Prepping for school

We'll be starting year two of homeschool in a few weeks, so I've been brainstorming about what I would like for us to learn this year. Last year we used a curriculum that was free on the internet, and I was happy with it. (http://www.letteroftheweek.com/). This year, I'm also looking to make our homeschooling inexpensive, yet still keep it as fun and educational as possible. One of my goals is to continue to build on the letters and sounds we learned last year and progress onto reading. The girls were beginning to read small words at the end of last year and I feel confident they will keep up the good work this year!

One of the tools we used last year that we'll continue to use this year is Melissa and Doug's magnetic calendar. This one is more up to date than the one I have, but basically the same thing. I got mine from my Mom, who got it at a yard sale...at a great price! We use this calendar every day during out "morning routine". It has special events, holidays, and other magnets that make it fun. The only thing I don't love about mine is the way the "hinge" in the middle works. It looks like this newer version is a little better.

Today I got this set of pattern blocks and patterns from http://www.zulilly.com/. Zulilly sells great kids clothes, toys, and even stuff for Moms at reduced prices. These particular blocks are also Melissa and Doug. On the M&D site (http://www.melissaanddoug.com/) they are listed at $19.99. On Zulilly they were $13.99. I also had a $10 credit, so I paid a few dollars for them plus shipping. If you pay shipping once on zulilly, you get any other purchases that day with free shipping. I don't know if that's a special thing they're doing right now or if that's the case all the time. A good idea if you see several things you like is to buy them separately and get free shipping on some of them. My code for zulilly is

http://www.zulily.com/invite/sdaniel081 if you're interested in joining. It would help me out by giving me some credit! I look forward to using these with the girls and with Isaac.

Today I also bought Geography Songs by Kathy Troxel. We used this when I was teaching in Thailand and the kids learned so much from it! It teaches all of the countries in the world, the continents, oceans, planets, and every state in the United States. The songs are catchy, fun, and I even enjoyed learning them! A cassette is featured on this pic, but I bought the one with the cd. I'm very excited about having this tool. It's something I know that we can use for years to come. One of the ways I plan to use this is to teach the girls about the different states in the US. The songs teach the states according to the borders (the northern border, the southern border, etc) so that if they look at a map, they can not only name the states, but know where they're located on the US map. So my plan is to study the states by the borders, let the girls learn some interesting facts, and do something fun (cook something, skype with someone, send a letter, etc.). I think it'll be a lot of fun! Have I mentioned that Geography/Social Studies is one of my favorite topics? : )

One thing I'm looking for are cookie cutters of each state. The ones I've seen are about $100 for the set. If any of you know of/have seen a set that's much cheaper (I'm talking really cheap!), please let me know! I would prefer plastic ones.

Other materials I plan to use (that I already have) are some phonics flashcards (I found them for about $1 at Target or the Dollar Tree) and "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons". We used this in Thailand, also, and saw success with it. I bought it years ago at a second hand bookstore for about $2. I also went to an annual homeschool fair and picked up several free Abeka readers (for reading practice in the future), a huge pack of pre-K writing paper for about $3, and some small reproduceable workbooks that we'll probably use (I got 10 of those for a few dollars). Knowing that I wanted to homeschool for several years has helped me to always have an eye open for things here and there that I can use. A friend who homeschooled for several years has told me many times that you can homeschool on a small budget. I believe it! God has provided so many things for us. I am trusting that He will continue to do this as the years go on!

God bless~Stacey