Math-U-See

I've looked at this particular math program for several months but never really was too interested until recently. Monday I got the DVD demo that I requested in the mail, but didn't really have a chance to watch it until now. It kinda hit the back burner, if you know what I mean. So anyway, I decided this morning to watch it on my laptop (hey the little girls were watching Disney, the tv was taken lol) It took a few tries for my laptop to read it (had to get the dust off the disc first) but then I got to watch. Well, I'm very impressed with what I saw on the DVD, it appears that this may be a good fit for Melissa. I like how the concepts are presented from what I saw in the demo, and it was instantly engaging for me the math genius. I am going to have Scott watch it tonight if possible so we can discuss it together and decide if we want to stick with Horizons and Singapore for the 2 school-agers or go with Math-U-See instead. I really like how the levels aren't numbered like grades, but use greek letters instead for labelling each level. This is SUPER important for Melissa so she doesn't get upset about doing a math level that is lower than grade level, and so she doesn't get into quite as big a tizzy as her little sister passes by her in math for a while. I also really like the way lessons are presented, if the instructional DVD is done the same as how the demo was done then I'm SOLD. I feel like we may be making a change to our plans for next school year, if Scott agrees that the price is ok since I'd be buying Primer and Alpla both with the rods (including the completer set) in one purchase to try and slow down Lydia in math a bit (she'll begin with Primer while Melissa and I work her way through Alpha, plus Melissa will start alpha a full 3 or 4 months before Lydia starts primer so that should help a bit too)

I just nervous about the price tag, although a lady whose youngest daughter is in Lydia's gymnastics class offered me her primer manual and dvd since her youngest is now starting alpha, so that will cut the cost a little bit.

tentative plans for 2009-2010 school year

We're set to start in June with the 3 R's (reading, writing, and math) about a week after she finishes the public school year, and then in July we'll slowly add in the rest. But here's what I'm thinking at this point (note all my materials that I have to order are available at the same company)

for Melissa:

Sonlight cores P3/4 and P4/5
Sonlight science K
Sonlight LA 1 and readers
Horizons math (will do placement on first day of summer vecation)
Explode the Code 1-3
lapbooking to supplement core and science
violin lessons I think

for Lydia:

Sonlight core K (she'll also sit in on P3/4 and P4/5 if she wants)
Sonlight science K
Sonlight LA K and readers
Singapore Primary math 1A and 1B (she's a math whiz)
Ready, Set, Go For the Code
lapbooking to supplement core, science, and LA

for Kimmy:

Sonlight core P3/4 (and the others if she's interested)
lapbooking with her big sisters


Now, you may ask why on EARTH I'm doing Sonlight's preschool cores with a 1st grader in the fall, while my K'er in the fall will do core and science K. Well, that is because Melissa's not too big on listening to me read. I'm planning to start in June with the 3 R's and will add in P3/4 to do, and in September I'm hoping to start core K and science K. I'm hoping that starting off gently like this will get her wanting to do core K with Lydia, but if she doesn't then I'm not going to get upset by it. The local public schools have pretty much given up on her already, which is really sad. She needs more time to do things, and I know that when she does get ready that she'll take off and fly to where she needs to be. Unfortunately, I'm going to have a hard time with this at first because she is definitely one of those kids who do best with the "better late than early" approach and her sister is definitely not one of those kids. lol But it will work out eventually.

Sonlight again

I've used Sonlight in the past, and we really enjoyed it. I have cores P4/5 and core K, science K, and LA K. We always enjoyed reading to the girls, and for the most part they love being read to. Well, except Melissa. She's not one to actually like books, she's more of a "give me a worksheet and tell me what I need to do" kind of kid. She struggles a lot with learning to read, and despises almost all books. So, we made a desperate purchase. We bought Sonlight core P3/4 specifically for her. Lots of great picture books and fairy tales, she likes these kinds of stories. Anyway, I realize it was a long shot, we knew this before we shelled out the $280 for the package. I will tell you though, we figured that even if it didn't get here even a little bit interested in reading or books, we have 3 other kids that will enjoy it. Well, last week our box arrived (I ordered on a Friday and it came on Tuesday, they are VERY prompt with shipping) while Melissa was at school. When she got home, her entire body lit up at the books. All the colorful covers sitting on the table sparked her interest, she has to nose into EVERYTHING new around here. So, she leafed through a few and looked at the covers, trying not to act interested (we all know how 5 year olds are LOL) Then she came across the Flip Flap Body Book, and she decided after leafing through it a moment that she was going to park herself on the sofa and look at it. After about 20 minutes, I took the book from her and told her to go ride her bike in the driveway for a bit. She grumped a LOT and then went outside. I checked on her after a little bit to see how her outdoor time was going and this is what I saw.

