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.

Reading......again.

Here I go blogging about Sam and reading.....again. Honestly, you would never know that I've already had one child who was a "late" reader. A late reader who just aced her college entrance exams thank you very much.

I did have another eureka moment when talking about Sam and grade level placement. If I had sent Sam to PS I would have held him back a year and he would only be in Kindergarten this year. Looking at all the variables......summer birthday....prematurity......speech motor issues.....male......holding him back a year would've been the only alternative. When compared to K'rs his reading is awesome. So I really need to just relax a bit and keep plugging along.

I had seriously thought about trying yet another reading program. Instead we have spent the last few months focusing on speed and fluency using the resources that we owned. His speed and fluency have improved! We just recently picked back up with 100 EZ lessons with much success. I am not going to add back in ETC online because I think that is where he was picking up his "cheats". I am also going to restart using AAS. AAS plans on adding corresponding readers so AAS will be our ongoing reading/spelling program. Sam has missed doing AAS in the past few months. Missed doing spelling???? I know it sounds like an oddity but it is the truth.

Our ongoing reading program will be composed of 100 EZ lessons( to get to independent reading), All About Spelling (to learn all the phonograms) and Pathway readers for a controlled vocabulary reader until he gets to reading chapter books independently.

I will forget about grade levels. I will forget about grade levels. I will focus on mastery. I will focus on mastery. That will by my mantra! Thinking of this year as Sam's Grade 1 has been a mistake. If I did not start thinking in terms of grade level, I think that I would have been more content to let him learn to read at his own pace instead of comparing him to some hypothetical first grader who is an advanced reader! Actually I think that is the best assessment of Sam's reading ability. He's doing fine when allowed to learn to read at his own pace....I'm the one with the problem. My problem is that I'm trying to have him compete with some hypothetical advance reader and I'm pushing him too much.

Ahhhh....glad I figured that out!

Winter Schedule

We no longer need to take a break mid morning! I have streamlined our day and Sam is able to stay on task better now that he has matured a bit.


~8:45am
Charlotte- Read AO year 0 selection, work on topic of the week, start activity
M-Playdough
T- Pattern Blocks
Th-Watercolors
F-Wedgits

While she continues on her own , I start working with Sam.

Reading-includes spelling
Math
Poetry ( Garden of Verses -1 poem per day)
Speech Therapy work
First Language Lessons
Writing With Ease
HWT on narrations days with WWE
Nature Science Reader
M- Geography, T&TH Story of the World, F- Fairy Tales
Review


Rest of morning with indoor freeplay while listening to composer of the quarter.

After lunch

~15 min with longer Literature selection (any other book on our list that is not scheduled in the morning)

M- Artistic Pursuits
T- Nature Study
Th- Handicrafts
F- Park day or science experiments depending on weather/expected turnout at park

Rest of afternoon spent outdoors playing.

Winter Wonderland

Multum non Multa or Where do we go from here....

I started off this blog with a list of goals to work towards with Sam. We have met many of them and should have no trouble meeting the remainder by his 7th birthday.



"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.


1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
He has memorized 2 poems.

2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
We haven't done this yet but he memorizes quite easily so this shouldn't be a problem to complete in the next 6 months.

3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
Already done with MUS Alpha. Will continue to work through MUS.

4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
Nice vague goal, huh? I've rambled enough about his reading in our Fall Quarter update.

5. to copy in print-hand from a book
Sam's handwriting is getting better and better each week.

6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundaries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
Easily met.

9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
He recalls many of our stories from our Readings. Easily met.

10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
We were working towards meeting all these goals without difficulty until getting side tracked this fall. We should have no trouble meeting these goals.

14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
Easily met.

16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
I keep putting off Spanish.

17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.
All easily met except the Spanish song.

So with the exception of Spanish that we just haven't started we will meet all these goals this year.

So the question is where to go from here? I started down this path of a CM education because of my observations of my older kids as they self-educate. This past year I have re-read the CM series, reviewed her PNEU curriculum and participated in many dialogues with CM educators and I have come to a few conclusions.

