MFW - K resource

This is a post I did on my craft blog www.middnightcrafters.blogspot.com some years ago and I still get request for the resources I have used.  So I am sharing the the post and the resources.

The links for the lesson plans and the labels are here;

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pYZQxVFj8to5Azb9EvdKDQBTtJrLGuQQu43Ggzqq0Q4/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Auw85gsvynTxGjjX9YZtWXpwIwN8zGQrOc1zO9AGL2E/edit
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnqGTLlrhNmEdGpEaWthOV80YjQtMnZ1RHBnV2prTXc#gid=0

Organizing the MFW-K day

    






We are into our official homeschool year.  We started somewhere in May, right after #4 birth and took until the end of June to finish the first week.  Oh, I was feeling some fear that maybe I was in over my head.  My thought was that even though I have this great passion and desire to homeschool my children, what happens if I never get to it in our day.  well, we are getting better and of course, we still have no real set routine yet.  I hope by Christmas, we will find it or maybe Santa will bring me one.
As we are moving forth in the lessons, I am excited that I am coming together mentally with the planning and physically with keeping it together.  I will say, right now we are homeschooling either on the living room floor or at the coffee table.  I do not have some awesome cool, eat your heart out classroom.  I am going to make a makeshift display area over our tiny dinner table to help us review and gloat over our hard work.  I had hoped to use the bulletin board squares that you tape up, BUT the darn things keep falling down.  SO I am patiently waiting for my husband to make a board to put them on.
Here is our stuff!

Calendar. Part of our morning routine is to put the date on the calendar.  I originally bought a calendar set from the Dollar Tree and had it all together on a poster board.  Having only a few places to hang it and having guest knocking it down, I opted to get rid of it.  I found this little gem at Staples for $3.
A small hiccup it that #3 likes to erase the numbers when no one is looking.

I don’t actually mind, because now #1 is getting a lot of practice writing the numbers. Bad mommy?

I took the example by Melanie at www.treasuresunseen.blogspot.com and set up all my unit lessons like she did.

I love being part of the My Fathers World Kindergarten – Yahoo group.  Group members share files and ideas and help with keeping the mommy’s chin up.  In that group, there is a weekly summary of each unit study.  So I print mine and put the week we are working on attached to a clipboard.  I also clip the pages we will work on behind the summary.
  The generous mom who made this, created a somewhat standardized form that she added weekly details.  One thing to note about MFW-K is that it operates like a letter of a week program that is combined into a unit study and submerged into the bible.  For that, I am in bliss to teach my children this program.
Now I never meant to do this but my daily workbox just came to be and is working fine for now. In it I have:

• tactile numbers
• teacher manual
• bible
• box of crayons
• box with scissors, glue, pencils
• letter box (this is the envelope box, plan to make it pretty later)
• 3-hole punch
• paper items for the next craft project
• books from the library that go along with the study
• a game (cooties mini version from wal-mart) to celebrate the end of our lesson for the day. [I am finding that ending with a game helps motivate us to stay on task and helps me to remember to have fun]

Now I can not forget that I have to keep a portfolio of #1 work.  So here is a 3-ring binder from one of my college courses.





We are moving along.  And I am already amazed at what I am seeing.  #1 is very good at knowing the sounds of letters, so we should be moving into blends rather soon.  #2 is really pleasing me.  We are using this year as his Pre-k, so I plan for him to do a lot of just sitting in.  Well he is very determined to do things perfect.  He is more than happy to do what ever #1 is doing and I believe he would try to take over her work.  I think the most important task for him right now is to just sit back and listen and mimic her. I hope #1 gets just as excited.  She is doing it to please me, she is a pleaser.  But I also know given the chance, she would much rather be doing something else.  I hope as the routine gets more in place, she will come around.
~trish