A German-English Curriculum in the Works

Alecia Rolling has started recording her family's German-English curriculum on her family's blog site:

The Rolling Acres Farm.

This endeavor is in response partly to personal recordkeeping necessities and partly to questions about how to homeschool in German and English. For those who visit this website for German children's books review, we have added her German-English curriculum above.

(If you are still seeking a philosophy of homeschooling, please see the R.A.S. Bookstore for recommended books.)

German Books for your Bilingual Homeschool

This year I will be using the Tobi Erstlesebuch for teaching German reading and Denken und Rechnen to supplement our math program. Last year I used ABC der Tiere: Lesen in Silben with success, but I believe the characters and stories of Tobi will appeal more to my children, who love stories about giants and fairies! Please look forward to my reviews later in the year, but in the meantime, you may preview them and the other books I am using or have used here.

In general, I will comment now on the wonderful illustrations throughout each of these books and their accompanying workbooks. The illustrations are realistic and natural with a comforting aestethic even when the theme is whimsical.

May your summer planning be a success!

Learning to Read

Lesen in Silben: ABC der Tiere 1. (Reading in Syllables: ABC of the Animals) Romarie Handt and Klaus Kuhn, 88 pp
Publisher: Mildenberger
ISBN: 978-3-619-14290-3 (Hardcover)
See the publisher's website for price and orders: http://www.abc-der-tiere.de/
German Level: Beginning
For a long time we flipped back and forth on how to teach reading. Do we start with German? Do we start with English? Do we try both at the same time? After talking with some other German/English families, we decided to begin with German. There are the umlauted letters to learn, but the language is much more phonetically regular than English. Our three-year-old has started this program, and so far it has been a great success. This does not necessarily speak to the genius of our daughter, but I think her success with the book at such a young age speaks to the simplicity and easy-to-follow approach of this book.
The first lesson is "Mu". What does the cow say? Mu, mu, mu. Gradually, the other vowels are added to m, and the stories grow. Then, there is only to introduce new consonants in following lessons. In later lessons, the syllables are separated by alternating colors, offering a big help to the little learner. There is a fantastic workbook that goes with the reader that would work well for older learners.
Unfortunately, this book is not available from Amazon just now. You must order from the publisher by clicking the link above.

Toddler Art Curriculum for the Entire Year!

Krizeln-Schnipseln-Klecksen: Erste Erfahrungen mit Farbe, Schere, und Papier und lustige Ideen zum Basteln mid Kindern ab 2 Jahren.
(Scribble, Snip, Click: First experiences with color, scissors, and paper and fun ideas for crafts with children two and older) by Gisele Muehlenberg, 1996, 125 pp
Publisher: Oekotopia Verlag
ISBN: 978-3-925169-96-0
Price: Euro 17,90
German Level: Native or Advanced
Are you homeschooling your children in the German language? Are you speaking only German in the home either as a native speaker or, like myself, someone trying to raise a bilingual child? If you are looking for an arts and crafts curriculum for your toddlers that also supplies you with the vocabulary needed for this task, look no farther!
This first part of the book talks about how to provide creative environments for toddlers. Such simple suggestions as aprons, portfolios, and cubbies really do encourage the child to have an interest in art. Organization skills for toddlers is more than Montessorian; it's Aristotelian! She also provides a very handy chart in the back of the book with age recommendations for all the activities and what techniques can be used.
Gisela does a fantastic job of offering fun activities for both parents and children. There are enough crafts in this book for an entire year, and she provides enough variations to use this same book for many years! Your children will be making such conventional crafts as boats from egg cartons and paper lanterns, but also exploring a variety of media and techniques: water color, acrylic, modelling clay, pencil, charcoal, and more!

My favorite book of the year!