 Hey guys, my name is Brittany and welcome back to my YouTube channel you guys in today's video I will be giving you my mid-year curriculum update for my kindergarten or in my preschooler I'm really really excited about today's video if any of you guys are new here to my channel again My name is Brittany. I'm a homeschooling mom to three girls, and I'm in my fourth year of homeschool So you guys we're gonna go ahead and kick start off my candy gardeners mid-year curricular review I definitely will say before I give you guys my recap of like the curricula that we use and how I'm feeling about it so far I definitely will say starting off a kiddo from the beginning is Completely different from starting off homeschooling with a child that does have some type of public school experience So for me for my oldest daughter I didn't start homeschooling her officially until the start of her third grade year So I didn't have to go through the process of teaching my daughter how to read and how to you know beginning forming her letters and really from the beginning I always supplemented my oldest daughter's education at home where I will grab like Workbooks and things we would do we would do like reading and math facts and sight words at home But I never was like the true fool on Facilitator of her soul education So it definitely was very daunting for me when I started off this homeschooling journey from the beginning with my Middle daughter. I really didn't know what to expect. I definitely wanted to keep Kenny Garten like fun and light Especially since in the state of Georgia. I don't have to register her in the board of Education until she turns six so until her first great year will be the year that I officially Have to follow all of our state guidelines and you know protocol and things like that I really just wanted to get my feet wet when it comes to like Kenny Garten Even though I do have some small goals that I do want us to reach at the end of our homeschooling year I definitely didn't want to put too much pressure on myself when it came to her This particular daughter my middle daughter She definitely has a few special needs that I do have to keep in mind for my middle daughter Leia She actually was not speaking at all. I mean no words when she was two years old So literally when I think about the fact that my daughter that wasn't speaking Three years ago is now beginning to read it like blows my mind All the progress that we've went through with her. I mean speech therapy and testing It just was so much stuff when it came to her and so much worry and so much concern And I definitely will say that as I've been going through this process with her It definitely has been more of a roller coaster because I'm worried if we're not meeting those developmental things or if we're not Where we're supposed to be with her because I want to get it just right But I do have to remember from which my daughter came from and how much progress she has me Really from the beginning and I'm I'm just floored. I can't believe where we're at. I'm really really excited I really want to encourage any of you guys out there if you are homeschooling some type of kiddo with some type of Special need or special circumstance don't give up on that kiddo be consistent with them It's been several times. I'm not gonna lie this year that I have doubted my ability to teach my middle daughter It's been times where I'm like, well, maybe she may be better off if I do Do public education with her and she'll have you know, IEP she'll have her speech therapy in school And you know, it's been several times. I have allowed myself to go there, but now we are at like mid-year I'm really happy what where we're at. I can't believe that I have been a one to facilitate this and Did we make as much progress as I wanted to? Absolutely not. But did we make progress from the beginning of our school year to now? Absolutely, and I think I'm just gonna continue to truck along this journey with this kiddo And I can't wait to see all the things that Leia is gonna do and gonna get up to and I'm so proud of this girl So you guys Now that I finished my old emotional spill, we're gonna go ahead and get into the curriculum for her We're gonna start off with math math is actually one of her favorite subjects and her primary math We've been using has been Kenny garden math with confidence you guys And I have been loving this curriculum so much for Leia Leia has been loving this curriculum as well I really liked the playfulness of this curriculum. I love the games that incorporates daily the little activities like her learning her left and her right and It's just really really fun the way that they are teaching these math concepts her mental math It's awesome at this point the way that they're solidifying Her being able to analyze numbers zero to ten I really really like the incorporation of the manipulatives. She loves that as well I love that they have her jumping and hopping and you know we're doing a little chance and singing and it's really has been a fun curriculum one thing I definitely will say that I thoroughly appreciate is that in math with confidence They have these unit checkpoints where it really allows you to be able to assess your kids and where they're at They don't give them like a specific like assessment that they're doing but you're able to read and see Okay, is my kiddo understanding grasping the concepts is my kiddo where they need to be at and it also Encourages you for specific areas like they're not looking for math like fact fluency at this level and it really gives you I guess those like reminders that this is kindergarten math and you know, this is where your kid needs to be This is how you know we can move on to the next unit and if they're not ready here