One Day At A Time

Jun. 9, 2007

suggested reading list

ISBN TITLE AUTHOR CATEGORY LEVEL

039589543X Looking Back Lowry, Lois biographical 4

0606033084 Sugaring Time Lasky, Kathryn biographical 4.8

0027868109 Good Queen Bess: The Story of Queen Elizabeth I of England Stanley, Diane; Vennema, Peter biographical 4.8

0307623661 The Rescuers Sharp, Margery biographical 4

0397324472 Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam, The Huynh, Quang N. biographical 4.7

0590462512 Barry Sanders: Rocket Running Back Kavanagh, Jack biographical 4

0689319703 My Name Is Amelia Sobol, Donald J. biographical 4

0803231407 True North Merrick, Elliott biographical 4

0679800891 American Tall Tales McCurdy, Michael; Osborne, Mary P. biographical 4

0894903004 Ralph J. Bunche: Peacemaker McKissack, Fredrick; McKissack, Patricia biographical 4

0890155615 Albert Geronimo Templeton, Lee biographical 4

0791039064 Annie Oakley Wukovits, John biographical 4

0517592436 Charlotte Forten: A Black Teacher in the Civil War Burchard, Peter biographical 4

0893757535 Clara Barton: Angel of the Battlefield Bains, Rae; Meyer, Jean (Illustrator) biographical 4

0395720214 Amish Home Bial, Raymond biographical 4

068419435X Jackal Woman: Exploring the World of Jackals Pringle, Laurence; Moehlman, Patricia D. biographical 4

0689803109 Talking with Artists Cummings, Pat biographical 4

0516047256 Story Clara Barton, The Kent, Zachary biographical 4

0670699497 They Were Strong and Good Lawson, Robert biographical 4.2

0698305264 And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? Fritz, Jean biographical 4

0792237366 Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington, 1837-1865 Harness, Cheryl biographical 4

0803718888 Minty:A Story of Young Harriet Tubman Pinkney, Jerry; Schroeder, Alan biographical 4.2

0689801262 Toussaint L'ouverture: Fight for Haiti's Freedom Lawrence, Jacob D biographical 4

0141307102 I am Rosa Parks Parks, Rosa biographical 4

0448420678 Sammy Sosa: He's the Man Driscoll, Laura biographical 4

0679854118 Meet Martin Luther King, Jr. DeKay, James T. biographical 4

0689815425 Mark Twain & the Queens of the Mississippi Harness, Cheryl biographical 4

0395884012 One Giant Leap : The Story of Neil Armstrong Brown, Don biographical 4

0399229426 Mandela : From the Life of the South African Statesman Cooper, Floyd biographical 4

0375803556 Joan of Arc Poole, Josephine biographical 4

0590446525 Helen Keller's Teacher Davidson, Margaret biographical 4

0590472305 Finding the Titanic Ballard, Robert Duane biographical 4

1562397435 Harry Truman Joseph, Paul biographical 4

0876145098 Country Artist : A Story about Beatrix Potter Collins, David R. biographical 4

0688165095 Gorilla Walk Lewin, Ted; Lewin, Betsy biographical 4

039597934X Seeker of Knowledge Rumford, James biographical 4

1584690097 John Muir: My Life with Nature Cornell, Joseph Bharat biographical 4

0374343799 Leon's Story Tillage, Leon Walter; Roth, Susan L. biographical 4

0395956463 My Name is Not Gussie Machlin, Mikki biographical 4

0399234071 So You Want to be President? St. George, Judith; Small, David (Illustrator) biographical 4

0375811133 Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People Christensen, Bonnie biographical 4

0152024050 Will Rogers: An American Legend Keating, Frank biographical 4

0152046860 Carl Sandburg: Adventures of a Poet Sandburg, Carl & Niven, Penelope biographical 4

0590480316 Great Black Heroes: Five Brilliant Scientists (Hello Reader! Science Series) Jones, Lynda biographical 4

0786805684 Ella Fitzgerald Pinkney, Andrea Davis biographical 4

0763625922 Delivering Justice Haskins, Jim biographical 4

0140374248 James and the Giant Peach Dahl, Roald; Smith, Lane (Illustrator) fairy tales & folklore 4

0316116483 Old Mother West Wind Burgess, Thornton W. fairy tales & folklore 4

1567672590 Journey to the Center of the Earth Verne, Jules; Calaguian, Val fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0318517914 Winnie-The-Pooh Milne, A. A. fairy tales & folklore 4.8

