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Debrief! What got accomplished? [fka Too early to talk about summer plans?]


SKL
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We've been getting a decent amount accomplished, even though it feels like we're taking it easy. DD had ESY for 5 weeks this summer, 4 days a week, because of her ADHD. Her first exposure to public school and she did quite well.

 

She's been making her way through Blyton's Faraway Tree/Wishing Chair collection, and loving it. We worked through SM Standards 1B pretty quickly, and I was gong to take a break from math since she's entering 1st grade ps next year and will be ahead, but she told me she felt weird not doing math (this was a shocker to me!) so we picked up CWP, and are making our way through it while doing RS C (just because we have it and haven't used it much.) We're also playing at Building Thinking Skills, which she enjoys. And I've been trying to focus on writing (which she hates) having her write a little each day. Recently I'm having her think up alternate endings to the short stories we read, and we partnership write them, which has been reasonably fun for her.

 

We do daily mindfulness, trying to help her with emotional regulation, and she's in a social skills group. She had a few weeks of swimming lessons this summer, and finally learned to swim! A couple of museum trips and a zoo trip. We've spent loads of time reading, even more than usual, much of it outside under the trees. As of last week she had 74 books on her library summer reading list (some picture books and some chapter books, some she read and some I read to her.) Lots of nature hikes, bug collecting and studying, biking, she's in an acting class on Saturdays where they act out scenes from well-known stories. Taking a beach trip with family for a week at the end of the month...

 

Wow, you know I was feeling like I wanted to pack so much in since this may be the end of our homeschooling journey, and before writing this I felt like we hadn't done much because we really have been relaxed most days, only about 45 minutes to an hour of actual schooling. But looking this over I'm impressed with us, haha. It's been a fun and full summer!

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I'm not sure how I feel about math and reading right now. 

 

One of my kids is just lazy and I really don't bother to push her at all.  She enjoys reading and has the ability to read way above grade level when she wants to.  Last week she attended a "back to school" math camp and they put her into algebra because she blew through everything else.  So what is the point of fussing with her?  I give her stuff to do, to be fair when her sister is working; she may or may not do it.  At least when she avoids my assignments she does it by choosing some other intellectual pursuit and trying to convince me it is better.  :p

 

My other kid - you could see the brain drain happening, but there is only so much you can push a kid in summer without feeling like a hag.

 

This year I tried to plan for more independent work vs. sitting with them.  I bought them each a laptop, which was a big thrill for them.  They learned a lot about computers.  They kept up on news that interested them.  They probably spent too much time watching cartoons on YouTube, but who can blame them?  :p  They did do some academic learning too.  It was a start.  Oh, and they took part of a typing course.

 

With math I started out doing some workbooks, but then I gave most of that up in favor of the Khan Academy math work required under Brain Chase.  My eldest had trouble with that - it took her longer than it should have to get things done.  I think it's a good program, but she needs more time to figure out how to make it work for her.  There were also many days when we didn't do any formal math, because we were busy.  I would briefly turn a real-life experience into a math lesson, for what it was worth.  :p  Then last week she did a "back to school" math camp and they worked closely with her, focusing on fractions and decimals.  The end-of-camp assessment was that she is doing excellent in some areas and good in the rest, but I'm not so sure.  This week I will go back to some worksheet style review with her.  I downloaded a set of summer review worksheets off another school's website and we will hopefully plow through all of them.  I also have many untouched workbooks we can use in the unlikely event we have more time.

 

With reading, again we started the summer with workbook-style stuff, then stopped to make time for the summer programs.  They had a few grade-level books assigned by summer programs they were in.  My slower kid got through 2.5 of the 3.  (I will insist that she finish the unfinished book this week.)  I think she also did some additional "fun reading," but not much.  We did several audiobooks in the car, and I read aloud when time allowed.  She took a formal 5-week reading program which was supposed to improve important skills for this level; I hope it helped, but I can't really tell.  Also last week's "back to school" camp included about an hour of reading focus per day.  This week I will probably have her do some additional workbook stuff if we have time.  (This week they are in arts and computer camps until 4:30 and they have sports every evening, so ....)

 

They have had a super busy and stimulating summer.  I'm sure it will come through even though the specific skills I planned to work on didn't get much time.

Edited by SKL
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Sounds like a typical 5 year old. Being "silly" and playing is probably a lot more beneficial to most 5 YOs instead of doing school work. 

 

Have to agree! It's much more beneficial for a 5 year old to learn creativity through play anyway, there's no benefit in learning to read before entering K unless they're self-motivated. (I've actually read studies that show kids who are pushed to read before they're ready end up not enjoying reading later in life.) Most Kindergarteners are reading to some extent by the end of the school year, and most kids are at the same level by 3rd grade regardless of when they started.

