Mathiness

Only a few weeks into our math book, and I think Sweet Pea is nearly finished. While I'm proud of her I wasn't planning on shopping for the next level yet!

Wherein preplanning comes in handy

Sweet Pea finished one math book and I had another one ready right away to give her, much to her joy. Strike when the iron is hot, and all.

Well done, Sweet Pea!

Schooling in PICTURES returns!

'Cause I know you've all been dying to see. Right? Right?

Those ghosts are the pained footprints of each on my kids, filled in and decorated.

This week we covered more of the Puritans. We also went out of order and added Leif Ericson to our Book of Time. We read about him. I'm a little surprised he wasn't included in Sonlight's American history, but he was easy to include! Must not forget the vikings!!


Sweet Pea colors these, then we cut them out and write a sentence for her book to help us remember something about each person.



We're chugging along in math. We're almost 1/2 way through the book. The focus has been more on practical math then doing the workbook, though, which has slowed progress through the book but increased our enjoyment.


Here's a sample dictation from Sonlight's LA. We then go through it the next day and mark up all the parts of speech. The lengths of the dictations varies.



In science we are studying the planets. To go along with this we are building a scale model of our solar system. I'll put pictures up when we have more then itty bitty Mercury done. It's not too impressive on it's own!

The kids have been making various crafts and coloring. A lot.

Little Bird is working through a Handwriting without tears book when I am busy with her big sister.
Moose insists he has to color, too.


Sweet Pea's art is as sweet and quirky as ever.


The girls also practice piano daily. I shoot for 15-30 minutes from each of them per day.

Along with this we are doing Latin. Sweet Pea reads daily for school and pleasure. Little Bird is working through phonics. Moose is diligently babbling at us and practicing that toddler mind control that allows a nominally verbal little person to get what he wants and needs.

Things are good!

Math option

For the budget conscious.

Strayor-Upton Mathematics. Book One is grade 3 and 4.

Little Bird

Teaching a four year old to read requires a lot of patience. Mine is sweet, but wiggly and silly. When I can get her to sit and snuggle, she's doing really well!

I am using a combination of Hooked on Phonics K and the Ordinary Parent's Guide. I think I've said that a few times :) but I really like the combo! Neither program requires handwriting which I prefer at this stage.

She's also working on Cursive First. Right now we're working on properly writing numbers.

We are also slowly working through Saxon Math K. Little Bird has a good sense for numbers and increasing and taking away. We have a book from the library right now that uses M&M's for math- it's really cute!! She enjoys being able to eat the problems. :)

She also really enjoys the Little House on the Prairie (our current read aloud).

She's right on track for my goals for her pre-Kindy year. Go, Little Bird!

Initial Saxon review

We've been using Saxon math here for the last month or so. Both girls have been using it (at different levels, obviously ).

Some things I've noticed already vs. Singapore:

• parental involvement
• time
• review
• manipulatives
• level

Parental involvement is much higher in Saxon. There's a lot of time spent teaching and working together, so if you are looking for a self teaching book this is not it. You will not really be able to just assign a lesson and do something else while they work.

Time seems to be less right now. Teaching and Meeting book don't really take long, and the workbook pages are so well covered before they are assigned that it's not difficult for the child to finish. We're doing both pages in one sitting, all the problems.

Review. This is one of the biggest reasons we switched and something I am really happy with. Something is introduced and then constantly revisited and refreshed. Sweet Pea was really frustrated with Singapore that topics would come up, she'd learn them, and then we'd leave them. I was spending a lot of time (and ink) finding or making review sheets for her. I didn't like that- I want a curriculum that has it all together for me.

Manipulatives- I really like all the hands on parts of Saxon. It's not all manipulative work like Miquon (which we tried and failed with) but it's not all book work, either. Singapore did have suggestions for hands on stuff, but as the parent you had to locate materials and plan it out and that can be really hard to do.

Level. I did not take Ewe's advice and go a level up. I should have. Sweet Pea finished Singapore 2a and 2B and I put her in Saxon 2. It's all really easy for her but it is building her confidence up so we'll just go through at a quicker place and move into Saxon 3 by fall. Singapore does seem more advanced then Saxon, but Saxon seems far more thorough. It kind of felt like Singapore was advancing at the cost of mastery.

