School....

Tomorrow we embark on an exciting journey! Really just an extension of what we already do with some record keeping and lots of research thrown in. Tomorrow it the first day that we can begin home school for the year! I have to say, I am truly excited. I have been researching and reading for about three years now trying to prepare myself as much as possible and now here we are! After all that reading and a lot of good suggestions and some examples given by families here on the web and friends I have met...I think we are leaning into the Delight Driven or Ecletic Style of schooling, at least for the next couple of years. My new friend who home schools her s.n. son showed me a lot of what she did with him the first few years when the major focus was still on life skills, functional abilities and self help. The first years they did lots of field trips to community service places like the post office, police dept, fire dept etc. She also did a different approach to help him learn to read...she began with sight words showing him lots of words by labeling everything (in their home, on pictures, in therapy) she used post its on everything! And you know, her son can read really well! So, I am stealing that one, too, since Faith doesn't even understand ABC's yet, I figured at least she could begin to learn to recognize simple words, eh? She also picked from anything that he was interested in and focused on finding things related and made them into math projects or simple science experiments. So I have been collecting LOTS of horse related items...my favorite find, Monday's trip to the Goodwill, a 360 page illustrated horse encyclopedia, in perfect condition for..... $.49! Near where we live there is a store called the Education Shack that has all kinds of random educational supplies and therapeutic equipment on the SUPER CHEAP! And you all KNOW how I love a good deal! So Saturday, we ventured out, here are some of my great deals...pretty proud of these finds, especially the last one!

One cartridge of my kind of printer ink in magenta...(I just saw this at Staples for $20) my price
$1.00! And it's not expired!~

Record book with attendance and other needed items, I plan to disassemble this and use different pieces of it ( saw a newer version of this at the education store, around $10.00) my price $1.00!

Thought about you, Katy, with this one! A dirt worm cup dessert kit (made with pudding and gummies) my price $3.00! This one is going into my first science set, exploring plants, that goes hand in hand with my next find of the millennium!

Found this science curriculum kit for K-2cd grade, with hands on materials like seeds and cups for growing, teacher resource book, flip chart with diagrams an d charts of plants and animals in pretty simple terms, beans to soak in water, journals, soil and the like. I know Faith isn't ready for a lot of this stuff but she would like to plant some flowers in some dirt! So I spotted this kit in the window and asked about it. It was the only one, no price on it and the box was a little sun worn from sitting in the window. I asked the girl how much and she says..."how much do you want to pay for it?" Hmmmm...I was gonna go for a cheap toss out of $15 but since she asked...."How about $8?" SOLD! Yes folks, I snagged this $75 science kit for eight dollars! I checked it out on Amazon just out of curiosity! I walked out of the store with two walmart bags and this kit for $20! Got tape dispensers, highlighters, huge flip books, ink, planners, paint, misc. office supplies, pudding kit...all for a measly $20!
My home school planner is pretty much all set up and ready to go, and we can officially begin on June 1st. My plan is to try to get a jump by starting early so we can be sure to get our 180 days in. I found out that we can count a lot of Faith's activities toward our days, so I am happy about that. Of course, a lot of our work is going to continue to be on life skills but I want to get her out into her community more. So I plan to start out next week at the library and get her own library card. Big step, huh? I called the library the other day to ask how old a child had to be to get one (stupid question, BTW) and was informed that we could get one for a newborn, that kid's just link back to a parent's card! But another important milestone, none the less!
So here we are on the cusp of a huge new experience for Faith and for me. As of tomorrow, our little girl is in first grade! WOW....
Freaky!
HERE WE GO....