Now doesn't that just make your heart burst with joy? And just for giggles, here's one of Jordan that I took this morning.

file folder games

Yet another one of my ventures now. Yesterday I stumbled upon some file folder games at Homeschool Share, and I decided to print out a couple to assemble for Kimmy to do this school year with her big sisters. I got those two assembled now, I did an apple match and an animal match game. Anyway, while I was putting together the apple on I got the great idea to put together several, and some for her big sisters too if I can find some. So I went to www.childcareland.com and looked through the free files, and found some more file folder games and other activities that I'm going to do with my girls. I printed up a couple so far, and will get them assembled today and tomorrow. Then I'll start printing up some more there that I want and look at a couple other sites that I was told about on the HSS forums (thanks Tristan!) When I get an opportunity, I'll put up some pictures of the file folder games for anyone who wants to see them. *smile*

lapbooking

I've been considering this for a LONG time as part of doing lessons with the girls, and always dismissed it in the past really. I would look at pictures of other peoples' lapbooks and just get so overwhelmed that I'd chuck the idea. Well, now here I am planning some lapbooking for the upcoming school year. I'm going to do as many as I can with Melissa in as many areas as possible because that really is how she learns best, so right now I'm planning out the different lapbook topics we'll do in each subject. Here's what I have so far.

our solar system
counting to 100
basic addition facts up to 9
basic subtraction facts up to 9
telling time
a "history notebook" world tour of different countries
a "my body notebook"
sight words
phonics rules
several "just for fun" ones on some of their favorite stories

I'm feeling pretty confident in doing this, and I *hope* to have some plans made to share later before the start of the next school year (we'll be starting in July, Monday after the 4th I think but maybe sooner or later, we'll see what happens) We'll also do the alphabet notebook at Homeschool Share with Kimmy.

rough ideas for next school year

As you know, I'm planning for next school year already so that I can relax and enjoy the year without worrying too much, and to tweak as much as I want. Anyway, I am doing some unit studies and lapbooking this year I think instead of what we've done in the past. It will be Melissa's 1st grade year and Lydia's K year, so I'll only need to do reporting for Melissa. Now, we aren't still 100% sure that we're going to homeschool, but we feel a need to be ready just in case we do decide to (we're about 95% sure we will at this point, unless I start back to college like we are also considering) Anyway, I just had this huge ah-HA! moment while looking at the Hands Of A Child lapbooks and a dear friend's homeschool blog. She did a unit study on the movie "Finding Nemo" and turned it into a HUGE lapbooking project, learning about the animals in the movie and about Austrailia and even dissecting some of the sea critters they learned about. What if I take a movie that the girls really enjoy and learn about the area and time period its set, the famous people that may be in the movie, animal life, the culture of people there, and such? For example:

the movie Pocahontas (the girls LOVE this one)
we learn about:
the story of Pocahontas
the Jamestown settlement
exporer life in the New World
the indian tribe (lifestyle, traditions, religous beliefs, etc)
the main wildlife in the movie (raccoon, hummingbird, that obnoxious doggie LOL)
maize and corn (their main crop)

The movie "The Lion King"
we learn about:
African geography
african safari
wildlife
maybe even a couple african tribes if we want to
go visit that area of the Columbus Zoo

Do you understand what I'm thinking about? Its kind of hard to explain really well.................. I have it really solid in my mind and know how it'll work, and I know the kids will have an absolute ball with it. I can do this with all their favorite movies in one way or another, and our big science study for the year will be incorporated into it as we learn about the plant and animal life of different areas that we "visit" in our world tour. I'll probably do the Finding Nemo unit my friend did, but a bit differently than she did it, and instead of traditional lapbooks I'll have each girl do binders for their world tour, using dividers to mark each area we visited.