Kindergarten Assessments

Raccoon and I have 46 school days left to complete our first 180 days of homeschool. Since January we have been doing more relaxed schooling, and it is working well for us, except that now I'm staring the end of the school year in the face and I feel like we haven't done enough. So I hopped online to find a K assessment to see how he measures up.

Things I discovered:

1) Most K evaluations only care about reading and math. I only found one lonely assessment for social studies.

2) Georgia has a 179 page kindergarten assessment in 7 subject areas.

3) California's transitional kindergarten assessment is all touchy-feely, and even includes subjects like cooking.

4) Finally, a K eval that is only 1 page long. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Now that we have a working printer - hooray! - I am going to print out my favorite assessments and use them as activity guides for our last 11 weeks of school (one more 5 day week, then 10 weeks of just 4 days. Ah, the benefit of starting school in July, we're done at the end of May).

The reason that I'm thinking about this question - did Raccoon "pass" kindergarten? - is because I may be heading Stateside this summer and looking for next year's curriculum. Do I call it K again, based on his slightly behind reading skills, or do I just jump into 1st grade and work with him to catch up? A lot depends on how things progress these next few months.

We're using Abeka's reading program, which I just discovered that I have, and he seems to be getting it. But I think I do need to make reading practice a daily item instead of just once a week. I backed off because he was starting to hate it, so I thought focusing more on what he likes (science, social studies) would help restore some balance. And it has, but now I feel like we're behind. I think next year I won't worry so much about getting in our number of school days, but instead focus more on the content he needs to master.

The other question lingering in the back of my head is... should I ask the K teacher at the school I hope to put him in (around 3rd grade), for her evaluation? Because really, that's the one place that matters, I think. Although based on age they might put him a grade behind anyway. He would be in their pre-K program this year, which would be a good match in reading, but too easy for other things, I think. I'm hoping that by the time I want to put him there, he will be placed based on his skill level and not just their age cutoff, which is September 1 (he's an October birthday). I don't mind if he's a leader among his peers, being one of the oldest in his class, but I desperately don't want him to be as bored in school as I was. My mom would tell me right about now, "Stop worrying about the future! Focus on this year."

All in all, I'm pleased with our first year of homeschooling. We've figured out a lot of what works and doesn't work for us. Evening school was a surprising success the other day. I think he's a night owl like me. Even Kitty wanted to "do words" like her big brother. My gut is that once reading clicks, he's going to jump ahead, so I shouldn't worry. But I always do, with all his skills, until the leap happens.

Thoughts for next year:

1) More organized activities for Kitty. Balancing her and Raccoon this year has been challenging at times, and he is going to need to do more sit-down school next year, I think.

2) More intentional curriculum. This year we just floated around doing whatever interested us. I enjoy picking out curriculum, but an A Beka 1st grade kit is looking tempting too.

3) Lots of science! I'd like to continue doing kits with him since he loves these. And working on setting up our own science laboratory with real equipment. I'd love to have a science shack out back, like a clubhouse.

4) More field trips!

5) More planning time to pull everything together.

6) A schedule, routine, rhythm, or something we can stick to that balances his social needs and learning time.

7) Find a homeschool group to join.

Starting Over Halfway Through

When I started to plan Raccoon's kindergarten year, I had all of these fun and creative ideas. About October I realized that I'm not a theme person, and Raccoon, as I've always known, is not a sit-and-do-school person. It was not working but we soldiered on to Christmas break. I knew something had to change.

So this is our new schedule:

Monday - Seatwork and Sensory
Tuesday - Science and Inventing
Wednesday - History and Computer
Thursday - Books and Games
Friday - Creative Play and PE

Today was amazing. He did three pages in his math workbook, then we sat on the couch and read two books in week 1 of the Starfall curriculum. They use a stuffed bear as a new student, so I introduced Mousey as our new student, and unlike Starfall's bear, he is very naughty. Mousey is a stuffed puppet I used until Raccoon was three to help role play appropriate behavior. He is reappearing now because Raccoon has gotten it into his head that he can't learn to read. I hope that giving that negative role to Mousey will allow Raccoon to take on a more positive one.

