Kindergarten!

I spent several hours last night planning the boys' school year. I am guardedly excited about how it all turned out.

-----------Important note: all of this is *highly* fluid, and we will have to be extremely flexible, simply because we have an Ilse with therapy and a Tim with driving needs, and two little boys who have varying needs because of their early lives.----------

First I divided each subject up in manageable sections. Then I determined how long it should take to finish that number of sections. Then I sat down at my calendar and blocked out 28 weeks plus 3 weeks for makeup school time.

We need to do

Phonics 3x a week
Science 3x a week
Math 2x a week
Handwriting 2x a week
Critical Thinking 2x a week
Can You Find Me? 2x a week

1 character quality a week, except for one group which will take 2 weeks

1 letter a day, which corresponds to a verse which the boys will memorize. After we complete all 26 letters, we will start them over again.

I also took the time to complete a list of goals I want to boys to accomplish this year. Perhaps it is unorthodox, but I chose goals that will make me feel like the year hasn't been a waste, which could also be called goals that make my life easier.

I want the boys to

1. Be able to think more critically
2. Know all letters and sounds and be able to read simple words
3. Be able to write all letters, upper and lower case, and numbers
4. Be able to count objects and do simple addition and subtraction
5. Be able to tell time and understand concept of minutes, hours, days, weeks, etc.
6. Be able to follow directions with multiples of instructions, 3 to 4, consistently
7. Be able to look for and find something efficiently and independently

There might be more of those kinds of goals.

I also made a list of life skills I need the boys to be able to demonstrate before our school year is over.

1. Learn to tie shoes
2. Chris needs to be able to joke while looking people in the eye instead of looking up to the ceiling.
3. To be able to take showers completely independently.
4. Joseph needs to say IF not ITH
5. Christopher needs to demonstrate more independence.
6. Accurately remember the names of various locations in our house, like vanity and OLC
7. Be able to clean something with a rag in a proper and not haphazard fashion
8. Be able to ask a question succinctly

I chose goals that I felt were completely obtainable, otherwise what's the point?

We plan to start our school Monday and we will finish the 28 weeks mid April, with the extra three weeks possibly carrying us into May. Then we will take June and part of July off before beginning the boys' first grade. We need June off because we want to go to the SLOS convention in Pennsylvania!