i haven’t been updating school stuff lately partly because we’re just truckin’ along, we’ve taken a few breaks since daddy’s been home more lately and weather’s been awesome, and i’ve been in one of my insecure valleys. don’t worry, as usual, it’s not severe or life-changing or anything, and it’s already passed, so all’s well. i just cycle in and out. no great biggie. so anyway, here’s some of what’s going on.
my 6 year old:
reading: he’s still trudging through a combination of hooked on phonics and teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. i’m not as strict on “we must do this lesson everyday” partly because i realized he was flying through hooked on phonics because he had such a good foundation on 100 easy lessons. so to break up the monotany of 100 easy lessons we read some out of hooked on phonics. and i’m having him read more “real life” around the house stuff and instructions on worksheets.
math: definitely one of his strong subjects. he can remember sums that i have to count on my fingers. and he doesn’t mind it at all. i’ve set singapore math aside for the time being (only because we don’t have the money for the workbooks right now) and am working on “real life” money, time, and number sentence worksheets. this is the area where i assign “homework”, in other words teaching him to work on his own.
handwriting: still a monumental battle. ever. y. day. but along we trudge. trudge. trudge. i’ve quit having him write out Bible verses or even just letters and words on paper for no reason other than to practice. now i have him write out his answers to questions on other worksheets, i have him write out what he wants written about his superheroes in coloring books. he does better with a purpose (don’t we all?). he’s still getting almost half of his letters backwards. but i sit with him more and remind him as he writes instead of correcting his work after he’s done it. definitely an area that i’m glad he’s home and i can change my teaching to what he needs right now. a lot like our reading also.
my 4 year old:
reading: we’re going through 100 easy lessons with amazing progress. i started him because he wanted to read like big brother. but he has taken to it like a fish out of water. and now i understand why people rave about this book. he loves it. hooked on phonics is going a little fast for him right now, so we’re getting ahead in 100 easy lessons and will revisit hooked on phonics later.
handwriting: just practicing his letters and numbers on worksheets that we have.
math: typical pre-k stuff. which is more? learning our numbers. learning to add. and anything that trickles down from brother.
i work individually with them on the above subjects and work together with them on science, social studies, history, Bible lessons, spanish, and read-alouds.
spanish: maury gave me a workbook that’s too advanced right now – lots of reading and writing involved. so, i brushed up on some of my basics from it: months, days, colors, numbers, body parts and i use them as i think of them.
science: we make fun! we watch lots of man vs. wild, the magic school bus, dirtiest jobs, and, of course! mythbusters. and we discuss all of these at length. we observe everything – including our rotting pumpkin! – and i have them tell what they observe in at least 3 complete sentences, i write out it for them, read it back to them, and post it. (the writing we only do about once a week).
social studies: we discuss as it comes up – columbus day, halloween, map-making, this is usually incorporated into our history and read-alouds.
history: also combined. we’re reading through the Little House series and are discussing all the differences from now to then. i just discovered that the hallmark channel is showing the little house series and i’ve begun taping it – my oldest watched it with joy yesterday! we’ll unit-study pilgrims and indians this month and have a dress-up party with the drapers for thanksgiving. we have an actual history book, but i only use it about once every 2 or 3 weeks. we’re studying colonies in it and it will fit nicely with thanksgiving. i’m planning to start a time-line on their wall (way up high – out of my girl’s reach!) so that they can begin to “see” history as we study all the different parts – from the Christmas story next month, to paul, to the colonies, to little house – we jump around alot and it will be nice to get an idea visually of what we’re talking about. i’ll also put the maps back on the wall – thanks to my 2 year old! – and we’ll continue to map everything as it comes up. like laura’s trek from the big woods to the prairie, when we read a little written for younguns “around the world in eighty days story” we marked all the stops they made, we talk about where paul traveled and where he met lydia when we discuss the color purple/morado, and the royal soldiers uniforms – which also led to a study of the full of armor of God. eclectic to say the least!
read alouds: i’m loving! and probably have too many irons in the fire, but they seem to love it and know exactly where we are in each. they also each have their favorites. we’re reading Little House, Ramona the Pest, and Charlotte’s Web. my oldest loves them all. my 4 year old’s favorite is Charlotte’s Web. i just read whenever i can. it’s scattered, as with all of our schooling!
i included some of our work, if you’re a goofball, like me, and want to really look at the kiddos’ work i left it really large so that you can get a closer look when you click on the thumbnails. (sorry about the blurriness) yes, i really do like looking at other kids’ work! so in case y’all are out there here’s a little of my brag book.
