Hi Caitie!!
Caitie said I needed to have a list of acronyms since I'm throwing them around like they're going out of style.
Here's what I'm talking about
IEW- Institute for Excellence in Writing. We're using this. It's K-2. (Smart!) and included All About Spelling (Smarter!)
CC- Classical Conversations. We build out our curriculum around this. We also meet once a week with our local CC community.
Singapore- Singapore Math. Whooo Asians! We love this even though it's confusing to Riley when people have names like Wu-Tang. Logan is doing Earlybird Kindergarten A and Riley is doing 1B (because PWCS don't teach multiplication, division, or fractions in first grade). Riley will finish 1B by the 2nd week of October, though, and will move to 2A. Logan will finish Kindergarten A by December and move to Kindergarten B by January. We love the easy readers that go along with the Kindergarten lessons!
Timeline Cards. So your child, too, can do this.
I think that's it- if I forgot anything let me know :)
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Week 6
Oh my gosh! We've made it 6 weeks! I was worried about my sanity, but I am really enjoying homeschooling and feel like God is really working on my heart and my patience for the process. We're settling into a routine with our school that has allowed me to add in extra activities for each of the kids. This was a process, and kind of an explosive one, since Austin's chief concern is the kids getting "socialized" enough and my chief concern is me not having a nervous breakdown. He's been working pretty much non-stop for the last month and a half, including long nights (well past midnight) and weekends, so it's been all-mama-all-the-time. I know my military friends do this for months on end, but I didn't sign up for single parenting because I know my limits :)
Anyhow, as I'm becoming more confident with our schedule we've added in Football and Art and Scouts (for Riley), Ice Hockey (for Logan, who will start a kid's science class this week and is asking for art lessons also), and Gymnastics and Preschool (for Savannah Lynn). The picture below is one of Riley's pictures from art class. I've included the "before" the lesson picture, too. His art teacher is an awesome Christian lady and she does fantastic work. I know it's hard setting up a business in this economy, but I hope she succeeds because we love her!
This week we really enjoyed our lessons- I think we've finally got the hang of the memory work. Leigh Bortins says you have to "train to retain" and I think it's finally taking for everyone. One change that I made this week that finally made Latin click was that I added in the (real) sign language for the Bible Memory verses (John 1:1-7).
You wouldn't think that making something MORE complicated would make it easier- but this really did. Since our Latin words are all being learned with the intention of translating John 1:1-7 into Latin from English, learning the sign for each word has helped with cuing the kids, and for some reason, helped them realize the connection, even though I'd told it to them 100 times.
For our history this week, we've been working on the Louisiana Purchase. In addition to reading from our What Your Child Needs to Know books, we also used several websites, including this one which has an interactive trail map with excerpts of journals from Lewis and Clark and this one which has a kind of "follow the adventure" game. We also got to go meet up with some of our Classical Conversations friends for a history craft day. We made trail journals by coloring a picture of Lewis and Clark (actually Sacagewea and Charbonneau with Lewis and Clark in the background) and then bound several pieces of paper inside with string. Most of the kids were much younger than Riley, but he loves to draw and we added some difficulty to the activity together by having him copy pictures of actual discoveries Lewis and Clark made along their trek rather than just drawing random objects like the younger kids were doing. We found a great list on Wikipedia here.
Math is still skip counting for CC, we're on 11 and 12 and Riley is kicking butt at it, finally! In our Singapore math, Riley blew through intro fractions and intro time (he's done them before with me) and did a review chapter today, which he was great at. His approach to some word problems cracks me up because he sets them up like algebra problems __ +9 = 15 and then fills in the blank. Logan is still struggling with ordering numbers in sequences that don't start with 1. Counting should start with 1. It's just that he needs the natural order of things to be followed. We're getting there.
For English we're trucking along with our Insitute for Writing Excellence, Teach Your Child to Read, and All About Spelling. Riley has finally hit a point in his reading where he's excited to do it. Yesterday we ended a chapter of his current Magic Treehouse book in a particularly exciting place and he looked ahead at how many pages the next chapter was- it was 8- and trucked ahead anyway. Usually 8 pages would elicit a groan, but he was finally hitting a good stride and was too excited to see what happened to care about the length of the page. He also read a book to me about the growth of apples since we're going to pick apples on Friday after preschool. I couldn't let fall go by without some of my favorites. Also, Logan has some great, meticulous handwriting going. It's very exciting since Riley writes like a doctor.
