tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85709456269655820902023-11-15T23:30:42.029-08:00One day at a time...Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-62590038671810416772012-09-29T20:47:00.004-07:002012-09-29T20:47:30.010-07:00Where o Where have we been?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ahhh.......school. Time consuming, essays, papers, APA format....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, I'm not talking about the children. In May 2011, I returned to school to advance my nursing degree. I am so very close to being done with this phase of my education. I will graduate December 2012, and I am ready for a break! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First the updates.....Next summer, Big Bro' is getting married! One of the first blogposts that I made was about his graduation. Now he is getting married. Miss my boy but love the man he has become!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Big Sis' has moved on to university. We only see her 1-2 days per week , and the kids miss her like crazy! Charlotte has always called her "H-mom" and honestly I didn't realize just how much she did around here. I now have to go grocery shopping with the younger kids in tow. It has taken some getting use too...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The younger kids and I have gotten in a nice routine with school. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sam has finally made the jump to reading chapter books. Although he does not pick up a book to read on his own, he can and will read a chapter book. What a relief! He felt that he was "forgetting how to spell" with Spelling Power so we are back to using All About Spelling. He hit a wall with WWE and a change to IEW has been a much needed spark to get him to write. He can and does write short compositions! First Language Lesson continues to be a great resource for him. He continues to prefer systematic studies of language arts. He has really enjoyed using Teaching Textbooks and will usually do his math while I'm cooking lunch. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Charlotte has done well with All About Spelling and I have been using the tiles to do phonics lessons with her. I have also been using Phonics Pathways which she does not enjoy as much. She is slowly working her way with phonics instructions. Thankfully, not as slowly as Sam did. She has turned out to be a good little student. She can work through a MUS lesson almost entirely on her own once I have taught her a concept. I have added in FLL 1, WWE1 with her and she has done will with these lessons. She has also been able to sit in on some of Sam's lessons! During the past 3 months, I have been doing far less separate activities since she has been able to sit in on so much of Sam's history and science lessons. When she gets bored, I let her walk away and this has worked well. She is an excellent oral narrator! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">One interesting note, we removed all food dyes from Charlotte's diet this past year. Last year, I had thought that we might need to work her up for ADD since she was having so much difficulty sitting still. I found a study online that stated that artificial food dyes could trigger ADD type symptoms in some people so we decided to eliminate and see what happened. The difference is remarkable! After she eats artificial food dyes, she states she feels "sparkly". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Since we have re-started working together, we have also re-started SOTW. Sam really, really likes this resource. He prefers doing a SOTW routine. I follow a modified pattern as outlined in the WTM. Typically, we do....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Day 1. Read the chapter, narrate, do map/coloring page.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Day 2. Read related text (usborne), write list of facts ( modified outline), timeline, find on globe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Day 3. Finish chapter, start a written narration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Day 4. Finish chapter, Finish/rewrite narration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The closer that I stay with this pattern the happier he is. Charlotte participates in all these activities except listing the facts and the written narrations. She enjoys helping him with the list of facts and ques him in the narrations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Science has also become a routine. Sam enjoys using the Apologia texts. We follow the schedule in the notebooking journal and do this resource for 2 days per week. He is not writting the narrations but that is a goal for this year. Charlotte does not participate with science for the Apologia days. Apologia is over her head. The other two days of the week I follow a similar pattern using on of the Usborne science texts, library books, etc. that I own. I do not expect Sam to participate but he usually does. He really wants to get involved on the 2nd day when we do experiments. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Our literature readings are done at bedtime. Typically, Sam will read outloud for a bit then Mom or Dad will read a selection. We pick from <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2009/03/years-1-4-discussion-discovery-studies.html">this list</a> when looking for something to read at bedtime. Of course, a little bit of twaddle makes it into the bedtime bookbasket....this week's fun favorite is a about a motocycle dude and a princess. Quite funny!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">2.5 more months and I will be done with my BSN. Cannot wait to be more focused on homeschooling!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-48183308560886089652012-05-26T08:04:00.002-07:002012-09-29T20:08:00.494-07:00Year 5<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Sam</strong>- age 10</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Language Arts</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">First Language Lessons 4</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">IEW Fun and Fascinating</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">All About Spelling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Reading a variety of Chapter books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Math</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Teaching Textbooks 5</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Foreign Language</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> Latin for Children A </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Charlotte</strong>- age 7 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First Language Lessons 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing With Ease 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All About Spelling </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phonic Pathways</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Math</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Math-U-See Beta</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Together</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>History</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">SOTW 1 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">D-Aulaire titles @ bedtime</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Science</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Apologia Astronomy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Burgess' Animal Tales</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Literature</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Readings to be determined by interest </span><br />
<br />Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-15470386572388214992012-05-26T07:56:00.000-07:002012-05-26T07:56:01.828-07:00Year 4 assessmentWe made a lot of changes last year. I suffered a rather severe case of burnout and needed to make some changes. Sam discovered a few resources that appealed to him. I split the kids to better suit their individual needs. <br />
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All in all it was a good year. I will probably regret missing ECC with Sam as written although we did read some of the resources.<br />
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This next year, I want to simplify my planning. I will be entering graduate school and will need to keep my planning time for our homeschool to a minimum so that I can focus on my own studies. Right now, I am spending time each week.....<br />
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-on Donna Young to write out the next week's lesson plan <br />
-Reviewing SOTW's activity guide to pull out resources and activities<br />
-sorting through LLATL to gather supplies, books.<br />
-etc.<br />
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I would like to eliminate the lesson planning, and the gathering of supplies.<br />
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It has been working well keeping the kids separate. This is allowing Charlotte a little more time to mature before adding her into the mix with Sam. Her -often funny comments- were distracting for Sam and would add a lot of time to our school day. Right now, I work with her on skill subjects during the day. We read through stories during the evening before bed. This way she can add all the comments she wants without adding to the length of the school day. This has worked out exceptionally well for her. Sam has the ability to "do schoolwork" and save the "tangent" comments until later in the day. I find that I am much more willing to chit-chat about whatever connections that they are making with the material while cooking dinner or watching the kids outside then I am during the schooltime. <br />
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So what do we do for next year?<br />
