As most of you well know by now I am a neurotic planner! I need to know what is going on, where we are going to be, how we are going to get there and every stop we are going to make in between! I have been looking ahead to all the wonderful things we have planned to do and getting lessons plans ready for our spring and summer sessions. As I was doing this I realized that we have been homeschooling for well over a year now and it amazes me how much KM has changed during that time. We were discussing what subjects we were going to be covering and how our schedule was going to be changing the week after next and she is so excited about it! It amazes me that when given the choice in what she wants to learn and how she wants to approach it, how involved and truly engaged she becomes! The spark that I thought was going to be gone forever has been fully reignited!
We have far fewer arguments and they RARELY have anything to do with her lessons ~ they generally involve chores, room cleaning and telephone usage. Our family is a much more cohesive machine that truly works together to make our lives happier. We have time to spend together doing things that we like to do, as well as having time on our own to pursue things individually. We have been so blessed to have such a wonderful homeschooling support network around us and to have made so many extraordinary new friends. I think it is so important to really acknowledge changes in ones life, to reflect upon it and to thank those that have helped you get to where you are!
The three of us truly feel this is the life we were meant to live! To all the people who have given me encouragement, who have advised me and helped me be courageous enough to make this leap and to continue on this journey, I thank you! I thank you more than you can ever imagine! Each and every person who is in my life now is here for a reason and has allowed my family to grow into the stronger unit it is today!
The trials and errors of a home educating family finding our own way and getting saner by the day!
Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts
Mar 24, 2009
Mar 4, 2009
Prehistoric Studies Resources - all secular resources!!!
We are in the midst of a wonderful Prehistoric Study which is our first attempt at using real-life resources instead of a textbook or unit study put together by someone else. I went searching and searching trying to find a resource that we could use, but nothing really covered "EVERYTHING" that I could think of in one source. So I thought I would share our list of resources that we are using. We have used a very wide range of reading levels and some more graphic videos than others, so please be sure to check content before sharing some of these resources with younger kids. I have included some links for items going through Amazon, but I got most of them through our library networks.
Books
I will keep adding to this list as we come up with more great finds and PLEASE let me know if you have any great resource ideas as well!!!
Books
- Life On Earth the Story of Evolution by Steven Jenkins
- Usborne Internet Linked World Atlas of Dinosaurs By Susanna Davidson
- Plate Tectonics: Earth's Moving Crust By Darlene Stille
- Shifting Shores By Carole G. Vagel
- Incredible Earth By Nick Clifford
- The Beginning - Voyages Through Time by Peter Ackyrod
- The Human Story: our evolution by Christopher Sloan
- When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth and Bugs Began to Swarm: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life Before Dinosaurs By Hannah Bonner
- Prehistoric - Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
- Usborne First Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life By Sam Taplin
- Complete Book of Questions and Answers - School Speciality Publishing
- Who Are You Calling A Woolly Mammoth By Elizabeth Levy
- Plate Tectonics & Continental Drift By John Edwards
- Art and Civilization - Prehistory By Roberto Carvalho De Magalhaes
- Living With Dinosaurs By Patricia Lauber
- Charles Darwin By David C King
- Plate Tectonics By Linda George
- Our Patchwork Planet By Helen Roney Sattler
- Walking With Monsters
- Walking with Prehistoric Beasts
- Prehistoric Park
- Prehistoric Megastorms
- Dinosaur George Live!
- Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Journey
- Prehistoric Earth
- BBC Prehistoric Life
- Pangaea - Geology for Kids
- Tectonic Plates from Zoom School
- Earth Like a Puzzle
- Mountain Maker Earth Shaker - PBS
- This Dynamic Earth
- Dinosaurs for Kids
- Fossils for Kids
- HUGE LIST OF DINO RESOURCES
- Human Evolution - You Try It PBS
- Caveman Challenge - BBC
I will keep adding to this list as we come up with more great finds and PLEASE let me know if you have any great resource ideas as well!!!
Feb 22, 2009
Homeschooling Mom's Version of OCD -
Obsessive Curriculum Disorder!!!
I truly think I need help with this! I know I am not the only one out there! It is often more a case of the grass is greener syndrome when you hear about some great program that is working wonders for someone else's child, but my book shelves are begging for relief and my computer is overflowing with downloads. I am constantly second guessing myself as to what we are covering and how we are covering it. I want to make sure that I have all the bases covered, no matter what may come up. This has led to a constant nagging and obsessive gathering of information. I can't pass up a Freebie of any sort that MAY come in handy someday - even if it is something that I am pretty sure KM will NEVER be interested in. I also have a TON of cute preschooly things for SC - I know she is only 21 mo. but she will be ready to read and write before you know it and I want to make sure I am prepared! Hmmm.... What to do? What to do?
First - I decided to reorganize things so that I could really see what we have! I have weeded through my files I was saving on the main computer, as it was getting VERY difficult to even find something we wanted to do, never mind trying to save some more info in the right spots. I also reorganized the closet shelves where I keep things that we plan to use in the future. I put a LOT of books, mostly on grammar and writing, that I KNOW we will NEVER use on Paperback Swap and they were snatched up in minutes - yeah more credits!!!
Second - I decided to make some sort of list so that I have an idea of what I have for each subject area. I began by writing out all the core subjects that I have accumulated information, texts and other materials on and then I listed electives in the same way. I believe I have everything for middle school completely covered, except for the Teaching Textbooks for Math - which I will purchase after reselling each previous edition.
Third - I WILL CONSCIOUSLY MAKE AN EFFORT TO NOT PURCHASE ANYMORE SCHOOL ITEMS!!! I should have come to this conclusion way before this point, but better late than never!
Fourth - I will not download any free packets, unless we will be using them during this term! With the exception of the weekly downloads from Currclick, because really how can you pass those up!!! Otherwise I will save the sites and get the information when we are ready for it!
Fifth - I will realize that my daughter is doing EXCEPTIONALLY well with what I have been putting together. She really enjoys the programs that we are using and until SHE has a problem or complaint with the things we are using, I need to just let things BE!
How do you handle Homeschool OCD? Please share your tips and tricks, so that maybe I can get this awful condition under control!
This is a list of my first steps to try to break this wretched condition!
First - I decided to reorganize things so that I could really see what we have! I have weeded through my files I was saving on the main computer, as it was getting VERY difficult to even find something we wanted to do, never mind trying to save some more info in the right spots. I also reorganized the closet shelves where I keep things that we plan to use in the future. I put a LOT of books, mostly on grammar and writing, that I KNOW we will NEVER use on Paperback Swap and they were snatched up in minutes - yeah more credits!!!
Second - I decided to make some sort of list so that I have an idea of what I have for each subject area. I began by writing out all the core subjects that I have accumulated information, texts and other materials on and then I listed electives in the same way. I believe I have everything for middle school completely covered, except for the Teaching Textbooks for Math - which I will purchase after reselling each previous edition.
Third - I WILL CONSCIOUSLY MAKE AN EFFORT TO NOT PURCHASE ANYMORE SCHOOL ITEMS!!! I should have come to this conclusion way before this point, but better late than never!
Fourth - I will not download any free packets, unless we will be using them during this term! With the exception of the weekly downloads from Currclick, because really how can you pass those up!!! Otherwise I will save the sites and get the information when we are ready for it!
Fifth - I will realize that my daughter is doing EXCEPTIONALLY well with what I have been putting together. She really enjoys the programs that we are using and until SHE has a problem or complaint with the things we are using, I need to just let things BE!
How do you handle Homeschool OCD? Please share your tips and tricks, so that maybe I can get this awful condition under control!
Jan 17, 2009
Changes...again...
We have been revamping how things work again!
