How to Organize My Father's World Kindergarten

My son is going through My Father's World Kindergarten this year.  I was so excited when I received everything but wasn't sure how to organize it.  I bought the Deluxe Package along with the Literature Collection to go along with the kindergarten curriculum and we are also going through Sonlight P4/5.  Therefore, we have a lot of books which are not including books we already own and relate to the curriculum or books we'll get from the library.  Can you tell I majored in English?  This is also how I organized Sonlight P4/5.

How I organized My Father's World Kindergarten

I bought a 2in white binder with a clear pocket front.  I placed the cover page for the student sheets in front.  Then I used page protectors to hold various things such as the letters and pictures for the Short Vowel Song, Bingo Game, Number and ABC chart, extra calendar pages, etc.  Then I added 26 number labels and put each week or letter's activities behind one page protector.  As I see things that go along with the week I want to add, I add them to the page protector.  If the page protectors get full, I'll just add the rest of the week in another one behind it.  I keep the 100 Chart and current month's calendar page in the front pocket to pull out easily.  Once my son completes a week, I'm going to hole punch his work or put it in a page protector at the back of the binder behind the week's tab.  At the end of the year we'll have a completed binder full of this year's work.  I store everything in a blue basket I got at Walmart along with all the books and the 100 Days Cup and sticks.  Each morning I get out the basket and everything is right there.  At the end of the week, I change the books out for the next week's books.  We are on week 2, and finishing Creation.  Once we start Unit 1, I'll add the Cuisenaire® Rods Alphabet Book and Rods to the basket along with anything else we'll be using that week.

Here are some pictures of how I have organized this.

Teacher's Manual and Student Sheets that I put in a binder

On the left in the pocket is the 100 Chart and behind that is the current month's calendar

Extra things I'll use throughout the year stored in page protectors up front

Unit 1: S - I store the character card on the front page

Things we are going to be doing during Unit 1.
We are using Wordy Worm so I added 2 pages from them.
I also added a dot paint page and a maze.  I'll add more once I look over the week.

Unit 2: M

How I store all the books and binders.  The rest of the books are on a bookshelf.
The art supplies are up high.

First Week of Pre-K! My Father's World: Creation and Sonlight P4/5

Blue Rock's first week of Pre-K went really well. I'm so glad we are homeschooling this year. Not that everyday is super easy as my child does tend to test my patients, quite a bit! However, I wouldn't trade the extra time with him for anything. He's such a sweet kid and I love watching him learn something new and am enjoying hearing him tell his dad what he's done and learned during his school time.

Our focus for My Father's World Kindergarten this week and next is Creation. Here are the activities we did. I didn't take pictures of everything we did with Sonlight but I included a few pictures of some of activities we did as well as a few extra things I came up with.

Our verse of the week was: Proverbs 4:20: Pay attention, my child, to what I say. Listen carefully. (NLT adapted). Attentiveness: I listen with my eyes, ears, and heart.

This weeks songs: Jesus Loves Me and This is My Father's World.

Skills we worked on: Drawing, writing, cutting, pasting, coloring, math - we started our 100 days of school, listening, memorization, and character development.

Week 1 of My Father's World Kindergarten: Creation

Day 1 - God separated day from night

We also started our Creation Timeline

Day 2 - God created the skies and seas

Day 2 Timeline

Day 3 - God made dry land, plants, seeds, and trees
He pasted the apples on the trees and wanted to have one falling and on the ground

Day 3 Timeline

We did a little activity for Day 3. God made two kinds of water, salt water and fresh water.

Day 4 - God created the sun, moon, and stars

Day 4 Timeline

This was an activity from Developing the Early Learner.
I placed 4 items in front of him. He studied them, turned around, and I took one away.
He then turned back around and told me what was missing. Then he colored the picture in his book.
He loved this and wanted to take items away for me to guess as well.

Listening skills: I gave him instructions on what to do with each picture.
He colored and drew objects accordingly. He did a great job!

Day 5 - God made creatures of the sky and sea.
I cut the creatures and he glued them. Notice the whale is going to do a flip.

He cut out the 5 perfectly! I was impressed.

Day 5 Timeline. All of the numbers are still colored blue.

