New thoughts for school

Things have slowly been changing with Cyan this New Year... she is reading much faster and easier lately. And I think it has to do with her reading less. Yes, you read that right, I am having her read LESS. At the start of this year, I was frustrated by her lack of quick reading (she had all the rules down, it just took her forever!). So each time we would come across a 'learning opportunity' for her to read, I would jump at it with gusto.

But it has been 5 months...

and she is still a pokey Jane reader.

Two weeks ago I was reading the Workbox System Guide for the second time, and Sue mentioned to be careful about how many subjects you are asking your children to do at one time. Especially if those subjects are emergent subjects (skills that are not quite mastered). I realised that by asking Cyan to read while she was working on other subjects, I was overloading her little brain. So now, on her workbox, she has a 'work with mom' note on any subject that she may have to read more than one sentence... and then I read it to her. It may seem like good practice to make kids read the math problems, or instructions on their other assignments, but with Cyan, it was making her more reluctant to read during 'reading', which honestly, was inhibiting her learning a lot more than I thought it was. And making the other subjects doubly hard for her, because she is trying to figure out what 1/2 of 6 is, on top of trying to figure out what those words on the page mean, on top of trying to make sure she writes it in the correct place, on top of getting her 3's to face the correct way, etc. How confusing! It ended up that she wasn't really liking any subject. She would do it, but it would take her forever, and she would often loose track of where she was on the page, or what she was supposed to be doing because she was too busy deciphering the words.

So now, when she asks me what something says in another subject, I read it to her. I have found that this leaves her mind more refreshed when I ask her to read because she hasn't been stretching those same muscles for every other subject... and guess what? IT'S WORKING! She has been reading up a storm, and much faster than usual.

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My teen and I have been plugging away at school lately. Some newly emerging personality traits (completely normal for the age, yet terribly annoying for the mama) have made the last few weeks difficult to say the least. But somehow, we have managed to do school nearly every day. Alex is FLYING through math right now, and when he is done with their curriculum for this year, I am planning a set of fun things for him to finish out the year with instead of moving on to the next level (considering he is already over a year ahead of his 'grade level'). I have decided that he is going to start Life of Fred. A lot of the series will be a review with Alex finishing up his first year of Algebra in the next few weeks. But there are ways that Fred teaches math, that many other curriculum's just miss... it is PACKED full of real life applications of things like geometry and algebra, fractions and statistics. I believe that children learning things more than one way is very helpful, and I am excited to see how he does with this new way of learning.

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I wanted to share in the brilliance of this idea:

Ikea Trofast system workboxes

I am planning on switching to this system for my entire family come Tax Return time. These boxes are much spendier than the plastic shoe boxes, and I am thinking of getting two for Alex, one for Cyan, and one for Logan. That is about $300. YIKES! But I think it will be the perfect system for our family, and if it doesn't work out... these systems are perfect for small toys, even clothes. I have no fear that they will go to waste whatsoever. It makes spending the money a bit easier when you know that even if they don't work for what you want them for, they will work in your household. :)

Logan has been SO interested in doing school lately, that I think giving him a set of boxes with preschool play stuff in it will really help with his behavior during our study time. I have been compiling lists of activities that I could add to his workboxes that are gentle, quiet, and yet enough 'work' to keep him busy while we get our school work done. And of course, there is always the 'work with mom' card... where I can put games and things for us to do together. He would LOVE that.

I am really excited about this idea. I am revamping the entire homeschool closet to make 4 of these fit across the bottom so they are all nicely tucked away, and yet completely accessible for all the children. I think I may take off the doors to the closet and put on curtains... that would make it even easier. Hmmm.... Lots of fun new ideas.

Progress review for Jan - Feb

Cyan

Language Arts: She finished the third Explode the Code book two weeks ago and has been enjoying reading full books by herself. Right now we are reading Mo Willems easy reader series. If you haven't checked them out, please do. They are hysterical! He uses a lot of expression in his writing and it has helped with punctuation practice and expressive reading. She is getting faster, slowly.

Math: Going steadily now. Not super fast, but we are working through a chapter or two a week. She is working on skip counting and money in Moving Beyond the Page, and then skip counting and addition in Math U See so they are flowing together nicely and she is having a lot of fun.

Science: Science has slowed a bit now that we are really into social studies again. We have been doing some cooking and talked about the viscosity of liquids, the necessity of doing things correctly to get the result we want. She has also been doing a lot of potion making. ;)

Social Studies: Right now we are studying communities and the people who live and work in them. We have made a map of our neighborhood, talked about community workers, and talked about what she might like to be when she grows up. We are reading about the city and the country and the differences. We have also discussed where she would like to live when she gets her own house. She loved that.

Fine Arts: She is drawing again! I have to admit to loving having a child that loves to draw. She is so darned good at it. She also has her first dance recital on May 30 so be prepared... I just might send pictures. ;)

PE: She is still doing the homeschool PE program with the YMCA, and as the days lighten up, we are spending more and more time outside. I love spring (and it is almost here!!).

