Posted in Resources
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I received a box of Kumon books and thought I would share my thoughts about them. O loved the Rhyming Words book-- there's just enough on each page to reinforce a word family, but not so much it's overwhelming. The activities repeat with different words groups, so after reading him the instructions for the first word family, he knew what to do for the following pages. M loves the Tracing books, and these will be pulled out when she wants to "do school" with the rest of us. The early math (addition and subtraction) books, however, are b-o-r-i-n-g. Each page has way too many exercises for the pre-K/K/1st age group, and they're just math problems. No matching, no variation. Just problem.after.problem. Neither O nor J wanted to do these, although either could have. I do like that their math problems are set up horizontally. Supposedly that's supposed to promote memorization of math facts (so that 11 + 5 = 16 is automatic, instead of 11 + 5 is 1 + 5 = 6 plus 10). |
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I have been so encouraged by Margie Fawcett's blog... her husband John is battling cancer, but his soul is being renewed day by day. Please read her post from Sunday May 18! And please pray for Margie & John and their two young children in these days of trial. http://margiefawcett.blogspot.com
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Here are a whole bunch of things I've been thinking about, chuckling over-- none of which are substantial enough for an individual post. 1) We did a day of skiing over spring break. (Of course that "day" consisted of two hours of equipment fitting, running to every rental shop at the bottom of the mountain to find a helmet small enough for my three year old, and half an hour of hauling the kids' equipment up to the base of the bunny slope-- before we ever got on the skis.) My dad came with me, while my husband and Baby P stayed at the condo. As soon as we got off the "magic carpet" M and my dad got tangled, and my dad broke his fibula. So much for skiing. 2) We purchased a copy of "The Blue Planet" (by the producers of "Planet Earth") and watched the first one last night. They showed an enormous wave, and J & O simultaneously said, "Look at the tidal wave!" M scornfully corrected them, "No, guys, it's a zoo-mami." 3) Baby P is starting to reach for things and bring them to her mouth. It's so fun to watch her development. 4) I made my favorite lemon-lentil soup today and two loaves of More-with-Less Oatmeal Bread (page 60) for dinner tomorrow. It smelled so good I wanted to have it tonight! 5) Several of my favorite blogs have new homes. Large Family Logistics is back, now at http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com. And Sarah (a.k.a. Poppins) is now at http://handmadehomeschool.wordpress.com. Be sure to check out her page on what a handmade life-- and education-- means. |
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Kendra has updated her blog and website-- combining them. I thought I'd highlight her new link. I've found so many of her suggestions so helpful. She is a wise (and funny) woman. Enjoy. http://www.preschoolersandpeace.com/
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In the first days of my blog, I mentioned the online site from which I order a lot of my homeschool equipment (especially for my toddlers) but I can't find that post. The link is now at the right side of my blog, and the site is: http://www.montessoriservices.com They also have a parent-geared (the main site is geared toward educators-- as distinct from parents, apparently) site: http://www.forlittlehands.com. |
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I think the category links are working. Trying to make them work showed me several things: 1) I haven't posted a recipe in ages 2) I haven't made the maple teriyaki fish or pineapple chicken in ages (and I should-- they're good!) 3) there are 48 uncategorized posts that won't come up that way So if you happen to be reading old posts and find one that says "uncategoried" please drop me a comment so I can fix it! Thanks. |