Science this week was the digestive system. We enjoyed a Bill Nye as well as using this website. Logan drew a most excellent picture of the digestive system, including a butt. I am so scared to leave him alone in his class tomorrow for fear he'll end his memory work "small intestine, large intestine AND THEN YOU POOP!!!!!!!"
Sigh. He can't be the only one with a mastery of that component of digestion, right?
Geography was more states and capitals. We're to the middle of the US now, which is exciting!
I think that's it...oh, we finally got our history timeline cards. For next week I'm going to get some banner paper and make a giant timeline on our wall for us to add events to as we've memorized them in order. They've got the first 16 down cold, and the 8 we're on this week. The middle, well, it's a little fuzzy- they can do it with the pictures on the cards, but not just from memory. I blame that on my inability to get the flashcards in until now.
I also splurged and purchased the rest of History of the World on CD. We still love it and the kids love finding the week's history (and then the timeline history) on the CDs during lunch. They're retaining the information and I get to STOP TALKING for half an hour....well worth every penny.
Whew. I think that's it.
Anyhow, as I'm becoming more confident with our schedule we've added in Football and Art and Scouts (for Riley), Ice Hockey (for Logan, who will start a kid's science class this week and is asking for art lessons also), and Gymnastics and Preschool (for Savannah Lynn). The picture below is one of Riley's pictures from art class. I've included the "before" the lesson picture, too. His art teacher is an awesome Christian lady and she does fantastic work. I know it's hard setting up a business in this economy, but I hope she succeeds because we love her!
This week we really enjoyed our lessons- I think we've finally got the hang of the memory work. Leigh Bortins says you have to "train to retain" and I think it's finally taking for everyone. One change that I made this week that finally made Latin click was that I added in the (real) sign language for the Bible Memory verses (John 1:1-7).
You wouldn't think that making something MORE complicated would make it easier- but this really did. Since our Latin words are all being learned with the intention of translating John 1:1-7 into Latin from English, learning the sign for each word has helped with cuing the kids, and for some reason, helped them realize the connection, even though I'd told it to them 100 times.
For our history this week, we've been working on the Louisiana Purchase. In addition to reading from our What Your Child Needs to Know books, we also used several websites, including this one which has an interactive trail map with excerpts of journals from Lewis and Clark and this one which has a kind of "follow the adventure" game. We also got to go meet up with some of our Classical Conversations friends for a history craft day. We made trail journals by coloring a picture of Lewis and Clark (actually Sacagewea and Charbonneau with Lewis and Clark in the background) and then bound several pieces of paper inside with string. Most of the kids were much younger than Riley, but he loves to draw and we added some difficulty to the activity together by having him copy pictures of actual discoveries Lewis and Clark made along their trek rather than just drawing random objects like the younger kids were doing. We found a great list on Wikipedia here.
Math is still skip counting for CC, we're on 11 and 12 and Riley is kicking butt at it, finally! In our Singapore math, Riley blew through intro fractions and intro time (he's done them before with me) and did a review chapter today, which he was great at. His approach to some word problems cracks me up because he sets them up like algebra problems __ +9 = 15 and then fills in the blank. Logan is still struggling with ordering numbers in sequences that don't start with 1. Counting should start with 1. It's just that he needs the natural order of things to be followed. We're getting there.
For English we're trucking along with our Insitute for Writing Excellence, Teach Your Child to Read, and All About Spelling. Riley has finally hit a point in his reading where he's excited to do it. Yesterday we ended a chapter of his current Magic Treehouse book in a particularly exciting place and he looked ahead at how many pages the next chapter was- it was 8- and trucked ahead anyway. Usually 8 pages would elicit a groan, but he was finally hitting a good stride and was too excited to see what happened to care about the length of the page. He also read a book to me about the growth of apples since we're going to pick apples on Friday after preschool. I couldn't let fall go by without some of my favorites. Also, Logan has some great, meticulous handwriting going. It's very exciting since Riley writes like a doctor.
Science this week was the digestive system. We enjoyed a Bill Nye as well as using this website. Logan drew a most excellent picture of the digestive system, including a butt. I am so scared to leave him alone in his class tomorrow for fear he'll end his memory work "small intestine, large intestine AND THEN YOU POOP!!!!!!!"
