You know its a big day when you send your child off for the first time to their first class without you there. Well, that day for Lydia was today.
Recently, a lady in our homeschool group posted about a montessori-style co-op. It is 1 1/2 hours every Monday for 7 weeks, and kids as young as Kindy age can take the class. So, I signed up my girls for the co-op, just Melissa and Lydia. The lady teaching has a rule of parents can help but not if they have younger children to care for at the same time (those parents, which I fall in that group, drop their kids off for the class) It is an outdoor survival-type co-op, and today was the first class.
We signed up to do the 12:30-2:00pm classes because it just works better with my schedule. We had a list of things we needed for them: a water bottle, notebook, pencil, sweatshirt, hat, and hair tied back with supplies in a backpack for easy carrying. So I prepared two backpacks this morning with the big kids' help to be sure they had everything (they searched for their item that I said to go get and then they put it in their individual backpack) and right after our lunch we headed out. This is the first time we've ever participated in a co-op, so this is a totally new experience for us. I signed them up because I'm not too good at this kind of stuff, and I knew that they would enjoy it.
When we got there, Lydia hesitated at first, but once we got her to sit down on the blanket with the other 6 kids (big class huh? lol) and she started participating, I knew she was sucked in and would do great. So, I took the little kids with me to run a couple errands that we needed to do (library trip, gas for van, just piddly stuff I never get to with all 4 kids normally) while they were in co-op. The little girls both fell asleep while we were running errands, so I was really limited to just doing the errands that I didn't have to get anyone out for (yes, our library is awesome and has a drive-up window to check out reserved books with drop slots for returning books and movies right next to it so that makes library runs AMAZINGLY simple if I remember to log on and reserve books a few days ahead of time) But I got everything done before we had to be back to pick up the kids, so I even had a chance to call my mom and chat for about 20 minutes.
When I went to pick the big girls up, I got there about 10 minutes early like I always do for stuff (I'm either 10 minutes early or 20 minutes late for everything LOL) I chatted with the host mom for this week (first week only is being done at her home, the other 6 weeks will be at the nature preserve) and the little kids wandered off to play with her 3 1/2 year old girl. When the kids were done with class (about 20 minutes AFTER she said it would be over lol but I don't mind) they were just chattering up a storm about all the neat stuff they learned in co-op.
This is a full list of what they talked about in co-op this afternoon:
first aid in the woods without a traditional kit (using a safety pin and bandana)
edible flowers
ticks and Lyme Disease
venomous spiders in our area (black widow and brown recluse)
Yep, major topics for kids their ages, but man they got a KICK out of it. They can't wait to go back to class next week, and they've already done today's part of their homework (spend 20min daily outside observing nature, taking notes or drawing pictures or gluing plants and such into their notebook, also they need to create a small basic first-aid kit that is the right size for their backpacks for the next class and we're supposed to talk about different ways we can use a bandana and/or safety pin for emergency first aid) They truly LOVED co-op today, and I feel great about choosing to sign them up for it.
Future topics that I'm aware of right this moment for the co-op (I have a very basic syllabus the teacher e-mailed me, she said she'll add more in class and see where it leads but will for sure cover these topics) include building a shelter, starting a fire without matches (emphasizing the need for an adult at ALL times when trying to do a fire), further instruction on first aid, basic knots (Lydia won't do too well at that one with her motor delays), and animal tracking and behavior. Hopefully, this co-op series will give the girls a love of nature and maybe I'll get little girls who want to spend their free weekends camping and hiking as they get older.
And to top it all off, I'm getting some badly-needed recharging time each week while they get the chance to learn to interact with authority figures other than their parents, and they are getting around other kids as well. Oh, and they are telling and showing me all the stuff they are learning, and I have a feeling that I'm going to learn a LOT from them over the course of this class as they tell me all about what they are learning.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
should homeschooling be considered a "real job"?
I was reading at the Sonlight forums this morning, and a mom posted about this very topic trying to work it out in her own mind (I think, I didn't really read all the replies) She compared her homeschooling to her husband giong to work every day. A lot of things she said really made me stop and think, and I thought it may be an interesting thing to discuss here.
My husband works 10-15 hours a day, depending on the time of year. Some weeks he even works on Saturdays. He's been at his job for 15 years, and he's not entirely thrilled with it. He likes the work itself, but HATES the people he works for. However, he started at the ground level and worked himself up into a position that normally requires an engineering degree, so getting a job elsewhere is not an option at this point in time for him. He spends all week looking forward to friday night when he clocks out, and then Sunday he spends moping around because he has to go back Monday morning. When he has a vacation week coming up, he starts counting down 4 weeks beforehand and is in heaven the last week before his week off. Then the last 2 days of his vacation he starts moping because he has to go back.
His work record is pretty good. He doesn't call off normally unless he is seriously ill, and he has a strong work record at his job for low breakage and high quality output (he cuts eyeglass lenses) He is good at what he does, and everyone there knows it. Management also knows that he is the sole source of income for our family with 4 children, and they use that to their advantage. Mandatory overtime, treating him badly, and holding him to different rules from other employees are just a few things he goes through.
If he were to call off every time he didn't want to go to work, he'd have been unemployed YEARS ago. If he didn't do as much as he was supposed to at work daily, he would be fired. So why is it that when I don't feel like sitting down and doing lessons with the girls, I just take the day off?
Homeschooling is just as demanding as most jobs out there. I'm juggling multiple tasks, managing others to be sure they stay on task, training people in skills they don't know, and trying to maintain high standards with what we do all on top of keeping things fairly neat and tidy at the same time. I am officially teaching 2 children, while casually working with 2 little ones at the same time. I don't WANT to do lessons at this time of year, it is so beautiful outside and we want to spend that time in the yard, playing and doing yardwork. I find myself giving in to this desire too much lately, playing instead of working. We spend our time playing in the yard and tearing out old nasty garden stuff and cleaning up debris from the people who owned this house before us (yes I'm STILL finding broken pieces of clay pots all over the yard) but we neglect history and science on occassion.
What kind of example am I giving my children by doing this? I have no excuse for allowing this, other than a lack of self-control. Its that simple. I like doing what I LIKE instead of what I need to do. This is one area that I've always struggled with. I lack motivation when it is something that I'm not in the mood to do right then. If I don't feel like getting up when the kids do, I turn on the tv and go back to sleep. If I don't want to clean up the living room when its messy (which is a constant) then I don't. I find other stuff to do instead of the tasks that I need to do. This includes sitting down and doing lessons with my girls. If I am frustrated and not feeling like continuing to try and explain 2 digit addition to Melissa (the current struggle for her) then I will find other stuff to do instead so I can avoid the frustration.
I admit it. I am a lazy person. I don't like doing some things, and I do whatever possible to avoid doing them. Here I am, a homeschooling mom, and I don't want to do lessons at some times of the year. When it gets too hot for me (June-ish most likely) then I'll be more motivated to do lessons because I don't like to sweat. I like sitting in air conditioning in the summer, looking out the window and seeing the pretty world around me. This is one of the times that I'm most likely to read to my girls and spend time doing activities and experiments with them. Then in late September when it cools off again we spend time outside until late October or so instead of doing schoolwork. I'm a seasonal schooler, which allows me the chance to enjoy the beautiful temperatures that I like without worrying about formal lessons. I don't know if that's really FAIR for the kids, but it works for us.
If I am to consider homeschooling to be my JOB though, just as Scott goes off to the optical lab every day, then I need to suck it up and do lessons with the girls even during those times that we would rather be out in the world. We need to do our math and science instead of being on the swingset in the mornings, and doing phonics and history in the afternoons instead of digging in the gardens. Every bit of my being fights that though, and when we attempt to do this kind of schooling we don't learn anything and we are miserable. So while homeschooling is my JOB, I still get vacation times like everyone else. Teachers get the summer off, so I take an equivilant time off at different times of the year that tend to work better for us. We don't take off inservice days and any holidays where Scott is at work anyway, so it allows us more flexibility than traditional schooling. If I want to take from Thanksgiving until a week after Christmas off lessons, I can do that because we don't take the smaller holidays (like the day before thanksgiving, the second week after christmas for break, spring break, etc) But I don't follow a formal schedule.
This may buck the system as far as what others think a homeschool family schedule should look like, but then I don't keep a daily schedule either. LOL I only insist that lunch be around noon and that bedtime is around 8-9pm depending on how the kids are acting and if there's something on tv that they want to watch and have earned the priviledge of watching by good behavior, attitudes, and getting chores and any schoolwork done. I don't have anything set in stone, although I do have a schedule posted on the wall in my home for anyone who is watching the kids so they can take over if needed (the kids do well with schedules if I'm not the one caring for them)
I consider my homeschooling to be my real job, even if it doesn't even REMOTELY resemble what others would consider a job. And I do darn well with it too I think, even if there are times that we take off that others think we should be doing lessons LOL So I guess I have my own particularly interesting view of what a "real job" entails. And if you ask Scott, I have a feeling he'd agree with how I do our schooling because he has seen how much the kids have grown over this school year.
My husband works 10-15 hours a day, depending on the time of year. Some weeks he even works on Saturdays. He's been at his job for 15 years, and he's not entirely thrilled with it. He likes the work itself, but HATES the people he works for. However, he started at the ground level and worked himself up into a position that normally requires an engineering degree, so getting a job elsewhere is not an option at this point in time for him. He spends all week looking forward to friday night when he clocks out, and then Sunday he spends moping around because he has to go back Monday morning. When he has a vacation week coming up, he starts counting down 4 weeks beforehand and is in heaven the last week before his week off. Then the last 2 days of his vacation he starts moping because he has to go back.
His work record is pretty good. He doesn't call off normally unless he is seriously ill, and he has a strong work record at his job for low breakage and high quality output (he cuts eyeglass lenses) He is good at what he does, and everyone there knows it. Management also knows that he is the sole source of income for our family with 4 children, and they use that to their advantage. Mandatory overtime, treating him badly, and holding him to different rules from other employees are just a few things he goes through.
If he were to call off every time he didn't want to go to work, he'd have been unemployed YEARS ago. If he didn't do as much as he was supposed to at work daily, he would be fired. So why is it that when I don't feel like sitting down and doing lessons with the girls, I just take the day off?
Homeschooling is just as demanding as most jobs out there. I'm juggling multiple tasks, managing others to be sure they stay on task, training people in skills they don't know, and trying to maintain high standards with what we do all on top of keeping things fairly neat and tidy at the same time. I am officially teaching 2 children, while casually working with 2 little ones at the same time. I don't WANT to do lessons at this time of year, it is so beautiful outside and we want to spend that time in the yard, playing and doing yardwork. I find myself giving in to this desire too much lately, playing instead of working. We spend our time playing in the yard and tearing out old nasty garden stuff and cleaning up debris from the people who owned this house before us (yes I'm STILL finding broken pieces of clay pots all over the yard) but we neglect history and science on occassion.
What kind of example am I giving my children by doing this? I have no excuse for allowing this, other than a lack of self-control. Its that simple. I like doing what I LIKE instead of what I need to do. This is one area that I've always struggled with. I lack motivation when it is something that I'm not in the mood to do right then. If I don't feel like getting up when the kids do, I turn on the tv and go back to sleep. If I don't want to clean up the living room when its messy (which is a constant) then I don't. I find other stuff to do instead of the tasks that I need to do. This includes sitting down and doing lessons with my girls. If I am frustrated and not feeling like continuing to try and explain 2 digit addition to Melissa (the current struggle for her) then I will find other stuff to do instead so I can avoid the frustration.
I admit it. I am a lazy person. I don't like doing some things, and I do whatever possible to avoid doing them. Here I am, a homeschooling mom, and I don't want to do lessons at some times of the year. When it gets too hot for me (June-ish most likely) then I'll be more motivated to do lessons because I don't like to sweat. I like sitting in air conditioning in the summer, looking out the window and seeing the pretty world around me. This is one of the times that I'm most likely to read to my girls and spend time doing activities and experiments with them. Then in late September when it cools off again we spend time outside until late October or so instead of doing schoolwork. I'm a seasonal schooler, which allows me the chance to enjoy the beautiful temperatures that I like without worrying about formal lessons. I don't know if that's really FAIR for the kids, but it works for us.
If I am to consider homeschooling to be my JOB though, just as Scott goes off to the optical lab every day, then I need to suck it up and do lessons with the girls even during those times that we would rather be out in the world. We need to do our math and science instead of being on the swingset in the mornings, and doing phonics and history in the afternoons instead of digging in the gardens. Every bit of my being fights that though, and when we attempt to do this kind of schooling we don't learn anything and we are miserable. So while homeschooling is my JOB, I still get vacation times like everyone else. Teachers get the summer off, so I take an equivilant time off at different times of the year that tend to work better for us. We don't take off inservice days and any holidays where Scott is at work anyway, so it allows us more flexibility than traditional schooling. If I want to take from Thanksgiving until a week after Christmas off lessons, I can do that because we don't take the smaller holidays (like the day before thanksgiving, the second week after christmas for break, spring break, etc) But I don't follow a formal schedule.
This may buck the system as far as what others think a homeschool family schedule should look like, but then I don't keep a daily schedule either. LOL I only insist that lunch be around noon and that bedtime is around 8-9pm depending on how the kids are acting and if there's something on tv that they want to watch and have earned the priviledge of watching by good behavior, attitudes, and getting chores and any schoolwork done. I don't have anything set in stone, although I do have a schedule posted on the wall in my home for anyone who is watching the kids so they can take over if needed (the kids do well with schedules if I'm not the one caring for them)
I consider my homeschooling to be my real job, even if it doesn't even REMOTELY resemble what others would consider a job. And I do darn well with it too I think, even if there are times that we take off that others think we should be doing lessons LOL So I guess I have my own particularly interesting view of what a "real job" entails. And if you ask Scott, I have a feeling he'd agree with how I do our schooling because he has seen how much the kids have grown over this school year.
Monday, April 05, 2010
finishing up with OHVA
Well, I have figured out what to do when we finish OHVA, thank goodness. Now I just have to actually FINISH with OHVA so that we can get started. This week I'm working with the girls on their writing samples that we need to submit to our teacher for their portfolios, and I'll mail them out as soon as we get them finished. Since we took last week off for Spring Break, I have to spend a day or two reviewing 2 digit addition and subtraction with Melissa before we can keep going forward in that unit. She's been really struggling with this particular math unit, so I figure that a few days of extra practicing before we move forward again won't hurt her any.
As we finish a subject in k12, I'm going to pick it up in our materials that we'll be using this upcoming school year. So, here in a couple weeks when Melissa finishes k12 phonics K, we'll start Sonlight LA 1. When they both finish their k12 history we'll start core K. I'm getting all our materials ready now since we are so close to starting our new materials (which I already have on hand thankfully for the most part) and I can tell the girls are starting to get excited by the change as well.
This year with OHVA has been great, and it has taught me a lot about how each kid learns best so that I can accomodate their individual learning needs better. But I'm ready to move on now.
As we finish a subject in k12, I'm going to pick it up in our materials that we'll be using this upcoming school year. So, here in a couple weeks when Melissa finishes k12 phonics K, we'll start Sonlight LA 1. When they both finish their k12 history we'll start core K. I'm getting all our materials ready now since we are so close to starting our new materials (which I already have on hand thankfully for the most part) and I can tell the girls are starting to get excited by the change as well.
