First Week of Kindergarten

Esperanza began Kindergarten last week. We chose to follow the Camas school districts school calendar and start school on Tuesday, September 3rd. I had everything all set up and ready to go the night before, fun projects, crisp new workbooks, library books, freshly sharpened new pencils, etc. Unfortunately, Esperanza got a stomach bug at some point during the night and spent most of her first day of Kindergarten feeling icky.

She really wanted to do 'school', but just couldn't.

We went to visit Armando's Tio Rafael the weekend before school started. He always grows a huge crop of beans, corn and tomatoes. We are fortunate that he always shares with us. We spent several hours picking tomatoes and beans. They also have about 100 chickens, 2 honey bee hives and tons of wild fruit trees and berry bushes. It was the perfect beginning to our Harvest themed curriculum I have planned out for this Fall.

 Our math project one morning, was using the Peru beans we picked at Tio Rafa's to learn about measurements. We had two sets of measuring cups, two sets of measuring spoons and several sizes of mason jars (pints, quarts, liters). We measured how many cups were in each size mason jar, and how many of the smaller masons jars fit into the larger ones. It was such an awesome project. The kids had so much fun with it and it really connected with our Harvest Time theme for homeschooling this Fall. As one could imagine, we had beans for lunch shortly after we were done measuring beans. Doesn't get much fresher than this!

 We used salt to practice writing the letter 'f' with our fingers.

 We went on lots of walks and visited several parks during the week.

We made salt dough veggies as one of our fun 'themed' project. After we made them, we painted them with acrylic paints and they now rest on our nature table and are solid and sturdy enough for the kids to play with.

We went over to our friends house to visit with Jessica, Nicholas and Ella. Esperanza and Ella had a lot of fun playing together.

Chance and Ezra like to join in on all the school fun too. Learning goes far beyond the desk and books, especially with these little ones.

We went around the house one day with a ruler and measured the length of things, comparing them to specific items and determining which was longer and which was shorter.

 Part of what we will be doing for Science (and fun) this year, is to study and learn more about animals. I had Esperanza pick several animals from an animal encyclopedia that she wanted to know more about. We will study one animal each week, or so is the goal.We will check out animal specific books from the library, visit the animals in the wild or zoo when we can, watch educational movies or shows about the animal and learn as much or as little about each one as we want.

 Here is her list! You can tell she took over at some point and wrote the names of the animals we will learn about.

 We spent an evening at the New Seasons grocery store where they had a kid craft fair. Esperanza got a beautiful dolphin painted on her face.

Painting with acrylics in a shadow box (re-use of the boxes we got while picking peaches a few weeks ago)

Chance, Esperanza and Ezra tumbling

For phonics, we are using the Explode The Code books. I found so many wonderful options for phonics programs but in the end decided this particular one might be a good fit because it uses a workbook with lots of pictures to color and mark in. Esperanza really likes 'book work' right now. So far, this seems to be working well and keeps her interest and me organized. 

We are also learning about the calendar and clock each morning

 Part way through our mornings, I have a snack for Esperanza and Ezra to enjoy. They aren't always this yummy.

Then back to the worksheets. She LOVES worksheets, workbooks and 'desk work'. I have piles and piles of pages I printed off for math, science, alphabet, coloring, etc. It actually makes it really easy for me and gives me something for her to work on without me when Ezra is needy.