Another of our nuances. We never keep track of grade levels. Since the older kids were just 15 months apart we combined just about every subject and we never classified them as 1st grade or 6th grade or whatever. When they were asked what grade they were in.....they would get the deer in the headlight stare. Maybe that's why grandparents thought we weren't really educating them because they didn't know what grade they were in? hmmmmm....something to think about.
Even now the whole " what grade are you in " is elusive to them. It is less of a graduation and more of a transition to them.
I don't think well in grades. I think more in ages and stages. We don't start a "new" year every September. We start and finish subjects at all times of the year. Some subjects were more " fluid" for us. History/Math were continuous subjects never really having an ending point. We go through the year taking breaks when we needed them, when family came to visit, and for holidays.
Our favorite break of the year was the week of the first cold front. We love to catch the first cold front after a long hot summer. We head to the park get all hot and sweaty and just wait for that first blast of cold air to hit us! We usually made it back home layered with sweats over our shorts. We have the fondest family memories catching the cold front. We then spend the next week hitting every park and trail that we haven't visited since July because of the triple digit heat index.
It felt a little strange to think of this year being "kindergarten" for Sam. I'm not sure why the change in my mindset or maybe it was just a way for me to signal the change from young adults' to young children's education. I always kept a notebook going called the "game plan" that I kept a running tally of what we have done, what we could do and what we should do. I couldn't fit Sam's plan into the older kids' path so I had to start a new one . I had to call it something so I reverted back to the traditional terminology and called it his Kindergarten plan. I'm curious to see if I continue and call it 1st grade next year.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Why CM ?
With my older kids I always considered us to be ecletic homeschoolers with a strong CM influence. We used many different styles and were willing to drop and change resources and game plans yearly. I prefered living books over textbooks and narration over tests but if they wanted to use a textbook and take tests I allowed it. My oldest son quickly learned that textbooks were the easy way to quickly earn a highschool credit and he knocked them out quite rapidly when he started the highschool years.
They are nearing the end to our adventure together. I get an opportunity to look and evaluate the older 2 kids' education before embarking on the younger 2. As I look at our choices that had the biggest impact it is clearly the CM imfluences. They made the most improvement in their writing skills the years we relied the most heavily on a CM styled LA program and less in the years we used a traditional writing program. They retained far more history when using a CM styled history program then using a textbook.
Most telling is when they find a subject they want to learn more about. They will employ a CM styled approach to learning it. They don't seek out textbooks to learn a subject of interest. They find real books and real resources. They tell me or anyone who will listen all about it ( oral narration) and they write about the subject ( written narration). CM really did influence them on how to become independent in their learning and gave them the basic framework to learn any subject.
Round 2 of homeschooling will be a CM style with an eclectic influence.
They are nearing the end to our adventure together. I get an opportunity to look and evaluate the older 2 kids' education before embarking on the younger 2. As I look at our choices that had the biggest impact it is clearly the CM imfluences. They made the most improvement in their writing skills the years we relied the most heavily on a CM styled LA program and less in the years we used a traditional writing program. They retained far more history when using a CM styled history program then using a textbook.
Most telling is when they find a subject they want to learn more about. They will employ a CM styled approach to learning it. They don't seek out textbooks to learn a subject of interest. They find real books and real resources. They tell me or anyone who will listen all about it ( oral narration) and they write about the subject ( written narration). CM really did influence them on how to become independent in their learning and gave them the basic framework to learn any subject.
Round 2 of homeschooling will be a CM style with an eclectic influence.
Learning to read
A brief history of learning to read in our family...
17ds. Finished 100 EZ lessons at age 5. He has read all assigned books but not much else. Prefers non fiction. He is currently on a self-imposed, self-designed book a week program that is mainly composed of nonfiction choices. High ability- medium to low interest for reading.
16 dd. Non reader at 7. Never finished 100 EZ lessons made it to about lesson 80 or so. She went from non reader to reading chapter books in a span of 6-9 months. She has not had a book out of hand since. High ability-High interest in reading.