This year with OHVA has been great, and it has taught me a lot about how each kid learns best so that I can accomodate their individual learning needs better. But I'm ready to move on now.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
next school year- SOLVED
Well, I think we have decided officially what to do for schooling finally. I told Scott to man up and TELL me what he thinks, to have a freaking opinion already on the schooling. I started with the simple question of public school or homeschool. He didn't hesitate. He said homeschooling, so that was set. Then I said to weigh his opinion on curriculum, and he and I spent a couple hours discussing the programs I'm considering and looking at them on their web sites. He said to stick with Sonlight, it is a better program from what he's able to see and we have experience with it. THEN he threw me for a big loop. He said that he's prefer that we do core K before we go into world history. Now, I already have a used core K, minus a couple books (part of why I got it for only $50, besides it being a 2002 edition) so that gives me a while to figure out how to afford history. So, we're looking at doing core K with the girls for 2nd grade and 1st grade.
Now next school year is a different story. Thanks to a wonderful friend who reads my blog, I got the opportunity to get the instructor guide for core 1+2 PLUS the guides to languages arts 2 regular and 2 intermediate. I'm going to be purchasing them from her this weekend, and then I'm going to spend the upcoming school year picking up the books for the core and lang. arts levels to do the following year. I plan to go into 1+2 as soon as we finish core K, and will stretch it as needed to last the next school year (and possibly the next school year as well)
Now next school year is a different story. Thanks to a wonderful friend who reads my blog, I got the opportunity to get the instructor guide for core 1+2 PLUS the guides to languages arts 2 regular and 2 intermediate. I'm going to be purchasing them from her this weekend, and then I'm going to spend the upcoming school year picking up the books for the core and lang. arts levels to do the following year. I plan to go into 1+2 as soon as we finish core K, and will stretch it as needed to last the next school year (and possibly the next school year as well)
Friday, March 26, 2010
figuring out some things
Well, its officially getting close to the end of the school year, so we're planning for next school year officially. We are leaving OHVA once the school year is up, which is the biggest change for us. I posted all about our decision before, so if you don't know why then try reading my earlier posts from this month. Now, here is what we're *considering* for next school year.
Melissa will be in 2nd grade, Lydia in 1st grade, and Kimmy and Jordan in preschool. Melissa is still struggling with her reading, but is coming along nicely. Lydia is taking off as well with reading, and is above grade-level in math. Lydia will do k12 math 1 until its finished, then move into Miquon with Melissa. For language arts, I plan on doing Sonlight lang. arts 1 with Melissa and going through lang. arts K with Lydia for the writing portion. So, that covers the basics of math nd reading.
History is a completely different matter. This year, Melissa studied ancient world history and has really enjoyed it. So, Scott and I are considering studying world history next school year. I've narrowed it down to either Sonlight or Winter Promise for world history.
Sonlight has cores 1 and 2, or core 1+2. Cores 1 and 2 are a 2 year world history program, with 1+2 being the condensed one-year version. It is a literature-based program with all kinds of goodies such as mapreading and working on a timeline. There isn't much hands-on material for crafts and such, so I'll have to come up with that on my own. I have experience with Sonlight after doing P3/4, P4/5, core K, science K, and lang. arts K. We went with k12 originally to give us another year to allow Melissa to really catch up with us for core 1, based on my experience with the program. You can learn more about it at http://www.sonlight.com if you want to.
Winter Promise is also a literature-based program. Its early world history program, Hideaways In History, is designed for K and 1st grades. It is a one-year run from the beginning of written history to pretty near current day. There are hands-on activities incorporated into the program, which makes it easier for me since I don't need to come up with ideas myself. I have never used this program, but it is appealing to me. You can see more about it at http://www.winterpromise.com if you want.
Now, both programs appeal to me for a lot of reasons. They both are literature-based, which means they use real books instead of stupid boring textbooks (sorry, remnants of my hatred for my own substandard public school education coming through) Instead of reading a passage in a textbook about lower and upper Egypt becoming one nation after years of war, they can listen to me reading a book about the war and its resolve from a child's point of view (ok really bad example, I highly doubt such a book exists, but you get the general idea) Both come with well laid-out instructor guides, complete with schedules on what to read and when, comprehension questions, timeline assignments (this stuff is really cool too), and other goodies.
Winter Promise is about half the price of Sonlight (that's assuming ONE core by the way, its approximately 20% the cost when you look at the 2 year program for comparison) and is scheduled as a 4 day program. Sonlight, however, goes deeper into history by spending 2 years on the subject if I don't choose the 1 year condensed core. Sonlight also includes both the 4 day and 5 day schedules for their program, so I can buy the 5 day and do the 4 day program instead if the 5 day is too much (which in reality I would just take longer to complete the material)
FInancially speaking, Winter Promise is the better option for our family immediately. However, Sonlight has much more potential for us in the long-term. It is more expensive, so it will hurt our budget a bit to purchase their program, however there is so much more material with Sonlight that I could more than easily stretch out each part of the program to last 12-18 months instead of just 9 months. But on the flip side, with Sonlight I would have to find hands-on activities to help make the literature come alive more, especially with Melissa, while Winter Promise has the hands-on already added in. With Winter Promise I would have to heavily supplement to make it stretch out to 2 to 2 1/2 years, while Sonlight I can easily do that with little to no work at all.
I can NOT decide which route to go. There are so many pros and cons for both programs. They are running pretty equal to me. Please feel free to comment on this situation if you want, I'm more than willing to consider all views on this decision. Scott has pretty much NO input, just "whatever you want dear" whenever I ask his opinion.
Science, well I'm thinking that if we go with Sonlight for history, then I'll use their science 1 program. If not, then we'll study astronomy and plants (Sonlight science 1 covers these subjects as well as a couple others, and yes I do feel that it is worth the money to not have to put together my own program LOL) The only reason I will not purchase Sonlight science 1 if we go with Winter Promise is because buying a complete core package with Sonlight gives me the perk of having a 10% discount and free shipping for 12 months. I have received this discount twice now with the purchase of their preschool-leveled cores in the past few years, and it has come in very handy as we needed more materials that Sonlight carries. Hmmmmmmmm another perk to choosing the Sonlight history program over Winter Promise......... ACK!!!!!!
Melissa will be in 2nd grade, Lydia in 1st grade, and Kimmy and Jordan in preschool. Melissa is still struggling with her reading, but is coming along nicely. Lydia is taking off as well with reading, and is above grade-level in math. Lydia will do k12 math 1 until its finished, then move into Miquon with Melissa. For language arts, I plan on doing Sonlight lang. arts 1 with Melissa and going through lang. arts K with Lydia for the writing portion. So, that covers the basics of math nd reading.
History is a completely different matter. This year, Melissa studied ancient world history and has really enjoyed it. So, Scott and I are considering studying world history next school year. I've narrowed it down to either Sonlight or Winter Promise for world history.
Sonlight has cores 1 and 2, or core 1+2. Cores 1 and 2 are a 2 year world history program, with 1+2 being the condensed one-year version. It is a literature-based program with all kinds of goodies such as mapreading and working on a timeline. There isn't much hands-on material for crafts and such, so I'll have to come up with that on my own. I have experience with Sonlight after doing P3/4, P4/5, core K, science K, and lang. arts K. We went with k12 originally to give us another year to allow Melissa to really catch up with us for core 1, based on my experience with the program. You can learn more about it at http://www.sonlight.com if you want to.
Winter Promise is also a literature-based program. Its early world history program, Hideaways In History, is designed for K and 1st grades. It is a one-year run from the beginning of written history to pretty near current day. There are hands-on activities incorporated into the program, which makes it easier for me since I don't need to come up with ideas myself. I have never used this program, but it is appealing to me. You can see more about it at http://www.winterpromise.com if you want.
Now, both programs appeal to me for a lot of reasons. They both are literature-based, which means they use real books instead of stupid boring textbooks (sorry, remnants of my hatred for my own substandard public school education coming through) Instead of reading a passage in a textbook about lower and upper Egypt becoming one nation after years of war, they can listen to me reading a book about the war and its resolve from a child's point of view (ok really bad example, I highly doubt such a book exists, but you get the general idea) Both come with well laid-out instructor guides, complete with schedules on what to read and when, comprehension questions, timeline assignments (this stuff is really cool too), and other goodies.
Winter Promise is about half the price of Sonlight (that's assuming ONE core by the way, its approximately 20% the cost when you look at the 2 year program for comparison) and is scheduled as a 4 day program. Sonlight, however, goes deeper into history by spending 2 years on the subject if I don't choose the 1 year condensed core. Sonlight also includes both the 4 day and 5 day schedules for their program, so I can buy the 5 day and do the 4 day program instead if the 5 day is too much (which in reality I would just take longer to complete the material)
FInancially speaking, Winter Promise is the better option for our family immediately. However, Sonlight has much more potential for us in the long-term. It is more expensive, so it will hurt our budget a bit to purchase their program, however there is so much more material with Sonlight that I could more than easily stretch out each part of the program to last 12-18 months instead of just 9 months. But on the flip side, with Sonlight I would have to find hands-on activities to help make the literature come alive more, especially with Melissa, while Winter Promise has the hands-on already added in. With Winter Promise I would have to heavily supplement to make it stretch out to 2 to 2 1/2 years, while Sonlight I can easily do that with little to no work at all.
I can NOT decide which route to go. There are so many pros and cons for both programs. They are running pretty equal to me. Please feel free to comment on this situation if you want, I'm more than willing to consider all views on this decision. Scott has pretty much NO input, just "whatever you want dear" whenever I ask his opinion.
Science, well I'm thinking that if we go with Sonlight for history, then I'll use their science 1 program. If not, then we'll study astronomy and plants (Sonlight science 1 covers these subjects as well as a couple others, and yes I do feel that it is worth the money to not have to put together my own program LOL) The only reason I will not purchase Sonlight science 1 if we go with Winter Promise is because buying a complete core package with Sonlight gives me the perk of having a 10% discount and free shipping for 12 months. I have received this discount twice now with the purchase of their preschool-leveled cores in the past few years, and it has come in very handy as we needed more materials that Sonlight carries. Hmmmmmmmm another perk to choosing the Sonlight history program over Winter Promise......... ACK!!!!!!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
looking ahead to next school year
Well, it has come to be that time of year. Scott and I are discussing next school year in detail, trying to decide if we want to remain with OHVA or if we want to break loose and go off on our own. This year has been REALLY good for us, the kids are really learning a lot of great stuff and they have definitely grown with k12. I also have experienced a great amount of growth this year, my confidence has skyrocketed by having the accountability to a school for our lessons. I have done amazing things with my time management and ability to actually do something by pretty much being forced to all school year.
When we first chose to use OHVA to teach this school year, we saw it as a transition for us from traditional public school to homeschool. We needed the support for our own lack of confidence in this area, although we knew flat out that this was the right choice for our family. I can't imagine having my girls in public school now after 3/4 of a school year with OHVA, and I'm seeing myself learning more about their learning styles and needs and my own teaching needs every day that goes by. We weren't sure a few months ago what we would end up doing, specifically because we were doing so well with ohva up to that point.
As the school year progressed, I started getting antsy about how ohva requires us to teach all subjects a certain amount. I understand why they dictate this, and fully agree that the girls need history and science; however, Scott and I both feel that at this stage in their learning, we need to be focusing more on laying a solid foundation in reading and math. Melissa is dyslexic, and struggles every day with her reading still. She's made amazing strides in her reading this school year, and I know that continuing to work with her daily we will continue to see these improvements. We aren't at all concerned about her not learning to read well; we know that this will come in time. We also know that for her to suceed at reading, she needs the freedom to be able to explore it more than she can right now because our curriculum dictates that she does x, y, and z for each subject and these things take valuable hours from our day. These hours we could spend sitting together and reading books together, building her fluency, confidence, and improving her skills. I want to be able to focus on this area with her, and provide her with a wide variety of materials in multiple areas that she can sit and read to us. Same with Lydia, her own reading has stalled because I am unable to really sit and spend time working with her on it just like I am unable to do with Melissa. OHVA won't allow me to combine the girls into the same history, science, and art programs even though they are only a grade level apart, and I can't teach 2 full day programs completely separately like that. It is hard enough for me to teach a full day and a half day program within the time that I have outside of doing chores, soccer practices and games, cooking, and all the other aspects of my life. I am stretched at my limit with the program as it is currently, and I am failing to provide the girls with all the time they should be given as it is with their lesson materials.
All these things have led us to make a very difficult decision. We do truly love the k12 materials, they are wonderful. We enjoy working with ohva also. The school has been a wonderful experience for us, and our teacher for the girls is amazing as well. We have truly enjoyed this school year, and have learned a lot. It has given us something that we never thought we'd get either: our happy little girl back in Melissa. The public school here in our city completely killed that light in her eyes last school year. She went from an active happy child to a scared, withdrawn, shy child who was rude, mean, and disrespectful to everyone she came in contact with. This in itself was reward enough for us, and has sealed our fate to homeschooling for the rest of our girls' schooling until they enter college (if they choose to go)
So, we decided that we just can not continue to work with k12 and the program as written to make it work for our family at this time. We need to go more independent in our lessons to provide the kids each with the individual time they each deserve for reading and math. So, come June I will be figuring out my notification letter for our district to homeschool the girls next fall independently. We will continue to work on reading and math at their individual paces, and will "lifeschool" for history, science, art, and other subjects. We are planning to get the garden up here soon to provide us with opportunities for science and health lessons, and will read great literature and go on field trips to areas around the state for history/ geography. I don't know how it will work out for us, but I have faith that it will work beautifully in the end.
As the girls get older and their needs change, our homeschool will also change. But at this point, this is what we need to be doing for our family.
When we first chose to use OHVA to teach this school year, we saw it as a transition for us from traditional public school to homeschool. We needed the support for our own lack of confidence in this area, although we knew flat out that this was the right choice for our family. I can't imagine having my girls in public school now after 3/4 of a school year with OHVA, and I'm seeing myself learning more about their learning styles and needs and my own teaching needs every day that goes by. We weren't sure a few months ago what we would end up doing, specifically because we were doing so well with ohva up to that point.
As the school year progressed, I started getting antsy about how ohva requires us to teach all subjects a certain amount. I understand why they dictate this, and fully agree that the girls need history and science; however, Scott and I both feel that at this stage in their learning, we need to be focusing more on laying a solid foundation in reading and math. Melissa is dyslexic, and struggles every day with her reading still. She's made amazing strides in her reading this school year, and I know that continuing to work with her daily we will continue to see these improvements. We aren't at all concerned about her not learning to read well; we know that this will come in time. We also know that for her to suceed at reading, she needs the freedom to be able to explore it more than she can right now because our curriculum dictates that she does x, y, and z for each subject and these things take valuable hours from our day. These hours we could spend sitting together and reading books together, building her fluency, confidence, and improving her skills. I want to be able to focus on this area with her, and provide her with a wide variety of materials in multiple areas that she can sit and read to us. Same with Lydia, her own reading has stalled because I am unable to really sit and spend time working with her on it just like I am unable to do with Melissa. OHVA won't allow me to combine the girls into the same history, science, and art programs even though they are only a grade level apart, and I can't teach 2 full day programs completely separately like that. It is hard enough for me to teach a full day and a half day program within the time that I have outside of doing chores, soccer practices and games, cooking, and all the other aspects of my life. I am stretched at my limit with the program as it is currently, and I am failing to provide the girls with all the time they should be given as it is with their lesson materials.