Days 1-5 Creation Illustrations and Timeline

This week's books

How I'm storing each week's books and activities

Once we are done, I'm going to add his creation illustrations to his notebook that I'm keeping as record for what he's doing this year. I let him cut out all the numbers and glue them to the timeline and for the most part he's cut and pasted the other pictures. He also colored the numbers, all blue, his favorite color. When I'd suggest for him to use another color he said, "no, just blue, because blue is my favorite color."

In addition to the fun activities above, we read from the Bible everyday about creation. We also read a few other books about creation, and we started reading Big Thoughts for Little People, which basically connects the alphabet to Bible themes and verses. Since he's known the alphabet for a long time, rather than just go over flash cards, we read a page or two in this book and then talk about the questions that relate to what we read and the cute picture. This was an extra thing I bought with this curriculum.

For Sonlight P4/5, we have started reading some wonderful stories. I still haven't received a few of the books for week 1, so we'll just read those stories once we get the books. The books we read from this week were: 101 Stories from the Bible, The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book, Uncle Wiggily's Story Book, The Children's Book of Virtue, Eric Carle's Animals Animals, The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature, and Stories from Around the World. We are waiting for A Treasury of Mother Goose Rhymes and Things People Do. We also started doing work in Developing the Early Learner 1, which he loves and so do I! I only ordered the first one to begin with since they cost more than most workbooks. I have to say, there is a difference. I love how you can really find out how your child learns and their learning style. This book tests your child's motor skills, visual skills, auditory skills, and comprehension skills. So far he's doing great at everything. The work will get harder as we go through it and I'm looking forward to seeing where his strengths are.

We also got together with several different friends this week and got to eat lunch with my husband a few times. Monday Blue Rock spent time with his granddad, who took him to a playground while I went to a meeting at church. Tuesday we went swimming with some sweet friends, who are in one of our homeschooling groups. Wednesday we ate with his granddad and great-grandmother at Chick-Fil-A and were surprised to see a few of his friends there. Thursday I had a catch up day at home and we ran a few errands our playdate was cancelled. Friday we went to a PJ potluck with my Mom's Club. I love how homeschooling allows flexibility to get together with friends throughout the week. I think in the future, more and more people are going to be homeschooling. It's just such a wonderful way to educate your child. I know it's not for everyone and I can see the appeal of sending your child to a traditional school.  It's funny, before I had kids, I never thought I would homeschool. Of course this is only week 1, we'll have to see how the rest of the year goes.

18 Weeks!

First self picture.

I'm in my 18th week of pregnancy. I have to say, my little girl is already moving and kicking hard. Yesterday she was really kicking around my rib cage. I had difficulty bending over to do anything because of feeling her up there. My mother-in-law told me today that an old wives tale is that women carry girls high and boys low. I don't remember Blue Rock kicking me in my ribs, but he may have.

18 weeks marks a big milestone from my pregnancy with Blue Rock.  When I was pregnant with Blue Rock, at 18 weeks, I was finally released from being house bound. I was not immune to rubella and once we discovered that, my German doctor told me I had to stop going anywhere. No more volunteering, I couldn't get a job (we had recently moved to Germany), go to church, etc. It was difficult but the risks to a baby if a mother got rubella during the first 18 weeks of pregnancy are not worth taking a chance.

Other than that, I'm just excited that we're almost half-way there. We're still tossing around names. I'd like to go ahead and decide on one. I also bought my first little girl clothes today. I bought two swimsuits for next summer so she can swim with her big brother and a little sister outfit. I can't wait to meet her!

How far along? 18 weeks

Baby’s size? The size of a bell pepper - 5 1/2 inches long (head to rump)

Total weight gain/loss: About 14 lbs, starting to feel pretty big. I also have a fibroid that is growing pretty big, I think that is contributing to my weight gain.

Maternity clothes? Yes, and love them!

Stretch marks? Only from my first pregnancy.

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good. I'm usually so exhausted by the end of the day that thankfully I fall asleep pretty quickly.

Best moment this week: When Blue Rock wanted to buy his baby sister something from Target. So sweet!

Miss Anything? Being able to ride my bike. I'm really taking it easy and trying not to overdo it. I'm also starting to feel a little off balance. When we went to the circus last weekend, I first noticed it when climbing a lot of stairs.

Movement: Yes! Especially up high.

