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Natural Beach Living

educating children with hands on activities

Homeschooling the Littles with the Classics

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I LOVE books! In fact, one thing you will find in every room of my house is books. I love many different kinds of books, but the classics… ahh you can never go wrong with children’s classics. So when I set out with all of my catalogs, and my notebook to figure out a homeschooling plan for this year, I kept coming back to great books and our love for cuddling up in one room and reading. Wouldn’t it be nice for every child to hear and learn with the classics?

Schooling the Littles with Classic Books & Wonderful Activities

Little B (6 years old) and Bells (2 years old)
Classics are tried and true books that keep people coming back year after year. Books that have been around for decades and probably will be around for many more years to come. Books that you remember from childhood and are still just as good or even better now that you’re reading them to your children. Books like Caps for Sale(one of my favorites growing up), Corduroy, and Eloise Wilkin Stories (Little Golden Book Collection).  So to start off sharing what we have planned for the year we are reading through several of Sonlight Core A books, and for Bells, we got Core P 3/4. We have already finished several of the books, and we loved them. A few favorites so far are Curious George, My Father’s Dragon, and The Boxcar Children.
We are also using Before Five in a Row (BFIAR) – We started rowing and have completed Blueberries for Sal, Goodnight Moon, and Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? I can’t say enough great things about FIAR. I have used it for several years, and I don’t think you can ever go wrong when you mix classic stories and multisensory learning.   
We are using Explode the Code with Little B for extra phonetic learning and handwriting skills. 
 
For Math, we do a lot of hands on living Math and include Math in our BFIAR and unit studies. 
  
 All about Reading is AMAZING! We recently added it, and it’s been great, I’ll be sharing more All About Reading information in the future. For our family, I have found that it works best when we have several things to work with. This way it breaks up the day and keeps everybody excited. The kids are happy, and momma is happy.
Spelling Can Be Easy When It's Multisensory

We like Signing Time CollectionBooks, CDs, and DVDs. I will be adding to our language learning this year, by using books, games, and fun activities in other languages. I can’t wait to show you the great things I’ve found for language.

Bells will be joining us for everything that she wants to sit in for. Which so far is everything. I have also made up some busy boxes with daily themes for her to explore on her own (I’ll share those soon).

A few of the Unit Studies I have planned are Jellyfish which you can see part 1  and part 2 here.
Plants/Planting, Weather, The Little House Series, Anatomy, Animals, and the Frog Life Cycle.

For some, it might seem like we have a lot going on, for others, it might seem to be a laid back approach. For us, it works.  Great books and wonderful educational activities are always around us. I’m a true believer that when I mix Montessori, Charlotte Mason, Reggio Emilia, Unit studies, and Delight directed/Free Range Learning into our life, we don’t have to adhere to a strict schedule. Instead, we have a lifestyle of learning all of the time.

I am not a teacher,
But an awakener
~ Robert Frost
If you would like to check out what the older boys (8 and 10) will be doing click here.
Sonlight Curriculum

 

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Comments

  1. I have been interested in possibly buying All About Reading and All About Spelling for quite a while now. I have just recently met a friend who is totally Montessori. I really like the Montessori Math and that was all I was interested in, but my friend has me peeking into the other subjects. Like you, I know I could not use just Montessori for all subjects. I happened to notice you say you love the All About Reading program. I was wondering if you like it better than the Montessori reading/writing/spelling? Please be honest. I don’t want to waste my time. Thank you.

    Reply

    • I love All About Reading it’s really a great program especially if you want an open up and teach curriculum. I just reviewed The Royal Road to Reading and that goes by the Montessori Approach- We really Loved that too. As a teacher/parent you have more to do to be prepared but there is great information and the children really can get a lot out of that curriculum as a whole 🙂 I think you would be happy with either one honestly. Do what you think fits your style and your child’s. Here are the links for more information: http://bit.ly/1w13n69 and http://bit.ly/1tySreT

      Reply

  3. You mentioned so many of my own favorite books! Love the Golden Books as well, and really got excited when you mentioned the Boxcar Children. I already enjoy reading my childhood favs to my 1 year old!

    Katie @ Cup of Tea

    Reply

  6. Wonderful collection you have so far…some others I have liked and used: Simm Taback’s Joseph had a little overcoat , Demi’s The Empty Pot, and Pat Hutchins’ The Doorbell Rang. Thank you for your posts and links. I always enjoy them. Happy Creative learning.

    Reply

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