Simple goal....I rather have children who love to read than have them be early readers! Also, I know that late readers can be great readers. Lesson learned.
Sam started asking to read at age 4. At age 5 we started 100 EZ lessons but we stopped at lesson 10 because it was interfering with speech therapy. During the "say it fast" portion he would use the speech patterns that we were trying to overcome. We tried to work with Learning Language Arts Through Literature -blue thinking to spread it out over 1 1/2-2 years. I have been spoilt by teaching 2 kids to read without a bunch of "extras" and trying to keep the cards in one place with a 2 year old running aroung was difficult. Sam enjoyed it but it drove me nuts. We put it up around Thanksgiving. I wanted a break from it for awhile.
This month we restarted 100 EZ lessons backtracking to lesson 6. He is currently working through 2 lessons per week. At this pace and allowing for vacations and any Sam-imposed breaks we should finish between ages 6 1/2-7. I'm enjoying using it. He is enjoying using it and it is not causing any conflict with Speech Therapy. We had our perfect fit but just needed time and maturity to work out the speech issue. Lesson learned .....again.
17ds. Finished 100 EZ lessons at age 5. He has read all assigned books but not much else. Prefers non fiction. He is currently on a self-imposed, self-designed book a week program that is mainly composed of nonfiction choices. High ability- medium to low interest for reading.
16 dd. Non reader at 7. Never finished 100 EZ lessons made it to about lesson 80 or so. She went from non reader to reading chapter books in a span of 6-9 months. She has not had a book out of hand since. High ability-High interest in reading.
Simple goal....I rather have children who love to read than have them be early readers! Also, I know that late readers can be great readers. Lesson learned.
Sam started asking to read at age 4. At age 5 we started 100 EZ lessons but we stopped at lesson 10 because it was interfering with speech therapy. During the "say it fast" portion he would use the speech patterns that we were trying to overcome. We tried to work with Learning Language Arts Through Literature -blue thinking to spread it out over 1 1/2-2 years. I have been spoilt by teaching 2 kids to read without a bunch of "extras" and trying to keep the cards in one place with a 2 year old running aroung was difficult. Sam enjoyed it but it drove me nuts. We put it up around Thanksgiving. I wanted a break from it for awhile.
This month we restarted 100 EZ lessons backtracking to lesson 6. He is currently working through 2 lessons per week. At this pace and allowing for vacations and any Sam-imposed breaks we should finish between ages 6 1/2-7. I'm enjoying using it. He is enjoying using it and it is not causing any conflict with Speech Therapy. We had our perfect fit but just needed time and maturity to work out the speech issue. Lesson learned .....again.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sam's 5yo booklist
Our Kindergarten philosophy explains how we put it all together.
Reading-100 Easy Lessons
Math- Math-U-See Primer
Handwriting-Handwriting without Tears-K
Stories - Chosen from Ambleside Year 0 and Five in a Row
Specific stories that we read this year.....
A Story of Ping- Marjorie Flack
Lentil by Robert Mccloskey
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen
How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills.
Winnie the Pooh series by AA Milne
Beatrix Potter series
The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola
Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
Night of the Moon jellies by Mark Shasha
The Giraffe That Walked to Paris by Nancy Milton
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
For the Children's Hour by Carolyn S. Bailey
Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson ( 1st 6 chapters )
The Seashore Book for Children by Thornton Burgess ( 1st 8 chapters)
Story of the World Vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer ( Ch. 36-42 ....participation in local history co-op)
The Child's Book of Stories by Jessie Willcox Smith ( Shorter selection)
+ others that I forgot since last fall
Reading-100 Easy Lessons
Math- Math-U-See Primer
Handwriting-Handwriting without Tears-K
Stories - Chosen from Ambleside Year 0 and Five in a Row
Specific stories that we read this year.....