~~~ BIG SURPRISE I KNOW~~~
~~~ BIG SURPRISE I KNOW~~~
The first thing is our vocabulary program - KM has been using Wordly Wise 3000 second edition, since I brought her home from PS last year, as she "really liked the way it was set up." Last year they had let her keep the workbook copy that she had started with and since it was a fairly inexpensive system and she did seem to be learning from it we kept it going this year. However over the last few lessons, I noticed that she was having more and more problems with the testing part of it. She just did not seem to be understanding the definitions, when they were taken out of the content of the book or if she couldn't check the definitions. You see the workbook is set up with the words and definitions listed at the beginning of each lesson, then through out the week you do one part each day Monday through Thursday and then you test on Friday. So I sat down with her and had her show me exactly HOW she goes about doing the work. What I found was that she was never actually "reading" through the definitions of the words, she had been taught/instructed by her PS teacher in 4th grade on how to figure out the answers to the different sections using different types of context and scanning clues. Great for building "TESTING" skills, but not so great for "VOCABULARY" skills. I spoke with CJ about this for awhile this afternoon and we have decided to scrap the Wordly Wise for the time being. I am by no means knocking the product at all. I really do like the way it is setup and the different approaches, but my daughter has been trained to cheat her way through it and that just seems like busy work to me. By the way on the test she doesn't have the definitions available and that is why she can't use the system that they taught her in order to pass this test, so I wonder how well those testing skills do actually work?
So in lieu of the Wordly Wise for vocab skills we have decided to try a few different things. For one I had gotten her the My Word Coach for the Wii for Christmas - before the price shot through the roof, guess people found out how great it is!! - so we are going to incorporate that in, as well as some really cool free sites I have found online for vocab building including -
We have started Ancient History and I think the outline that we have planned is going to work really well. The hands-on project booklets, lapbook sets and ancient science are going to tie the information from the textbook together really well. I downloaded the audiobooks of the Story of the World from our library network site and I think that as we get into each section I will introduce it by using one of the stories from the set. I am stressing to her that they are stories though. I know that many, many, many people have said that SOTW is a secular program and I get why they think that since it covers all religions. At the same time, in my opinion, the way they present the stories just doesn't feel right as a "History" curriculum. However the stories themselves are great little tidbits of "this is the type of stories that they told at this time" or "these are the things that they believed at that time." I will be sure to post pics as we get more into our ancient science and kits that we will be using.
We are also adding in some more math practice review days as she is starting to get into some unfamiliar territory. Each time she comes across a new concept I am shocked at how much I thought she had learned at PS, but she really never even touched on the subject. She is using the Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra as that is where she tested into in the system and she really likes how the system is set up, but it also assumes that you have a really good understanding of a lot of the basics and while she does in some areas she is REALLY lacking in others. At the moment we have taken a step back and are spending some extra time with percentages. These can be tricky little buggers and she just doesn't seem to want to follow all the steps in the process. She starts out fine and gets so close to the answer, but somehow gets tripped up on one or two steps. The weird part is that each time it seems to be different spots as well. So we will be taking this next week to reinforce the concepts with some hands on things and real-life math problems to see if I can get her to understand that completing ALL the steps is the only way to get the right answer. As I have said a gazillion times before, I really do not like to bash the school system, but they teach the kids that any answer is better than no answer. You see on the MCAS test they get points as long as they put something for an answer. If they leave an answer blank they get 0, but if they at least take a guess, even if it is the complete wrong answer, they get 1 point. If they take a guess and get the answer that is "almost" the right answer they get 2 or 3 points. If they get the right answer they get 4 points. ---hmmmm
I adore math! I always have and the 1 and only reason for that is that math is not a subjective topic. The answer is either right or wrong, even if you can have more then one solution to a problem ~ i.e. name a prime number that is less than 11 - the answer could be 1, 3, 5, or 7 ~ the answer that you give is either right or wrong. There is no arguing about it. There is no teacher saying that THEY don't interpret it that way. It is a truly black and white subject. So it baffles me that things like this are going on in our school system and I am having to retrain my daughter's brain.
When I started typing I never intended for this post to turn into another rant about the PS system - HONESTLY I DIDN'T! Since it has been a year out of that system I really should be beyond that by now - shouldn't I? But the more I am thinking about it, the more amazed I am that I am still discovering things about the system that I somehow missed when she was there. I also think that the scary part of that is that I was a very involved parent ~ I was even a substitute teacher for a while at the school and volunteered all the time ~ so how much are the uninvolved parents missing. The parents who barely have time to read through the mass of papers that come home from school or to check their kids homework. I am not saying that they all choose to be that way or making a judgement on them, but it is a little bit frightening to me to think that their kids are just being shuffled along and taught strategies to get through the test instead of being educating in order to be a productive and prosperous member of society.
I do apologize for the twisted route that this post has taken...I guess you just never know where you will end up once you start out -or what kind of changes you have to make along the way - so maybe I didn't get so far off topic as I thought I had!
Dec 15, 2008
Another Revamp ----
While I was traipsing around the blog-o-sphere last night I came across the post of a fellow homeschooling mom blogger Summer Fae - here - who had typed about her case of HMP - Homeschool Mom Panic!
This of course is the worst sort of mom panic, because your child's entire FUTURE rests in your meager little hands. There is no "awful teacher" to blame it on - except yourself - no "student peer pressure" to blame that behavior on - except those other children you have in your house - and no "school bus driver" who they picked up those bad road rage words from - I would never say those things!
Once you get past those wretched truths, you can soon come to realize that this is also the best sort of mom panic because you have total control over the situation - of course you may want to consult that co-principle that some of you have and then again you may not. You have the right to decide when, where, what and how your children are learning! The best part of homeschooling is that revamp policy that says "hey if it isn't working try something different or scrap it all together".
Here at GCK Homeschool we are working on an experiment in timing. We have found that trying to get KM to wake up, eat breakfast, brush her teeth and get ready to start her bookwork in the morning is just not worth the fight! It was getting to feel like we were back to the rush rush rush out the door feelings we used to have when she went to PS and I just don't have it in me to fight that battle anymore!
So instead, we are letting KM get out of bed and have breakfast at a leisurely pace. She has been watching some great Discovery Channel DVDs on the laptop during breakfast - presently she has been enjoying the Secrets of Archaeology Series which we got from the library. We then ease into our geography/holiday project we have been working on "Holidays Around the World" - pictures of that will be posted later in the week. We have been doing some yoga, silly games, exercises and chores after that, which brings us just about to lunch time. While I start lunch KM goes in and gets her daily estimation, daily writing, daily science question and Wordly Wise assignments done - which generally takes about 20-25 minutes to get done when she wants them to. During lunch we have been listening to audio books together - we just finished up the Redwall Collection by Brian Jacques, which is such a great story for audio books! After lunch we work on History, Science, Foreign Language, or whichever elective we have planned for that day. She has some free time in the afternoon, which she has been spending either on the computer or reading a lot lately. Then KM does her Teaching Textbooks assignment on her own in the later afternoon early evening.
Some days it feels like a lot or like the day is dragging on forever, but there are no fights in the morning to "get into gear" - CJ's favorite morning euphemism - and besides her daily things, she seems to be getting most of her other work done in 2 or 3 days instead of 5 - which is FINE by me! She seems to be much more able to focus and get things done when she hasn't been rushed into starting.
I don't know if this revamp will last forever and I am sure that it won't be our last, but I do know that at the moment it has calmed my HMP attacks quite a bit!
This of course is the worst sort of mom panic, because your child's entire FUTURE rests in your meager little hands. There is no "awful teacher" to blame it on - except yourself - no "student peer pressure" to blame that behavior on - except those other children you have in your house - and no "school bus driver" who they picked up those bad road rage words from - I would never say those things!
Once you get past those wretched truths, you can soon come to realize that this is also the best sort of mom panic because you have total control over the situation - of course you may want to consult that co-principle that some of you have and then again you may not. You have the right to decide when, where, what and how your children are learning! The best part of homeschooling is that revamp policy that says "hey if it isn't working try something different or scrap it all together".
