tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19704543543064569462024-03-05T16:08:09.941-05:00Who is the teacher?Homeschool mom of 3, where the world is our classroom and sometimes the teacher becomes the studentKaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-39283099696365655212016-08-14T10:09:00.000-04:002016-08-14T10:09:14.358-04:00A 2nd grader and a kindergartner and a tag-along -- OH MY (curriculum choices)<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=playhomeschool-20&l=li2&o=1&a=0545147131" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />My baby is pushing 3 years old, and I still catch myself marveling at the fact that I have three children. THREE? WHAT! They are so precious and I'm thankful for another year of home education with them.<br />
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This year is the first year that I'm throwing academics at two kids. I'm nervous at how that's going to look this year, but ya know what? We've had a few days in our routine already, and I think it's going to <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=playhomeschool-20&l=li2&o=1&a=0698116429" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />be OK.</div>
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My Ker, a 5.5yo girl, has been anti-academics for awhile. I backed off and let her be. I think she figured it would cramp her style.<br />
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So I was surprised when the other day, she said she was ready for kindergarten and she wanted to get down to business. I was extra-surprised when on day 2, she woke me up all "Let's GET TO IT, MOM." Oh, really? Well, let's get coffee first, kthx.</div>
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The routine is a work in progress. We'll get there. For now, here's the curriculum lineup. I should admit that I am an acknowledged curriculum junkie, I have an enabler support group, and it is what it is. I sold some unused stuff to assuage my guilt. I know I'm pulling from too many sources and trying too much, but shiny things! Pretty things! ALL THE FEAST, LETS' BINGE!</div>
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<b>Kindergarten:</b></h3>
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<ul><a href="https://www.amazon.com/James-Herriots-Treasury-Children-Creatures/dp/0312085125/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&linkCode=li2&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=36fd2fd7e4374c4c9984a7d64c1cd66c" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0312085125&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a>
<li><a href="https://www.logicofenglish.com/foundations" target="_blank">Logic of English Foundations</a> (cursive handwriting version. Covers reading instruction and handwriting. We have completed the first seven lessons AND I LOVE IT AND SO DOES SHE).</li>
<li><a href="http://rightstartmath.com/" target="_blank">RightStart Math A</a>, 2nd edition. Used this with the firstborn, it's a hit and perfect for K. So far, so good, and she already knew the "Yellow is the Sun" song thanks to her brother.</li>
<li>Morning time participation. I ought to do a separate post on what this is looking like right now.</li>
<li>An art and nature class (16 sessions, and all of my kids plus myself will participate!)</li>
<li>Nature Explorers co-op (2x a month at nature parks with friends). </li>
<li><a href="https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/brave-writer/?source=165447" target="_blank">Brave Writer's Jot it Down!</a> for her, plus 2nd grader. I think she'd dig it.</li>
<li>Adding some books, bible, activities from My Father's World K? I don't know. It is probably too much to try and work this in somehow, beyond just putting the literature in a box and reading it together. This really might be pushing what is reasonable here. </li>
<li>PLAY! </li>
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<b>2nd grade:</b></h3>
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I want to respect the fact that my son is still a young guy. He's 7.5, and if we go by public school cut-offs, he's a 2nd grader. I want to push him academically and help him grow, but at the same time I want him to have plenty of time for play. My goal is to finish our normal academic stuff by lunch time to allow for open afternoons. Time outside, field trips, park days, library, museums...that sort of thing can fit in the after lunch spot. To that end, we cannot/do not do all of this stuff every day. Some of it might be once per week; some might be for only a few weeks for the year.</div>
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He loves science, likes math, likes reading, likes creating.</div>
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Here's his lineup. Oy. Good luck, dude.</div>
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Language arts:</h3>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vocabulary-Cartoon-Day-Grades-2-3/dp/0545147131/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1471129869&sr=8-2&keywords=vocabulary+cartoon+of+the+day&linkCode=li2&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=de440bb18bda2886cd48f03d84025e9a" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0545147131&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a></div>
<ul><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Merry-Go-Round-Book-About-Nouns-Explore/dp/0698116429/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1471129967&sr=8-1&keywords=ruth+heller+grammar&linkCode=li2&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=bfdb7dcd8edd3f9f111001356b9375e7" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0698116429&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a>
<li><a href="https://www.logicofenglish.com/essentials" target="_blank">Logic of English Essentials, 2nd edition</a> (reading, spelling, grammar, vocab, basic composition). (More on my <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2016/08/big-shakeup-for-2nd-grade-language-arts.html" target="_blank">switch from AAR/AAS to LoE</a>)</li>
<li>Read aloud, read-to-self </li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/2b6P0ey" target="_blank">Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day</a> (really fun thing to start our one-on-one time. I have him read it aloud. Takes less than a minute.)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sadlier.com/school/vocabulary/vocabulary-workshop-enriched-edition-1-5" target="_blank">Vocabulary Workshop</a> C (probably overkill...but I like the format and I think it will help for independent work practice and getting a handle on more standardized/workbooky answers for standardized tests at some point). Haven't added this yet. I saw an earlier edition, and I much prefer the later edition which has a story with the vocab words in context. I like how the book explores nuances of words.</li>
<li>Other grammar: Mad Libs, <a href="https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/grammaropolis/?source=165447" target="_blank">Grammaropolis</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/2aQqjCr" target="_blank">Schoolhouse Rock</a>, copywork, <a href="http://amzn.to/2bf85jd" target="_blank">Ruth Heller grammar books</a>. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.logicofenglish.com/handwriting" target="_blank">Rhythm of Handwriting</a> cursive (Logic of English publication)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/brave-writer/?source=165447" target="_blank">Brave Writer Jot it Down</a>! For writing and creative projects. These look fun, and I liked reading more about the Brave Writer lifestyle.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/brave-writer/?source=165447" target="_blank">Brave Writer Quiver of Arrows</a>: We have already read several of these titles, so I think I will do audio books for a 2nd run through for those. We'll see. Started with<i> House at Pooh Corner</i>, which we've had on audio for awhile, in addition to the physical book. So fun. We did the first week and I'm happy with it.</li>
<li>Read-aloud literature pulled from a variety of sources: Brave Writer Quiver titles, Ambleside Online, Sonlight, Heart of Dakota, etc.</li>
<li>Audio books, probably while we're in the car to co-op stuff.</li>
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Math: </h3>
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<li>RightStart B, then moving on to C. We took a summer break rather than plowing through. So far, I don't regret that decision, though it seems he has forgotten a bit. Maybe he's just a little rusty?</li>
<li>Singapore Math 70 Must-Know Word Problems level 1. A problem or a few a day as independent warm-up and practice. Grabbed it at HPB, it's fine for a warmup.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.singaporemath.com/Fan_Math_Process_Skills_in_Prob_Solving_L2_p/fmpsps2.htm" target="_blank">Process Skills in Problem Solving</a> level 2. Probably will need to hold off on this one for a bit. Will finish the above workbook first, and maybe pull this one in as a once a week thing.</li>
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History:</h3>
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<li><a href="http://www.truthquesthistory.com/" target="_blank">TruthQuest</a> American History for Younger Students 1, and favoring using books I own from the Beautiful Feet American history list. Throwing in some biographies of scientists when it makes sense.</li>
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Nature study and natural history:</h3>
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<li>Burgess Bird Book and Dover coloring book for each kid (probably going to save this for winter). We have enjoyed getting to know the birds in our backyard by watching our feeders and using the field guides I leave on our window sills. Throw in a bird app to hear bird calls, and boom. Fun. Doable.</li>
<li>Reading nature lore, pulling from <a href="http://sabbathmoodhomeschool.com/charlotte-mason-living-science/" target="_blank">Sabbath Mood lists</a>. We recently finished the James Herriot Treasury and loved it. Currently reading Paddle-to-the-Sea. It is just so beautiful! Right up my son's creek, because he enjoys tracing water sources to their end point.</li>
<li><a href="https://raisinglittleshoots.com/buy-exploring-nature-with-children/" target="_blank">Exploring Nature with Children</a>. This one just came on my radar. Seems like a doable, practical, no fluff nature study, yet fun and enriching for all. It will point me to Handbook of Nature Study readings (optional), a library go-along list, a poem, an art work, extra go-along activities -- but most importantly giving us weekly topics of focus based on season. Check out the sample, as it explains the premise better than I just did. A 20% off coupon code is on the FB page right now through August 20.</li>
<li>Nature park co-op meetup with friends twice per month.</li>
<li>Art and nature class thing along with sisters</li>
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Science:</h3>
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<li><a href="http://amzn.to/2aTamyg" target="_blank">Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding vol 1. 2nd ed</a>. I like the variety, the connections and the thinking required. Don't like that it's not open-and-go and that could be the downfall of it. We'll see. </li>
<li><a href="https://mysteryscience.com/" target="_blank">Mystery Science</a> -- got a free membership! They might be still giving away some. Go see. I plan to just let him have at it and facilitate as needed for gathering supplies/grabbing library books.</li>
<li>Intelligo unit study on Astronomy. Grabbed this as a freebie and chose it for the internet links to perhaps save some time. </li>
<li>Lots of interest-led stuff. Lots.</li>
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Geography:</h3>
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<ul><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Give-Your-Child-World-Globally/dp/0310344131/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1471130512&sr=8-1&keywords=give+your+child+the+world&linkCode=li2&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=ededdc7132ce82cfcae3530f0a40d0e4" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0310344131&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/2bp2SCS" target="_blank">Maps, Charts, and Graphs</a>. I chose this because it was straight-forward, practical, and something he can do independently. Sure, a multiple-choice format isn't Charlotte Mason-approved. Test-taking is a skill he'll have to use at some point, though. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">I never said I was a Mason purist.</span></li>
<li>Looking at our big ol' wall maps of the USA and world. They're prominent in the play room and get looked at quite a bit.</li>
<li>Geopuzzles</li>
<li>Finding locations that come up in our reading/life on Google Maps and/or our wall maps. I like seeing a location in context and adding street view.</li>
<li>Books from <a href="http://amzn.to/2b2iOf5" target="_blank">Give Your Child the World</a> (on sale for $7ish and yours truly wrote the highest-voted review on Amazon!)</li>
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Fine arts:</h3>
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<li>Piano lessons using <a href="https://www.hoffmanacademy.com/" target="_blank">Hoffman Academy</a>. Check this out! It has FREE video lessons that are so well done. They are getting ready to add a subscription option and different setup, so I haven't purchased the optional add-on packs, but I likely will once I see the format.</li>
<li>Poetry tea a la Brave Writer? Adding a poem-a-day to morning time? Still thinking.</li>
<li>Picture study using Claude Monet art cards from <a href="http://www.pomegranate.com/a826.html" target="_blank">a postcard pack</a> purchased from the art museum. If the prints are too small, I might find a digital version and cast it to our TV</li>
<li>Hymn (sing, eventually memorize)</li>
<li>Drawing: Draw, Write, Now book series for at-will creation, maybe some morning time involvement. Art Class DVD instruction</li>
<li>Artsy fartsy: I am not spending one second on Pinterest looking for ideas. I just buy stuff from the Dollar Tree or the craft store -- miscellaneous supplies or boxed craft kits. Here ya go, have fun with it!</li>
<li><a href="http://www.classicsforkids.com/programs.asp" target="_blank">Classical Kids podcast</a></li>
<li>Classical music just whenever. It happens kinda often actually as led by my 5yo, plus time in the car.</li>
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<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=playhomeschool-20&l=li2&o=1&a=0310344131" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=playhomeschool-20&l=li2&o=1&a=0312085125" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-47936171387462199102016-08-07T20:39:00.001-04:002016-08-07T20:39:02.319-04:00Big shakeup for 2nd grade language arts, and we've only just begun!We've started our school year already (2nd, kindergarten, 2yo) and I'm already making some changes. What I had initially selected for some of our language arts just...it wasn't going to work for me. It's a little early to say if the changes will be hits or misses, but here's hoping for the best!<br />
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Johnny finished <i>All About Spelling level 1</i> at the end of 1st grade. When I closed the book, I just felt it wasn't time put to good use. Looking ahead at levels 2 and 3, I felt more of the same. He likely knew how to spell most of those words already, and I don't think I was using the program to its full potential. </div>
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I was not looking forward to six more levels of <i>AAS</i>, plus doing the whole thing again with my girls. Such dread on my part so early on...something had to change. I know so many people love AAS. Actually <i>love</i> it. I am happy for them! </div>
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Next up, I had looked at various options for writing, grammar, copywork, and the sort. I landed on Susan Wise Bauer's <i>Writing With Ease</i> and thought I'd choose my own selections from books we were reading. I didn't get very far when I realized that choosing my own passages isn't so straightforward. </div>
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On to my new choices:</div>
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<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=playhomeschool-20&l=li3&o=1&a=1936706229" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div>
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For spelling, I briefly considered dropping it in favor of copywork and prepared dictation (Mason), but that just felt a little too scary for me right now. While my son is a strong reader, he still could use some work on unfamiliar, multi-syllabic words. Rather than take his time with it, he might choose to mumble through a word. No, let's not do that, k? Some additional phonics work and practice with complex words would help this kid. <i>Natural Speller</i> was a contender, but it looks like it would take a bit of prepwork on my part to make it work. </div>
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I had already rejected using <i>All About Reading level 1</i> with my kindergartner. <i>AAR pre-reading</i> was a flop for her, but at the same time I felt <i>AAR1</i> would move too fast for her. The fluency pages would overwhelm, and I don't think she'd care for the workbook activities. Instead of going the <i>AAR</i> route with her, I had already opted for <i>Logic of English Foundations</i>.</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Doodling-Dragons-ABC-Book-Sounds/dp/1936706229/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1470612597&sr=8-1&keywords=doodling+dragons&linkCode=li3&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=8e966f5ad7acbc2ebe77ca34ab779691" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1936706229&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a></div>
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So far, I am a big fan. I like how we're really exploring letter sounds and how we're forming them with our mouth and voice. We're taking a close look at the work our mouth does to differentiate say, a /f/ from a /th/ and a /v/ from a /TH/. For this child who has some speech articulation issues, this is a key point. I like the phonemic awareness activities, the segmenting and blending stuff, and surprisingly I like how handwriting is incorporated. It isn't a "oh, and yeah you should also do handwriting just because." Rather, it is a component in strengthening the ability to read and write, and is treated as such with LoE.</div>
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She really enjoyed listening to me segment words such as /h/ /o/ /p/ and then doing the action. It's a whole-body approach and just what this kid needs.</div>
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I also like how <i>Foundations </i>incorporates spelling as we go. </div>
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While <i>Logic of English</i> takes an Orton-Gillingham approach with regard to phonics, the execution and implementation is quite different from<i> AAR, AAS,</i> and other programs I've seen. It's still really early in the lessons, but I'm optimistic.</div>
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So, my appreciation for what <i>Foundations</i> is trying to accomplish, plus reading <i>U<a href="http://amzn.to/2b6lr0h" target="_blank">ncovering the Logic of English</a></i> by Denise Eide (also author of the curriculum), let me to take another look at <i>Logic of English Essentials</i>.</div>
