Saturday, October 28, 2006 - Great Ending
This week wasn't the greatest week in the overall learning aspect. There were tears; some of his and mostly mine. He just didn't seem to be retaining anything from our Bible reading or read aloud. There was a lot of guessing, and I hate guessing. And it was bad guessing. But I've regrouped and I think I've figured out how to remedy what I was considering a problem. We shall see if it helps at all for next week.
Bible: We are still reading about Joshua but we are drawing near to the end of his life. I'm sure we will start the Judges next week, which are some of my favorites. And my adult Sunday School is studying the judges for class. How appropriate.
I've changed the verses that we are memorizing. I was following an alphabetical verse list but as I thought about it I decided to use what Cameron is studying in Wednesday's Master Clubs as our weekly verse. So we actually had 2 verses that we worked on this week
Psalm 7:1 O LORD my God; in thee do I put my trust.
Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He almost has Psalm 7:1 down perfect but mixes up "in thee do I" sometimes. But he has picked up on Psalm 23:1 almost instantly. I am loving this time of memorizing and we review different verses each day to help keep them fresh in our mind. It is stretching my mind as well, learning these verses and remembering what they all are and what order they come in.
History/Geography: We started reading through a new book this week. Living Long Ago talks about the way people have lived through the ages. Right now we are learning about clothes and what different eras and groups of people wore. He did notice that almost everyone so far has some type of weaving. We also did our own weaving project with construction paper. He thought that was great and wants to do some more weaving.
Read Aloud: We read The Light at Tern Rock this week. I liked this book but Cameron did struggle some to pay much attention. We had to talk about what we read and he wasn't retaining much. So I decided to stop after important parts of the story and talk and discuss what we were reading. I only wish that I had thought of this much earlier instead of just the last chapter.
He was very interested in the books about lighthouses I checked out from the library. He also drew a spectacular, in my opinion, lighthouse for his notebook page.
Handwriting: We just keep plugging along. We are now reviewing the capitol of each letter and learning how to make the lower case. We did Ff , Gg, and Hh this week. The workbook we are using now offers much review and chances to practice each letter. We also are reviewing 1, 2, and started learning 9.
Last week I asked about cursive. I think that I agree with what most commented. That was pretty much what my thoughts were on the matter. I wasn't teaching cursive yet but was curious when a good time would be. I think I'm going to let him get printing under his belt before I even think of working with cursive.
Does anyone know if handwriting is something that is looked at for PA homeschoolers?
Math: We are still practicing counting to 16 and have tried adding 17. I don't know why he is having such a mental block with this but we will just keep at it. I'm thinking of making next week 17 week. Kind of like Sesame Street. "This week is brought to you by the letter Ii and by the number 17."
He is also very interested in time lately. We found a book at a book sale today (for right around $0.05!) and it has a clock inside. He knows about o'clocks already but it is hard to explain the minute hand to someone that can only count to 16. LOL but he has been copying our clock here at home and periodically coming up to me with "Look what time it is now Mama!"
Phonics/Reading: I saved the best for last. If you read my blog regularly you will know that this week Cameron started to read words. What a week for reading. He just loves to play games and will come up with all sorts of scoring systems. He asked me to write a bunch of words down on his board. He sounded out all of the words. The ones with a dash instead of a check are ones that he needed a little help from Mama. The score at the end of the "game"? 30! We are on our way.
Today, I "caught" him looking through a book and sounding out the words "man" and "men".
We are going to try some simple sentences next week. We have Bob books that are very simple and easy to read. Ex: "Mat sat. Sam sat. Mat sat on Sam. Sam sat on Mat." etc. We will see how that goes and try not to push him to far too fast.
Comments
Saturday, October 28, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by MominIN
How exciting that Cameron started reading!! He sounds like such an eager learner and so smart!! You're doing a wonderful job teaching him!!
Sunday, October 29, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by babymakers
You have nothing to worry about when it comes to the PA law. Cursive is not looked at. You are covering all the aspects +. In my experience the school literally did not look at the portfolio even though it is mandatory to turn it in. You are not going to have ANY probs.