Here at GCK Homeschool we are working on an experiment in timing. We have found that trying to get KM to wake up, eat breakfast, brush her teeth and get ready to start her bookwork in the morning is just not worth the fight! It was getting to feel like we were back to the rush rush rush out the door feelings we used to have when she went to PS and I just don't have it in me to fight that battle anymore!
So instead, we are letting KM get out of bed and have breakfast at a leisurely pace. She has been watching some great Discovery Channel DVDs on the laptop during breakfast - presently she has been enjoying the Secrets of Archaeology Series which we got from the library. We then ease into our geography/holiday project we have been working on "Holidays Around the World" - pictures of that will be posted later in the week. We have been doing some yoga, silly games, exercises and chores after that, which brings us just about to lunch time. While I start lunch KM goes in and gets her daily estimation, daily writing, daily science question and Wordly Wise assignments done - which generally takes about 20-25 minutes to get done when she wants them to. During lunch we have been listening to audio books together - we just finished up the Redwall Collection by Brian Jacques, which is such a great story for audio books! After lunch we work on History, Science, Foreign Language, or whichever elective we have planned for that day. She has some free time in the afternoon, which she has been spending either on the computer or reading a lot lately. Then KM does her Teaching Textbooks assignment on her own in the later afternoon early evening.
Some days it feels like a lot or like the day is dragging on forever, but there are no fights in the morning to "get into gear" - CJ's favorite morning euphemism - and besides her daily things, she seems to be getting most of her other work done in 2 or 3 days instead of 5 - which is FINE by me! She seems to be much more able to focus and get things done when she hasn't been rushed into starting.
I don't know if this revamp will last forever and I am sure that it won't be our last, but I do know that at the moment it has calmed my HMP attacks quite a bit!
Oct 17, 2008
Writing Tales
I have mentioned SEVERAL times that I have not been able to find something that I thought would work for KM for writing - well I think I have found the solution!
I am sooo excited about this program - I came across it on one of the secular yahoo lists that I belong to, and after looking at it for a few days decided that for the affordable price I really couldn't go wrong!
Here is the summary of the program:
Writing Tales is a comprehensive writing curriculum that teaches from a classical approach. Lessons and practice in grammar, spelling, vocabulary and handwriting are also included. Level One is written for 3rd-4th grade ages, or middle grammar level students. This consumable workbook is meant to be used in tandem with the Writing Tales Teacher's Guide.
So I ordered it and arrived today! I haven't been able to put it down! It looks like it is going to be the perfect direction for her! I like the aspect of the them re-telling classic stories with the room for creativity, instead of the strict retelling that can be rather boring. I also really like the fact that it has co-op lesson plans included. I think we will have to tweak some of it a bit, like leaving out the copy-work, but for the most part I think it is going to work out! I will be sure to let you know how things are rolling as when we start using it!
I am sooo excited about this program - I came across it on one of the secular yahoo lists that I belong to, and after looking at it for a few days decided that for the affordable price I really couldn't go wrong!Here is the summary of the program:
Writing Tales is a comprehensive writing curriculum that teaches from a classical approach. Lessons and practice in grammar, spelling, vocabulary and handwriting are also included. Level One is written for 3rd-4th grade ages, or middle grammar level students. This consumable workbook is meant to be used in tandem with the Writing Tales Teacher's Guide.
So I ordered it and arrived today! I haven't been able to put it down! It looks like it is going to be the perfect direction for her! I like the aspect of the them re-telling classic stories with the room for creativity, instead of the strict retelling that can be rather boring. I also really like the fact that it has co-op lesson plans included. I think we will have to tweak some of it a bit, like leaving out the copy-work, but for the most part I think it is going to work out! I will be sure to let you know how things are rolling as when we start using it!
Sep 29, 2008
First Day of Fall Session
Today was our first day of Fall Session when we start back to schooling full-time - or I should say back to more "book work."
Things went really well this morning! KM was up bright and early and was very happy with the new layout of the play/school room. We are so lucky to have this extra room to be able to spread things out in. Here are some of the new things I added and/or changed:
This is our Foreign Language Center - we will be continuing to work on Spanish, but will be trying to incorporate it into our other curriculum areas as well. So we will be studying the countries where they speak Spanish for part of our Geography.
This is our "Daily Tasks" board which will allow KM to be a bit more independent, I can write down the things that will need to be done the night before so that she can get right down to work in the morning and can also be aware of what else will be going on later in the day.
This is our Election Study Center. The election poster came out of Candidates, Campaigns and Elections 4th Edition and we will be using the map to outline which states are Red states and which are Blue, as well as to track the results after the election.
KM has decided to use the computer area to do her work for now - we will see how long this lasts - so I have rearranged things a bit to make it easier to spread things out.
Here she is very happily filling out her Exchange City Job Application!
We decided, since it is one of KM's favorite homeschooling benefits, that the first day would be a pajama day!
SC was here bright and early, but was very patiently looking through her library books and doing lots of coloring, while KM was working.
Things went very smoothly, we transitioned from "Preschool" times to "Middle School" times without a lot of problem. KM was very focused and did an excellent job completing her work correctly, efficiently, and neatly! All and all we had a very nice, mellow, relaxing, productive first day of school!!
Things went really well this morning! KM was up bright and early and was very happy with the new layout of the play/school room. We are so lucky to have this extra room to be able to spread things out in. Here are some of the new things I added and/or changed:
This is our Foreign Language Center - we will be continuing to work on Spanish, but will be trying to incorporate it into our other curriculum areas as well. So we will be studying the countries where they speak Spanish for part of our Geography.
This is our "Daily Tasks" board which will allow KM to be a bit more independent, I can write down the things that will need to be done the night before so that she can get right down to work in the morning and can also be aware of what else will be going on later in the day.
This is our Election Study Center. The election poster came out of Candidates, Campaigns and Elections 4th Edition and we will be using the map to outline which states are Red states and which are Blue, as well as to track the results after the election.
KM has decided to use the computer area to do her work for now - we will see how long this lasts - so I have rearranged things a bit to make it easier to spread things out.
Here she is very happily filling out her Exchange City Job Application!We decided, since it is one of KM's favorite homeschooling benefits, that the first day would be a pajama day!
SC was here bright and early, but was very patiently looking through her library books and doing lots of coloring, while KM was working.
Things went very smoothly, we transitioned from "Preschool" times to "Middle School" times without a lot of problem. KM was very focused and did an excellent job completing her work correctly, efficiently, and neatly! All and all we had a very nice, mellow, relaxing, productive first day of school!!Sep 25, 2008
New FREE Resources I have found!
Here are some great free resources that I have recently had sent to me and/or stumbled upon:
- Lightning Theif Teacher's Guide and Percy Jackson and the Olympians
- Educational Freeware
- Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop
- Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
- MIT Open Courseware
- Learner's TV
- Free World U
- Teacher Freebies
- Homeschooling on a Budget: Unit Studies
- Worksheet Works
- GCF Learn Free.org
- Live Mocha
Sep 23, 2008
Election Curriculum
I have been asked by LOTS of people lately what we are using to cover the election and here is the answer:
Connect to Campaign 2008
Scholastic is one of my favorite sites! Though there customer service is leaves a lot to be desired, they are a great resource and their prices generally can't be beat!
Along with the info on this site we are using Candidates, Campaigns and Elections 4th Edition which is a very comprehensive unit and of course as always we will be using lots of living books.
We will also be using some living books including:
DK Eyewitness VOTE
People Pick a President (The Election Book)
and for fun
Ghost, the White House, and Me
I personally am reading Mike's Election Guide and may use excerpts from it with KM, but I will have to wait and see how much she really wants to take in!
Hope this has been helpful!!!
Feel free to add a post in a comment if you find other great election sites for kids!!