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Somethings are keepers and somethings are not. Teaching Textbook is a keeper. Spelling Power is a keeper. Story of the World is a keeper.....if I don't have to do the planning. LLATL is not a keeper although the concept is good. I like a resource that I can do in 4 days without compromise. <br />
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Some other thoughts.....I enjoyed MFW 1 and Adv since the planning was done for me and it could be individualized through the use of the bookbasket. MFW 1 was a really good year for Sam as a review of phonics and to provide a year for maturity. Hmmm.....I already have CtG and MFW 1 purchased from last years convention.<br />
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I spent sometime reviewing these resources. ILL is the recommended resource for English from MFW. PLL was not a good fit for Sam when he was younger. ILL looks similar to LLATL with the types of exercises but without a 5 day a week schedule. We could work through this in 2 years. CtG looks very interesting for Sam. I could always keep SOTW as a bookbasket reader for him to add to the program. MFW 1 would be a nice review of phonics for Charlotte. I really enjoyed using it as a review during 2nd grade for Sam. Charlotte does not have Sam's speech issues so she would probably progress through the writing portions easier than he did. I had also started WS 3 with Sam last year but decided to wait a year to allow his ability to get words on paper to catch up with his thought processes. He has made great strides this year in writing ability. I can see English from the Roots Up really being something that Sam would enjoy. <br />
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I'm starting to ramble. <br />
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I also reviewed my thoughts when I first diagnosed myself with burnout. I thougtht that the problem was that I become a "check the box" homeschooler. Maybe that is true. However, I also stated that the resources that I was using prior to my funk was WORKING for the children. And they were working for the children. If I had just ignored my funk, and kept on working through the program as written, it would've worked for the children. However, I might have been more willing to quit and move onto something else. Something else like returning to work fulltime. It is the downside of working on graduate school and planning my career. So, I cannot say that I regret doing some other things for this past year.<br />
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This still leaves the question, "What do we do for this next year?"<br />
<br />Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-8900707541710638772012-02-18T10:51:00.000-08:002012-02-18T12:18:41.606-08:00Changes part 2.So my son has expressed a desire to do his schoolwork without his sister's interference. He also expressed interest in Teaching Textbooks for math, LLATL for language arts and Spelling Power for spelling.<br /><br />I mentioned all this to Big Daddy and he merely shrugs his shoulder's and says "switch him!"<br /><br /> So we did. I also split of the kids in content subjects. Sam gets to continue his Apologia Astronomy and Story of the World without his "talks-a-lot-about-random-stuff" sister's input. Charlotte gets to do a more age appropriate science and history that explores her interest in the subject.<br /><br /> My goal is to do this without consuming our day and still leaving me time to pursue my own educational goals. I have returned to school last summer and must be able to put in sometime working on my own school projects.<br /><br />Sam is aware that he must be willing to work independently on some of his work so that this works out for us. However, separating the kids hasn't been as hard as I originally thought it would be.<br /><br />Without Charlotte's input, working with Sam goes so much smoother. He is able to concentrate on his subjects and dig deep. I reviewed my language arts framework and realized that Sam is right on target for his age. He has a basic concept of the parts of speech and basic punctuation. He is able to narrate quite well and is able to get words on paper. He is working towards doing some simplified written narrations. Written narrations will be worked on with Apologia Astronomy's notebooks and with Story of the World's notebook. LLATL covers copywork, dictations and grammar review for his age. Dropping FLL and WWE actually frees us up to use his interest in astronomy and history to advance his writing ability. He has been far more enthusiastic about writing about topics that interest him then about a random book. WWE has served its purpose and now it is time to let it go. He actually still enjoys memorizing grammar definitions and lists so we can easily add this to LLATL. My only real complaint about LLATL is that it is scheduled for 5 days per week and we school for 4 days per week. So far we just do 1.5 days worth of work for 2 days of each week. I foresee that eventually he will need to do 1 day of LLATL on our off day of school. If I remember correctly, this is what my older kids did.<br /><br />Teaching Textbooks has been a fun little addition. He is able to work through this almost completely independently.<br /><br />Spelling Power has been interesting. He does not like mispelling words and gets upset. I keep explaining that I don't expect him to spell each and every word correct the first time. This resource is still questionable. If he continues to get upset with each mispelled word we will need to change back to All About Spelling.<br /><br />All and all. He is quite happy with the changes we have made.<br /><br />Charlotte has proven to be a little bit more of a challenge. She fell in LOVE with LLATL blue. UGH! All those pieces kinda drove me nuts with Sam, and now all those pieces are kinda driving me nuts with her. However, she does like it more than 100 easy lessons, and she is enjoying the projects. I have continued the self designed science that we were using before with her. I am currently reading Sarah Noble to her at bedtime until I decide on a plan for her for history. I need a booklist of stories that are well liked by sensitive young girls. I am considering starting WWE 1 with her to help her turn her rather verbose narrations into something concise and relevent.<br /><br />Having the kids completely separate hasn't proved to be as difficult as I originally thought.Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-37868576382948204222012-02-04T18:56:00.000-08:002012-02-18T10:47:46.621-08:00Changes......<div><span style="font-family:arial;">I spent some time rearranging our book closet. Our book closet is really the size of a small room and holds 18 years of books and curriculum.</span> As I <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;">was sorting and moving supplies around, Sam joined me</span>. He had an agenda.</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Sam, "Do I have to do school with Charlotte?"</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This took me a bit by surprised. I have been working towards having the kids work separately during skill subjects then working together during contenct subject. Honestly, I thought it was going quite well. Sam did not. His main complaint seemed to be related to the fact that Charlotte talks too much. I have to admit that she does talk a lot. Actually, she talks non-stop and usually on a tangent of the related subject.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So, I'm still cleaning and sorting. Sam is still talking about all the reason why he should be able to do history/science/art/etc. completely separate from his sister when something catches his attention. He opens up a crate full of math texts and sees CDROMS. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Sam, "You can do math on the computer? Why hasn't anyone ever told me about this??"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The product he found was Big Sis' and Big Bro's Teaching Textbooks Algebra program. He goes on to explain that Math U see is just a little too " little kid" for his tastes and that he really doesn't like the blocks. </span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Hmmmm. MUS has been working quite well, and I am not especially interested in changing a program that is working. However, one thing that I learned with my older son is that young men do better when they have some ownership with their schoolwork. So I got Sam on the Teaching Textbook website and let him take a look.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">He liked what he saw and copied the placement test. He took the placement test and stated that he wants to do this! Hmmmm. Technically, I could just switch him over. We are almost completed with a level of MUS, and will be shortly making a math text order. I tell him that I will think about it. </span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I'm still cleaning and sorting. Sam is still talking about the really cool math on the computer and doing school without his sister's help. He sees something called Spelling Power. He pulls it out and takes a look. I'm not exactly sure what he sees since Spelling Power is this monstrosity of a book but he starts asking questions.</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Sam, "Was this Big sis' and Big Bro's spelling book? Why didn't you do the tiles with them?"</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This catches my interest. Sam has recently completed level 3 of AAS. I am a little leary of doing 2 levels of AAS with 2 different kids. I was toiling with the idea of switching Sam to Spelling Power. I tell him we can do a placement text next school day and try it for a while if he wants. He likes the idea of doing "big kid" spelling and not "little kid" spelling that requires using tiles. </span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I'm still cleaning and sorting. Sam is still talking about growing up and doing big kid school and not little kids school when he finds the Learning Language Arts through Literature stuff. He pulls out the Blue level and shares it with Charlotte. He shows her how to build words and read the early readers. I'm pondering how he even remembers using this. There they are playing with letter cards and reading when the next question is asked.