 

ETA: It may be that you worry because your older DD was self-motivated, and you're not seeing that in your younger. But that's not typical. I think there are many more kids who, unless they're pushed by their parents and are amenable to being pushed, don't read before entering K. And unless they have a LD, they all learn just fine once they're ready. :)

Edited by nature girl
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The school year doesn't start for us until Sept 8, so there's still a lot of summer left in my eyes! :)

 

I started afterschooling dd this summer because of a worrying lack of progress on letter recognition and letter sounds after a full year in pre-k (with daily letter instruction). She finished pre-k only recognizing the letters in her (short) first name--which is where she was at the beginning of the pre-k year. She had no letter sounds at all. 

 

So this summer we did a few things:

 

1. Follow up with dd's audiologist to make sure her hearing is normal -- Fortunately it is. DD had her tonsils and adenoids out and ear tubes put in last December. That resolved some hearing loss she was experiencing (probably part of why she was having trouble with letter sounds--she couldn't hear for a while). But at this point she's had nearly 8 months of normal hearing so it's no longer holding her back.

 

2. Started speech therapy. She didn't qualify for services when I had her evaluated by Early Intervention--not delayed enough (receptive language 88th percentile, articulation 17th...) --but I decided to bite the bullet and pay for some sessions out of pocket. She needs practice making sounds properly in order to be able to hear and distinguish them. We'll see where she's at when the school year starts. I'm hopeful her kindergarten teacher will recommend that she continue speech in school. We've been doing her "speech homework" every day--about 5 min. 

 

3. Pre-reading lessons! She's had 34 official lessons so far--30 minutes each. We do an AAR pre-reading lesson, read the corresponding page from Letter Land, and then usually an extra phonological awareness game or letter sound and recognition practice. She's now recognizing almost all the upper case letters in the alphabet consistently and about half of the lower case letters. She's got letter sounds down pat for 8 letters. It's tremendous progress in just over a month. 

 

4. Read Aloud - I've rediscovered the public library and the constant stream of new books has dd very interested. We've been reading aloud for 20 minutes every night. Sometimes more--because she'll ask to be read to during dinner or snack. I'm noticing her patience for longer books with more complex words has increased quite a bit. 

 

5. Swim lessons - they're happening --she's starting to swim short distances independently. It's pretty great--I think we'll keep it up year-round now.

 

6. Math - previously we would just fool around with a few pages of Mathematical Reasoning at a time, but then I discovered vintage Stern Structural Arithmetic manipulatives at my mom's house.  :p I bought the books - we've been doing the lessons for about 2 weeks. It started very easy but it's already more interesting and challenging. DD loves the blocks and the concepts are making sense to her (odd and even, basic 1-10 addition). I kind of want to borrow some neighborhood kids to join these math lessons with dd because there are games for small groups (currently dd plays them against me and some puppets lol). 

 

Anyway, the summer learning experiment is turning out to be a triumph. I feel really glad I decided to take some of my kid's education into my own hands--it's very fun and interesting for me and DD is learning.

Thanks to this forum, I'm making lots of plans for the coming year. :lol:

Edited by cabritadorada
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We didn't do as much over the summer as I had planned. Much more time was dedicated to arts and crafts and reading aloud. We did do weekly trips to the zoo, museum of science, or children's museum, and library.

 

Dd continued through OPGTR and we are on lesson 94 I believe. Beginning to cover alternate spellings for long e and I. Dd is gaining fluency though. We read a lot of Bob books and Nora Gaydos readers and elephant and Piggie.

 

we did work on counting and number recognition. Dd can read the numbers and count to 100 now.

 

Her writing has improved a lot. Our focus for the summer was writing her last name which she did accomplish.

 

She'll go to PreK 4 in the fall but only for half a day 4/5 days a week. I plan to continue OPGTR and a K level math. Thinking c-rods and education unboxed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

School starts Wednesday morning, so here's where we're at.  [Edited to add Labor Day as a summer day.  I know, that is cheating.]

 

Camps:
  • Zoo day camp - 2 weeks learning about animal classification and food webs (age 9-10 class)
  • Scout troop weekend campout
  • Latino Culture Camp - 1 week day camp, includes geography, art, music, sports, dance, Spanish
  • Scout sleep-away camp - 1 week [one kid only made it halfway]
  • Cooking camp, 3 mornings
  • Magic camp, 5 afternoons
  • Family zoo overnight - Africa theme
  • Old-fashioned farm sleep-away camp - 1 week [one kid only made it halfway]
  • Jr. Medical day camp at Natural History museum - 1 week
  • Back-to-school day camp (mathx2, science, reading, art) - 5 mornings
  • Science camp (library program) - 5 afternoons
  • Arts sampler - 5 mornings
  • Computer / robotics camp - Wimpy Kid theme - 5 afternoons

International Travel:

  • Poland
  • Ukraine

Evenings/weekends all summer:

