Wakato Academy

2009/2010 Overview

Preparing for a new school year is always interesting.  It takes a lot of careful thought and planning to figure out how to meet all the needs of the students and coordinate learning across several grades.  This year Big Brother is in 5th/6th grade, Billy and Princess are in Pre-K and Bunkie is baby school.  I'll start with my plans for Bunkie since he is the least involved and work my way up to big brother.

Bunkie (age 20 months)

Has an activity kit with paper, crayons and sidewalk chalk.  He also has blocks, a train set , shape sorter, puzzles and board books we'll be using.  In addition to creative use of other toys he has at his disposal.  I will occassionaly play some videos that I have called My Baby Can Read from Usborne books, all the little kids enjoy it.  He will also be sharing some of the pre-school supplies.

Billy and The Princess (age 3 1/2)

My Fathers World Pre-School Activities; http://www.mfwbooks.com/preschool.htm

Bright Minds Pre-School Buildingl Thinking Skills

Leap Frog Videos (letter factory and math circus)

Art supplies (crayons, construction paper, play-doh, sidewalk chalk, paint etc...)

Big Brother (age 11)

Reading;

Big brother is a very good reader he tested at a 12 grade reading level according to his last reading test in the Spring.  He also loves to read.  This year he will participate in boys book club once a month and read at least 4 other books per month.  (he actually has a goal of reading 30 books a month but 4 is the minimum he has to read.

Spelling:

Big Brother tested at 4th grade for spelling so we are working on that are this year in an attempt to encourage his understanding of spelling.  We will be using a program this year that emphasizes understanding of the structure and syntax of the english language as part of the writing curriculum in the hopes that it will improve his spelling ability.

Writing:

This is an area of weakness for Big Brother, he enjoys the mental process of writing but struggles with the physical act of writing.  So we are approaching writing from two directions.  One with the goal of improving the physical act of handwriting to make it easier for him.  I have researched and found some good information on how to do this and the same program that is supposed to improve spelling and grammar is also highly reccommended for students that are struggling in handwriting as well.  For the mental processes we are doing 2 parts.  The first is from his KONOS study that provides weekly writing assignments and latter we are planning to add in the One Year Adventure Novel.  

Math;

This is another area that Aaron has struggled with over the years.  I have tried a lot of different things but this last year we gave Living Math a try and boy was it successful.  He gets to see how you use math in real-life and learn his skills at the same time.  We read a lot of books, play games and do other fun stuff.  More than not he doesn't even realize he's learning math and a subject that was once the dread of his day is now one of the many highlights to his day.  So we are going to keep that up focusing on specific skill areas each month.  The first month we will be focusing on multiplication and division, the rest of the year will be divided up between fractions, percents, decimals, measurment and geometry concepts.

Science:

Big Brother loves science and becuase he has gotten so much of it in a variety of ways I haven't been able to find a program that really fits him well.  So this year we are going to try a Gifted Learning strategy for his science studies that involves what is called an indpendent learning contract.  He will sit down with his father (the science guy) and they will set out a learning contract based on a science topic that he is interested in.  He will have time during the week to work on his "project" and report back to his father on the weekends as to his progress and any questions he has. 

History;

Last year we did several lap-book unit studies and those worked really well for us.  So this year we decided to give Konos a try.  I really liked its multi-age focus and the unit study approach works really well for big brother.  We are starting with a study on Time Management, should be interesting :-).

Music/Art/Drama;

This year Big Brother is taking Cello Lessons at a private residence for music.  For Art hh will be doing Artistic Pursuits with Grandma. For Drama he will be preparing some dramatic presentation as part of his Konos unit studies and will also be going to some plays and other theatrical performances that are organized through a local homeschool group at school field-trip rates. 

So that wraps up our plans for the year.  Now fo the fun part, seeing how it all works out ;-)

Brain Bin Math

Well my box just arrived and with it my much anticipated Brain Bin Math.

A while back I did this thing with site words where we would go over them each day and move them to a new bin whenever ds got them right, when he got them wrong they moved back and when he had gotten them right 5x they were considered mastered.  This worked really well for us so when I seen this product which mimices my plan for math I was thrilled.  I ordered at the convention and it just came in the mail today.

Its not expensive about $10 per level not much more than a set of flash cards which is basically what it is with a 5 bin box.  Its meant to be worked on everyday for 5-10 minutes.  I got both level 1 and 2.  Level 1 because I just don't think he's fast enough with his basic 1-20 facts and Level 2 becuase were moving on to bigger math problems and I wanted to have it when he's ready for it.

I am just as thrilled now that its in my hands as I was when I read the reviews and ordered it.  Level 1 starts out with basic number recognition, too basic for my big guy but will be good to have when the little ones come around and then moves up to addition and subtraction facts.  It presents them in multiple ways which I love.  First practicing them the normal way and then practicing them with the missing numer  (8+___=10) they also do number triangles and math houses as well to further get the facts down.  The end of the deck works on practicing how to add money and tell basic time to the hour.

Each deck has a total of 240 cards.  Level 2 starts out with double digit addition and subtraction to 100 for the first 1/2 of the deck or 120 cards and then moves onto multiplication and division for the remainder of the deck.  It is presented in the same fashion as the single digit addition and subtraction in deck 1 where it starts out with normal problems, moves into missing numbers, then math triangles and math houses.

We'll be starting next week and I will let you know how it goes....

It's Finally Done...Presenting Our New School Space

Organization is always my challenge.  I have been trying rather unsuccessfully to have our school organized for quite sometime.  I tried to use my dining room but that never seemed to work everything ended up just too cluttered.  I tried the kitchen table but either I didn't have a kitchen table or I didn't have a school table when I needed it.  So finally I gave in and made Aaron his very own desk area.  So to signify the official start of our summer term, I have finally got his desk area all set up for a mere price tag of $31+ tax thanks to using some recycled stuff and doing a little shopping around.

So here's the final result:

I found our fashionable magazine holders at ikea for the unheard of price of 6 for $4 and suprisingly there very sturdy despite being made of cardboard not to mention that they match the rest of my decor' perfectly.  I figured I would start with cheap and as they wore out I would splurge on the more expensive plastic versions but it looks like its going to be a while before I have to shell out money on those more expensive fancy ones.  The desk was found lingering around in my garage and although it doesn't match the other wood in my room I don't think it looks too bad.  Shelfs were $15 for one and the other one I was given by my mom who had bought it but ended up not needing it.  Thanks mom.  The paper sorter which houses different types of blank paper that Aaron needs for school were also another ikea find for $6 and the small waste basket a whopping $2.  Plastic drawers for supplies I also already had but can be found at walmart for about $5.

All the amazing materials were already lingering around my house and finally now have a home where they can be found every day when we need them with no more wasted time trying to remember what we did with it when we cleaned up.  

The shelves are a bit high for wee ones but that was the plan, with Aaron going on 8 I placed the lower shelf in easy reach for him but high enough that curious little hands can keep there hands off.  The top shelf houses all the teacher materials that I will need and all of it conviently located near the couch for this very tired and exhasuted mama to be able to lounge on the couch while she teaches school and recovers from her impending c-section or simply needs a comfy place to sit and nurse little ones while she teaches school.