Along with the info on this site we are using Candidates, Campaigns and Elections 4th Edition which is a very comprehensive unit and of course as always we will be using lots of living books.
We will also be using some living books including:
DK Eyewitness VOTE
People Pick a President (The Election Book)
and for fun
Ghost, the White House, and Me
I personally am reading Mike's Election Guide and may use excerpts from it with KM, but I will have to wait and see how much she really wants to take in!
Hope this has been helpful!!!
Feel free to add a post in a comment if you find other great election sites for kids!!
Aug 8, 2008
Curriculum and Planning Question
One of my favorite blogger mom's Fairyluver asked: "about your school year planning what curriculum do you use...if any, and how do you plan, I just ask because I look at your blog and your class days look like SO MUCH FUN, and your daughter looks like she has a blast too!!"
Well thanks so much! We try to have as much fun as possible!
As you may have figured out by now one of my favorite words is eclectic! My family is eclectic, my music selections are eclectic, so of course our homeschooling style is eclectic as well!
Deep down somewhere inside of me I really would like us to be unschoolers, but as I know I have mentioned several times in previous blogs we NEED schedules in our house and I am a bit of a control freak so...don't see it happening anytime soon. I do try my hardest to allow our curriculum and studies be led by what KM wants to learn about. We school year round and will not be going back to full time school until 9/29 as we wanted to take 2 full weeks off around mine and KM's birthday (which happen to be 3 days apart).
With that being said though here is what we are planning on using in Oct - must of the titles are linked to Amazon or other sites so you can actually see the book if you are interested! -
Math - my favorite subject!
Daily Estimation Adventures - for some reason she can understand fractions, ratios, decimals, and conversions, but she just does not get how to make or use an estimate. We will be doing this everyday.
Math Problem of the Week - I can't find a link for this one, but it has word problems that you assign on Monday and then throughout the week there are hints and strategies to use to help the student figure out the answers. The student is suppose to need less and less of the hints throughout the year.
Teaching Textbooks - Pre-Algebra - we are both very excited about starting this series! We will be doing this Tues - Fri most weeks. As we have our local coop on Mondays.
Language Arts - This is a difficult area for us because, as I have mentioned before, KM does not like to do writing. I have several different plans to try to address this area, but not sure how long we will do each or if we will get to them at all.
Writing to Inform
Writing to Explain
Writing to Persuade
We will be doing these workbooks in this order one page a day to help reinforce sentence structure and genre.
Spelling and Vocabulary - Houghton Milton - this is one that I am very iffy on, I am thinking of going back to the Wordly Wise series as she really liked it when she was in PS, but I got this workbook at a local book sale and figure I will try it. Worse case I end up going back and ordering the Wordly Wise Grade 6 set. (added note - we did end up getting this as KM really wanted to do it again this year! so we will be starting out with this, but it is only a 22 week program so we will fill in the rest with my original choice!)
Literature - along with the immense amount of reading that she does each day on her own these are the titles that we will be doing cooperative reading with -
Dragon Slayer Academy Book 1 & 2
21 Balloons
A Wrinkle In Time
Hitty Her First Hundred Years
Island of The Blue Dolphin
Kira-Kira
Left Behind: The Kids Books 1 & 2
Number the Stars
Shiloh
Sounder
Strawberry Girl
The Giver
The Tale of the Despereaux
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
- We will be using efantasmic, resources from Scholastic's site and some lapbooks & literature studies from Currclick .
Science -
Science Question of the Day - this is just to reinforce learned skills and to supplement.
Classic Science: Elementary Life Science - I was pointed in the direction of this FREE curriculum and KM walked in while I was looking at and thought it was something that she would like to try so...we are doing this first. It has a ton of interactive aspects to it. I also have an Earth Science Curriculum in the makings for when we finish the life science or just in case it doesn't go as well as we hope.
Ancient Science - this is an experiment book that we will use along with our Ancient History studies.
Museum of Science - We got a yearly membership and plan on going at least twice a month, to research whatever we happen to be working on and to use their fantastic library and teacher resources!
History - this is the area that I had the most difficulty deciding on a curriculum for so we are winging it.
I realized that all KM really knew about History was the Pilgrims, Native American and the Pre-revolutionary war. You see given our location on the South Shore of Massachusetts these are the hot topics. So I decided to kind of go with The Well-Trained Minds approach and start at the beginning. I have an Ancient History textbook that I got at a local book sale, that I will be using as kind of a guideline, but we are mostly going to use living books to work through history. Starting with the dinosaurs, cavemen and prehistoric periods and work our way to the ancient civilizations. I really did not like the way that a lot of the curriculum jump from time period to time period and there is no real sequence to them. We will be working on a time-line basis which goes around our playroom/classroom area. Here are some resources that we hope to do -
Mayans, Aztecs & Incas - thematic unit
Ancient China - thematic unit
Ancient Rome - history pocket
Ancient Egypt - History pocket
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths & the literature unit to go with it
We will be doing geography along with this and I have a lot of plans for lapbooks that we can do!
We will be doing science and history one full afternoon a week - each of the two days that I don't have SC here so that we can really focus on them and do the experiments without the little one running under foot!
We will also be doing the following Electives:
Exchange City - We are doing this for a second time, but are doing the curriculum with our Homeschooling coop group.
Spanish - we are going to be trying out the livemocha.com site.
Health - using this free curriculum -Road of Life - as well as a lot of websites.
Typing - using several different websites and programs - KM's favorite is Dance Mat Typing
Current Events - using thematic studies as well as Flash Five - PBS Kids News site.This will also cover the upcoming Presidential and Local Elections.
Art & Music - we will be using the Core Knowledge Book What Your 6th Grader Needs to Know as well as supplements for music history and of course lots of arts and crafts projects. I am also thinking of using some of the activities from How to Teach Art to Children.
Yoga once a week.
Cooking as interest is shown.
Now this may seem a bit extensive to some, but I like to be prepared and a lot of these things KM just really wants to do. How are day actually works will be different than how we did it last year and I am hoping that it will work.
Here is my plan for that:
Since I have SC generally three to four days a week we will be doing science and history one full afternoon a week - each of the two days that I don't have SC here so that we can really focus on them and do the experiments without the little one running under foot!
Mondays is our coop group so she will not having any other full subjects on that day - though she will be responsible for doing her daily math & science questions, writing, spelling/vocab & reading. However we may try to sneak in Health or Spanish on this day in the evening if it is workable.
Tuesday - Friday ~ she will be doing Math every day as well as the daily things mentioned above in the mornings.
Electives will be done in the afternoons on the days that SC is here. We will also try to include her in these activities if possible and/or do some while she is napping.
Literature reading will be done in the evenings either during dinner prep or after dinner.
We use Saturday Mornings for catch-up if we need it. This allows us to do field trips without having to adjust the plans too much.
Well I feel like I left a gazillion things out, but of course that is always the way. How can really account for everything that goes on in a household.
Well thanks so much! We try to have as much fun as possible!Deep down somewhere inside of me I really would like us to be unschoolers, but as I know I have mentioned several times in previous blogs we NEED schedules in our house and I am a bit of a control freak so...don't see it happening anytime soon. I do try my hardest to allow our curriculum and studies be led by what KM wants to learn about. We school year round and will not be going back to full time school until 9/29 as we wanted to take 2 full weeks off around mine and KM's birthday (which happen to be 3 days apart).
With that being said though here is what we are planning on using in Oct - must of the titles are linked to Amazon or other sites so you can actually see the book if you are interested! -
Math - my favorite subject!
Daily Estimation Adventures - for some reason she can understand fractions, ratios, decimals, and conversions, but she just does not get how to make or use an estimate. We will be doing this everyday.
Math Problem of the Week - I can't find a link for this one, but it has word problems that you assign on Monday and then throughout the week there are hints and strategies to use to help the student figure out the answers. The student is suppose to need less and less of the hints throughout the year.
