Okay, so school has been in full swing for a little over a month, and we are managing quite well. Things that were a struggle last year, like attitudes and Math, seem to be a breeze this year. What a difference a few months make!! I'm so happy. :) See?
Reading was a bit of slow going last year, but has picked up considerably this year. Again, so happy! Over the summer, I began to see some encouraging signs. For example, one day we went to the library, and for the first time, Ian made straight for the books, instead of the videos. It used to be that he would nag me about getting a video, and he'd let me worry about the books. No more. He had discovered some of my childhood comic books from Scotland just before this, and that seems to have been the catalyst for finding more comic books and graphic novels. I have mixed feelings about the Star Wars GNs, but if it keeps him interested in reading, I'm willing to reserve judgment.
In the meantime, we are continuing in our schoolwork with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading as extras like Bob Books. The Bob Books are a bit below where he's at, but I thought they would be fun, and build his confidence. I was right on both counts. The first day I pulled out the Bob Books, my intention was just to read through the first book. (There are 12.) Ian pulled out one after another, till I finally stopped him at the end of book 4. It was a huge encouragement, just to see his enthusiasm. :)
Even with all this positive stuff happening I have to say that the reading process is frustrating to me. He is learning and picking up things at a decent rate, but sometimes he gets confused and flustered and starts making guesses at the words, and the guesses are SO off-base! So I'm trying to make it fun for both of us, and right now fun for Ian is drawing! So today, while working through our reading lesson, I wrote sentences and stories up on our white board, and had him draw simple pictures of the subject matter after each sentence. It really seemed to keep the mood light and fun, so I think we'll be doing that a lot more! :) In fact, halfway through our lesson today, he said, "Reading is fun!" YAAYYYY!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Back to School
So this week we were back to school. Mostly this was a week for review and getting back into the school routine. The boys did well, I'm glad to say! :) Aaaahhhh, such a relief! :)
Since it was a review week, I decided just to stick with what we knew. So we went back to the Horizons Math, Handwriting Without Tears, An Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, and Sonlight's Read Alouds. Next week we'll be adding some new material into the mix, and I'm so excited!! Truth be told, I really can't wait!
This year's new stuff includes:
Since it was a review week, I decided just to stick with what we knew. So we went back to the Horizons Math, Handwriting Without Tears, An Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, and Sonlight's Read Alouds. Next week we'll be adding some new material into the mix, and I'm so excited!! Truth be told, I really can't wait!
This year's new stuff includes:
- All About Spelling and readers
- Math-U-See Primary
- The Story of the World, vol. 1
- The Story of the World Activity Book
- Sonlight Science 1
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Research Report
We here at Homeschool Digression have been taking a well-deserved break from the homeschooling endeavor this summer. Following our mid-winter move it became more and more clear to me that we needed to take the summer, and get our house in order, literally. :) So along with decorating and organizing our household, I've spent a ridiculous amount of time researching homeschool "stuff"... books, philosophies, publishers and programs. Cuz that's what I do: ridiculous amounts of research.... in everything.
Earlier this Spring, I had settled on continuing with Sonlight. The plan was to continue with the History/Geography, Readers, and Read Alouds that I had from last year, continue using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and Horizons Math, and add in Math-U-See and All About Spelling. But I finally got around to reading The Well-Trained Mind and The Read-Aloud Handbook which both really impacted me.
The Read-Aloud Handbook was such a pleasant surprise. I fully expected it to be a listing of books to read to the boys. That was included, but the majority of the book really focused on the many benefits of reading aloud. It really reinforced my commitment to reading to the boys, and my decision to stick with Sonlight, since they place a heavy emphasis on reading as an educational tool.
The Well-Trained Mind impacted me a bit differently in that it details more of a philosophical approach to teaching, called Classical Education. Classical Education gears teaching methods to the child's developmental stages. For instance in the early grades, kids are constantly recording all sorts of new information: facts, dates, languages, rules. This becomes a basis later on for logic and later for articulating or debating positions on different subjects. According to this teaching method, I am encouraged to fill my son's mind with all manner of facts, exposing him to Ancient History via chronological history stories, books and then have him tell me the stories back and then illustrate them.
I'm probably not going to follow this to the extent that they outline in the book, but what I liked was the idea of teaching History chronologically, and starting with Ancient History in the first grade. I was never very big into History in school myself. In fact it was the one subject that I really struggled with, but after I became a Christian, I began to see History as God's story through the ages. I just can't get enough of it. So last week I borrowed The Story of the World from our local library to see how I liked it, and I LOVE it! It's not terribly deep and there are things that I don't like about it, but I really love the way that it puts the stories in order, and I think it's a good starting point for teaching History to little ones. I'm thinking that I can still use the Sonlight History books in conjunction with The Story of the World.
Earlier this Spring, I had settled on continuing with Sonlight. The plan was to continue with the History/Geography, Readers, and Read Alouds that I had from last year, continue using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and Horizons Math, and add in Math-U-See and All About Spelling. But I finally got around to reading The Well-Trained Mind and The Read-Aloud Handbook which both really impacted me.
