Round #2, Ready, GO!

When I began planning the first year of Parker Prep, I had a few ideas in mind that ended up evolving into a pretty structured preschool that Parker and I both grew to love.  It was a great year.  However, that leaves me with the "problem" of re-creating that again this year.  In June and July, I was fully enjoying summer and everything that goes along with it.  Then August came and I started to wonder what in the world I was going to do this year.  I've decided to let go of the fear that I won't be able to make it as great as last year, and just roll with it.  I'm excited about the curriculum that I've come up with, and the first few weeks have gone pretty well!  I'm thankful that I am home and even able to have this option, so Round #2 of Parker Prep, here we go!

A few of the big things that I hope to accomplish are....

1 - Learning Letter Sounds
     Last year we really focused on recognizing upper and lowercase letters. This year it's time to learn the sounds, which only leads to...

2 - Learning to Read!
     I'm so excited for this...obviously.  I'm a little worried that by the time he gets to Kindergarten, he's going to be way ahead of the game in reading.  We'll cross that bridge when it comes.  There are plenty of other things he'll learn for the first time when he gets to Kindergarten.  I think he's ready, and I'm not going to be the one to hold him back!  We will be using Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, along with Jolly Phonics, Bob Books, some Usborne Easy Readers, and lots of phonemic awareness activities.

3 - Learning to Hold a Pencil Correctly
     Key word correctly.  Having a kid write before they can even hold a pencil doesn't make much sense.

4 - Writing His Name Properly
     Again, I want him to learn how to correctly form the letters in his name, and the whole alphabet.  None of this all-caps, formed any-which-way business.  It's cute, but it's a hard habit to break.

5 - Learning the 7 Days of Creation
     I chose "Creation" as the overall theme because, well, it covers everything!  The first two weeks will be spent going through and memorizing the seven days, and then the rest of the year will be
units inspired by each day of creation.

6 - Adding to His Bible Verse Repertoire
    Instead of doing one verse every week, we will do sections of an actual passage each week.  Like, Psalm 23, for example.

7 - Fostering Independent Working
     A lot of the activities we did last year, we did together.  I would get him started, he would go on his own for a bit, then he would need help.  We would work through things together.  This year, I
would like to get him started on a task and have him work on it himself until it's finished.  We will be doing a handful of the same activities as last year, so those one for sure he can do on his own.

8 - Continue to Learn How to Think!
     I don't have an exact strategy to this right now, but I think all of the objectives listed above will encourage "thinking" rather than memorizing and regurgitating.

9 - Developing Age-Appropriate Math Skills
    Beginner problem solving, patterns, counting, ordering, etc.

I'm sure I will come up with more as the time goes on.  Come along for the ride!  I will try to do my best, but when I know people are reading and following along, it gives me a little motivation when I'm running out of ideas!