- I do not have the ability or desire to recreate a carbon-copy of a PNEU curriculum down to the precise page count and brushwork! Counting pages per quarter would drive me crazy.
- I work better with curriculum that has some of the work done for me.....so although there are many a homeschooling mama who likes to choose their own copywork , etc. I am not one of them.
-It is more important to work with my children's abilities/nuances than to work with a specific curriculum recommendations. Sam preferred SOTW and retains far more of the readings then if we followed the AO Year 1 recommendations.

Sam's current age 6 curriculum has 3 ....yes 3!....Susan Wise Bauer texts and I would never classify myself a classical educator according to her definition of the word. Her LA texts help me to fulfill my CM Language Art framework for this age and Sam's just likes SOTW. I have reread The Well Trained Mind and walked away with the same feeling I had the first time I read it. Bah! TOO MUCH STUFF! Will NEVER work for me and my kids! I have continue reading classical education texts specifically the Latin-Centered Curriculum and now have a more balanced sense of what is a classical education.

Another thing I relearned...... Nothing..... and I mean nothing...... gets a bunch of CM-purists riled up quite like comparing CM to Classical Education. Obviously TWTM and CM have virtually nothing in common even though SWB texts do mesh quite easily. BUT compare LLC and CM on an academic level and the similarities are there.

So back to the original question....where to go from here. What I will not do ......textbooks, unit-studies, lapbooks, TWTM, or unschool. So does that make me a CMer, Classical, Literature-based, LCCer, or the plain ol' nondescript eclectic? Does it matter? Probably not. But my new maxim is

Multum non Multa

not many things, but much.

I have been reviewing CM List to attain by age 12 and LCC trying to get a feel for the direction we will head. LCC does not have such a list but Handicrafts, Tonic Sol-fa, brushwork would not be on that list....and it most certainly would not be on that list before Math, Latin or Plutarch!


CM has a list of attainment for children to accomplish in the years 6-12.
What a Child Should Know at Twelve, from the appendix at the back of School Education, Volume 3 of her series.

The six years' work--from six to twelve--which I suggest, should and does result in the power of the pupils--

(a) To grasp the sense of a passage of some length at a single reading: and to narrate the substance of what they have read or heard.
(b) To spell, and express themselves in writing with ease and fair correctness.
(c) To give an orderly and detailed account of any subject they have studied.
(d) To describe in writing what they have seen, or heard from the newspapers.
(e) They should have a familiar acquaintance with the common objects of the country, with power to reproduce some of these in brushwork.
(f) Should have skill in various handicrafts, as cardboard Sloyd, basket-making, clay-modelling, etc.
(g) In Arithmetic, they should have some knowledge of vulgar and decimal fractions, percentage, household accounts, etc.
(h) Should have a knowledge of Elementary Algebra, and should have done practical exercises in Geometry.
(i) Of Elementary Latin Grammar; should read fables and easy tales, and, say, one or two books of 'Caesar.'
(j) They should have some power of understanding spoken French, and be able to speak a little; and to read an easy French book without a dictionary.
(k) In German, much the same as in French, but less progress.
(l) In History, they will have gone through a rather detailed study of English, French, and Classical (Plutarch) History.
(m) In Geography they will have studied in detail the map of the world, and have been at one time able to fill in the landscape, industries, etc., from their studies, of each division of the map.(n) They will have learned the elements of Physical Geography, Botany, Human Physiology, and Natural History, and will have read interesting books on some of these subjects.
(o) They should have some knowledge of English Grammar.
(p) They should have a considerable knowledge of Scripture History and the Bible text.
(q) They should have learned a good deal of Scripture and of Poetry, and should have read some Literature.
(r) They should have learned to sing on the Tonic Sol-fa method, and should know a number of English, French, and German Songs.
(s) They should have learned Swedish Drill and various drills and calisthenic exercises.
(t) In Drawing they should be able to represent common objects of the house and field with brush or charcoal; should be able to give rudimentary expression to ideas; and should be acquainted with the works of some artists through reproductions.
(u) In Music their knowledge of theory and their ear-training should keep pace with their powers of execution

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!