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.

How much is enough?

I struggle as a homeschooling mom with how much is enough. It's across the board for me. How much math practice? How much time on spelling? How much time on school, on free play, with other kids, with other teachers?

It's easy to feel like it's never right, and never enough. I've been thinking about this a lot specifically with math and writing.

Math is something that I think should be done frequently, without big breaks for primary students. We do math five times a week, and sometimes it's more then that. We are using two math programs together as well as extra practice sheets I print off online. I fall under the, "Deep, not wide" wisdom here- we are cementing math facts until I am nearly dreaming them. I'm fairly certain Sweet Pea is, as well. This is good, though. I know when we move on (gulp, multiplication) that we won't lose the ground we've already covered.

I think it's a fairly widely talked about fact that most homeschooled kids write less then their public schooled peers. It's not all a bad thing. Sometimes kids are pushed into churning out volume before mastering quality, and that's not how it should be. It's also easy to go to the opposite extreme and I'm always a little surprised when I hear so many kids Sweet Pea's age described as writing reluctant. How can you really know if you like writing or not when the process is still so new?

I expect 10-20 sentences a day. It's usually a combination of writing across history and science and doing a writing assignment I've made or or from Maxwell's Primary Lessons.

I know it's more then a lot of homeschooled kids in 1st do- but is it enough?

I guess we'll see.

Rediscovered love

This last week I rediscovered something that I initially loved and then tossed aside. My Cuisenaire rods. Incidentally, spell check shows me that's misspelled, but I know it's not. If you are unfamiliar with Cuisenaire rods they are math manipulatives of varying colors and lengths. Mine are plastic and interlock and have the measurements marked off, but some are wood and unmarked.

It's kind of personal preference what you get.

I bought these two years ago or so when we were doing Miquon math. Sweet Pea loved Miquon deeply- for a few weeks. Then the shine wore off and it was just too non-traditional for us. We dropped it, continued on with Singapore Primary Mathematics and all was well.

The Cuisenaire rods, so important for Miquon, were now something that the kids used to play with and that was about it.

This week, though, we moved on to double digit subtraction. We drew pictures. We played with the abacus. I drew more pictures. We talked. We talked some more.

It wasn't clicking which was strange because Sweet Pea KNEW place values and she knew her smaller math facts. Everyone was getting frustrated and confused.

In a moment of desperation I pulled the Cuisenaire rods back out and we modeled every problem in the textbook. Then every problem in the workbook. We did mental math sheets, then went back to worksheets I found online.

Eureka! It all made sense! All is now right in our mathy world once again.

I'd like to take this moment to thank the Cuisenaire rods. Thank you!

Daily Report, cute book, and grass is greener syndrome

First things first, our daily reporting.

We're talking about the first sin this week. Both Sweet Pea and Little Bird seem to have a good grasp of the basic events of the story. I'm interested to see the pictures they come up with tomorrow!We finished through the 6th Commandment so far. Sweet Pea is doing a great job.French is also going really well- we are incorporating more and more French throughout the day.
We finished Unit One in Rod and Staff English today! Sweet Pea made a super cute book yesterday and we discussed the end of chapter poetry selection. I am including the book in it's entirety because I think it's really, really cute.


This page says, "I write in school."

This is her science page. It says, "I do science". There is an "e" on the end, I just cut it off taking the pics. Sorry, Sweet Pea!


This page reads, "I make books."


I cut the "h" off the end of math, as well as the period. They are there, though.


This last page reads, "The end. Au revoir."


After English was math- something that I am completely thrilled with both what we are using and how well Sweet Pea is doing. She is almost finished with Math Mammoth Addition 1, making great progress through MM Subtraction 1, and making huge leaps through Primary Mathematics. She's really getting more at ease with her math facts. Yay, Sweet Pea!


After that we read SOTW Ch. 8- the Assyrians. It was interesting to compare the Assyrian king with last week's king (Hammurabi) and then talk about infighting and conquering.