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In the past when I had taken a more cursory look at it, I thought <i>Essentials</i> wouldn't be a good fit for my son because I thought he already knew most of the content: I thought he could read well enough, spell well enough that it wouldn't be a worthwhile purchase. </div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=playhomeschool-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=1936706210&asins=1936706210&linkId=aecdeb806b533630cde5cf81dd90e029&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div>
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Well. Maybe the 1st edition would be less meaty, but after receiving <i>Essentials 2nd edition</i>, I can say with certainty that no, he doesn't know all within. </div>
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What I like so far, and note these are unique to the 2nd edition:</div>
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<li>Three levels of spelling. I gave him a placement test, and level A would be a confidence booster and perhaps a good way for him to get his feet wet with the<i> LoE</i> methods. Level B would be a good instructional level, and C will be a bit of a challenge. I like that I can do one level for a year and cycle back, doing levels B or C spelling within the same book. Or, I could have him do some spelling for level A or B, and then demonstrate how we'd analyze level C words myself, or do it together. <i>AAS</i> moved too slow for my liking. <i>LoE</i> will allow us to speed up or slow down as necessary.</li>
<li>Grammar as it pertains to our spelling and dictation words (I think? I need to double-check this. I think there are 3 levels within). I'm not sure if I will like and use the grammar instruction or go another route, but it's there if I want it.</li>
<li>Morphemes as vocab study. A few for level A, more for B, and lotsa lotsa for C. Studying prefixes, suffixes, roots for meaning and how to spell these. Seems worthwhile. <i>AAS</i> does this, but not until what, level 7?</li>
<li>How LoE treats the schwa sounds</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4udiMOoEvo" target="_blank">LoE finger spelling technique</a> (and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPn2yUNP8Jc" target="_blank">also see this video</a>). Denise Eide rightly points out that unless we tell a child how to spell a word for the first time, how in the world are they going to know how to spell it correctly? They might be able to come up with a phonetically correct version, but the finger spelling technique tells a child which phonogram to use (without saying letter names; you'd use the sounds of the phonogram/mention the rule in play). </li>
<li>I like the types of activities (and games, even) that LoE will have us do to reinforce and learn new concepts.</li>
<li>LoE introduces 46 advanced phonograms, typically from words borrowed from other languages, that I haven't seen on scope & sequence lists for AAS. These are on top of the 70-whatever basic phonograms.</li>
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Also a factor was price. I already owned the complete AAS1 and the TMs for 2 and 3, and if I bought new, I'd still need to spend $200 for the remaining TMs and student packets that I didn't yet own. Woosh. I already had the <i>LoE</i> flash cards thanks to a great deal at Half Price Books, so buying volume 1 of <i>Essentials </i>wasn't a bad price. Volume 2 should come out in early 2017, and even factoring that in, I'd spend less on <i>LoE</i> stuff than I'd spend completing my <i>AAS</i> collection.</div>
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So. I sold my AAR and AAS stuff rather quickly on the used market, ordered and received <i>Essentials</i>, and we'll jump in this week. Check with me in a month or so to see how it's going. Oh, and he's already doing their <i>Rhythm of Handwriting</i> cursive instruction book with great results. Good attitude, reasonable output. </div>
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Writing:</div>
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Cutting to the chase, I'm getting to know more about the Brave Writer lifestyle and so far, I love it. My kids<i> loved </i>the first poetry tea we did. They hope it will become a weekly occurrence. I like what I've read and heard (via podcasts) on what Julie Bogart has to say about stages in writing and what we're trying to accomplish. It's a bit tricky at first to get a handle on what BW even is, but the emails, blog, podcasts and FB group helped me get up to speed quickly. It's not complicated, really.</div>
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So, I purchased <i>Jot it Down!</i> with my Ker and 2nd grader in mind. These are writing projects, and the purchase also comes with a brief overview of elements of the Brave Writer lifestyle and philosophy. I suspect these will be a hit.</div>
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I also grabbed <i>A Quiver of Arrows</i> to guide copywork, French dictation (basically, a bridge toward full dictation where the child is listening for certain words to fill in, rather than doing it all), discussion of certain literary elements, and a writing project for the month. We've already read some of the books in the pack, but I think that's ok. Maybe we won't re-read them in full, maybe we'll do the audio version as a refresh. </div>
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There are other publishers that do a similar thing -- study grammar, mechanics and so on from literature. I mean, even <i>WWE</i> does that, though in a different way. I like BW's take on it, especially the literary element and doing an exercise with it ourselves. I hope this study is lots of fun. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Note, BW products are markedly cheaper on <a href="http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/home-school-curriculum/?source=165447" target="_blank">Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op</a>. </div>
<div>
<br />
(Was this post long enough? Should I have stretched it for a bit longer? kbye.)</div>
Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-52171242967560487192016-03-18T12:09:00.000-04:002016-03-18T12:09:31.581-04:00A week of "low tide" and it was so fun!This was our first week of intentional "low tide" and it was restorative. Not a week off, not a break, but a bit relaxed and unschoolish.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For more on the tidal homeschooling concept, see <a href="http://melissawiley.com/tidal-homeschooling/" target="_blank">Melissa Wiley's site here</a>. I also appreciated listening to her interview on the Ed Snapshots <a href="http://edsnapshots.com/24/" target="_blank">podcast episode 24</a>.</blockquote>
<br />
We have been plugging away at our normal to-dos since the beginning of 2016, and while we had a week totally off in February due to a nasty flu bug, that wasn't a restful break. That was just getting through the bug and recovering.<br />
<br />
I could sense that our family needed a little something different for the week, and it felt low-tidey to me. I facilitated some of our goings-on, but stepped back a bit and watched to see what would happen.<br />
<br />
<b>Bird study</b>: Last weekend, I restocked seed and added a new bird feeder to our yard. I placed some bird guides and binoculars on a nearby window. We had many visitors this week, and observed, looked them up, and used a bird app to hear some bird calls. I wasn't leading the ship on this; it was kid-driven with me making just a few contributions as a facilitator.<br />
<br />
<b>Lego:</b> My son's Lego Contraptions set arrived on Monday, and he holed himself up in his room for most of the day building. He used some of the instructions, but also made some of his own creations. For $13, the set was money well spent since we didn't have Lego gears, those types of axels or other do-dads like that.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591747694/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1591747694&linkCode=as2&tag=sentosav-20&linkId=FKRDF3PBPT2TN7FM"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1591747694&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=sentosav-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=sentosav-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1591747694" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Audio books</b>: We had a few outings this week, and all listened to parts of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> during those drives. I started it last week as a read-aloud to just my son while we were spending time in a waiting room, but switched over to the <a href="http://amzn.to/1VjKL24" target="_blank">Audible version performed by Anne Hathaway</a> ($0.99 on Audible when you already own the free Kindle version. Be sure to buy from Audible if you want that specific performance, and it <i>is</i> a performance -- who knew she could do so many voices?!).<br />
<br />
They also listened to more of House at Pooh Corner (for the 2nd or 3rd time? Viv is currently obsessed) at bedtime.<br />
<br />
<b>Nature study</b>: Hoo-ahh! Went to two nature parks with two groups of friends this week. The weather was starting to warm up a bit, and time outside felt great.<br />
<br />
The second park we visited had a creek. When we got home, we were curious what it was called. We looked it up, saw where it fed into, and what THAT fed into, and so on and how you could in theory follow it all the way to the Gulf. Cool!<br />
<br />
THAT led to a discussion on the water cycle, but also weather patterns. Johnny already understood how the water cycle functioned, but he was less clear on how rain and storm systems got to our state. What put that in motion? Did it have anything to do with the earth's rotation and seasonal tilts? he wondered. Oh. Let's go down that path, then.<br />
<br />
<b>Science discussion</b>: Discussed warm fronts/cold fronts, the impact of Earth's rotation on weather patterns, the Coriolis Effect, video clip demonstration of water draining at the Equator and at points slightly to the north and south. Wondered if the rapid rotation of Jupiter and Neptune helped contribute to the violent storms there (likely).<br />
<br />
Saw that rocket launches and airplanes need to factor in the Coriolis Effect when planning their flight paths.<br />
<br />
He liked seeing the connections between meteorology, astronomy, physics, and rocketry. They're all related!!<br />
<br />
These discussions between my son and I are rapid, and they are often me asking questions to him to clarify something, because I am unclear but HE knows and will explain it to me. I look it up to confirm and he's right. This kid! I need to really, really brush up on my science understanding so to have better discussions with him.<br />
<br />
I think this time of year is a good time to study weather a little more closely, so I thought we might take the opportunity to segue into a little weather unit. I am going to read aloud <a href="http://amzn.to/1VjKWKN" target="_blank"><i>Everyday Weather and How it Works</i></a> by Herman Schneider and illustrated by Jeanne Bendick.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This book came highly recommended on Nicole's <a href="http://sabbathmoodhomeschool.com/charlotte-mason-living-science/weather-books/" target="_blank">weather book list</a> at Sabbath Mood Homeschool (her book selections are really good. Check out what she has to say about Charllote Mason <a href="http://sabbathmoodhomeschool.com/charlotte-mason-living-science/" target="_blank">living science</a>).</blockquote>
<br />
We already enjoyed <a href="http://amzn.to/1MrGGSk" target="_blank"><i>Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean</i></a>, and <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1RTs2oE" target="_blank">Pitter & Patter</a>.</i> <i>Pitter & Patter</i> is a simple picture book that I saw on the library shelf and grabbed it.<br />
<br />
<b>Daily Word Ladders</b>: I saw samples of <a href="http://amzn.to/1RTsnaU" target="_blank">this book on Amazon</a> and did a few on the screen with J to see how he liked it. Word puzzles and games are so fun to me, and if it is a way to sneak in spelling, vocab, and handwriting, then yes send it to my house. We did a few ladders together using a dry erase cover and marker so that he could do them again sometime, or I could use them with his sisters later. So far, so good! There are several levels in this series and I started with the first.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Word-Ladders-Activities-Confidence/dp/0545223792/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458316742&sr=1-5&keywords=daily+word+ladders&linkCode=li3&tag=sentosav-20&linkId=3f31855de0e7eaf068660110e7e14faf" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0545223792&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=sentosav-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=sentosav-20&l=li3&o=1&a=0545223792" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<b>Read-alouds</b>: Besides the science books I read aloud this week, I also read a few chapters of our current just-for-fun,<i> Indian in the Cupboard</i>. Not quite PC, but opportunities for discussion on certain topics presented themselves.<br />
<br />
<b>Silent reading</b>: J read plenty to himself this week, as usual. Pretty sure it was all science non-fiction, but he also did read a Star Wars Lego library book to his sister. Twaddle? Yup. Building read-aloud practice and building a relationship with his sister? YES. WORTH IT.<br />
<br />
<b>Play</b>: Lots of playing. Time outside in the yard or at the nature parks, building Lego together, just playing. My 3 kids bicker and fight. This week, they got along pretty well and that is so wonderful!<br />
<br />
So, while we didn't do formal math, handwriting, a phonics lesson, history, fine arts stuff, I would still call this week educational and a total success. Yay for low tide!Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-49058145108809794852016-03-15T20:19:00.001-04:002016-03-16T21:41:11.941-04:00Lots of nature study happening here!I knew <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2016/02/areas-where-we-are-doing-charlotte.html" target="_blank">we could do better with nature study</a>, and I'm glad that we are making progress. My main goal is to get us all outdoors, observing nature, and just being out in creation. The sketching and nature notebooks can come later.<br />
<br />
We are having a warm burst of weather and took advantage today by meeting up with other homeschoolers at a nature park. It was new to us, and we will be back. It has a pond, trails, and wooded areas to explore and we saw two little snakes, some flowers starting to bud, rotting logs, and a lot of wild onion grass.<br />
<br />
The sunshine and warm weather did wonders for my well-being. The weather looks good for tomorrow, so we're going to try and do the same thing, only this time at a different nature park.<br />
<br />
One of my kids isn't super thrilled about being out in nature (this is boring! I want to go to a playground!) sigh. I hope more outings with friends at fun places will help on that front. Once we got going with things, the attitude improved.<br />
<br />
At home, we have enjoyed observing a lot of birds. This weekend I restocked our bird feeders and added a suet feeder (no takers on that one yet, that we've seen). So many visitors! At least a dozen varieties. We also saw Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, right on schedule, waddling through our yard and finding a place for the nest.<br />
<br />
I had a child's pair of binoculars and a bird field guide laying on the window sill and we used that to get a little more out of our watching. All of the kids were really into it, and I love how naturally it all came together.<br />
<br />
Looking forward to getting to know more of these creatures.<br />
<br />
Last, we are the proud owners of 3 hermit crabs. In our experience, hermit crabs are easy to care for and also entertaining to watch. One decided to molt immediately after settling into its new home, so who knows. We added some playmobil toys to see how they like climbing on them.<br />
<br />
We will read Holling's Pagoo coming up.<br />
<br />
kbye<br />
<br />Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-52377740529367487732016-02-25T16:56:00.002-05:002016-02-25T16:56:58.443-05:00Progress report and review: RightStart MathI am so pleased with RightStart Math. We are using the 2nd ed. of level B and are on lesson #63/140.<br />
<br />
I do get why some moms are a little intimidated by the teacher-intensive aspect of it. You are doing a lesson one-on-one with the child, and they may have a worksheet here and there to do independently but for the most part it involves the teacher's direct attention.<br />
<br />
I get that some would prefer math to be more independent. Hand the child a worktext or DVD course, let them do the work and then check/review with them later.<br />
<br />
For some situations, that model makes plenty of sense. For me and my purposes right now, I absolutely want math to be one-on-one. More intense, yes. More work on my part, well sure. As we get on down the road and I'm adding more independent work for my eldest, I think I'd rather have <i>other</i> subject areas be more independent, vs. make changes to what we're doing with math (as I see it from this point). I trust RightStart and I'm going to make it work.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If you're juggling <a href="http://lextinacademy.blogspot.com/2015/05/my-thoughts-on-teaching-multiple-levels.html" target="_blank">multiple levels of RightStart</a> at once, spread across a few children, this is a helpful post on ideas on how to get it done.</blockquote>
<br />
A typical RightStart day starts with a "warmup" which is a very quick review and verbal mental math to get the child in math mode. It also helps review concepts and see if there are areas that need more work. It's quick. My son sometimes complains: "I know this already!" "I know. It's just a few problems. Do them with a good attitude so we can move on to what's new for today."<br />
<br />
The warmups are so helpful, as they are fairly quick and painless reviews on topics. I do not recommend skipping them in level B. Maybe level A, if it is so very clear that the child knows it forwards and backwards.<br />
<br />
The lesson begins, and we might use the abacus, square plastic tiles, a geoboard, whatever. The RightStart manipulatives kit has a wide variety of items, and all that we've used so far have been well-made and effective.<br />
<br />
There might be a worksheet, and sometimes I'm instructed to let my child do it independently. Sometimes I'm instructed with various prompts as he does it. The worksheets are concise. You aren't doing pages of the same thing.<br />
<br />
Often, the TM will include a game to use as additional learning and practice. RightStart says 15 minutes of playing a math game is roughly equivilent to doing a worksheet. Except, they aren't doing a worksheet, they are doing a game! YAY!<br />
<br />
I find it easy to gloss past the games and not do them, and that is a practice I need to remedy. The games do provide practice in important areas. It is a part of the program and it isn't considered optional. I think the main hangup, is sometimes it takes us a little bit to figure out the rules of the game. It can take awhile to play, and sometimes the setup (usually a card game) is suddenly very enticing to my 2nado.<br />
