|
Just wanted to give a little bit of an update... Life is crazy busy around here as usual. Church We all went to church this morning. Oh what a morning it was. We dropped off Moses and Malachi at the preK-K class (turns out Malachi is NOT ready for that and is bumped back to the nursery - I could have told them that). Elisha had a really hard time with the new class today. He fought open session at first, but slowly opened up to it. He fought the class and never opened up to it. He spent the morning running laps around the basement (he wasn't disturbing the classrooms doing this). So, all that effort and I never even made it into the service. Art Gallery Today is the Children's Day at the art gallery. We get free admission to view the art gallery and free art projects to do there. I am hoping everyone will cope well. Grandma is going to watch Malachi while daddy and I head on over to the art gallery with the older boys. This Week... This week is crazy busy and the start of new things. Elisha starts music therapy. Elisha and Moses have their first day of homeschool school. I am not sure how it will go for them and I am already stressing as the classes are larger than I expected. We have support group this week - so a new caregiver for the boys. We have OT at our house and gymnastics. Oh we are homeschooling to have a simple life and our plate is so full. Maybe not full compared to some, but full enough for us. We need to make sure we have lots of down time. Well, that is about it for now. I am tired and would like to try and have a rest before we need to leave for the art gallery. Honey |
|
I am looking forward to having a whole day at home. We can get in a full day of school and some fun activities too (like painting the sun!).
Homeschool Planning I am really enjoying planning my homeschool days. I sit on the couch with books all around me. I have the tv on for background noise as I pour over the different materials and lesson plans. I make notes about what things to include and what things to omit. I am finding what works and what doesn't. Each family is different and the curriculum may need to be modified to fit the needs of each individual family. I am learning to use the curriculum in ways that work for us. For My Father's World K I am changing up what days we do things on. I am mixing in the book days during the rest of the week. I am making things work.
My Planner Page I have a planner page that I use. I made it after trying many others and finding nothing that worked for me. At the top of the page I have a space for the date. There are 2 columns with boxes. Each box has a specific subject or curriculum. If I am using more than one material for a subject I may have each one listed or just the subject. Each night when I sit down to plan I grab my planner page and work with it. I put a line through the boxes of any subjects that we are not doing that day and circle the titles of the ones we are. Then I start filling in the details of each subject. I look in the Teacher's Manuals etc and quickly review the lesson plans and make any notes in the TM that I need to. I also double check that we don't need any extra materials (if we do the lesson may need to wait until I can get them - I hate this...). Right now I have photocopying to do and I can't get that done until Wednesday so I am having to work around that. It is a bit frustrating as I want to keep moving forward. We will keep moving in whatever subjects we can. This has been the simplest way of planning that I have found and I have tried many ways.
Planning For The Year It has been helpful to look at how long each curriculum is going to take. For Horizons Math there are 160 lessons. If we do math 5 days a week it will take 32 weeks to complete. If we do math 6 days a week it will take 26 weeks to complete. It is just helpful to have some idea. We don't have to finish everything this year. We can carry things over the summer. We can carry things over to next year. Some subjects lend themselves to bunny trails and who knows which bunny trails we will take until we get there.
My Planning Times I enjoy my planning times. They are a time to think about how the boys are doing. They are a time to think about the direction we are going. They are a time to evaluate the curriculum and materials we are using. I also sometimes dream and think about what fun and exciting curriculum we will use next year. I love planning and organizing.
Okay, that's enough. It's time to get the boys organized for school.
Honey
|
|
School today was fairly good. I got a good one on one session in with Moses first.
Horizons Math K We did lesson one today. It seems like just the right amount of time for Moses. It seems like it went just the right speed. It went fairly well.
Ordinary Parent's Guide To Teaching Reading I love this book. I think this is going to be really good for Moses.
My Father's World K We are working on the Sun week. I have a really hard time doing everything as written. I don't like the teacher's manual the way it is laid out. I like the activities, just not have you have to flip back and forth. We read Bear Shadow and My Shadow again. We read a book about the sun today. We talked about the sun. We still have not done the main activity from Day 1. We also have not really done all the book activities. We are going to be at a park this afternoon and will most likely do some of the shadow activities there. Tomorrow will be a good day for painting. I like interjecting the book day activities with our other days. Moses seems to get more out of it. I am not sure yet if I will use this for Malachi in 2 years. We will just take it at our own pace and make it work for us.