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Sam, "I always liked this. Why can't I use this instead of the other stuff?"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This prompts me to ask, "What do you like about our school?"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">He likes Apologia Astronomy and Story of the World. Charlotte pipes in and states that she does NOT like Story of the World and wants to hear more stories about girls. She claims SOTW world is just too "icky and about boys starting wars." </span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">After a good laugh, I give up finishing cleaning the closet. I have a lot to think about. I was always able to combine my older kids in subject but they were only 15 months difference in age. Sam is an older nine and is transitioning to a logic stage of thinking. Charlotte is a younger six and is still very much a little girl. </span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So the question becomes would it be tragic to separate the kids in all subjects? </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-41291307537321007432011-11-10T17:02:00.000-08:002011-11-10T18:16:16.887-08:00Year 4.5<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We made some drastic changes since September both to our content and to our schedule. We are actually spending more time with schoolwork but enjoying our day much more. Sometime in the afternoon, it stops being schoolwork, and it becomes fun stuff that we do as a family. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">We do our <strong>skill subjects</strong> separately and <strong>in the morning</strong>. This allows me the time to work with each child individually without feeling rushed. We have plenty of time for discussions, and I am able to add in a little extra to their day without overwhelming us. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sam-age 9</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">All About Spelling 3</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">First Language Lessons3</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Writing with Ease 3</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Math-U-See Delta</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Pathway Readers 3</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Sam has expressed an interest in astronomy , so we are also doing Apologia Astronomy during this time. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Charlotte-age 6</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">100 EZ lessons for reading</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Math-u-See Alpha</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Handwriting without Tears</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I also read a separate read aloud with her during this time to practice narrations.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>After lunch</strong> we work on <strong>content subjects</strong>.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Story of the World book 1</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Self designed science study</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Art</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Spanish</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">IEW Poetry Memorization</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Literature</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Hero Tales</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Every Day with God</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">PE with Family Fitness</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I have found that I am spending far more time reading aloud to the kids with this schedule. We now have time to read and discuss subjects at length. We can follow our own interest in subjects. I developed an open ended schedule so that we spend time on each subject but aren't limited on the topics or resource.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">History with SOTW. We spend a week on each chapter, and we spend 2 days a week on history. The first day we read the chapter, narrate, work on the map and pictures. The second day we read another book or two on the subject, narrate and do a project. Super easy.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Science. I collected all our science books in one place, and we spend 2 days a week on science. The first day I read 2-4 pages of the book of the week/term, they narrate and list several facts that we learned. We follow up with another book on the topic or do an internet search. The second day we will read another 2-4 pages or another book on the topic. Narrate and list several facts. Do project or experiment. Since making this change, we have spent about several weeks on the human body and have started studying space exploration/astronomy. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Art. I gathered all my different art books. One day a week we pick a book and spend 20 min or so doing a art lesson. Currently we are using Draw Write Now book 1. The second day of art we do a picture study lesson. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Spanish. We are using Flip Flop Spanish in a very low key way. We review the vocabulary and spend a few moments each day using our spanish words. I keep the vocabulary list on the fridge and Big Sis' reviews the words with the kids when she gets home from college each afternoon. We have picked up quite a bit of Spanish in this easy low key way!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">IEW Poetry Memorization. We have memorized 6 poems!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Hero Tales/Everyday with God. We read and narrate a story from each resource each day. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Literature. We read aloud during lunch, during our morning AND afternoon schooltime, and before bed. Our current read alouds are Squanto, Charlotte's Web, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Lemonade Trick. Lots of variety!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-51198761032859303662011-09-17T17:10:00.000-07:002011-09-17T18:17:22.347-07:00We gotta do school today?That whiny voice isn't the children. It is me. I'm burned out!<br /><br />I took most of the summer off by default; so, that isn't the problem.<br /><br />I went to my local homeschooling conference, and I got refreshed and excited about this year; so, that isn't the problem.<br /><br />My curriculum choices are working well for my kids; so, that isn't the problem.<br /><br />So what is the problem?<br /><br />It has been a really, really long time since I been in this state of burn out. In fact it has been a decade (!) since I've experienced this level of burnout.<br /><br />I thought that part of the problem might be the fact that I returned to school to advance my degree. However, I'm on a break from my classes for 2 weeks, and I still have absolutely no desire to do school with the kids.<br /><br />I spent part of this week re-reading some of my favorite homeschooling books and listening to some of the lectures from the homeschooling conferences in the past. I re-read The Whole Hearted Child by the Clarksons, and I'm starting to get a clearer picture of what is the problem. I've re-read portions of Charlotte Mason's Original Series and it becomes even clearer. I've listened to talks by A. Pudewa and the Clarksons from THSC conference, and it is now crystal clear.<br /><br />I've become a check-the-box homeschooler. I have strayed so far from my vision for my home and homeschool that homeschooling is drudgery for me. I have so many boxes to check that I cannot do or add or experience anything remotely individualized or unique with my children without overwhelming my day.<br /><br />Changes that I've made in the past have been done to find a solution that works for my children. I now find myself in the situation in which I need to make some changes so it works for me.<br /><br />Despite that it is working to separate the children, I need to find a way to combine them.<br /><br />Despite the curriculum options are working for the children, I need to find a way to change them.<br /><br />I reviewed my curriculum options and resources, and I've decided to make a few changes to the flow of our day. I will keep the kids separate while working on our content subjects. I will combine them on our discussion and discovery subjects. I will stop viewing this year as "Sam's only year to work through ECC" and instead view ECC as a resource to pull our discussion and discovery subjects. This might mean that we do not do everything that is scheduled in ECC. This might also mean that we do other activities that are not scheduled in ECC.<br /><br /><br />Our discussion and discovery subjects schedule is going to be:<br /><br />Day 1.<br />1. Bible reading( pulled from ECC) - narrate and discuss<br />2. Geography/atlas readings (pulled from ECC)- narrate and discuss<br />3. Memorization- Memory verses (ECC) and Poetry( IEW's Linguistic Develpment through Poetry Memorization)<br />4. Art Activity ( from a variety of sources)<br />5. Music (ECC or composer study)<br /><br />Day 2.<br />1.Bible- narrate and discuss<br />2. Science readings (ECC)- narrate and discuss<br />3. Memorization<br />4. Geography game(ECC)<br />5. Picture Study (resources from MFW1 or study artist of quarter)<br /><br />Day 3.<br />1. Bible<br />2. A-Z Geography activity (ECC)<br />3. Memorization<br />4. Music<br />5. Nature Study<br /><br />Day 4.