goes some games You can review here goes the page numbers You can do before moving on to the next unit and I really enjoy that hand-holding that math with confidence gives me I love that it scripted And I do love the simple take on math sometimes. I'm not gonna lie I do question whether it is enough rigor For math and it is what I'm really looking for in a math curriculum But at this level I am enjoying the in-depthness that it's going So I really have been enjoying The math with confidence one thing about the workbook that I love is I love that it has like the daily Practice when it comes to like the number writing so every single day. She does get daily practice They have a black line master at the back of the teachers guide that gives you I guess like the little dry The page where you can put in a dry erase sleeve so they can practice their numbers daily And before we start our math lesson I have been having my daughter practice her numbers daily So she's getting that fluency when it comes to writing her numbers So I don't really have to depend on our handwriting curriculum when it comes to her learning how to write her numbers It's kind of like all-encompassing in the kindergarten math with confidence, which has been great. I really have been enjoying that so kindergarten math with confidence again is our primary math curriculum right now We are on I believe we're we're a little bit like we're about two-thirds away through this curriculum Um, I think we'll be finished with it by the end of february early march is what we're going to be at So when we start off our school year, uh in in like the second week of january I believe we're either going to start back january 8th or we're going to start back after martin was the king day I'm still trying to decide if we're going to take an extended break because this is our first like full-on A break that we have taken since summertime So I do want to give my kiddos enough time Now I want to give myself enough time to really plan and prep for our upcoming year. So, um I definitely will say whether it be the 8th or the day after martin was the king day She's going to be coming in on unit 7 which is week 21 out of 32 Is where we're going to be starting off when it comes to math with confidence. So I've been enjoying this and um the picture books have been great At the end when I do give my end of the year review on kindergarten math with confidence I will highlight all of her favorite math picture books that she has enjoyed and I'll try my best to check them out From the library again, so I can share them with you guys But the math picture books have been good not all of them are her hits, but I definitely will highlight her favorite So along with kindergarten math with confidence. We also have been using math. You see primer you guys She loves the blocks and math you see primer and a lot of you guys your question You always ask me all the time is how am I doing two math Curriculums with a candy gardener and I will say we typically use math you see primer Either as like her morning work and her morning pages. So before we actually sit down in the homeschool room together When we're kind of like at the dining room table before we start breakfast while my oldest is doing math Sometimes I work on handwriting practice with her and we will do one or two sheets of math One or two sheets of math you see primer With her before I do like her formal lessons So we kind of use this as like a warm-up in her mornings and or we would do it in late afternoon So it just depends on the timing that we do do um the math you see primer We definitely always do math you see on fridays because math with confidence is a strictly four day a week Schedule they do have the enrichment exercise at the end of the week Which is typically the book and some type of fun activity One of my daughter's absolute fun activity was our last one when we played store with the kindergarten math with confidence I had my oldest daughter set up like a whole store in her bedroom and I gave her dimes nickels and pennies and she had to be able to like give my oldest change We have a little play cash register. So that was like a big hit when it came to like The enrichment activities, but since we do the enrichment activities on friday We usually do our math you see lesson always on friday and typically when this is our primary math She wants to do more than one page. So right now in math you see We are on week 15, which is about the halfway point of this curricula One thing I will say is since my daughter is getting the handwriting practice in the math with confidence when it comes to Math you see it doesn't have as much handwriting practice Opportunities so she's able to really I guess write those numbers out and it's really been fun seeing her Write her numbers really really well. So I'm really proud about her progress when it comes to that so as far as her Reading instruction we have been using all about reading level one And I definitely will say that this is a great reading program. It's scripted. It's definitely for kinesthetic learners I mean you got your manipulatives with the letter towels We actually use the app letter towels and I typically do it with her on the computer right here I do have other types of letters that I can use if we do want to like pull them out as well For a variety instead of just always using the letter towel app, but she does love the letter towel app So it has that it has a lot of activities in the activity book That she can do to really practice that fluency when it comes to like her reading and I like the fact that when we do get stuck on a lesson in the back of this all about reading they have like a whole appendix of like Different games and different things and suggestions if you hit