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Core PK

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Core PK
Core K
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Core 2
Core 3

 

About Preschool:

 

We began our homeschooling journey in 2002 with our 2 1/2 year old son Kris. He began begging for school He already knew his colors, shapes, Could count to 10 and say the alphabet but he desired to know so much more. So, reluctantly, I ordered Sonlight Core PK to instruct him. Thinking he is much to young for this -- he quickly proved me wrong!!!

 

I believe every child deserves a nice slow introduction to school and all the things a good quality education will require of a child. For this reason, I believe in two years of preschool.  Each taught at the child's pace and only for instruction to begin when the child shows an interest and desire for knowledge.

 

Preschool 1:

 

2002-2003: This year no workbooks are used. This is to be a very relaxed year designed to introduce your child to good literature and to instill a love of learning. Hands-on projects can be added on as your child desires. This is also the time to instill discipline and character into your children.

 

2006-2007: My middle son is now ready for preschool. I was planning on holding him off for another year but he had other thoughts. I want to encourage his enthusiasm for learning so we are going to go ahead and start Core PK with him. 

 

We will be using the following items:

Sonlight Core Preschool 

Manipulatives: Pattern Blocks, Attribute Blocks, Linking Cubes, Lacing Beads, Counting Bears

Don't Move the Muffin Tins by Bev Boss I used this only with my oldest son. I found out that while the ideas were great and I loved the book, I was just not good at implementing it into our schedule. If you are looking for a great art book for little ones -- this is it! But I should warn you that it may be hard to find as it is out of print.

Counting on Math I used this only with my oldest son. I found out that while the ideas were great and I loved the book, I was just not good at implementing it into our schedule.

Core Knowledge Preschool Cd's

Lots of art supplies Crayons, markers, coloring books, scissors, glue sticks, construction paper, drawing paper, stencils, stamps, ink pads, colored pencils, popsicle sticks, yarn, collage materials, buttons, etc... this list could go on forever. For the youngest and messiest of kids I recommend the Crayola Wonder products.

Veggie Tale Videos

  Sesame Street Videos 

  Me & My Place In Space There are more than just the books listed below by Joan Sweeney. I am hoping to get them all soon! I love the way she introduces complex topics in simple terms for young children.

  Me on the Map

  Me & My Family Tree

  I Spy An Alphabet In Art

Preschool 2:

 

2003-2004: This year we will start preparing our child for what will be expected of them in the coming years. Workbooks are now a part of our daily lessons and school is no longer an option based upon our child's desires. However, our day is still limited to 30 minutes unless more is requested by the child.

 

We will be using the following items:

 

SL Core PK (this time with the workbooks except for DEL Book 4 which was too difficult and I am saving for Core K)

Janet Fitt's Comprehensive PK Schedule (uses Core SL with other materials she has added in to supplement -- most, if not all, are listed below)

SL K LA (I found the lack of instruction on blending hard to overcome. While the activities were fun and my son was grasping the idea, he was not fully understanding it at all. The activity sheets were easy for him and the optional workbooks are NECESSARY -- I found this out after trying the program for 9 weeks getting no where. He learnt more in 1 week from the workbooks than the whole 9 weeks without them.)

HWT (Great for hands on manipulatives -- I highly recommend the new preschool program available through their website. My son however found the two line theory confusing and did not like the letter shapes.)

Reading Made Easy (We tried this but it intimidated my son because his reading was included in the teacher's manual (everything is in the one book). This is a great program and I personally loved it. It was prefered over 100 EX Lessons by Rainbow Resource Center and I have to agree with their recommendation. We will be trying something else now.)

Phonics Songs

Ready, Set, Go for the Code (the optional workbooks for SL K LA)

MCP Phonics K (My son's favorite workbook. Very colorful with lots and lots of great information for those learning letter sounds!)

Singapore Earlybird Math 1A & 1B

Manipulatives: Pattern Blocks, Attribute Blocks, Linking Cubes, Counting Bears, Cuisenaire Rods 

World & US Maps

Hundreds Chart

Cuisenaire Alphabet Book

Visual Perceptual Skill Building 1

Building Thinking Skills - Primary

Lots of art supplies

A Bear Called Paddington

  Children's Book of Faith

  Children's Book of Family and Home

   Children's Book of Heroes

  Children's Book of America

The Science Encyclopedia The used to be carried by SL until it went out of print.

  20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury My son loved this -- some are absolutely hysterical!!