<br />1.Bible<br />2. Spanish-New lesson (reviewed throughout week)<br />3. Memorization<br />4. Geography game or puzzle<br />5. Science reading/experiments (ECC or other sources).<br /><br />I need to return to my CM style of homeschooling. I'm not sure if these changes will help me get out of my funk. I hope so. I will give it a go for a month.Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-41398482808177146902011-08-16T18:14:00.000-07:002011-08-16T18:48:01.285-07:00The disappearing classroom....<span style="font-family:verdana;">This summer we relocated our classroom from an upstairs spare room back down to the dining room. For years and years, we had school in the dining room and I used to say that our home was decorated in "Early American Homeschool". We were used to the homeschool clutter......bookshelves with crates and papers, stacks of books on the dining room table, maps and posters on the wall. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">No more! I really liked having my dining room look like a dining room, and I have no real desire to return to "Early American Homeschool" decorating style.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So what to do? School must be relocated because the "spare" room is becoming a boys bedroom. So I converted an adjacent coat closet into a school closet and created the disappearing classroom. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Here is how it works. I pull out the supplies for the day. I have an organizer for all our pencils, pens, crayons, scissors, etc. I have a magazine holder to keep paper sized posters handy and visible. I put all the supplies needed for the day in a crate so it is all readily accessible. I place our AAS spelling board on the side table. All in all, takes me less than a minute. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">After we are done with school, I do a quick view of the next days schedule. I place all books needed for the next day into the crates. Then I place everything back into the closet. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I still have our workboxes but I am using them differently. Each drawer has all the books for a specific subject on our MFW grid. There is a drawer for all the books used in the Bible grid, another for all the geography books, and another for each and every section. This makes it easy for me to get each specific book for each subject.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Here is our disappearing classroom....</span>
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<br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></p>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-49016813437762820482011-08-06T16:33:00.000-07:002011-08-06T17:07:16.339-07:00Bummer Summer<span style="font-family:verdana;">We were off to such a great start! Big Bro' came in for a visit the first two weeks of May then the bummer summer started.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The rest of May and June were dominated by illness and family visits. Urgent care visits, weeks laying around on the couch with sick kids. It's all a blur. We had company the few weeks that everyone was feeling well. Very little school happened in May or June.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">July started well and then I got sick. My second ER visit of the summer resulted in a 4 day hospital stay, a surgery, and a couple of follow up procedures. Bummer Summer!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We usually get quite a bit of school done and spend several days at the beach each week. This summer we watched way too much tv and got out of the habit of doing school.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We only did 5 weeks of school since my last post.....actually 4 1/2 weeks since April 27 but who's counting. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">During this little bummer summer season of our lives I made a few decisions and discoveries. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">1. Charlotte really loves 100 Easy lessons. I had taught my older children to read with this resource but found that it interfered too much with Sam's Speech Therapy. Charlotte doesn't have any speech issues and 100 EZ lessons is a perfect little fit while she matures before using MFW 1st. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">2. We are doing the parts of MFW K that we skipped this past year when Charlotte was tagging along with Adventures. This is providing us with enough activities to keep us going until April.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">2. Sam's reading level advance 2 grade levels! I spent this past year slowing down reading intruction and much of what I wrote about was in regards to Sam's reading. I now have proof that it worked! We will continue our <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2010/10/day-of-reading.html">reading plan</a>. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">3. Sam has improved from struggling to write "He was a tall man." to doing all of his writing in school. This is so awesome. So we will continue our <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2010/10/update-on-writing.html">writing plan</a>. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">4. Sam enjoyed using Writing Strands but we will put this resource on the shelf for a year. I want him to be able to use WS independantly and he is almost ....but not quite ....there. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We have started the process of getting back into the habit of school. The bummer summer is behind us, and we are looking foward to cooler weather and a healthier family!</span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-90355960739597256172011-04-27T17:20:00.000-07:002011-04-27T18:27:33.550-07:00ECC-Week 3<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This week we did our trial of separating the kids.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2011/04/charlottes-kindergarten.html">Charlotte did K</a> and then<a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2011/02/year-4.html"> Sam did ECC</a>. The plan was to start 30 minutes earlier which did not happen. I still want to get done by lunchtime but I had a hard time with breaking my usual morning routine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Guess what happened? I still finished up about the same time! I can't really explain it. I guess I was really just spending that same amount of time trying to negotiate the needs of two kids who are completely different levels. It is the strangest thing. I'm still amazed!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So what did we do this week.....</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Charlotte worked through her activities without distractions. When her brother is not in the room, she can be quite the little scholar! She read "The Sled" and "Sam's Pet" from MFW K. We enjoyed "The Story about Ping" and activities from FIAR. Good K week!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sam is really taking off with ECC. One of the activities for this week was to review the 50 states. We did this by putting together this GeoPuzzle. It was easy to see the improvement over the week as we got faster as finding each individual state puzzle piece!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600437409107837378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAGpukmA1jWvyzEkvgQSgCzi1FrR1eIIjOCMtg0GKCVBH-yrvIZri6Z2LkAdYJNt0nmdkCI6_sOtm8uTfWdZpFzW_CkgmcHHvSyrLncGtAtXTFQyMRsIYF69LA0IvWt-UE8b7f4Gblxgzp/s400/IMG_20110427_111907.jpg" /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We went ahead and started FLL 3 instead of trying to finish up FLL 2. We did the first 3 lessons and Sam seems to enjoy having the lessons in a workbook format. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">We did another 2 lessons in Writing Strands. His sentence was " The clown sees nine-year-old Lola flying a yellow kite on a beautiful spring day." Oh....happy mama! He has come a long way in the last 6 months. I am so glad that we stepped back and focused on copywork this past year. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">We completed lesson 24 of AAS book 2. He was a little annoyed that there wasn't a hard and fast rule about using au or aw in the middle of the word. We will be reviewing this concept.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The only real glitch that came up this week was Global Art. The activity that I picked to do this week was Sand Drawing. I gathered our supplies and explained the activity. I really thought I chose an activity that was "boy-friendly".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sam " You. want. me. to. craft?" ( Imagine him asking in a real, slow and quiet voice).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Me-"No, not really crafting....it's just an activity that corresponds to the area that we are studying. It'll be fun!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sam-" I'm a boy and I don't craft. Well, I only craft with scouts and it's real boy stuff and I have to do it to get the badge." (imagine a higher pitch voice and really,really fast)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Me- " Well let's just give this a go and see how it is. There are some really cool stuff in this book." ---by this time Charlotte is full fledge into the project. Sand is flying everywhere.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sam thumbs through Global Art. " Looks like a craft book. A girl craft book. I don't like crafting."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">At this point I have 2 options. Force the kid to do the craft which totally defeats the purpose of the project or find another art alternative. </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So we left Charlotte to her crafting and went to look at our art options. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">He chose Artistic Pursuits. We used this resource years ago before we started MFW and I do remember him liking it. I have the book and supplies so we will try it and see how it works out. Sam has already done this particular book but we will work through it again before investing in another in the series.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So far we are 0-3 for Art and MFW. Drawing with Children was a bust but in all fairness it was a bust with the older kids too. I Can do All Things was a bust with ADV. Last year, we really just kind of skipped doing art lessons. Global Art appears to be a bust for it's intended purpose. Looking ahead at " God and the History of Art" and I suspect this will be a bust as well for Sam. Big Sis' used this resource as a teen! Big Sis' used about every art resource available because she is naturally artistic. Sam is not. If Artistic Pursuits is the resource he enjoys using then we will probably stick with Artistic Pursuits throughout the rest of his art career. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">All is not lost. Global Art will go into Charlotte's Arts and Crafting basket and it will give her lots of new ideas of activities to fill up the afternoon. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-44421004391213934792011-04-27T15:01:00.000-07:002011-08-06T17:10:03.111-07:00Charlotte's Kindergarten<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We've made a change to the flow of Charlotte's Kindergarten Year. We <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2010/07/beginning-of-charlottes-kindergarten.html">started out the year </a>having her tag-a-long with Adventure but now that Sam is doing ECC it is harder to combine the kids. So we will finish up the year with....</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><em>100 Easy Lessons</em></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><em>MFW K</em>- doing all the parts we missed during Kindergarten part 1.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><em>MUS Primer</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><em>Handwriting without Tears</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">We may well continue with this plan until next Winter. Charlotte has an August birthday but should have been born well past the cut off for K. She would not be starting K until this upcoming August if she was PS! I want to give her as much time as she needs to mature before tackling 1st grade.</span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-84012710083023740302011-04-16T18:22:00.000-07:002011-04-17T16:03:16.153-07:00Week 2- ECC<span style="font-family:verdana;">We are getting into a good rhythm with ECC. I have been able to do each week in 4 days without any difficulty. Sam in enjoying himself!</span><br /><div></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The only downside is that I'm not going to be able to include Charlotte as much as we were with Adventures. I think it is just going to be easier to plan on doing K with her and plan on doing ECC separately with Sam. *big sigh* She is a distraction and the material is just a little over her head. I can read and summarize everything to keep her engaged or I can teach to him and lose her. Since this is going to be his only time working through ECC I need to teach to him so he can get the full benefit.</span> <br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><br /><div></span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So far the biggest hits for Charlotte have been music, art, science projects (not the readings) and Kingdom Tales. We will keep her involved with these.</span><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">If I continue to summarize the science reading during our time outdoors then I will not need to plan on doing a separate science with her. This is easier than it sounds! I keep a running list of topics that Sam and I have read with Properties of Ecosystems, then in the afternoon I try to point out examples. The key is to make it seem natural and not like a lesson. So far she has added the words habitat and niche into her vocabulary and I didn't have to try to get a 5 yo to sit through Properties of Ecosystems. </span><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This next week, I am going to try to get Charlotte started a little earlier and do all of her K stuff. Perhaps Sam can do bookbasket, math drill and math during this time. I will send her on her way and work through the main parts of ECC with Sam. We will try this a few weeks and make adjustments if needed.</span> <span style="font-family:Verdana;"><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I decided to go ahead and start Writing Strands 3 with Sam instead of waiting. He has been enjoying that as well. Ok....maybe enjoying writing is a bit of stretch..... he has been doing WS3 without complaint and impressed with his outcome. Yesterday, he had to write 5 sentences adding information each time. To make this process a little less painful, I wrote alternating sentences so he only had to write 3 of the 5 sentences. Lesson learned---he could write an interesting, long sentence with lots of information and it didn't hurt....too much. No more "He was a tall man." sentences!</span> <br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We forgot to do the Nature Walk exercise from week 1 last week. I sent Sam outdoors to mark off our 1 foot square so we could check our Backyard Habitat and he included his favorite climbing tree in his square. Most kids probably do this experiment and look down...dig around in the ground....check out the little bugs. Sam did this experiment and looked UP! He spent an hour up in the tree keeping track of all the birds.</span> <span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596365540833879346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyWNwwUV0wUXeg4Yv6QbLHl86LnHKPvlq-sW06gx2L2ryZNH9feyGb98OEtcJxTPdNDUDGE3skBf6Y92oSLtF4Gm10o_66kVfVoY8sruygPpor5NXN-e2RlYVN0L5KVjVofnZxnopYlr5V/s400/IMG_20110414_142317.jpg" /></span> <br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Of course, no blog account of week 2 of ECC would be complete without a picture of the World Cake. Big Sis' helped Sam and Charlotte with the decorating of the cake. Big Sis' wanted to know why I didn't use MFW ECC when she was 8 and she has insisted on being included in any future cooking plans that are included with our lessons. College students like to eat!</span> </p><br /><p></p><br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596365419466740114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGLRP2okYIBQfDasEQl6r3jhpj-B1YdQnkj82Mu2O0UOEIEkUWkrBzASaV3tF9xrA6zXgH1i1k4Sg45E5MBg1aHidfBLx7XRJO78ORJ3TtR23LDgJMxsX0YYtaaAoN1ifRzw3iQyW0ZTC/s400/IMG_20110415_200835.jpg" /> </p><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-45128947269113315542011-04-10T18:45:00.000-07:002011-08-06T17:08:20.241-07:00Year 4<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Sam's Year 4- age 9</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">MFW's Exploring Countries and Cultures.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">All About Spelling-currently on Level 3</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Math-U-See Delta</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">First Language Lessons 3</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Writing With Ease 3</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Pathway Readers</span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-63348894746765591432011-04-07T17:04:00.001-07:002011-04-08T14:56:26.927-07:00Adventures is done!<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592997093557531250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwz7q4LFwTOe35m0Gjz013-XPVUgU9XflLvpcutn7iOshEw02zVx27bpESxlQ_eW3XuAjdKGUNZ5zpDlcisFy5TfIOPFp_OpkxFAd6YEwsiMU6aYOqXsJNd6lsnUu4ecVa4pUk8LPFz5K/s400/IMG_20110401_105039.jpg" /> <br /><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sam is super proud of his American History notebook! Adventures is an awesome year and this year has been one of our best homeschooling years. I've been homeschooling since 1994 so that's saying something!</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">To celebrate what do we do? Start Exploring Countries and Cultures of course! Here he is filling out his passport application.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div></div><br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592997603565556802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nKi5tW1-dIbGilXtNDWLxWDasutbBpgxcgiWeHkjtn436mzeSpKVbbrICCptRZTkwyp8cL8a4FU-D-4KItjhDK32kTaibag3zjbt5hkmmuEeP4intkLp9bnpijUgDINeNW9xOve1wQrY/s400/IMG_20110406_113341.jpg" /></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We are already looking at ways to include Charlotte in ECC. While we were doing ADV, we followed the grid and called her back into the room to participate in the state sheets/history reading and science projects. I think this might have set up some bad habits for her. I don't really want her to get in the habit of ....do a little school, play toys, do a little school, watch tv, etc. I want her to get in the habit that she does school then plays.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So I have a preliminary rough draft of how I'm going to break up the grid.</span></p><strong>Charlotte</strong> -----------------------<strong>Sam </strong><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">phonics -----------------------Complete book of Animals or bookbasket</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">---------------------------Bible------------------------------------------</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">----------------------Geography (easier selections)-----------------</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">---------------------Science ( easier sections)------------------------</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Math/Handwriting ------------------------------Math</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">She is now done and he completes the rest of the grid including the more difficult portions of Geography and Science.