Reading lessons update

We have finally got in a good pattern with our reading lessons. 100 Easy lessons was working marginally well. Developing a CM reading plan using Treadwell's readers was working marginally well. The perfect fit has been developing a CM reading plan using the readers from LLATL blue. If I did not have these available I would have purchased Pathway readers for first grade.

Sam benefits from the controlled vocabulary of these readers. There are fewer words to learn in order for him to read each new book and we have been working a steady pace of a book per week.

Each week we...

-Introduce the book and read it together.
-play games with the word cards
- sound out new words and introduce any new sight words.
-Create sentences with our word cards
-create new words using word families
-write a word from dictation

Each day...
- we read the book together having him read more and more with each reading.
-we play games with the word cards
- and we do one of the other exercises
spending a total of about 15 minutes per day with a reading lesson

His reading lessons have been reinforced with AAS spelling book 1 which we do daily and using ETC online.

We now have a perfect fit.

Updated Year 1 Booklist

We started with a Year 1 list but have fine tuned it for a much better fit.

Language Arts
Handwriting without Tears -Printing practice
Our CM Reading Program
All About Spelling Book 1
First Language Lessons
Writing with Ease workbook 1
Explode the Code Online as wanted.

How I'm putting this all together....

-Oral narrations from various subjects.
-Daily reading instruction
-Daily copywork from HWT/ Writing with Ease 1
-Memory work from First Language Lessons.


Why I changed......
Sam wasn't challenged enough with the original plan.

Mathematics -Math-U-See Alpha

Foreign Language -Phrase-A-Day Spanish

Bible- Every Day with God

Poetry
A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
Now We Are Six/When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

History
Story of the World Book 1 done at home.


Why I changed....

Co-op wasn't working out as well as I hoped. Sam gets so much more out of the reading when done at home and friends aren't competing for his attention. I restarted the series from the beginning because he is wanting to learn about Egyptians.

Fifty Famous Stories was so truncated that it was impossible for us to get a decent narration from this source.

American History Biography
Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire
George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire
Buffalo Bill by Ingri D'Aulaire
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire


Geography
Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling
Geography from A to Z by Jack Knowlton

Natural History/Science
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot
The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
The Burgess Seashore Book for Children By Thornton Burgess
Christian Liberty Nature Reader book 1.
A Reason for Science A

We added Nature reader because he found it in our book closet and loves it. He gives great narrations from this book. We added A Reason for Science for the experiments which have been fun. It is a nice resource because everything is supplied.

Literature
The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Among the .....People by by Clara Dillingham Pierson

We dropped Tales from Shakespeare until a future year.

Bedtime Reading
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
Peter Pan by James M. Barrie
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Fairy Books by Andrew Lang

Also Weekly
Art- Artistic Pursuits Book 1
Music appreciation-one composer per quarter
Handicrafts - to be determined by interest
Nature Study- follow Outdoor Hour challenges.

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....

Summer schedules.....

....are always a bit of a mess. Routines are chaotic at times....It is our indoor season due to heat and mosquitoes.

We stick indoors in the mornings unless we head to the pool. Our nature study is very, very lax due to Charlotte's lack of ability to tolerate the heat. The pool area that we visit does have wetlands visible and native plants so our nature study is done walking to each attraction. We are looking forward to cold-front day!

I have split our daily school schedule because it is easier to keep Sam engaged and participating with a short break. Charlotte is in the mix at all times so I had to get creative with keeping her engaged and happy while Sam works.

Our daily school schedule looks something like this...

Charlotte and I "work" for about 10-15 min. either coloring books, drawing, reading stories, etc. Each week I try to pick an area to focus on during this time such as colors, shapes, counting, etc.

While she continues, Sam joins us and we work through..

