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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

2012-2013 Calendar and Plans

Does everyone spend their summer just as busy as the school year in planning and preparing, or is that just me? I've always spent my summer more engrossed in making the next year better than the previous one and now that I'm homeschooling it is hardly any different. In fact, I'm on vacation right now, but instead of relaxing by the pool or catching up on much needed sleep, I'm curriculum planning for next year. If you are heading into toddler years (tot school) or preschool years you can follow along with us for the 2012-2013 school year and consider your curriculum planning already started! Win for you! (or as my gamer husband would type: FTW!) Download the calendar for free here: http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/LittleAdventuresPreschool/2012-2013-tot-school-and-preschool-theme-calendar
With my calendar in its mostly completed state (minus our field trips) I'm ready to start working on pulling together lesson plans. Find a list of Tot Packs that I have in the works for the 2012-2013 school year here. I'll also be pulling together lesson plans for our more formal preschool on Monday and Wednesday morning and posting them as soon as I can. I haven't yet figured out the best way to organize those posts for you to find exactly what you need when you need it, but after a consultation with my brother soon I'm sure it will work out great. If there is anything that I'm missing from my list of themes that you'd like to see please just let me know :)

I'm also taking a leap of faith this year. I come from a very formal public school background and I am a licensed elementary teacher. I have a strong belief that in the early years when kids are excited about learning we can teach them the basics of obtaining knowledge, such as reading, writing and math skills. After they have a basis they can then take responsibility for their learning and lead themselves down their chosen learning route. This year I am starting to teach CJ how to take responsibility for his own learning. Last year was totally mommy led learning. This year we'll still do mommy lead learning on Monday and Wednesday morning with our formal Preschool A, but we'll start embarking into more child led learning in the afternoons and on other days. I hope, through the next few years, we'll become a team that takes education very seriously but much less traditionally.

Have any advice for me?  Please feel free to post it here!

5 comments:

  1. It is SO nice to come across another homeschooling mom who is trading her summer vacation to plan for the upcoming school year. I just finished my entire school year planning (for our 1st grader and 3rd grader) this week. I have always found that taking the time now pays off big time throughout the school year.

    I think you are on the right track with your game plan. When my children were younger I would have lesson plans and projects but I would try to keep it flexible. As a teacher you know already I am sure that children all learn at different rates and in different ways. You are allowing your son the time to figure out his learning style as well as your "homeschooling style". There will be plenty of time down the road for more formal learning. Your children are lucky to have a Mom like you putting in so much time, thought and personalized effort into their education.

    Thank you for linking up this week to my Enchanted Thursdays Blog Hop! I am your newest follower (I shared your giveaway on my Facebook page).

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  2. Yay for curriculum planning! I'm working on that right now! :)

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  3. I'm glad to hear that so many others spend their summer this way :)

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