</span></p><br /><p></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I am having him do Math drill while I make lunch . I also plan to do the read-aloud portion during lunch. I want to save the art projects and science projects for the afternoon so we can spend more time working on these without feeling rushed to get done before lunch. </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">We are only on day 2 of ECC so it is a little early to state how well my plan is working. We are currently spending about 1 hour working together in the morning with another 1.5 hours with Sam finishing up his work. So far we have spent 30minutes in the afternoon with projects. </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I still haven't decided what I'm going to do for Charlotte once she turns 6. Her birthday is mid-August but she was premature and her due date was late September. So if she were attending public school she would be going into K this year so I'm not in a huge rush to get her going with 1st grade. Letting her mature a bit seems to be the trick. My goal is to be getting into the stride with 1st grade when she is about 6.5 years old which will be next Feb/March. I have a little bit of time to decide on resources and get her in a better habit for school.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I did find a neat resource to make ECC a little more friendly for the 5/6yo crowd. Timberdoodle is selling <a href="http://www.timberdoodle.com/Geopuzzles_p/120.htm">Geopuzzles</a></span> and I plan on having each corresponding puzzle available as we study a particular region. </p><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We are looking for to this journey!</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></p>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-66035032882049203322011-02-28T08:32:00.000-08:002011-02-28T08:39:42.330-08:00Reading.....again.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5vi5-zxV1wBR9hqt_XMtwtVxI-C7FHLSuEwmlgtKkssisE00F_nWmA_mXRXfClxx0tji-mfxhyphenhyphenIa4E-T7Jn2cVYOvWysy2xkwc0AeQ11bFNXqXXj0LN65fmNECBmpxft7a3iQGclV732/s1600/IMG_20110228_095723.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578779390172508226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5vi5-zxV1wBR9hqt_XMtwtVxI-C7FHLSuEwmlgtKkssisE00F_nWmA_mXRXfClxx0tji-mfxhyphenhyphenIa4E-T7Jn2cVYOvWysy2xkwc0AeQ11bFNXqXXj0LN65fmNECBmpxft7a3iQGclV732/s400/IMG_20110228_095723.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We did a little experimenting this week. What a difference 6 months can make! Charlotte really enjoyed using the AAS board and tiles to do her phonics lessons. I had attempted to do this last fall but it was a bit messy. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I've also found out that I should be able to purchase just the MFW 1 phonics portion when I go to our homeschool convention this summer. So instead of a $50 purchase it is substantially less.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">So maybe I will be able to use MFW 1 phonics after all. So for now, we will continue to plug along with MFW K. </span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-23582914512839686442011-02-17T17:06:00.000-08:002011-02-17T18:28:18.995-08:00Where we are now...<span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTyPAqUmgbFydozUjbsKcwgkpG2uNAUkqI_Bbg_EuPdKJHKFT02-KYAglBRaCVfPTm_41xQ6f2Ymfr4Hynkird-Lq8C04UrcNiYzcYqsd3TfFykSxGsJwbVeTtEylQtyuqcMnulJjgIKC/s1600/school.bmp"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574830017685454434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTyPAqUmgbFydozUjbsKcwgkpG2uNAUkqI_Bbg_EuPdKJHKFT02-KYAglBRaCVfPTm_41xQ6f2Ymfr4Hynkird-Lq8C04UrcNiYzcYqsd3TfFykSxGsJwbVeTtEylQtyuqcMnulJjgIKC/s400/school.bmp" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">We are having a great year! Adventures has been a lot of fun. We are in a good rhythm with Sam. Charlotte is adding to the mix well.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">One of my goals this year was to get the kids working together side by side during school. Obviously, we have been successful!<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This last quarter I was still searching for an English program that works for Sam. We had tried PLL with limited success and some frustration. LLATL with limited success and some frustration.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">After a little deliberating I decided to go back and retry FLL and guess what....success. He is a very happy camper using FLL. He has memorized list of helping verbs and can easily pick out the helping verbs in a sentence. I'm not entirely sold that this is a necessary skill for a 8yo but after dealing with the frustrations of other programs, I am completely happy that he is frustration free! So we will stick with FLL.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So---finally----after several years we have finally found curricula that seems to be doing the trick for Sam! Yeah for us!<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">For anyone out there that follows this blog the winners are:<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Math U See</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">All About Spelling</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">First Language Lessons</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Writing with Ease</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">My Father's World<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Whew. I sure was stubborn about using some of these products. Ultimately, you use what works and get over yourself! The general gameplan now for Sam is to work through these individual product's sequence over the next few years.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So now what do we do? Well, we might start Latin next year so I get to do a little research about Latin curriculum. It's exciting that there is more out there than Latina Christina.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I also have this 5yo girl who is coming up in the school ranks and we get to do the whole process over again. buwahahhaha! Actually, no we aren't. I'll just stick with the MUS/AAS/WWE/FLL/MFW line up with her since I already own the products and just start folding her into the rhythm of our day.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Currently for Charlotte her day goes something like this....<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">---- work through the phonics portion of MFW K.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">---- do a calendar activity and a MUS page.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">---- do a page in Handwriting without Tears.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">----hang out in the school room and participate as able with Sam's studies.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This has worked pretty well. She typically does the Bible portion, state study or history reading, science and listens to the read aloud of Adventures. When Sam is working on LA or Math she works at the little table doing crafts or painting. Sometimes she gets bored or makes too much noise and I send her into another room to have a tea party with her stuff animals. As the year has progressed, she has gradually spent more time participating and less time in the other room with her toys. <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2010/07/beginning-of-charlottes-kindergarten.html">Her Kindegarten year </a>is a little different than <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2008/03/kindergarten-charlotte-mason-style.html">Sam's</a> even though we still do many of the same types of activities. We still go outdoors, do nature study and have a lot of free time for imaginative play. All in all, it has been a good year for her.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">She doesn't have Sam's speech motor problem so we don't have that particular issue to work around. She is ACTIVE. I have put the big exercise ball to use with her when she is especially active. This usually gets us a few more minutes of attention and quiet if she is bouncing or rolling around on the ball.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">She enjoys the phonics portion of MFW K. There is a lot of cutting and glueing which seems to be her specialty. We did have to slow down the phonics for her because she was getting frustrated when the lessons started getting longer. She is just now 5 1/2 years old so this isn't a great concern. Day 4 seemed to be especially long and we had to break that day's lesson into 2 days. So, here we are with a 5 1/2 year old on lesson 15 of MFW K and wondering where do we want to be when she is 6.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I already know that I plan on using the AAS/FLL/WWE combo that works well for Sam. It seems logical to just start her out with these products this next year. So I only need a phonics program.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Do I spend the $50 on MFW 1 student pages when I only need a phonics program? hmmmm.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So I break out MFW 1 and take a good look at it. I didn't teach Sam to read with MFW 1, we used it to re-inforce phonics. MFW 1 worked great for this purpose. So I took a good hard look at it, thinking about Charlotte. I came to the conclusion that there was no possible way I could make this work for her next year. That's probably too harsh....I could make it work if I was willing to spend a great deal of time tweaking and adjusting it. Do I really want to spend $50 knowing I'm going to really have to tweak it significantly and omit large portions of it?