All these things have led us to make a very difficult decision. We do truly love the k12 materials, they are wonderful. We enjoy working with ohva also. The school has been a wonderful experience for us, and our teacher for the girls is amazing as well. We have truly enjoyed this school year, and have learned a lot. It has given us something that we never thought we'd get either: our happy little girl back in Melissa. The public school here in our city completely killed that light in her eyes last school year. She went from an active happy child to a scared, withdrawn, shy child who was rude, mean, and disrespectful to everyone she came in contact with. This in itself was reward enough for us, and has sealed our fate to homeschooling for the rest of our girls' schooling until they enter college (if they choose to go)
So, we decided that we just can not continue to work with k12 and the program as written to make it work for our family at this time. We need to go more independent in our lessons to provide the kids each with the individual time they each deserve for reading and math. So, come June I will be figuring out my notification letter for our district to homeschool the girls next fall independently. We will continue to work on reading and math at their individual paces, and will "lifeschool" for history, science, art, and other subjects. We are planning to get the garden up here soon to provide us with opportunities for science and health lessons, and will read great literature and go on field trips to areas around the state for history/ geography. I don't know how it will work out for us, but I have faith that it will work beautifully in the end.
As the girls get older and their needs change, our homeschool will also change. But at this point, this is what we need to be doing for our family.
Friday, March 12, 2010
bike riding and spring yardwork
Yes I know, its technically still too early to start on the gardening. HOWEVER, it is NOT too early to start clearing out the stuff I don't want any more and start making plans for how we're going to change it up. So, I started doing just that today. We're removing a BUNCH of shrubs, some are prickley and some are just ugly and those two types are being thrown away while the ones we ARE keeping will be transplanted out front. I also am removing one garden, tearing out my current concrete walkway, putting down a new brick front walkway, changing the layout of one garden completely, and putting in 2 new front gardens. LOL Yes, I am doing all that this year, along with having to reseed at least 2/3 of my property because of that water main break and a few other little issues with some shrubs that we tore out last year (they blocked the sun perfectly so that grass didn't grow at all in half my back yard) Oh, and we're removing 2 old trees from our front yard (one is diseased and the other is a climbing hazard because it isn't sturdy enough and the kids won't stay out of it) and we'll be planting some new trees in their place (I'm thinking cherry trees) All this will be part of our science lessons for next school year, so it will work out perfectly for us.
And on a TOTALLY kid-related note, today we dusted off the bikes and bike helmets for the kids, and Melissa decided that it is finally time to take off the training wheels. She's been at it for aobut an hour now (I love having a laptop and wireless home network) and has *almost* figured out how to ride without falling on her face. I am grateful of the bike helmet though, she's landed on her head a few times already. I have a feeling that if the weather holds out, by the end of this weekend she'll be zipping up and down the side street by our home. And YES, I was smart enough to take pictures of her attempts.
As you can see, it went pretty well with grandpa giving her pointers. If you are on my FaceBook list, I'll have all the pictures from her riding lessons available there, and will try to remember to add another post here when she's mastered the two-wheeler to share some more pictures.
And on a TOTALLY kid-related note, today we dusted off the bikes and bike helmets for the kids, and Melissa decided that it is finally time to take off the training wheels. She's been at it for aobut an hour now (I love having a laptop and wireless home network) and has *almost* figured out how to ride without falling on her face. I am grateful of the bike helmet though, she's landed on her head a few times already. I have a feeling that if the weather holds out, by the end of this weekend she'll be zipping up and down the side street by our home. And YES, I was smart enough to take pictures of her attempts.
As you can see, it went pretty well with grandpa giving her pointers. If you are on my FaceBook list, I'll have all the pictures from her riding lessons available there, and will try to remember to add another post here when she's mastered the two-wheeler to share some more pictures.
Monday, March 08, 2010
science 1 joys
Well, since I totally missed a BIG thing in our science unit on plants, I decided to skip that unit and move on to the next one for now. So, we are going to be studying habitats while we wait on our grass to grow LOL Chances are, Lydia will be joining in with us for the science unit like she always does since OHVA doesn't do science in K. K for them is a half-day program so we only do math, phonics, lang. arts, and history. We are encouraged, but not required, to do health and technology in K yet we get a lot of hours with those subjects since my 1st grader has to do them.
When I finish the unit on habitats, we'll go back to plant life. I seriously doubt the kids will be damaged by my moving around a unit like that to allow time for a total stupid slip on my part.
When I finish the unit on habitats, we'll go back to plant life. I seriously doubt the kids will be damaged by my moving around a unit like that to allow time for a total stupid slip on my part.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
watching grass grow and Girl Scouts
No, I am NOT kidding. LOL We are about to start a new unit in science for Melissa, one on plants. One of the labs involves me having to grow a patch of grass in a container so that we can examine the root structure. Soooooo, we will be literally watching grass grow this week. I just thought that was funny.
But on a more serious note, we are planning on starting Girl Scouts this week. I tried to get them signed up at the start of the school year, but due to some major changes with the local office combining with 2 other regional offices, our paperwork got lost and it didn't happen. So, on Monday Lydia has her first Daisy meeting, and Tuesday Melissa has her first Brownie meeting. Yes, I know. They could both be Daisies, but if you have EVER spent time with those two in a group setting you understand why I am not going to go there. They are terrible together in a group with other kids, they band together and gang up on the others and just torment people. However, get one without the other and you have a child that is dedicated, serious, and a joy to have in a group setting. The troop leaders will thank me if I can pull off keeping those two split up for a couple more years....................
But on a more serious note, we are planning on starting Girl Scouts this week. I tried to get them signed up at the start of the school year, but due to some major changes with the local office combining with 2 other regional offices, our paperwork got lost and it didn't happen. So, on Monday Lydia has her first Daisy meeting, and Tuesday Melissa has her first Brownie meeting. Yes, I know. They could both be Daisies, but if you have EVER spent time with those two in a group setting you understand why I am not going to go there. They are terrible together in a group with other kids, they band together and gang up on the others and just torment people. However, get one without the other and you have a child that is dedicated, serious, and a joy to have in a group setting. The troop leaders will thank me if I can pull off keeping those two split up for a couple more years....................
Friday, March 05, 2010
randomness
I was looking through pictures on my computer, and thought I'd share a few that I found.
Melissa hard at schoolwork
Homemade hopscotch in the entry
Scott reading to the girls from Sonlight core P4/5 at bedtime at our old house
There are more, but these are just a few of my favorites from schooling lately...............
Melissa hard at schoolwork
Homemade hopscotch in the entry
Scott reading to the girls from Sonlight core P4/5 at bedtime at our old house
There are more, but these are just a few of my favorites from schooling lately...............
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
revisiting Horizons Health K
I told you that once we got into it a bit that I'd review it based on uage. Well, we are finishing up unit 1 of Horizons Health K and I thought I'd give some insight on how we like it.
We've been talking about how we are all unique and special, feelings, and responding to feelings appropriately in this unit. I added a little to it for them as far as other feelings that are beyond the four they teach, and we did a lot of role playing with it for practice. The activities in the unit were perfect for my K daughter, she had a LOT of fun doing the lessons. Lessons didn't take as long really as the guide suggests they do, although I didn't do everything listed in them either. We've really had fun with it. The lessons are laid out very well for me to teach, and it was really easy for me to go with it even though it wasn't scripted like I'm used to with our k12 materials. We truly are enjoying this program, I am very happy that we decided to add it to our schoolwork.
Our next unit is about living in a family. We'll be starting it next week, if all goes according to plan.
We've been talking about how we are all unique and special, feelings, and responding to feelings appropriately in this unit. I added a little to it for them as far as other feelings that are beyond the four they teach, and we did a lot of role playing with it for practice. The activities in the unit were perfect for my K daughter, she had a LOT of fun doing the lessons. Lessons didn't take as long really as the guide suggests they do, although I didn't do everything listed in them either. We've really had fun with it. The lessons are laid out very well for me to teach, and it was really easy for me to go with it even though it wasn't scripted like I'm used to with our k12 materials. We truly are enjoying this program, I am very happy that we decided to add it to our schoolwork.
Our next unit is about living in a family. We'll be starting it next week, if all goes according to plan.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
math fun
Well, Lydia finished math K last week, and we have math 1 on order. It is somewhere between the UPS distribution in Columbus and my house. Last time it was logged, my package was on a truck headed to Newark to be put on a delivery truck to come to my house. That was yesterday................ lol So I have to do some filling in until her math gets here.
Since I have to do some fill-in time, I thought it would be fun to do a lapbook on the months of the year. So, I started off by checking out my favorite free site for lapbooking and unit study resources, Homeschool Share. There is a HUGE listing of free lapbooks and unit studies, as well as free forums where you can post to get ideas. I've used this site a few times this school year for various subjects and lessons, and we've always enjoyed the units and lapbooks we did.
So anyway, I went to check and see if they had any lapbooks or unit studies for calendar skills. Well what do you know, they have one for the months of the year, exactly what I was looking for pretty much. I printed off the whole thing tonight, and am just going to create a couple little things to add to it for the days of the week, then Lydia and I are going to spend our math time working on that lapbook and mastering the months and days. I may also get Melissa learning it too, since she's having some issues with calendar concepts. I can't wait to get it all started, this will DEFINITELY help pass the time while we wait on her math to arrive tomorrow or Tuesday (depending on when UPS decides to bring the package to me)
She is very proud of finishing math K, and can't wait to start doing "big kid math" like Melissa does. So cute, one day she'll hate math. Probably right around the time we begin algebra...........................
Since I have to do some fill-in time, I thought it would be fun to do a lapbook on the months of the year. So, I started off by checking out my favorite free site for lapbooking and unit study resources, Homeschool Share. There is a HUGE listing of free lapbooks and unit studies, as well as free forums where you can post to get ideas. I've used this site a few times this school year for various subjects and lessons, and we've always enjoyed the units and lapbooks we did.
So anyway, I went to check and see if they had any lapbooks or unit studies for calendar skills. Well what do you know, they have one for the months of the year, exactly what I was looking for pretty much. I printed off the whole thing tonight, and am just going to create a couple little things to add to it for the days of the week, then Lydia and I are going to spend our math time working on that lapbook and mastering the months and days. I may also get Melissa learning it too, since she's having some issues with calendar concepts. I can't wait to get it all started, this will DEFINITELY help pass the time while we wait on her math to arrive tomorrow or Tuesday (depending on when UPS decides to bring the package to me)
She is very proud of finishing math K, and can't wait to start doing "big kid math" like Melissa does. So cute, one day she'll hate math. Probably right around the time we begin algebra...........................
Saturday, February 13, 2010
our Horizons Health arrived this morning!
Well, its here. I didn't actually expect it to get here until early next week, so it was a happy surprise to have the box sitting on my front porch when I checked the mail. The kids are going nuts over the box and packing paper (like they always do when we order supplies if I let them at the boxes LOL) and I just finished looking over the health program for an initial opinion of it.
Overview of my purchase: I got Horizons Health K from Alpha Omega Publications for a K'er and 1st grader to do the remainder of this school year. I ordered the set and an extra student workbook for the two of them.
Student workbooks: my first impression upon opening the box was that the size of the books is PERFECT for my K'er and 1st grader. Its not too thick that they will get frustrated, but it also isn't so thin that I feel we got ripped off. I like that the pages are all perforated so I can pull individual lesson sheets out if we want, and they are only printed on one side as well. The pages are colorful and appear to be engaging, which will be a big plus for my dyslexic 1st grader. Getting her to really engage in a worksheet is sometimes difficult because of her reading problems. I like the parger print on the student pages themselves, and I think my oldest may be able to read most of the directions by herself with minimal help so I can work more with my K'er if needed on each sheet. I'm VERY happy with the workbooks
Teacher's guide: now THIS is the important piece to me. If a guide isn't well-written then I can't use it. I literally need to be told what to do and how to do it. The guide is nicely bound, although I personally would prefer a spiral-bound one I think (I'll probably take it to Staples today or tomorrow and have them do that for me) I like my guides to lay fairly flat since I'm left-handed and tend to make a LOT of notes in the margins when I go over a lesson before teaching it. The sections prior to the actual lessons are wonderful for helping me better understand the program and how it works, as well as seeing the progression of lessons through the scope and sequence. Overall, the print is a good size for me to read easily while teaching (definitely a better size than our k12 mamuals are LOL) Each unit starts with an overview of the lessons in it, telling you what you are going to cover and providing a list of vocabulary in the unit plus a full list of resources for the individual unit. Each individual lesson has a list for preparation and materials you need (with optional ones marked clearly as optional) and gives a basic overview of the lesson before breaking down the lesson for teaching. While it isn't directly guided like our k12 stuff is as far as telling me exactly what to say (our curriculum indents paragraphs that I am to read out loud to the student, it takes literally zero planning or thinking beforehand), it is well laid out with how to present the lesson. Each lesson has at least one activity included, along with a few related activities for further exploration of the lesson if desired. Overall, I'm very happy with my initial look at the guide, although I would make *minor* changes (like color-coding the top corners of the guide like the student workbooks are to make it easier to find your place quickly, and offering the guide as a spiral-bound edition as well as the current binding, but I think ALL programs should offer spiral binding in their guides as an option)
My initial conclusions: Horizons Health K looks to be a good program that was well thought-out and created to work well for a variety of learning styles. I think personally that for my family, a lesson will take 20-45 minutes to complete depending on the girls' attention spans that day and the number of activities we choose to do for the lesson. I feel that it will work well to accomodate our 1st grader's dyslexia and her "get down to business" learning style while also working well with my K'er and her creative, crafty style. Both enjoy coloring, and there appears to be a good balance of coloring pages to actual seatwork pages (like matching and tracing and such) From a teaching standpoint, I feel that it will work well with my need for hand-holding by giving me enough direction that I know what I'm doing while giving me the freedom of deciding how to present the materials at the same time.
So now, I shall get ready to get in my 4WD pickup truck and get out of my driveway with its foot of snow that needs shovelled out, so that I can take the Teacher's Guide to Staples for some spiral binding. It is literally the ONLY flaw that I can find at this particular moment in the program.
Overview of my purchase: I got Horizons Health K from Alpha Omega Publications for a K'er and 1st grader to do the remainder of this school year. I ordered the set and an extra student workbook for the two of them.
Student workbooks: my first impression upon opening the box was that the size of the books is PERFECT for my K'er and 1st grader. Its not too thick that they will get frustrated, but it also isn't so thin that I feel we got ripped off. I like that the pages are all perforated so I can pull individual lesson sheets out if we want, and they are only printed on one side as well. The pages are colorful and appear to be engaging, which will be a big plus for my dyslexic 1st grader. Getting her to really engage in a worksheet is sometimes difficult because of her reading problems. I like the parger print on the student pages themselves, and I think my oldest may be able to read most of the directions by herself with minimal help so I can work more with my K'er if needed on each sheet. I'm VERY happy with the workbooks
Teacher's guide: now THIS is the important piece to me. If a guide isn't well-written then I can't use it. I literally need to be told what to do and how to do it. The guide is nicely bound, although I personally would prefer a spiral-bound one I think (I'll probably take it to Staples today or tomorrow and have them do that for me) I like my guides to lay fairly flat since I'm left-handed and tend to make a LOT of notes in the margins when I go over a lesson before teaching it. The sections prior to the actual lessons are wonderful for helping me better understand the program and how it works, as well as seeing the progression of lessons through the scope and sequence. Overall, the print is a good size for me to read easily while teaching (definitely a better size than our k12 mamuals are LOL) Each unit starts with an overview of the lessons in it, telling you what you are going to cover and providing a list of vocabulary in the unit plus a full list of resources for the individual unit. Each individual lesson has a list for preparation and materials you need (with optional ones marked clearly as optional) and gives a basic overview of the lesson before breaking down the lesson for teaching. While it isn't directly guided like our k12 stuff is as far as telling me exactly what to say (our curriculum indents paragraphs that I am to read out loud to the student, it takes literally zero planning or thinking beforehand), it is well laid out with how to present the lesson. Each lesson has at least one activity included, along with a few related activities for further exploration of the lesson if desired. Overall, I'm very happy with my initial look at the guide, although I would make *minor* changes (like color-coding the top corners of the guide like the student workbooks are to make it easier to find your place quickly, and offering the guide as a spiral-bound edition as well as the current binding, but I think ALL programs should offer spiral binding in their guides as an option)
My initial conclusions: Horizons Health K looks to be a good program that was well thought-out and created to work well for a variety of learning styles. I think personally that for my family, a lesson will take 20-45 minutes to complete depending on the girls' attention spans that day and the number of activities we choose to do for the lesson. I feel that it will work well to accomodate our 1st grader's dyslexia and her "get down to business" learning style while also working well with my K'er and her creative, crafty style. Both enjoy coloring, and there appears to be a good balance of coloring pages to actual seatwork pages (like matching and tracing and such) From a teaching standpoint, I feel that it will work well with my need for hand-holding by giving me enough direction that I know what I'm doing while giving me the freedom of deciding how to present the materials at the same time.