I realized today that I am going to have to go really slow in order for Moses to grasp basic concepts. He does not know his letters. He cannot count past 10. He cannot without help identify specific sounds. We will probably be looking into testing at some point this year.
My Elisha was a bit of a challenge today. He is learning to do things that he doesn't like and this is very hard for him. I modified school a bit today - after he started cooperating.
Bible Lesson 2 We read a rather long bible passage and it was difficult for him to sit still. Usually I let him wander around, but today I needed him to just "stop" for a bit.
Story Of The World V1 We are still working our way through the introduction. I am really liking the layout of this curriculum. Today we read a bit. Then we did review questions. Then he did a short narration. I have put some books on hold at the library that are recommended - about archaeology. I look forward to reading them. We are going to do all the projects recommended - family tree book - Elisha's Life Time Line - then the archaeological dig in the back yard. I have no set time I want to be finished this book. It is so easy to do everyday. We just do a little bit. It is great so far.
Learning Language Arts Through Literature Yellow We skipped ahead to work on Lesson 6 because we were able to get the novel out of the library early. I don't think it matters too much doing that part out of order. We are finished with the novel, but I think we will finish the unit just for consistency. I need to read it over tonight.
Horizons Math 2 We did lesson 2 today. I think these lessons are too easy for him. I think we will plow through them fairly quickly. We haven't hit anything new yet but we are only moving on to lesson 3.
I left off a few things for Elisha today once he settled and started cooperating. I wanted to end on a positive note.
That was our day. Overall it went well. Soon we are off to a picnic in the park with cousins and grandma and papa. It should be fun. Maybe they can burn off some of this extra energy? Doubt it. LOL.
Honey
|
|
There is a new baking chocolate coming out. Click here to find more about it.
http://nestlechocolatier.fanamp.com/?C1853_559920
|
|
Elisha awoke with a bang and was up at running around before 5am this morning. I put on a movie for the younger boys and got the computer ready for Elisha. UGH! I kind of dozed until 6:30am when it was time to start breakfast.
Our plan was to attempt to go to church today (and we did actually make it there and on time too). After breakfast I had my shower and then daddy helped to get the boys dressed. This takes forever. Elisha ran all around an up and down and couldn't focus on gettng dressed. He needed help (as usual). Then came the shoes. These ones are too tight. These ones don't fit with socks. Oh, I don't care as long as you have something on your feet. He wore itchy sandles. I convinced him to wear them to the car and see if there was another pair in there. He forgot. I never brought it up. Then the keys were missing. Getting everyone into the car and buckled up is always loads of fun. Well, we got to church early so we went back and got coffee at Tim Horton's. When we finally arrived at church Elisha went to take off in the parking lot - I was prepared and caught him fairly quickly. Then I washed everyone's faces while holding Elisha's hand. He was a floppy limp rag doll today. We get into the service. They are still on summer schedule and had a 3-5 class and a 6+ class. Moses and Malachi went in to play. Elisha came up to the service for worship. That lasted all about 10 seconds. I walked the foyer with him because he couldn't sit and he couldn't be quiet. Jonah sat in the service alone. Then when they dismissed the kids it turns out they were watching a movie. Elisha didn't want to sit and watch a movie. He wanted to go down and play. I asked and they let him go down and play. He did really well. When I went down to drop him off Malachi would not let me leave and he was stinky butt. So I change him and then he won't let me leave. I finally leave (sneak out is more like it) the kids room when the service is almost over to take communion with Jonah. Leaving the church is fun. Elisha is floppy and not wanting to leave. Everyone takes hands to get to the car. Elisha does not like the car so he usually complains or fights a bit. A little bit of fast food for lunch and then off to the grocery store. The grocery store is always an adventure. One buggy for Moses, one buggy for Malachi, and a leash for Elisha. He was begging not to wear it today. Well, he couldn't listen in the parking lot so I knew there was no way he was going to listen in the store. I put the leash on and at least he couldn't take off. I let him wander beside me. He was very spinny and all over the place. He almost had a melt down at the cashier, but we made it out okay. Then it was time to go home. Yippee! Time to check email and just relax. oh, and drink coffee. And I made arrangements for someone to babysit so Jonah and I could go out to church alone tonight. I so need some time out of the house.
