Update on everything else....

I have already updated Sam's reading and writing progress for this quarter.

MFW Adventures is a wonderful resource and it has been so refreshing to not have to do all the lesson planning!

File folders and workboxes have made our day flow so smoothly and I will continue to use these organizational tools.

Math-U-See continues to work well.

All About Spelling continues to work well.

We have organization, reading, writing, math , spelling, and our content studies under control and moving forward. The only aspect of our plan for Sam that is missing is grammar.

We tried MFW's recommendation of PLL (which would have worked great for the older kids) but Sam found it cumbersome and confusing. This quarter we have tried LLATL ( which worked great for the older kids) and although it was a better resource for Sam than PLL it really hasn't been great. He completed the exercises but there was not enough review and practice for him to feel competent with a skill. He would actually say something along the lines , " I thought I was working on x so why are we doing y today."

This comment forced me to look at the resources that work well for him. MUS is mastery based, WWE is predictable, AAS has lots of review, our workbox system keeps everything organized.

Mastery based, predictable, organized with review until he feels competent.

Sam's criteria for a resource is that it is organized, predictable and there is enough review that he actually learns the material presented.

For skill subjects, Sam does not seem to need or want a lot of variety. He wants the facts and an opportunity to master the facts. I need to work with this.


No wonder Sam found PLL cumbersome and confusing. PLL is a wonderful open ended resource with a lot of variety with a goal of exposure to proper English. Great resource but doesn't meet Sam's criteria. LLATL is a wonderful resource for studying aspects of English in context of a snippet of literature. It is more of a spiral approach to English, has a lot of variety with little review. LLATL doesn't really meet Sam's criteria either.

So the question is......what elementary grammar program does?

I have used First Language Lessons with Sam when he was 6. We dropped it when we found MFW 1st. Honestly I found it a bit dry and boring so I was really just looking for a reason to drop it! However, if it meets Sam's criteria for a skill subject resource I need to get over my prejudice.

This quarter, we will use FLL2 since it is a resource that I already own. Sometime during this quarter, I will go to the local homeschool store and take a good long hard look at FLL 3 and FLL 4 to see if it will meet Sam's criteria.

Update on writing.

In July, we went back to the basics of copywork, dictation and oral narrations. My son had completed a written summary of George Washington that consisted of only 5 words.

After 9 weeks of using WWE 2 as the backbone of our writing program, he has gone from tears and frustration to get the sentence " He was a tall man." on paper to...

-doing several sentences from dictation from AAS daily.
-copywork . This is a typical example....."I shall give you half an hour to be up, dressed, washed, teeth cleaned, pajamas folded, windows opened, and beds turned back."
-No tears and frustration! His comment today was "Writing isn't so bad after all."

Progress is being made!

Plans for this next quarter is to introduce the dictations exercises from WWE.

A day of reading..

Our revamped reading program is working great!

We do some choral reading with our bible study. He is reading with much more confidence during this time.

We spend a few minutes with a reading drill with Phonics Pathway. These drills are helping him to get out of the habit of guessing the words.

We spend time every afternoon re-reading a book that he has already read. He is getting in the habit of reading a favorite story just for fun. I do not make him sound out any words during this time. If he needs help I just tell him the word and move on. I want this to be a low-stress, fun reading opportunity.

We are taking our time working through AAS. This allows all the rules to really cement in his brain and they are helping him to tackle new words.

I am reading high interest read alouds to him throughout the day. If he loses interest in a story we drop it. I want him to get excited about all the great books out there.

We have slowed down the reading of Pathway Readers. We spend 2 days per story. The first day we take the new words and study them. We mark up each new word....
-circle all consonant and vowel teams
-divide into syllables
-determine if the vowels are long or short
-and finally, read each word.

We alternate paragraphs while reading. He reads one and I read the next. After we read the story we do the "after the story" exercise in the corresponding Pathway Reader workbook.

The second day, we do the "before the story" exercise in the book. This is usually some sort of word study exercise. We re-read our words that we marked up the day before and review as needed. We re-read the entire story but this time I start first.

This is the result of this plan....





...a boy picking up a book during his free time.

Charlotte and Reading.

So I've been experimenting with Charlotte and reading.

First choice was using All About Spelling and adapting it to use a reading program. The first problem.....adapting....I don't like doing it. The second problem....busy fingers + little tiles that I would like to keep in order for Sam's spelling lesson.....who needs that drama on a daily basis? We will re-introduce AAS when we are ready for a spelling program.