So now, I shall get ready to get in my 4WD pickup truck and get out of my driveway with its foot of snow that needs shovelled out, so that I can take the Teacher's Guide to Staples for some spiral binding. It is literally the ONLY flaw that I can find at this particular moment in the program.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Health class
Ahhhhh health. This is one of those few subjects that I'm required to teach but OHVA doesn't provide any curriculum for (the others would be PE and technology) So I spent the first half of the school year trying to do my own thing, and failing miserably. I just flat out lack the discipline to create my own program and actually STICK WITH IT. But this is a shortcoming that I am aware of, and I do whatever I can to overcome it and accomodate whenever possible. For health class, that means buying a curriculum to cover material consistently.
Alpha Omega Publications has a new Horizons Health program for grades K-8. I've looked it over the last several days, and I like what I see from the sample pages online. In the fall we plan to do Horizons Health 1 based on my researching, it looks like a solid program and its fairly affordable at only $20.95 for the set and $7.95 for additional student workbooks. I kept doubting if it is smart to start in health 1 without doing health K first, and I do know that I am overthinking that because its jsut one of those things I do. Well, I discussed it with the husband today, and he was in agreement that we should go ahead and order health K to do the remainder of this school year and over the summer. About 2 hours ago I placed that order with a coupon code that Alpha Omega Publications (AOP) sent me for free standard shipping. Hey, I like free shipping, and in this case especially it was a better deal to take advantage of the free shipping than it would be to wait for a convention or other sale offering up to 20% off. (although when I order health 1 I plan to also order Horizons preschool for Kimmy, so I am waiting for a big 20% off sale that always happens aroun April or so and I hope to get another code for free shipping as well)
My order should arrive here sometime in the next 10-14 days, and I'll give a review after looking it over completely and again after we've done some lessons. I plan to teach health 2 or 3 days a week, just depending on what our schedule looks like each week. I am really looking forward to this simple addition to our homeschool that will hopefully help provide a more solid consistent education in a very important subject, and I really hope that we chose a quality program. The price certainly works for us, that's for sure.
Alpha Omega Publications has a new Horizons Health program for grades K-8. I've looked it over the last several days, and I like what I see from the sample pages online. In the fall we plan to do Horizons Health 1 based on my researching, it looks like a solid program and its fairly affordable at only $20.95 for the set and $7.95 for additional student workbooks. I kept doubting if it is smart to start in health 1 without doing health K first, and I do know that I am overthinking that because its jsut one of those things I do. Well, I discussed it with the husband today, and he was in agreement that we should go ahead and order health K to do the remainder of this school year and over the summer. About 2 hours ago I placed that order with a coupon code that Alpha Omega Publications (AOP) sent me for free standard shipping. Hey, I like free shipping, and in this case especially it was a better deal to take advantage of the free shipping than it would be to wait for a convention or other sale offering up to 20% off. (although when I order health 1 I plan to also order Horizons preschool for Kimmy, so I am waiting for a big 20% off sale that always happens aroun April or so and I hope to get another code for free shipping as well)
My order should arrive here sometime in the next 10-14 days, and I'll give a review after looking it over completely and again after we've done some lessons. I plan to teach health 2 or 3 days a week, just depending on what our schedule looks like each week. I am really looking forward to this simple addition to our homeschool that will hopefully help provide a more solid consistent education in a very important subject, and I really hope that we chose a quality program. The price certainly works for us, that's for sure.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
February homeschool goals and other notes for me
OK this is more of a reference for me than anything else, so feel free to just TOTALLY ignore my rambling on this one. Mainly, I'm typing it out specifically so that I have a readable copy later when Jordan decides to sneak a pencil and my notebook and just scribble all over the page I have this written on LOL
OK this month I have some curriculum being finished, and I need to remember to order the next level for those when its time.
Melissa is going to finish phonics K and lang. arts K both hopefully this month so that I can order 1st grade in both of them. They are intertwined so I can't just get one without the other. It might take the first few days of March to actually hit this goal, but I need to have this down because its GOING to be happening soon. Also, I am backing off on history for a while and pushing forward with science to get it finished up as fast as possible. Next school year I will take the approach of doing these two subjects as a semester thing if the teachers we are assigned are down with that plan, we'll do that subject daily for half the year then do the other one daily the second half.
Lydia is going to be finishing math K probably in the next week or two, so as soon as we hit unit 15 I need to send off a message to get math 1 for her. She would have been done with it before now but we took it easy for a bit to work on some motor skills and build up her strength for writing more. I also am going to be pushing her history big time so that next school year I can combine her and Melissa both in history 2 (they will also do science 2 and art 2 together if the school will let it happen, if not then I'm going to figure out a way to make it work for me) She will probably finish history K sometime in March I'm guessing and then we'll do history 1 over the summer. Phonics K is stalled out, this month I'm just focusing on those pesky sight words that she's struggling so much with and getting her to read to us daily a little bit. I'm not too concerned if she doesn't finish phonics K by the end of the school year, I already talked with our teacher about it and she said that it will not be an issue if it takes her until Christmas-ish to move up to phonics 1 and that they won't hold her back grade-wise over just the reading since it is independent of other subjects because I can fully accomodate the reading thing.
I also need to keep an eye out for the big sale that Alpha Omega does every year so that I can order when it is happening. We are going to be getting Horizons preschool for Kimmy to do this fall (I'm too lazy to actually stay consistent with doing my own thing, I need it laid out for me like that) and for Melissa and Lydia we're going to do Horizons Health 1 and Physical Education PreK-2 (Kimmy and Jordan will join in on that one as they wish to) Without that sale I'm looking at spending around $180 before shipping costs, so the sale is a bit important for me. I really do want to get a curriculum for the big kids to do with health, especially as I am adding a bunch of other craziness to our lives and I need to keep it simple and consistent for us.
On the college arena for me, I need to get all that paperwork finished up and faxed in where it needs to go so that I can finish getting re-enrolled for classes and get started. Once I get that done, I will have a better idea of where I stand with starting classes again so that I can then start tweaking my daily schedule to better accomodate all the educational needs that we'll have here.
Oh, and I need to go to the store next weekend and look at laptops, mine is desperately in need of a replacing. It doesn't work half the time, and I'm going to need it for college and homeschooling so that I can get away from my little computer desk. This will be especially important if I can pull off getting Melissa and Lydia in the same science, history, and art so that we can do half our schoolwork at the dining table to provide ample workspace for them. I will also have more flexability with being able to do lessons at a friend's house or relative's, or if we decide to go on a family vacation somewhere at a time that isn't a scheduled school vacation.
OK notes all done, you can now stop ignoring me LOL Hopefully Jordan doesn't figure out how to erase this blog post after she scribbles all over my notebook page.
OK this month I have some curriculum being finished, and I need to remember to order the next level for those when its time.
Melissa is going to finish phonics K and lang. arts K both hopefully this month so that I can order 1st grade in both of them. They are intertwined so I can't just get one without the other. It might take the first few days of March to actually hit this goal, but I need to have this down because its GOING to be happening soon. Also, I am backing off on history for a while and pushing forward with science to get it finished up as fast as possible. Next school year I will take the approach of doing these two subjects as a semester thing if the teachers we are assigned are down with that plan, we'll do that subject daily for half the year then do the other one daily the second half.
Lydia is going to be finishing math K probably in the next week or two, so as soon as we hit unit 15 I need to send off a message to get math 1 for her. She would have been done with it before now but we took it easy for a bit to work on some motor skills and build up her strength for writing more. I also am going to be pushing her history big time so that next school year I can combine her and Melissa both in history 2 (they will also do science 2 and art 2 together if the school will let it happen, if not then I'm going to figure out a way to make it work for me) She will probably finish history K sometime in March I'm guessing and then we'll do history 1 over the summer. Phonics K is stalled out, this month I'm just focusing on those pesky sight words that she's struggling so much with and getting her to read to us daily a little bit. I'm not too concerned if she doesn't finish phonics K by the end of the school year, I already talked with our teacher about it and she said that it will not be an issue if it takes her until Christmas-ish to move up to phonics 1 and that they won't hold her back grade-wise over just the reading since it is independent of other subjects because I can fully accomodate the reading thing.
I also need to keep an eye out for the big sale that Alpha Omega does every year so that I can order when it is happening. We are going to be getting Horizons preschool for Kimmy to do this fall (I'm too lazy to actually stay consistent with doing my own thing, I need it laid out for me like that) and for Melissa and Lydia we're going to do Horizons Health 1 and Physical Education PreK-2 (Kimmy and Jordan will join in on that one as they wish to) Without that sale I'm looking at spending around $180 before shipping costs, so the sale is a bit important for me. I really do want to get a curriculum for the big kids to do with health, especially as I am adding a bunch of other craziness to our lives and I need to keep it simple and consistent for us.
On the college arena for me, I need to get all that paperwork finished up and faxed in where it needs to go so that I can finish getting re-enrolled for classes and get started. Once I get that done, I will have a better idea of where I stand with starting classes again so that I can then start tweaking my daily schedule to better accomodate all the educational needs that we'll have here.
Oh, and I need to go to the store next weekend and look at laptops, mine is desperately in need of a replacing. It doesn't work half the time, and I'm going to need it for college and homeschooling so that I can get away from my little computer desk. This will be especially important if I can pull off getting Melissa and Lydia in the same science, history, and art so that we can do half our schoolwork at the dining table to provide ample workspace for them. I will also have more flexability with being able to do lessons at a friend's house or relative's, or if we decide to go on a family vacation somewhere at a time that isn't a scheduled school vacation.
OK notes all done, you can now stop ignoring me LOL Hopefully Jordan doesn't figure out how to erase this blog post after she scribbles all over my notebook page.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
broken nose and other joys
Well the last few weeks have been REALLY busy for us here. Kimmy is now a 4 year old, which is probably the biggest thing for us. That is the age that I've always started working more on beginning phonics so they are starting K sounding out cvc words. So we're really buckling down more on that than we have in the past, and she's getting there slowly. We'll have her reading probably within 6 months, just simple books that we have (we especially love Sonlight's Fun Tales series that goes with their language arts K program, which is what I am loosely basing Kimmy's lessons on right now) I know it will be a great time for her, getting more formal with her school time like her big sisters. She's been after me for a few months now, and we've slowly been building up to mofre formal lessons with her so that we don't overwhelm her or me with it.
Another great excitement is with Melissa. Poor child has GOT to be the clumbsiest kid on earth, I swear. Just before Kimmy's birthday, I was lying down after supper so she helped daddy with the dinner dishes. Nothing major, she was just bringing him the dirty stuff and helping load the dishwasher (she loves doing the silverware basket) So, she's bringing him a plate and stops to grab an empty soda can to throw away as she walked by the trash can (smart kid, already knows how to multi-task) Well, that was her mistake because she can NOT walk well with something in both hands. lol She tripped over her own two feet and fell face-first into one of our heavy solid wood dining chairs. Her nose bled for about 10 minutes (and the screaming got me straight out of bed too despite a crippling migraine) and she ended up at the doctor's office the next morning because it just looked ugly and was still bleeding a bit whenever she sniffled and she was complaining of it hurting a lot. The verdict? A hairline fracture on the left side right by her nose. Poor kid, she's been a real trooper though and is doing schoolwork in short spurts while she's on pain meds for it (we only do a little bit when the meds are kicked in and she's still alert) We've amazingly not fallen too far behind with her lessons, I know that if I were in her spot I'd just be lying on the sofa refusing to do anything until it quit hurting all the time.
She took that herself a few days ago (busted kid! swiping the camera again without asking first LOL) and it looks much better than it did when it first happened. Her entire nose and left eye were dark purpley black with bruising, and it was so swelled up she couldn't even wear her glasses comfortably.
And we're going to be adding another fun element to our schooling that will make time even tighter. I am going to be picking up classes again to finish my Bachelor's in psychology, hopefully I'll be starting again by the middle of March. This will add a VERY interesting element to our homeschool since I'll also be juggling my own lessons on top of their stuff, but Scott is going to pick up the slack where I have to give up doing as much. He's already starting picking up more of the housework and is doing math with the kids on some days. So, I'm planning on reworking our scehdule and routines to allow a maximum of time for me to do my schoolwork and still be able to teach the girls their lessons. Hopefully we can manage the juggle things successfully, we are going to attempt it the remainder of this school year and if it doesn't work then they will enter Newark local schools in the fall, and the preschoolers will go to Head Start so I can have a few hours a day to really focus on my schoolwork without interruptions.
Yep, exciting times here lately. lol Hopefully the rest of the school year goes smoothly, I don't know how much excitement I can take on top of all that has happened so far this year.
Another great excitement is with Melissa. Poor child has GOT to be the clumbsiest kid on earth, I swear. Just before Kimmy's birthday, I was lying down after supper so she helped daddy with the dinner dishes. Nothing major, she was just bringing him the dirty stuff and helping load the dishwasher (she loves doing the silverware basket) So, she's bringing him a plate and stops to grab an empty soda can to throw away as she walked by the trash can (smart kid, already knows how to multi-task) Well, that was her mistake because she can NOT walk well with something in both hands. lol She tripped over her own two feet and fell face-first into one of our heavy solid wood dining chairs. Her nose bled for about 10 minutes (and the screaming got me straight out of bed too despite a crippling migraine) and she ended up at the doctor's office the next morning because it just looked ugly and was still bleeding a bit whenever she sniffled and she was complaining of it hurting a lot. The verdict? A hairline fracture on the left side right by her nose. Poor kid, she's been a real trooper though and is doing schoolwork in short spurts while she's on pain meds for it (we only do a little bit when the meds are kicked in and she's still alert) We've amazingly not fallen too far behind with her lessons, I know that if I were in her spot I'd just be lying on the sofa refusing to do anything until it quit hurting all the time.
She took that herself a few days ago (busted kid! swiping the camera again without asking first LOL) and it looks much better than it did when it first happened. Her entire nose and left eye were dark purpley black with bruising, and it was so swelled up she couldn't even wear her glasses comfortably.
And we're going to be adding another fun element to our schooling that will make time even tighter. I am going to be picking up classes again to finish my Bachelor's in psychology, hopefully I'll be starting again by the middle of March. This will add a VERY interesting element to our homeschool since I'll also be juggling my own lessons on top of their stuff, but Scott is going to pick up the slack where I have to give up doing as much. He's already starting picking up more of the housework and is doing math with the kids on some days. So, I'm planning on reworking our scehdule and routines to allow a maximum of time for me to do my schoolwork and still be able to teach the girls their lessons. Hopefully we can manage the juggle things successfully, we are going to attempt it the remainder of this school year and if it doesn't work then they will enter Newark local schools in the fall, and the preschoolers will go to Head Start so I can have a few hours a day to really focus on my schoolwork without interruptions.
