Hello!

Change is in the air.

We are expecting another baby! This is very exciting for all of us.

My three kids all have birthdays rapidly approaching and will soon be 2, 5, and 8. Where does time GO?

I have my fall lineup set, mostly purchased, and I am beginning to put it all together in neatly ordered rows.

I'm still amazed that soon I'll be teaching kindergarten again. And third grade. Yikes!

And in a short year my toddler will be preschool aged. It'll be my first time teaching preschool to a little boy and I am so excited to see how that works.

Mostly, I'm happy. And excited all around.

Kindergarten redux

I've gotten some emails wondering what I will be doing for Little Bird for kindergarten. I finally have it nailed down and en route.

My sweet girl will be done Sonlight Core A. Along with that she'll continue French, piano, and Latin. For math she'll be doing Saxon 1 and Life of Fred elementary books. For handwriting we will use Cursive First again.

And there is kindy.

Reading progression explained

I'm on my second run through from the ground up teaching reading.

My general method goes something like this:

I spend lots of time teaching the letters, their sounds, various ways they look, and getting the child really comfortable with them. This stretches from toddlerhood to about 3-4.

We spend lots of time reading out loud. Picture books, chapter books, anything and everything. We attend story time at the library for more oral reading exposure. Infancy- childhood.

I also spend time on oral blending games and rhyming. For example, "C AAAAA T says what?" When they can hear the separate sounds and blend them together, we're ready to move on. I also think that rhyming is very important. Lots of silly songs and nursery rhymes help develop the ear for this. We work on this from the time they talk well until it clicks- about toddlerhood- 3/4.

After they can do the above easily, without stress, we start working on reading words on paper. I start with short vowel words, specifically short A words. I also introduce a very few "helper" or sight words, but I also explain the phonetic sense behind them. I believe that too many sight words leads to troubles later on. This has happened between 3/4 for both of my girls.

When they can confidently read CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words, we move on to digraphs and more complicated words. This is the most variable part- Sweet Pea blew through phonics as a whole in less then a year and was able to read on a meaningful and good level in that time. Little Bird hasn't moved to this phase yet, so I don't know how quickly she'll progress.

After this I address reading a little differently- I enforce reading time throughout the day. This falls in three categories- books I read to them (even after they are fluent readers), books they read silently to themselves, and books they read out loud to me.

Having a child read out loud allows you to keep up with combinations that they are having issues with. It also lets you catch sloppy habits, mistakes, and can clue you in on vision issues. I think it also helps self confidence.

Reading out loud to a child who reads well allows you to read books together that they might not pick up on their own. It also allows you the chance to stop frequently and discuss vocabulary and themes, look things up on maps and check comprehension without tossing out worksheets.

Silent reading is important here, too. It lets you assign school reading, helps reinforce the idea that reading is pleasurable and a worthwhile use of time, and builds the volume of ideas that they carry around. A widely read child has images and vocabulary bouncing around that will benefit them indefinitely.

When is a child reading? This is pretty hotly debated. Some people say their child is reading as soon as they sound out or recognize that first word, others wait until a child can pick up a book, decode the letters and tell you what they just read. I fall kind of in the middle. I don't call a child who can pick a few words out or blend a few words a reader. That misses the nuances of being able to use language. I also don't wait until they are able to pluck a book from the shelves and use it meaningfully, either. I would say that my four year old can read- she can pick up an easy reader, sound through all the words, and then retell the story.

But this is the beginning, not the end.

Well Trained Mind vs. the Latin Centered Curriculum

I'd like to compare and contrast the two, and then look at what I'm planning for next year. I'm planning 2nd grade and K4, for the record.

Also- a quick google search for Latin Centered Curriculum 2nd grade didn't really turn up any blogs with a detailed listing! I'm actually pretty surprised. All you LCC bloggers need to put more out there, OK?

2nd grade:

Well Trained Mind subject areas
Language- Spelling, cursive, reading/notebooking, grammar, memory work, fun reading
Writing- writing and dictation
Mathematics
History- medieval-early Renaissance
Science- earth science and astronomy
Religion- world religions and family faith
Art
Music

Latin Centered Curriculum Subject areas
English Studies- Phonics as needed, reading, copywork, recitation
Latin
Classical Studies- Norse myths
Christian Studies
Modern Studies- geography and biographies
Arithmetic
Nature Study/Science

Looking at it I see about 14 subject areas for the WTM plan and 10 for the LCC. That's really not as big of a difference as I thought it would be since the LCC is so often referred to as pared down.

Neither one includes foreign language (well, outside Latin) at this age, and that's something that we are already doing and won't be dropping that.

My 2nd grade plan falls somewhere in the middle of the two.

So far I have a rough line up ready.

Language Arts/English Studies- Writing Tales 1, Rod and Staff Spelling 3

Reading- Books tied to the history and science rotation

Mathematics- Saxon Math 2

History- Romans, Reformers, and Revolutionaries, Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia

Science- Earth/space science

Latin- Prima Latina

French- Le Francais Facile

Religion- New Testament and Catechism

Art- Artistic Pursuits

Music- piano lessons

I plan to do dictation and memory work from History and Religion. My time goal is about 2-3 hours a day, doing History and Science both twice a week and the rest of the subjects daily.

