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By the Book
8.7.2009
Final Decisions for the New School Year
Well, I've posted several versions of our curricula for next year, and I have one more revision. I swear this is the final draft. (Unless, of course, something changes mid year and something is not working.)
K
Math - Math Mammoth (2nd grade)
Spelling - After we finish up the McRuffy 1st-grade material, we will be starting the first book of Sequential Spelling. This should be in January sometime, if each lesson only takes a day. Sometimes, however, she likes to do a week's worth of spelling in just a couple days, so we could be done much sooner.
Grammar - After the McRuffy is complete, we will be moving into 2nd-grade Growing With Grammar. I'm not quite sure when this will be completed, though. There are roughly 3 to 4 grammar lessons in each week of McRuffy, and I'm still breaking them down into individual lessons.
Writing - Writing With Ease. We are using the text version and not the workbooks. I have the first 8 weeks of copywork and narration already figured out and put into my "All That's School" binder. I've pulled sentences and narrations from The Adventures of Robin Hood, Little Women, Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, Story of the World, Harry Potter books, and others.
Reading - We have about 5 weeks of reading to finish up with McRuffy. After that, I'm not sure we will do a formal reading program. I might just use her history and science readings to asses her reading and comprehension. If we do decide to do reading separately, she got the Treasury of Illustrated Classics set for Christmas that I might just make up comprehension questions for and have her read a chapter a day. She is already reading Jane Eyre and she read the first few pages of Alice In Wonderland last night.
Bible - Continue on with Alpha Omega Lifepac 1st grade and then move on to 2nd grade.
H
Math - Math-U-See Primer
Language Arts - McRuffy Phonics & Reading (includes handwriting and spelling)
Bible - Once she is reading a bit, we will probably start the 1st-grade Alpha Omega Lifepac. I'm guessing this will be sometime closer to spring. I want to make sure she is able to read some Arnold Lobel books comfortably before I start on that, since some pages of the worktexts are for the students to read.
Both Girls
Science - R.E.A.L. Science (Life)
History - Story of the World (Finish book 1, Ancients)
Art - Meet the Masters
Unfortunately, we still have to purchase Math-U-See and Meet the Masters, but somehow it will all come together. We will be starting our year on August 25th, and attending school Tuesday through Friday. We were originally going to be involved in a co-op on Mondays, but I think that will have to wait for one more year. However, I think we need that Monday to do our major cleaning and chores, so I have left our schedule the same.
In the next couple weeks I will be busy finishing up our lesson plans. I would like to have our plans completely done for all subjects for at least the first 8 weeks of school. All I have left to finish is K's grammar and bible. So far, I think the biggest challenge has been breaking up the McRuffy Phonics & Reading program into separate subjects. However, it had to be done for K since she gets bored with certain things and still needs practice with others. I think this year will be a great one just for that reason. Everything is finally on its own, so she can work at her own pace and we can easily skip over extra practice of things that she already has down.
We will also be using workboxes this year, and I hope to have those completed soon so that I can post some pictures. There is only so much removing of Velcro backing that can be done in a day.
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6.5.2009
Desert Lapbook
5.3.2009
New Developments
In light of several factors, one being the advice of a good friend, we have decided to make some curriculum changes. We are already loosely following The Well-Trained Mind (WTM) for science and history. It has been working really well, albeit slow in the history department. (I don't want to overload my young children!) We have now decided to also add language arts into the mix. We will be using First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind (FLL) with K once she finishes up the McRuffy 1st grade program. This book will cover grammar for 1st and 2nd grade, and includes memorization.
I originally balked at the idea of using this approach. However, through lots of research of different programs, I somehow found my way to it. Also, I had been curious last month and put a hold on the book from the library. Yesterday when I looked at my library account, the book was in! So, I went and picked it up and so far I like what I see. So, I think this will be the next step for us.
We will also be using Rod and Staff for 2nd grade spelling. The ultimate plan is to go through FLL and then move on to 3rd grade Rod and Staff English. I am really interested in this program because it looks really solid and includes sentence diagramming. I didn't make the correlation at the time, but this is also the program recommended to follow FLL by the WTM. So, my guess is it works really well.
For H we will continue using Hooked on Phonics and McRuffy concurrently. She is really starting to make some good progress. Once she is through McRuffy K, we will move her on to McRuffy 1st grade, and then eventually to FLL.
I do not worry about going through 1st-grade material more than once, as I have realized that with gifted students it is sometimes better to expand rather than to accelerate. Many thanks to the homeschooling mom who has tread these waters before me and was kind enough to share what she has learned.
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4.27.2009
Funny Math Story
So I just have to make a post about this. I was researching the math program Math U See last night. On one of the demonstration videos, Steve Demme mentions a class that he was teaching once. He had 7 students and he brought in 14 objects. He asked them how many each would get. They asked him if they were supposed to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. So, I decided to ask K a similar question. I said, "I'm going to bring home 8 apples. How many do each of us in our family get?" She thought for about 5 seconds before answering. She said, "Two for you, two for Dad... Four for H, and zero for me, because I don't like apples."
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4.24.2009
Update and Sneak Peek
We have been doing fairly well at sticking with our schedule lately. We have implemented the 10:00-12:00 schedule, and that seems to work well for us. We take a short recess from 11:00 to 11:15, and just try to get in as much schoolwork as we can in that time frame.
We had to put the desert lapbook aside for a while, due to an interest in wanting to learn the skeleton. We are using Nonfiction Read & Write Booklets by Scholastic for our human body study. This is the perfect idea for K, and I wish I could find them for many more subjects. She also decided, all on her own, to do some copywork from our human body encyclopedia for her science notebook.
I am finally starting to notice a breakthrough with H's reading. Every night before bed she wants to practice out of her "yellow book." (It's the yellow book from Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten.) Last night she did really good at reading some new short /i/ words and reading a new story. She even asked me if she was reading.
I think we have made our final decisions for next year's curriculum. The things that are going to remain the same are K's McRuffy Phonics and Reading program (although she wants to learn cursive next year) and Alpha Omega Bible; Story of the World for history for both girls; a nice mix of HOP and McRuffy Kindergarten for H (or whatever else is working at the time!), and Saxon math for H.
K will be switching from Saxon math to Math Mammoth, although we still have the 2nd grade Saxon that we can pull lessons out of for reinforcement if we need to. We will also be using the Saxon meeting book still. We will also be using a new science program. We are going to use R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey by Pandia Press and cover Life science again. We have covered a lot this year just by reading books, coloring, copywork, and making minibooks. However, the R.E.A.L. program is very hands-on and will give us a new way to approach science. Since the girls are so young (and I'm not sure what H has really gotten out of it lately) we decided it would not do any harm to cover the material again. They will get to work with thermometers, binoculars, and bugs. They will begin to get a feel for the scientific method. R.E.A.L. covers animals in a different way than we did this year, too, so it won't just be more of the same. They will learn the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates next year. This year, we learned them grouped by biome, and just discussed whether they were amphibian, mammal, bird, etc. I think they will really enjoy being out in the world doing fun stuff and getting dirty.