Ian and The Green Leafy Obstacle

    Usborne Pocket Scientist Books -- Red and Blue (Internet Linked)

Pattern Block Cards from SL 

Pattern Block Animals

  Usborne Starting To Measure Workbook

  Big Book of Beatrix Potter The version that I have is no longer available but the link takes you to one that is very similar to what I have. Also look for the coloring book that goes with this!

The Story of Me

Snake Stories From Africa

Complete Book of Arts & Crafts

Can You Find Me? Preschool  

 

Usborne Books

  Things People Do

  Then and Now

  First Thousand Words -- This book is also available in other languages and in sticker book format. All are wonderful and indispensable in learning vocabulary for a new language.

  Opposites -- workbook

  Shapes -- workbook

  What's Under The Sea? -- Now available in the Pocket Scientist Red Book that is Internet linked. This book also contains 7 other books from this series and is a great bargain! It is about double the cost of one book. So in essence you are buying 2 books and getting 5 free!

  Why Do Tiger's Have Stripes? --- See the information above about this book.  

 

Usborne Supplements

  Starting To Measure -- From the same workbook series as Opposites and Shapes. A great introduction to measuring. Recommended in Janet's enhanced schedule.

  Pocket Scientist Red Book and Pocket Scientist Blue Book -- The complete series of science books that are used in Sonlight Science programs PK-1st grade I believe. Only a few titles are ones that Sonlight actually uses but all are wonderful. These books are internet linked and full of wonderful information.

  First Encyclopedia of Science (IL) Recommended in Janet's enhanced PK schedule.

  Ted and Friends This is a partial collection of the Usborne phonics readers all put into one book. It is another one of those great Usborne deals where if you purchased each title individually you would spend a lot more than if you bought just this one book. Recommended in Janet's enhanced PK schedule.

  First Dictionary (IL) Recommended in Janet's enhanced PK schedule.

 

Teacher Resources I used for the year are:  

These are the books that I purchased for me this year. To help me learn more about homeschooling and to become a better teacher.

  What Your Kindergartner needs to know

  Ruth Beechick's 3 R's

  From Playpen To Podium Used from birth on. This has great ideas for building communication skills in your home while teaching your child speech skills. So easy to implement and use that you will be surprised! So far, I am loving the results of this program!

Homeschool Easy Records

Core Knowledge Preschool Series

 

Janet's PK Schedule

Janet Fitt's is the creator of a Preschool Schedule based upon Sonlight's Core Preschool Program. She began creating this many years ago prior to when Sonlight had its own schedule (which was first released in 2003) for use with her own children and has been gracious enough to share it with all of us. In addition to this, she continues to minister to many preschool families by continuing to improve this schedule yearly even though her children have since outgrown this level.

Beginning in 2003, she shared not only her schedule for the Sonlight books but all the extras that she has found to work with this program over the years. This makes for a nice well-rounded curriculum perfect for the older preschooler. We used this our second year through Core PK and loved every minute of it. Due to the nature of the things she adds this would also make an excellent K program.

The schedule starts off with the easier stories and slowly increases the child's attention span capabilities preparing them for Core K. If you are interested in receiving a free copy of this schedule, you will need to join (for free) the SL Preschool Group through yahoo! This is also a great place to get all your questions answered about preschool and parenting the preschool child. SLPreschool

 

Amy's Theme Schedule

 

While, for my family, themes or unit studies simply do not work -- this is the best schedule I have seen using materials from SL Core's K and PK programs. The versatility of the program is great!! Just pick what you want to learn and when. You can use the weeks in any order that best suits your family. Once again, a copy of this schedule is only available through the SL Preschool Yahoo Group. Information on joining this group and obtaining a copy of this schedule is available above -- look under the heading of Janet's Schedule. Also, Amy has done a lot of research online and has a list of websites that you can use with the stories in Core PK and K. This is a great resource for either Core regardless if you are using her schedule or not. To obtain a list of links, please visit Amy's website. If you are looking for something to do with your preschooler for Christmas, Amy has an amazing Advent study that she is sharing with all of us called a Journey to Bethlehem and in 2006 came out with an equally enticing study for Easter. You can find both on her website.  I highly recommend you go and check it out! One other note, at the end of Amy's theme schedule is an appendix. This has a list of questions for use with the Children's Book of Art. This is an excellent resource and highly recommend you take a look at it for use with this SL PK book. 

 

Preschool Resources

 

Need help? Looking for some good advice? Want to know if this is the right preschool program for you? Then visit the Sonlight Forums and ask those who have already made the decision to use Sonlight. Here, people from around the globe gather to discuss all things related to preschool. Seek out their encouragement and advice. I did and it made all the difference in our homeschool journey.

 

 

Copyright © 2006 Tuscan Sun Academy
Last modified: June 26, 2006