Math
Poetry
Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1* with narration
Copybook
Speech work
Bible with narration

30 min break for Sam while I get Charlotte working on something that will keep her busy while Sam finishes up....watercolor painting has been a favorite. This is the time we listen to our composer for this quarter.

Spelling* (a new spelling program)
AO readings with narration
Handwriting without tears
Reading
Artistic Pursuits Book 1*/ A Reason for Science Level A*


* Nature Reader Book 1 was a book Sam added and it is a favorite and will stay.
*We are giving All About Spelling book 1 a trial and I think it might answer my quest for a individualised spelling program that is easy to implement and not overwhelming.

*Artistic Pursuits has been a big hit. Sam absolutely LOVES picture study but I've had a hard time implementing it due to my own laziness in acquiring prints. This is a keeper.

*A Reason for Science was on sale. I like it because it is organized, the supplies are all available and it fits nicely with our nature study. We'll see how this works out this year.

We have not started Spanish.... holding off until our next break in August. Memoria Press Copybook Book 1 does not have writing for everyday so we have been doing handwriting practice with HWT. We were alternating Aesop and Bible readings but Sam disliked Aesop and would request to continue the Bible stories because they were the "best". I couldn't argue with that reasoning so Aesop is currently dropped from our schedule.

I want a 2ftX3ft magnetic whiteboard! I'd like to have it so I can write our verse from Memoria Press and keep our letter tiles on it for spelling and reading practice. I'm just not sure where I would put it though. Ideally upstairs in the room that functioned as the older kids' schoolroom but it is currently the domain of the teens. The younger kids have been doing schoolwork in the dining room but I'm not sure I want it as a permanent feature in that room.I have seen smaller table top versions that I could use for our verse and just find another solution for the letter tiles.It's a dilemma.

Spelling- momentary insanity

Even after 13 + years of homeschooling I still have moments of insanity.

I wrote "I noticed that his reading ability is far greater than his spelling ability". Well, DUH! He is 6! My own reading ability exceeds my spelling ability as evidence by my almost constant use of spell check and I'm a bit more advance in age.

Re-reading my own musing in Language Arts and reviewing a few online 1st grade spelling list I feel much more confident in continuing our spelling lessons with our reading lessons.

Reading , week 2 & 3

Week 2.

We finished the Little Red Hen. Introduced words, spelled the words and played the games as we did in week 1. By the end of the week he could read the selection with ease. He could spell some but not all of the words introduced.

I noticed that his reading ability is far greater than his spelling ability. I could spend a few more weeks working on this selection before he is able to spell every word in it but would absolutely kill his interest. I do anticipate having to spend some specialized time with spelling ability with Sam in part due to his speech delays. I don't believe that Sam is going to be a natural speller like his older brother who required very little if any spelling instruction other than copywork and dictation. I think that for Sam this spelling instruction should be separate from his reading instruction because his reading ability is going to quickly out pace his spelling ability.

Week 3.

I switched gears this week so I could make an observation and we worked through 2 lessons of 100 EZ lessons. He was enthusiastic with his ease of reading this book after spending some time with other types of reading lessons. He felt that is was "easy" and when we dropped this book he was feeling frustrated with it. Using 100 EZ lesson really is just EASY. Pick up the book and go. It was a nice change for me not to have to plan and decide what to cover in the reading lesson.

Decisions to be made.

Sam could learn to be an independent reader using either program. 100 EZ lesson is easier to use but a bit redundant in practice. Creating a reading program using Treadwell's primers requires a bit more thought from me and could also become redundant if I'm not careful. For the rest of the summer I think that we are going to alternate between the two. We will spend a few weeks concentrating on 100 EZ lessons and a few weeks concentrating on Treadwells's readers.

I need to make a decision regarding spelling. My preferred spelling program that really helped my older daughter is Sequential Speller but it is not appropriate for a 6 year old. I'm going to spend the next week or so researching spelling programs and see if I can find something that will suit us. If not I will continue to do spelling instruction with our Treadwell's reader selections.