So, there's an update on this year and a preview of what we've decided to do for next year.
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3.1.2009
The End of an Era
We are getting ready to finish up our animal study for this year's science. It has been an amazing journey so far. We have covered rainforests, the arctic, and wetlands. We've studied poison dart frogs, capybaras, leaf-cutter ants, polar bears, the arctic fox, the arctic tern, alligators, beavers, ducks, jaguars, and many others. We're taking the next week to finish up our wetland lapbook, before delving into the desert. We plan to learn about tarantulas, camels, roadrunners, the oryx, and the desert tortoise. Of course, we never know when we'll change direction and choose something different.
Hopefully, we will be able to get some good pictures of our lapbook to share once we are done.
From K: Roadrunners, rattlesnakes, hyenas, and scorpions live in the desert, too. Some kinds of iguanas live in the desert. One kind of spider lives in the desert, but also a tarantula. I like the desert. I like camels. I like iguanas. I like desert tortoises. I like hyenas. I like to watch rattlesnakes, but I do not like them to see me. Will we ever go to the desert?
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7.1.2008
Animal Science Notebook
Here's a little sample of the activities we're doing during our summer animal study:
 
So far, both girls seem to be having fun with it. We're keeping it really informal by reading lots of books and doing coloring pages like these. In the fall we might get into a bit more detail, but for now, this is all they really need to know. I certainly don't want it to become a chore. I want to make sure that they are really having fun with this.
K wants to study jaguars next, but we're going to save those until this fall when we do our study of the rain forest. H doesn't really seem to care what animals we study, as long as there is something to color!
(By the way, all of those pages are from K's official Animal Science Book. H doesn't have one, because I'm really doing this in a minimalist way for her. She's only 3, but come fall, I might get her a notebook, too. But only if she is showing an interest in having one.)
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6.10.2008
Summer School Begins!
My dear daughter is driving me nuts trying to get me to start school early (ever since I received her Saxon Math 1 materials in the mail)!!! So, yesterday we started a short summer school session. We are going to be doing some animal study, working in her Kumon books (we're working on the one with the numbers from 1 to 70 right now), and using the Bible curriculum. We'll use Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as school days.
We are using the 1st grade Bible LIFEPAC from Alpha Omega. Yesterday was our first lesson, but what I've seen so far is really nice. The worktext approach is perfect for K. We will just do that at whatever pace seems to keep her satisfied until we're getting ready to start the official school year. If we have to get the 2nd grade box early, that's what we'll do.
We also started studying lemurs today. We read about them and filled out half of a form that I made for our animal study. It has a place to write in the name of the animal, its habitat, what it eats, what type of animal it is (i.e. mammal, bird, reptile, etc.), and other facts that K or H might find interesting. After we did that, they each colored a picture of a lemur that we found on Enchanted Learning. We will be adding these pages to some of the the other pages in K's Animal Science Book.
Come August, we will be getting a little more in depth into our animal study. K wants to learn about the different habitats, so I did some research and found some Biome Worksheets (also on Enchanted Learning's website). We'll use these, along with a world map, to learn about the habitats for a couple days, then we'll spend the next few weeks learning about different kinds of animals that live in that habitat. I hope to spend 30 weeks on animal study, six of which will be about different habitats.
Hopefully, the summer school will make my daughter happy enough to allow me to finish our plans for our other subjects!
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5.29.2008
Planning Away
Well, we are getting closer and closer to having all of our actual teaching materials gathered for next year. I have made my order through Rainbow Resource and that leaves McRuffy as being the only thing I have left to order. I plan on ordering those materials in July, giving me just about a month to look though them and add to my lesson book. Then, the week before we actually start, we will go shopping for all the supplies we will need: clay, paper, pencils, a new whiteboard, etc., etc.
The materials that I have received so far look really nice. I can hardly wait to jump into everything. I thought that planning all of this on my own would be overwhelming, but really I rather enjoy it! I can hardly wait to start the year and see if all come together.
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5.18.2008
Curricula for the upcoming year
As we continue finishing up this school year, I am starting to get all of our curricula collected for next year. Here is what K will be doing for her 1st grade year:
Math - Saxon 1
Bible - Alpha Omega LIFEPAC 1
Language Arts - McRuffy 1st Grade Phonics and Reading (also includes spelling and handwriting)
History - Story of the World Volume 1 - Ancient Times
Science - Lots of animal study and notebooking/lapbooking, followed by learning about the human body and plants later in the year
Music - Music for Little Mozarts, Alfred's Kid's Drum Course
Art - Lots of drawing from simple drawing books (starting with Diego and rainforest animals, of course!)
H's schoolwork will be as follows:
Math - Saxon K (Some of this will be review, as she has joined us for this quite a bit throughout this year)
Language Arts - McRuffy Kindergarten Phonics and Reading (also includes spelling and handwriting)
History - She will be sitting in on this with us, but will not need to do all of the activities that K does
Science - Again, she will be participating with us
Music - Music for Little Mozarts, Alfred's Kid's Drum Course
Of course, H's schedule for next year is contingent upon her abilities. I'm sure that she will not take to the reading right away, even though she has asked to learn to read. Given her learning style, I think some more educational play may be needed for a while still. I want to get the Hot Dots Phonics Fun program for her to play around with until she's ready for something more formal.
So, the next few months are for gathering curricula, looking over curricula, and preparing my lesson plans for the first couple weeks of school. Our target start date this year is going to be August 18th, so the countdown is on!
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3.18.2008
Ayudeme!
Well, we're getting closer to winding down our school year. The weather is starting to show signs of a warming trend as we work our way steadily closer to springtime. H is really starting to participate more and more in her school activities. She did about 6 workbook pages the other day that consisted of some tracing and coloring objects certain colors. I was very impressed, since she doesn't have the same love of workbooks that her sister has.
We have added something new into our school over the course of the last few weeks. I call them "free days." They are not just totally free, as the name implies. It's basically for when I have a lot of extra things to prepare, kind of like a teacher curriculum day. I tell K it's a free day and she gets to choose between math and reading. They I give her one of two workbooks and let her go. The first day I did this she sat and did over 20 pages in one sitting! It was mostly easy stuff, like copying and extending patterns, circling the larger object, circling the object that holds more, etc. She sure had fun. She gets so excited now when I tell her it's a free day. Yesterday we had a free day and she did the entire chapter on measurements and fractions. Some of the concepts were new to her, so I had to help her a bit, but for the most part, she completed it on her own.
