Schooling Through the Summer

Last Fall I started doing Kindergarten with Lil’Man 2 days a week. He was 4.5. My goal was to provide a bit of a challenge for him, while giving myself some grace.   I was 6 months pregnant at the time and didn’t know how everything would go if I waited to start after Lil’Bro arrived.  This gave me 2 years to finish Kindergarten and learn to adjust to having a little babe running around, while homeschooling.

Unfortunately, things changed a little more than expected when Lil’Bro arrived.  Needless to say, school was put on hold.  I decided last month to jump back in, but with a limited focus.  We are only doing bible, math, handwriting and scissors skills.  We are also reading lots of books for our library Summer reading program and if the boy requests, some theme activity packs.

For math we are using Saxon K, which is a pretty easy for Lil’Man.  I wish I would have seen this placement test prior to purchasing it.  Saxon 1 would have been a better fit, but he still enjoys doing the activities.

Here’s a look at what we did this week in math.

Saxon K Les 39: Identify/Count Pennies

One area in math that is new to him is coins.  This week we learned all about pennies.  He knew its name, but didn’t know its value.  However, the other coins were a little more difficult for him.  I plan to make a Coin Observation printable to help him retain the info a little bit better.

Saxon K Les 40: Naming Attributes

This activity had Lil’Man laying the pieces out into a matrix based on attributes. When he finished I pointed and said this is a matrix. In which he quickly asked “What’s a matrix?” “This.” Yeah, didn’t work the second time either. I searched the term to find an easy way to explain it to him. Does anyone else find it hard to simplify things?

Saxon K Les 41: Making a Pictograph

Lil’Man has been working with graphs for quite a while.  We had to call our cousins and Meme to get a few more eye colors for our graph.  I think that was his favorite part.  Instead of creating the graph out of construction paper I went ahead and created a printable.  It took a lot less prep time.

Overall, our summer set up is pretty laid back and we can get it done before Lil’Bro wakes up from his morning nap.  Hopefully, it will stay that way.