And now, for my case of Grass is Greeneritis. It's serious, folks. I don't know why, but LA continues to be an area of discontent and angst for me. I feel so good about most of what we are doing in school- I feel like it's a great fit, that the kids are happy, learning well, and doing fun things. And yet I keep coming back to Language Arts and poking at it, switching around, and disliking my program choices.

We started with Writing with Ease and Spelling Workout, and those we dropped last year. I knew that they weren't our long term fits. Now we are doing Rod and Staff English 2 and Spelling 2. I feel like these are very solid programs. Sweet Pea is learning a lot. She doesn't mind either of them and does the work well.

Why can't I leave well enough alone? Lately I've been looking a lot at a program called Writing Tales and I think that I want to try it. Now the question is when? Do we finish R&S? Quit it now? Do them together?

I don't know!

Subject planning and resources, part 1

I recently received a complaint from my mother about the lack of pictures on here, so I'll go wildly in the opposite direction now. ;)

I have the large bulk of my planning for the first nine weeks done.I also think that I have our daily schedule planned.

I intend to start with the subjects that my girls will do together- Bible, Catechism, and french.


My goal for Bible work this year is to make it through the major points of the Old Testament, with one story worked on per week for the full week. I used Child's Garden of Bible Stories to pick what to do. We'll also be reading it from other sources, as well as the actual Bible, so I think we'll preserve accuracy.


At the end of the week I'll have Sweet Pea write a sentence or two in her own words about the story and have Little Bird narrate her thoughts. The next day I'll have them both make a picture about the story and we'll put them into book form so each girl has a book about each story. We'll also work through the pages of the Child's Garden of Bible stories workbook.


Just for fun, here are some of our "supporting texts". My main goal was resources on level for both kids.


We're also using CPH's Arch Books series.

To coordinate it all I planned out nine weeks of lessons, with five days of work for each lesson. I didn't date anything on purpose- we can work in vacations and sick time without altering the time line this way.


Same format, only math here. I put together Singapore Primary Mathematics 1a (standards) with Math Mammoth Addition 1 and Subtraction 1.


I've put together a preliminary course of study- it looks like a lot all together! Form from Donna Young, my favorite home-school organization site.

Next, I'm guilty of jumping on the current trend of file folder organization. Here's the folder for week one.

Contents of week one- everything but the textbooks. I've already done all the printing I need for the lessons so no running to the computer for worksheets!


And the checklists. A big goal for the year for me is to get Sweet Pea working a little more independently and starting to take some responsibility for time management. To that end I'm putting a weekly list in each week's folder so she can see and mark off everything as it gets finished. I hope this'll help her see what is done and needs to be done.


Week one has a slightly different checklist since we aren't starting all subjects the first week.


And that's where I'm at currently!

I still need a start date. ;)

Writing and math

We're still here, chugging along. Enjoying the hot weather. ;) By hot of course I mean tepid, but that's beside the point.

I've just started Sweet Pea on Math Mammoth's Subtraction 1. I'm really a fan of Math Mammoth and the way you can buy it- by topic or level or both. It's a hit.


We've worked almost all the way through the Addition 1 and we are working on subtraction in Singapore now, so I thought the time was right. It's going well!
We're also doing a little bit of gentle drill on math facts 0-10. Sweet Pea knows them, we're just working on increasing speed now that the concepts are firm.


Rod and Staff English continues to be a good choice. We're doing all of the exercises on paper. I know that a lot of people end up doing portions of it orally, but I like the actual pencil on paper practice that this is giving Sweet Pea.

That being said, I don't know if this will be our long term Language Arts solution or not. I'm constantly tweaking Language Arts- for some reason it's easier for me to just let math be and stick with what we are using but I'm constantly reading and researching about LA. We'll see!

Summer fun while Galloping the Globe

We started something very different then our normal routine this week- we're giving unit studies a try. I've been skeptical about the idea, but I hope to give this a fair effort and evaluation!
We're trying Galloping the Globe. So far, everyone seems to like it.
For LA right now I'm having Sweet Pea write little reports on the books we're reading.
For example, we read this today:


And then Sweet Pea summarized it well, "Katy was a beautiful tractor. Katy plowed the snow. She plowed the snow because people needed to get out."