<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Bottom line, I don't feel confident that I can teach my active child to read with the phonics of MFW 1. I do think that I can use it to re-inforce phonics but not as a stand alone program.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So the question becomes....what do I use? and do I go ahead and make the switch now? </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-27051305522279004042010-10-30T09:30:00.000-07:002010-10-30T10:39:22.264-07:00Update on everything else....<span style="font-family:verdana;">I have already updated Sam's reading and writing progress for this quarter.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> <div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">MFW</span> Adventures is a wonderful resource and it has been so refreshing to not have to do all the lesson planning!</span></div><div> </div><div>File folders and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">workboxes</span> have made our day flow so smoothly and I will continue to use these organizational tools. </div><div> </div></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Math-U</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">-See continues to work well. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">All About Spelling continues to work well.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We tried <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">MFW's</span> recommendation of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">PLL</span> (which would have worked great for the older kids) but Sam found it cumbersome and confusing. This quarter we have tried <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">LLATL</span> ( which worked great for the older kids) and although it was a better resource for Sam than <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">PLL</span> it really hasn't been <em>great</em>. 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."</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This comment forced me to look at the resources that work well for him. MUS is mastery based, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">WWE</span> is predictable, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">AAS</span> has lots of review, our <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">workbox</span> system keeps everything organized. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Mastery based, predictable, organized with review until he feels competent. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><em><strong>Sam's criteria</strong> for a resource is that it is organized, predictable and there is enough review that he actually learns the material presented. </em></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">No wonder Sam found <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">PLL</span> cumbersome and confusing. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">PLL</span> 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 <em>Sam's criteria</em>. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">LLATL</span> is a wonderful resource for studying aspects of English in context of a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">snippet</span> of literature. It is more of a spiral approach to English, has a lot of variety with little review. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">LLATL</span> doesn't really meet <em>Sam's criteria</em> either. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So the question is......what elementary grammar program does? </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I have used First Language Lessons with Sam when he was 6. We dropped it when we found <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">MFW</span> 1st. Honestly <strong>I</strong> found it a bit dry and boring so I was really just looking for a reason to drop it! However, if it meets <em>Sam's criteria</em> for a skill subject resource I need to get over my prejudice. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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. </span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-48723559757155498582010-10-29T17:17:00.000-07:002010-10-29T17:59:18.621-07:00Update on writing.<span style="font-family:verdana;">In July, we went back to the basics of copywork, dictation and oral narrations. My son had <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2010/07/houston-we-have-problem.html">completed a written summary </a>of George Washington that consisted of only 5 words. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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...</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">-doing several sentences from dictation from AAS <em>daily</em>.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">-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."</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">-No tears and frustration! His comment today was "Writing isn't so bad after all."</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Progress is being made!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Plans for this next quarter is to introduce the dictations exercises from WWE.</span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-2012428339923561312010-10-22T16:14:00.000-07:002010-10-29T17:59:18.621-07:00A day of reading..<span style="font-family:verdana;"> Our revamped reading program is working great!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We do some choral reading with our bible study. He is reading with much more confidence during this time.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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....</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">-circle all consonant and vowel teams</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">-divide into syllables</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">-determine if the vowels are long or short</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">-and finally, read each word.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">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. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This is the result of this plan....</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531013237635957458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchoQ_9SUUUT0PFDdx7fP2bN7iTZSEerjs7Gesz-WYkedPEl06KGJr6dbZ5xP1CyC-m-aELBYTYtdoTUxaBT710aVI1Mtb4HTDtevaOEHYdMWzvr2f-S5MTOC1_bCc9x-kvyBsqdbUBakU/s400/66958_1634107499925_1453814747_1630042_7269168_n.jpg" /></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">...a boy picking up a book during his free time. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-84429095841688086122010-08-05T13:27:00.000-07:002010-10-29T17:59:47.306-07:00Charlotte and Reading.So I've been experimenting with Charlotte and reading.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.....<br /><br /> 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.<br /><br />It keeps her interest and she is developing good habits for school. What more could a mama want?Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-90623476973354578322010-07-31T13:42:00.000-07:002010-10-29T17:59:18.622-07:00Reading.......<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht61Zx7aKIQyfDrLJx8Rsa5952F5bOCXAvPywM56-Weu4TnDyNBSx_el7cDut5N_YE9dupIlO520KlbACdKUIdIpDU5IBjgVdxTZgiiYtiHwUgIRKYe_lfyoNC7gCpcEHORF0p_q8FBZF_/s1600/reading-clipart.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 331px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 339px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500173887779240674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht61Zx7aKIQyfDrLJx8Rsa5952F5bOCXAvPywM56-Weu4TnDyNBSx_el7cDut5N_YE9dupIlO520KlbACdKUIdIpDU5IBjgVdxTZgiiYtiHwUgIRKYe_lfyoNC7gCpcEHORF0p_q8FBZF_/s400/reading-clipart.jpg" /></a><br />Reading has been a slow process for Sam. I have had <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2008/01/learning-to-read.html">early readers and late readers </a> 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......<br /><br />So what exactly is <em>my problem </em>with Sam's reading<em>? </em><br /><em></em><br />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.<br /><br />So what exactly is <em>my problem</em> with Sam's reading?<br /><br />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?<br /><br />No more.<br /><br />MY SON READS AT GRADE LEVEL!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />This year our reading program is multifaceted.<br /><br />Each day<br />--- a short reading drill for review. 1-2 pages of Phonics Pathways.<br />---20-30 minutes of free reading. He currently prefers to read books that he has already read.<br />---15-20 minutes of reading from Pathway Readers with me.<br />---choral reading of bible selections that are scheduled in MFW Adv.<br />--- All About Spelling lessons are also phonics review lessons.<br />---High interest read alouds to motivate him to take the next step in reading. <br /><br />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!Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-23546351878172854422010-07-24T09:14:00.000-07:002010-10-29T17:59:18.622-07:00Houston, we have a problem.....<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0iMlhsSsJf18S8Irb394zxVL4XLTiiCeZpZtLqMvs0d_-53qOHAg5FjEVlTy1cqfP4ktfBZwGXCStmgvBUVxglrO2tT4CNMt-3d8a59rbxq8vCoo9mxI5eG91Mc4qi5c8iE-Gx3FbucT/s1600/hand.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 367px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497508787799875474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0iMlhsSsJf18S8Irb394zxVL4XLTiiCeZpZtLqMvs0d_-53qOHAg5FjEVlTy1cqfP4ktfBZwGXCStmgvBUVxglrO2tT4CNMt-3d8a59rbxq8vCoo9mxI5eG91Mc4qi5c8iE-Gx3FbucT/s400/hand.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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....</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">He was a tall man.