Alex

Language Arts: This has been a leaps and bounds month for Alex in LA. He has started to write reports, do more practice and reading on his own, and really get the hang of research. It has been amazing to watch! We have also studied the basics of poetic writing and the different forms of classic poetry. His poetry is really incredible. He has a gift with words, and I am excited to see more of this as we continue into poetry.

Math: We are starting to move much faster in math. The basic concepts of the order of operations have been secured and practiced over and over now... so the problems are moving more smoothly and quickly. Currently he is working with problems that have parenthesis, exponents, fractions, and multiplication all in one. They are complicated, but each piece is relatively simple. It took a week or so to get him to slow down enough to break the problems down... after that, he has started flying. He has completed two chapters this week alone.

Science: We have been working with liquids this month. The viscosity, surface tension, and conductivity of several liquids has been ‘tested’. Mixing things is one of his favorite activities in school right now!

Social Studies: In social studies we are working on Geography more than anything else, although he has been studying the capital cities of states. Learning how to read maps to get from one place to the next is a big lesson for this age. It has been fun getting to places with him though. :) I have stared letting him give me directions, etc... and most of the time we get there without a fuss.

Fine Arts: Currently, his big art project is making pictures of his entire quarter collection and putting it up on a large poster board for his room. He has all the quarters now and acquired them all himself start to finish.

Technology: He has been doing a lot of research on the computer, although the computer cannot be his first resource for research papers. He has also started finding some of his own study web sites. Yesterday he found this site:

Shepard's Software State Capitol Game

He is getting good at finding what he needs. It is pretty neat to watch him right now. :)

Progress review Nov - Jan

Alex

Language Arts: Alex wrote is first real research paper! It took him over a week to complete it, but I think it turned out really well and was impressed that he could stick with it with minimal prodding to get back to work.

Math: We have been steadily moving through Math U See Pre-Algebra and are now though exponents and multiplying fractions.

Science: We have been working a lot with trees and tree identification. We have also done many experiments with snow as we have gotten over a foot of it at times!

Social Studies: We are moving at a snail’s pace when it comes to Social Studies. We keep taking side tracks from our curriculum to answer questions about elections, presidents, and other countries. It is frustrating not to get anywhere in our curriculum, but they are learning Social Studies just the same.

PE/Health: He has started a new homeschool PE course at our local (new) YMCA. He has an hour of swimming and an hour of PE twice a week and he also started Tae Kwon Do twice a week as well. He is really enjoying it.

Technology: He has been really jumping up in the technology dept this last two months! He has decided that he wants to make his own movies with my camera, so he has been taking about 100 pictures, stringing them together and making short films. Most of them are VERY funny. He has had to work out kinks in story lines; storyboard make ups for his movies, as well as the technical stuff like making sure his characters are in focus and putting the whole thing into a slideshow on the computer. Also, his research paper was typed, so he got many hours of typing skills for that as well.

Cyan

Language Arts: We are almost through the third Explode the Code now. She has been reading up a storm, asking me what things mean at the store etc, which means her pace is becoming faster and more confident. She also read 20 books between Oct and now and got a banana split and her very own library card as a reward. She was so excited she was beside herself.

Math: Math U See is picking up again. She is really moving through the work. She is enjoying doing things like tossing dice and adding or subtracting the numbers that come up. It has been great practice for speed.

Science: We have been working a lot with trees and tree identification. She gets excited when she can identify a tree without me. We also did some experiments on snow and how it melts two weeks ago (when we had a foot of snow) and this was interesting because like most pre-concrete operations kiddos she thought that the level of the water would be the same as the level of the snow. It was a fun lesson!

Social Studies: We are moving at a snail’s pace when it comes to Social Studies. We keep taking side tracks from our curriculum to answer questions about elections, presidents, and other countries. It is frustrating not to get anywhere in our curriculum, but they are learning Social Studies just the same.

Fine Arts: She started her dance class last weekend and is really enjoying it! She spends lots of time dancing around the greatroom with her ballet outfit on and showing me her pointy toes. She still loves to draw and craft with me, but dancing is her newest passion.

PE/Health: She started a new PE class with her friends at the YMCA. She has been LOVING it! She has waited a really long time to be in a class with her homeschool group and she continually asks me if we get to go to the Y today because she is enjoying it so much. She didn't get into the swimming class, but I think that this session was a good break from learning to swim.

Cyan's review for November

Language Arts: This month she has started reading books. Simple, (very simple) books to get her speed and fluency up in reading. We are still playing games, but lots of them are packed, so books are easier. The first time she read two books in one sitting without much fuss I nearly jumped for joy! And she was happy with herself as well. She has started the 3rd Explode the Code book and is enjoying that, and we are still working with the Dolch word set... but mostly, she is just reading right now.

Math: She is finally slowing down on the Math-U-See work. She ended up stopping around chapter 8 because there were a few things she didn't understand, and so we have started to work with the blocks again, and have her get some of the concepts. What is funny is that this work is early algebra (ie: __ + 4 = 9 ) so after these three chapters that have to do with that, she may start flying through again... but at the moment, we are paused and learning fun new things.