And then we worked together to map our house:


And then we talked about various terms that were unfamiliar from this really neat book:


See the illustrations? They are really great and about the perfect length. I really recommend it to go along with any history and geography program.


We did math and phonics as usual, but this was a big change for the rest of the day. I think it'll carry us through summer as something different enough to feel like a break without it actually being a total break.

Math

I think that we have the number bonds from 1-10 down. Singapore also calls it factoring- it's basically just breaking numbers down into their parts. It's one of the early lessons in Primary Mathematics 1a, and you aren't meant to move on until it's firm according to the Home Instructor's Guide. We've used the Cuisenaire rods and some pages I made, and then we'll go through and use the workbook pages.
Yay, Sweet Pea!

Baby!!!

No, this blog isn't defunct, despite that appearance. I just had a baby! Baby Moose (not his real name) was born Monday at home, weighing in at nine pounds, even. We're both doing well.

In the meantime my mother is here to help- and a huge help she's been! We've been doing what I'll call Grammy-school.

Sweet Pea has learned: how to wash dishes in the sink, how to load and unload a dishwasher, how to make coffee, how to make sandwiches, as well as doing some phonics.

Little Bird has learned: how to fold towels and wash clothes, put away cloth diapers, and had lots and lots of snuggle time with Grammy reading to her.

This upcoming week we'll reintroduce math- Sweet Pea has been asking for it. I think we'll also add some copywork because I don't want to let handwriting go too long. Sweet Pea has been keeping up on her reading, and is coming along really well with her stamina and is really starting to love curling up with a book.

Lenten beginnings

Yesterday marked the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. We went to the evening service where we shared a meal and then had the imposition of ashes- something that Sweet Pea liked and Little Bird was very unsure of.
Today we began setting up some of our Lent stuff- we have the cross for going over the six Sundays of Lent on our table now- although it still needs a purple ribbon tied around the middle.

We also got a Resurrection set- it's out right now so we can see it, even though it's unseasonable. I'd debating putting it away until Easter or covering it with a purple cloth- we'll see.


Also pictured, although it's not specifically Lenten, is our devotional line up. One top are two of Luther's Small Catechism, then a Bible, then Luther's Family Devotions, a copy of the Lutheran Service Book, and then the new Treasury of Daily Prayer.


School is continuing as normal, too. We started Singapore's Primary 1A this week- I am really, really glad that I got the Home Instructor's Guide. The first lesson was just numbers 1-10- and me cutting out about a million flash cards- but I think we'll enjoy this as much or more then we did Earlybird Mathematics.

Also completed now is Cursive First. It's important to note that it's our second time through, and I believe our last. We'll keep it around for Little bird when she's ready, and for review as needed for Sweet Pea, but it's a great feeling to be finished with handwriting instruction for now! Yay, Sweet Pea!

We're one week in on the great seed project, but so far none have popped a seedling above the surface yet. Still anxiously waiting!

Otherwise, all is good.

Why I am not a fan of Reform Mathematics

I could have titled this a lot of different things, but that's succinct and polite. Two personal goals, met!
By Reform Math I refer specifically to the idea of math instruction that came from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1989. These standards were revised in 2000. The emphasis in this new mathematical conceptual thinking and problem solving instead of the arithmetic most of us were taught in schools with algorithms for problem solving and an emphasis on memorization and solid knowledge of math facts.
Now, this doesn't sound bad yet. Conceptual thinking? Problem solving? Who doesn't want their child to think beyond just 1+1 and into the concept? Problem solving is important in all subjects! America has lagged behind other nations for a while mathematically- so maybe this is what we need! The idea of moving students past the need to always solve problems in one, regimented way sounds like a decent plan of attack on moving scores and comprehension forward.
So what's my problem? Other then being a subversive homeschooler? First- watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI It's a little long, but it works through actual examples from teacher's manuals from two of the most popular reform math programs being used by schools- Everyday Mathematics and Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space or TERC Investigations.
Personally, I am strongly opposed to the early and frequent use of calculators in the early years of arithmetic. I am in favor of drilling until math facts are solid. I also find the new ways of solving multiplication and division featured to be cumbersome, confusing, and something that I don't care to teach my children.
I know that there are some strong proponents of the new math, and that these programs have fans who have achieved a personal level of education in the fields of education and mathematics far exceeding any claims of my own. I'm not here to besmirch the people involved in the creation of these ideas or programs- just to say that for me and my family, and a lot of other people that I've talked to about this, it's not a good fit.
I'm also interested in the long term track record of these ideas- how will kids stack up once they reach university level? How will they be in the job market, the workplace, at home with their finances?
Anyone else with any opinions about reformed math?

