Where we are now...

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.

One of my goals this year was to get the kids working together side by side during school. Obviously, we have been successful!

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.

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.

So---finally----after several years we have finally found curricula that seems to be doing the trick for Sam! Yeah for us!

For anyone out there that follows this blog the winners are:

Math U See

All About Spelling

First Language Lessons

Writing with Ease

My Father's World

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.

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.

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.

Currently for Charlotte her day goes something like this....

---- work through the phonics portion of MFW K.

---- do a calendar activity and a MUS page.

---- do a page in Handwriting without Tears.

----hang out in the school room and participate as able with Sam's studies.

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. Her Kindegarten year is a little different than Sam's 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.

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.

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.

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.

Do I spend the $50 on MFW 1 student pages when I only need a phonics program? hmmmm.

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?

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.

So the question becomes....what do I use? and do I go ahead and make the switch now?

Update on writing.

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

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

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

Progress is being made!

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

A day of reading..

Our revamped reading program is working great!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the result of this plan....





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

Charlotte and Reading.

So I've been experimenting with Charlotte and reading.

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

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

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

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

Reading.......

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

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

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

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

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

No more.

MY SON READS AT GRADE LEVEL!

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

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

This year our reading program is multifaceted.

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

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

Houston, we have a problem.....

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

He was a tall man.

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

Obviously I need to rethink writing.

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

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

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

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

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

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



How to get my writing-phobic son to write!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Writing With Ease2-copywork, dictation, oral narrations.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature-copywork, grammar.

+ MFW Adventures -copywork selection and oral narrations.

All About Spelling-dictation

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

Let's see where this takes us!

File Folders

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully this tames the paper monster!

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

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

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

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

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

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

So the plan for Charlotte's Kindergarten year.

---Daily use

MUS Primer,

HWOT,

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

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

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

Let the Adventure begin!

Spring 2010

We've been busy since January!

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


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




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


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



Box 2. Spelling....


Box 3. Primary Language Lessons...



Box 4. History...

Box 5. Science...

Box 6. Math...

Box 7. Reading...

Box 8. Art....

Box 9. Read Aloud...

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

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

Sam's loaded workboxes......

Summer 2009

Wow! Where has the summer gone?

Big Sis graduated and starts college .....gulp.....tomorrow. Big Brother has moved out and is ready to join the Navy. We painted and re-arranged rooms so the Big Sis has her own study/sitting room adjacent to her bedroom. This means that we once again have a dedicated schoolroom/playroom. Since we didn't have enough going on this summer we also decided to rip up the old floor and lay down the new. I guess it is not a surprise that we only got about 6 weeks of school done this season!.

Our basic schedule hasn't changed much. Charlotte went through a phrase this summer where she did not want to participate in the morning activities so instead we did lots of informal activities throughout the day.

Starting around 9am with Sam we did MFW 1 , MUS, IEW Poetry, Nature Reader, Speech work, Song School Latin and our alternated readings

M- Geography ( Seabird)
T- History(D'Auliare Selection)
Th- Burgess( Birds)

Sam is reading his Bible reader. He has a selection of books that he can read all by himself and he spends about 30min each day reading all by himself. I have been so impressed with MFW 1 reading instructions. It is everything that I have been trying to put together on my own with our CM reading instructions. It is so awesome to just open the book and have the lesson planned out for us.....not too long....not too short...not too many manipulative......just perfect.

Sam has memorized 4 poems from IEW Poetry. The poems are interesting enough that he is motivated to learn them. He enjoys impressing friends and family with his poems and it is also good speech practice.

We've been doing SSL just for fun. If I find a Song School Spanish or its equivalent we are going to try it. We would have more use for Spanish but it never made it into our schedule this past year.

It's been an interesting summer but we are looking for a cooler, less hectic Autumn!

Little Hands & My Father's World.

I've had a couple of exciting finds this month!