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">He eliminated George, Washington, general, president and a great number of other words because he did not want to attempt</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> 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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Obviously I need to rethink writing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So that is the first step----completely eliminate any original writing from his weekly routine. I know </span><a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2008/03/my-cm-language-arts-framework.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">this </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">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!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So we will follow Charlotte Mason suggestions to the letter. Copywork, Oral Narrations and Dictation. Copywork, Oral Narrations and Dictation. Copywork. Oral Narrations. Dictation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">While pondering this dilemma of the 5 finger summary, I happened to come across a </span><a href="http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/elementary-grades-mp3.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">series of lectures by Susan Wise Bauer on writing</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Her perspective on oral narrations, dictation is a bit different than Charlotte Mason's.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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....</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">How to get my writing-phobic son to write! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I re-read SWB's </span><a href="http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/the-complete-writer-writing-with-ease-instructor-text.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Strong Foundations</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> 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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em><strong>Oral Narrations</strong></em>-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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em>Copywork</em></strong>. 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. </span><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em>Dictation.</em></strong> 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. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">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. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">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. </span><br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">So that brings our revamped LA program for Sam----</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Writing With Ease2-copywork, dictation, oral narrations. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Learning Language Arts Through Literature-copywork, grammar. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">+ MFW Adventures -copywork selection and oral narrations.</span></div><div><a href="http://www.allaboutspelling/wendyb."><span style="font-family:verdana;">All About Spelling</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">-dictation</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span></div><div> </div><div> </div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Let's see where this takes us!</span></div>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-91107360694569924832010-07-08T10:35:00.001-07:002010-10-29T17:59:29.961-07:00File Folders<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">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 <a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-2010.html">our workboxes </a>and the clutter was disrupting our day. </span><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Then I read <a href="http://catholicmom.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-homeschool-filing-system.html">this blog </a>post from Springs of Joy Homeschooling and found our solution!</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></p></span><br /><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491595257486044354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRYSiHJ29QMsNTOvpo0MlC2w0QasifjJePA_75jT5KjyvjNg2VL9xcKVQA4gJ7B4sQrOt7iyIxxtwmGNysCWAtDOgpOlu6KrKJxZsSY1Z_ytAs37G3pu5WcGQIXDc82_EU7G4iWCWGKSw/s400/file+folder+big.bmp" /></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">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.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></div></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I was able to eliminate</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> all our extra binders!</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Now I only need to look in 2 places....instead of 7...... when looking for items for our workboxes. So Simple! </span><br /><br /><br /><embed style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 320px" name="flashticker" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" src="http://widget-f9.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=2954361355591528697&site=widget-f9.slide.com"></embed><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDTH: 400px"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=2954361355591528697&map=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://widget-f9.slide.com/p1/2954361355591528697/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide1.gif" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=2954361355591528697&map=2" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://widget-f9.slide.com/p2/2954361355591528697/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide2.gif" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=2954361355591528697&map=F" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://widget-f9.slide.com/p4/2954361355591528697/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide42.gif" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Hopefully this tames the paper monster!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></p>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-85114509049091656452010-07-06T17:10:00.000-07:002010-07-06T18:03:48.968-07:00The beginning of Charlotte's Kindergarten Year.....<span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPB5rKQNLzK6k3IPtOhw-8E2sry0s5bbSj1rwoursz7Vj8nl5T6kUmhymGnjKJd-cq1SnrvjjfZFE7FytBitVKxASjlDR7_gWTBzXjIwMmzoVNBAuJqtQymaNO1lSgb7AeAA-CliuyCoTh/s1600/Charlotte's+haircut.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 239px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490951137759649762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPB5rKQNLzK6k3IPtOhw-8E2sry0s5bbSj1rwoursz7Vj8nl5T6kUmhymGnjKJd-cq1SnrvjjfZFE7FytBitVKxASjlDR7_gWTBzXjIwMmzoVNBAuJqtQymaNO1lSgb7AeAA-CliuyCoTh/s320/Charlotte's+haircut.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.<br /><break><br /> </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">She has been enjoying a long and wonderful </span><a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2008/03/charlotte-mason-preschool.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Charlotte Mason Preschool </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.<br /><break><br /> </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our </span><a href="http://wbbeachbum.blogspot.com/2008/03/kindergarten-charlotte-mason-style.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Kindergarten philosophy</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> 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.<br /><break><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">We will use Handwriting without Tears and Math-U-See Primer just as we did with Sam.<br /><break><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">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 </span><a href="http://www.allaboutspelling.com/wendyb"><span style="font-family:verdana;">All About Spelling </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.<br /><break><br /> </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">So the plan for Charlotte's Kindergarten year.<br /><break><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">---Daily use </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">MUS Primer, </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">HWOT, </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">and our phonics program to help develop the habit of schooltime.<br /><break><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">---Encourage her to participate in Sam's studies with MFW Adventures.<br /><break><br /> </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">---Continue to spending lots of time in play both indoors and out. <br /><break><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Let the Adventure begin!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570945626965582090.post-37753951535458880492010-04-26T08:51:00.000-07:002010-04-26T08:53:40.575-07:00Big Bro' - Our Family's Newest Sailor<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbsRLeSR_oPQCSO9fyZD-GlYx5v1aSbQKBoVmMpLI6qh0kym14jH-_KGZaMUwozLlIuRwur7pZuIDo0yaZMSftTr1qt3dyfnSHjKsxR59V8g_vU8LtqP8_x_PP7ZnkEushjAJ-6QfJr84/s1600/25203_1458437861116_1238462778_1348057_7760393_s.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 98px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 130px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464474724731017298" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbsRLeSR_oPQCSO9fyZD-GlYx5v1aSbQKBoVmMpLI6qh0kym14jH-_KGZaMUwozLlIuRwur7pZuIDo0yaZMSftTr1qt3dyfnSHjKsxR59V8g_vU8LtqP8_x_PP7ZnkEushjAJ-6QfJr84/s320/25203_1458437861116_1238462778_1348057_7760393_s.jpg" /></a><br /><div></div>Wendy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16211947680169710812noreply@blogger.com0