K is still working on her animal science notebook. She has almost all of the Go Diego Go! animals printed off and colored, and she has found a now spot to get pictures of animals. I think by the time we get to 1st grade science next year she will already have studied the 20 animals we're supposed to study! She did say something to me the other day about wanting to pet a baby penguin. I told her maybe someday she could be a zookeeper and get to do that. Later she came up to me and asked me how to become a zookeeper. I told her and she seemed to really like the idea. Who knows, maybe she really will be an animal rescuer like Diego someday! Ayudeme! (<-- Translated to Help me! in Spanish!)
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2.25.2008
New Material
Today we started some new material with H. We have the Learn Every Day Reading and Writing book and Preschool Ultimate Skill Builder book, both published by Learning Horizons. The Reading and Writing book is the same one that we did over the spring and summer with K. However, she only got about halfway through before we jumped into Calvert. I will do the same thing with H: I will let her continue doing pages from these books until I feel that she is ready to start something a little more formal. I can already tell she is not the lover of workbooks like her sister is. We did one page, front and back, before she was ready to be done. K used to do two or three pages, front and back, and then still ask for more! But that is the big difference between their individual learning styles.
Here's H's page. I held her hand to help her trace and draw the A's:
 K did the P page in her Letters and Sounds book today, completed a reading page, practiced her handwriting, and worked on some memorization. She was very focused today and able to work quickly without any hassles. It only took us about an hour to get through our lesson, and we covered 2-1/2 reading lessons. Now she is making a Diego animal science book with some pages she printed from the internet. I really can't complain about all the ink and paper when she's learning about emperor penguins and three-toed sloths, can I?
Here are the P page and two pages from the animal science book:
 
Apparently my scanner likes to distort crayon. The macaw's head and tail were red and the anaconda was a light green.
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2.23.2008
Looking Ahead
Well, it is that time of year when I start researching for the following school year. I already have most of the curricula picked out for next year. I am still undecided on what we will use for science. However, I do have some ideas, so it is just a matter of making a decision. I even have the materials that H will be starting to work on next week and throughout the beginning of next year.
This last week went by very smooth. I even had an extra body for one school day, but she sat at the table and colored with H while we worked through our math and two reading lessons. Then we had an activity that all three girls were able to participate in. We still are not quite to the halfway point in our Calvert K program, but we are very close and are clipping along quite well. We are exactly where we are supposed to be in the Saxon math. I think we have, for the first time since before Thanksgiving, gotten back into our groove.
One big moment this week was when H participated in an exercise involving drawing a line between capital and lowercase levels. A few of them took her a few seconds to figure out, but for the most part she was able to match them correctly. Not bad for a not-quite-3-year-old!
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2.13.2008
Public School v Homeschool
Here is a link that I found regarding test scores of public school students and homeschool students. I am considering printing out a copy to keep with all of our other homeschool information, so I have quick access to it when I feel the need to quote some statistics. As you read through it, do keep in mind, however, that this study was done in 1997.
Home Schooling Achievement
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2.10.2008
Happy New Year!!! (late)
Well, needless to say, we've been pretty busy around here lately. We just got done with a birthday party, where everything went really smooth. I certainly do love when that happens!
We are still working along our Calvert path, trying to finish up the Kindergarten year. With K being on a 1st grade reading level, we're doubling and tripling up on the lessons, based on the content. I think once we hit the part where we're supposed to pull out the beginning readers, there will be more sections that we can just cut out. I'm not going to cut out any of the reading concepts like main idea, characters, etc., since those are not things that she can learn on her own. However, anything to do with the actual reading, like beginning and ending letter sounds can be cut out entirely. She does not even have an interest in www.starfall.com anymore.
H is now using Hot Dots to work on her letters, colors, and shapes. She pretty much knows them, but since she is such an independent learner, she likes to just sit with them and answer the questions. Hot Dots are like interactive flash cards. The possible answers all have a black dot near them. You use the Hot Dot pen to answer the question, and it tells you if you are right or not. Klikes to use them, too. I am considering getting the Phonics set to use for H's next phase of learning, and K wants to get some money ones.
We are once again going to be starting gymnastics. K will be starting at the end of the month. She went through a period where she was pretending to be ballerina. I asked her if she wanted ballet instead of gymnastics, and she chose gymnastics. I think she will be really excited to get started back in it. H was going to start, too, but we have decided that we will wait until she is a little bit closer to 3. K didn't start until after she was 3, and it seemed like a good time to start. So, maybe they will both go to the next session.
K is involved in a Valentine Exchange that someone started for students using the Calvert curriculum. We have 41 valentines that we are sending out. (That pretty much means that Daddy and I are addressing the envelopes and K is signing her name and putting a sticker on the back of the envelope.) Originally, I had planned on sending the stickers to the other students, but the first envelopes got sealed before I remembered. I think so far we've received 3 tatoos with our valentines. K is really liking those. She's never had one before the first one arrived, so they're her new favorite thing. I will post some pictures of our valentine wall once all of the valentines come in.
Well, for now I'm out of here. I'll be back soon with more updates.
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11.9.2007
A Link To Some Interesting Perspectives
11.9.2007
Making Up For Lost Time... Sort Of
Well, we are finally back on track. All visitors are gone and all bodies are healthy. Well, H's getting another cold, but her education is still in the informal stage.
Things are going really good on the home front these days. I am starting to get the balancing act of running the home and working from the home down. I do not get as much work done as I would like, but I'm sure that will come with time. The hospital that I type for usually sends its work to Cobb late, around 10:00 or so. My ideal working times are from around 7:00 until around 11:00. This does not usually work out, so I have to just take less work. But, at least I'm making some money, even if it's not quite as much as I want.
Today we will be doing Calvert lesson 29. The last several lessons have gone very smooth, and I anticipate the same today. It has been a good school week, overall. We have been talking about different kinds of jobs. We have covered train conductors and engineers, news reporters, teachers, and doctors and nurses. Called the discussion part of the lesson, this seems to be something else besides science that K is not interested in. However, this week's science lesson went pretty good. She got to draw the appropriate missing parts of a face and then tell me what sense they were for. She'll do pretty much anything if I involve drawing. I think Miss Meghan at the library did a much better job covering senses than I was able to do! At least she held K's attention.
Her reading lessons have covered y and n this week, so we have also discussed yes and no and different ways to say them with body language. Today will cover more of that. All in all, there seems to be a lot of unnecessary review for her, but if she is not complaining, I am not. As long as she finds it fun, I will review all day. If there is something that looks like it would be frustrating to drill into her brain any more, I will skip it, but for the most part she doesn't mind repeating things. She is doing almost all of her own cutting now. She does pretty good, even if it does take a while. (It gives me time to take notes on her progress!)