<br />
Some RightStart families handle this by doing regular RS lessons 4 days a week, and doing all the suggested games on the 5th. Or, having dad play the games with the kids. OR, siblings playing games with each other. OR, popping on a video/giving the 2nado a usually off-limits toy and playing the game out of her reach.<br />
<br />
We had to slow waaay down a few lessons back, when we were doing place value to the thousands. RightStart did a great job of making the child understand what was going on with the base 10 system. I had no problem slowing it down, because I think it helped my child ruminate on what was going on. By the end of that cluster of lessons, he totally got it and was adding 4-digit numbers with ease. Hoo-ah!<br />
<br />
Now, we're back to one lesson per day. I've noticed that these lessons are quick and seem simple to him, which is a nice mental break.<br />
<br />
He really enjoys this program and I am so thrilled.<br />
<br />
We will continue onward at his pace, whether that's one lesson per day, or one per week, doing just a portion at a time. And yes, I need to find a way to make sure the games happen more or less as scheduled.<br />
<br />
<br />Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-91830950488127960102016-02-25T16:39:00.001-05:002016-02-25T16:39:38.085-05:00Areas where we are doing the Charlotte Mason method well, and where we can improveSome of Charlotte Mason's methods are being implemented here quite well. Others are falling short. I'm taking a look at how things are going in our home school and areas where we can improve. This will help guide my personal reading list ahead of planning, but it will also help me be more intentional with our day-to-day.<br />
<br />
Here are some of Mason's methods, boiled down to a bullet point (and that's not fair, but for the sake of brevity!) and how it's looking at our house:<br />
<br />
<h4>
Things going well:</h4>
<br />
<b>Short lessons</b>: Yes! That's easy to manage. At this age, 15-20 minutes tops per subject is plenty. The goal is to have focused attention during that time.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Living books</b>: I'll call it a "yay!" We read some great books together -- books full of ideas, books that aren't talking down to the children, books that use interesting language. I do allow them to check out "twaddle" from the library, however. I want them to know they have that freedom in choice.<br />
<br />
My 5yo isn't yet reading, so she looks at the pictures and if she requests, I will read a particular book to her. I do not go out of my way to read one of those fluffier LEGO Friends (or whatever) books. Instead, when I read to her I give her a choice between two living books. My son really enjoys non-fiction, and will often choose an encyclopedia of "dry facts" for himself. Ok!<br />
<br />
<b>Math</b>: Our program (RightStart) focuses on understanding, uses good manipulatives. I think Mason would approve. We are almost to the halfway point of level B, and I am such a fan. So is my son.<br />
<h4>
Things going so-so:</h4>
<br />
<b>Narration</b>: J will narrate chapters or other readings for me upon request and usually does so cheerfully. I'm not consistent about requiring narrations after every reading. (Need to read my copy of SCM's guide on narration).<br />
<br />
<b>Picture study</b>: When we do it, it goes well and is roughly CM. Roughly, because we aren't spending a term on one artist at the moment, but are doing a more general overview of a variety of artists. We spend time looking at 2-3 of their works, since that's all I typically have of a particular artist in my set. I can see how CM is wise in focusing on one artist and really getting to know him or her for a time is better.<br />
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<b>Slow readings</b>: Rather than tear through a book as quickly as possible, if we spread out the readings and take time to absorb it, I find that we have better retention and enjoyment. I think it's ok to binge-read a book that we can't put down, but I also think it's worthwhile to take some time with it. Sometimes I read more than I probably should aloud (but really, when they beg for just one more chapter, it is HARD to say no!).<br />
<br />
The goal isn't getting through a set quantity of books; the goal is to experience and absorb quality literature and allow time for making connections. After learning more about the importance of slower readings and trying the practice myself, I am seeing just how our interaction with a book is different when we read fast vs. read over time. I retain more, I make more connections, and I remember more long-term.<br />
<h4>
Areas where significant improvement is needed:</h4>
<br />
<b>Nature study</b>: We just aren't doing it! LAME. While we are reading from living nature books, we also need to ahem, get out there and be outside, observing, drawing and being. Plan for improvement: We are doing some outdoor meet-ups with friends coming up and will dress for the weather. Spring is also coming, which ought to help. We are going to some parks that do not have playground structures. This will help us focus on the great outdoors. Playgrounds are fun, but it can be harder to accomplish nature study when swings and slides are beckoning.<br />
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<b>Memorization and recitation</b>: This has fallen by the wayside.<br />
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I am reading "Consider This" by Karen Glass and would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone interested in Charlotte Mason education, but classical education as well.<br />
<br />
<br />Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-6802883096896235232016-02-20T16:15:00.000-05:002016-02-20T16:15:12.321-05:00Considering elementary science optionsMy 7-year-old son loves science. He wants to be an engineer at NASA, and his favorite types of science are astronomy, meteorology, physics, and engineering. He's such a science nut that he likes to ask people, "What's your favorite type of science?!" as a conversation starter. Haha!<br />
<br />
Right now, I have been pretty low-key with our science studies. Library books on various topics, book purchases, documentaries and online videos, reading stuff on the NASA website -- stuff like that.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If you have Amazon Instant, I recommend<i> Popular Mechanics for Kids </i>seasons 1-4, which is available for free right now. It's a crowd-pleaser for my 7yo and 5yo. I learned some things too, when I paid attention.</blockquote>
<br />
We don't do much in the way of hands-on demos or experiments, though I have attempted it on random occasions.<br />
<br />
I like Charlotte Mason methodologies, which at this age would have science solely as nature study. Lots of time outdoors observing, nature notebooks to sketch observations and add notations, living books on the topic.<br />
<br />
This is to help the child familiarize himself with what he can sense in the world around him and get a deeper understanding of how the world works. Why read about the life cycle of a plant in a dry textbook when you can observe it first-hand? Why read dry facts about types of birds when you can observe them in their natural environment, color/sketch, learn about them from an engaging book? It should hone their observation skills and help them make connections.<br />
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I love CM's nature study in principle and I intend to do it. Possibly use SCM's bird study this year, or maybe next?<br />
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It's just, my young scientist would like much more. Part of the privilege in a custom home education is that I can provide that for him.<br />
<br />
But how?<br />
<br />
Some of the elementary science curriculum I have seen on the market just...ugh. Either too much busy work, too textbooky, talking down to the child, lame experiments or demos, complicated pieces ... all of this can contribute to science just plain not getting done.<br />
<br />
Not cool.<br />
<br />
I'm evaluating a few curricula that I hope will help save me time vs. doing something myself, have a sense of order, teach science, use living books, use interesting experiments and demos, be fun and worth our time. I don't have my choice finalized.<br />
<br />
For the time period coming up, I am going to focus on my son's interests. My next child is 5 and isn't all that interested in science at the moment. She can participate in the read-alouds and experiments, but I think as she gets older I will choose our science more with her interests in mind. We'll see.<br /><br />Here is what I'm considering so far. More options may come on the scene.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Noeo Science Physics I.</b> Leaning strongly toward the Physics option coming up because of my son's preferences, but I think the chem looks interesting, too. Uses books, hands-on experiments (and includes a kit I can get). Uses Young Scientist Club kits, which I've heard are iffy in execution, so we'll see. Noeo also has a biology option but my son doesn't have a strong interest (we will get to bio eventually, but I think for now nature study ought to be enough).</li>
<li><b>Elemental Science Classic</b>: Either the Earth Science & Astronomy for grammar stage, or their Physics for grammar stage. Leaning more toward Earth Sci for this offering, as their physics looks a little more advanced and the sequence might make more sense to do earth & space. I suspect my son already understands a lot of these concepts, but maybe we can go in more depth here. Uses some living books (I think?) and hands-on experiments. I can buy a supply kit. The author references the WTM methodology, and it seems that if I want to do the WTM way, this curriculum would help me achieve that with less work on my part.</li>
<li><b>Earth Science & Astronomy</b> as suggested by The Well-Trained Mind. I would need to outline a plan here and make sure it gets done. Eep. From the book (3rd ed.): "...pick and choose your topics; don't expect to cover everything in these books. Follow the student's interest. Your aim is simply to introduce the study of earth sience and astronomy (and to enjoy it)." (p. 167). I guess grab some of the recommended books (many are Usborne encyclopedias, some are more specific and from other publishers. Map out a plan, read and narrate, choose an experiment? Seems too broad and DIY for what I can handle. Might not get done.</li>
<li><b>History of Science</b> by Beautiful Feet. Takes a biography approach and some hands-on experiments, and a timeline for these people. I suspect it is more literature-based than hands-on. We've read 1.5 of the books used in the program, and they were excellent. I might not do the guide as-is, but I can see using the books in some form. Maybe combining it with another program?</li>
</ul>
<div>
I don't know! What do you do for science?</div>
Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-81168682726070675012016-01-31T20:13:00.002-05:002016-01-31T20:13:38.880-05:002nd semester of 1st grade; thinking aheadIt only takes a slight mention from a fellow homeschooling friend on the matter of curriculum to get me in that thought process, too. It seems that January/February is a time of reflection and thinking ahead.<br />
<br />
My state convention isn't until the end of April this year, so I have some time to 1. enjoy where we are right now and 2. consider options for the upcoming year.<br />
<br />
I need to pump the brakes a little before I get too far ahead of myself.<br />
<br />
My plan:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Map out the rough remainder of my son's 1st grade year</li>
<li>Put together my own reading list of books to at least skim before making any hard decisions for next year. (a future post, if I remember)</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
I just re-read my <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2015/09/september-update-and-time-for-some.html" target="_blank">plan from September</a>, and we are still keepin' on. Oh, and here's <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2015/07/goals-for-1st-grade-and-curriculum.html" target="_blank">my post on goals and curriculum for 1st grade</a>.<br />
<br />
Rough plan for the remaining semester:<br />
<br />
Continue with Long Story Short for Bible and discussion. We are all really enjoying this book, which has us read from our Bibles (you may use any translation) with discussion questions.<br />
<br /><b>Math:</b> I wasn't so sure about RightStart math level A. As an introductory level, it was just harder for me to see the big picture. But level B? I am loving RightStart and so is my son. We will continue at a reasonable pace, slowing down when concepts need a little bit of time to sink in (so, maybe doing a half lesson per day), breaking it up with some Math Mammoth (most recently when we were taking a full break from RightStart, I had J do some of the telling time units).<br />
<br />
I am not concerned with completing this level by the end of our 180 day count. I intend to have math year-round (roughly) with short breaks as needed vs. taking a few months away from math over the summer.<br />
<br /><b>Handwriting:</b> I bought the first volume of A Child's Copybook Reader from Simply Charlotte Mason. J is copying a page or few of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" right now and I prefer this over the free copywork pages they have available. This option has a cleaner font. His handwriting has improved so much over the last few months. Will likely continue with vol. 2 when it comes time.<br />
<br /><b>Reading</b>: Well...we finished most of All About Reading level 3, and then my son was just tired of it. He wanted to read to me and to himself instead of having formal reading lessons. He completed all but 3 of the remaining straight phonics lessons, and left more than a few of the stories in the reader untouched.<br />
<br />
As of now, I don't plan on purchasing level 4 for him. For the remainder of phonics instruction, I'm not sure if I will do informal lessons as they come up with real books, or if I will use the AAR level 4 table of contents as a guide for what to cover. Alternatively, we can cover phonics from an encoding approach. I haven't decided if we will do All About Spelling, Rod & Staff spelling, or some other approach.<br />
<br />
<b>History</b>: We are using a modified version of SCM's Ancients guide. Despite my initial enthusiasm, I just didn't like the setup of the guide. I made my own table and that seemed to help, but it just felt clunky to me. I decided to stop doing Bible readings from the guide and switched to Long Story Short. I decided to skip the geography component (though I did borrow some of the suggested library books). We read and enjoyed Boy of the Pyramids.<br />
<br />
We're now back to Ancient Egypt & Her Neighbors and the Stuff they Left Behind portfolio. Though we've only read 6 of 20 chapters, I think it is worth it for us to keep moving forward and finish it, more or less. Perhaps 1 chapter per week?<br />
<br />
I need to look at the guide to see if there are other books I should consider scheduling. I know they recommend a commentary on Exodus coming up, and we might try that.<br />
<br />
Back in September, I gave a brief start to American history. It was a bust. My son just wasn't taking interest, and I figured we could just keep our focus on the ancients and add it later<br />
<br />
<b>Nature study</b>: We are enjoying Outdoor Secrets and have several chapters remaining. Perhaps one per week, and go-along activities as desired. As far as us going outside ... well ... ugh. I am not an outdoorsy person and I don't like being cold. While I know how to layer up, I seem to be cold until it hits 80 outside. My kids tend to stay in if it's cold and I know we really should go outside, even if only for a short walk or short time to observe something outdoors. The temps have been warm this weekend (upper 50s!) and we were at the playground for awhile, at least. But yah.<br />
<br />
<b>Music appreciation</b>: I am happy with our Amazing Musical Instruments! resource, but also Beethoven's Wig and misc. songs. The kids are particularly obsessed with a 15 or so minute long Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Church bells (?) and cannon fire in a song? Yup. Do it. They also like "Hall of the mountain King" by Grieg and do an interpretive dance that involves them pretending to sneak in a pyramid searching for treasure, tripping a defensive mechanism and needing to escape on a Pegasus. I don't even know. But they have fun!<br />
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<b>Drawing</b>: FAIL. We haven't done much at all lately.<br />
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<b>Picture study</b>: Still doing our thing with the Memoria Press art cards and grabbing a library book on the artist.<br />
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<b>Read alouds</b>: We're almost finished with Twig by Elizabeth Orton Jones. Both kids are enjoying this one. Whereto next? Haven't decided.<br />
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<b>Audio books</b>: Every once in awhile they get on an audio book kick. Most recently, they have enjoyed Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Nim's Island. Oh, and Big Hero 6 on audio. Not sure if it's the same thing as the movie, but I expect it's close :). My science-loving son enjoyed Great Scientists and their Discoveries. He also listened to Who Was Albert Einstein?, and an Encyclopedia Brown volume.<br />
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<b>Read alones</b>: J is nearly finisehd with The New Adventures of the Mad Scientist Club. He really enjoys reading various science non-fiction books, so I'm glad to see him enjoying some fiction as well.<br />
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<b>Free play</b>: I need to give a shout-out to our Keva planks. These things are used daily, and J especially enjoys to build while he listens to me reading to him.<br />
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<b>Field trips</b>: Ahem. Time to get intentional with it.<br />
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<b>Circle time:</b> Also gone by the wayside. In theory, I would want to include habits, catechism, maybe some poetry, maybe some songs. Not happening right now.<br />
<br />
So ah...nothing really new. Overall, 1st grade is going well. I am seeing so much growth in my son, he is learning lots, and we are spending good time together. YAY! I want to enjoy this semester, and I think we will succeed.Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-91895386642905332542015-10-22T09:45:00.003-04:002015-10-22T09:45:57.185-04:001st grade quarter-end progress report: HandwritingI thought I'd break down how various subjects are going around here, as we're roughly a little more than a quarter of the way done with 1st grade. I'll start with handwriting.<br />
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My son completed Handwriting Without Tears K <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2015/09/september-update-and-time-for-some.html" target="_blank">a short while back</a>, and we've moved on to copy work.<br />
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He just finished the last of the copy work selections from Simply Charlotte Mason's Delightful Handwriting. I knew it wouldn't take long, but I'm glad I purchased the pdf anyway, because I will likely use it with my girls.<br />