Second choice was Phonics Pathways. PP is working GREAT for Sam for a quick phonics drill/review. It is crazy boring for an active kid who is learning to read. I want to help her develop good habits for school not have a daily battle. PP was going to be a battle.....sit still....look here.....

I still had MFW K. I had looked at it and decided against using it because I really just need a phonics program. So I took the phonics worksheets, placed them in our file folders and tried it for a couple of weeks. Good fit! The lessons are short, varied and multisensory. It is a little "crafty" with lots of cut and paste which just happen to be a specialty of Charlotte....she LOVES crafty. She gets to touch, cut, paste, and learn a little about letters.

It keeps her interest and she is developing good habits for school. What more could a mama want?

Reading.......

Reading has been a slow process for Sam. I have had early readers and late readers so I know the timing of independent reading is not as important as loving to read. In fact, older sis did not start reading charpter books until she was an older 8. This late reading start has not had any lasting effect on her academics. I know this......

So what exactly is my problem with Sam's reading?

When I put my thoughts on paper there really isn't a problem. If I had sent him to ps I would have held him back a year and he would be entering 2nd grade. Summer birthday, preterm, severe speech motor issues, male......holding him back a year would have been the only workable solution for him. So if he attended a PS he would be in 2nd grade. He is reading at a 2nd grade level.

So what exactly is my problem with Sam's reading?

Pride. Plain and simple pride. Who wants to talk about how their child reads as "grade level"? Doesn't it always feel just a little good to state how "advanced" your child is? How many homeschooling mamas proudly flaunt the word "advance" when describing their children? Even when their dc look/act like perfectly normal and average kids? Why do we do this to ourselves?Most importantly....... how exactly did I fall into this pattern of guilt that my child------ whose speech therapist once stated would probably need intervention with a reading specialist due to the severity of his speech issue----- is reading at......*gasp*......grade level?

No more.

MY SON READS AT GRADE LEVEL!

It is a cause for celebration not despair. In the process he has learned to work hard and that perserverance pays off. Both are great lessons for a young boy to learn. I am proud of him!

He still has work to do and we will continue having reading lesson until he reaches the fluency level that he will pick up and read a chapter book without assistance.

This year our reading program is multifaceted.

Each day
--- a short reading drill for review. 1-2 pages of Phonics Pathways.
---20-30 minutes of free reading. He currently prefers to read books that he has already read.
---15-20 minutes of reading from Pathway Readers with me.
---choral reading of bible selections that are scheduled in MFW Adv.
--- All About Spelling lessons are also phonics review lessons.
---High interest read alouds to motivate him to take the next step in reading.

The most important aspect of Sam's ongoing reading program is that his mama will stop listening to the critics, braggards and toxic personalities. Instead I will relish each of his victories as he progresses to a competent and fluent reader!

Houston, we have a problem.....

Five words or less has become Sam's motto for writing. He will put up his hand and try to summarize George Washington or any subject that he thinks that he will have to write about into five words or less. His summary for the first President of the United States....

He was a tall man.

He eliminated George, Washington, general, president and a great number of other words because he did not want to attempt the spelling. He certainly didn't want to mention surveyer, plantation, French and Indian War , Declaration of Independence or any other particular event. So he sifted through all the information that he knows about President Washington and managed to find 5 words that he can spell without thinking and that became his summary.

Obviously I need to rethink writing.

If I remove the written narrations he will speak volumes about our first President complete with actions and sound effects. However even his oral narrations are becoming a bit stilted since there is always that looming thought......"will I be expected to write this down?"

So that is the first step----completely eliminate any original writing from his weekly routine. I know this but have continue to blindly follow our curriculum into doing written narrations before their time. No more written narrations for the rest of the year!

So we will follow Charlotte Mason suggestions to the letter. Copywork, Oral Narrations and Dictation. Copywork, Oral Narrations and Dictation. Copywork. Oral Narrations. Dictation.

While pondering this dilemma of the 5 finger summary, I happened to come across a series of lectures by Susan Wise Bauer on writing. Her perspective on oral narrations, dictation is a bit different than Charlotte Mason's.

SWB's oral narrations are to help the child to summarize and find the main point of a passage. CM's oral narrations are an opportunity for the child to tell what he knows from a passage. SWB's approaches dictations with the expectation that the instructor will help the child as much as possible including spelling words if needed. CM's dictation is a prepared dictation that the child is instructed to "see" each word and the instructor covers mistakes as they happen and allows the child to correct after the exercise is completed.

