"Tomorrow, tomorrow, we start school tomorrow, you're only a day away....."

Where did the winter break go to?...

Oh yes, it got lost amidst a house move, and all the work that entails!!!

*grins wryly*

So, here we are.  School resumes tomorrow.  Am I ready?..... erm, pass?

Actually, I am...sort of.

I have all the books.

I have a lovely, new school room.

I have the children.

If you add all that together, does that equal "ready".

As I say....pass.

So, I thought, to help myself, I would outline what we are using this year.  This may, in fact, freak me out somewhat, but I am going to give it a whirl anyway!!

So, I will start with my youngest "student" this year, who is formally beginning schooling, Susie!

(Can I just add, she will NOT be doing school in her PJ's, but it's a cute picture!)

When we switched curricula a couple of years ago, I needed to find a new phonics programme to use.  I chose Jolly Phonics.  I have a friend who was using it, so I got to see it and get a feel for it.  I particularly liked it because it is British.  No weird (sorry, folks) American pronunciation of phonic sounds! *grins*  Sorry, that's not entirely true, as they are ENGLISH British people - *sighs*! It is also readily available from various sources.  I find that I can get most items I need from Amazon, for a good price.  With Daniel, we used the older style work books, but since doing phonics with Daniel, they have brought out these more fun and interesting Activity Books.  

They are much more fun!  We will also use the pupil book.  

It is all guided by the Teacher Book which has guided lesson plans, for working through the programme.  There are lovely resources that go alongside it all, such as songs to teach the sounds, the teaching guide with photocopiable pages, progressive reading books, a story book incorporating all the phonic sounds and wall friezes.  

I also use lots of general phonics resources, such as magnetic letters, Jolly Phonics flashcards, and lots of free, downloadable and printable resources from places such as 1+1+1=1 and homeschool creations.  

For maths, I will use a whole set of books I have, with photocopiable worksheets, called Developing Numeracy.  I have "solving problems", "numbers and the number system", "measures, shape and space", "calculations" and "using and applying maths".  They have teacher's notes at the bottom of each page, with ways to apply and reinforce the concept.  

For science, she will join in with the others using God's Design for Science, where we are studying the book about "Our Weather and Water".  

General and fun project work will be done to tie in with themes we pick up on using the Jolly Phonics, in our reading.  I also plan to print an A4 size upper and lower case letter, for each letter learned, for Susie to colour and stick on things beginning with that sound.  I have some sticky-backed stars, all ready for "s" tomorrow!! I will take a photo of her finished "picture"! 

Phew.  That's Susie.  I think I will need to some back later, to give an overview of the curriculum used by the older ones!  Right now, I need to go and make some dinner!