0745185398 The Fairy Rebel Banks, Lynne Reid fairy tales & folklore 4.3

060607046X My Hairiest Adventure Short, Michael; Stine, R. L.; Umansky, Diane fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0582535301 Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow Irving, Washington; Boughton, George H. fairy tales & folklore 4.4

0606133720 Fables Aesop Never Wrote Kraus, Robert fairy tales & folklore 4

0385312024 Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story San Souci, Daniel; San Souci, Robert D. fairy tales & folklore 4

0399215840 Tattercoats Tomes, Margot; Jacobs, Joseph fairy tales & folklore 4

0440219469 Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes Coerr, Eleanor fairy tales & folklore 4

068814327X Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter Stanley, Diane fairy tales & folklore 4

0060231181 Inside My Feet: The Story of a Giant Himler, Ronald; Kennedy, Richard fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0688117422 The Painted Fan Singer, Marilyn; Ma, Wenhai fairy tales & folklore 4

0689505698 The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig Oxenbury, Helen; Trivizas, Eugene fairy tales & folklore 4.2

0060248777 The Terrible, Wonderful Tellin' at Hog Hammock Velasquez, Eric; Siegelson, Kim L. fairy tales & folklore 4

0394811208 Elmer & the Dragon Gannett, Ruth S. fairy tales & folklore 4

0152000429 Between Earth & Sky Bruchac, Joseph; Locker, Thomas fairy tales & folklore 4

1556616279 Crazy Christmas Angel Mystery, The Lewis, Beverly fairy tales & folklore 4

0816728135 Gift of the Nile Reasoner, Charles; Mike, Jan M. fairy tales & folklore 4

0670763756 The White Stag Seredy, Kate fairy tales & folklore 4.8

0689711077 Beat the Story Drum, Pum, Pum Ashley, Bryan fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0531094510 Some of the Kinder Planets Wynne-Jones, Tim fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0528824228 Just So Stories Kipling, Rudyard; Ambrus, Victor G. fairy tales & folklore 4.6

0816730520 Hummingbird King : A Guatemalan Legend Palacios, Argentina fairy tales & folklore 4

0590426168 Johnny Appleseed Kellogg, Steven fairy tales & folklore 4

1577191110 Hercules & Other Greek Myths Gave, Marc fairy tales & folklore 4

0531300005 Adventures of Odysseus Malone, Peter fairy tales & folklore 4

0688169910 Davy Crockett Saves the World Schanzer, Rosalyn fairy tales & folklore 4

0618194630 Horse Hooves and Chicken Feet: Mexican Folktales Philip, Neil fairy tales & folklore 4

0892390662 Elinda Who Danced in the Sky: An Estonia Folktale Moroney, Lynn fairy tales & folklore 4

0805018484 A Frog Prince Alix Berenzy fairy tales & folklore 4

0399214038 Shh! We're Writing the Constitution De Paola, Tomie; Fritz, Jean history 4.7

0399217215 Sweetgrass Hudson, Jan history 4

0060264306 Little House in the Big Woods Williams, Garth; Wilder, Laura Ingalls history 4.2

0064400069 The Long Winter Williams, Garth; Wilder, Laura Ingalls history 4.4

0698202929 Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? Fritz, Jean history 4.6

0803709692 Brother Eagle, Sister Sky Jeffers, Susan history 4

0318656280 Adam of the Road Gray, Elizabeth J. history 4

0606033084 Sugaring Time Lasky, Kathryn history 4.8

0684127954 Courage of Sarah Noble Weisgard, Leonard; Dalgliesh, Alice history 4.4

0064403572 The Bread Sister of Sinking Creek Moore, Robin history 4

0892390506 Family Pictures: Cuadros De Familia Garza, Carmen Lomas history 4.1

0397324472 Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam, The Huynh, Quang N. history

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Jun. 9, 2007

Ideas from the web

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

Now that I have a place to put all of these things...

http://spellingtime.com/ - create spelling lists and your student can play games with them and practice their spelling words.

http://www.bookadventure.com/ - suggests books for your reader on topics they'll enjoy reading...

http://www.exploratorium.edu/

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Jun. 9, 2007

Schools Out!

Posted in Just Talkin'

Yesterday was OFFICIALLY Hitman's last day of school. I silly stringed him as he got off the bus... just kind of a way to tell him - "it's over... you made it... it's all fun from here on out!"

We had 2 of his friends over last night for a campfire. We sang songs and the kids decided to pretend they were Indians. I am part Cherokee and have researched my heritage quite a bit... so they got to learn a little bit in their "playtime"... and they didn't even know it!

On another note... we showed the house last night and woo-hoo they seemed interested. I just hope that it sells ASAP so that we KNOW how this is all going to work in the Fall.