Food cravings: Hot sauce and Marble Slab Ice Cream, oh I need more ice cream!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Long car rides and if I get too hot. I'm trying to stay indoors for the most part.

Gender: Girl!!

Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Growing belly and lots of movement and kicking.

Belly Button in or out? Still in but is starting to get more flat.

Wedding rings on or off? Very tight. I bought a cheapy fake to wear for now.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!

Looking forward to: Deciding on a name.

Please pray for: A healthy baby and pregnancy.

Fun at the Circus

Last weekend we went to the Circus. This was Blue Rock's first circus. I always loved circuses as a kid.

We had a good time. There was a dragon theme this year and Blue Rock has really been into monsters, dragons, and dinosaurs lately. When the dragon came out he was excited to see it. It was fun seeing the look in his eyes as he watched the acrobats fly through the air and the animals do their tricks. They mixed lions and tigers for that part of the show, which was neat. I think my favorite was seeing the elephants. They did some impressive tricks with motorcycles and horses that was neat. I love going to things like this when they are in town. These pictures were taken with my phone so they aren't the best but it gives you an idea of what the circus looked like.

First Day of Pre-K

Today was Blue Rock's first day of Pre-K.  Despite him starting the day by cracking an egg on our kitchen table thinking it was a hard boiled egg, we had a great day!  I'm coordinating Ladies' Bible Class on Tuesday mornings at our church this coming year and had a 10am meeting this morning. To get started, we did half our homeschool this morning before 9:30am and the other half this afternoon when we got home, around 3:30pm. I won't post everyday but I wanted to share how our first day went.

I decided to start with Sonlight this morning. We started with our weekly memory verse, then we read a few books, and ended with doing pages in Developing an Early Learner. He loved all stories and did not want to stop at two pages in his workbook. I offered to let him do another book but he wanted to keep working in his new one. So we did one extra page. I have to be careful about working too far ahead because I'm one of those that would get the whole year done in a month if given the opportunity. In fact, when I substituted in college, I'd bribe the kids to hurry and get their work done so they could have more time at recess. They loved it and got their work done!

This afternoon we started Day 1 of Creation in My Father's World. We started by reading Genesis 1:1-5 from the Bible about Day 1. Then we started making a number timeline for the 7 Days of Creation. We then made a picture with black and white paper illustrating Day 1. We ended by singing "This Is My Father's World." He wanted to continue cutting paper so he sat at the table 10 more minutes cutting the other half of the black paper that we did use for our creation illustration.

Cutting out the 1

God separated day from night

Picture of our number timeline and creation illustration day 1

Today was Day 1 of 100 Days of school
We are using colored sticks to count down

Cutting up the black paper

Blue Guide is Sonlight's, God's Creation from A to Z is
My Father's World. These are the books we read and went through.

Our Pre-K Curriculum Choices

Most of our curriculum

I wasn't sure if we would be homeschooling this year or not.  Blue Rock really liked the preschool he went to last year and they are even starting a kindergarten program this year.  Originally I thought, how great, he can go there two more years and then we'd give homeschooling a try.  However, it became clear to me at the end of the year that I would need to find a different school for him.  I toured 4 new preschools in my area and came close to enrolling him in one.  After much prayer and consideration, we decided we would start our homeschool journey this year.  If it doesn't go well, we can start looking at kindergarten programs for next year mid-year.   

We got most of our homeschool curriculum in the mail this past week.  I am super picky when it comes to education and also a little indecisive.  I have taught all ages from preschool classes to teaching college kids as a History Student Instructor while in college.  Mostly the curriculum was provided for me, except Sunday school classes occasionally and when I tutored 3rd graders in math and English.  However, when it comes to deciding what the focus is for my child, I tend to go overboard.  I was torn between two curriculums, My Father's World Kindergarten and Sonlight P4/5.  After much prayer and research I decided we'll do both!  We're also going to be learning phonograms with Wordy Worm and possibly adding Math U See Primer mid-year if My Father's World math is not challenging enough.  Since we're starting a kindergarten program, I'm okay with us taking things a little slower and if we don't finish in a year, that is fine.  I just want us to have a good schedule going before the baby arrives.  Also, I need structure in my life and having a plan is very helpful to me.  I also didn't feel like putting together my own program.  I know you can teach pre-K and kindergarten for a lot less.  However, we are saving quite a bit by not sending him to a preschool and I really wanted everything laid out for me this year.  The most important thing is I want Blue Rock to have fun this year.  I want him to always be eager to learn and grow as he learns about the world around him and how much God loves him.