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I liked the poem, fable and bible verse within. I asked him to do a page per day in his best effort. At this font size, it's 10-15 words at most. I like that it's effortlessly adding punctuation, capitalization, spacing, and spelling. Also, copying real, quality sentences is so much better than meaningless word lists.<br />
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SCM offers a free mega copy work printable when you sign up for one of their email lists. I have that, and I might use that for more copy work while I figure out where to go from here.<br />
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Right now, I think he needs the copying model directly on the page so he can better gauge spacing and size. Eventually though, I hope to have him copying from some other source into a notebook of some kind.<br />
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Eventually, we'll add on cursive.<br />
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For his handwriting, I typically have been handing him his page for the day while I'm gathering our math or reading materials and looking through those to know the lesson of the day.<br />
Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-86389597430917698472015-09-29T21:58:00.000-04:002015-09-29T21:58:19.593-04:00Some independent work while we were away; and thinking about spellingMy girls had a doctor check-up today, so I made a to-do list of school work for my son to do while we were gone. (My husband often works from home, and was home today in case J needed anything. Duh.)<br />
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I gave him a short list:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>His handwriting page for the day</li>
<li>A drawing lesson on DVD</li>
<li>Read a chapter of a book I selected from the library and narrate it to me when I returned</li>
<li>His choice of playing a Wii game or something electronic as an incentive to see it to the end. He chose Wii Sports Resort.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
It went well. His work was completed, except for the book. I wondered if the book I chose was too much, and I think it was. Full text, no illustrations. He just isn't quite there yet. He can read complex words, but when there are too many words on a page he gets overwhelmed. That's fine, it will come with time.<br />
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He was able to tell me about the 2 pages he did read, and I do think he gave it a good effort.<br />
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Next time, I will choose another type of solo reading assignment.<br />
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I know it's challenging to have much independent work at this age. I could have printed a page from our Math Mammoth since that is self-contained. I could have him listen to an audio book. Or, I could tell him to complete a project with his Snap Circuits or Gyrobot or something like that so he could follow instructions (or create something, I suppose) to show me later.<br />
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By the way, J and V? They are SO HELPFUL! SQUEEEE! First of all, Vivie was a model patient today at the doctor's. She was proud to show her sister how it worked, and held her hand while the doc was looking in her ear, whispering in her other ear that she was safe and she was fine. Be still, heart!!<br />
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Also, I asked if they would help me collect the bathroom trash. They did, and I got distracted by something and was shocked and happy to see they took all of the trash to the curb, including the 65-gallon recycling bin. WHAT! Awesome!<br />
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They are happy to help, and I am thrilled to have actual helpful helpers.<br />
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***<br />Johnny has been hinting that it's time to add spelling lessons to his daily work. Ugh, spelling. Whatever way I was taught spelling, it was ineffective. Usually just memorizing spelling lists with no reason behind them and a spelling test on Friday. Worksheets where I would fill in the letters according to their size in letter boxes.<br />
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I learned nothing. Spelling was my lowest score on all standardized tests, always. Pfft!<br />
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I want better for my kids. But oy, the spelling philosophies out there, and the curriculum choices!<br />
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I own the first level of All About Spelling. I'm a big fan of the All About Reading program, so I bought level 1 of AAS without even giving it further thought. All About Learning press advises to begin spelling shortly after completing level 1 of the reading program, and they have their reasons for suggesting that route.<br />
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J is more than a third through level 3 of AAR and we aren't yet doing spelling. Whoops. I tried AAS back when he finished level 1, but it just didn't seem to be the right time.<br />
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I ought to pull it out and just give it a shot, since we already have it.<br />
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Part of me is really NOT interested in using the letter tiles. J doesn't seem to need them that much (we don't use them for the reading program, but I might use them for another child if she needs it). If I have magnetic letter tiles out while my toddler tornado is on the loose...nopenopenope.<br />
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This stage is relatively short, but I do need to anticipate her actions.<br />
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So...part of me is wondering if I can modify it without the tiles, or if that really is a big part of the program. Part of me also does NOT want to spend 20 minutes/day on spelling. Not sure if it will actually take that long.<br />
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ANOTHER part of me is adding up the price to finish the 7 levels of AAS and I'm like ugghghg I will do it if I have to but what else is out there? AAR is such a solid program, I have been able to see that first-hand.<br /><br />So many thoughts.<br />
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IEW has a Phonetic Zoo program with an audio component. That is pricey. Like $300 for all of the levels. But. Is it then more self-directed? You can buy a budget option for $29 with no audio, and you'd need to read it to your child, have another child do it for the student, or heck record it yourself.<br />
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Part of me wonders if J would be able to assist the younger girls with their own spelling later. If Vivie then gains proficiency as a reader, perhaps she could assist J with his spelling. It's easier to read than to spell, imo.<br />
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I don't know! These are early thoughts. Brain dump over. Time for Gilmore Girls and a glass of wine.<br />
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One more thing -- it was rainy today, but warm enough and no thunder. I invited my kids to play outside. They loved it! There's usually thunder in the area. They found a giant worm, made some puddles and mud pies. Good stuff.<br />
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<br />Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-20243052207913439302015-09-09T13:11:00.003-04:002015-09-09T13:11:49.564-04:00September update and time for some tweakin'Well, we've logged 32 days of 1st grade -- time for some updates! I started our count on July 1 to capture any field trips, test-the-waters-on-the-new-curriculum days, and some unschooling days where plenty of learning happened. We started with our more regular routine in early August.<br />
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My purpose was to bank some days early on because we are taking most of December off. Add in some sick days and the sort, and here we are. By the way, we are on cold #2 since July 1. Pfft! Not that bad. Just annoying.<br />
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I am using OneNote to organize my lesson plans and keep records. I LOVE IT. Sort of similar in some ways to Evernote, but OneNote seems better to me for creating notes. Evernote, I prefer for clipping items from the web. I ought to write more about OneNote in the near future.<br />
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For now, the subjects we're doing and how they're going:<br />
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<b>Math: RightStart B 2nd. ed.</b>: Today, we completed lesson #26 "adding 10 to a number." We're switching gears from a few lessons prior, where we worked with quadrilaterals, right triangles and parallel and perpendicular. I love the built-in review with the warm-up activities, the fairly infrequent worksheets (that actually are beneficial; not busywork!), the card games to drill and practice, and the varying nature of our days. I like changing it up vs. sticking with the same thing day in and day out. I feel that level B is certainly more meaty than level A (makes sense) and I think this is giving J a solid foundation. It is going really well!<br />
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A few weeks ago, J thought it would be fun to start with 1+2 = 2, then go 2+2 = 4, then 4+4=8 and so on. He got up to 512 (in his head!!) and then I suggested we move to the white board to keep track of it. I showed him how I was taught to carry the 1 when adding from the ones moving left, and he understood -- but whoops. That is not the RightStart way. They want to make sure the student understands what is actually happening and WHY we are doing that. Their approach is different and we haven't yet reached that lesson.<br />
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<b>Phonics: All About Reading level 3</b>: Midway through lesson 17. Just keepin' on our normal here. Not using the tiles, not using the worksheets, heh! They just don't seem necessary for this particular child, but I may use them for the girls later on. I *do* use the workbook's fluency pages, but we don't remove them from the book. I am fairly confident he will complete this level at some point during this school year, and I am unsure if I will purchase the final level, or if I will use my Phonics Pathways book to touch on the final phonograms, and have him just read aloud to me as fluency practice. Will decide later.<br />
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Recently, I gave him an option to read aloud from a story book to me or do a reading lesson. He read The Tale of Peter Rabbit to me on one occasion, and a Billy and Blaze book on another. I thought he would really enjoy the Billy and Blaze series. I think he sort of does, but didn't have interest really to read more. Shrug.<br />
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<b>Read-alouds</b>: Pulling from our nature study and history selections, library books and also some misc. lit. We are enjoying <i>A Children's Book of Virtues</i> and one crowd-pleaser within it was "St. George and the Dragon," a story about a brave princess AND a brave knight.<br />
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I am not satisfied with my own understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare, so I want to work on that for myself and my children. We read an illustrated children's book retelling A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the kids loved it. I know there are different approaches to Shakespeare, but personally I like the thought of getting familiar with the characters and stories before diving in to his original works. I also grabbed a K<br />
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<b>Handwriting:</b> J finished his Handwriting Without Tears K book and was thrilled to be done with that one. Me, too. The font isn't my favorite. We aren't continuing with their 1st grade level. Instead, I purchased Simply Charlotte Mason's ebook, Delightful Handwriting. We jumped ahead in that book to their first copywork selections -- "The Rain" by Robert Louis Stevenson; next is a very short fable; last is a Proverb. There's only around a dozen pages of this (we do one page per time in his very best handwriting, erasing mistakes). SCM offers some <a href="http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/manuscript-copywork/" target="_blank">free copywork pages</a> too, and I will likely put them to use. Whoa, 360 free pages!<br />
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<b>Nature study</b>: I want to strongly recommend the book "Outdoor Secrets" by Margaret P. Boyle. Oh, what a gem. We've only read the first four stories, and have enjoyed them so much! Fictional stories about say, a century plant, but plenty of factual info woven in. Or in "The Uninvited Guest," we learn more about the earthworm. I bought the ebook from Simply Charlotte Mason, but it looks to be <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=4hM6AQAAMAAJ&rdid=book-4hM6AQAAMAAJ&rdot=1" target="_blank">available in the public domain here</a>. I also have their companion guide -- simple activities, poetry and such to go along with the stories as we choose. When we were discussing earthworms, we also read about them in A Handbook of Nature, and went out in our yard to find some (Vivie helped us with that task; she knew right where to go. Atta girl!).<br />
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<b>Ancient history</b>: Hmm. This one is being modified somewhat. I'm using SCM's Genesis-Deut. & Ancient Egypt guide and we are about 24 lessons in. I *thought* I would find the guide very open-and-go, but something about it just was a huge stall point for me. I ended up creating a simple table showing which resources would be needed for which lessons and that has helped me <i>a lot</i>.<br /><br />The format right now is 3 days of bible reading, 1 day of geography (focus on Africa), 1 day from a history spine/library book/stuff they left behind pictures.<br />
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Last week, I started adding in the devotional book Long Story Short and jumped to where we are with the SCM guide (Abraham & Isaac at the moment). Too soon to tell with that, but I like it so far, anyway.<br />
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The spine they are using is interesting so far, but we are only 2 chapters in. I like the "stuff they left behind" resource for a visual and extra info. Next term, we will read Boy of the Pyramids and I am looking forward to that, as the reviews seem promising.<br />
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Map work is going well -- J can identify something like 10 countries now on a blank map.<br />
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Final verdict on the history resource is out for now.<br />
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<b>American history</b>: I wanted to start our study of American history, since our study of the ancients is really really light on age-appropriate literature. Books on ancient Egypt and the pyramids and such abound, but lit? Not so much. That's part of why I'm excited about Boy of the Pyramids.<br />
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Anyway, I think starting a 2nd stream of history should be doable right now. If not, I can make adjustments. I've selected TruthQuest History: American history for Young Students vol. 1 (exploration through 1800). The guide will help us work our way through the time period, using good books. Read + discuss. Enjoy.<br />
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We are only just getting started. Haven't even finished our first book, Leif the Lucky by D'Aulaire yet, but so far so good. At this time, I don't think I will reach for a spine. Right now, J isn't super interested in history, so I want to spark his interest in the people and stories by using living books.<br /><br />Viv was randomly browsing Google Maps to see what she could see, and I was stunned when she zoomed in on Greenland, and more specifically<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@61.1514153,-45.5178093,3a,84.1y,342.3h,97.8t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0QHtbCYLz-GSlSEW2sYkEQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D0QHtbCYLz-GSlSEW2sYkEQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D-28.15%26pitch%3D-23.47!7i13312!8i6656" target="_blank"> a statue of Leif in the town of Qassiarsuk</a>. Not sure the odds of that, but oh how I love Google Maps. I don't think I'll be getting to Qassiarsuk anytime soon.<br />
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<b>Spanish</b>: Nada. Lo siento.<br />
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<b>Fine arts</b>: We're enjoying picture study. I'm using a cobbled-together collection of art cards from Memoria Press. I was hoping artists would have more than 2-3 works, but so far that's the most I'm noticing. Oh well, brief intro to various works from various artists. We can linger with an artist a la Charlotte Mason more properly later, I guess.<br />
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We enjoyed two works from Henri Matisse (well...I should say we looked at them. J liked his goldfish painting, but the Red Room, he was like..."why did he make the tablecloth look exactly like the wall? I would have done it differently. Also, why is that chair pointing away from the table? It is supposed to be pushed in.") Not impressed, Henri.<br />
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I'm adding on library books about the artist for extra works to look at, plus some bio. Fun. Easy.<br />
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The orchestra book is helpful and serving my purposes well. The CD-ROM component is useful.<br />
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We've finished 3 lessons of the Art Class drawing DVDs and so far, so good. I'm a leeetle annoyed at the instructor talking to the audience all "hi, boys and girls! welcome back to the art class club" or whatever she is calling it. Just get to it! Maybe some kids go for it, idk. Whatever, it is mostly serious and J is enjoying it.<br />
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Incidentally, I came across a "I can't pass this up" deal on Home Art Studio DVDs. Um. It might have been a mistake. I previewed the first lesson of the K level, and the project was not appealing, and the "you can do this like a real artist!" sort of talk was very...no. Not our thing. J did not want to do the project and Vivie sorta did, but we didn't end up doing it. I'm going to browse through the pdf file that came with the DVD and maybe preview some more on my own. We might pick and choose which projects to do instead of doing them all. J looked at the pdf with me and thinks the projects look babyish. Uh-oh. Might need to do just a select few then and see what the next level has in store. I'm hopeful the higher levels look less babyish to him.<br />
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<b>Audio books</b>:<br />
<br />
I deviate some from Charlotte Mason (I would think...) in that I allow plenty of audio books and maybe even some audio twaddle on occasion. Heh.<br />
<br />
I allow audio books as they are laying in bed and also in the car. I offer audio books during the day just while playing, but so far, no takers. I've been playing an audio book while I'm cleaning up the kitchen, and if I have any listeners join me, ok. I've tried some selections from Edith Nesbit's Stories from Shakespeare and Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin. I'm trying to train my ear to listen to stories instead of just being able to read with my eyeballs. I can do non-fiction on audio, but stories are harder for me. I find that sometimes, I like to slow down and savor a well-written passage or read it again and that is harder on audio.<br />