We have started a "Me Book" this week, too. So far she has drawn a blanket, spaghetti and mac 'n' cheese for her favorite food, Logan and Isis, and Mommy and H. I'll try to take some pictures of that when she is all done with it.
In math, we have done introductions to bar graphs and ordinal place this week. Pretty easy stuff. I'm waiting for something a bit more challenging, but at least with the hands-on approach that Saxon provides, K has not been bothered by the ease of the lessons. I have been told not to skip anything with Saxon, as it will all be needed toward the end of the year and in 1st grade. The daily calendar discussion is starting to get a little more involved. Still easy, but they have added the spelling of the day of the week and the month. And we're on an ABB pattern this month instead of just an AB pattern. K has been doing patterns for so long she hates doing anything with an AB pattern. We were working on that with a lesson last week, and she insisted that she be allowed to use more than two colors. So I let her do an ABC pattern instead. It made the lesson go smoother. I'm sure it will all become challenging once I can just get caught up to the level that she is at.
Right now we are holding off on gymnastics until after the holidays. This decision is part financial, and part schedule. Daddy is going away for business both this month and next month, so it just didn't make sense to sign up for the current session. Not to mention that extra Christmas cash will come in handy! We are, however, keeping busy with Sunday school and library activities. K goes to story time on Mondays, which involves reading, singing, and a craft. H goes to lapsit on Tuesdays, which is reading, singing, and playing with toys. They also went to a Halloween party, where they got to play games and make some crafts. That was fun, but probably something they would have liked better if they were just a tad bit older. Next year will probably be good for it.
Well, that is the rundown of where we are at. It looks like everything social and educational is intact. Until next time...
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10.24.2007
Trials and Tribulations
The time is really sneaking away from us lately. We are making good progress, especially considering we are 2 years ahead of the game, but I still wish we were able to stay on track a little better. When we have our lessons, they go very smoothly about 95% of the time. Even with H sitting in and absorbing as much as her little sponge will hold. However, we are sick again, and have not been able to get anything done this week yet. Here it is Wednesday, and we have yet to even mention school. Both of the girls have had coughs and off-and-on fevers. We have already been to the doctor, and it's a viral thing, so we just have to wait it out. In the meantime, I am prepping some of the materials that we will be needing for upcoming lessons. Our next Saxon math lesson is about making a matrix, so my job as teacher is to cut out 36 shapes to use for the lesson. That could take me a while!
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10.4.2007
We Are So Blessed
We have really been blessed on our homeschool journey. The only people who have objected or had concerns in any way have been our neighbor and a woman that I randomly met at the library one day. Other than that, people have been more than supportive! I know a lot of homeschooling families have friends and family that are dead set against the whole idea. But we have truly been blessed with loved ones who realize that this is our decision and that we would never do anything to bring negative consequences to our children. Surprisingly, a large number of people have told us that they think we are making the best choice for our children. It all adds up to assure us that we really have made the right decision for our family.
As far as our curriculum year, we have been doing extremely well with the homeschooling so far. K really loves it, and H probably sits in about 40% of the time. Holly actually asked me to do school the other day. It was so darn cute! We had a couple weeks of illness to various family members, but we have been quite productive this week. Today we did most of Calvert Lesson #17 and the reading of Lesson #18. The reading and the math are K's favorites, so we did an extra long reading lesson today. We're going to work on some of the other activities tonight and tomorrow.
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9.21.2007
Current Progress
We have only had 1 1/2 lessons this week. K is sick, so I have been having her rest. We did do a half lesson on Wednesday, because she specifically asked to do one, but then I had her stop because she looked so tired. She has been doing extremely good work on her lessons, though! She really is loving school. She gets so excited when I say it is time for school.
The calendar part of the Saxon math is boring for her, since it's the same thing every day. I think it was the third day of math that she blurted out all of the answers to the questions I hadn't even asked yet. We still don't have our teddy bear counters, so there have been a few parts that we have had to skip from math. But she liked making a pictograph comparing the girls to boys in our family, and she still loves to make her patterns with her pattern blocks.
She is really starting to get some of the reading concepts down. We have recently discussed characters and summarizing. She is pretty good about telling a story back, but sometimes she prefers to change it up and make it her own. She is very good at making up alternate endings to stories. Her reading book has some pages that have lines for tracing and writing out words. The lesson manual says that I should write this stuff in for her, unless she wants to try it on her own. Of course, since she is already writing, she does it herself. There are also times that the lesson manual says I should read a title or a sentence to her from her book. However, for the most part she reads these herself. They are things like "Down and Up" and "Run, run as fast as you can!" She is also learning to make sentences. We have word cards and a period card that she uses to make sentences out of simple words. She understands that a capital starts a sentence and that a period ends it. The next couple of lessons cover the difference between asking and telling sentences.
The one thing that she seems to have a problem with is science. She does not seem to have an interest in me talking about science topics, but does like to do the hands-on activities. She did surprise me with some of the science facts that she retained, though. Her current library storytime theme is the senses, which we are currently covering in school. There is a cute story about this that I will have her Daddy recount.
H has been working in some of her books, but does not really like to do them with a crayon. She prefers to have me ask her to count something or find the blue square on the page. She is not ready to start writing yet. Her coloring is getting much better, though. She is starting to completely color a shape, instead of just put a scribble in it and move on. I was trying to have her trace the shape of a 2 with her finger the other day, using some alphabet toys that we have, but she did not want to do that. It was towards the end of our lesson together, so I think she was just ready to play.
Well, that about sums up our first four weeks. So far, I will say that this is really working out. K is learning, H is getting used to the process, and I am getting into a routine. If things continue on the current path, we will have a very productive school year.
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9.8.2007
Bring-your-daddy-to-school Day
We have decided that once a month or so will be Bring-your-daddy-to-school Day. This will be a planned Saturday, where Daddy will sit in on a day's lesson. The girls will get to show Daddy what they are learning, and Daddy can participate in the learning process. This will allow me to have some of his opinions on things that I may be missing while I'm concentrating on teaching. It will also allow me to show him exactly what goes on in a "typical" school day.
So, today was the first of these special days. We had the tree project to finish up, so he got to help me design the trunk the night before. For lessons 2-7, K scoured magazines looking for pictures of certain colors to glue to her tree leaves. I cut them out, she glued. Then, today we got to take the six colored leaves and make them into a big tree. Here are some pictures:
The whole week was actually quite productive for school this week. My plan of splitting the day up into a morning lesson and an afternoon lesson seems to have done the trick, as far as K's attention span. There are still some parts that she does not seem to enjoy as much as others, but for the most part, she is very enthusiastic when I say it's time for school. We did two days of school in the kitchen, and she was extremely excited that now she has TWO schoolrooms!