Why We Are Using Sonlight P4/5:

Sonlight P4/5: When Blue Rock was 2, I bought Sonlight P3/4.  It basically consisted of a bunch of really good books.  Also included was an instructor's guide with activities to do with each book.  Seeing how the past books were such a hit, I decided that I didn't want to stop using Sonlight.  One thing I love about Sonlight is how you teach children through living books, rather than text books.  It makes concepts come alive.  It's also Christian based, although not every book is Christian.  Through books, your child will learn about many concepts and beliefs and gives the parent or teacher the opportunity to talk about different world views.  Some negative comments I've read is that some books introduce certain concepts and ideas earlier than many parents would want.  As a parent, I'm going to read the books ahead of time and if he's not ready for a certain idea or concept, we'll wait.  But I also think it's important that he's aware of other beliefs as we lay the foundation for his faith.  Also, for preschool, you only spend about 30-40 minutes per day, about the amount of time we spend reading anyway.  Included in this year's instructor's guide are questions and activities to go along with different stories.  In the Bible section you learn about character development and I really appreciate that.  Also the book choices are pretty advanced.  Before the year is over, we'll be reading chapter books without pictures.  Sonlight is almost a complete curriculum.  The one thing lacking is math.

My Father's World Kindergarten with Literature Package

Why We Are Using My Father's World Kindergarten:

My Father's World Kindergarten:  There are so many reasons why I really love this curriculum.  The main reason is it's God-centered.  A main reason we are homeschooling is that we want Blue Rock to fall in love with Jesus.  My Father's World Kindergarten teaches all about how God created the world while teaching kindergarten skills and doing lots of fun hands-on activities.  My Father's World also support missions, which my husband and I appreciate. And, like Sonlight, Blue Rock will learn about different cultures around the world.

My Father's World is also a complete curriculum. If I don't have time to add anything else, we'll be okay.  Of course we'll be reading through Sonlight and I bought the literature package to go along with My Father's World so we'll get plenty of reading in.

Both Sonlight P4/5 and My Father's World Kindergarten use the Charlotte Mason method with classical education.  My Father's World combines unit studies as well and they both incorporate a Biblical Worldview.  I know he's only 4, but since he's already reading and writing some, he's ready for the kindergarten level.

Wordy Worm Level 1 and 2

Why we are using Wordy Worm:

Finding a solid reading program was difficult.  Then I came across Wordy Worm and decided we'd give it a try.  Wordy Worm teaching reading through using phonograms which make up the smallest sounds.  It's a more thorough form of phonetics.  For example, "a" makes 3 sounds, not just one, the letters "oa" say "o," etc.  Blue Rock can already read simple words by sounding them out.  However, I hope by teaching him phonograms which make up 98% of the English language, it will make learning other languages easier in the future.  While I'm unable to give a complete review of this program.  I will say, you don't get a whole lot for the price.  I honestly was a little disappointed when I received everything in the mail.  I'm hoping once I print stuff off disks and we really start it, it will be worth the price.

Spanish and German

Foreign Languages:

My husband will be teaching Blue Rock Spanish and German.  We'll be working mostly on vocabulary for German and start teaching him phrases and continue growing his Spanish vocabulary.  

List of books we'll be going through:

- 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible

- Children's Book of Virtues

- Developing the Early Learner, Volume 1 (we might add 2-4)

- Eric Carle's Animals Animals

- How Do You Lift a Lion?

- How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World

- Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?

- Milly-Molly-Mandy Story Book

- My First Dictionary 

- New Toes for Tia

- Stories from Africa

- Stories from Around the World

- The Berenstain Bear's Big Book of Science and Nature

- The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit (not pictured)

- The Gods Must be Angry

- Then and Now

- Uncle Wiggily's Story Book

- What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?

- What's Under the Sea?

- Why Do Tigers Have Stripes?