A Story of Ping- Marjorie Flack
Lentil by Robert Mccloskey
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen
How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills.
Winnie the Pooh series by AA Milne
Beatrix Potter series
The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola
Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
Night of the Moon jellies by Mark Shasha
The Giraffe That Walked to Paris by Nancy Milton
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
For the Children's Hour by Carolyn S. Bailey
Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson ( 1st 6 chapters )
The Seashore Book for Children by Thornton Burgess ( 1st 8 chapters)
Story of the World Vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer ( Ch. 36-42 ....participation in local history co-op)
The Child's Book of Stories by Jessie Willcox Smith ( Shorter selection)
+ others that I forgot since last fall
A New Season
Ahhh winter...
Not my usual sentiment. It's cold and rainy. The little kids and I haven't been out in the back yard in over a week since it is a mushy muddy mess.
But everything is just going so well I can't complain about the weather.
My oldest is off of mama's school radar. He is finishing up an outside class this spring and then he will be transitioning into the great big world. I just need to plan his graduation.
My darling 16 daughter is really coming into her own person. Self-education at its best! She is what we all want our homeschooled kids to be. Diligent, lively, fun, joyful.....at least most of the time!
Sam. I had a plan for a CM styled Kindergarten for this year for him and scrapped it. Instead I started the year with a packaged K complete with daily lessons that I planned to do while 2yo Charlotte took her nap. I just really don't know what I was thinking......OK I do know what I was thinking. The prospect of 2 highschool age kids , a 5yo and a 2 yo filled me with uncertainty and I thought this packaged curriculum would help me make sure that Sam didn't fall through the cracks. First thing to go "wrong", Charlotte quit taking naps. The second was he found it boring. Third, I always felt like I was behind because I had to double up Tuesday's lessons on Monday since Tuesday is dominated with outside classes. I work Wednesday......well you get the idea. I also found the reading portion to be a bit cumbersome. So I gave it 4 months and the packages curriculum is boxed up ready for ebay.
We are back to plan A and it has been wonderful! Sam is working through 100 Easy lesson for reading at about 2 lessons per week. If he continues at this pace he will finish next December. We switched back to Math-U-See....found our old blocks and books in the garage ...gave the blocks a quick rinse and now math is a highlight of his day. I enhance our daily story with a resource that I've never used before called "Five in a Row". Such a gem that I have passed up in the past.
The rest of our day is spent trying to meet these goals.....
"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint
of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.
from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola
1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
Speech- Sam does have ongoing speech therapy so we are really concentrating on getting over that hurdle. We'll start working on this when he is 6 and hopefully done with Speech therapy.
3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
MUS will meet this goal.
4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
100 Easy lesson will meet this goal
5. to copy in print-hand from a book
Sam's fine moter skills aren't the strongest.This is related to his speech motor issue but also the fact that he broke his dominant arm last spring. Handwriting without Tears will meet this goal.
6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
We work on these during a weekly nature walks while the teens are in their various classes.
9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
He can retell the stories that we are using as the literature part of our day. We will meet this goal as we switch over to Ambleside year 1 next fall.
10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
We haven't started doing these yet but will as soon as we get back outside. We will do this informally until age 6 then start his nature notebook.
14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
He can do this.
16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
Spanish for us. I need to get a bit more focus and planned on this..
17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
Sam loves to sing. Haven't done a hymn or a Spanish song. Maybe we can ask Aunt Sanjie to suggest a good spanish song for us?
18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.
We have been so blessed to get to observe Monarch butterflies at the butterfly garden in town. This goal has been met.
It's important to note this is a list of attainments for a child of SIX. and Sam is a child of FIVE. So we are doing rather well I believe. We will work on this list for the next year.
I didn't even mention Charlotte except that she quit taking naps! The big news for this big girl is that she has transitioned to a big girl bed. The crib is gone until the grandbabies start to come. Sad, Sad day for mama...all her babies are grown up.