For Charlotte I made a purchase of Little Hands to Heaven. She LOVES it. Adorable! Super easy to use, non-time consuming and keeps her happy.We are still reading selections from the AO year 0 booklist and working each day with Mighty Minds, pattern blocks, painting and Wedgits.

For Sam....and eventually Charlotte....I made the discovery of My Father's World. I haven't tried to think too far ahead with a plan for these younger two but I really didn't expect to be able to combine them. Using MFW....I can. That's exciting. MFW uses many of the books I already own. That's exciting! MFW combines classical , Charlotte Mason in a unit study approach for the whole family AND has a schedule with 1 easy day each week which makes it workable with my work schedule. Yikes...I'm overcome with joy! I am practically giddy with excitement if this works out and I don't have to come up with elaborate plans each year trying to mesh two kids who are 3 years apart in age! I just hope it works out. We shall see.... one day at a time...

We still need to work on phonics with Sam so I got my hands on a copy of MFW 1. MFW 1 claims to cover all needed phonics to create an independant reader and does cover more than 100 Easy lessons. We are starting from the beginning and so far it's a hit with him. I am continuing our other reading instruction during this review stage of MFW 1. This week we made a clay jar, started working on a scroll, did experiments with earthworms and ants, and did lots of work with blending ladders for reading. We are continuing our readings in history, etc so we have a nice full day. It has been an interesting and varied week with lots of fun stuff scheduled in. I do work best with a schedule!

Winter Quarter Update 2009

We are a few weeks late completing the Winter Quarter since we were sidetracked with illness.
Sam


Reading- We are making excellent progress with reading! I suspect it has more to do with his age ( 6 1/2 ) then any adjustments that I have made with our approach. We are working through 100 EZ lessons at a pace of 2 lessons per week. I have been writing out the stories and a separate piece of paper and he reads them throughout the day. This has helped his speed and accuracy. He has started enjoying reading! Cheers!


Spelling- AAS is back! He loves using this resource. It isn't a big surprised since he has always liked using letter tiles and manipulating words in such a manner. I have been enjoying using this resource as well. It is well laid out and the pieces are conveniently keep in place with magnets. We just completed Step 10.


Language Arts- We have completed FLL lesson 58 and WWE week 14. He has memorized 2 more poems. FLL introduced pronouns prior to verbs which I found odd. The concept of pronouns has proven elusive to Sam. I think that my ambilivance to teaching grammar to a 6 yo is clouding my judgement with this resource because I grow weary of using it. We will keep plugging ahead with this resource for the next quarter.


Math- currently starting lesson 25 of MUS Alpha.


History- SOTW 1 is going well. We have just finished Chapter 13 and are working through a chapter per week.


Geography- We are almost compete with Paddle to the Sea. We will miss him! This next quarter we will spend some time with Geography A-Z before moving on to a new Holling C. Holling title.


Natural History/Science- Going well. We are almost done with CLNR book 1. Sam loves his science experiments! We do one weekly using our science kit. Our homeschool group might be starting a weekly nature study that we will definitely try out. I want to start blogging about our nature study again.


Poetry- We completed A Child's Garden of Verses but did not start Now we are Six by A.A. Milne. Instead we are reading The Random House Book of Poetry for Children which should keep us busy for years.


Literature/American History- We have read through Just so Stories, Lang's Blue Fairy book, Among the Meadow People, and Aesop. We are currently using our Literature reading time to read through our American History selections. D-Aulaire's Leif the Lucky didn't make my list for this year but that is the book that we are currently reading. Our other American History selections will be added to next years booklist.


Art- We started attending a Art Class with our local homeschool group and it has been a big hit!

Extras- Sam earned his Tiger! He is playing T-ball in a homeschool baseball league which he thinks is AWESOME! Charlotte

She is still enjoying the AO year 0 selections but is starting to insist on doing her "schoolwork." I have been able to keep her satisfied with Mighty Minds, Wedgits, Pattern Blocks and painting but I need to have something tangible ready for her by her 4th birthday.