- A Treasury of Mother Goose Rhymes (not pictured)

- Things People Do (not pictured)

- The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book (not pictured)

- People (not pictured)

- Dinosaur Activity Book

- Big Thoughts for Little People

- Little Bear

- Swimmy

- The Bee Tree

- The Tortoise and the Hare

- Make Way for Duckling

- Moonbear's Shadow

- Katy No-Pocket

- The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck

- The Tale of Peter Rabbit

- Love You Forever

- Frog and Toad Are Friends

- The Story of Ferdinand

- If the Dinosaurs Came Back

- Mouse and Mole, Fine Feathered Friends

- Amazing Animal Alphabet

- Seven Blind Mice

- Tacky the Penguin

- Little Jewel Bird

- Fritz and the Beautiful Horses

- The Color Kittens

- The Year at Maple Hill Farm

- How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

- I Am a Leaf

- Annie and Snowball and the Cozy Nest

- Stone Soup

- How to Hide a Butterfly

- What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?

- Cuisenaire® Rods Alphabet Book

We're also going to create a Butterfly Garden and Ant Farm. Looking forward to a great year!! If you want to read more blogs of people using My Father's World, click here.

WE'RE HAVING A...

GIRL!!!!

We are so excited and blessed!  This being my 6th pregnancy, our odds for a boy or girl were both up in the air.  All three of us thought we were having a girl.  My parents and sister and her husband thought we were having a girl.  My mother-in-law thought boy but was hoping for a girl, while my father-in-law was confident that we'd have a girl.  Many friends have said either way.  This pregnancy has been so different from my pregnancy with Blue Rock.  I've experienced throwing up while pregnant and have wanted to sleep on my right side or back.  I'm naturally a tummy sleeper but was fine sleeping on my left side (which is what is recommended) while pregnant with Blue Rock.  I've had headaches and migraines, which I didn't with Blue Rock.  For a healthy baby, I'll take what ever headaches, migraines, and vomitting that comes my way!

When the sonogram tech told us we were having a girl, I cried.  I was so happy!  I asked her if she was sure.  She said, "if I wasn't sure, I would not write girl.  I've been doing this for 25 years."  God has answered mine and Blue Rock's prayer.  My doctor told me that if I would have told her what my son has prayed for, she would have told me he would be right.  She said, in her experience, God tends to grant the sibling choice to children.  So sweet!  What a mighty God we serve!  I know this child, like Blue Rock, is a gift from God.

For the first time ever, my husband has told me what he thought and hoped we were having.  He has always said he would be happy and thankful for whatever God gave us.  However, he was really hoping for a girl.  Blue Rock has been telling me for the past few weeks that he's going to have a baby sister.  He is so thrilled!  I, of course, feel like my husband.  Healthy baby is number one, but I have told a few people that I feel so blessed to have a healthy baby growing in my womb and that if we have a girl I will really feel that God loves me and is blessing me.  Not to say that if he gave us another boy we would feel any less blessed or loved, I just have always wanted to have a daughter also and I have had so many heartbreaks during pregnancy that this is truly a blessing.  Also, I've really felt like I'm pregnant with a girl.  Motherly instinct. :)

We considered taking Blue Rock to see the ultrasound but he really didn't want to go.  I don't blame him, he's only seen bad ultrasounds, poor guy.  However, we were pretty confident that we'd have a great ultrasound and wanted him to share in our excitement as we found out.  Since he really didn't want to go, I decided to take him to my parents and that it would be easier anyway not having him with me.  We still wanted to do something special.  So we decided to do a gender reveal with balloons.  He was probably just as excited to get two huge balloons as to find out what his sibling is.  We decided to take him to a park for the reveal.  My dad and step-mother both came to hear the news, as we wanted Blue Rock to be the first to find out and didn't mind anyone who was around us hearing when we told him.  Here's how we shared the news.  The first part, we video taped as we told him.  He was so excited and on the video started jumping up and down.

I took a girl and boy balloon to him

We asked him again what he thought the baby was going to be

He said he was going to have a baby sister

We told him he was right

He was beaming with joy!

We told him to let go of the blue balloon



He didn't want to so we pretended to let it go
He wants a boy balloon for him and the girl balloon for his sister

Family shot

Blue Rock and his granddad

Almost 17 weeks

If you look close, you can see where the sono tech wrote girl

We're having a girl!!