Week 24? 23?

I was looking at my binder and apparently this is NOT week 24. It's 23. oops!
Anyway, that embarrassing gaffe aside, the week is going well.
We did page 46 in Cursive First- almost done! Sweet Pea's assignment was writing her name 6 times, neatly, so you'll have to excuse the lack of pictures on that. ;)

We finished Earlybird Math today! Yay! We'll spend the rest of the week reviewing ordinal numbers, money, time, and easy story problems, then next week we'll begin lesson one of Primary Mathematics. I sat down last night with my planner, anticipating the need to map it all out- only to find that in the Home Instructor's Guide it's all been done for me. What a nice feeling! We'll be using the Instructor's Guide, the textbook, and the workbook. We'll also continue to supplement with Math Mammoth's 1st grade materials.


Another spelling test today from McGuffey's. I think that's going to be a good way to watch how she's forming her letters while I decide if handwriting will continue as a subject, or just a part of other work.

I think that what confused me last post on what week we are on is that we are working through week 24 in Writing with Ease. Somehow we got ahead.


Tomorrow I think we'll get in some science and history, and more phonics. Not having actual math to work on will open up a good chunk of our school time!

Week 24, great beginning!

I know that I said not too long ago that we'd be taking a hiatus from scheduled schooling. Apparently, it's not yet time. Taking that part of the schedule away actually led to more chaos and stress during the day, so back at it we are!
We started the morning with Spelling Workout. I am definitely not continuing this next year, but it seems wasteful to not use what we have, as long as Sweet Pea doesn't hate it. She's amenable, so we're still chugging along.


After that we worked on Earlybird more. We did two of the three money lessons, and I think tomorrow we'll do the third. That leaves the review pages and we'll be done! I will say that workbook pages make a poor substitute with money- we have a Melissa and Doug set of play money that I brought out and that made much more sense. We'll continue using that to play store- I think that's the best way to do money at this age.

We did the first part of week 24 in our writing program. 12 more weeks and we're finished with this, too!

Sweet Pea did a page from Cursive First next. We are almost finished with this, as well. I'm not sure what the best tactic is at that point- this is the second run through of all the pages, and I don't really want to be doing a third. I don't know if we should just let a handwriting program go for now, or look for another one, or just correct penmanship in the course of other Language Arts work. I also don't know physically how much neater her writing can get at this age- she is still five.

Later today we'll do the Ordinary Parent's Guide and catechism, and that'll round out the day.

Sweet Pea's new book that she is reading to herself (with help as needed) is Little House on Rocky Ridge.

End in sight

I think that we will finish Singapore Earlybird 2B this week. It's a little bittersweet- this is one of the very first programs that we started at the beginning of the homeschool journey. We started it back when Sweet Pea was four along with the Rod and Staff Preschool series. It's served us well, taking us from beginning familiarity with numbers and shapes to addition and subtraction.
When we started the Earlybird series we combined it with Miquon, but that fell by the wayside pretty quickly because it just wasn't a good fit here. Singapore stuck, and we recently added Math Mammoth, which I think will also stick for a while.
We're not done with math for the year after this, though. We'll roll into Primary Mathematics 1A right away. I'm pretty sure that Sweet Pea will be ready for it.
It's exciting to be moving forward in such an important subject!