Plans for the Spring Quarter-

--Get consistent with Nature Study. I think blogging about it really helps me to stay focused on this. I don't even know where my Handbook of Nature Study is at the moment!

-- Get a plan for Charlotte. I prefer to not start any type of "formal" schoolwork until age 5 but she is not going to tolerate much more of this informal learning.

Fall Quarter Update 2008

It has been an interesting quarter to say the least!

Reading- Sam has been enjoying ETC online and moving through books faster than I expected. I thought we had a perfect fit until I noticed that he uses a lot of visual clues and has developed a few tricks of the trade to help him get the correct answer when matching sentences to a picture. Sneaky boy! SO.....we are going to drop all reading that has any visual clues....Ha! Sneaky mama. He is spelling better than he is reading! HOW did this happen?? It was only in July that I was complaining that his reading ability is far greater than he spelling ability. So apparently I'm just never happy. I did speak informally with the reading specialist that is associated with his Speech therapy office about this and she gave me some recommendations. SO....we are dropping AAS spelling for now....he isn't having a problem spelling first grade words and there is enough spelling with the reading lessons..... and going to concentrate on reading fluency and speed. She recommended a reading program that I have never heard of before called ABeCeDarian. I did a little research and apparently it is all the rage in the gifted kids circles. Although he can spell most if not all of the words in level A and read them at a snails pace we are going to start with the Short A level and work on fluency and speed. We still get to use the letter tiles we love so all is not lost!

Language Arts- We are on First Language Lesson , lesson26, and Writing with Easy workbook 1, week 7. These have been good additions and easy for both of us. FLL is easy to use with lots of repetitions but not at all time consuming. WWE helps me to organize his copywork and his narrations....both of which are coming along nicely! He has memorized 2 poems. The Caterpillar by Christina G. Rosseti and Work by Anonymous.

Math- MUS continues to be a great fit. Currently on lesson 19. Math is an easy subject for Sam.

Foreign Language- ahhhh.....still haven't added this......

History/Geography/Natural History/Literature/Poetry- These are all going quite well now that we fine tuned our selections and pacing. Less is more! OR in Latin-Centered Curriculum circles.....Multum non Multa.

Plans for the Winter Quarter....

-Reading- build fluency and speed

-Music appreciation/Art/Nature Study- I'm not sure how all of these fell off our daily schedule...ike....but they need to get back into the weekly routine.

Other news.

Charlotte.....has met almost all the goals we set forth for her preschool years. She has been enjoying the stories from AO Year 0 and Before Five in a Row and we will continue to look to these sources for read alouds for her. It might just be time to start thinking about an informal "letter of the week" program for her. Ideally I'd like to wait until age 4 to start this so she'll be ready to start learning to read at age 5 but we might just be stepping that timetable up a notch.

Last but not least......

Sam received his Bobcat Badge the same day Big Brother got his Eagle!

What is really important.....

We are still living a post-Ike life. Things are not completely back to normal yet....too many folks recovering their homes and lives. I am still not back to work and not sure when I'll be heading back. Our department will be the first to restart operations.....women keep having babies....but I'm not sure when I will return. This is the longest break from work that I've had since the births of my children. I miss working with those babies and I miss my co-workers! Looking forward to getting back into a normal routine and balance for my life....

This "hurrication" has given me the time to evaluate this year with Sam and to figure out what is really important for us to do this year. I had originally planned to start AO year 1 in January with Sam giving him some time to mature. I instead just jumped in after his birthday in June....some of the AO reading are really not working for us and some of our non-AO reading are working really well.

One of my major goals for Sam this year is for him to gain confidence with oral narrations. The books that are helping toward that goal and will remain in the daily rotations are...

-Paddle to the Sea
-Just So Stories by Kipling
- Christian Liberty Science Reader book 1.
-Story of the World when read at home

Books that are stretching him in his narration ability and will remain on our weekly rotation are...
-James Herriot Treasury for Children
-Among the Meadow People by Pierson
-D'Aulaire books
-Burgess Bird Book

Books that are causing frustrations for either of us and will be dropped from our schedule are....