<br />
Recently, J and V have enjoyed:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (get the free book on Kindle and then the Audible is only a few bucks)</li>
<li>The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat (from the Monty Python guy, lolz) library</li>
<li>Pippi Longstocking, library</li>
<li>Amber Brown is Not a Crayon, library</li>
<li>Jim Weiss Just So Stories, free with Freegal while our library had it</li>
</ul>
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<br />
<b>Mother culture</b>:<br />
<br />
I finished <i>Watership Down</i> by Richard Adams for my own enjoyment. Loved it! Would like to read it again someday, maybe to my older kids, or invite them to read it to themselves and then discuss.<br />
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I read "Desperate: Hope for the Mom who Needs to Breathe" by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson. Some encouragement within. I grabbed it from the library and the font was a little faint which made it harder to read. Would recommend a library copy vs. buying.<br />
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Listened to some podcasts from Read-Aloud Revival and Power of Moms. I didn't care for the RAR episode featuring SWB. Something about it just rubbed me wrong but then again, I'm not a SWB fangirl.<br />
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Watched some documentaries on ancient Egypt, some ancient math. Oh, and Gilmore Girls. Hah. I'm mid-season 7 now. Almost done with Stars Hollow :(<br />
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<b>What could be going better:</b><br />
<br />
Hmm. Too much screen time for all, myself included. Computer, movies/Netflix, tablets. Some of the use could be described as educational, but yah. Way too much screen time.<br />
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We don't have a consistent start time for our day, and that probably in theory should be more predictable.<br />
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While my organization and day-to-day planning is going a little better, it isn't quite as smooth as I would like. I think I'm making good progress though.<br />
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I am putting a lot of focus on my 1st grader right now for school work, and not doing one-on-one time with my toddler like I would prefer. My 4-year-old is getting some one-on-one "school" work with our All About Reading pre-reading level. I am reading aloud to all of them, and age-appropriate books to each kid when I need to pull out the board books or younger-ear books. But yeah. I have three kids. I need to step it up.<br />
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Ok how many words am I at? A LOT. BYE! <3<br />
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<br />Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-59128226456959513832015-07-23T13:34:00.000-04:002015-07-23T13:34:09.236-04:00A year of pre-kindergarten for my 2nd childThis year, my daughter Vivie is 4.5 and we are calling her a pre-kindergartner. She has expressed some interest in learning how to read and having some one-on-one learning time with me.<br />
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She is invited to join us for any and all read-alouds, hands-on projects, and the sort, but she isn't required. I <i>will</i> require her to join us and listen in on the habits/character and Bible lessons.<br />
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<br />
<ul>
<li>Phonics: <a href="http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/all-about-reading-pre-reading/" target="_blank">All About Reading pre-reading</a>. This level (on its way to me) will include some hands-on activities and I suspect some will help improve fine-motor skills while we're at it.</li>
<li>A scissors skills activity book and others of that nature for fine-motor work</li>
<li>Letter formation practice with a chalkboard slate and paper as desired</li>
<li>Math: Mathematical Reasoning pre-k (since I already have it) as I'm not quite ready to start RightStart A with her. Is she ready? Yeah, probably. She has picked up a bit from listening in on Johnny's math. But I'm not.</li>
<li>My Father's World preschool activity cards and associated toys (I purchased an earlier version of this set awhile back). Also, being more deliberate with pulling our our assortment of educational toys and games.</li>
<li>Read-alouds on her level. She will sometimes listen in on a chapter book, but most of the time she is solidly in the picture book camp (and I am 100% cool with that!). What's interesting to me is that while she doesn't like to listen to longer read-alouds when read by me, she loves listening to audio books. </li>
<li>Speech articulation: There are a few sounds she has trouble making properly, and it is causing her a little bit of embarrassment. She has expressed she would like me to work with her on it, and I found a resource that I think will work well: <a href="http://www.superstarspeech.com/" target="_blank">Super Star Speech</a>. I did the initial assessment with her and found that some of her articulation problems are age-appropriate and some are not. I'm already seeing improvement and at this time I don't think we will need outside intervention (though I am open to that if it comes down to it).</li>
</ul>
<div>
I chose All About Reading pre-reading for Viv because after reminding myself of the pace of AAR level 1, I just don't think she is ready for that. The earlier level will meet her more of where she's at, and I think it will provide a firm foundation for her. I am not of the opinion that a 4-year-old <i>needs</i> to learn how to read, even if they are starting to sound out words on their own. Be little!</div>
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<div>
While it seems pricey to me, having something all laid out and prepared for me is worth it, as I have more money than free time at this point in my life.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Jumping back in time for a minute and reflecting on 2 years ago when Johnny was this age, I was roughly doing the same sort of things with him. Baby #3 was born in September 2 years ago though, so we were very low-key for the entire fall semester.</div>
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(See <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2013/07/tentative-plans-for-fall-2013-semester.html" target="_blank">Tentative Plans for Fall 2013</a> and <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2013/07/our-preschool-plans-for-fall-2013.html" target="_blank">more specifics in preschool 2013</a>)</div>
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Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-40711477576667892252015-07-06T16:57:00.001-04:002015-07-06T16:57:41.069-04:00Goals for 1st grade, and curriculum involved<br />
First grade is upon us! In my state, we need to count 180 days of school. Kindergarten wasn't required, but this year starts the really real stuff. For real.<br />
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We can choose when to start the count. I am choosing to go from July 1-June 30 for counting purposes, but we won't necessarily be running full tilt in July (in fact, I guarantee we won't). Still, getting started and having some summer days of cushion makes me feel better.<br />
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I enjoy reading about curricula used, and I like sharing my choices. I am influenced by Charlotte Mason's ideas (but I am not a purist).<br />
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I want to do focused work, and leave plenty of time for play, exploration and following his interests.<br />
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Here is where I'm aiming, and I will make adjustments as necessary.<br />
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<b>Morning meeting</b>:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Day's agenda discussion (brief)</li>
<li>Bible reading (pulling from our Genesis-Deut. readings)</li>
<li>Memory work (poetry, hymns, scripture)</li>
<li>Habits: <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/laying-down-the-rails-bundle/" target="_blank">Laying Down the Rails</a> from Simply Charlotte Mason</li>
<li>Prayer</li>
</ul>
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<b>Daily</b>:<br />
<ul>
<li>Math: <a href="http://rightstartmath.com/" target="_blank">Rightstart</a> Level B, 2nd ed.</li>
<li>Phonics: <a href="http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/" target="_blank">All About Reading</a> finishing level 2 and starting level 3</li>
<li>Handwriting: Finishing Handwriting Without Tears level K and starting Simply Charlotte Mason's <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/delightful-handwriting/" target="_blank">Delightful Handwriting</a></li>
<li>History/Bible/Geography: <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/genesis-deuteronomy-ancient-egypt/" target="_blank">Simply Charlotte Mason's Genesis-Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt</a> guide. Ancient Egypt and other locations and events in ancient times are the historical focus, and Africa is the focus for geography. Also using SCM's <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/the-stuff-they-left-behind-portfolios/" target="_blank">The Stuff They Left Behind e-portfolio</a> (Ancient Egypt) and their <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/visits-to-geography-series/" target="_blank">Visits to Africa</a> geography e-book. Planning to buy Boy of the Pyramids and possibly the Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors book, but will read the sample chapters aloud to J first, and then decide whether to purchase and which format might be best.</li>
<li>Read-alouds!</li>
<li>Play outside!</li>
<li>Create something (crafts, art projects, building with blocks/Lego/misc. materials...whatever! Create!)</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Fine arts loop</b>: (more info on <a href="http://amongstlovelythings.com/looping-task-management-for-recovering/" target="_blank">loop scheduling</a> here)</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Picture study: <a href="http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/art-cards" target="_blank">Memoria Press art cards </a></li>
<li>Music appreciation: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Those-Amazing-Musical-Instruments-Orchestra/dp/1402208251/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=playhomeschool-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=EGFMM4XAD2EBGYQD&creativeASIN=1402208251" target="_blank">Those Amazing Musical Instruments</a>!</li>
<li>Drawing: <a href="http://www.seethelightshine.com/art-class/" target="_blank">Art Class dvd</a> series</li>
<li>Poetry? Not sure if I will "loop" it or have it appear organically elsewhere.</li>
</ul>
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<b>Another loop</b>:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Nature Study: <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/outdoor-secrets/" target="_blank">SCM's Outdoor Secrets</a> and <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/the-outdoor-secrets-companion/" target="_blank">Outdoor Secrets Companion</a></li>
<li>Spanish: <a href="http://cherrydalepress.com/?page_id=15" target="_blank">Speaking Spanish with Miss Mason and Francois</a> published by Cherrydale Press vol. 1; and DVDs, bilingual books and music from the library</li>
<li>Science: Hands-on experiments, living books, DVDs/Netflix documentaries, etc. in a survey of various science topics. Aim to have this interest-led somewhat, digging deeper into topics of interest and introducing new areas.</li>
</ul>
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<b>Read-alouds</b>:</div>
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<div>
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<div>
I thought about adding poetry to the fine arts loop, perhaps focusing on one poet for a term. But lately, the kids have enjoyed listening to poetry as an element of read-aloud time, so I have been reading from books we have and adding a few titles from the poetry section at the library for each visit. I may loop this one at a later time, we'll see.</div>
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Read-alouds will of course include topics pertaining to our study of Africa, ancient Egypt, living nature books, books on our science topics, etc.</div>
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Also, I will work our way through a booklist of titles on our shelves, titles pulled from books such as The Read-Aloud Handbook, Honey for a Child's Heart, Books Children Love, the Sonlight catalog, etc. </div>
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Most recently, we enjoyed <i>Mr. Popper's Penguins</i> as a longer read-aloud. Oh, the silliness! Next is <i>The Story of Doctor Dolittle</i>. We are two chapters in and J is looking forward to more.</div>
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<b>Audio books</b>: </div>
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<div>
I have one child who enjoys audio books, and one who doesn't. I still hope to have audio books to listen to while we drive around, and perhaps during lunch. For now, familiar books and short stories are working well here. For example, we recently finished <i>Charlotte's Web</i> in the car. I read it to them maybe a year ago? Not sure. So they are familiar with the story already and I think that helps them to keep interest.<br /><br />Right now, I have Stuart Little (also by E.B. White) playing in the car. We have about 30 mins to go, I think. They are hooked. J says he likes listening to books in the car, but nowhere else. I'm working on it.</div>
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<b>DVDs/Netflix</b>:</div>
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I know some families prefer to not have a TV. I think it can be a wonderful tool. We don't have cable, but we have over-the-air stations, and subscriptions to Netflix streaming and Amazon Instant. </div>
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I also will often borrow some DVDs from the library if they have some relevance to something we're studying, or just otherwise seem interesting. </div>
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As I mentioned above, I plan to add Spanish DVDs, but also science-related topics, geography-focused, etc.<br />
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<b>Outside activities</b>:<br />
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Still sorting this one out. I don't want to have a lot of time commitments right now. We will likely do one-off programs at the library, field trips and park days. Oh, and the gym & swim 8-week class and/or private swim lessons.<br />
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<b>Scheduling</b>:<br />
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I like flexibility to change things up from day to day, month to month. I think I would like to view the school year in 6 terms. Perhaps July-August; Sept-Oct.; Nov.-Dec.; Jan.-Feb.; Mar.- April; May-June.<br />
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The amount of work/type of work/intensity of it might vary from term to term, and that's ok and desired (by me). I loved having a Christmas-y December last year, for instance. It's a good opportunity to take a break from the routine and infuse the time with a different style of learning.<br />
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The actual nitty-gritty scheduling of a term's contents and how that might translate to a week or a day still has me a bit perplexed. I think for now, I will map out the frequency of the subject areas I want to hit, throw it in a spreadsheet and "do the next thing" when it comes time. For example, rather than scheduling which lessons to do in math on which days, just write in "RightStart" and then add the lesson number completed/worked on in the appropriate day. Like so:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9HfxRznlyCmkplX4d9RbKzLMNAqn8KD2AcH13gIZPG1LYBV7KAl5paNItFTFNXBqatMsZhxLdy5vYgXumoF755LzXK4T-3Ew-b3BLfKdbwB4AMQCps9OtuR_LWurVAG_zqax-blkjMg2b/s1600/weekly+grid+picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9HfxRznlyCmkplX4d9RbKzLMNAqn8KD2AcH13gIZPG1LYBV7KAl5paNItFTFNXBqatMsZhxLdy5vYgXumoF755LzXK4T-3Ew-b3BLfKdbwB4AMQCps9OtuR_LWurVAG_zqax-blkjMg2b/s320/weekly+grid+picture.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This chart is a work in progress, but I thought it would be helpful to show you what I mean. This is in landscape mode and I think, after printing it, that I might prefer portrait mode and perhaps 2 pages for 1 week instead of it all on one page. I will need to fiddle with it.<br />
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Ok, this post has been in draft mode long enough. Time to hit publish and just get on with things!<br />
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Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-63362218804149059302015-05-21T13:03:00.000-04:002015-05-21T13:03:43.105-04:00Reflecting back on my firstborn's kindergarten yearWe are wrapping up my firstborn's kindergarten year, and I thought I'd process some thoughts on how our year went.<br />
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Last July, I wrote about my <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2014/07/thoughts-and-goals-for-my-sons.html" target="_blank">thoughts and goals for kindergarten</a>, with a <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2014/07/plans-and-curriculum-choices-for.html" target="_blank">follow-up on how I planned to meet those goals with various curriculum and such</a>.<br />
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This was a fun year. Johnny agrees, but he would also find some things to gripe about. I encountered some attitude and resistance for math for awhile, and there were definitely periods of just crabby attitude in general whenever I asked him to do something school-related. We are still working on this, and I also think it is just a maturity thing.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">To recap, my overall goals for his kindergarten year:</span><br />
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Keeping learning fun. Not stressful. Kindergarten! <b>Went well for the most part</b></li>
</ul>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Reading instruction/build confidence with reading <b>YES! READING IS GOING SO WELL!</b></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Build a mathematical-thinking foundation <b>Yep, coming along</b></li>
</ul>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Learn how to properly form lowercase letters <b>In progress</b></li>
</ul>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Be exposed to a variety of good literature through read-alouds, audio books, and reading to himself. <b>Yes! And we are using some audio books though he doesn't like them as much as me reading to him, or him reading to himself. Still, I like this for when we are driving.</b></li>
</ul>