Reading, Week 1

Day 1.
Introduced words for 1st 2 sentences.
Read each word .
Encouraged him to really look hard at each word.
Made new sentences with each word.
Found words in the stack " Can you find the word hen?" , etc.
Shuffled cards and found them again.
Made silly sentences with the words and read them " The little seed found a red hen.", etc
( mistake I made. I turned over the words he could already read before practicing. He got stressed that I was only leaving the "hard" words.)
Time spent 15 min.

Day 2.
Reviewed words.
Made new words. found -sound-mound, etc. Did not do every possibility.
more sentences using all word combinations possible.
I say a word and he spells it with letter cards. ( he really enjoyed doing this.)
Time spent 15 min.

Day 3
Reviewed words.
Introduced new words for next 2 pages of story.
Made new sentences and read them.
( I had a hard time getting him to do this lesson today-he did not want to do reading first .I introduced too many new words.)
Time spent 20 min. Had to redirect him several times to work.

Day 4
Reviewed words.
Made lots of sentences and read them.
Played a few games with the words that he wasn't reading easily. Pick a card if you read the word you keep it, etc. Concentration, etc.
He read the first 2 pages of the story and I read the next 2 pages of the story.
( I did reading after all his other subjects which did work better. He liked the games. It was easier for him to read the words in the story than randomly)
Time spent 15 min.

Lessons I learned.
Don't get rid of cards that he can read easily too quickly.
Better to introduce fewer words.
Non competitive games. He really enjoys these and really looks hard at each to word to make sure he remembers it.

Next Week
Continue working on the words we have until he knows them without hesitation.
Spelling with letter cards words + words we can make, found- mound, etc.
Possibly introduce the rest of the words in the story.
Keep reading as the last subject of the day.

Sample narration, week 1.

Sam's very first narration....

How the Whale Got His Throat from Just So Stories
narration by Sam

A whale met a man and ate him. The man danced and danced in the whale and made the whale hiccough. The man used his suspenders and his raft and made the whale a throat. Now the whale has a throat and can only eat little fish.

Our Year 1 booklist

Language Arts
Handwriting without Tears -Printing practice
Copywork Book 1 by Memoria Press
Our CM reading program + 100 Easy Lessons
All About Spelling Book 1

How I'm putting this all together....

-Oral narration from various subjects.
-Daily reading instruction
-Daily copywork from HWT/ Copywork Book 1/ or other subjects only 1 per day.
-Memory work from Copywork Book 1 + poetry

Mathmatics -Math-U-See Alpha

Foreign Language -Phrase-A-Day Spanish

Bible- Every Day with God

Poetry
A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
Now We Are Six/When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

History
Story of the World-Vol. 2....reading to correspond with a local history co-op
Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin
Viking Tales by Jennie Hall

American History Biography
Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire
George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire
Buffalo Bill by Ingri D'Aulaire
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire

Geography
Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling

Natural History/Science
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot
The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
The Burgess Seashore Book for Children By Thornton Burgess

Literature
The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter
Tales for Shakespeare by Charles Lamb
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Among the .....People by by Clara Dillingham Pierson

Bedtime Reading
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
Peter Pan by James M. Barrie
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Fairy Books by Andrew Lang

Also Weekly

Art Appreciation - one artist per quarter

Music appreciation-one composer per quarter

Handicrafts - to be determined by interest

Nature Study- follow Outdoor Hour challenges.

Transitioning to AO Year 1

We've never followed a traditional school year so starting AO Year 1 in January is not something that will be awkward. It actually makes alot of sense for our family. For my younger kids the longest break of the year is Thanksgiving through New Years. The rest of the year we take shorter 1-3 breaks as needed for vacations, etc. With a little planning, we should be wrapping up AO Year 1 around the following Thanksgiving.

I also think having the AO years starting in January will be a huge benefit as the kids get older and the work load increases. Starting at age 9, our school day will lengthen a bit after their birthdays and then lengthen a bit more in January with the start of a new year of AO.