Yep, exciting times here lately. lol Hopefully the rest of the school year goes smoothly, I don't know how much excitement I can take on top of all that has happened so far this year.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
the end of a second quarter
Wow, this school year is flying by. We have worked hard and had some struggles with things, but things are going really well for us. We've been learning lots, and did a lot of neat things. So, yesterday was the end of our second quarter, maning we are already halfway through this school year. WOWIE! Here's a breakdown of how we're geting through the curriculum:
Melissa:
math- 48%
phonics- 62%
language arts- 59%
history- 46%
science- 38%
art- 38%
Lydia:
math- 61%
phonics- 42%
language arts- 59%
history- 33%
The numbers this quarter are a bit better than they were at the end of last quarter, but I need to really buckle down in a few subjects to get us up to speed again. According to OHVA, I need to do history, science, art, and music two days a week. I tweaked our schedule to have us doing those subjects every day until we get where I want us to be at, and am adding a couple extra lessons a week to math and phonics for the girls. I really would like to get us up to the next grade in all subjects by the end of March if possible (ok won't happen for Lydia with phonics but I can dream right?) I'm really feeling good about this school year and how we're doing with it all. They are definitely making a lot of great progress and I've been way more successful homeschooling this year than I was last school year.
When I finish homeschool next week, I will have officially homeschooled longer than I did last school year. OHVA has definitely helped to give me my confidence and empower me to be successful. I don't know where I'd be this year without OHVA, I'd probably not have done even close to as well as we have done this year. It really has given us what we need for consistency.
Melissa:
math- 48%
phonics- 62%
language arts- 59%
history- 46%
science- 38%
art- 38%
Lydia:
math- 61%
phonics- 42%
language arts- 59%
history- 33%
The numbers this quarter are a bit better than they were at the end of last quarter, but I need to really buckle down in a few subjects to get us up to speed again. According to OHVA, I need to do history, science, art, and music two days a week. I tweaked our schedule to have us doing those subjects every day until we get where I want us to be at, and am adding a couple extra lessons a week to math and phonics for the girls. I really would like to get us up to the next grade in all subjects by the end of March if possible (ok won't happen for Lydia with phonics but I can dream right?) I'm really feeling good about this school year and how we're doing with it all. They are definitely making a lot of great progress and I've been way more successful homeschooling this year than I was last school year.
When I finish homeschool next week, I will have officially homeschooled longer than I did last school year. OHVA has definitely helped to give me my confidence and empower me to be successful. I don't know where I'd be this year without OHVA, I'd probably not have done even close to as well as we have done this year. It really has given us what we need for consistency.
Monday, January 04, 2010
welcome to 2010
Wow, 2009 went by in a flash. We've had a lot happen last year, and a lot of good came from it all. I realized that I need to slow down and think more than I do sometimes and sometimes spend less time sweating the small stuff. We discovered that our local public school is the WRONG place for the girls, especially Melissa. We even found a homeschool option that is working well for us and have stayed very consistent with it for the most part. All is going well here for the most part when it comes to the big things involving the kids. So, I have high hopes for 2010 that we will continue to experience the same kind of positive growth in our decisions that we've had last year.
To celebrate 2010, we are setting some goals for the girls. Melissa, we want to finish history, science, art, and phonics before the end of March so that we are able to move her up to the next grade level in those subjects. Math we want to finish whenever it gets finished (the other subjects, Melissa's so far ahead in phonics that she can do it easily if we are consistent and the other ones are only scheduled twice a week so I'm going to do lessons from all them daily until they are done) Lydia, our main goal is to get her to finish phonics on time. She's under 40% through the level right now, so having this goal will take some extra work with her. Also, we want to finish math and history before the end of March so that she can move up in those subjects also. For the little kids, I'm just working on consistency of doing some activities and reading to them daily.
Now for my own personal goals for 2010. I am determined to lose weight and look good in a swimsuit this year, and am *hoping* to get the opportunity to fly down south to visit my mom in Texas (and maybe skip down to Mexico for a couple days to visit a dear friend of mine that I haven't seen in 10 years now) I want to be able to feel and look great at the beach when I fly down, so I'm setting a goal to lose 25lbs before Scott's next vacation week in I think its July????? I have to double-check that week he's off so I can better plan (and get a passport just in case we have the funds for my side trip) I also am planning on becoming more consistent in a few areas of my life where consistency is sadly lacking (that would be keeping up with my laundry pile lol) I know that my children thrive on routine and consistency, so I am going to force myself to create some sort of a consistent routine and actually stick to it despite my anti-conformity personality and my hatred of all things that involve me following a specific order and pattern for things. Those are some big goals, but I think I can do it.
To celebrate 2010, we are setting some goals for the girls. Melissa, we want to finish history, science, art, and phonics before the end of March so that we are able to move her up to the next grade level in those subjects. Math we want to finish whenever it gets finished (the other subjects, Melissa's so far ahead in phonics that she can do it easily if we are consistent and the other ones are only scheduled twice a week so I'm going to do lessons from all them daily until they are done) Lydia, our main goal is to get her to finish phonics on time. She's under 40% through the level right now, so having this goal will take some extra work with her. Also, we want to finish math and history before the end of March so that she can move up in those subjects also. For the little kids, I'm just working on consistency of doing some activities and reading to them daily.
Now for my own personal goals for 2010. I am determined to lose weight and look good in a swimsuit this year, and am *hoping* to get the opportunity to fly down south to visit my mom in Texas (and maybe skip down to Mexico for a couple days to visit a dear friend of mine that I haven't seen in 10 years now) I want to be able to feel and look great at the beach when I fly down, so I'm setting a goal to lose 25lbs before Scott's next vacation week in I think its July????? I have to double-check that week he's off so I can better plan (and get a passport just in case we have the funds for my side trip) I also am planning on becoming more consistent in a few areas of my life where consistency is sadly lacking (that would be keeping up with my laundry pile lol) I know that my children thrive on routine and consistency, so I am going to force myself to create some sort of a consistent routine and actually stick to it despite my anti-conformity personality and my hatred of all things that involve me following a specific order and pattern for things. Those are some big goals, but I think I can do it.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
indoor PE fun
So its quickly coming to that time of year when we just DON'T go outside much, right now its somewhere in the 30's and I know its supposed to rain or snow or something equally nasty like that. Sooooo, I am coming up with creative ideas to give my ADHD crew some PE without going outside. The girls all are very active, they usually play at least 3-4 hours a day outdoors on nice days (yes that is on top of schoolwork done indoors lol) So you can see why the winter is such a problem for us, we can't spend that much time outside playing in the snow (well, some people could but the girls and I get way too cold too fast for that) Well, today during lang. arts with the girls I saw something that made me say "ah-HA!" in my mind. I took a roll of extra tape from our indoor painting (still have lots of painting to do still but we're waiting until spring to finish so that we can open doors and windows for ventilation) and did a bunch of tearing and taping, and voila! In my entry I have a nice blue-tape hopscotch on the floor, just the right size for Melissa and her tall 6 year old self, but small enough that Kimmy can do it too (Melissa is teaching her how to hopscotch now) I have pictures of the kids in action on it, eventually I'll get around to uploading and sharing them.
The next project will be making some bean bags so that the girls can toss them into laundry baskets I think, and I'm hoping to teach the girls some yoga to help them stay flexible. They need a LOT of physical activity daily, and one can only take so much of them climbing onto the top bunk in their room and jumping off onto the floor or Kimmy's twin bed below you know....................................... lol And most of my ideas don't have the potential for broken necks like their bed jumping does.
The next project will be making some bean bags so that the girls can toss them into laundry baskets I think, and I'm hoping to teach the girls some yoga to help them stay flexible. They need a LOT of physical activity daily, and one can only take so much of them climbing onto the top bunk in their room and jumping off onto the floor or Kimmy's twin bed below you know....................................... lol And most of my ideas don't have the potential for broken necks like their bed jumping does.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
more hurdles
Well, yesterday I had that teleconference with our supervising teacher. We went over how Melissa did on her 1st grade diagnostic testing. She did really well in reading and writing, she scored just below grade level. It was a much higher score than her teacher and I both thought she'd get, so we are very happy with it. The intervention that we have going with reading has really paid off, I'm so happy that we started right away with it. However, her math score was really low. Her teacher knows that she can do the math that was tested, she had been doing some of it in the elluminate sessions that Melissa's been in. In general, Melissa is way ahead in math. One of the questions, the testing teacher read her a word problem and Melissa had to write the math problem and then solve it. She wrote the problem correctly, except for her numbers being upside-down, and was able to tell the teacher that the answer was 16. Then she wrote the answer 91 on the paper. Soooooo, our teacher and I discussed how to proceed with this. She wants me to get Melissa tested for dyslexia, and I completely agree with that. I've suspected it for over a year now, and the teacher said that she's so confident that we'll get that diagnosis that she'll file paperwork for services as soon as I get a referral from the pediatrician to get her tested. So, I have a dyslexic child with ADHD and auditory processing issues, what a combination. I wonder what the end result of all this testing we're about to start will be. She has an appointment next week to check her weight (she's having some issues with losing weight lately since starting the ADHD meds) and discuss how her meds are working, so I'll get the referral that day.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tis the season!
For yummy goodies, that is. Every year I do some baking and such for Christmas, and this year is no exception. Today I'm planning on making fudge and buckeyes, and I may make some sugar cookies too if I feel up to it (and have enough butter lol) Now I already know, what are the recipes I use for these goodies? Well, I'll share now.
Buckeyes
3 lbs. powdered sugar
2 lbs. good creamy peanut butter (I use Jif)
2/3 slab paraffin (aka Gulf Wax)
1 lb. butter (or margarine sticks), softened
1 large package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter in a large bowl. Roll by hand into small balls, you'll have about 200 balls (about the size of a golf ball, maybe a little smaller) Chill them overnight. The next day, melt chocolate chips with a double boiler (I use a big pot with a small metal bowl as a makeshift one, it works) and then add paraffin. Stick a toothpick into each ball and dip them about 3/4 into the chocolate, leaving a cirle undipped around the toothpick. Place on a cookie sheet to cool, and chill until hard. They should look kind of like actual buckeye nuts.
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Peanut-butter fudge
18 oz. jar creamy Jif peanut butter
1 small tub marshmallow creme (cheap stuff is fine)
2 sticks butter, softened (NOT melted)
12 oz. can Carnation evaporated milk
4 1/2 cups sugar
Put the peanut butter and marshmallow creme each on a plate for easy adding when its time. THEN get a heavy saucepan out. Combine milk, butter, and sugar in the pan without heat and mix well. Then put on heat and cook on medium-high heat until boiling, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Set a timer for 7 minutes as soon as it starts boiling and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for that 7 minutes. Immediately remove from heat when timer goes off. Whisk in peanut butter to creamy, then add marshmallow creme and whisk until fully combined. put in greased (or cooking-sprayed) 9x13 pan and refridgerate FLAT overnight. (Oh yeah, when you pop it in the fridge you MUST hand that sppon to the husband for him to lick clean, or to the kids or yourself to lick clean in his honor if he's unable to do it because he's at work like mine or deployed like my little brother)
I've not made the fudge recipe before, but it looks really promising to me. My great-granny used to make some awesome fudge when I was a kid but never taught me her recipe for it, so I've been searching since she died in 2003 for a recipe that is really close to hers. This one from the looks of it may be a very close match, but I'll know for sure tomorrow when the fudge is chilled and ready to eat. I have soooooo much butter on my counter getting soft right now, its not even funny lol And I still have to hit the store for more butter and a few more things to make the fudge, but my father is going to come over so that I can do that. I caught him early enough in the day that I know he'll be sober for it, so I'm taking advantage (I was planning to go tonight after Scott got home from work but I don't need to now)
Buckeyes
3 lbs. powdered sugar
2 lbs. good creamy peanut butter (I use Jif)
2/3 slab paraffin (aka Gulf Wax)
1 lb. butter (or margarine sticks), softened
1 large package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter in a large bowl. Roll by hand into small balls, you'll have about 200 balls (about the size of a golf ball, maybe a little smaller) Chill them overnight. The next day, melt chocolate chips with a double boiler (I use a big pot with a small metal bowl as a makeshift one, it works) and then add paraffin. Stick a toothpick into each ball and dip them about 3/4 into the chocolate, leaving a cirle undipped around the toothpick. Place on a cookie sheet to cool, and chill until hard. They should look kind of like actual buckeye nuts.
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Peanut-butter fudge
18 oz. jar creamy Jif peanut butter
1 small tub marshmallow creme (cheap stuff is fine)
2 sticks butter, softened (NOT melted)
12 oz. can Carnation evaporated milk
4 1/2 cups sugar
Put the peanut butter and marshmallow creme each on a plate for easy adding when its time. THEN get a heavy saucepan out. Combine milk, butter, and sugar in the pan without heat and mix well. Then put on heat and cook on medium-high heat until boiling, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Set a timer for 7 minutes as soon as it starts boiling and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for that 7 minutes. Immediately remove from heat when timer goes off. Whisk in peanut butter to creamy, then add marshmallow creme and whisk until fully combined. put in greased (or cooking-sprayed) 9x13 pan and refridgerate FLAT overnight. (Oh yeah, when you pop it in the fridge you MUST hand that sppon to the husband for him to lick clean, or to the kids or yourself to lick clean in his honor if he's unable to do it because he's at work like mine or deployed like my little brother)
I've not made the fudge recipe before, but it looks really promising to me. My great-granny used to make some awesome fudge when I was a kid but never taught me her recipe for it, so I've been searching since she died in 2003 for a recipe that is really close to hers. This one from the looks of it may be a very close match, but I'll know for sure tomorrow when the fudge is chilled and ready to eat. I have soooooo much butter on my counter getting soft right now, its not even funny lol And I still have to hit the store for more butter and a few more things to make the fudge, but my father is going to come over so that I can do that. I caught him early enough in the day that I know he'll be sober for it, so I'm taking advantage (I was planning to go tonight after Scott got home from work but I don't need to now)
preschool galore week 1
Well, its official, miss Kimberly is in panties full time now! She's been wearing them for a week with no accidents, so we have officially graduated her to preschooler status. She starts lessons today. Here is her preschool lessons for this week:
letter Ff
number 1
counting to 5
color red
fishies is our theme
Sooooo, we'll be doing a variety of activities this week that all surround the above topics. For the letter, we're going to learn how to print the capital F and recognize capital and lower-case Ff, learn the sound, and find objects that start with /f/. In math, we'll learn to recognize the number 1 and model what 1 obect is, and work on counting to 5 (she can already do this one so its a review for her) For the color, we're going to learn to recognize the color word, find red objects, and color pictures of red things. For fishies, we'll learn about some of the different kinds of fishies, count fish crackers (and then eat them lol), color different fishies to make unique ones of our own, and visit the pet shop to look at some of the different kinds of fish that you can have as a pet. Oh, and I may also try and get a hold of "Finding Nemo" to watch, and we may look at different exotic marine life online and such. I'm not sure how far we'll go with fishies yet, we're going to play it by ear.
The big kids are having a different load of work. In history, Melissa is still in ancient Egypt, currently studying Judaism (I probably totally misspelled that but am too lazy to look it up lol) and Lydia is in Asia learning about China and Japan. For science, we are *finishing* our unit on the states of matter, today Melissa has her unit test. I haven't looked yet at the next unit, but I think I remember something about weather from when I pulled the student pages for it a couple weeks ago. In math Melissa is working on counting patterns and skip counting while Lydia is working on measuring distances and comparing lengths of objects.