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Bible study</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">: We kept it simple with reading from Bible storybooks, reading through Matthew straight from the Bible, some verse and hymn memorization.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Phonics:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> We completed level 1 of All About Reading awhile ago and are nearly done with level 2. We decided to scrap the worksheets with level 2. He didn't want to do them; he just wanted to read. Fine by me. I like the stories in the reader and how they progressively get more complex. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">We don't use the letter titles or flashcards. I plan to finish up level 2 and keep doing what we're doing with level 3. Johnny reads very well, but there are still plenty of phonics combos he hasn't mastered yet, and I think AAR does an excellent job of bringing us through in a fun and doable way. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Also, I appreciate how the stories in the readers get progressively longer and more complex. All in all, I'm a huge fan of AAR and I realize the price tag is a bit steep, but if you can use it for more than one child (or sell later or both) it really is an excellent value. You can't really put a price tag on the value of learning to read in a painless way.</span></span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Math:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> </span><a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2014/06/kindergarten-math-several-possibilities.html" style="background-color: white; color: #6699cc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RightStart math level A</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">, 2nd edition. Started out strong, ended with kind of a fizzle. We are still using it, and are adding in more of the games from their game book. I am going through the level A objectives and ticking off what he has down solid, looking to see what still needs attention, and will keep plugging ahead. Level B will revisit these topics and more, and go deeper so we can just move on, I think.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Handwriting:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> His writing is improving, as he continues making cards, comics and other projects. Possibly a result of comics, but he favors writing in all caps. We are working on lowercase formation now. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Science/crafts/poetry/music/nature/etc.:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> We used My Father's World K for parts of this and ended quietly. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Didn't end up using Five in a Row, except we have read and enjoyed many of the books. </span><br />
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<b>Poetry</b> -- I am reading poetry from various books. It has gone from total resistance ("I don't like poetry!") to enjoyment. Recently, we started adding poetry memorization. He has memorized 3 poems ("The Purple Cow"; "What Can I Give Him?" by Christina Rosetti"; and "Who Has Seen the Wind?" by Rosetti).<br />
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<b>Science </b>-- MFWK ideas as they came up, plus J is super into astronomy so we have been running with that. Observing, reading books, checking out NASA videos, visiting the NASA web site and more. We were able to make a stop at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland and check out their NASA exhibit. Very cool.<br />
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For <b>read-alouds</b>, I used the MFWK booklist, FIAR titles, titles from the Read-Aloud Handbook, Honey for a Child's Heart, Sonlight lists...anywhere I could find a list, I pulled from it for our library holds and some purchases.<br />
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I know some parents are eager to dive right in to chapter books. I had that same temptation, but I realized a few things. This is a wonderful time to keep reading great picture books and I don't want to miss those. Also, listening to longer books with fewer illustrations is a skill and we have to work our way there.<br />
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Johnny enjoys listening to chapter books and Viv sometimes does, but she still prefers picture books by far and I will continue to invite all 3 to enjoy picture books with me.<br />
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Some favorite recent read-alouds:<br />
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<ul>
<li>My Father's Dragon (a great first chapter book to read aloud!)</li>
<li>Mr. Popper's Penguins (we started this last week on vacation and J can't get enough)</li>
<li>Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective</li>
</ul>
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Picture books:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Roxaboxen; Miss Rumphius (Barbara Cooney -- love her work)</li>
<li>Mr. Pine's Purple House; Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs and more</li>
<li>Big Susan</li>
<li>(anything carried by <a href="http://purplehousepress.com/index.htm" target="_blank">Purple House Press</a> that we've borrowed or bought has been worthwhile!)</li>
<li>...I'm drawing a blank, maybe I can revisit my notes and come up with a read-aloud list more properly later.</li>
</ul>
</div>
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<b>Music</b> -- various classical music CDs and YouTube videos.<br />
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<b>Crafts</b> -- just ad hoc stuff. I try to keep supplies well-stocked and let them have at it.<br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Developing the Early Learner:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> Haven't done much more with this. Would like to. J says he doesn't like workbooks. D'oh.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Field trips:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> Nailed it! We field tripped all over the place, and at least 2x a month like I had hoped. Our field trip group has been a lot of fun, plus some things just as a family. Various science/nature programs, an apple orchard, a dairy farm, the art museum, the zoo, fire station, history museum, fine arts performances (Sleeping Beauty at Beef & Boards; Disney on Ice (ok not fine arts, but hey hey; an orchestra performance for kids), a Valentine's Day party....and more. A lot of variety, too.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Travel:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> We did two family get-aways during the kindergarten year: </span><a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2014/09/highlights-from-september.html" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" target="_blank">a long weekend to Holiday World and Spring Mill State Park</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> in southern Indiana in September, and then in mid-May we went on a week-long trip to the Detroit area, Toronto, a cottage near Algonquin Park in Ontario, Niagara Falls and Great Wolf Lodge, and finally the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. Woosh! Good time, plus some educational aspects and good ol' family time.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Other activities:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"> J and V did a gym & swim class with other homeschoolers and it was a great experience. We will do it again.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><br /></span>
We joined up with a new Charlotte Mason-style co-op starting in April and we attended for 3 weeks. It was fun and we learned some things, but I decided against continuing for the upcoming school year. I think it might work better for us when they are all a little older.<br />
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I'm going to call J a kindergartener until Memorial Day, then I will promote him to 1st. Haven't decided when we will start his 1st grade officially -- still hashing it out. Aww...this year has gone quickly! So fun.<br />
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Overall, we <i>love </i>homeschooling. Johnny told me on several occasions how he was so glad we were together, and how he didn't have to be away all day at a school. We enjoy the freedom and flexibility to pursue specific interests.<br />
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We appreciate being able to take our time with something. Why stop to put away an art project because "time is up" and we need to move on to the next thing? Oh wait. WE DON'T. If we need to move forward faster or slower in a subject, we have and we will continue. If we want to bunny trail and read a ton of books about a topic of interest, we will. If I find an interesting documentary, we can watch it. If it's a beautiful day and we want to play outside, we can. If grandma wants to have us over for lunch, we can do it.<br />
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We can do whatever we want. It is awesome! Plus, we can do things together as a family in a way that we couldn't if he was in a public, private or day-long co-op type of thing. Week-long road trip in mid-May when prices are lower? Don't mind if I do!<br />
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In my state, kindergarten isn't required. This year was a freebie. When I consider his reading and math, I believe he is well above grade-level. Handwriting is perhaps at or maybe a little below -- but he is making steady gains and I'm not worried.<br />
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I'm still finalizing our plans for 1st grade and a rough calendar. That's another post.<br />
<br />Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-33303396705944922472015-04-15T10:15:00.002-04:002015-04-15T10:15:47.960-04:00Some fine arts stuff<b>Music:</b><br />
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We borrowed the "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beethovens-Wig-Sing-Along-Symphonies/dp/B000060OLA/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=playhomeschool-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=N55UMIVE2UBBJDYE&creativeASIN=B000060OLA" target="_blank">Beethoven's Wig</a>" cd from our library awhile back and the kids loved it. I returned it when it was due and they missed it, so I borrowed that and a few others. They would like me to purchase it to keep.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000060OLA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000060OLA&linkCode=as2&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=XHAWGOO4AEHBQ6ZO"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000060OLA&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=playhomeschool-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000060OLA" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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The format of these is such: the first half of the cd are tracks from various composers of classical music. The twist? They've added lyrics, often about the song itself or the composer. Really silly, too. The second half of the cd are the songs without words.<br />
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Vivienne is currently obsessed with Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King. She likes to pretend she's hunting for treasure in a temple, finds it, and then needs to "run for her life" when found by the guards. Oh my.<br />
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I just bought a<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Those-Amazing-Musical-Instruments-Orchestra/dp/1402208251/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=playhomeschool-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=D6DKFKLHLK4O7TJL&creativeASIN=1402208251" target="_blank"> book/cd combo to help the kids learn about the individual instruments in an orchestra</a> and how they work together.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402208251/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1402208251&linkCode=as2&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=6TGDPKEWPTQC6C2Y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1402208251&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a></div>
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Yesterday, we attended a free performance put on by 5 members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. It was part of their Teddy Bear series designed for young kids. The performance helped acquaint the kids with the violin, viola, cello and bass and at the end the kids could try a violin themselves. Fun!<br />
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It is hilarious to hear J and V request a particular composer's music and talk about their favorites. Johnny's current fave is Bach's <i>Minuet in G</i>. He heard it a few months ago around Christmastime and thought it was a Christmas song. He couldn't remember what it was or how it went, and it was driving him crazy for months. He heard it again on Beethoven's Wig #4 and was like !!! We have the full version and he is listening to that one on repeat. Also? They love the Star Wars theme song and they all do their interpretive dances -- even the baby.<br />
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***<br />
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For visual arts...oy. I am not an artist. I can't sketch, either. I would like my kids to learn how to sketch at the very least, so that when we are doing our nature study and recording what we're seeing, the kids (and myself) can have better confidence in our sketching skills.<br />
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I'm interested in a few DVD courses. Not sure if I'll get some or all at some point ;).<br />
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First, I recently placed an order for <a href="http://www.seethelightshine.com/" target="_blank">a cartooning DVD and an Easter DVD</a>. Johnny loves creating his own comic books and he has used the cartooning DVD twice now. My two gripes with the DVD are: no chapter divisions so it makes navigating to a certain section a pain, and the web URL is displayed at the bottom the whole time. Huh?<br />
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For the Easter DVD, we did one project of the 3 so far. Whoops, I didn't have chalk pastels so we used oil with different results, but it was still a nice creation.<br />
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The set includes a black light (!) which will be used with some (or all? I dunno) of the projects. Fun!<br />
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See the Light Art also has a 9-volume (36 lesson) DVD set with lessons in drawing, color blending and so on. It says grades 1+ and I think it will be something Johnny and myself will enjoy. Plus, the lessons include some art history and scripture woven in.<br />
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I haven't picked up this set yet, but it's on my wishlist. Especially now that I see how Pat the artist does her lessons, I think we will like them.<br />
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After Art Class vol. 1, we can follow up with Art Projects -- 9 different projects on DVD. You learn about a particular artist and then create a piece in that artist's style. Looks fun.<br />
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***<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZKX6G4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006ZKX6G4&linkCode=as2&tag=playhomeschool-20&linkId=HWB52526Q2K6OBQY"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B006ZKX6G4&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=playhomeschool-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=playhomeschool-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B006ZKX6G4" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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I considered a DVD series called <a href="http://www.officialhomeartstudio.com/" target="_blank">Home Art Studio</a>. These seem totally different from the above -- more of an artsy craftsy elementary art class kinda thing vs. more of a fine arts approach. There are 6 DVDs available, K-5th grade.<br />
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The instructor teaches some art theory and concepts, talks about some artists and demonstrates various techniques. Each project is different (with like 15-18 projects per level). These seem sort of fun and cute. We don't do many of these types of projects at home -- I'm just not wired to come up with different ideas, I think.<br />
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I might have my kids try a sample lesson online to see how we like it. If it's a hit, I'll pick up a DVD or several. The sample projects though -- I'm just not really excited about the end product. They seem more like something to stick on the fridge until the next project comes along, vs. art instruction. Dunno.<br />
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Right now, <a href="https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/home-art-studio/?c=1" target="_blank">Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op</a> has these for 45-50% off (reg. price $29.99), but they are also available through a few other sources for $24.99 each. Perhaps I can find a coupon code to bring the price down.<br />
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***<br />
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The last art DVD series I'm considering is <a href="http://www.creatingamasterpiece.com/" target="_blank">Creating a Masterpiece</a>. This is the program recommended by Simply Charlotte Mason, and <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/creating-a-masterpiece/" target="_blank">the SCM store</a> is the only place where you can buy the DVDs now. Otherwise, you'll need to buy a subscription for video streaming from Creating a Masterpiece.<br />
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I love how the end products are supposed to turn out, and there are young children who can create impressive works.<br />
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I kind of am tempted to get some of these DVDs for myself! Part of me wants to grab some DVDs from SCM now, because apparently these aren't going to be available anymore? For one DVD it is $35, or 6 for $179. Or, it is $39/month or $299/12m on the subscription site. Pricey.<br />
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With the subscription site, I'd have access to more projects, but will I do enough to get my money's worth? Nope.<br />
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I think for now, I will wait with this one.<br />
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.***<br />
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<b>Art as part of our co-op:</b><br />
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We are joining a new Charlotte Mason-y co-op coming up! We are starting out with Spanish, poetry recitation, physical movement, and art creation. Luckily, one of the moms is a trained artist and art teacher! EEE! Excited!Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-44204711691530182252015-03-09T10:55:00.000-04:002015-03-09T10:55:23.861-04:00I have to gush about Scribd -- unlimited ebooks AND audiobooks what!It started with the <a href="http://amongstlovelythings.com/read-aloud-revival-the-podcast/" target="_blank">Read-Aloud Revival</a> podcast, getting me to think about audio books again. They have been hit-or-miss with my children, and it was fairly infrequent. <br />