like roadblocks when it comes with The your kiddo in teaching them reading instruction Um, I don't know if it's the program or it's my daughter more than likely. It's my daughter Like I said before we are going extremely slow in this curriculum We have been working in this curriculum since the end of july and from july until december We only have completed seven out of I believe the 53 lessons Which is not a lot my goal for this curriculum at the beginning of the school year was to do Half of it, which was about 27 lessons. I wanted to complete So we're not quite at my goals halfway point when it comes to the all about reading and sometimes I do question The effectiveness of this program for her However, I'm starting to realize, you know, some kiddos when it comes to reading instruction They either get it fast or they take a long time like how my daughter is taking Um, as far as like her reading her fluency, she's definitely getting there We have uh been working primarily on a cvc words with the short a sound up until lesson seven And when we get into lesson eight, we will begin working on the short i sound So I definitely will say when it comes to those cvc words, she definitely is getting more fluent with them We've used the uh green cards and um, I've been doing everything you guys as far as what they've been teaching me in The all about rooting to do as far as her rooting and it definitely has been working um The this little book right here the run bug run book is really really cute It has a lot of cute stories the stories you guys are actually really really cute and engaging And I like that in the all about reading book They do have comprehension questions that I do ask her Um, they also have this cute little viewfinder that uh, especially for this kiddo sometimes she does get distracted I like having this rude finder. Um, when she's reading the words and um It's been going well, um What I did do when we came to like those points where I couldn't necessarily move on to the next lesson We were practicing the fluency sheets and things like that. Um, I definitely added in Explode the code for her. We are doing explode the code One and it's so crazy how well Explode the code combines with all about reading because most of these words right here in explode the code are those high Frequency words in all about reading and it really solidified those things that she was learning In all about reading. So when we were at those points where we couldn't necessarily move forward I was able to pull out this explode the code and we were able to really solidify those um learning curves for her. So I'm happy with all about reading But you guys sometimes I do question whether or not another reading curriculum may suit her better But I think I'm going to go ahead you guys and probably for the rest of this year I'm going to go ahead and commit to all about reading and continue to work with it Um, but if I do if I will say um, I guess me switching reading programs I do have to in mind that if all about reading doesn't work at the end of the year and I find I need to switch I am looking into either a beca phonics or Logic of English are the other two phonics programs for this particular child That I will switch to for her first grade year If I'm finding we're not having the success that I'm looking for in all about reading But for the remaining of this school year, I have decided to continue to commit to this Um, I find when it comes to reading and reading instruction is definitely not good to just jump and bounce around You definitely want to give your kids consistency when it comes to this And I found myself when I began to do more consistent lessons with leah meaning including the weekends like on Saturdays and Sundays, I would spend like maybe five or 10 minutes Having her practice some of the letters on my phone like the letter towel app or we would Read maybe some of the books in our bob books or we would reread the stories in here just for like maybe five 10 minutes on a daily basis That's when I was seeing the most growth with her when it came to her phonics instruction And I think now that we are you know back into our new semester in our new year I think I'm just going to go ahead and give her phonics instructions Daily and see if that does make a big difference when it's coming to like the progress that I'm seeing Um in her reading instruction. I know for some people they may think that that's overkill But on the weekends, especially doing like like those five 10 minute snippets It definitely allowed her brain still to be fresh. So when we came back in Monday, um, she didn't feel I didn't feel like she completely, you know lost it from You know friday, so that's something i'm definitely going to be doing As we're starting our new semester with her with her phonics instruction. So, uh, that is like leah's core As far as handwriting goes you guys we are doing handwriting without tears I was not consistent with handwriting without tears when we first started off our school year I began to be more consistent with it in november And she guys like her capital letters She is doing really really well the only letters in her capital letters That she still is struggling with is j k And I think it's z are the only letters that um, she's not as fluent with So we're going to practice our capital letters and I believe we're going to go ahead and begin with the lowercase letters soon In this kickstart, uh for handwriting without tears book I also already have the orange book, which is the official kenny garten book and once we finish this one We'll go into that one. I'm not really in any rush to like rush her through the handwriting I definitely want to make sure she gets it. Um, it's concise We're doing our strokes the right way because