Sigh. He can't be the only one with a mastery of that component of digestion, right?
Geography was more states and capitals. We're to the middle of the US now, which is exciting!
I think that's it...oh, we finally got our history timeline cards. For next week I'm going to get some banner paper and make a giant timeline on our wall for us to add events to as we've memorized them in order. They've got the first 16 down cold, and the 8 we're on this week. The middle, well, it's a little fuzzy- they can do it with the pictures on the cards, but not just from memory. I blame that on my inability to get the flashcards in until now.
I also splurged and purchased the rest of History of the World on CD. We still love it and the kids love finding the week's history (and then the timeline history) on the CDs during lunch. They're retaining the information and I get to STOP TALKING for half an hour....well worth every penny.
Whew. I think that's it.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Week 5
Oh look, I have a plan. And I'm writing again, good for me!
So, here's an overview of the last two days:
Monday (History!)
Memory work, Reading, Math (Logan- order of numbers and generating written numbers from memory, Riley- finishing multiplication), History (listen to Story of the World, Coloring projects on the great seal and the flag), Writing (Katie Marie joined us!), Football
Tuesday (Science!)
Memory work, Reading, Math (Logan- popsicle stick number line, copying numbers, Riley, intro to division), Science (Smell/Taste experiment- which foods can we smell and identify, which can we taste (hold your nose!) and identify when we're blindfolded), Impromptu science because I taught them about the glass armonica.....every wine glass in my house is full of varying levels of water. Riley's recording water levels he's tried on a stick. It's cute.
So, here's an overview of the last two days:
Monday (History!)
Memory work, Reading, Math (Logan- order of numbers and generating written numbers from memory, Riley- finishing multiplication), History (listen to Story of the World, Coloring projects on the great seal and the flag), Writing (Katie Marie joined us!), Football
Tuesday (Science!)
Memory work, Reading, Math (Logan- popsicle stick number line, copying numbers, Riley, intro to division), Science (Smell/Taste experiment- which foods can we smell and identify, which can we taste (hold your nose!) and identify when we're blindfolded), Impromptu science because I taught them about the glass armonica.....every wine glass in my house is full of varying levels of water. Riley's recording water levels he's tried on a stick. It's cute.
Monday, September 19, 2011
In Which We Wonder If We Care...
Logan and Riley have been doing a little bit of complaining lately. Riley feels like the work we do at home is grossly unfair because "I know it's more work than my friends are doing at school". I know it is, too, but that's why we're doing this. We believe that they're capable of more.
Today, driving Savannah Lynn to preschool, Logan bellowed that he wanted to go to preschool, too, and he wanted to go to Kindergarten at Riley's old school because he doesn't like being home.
I was totally crushed.
But then I got it together and asked him why. Apparently he's been taking in a few mentoring lessons from his brother. "School is easier and all you have to do is sit with your friends and then you go to recess and sometimes you do math. It's just easy. I like easy things."
Well.....I've thought about it, and your complaints have been registered. But, I don't care. Hopefully your future therapists will understand.
I really am working to make sure I include provisions for (especially Riley) the kids. When Riley wanted to be in a cub scout den with 2 of his former classmates, for example, I moved him. I'm trying to make sure we have adequate social interaction and that the kids get time away from me. I really am. But sometimes, I guess I need to know what's best for them, and let them vent without absorbing it :)
Today, driving Savannah Lynn to preschool, Logan bellowed that he wanted to go to preschool, too, and he wanted to go to Kindergarten at Riley's old school because he doesn't like being home.
I was totally crushed.
But then I got it together and asked him why. Apparently he's been taking in a few mentoring lessons from his brother. "School is easier and all you have to do is sit with your friends and then you go to recess and sometimes you do math. It's just easy. I like easy things."
Well.....I've thought about it, and your complaints have been registered. But, I don't care. Hopefully your future therapists will understand.
I really am working to make sure I include provisions for (especially Riley) the kids. When Riley wanted to be in a cub scout den with 2 of his former classmates, for example, I moved him. I'm trying to make sure we have adequate social interaction and that the kids get time away from me. I really am. But sometimes, I guess I need to know what's best for them, and let them vent without absorbing it :)
Friday, September 16, 2011
In Which We Have A Decent Week
Adjusting to homeschooling has been tough. Especially for the part of me that wants to "do" school at home. But I'm getting better. We're on Week 4 of Classical Conversations, and it's going well. The kids are struggling a little with the English grammar (because it's all basically the same) and the end of a few of the skip counting songs (4, 7, and 8). They rock out at history, science, and Latin.