After reading, we did snacktime with a BrainPop, Jr. video and I prepared our art project - noodles, glue, markers, and dot paints. The kids enjoyed it and so did I. When they were done we went out to play, then had lunch and nap/quiet time, all very successfully.

We're off to a great start and I'm looking forward to our new variety. I have some general goals I want to achieve by May, such as cvc reading and counting from 1-100, but I feel much happier about school now, and I think Raccoon will like it too.

Tomorrow is science day, then I want to have a picnic. I know he's going to love that. And I feel good that Kitty is getting a varied Tot school experience as well, joining her big brother for the hands-on stuff. Right now she's working on counting and learning her colors.

Stuck and Go

What will stay in our homeschool and what will go for Year E Part 2?

But first, the big news. Since school registration was in December, the King and I had to decide what to do next year for Raccoon. At this point, going to school means moving into town, so we committed to another year of homeschooling. First grade here we come! I am excited and terrified by this, but if I can create an actual reader out of my son by summer 2016, I shall be content. So we have 18 more months of living in ruralandia, then it is back to the city for us, Lord willing. Kitty will be three and Raccoon six. It remains to be seen if we will do brick or homeschool for second grade. I'll let you know next Christmas. In the meantime, we are going to enjoy our country lives to the max.

We took a two week break for Christmas. My son asked to do science about a week in. It's his favorite subject and our current book is working so that has definitely stuck. Everything else is getting shaken up.

I set the goal of knowing the alphabet by Christmas. He can sing the ABC song, so I call that good. Next is matching the names and sounds to the letters. My new goal is for him to be reading simple words at year's end, May 29.

I bought him a toolbox full of real tools for Christmas, and his favorite inventing staple - tape. He was so happy. I want to see more of that.

Ideas to try:

Games - hangman, go fish, etc.
Read together more
Letter searches
Making things
Writing stories
Sound song
Prizes for motivation

Year B for Kitty

Her big goals for the next few months are potty training and weaning.
I also want to add in more puzzles, play doh, and games for her.

Raccoon's Writing

Raccoon is more of a global learning than sequential, so lately I present the whole alphabet to him instead of going letter by letter like I was before. He seems to be retaining more and wrote this on my whiteboard this morning.

Late Readers

We have been busy, and I have a bunch of pictures to post, but reading is on my mind. Raccoon is not interested in recognizing letters or numbers, although his writing and counting have improved. Late reading is fairly common in boys, I've heard, but the question I ask myself is, if it's going to take another year or so, what should I do in the meantime?

Tonight I found an answer - focus on expanding his vocabulary.

Now that I can do. He picks up new words easily, and like non-fiction books, so this is a good match for us with interests and skills.

Dewey School

I don't know anything else about John Dewey, but I found this quote by him:

Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.

I like that. Bookwork makes Raccoon crazy. At this point, he thinks he won't learn to read. He compares himself to me, not realizing that he is learning just like his peers. I wonder if he'd find watching other kids fail to be encouraging. But the sitting is killing us both. He slouches, chews on his shirt, holds his pencil wrong, and falls off his chair, all to avoid writing. He hates repetition. Today was impossible until I told him we'd do a tea bag rocket. Then all the fidgets were gone and he was 100% attentive.

I know he needs a "doing" school, I just don't know how to get us there.

I think the only thing we learned today is that our tea bags are a single square so we cannot unfold them like the instructions say to do. Ours never took off, but we watched a youtube video to see what was supposed to happen. My kids didn't care though, they just liked that we burned something.

Settling In

We have a good routine going and I'm happy with what we're getting done. I love the freedom that homeschooling gives us.

We're going to our local school for PE and recess.

Exploring our neighborhood, we found a playground behind the community soccer field, a new road, and a pond (we're hoping for frogs!).

We're doing a seed experiment to see what plants need to sprout and grow. The variables are water and dirt.

Backpacks out of icecream cone boxes. Raccoon wanted a quiver so Maddie got one too.

Playing scientist on his bed with water and food coloring.

Mailing our Flat Traveler to PA as part of Education Possible's exchange.

Kitty's $4 shopping cart is her new favorite toy.

Board game school with Mancala and Rummikub.