-Fifty Famous Stories Retold
- Tales from Shakespeare
-Story of the World with the co-op.

I will probably not add Fifty Famous Stories back into our reading rotations but instead keep it for a reader when he gets older. Tales from Shakespeare will probably be added back next year.

Our history Co-op deserves special attention. He loves the interactions with other children but finds a hour long class to be tedious. He would prefer to have the time to play with friends and I think that is important so instead of a class we will seek out park days with friends.

Another goal is to keep a workable schedule for our day. To say that this has been a challenge for the last few month is a understatement! But here is our current schedule....

Starting at 9am... we work through

Math-U-See
Poetry reading
Speech work
Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1
Copybook or HWT
History 2xper week/ Geography 1x per week/ Bible 1x per week

( if we take a break we do it now)

Reading*
Literature readings
Spelling with AAS book 1
Artistic Pursuit Book 1 2x per week/ Reason for Science 2x per week.
ETC online as wanted #

* reading instruction has been fine tuned. We have completely dropped 100 Easy lessons. We are now doing CM style reading lessons using the booklets that came with LLATL blue. This is working better for Sam then using just Treadwell's readers.

# Homeschoolers Buyers Co-op had a deal for Explode the Code online and we are trying it out. This is just for fun and not a daily requirement. He usually does 6-9 lessons 3-5 x per week and has almost completed the equivalent to the first book in just a few weeks. He is enjoying it and it is a good easy review.

The best part of our schedule is DAILY OUTSIDE TIME!!!! We can now spend several hours a day outside again. The temperature is a comfortable mid-80s and the mosquitos are semi- undercontrolled. We've missed our outside time!

The end of summer...

In the past few weeks, millions of school children across the state have gone back to school. Instead we remodeled our bathroom and took a few weeks off..... I originally thought that we could continue school through the process but I really just didn't realize how loud and dusty it was going to be. This week we will finish up our plans for summer AND I'm remembering why I don't like to take long breaks. 3 weeks is too long....the first day back was frustrating.....the routine was off.....I felt disorganized and Sam was in a foul mood. Today was much better!

I think I found it! All-About-Spelling has answered our needs. Sam likes manipulating letters and I don't like trying to keep track of cards. All About Spelling has these great little tiles ( get the magnets!) and we can keep the letters on our new magnetic board. I just put the whole board away and voila no mess. I use the tiles for Spelling practice ( yes, following AAS book 1- how un-CM of me) and reading practice. Sam loves it! So do I.

These tiles have been an a fabulous addition to our CM-reading lessons. I can write a sentence on the magnetic board and he can use the tiles to practice each word. I erase a word and he fits a new one in. Reading practice has become so much more fun for him and less of a chore for me. I am still alternating between 100 EZ lessons ( currently on lesson 46) and my own lessons. I am finding it much easier to devise my own lesson with the magnetic board/ tiles and no longer feel confined to using just one specific book. I just choose a sentence of interest from a different subject and start teaching from it. I think the constant variation is a plus for Sam and helps keep his interest.

We need to work on narrations. I knew going into this year that this would be the hardest part and would require the most patience from me. Some days he gets it and some days he just doesn't. I have found asking him to act it out works better than just telling it back. He can remember more details with his body then with just his speech. I don't know if this is residue from his speech issue....maybe he is afraid to speak and use the wrong words or have me correct his speech?? Hmmmm something for me to think about. He is far more visual than I originally thought. He gives the best narrations with picture study and with any subject that he can see. If he only hears it he doesn't remember a lot of details. I think tomorrow I'm going to have him close his eyes to remove the visual stimulation and see if he remembers more details. Hmmm something else to think about. Overall his narrations are fair to good depending on what he is narrating.

His vocabulary has exploded! This has been a absolute pleasure for us. He has had such a limited speaking vocabulary it is nice to see him surpass his peers in the area.

Math-u-see continues to work great. We are working our way through lesson 8 this week.