I definitely don't want to do any like back math Where I have to correct any of the things she's doing wrong I'd rather take our time with the handwriting make sure she got it good and we kind of Will continue to go on from there. So that is how she is doing in handwriting. So That is my five year old's my kenny garner's lineup as far as her core as far as history and science this year You guys I really have been very lucy goosey She has primarily been getting a lot of her history and science from our homeschool hangouts that we've been doing She's learned a lot about like volcanoes and so many insects and so many different things as far as science When it has come to the homeschool hangouts, we have done a few countries and cultures Homeschool hangouts and I mean for the most part whatever she's getting. She's getting I really don't have a state guideline for Science and social studies just yet until I get to first grade. So right now while I don't have that pressure on myself I'm not putting the pressure on myself when it comes to science or social studies for my kenny garner I'm focusing on the core Whatever she gets outside of our I guess instructional time when it comes to the hangouts or her fundraise that were written That's just a bonus for me. Um, I'm not worrying about it. So I got to So that's my kenny garter now as far as my preschooler you guys we've been doing some of the similar things She's been working on the get set for the cold. She finished the a book and now we're on the b book This again just solidifies those consonant letter sounds. She's doing great as far as that My last order she actually just turned four and I think I'm gonna get a little bit more serious with her because she is definitely ready to Take on more school She gets mad at me when her school is over Because she sees I do spend more time with her Older two sisters to really be honest. Um, and I definitely want to be more intentional with my baby girl I do want to make school fun for her and I want to give her more school So I definitely know I may make a few changes as far as bumping her up because I definitely see she's ready for it As far as her preschool math at home, uh, we are you see I have my little bookmark here We are halfway done with preschool math at home I did this program last year with leah and she enjoyed it. This is just hands-on fun activities Um that we do and they're really simple. I mean they last like two Three minutes at max. So because she wants more school what I did was I already had this on pdf This is jda's um be preschooler or beginner math and we've been working through this you guys And it's so cute. I mean it just has simple math skills that she's doing and she loves when I pull out this book I mean she's going over shapes numbers Length she goes over everything and I definitely feel like this is just Something fun that is really leading her up and preparing her for kenny garden math with confidence We're about halfway through with this one. So when we finish both of these math programs, you guys I'm definitely going to go ahead and start kenny garden math with confidence with her. I already have the workbook So maybe in march If she finishes these because she definitely is going at a faster pace I definitely will go ahead and start her math uh and or we will probably just start her kenny garden math With confidence in summertime leading up into the new school year. So it just depends as far as her handwriting Goes I mean she just turned for you guys. So I really haven't focused much on it I just want to make sure she's coloring like in the lines and holding the pencil right and doing things like that So what I'm going to go ahead and do for her is we're going to go ahead and start the first handwriting without tears books Which is I mean this book is so cute you guys it really just goes over like the beginning strokes I mean, it's so cute. I really enjoy using this book last year with leah when she was four And learning like the beginning strokes and things like that. It's really really gentle when it comes to handwriting So I definitely think leah is ready. I'm not leah alana my baby girl. She's ready to go ahead and start um her first handwriting without tears book Now as far as reading instruction with alana alana is four and she's working on cvc words along with leah She's doing a really really good job What I use for her as far as working on cvc words has been elemental phonics Which I mean they just give us a list of cvc words We just practice them daily and towards the end of this book They're going to have her reading like these little short sentences I really take a lot of things that i'm learning and all about reading and teaching her And someday she wants to do her cvc words someday. She doesn't I really don't like put too much pressure on her But um, she definitely has a desire to learn how to read and I definitely think uh, I probably will start formal reading instruction with her sooner than later Uh, especially for this kiddo because she's definitely ready for it So that is my baby girl my four-year-olds update when it comes to like the things that i'm doing with her Her school lasts us anywhere between like 15 minutes, but she definitely wants more So I definitely need to prepare more like fun hands-on things for both of my younger kiddos and really start back Like messy art fridays and doing all those little You know things that I have done in the past this upcoming year. Those are definitely goals of minds So you guys I really hope you enjoyed just chatting with me and talking about all of the curriculum that I have been using For my kidney gardener and my preschooler. I really hope you guys enjoyed today's video and as always I look forward to seeing everybody in my next one Bye