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We have had a really good week with audio books, and I wanted to share why I think it's working, and gush about <a href="https://www.scribd.com/" target="_blank">Scribd</a>.<br />
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What is working:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Letting them listen to books they are familiar with (either I've read it to them before, or they are familiar with the characters, etc.)</li>
<li>Letting them listen at bedtime</li>
<li>Listening in the van </li>
<li>Short books/short listening times</li>
</ul>
<div>
I have borrowed CD books from the library, downloaded some for free from the library, bought some cheap ones from Audible, and I now subscribe to Scribd. Scribd is my favorite thing right now! I wish there was a referral program. Bummer.</div>
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I also signed up for a promotional price deal from Audible, but I won't likely continue with it. The deal is 3 months at $7.49/month, and 1 credit per month. One credit = one book. With membership, you can also purchase titles at at least 30% off regular price.</div>
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If you own a Kindle ebook version, you can sometimes get a discounted audio book of that title.</div>
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So, I can buy 3 books or collections of books (whatever they are selling for 1 credit) for $22.47 during my promo time. After that, it is $14.95/m for 1 credit. </div>
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Or. I can spend $8.99/month with Scribd and have <i>unlimited </i>access to tons of audio books and plenty of ebooks. Yep, the Netflix for audio and ebooks is an appropriate description. From what I've seen so far, there are many duplicate ebooks from Audible to Scribd.</div>
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The downside of Scribd, for some, is you need to use either your computer, smart phone, tablet or Kindle Fire to access the Scribd app. You cannot transfer files to a more basic MP3 player. You CAN save files for offline listening.</div>
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I don't care for the search feature, in that there is no filter. I don't want to search for a children's book and have some steamy romance novel cover show up. My kids don't need to see that. So, I save books ahead of time in their own "collection." </div>
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For what we get for the price, you can't beat it. You can't buy an Audible credit for that price aside from promos, and public libraries typically have digital limitations. My own allows us only 5 digital titles at once, and I'm unable to return the downloaded audio book ahead of time to free up space for another book. I can return ebooks, though. Of course, if your library has a good selection of physical audio books, that's something to keep in mind. Mine is lacking.</div>
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Soo....if you enjoy digital books in any form and have a capable smart player, go get your free month trial. Let me know what you think!</div>
Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-33645615022871885932015-02-24T12:26:00.000-05:002015-02-24T12:26:21.830-05:00How I am looking forward to the laundry mountain and dishesI'm the kind of person who usually needs to let an idea marinate for awhile before I do anything with it. Here's one example: podcasts.<br />
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I love to READ. Eyeballs looking at words on a page. That kind of reading. I like to read blogs, though admittedly my blog reading today looks very different from how it looked a few years ago.<br />
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Podcasts have been around for a decade or more. I've listened to some on occasion but it wasn't really a habit.<br />
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Awhile back, my friend <a href="http://thestillers.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Laura</a> mentioned how she is really into podcasts these days. I thought, hmm, interesting. And that's as far as it got.<br />
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Then a week or so ago, I discovered some <a href="https://secure.chaponline.com/audiofiles.html" target="_blank">free MP3s from a previous homeschool convention</a>. I listened to a few sessions while doing some laundry and dishes, and really appreciated having something interesting to do while I was doing something so mundane.<br />
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I told my friend C. about it, and she pointed me to a wonderful podcast (Laura listens to it, too!) called <a href="http://amongstlovelythings.com/read-aloud-revival-the-podcast/" target="_blank">Read Aloud Revival</a>. Oh, it is just so good. The topic, guests, editing...I love it!<br />
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I am working my way through it and I'm hooked.<br />
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It's just so simple to subscribe to a podcast and choose an episode while I'm a'scrubbin' or a'foldin'. It is helping me look forward to those chores and other organizing that I'm trying to do.<br />
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<i>Do you listen to podcasts or MP3s of something? Let me know what you'r into lately.</i>Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-50297051591037241122015-02-05T16:52:00.002-05:002015-02-05T16:52:46.040-05:00Some of what we're actually doing right nowIn my last post, I wrote that we are only doing <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2015/01/some-thoughts-with-my-fathers-world.html" target="_blank">bare-bones of My Father's World kindergarten</a> at this point, pulling in the literature, science topics/projects, arts & crafts, and Bible discussions.<br />
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This semester, we are doing:<br />
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<b>All About Reading</b> level 2 -- this phonics program has been wonderful for my son. I omit some of the activities, as they are overkill for him, but he does all of the fluency pages and stories in his readers. We don't use the magnet tiles, though I suspect I will use them when we start spelling. We also skip the activity pages. We did them for level 1, but J would rather just read the words instead of doing some sort of workbook page. The activities are fun, but eh. The goal is reading fluently. Workbook not necessary for that.<br />
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I did a quick online <a href="http://a2zhomeschooling.com/all_time_favorites/reading_level_assessment/" target="_blank">reading level assessment</a> to see where his reading level might stack up. He placed between 4-6th grade reading level, depending on the test. Cool.<br />
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Today, he finished lesson #29/51. We'll wrap this level up at some point soon. I'm not putting the date on the calendar, in case we hit a wall or something. I own AAR level 3 already and I expect we'll just keep trotting along with that.<br />
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<b>RightStart math level A</b> -- we took a huge break with RightStart awhile back, and resumed in January. J has completed lesson 51/132ish. So. Hmm. I refuse to say that we are "behind." Behind WHAT? Nothin', that's what. We will keep moving at a comfortable pace, and we'll finish when we finish. I know that level B will cover a lot of the same concepts early in that level.<br />
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<b>Handwriting </b>-- Handwriting Without Tears K -- oh, handwriting. Somehow it is the subject of most resistance at the moment. We are still in capitals. Johnny enjoys writing on his own, but his letter formation is off, he doesn't do lowercase, and the sizing and spacing isn't so great. I know a lot of this will come with time and continued practice, plus other fine-motor activities to help those little hand muscles do their work.<br />
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I liked that I could sneak some handwriting practice in the other day, when they were signing Valentine's cards for their friends! We are going to a Valentine's Day party next week with some other homeschoolers. I'm bringing some books to read-aloud. So excited.<br />
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<b>Bible</b> -- we start our day off with something Bible. Sometimes I'll pull it from the MFWK materials, or I'll grab a devotional, or the Bible coloring book and accompanying storybook we have. It's nice.<br />
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My goal is to hit the 3Rs plus Bible at minimum for a school day. You might be surprised at how quickly we can accomplish it. It's focused work. Everything else, the frequency varies.<br />
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<b>History</b> -- I'm slowly starting some history. We've read the first 7 chapters of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/History-Little-Pilgrims-Michael-McHugh/dp/1930092849/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=playhomeschool-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=HRQZQF5NF4WWDJNW&creativeASIN=1930092849" target="_blank">History for Little Pilgrims</a></i>, which gives a very quick overview sweep of history. I have added some library books to go along, pulled from my <i>All Through the Ages</i> book guide. I'll probably stick with that approach for a few months. Perhaps I'll start adding titles from our TruthQuest History guide, or maybe I'll wait until the fall.<br />
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<b>Poetry </b>-- I love Charlotte Mason's ideas, and as part of "spreading a feast before my children," I want to add these elements to my children's education. I've read poetry to them before of course, but now I'm being more deliberate with the frequency. Even a few minutes of reading poetry can be beneficial. I am using "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Favorite-Childhood-Childrens-Thrift-Classics/dp/0486270890/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=playhomeschool-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=5YMHHXZT463Z2L2L&creativeASIN=0486270890" target="_blank">Favorite Poems of Childhood</a>." So far, so good. After that, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Favorite-Poems-Old-New-Selected/dp/0385076967/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=playhomeschool-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=NAQ4SOAB3GTREAET&creativeASIN=0385076967" target="_blank">Favorite Poems, Old and New</a>."<br />
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Mason advocated sticking with one poet for a time, lingering with that poet. Read a biography about him or her, soak up the poems, maybe do some narration. (More on <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/curriculum-guide/poetry/" target="_blank">poetry the Simply Charlotte Mason way</a>, which is a leeetle different than Charlotte Mason, I think).<br />
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<b>Music</b> -- We had a blast playing Christmas music from late November through oh, now, slowly tapering. An added bonus, the kids really learned a lot of songs. It helped that they were part of the Christmas program at church, but I think playing Christmas music on Pandora helped them know the songs. I would like to keep that going with hymns and other songs.<br />
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I have the <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/music-study-with-the-masters/" target="_blank">composer study CDs from Simply Charlotte Mason</a> (Bach, Beethoven and Chopin). Really cool series. I haven't read the bios to the kids yet. So far, I've just played a CD here and there and told them who the composer was and left it at that.<br />
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I would like to get a book/CD combo to help them learn and recognize the various instruments of the orchestra. Something <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Those-Amazing-Musical-Instruments-Orchestra/dp/1402208251/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=playhomeschool-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=IDOHUFBC6PY7OS7Q&creativeASIN=1402208251" target="_blank">like this book</a>, perhaps. My library carries another title, and I'm going to borrow it to see how that goes over. This all may be a little beyond them right now, and that's fine. Just playing beautiful music is nice. It takes no extra effort to play something while they are coloring, Lego-ing, play-dohing, whatever.<br />
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<b>Phys. Ed. </b>-- Squee! J and V are participating in a class put on by the park's department of a nearby town. There's a preschool group and a homeschooler group, and they meet at the same time. The first part is in the gym where they were doing various running around activities. The preschool group even got out the awesome parachute. I hope the other group gets a chance with it at some point. Then, they were in the pool. J and V are in the same swimming group with 2 other kids. I'm cautiously optimistic. They are having an absolute blast so far. They need this outlet so much, especially in the cold winter.<br />
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Roughly, that's it. There are a few other things that might make an appearance in our day. I have a walk-in closet full of educational toys, games and manipulatives + craft supplies. We keep our <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2014/06/rolling-cart-for-library.html" target="_blank">library crate</a> full of books and make regular visits. Some audio books thrown in (and I like to grab a paper version for Johnny to follow along with). Oh, and some Netflix. Heh. So nice, especially in winter.<br />
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We have days that go really, really well. I try to remember so many details about those days. We also have days where it's like everyone (me included) just is having a rotten day and nothing is going right. Total disasters. Just roll with it, I figure. The good outweighs the bad, and thankfully, by far.Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-81296391042711575232015-01-26T15:25:00.002-05:002015-01-26T15:25:54.690-05:00Some thoughts with My Father's World Kindergarten, where we're at, and where we're going from here<i>This part was written awhile ago:</i><br />
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We've been going slowly through some of the My Father's World Kindergarten units lately. The farm animals units were fun, and I was glad we could go to a dairy farm for a group field trip roughly when we were learning about cows. Did I mention we made our own butter? We put heavy cream in a jar and shook it. For like 20 minutes.<br />
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All 5 of us took turns shaking it, and it turned into butter. I added a little salt and we spread it on zucchini bread. Nomnomnom.<br />
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Anyway, today I started unit 15/26 which is on elephants. It's the first of four units discussing various wild animals.<br />
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I read all five of the Bible lessons today, as they were so brief and I had attentive kids. We read a few books from the library on elephants, and Johnny read one to me. He was like, "wow! Did you know...?" and sharing fun facts with us.<br />
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I found some video clips with elephants and shared them with the kids. I especially enjoy watching elephants swim. There's just a certain grace about it. Plus, they look like they're having fun.<br />
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We'd go to the zoo to see them, except it's sub-zero right now and. I. just. cannot.<br />
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So, MFWK as a whole:<br />
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We aren't doing the phonics, math, or handwriting. Also not doing the Cuisenaire Rods alphabet book or classical music activities (but I do like the CD and play it from time to time). I do the Bible lessons, do the book themes, activities that sound like fun. We do a field trip if we can work it in.<br />
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What we're actually doing with MFWK is fun, but it's brief. It seems like the activities and are getting fewer as we go.<br />
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<i>Written on 1/26/15:</i><br />
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We're now on unit 19, Rock. Johnny was a bit over learning about animals. He is more into physical science. He is interested in weather, astronomy and I wasn't surprised when he took to our rock unit.<br />
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I think we'll keep on using the MFWK teacher's manual to help with library book selection, projects and activities, and I still do like the Bible discussion that we have with it. After all, we're almost to the end, and in that slightly OCD way of finishing a program I think we'll keep with it.<br />
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But oh man. It is a really stripped-down version from where we began with it.<br />
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In a way, I knew this would happen. I drafted a post two years ago about why My Father's World Kindergarten wouldn't be a good fit for us. I never published it. I'm reading through it now, and yup. I was right. All of the potential negatives I pin-pointed ended up being true for us.<br />
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Also, I think we would have used the program more as-written if I began him on it sooner.<br />
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Ultimately, MFWK was overall a good thing for me and my firstborn, because it was our first year of being more intentional with structured learning, and it helped me to see the possibilities. It held my hand in some ways, and it left it open-ended in other areas.<br />
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I'm not sure if I'll use it in any form with my 2nd or 3rd children. It might prove beneficial to pull out some of the worksheets for the girls. I know my 3rd child will have no memory of any of it, heh. Maybe my 2nd child will remember some of the units, but I don't think there would be harm in me starting over with her in say, the fall when she's 4.5. I may end up doing that.<br />
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I may also scrap it and keep the 3Rs separate, as that proved to be a BIG DEAL to me.Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-22445432143680657022014-12-10T10:24:00.000-05:002014-12-10T10:24:07.064-05:00Some Christmas schoolSeems like a lot of homeschoolers choose to take it easy between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Especially this year, I'm seeing the perks of taking a break and switching it up.<br />
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Are they still learning? Yes, ma'am!<br />
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Some things we've done so far:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Reading lots of Christmas books. I added a few more to our collection.</li>
<li>Making ornaments. Some are for us, others are for gifts. Some were from craft kits, and others were made with supplies we had. This is low-key but fun. Fine motor skills! </li>
<li>Made gingerbread houses (a kit, thankyouverymuch)</li>
