Homeschooling

Following my lengthy post on school enrollment, I thought I’d share some of the things I do with my son to keep him caught up with American school. These are just my methods, there is no right or wrong way to teach a child - do whatever works for your family.

Basically – I concentrate on English reading, writing and spelling. If we have time we do either: math, science, or geography. Usually it’s during lunch on Sunday, and weather permitting we’ll go on a picnic to the park and do lessons with a round of running around in-between. Also, just to keep it interesting – on days the weather isn’t so nice, sometimes we’ll go out to eat lunch and study there.

As always – Pinterest is a great source for teaching ideas and materials.
There are also many online homeschooling resources for parents. And lots of free printable worksheets floating around on the internet.

We brought with us a big (and very heavy) workbook. I got it at Barnes & Noble, it’s called ‘Complete Curriculum’ – first grade. It has different sections for reading, spelling, math, and Language arts. Every weekend we do one chapter from each section…but if we are running short on time I just concentrate on reading and English.

Sight word flash cards – I downloaded a list of required sight words from my local ISD in the USA and we’ve been working on those words. Sometimes we just use them as flash cards, but other times, I’ll have him race to slap the word before I can, or make some other type of game out of it…just to keep it fun. I will start adding more words as soon as C has mastered the basic Kindergarten and 1st grade list.

Reading stories – of course we read stories before bed every night. I pick a book for C to read to me, and he picks a book for me to read to him. We usually read for 20-30 minutes before bedtime.
I’ve started having C write and draw stories – you can download story paper (ie. Half blank, half with writing lines) online…we just print it out and staple it together…we also mail some of them to a friend who is the same age to help him read and write as well…and get some in return. ;) the boys love getting each others stories.

Highlights magazine – YES! They ship internationally!!! Every 2 months C gets a new magazine in the mail of stories and activities. This is part of C’s Christmas present every year from family.

Spelling – We use ABC letters to spell words (we have wooden ones, but they could be made out of anything). They just make it more of an activity and more hands on, than just writing out the words. We start with sight words and will build from there.

I also brought over rolls of change and a few small bills to help C to learn to count American money – nightmare to get through airport security!!! If I did it over again I’d probably just use fake money – or print out and laminate photos when I got to Japan. Though I thought it would be important to use real money, so he got used to counting real money. I admit – I’ve been lax on this lesson.

As for science – I just try to use everyday activities to teach science. Cooking dinner or baking something – I’ll ask C ‘what do you think will happen when I add ingredient A to ingredient B?’ Then we will see if his ‘hypothesis’ was correct or not. Simple stuff…nothing elaborate. If we are baking muffins or whatever I’ll ask him how batter changes when we add heat. Also – will it sink or float in the bathtub is a science activity. There are lots of ways to introducing science without a planned out lesson.

Math – I’m not so worried about C learning math, because he will learn it in Japanese school as well. We do simple activities if we have time, if not we skip it.

Geography – I haven’t really done any sort of geography lesson as of yet. I’m honestly not sure what kind of geography kids learn in first grade. I’m also not as worried about this, though now I think maybe I should incorporate a little lesson into this week’s homeschooling session…