Kindergarten 4:

Well Trained Mind line up:

Reading
Writing
Mathematics

Latin Centered Curriculum subjects (It should be noted that there is no K4 line up, this is the general Kindy suggestions):

Latin Centered Curriculum Subject areas
English Studies- Intensive phonics,nursery rhymes, copywork, recitation
Latin
Classical Studies- Aesop's fables
Christian Studies
Modern Studies- geography and biographies
Nature Study/Science

Our actual plan:

Phonics- Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, Hooked on Phonics
Writing: Cursive First, copywork as desired
Math- Saxon K
Latin- Prima Latina
French- Le Francais Facile

We'll also read through Aesop and she'll listen to as much science and history as she wants.

There's been quite a bit of waffling on my part on some of these, and there may be tweaking of some choices still to come, but I'm rather pleased at how it looks so far.

New semester changes

I had thought that I had the perfect plan for the year back when I set it all out initially. After 18 weeks of using the materials and seeing what works, doesn't work, and plain never makes it into the rotation I'm revising.

In math: At the beginning of the year we were using Sinapore Earlybird Mathematics in conjunction with Miquon. I'd read so many glowing online reviews of this combo and so many people seemed to adore both of them. We had already used Singapore's Earlybird program last year, so I was pretty comfortable with that choice, and I was willing to give Miquon an honest go. Unfortunately, we are Miquon failures. I love the idea behind the program, and I think with all the explanatory materials it's easy to implement and add into a homeschool program. Sweet Pea was initially a fan and even was known to refer to it as math games. She quickly changed her mind, though, and didn't want anything to do with it. In retrospect I think she just liked playing with the cuisenaire rods and the rest was a wash. So we jettisoned that and spent most of the semester finishing the Earlybird series, using an abacus, working on skip counting, and basic arithmetic. I then added in Math Mammoth's blue addition series, and that seems to be going well. Sweet Pea appears to just be a traditional worksheet kit. And that's fine!

Language Arts: At first I thought there would be huge upheaval and changes here. I detested Writing with Ease at first. We stuck with it, and it's a good fit and we will be keeping this. Our current grammar program is First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind. I'm a little more mixed here. It's got a lot of repetition built in. When I say a lot, I mean a colossal amount. Really. Sweet Pea seems to be learning and retaining with it, and the poetry included for memorization is nice. I had intended to at least use this through second grade (which is in the same book) but now am less sure. I do think that we'll finish the year with it, and then possibly try something else like Growing with Grammar. I do think that grammar is vital and whatever we use we'll continue regular lessons and diagramming. Spelling is being done with Spelling Workout. I don't know if it's just the level A book or something that I'm missing, but I don't feel like the exercises are actually teaching spelling. Rather I feel like this is busy work that isn't accomplishing anything other then wasting time. I have McGuffey's Eclectic Speller and may just start using that to go through and make up my own practice sessions. I'm unsure. Reading began with Hooked on Phonics and is now firmly in the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. McGuffey's has come and gone in intervals throughout the semester and I see that trend continuing.

Language: I really, really wanted to be that homeschool family- the ones who use Latin from the beginning and succeed wildly. It wasn't happening. Prima Latina didn't fit us. And so we never got around to it. Instead we are switching to a modern foreign language- specifically French. I still don't know exactly what we are using, but hopefully in a few weeks that'll be resolved.

Science: I had this great plan for science. I was going to do it as laid out in the Well Trained Mind- and pull it all together myself from different encyclopedias and resources. Once again- it just didn't happen. We recently ordered and have begun Rod and Staff's grade 2 science program. It's open and go and all contained. So science is actually happening. We will not be using Rod and Staff long term for science, but at this level I don't see anything objectionable in it.

These are the slate exercises from McGuffey's. It's a nice change from Cursuve First now that Sweet Pea has done almost all of it. :) Go Sweet Pea!

It's a princess with a castle.

OK, I'm not sure exactly what it is, but Sweet Pea thinks that Miquon is the most incredible thing ever. She really enjoys it. If that isn't a great review for a math curriculum, I don't know what is. :)

Also, having now read and reread the new Well Trained Mind, I'm at a crossroads for next year. Incredibly, I'm leaning towards continuing what we've been doing this summer and then starting first grade, not Kindergarten, this fall. I'm a little apprehensive, but the more I read and look around at standards and curriculum and what Sweet Pea is doing and what she WANTS to do, it seems like the best option.

In the book she lists these as the goals for:

Kindergarten:

Reading: basic phonics 10 mins at beginning of year, move to 30 by end she is doing advanced phonics, practice easy readers we're doing this currently

writing: practice printing work up to 10 mins a day she prints really well and we're currently doing cursive copy short sentences from model- check

Math: count from 1-100, write 1-100, skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s I'm pretty sure she will be doing all this by fall but if not her math curriculum isn't tied to anything else

And First Grade:

Language: spelling 5-15 mins per day, grammar 15-20 mins per day and 30 mins per day making notebook pages (like illustrated short book reports), 30 mins fun reading and penmanship as needed writing: 5-20 mins a day write short letters to family or copy sentences Math: 30 to 40 mins a day of a program history: story of the world and activities/ 3 hours a week

Science: animals, human body, and plants for 2 60 minute blocks

Religion: world religions and lutheran blah blah blah

Music: begin piano

I'm not decided by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm really looking into it.