<li>Learning and singing Christmas songs</li>
<li>Making cards</li>
<li>Driving around and enjoying lights</li>
<li>Children's Museum Jolly Days</li>
<li>Baking</li>
<li>Watching Christmas movies</li>
<li>Doing our advent calendar</li>
<li>Preparing for our church Christmas program (I will have a shepherd and an angel and they will be singing! CAN'T WAIT SO CUTE)</li>
<li>Bought gifts for impoverished children overseas</li>
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etc.</div>
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Unfortunately, we have been sick on and off for awhile and so we haven't been able to do as many things as I'd like. We missed a field trip at Garfield Park that would have been fun. I'd like to go to Christmas at the Zoo, but we'll just have to see. Also would like to go to the Indiana State museum for their Christmas things and get a membership.</div>
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But overall? This is a fun time of year. Next week is birthday week. I will have a 4yo and a 6yo. My word. Time is speeding up.</div>
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J is reading well, and reads to himself daily. I read aloud daily. He is into making comic books lately, so there's lots of writing and drawing going on. Oh, and I grabbed some "model magic" and also some air-dry clay and they've been creating stuff.</div>
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I am glad we can be together and savor this time of year! </div>
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Once January hits, I think we'll try to get back to the 3Rs more formally, especially math. kbye</div>
Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-75994434136403852462014-12-10T09:57:00.000-05:002014-12-10T09:57:14.399-05:00First live theatre performance for the kids!I would love to take my kids to as many fine arts performances as possible. I think it's valuable to expose them to plays, concerts, exhibitions, ballets, and such. It's educational, hopefully fun, and something we can do as a family. What's not to love?<br />
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So mid-November, J and V went to the Sleeping Beauty performance at Beef & Boards. I haven't been there since middle school. My mom and grandma went with us. Shane had to stay home with the baby because she was sick :(. I don't think she would have done so well with it anyway. It was an hour-long performance and she would have been to antsy, I think.<br />
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The kids were familiar with the story ahead of time (hi, Disney version coming out of the vault last month). I should have read the non-Disney story version but whoops, I didn't. Oh well.<br />
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They both enjoyed the production and would like to go again some time. Yay!<br />
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Beef & Boards puts on a few children's performances each year. These are cheaper than the regular dinner shows. In fact, they ask that children under 3 do not attend the regular shows (and I can see why).<br />
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The snack provided was a juice box and a rice krispie treat in a package.<br />
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The actors were good and seemed like they were having fun. I think they connected well with their audience.<br />
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We all had a nice time and I'm glad we are able to enjoy these types of things!Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-48013065991197694192014-10-29T10:31:00.002-04:002014-10-29T10:31:26.370-04:00Learning Chess at 29, and 5. Who knew?I never learned how to play chess. The rules seemed too complicated. What do you mean the knight moves like an L? And the bishop can shoot across the board in one move?! If my friends played, they didn't tell me about it. It just wasn't on my radar.<br />
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That changed last week.<br />
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I came across a blog post about <a href="http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/5-benefits-playing-chess/" target="_blank">using chess as part of your home school</a>, and it was a little light bulb moment for me. Improved logic, you say? Better math and science understanding, you say? Ability to plan ahead, predict outcomes, practice good sportsmanship? Ok!<br />
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I think it's important for my own brain that I learn new things and challenge the remaining brain cells I have. I downloaded the free chess.com app, which has lessons, tactics training, game play vs. computer and vs. people, etc. (Parents, note that the app has a chat function) So far, I haven't won. I'm appreciating just how hard it is to win.<br />
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But that's not the point. I now understand the basic rules and movements, and it's on to learning more strategy with openings, middle moves and closing it down. It is so fun!<br />
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I grabbed some books at the library the other day and hopefully they can help.<br />
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Meanwhile, Johnny saw me playing a game and was curious. I handed him my phone and let him play the rest of the game vs. the computer. He wanted to learn more, so I found <a href="http://kidchess.com/skillsresources.html" target="_blank">Kid Chess</a>, which has some kid-level tutorials and a computer game called EZ Chess that will basically let the kid win. I don't plan to use that game too much, but I think it helps to cement how pieces can move. Plus, getting a checkmate is a confidence boost and perhaps it's enough to keep the interest going?<br />
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Dunno.<br />
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Anyway, I'm thrilled that Johnny is showing an interest and I plan to teach all of my children how to play chess. If any of you have advice for me on that front -- recommended books, websites, certain game boards, etc., lemme know. I want to find a set with distinctive pieces. Some I've seen, it's difficult to tell some of the pieces from each other. No good.<br />
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Meanwhile, I am on a mission to beat both my husband and my sister. At minimum. I'm ultra-competitive by nature, with absolutely nothing to back it up. Yikes.Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-68444999688303561802014-10-16T11:24:00.001-04:002014-10-16T11:24:36.266-04:00Adding on some Math MammothAs I mentioned previously, our RightStart math program has been met with some resistance. I adjusted my approach, and decided not to push too hard since hi, early months of kindergarten.<br />
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Perhaps since lessons bounce around and use a variety of manipulatives, it's bothering my son? Maybe it feels too jumpy. Hard to say.<br />
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We've done a little more with RightStart, but last week, Johnny was doodling some addition. He wanted to know something like 13+13. I showed him how to work it and he thought it was pretty fun, so he made a few more problems for himself.<br />
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I printed some addition pages from Math Mammoth to see how he'd like it. It was love. I told him this was actually first grade work and he thought that was really cool that he could do it.<br />
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It's too soon to tell if Math Mammoth will replace RightStart for Johnny or if it'll be just a break. I think I should look at RS and maybe pull some concepts and do it without him seeing my teacher's manual. Maybe that's a trigger for him. No idea.<br />
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Then yesterday, I didn't do any math with him. We did some other things. He went to his desk in his room and made some math problems for himself. Ok!?<br />
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So he did things like 20+20; 1000+1; 100+10; 200+500 etc. He got all but 2 right.<br />
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Rather than put an X on the incorrect ones, I took my pencil and put a dot next to them. I said, "I'd like you to take another look at the ones with the dot by it," and he corrected them. I turned the dot into a check mark. He thought that was fun.<br />
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Personally, I still love what RightStart is trying to accomplish and I would like to use it for him in some capacity. I'll need to tweak my approach, though.<br />
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If you are interested in Math Mammoth, you can get it for superduper cheap. I bought the entire light blue series for grades 1-6 during a Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op sale. You can also opt to buy the pdfs by topic, in the "blue series." For example, the <a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/blue-series.php" target="_blank">1st grade level addition is $3.95</a>. WHAT.<br />
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Topics in the blue series would be good for reinforcement or a different approach.<br />
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There are a LOT of pages in the program, so printer ink is a concern. I've just printed a few at a time, but I might have it printed by some copy shop.Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-23816855080481224782014-09-29T19:28:00.000-04:002014-09-29T19:28:49.758-04:00Highlights from SeptemberThe end of September already? We had a good month. Here are some highlights and a progress report:<br />
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Field trips/classes:<br />
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<ul>
<li>An orchard for an apple tour</li>
<li>A physical fitness/martial arts class (just one session)</li>
<li>Trip to the zoo</li>
<li>Fire station tour</li>
</ul>
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Other outings to the library and parks, and some visits with grandparents</div>
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Family trip:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Went on a quick getaway to French Lick, Ind., and also Holiday World in Santa Claus, Ind. Visited Spring Mill State Park. Very nice park! It has a pioneer village, with buildings from nearly 200 years ago, and some history interpreters on site. Kind of like Conner Prairie. Worth a visit. Also, Holiday World was basically empty when we went. So fun.</li>
</ul>
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Academically, Johnny is moving right along with All About Reading. He went from lesson #33 at the beginning of September, to part of #47 today (level 1 goes to 49 lessons), and so I expect he will finish this level later in the week. We will start up with level 2 immediately after.</div>
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He is becoming more confident with reading on his own, and I'm grabbing a variety of materials for him to read from the library. Besides some of the typical Dr. Seuss books he enjoys, I selected a few joke books and comic books for him to try. </div>
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He's reading through a huge collection of Calvin and Hobbes and enjoying it. </div>
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For our road trip, I borrowed a Magic Tree House audio book. It had 5 books in the collection. Ahead of our trip, I read the first story in the series to familiarize ourselves with the characters and gist of the series. Quick premise: Two kids discover a magic tree house which contains books. They can travel to the location in the book and learn more about that moment in history. We've heard about the Titanic sinking, something out in the West, and something to do with Australia, I think? I haven't been paying terribly close attention.</div>
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It's an ok series. Formulaic, as series like these tend to be. Enough info to get an idea of what might have happened. I don't think I'll get more audio books from this one unless the kids request it. I do think I'll suggest Johnny reads some on his own, when he gets more confident with chapter books. He did read some of one title on his own, it just took awhile. </div>
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With My Father's World, we did the units on octopus (ocean life), insects and goats (farm animals). I bought an ant farm and it has been SO COOL watching the ants at work. </div>
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Math was light this month. Lessons 18-24 in RightStart. Uh. Yeah. Light. I had better get back to it in October.</div>
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But, Johnny worked on some math things in his Rod & Staff workbooks. Really simple things, like handwriting practice for numbers, writing the quantities of items in a picture box, etc. </div>
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I've had him do more handwriting things and practice with scissors. </div>
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In his free time that I still consider perfectly educational, this month he's made marble runs, constructed various things with Lego, Lincoln Logs and wood blocks; read (and been read to) a stack of books; made plenty of pictures and little books.</div>
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His latest thing is to use a pen to draw some sort of scene, make a photocopy of it and invite his sister to color it with him. Haha!</div>
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There have been other little things that I recorded in my log, but overall it was a nice, lightish month. I have no complaints, as we are achieving the <a href="http://whoistheteacher.blogspot.com/2014/07/plans-and-curriculum-choices-for.html" target="_blank">goals I set out for him here</a>. Fun, a focus on reading, and a good number of field trips and time outside while the weather is nice.</div>
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Coming up for October:</div>
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We have several fun field trips on the calendar! Also looking to go to a show at Beef and Boards dinner theatre. We've never done a live performance and I'm hoping it goes well with the baby. Speaking of the baby, she turned 1! Oh, my heart.</div>
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More of the same -- moving forward with reading, lots of books together and independently, etc.</div>
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More handwriting practice, and I'd like to get back with RightStart and do more with it this month.</div>
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Adding All About Spelling. Probably will go slowly here, but we'll see how it goes.</div>
Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1970454354306456946.post-50428219162877071182014-09-12T10:34:00.000-04:002014-09-12T10:34:03.563-04:00Combating a fussy attitude with a to-do listThe other day, I attempted to have Johnny switch gears from coloring a picture to doing our math lesson for the day. Instant resistance.<br />
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My motivation to do math at that moment: the baby was happily occupied playing with toys nearby and I thought ooh, we can do math now.<br />
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Johnny's motivation: he wanted to work on another drawing. He didn't want to switch gears. Hence, protest.<br />
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At the time, I didn't quite understand the issue since he wasn't communicating what he actually wanted to do. He was making it sound as if he didn't like math, period.<br />
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So...after a time-out for an attitude adjustment, some chatting with my husband to see if he had any insight, and the sort, we were able to sort it out. My husband even did the next math lesson with Johnny so he could see what he was learning and so we could both observe him doing the work. It went well. We saw that the math program is continuing to be age-appropriate, interesting and educational.<br />
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The problem was attitude.<br />
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I've been suspecting our days would go more smoothly if Johnny knew what was expected of him in terms of our school work. I recently made a morning to-do list for him, and he so enjoyed going through each item and checking it off.<br />
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So, I asked if he would like a checklist for his school work. He loved that idea, so I made one real quick the night before.<br />
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After bible and his reading lesson, I had on his list to do 10 jumping jacks. Next was his choice, and I listed a few options. He chose to make a drawing taken from the vantage point on the moon, American flag on it, looking out and seeing the sun, the Earth and a comet going by).<br />
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While he was doing this, I gave Vivienne some one-on-one time. I selected a Lauri puzzle, the one with kid shapes doing all sorts of different poses. I asked her to put the pieces in piles based on color; do an AB pattern with them; lay out 3 green pieces and then add 2 more and tell me what she had, etc. Next was I think her favorite: I asked her to stand in the pose of each piece before putting them back on the puzzle. Some poses were extra-fun (standing on her head, doing a squat, running, etc).<br />
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Next, Johnny told me it was math time. How 'bout that? So we did lesson #23 and it went really well. No complaining. Asking to do one task again for practice (!). Win.<br />
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Next was handwriting, then I had him do some practice with scissors, and his last task on the to-do list was do a headstand. Hah!<br />
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It went swimmingly.<br />
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I think I could do a similar thing with a workbox, but I think it will take me less time to do a to-do list for him. He seems to get satisfaction out of checking items off (don't we all)? and there's the added benefit of him reading what I wrote. He sees what his school day will include and he knows when he will be done.<br />
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We finished and they had some quiet time in their rooms while I prepared lunch. The weather is gross today, so they are inside and watching a video. Amelia is sleeping now (on me, of course...whatever).<br />
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When she wakes up, we will read some library books. This week, we are reading about insects and pioneers (separately, lol!). I'll have them choose some puzzles or something else from our educational toy/game selection. I'd like to keep afternoons a little more light. If we can do our 3Rs in the morning, I think that goes more smoothly for us.<br />
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It has taken us more than a month to find our rhythm with kindergarten stuff, but I think we are getting there. Yay!Kaciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03068520824047487960noreply@blogger.com0