Teaching Textbooks - Pre-Algebra - we are both very excited about starting this series! We will be doing this Tues - Fri most weeks. As we have our local coop on Mondays.
Language Arts - This is a difficult area for us because, as I have mentioned before, KM does not like to do writing. I have several different plans to try to address this area, but not sure how long we will do each or if we will get to them at all.
Writing to Inform
Writing to Explain
Writing to Persuade
We will be doing these workbooks in this order one page a day to help reinforce sentence structure and genre.
Spelling and Vocabulary - Houghton Milton - this is one that I am very iffy on, I am thinking of going back to the Wordly Wise series as she really liked it when she was in PS, but I got this workbook at a local book sale and figure I will try it. Worse case I end up going back and ordering the Wordly Wise Grade 6 set. (added note - we did end up getting this as KM really wanted to do it again this year! so we will be starting out with this, but it is only a 22 week program so we will fill in the rest with my original choice!)
Literature - along with the immense amount of reading that she does each day on her own these are the titles that we will be doing cooperative reading with -
Dragon Slayer Academy Book 1 & 2
21 Balloons
A Wrinkle In Time
Hitty Her First Hundred Years
Island of The Blue Dolphin
Kira-Kira
Left Behind: The Kids Books 1 & 2
Number the Stars
Shiloh
Sounder
Strawberry Girl
The Giver
The Tale of the Despereaux
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
- We will be using efantasmic, resources from Scholastic's site and some lapbooks & literature studies from Currclick .
Science -
Science Question of the Day - this is just to reinforce learned skills and to supplement.
Classic Science: Elementary Life Science - I was pointed in the direction of this FREE curriculum and KM walked in while I was looking at and thought it was something that she would like to try so...we are doing this first. It has a ton of interactive aspects to it. I also have an Earth Science Curriculum in the makings for when we finish the life science or just in case it doesn't go as well as we hope.
Ancient Science - this is an experiment book that we will use along with our Ancient History studies.
Museum of Science - We got a yearly membership and plan on going at least twice a month, to research whatever we happen to be working on and to use their fantastic library and teacher resources!
History - this is the area that I had the most difficulty deciding on a curriculum for so we are winging it.
I realized that all KM really knew about History was the Pilgrims, Native American and the Pre-revolutionary war. You see given our location on the South Shore of Massachusetts these are the hot topics. So I decided to kind of go with The Well-Trained Minds approach and start at the beginning. I have an Ancient History textbook that I got at a local book sale, that I will be using as kind of a guideline, but we are mostly going to use living books to work through history. Starting with the dinosaurs, cavemen and prehistoric periods and work our way to the ancient civilizations. I really did not like the way that a lot of the curriculum jump from time period to time period and there is no real sequence to them. We will be working on a time-line basis which goes around our playroom/classroom area. Here are some resources that we hope to do -
Mayans, Aztecs & Incas - thematic unit
Ancient China - thematic unit
Ancient Rome - history pocket
Ancient Egypt - History pocket
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths & the literature unit to go with it
We will be doing geography along with this and I have a lot of plans for lapbooks that we can do!
We will be doing science and history one full afternoon a week - each of the two days that I don't have SC here so that we can really focus on them and do the experiments without the little one running under foot!
We will also be doing the following Electives:
Exchange City - We are doing this for a second time, but are doing the curriculum with our Homeschooling coop group.
Spanish - we are going to be trying out the livemocha.com site.
Health - using this free curriculum -Road of Life - as well as a lot of websites.
Typing - using several different websites and programs - KM's favorite is Dance Mat Typing
Current Events - using thematic studies as well as Flash Five - PBS Kids News site.This will also cover the upcoming Presidential and Local Elections.
Art & Music - we will be using the Core Knowledge Book What Your 6th Grader Needs to Know as well as supplements for music history and of course lots of arts and crafts projects. I am also thinking of using some of the activities from How to Teach Art to Children.
Yoga once a week.
Cooking as interest is shown.
Now this may seem a bit extensive to some, but I like to be prepared and a lot of these things KM just really wants to do. How are day actually works will be different than how we did it last year and I am hoping that it will work.
Here is my plan for that:
Since I have SC generally three to four days a week we will be doing science and history one full afternoon a week - each of the two days that I don't have SC here so that we can really focus on them and do the experiments without the little one running under foot!
Mondays is our coop group so she will not having any other full subjects on that day - though she will be responsible for doing her daily math & science questions, writing, spelling/vocab & reading. However we may try to sneak in Health or Spanish on this day in the evening if it is workable.
Tuesday - Friday ~ she will be doing Math every day as well as the daily things mentioned above in the mornings.
Electives will be done in the afternoons on the days that SC is here. We will also try to include her in these activities if possible and/or do some while she is napping.
Literature reading will be done in the evenings either during dinner prep or after dinner.
We use Saturday Mornings for catch-up if we need it. This allows us to do field trips without having to adjust the plans too much.
Well I feel like I left a gazillion things out, but of course that is always the way. How can really account for everything that goes on in a household.
Jul 14, 2008
Slowing Down
Things have been quiet around here lately - KNOCK ON WOOD! Not too much going on, so I have been kinda quiet on my blog as well! It does not get like this very often and therefore I feel that I must treasure it even more! We have been reading a lot!
I have caught up on lots of magazine reading - I have a tendency to mark off articles when the magazine arrives that I HAVE to read and then take months to get to them! I have Yoga Journals going back to March that I have barely looked at!
I am halfway through Remember Me? by my favorite contemporary author - Sophie Kinsella! Every story she has ever had published ROCKS!!! They are just really feel good, make you chuckle, real life funny kinda stories. I have trouble with these books because I tend to not want to put them down. I have to really set aside time to read them when I can enjoy them, so that time tends to be during the summer. Sit by the pool while the kids are going crazy and read.
KM & I are waiting for Sea Monsters by Rick Riordan (Book 2 in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series) to arrive so that we can continue reading this awesome series. It is amazing how it has sparked this HUGE interest in greek mythology for KM - so much so that I have been thinking about restructuring our history plans for the fall. I am thinking of focusing on the ancient civilizations and the different religions, stories, myths and such from each time period and how people would react to them today. There is a lot out there and I think this would be a good point to start ancient civilizations with as it was such a huge part of every aspect of their lives.
This leads me to think about how I am starting to grasp the concept of unschooling and child-led learning more. I am not ready to go there at this point, but I do want to focus on what KM is actually interested in for Science, Social Studies & Reading. I want to tailor the learning and subjects that get covered within these broad areas to increase her interest, willingness and drive to want to learn! She is starting to get back the understanding that she used to have that learning is not a punishment - it is a privilege that needs to be appreciated.
I have caught up on lots of magazine reading - I have a tendency to mark off articles when the magazine arrives that I HAVE to read and then take months to get to them! I have Yoga Journals going back to March that I have barely looked at!
I am halfway through Remember Me? by my favorite contemporary author - Sophie Kinsella! Every story she has ever had published ROCKS!!! They are just really feel good, make you chuckle, real life funny kinda stories. I have trouble with these books because I tend to not want to put them down. I have to really set aside time to read them when I can enjoy them, so that time tends to be during the summer. Sit by the pool while the kids are going crazy and read.
KM & I are waiting for Sea Monsters by Rick Riordan (Book 2 in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series) to arrive so that we can continue reading this awesome series. It is amazing how it has sparked this HUGE interest in greek mythology for KM - so much so that I have been thinking about restructuring our history plans for the fall. I am thinking of focusing on the ancient civilizations and the different religions, stories, myths and such from each time period and how people would react to them today. There is a lot out there and I think this would be a good point to start ancient civilizations with as it was such a huge part of every aspect of their lives.