This week, we learned:
History- In 1776 the Continental Congress published the Declaration of Independence, in Philadelphia, announcing the colonists' intent to form a new nation.
We read about the Declaration of Independence in our "What Your 1st Grader Needs to Know Book" and also read the declaration itself. I found a great children's version with pictures that help convey the meaning of some of the rather long and outdated words. We wrote with quill pens (straws cut on an angle and some found feathers by my little outdoorsmen) and kool-aid ink, copying the first few lines of the declaration as copywork. We took a field trip to Philadelphia with our friend Katie Marie and her mom Jennifer and actually saw where this all happened. We learned about the Articles of Confederation (fail) and the Constitution (win!). Our CC group had a "Birthday for America" celebration. We got a great workbook from the park service and did a few activities each day.
Math- Skip counting the 7's and the 8's.
Riley is finishing up Singapore Chapter 4 on multiplication. He's done great at it and I have to say the skip counting works, he naturally made the connection that "If I skip count the 4s 3 times it's like 4x3". Win! Logan is really struggling with his chapter 4 and will continue it next week with some additional resources. It's the written numbers 1-10. Logan hates to write, and while he can match the numbers and identify them on flash cards, generating the numbers from memory into a written number on the page isn't really going his way. He's great at 1, 0, 3, 5, and 8. The others, not so consistent. I have a few fun games and handwriting activities in mind to help him get done. We've been doing a chapter a week, not because I want to over-push the kids, but because that's been the pace at which they are working. If they don't get it, I obviously slow them down. If it's easy and they understand it, then we keep going! We test on Fridays to ensure we have it down.
Science- The 3 parts of the nervous system are the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.
Our science project at CC was about lung capacity. Not surprisingly, my children are full of hot air. At home, we've also been doing some crystal work (because Logan wanted to) and made halite by dissolving equal parts of salt in water and then pouring it into a glass dish until the water evaporated out. Additionally, our chicken bones we made in August were ready (place clean bones in vinegar in a mason jar. let sit covered for 4-6 weeks. enjoy tying in nots and bending!). Riley would like to extend that experiment by re-mineralizing the bones. I don't think it'll work, but he wants to try some mineral-infused water, milk, and a control. I love that he knows the parts of the process, so we'll start that this weekend! We did a bunch of fun library reading on crystals.
Latin- Latin Verbs from John 1:1-6
English Grammar- The principal parts of a verb are, infinitive, present, past, present participle, past participle.
We're also using the Institute for Writing Excellence series for primary ages K-2. Logan does the K work and Riley started with the 2nd half of 1st grade since he didn't get any of it last year. Logan is doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and is on lesson 58. He's started sight-word readers and flash cards for sight words (to improve his speed, not because I want him to memorize words as a method to learn to read) and is doing well. He learns handwriting from the IWE as well as does copywork and story summaries and a daily journal. Riley is reading the Magic Treehouse books and will finish the pirate one tonight and start on the Revolutionary War one we bought in Philly. His reading has improved greatly, I'm very proud of him. He's also doing spelling from IWE and is doing very well on it. I liked this program because it teaches a lot of the reading and phonics rules that he never got. He likes it because it's very hands on with lots of manipulatives.
Geography- More states and capitals
We also do daily Bible and devotion, calendar, etc. I think we're doing pretty well now and I'm happy with the progress we're making. Riley commented to me that we "do less work but learn more" and went on to explain that at school he learned less but did lots more coloring and "dot the dot" worksheets. I bought him a dot to dot workbook and he feels much better now ;)
This week, we learned:
History- In 1776 the Continental Congress published the Declaration of Independence, in Philadelphia, announcing the colonists' intent to form a new nation.
We read about the Declaration of Independence in our "What Your 1st Grader Needs to Know Book" and also read the declaration itself. I found a great children's version with pictures that help convey the meaning of some of the rather long and outdated words. We wrote with quill pens (straws cut on an angle and some found feathers by my little outdoorsmen) and kool-aid ink, copying the first few lines of the declaration as copywork. We took a field trip to Philadelphia with our friend Katie Marie and her mom Jennifer and actually saw where this all happened. We learned about the Articles of Confederation (fail) and the Constitution (win!). Our CC group had a "Birthday for America" celebration. We got a great workbook from the park service and did a few activities each day.