The Read-Aloud Handbook was such a pleasant surprise. I fully expected it to be a listing of books to read to the boys. That was included, but the majority of the book really focused on the many benefits of reading aloud. It really reinforced my commitment to reading to the boys, and my decision to stick with Sonlight, since they place a heavy emphasis on reading as an educational tool.
The Well-Trained Mind impacted me a bit differently in that it details more of a philosophical approach to teaching, called Classical Education. Classical Education gears teaching methods to the child's developmental stages. For instance in the early grades, kids are constantly recording all sorts of new information: facts, dates, languages, rules. This becomes a basis later on for logic and later for articulating or debating positions on different subjects. According to this teaching method, I am encouraged to fill my son's mind with all manner of facts, exposing him to Ancient History via chronological history stories, books and then have him tell me the stories back and then illustrate them.
I'm probably not going to follow this to the extent that they outline in the book, but what I liked was the idea of teaching History chronologically, and starting with Ancient History in the first grade. I was never very big into History in school myself. In fact it was the one subject that I really struggled with, but after I became a Christian, I began to see History as God's story through the ages. I just can't get enough of it. So last week I borrowed The Story of the World from our local library to see how I liked it, and I LOVE it! It's not terribly deep and there are things that I don't like about it, but I really love the way that it puts the stories in order, and I think it's a good starting point for teaching History to little ones. I'm thinking that I can still use the Sonlight History books in conjunction with The Story of the World.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Reading
When we purchased our Sonlight Reading program we went with the Readers 1 program, rather than the Kindergarten readers. I knew it was going to be a leap, but I didn't want Ian-6yo to be bored, and I wanted my money's worth, so I figured we could take it slow and stretch the lessons out over two years. So it's a bit understandable that the reading program has been a bit of a struggle, and at some point I realized I was going to have to do a bit more than just slow down. I needed to do something different. So I thought I'd share my solution.
When I began to rethink the way Ian was being taught reading, here's what it boiled down to... Every week or so, I would put rhyming words on index cards, so we had a flashcard system going on. I would introduce the words one day, then we would bring out the LeapFrog Word Whammer the next day and use the Word Whammer to build the words. (At the time, we were new to Handwriting Without Tears, which cautions against having children write words until they get better at forming letters.) Another day I would print a few of the words on the blackboard, nice and big and have Ian trace them with his finger or with a wet sponge (an extension of a Handwriting Without Tears exercise).
This worked okay for awhile, and it satisfied my need to feel like Ian was learning to read, but it frustrated me too. The process of going through the flashcards and keeping track of them felt cumbersome to me. So while thinking about last year's curriculum (My Father's World), and their use of a "blend ladder" to teach reading, I thought of a new idea that incorporates the blend ladder. I like it. Ian likes it, and it's just so much better on so many levels.
So this is what we do: I create a list on a single column table. I think we have 9 possible rows. Then I pick a rhyme family of 3 letter words, such as bat, cat, hat, etc, and type them into my little table. The font is quite large, so the words are about one inch high. Next, I type out the same words, just as big on a second page in a font called "Trace", which is basically a dashed line.
How I use them: After printing the pages out, I introduce the words on our word ladder. We read them together, (although lately, he reads them on his own), and we use the Word Whammer to build the words for fun. :) Then the next day, we go over the words again and Ian traces the words on the second page. He loves this and it's helping his handwriting as well as his reading. On subsequent days, we do a page in Kumon's Rhyming Words workbook, or supplement with worksheets copied from The Mailbox magazine.
When I began to rethink the way Ian was being taught reading, here's what it boiled down to... Every week or so, I would put rhyming words on index cards, so we had a flashcard system going on. I would introduce the words one day, then we would bring out the LeapFrog Word Whammer the next day and use the Word Whammer to build the words. (At the time, we were new to Handwriting Without Tears, which cautions against having children write words until they get better at forming letters.) Another day I would print a few of the words on the blackboard, nice and big and have Ian trace them with his finger or with a wet sponge (an extension of a Handwriting Without Tears exercise).
This worked okay for awhile, and it satisfied my need to feel like Ian was learning to read, but it frustrated me too. The process of going through the flashcards and keeping track of them felt cumbersome to me. So while thinking about last year's curriculum (My Father's World), and their use of a "blend ladder" to teach reading, I thought of a new idea that incorporates the blend ladder. I like it. Ian likes it, and it's just so much better on so many levels.
So this is what we do: I create a list on a single column table. I think we have 9 possible rows. Then I pick a rhyme family of 3 letter words, such as bat, cat, hat, etc, and type them into my little table. The font is quite large, so the words are about one inch high. Next, I type out the same words, just as big on a second page in a font called "Trace", which is basically a dashed line.