For three days we worked on different reading concepts, such as prediction and order. One art project that went along with that was to draw three separate pictures of what you do during your day, in order. Here's what K drew:
1. Sausage breakfast with Daddy.
2. Enjoy my family while playing.
3. Go to bed.
Here's a video of her drawing #2:
Drawing Daddy
And finally, here are some other pictures from the week. I gave her the pattern blocks to play with for a few minutes, and instantly she made patterns with them. This was not prompted in any way! Notice they are not just in an AB pattern, either. (Can you see how proud I am of my smart little cookie???)
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9.7.2007
My Eager Learners
9.4.2007
Already adjusting
We have finished our "morning school" for today. After last week, I realized that K works much better before our recess break, and not so good after it. With the addition of the Saxon math this week, I decided to try a new approach. We will go through our before-recess lessons and then call it for the morning. Then, when H takes her nap after lunch, we will finish the day's lessons. This should give her enough of a break to feel mentally refreshed. She just gets really antsy about halfway through, and when I take H up for her nap, it's usually quiet time for K, anyway, so it just makes sense to try it this way. I will still give her the half hour of required down time, and then, instead of playing on Daddy's computer, she will finish up her school lessons. We will try this for the week, and see how it goes.
Today, the girls got to mix red and yellow fingerpaint together to make orange. Oh, how they love their paint! I made some fingerpaint with a recipe that Calvert had in the lesson manual. It works pretty well. They really enjoyed making a mess of their hands!
The math lesson went wonderful today. It was probably only about 10 minutes long, but it was the first lesson, so I wasn't expecting it to be overy difficult. H missed the first half, but showed up just in time to play with the patterm blocks and build a tower with them! The first half of our school day was about an hour today.
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9.2.2007
An Interesting Read
8.30.2007
Anticipated Arrival
The manipulatives that we needed to be able to start math as scheduled arrived yesterday afternoon. I was a bit concerned because they were ordered on the 16th of August and they didn't ship until the 24th. Apparently, a couple of the items are on backorder and they usually wait one week for them to arrive before sending out the other items. This was not a problem, except that I did not pay for expedited shipping, and the estimated shipping was 7 to 10 business days!
So, I called on Friday to get tracking info, and was told that they wouldn't have that until Monday. I called on Monday, and the lady told me it looked like it was still sitting in the warehouse and that UPS apparently had not picked it up yet. Tuesday, before I even had a chance to call, I received an email with my tracking info. Imagine my surprise when I checked the tracking and saw that it was expected the next day!
At any rate, we got the materials on time. The items that are on backorder are not needed yet, so we are good to go on Tuesday as planned!
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8.29.2007
And so the journey begins...
I am sorry that I have been slacking. I have been doing a lot of studying, as I am taking my final this weekend. I am also sorry that I will not be able to post any pictures at this time, as I am having issues with my camera and/or iPhoto. I'm not quite sure which one yet.
So here's a recap of the first few days of school:
Day 1: We got up, made our beds, had breakfast, brushed our hair and took a few pictures.
Then we were off to school! First of all, I went through a brief synopsis of what school is going to be like this year, so that K would kind of understand that it is different from just doing workbook pages like we've been doing for the last year and a half. Then we did the Pledge of Allegiance, went through what day of the week it is, and read a book.
Since we're not doing the Calvert math, our Saxon math is starting next week. They do a calendar review in their lessons each day, and it is set to start in September, so I decided to take the first week to get used to the other things before adding in the math.
Next, to start the reading part of our lesson, I had K look through her reading book, called Rainbows. I was looking through the teacher's manual, and when I looked up, she had turned to page 5 and was doing the activity on it! She was doing it correctly, too! So I tried to explain to her that she can't just skip ahead in the book, and that she would be doing that page in a few days. The reading lesson consisted of the poem The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson. During the second lesson, the student closes his/her eyes and imagines that he/she is on a swing. Then, the student draws a picture based on what was imagined. K drew grass, vava (lava in K-speak), a mountain for the vava to come out of, shapes and lines, and an owie. I have a picture of that, which will be posted when I can get the pictures from camera to computer!
After the reading lesson, we started making kites. We have not finished them, because I have to go to the store to get some clear tape that is actually strong enough to hold them together.
H participated in almost all of the day's activities. She got up few times and went to the play side of the room, but she listened to the story, drew a picture, and started making a kite.
Our entire lesson lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes, including a 15-minute break in the middle. Almost as soon as we got the playroom back in order, K had her stuffed animals out getting them ready for school!
Day 2: Lesson 2 started without H. She woke up as K and I were making our way to the school room, so she watched Clifford and ate some cereal while school started.
We started out with the review of the days of the week, the Pledge of Allegiance, and two stories. We read My Crayons Talk and Mary Wore Her Red Dress. Then we made a red leaf, whose purpose will be explained on a later date.
Then our reading lesson consisted of going over the letter M, and reading Goodnight Moon. Of course, all of this letter sound stuff is review for my little smartie, so we just worked through it quickly. She finally got to write in her Rainbows book, but it was just underlining things that start with M. She did get to do a worksheet, though, which she just really loves.
Then we had our first science lesson. We were supposed to go through the first few pages and discuss them, but I could tell she was getting kind of tired and antsy, so we just went through them quickly. I plan on sitting down with her one evening and reading through the stuff in that section. I think her next science lesson is tomorrow, so maybe we'll do that tonight.
Then we got up and did an exercise of making ourselves go in different ways: running, hopping, skipping. That was followed by making other things go, like her ride-on turtle, H's pull-along dog, etc.
H kept coming in to see if she was missing anything, but mostly just watched Clifford until we finished. When the lesson was done, I asked K what her favorite part was, and she said that she liked the books that I read.
Today, the lesson was an hour and a half.
Day 3: We did our morning ritual, with H this time. Today we did the blue leaf for our leaf project.
Reading was more of the M review, but K finally got to write some letters and circle some objects on page 3 of Rainbows! We had another cutting and gluing project to work on with Ms, and then we got to start on her Sounds and Letters book. The object is to draw pictures that start with M or find pictures in magazines to glue in there. She decided to draw and wanted to draw "Mom." Now, she's supposed to draw and then I'm supposed to write in what she drew that starts with M. However, she wrote "mom" on the page before drawing the picture. Then, when she finished drawing "mom," complete with brown hair, she drew "me." I will have a picture of this amazing drawing soon, as well!
There was supposed to be a Music Break lesson today, but I was having iPod issues in addition to my iPhoto issues. So... we're going to try to resolve that this afternoon and listen to our songs.
Today's lesson was about an hour and a half again. H participated in most of it.