Artistic Pursuits is a new favorite and we will continue it doing a lesson a week.

We'll start Spanish next week....

Quarter Update-Spring 2008

Reading-worked out way to lesson 35 with 100 EZ lessons before switching gears. We are back to using LLATL blue doing 4 lessons per week just finished Part 2 lesson 6. All the little pieces that drive me nuts fulfill something in Sam so we will continue using this.

MUS- currently on lesson 27. Will finish Primer then start Alpha this summer. MUS is a winner all the way around.

Handwriting-Finished HWT Kindergarten.

Speech- Almost done! We are weaning off Speech Therapy and are currently only attending 1x per month. Speech Therapy is our blankie and we aren't quite ready to give it up. I need a few more months of security.

Sam has really been enjoying our new books especially Burgess' Seashore book. SOTW co-op has been a hit except when we meet at the park......he loses interest quickly when he sees his younger friends running around and playing!

Art with Big Sis' just didn't happen but we have an Art Class during the time our history co-op meets so my desire to add some art/drawing will be met with this activity.

During the summer quarter we will continue to transition to Year 1 but not extend the length of our school day. Our daily schedule will flip/flop and we'll start adding our Year 1 books to our reading rotation.

Mondays schedule - schoolwork in the mornings so we can attend our co-op in the afternoon.

T/TH Mornings will be pool time in the morning with schooltime in the afternoon.

Friday mornings we will do our nature study in the morning with schooltime in the afternoon.

Our Year 1 booklist

Daily we'll work on

-LA- LLATL blue lesson with a copywork selections chosen from HWT or LLATL

-MUS lesson

-Speech work/Memory work 1 poem this quarter

-Daily reading with narrations

-review Spanish

-listen to composer during playtime

Weekly

Monday

-SOTW/ Art Co-op.

Tuesday

-Handicraft activity

Thursday

-Artist Study

-Introduce new Spanish phrase or words

Friday

-Nature study

I have made our summer schedule and for 9 weeks of school and I used only 2 sheets of paper. I have one page that includes all of our daily activities to check off using Donna Youngs Quarter Planner. The second sheet I created with AO Year 1 reading schedule that I tweaked to allow for our substitutions and to make sure we have only 1 reading selection per day. I kept our daily activities separate so I could re-copy that sheet for each quarter if we don't have any major changes during the year.

Time for a few weeks break-Should start the summer schedule June 16.

Evaluation of Sam's Kindergarten Year

We still have 2 more weeks before we take a short break from school but it is a good time to sit back and evaluate before making plans for Sam's year 1.


I use What Your Child Needs to Know When by Robin Sampson to evaluate the kid's progress. I don't use it to plan the year but use it as a benchmark that I review quarterly to make sure we are making progress. Sam accomplished all of the K level requirements by March and has done about 1/4 of the 1st grade as of today.


At Sam's 5th birthday.....

-he only knew the names of a few of the letters and even fewer of the letter sounds. He can now read simple 1st grade level books.

-He could count to 10 but did not recognize numbers. He can now count to 100+,understands place value, can do addition to sum of 10, and skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s. He has started to answer the addition problems and then check his answer with blocks.


-He could write his name in block letters. He can now write all the letter in upper and lower case and has started doing some simple copywork.

Beyond the basics, Sam enjoyed many good books and through them he explored geography, science , history and literature in a fun , easy manner. He also did a very thorough study of the human body on his own initiative. Dad and Sam have enjoyed doing science experiments together when I'm at work including but not necessarily limited to magnets, rockets, and a few that I don't recall since I didn't get to participate.

I have learned that CM is a good fit for my younger children-I now have a solid framework to work with when planning this upcoming year. I have also learned that using manipulatives is very important for Sam and I need to be willing to work with that need during his learning to read phrase.


Looking forward to working with a 6 year old boy soon!

Spring Update.

Things are changing around here. Sam has grown completely out of the stage of hearing a story over and over so we have abandoned FIAR and reading 1 story each week. Instead we are reading SOTW story on Monday, Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson on Tuesday, Burgess Seashore Book for Children on Thursday, and a Fairytale/literature selection on Friday.