That is my very basic understanding about the differences between SWB's writing plan and CM's writing plan! I'm sure there can be much debate about the similarities and differences between the two but I really have no desire to decide which way is best and why. I have only one desire at this point....



How to get my writing-phobic son to write!

I re-read SWB's Strong Foundations with the goal to make sure I have my basis covered with our readings from MFW Adventures. Ultimately, I decided to make it easier on myself and use Writing with Ease 2.

Oral Narrations-Let's start with the easiest for Sam. If I eliminate the threat...I mean possibility .....of a written narration he has the ability to become quite eloquent with his oral narrations. I will continue to follow CM's goal in oral narrations for all our reading with MFW's Adventures. I will allow him the opportunity to tell what he knows of a subject while encouraging to speak in complete sentences and using all the wonderful vocabulary that he has acquired.

I will use Writing with Ease to help him learn the ability to summarize and find the main idea. There are two exercises each week.

Copywork. He doesn't like it but we need more of it.WWE2 has a weekly selection. MFW Adv has a weekly selection from scripture that is being memorized.

Dictation. Day 3 of WWE2 is a dictation exercise that he would have done as copywork the previous day. Day 4 is a dictation exercise of his summary. That may be too similar to a written narrations so we may have to skip it for now. There are also sentences for dictation in All About Spelling.

The other dilemma is Primary Language Lessons. PLL is a great resource for teaching LA with a gentle intro of grammar. The problem is that it is in a non consumable book form and Sam is finding it cumbersome to use. We have tried a variety of solutions to help him with using a book and a separate piece of paper. He prefers that I re-write the information so he can do the exercises. I really have no desire to re-write the exercises. I'm just that lazy! I also saw no real need to take a subject that is not natural for him and make it more difficult by using a resource that he finds cumbersome.

So I have searched for alternatives. My options were to buy something new or use what I have. I have Learning Language Arts Through Literature so that is what we are going to trial.

LLATL has a weekly copywork exercise.....which can be done as dictation as the year progresses. There are exercises in grammar that are similar to PLL's that are in a format that are easier for him to use. There are also weekly spelling that I feel we can probably skip since we are using AAS.

So that brings our revamped LA program for Sam----

Writing With Ease2-copywork, dictation, oral narrations.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature-copywork, grammar.

+ MFW Adventures -copywork selection and oral narrations.

All About Spelling-dictation

This will give us 2-3 selections per week of copywork, 2-3 selections for dictations, ample opportunities to practice CM's oral narrations in addition to 2 opportunities to practice SWB's summary narrations.

Let's see where this takes us!

File Folders

I had a mountain of paper growing on my desk. I attempted to reclaim my desk with binders but then I had a binder problem. I had a binder for every child, every subject and another binder for completed work. I also had another crate full of TMs, CDs, and other resources that I use throughout the year. I was starting to lose items that I needed to load our workboxes and the clutter was disrupting our day.

Then I read this blog post from Springs of Joy Homeschooling and found our solution!

Each quarter is color coded and has 10 File folders. 9 for each school week and 1 for the extras that I will use for the whole quarter. Each weekly file has a folder for each child that contains all the loose items they will use during that week. Currently each child's folder has their MFW sheets, LA sheet and math sheets. The orange folders in the back contains the resources that we will use during the entire year such as our phonics game, TMs, CDs, etc.

I was able to eliminate all our extra binders! Now I only need to look in 2 places....instead of 7...... when looking for items for our workboxes. So Simple!

Now I need to decide what to do with the papers once the child has completed the assignments. We are already on week 8 of MFW Adventures so the MFW sheets will continue to go into Sam's history notebook. I believe for now all the completed work will be returned into the weekly folder so I will have a clear visual of the progress the kids have made for the year.

Hopefully this tames the paper monster!

The beginning of Charlotte's Kindergarten Year.....

Where oh where has the time gone? Little Charlotte --whose big claim to fame at the start of the little blog was that she had just moved from her crib---- is almost 5 and it is time for the schooling to begin.

She has been enjoying a long and wonderful Charlotte Mason Preschool but it is time to add in a little bit of schoolwork each day. We have added a little bit this past year as she desired but in no way have we've been consistent or required that she participate.......and most days she did not. However, she would often stand beside Sam as we worked through a concept and she has been able to pick up quite a bit in this manner.