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8.17.2007
Ten More Days
Here are the requested pictures.
Also of note, we have finally ordered the last item that we need for K's school year: the math manipulatives and Saxon Meeting Book. They usually ship within a week and arrive 7 to 10 days after that. Since our math is not being started until September 4th, it should arrive just in time for me to get it all organized and ready!
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8.14.2007
Less than two more weeks!!!
Can you feel my excitement??? There are also a few nerves in there! I'm sure everything will be just fine...
As someone commented, I plan on having before and after pics of the playroom/schoolroom. Although I have already moved a few things around, I have not removed crayon scribbles and first finger paintings from our wall of art yet, and the girls mammoth computer is still in there. (I can't lift the monitor, it's such a dinosaur!) I will take some pictures tomorrow before I remove the art from the walls. I will also probably be sneaking some stuffed animals up into the girls' bedroom, but as those are K's "friends" now, I'll probably get in trouble for that. It is all coming together quite nicely now.
There are a few proud moments I have had with my oldest daughter lately. Scary, but proud! A couple weeks ago I handed H three crackers and then handed three to K. K shook her head, so I gave two more crackers to H and I took one. K looked up at me and said, "H gets six crackers?" I said, "No, she gets five." K looked at me puzzled for a minute before saying, "But 3 + 3 is 6." I said, "You're right, but I only gave her two more and I took one. So what's 3 + 2?" She said, "5," and then continued on with what she was doing like it was no big deal.
Tonight, as I was preparing some materials, I let her look through her reading book, which is called Rainbows. She opened up to the first page and said, "Mommy, what do we do on this page?" I told her she would have to wait until the first day of school to find out. Then a minute later she pronounced, "This story is called Up and Down!" Sure enough, the top of the page said "up and down." I asked her how she knew, and she pointed to the words and said, "This says 'up and down.' I read it."
On the H front, she is really starting to come out of her shell a bit. She still needs that quiet time to process what she's learning every day, but she sings on the phone now, and today she gave her sister and I a magic show. We clapped and everything, and she didn't get embarrassed and run off. She looked very proud to be able to be the performer for once, instead of just sitting in her sister's shadow.
I promise to have some pictures of the school room very soon. Maybe tomorrow I will post some before pictures instead of making everyone wait for two weeks!
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8.1.2007
A Wee Bit Late
Well, I was not able to post last Friday, as I should have. We had a yard sale, and you know how those go. We ended up shutting down early on Saturday, because it was so darned hot! So now that our house and garage are probably about 15 boxes lighter, not counting a playpen, some infant toys, a bouncy seat, and a rocker with matching ottoman, we can finally concentrate on our school room. We actually have decided to ditch the basement idea. It's kind of dark down there, and I discovered while planning the decorations that we don't really have any available wall space. What fun would that be for a kindergartener?
So our new plan is the playroom. I am pretty confident that I have come up with some ideas to make it work as both a playroom and a school room. I did quite a bit of work in there today, rearranging things and trying to decide where to hang things. The actual hanging will come on August 26th, so my student(s) will be surprised on the first day of school. I purchased some cute things at Dollar Tree, though. I'm very excited! The goal now is to get a few items removed from in there (computer and desk) and train the girls to keep it neat. I will definitely have some pictures to post after the first day of school.
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7.20.2007
Weekly Updates
As my ultimate goal is to update everyone on our homeschooling activities on Fridays, I figured it would be good to start this week. I am starting to add a few more activities to the daily routine to better prepare the girls for the August 27th deadline! (Which is sneaking up very fast!!!)
K has been working in a book called Reading and Writing from the Learn Every Day series that is published by Learning Horizons. She has been doing an average of four pages per day, off and on for several months now. It's actually meant to be done one page per day over the course of a year, but if anyone tried to get her to only do one page, they would see that she'll have none of it!
To add some more activity into K's learning, I have started to use the Calvert Math book along with Reading and Writing. We have done three lessons this week, along with the practice worksheets that Calvert provides. They are not necessary to the lesson, just provided for extra practice. We are actually going to be using Saxon K for math this year, so the Calvert math materials are an added bonus to us. My plan is to continue using them until the school year starts, and then use them again as extra enrichment as needed. They will probably be used next summer as a great activity to keep things fresh in her mind. I will also probably pull the worksheets out for something to occupy her while I work with her sister.
Holly is not going to have any "formal" activities at the beginning of the year, but seeing how she is such a mime of her sister, I'm sure she will want to participate at some point. What we have been doing this week is having her sit in on things with us until she looses interest. She has her own paper, colored pencils, and crayons, and has been making beautiful creations out of circles and lines! I have been working with her on colors and letters lately. She seems to have a good grasp on most of the colors. She also knows most of her letters, although it is still hard for me to get her to tell me what more than two or three of them are at any one sitting. She is going through a new phase where she repeats me. I'll say something like, "Which one of these is purple?" and I hear an echo back, complete with the same hand gestures. Maybe my approach should be just saying things I want her to know!
Well, that is my first brief synopsis of our first week of school-day preparation!
Oh, and here's a picture of K's latest alphabet:
*She wanted her foot in the picture. I'm not sure why.
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7.18.2007
Studies Around the Home
My little punkin' is growing up so fast! She does not take a nap everyday, so when that happens, we usually take a bit of quiet time to play online or read books. Yesterday, however, I was doing some cleaning in the kitchen, and I thought it was a perfect time to have her help me a little bit. She already helps out around the house by folding washcloths, kitchen towels, and socks; emptying the dryer; putting wet clothes in the dryer; sorting laundry; and setting the table, although we do not eat in the kitchen much in the summer.
So, yesterday I taught her how to dry pots and pans. Then, when we were all done with the dishes, I asked her if she could take a handful of clothes down to the laundry area and add them to the dirty pile of clothes down there. She very carefully walked down the stairs with an armload of clothes and then came back up when she was done. A while later, when I went to get something from downstairs, I noticed that the clothes were nowhere to be seen. I called K and told her I could not see what she had done with the clothes. She said, "I will show you," and came back downstairs. She marched right over to the dryer and opened it up. There were the clothes, in the dryer, with a load of clean whites!
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7.13.2007
Why homeschool???
I cannot remember the original reason that I had for homeschooling my children, but there have been so many alterations to it that there is more than just one single reason for it. I will highlight some of the benefits to homeschooling that we have discovered over the past year. These just prove to us that we are making the right decision.
1. The quality of education is really a biggie. It's hard for me to imagine placing my child in a classroom with 25-30 other students, when I can teach them one-on-one at home. Yes, parents are supposed to supplement their child's education even if they are in a public school, but how many hours in an evening can we expect our children to be productive after spending seven hours in school? In middle school, I used to have at least two hours of math homework every night because I struggled with math. Of course, part of that time was spent daydreaming, because my mind was completely exhausted from the long school day and the 45-minute bus ride home. I just couldn't concentrate anymore, so I just sat there trying to trudge my way through it.