This leads me to think about how I am starting to grasp the concept of unschooling and child-led learning more. I am not ready to go there at this point, but I do want to focus on what KM is actually interested in for Science, Social Studies & Reading. I want to tailor the learning and subjects that get covered within these broad areas to increase her interest, willingness and drive to want to learn! She is starting to get back the understanding that she used to have that learning is not a punishment - it is a privilege that needs to be appreciated.
May 29, 2008
Task completed!
Yippee, my mind is at ease! All of the curriculum for next year has been purchased and arrived.
I can now relax and enjoy the summer. I have even setup files in my mail program to organize things that come in so that I can look at them later in the summer if the correspond with what we will be doing in the fall. I think I will be turning my curriculum brain off! Of course I am waiting to see if I get a request for a portfolio or not from the school district ~ I have decided that if they don't request one I will not be sending one! Hope all of your planning goes as smoothly as mine has!!!
May 19, 2008
There is always a reason!
OK so I know that I had been complaining about the TeachingTextbook site being down on Saturday, well Sunday it was still down! I was so frustrated because I really just want to have all the curriculum for the fall decided on and purchased so that I don't really have to think about it until August! I feel like I have spent the last 5 months doing nothing but scouring the net and questioning people about what is the best for this subject or that as there is no way that I could just use a "box set" with KM and have it work. So I had thought after she took the placement test on Saturday I could finally be done with all of it ~ for now anyway.
Well there really is a reason for everything! Right after I tried to get onto the site and it said it was still down for maintenance, I checked my email and had a reminder from ebay that an auction I had been watching was ending soon. I clicked on the link and there it was - YIPPPEEE! The Pre-Algebra set that I had been trying to buy. It had 13 minutes left and it was going for 60 dollars less than the original price!!! I also had a $5 off shipping coupon so the shipping only cost me $3 with insurance! If the site had not been down on Saturday and I had gotten that email on Sunday I would have been FURIOUS with myself! So I apologize for cursing out everyone that I did for the site being down on Saturday and would like to thank whomever was watching out for my finances in such a delightful way!
The ironic thing is that I had only been watching the Teaching Textbooks auctions to see if the resale value was going to be worth it for me to have her write in the consumable book or not. I will be having her use a notebook and act as though the consumable book is a textbook. Less waste and production cost that way and then I can allow someone else the same benefit of the reduced recycling reusing rate! 3Rs of course!
Well there really is a reason for everything! Right after I tried to get onto the site and it said it was still down for maintenance, I checked my email and had a reminder from ebay that an auction I had been watching was ending soon. I clicked on the link and there it was - YIPPPEEE! The Pre-Algebra set that I had been trying to buy. It had 13 minutes left and it was going for 60 dollars less than the original price!!! I also had a $5 off shipping coupon so the shipping only cost me $3 with insurance! If the site had not been down on Saturday and I had gotten that email on Sunday I would have been FURIOUS with myself! So I apologize for cursing out everyone that I did for the site being down on Saturday and would like to thank whomever was watching out for my finances in such a delightful way!
The ironic thing is that I had only been watching the Teaching Textbooks auctions to see if the resale value was going to be worth it for me to have her write in the consumable book or not. I will be having her use a notebook and act as though the consumable book is a textbook. Less waste and production cost that way and then I can allow someone else the same benefit of the reduced recycling reusing rate! 3Rs of course!
May 17, 2008
Doesn't it always figure!!!
KM took her placement test for next year's math as we are strongly leaning towards using the Teaching Textbooks series. She really liked the demos and the way they break down the specific problem if you get it wrong, not just one that is similar to it, so that it is easier to see where you made the mistake. I think that it will keep her engaged better than just using a textbook and me at the whiteboard as well.
So she took the test and passed it to start out in Pre-Algebra (yippee), but of course the site has been down all day! I have heard that this time of year most of the educational sites hit bumps in the road but this is crazy how many sites have been down these past two weeks. - I can't imagine what it would be like to try to order things last minute in August. Of course most of you know there is no way I could be sane all summer if I didn't know for sure what we are doing next year!
So she took the test and passed it to start out in Pre-Algebra (yippee), but of course the site has been down all day! I have heard that this time of year most of the educational sites hit bumps in the road but this is crazy how many sites have been down these past two weeks. - I can't imagine what it would be like to try to order things last minute in August. Of course most of you know there is no way I could be sane all summer if I didn't know for sure what we are doing next year!
Apr 16, 2008
Where does the time go!!!
Everyone asks themselves this question from time to time and some more times than others.
These last few weeks have just been non-stop running running running and the rest of this month doesn't look like it is going to slow down! Hopefully somewhere along the way I will find time to think long enough to come up with something half-way interesting to blog about!
Right now amongst all the craziness, the only thing that has been crossing my mind is next years curriculum.
I am venturing into creating my own curriculum for next year and am a bit nervous. I really don't have a choice in the matter as KM is getting frustrated lately with the Time4Learning site. It either takes forever to load, freezes up or doesn't give her credit for what she has completed. She likes the interactive aspects of the Math and ELA but social studies and science are soooo tedious. The science would be better if they gave the parents a heads up when they were going to have a lab that required certain materials. We really jumped into the program in January as it seemed to be aligned with what she had been doing in PS and you could switch between grade levels for different subjects, but she only has about a month left on the ELA and ELA ext. before that is completed and about 5 or 6 weeks on the Math section. So she will have completed their full year curriculum in half that time.
I got a recommendation to try one of those all-in-one curriculum in a box sets, but she is at so many different levels that I don't think I could find one to fit what we need. So I have been spending every free second trying to figure out what direction I want to take.
Here is what I am thinking:
Math - we are going to try the teaching textbooks - we both really liked their demo and the fact that it is like having a tutor sitting there with you if you have a problem is PRICELESS! Math is the one thing that she really really likes and feels confident enough that she doesn't need me to sit right with her for, so I am hoping that with this program this can continue. ~Don't get me wrong if she needs help I am always there, but I do like that there is more independence in this area. She is going to be taking the pretest next week to determine what level she should start at, but it looks like she is going to be at Math 7.
Language Arts - I am thinking I am really going to focus on writing. I got this great book "Teach Terrific Writing" by Gary Robert Muschla. I like it because it covers all forms of writing and teaches the kids step-by-step how to write, edit and improve their own writing. I also appreciate that is multi-leveled. I really am trying to get away from the grade labeling. I am really starting to see how deceiving it can be. For spelling I think I am going to focus on the words that she is always asking me to spell and adding some vocab - not sure if I am going to stick with the Wordly Wise series. We used it as she had been doing it in PS and liked it, but I don't know it seems to be more of one of those teaching to test things again. I may just incorporate spelling, vocab and reading all together into unit studies. ~ I broke down and purchased the year subscription to efantasmic, it has a great variety of resources for all subject areas and they keep adding more to it every time I go onto the site. I also like that they have a wide variety of selections.
Social Studies & Science - I think I am going to try to stick with unit studies. I figure she was only getting about 45 minutes every other week for each of these subjects in PS so anything is better than that. I also found this ridiculously awesome site a few months ago and got a ton of free curriculum plans from them -ABSOLUTELY FREE! The site is http://www.bscs.org/curriculumdevelopment/index.html I could not believe the info when I received it. I really thought it was going to be little pamphlets or something but this is full curriculum sets, three ring punched and ready for a binder. Some even come with CD-Roms and online extras. Then today there was a link in one of the newsletters to a site for free history plans - you can download or order a disc for free ~that site is http://www.americanheritage.org/elementary.html they have a huge selection as well. There are so many really complete resources online it is incredible! It makes me not feel so bad about splurging on some of the other resources.
Spanish - KM has always been interested in learning Spanish and we have done somethings here and there but I am in the process of trying to figure out a system for this, as she knows most common words and phrases, so I think we are going to go to a higher level on this one and learn it together. I also have a bunch of Spanish DVDs from when KM was little that we are going to be using with SC so that will work for reviewing to start with. I have heard wonderful things about the LiveMocha site so I am going to be looking into that some more as well.
