids make some cool pictures.

And these:

I want these blocks so bad.  :)



Spanish
La Clase Divertida

Art
Creating a Masterpiece Level One, with Sharon Hofer
We met this lady at the Homeschool Convention, and were convinced we need this :)  Ha!
There's an extensive supply list of the best, high quality art supplies, which are listed on the website.  But we of course can always use art supplies such as paper, drawing paper, card stock, watercolor paper, pastel paper, charcoal, pastels, thin and thick markers, crayons, coloring books, construction paper, glue, tape, staples, paper fasteners, stickers, acrylics, tempera paint, watercolor paints, paint brushes, etc.