1. The Core Knowledge Series by E.D. Hirsch: Included in the series are books titled, What Your Preschooler/Kindergartner/First Grader/etc. Needs to Know. I first read The Knowledge Deficit, also by E.D. Hirsch, which explains the series better than the introduction inside the books. I don't want to use one person's list exclusively for my kids, because I like to tailor their education based on what they need and what I believe is important, but there is a huge reason I like the idea (and product) these books are based on. Though I don't want to give my kids a "conveyer belt" education that public schools tend to give, I also don't want any holes in their education. The Core Knowledge Series helps with this. Basically, E.D. Hirsch and his colleagues spent a lot of time researching what the basic knowledge of an educated person looks like. They made a list of topics, stories, and lessons that a person would need to know to be able to read and understand texts such as The New York Times.
I borrowed the preschooler book about a year ago and I liked it a lot. It has sections from several subjects. I never looked at the others until recently, but I like the kindergartener book even more than the preschooler book. The stories have little tips and questions in the margins to help you bring things up to your kids as you read. I think it would be a good go-to book for the days when I'm struggling to find something to teach the kids without using too much brain power. I'm hoping to get the preschooler, kindergartener, and 1st grader books from my favorite used book websites (thriftbooks.com or betterworldbooks.com) and use them for one of our reading times. You can get them for around $4 with free shipping, but I recommend checking them out from the library first to see if they work for your family (and maybe even reading part of The Knowledge Deficit as well).
2.Scripture Reading Plan. A friend of mine helped me remember something I was doing about a year ago, but stopped for some reason. I had totally forgotten about it until Tiffany mentioned on her blog that she was thinking about making up her own Five in a Row (FIAR) baed on the scriptures. I started something similar when I heard a talk in church by a man who said that reading scriptures doesn't have to be formal with kids. He said you can tell them scripture stories in the car or while doing chores together or just be creative. A lightbulb went off in my head and I created something a little less spontaneous, but worked really well while I did it.
The original plan was very simple: read/tell/review the same scripture story every day for a week, and have some sort of activity to go along with it. I knew Trevor was capable of learning more about the scriptures, but he had a hard time sitting still every time we formally read the scriptures. I also just love the primary songs and wanted to incorporate them into our study somehow. This is the original schedule:
Day 1: Tell the story in my own words and draw a picture of the story (we then put it on the wall and referred back to the picture all week).
Day 2: Review the story (asking for lots of help from the boys) and sing a primary song related to the story.
Day 3: Read the story in the childrens version of the scriptures (and sing song)
Day 4: Role-play the story and sing the song. (The boys get a kick out of watching me act the stories out or acting them out themselves.)
Day 5: Do a craft based on the story.
Day 6: Tell story (or have Trevor tell it) and sing the song.
Day 7: Daddy Day - have Sean do something with the boys. If he is unable to, then role-play the story again.
It's very simple, but it was a good starting point. I think the boys just needed something a little different every day to help them remember and stay interested. I also planned on getting the full gospel art kit and a cheap picture frame so I could put up a painting about the story, but I never went that far with it. I'm so glad Tiffany helped me remember this because I think it would be a good thing to implement again (I'll post a revised schedule if we change it). I was really amazed at how much the boys could remember when we stuck to the same story for several days. It's hard to remember all the details when you have a new story each day!
Oh, and FYI, FIAR does make a scripture based program, but I assume it is only with the bible.
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