As I am totally new to ALL this... if anyone has any advice or recommendations on anything here it would be GREATLY appreciated!
Good Luck with your own planning!
These last few weeks have just been non-stop running running running and the rest of this month doesn't look like it is going to slow down! Hopefully somewhere along the way I will find time to think long enough to come up with something half-way interesting to blog about!
Right now amongst all the craziness, the only thing that has been crossing my mind is next years curriculum.
I am venturing into creating my own curriculum for next year and am a bit nervous. I really don't have a choice in the matter as KM is getting frustrated lately with the Time4Learning site. It either takes forever to load, freezes up or doesn't give her credit for what she has completed. She likes the interactive aspects of the Math and ELA but social studies and science are soooo tedious. The science would be better if they gave the parents a heads up when they were going to have a lab that required certain materials. We really jumped into the program in January as it seemed to be aligned with what she had been doing in PS and you could switch between grade levels for different subjects, but she only has about a month left on the ELA and ELA ext. before that is completed and about 5 or 6 weeks on the Math section. So she will have completed their full year curriculum in half that time.
I got a recommendation to try one of those all-in-one curriculum in a box sets, but she is at so many different levels that I don't think I could find one to fit what we need. So I have been spending every free second trying to figure out what direction I want to take.
Here is what I am thinking:
Math - we are going to try the teaching textbooks - we both really liked their demo and the fact that it is like having a tutor sitting there with you if you have a problem is PRICELESS! Math is the one thing that she really really likes and feels confident enough that she doesn't need me to sit right with her for, so I am hoping that with this program this can continue. ~Don't get me wrong if she needs help I am always there, but I do like that there is more independence in this area. She is going to be taking the pretest next week to determine what level she should start at, but it looks like she is going to be at Math 7.
Language Arts - I am thinking I am really going to focus on writing. I got this great book "Teach Terrific Writing" by Gary Robert Muschla. I like it because it covers all forms of writing and teaches the kids step-by-step how to write, edit and improve their own writing. I also appreciate that is multi-leveled. I really am trying to get away from the grade labeling. I am really starting to see how deceiving it can be. For spelling I think I am going to focus on the words that she is always asking me to spell and adding some vocab - not sure if I am going to stick with the Wordly Wise series. We used it as she had been doing it in PS and liked it, but I don't know it seems to be more of one of those teaching to test things again. I may just incorporate spelling, vocab and reading all together into unit studies. ~ I broke down and purchased the year subscription to efantasmic, it has a great variety of resources for all subject areas and they keep adding more to it every time I go onto the site. I also like that they have a wide variety of selections.
Social Studies & Science - I think I am going to try to stick with unit studies. I figure she was only getting about 45 minutes every other week for each of these subjects in PS so anything is better than that. I also found this ridiculously awesome site a few months ago and got a ton of free curriculum plans from them -ABSOLUTELY FREE! The site is http://www.bscs.org/curriculumdevelopment/index.html I could not believe the info when I received it. I really thought it was going to be little pamphlets or something but this is full curriculum sets, three ring punched and ready for a binder. Some even come with CD-Roms and online extras. Then today there was a link in one of the newsletters to a site for free history plans - you can download or order a disc for free ~that site is http://www.americanheritage.org/elementary.html they have a huge selection as well. There are so many really complete resources online it is incredible! It makes me not feel so bad about splurging on some of the other resources.
Spanish - KM has always been interested in learning Spanish and we have done somethings here and there but I am in the process of trying to figure out a system for this, as she knows most common words and phrases, so I think we are going to go to a higher level on this one and learn it together. I also have a bunch of Spanish DVDs from when KM was little that we are going to be using with SC so that will work for reviewing to start with. I have heard wonderful things about the LiveMocha site so I am going to be looking into that some more as well.
As I am totally new to ALL this... if anyone has any advice or recommendations on anything here it would be GREATLY appreciated!
Good Luck with your own planning!
Mar 16, 2008
Saved from a relapse of insanity!
So Friday night I began having a slight meltdown, nothing to horrible, but I KNEW it was only going to get worse. In the last week or two CJ's business went from ridiculously slow to OMG HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO THIS busy! Which in construction is very common. First signs of spring everyone calls for estimates and believe me I am not complaining about it, but the first few weeks of transition get a bit crazy around here. Scheduling issues come up, KM feels like she never sees dad and I of course get the dread of he is going to be working 40 hours a week at the job he took because business was slow and now nights and weekends with all the sidework he is getting calls for! Mind you this happens every year, but we haven't been homeschooling every year!
Insecurities creep into the brain about choices we have made, my new found sanity begins to wander away and I begin to go into panic mood. This has not happened to me in a VERY long time. At the time CJ was at an estimate and there was no way I was going to interupt that, so I raced through my support system in my head and of course the one at the top of the list can't be called upon - not physically anyway. These are the times when I miss her SOOOO much it feels like it was only yesterday that she passed. When Noni was here I could call her day or night and she had just the words to bring me back to earth again. So on the verge of total mental breakdown I sat down in my room and closed my eyes to breathe through it for a second. When I opened my eyes and lifted my head there in front of me was the answer.
I hadn't realized, when I stopped to sit, that I sat down in front of the picture of the two most important women in my life - Noni and DD.
I immediately knew what to do - I picked up the phone and called DD. I did not know what I needed from her but I knew at that second I needed to hear her voice. We made plans for her to bring SR over Saturday afternoon so that she could be with KM and DD could be with me.
An unbelievable feeling of calm came over me and I had recaptured my sanity!
Saturday morning I got up and had my yearning for spring cleaning come back again so I decided to go with it. KM and CJ helped out here and there I went through a lot of excess stuff that has been collecting around the house to get ready for a donation run. DD called and said everything still looked good and they would be over later in the afternoon. I continued to wade through the piles and a few hours later I got a second call from DD, SR was not feeling well and didn't think she could make the ride, so DD was coming alone. Well, now I have to break this news to KM. She got a bit upset and clingy for a few minutes then a light went off. I called CJ (who was out picking up something from craig's list for a science project we have to start this week) and shared my new thought up plan with him. His reply was "What every you need me to do!" He is SOOOO wonderful.
So DD arrived and her and I went out to dinner, while KM and CJ went out to dinner and a movie.
That was exactly what I needed. Dinner with DD. I love her so much! I don't know if she knows how much that short amount of time really recharged me. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with her. It doesn't matter if we go out to eat, sit and watch a movie or play card games on the computer, I completely enjoy the time that I spend with her. I am so blessed to have her in my life. Thank you, thank you , thank you!
Insecurities creep into the brain about choices we have made, my new found sanity begins to wander away and I begin to go into panic mood. This has not happened to me in a VERY long time. At the time CJ was at an estimate and there was no way I was going to interupt that, so I raced through my support system in my head and of course the one at the top of the list can't be called upon - not physically anyway. These are the times when I miss her SOOOO much it feels like it was only yesterday that she passed. When Noni was here I could call her day or night and she had just the words to bring me back to earth again. So on the verge of total mental breakdown I sat down in my room and closed my eyes to breathe through it for a second. When I opened my eyes and lifted my head there in front of me was the answer.
I hadn't realized, when I stopped to sit, that I sat down in front of the picture of the two most important women in my life - Noni and DD.
I immediately knew what to do - I picked up the phone and called DD. I did not know what I needed from her but I knew at that second I needed to hear her voice. We made plans for her to bring SR over Saturday afternoon so that she could be with KM and DD could be with me.
An unbelievable feeling of calm came over me and I had recaptured my sanity!