Not my usual sentiment. It's cold and rainy. The little kids and I haven't been out in the back yard in over a week since it is a mushy muddy mess.
But everything is just going so well I can't complain about the weather.
My oldest is off of mama's school radar. He is finishing up an outside class this spring and then he will be transitioning into the great big world. I just need to plan his graduation.
My darling 16 daughter is really coming into her own person. Self-education at its best! She is what we all want our homeschooled kids to be. Diligent, lively, fun, joyful.....at least most of the time!
Sam. I had a plan for a CM styled Kindergarten for this year for him and scrapped it. Instead I started the year with a packaged K complete with daily lessons that I planned to do while 2yo Charlotte took her nap. I just really don't know what I was thinking......OK I do know what I was thinking. The prospect of 2 highschool age kids , a 5yo and a 2 yo filled me with uncertainty and I thought this packaged curriculum would help me make sure that Sam didn't fall through the cracks. First thing to go "wrong", Charlotte quit taking naps. The second was he found it boring. Third, I always felt like I was behind because I had to double up Tuesday's lessons on Monday since Tuesday is dominated with outside classes. I work Wednesday......well you get the idea. I also found the reading portion to be a bit cumbersome. So I gave it 4 months and the packages curriculum is boxed up ready for ebay.
We are back to plan A and it has been wonderful! Sam is working through 100 Easy lesson for reading at about 2 lessons per week. If he continues at this pace he will finish next December. We switched back to Math-U-See....found our old blocks and books in the garage ...gave the blocks a quick rinse and now math is a highlight of his day. I enhance our daily story with a resource that I've never used before called "Five in a Row". Such a gem that I have passed up in the past.
The rest of our day is spent trying to meet these goals.....
"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint
of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.
from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola
1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
Speech- Sam does have ongoing speech therapy so we are really concentrating on getting over that hurdle. We'll start working on this when he is 6 and hopefully done with Speech therapy.
3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
MUS will meet this goal.
4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
100 Easy lesson will meet this goal
5. to copy in print-hand from a book
Sam's fine moter skills aren't the strongest.This is related to his speech motor issue but also the fact that he broke his dominant arm last spring. Handwriting without Tears will meet this goal.
6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
We work on these during a weekly nature walks while the teens are in their various classes.
9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
He can retell the stories that we are using as the literature part of our day. We will meet this goal as we switch over to Ambleside year 1 next fall.
10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
We haven't started doing these yet but will as soon as we get back outside. We will do this informally until age 6 then start his nature notebook.
14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
He can do this.
16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
Spanish for us. I need to get a bit more focus and planned on this..
17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
Sam loves to sing. Haven't done a hymn or a Spanish song. Maybe we can ask Aunt Sanjie to suggest a good spanish song for us?
18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.
We have been so blessed to get to observe Monarch butterflies at the butterfly garden in town. This goal has been met.
It's important to note this is a list of attainments for a child of SIX. and Sam is a child of FIVE. So we are doing rather well I believe. We will work on this list for the next year.
I didn't even mention Charlotte except that she quit taking naps! The big news for this big girl is that she has transitioned to a big girl bed. The crib is gone until the grandbabies start to come. Sad, Sad day for mama...all her babies are grown up.
Me....blogging
My dad calls and asks, " what are you doing?"
This blog is going to be my attempt to answer that question. I won't write daily or even weekly but I hope to give a clear picture of what we do all day and our goals.
My ultimate goal for the kids is that they love to learn.
My daily goal is borrowed from Charlotte Mason...
Each day give a child something to love, something to do, and something to think about.
How I attempt to meet those goals will be the focus of this blog.
This blog is going to be my attempt to answer that question. I won't write daily or even weekly but I hope to give a clear picture of what we do all day and our goals.
My ultimate goal for the kids is that they love to learn.
My daily goal is borrowed from Charlotte Mason...
Each day give a child something to love, something to do, and something to think about.
How I attempt to meet those goals will be the focus of this blog.
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