Science: Still working with nocturnal animals. We will be moving on to trees and leaves. She can't wait to work with the leaves we pressed last month and paint fall scenes... so she will transition after the move into the tree unit easily I think. We finally got our Science curriculum... but I already have another planned out. Not sure how that is going to work.

Social Studies: Still in Egypt. She is really enjoying the Ancient Egyptian Fashions coloring book! Right now we are reading a book about ancient Egyptian gods and their wars for the world, and about the transition from Kings to Pharaohs. It is a fun and interesting study.

Fine Arts: We are studying Mary Cassatt and Mozart this month. When we get into the new house, we will be able to do more hands on art with the concepts and techniques of Mary Cassatt and Cyan is thrilled about that! She can't wait to paint. And she has been really enjoying the books and lessons of Mary Cassatt so far... she has told me that when she grows up she is going to be an artist just like her. Successful lesson. ;)

Alex's review for November

Language Arts: He is still writing poetry, and getting better at writing with his broken arm and often with his left hand. Reading to Cyan has become an issue due to sibling stuff, so we have stopped that and he is now reading aloud to the whole family during lunch time. He has also been reading "Dragonslaying is for Dreamers" and we have been discussing things such as summarizing the material, the setting, and other writing details.

Math: Right now he is working on exponents. We had to take a whole week to explain how to do exponents with fractions, but he is starting to move slowly but steadily again. Once he gets a thing, he really understands it. That is nice.

Science: We are still working with nocturnal animals although I have wanted to move on to trees and leaves. The kids are interested, but still draw pictures and write papers on owls and wolves. lol... so there we sit. I may start the trees unit a bit later and then see if I can get the motivation with all the naked trees around our new house.

Social Studies: We are pretty much doing the same thing as we were last month. Egypt in depth now. Talking about their lives and the transfer from kings to Pharaohs and what that meant for the people. We have had to pack away most of our globes and maps, but they will be back out soon and we will be able to continue with geography as well.

Fine Arts: This month is Mary Cassatt and Mozart. Lots of papercrafting to come as we get more into the life of Mary Cassatt and her art with mothers and children.

Technology: Going again. :) He is using the mouse and since the last update he has beat Carmen San Diego, and Zoogles (a math concept game). He will start his new typing program in three weeks after his cast is off and he has been working with the exercise ball for two weeks.

Cyan's review for October

Language Arts: She finished her 2nd Explode the Code book and we are waiting for the third to arrive. While we are waiting we are working through the Dolch Word lists (the most common 200 words in the English language). We have played a bunch of games to try to get her reading speed increased. She knows all the rules, very very well... but her speed is still slow and forced, so the games are working well.

Math: She is FLYING through MathUSee Alpha. We will be needing Beta before the end of the year... but, it is helping her build confidence in her math skills and that is helping with reading because she can do something, everyday, easily and well.

Science: We are working on Nocturnal Animals/wolves right now. Later this month we are going to Wolf Haven for a "howl in" and we are getting prepared. She is studying the difference between the eyes of a wolf and the eyes of a human. It has been terribly interesting.

Social Studies: We are currently studying ancient Egypt. She is working on finding places on the globe and using an atlas. She works with a map, a coloring sheet of relevant material, and a story that goes with each chapter. We have also been reading books about ancient Egypt and I got her a coloring book about ancient Egyptian fashions. She loved that and colors the relevant page nearly every lesson.

Fine Arts: So far this month we have studied both Van Gogh's life and his two most famous works: Starry Nights and Sunflowers. We have just started studying Bach as well. She has copied both works (in her own way, using specific techniques) and really is enjoying working with the different mediums.

Alex's review for October

Language Arts: Alex is still enjoying the red pen. :) Even since he broke his arm, he has been correcting others work via ABC Animal Edits and Editor in Chief workbooks. He is getting much better at it. We are working a lot in oral presentation because of his broken arm. He has been reading Runny Babbit and other poetry selections to us and has been reading aloud to Cyan. He has also been writing some of his own poetry, and that is a treat. He is actually really good.

Math: Pre-Algebra is going well. He is moving slowly, but is really getting the ideas down very well. Right now he is working on divisions with fractions.

Science: We are working on Nocturnal Animals/wolves right now. Later this month we are going to Wolf Haven for a "howl in" and we are getting prepared. He is studying the difference between the eyes of a wolf and the eyes of a human. It has been terribly interesting.

Social Studies: We are currently studying ancient Egypt. He is versed in using an atlas, finding places on the globe, and has been putting his findings from our lessons in order (timeline). In social studies he has also been working on paraphrasing different types of information. This, I think is the more valuable, for it will lead into him being able to find out just about anything he wants to. We have been working very closely with Cyan, who is following "The Story of the World", but we are also doing many of our own lessons with help of several encyclopedias.

Fine Arts: "Van Gogh is so cool." So far this month we have studied both Van Gogh's life and his two most famous works: Starry Nights and Sunflowers. We have just started studying Bach as well.

Technology: This has been put on hold as he is not allowed to use a mouse, or a keyboard until his cast comes off. But, he has been playing 'Where in the World is Carmen San Diego"