How I use them: After printing the pages out, I introduce the words on our word ladder. We read them together, (although lately, he reads them on his own), and we use the Word Whammer to build the words for fun. :) Then the next day, we go over the words again and Ian traces the words on the second page. He loves this and it's helping his handwriting as well as his reading. On subsequent days, we do a page in Kumon's Rhyming Words workbook, or supplement with worksheets copied from The Mailbox magazine.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Art experiments
Yay! Finally found the camera cables, so now I can get serious about posting pictures of some of our projects. :)
I just LOVE art! If there's one thing I wish we did more of around here, it would be art. Today we are all feeling less than 100% and I had a light school day planned anyway, so we focused most of the morning on an art project. I'm not sure that was what I was thinking it would be, but that's what it evolved into and I was thrilled. :)
My initial idea was simple. I brought out some old styrofoam egg cartons, and partially - cuz I'm not crazy! - filled them with water. Then I brought out the food coloring, which is always a big hit no matter what we do with it! The idea was that we would color the water with blue, red and yellow food coloring and then use eye droppers, medicine droppers, etc to move the colors to other parts of the carton and make new colors.
WELL! I should point out that Shane-3yo was pleased as punch just to move the clear water around from egg holder chamber to egg holder chamber. (You KNOW that there is surely a word for the little individual chambers that hold the eggs, don't you?!! I'm going to call it a cup, just to preserve my sanity.) Apparently little medicine droppers are a lot of fun all by themselves. So when I added some food coloring, he was over the moon! And he proceeded to make various shades of brown for the next hour or so! His big brother, was a lot more thoughtful in his designing of colors. We had a blast.
I brought out paintbrushes and gave the boys some white paper to experiment with, and that was such a hit, that I decided to try experimenting with dripping food color and water on coffee filters, and that was a lot of fun too! We got to watch how the colors spread out and changed, and decided that most of these food color drips ended up looking like a chinese dragon, if we would just leave it alone, which of course we couldn't. LOL... Next time, I am SO going to make my own art, so I can at least have my way with one project! :)
I just LOVE art! If there's one thing I wish we did more of around here, it would be art. Today we are all feeling less than 100% and I had a light school day planned anyway, so we focused most of the morning on an art project. I'm not sure that was what I was thinking it would be, but that's what it evolved into and I was thrilled. :)
My initial idea was simple. I brought out some old styrofoam egg cartons, and partially - cuz I'm not crazy! - filled them with water. Then I brought out the food coloring, which is always a big hit no matter what we do with it! The idea was that we would color the water with blue, red and yellow food coloring and then use eye droppers, medicine droppers, etc to move the colors to other parts of the carton and make new colors.
WELL! I should point out that Shane-3yo was pleased as punch just to move the clear water around from egg holder chamber to egg holder chamber. (You KNOW that there is surely a word for the little individual chambers that hold the eggs, don't you?!! I'm going to call it a cup, just to preserve my sanity.) Apparently little medicine droppers are a lot of fun all by themselves. So when I added some food coloring, he was over the moon! And he proceeded to make various shades of brown for the next hour or so! His big brother, was a lot more thoughtful in his designing of colors. We had a blast.
I brought out paintbrushes and gave the boys some white paper to experiment with, and that was such a hit, that I decided to try experimenting with dripping food color and water on coffee filters, and that was a lot of fun too! We got to watch how the colors spread out and changed, and decided that most of these food color drips ended up looking like a chinese dragon, if we would just leave it alone, which of course we couldn't. LOL... Next time, I am SO going to make my own art, so I can at least have my way with one project! :)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Aha moment of the week.
This week we started reading "The Dolphin Adventure" and it's been great so far. I've found over the last few months of trial and error that the boys do better (or so it seems) at listening to the read alouds if they are coloring or playing with play dough, rather than sitting next to me, looking at a book with few pictures. They are good listeners, but they can only sit for so long. So today yesterday I read to them at our dining room table while they played with play dough. I encouraged them to make dolphins and fish while I read and it worked beautifully. I just can't believe it's taken me this long to really make this a regular part of our school day! LOL....
Continuing with the theme, I've found a great little resource for printed pictures and cut outs, and I plan to make use of it this week and in the future! If there's anyone out there looking for great printables, check out LearningPage.com. They encourage you to register for free, but I found I didn't have to and could still get to the pages I wanted.
Continuing with the theme, I've found a great little resource for printed pictures and cut outs, and I plan to make use of it this week and in the future! If there's anyone out there looking for great printables, check out LearningPage.com. They encourage you to register for free, but I found I didn't have to and could still get to the pages I wanted.
You've got to try this one!
Today the boys tried out a new website I recently read about. It's called RedFishSoup.com. Talk about a hit!! Ian-6yo enjoyed exploring the site once he realized there was no right or wrong thing to do. Shane-3yo enjoyed watching him so much that I set up the other laptop for him to give it a try too. And he had a blast! There's not many games or websites that can completely entertain all age groups, but I think that this fits the bill really nicely. What I really like is that the 3 year old can actually use the website on his own while I'm working with the older boy... at least that is the hope! :)
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