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.

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!

Sam's Year 3

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

My Father's World Adventures

Addition Language Arts resources

Primary Language Lessons

First Language Lessons

Writing with Ease



All About Spelling

Math - MUS Gamma

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