In a half hour I have a teleconference with our teacher, and we'll be discussing how Melissa BOMBED the 1st grade diagnostic testing. She did ok in everything except her math, I was very happy with her reading and writing scores. But math, the girl totally froze up and couldn't even count, which is why we are taking a little time with counting right now. I want to be 100% certain that she knows how to count as well as I know she can, so that we don't have her freeze again at testing. Poor kid, she doesn't test well. But the meds for her ADHD are working great, as are the tricks that the doctor suggested.
letter Ff
number 1
counting to 5
color red
fishies is our theme
Sooooo, we'll be doing a variety of activities this week that all surround the above topics. For the letter, we're going to learn how to print the capital F and recognize capital and lower-case Ff, learn the sound, and find objects that start with /f/. In math, we'll learn to recognize the number 1 and model what 1 obect is, and work on counting to 5 (she can already do this one so its a review for her) For the color, we're going to learn to recognize the color word, find red objects, and color pictures of red things. For fishies, we'll learn about some of the different kinds of fishies, count fish crackers (and then eat them lol), color different fishies to make unique ones of our own, and visit the pet shop to look at some of the different kinds of fish that you can have as a pet. Oh, and I may also try and get a hold of "Finding Nemo" to watch, and we may look at different exotic marine life online and such. I'm not sure how far we'll go with fishies yet, we're going to play it by ear.
The big kids are having a different load of work. In history, Melissa is still in ancient Egypt, currently studying Judaism (I probably totally misspelled that but am too lazy to look it up lol) and Lydia is in Asia learning about China and Japan. For science, we are *finishing* our unit on the states of matter, today Melissa has her unit test. I haven't looked yet at the next unit, but I think I remember something about weather from when I pulled the student pages for it a couple weeks ago. In math Melissa is working on counting patterns and skip counting while Lydia is working on measuring distances and comparing lengths of objects.
In a half hour I have a teleconference with our teacher, and we'll be discussing how Melissa BOMBED the 1st grade diagnostic testing. She did ok in everything except her math, I was very happy with her reading and writing scores. But math, the girl totally froze up and couldn't even count, which is why we are taking a little time with counting right now. I want to be 100% certain that she knows how to count as well as I know she can, so that we don't have her freeze again at testing. Poor kid, she doesn't test well. But the meds for her ADHD are working great, as are the tricks that the doctor suggested.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! preschool galore!
Well, its that time. At 3 years old, we start watching each child to show signs of being ready to learn their letter sounds and begin some easy reading at their pace. Nothing too major, and we always go at their speed. Well, last week Kimmy started spending more time listening to her big sisters' phonics lessons, and has learned how to say the alphabet. That is the sign we look for, so I started thinking about her lessons in this area. I always pick a theme for the child who is learning her letters, and this particular child's theme is based on her favorite book of all time, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. So what is a homeschooling mom to do with THIS theme? Well, allow me to share some pictures and tell the tale..............................
I started by telling little miss Kimberly that she is going to be starting her own school lessons next week, and THIS was her response to it.
Yep I think she's happy. So next I got our supplies for the project out..........................
Its hard to see, but that green paper does have some drawing on it. I drew a leaf outline on several sheets of green and cut them out.
This is where the theme is centered at, before I put it up. Yes, that is a part of my huge fireplace that we are looking at right there, and unfortunately it is painted brick (what a wate of such beautiful brickwork, but we had to paint over it because it was originally LEAD BASED paint)
And this is the result, a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree! I just need to add a few coconuts to it and we'll add a letter to the top of the tree as we learn its name and sound. Notice the beyond thrilled 3 year old there standing where she's not allowed to stand normally LOL
I started by telling little miss Kimberly that she is going to be starting her own school lessons next week, and THIS was her response to it.
Yep I think she's happy. So next I got our supplies for the project out..........................
Its hard to see, but that green paper does have some drawing on it. I drew a leaf outline on several sheets of green and cut them out.
This is where the theme is centered at, before I put it up. Yes, that is a part of my huge fireplace that we are looking at right there, and unfortunately it is painted brick (what a wate of such beautiful brickwork, but we had to paint over it because it was originally LEAD BASED paint)
And this is the result, a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree! I just need to add a few coconuts to it and we'll add a letter to the top of the tree as we learn its name and sound. Notice the beyond thrilled 3 year old there standing where she's not allowed to stand normally LOL
Now, for how I'm going to do this. I am a FIRM follower of Sonlight language arts K for teaching reading. There are great activities and we learn one letter a week, following a specific order that will enable the child to start reading after learning just a few letters in week 9. I also intend to add in activities from the Brightly Beaming site for each letter from the preparatory program. And NEW for us this time around, I am going to be doing the alphabet lap-n-tote from Homeschool Share to give us a record of all the letters we've done as we learn about them.
Every Monday, I will try to remember to post that week's letter and what my activities for the week will be. We will explore a variety of different things each week, and just have fun with it all. I only spend typically around 20 minutes or so a couple times a day at the most on lessons with preschoolers formally, doing worksheets and crafts. So this will be sprinkled through the days and we'll prepare foods starting with that letter, read stories that go with the letter (using daily and weekly themes like fish and firefighters and flowers for letter F week)
Now, doesn't that just sound like a barrel of fun and games? Preschoolers are my favorite students so far, I always look forward to lessons with my preschool children.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
vacation
Scott had this past week on vacation from work. The last time he was on vacation we didn't do squat for schoolwork, and I spent 2 weeks catching back up again. So I set myself up with a plan to do 4 days' worth of schoolwork during the time he's on vacation (this includes the 2 weekends) and just be happy if I get that much done. So how did it go you ask?
Well, Melissa finished 6 days of math, which was 2 days more than anticipated. Lydia kept up with her math as well. We stayed on target with lang. arts completely with both kids, although we did skip a few more activities than usual. I don't think the kids really noticed. We did only half the history we needed to do (one lesson each instead of 2) and I don't think we even touched science with Melissa, but that's ok. Phonics, well we were planning a week more of no lessons for Melissa for this week anyway and Lydia is still working on making a connection that she needs to make before she can move forward at all. So we spent time just reading together, they spent time playing at www.starfall.com and we just had fun with it. Oh, and Melissa did a few pages in her Explode the Code workbook that we add to the phonics to help cement things better.
Yep, I'm ok with how this week turned out. Last time he was on vacation I had soooooo many lessons to catch up on, so having just a few to catch up isn't really a big deal. Its really easy to add extra art, history, and science to my days because the kids like those subjects and do really well with them.
Well, Melissa finished 6 days of math, which was 2 days more than anticipated. Lydia kept up with her math as well. We stayed on target with lang. arts completely with both kids, although we did skip a few more activities than usual. I don't think the kids really noticed. We did only half the history we needed to do (one lesson each instead of 2) and I don't think we even touched science with Melissa, but that's ok. Phonics, well we were planning a week more of no lessons for Melissa for this week anyway and Lydia is still working on making a connection that she needs to make before she can move forward at all. So we spent time just reading together, they spent time playing at www.starfall.com and we just had fun with it. Oh, and Melissa did a few pages in her Explode the Code workbook that we add to the phonics to help cement things better.
Yep, I'm ok with how this week turned out. Last time he was on vacation I had soooooo many lessons to catch up on, so having just a few to catch up isn't really a big deal. Its really easy to add extra art, history, and science to my days because the kids like those subjects and do really well with them.
Friday, October 30, 2009
well that went out the window lol
I posted that I was going to give FlyLady another shot. Well, I did. Unfortunately, I'm so flaky that I can't keep focus on anything for very long really. I gave up on day 3 and just hired someone instead LOL My father has been looking for a way to make some extra money, and I got Scott's blessing, so now dad comes over a couple times a week to do whatever I didn't get to with my regular chores, plus he gives me the opportunity to go out shopping or running errands if I need to without having to drag 4 kids with me. He promises to be sober on the days he comes over, and I don't let him in the front door if I even suspect he's been drinking, so we're going to try it for now. If that doesn't work, then I'll come up with something.
LOL I told you I was flaky..........................
LOL I told you I was flaky..........................
Monday, October 26, 2009
FlyLady hmmmmmm
OK so I've been thinking about this a LOT lately. I'm not what anyone would call even a halfway decent housekeeper. OK I will admit it, I stink at housework. I'm disorganized (no, I know where everything is until you put it away on me lol), life is cluttered, and I'm always behind on the basics like laundry and dishes. There, I admitted it. I'm a housework flunkie.
So why am I mentioning FlyLady, you ask? Well, my friend Janis is doing it herself now after moving into a new home and having no real routines for housework there (and no desire to reinvent the system she had at the old place, I don't blame her!) She's on day 5 or 6 now of FlyLady and is doing well with it. Oh, and she has 6 kids, one being a baby and one being an ornery toddler LOL Now, I've attempted FlyLady many MANY times in my parenting lifetime (6 1/2 years and counting) and every single time I failed miserably. I lack motivation and focus to do it, even in the 15 minute sessions she suggests tackling things in. Its really a MAJOR discipline issue that I have with myself, I know this. The only thing that I have kept is my control journal with my routines in it and a few extras that I felt compelled to add. So, I'm thinking that since we've managed to be 99% consistent with doing homeschool lessons daily like I need to, its time to tackle another consistency issue that I have. I'm going to begin to tackle the disaster that I have created with my housekeeping skills. I'm going to go shine my sink now. lol I won't post a pic of it because quite frankly, you'd be horrified at the piles on the counter around it. But at least I'll have a shiny sink. Tomorrow, I'll keep at it, and instead of the 15 minute session she suggests, I'll try doing 5 minutes at a time. We'll see how this goes..........................
I may end up failing for a 23rd time, but hey I gotta keep at it until I find something that works for me. So far, nothing is working (and that includes trying to get the kids to clean up after themselves a couple times a day, since Scott feels it is his job to teach them that a woman's job is to stay home, take care of kids, and clean up after every person that lives in the household like a darn maid) I have no help around here that doesn't throw a royal hissy fit (including the 35 year old man I married LOL) but nobody really complains with my lack of housekeeping skills either. I dunno, I personally don't like it but don't know how to approach it myself. Maybe I'll figure it out as I go along.
So why am I mentioning FlyLady, you ask? Well, my friend Janis is doing it herself now after moving into a new home and having no real routines for housework there (and no desire to reinvent the system she had at the old place, I don't blame her!) She's on day 5 or 6 now of FlyLady and is doing well with it. Oh, and she has 6 kids, one being a baby and one being an ornery toddler LOL Now, I've attempted FlyLady many MANY times in my parenting lifetime (6 1/2 years and counting) and every single time I failed miserably. I lack motivation and focus to do it, even in the 15 minute sessions she suggests tackling things in. Its really a MAJOR discipline issue that I have with myself, I know this. The only thing that I have kept is my control journal with my routines in it and a few extras that I felt compelled to add. So, I'm thinking that since we've managed to be 99% consistent with doing homeschool lessons daily like I need to, its time to tackle another consistency issue that I have. I'm going to begin to tackle the disaster that I have created with my housekeeping skills. I'm going to go shine my sink now. lol I won't post a pic of it because quite frankly, you'd be horrified at the piles on the counter around it. But at least I'll have a shiny sink. Tomorrow, I'll keep at it, and instead of the 15 minute session she suggests, I'll try doing 5 minutes at a time. We'll see how this goes..........................
I may end up failing for a 23rd time, but hey I gotta keep at it until I find something that works for me. So far, nothing is working (and that includes trying to get the kids to clean up after themselves a couple times a day, since Scott feels it is his job to teach them that a woman's job is to stay home, take care of kids, and clean up after every person that lives in the household like a darn maid) I have no help around here that doesn't throw a royal hissy fit (including the 35 year old man I married LOL) but nobody really complains with my lack of housekeeping skills either. I dunno, I personally don't like it but don't know how to approach it myself. Maybe I'll figure it out as I go along.
lol we caught up
Well, last week we caught up on Melissa's hours. She's now 3 hours ahead as of last week. I'm thinking that I'm going to take today off to do some stuff around the house, then we'll pick up extra lessons each day to make up for skipping today. They will get their technology time for the week today, and Lydia has soccer. I say that's good enough for today, especially since they are playing educational computer stuff. We'll see though................. I'm just tired and need a break, those extra hours happened over the weekend when we wrapped up some extra lessons to make up the time we lost.
I am so tired now from it all though, we just need a day off to relax. Heck with anything that's not household related, I'm going to do practical life skills day today. It'll be fun, doing laundry and dishes, heck we may even do a little baking if I feel up to it. I had too much happen last week and over the weekend to allow me the luxury of just relaxing............................. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow I htink, unless one of the kids actually asks to do some lessons.
I am so tired now from it all though, we just need a day off to relax. Heck with anything that's not household related, I'm going to do practical life skills day today. It'll be fun, doing laundry and dishes, heck we may even do a little baking if I feel up to it. I had too much happen last week and over the weekend to allow me the luxury of just relaxing............................. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow I htink, unless one of the kids actually asks to do some lessons.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Melissa and phonics- Oh, my!
Well, moving her down to K phonics has been a really good decision. Tomorrow she'll do her last bit of 1st semester of phonics. She's really grown and developed a huge amount of confidence in her skills with this move down like that, and is quite fluent with her reading at the K phonics level. I'm very happy with the progress she's made so far. So, I thought I may give her a week or two (or maybe even 3) off phonics instruction to just enjoy her reading abilities. I'm thinking she can play at starfall, I'll get out all our earliest phonic readers that she can read and leave them where she can readh them, and we'll focus on another subject for the time she's taken off (I certainly have enough science that she can do, she likes science so I'm sure that taking time off phonics to do extra science will NOT bother her one bit) She's just done so well with phonics that I really can't think of a reason to jump straight into second semester work right off. If I encourage her to read daily and write daily, and we practice the sight word flashcards a bit each day, she'll do just fine for the little break I'm thinking we should take. There are a lot of really cool science labs in the upcoming unit that I think she'll want to do, so we're going to definitely add some extra science into the mix for her. Today's experiment has us blowing up balloons to different sizes and weighing them to see how much air weighs, and the one after that has us working with the stove, ice, and other frozen goodies (can we say ICE CREAM!!!!!!) lol I have a feeling that she'll really like the upcoming science stuff...................
Now if only I could get Lydia past this hump in her phonics, she got to the unit that has her reading words and it made her screech to a stop. So I'm going to be backing up with her for a week, doing some practice from lessons we already did in the past to help build her confidence again and help her make that connection. We'll do that for about a week I think, and then pick up unit 9 again.
Now if only I could get Lydia past this hump in her phonics, she got to the unit that has her reading words and it made her screech to a stop. So I'm going to be backing up with her for a week, doing some practice from lessons we already did in the past to help build her confidence again and help her make that connection. We'll do that for about a week I think, and then pick up unit 9 again.
Monday, October 19, 2009
another Monday, another week
Well, this morning I had a teleconference with our teacher. Now, let me first say that she is a WONDERFUL person and is extremely relaxed about things, and always has a lot of great ideas for presenting something to the girls when the OLS suggestions don't work and my mind isn't working too well. Anyway, we had our meeting and then the girls had a short session with her on the computer in the online classroom. Today she went over rhyming with Lydia and did some reading with Melissa. Lydia mixed up rhyming words matching and matching words by their beginning sounds, but that's my fault because we've spent a lot of time on distinguihing the individual sounds within a word. I don't know hwo the child learned to read because she can't pick single sounds out very well at all. Melissa, she did so well with reading that she was waiting on the teacher to type out sentences so that she could finish reading them to her lol
We also discussed Lydia's KRA-L test that she did last month. Lydia flew through it, working right on grade level with everything. She only missed the letter Nn in the whole test. That's a consistent thing here lately too, she somehow forgot the letter N exists lol We also discussed how Lydia's doing with her writing letters and numbers. She has gross and fine motor delays from being born a month early, and it is especially apparent with her schoolwork that involves her writing. Her hand gets tired easily and she has a lot of trouble with forming her letters and numbers correctly. She just doesn't have full control over her hands yet for this particular task. Her teacher is perfectly fine with me doing almost all of the writing for her at this point, especially since she knows I'm working with her daily for a couple minutes on printing and on developing her fine motor skills.