We are also planning on taking a break from 100 EZ lessons. I feel like we are nearing a wall and instead of frustrating Sam and actually hitting it we are going to do something else for awhile. He is getting bogged down with the sounding out of words as the reading selections have increased in length. I have pulled out the cards that I have laminated from LLATL and made a few more to correspond to what he has learned from 100 EZ lessons with the idea to spend some time drilling while playing games. I found a game board online and laminated it. I will see how creative I can get with this over the next few weeks. Concentration, Go Fish type games are a given. I think I can come up with a couple of ideas with the game board....roll the dice and you get to move X number of spots if you read X number of words....that sort of thing. We will also spend this time reading the booklets that we have from LLATL and the stories we have already read with 100 EZ lessons. I will also try to create some CM styled reading lessons with The Primer by Treadmill that I have on hand. Lots of ideas and I'll just have to wait and see which one works best for him.

Quarter Update- Winter 2008

It has been a great quarter -everything has just falling into place.

Sam is doing very well with 100 EZ lessons. He has just completed lesson 22 and the blending is coming along nicely. He has started completing 3 lessons a week this week. He is excited about the stories and will probably start completing a lesson a day shortly.

MUS is working out well for him. He usually insist on doing math first. He has finished lesson 17 and we are doing 1 lesson a week. He is remembering the +1 and double math facts with just a little help. We just started learning counting by 2s this week.

Five in a Row has been a really enjoyable resource to use. I've read books that I would have never picked off the shelf and they have been a joy. The is a great resource for 5yos....it is helping Sam look at more in the story than just the entertainment value. I am hoping that this extra attention to specific aspects of each story will help him develop that habit of attention that Charlotte Mason encourages and thus will help him with the narration next year.

We have finally started lowercase letters with HWT. I want to work with encouraging him in doing copywork in his brand new Nature Book that he just started this day.

We have added a Nature study following the Green Hour challenge. Love, love ,love it! Sam started his Nature Notebook today. I didn't plan on starting a NN until age 6 but he really enjoyed doing it. He is usually reluctant to draw or write anything "special" that will be kept so this is a huge development!

He has been doing school at Grandma's on Wednesdays. Grandma picked up some items at a local teacher supply and they have been doing arts/crafts, practicing his letters, and playing educational games.

Speech is still ongoing - we attend biweekly. He is so very ready for ST to be done but we aren't quite there.

I started this blog. I've been concentrating on the little kids mainly to not mortify the older kids by blabbing about their ups and downs. I don't even think I mentioned the older kids names yet. This blog has helped me to "switch gears" with my thinkings and doings in regards to school and to actually see just how much I am actually doing with Sam.

Habits- Sam is now going to bed all by himself. Wow what a difference. Charlotte is now the trouble maker at bedtime since moving to her big girl bed. Sam has been such a helper with picking up. He has started picking up his toys without being asked.


Things I want to change next quarter.....absolutely nothing!

I want to encourage him to copy his words into his nature book.

I want to encourage more art/drawing....not only in his nature book but also start an art book. Perhaps I can ask Big Sis to draw with him. They spent an evening this week drawing together and he really enjoyed....I think she did as well. I think there is a copy of Draw Write Now up in Big Sis' stuff from years ago perhaps she'll be willing to devote a special time just the 2 of them. I'll suggest and see how this works out.

New Habits to work on....??? I need to think on this a bit. Perhaps limiting tv/computer time.....our tv/computer time increased substantially this winter due to poor weather so I would like to get it back under control. This should be relatively easily replaced with outside time. Sam has learned how to completely operate the computer and can find his games and I find him on the computer at all times of the day....so I need to either block his access or redirect him when he gets on. Computer time is going to be harder to control in the evenings because he likes to play games while Dad is online next to him. Perhaps this will be easily replace with activities outside when the time changes and it is light enough to go for a family outing when Dad gets home from work.