Honey |
|
I posted a request (to an email list I am on) for sensory activities to help strengthen my sons finger and hand muscles... here are some of the ideas I received. I am posting them here so I have them all in one spot and so others who need them can use them. finger painting - playdough - clay - writing in sand - digging around in jello - mini markers - fist crayons or broken crayons - spray bottle w/ water - turkey baster in the water - tearing paper - playing with beans - scissor cutting - eye droppers - picking things up with tweezers - clothes pegs - lacing cards - stringing beads - hand extensions Well, those are some really good ideas. I have to start trying them. I had playdough out today and he was not interested at all. I think he would like the finger painting though. Honey |
|
Our school day today was very productive. We accomplished pretty much everything on our list.
I kept everything really short. I wanted to give him just a taste of everything so that he would not be bored. We did a bit of each subject and then I let him play on the computer in between. I am trying to phase the computer out.
Elisha was a bit intimidated until I told him I would do all the writing today. I don't plan on having Elisha write much of anything yet. We are going to work on strengthening his hand muscles for the next little while.
Bible Lesson Lesson 2
We did the first part of lesson 2 today. Elisha looked up and read all the scriptures to me.
Story Of The World V1 Introduction I really think I am going to like this curriculum. I read the first part of the introduction to Elisha. I am happy too because when I looked at the local library online I was able to reserve a bunch of the recommended books. I think our library must be pretty good. Review Questions Elisha answered the review questions orally. Narration Elisha did his first ever narration. He did pretty good.
Horizons Math 2 Lesson1 Elisha answered all the math questions orally and I wrote his answers for him.
Learning Language Arts Through Literature Yellow Lesson 2 and Lesson 6 We finished off Lesson 2 and then started Lesson 6 because we were able to get the novel from the library (The White Stallion). I read the book to him. He answered half the questions today. We will revisit this lesson until it is finished.
First Language Lessons Lesson 1 We did Lesson 1 today. It was good. I have a feeling we may move along at a pretty good click through this material. I really like the way it is laid out.
This was all we did today. Overall I would say that our lessons went well.
MFW K For Moses we are working on the week of the sun. We did it a bit different. We did calendar time, but have not started the 100's chart yet. Since I had some of the books recommended on day 6 we went through two of those. We read My Shadow, and Bear Shadow today. I was hoping we would get outside to talk about shadows, but it didn't happen. We did a bit of work with the flashcard and foam letters, but he doesn't seem to like that part. We did the letter S picture cards today. I want to cut them out and put them on cardstock and then put them in a little box. I am sensing that he is not an auditory learner like Elisha. I still have no idea what kind of learner he is.
That is about all we did today. Moses played with playdoh with Malachi for quite a while today. Moses also played outside for a long time this afternoon and got very dirty.
That was our day. Overall it was pretty good.
Honey
|
|
Well, we went for our first ever homeschool gymnastics class today. It was good and it was bad. The boys had a rough day overall today. No one was coping well. When we got to gymnastics the boys were wild and I do mean wild. They were all over the place driving the gymnastics people crazy I am sure. Malachi (3) would not could not participate. He wanted to climb and play on all the equipment. It was a disaster. I finally left and took him to my mom's house. The older boys, the ones I was worried about were fairly good. They were activie and wanted to move. They kept taking off from the instructor. Oh my goodness. I went back to pick them up and Elisha had a bathroom accident and luckily I had a change of clothes in the car. It was purely my fault because when we got there he told me he had to go and I complained that he had just went at my parents. I told him I didn't know if they had one or not - think mom, think! When I asked him why he had an accident he told me that I said there was no bathroom. I felt so bad. They both loved gymnastics and didn't want to leave. Moses wanted to stay there all day for school. Moses was really cranky after class and started breaking out in welts, so there must be something he is allergic to at class. I will give allergy meds before class next time and see if that helps. I also need to bring water with me for the ride home after. So, now the question remains: Do I take Malachi back or let this be something that the older boys do themselves? I am thinking the latter. I also need to arrange for an aid to come as soon as possible for Elisha to help him cope with waiting his turn.
That was our day...well part of it. Tomorrow we have a crazy day too.
Honey |
Posted in My Curriculum
|
If anyone is interested in receiving more information when the curriculum is available for sale, please email me at sunflowermommie@yahoo.com and I will put your name on the list. This does not obligate you to purchase the curriculum.