Overall, we had a good teleconference. The next one will be November 30th at 10:30am.
We also discussed Lydia's KRA-L test that she did last month. Lydia flew through it, working right on grade level with everything. She only missed the letter Nn in the whole test. That's a consistent thing here lately too, she somehow forgot the letter N exists lol We also discussed how Lydia's doing with her writing letters and numbers. She has gross and fine motor delays from being born a month early, and it is especially apparent with her schoolwork that involves her writing. Her hand gets tired easily and she has a lot of trouble with forming her letters and numbers correctly. She just doesn't have full control over her hands yet for this particular task. Her teacher is perfectly fine with me doing almost all of the writing for her at this point, especially since she knows I'm working with her daily for a couple minutes on printing and on developing her fine motor skills.
Overall, we had a good teleconference. The next one will be November 30th at 10:30am.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Our first quarter- DONE
Today marks the end of the first 9 week grading period for us. I know its not a major thing, finishing 1/4 of the school year. But for us it is a huge milestone, this is our first year of homeschooling and we have been really nervous about sticking to it. So here are the stats, are you ready?
So far this 9 weeks, the girls have each completed...................
Lydia-
44% math K
22% phonics K
18% lang. arts K
15% history K
I know not all those numbers are great, but you can definitely tell her strong point. Her numbers are going to change a little bit, as we are probably going to do a history lesson today and Scott is going to do a lang. arts lesson tonight (he does the read aloud part of it at bedtime and I do the actual seatwork during lessons the following day, so we usually have 2 or 3 lang. arts lessons done at one time)
And now for Melissa-
25% math 1
39% phonics K
18% lang. arts K
22% history 1
8% science 1
10% art 1
sufficient progress in violin lessons
OK so some of her numbers aren't close to being as good as Lydia's are. We had a few things get involved that caused us some difficulties. Melissa has ADHD and we had some nasty viruses run through here a couple times this school year, so we're playing catch-up still. I anticipate that by the end of 2nd quarter we'll have everything caught up (you can tell which two subjects are not my strong suits LOL) Melissa is doing some of the behind subjects this weekend, so those numbers will go up a little as well. Math is right on, but we are just happy that she's at the place where she LIKES math and she's good at it too so doubling up math lessons hasn't been much of an issue (some days she's even done 3 math lessons because she likes it that much) I'm going to play around with how I teach each subject, we'll see how my idea works.
But honestly, I think we've done pretty good with lessons and being at least semi-consistent with teaching the girls. Especially when you consider I have a 3 year old and a 2 year old to work around............... lol
So far this 9 weeks, the girls have each completed...................
Lydia-
44% math K
22% phonics K
18% lang. arts K
15% history K
I know not all those numbers are great, but you can definitely tell her strong point. Her numbers are going to change a little bit, as we are probably going to do a history lesson today and Scott is going to do a lang. arts lesson tonight (he does the read aloud part of it at bedtime and I do the actual seatwork during lessons the following day, so we usually have 2 or 3 lang. arts lessons done at one time)
And now for Melissa-
25% math 1
39% phonics K
18% lang. arts K
22% history 1
8% science 1
10% art 1
sufficient progress in violin lessons
OK so some of her numbers aren't close to being as good as Lydia's are. We had a few things get involved that caused us some difficulties. Melissa has ADHD and we had some nasty viruses run through here a couple times this school year, so we're playing catch-up still. I anticipate that by the end of 2nd quarter we'll have everything caught up (you can tell which two subjects are not my strong suits LOL) Melissa is doing some of the behind subjects this weekend, so those numbers will go up a little as well. Math is right on, but we are just happy that she's at the place where she LIKES math and she's good at it too so doubling up math lessons hasn't been much of an issue (some days she's even done 3 math lessons because she likes it that much) I'm going to play around with how I teach each subject, we'll see how my idea works.
But honestly, I think we've done pretty good with lessons and being at least semi-consistent with teaching the girls. Especially when you consider I have a 3 year old and a 2 year old to work around............... lol
Monday, October 12, 2009
high hopes for this week
Well, last week was a total waste for us. We got sick and a whole host of other stuff happened. So, no biggie we'll just get on and pick up where we lest off. I'm really hoping that this week we can start to make some progress with getting things done and caught up again. The girls spent a lot of time playing on their computers and watching tv and listening to me read. Not really much, but hey its better than lying around picking at their feet I guess LOL If yesterday is any indication, they are almost at 100% again after that round of illness, so we resume as normal today. I may try to squeeze a second math lesson in on Melissa today, we'll see how she responds to it though. I'm just going to play it by ear and see what happens.
Now, we do have one interesting thing I want to share. Last week, Melissa also started meds for ADHD. Its a pretty clear-cut case too, and she resonded quickly to meds in a positive way. However, I feel like it is working just flat out TOO well. She's calm and able to focus, but unfortunately she doesn't really want to do much of anything now. It may just be her starting them and being sick that was causing it, but she literally has been lazy and clingy the last few days. I can't seem to get her off me, she's constantly hugging and kissing me and right up by me watching intently everything I do. I think I may be calling the doctor this week to see if that is even close to normal. I may just try to keep working with her unmedicated until she's older, just to see if she does improve on her own like I keep hoping she would do. I'm not sure I like the child she's turning into with the Adderall, although it is really helping her to focus a lot better.
This week, in addition to the mountain of schoolwork we need to start catching up on, I have to catch up on a LOT of laundry and dishes, along with getting the house cleaned back up again. I really am not looking forward to this week, there's just so much to do and I don't know if I can get things back under control with cleaning our house and doing lessons and just everything that's involved. Oh, and I have to take Melissa to get her new glasses today, and Lydia has soccer practice tonight. I don't know if she's really up to it yet, but I'm going to take her anyway since I had a parent who obviously thinks that a soccer game is more important than a healthy kid because he ripped into me Saturday for keeping my sick kids home, making it so that Lydia's team didn't have enough players for the game and they had to forfeit. So, I'm going to make a point and take them all to her practice today, she's the only one that I don't think is really fully recovered yet. I figure her sisters can all bundle up and play on the playground while I sit at the picnic table and she is lying there on me bundled up watching practice. I just hope that the other parent gets my point with that, especially since we'll be doing it again on Tuesday with Melissa's practice. I am NOT amused, some people take peewee sports way too seriously...........................
Now, we do have one interesting thing I want to share. Last week, Melissa also started meds for ADHD. Its a pretty clear-cut case too, and she resonded quickly to meds in a positive way. However, I feel like it is working just flat out TOO well. She's calm and able to focus, but unfortunately she doesn't really want to do much of anything now. It may just be her starting them and being sick that was causing it, but she literally has been lazy and clingy the last few days. I can't seem to get her off me, she's constantly hugging and kissing me and right up by me watching intently everything I do. I think I may be calling the doctor this week to see if that is even close to normal. I may just try to keep working with her unmedicated until she's older, just to see if she does improve on her own like I keep hoping she would do. I'm not sure I like the child she's turning into with the Adderall, although it is really helping her to focus a lot better.
This week, in addition to the mountain of schoolwork we need to start catching up on, I have to catch up on a LOT of laundry and dishes, along with getting the house cleaned back up again. I really am not looking forward to this week, there's just so much to do and I don't know if I can get things back under control with cleaning our house and doing lessons and just everything that's involved. Oh, and I have to take Melissa to get her new glasses today, and Lydia has soccer practice tonight. I don't know if she's really up to it yet, but I'm going to take her anyway since I had a parent who obviously thinks that a soccer game is more important than a healthy kid because he ripped into me Saturday for keeping my sick kids home, making it so that Lydia's team didn't have enough players for the game and they had to forfeit. So, I'm going to make a point and take them all to her practice today, she's the only one that I don't think is really fully recovered yet. I figure her sisters can all bundle up and play on the playground while I sit at the picnic table and she is lying there on me bundled up watching practice. I just hope that the other parent gets my point with that, especially since we'll be doing it again on Tuesday with Melissa's practice. I am NOT amused, some people take peewee sports way too seriously...........................
Thursday, October 08, 2009
oh no, tv's down lol
I hate getting up in the mornings before 8am if I'm not feeling too great. I've trained the kids for htis in fact. They know that if I'm not up when they get up, they are allowed to QUIETLY go out to the living room and watch tv (usually Disney or PBS depending on their mood, sometimes Noggin) Well this morning I got the RUDE wakeup of Melissa climbing all over me, bouncing and yelling that the tv isn't working. Our satellite isn't working properly. So we suffered through some ceral with a barely-functioning mom, and I then called our phone company to find out what's going on. My first thought was that we forgot to pay the bill, but its not that. Our bill is 100% current with no balance. Apparently, Dish is having issues right now and they are working to get their programming up again, everyone is without tv right now. Its a good thing I already gave Melissa her meds or I'd have a very angry child bouncing all over the place yelling about it. Instead, I have kids playing in the bedroom. They are pretending to run a restaurant. I'm really starting to like Adderall at the moment..........................
Now I just need to get myself woke up and functional so we can do lessons while we wait on the tv to come back up again. When it does come back up, I'm going to sneak off to take a nap while the kids watch it for a bit since I got up a couple hours earlier than I needed to this morning (I didn't sleep well last night)
Now I just need to get myself woke up and functional so we can do lessons while we wait on the tv to come back up again. When it does come back up, I'm going to sneak off to take a nap while the kids watch it for a bit since I got up a couple hours earlier than I needed to this morning (I didn't sleep well last night)
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
illness and a broken nose *lol*
Yes that is an interesting combination, isn't it?
Details aside, Scott and I were goofing around last week and it ended in my nose bleeding all over the place. Total accident, I promise. Anyway, I have a broken nose now as a result. But on a positive note, I'm no longer snoring at night................... lol So no more sore throats in the morning YAY Have you ever tried to do lessons while slightly foggy from pain meds or while distracted by the pain of an injury? It ain't fun, I'll tell ya. But we're surviving.
And on top of it, I had the pleasure of taking Lydia to the doctor today for a sick visit. All 4 kids are sick with the same virus. With her symptoms, Scott and I were worried about the possibility of the flu, and with H1N1 in particular. We don't do flu shots and are opting out of the H1N1 vaccine as well for our own reasons, but today has me at least starting to reconsider this stance. Especially with Kimmy and me having asthma, we are both prone to lung infections and have both almost been hospitalized from complications of infections. Well, thankfully its not H1N1, and its not the flu. Its a nasty chest cold that we need to watch to be sure it doesn't turn to bronchitis or worse over the next few days.
So what does all this have to do with our schooling the kids? Easy, it means that we're not going to do too much in terms of lessons for a few more days. Now I'm going to go lie down on the sofa for a bit until Scott gets home in a few so that I can retreat to the bedroom.
Details aside, Scott and I were goofing around last week and it ended in my nose bleeding all over the place. Total accident, I promise. Anyway, I have a broken nose now as a result. But on a positive note, I'm no longer snoring at night................... lol So no more sore throats in the morning YAY Have you ever tried to do lessons while slightly foggy from pain meds or while distracted by the pain of an injury? It ain't fun, I'll tell ya. But we're surviving.
And on top of it, I had the pleasure of taking Lydia to the doctor today for a sick visit. All 4 kids are sick with the same virus. With her symptoms, Scott and I were worried about the possibility of the flu, and with H1N1 in particular. We don't do flu shots and are opting out of the H1N1 vaccine as well for our own reasons, but today has me at least starting to reconsider this stance. Especially with Kimmy and me having asthma, we are both prone to lung infections and have both almost been hospitalized from complications of infections. Well, thankfully its not H1N1, and its not the flu. Its a nasty chest cold that we need to watch to be sure it doesn't turn to bronchitis or worse over the next few days.
So what does all this have to do with our schooling the kids? Easy, it means that we're not going to do too much in terms of lessons for a few more days. Now I'm going to go lie down on the sofa for a bit until Scott gets home in a few so that I can retreat to the bedroom.
Monday, October 05, 2009
aaaaaahhhhhhh the joys of soccer
I swear, when this school year is over I am never signing up Lydia for soccer again. She is really good at it, and she enjoys it. So what's the problem you ask? She refuses to play or practice if I'm not literally on the field with her. That works fine for practices, her coach doesn't object to it because its an extra pair of hands that actually are semi-familiar with playing soccer. But at games, well lets just say it takes a lot of bribing and coaxing to get her on the field for any of the second half. The one time we got her there at the beginning of the game, she stood there and HOWLED at the top of her lungs like it was the most horrible torture on earth. She is definitely more of a ballet kind of child, soccer was NOT a good idea for her.
At least Melissa gets out there and plays though. Even if she is kicking the ball into her own goal and stops to chase butterflies or pick flowers during a game LOL
The only really cute thing about Lydia's soccer is when Jordan runs out during practices and starts playing with them (like she did today, they used the extra balls to mark goals until she took one and started playing soccer like the big kids *oops*) I have a feeling she'll do great at soccer in a couple years, she sure loves it right now (just like Melissa did, heck Melissa we bought a soccer game for her for Christmas a couple years ago to play on our PS2 and she was in heaven playing it with daddy's help)
Wrap-up time, Jordan is licking my computer desk again to get my attention LOL
At least Melissa gets out there and plays though. Even if she is kicking the ball into her own goal and stops to chase butterflies or pick flowers during a game LOL
The only really cute thing about Lydia's soccer is when Jordan runs out during practices and starts playing with them (like she did today, they used the extra balls to mark goals until she took one and started playing soccer like the big kids *oops*) I have a feeling she'll do great at soccer in a couple years, she sure loves it right now (just like Melissa did, heck Melissa we bought a soccer game for her for Christmas a couple years ago to play on our PS2 and she was in heaven playing it with daddy's help)
Wrap-up time, Jordan is licking my computer desk again to get my attention LOL
well, we're close on hours at least
So, every month our OHVA teacher sends us a calendar with the rough guidelines for weekly hours to log for our students in K and 1st grade. It also has diagnostic testing listed on it and stuff like that, so there's more than just hours guidelines listed. It has a spot to the side to list supplemental attendance if we want, and a couple ideas under it for some fun supplemental activities to do with our children. I print this calendar off EVERY month for the hours guidelines so I can see where we are. Well, since Scott was on vacation last week we didn't do all our schoolwork, so we've got a bit of making up to do this week and next week. Lydia's fine, she's 35 hours over the guideline (she loves schoolwork and wants to do extra assignments, it'll even out at the end of the school year probably) so I'm not worried about her not meeting guidelines. But Melissa, she's 10hrs short after last week. She usually stays right at guideline, so all that missed time is from last week. Guess the next couple weeks I'll be adding one extra assignment in for her to play "catch up" in hours, we're short in music and science so those will be the areas we add in extra for sure.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
next year?
So, we're exploring options for next school year so that we can start saving money *if* we decide to go away from OHVA. We're looking at a few different programs, and I'm starting to branch out from the stuff I am failiar with into different areas. I know I don't want anything that takes a lot of prep work for me to do successfully (part of why OHVA works so well for us, I like to be lazy about prepping to teach) but I like having interaction with the girls and feeling and seeing what they are learning while they do it.