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Jun. 8, 2007

Happy Homemaker

Posted in Just Talkin'

First - you need to know... I'm very well known for my cooking abilities... well... or lack thereof. When I was little I had DREAMS of being a homemaker. People would ask me - "What do you want to be when you grow up? I would proudly stick my chest out and say, "A wife and a mom!" Well - I am a wife a mom... and I would say that I am good at both roles.... however, I am not the homemaker that I once dreamed of being.

My house... is never neat. My carpets are... rarely swept. My beds... rarely made. My laundry... when done, sits nicely folded in laundry baskets and is rarely put away. My dinners are usually either ordered in or very simple fare. Yes, I have been known to make a mess of boxed macaroni and cheese. When I made the decision to homeschool it was with the understanding that we would need to cut back on expenses (like eating out and ordering in), the house... well, we'll worry about that later... we have to take things One Dy At A Time.

Imagine my excitement when I discoved the Menus4moms.com website that you can subscribe to and it will send you a weeks worth of simple dinner menus AND the corresponding grocery list. WOOHOO! I did it this week and it was SOOOO easy! I even made easy Apple Turnovers and took them to my mom and dad's for dessert the other night! How easy are they you ask? Well let me tell you!

Take a roll of refrigerator biscuits and roll each biscuit into a 6 inch circle.

Mix 1 cup appesauce, and once chopped apple in a bowl. Add cinnamon to taste.

On each circle place a teaspoon of the apple mixture and fold over to create the turnover.

Brush the top of each turnover with butter then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake at 400 degrees until the tops are golden brown (about 10 minutes).

That's it! That easy! And they taste SOOO good!

I loved the feeling of baking something to take to my parents. A treat. And I must admit, I love the feeling of putting a nice, nutritious meal in front of my husband and son - even if THEY don't appreciate my Zucchini/Basil/Tomato bake... they'll thank me when they're old and healthy!

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Jun. 8, 2007

Dance Dance Revolution

Posted in Wish List

I've been researching ways to assist Hitman in overcoming his slower processing speed... lol - they make a video game for that! There is a video game named "Dance, Dance Revolution", some of you may have heard of it. Here's how it could help Hitman...

The game is set to music... there is a dance pad that sits on the floor. The steps that you are to make will flash on the screen and you have to mentally process (quickly) what the screen is telling you to do and how you must move your feet. By starting out slowly and increasing the speed as he improves - this is how it will help him :

working in a time limit
processing things quickly
getting energy "out of his system"
learning to keep a beat - which will help him in his reading - finding the rhythm in reading.

DDR is made for XBox or PS2 - neither of which we have... BUT - I found a dance pad that hooks to the TV directly...http://www.ddrgame.com/dance-dance-revolution-twin-tv-pad-ac-adapter.html For $60 Hitman and I could play together!

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Jun. 8, 2007

Plans and Schemes

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

I intend to use this blog to keep track of my ideas and plans. I find myself in such a state of information overload at times that I fear I'll forget the really great ideas that I had or the really great information that I heard or read.

Hitman is an athlete. He loves Baseball and Football and loves to exercise. Bless his little heart for that too - because he didn't get it from his Mama. Hitman is NOT a writer. Oh, he has a GREAT imagination and GREAT ideas - but the art of actually putting information on paper is lost to him! So I struggled with HOW to combine both things...

Each week Hitman will pick a famous athlete (past or present - but must be still living). He will research that athlete...

Where are they from?
What college did they go to?
What Charity work do they do?
What teams have they played for?
What are their stats?

Each Thursday, he will sit down with pen and paper and write a letter to the "Athlete of the Week", introducing himself, telling the Athlete what he likes about him, and asking for an autograph. He will also enclose an "autographed photo" of himself in his football uniform. Hopefully by the end of the year, his letter-writing skills will have improved, his reseach skills will have improved and he will have a unique scrapbook of letters and autographs.

Math - I've heard really good things about Math-U-See for kids who need multi-sensory teaching methods. I plan to order the Gamma books for him. I saw cheaper blocks (all-link blocks) I think and they're alot cheaper... I wonder if you could teach Math-U-See with those???

I am looking for an affordable history curriculum. I 'm so torn on History. I know what DOESN'T work - and that's learning History in little chunks of time that never seem to come together in your mind. I HATED history because I never could figure out how the puzzle fit together. I'd like to cover History in a timeline format. I've heard that the Mystery of History is good. Any opinions? I also came across a neat collection "Drive through history; America" - that looked good, but I would really prefer to cover World History first. Hitman LOVES the History channel and I think it would be great for him to learn History through DVD's... but I can't find a History curriculum on video...