With homeschooling, you can customize your teaching to fit your student's needs. If you have a student who excels at math, you can breeze through the math and take the extra time to work on his/her spelling that might be a struggle. You can concentrate longer on astrology if your child seems to have a particular interest in it.
You can actually be done with your school day within four hours, once you take out the lunch break, the recess, the time between subjects, everyone getting their jackets and boots put away, the art project cleanup, attendance, etc. There is actually a lot of down time for a student, and I feel that once you break their attention, it takes that much longer to get everyone settled back down. There are 5-10 more wasted minutes. If your child needs a break, you can take one whenever you feel it's necessary, but if they work best getting it all done and over with, you can be done before lunchtime!
2. Socialization being a big missing piece in homeschooled children is a myth. Homeschooled children have just as many opportunities for positive socialization as public schooled children, if not more. With learning taking place in a lesser amount of time, there is more time available for activities the child may be interested in, without overscheduling and stressing the child out. The average homeschooled child is involved in five extracurricular activities, as compared to the public school student who is usually involved in only two. (I, however, never wanted to be involved in any!)
There are also more opportunities for real-life socialization, such as shopping, banking, volunteer work, visiting nursing homes, etc. Homeschooled children also tend to go on more field trips, providing even more opportunities for socialization. You can visit places during times when they are not very busy, since most children are in school.
By having your children in a homeschool group, they become socialized with children of all different ages and backgrounds, eliminating the need for cliques and negative peer pressure. Sure you're still going to experience some of that in life, but not nearly as much when you are around other families who have values similar to yours.
3. By teaching your children yourself, you are able to modify your teaching approach to coincide with their individual learning styles. Each child learns in a different way, so being able to have this flexibility is a benefit to assisting your children in achieving their goals and reaching their full potential. You can assure that your children excel in every subject, since you can take your time and adapt the teaching method if the need arises. This eliminates the average/below average/above average stigmas that can hinder a child's desire for learning.
When I asked my husband to answer the question "Why are we homeschooling?" his reply was this:
"Because we believe that our children will receive a better education with direct teaching tailored to their needs and learning style than if we put them under the mass production engine we call public schools." 
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7.9.2007
Interesting Tidbit
7.4.2007
This 'n' that
Well, I don't want to leave my fans hangin', but not too much has really happened on the homeschool side of things lately. Our target start date is still the end of August. However, we have decided that we are not going to be getting the Calvert pre-K for H at this time. We don't feel she is quite ready for it, and I think that I will need some time to get my feet wet with just one student for a little bit. The beauty of homeschool comes into play here: if we decide in November or January or even next April to start H, we can. There are no rules about following the traditional school year!
So, here are some little tidbits to tide everyone over until some more exciting news comes along!
Here is a link to K doing some reading a few weeks ago. She is just loving being able to sound out some words!
K's Reading
Here is a wonderful piece of art that she created the other day. She had three crayons and her notebook, and this is what she came up with. It is a cactus with "pokey spines." While I was photographing it, she told me that when I was done she needed it back, so she could add a purse!
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6.29.2007
Tumbleweed
Things have been crazy the last few weeks, so please forgive me for not getting on here to post sooner!
Last Saturday was K's last day of gymnastics for the spring session. She had a lot of fun and made some new friends over the 10 weeks. Being that it was her last day, her teacher taught her how to do a seat drop on the trampoline and then return to standing. It took her three tries, but she was able to accomplish it. The week before, her teacher looked at me and said, "She's almost returning to standing on her seat drop. That's really good!" So, this week she showed her how to do it. And since K is constantly practicing her seat drop on the couch, the bed, etc., she was able to pick it right up.
She really seemed to like the class and when I asked her if she wanted to take it again, she said a very emphatic "YES!" So we're going to try to get her enrolled for the summer session, but only part of it. The gym understands that a lot of families go on vacation in the summer, so they are prorating the fees; you only have to pay for the classes that you actually attend. This works out well, since we can't make all of the classes this time.
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post. The gym does not allow pictures or video to be taken, due to insurance policies. The only time it is allowed is during the exhibition, but the Parent/Tot class does not participate in that. Maybe this session, I will try to get a picture of K and her friends one day before class.
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6.19.2007
K's Materials
Well, we got our first box of of materials for Ks first official year of homeschooling! It's all so very exciting, and we are very impressed. I have read through the introductions of the Lesson Manual and the Computer Skills & Applications Manual, and I am really convinced that we made the right decision. The first half of the lessons (I have skimmed through a number of them!) seem like they will be really easy for her to complete. It will really be a great confidence booster for her.
These are the teacher's manuals, worksheets, etc. (Except I threw the science book in with them!)
This one is my favorite!
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6.16.2007
Fitting It All In
It’s no secret that being a working mother and a homeschool teacher can be a time consuming lifestyle. But having a full day isn’t always a bad thing, especially when it’s a fulfilling day.
First, let me say I can’t wait to finish up my medical transcription course. I am currently on pace to be done mid-August, and hopefully working shortly thereafter. My ultimate goal is to get a job with a flexible schedule working 20 hours a week, a job where I can set my own schedule which allows me to work 2-3 hours per day, in the evening and a few hours on the weekend. If my schedule allows maybe I’ll even get in a few extra hours to fill the time during those pesky Detroit Lions' games!!
I am trying to finish this course as quickly as possible by pouring almost every spare minute into my studies. I type before the girls get up, I type when they are napping, and I type after supper when Daddy watches over them. Some days I even type an extra report or two after the girls’ bedtime. It will be a nice relief once I get a job, because I will actually be spending less time "working" than I am now.
So this is how I envision our day come August 27, 2007:
Wake up and see my husband off to work, as I do now. After he’s gone I can sit down and go over the day’s lesson plans, and make sure that I didn't forget anything. At some point the girls will start rousing. I’ll get them up, prepare breakfast, and get everyone dressed and ready to start the day.
I am really flexible on the start time since the girls are still so young, but being the early birds they are 9:00 doesn’t seem too outlandish. The girls already are begging to do workbooks and crafts at this time so it seems like a good fit. About an hour or an hour and a half later, we can take a 30-minute break to watch a show and have a snack before getting back to our studies. By noon the girls should be done for the day! If they seem unfocused and fidgety, we can always save some studies for the afternoon. After all cutting and pasting, adding, and spelling can be quite tiring… for all of us!