I've looked at Switched On Schoolhouse for when the kids each hit that level that they can do the work, and I like it because it doesn't take a *lot* of work for me. However, I don't like it because they would be doing all the learning themselves without my direct involvement like I am doing now (I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of teaching to happen suddenly in one school year, I prefer that they go more independent slowly like they are now with a few subjects)
Sonlight. Ahhhhhh beautiful Sonlight. I own 3 cores, 2 lang. arts, and a science. I love their materials obviously. Great quality materials, wonderful books. We LOVE great literature and learning through reading. So, what is the problem with it? Too much legwork for me to prep for the day. I also am finding that I prefer to hand out a worksheet for comprehension instead of asking questions and gauging her answers for comprehension, and I feel like its not *quite* guided enough. Its perfect for preschool though, which is where we'll stay with for now.
Tapestry of Grace. Hmmmmmm now this one is a bit more complicated. Its a lot like Sonlight, but not at the same time. I LOVE how the program is set up on a classical 4 year history cycle, from creation to current day. I love how all levels are included in one guide for each unit of the year plans. I even like the activities that are suggested in TOG for further study and reinforcement. I mean come on, they have LAPBOOK KITS you can buy for each unit. It would really fit well for us with my love of literature for learning, the hands-on that the kids love with all the activities, and they have quizzes that I can buy to give me the worksheets that I like to use. So what is the downside? Prep time involved. The year plans are expensive enough for us that I'd have to do the first year of each plan piecing together the books from thrift stores, yard sales, and the local library. Too much legwork for me lol But it is awfully tempting still..................
Calvert. Oh man, don't start on this one. I like the text-based thing for some reason. It makes teaching the kids really simple. The huge downside is the cost, obviously. I've been eyeballing Calvert since Melissa was just a year old.
So, I've found a lot of options that I can discount easily because of cost, prep work involved, or a number of other reasons. Not looking good for us if we decide not to stay with OHVA................ lol I am still exploring options, and weighing the pros and cons of each. So, why is it that we are looking at possibly leaving ohva after this year you ask?
We have 2 children back to back, one in K and the other in 1st grade. I do their work with them individually, and I'm noticing a few little issues. First, Melissa is studying ancient history in 1st grade, which follows Story of the World pretty well. Lydia is studying world geography and a few fun tidbits about each country while we're at it for 1st semester, and will do American history a bit for second semester. Next year, Lydia will do the history Melissa's doing this year, and Melissa will move up to the second stage of world history (following SOTW vol. 2 fairly closely from what I hear) I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to have me teaching a time period in history two years in a row for at least 4 years, until Melissa is old enough to go independently with her history studies.
That is just one reason though. Second would be the requirement for "social" face to face events. We are required to attend 4 events each school year that the kids are signed in for. Meaning, I can do one on one with each kid and do a total of 8 events, or I can do 4 and sign both in together each time (so far this is how we're doing it) I don't do social situations well at all. Anyone who knows me, they have probably noticed that I don't do well with a lot of eye contact and I have a hard time on occassion with carrying a normal conversation. I also have annoying little tics that happen when I'm in a situation that makes me nervous, I start counting my kids over and over to make sure they are all here, I bounce my legs (5 bounces on one, then 5 on the other, and repeat), and other little things that aren't as noticeable. I don't do well in social situations. I FORCE myself to do them though, so that the girls are given the social outlet that they need since they aren't in a public school stuck with 25+ kids their age all day in a classroom sitting at desks/tables doing worksheets and being reprimanded if they talk to their "seat neighbors" Now this social requirement they have is a pro and a con both. If I didn't have the requirement, then I'd probably not go out at all except for soccer practices and games, and the occassional daytime shopping trip (I prefer to go shopping after the kids are in bed at 8pm) That is a pro for it. Now the con is that I have a mild anxiety attack every time I walk out the front door to head to a social situation, and it takes everything I have in me to not crawl out of my skin and run screaming back inside and under the covers on my bed to shake like a leaf. I obviously have gotten really good at bottling that up, I can now hold it in until I get home and am able to escape and just shake a while. (I had soccer games this morning at 9am and 10am, and I came home and pretty much immediately went back to bed to hide for 4 hours)
However, you can't beat the price of OHVA. Everyone likes a free curriculum, and its a really good one too. It fits our style, and provides the accountability that we need to actually do lessons daily. I have someone that I'm held accountable to, and am required to actually teach the kids and log my time for the work we did. Its not that bad of a deal for us.
See the problem with pros and cons lol
Right now I'm researching the Robinson curriculum. I found a link to it in an ad banner on facebook, of all places. I'm not too familiar with it, so I'm going to be taking time ot read about it. It appeals to me because its a more independent program from what I see, and it is one that I just purchase one time (only have to buy math books for it) But I don't know enough about it yet to make much of a decision yet.
I've looked at Switched On Schoolhouse for when the kids each hit that level that they can do the work, and I like it because it doesn't take a *lot* of work for me. However, I don't like it because they would be doing all the learning themselves without my direct involvement like I am doing now (I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of teaching to happen suddenly in one school year, I prefer that they go more independent slowly like they are now with a few subjects)
Sonlight. Ahhhhhh beautiful Sonlight. I own 3 cores, 2 lang. arts, and a science. I love their materials obviously. Great quality materials, wonderful books. We LOVE great literature and learning through reading. So, what is the problem with it? Too much legwork for me to prep for the day. I also am finding that I prefer to hand out a worksheet for comprehension instead of asking questions and gauging her answers for comprehension, and I feel like its not *quite* guided enough. Its perfect for preschool though, which is where we'll stay with for now.
Tapestry of Grace. Hmmmmmm now this one is a bit more complicated. Its a lot like Sonlight, but not at the same time. I LOVE how the program is set up on a classical 4 year history cycle, from creation to current day. I love how all levels are included in one guide for each unit of the year plans. I even like the activities that are suggested in TOG for further study and reinforcement. I mean come on, they have LAPBOOK KITS you can buy for each unit. It would really fit well for us with my love of literature for learning, the hands-on that the kids love with all the activities, and they have quizzes that I can buy to give me the worksheets that I like to use. So what is the downside? Prep time involved. The year plans are expensive enough for us that I'd have to do the first year of each plan piecing together the books from thrift stores, yard sales, and the local library. Too much legwork for me lol But it is awfully tempting still..................
Calvert. Oh man, don't start on this one. I like the text-based thing for some reason. It makes teaching the kids really simple. The huge downside is the cost, obviously. I've been eyeballing Calvert since Melissa was just a year old.
So, I've found a lot of options that I can discount easily because of cost, prep work involved, or a number of other reasons. Not looking good for us if we decide not to stay with OHVA................ lol I am still exploring options, and weighing the pros and cons of each. So, why is it that we are looking at possibly leaving ohva after this year you ask?
We have 2 children back to back, one in K and the other in 1st grade. I do their work with them individually, and I'm noticing a few little issues. First, Melissa is studying ancient history in 1st grade, which follows Story of the World pretty well. Lydia is studying world geography and a few fun tidbits about each country while we're at it for 1st semester, and will do American history a bit for second semester. Next year, Lydia will do the history Melissa's doing this year, and Melissa will move up to the second stage of world history (following SOTW vol. 2 fairly closely from what I hear) I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to have me teaching a time period in history two years in a row for at least 4 years, until Melissa is old enough to go independently with her history studies.
That is just one reason though. Second would be the requirement for "social" face to face events. We are required to attend 4 events each school year that the kids are signed in for. Meaning, I can do one on one with each kid and do a total of 8 events, or I can do 4 and sign both in together each time (so far this is how we're doing it) I don't do social situations well at all. Anyone who knows me, they have probably noticed that I don't do well with a lot of eye contact and I have a hard time on occassion with carrying a normal conversation. I also have annoying little tics that happen when I'm in a situation that makes me nervous, I start counting my kids over and over to make sure they are all here, I bounce my legs (5 bounces on one, then 5 on the other, and repeat), and other little things that aren't as noticeable. I don't do well in social situations. I FORCE myself to do them though, so that the girls are given the social outlet that they need since they aren't in a public school stuck with 25+ kids their age all day in a classroom sitting at desks/tables doing worksheets and being reprimanded if they talk to their "seat neighbors" Now this social requirement they have is a pro and a con both. If I didn't have the requirement, then I'd probably not go out at all except for soccer practices and games, and the occassional daytime shopping trip (I prefer to go shopping after the kids are in bed at 8pm) That is a pro for it. Now the con is that I have a mild anxiety attack every time I walk out the front door to head to a social situation, and it takes everything I have in me to not crawl out of my skin and run screaming back inside and under the covers on my bed to shake like a leaf. I obviously have gotten really good at bottling that up, I can now hold it in until I get home and am able to escape and just shake a while. (I had soccer games this morning at 9am and 10am, and I came home and pretty much immediately went back to bed to hide for 4 hours)
However, you can't beat the price of OHVA. Everyone likes a free curriculum, and its a really good one too. It fits our style, and provides the accountability that we need to actually do lessons daily. I have someone that I'm held accountable to, and am required to actually teach the kids and log my time for the work we did. Its not that bad of a deal for us.
See the problem with pros and cons lol
Right now I'm researching the Robinson curriculum. I found a link to it in an ad banner on facebook, of all places. I'm not too familiar with it, so I'm going to be taking time ot read about it. It appeals to me because its a more independent program from what I see, and it is one that I just purchase one time (only have to buy math books for it) But I don't know enough about it yet to make much of a decision yet.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
violin lessons with Melissa
I've really been hesitant about violin lessons, and for good reason. See, we did our budget and we decided we could afford violin lessons for Melissa, but then we had a hole come up in our budget. My dad lost his cell for the 4th time in 2 years, and we decided that instead of renewing our contract (yes I know its not smart to have a phone for him on OUR account) and we decided not to renew our contract so that we could get him a new phone and number (the person that has his phone was making calls to Germany on his phone) This means that my father is no longer contributing to the cell phone bill, but we are counting it as a worthy cost to not have to worry if he has his phone or not any more.
So I'm teaching her violin myself. I am NOT one to teach my own kids an instrument, it just scares me. However, because of the change in budget, I have to teach her if she's going to learn for now. I'm sucking it up and working with her on it. We are reviewing the parts of the violin, how to hold instrument and bow properly, and sitting/standing properly each lesson and then doing a couple minutes of introducing the new concept or working on an existing concept, followed by Melissa practicing while I am there to correct her position and assist her with the concept we worked on. The current lesson is up and down bowing, pizz. playing (that's the fancy way of saying plucking instead of bowing) and open D and open A for notes. She's having a blast, we are doing different rhythms for playing right now and she loves the challenge of bowing the rhythm I clap for her to echo. She's got a pretty good ear for rhythm in fact, and is getting the concept rather quickly of bowing on one string at a time (except when the music says to play on two strings at once, which will come much later in lessons) I'm actually impressed with how well she's doing at violin lessons, especially since I am NOT a violin teacher. I much prefer to play instead of teaching, but this works for now.
I always SWORE that I would NEVER teach my own children how to play an instrument, that I knew my limits and that an instrument is my limit. Well, what happened to that limit? lol I'm still not teaching other peoples' kids though, I'm not sure I could handle that one. I'm a gifted classical musician, NOT a teacher.
You know what they say. Those who can, play. THose who can't, teach.
So I'm teaching her violin myself. I am NOT one to teach my own kids an instrument, it just scares me. However, because of the change in budget, I have to teach her if she's going to learn for now. I'm sucking it up and working with her on it. We are reviewing the parts of the violin, how to hold instrument and bow properly, and sitting/standing properly each lesson and then doing a couple minutes of introducing the new concept or working on an existing concept, followed by Melissa practicing while I am there to correct her position and assist her with the concept we worked on. The current lesson is up and down bowing, pizz. playing (that's the fancy way of saying plucking instead of bowing) and open D and open A for notes. She's having a blast, we are doing different rhythms for playing right now and she loves the challenge of bowing the rhythm I clap for her to echo. She's got a pretty good ear for rhythm in fact, and is getting the concept rather quickly of bowing on one string at a time (except when the music says to play on two strings at once, which will come much later in lessons) I'm actually impressed with how well she's doing at violin lessons, especially since I am NOT a violin teacher. I much prefer to play instead of teaching, but this works for now.
I always SWORE that I would NEVER teach my own children how to play an instrument, that I knew my limits and that an instrument is my limit. Well, what happened to that limit? lol I'm still not teaching other peoples' kids though, I'm not sure I could handle that one. I'm a gifted classical musician, NOT a teacher.
You know what they say. Those who can, play. THose who can't, teach.
Friday, September 25, 2009
finding individual strengths
I've been thinking about this all school year. Melissa is NOT a bookish child, but she tries so hard to enjoy schoolwork and find a subject that she's good at. It bothers her so much when Lydia gets a concept that she's struggling with, so I had to split them up even with the lessons they do together. Its more work for me, but I'm fine with that as long as they learn at their pace and are confident. However, I still am on the hunt to find what each individual girl is strong in, and what she enjoys. It is important to me personally to find that one little spot where they truly shine. Here is what I've discovered so far from doing this.
Lydia is a fairly easy to teach kid. She loves history and geography, and does really well in it. Phonics and language arts is a breeze for her, and same with math. She gets a concept very quickly and has incredible retention. However, she is NOT an organized sports kind of girl, she prefers the fine arts for physical education instead (stuff like ballet is right up her alley, however she does well with almost any sport she tries)
Melissa has been a difficult child to figure out. She is not an academic child. She thrives on sports, the outdoors, and anything that gets her really moving. She has trouble with reading, and isn't very coordinated. She also is nearsighted and needs to wear glasses, as well as being left-handed. Figuring her strength out has been more difficult in the academic arena because its just not something that really is her thing. She likes doing worksheets and writing, and has wonderfully creative ideas for stories and songs and such. She's also very interested in music like I am. She is just starting violin lessons with me, and already shows great potential. However, with academics I had to look at her strengths in a different way. She is ok with history, she enjoys it but doesn't really get excited about it. She can take it or leave it. Phonics and language arts, I don't even need to explain that one I think. However, when it comes to math she not only does well, but she enjoys it as well. Right now we are working on subtracting from numbers up to 6, and she's doing great. She did two lessons within 25 minutes today, she is currently doing her test for the second lesson. She has yet to get a NOT perfect score on a math test, and I highly expect her to finish her math book by Christmas at the rate she's going.
My girls may be only 12 months apart in age, but they are so drastically different in strengths and what they enjoy. I am so happy to have this opportunity to teach them myself, and work to their strengths like I can.
Lydia is a fairly easy to teach kid. She loves history and geography, and does really well in it. Phonics and language arts is a breeze for her, and same with math. She gets a concept very quickly and has incredible retention. However, she is NOT an organized sports kind of girl, she prefers the fine arts for physical education instead (stuff like ballet is right up her alley, however she does well with almost any sport she tries)
Melissa has been a difficult child to figure out. She is not an academic child. She thrives on sports, the outdoors, and anything that gets her really moving. She has trouble with reading, and isn't very coordinated. She also is nearsighted and needs to wear glasses, as well as being left-handed. Figuring her strength out has been more difficult in the academic arena because its just not something that really is her thing. She likes doing worksheets and writing, and has wonderfully creative ideas for stories and songs and such. She's also very interested in music like I am. She is just starting violin lessons with me, and already shows great potential. However, with academics I had to look at her strengths in a different way. She is ok with history, she enjoys it but doesn't really get excited about it. She can take it or leave it. Phonics and language arts, I don't even need to explain that one I think. However, when it comes to math she not only does well, but she enjoys it as well. Right now we are working on subtracting from numbers up to 6, and she's doing great. She did two lessons within 25 minutes today, she is currently doing her test for the second lesson. She has yet to get a NOT perfect score on a math test, and I highly expect her to finish her math book by Christmas at the rate she's going.
My girls may be only 12 months apart in age, but they are so drastically different in strengths and what they enjoy. I am so happy to have this opportunity to teach them myself, and work to their strengths like I can.
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