Math- Skip counting the 7's and the 8's.
Riley is finishing up Singapore Chapter 4 on multiplication. He's done great at it and I have to say the skip counting works, he naturally made the connection that "If I skip count the 4s 3 times it's like 4x3". Win! Logan is really struggling with his chapter 4 and will continue it next week with some additional resources. It's the written numbers 1-10. Logan hates to write, and while he can match the numbers and identify them on flash cards, generating the numbers from memory into a written number on the page isn't really going his way. He's great at 1, 0, 3, 5, and 8. The others, not so consistent. I have a few fun games and handwriting activities in mind to help him get done. We've been doing a chapter a week, not because I want to over-push the kids, but because that's been the pace at which they are working. If they don't get it, I obviously slow them down. If it's easy and they understand it, then we keep going! We test on Fridays to ensure we have it down.
Science- The 3 parts of the nervous system are the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.
Our science project at CC was about lung capacity. Not surprisingly, my children are full of hot air. At home, we've also been doing some crystal work (because Logan wanted to) and made halite by dissolving equal parts of salt in water and then pouring it into a glass dish until the water evaporated out. Additionally, our chicken bones we made in August were ready (place clean bones in vinegar in a mason jar. let sit covered for 4-6 weeks. enjoy tying in nots and bending!). Riley would like to extend that experiment by re-mineralizing the bones. I don't think it'll work, but he wants to try some mineral-infused water, milk, and a control. I love that he knows the parts of the process, so we'll start that this weekend! We did a bunch of fun library reading on crystals.
Latin- Latin Verbs from John 1:1-6
English Grammar- The principal parts of a verb are, infinitive, present, past, present participle, past participle.
We're also using the Institute for Writing Excellence series for primary ages K-2. Logan does the K work and Riley started with the 2nd half of 1st grade since he didn't get any of it last year. Logan is doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and is on lesson 58. He's started sight-word readers and flash cards for sight words (to improve his speed, not because I want him to memorize words as a method to learn to read) and is doing well. He learns handwriting from the IWE as well as does copywork and story summaries and a daily journal. Riley is reading the Magic Treehouse books and will finish the pirate one tonight and start on the Revolutionary War one we bought in Philly. His reading has improved greatly, I'm very proud of him. He's also doing spelling from IWE and is doing very well on it. I liked this program because it teaches a lot of the reading and phonics rules that he never got. He likes it because it's very hands on with lots of manipulatives.
Geography- More states and capitals
We also do daily Bible and devotion, calendar, etc. I think we're doing pretty well now and I'm happy with the progress we're making. Riley commented to me that we "do less work but learn more" and went on to explain that at school he learned less but did lots more coloring and "dot the dot" worksheets. I bought him a dot to dot workbook and he feels much better now ;)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
In Which We Plan...
Menu Planning Monday
It's been something like the seven plagues here this week. Mice, flooding, ants, dog tearing into a purse (in his defense, his loving young owners neglected to give him his morning OR evening food. I haven't had to remind them in months so I didn't even think about it. My purse always has a granola bar or two for the kids, and he was hungry!) and, of course, there's the overtime my husband's been working, which is throwing me off, too.
Hopefully being prepared will help!
Breakfasts:
Greek Yogurt Parfaits with Bananas and Granola
Muffins (we're baking for the freezer this week as part of our lesson on fractions. We'll be making pumpkin spice with cream cheese filling, blueberry crumb, cranberry orange, and lemon poppyseed)
Scrambled Eggs
English Muffins with Jelly and Butter
Lunches:
Leftover chicken sandwiches
Macaroni and Cheese and Green Beans
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Dinner Leftovers
Grammy Salad (allowed to soak in vinegar and olive oil for 15 minutes the way my grandma did) for momma
Dinners:
Vegetable stir fry with brown rice
Mushroom, Barley, and Kale Soup (similar to this one)
Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Oven Fries and Horseradish Creme dipping sauce
BBQ Chicken sandwiches from the crock pot (Football/Scout night)
Leftovers
Homemade Bagel Pizzas
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