Saturday morning I got up and had my yearning for spring cleaning come back again so I decided to go with it. KM and CJ helped out here and there I went through a lot of excess stuff that has been collecting around the house to get ready for a donation run. DD called and said everything still looked good and they would be over later in the afternoon. I continued to wade through the piles and a few hours later I got a second call from DD, SR was not feeling well and didn't think she could make the ride, so DD was coming alone. Well, now I have to break this news to KM. She got a bit upset and clingy for a few minutes then a light went off. I called CJ (who was out picking up something from craig's list for a science project we have to start this week) and shared my new thought up plan with him. His reply was "What every you need me to do!" He is SOOOO wonderful.
So DD arrived and her and I went out to dinner, while KM and CJ went out to dinner and a movie.
That was exactly what I needed. Dinner with DD. I love her so much! I don't know if she knows how much that short amount of time really recharged me. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with her. It doesn't matter if we go out to eat, sit and watch a movie or play card games on the computer, I completely enjoy the time that I spend with her. I am so blessed to have her in my life. Thank you, thank you , thank you!
Mar 13, 2008
Trying something new! Unit Studies
Things have been running rather smoothly. We are trying something different this week and KM seems to really be enjoying it. We are doing a Unit Study on Charlotte's Web, but doing in a condensed version to fit it into being completed in the one week period.
She told me today that she "likes how the unit studies makes me think more about how the story works." It amazes me the things she comes up with. We were talking today about getting some more unit studies that are focused on one group and working them into our curriculum ever 6 weeks or so to change things up. The CurrClick site listed at the bottom of the screen has a TON of them for really reasonable prices if you are interested.
The Charlotte's Web one is over 200 pages, has tons of activities and is actually free on that site as well. It is a great resource site!
The cool thing to is that since we aren't doing the whole thing now I can use some of the other activities and ideas later and link them back!
I am just sooooo excited that KM is EXCITED about learning again!
She told me today that she "likes how the unit studies makes me think more about how the story works." It amazes me the things she comes up with. We were talking today about getting some more unit studies that are focused on one group and working them into our curriculum ever 6 weeks or so to change things up. The CurrClick site listed at the bottom of the screen has a TON of them for really reasonable prices if you are interested.
The Charlotte's Web one is over 200 pages, has tons of activities and is actually free on that site as well. It is a great resource site!
The cool thing to is that since we aren't doing the whole thing now I can use some of the other activities and ideas later and link them back!
I am just sooooo excited that KM is EXCITED about learning again!
Feb 20, 2008
Boxed or Not: The Great Curriculum Debate
I just started homeschooling in January and I have been piecing things together, it is a LOT of work, but the boxed sets scare me. As one mom mentioned they seem to teach to one particular learning style, what do you do if one part of the "BOX" is where your child is suppose to be and another is not.
KM seems to do really well with visual and interactive learning for Math, needs a lot of auditory for social studies, memorizes nearly everything for ELA and needs total hands on for Science.
Is there a box that is going to include all those?I wish I could take the easy route and get the boxed curriculum, but if I was the easy route type of person my daughter would probably still be in PS!
We have been using the Time4Learning site and I like how it is set so that you can follow it straight through or jump around. Math of course we follow straight through, but the sites gives a good variety with games, text reading, videos, and exercises with full explanations played out so that it is VERY interactive. We supplement with workbooks or printed worksheets and online games when we get to an area that seems to be stumping her. ELA is pretty much the same scenario. Science we are doing pieces here and there with LOTS of projects along the way. This seems to really be intergrating the information for KM. Social Studies & History is where the problem lies right now. We are trying to figure out something that will keep her engaged. She is very good at memorizing (freakishly really), but retaining and connecting in this area is something different. She is not a read the book and answer questions type of child. Mind you she will do it and as i mentioned with the memorization will give you the right answer, but she won't remember 90% of it in a month. I am thinking we will go a different route with it right now and focus on current events, with the presidential election around the corner we can focus on democracies and governments.
KM seems to do really well with visual and interactive learning for Math, needs a lot of auditory for social studies, memorizes nearly everything for ELA and needs total hands on for Science.
Is there a box that is going to include all those?I wish I could take the easy route and get the boxed curriculum, but if I was the easy route type of person my daughter would probably still be in PS!
We have been using the Time4Learning site and I like how it is set so that you can follow it straight through or jump around. Math of course we follow straight through, but the sites gives a good variety with games, text reading, videos, and exercises with full explanations played out so that it is VERY interactive. We supplement with workbooks or printed worksheets and online games when we get to an area that seems to be stumping her. ELA is pretty much the same scenario. Science we are doing pieces here and there with LOTS of projects along the way. This seems to really be intergrating the information for KM. Social Studies & History is where the problem lies right now. We are trying to figure out something that will keep her engaged. She is very good at memorizing (freakishly really), but retaining and connecting in this area is something different. She is not a read the book and answer questions type of child. Mind you she will do it and as i mentioned with the memorization will give you the right answer, but she won't remember 90% of it in a month. I am thinking we will go a different route with it right now and focus on current events, with the presidential election around the corner we can focus on democracies and governments.
Feb 18, 2008
My New Curriculum (Spoof from SAHP THREAD)
This was posted as a spoof after the unappreciated SAHP Thread! SUPER FUNNY!
My new curriculum for the new term:
Reading/language arts = reading the newspapers and magazines to me so I don't have to turn the pages myself whilst nailpolish is drying
Domestic Science/lifeskills = cooking all meals, doing all laundry, doing all hoovering, doing all floor scrubbing (mustn't chip my nails)
Horticulture - all yard work and gardening (can't risk getting my silk designerwear muddy)
Maths = all the shopping and household budgeting
socialising = chatting to the people in the take-away when no one is willing to cook and answering the door to any callers.
Biology = analyzing the mould on the piles of washing up and laundry that's been hanging around because it interferes with my karma to do it
History = watching old black and white movies on the TV with me
Geography = using google map and mapquest to work out the best route to go pick up all the stuff they've begged off freecycle
Handicrafts = making clothes from curtains and sackcloth
Technology = programming the dvd recorder for me so I don't miss any soaps during my afternoon nap and massage therapy sessions.
Child Psychology = looking after the toddler whilst I meditate for three hours.
Zoology = looking after all the animals so I don't have to and have more time for my vital reading session (Avalon romances of course)
Physical Exercise = running up and down the stairs, back and forth from room to room and to and from the shops fetching and carrying everything I need.
Music = putting my records and CD's on for me.
There. Don't think I've missed anything. So what do you think? Will that give me enough 'me' time??? :) :) :) written by melissalumley@yahoo.co.uk
My new curriculum for the new term:
Reading/language arts = reading the newspapers and magazines to me so I don't have to turn the pages myself whilst nailpolish is drying
Domestic Science/lifeskills = cooking all meals, doing all laundry, doing all hoovering, doing all floor scrubbing (mustn't chip my nails)
Horticulture - all yard work and gardening (can't risk getting my silk designerwear muddy)
Maths = all the shopping and household budgeting
socialising = chatting to the people in the take-away when no one is willing to cook and answering the door to any callers.
Biology = analyzing the mould on the piles of washing up and laundry that's been hanging around because it interferes with my karma to do it
History = watching old black and white movies on the TV with me
Geography = using google map and mapquest to work out the best route to go pick up all the stuff they've begged off freecycle
Handicrafts = making clothes from curtains and sackcloth
Technology = programming the dvd recorder for me so I don't miss any soaps during my afternoon nap and massage therapy sessions.
Child Psychology = looking after the toddler whilst I meditate for three hours.
Zoology = looking after all the animals so I don't have to and have more time for my vital reading session (Avalon romances of course)
Physical Exercise = running up and down the stairs, back and forth from room to room and to and from the shops fetching and carrying everything I need.
Music = putting my records and CD's on for me.
There. Don't think I've missed anything. So what do you think? Will that give me enough 'me' time??? :) :) :) written by melissalumley@yahoo.co.uk
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