Honey |
|
Well, my post this morning inspired me to get some more school preparations completed. Student Binders Each child now has a general binder with the spine color coded. Elisha has an extra Bible binder. I plan on putting dividers into their binders and maybe if the binders get too full we will go up a couple of sizes (we only have 1" binders right now) or move to separate binders per subject (for completed work?). Teacher's Binder I put my teachers binder into a larger binder. I got rid of many unnecessary pages, put a couple of binders together and managed to come out with a very nice teachers binder. I also have a binder for everything to do with Elisha's Autism (professional information/diagnosis/program information etc). I got that binder down to a manageable size. It is now one that can be taken to the OT and school meetings without too much effort. That binder still needs to be organized, but it will come. Making Progress I feel like I made a lot of progress doing those simple little bits of organizing. I ended up with 3 empty binders (I am sure I will find a use for them fairly quickly) and a binder full of plastic pages (yeah! now I don't have to buy any of these for a bit). It may not seem like much doing those simple organizational bits, but every little bit of organizing helps. Feeling more organized helps me feel more confident about my ability to teach my boys. Now it is time to go clean the livingroom and switch the laundry. I can't wait to start school. Honey |
Posted in My Curriculum
|
With regards to the Canada curriculum, it isn't all history, although there is history in it. There is also geography, creative writing, etc. I think a third grader would still get a good deal out of the curriculum. I have tried to include appropriate activities for all levels (k-3 and possibly higher, the test families are helping with this). The curriculum covers the basics and several fun things too. I am making a companion curriculum for this one (same level k-3 give or take) and I am creating one that looks at each of the provinces (that may be gr2-5?). I will be looking for test families for next year for the other curriculum/s.
Honey |
|
What is the easiest way to prepare for school? I have been pondering this question lately. Teacher's Planner Book I have my teacher's planner book started. In the front of the book I have included a section for routines and schedules that I hope to implement this year. Then I have section for each subject area. I plan on including notes and copies in these sections. To divide the sections I slipped pieces of brightly colored card stock into plastic page protectors. I wrote the subject in pencil and on the back I listed all the materials for that subject. That is probably as clear as mud. Teacher's Manuals and Student Workbooks I have all the Teacher's Manuals and Student Books stored on one shelf beside my desk. I am still thinking through what I want to do about their notebooks. Do I want one binder for each child with dividers for each subject? Do I want one binder for each subject? (I think that would be too many). I will most likely be taking the math pages out of their book and then slipping them into their binder. I still need to process this. I would love to be able to put all of their work into plastic pages, but that would be way too expensive. Photocopying I am trying to wait until everything arrives and take the things to be copied all at once to the copy shop, and then do that again once a month. I don't want to prepare more than a few weeks in advance (otherwise I will stress myself out). Curriculum Choices I am very happy with my curriculum choices. I am excited to be able to teach the boys new and exciting things from all these wonderful curriculums. Many of my curriculum choices for the boys are ones that will need to be taught one on one. This will be time consuming, but with the dynamics of our house I thought this was very important. School Room Our livingroom is our school room. Where do you do school? We have 3 computers (one is mine - the boys are NOT allowed to touch it and the other two the boys share) in our livingroom. We have a couple of bookshelves jam packed. There are more books in the bedrooms upstairs. We love to read. There are posters on the walls (a time line of creation that we made, ABC's, 1-10, and the books of the bible) with more to come soon ( a map of the world, a map of Canada, etc). We also have a television, dvd, and broken vcr (that is used to hook up the dvd to the tv - LOL). We watch too much tv and we spend too much time on the computer. I hope this all changes when we are full swing into school. I am actually NOT scheduling any computer time for the boys. I know it will happen incidentally, but I don't want whole blocks of time set aside for it when there are so many other things to do in the day. Chore Time In my routines I have added a couple of routine cleaning times which I really hope will help us get more together on doing the chores. Right now MOM does most of the work and I would really like the boys to be more independent and learn to take care of their things. My oldest son Elisha has aspergers/autism (which I will be discussing more in another/other posts) so right now we qualify for extra help ($) with housecleaning and childcare. Right now I get 4 hours of housecleaning every second week and 3 hours of childcare a week. This is such a blessing to our family. I have one afternoon a week where I can just be alone or with a friend if I want to. The down time is much needed! Anyways... right now our chore time will focus on just the basics.
So much to do. So much to think about. My head swims. Sometimes I feel like an executive secretary scheduling our life. Funny, for us this is quiet. Life is just busy. Most of the busyness is out of our control so we just work around it.
Have a great day! Honey
|
Posted in My Curriculum
|
Hey, I just wanted to mention about the curriculum that I have written.