As we transition to AO Year 1 we will continue doing everything that we started at age 6 but add..

1. Copywork 2x per week

2. Structured reading for 20min/day and encourage free reading for 20 min per day.

3. Memory work substitutes speech therapy practice. We will continue our exercises that we have learned but now will memorize a poem every 2-4 weeks.

4.Oral Narrations now will become mandatory after each reading.

5. I will start a notebook with samples of his narrations that I have written, copies of the poems he has memorized, maps that followed our geography study, copywork pages, reading lists and anything thing else that seems to fit.

6. I also want to have samples of his narrations on video on this blog.

7. Complete by 7th birthday any that we have not done.

"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint
of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.

from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola

Now we will address .....


1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
9. to tell quite accurately 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history

17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song

Tentative age 6 plan

I'm fairly committed to using Amblesideonline as a basic outline for the younger kids education. I read through their scope and sequence and it reflects what the older kids and I have done. There are a few substitutions of course and we worked through a few of these books during different years and at different pace at times but I think it is going to be useful for a jumping off point.

I've been thinking long and hard how to make the AO Year 1 work for a summer birthday, active boy who is still involved with biweekly speech therapy. I don't want narrations to be a burden and I don't want to be in a position that after each narration we have to correct his speech. I also want him to be mature enough to truly enjoy all those books!

We currently have such a nice rhythm to our day that I want to build on.

So this is what I have decided to do....
5/5/08
Changes to the original plan in blue
At age 6 we will

1. Continue with 100 EZ lessons It appears that we have dropped 100 EZ lessons and are back with LLATL -blue. Sam just prefers LLATL so I will deal with my problem with all the extras and just work with it. BUT if he gets bored I'm pulling out 100 EZ lessons again!

2. Progress to easy readers....I have a list started but will leave that for another post

3. HWT- 1st grade printing

4.MUS- Foundation slowly about 1 lesson every 2-3 weeks. I've decided to purchase the newer version of MUS so we'll work through the Alpha level this year......our copy of Foundation was musty and after looking at it I remembered why I didn't like the layout of the older version.

5. Work on "A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint
of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.

from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola

especially the following

11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song

I want to start our formal nature notebook....Spend the summer term working on trees, winter term on birds and spring term on wildflowers.

We will substitute Spanish for French.

We already started our formal nature notebook and have already added 6 trees during our spring focus. Thank you - Barb-Harmony Art Mom and the Green Hour Challenges! We will work on flowers this summer and see where the Fall takes us.

We haven't started Spanish yet although I just got my hands on a copy of Phrase a Day Spanish AND French so perhaps we start working with these soon. Big Sis' commandeered the French copy .....perhaps she'll teach us all some French! She has already taught Sam a few greetings....

6. Start following the AO Art appreciation schedule.

7. Start following the AO Music appreciation schedule.

We've added Art & Music appreciation informally this Spring.....will continue with a composer and artist each season. I need to pick them soon for summer so I can get a cd and find prints.

8. Hopefully be finished with Speech Therapy work!

Just switched to monthly sessions! Way to go , Sam!

9. Start some lite history with ancients using Time Travelor Book by Usbourne.

10.Encourage oral narrations

11. Start the AO Year 1 Free reading list.

Instead we have just recently started reading different selections. Instead of TT book by Usbourne we will keep reading STOW with a local co-op. We are currently reading Burgess' Seashore book , Among the Meadow People and a Fairytale/ Literature selection weekly. We'll keep this pattern going through the summer.

At age 6 1/2 -which will be next January- we will transition to following the AO year 1 schedule.

I don't see us following the AO year 1 schedule- I'm not sure how I'll make it fit into our 4 day a week/ 4 quarter planner that I prefer to use. I'll be using the booklist and making substitutions for books and resources that we already own and creating a plan that works for us as we go along this next year. I suspect that we'll be adding AO year 1 books to our reading rotations during the Fall.