Science - Hitman wants to learn about Dinosaurs and Astronomy... not normally two topics that would be covered at the same time... but hey, it's his education and if that's what he wants to learn about - that's what we'll cover!

I have gone out to www.bookadventure.com and put in Hitman's information - and printed a list of books that might be of interest to him. We're going to keep track of every book that he reads and for each 10 books that he reads and writes a one page summary of... he'll earn an hour at the batting cages or a new game.

I need to post a list of books on the blog so that when friends and family want to know what he wants for a special event... I can send him to our blog!

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Jun. 7, 2007

Buried Saint Joseph

Posted in Just Talkin'

I know, I know ... it's superstitious and it's silly... but after 2 years of trying to sell this house... I'll try anything! After about 6 people telling me that if I "really" want to sell my house I need to bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down, facing the street in the front yard... I finally broke down and tried it.

I'm not Catholic, I'm not superstitious and normally I would never do something so...nonsensical. BUT... IF, for some reason - even if it's just because "I'm puttin' it out there"... it helps - then it will be worth the $7 and all the mocking that I have received!

I've been praying like crazy that God brings the right buyer to the house and of course, I know that if the house sells - it was He that did it - not St. Joseph... but, it made me feel better. We also reduced the price for the house.

If you're reading this... please offer a prayer that my house sells so that all of our plans can OFFICIALLY come together!

Thanks!

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Jun. 7, 2007

Almost there

Posted in Just Talkin'

Hello! Come in, would you like a glass of sweet tea?

My name is Sonja, I am mom to one perfect little miracle. For the sake of this blog... we'll call him Hitman - not because he's violent - but because that's his football nickname. Hitman is the most amazing kid - and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is smart, funny, kind, considerate and he has the most incredible heart I've ever seen on anyone - child or adult.

Hitman is 9 years old. He is just finishing up his last day of 3rd grade... in public school. Yes, we are in the very beginning stages of deciding to homeschool. The decision has been made - now we just have to make it happen. We've been trying to sell our old house for 2 years now - and have been paying 2 mortgages.... As soon as the house sells - I will no longer need to work and will be able to stay home with Hitman.

Hitman is dyslexic. I've known that he's dyslexic since he was in Kindergarten - but trying to get him tested "in the system" was nearly impossible. But, in Kindergarten and First grades he had really wonderful teachers who saw him for the amazing kid that he is.

2nd grade brought us a horrible year. His teacher was a new teacher, she was unsure of herself and quite honestly, unkind to the kids. It was not a good year. When Hitman asked questions, she yelled at him for not paying attention. When he forgot to do something, she assumed that he "chose" to forget. In 2nd grade he was tested within the school system and he was found to have "specific reading learning disability" - the school doesn't recognize dyslexia. But they sure were ready to recommend that I have him treated for ADD. He was also found to have working memory defecits and a slow processing speed.

This year, he had a Special Education teacher who could not spell correctly to save her life! She misspelled words like "wear" (she spelled it ware), relatives (realatives), tries (trys)... the list goes on. It was SO very frustrating. Add to that - she gave him word searches on a weekly basis. For those who don't understand... for a dyslexic kid - that's enough to make him lose his mind! Take a kid who looks at a normal page of text and sees the letters dancing and give him a word search and it's a recipe for disaster. So... his dad and I had fun doing word searches all year. LOL.

We recently had Hitman evaluated by a psychologist... we received the results last night. Nothing he told me surprised me... Hitman has a high IQ, but is highly affected by a VERY low processing speed. He is very dyslexic (though he is overcoming that well - I take credit for that because the school has done nothing), they feel he is ADD - I'll share my thoughts on that later, and he has a severe working memory issue.

Recommendations that the psychologist made were:

Medicine for the ADD - I reserve the right to change my mind on this, but I'm not ready to try that.
Reduced time when he has to concentrate (5-10 minutes TOPS)
Multisensory learning
Checklists
Reduced work load - if the assignment is 50 math problems, give him 20.
Allow him to give oral reports instead of making him write.

We had already decided to consider homeschooling - but this reaffirmed everything that we had been feeling. The accomodations were all that I had been asking for over the last 2 years and had not received. The ONLY way that he is going to receive the education that he deserves and "catch-up" to where he needs to be is for me to teach him myself.

In essence, I've been homeschooling for 2 years... I have worked 8 hours each day and come home to spend 4 hours with him doing homework. So... I'm not overly nervous about taking on the challenge. Besides, homescholling was Hitman's idea!

Well, that's about all I can write right now - but please, stop in any time and feel free to say hi!

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