According to Calvert, the typical Kindergarten day is about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The typical Pre-Kindergarten day varies. As always there is leeway. Some subjects will be picked up right away and some will need repetition. Since we are new at this, and not sure how our children will be learning the material, I'm going to go with the 2 hours and 40 minutes estimate. We usually eat lunch at about 12:30 and go up for nap/quiet playtime at about 1:00, so this works out perfectly!
During this nap/quiet time, I can do some of the routine that any homemaker does, return some phone calls, pay some bills, clean, or maybe watch a little TV. By 4:00, the day will be back to where it is now. The girls wake up from their naps and we start figuring out what is for supper. Daddy will come home, eat, and play with the girls, while I go to work for an hour or two.
All of this is speculative and subject to change without warning. It’s really going to depend on how K likes the schoolwork. We may have to shorten the day and work five days a week instead of four; H might end up only doing school three days a week. That's the beauty of homeschooling: You can tailor it to whatever works for your children and your family to get the results that you want!
*Edited by Scott.
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6.12.2007
A Few More Days
This is a big week for me. We have received some financial aid from Calvert, so we are going to be ordering K's kindergarten curriculum on payday, which just happens to be this Friday. So, if everything goes as planned, this time next week we should be receiving our package! I can hardly wait to go through it and get it all put away on the shelves in the basement. I have been waiting for about 10 months or so for this to happen, even if it was originally supposed to be the pre-kindergarten that we were going to be ordering.
So, I have this week to finish thinning our video games and moving our CDs to a holder so we can get rid of the jewel cases. That should free up the room that we will need for our books and supplies. I will try to get some pictures posted of that next week, so everyone can see how the "school room" is shaping up.
Until then, God bless...
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6.6.2007
The Learning Style Factor
I have been reading some books on how to discover the learning styles of your children and yourself. While mine are a bit young to truly discover, I have been able to figure out some things about their dispositions, which for the most part you are born with.
I was going to dwell on this for a few days and then make a new entry, but I just got done writing a novel on Calvert's bulletin board. I thought I could save myself some energy by copying an excerpt of it here. So, here's what I've learned so far:
I have found, and I may have already mentioned this, that I am treating both of my children differently since reading about learning styles. It makes sense now why they do some of the things they do. Not their entire learning style, but just their dispositions really have given me a lot of insight. I was able to find out that my oldest would probably end up being one of those annoying, disruptive kids in class, that is always talking and joking if she ever went go to public school! (I should have figured this out from the way she acted at story time at the library!) She has a very social disposition, will talk to ANYBODY, asks TONS of questions, and ALWAYS wants us to listen to her sing or watch her do "tricks."
The other one is more shy, and will sing at the top of her lungs until you ask her to, then she says, "NO!" and puts her head down. I used to think it was a birth order thing, that by letting the older one get away with hogging the attention for so long, we had turned H into this shy creature who always felt overshadowed. Now I realize that she actually prefers to do activities alone, with minimal help, and no talking during them.
It has really allowed me to stop trying to turn them into something that they are not. I let H sing her ABCs without making a big fuss, and if K is bugging me when I'm trying to study I take some time out to be with her for a while, so that she can fill her social meter. (Anyone ever play Sims? That social meter makes sense now!)
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6.4.2007
The Year's Agenda
I believe that I have mentioned our start date for the upcoming school year. August 27th will be the day we start. We are going to be having 4-day weeks this year, to see how we like it. Friday's will be reserved for field trips and makeup for sick days and government holidays. Then we will take a week off for Christmas and a week off for Easter, leaving us a 12-week break in the summer. That's the plan, anyway. We will have to see what really happens as the year unfolds!
H will be using a Pre-K curriculum from Calvert School. It is a very hands-on program, filled with lots of crafts, singing, reading, stories, and playing with manipulatives. If she doesn't seem quite ready for it in the fall, we will just set it aside and wait until we feel she is ready. She is a very hands-on learner as far as I can tell (she's only 2!), so I think she might really enjoy it.
K, our 3-year-old will be 3 1/2 when we start our school year, but she will be starting a Kindergarten course, also from Calvert School. The Pre-K really doesn't strike us as something that will be any kind of challenge for her, so we think that she will be bored with it. She is advanced for her age, so we're going to let her lead the way through her first year of school. I have a friend who has a little boy who is finishing up the Kindergarten course right now, and he is almost 4, I believe. She has given me lots of advice about the level her son is at and how well he has done with the Kindergarten material. He did not have a lot of challenge with it, and zoomed right through. From talking with this friend, we have decided that this is probably the right path to take with K, as well. Her son seems a bit more advanced than K, but I have faith that this is truly the correct choice for our daughter.
For math, however, we're not going to be using Calvert. We have decided to use Saxon math instead. They have a scripted teacher's manual and they heavily use hands-on manipulatives. My sister-in-law teaches 1st grade, and she has informed me how important both of those features are. I agree with her, especially since I have no clue how to teach math!
For handwriting, we're going to use a program called Handwriting Without Tears. We have not decided when we're going to do that. Calvert has writing as an optional feature in the Kindergarten material, but K is already trying to write her letters, and some of her numbers. We're still trying to get through a certain part of the workbook that we've been doing before we introduce something new. So, depending on how things go once the ball gets rolling, we'll either do the HWOT this summer, next summer, or add it to the school year, if she seems to crave more.
There, that should answer everyone's questions about what we'll be teaching, right?
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6.1.2007
Getting Started
This is going to be our first year homeshooling. We (meaning me!) are very excited, and can hardly wait for the ball to start rolling. Our children are 2 and 3, and they will both be starting out in the fall.
Well, I should clarify that. The 3-year-old loves to do workbooks already. We have a workbook called Reading and Writing that we work on probably 3 to 4 days a week, and she does an average of 4 pages each day. She is also starting to sound out words with a consonant-short vowel-consonant, such as sit, yes, and Tom. She has been doing this mostly on her own with a wonderful website--www.starfall.com. She will be starting with a Kindergarten curriculum in the fall. My husband and I have been back and forth on whether to get her the Preschool or the Kindergarten, and we have decided to get the Kindergarten. With her love and ease of learning, I really think the Kindergarten will be best suited for her. I hate the idea of her starting two years early (by public school rules!), but I just can't hold her back. These years are so critical, and I don't want to start off with her thinking school is boring. I have already skimmed through the first couple months of lessons in the math book that we will be using, and she is more than capable of doing it. I really think it will be a good fit.
Our younger daughter turned 2 in April. She will be working on a very hands-on preschool program. There are foam letter puzzles, shape puzzles, things to lace, stories to read, and songs to sing. She seems to be a very tactile learner at this point in time, so I think she will really enjoy it. Her older sister will sit in on the lessons with us, as well.
So, this summer will be filled with organizational projects, and curriculum gathering. Our first day of "school" will be August 27th, so we have a lot of work to do!
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