Our Kindergarten philosophy is still the basic plan for this next year. We will still spend a great quantity of time outside exploring our world but we need to add something to start developing the habit of schooltime. The difference between Sam's Kindergarten year and Charlotte's Kindergarten year is that Charlotte will have a slightly older brother's studies to tag-a-long. She already participates in some of the science projects, craft projects and read alouds that are scheduled in MFW Adventures. There is little need to plan on scheduling extra stories----unless she requests a re-read of her particular favorites of the past few years. So the big additions will be handwriting, math and phonics.

We will use Handwriting without Tears and Math-U-See Primer just as we did with Sam.

The big questions is phonics. She has already picked up quite a bit of the phonics by listening to Sam's lessons. 100 Easy lessons is going to be a step back. Honestly, I just don't think I'm willing to work through 100 Easy lessons for a 4th time! Since I plan on using All About Spelling with her next year for spelling that is the first option. I hear rumors of people who are using this spelling program to teach their children to read. Phonics Pathways is the second option. For the next month we are going to experiment with these two resources and see which "clicks" with her and is easy enough for me to pull together with minimal effort.

So the plan for Charlotte's Kindergarten year.

---Daily use

MUS Primer,

HWOT,

and our phonics program to help develop the habit of schooltime.

---Encourage her to participate in Sam's studies with MFW Adventures.

---Continue to spending lots of time in play both indoors and out.

Let the Adventure begin!

Big Bro' - Our Family's Newest Sailor

Spring 2010

We've been busy since January!

Big sis is doing well in college and Big Bro' left in February for the Navy...


Sam finished MFW 1 and has started MFW Adventures. We started using workboxes in our house and it has been a very nice addition for us.... Sam even decorated his sheet for the his American History studies.




Each day I follow the MFW grid and fill the boxes.


Box 1. Bible. Tomorrow we start our Names of Jesus poster...



Box 2. Spelling....


Box 3. Primary Language Lessons...



Box 4. History...

Box 5. Science...

Box 6. Math...

Box 7. Reading...

Box 8. Art....

Box 9. Read Aloud...

I have Sam work on Book Basket while I'm working with Charlotte and we haven't started doing Foreign Language yet.

The books that aren't being used the next day are kept in a crate so I never have to search for a book....

Sam's loaded workboxes......

Sam's Year 3

History/Geography/Language Arts/Reading/Literature/Science/Bible/Art/Music appreciation/handwriting/handicrafts

My Father's World Adventures

Addition Language Arts resources

Primary Language Lessons

First Language Lessons

Writing with Ease



All About Spelling

Math - MUS Gamma

Poetry/Memorization/Speech-IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization

Last Quarter update for 2009

This quarter update is a little late because it appears I quit blogging in September.....


Drum roll please.....

Speech therapy is behind us! It was a long hard road but Sam is done and we couldn't be prouder of him.


As far a school there isn't much to talk about. We have a nice rhythm to our day. Big Sis' leaves for collegeat 9am and we head upstairs to do school work. Sam just sits at the table and gets to work.


Currently for Sam....


Math- Lesson 13 of MUS Beta. Math remains easy for Sam.


MFW 1--currently on lesson 111. This has been such a huge hit! Sam enjoys reading the Bible Reader. He does very well with all the lessons. He calls the writing portion the "hardest part of school" but he is doing well. A bonus for me is that it is completely open and go so very little planning for me.


Poetry/Memorization- IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry is another huge hit. Sam has memorized ten poems.


We did drop All About Spelling again but only because we were covering spelling with the phonics instruction in MFW 1. We will pick it back up when we complete the phonics with MFW 1 in the next few weeks.


The only minor change is that we are no longer reading a different selection on each day instead we pick a title and read it until it is complete.


We did organize our material using a modified workbox. I'm using these Sterilite drawers to organize our materials. Using the workbox system has completely eliminated all the "how much more" comments from Sam.


Currently for Charlotte...


In addition to all the activities that we do during the preschool years, we spend each day working with MFW Preschool materials and reading a selection from AO Year 0. She also participates in the books I'm reading aloud with Sam and listens in on his phonics lessons.

She has picked up quite a bit of phonics doing our very informal preschool. She knows many of the phonograms and can read .....a little. She is not going to need to work quite as hard as Sam with learning to read.

Plan for Winter Quarter...

---- Get ready to start MFW Adventures!

-----Do a quick review of All About Spelling book 1 and then start book 2.

-----Resist the urge to start MFW K with Charlotte before her 5th birthday. It does help that I lent it too a friend and do not anticipate having it returned until next fall!