Sunday, October 29, 2006 - :)
Posted by Sweetie
Great job with spelling words, WOW!
I really enjoy seeing all the things you do with him.
I hope that next week goes better then this past one,
HUGS
Sunday, October 29, 2006 - Looks Good!
Posted by proudmommaof3
Sounds like he is doing great. Sometimes I think as Moms we get over ambitious. We took it easy this last week also. Do you have some play dough? You can make letters out of play dough. Maybe a little hands on work will help him learn his numbers a little easier. Or fingure paint. I did this last week for math.
I have wondered about this crusive handwriting bit also. From what I can see they don't start crusive handwriting till 3rd grade.
I have the Bod books as well. My son loved these books. Take care and hope this next week goes better.
Monday, October 30, 2006 - Hi
Posted by creativehsmom
Danielle,
From the looks of your schedule that you posted, you are doing wonderfully and have quite a full plate. Don't worry too much about how much your baby is retaining. At that age, their attention span is much shorter than that of a 9 or even a 10 year old. For what it is worth, when my children were smaller, it actually helped them to focus on the read alouds if I gave them some crayons and say a coloring book that went along with the topic of the story because sometimes just trying to sit still takes your mind off of what is being said. The law in PA does not and cannot question your child's handwriting abilities or techniques. That is something that is developed and personalized in time. My youngest did not have the neatset handwriting, not by a long shot! LOL But the more she practiced, the better she got and now she writes beautifully in highschool.
You could pour some salt on a cookie sheet and allow him to practice forming his letters on that. Just a fun change of pace but I would stay close when he does this so the salt doesn't go flying!!!! :0)
In His Love,
Cathy
Monday, October 30, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by tripletsrajoy
This is excellent! Way to go Cameron on your reading!!!
Monday, October 30, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by hugs4Him
He seems to be doing very well! My daughter is not paying attention to her Bible studies at all. She's more of a visual learner, so the reading to her thing isn't working. I'm going to have to look into some other way to reach her on this. But that's what's great about homeschooling yet again!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by si344
Hi Danielle,
I was just turning off the computer to go to bed and saw your comment. WE are still here...all packed up with no where to go. I'll try to read your blog tomorrow. Been so busy. Try to get to each one of you , but it's hard to get to all of my friends in one day! I am so glad I only have a few on my friends list and I just gained a new one this weekend! Take care and thanks for asking about the house. It is so hard when others make us feel bad...but we are here to please God not man and that is what carries me through. ttys!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - Science Experiments
Posted by LindaI
Responding to your comment on my blog.
I am so like you, Schedule it into the tracker and I will do it! lol But what I did was, I printed out all the easy ones I thought I might try. Then have them in a binder. When I get ready to start homeschool I get all the books we need out of my tote bag (sonlight gives you this nifty tote bag if you order a core) and open them to the page we are going to use. Then stack them on the end of the table. I include the experiment in the pile too. Make sure I have the stuff to do it the night before. It was so easy to do the bubble bomb and this last one because who doesnt have vinegar and baking soda on hand in a normal day. I know I do. I dont always have cornstartch but I had bought a box so I was good to go on the cornstartch and water one. That is all that the ooze is! I suggest starting with that one. It is really cool and easy to understand and fun to play in. And the mess was messy but VERY easy to clean up!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by mlpinky
Thanks for your comment. I too, get comments on me being cruel to my kids, that they are missing out on the fun of halloween. Well, we had a blast tonight. We went to McDonalds and it was almost deserted. Then off to the pool and there was only one other kid there. It was fun having the pool basically to ourselves!!
My middle kid is still struggling with printing and she is in grade two. I'm not going to do cursive until she masters printing. I wouldn't worry about it.
Blessings, mlpinky
Thursday, November 2, 2006 - Counting
Posted by si344
I think I told you that m forgets 16 also. My sister in law says her kids did the same thing. So, let me ask him right now to count and see how he's doing. Yep! he forgot 16 again. So no change in that yet! He is so funny! Even when I counted slow with him he still went from fifteen to seventeen! gotta run have a great day!