All About Canada is a one year curriculum for k-3. It includes science, social studies, creative writing, notebooking, hands on activities, and lots of other fun things. This course covers basic information about Canada and is fully internet linked. I am really excited. The Parent Manual and Student Pages combined total well over 500 pages.
I currently have 25+ families testing the curriculum through a private yahoogroup. So far I am very excited about the feedback. I am hoping to have the curriculum available for sale some time in 2007. Please check back for updates.
Also check back to see what other materials I will be working on in the near future. Future projects include: More About Canada, All Across Canada, and a preschool/kindergarten program yet to be named.
Honey
|
|
This store is awesome. They have incredible homeschool materials for sale and they all download. Each week they also have a free product offer so you can see what their products are like. Definitely visit their site.
http://www.homeschoolestore.com/catalog/index.php
Honey |
|
For the past 4 years I have moderated/owned a used curriculum yahoo group. We have over 300 members now. It is very active. You should check it out.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolbuyandsell/
Honey |
|
Okay, so everyone says this is addicting. I am starting to believe them.
As I sit at my desk I am thinking about organizing for school. How does everyone do it? I have my books sort of organized and accessible. I have things in neat piles all over my desk. I tried to organize the craft cupboard today, but I got so overwhelmed I stopped. I want everything to be organized and easy to get to.
Not to mention the baby (well, he is 3 now) was throwing up all night and most of today. He simply wanted to snuggle with me all day. I learned today not to give milk to a throwing up child. It turns to cottage cheese - ewe yuck.
All three boys are soundly sleeping and I am thinking again about how can I get organized and when can we get school into full swing? I was thinking that we would start with one or two subjects and then gradually add more. We are still waiting on some curriculum to arrive. I also have some photocopying to do.
It is hard to get into a routine when all of our activities have not started yet. The boys are registered for homeschool gymnastics - all three of them can go at the same time. YIPPEE! Elisha will have music therapy and occupational therapy (more about Elisha in another post). We have homeschool school one morning a week. The first sessions are art and drama/theatre for k-3. Those sound like so much fun. The sessons are once a week for 5 weeks. Then we break and start again with more courses.
I ordered some hands on materials for my boys (mostly Moses and Malachi) to give them some new activities to do. I also have some great ideas that I have gleaned from all over the internet for preschool children. I want to have tricks up my sleeve to keep everyone excited and having fun.
I hope to also join the local homeschool groups here. They will be a good support for our family. We need to make some new homeschooling friends.
I feel like I am making progress towards being organized. I have my planner in the works, and schedules, and routines, etc. I am really happy with what I have been able to come up with thanks to a few ladies from above rubies with good suggestions.
Well, it's time for a bedtime snack and a good night sleep. Oh and I want to share about my reward sticker/homeschool store idea some time soon.
Honey |
|
This is my first blog ever! This is our first official year homeschooling. I can't wait to journal our experiences here. We have been doing bits and pieces of school all summer and having lots of fun. Let me introduce myself. I am Honey wife to Jonah. We have 3 boys - Elisha, Moses, and Malachi. Here is a list of the curriculum we are using this year (this may change). Bible - Year One - Preparation For Christ http://annesschoolplace.com/productsBible.htm The Old Testament - The Beginning http://padfield.com/downloads/curriculum.html Story of the World Volume1 http://peacehillpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=53 Canada My Country http://www.donnaward.ca/details.asp?ISBN=0-9686788-1-5 Exploring Creation With Astronomy http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/ Learning Language Arts Through Literature - yellow http://www.cspress.com/yellow.htm First Language Lessons http://peacehillpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=10 Horizons Math K and 2 http://www.aop.com/horizons/Subjects_Math.php Handwriting Without Tears Easy French Jr. Pfeiffer House Music Kindergarten http://www.pfeifferhousemusic.com/ Visual Manna's Preschool and Early Elementary Art Basics http://www.visualmanna.com/index.pl Visual Manna's ABC's of Art http://www.visualmanna.com/index.pl My Father's World Kindergarten My Father's World Toddler and Preschool Instructions in Righteousness http://www.doorposts.net/instruct.asp Plants Grown Up http://www.doorposts.net/plants.asp Honor They Father and Mother http://www.doorposts.net/honor.asp And??? It should be a fun and exciting year. I looking forward to writing about all of our wild and crazy experiences.
Honey |