  • Horse riding [11 lessons and horse show]
  • Gymnastics [1 weekly summer class]
  • Swim team Swimming for fun
  • TKD [1 belt test passed]
  • Basketball skills [1 weekly summer class]
  • Tennis [just a few lessons]
  • Family fun such as hiking and visiting other zoos and theme parks in our state.
    • 1 new zoo & waterpark with Mom
    • Community festival with aunt
    • County fair with aunt
    • A little hiking with Mom
    • An outdoor music festival with Mom
    • Labor Day air show & hologram demo.
  • Museum exhibits
    • American History / Auto-Aviation Museum
    • Mughal art exhibit / activity day at art museum
    • Sports Science exhibit at science center
    • [Also visited several museums as part of a day camp]
  • Summer Reading Skills class (5 weeks - Sunday classes + online home stuff)
  • Middle school book discussions at the library (monthly)  [2 done; 3rd read; 4th started.]
  • Library summer reading challenge (includes math and volunteering too)
  • Family volunteering.  [socializing / walking shelter pets - 1 time so far]
  • Brain Chase program (5-6 weeks math, reading, typing, online writing etc.)   [~half finished]
  • Dog show training.  :p  Aunt signed them up for some lessons.  [1 down, 1 to go]
  • Several parties, friend overnight.

Home activities: 

  • Instrumental music [very little]
  • Chess [played 1 game with 1 kid]
  • Daily math and reading  [usually]
  • Writing letters and journals  [some - pen pal letters & travel journal]
  • Computerized reports and presentations  [they worked with powerpoint & word for fun]
  • Finishing up old workbooks.  [some]
  • Life skills - keeping the house decent, some cooking, and laundry.  [some]
  • ETA: re cooking, also art:  try out some books I found that use cooking/art to teach science, math, geography and history concepts / information.  [later]
  • Scout badge work.  [earned several "outdoor skills" badges]
  • Audiobooks (in the car):
    • I Will Always Write Back
    • Hold Fast
    • The Westing Game
    • The War that Saved my Life [in progress]
    • Rush Revere and the American Revolution
    • Rush Revere and the Star-Spangled Banner
    • Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims
  • Read-alouds done:
    • The Black Stallion
    • Understood Betsy

 

I still have a bunch of things I would like us to do ... just need to find out what the schedule is going to be like.

Edited by SKL
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It was a great summer! We got used to our new curriculum and lifestyle, my final purchase ZB2M just arrived the other day but several items SM1 WWE and FLL we have been working with since 6/30. When DH (principal) says to DD7 that she had better be ready to "really start school" next week "for real," and I look at what we've already read and done (so much!) and she doesn't just wait to start school "for real" next week but asks when I'm ready to start school today, well that's a summer well done.

 

My favs of the summer:

Nathaniel Hawthorne Tanglewood Tales Jason and the Golden Fleece free from project Guttenberg. (Score!)

Beatrix Potter entire set IR

A couple of SOTW activities.

Outside almost daily.

Some cool memory work, and she loves it.

DD explaining negative numbers, how it's like a party. Dd spontaneously showing stunning comprehension as she acts out hard books while I read, "interrupting" every paragraph to act. Lol.

 

I wish I'd done better: getting in a habit of doing science BFSU and SOTW weekly, and more background reading.

Edited by Shred Betty
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This summer was less about education and more about developing independence for my new 6th grader.  He spent three weeks at a CTY residential program. Then a week with out of town relatives, and flew home as an unaccompanied minor (1st time). Then off to an away summer camp for a couple of weeks. 

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Here is my summary: This is my current working list:

 

Organized
- Swimming lessons MOM FAIL, I didn't even figure out when they were :(
- Gymnastics camp They completed 3 week long camps this summer :)
- Martial Arts program Decided to wait
- Soccer They loved it!
- T-Ball Did Soccer instead
- Weekly Library visits After the first visit my MIL (who takes them) decided that we have better quality books at home and she wasn't going to waste her time bringing them if all they get is "Crap Books"  which is awesome because for a long time all she could do was complain about all the books I buy :)
- Weekly Nature Camp (?? have to find someone to take them) I was not able to find a non-religious based camp for boys to attend anywhere nearby.  It was very frustrating because I found 4 for girls only.
 
Outdoors
- Daily Nature Journal Not a chance
- Playtime Not enough
- Their own Garden You mean their weed gardens.....
 
Enrichment
- Daily Copywork/Handwriting (10 min, print up for them) 3 sentences
- Daily Reading (10 min, whatever they want) 20 minutes a day minimum
- Daily Math  (10 min, MEP worksheet or math game)(http://www.cimt.plym...ary/default.htm2 worksheet pages a day
The three above were interesting.    I picked up Math Mammoth first grade for them.   I intended their daily work to be timeboxed but my MIL, who watches them, forced them to sit down and do 2 pages a day.   I didn't fight it because they could easily do the work and if they really tried it would only take them about 10 minutes or so.   They have pretty much finished the first half of the curriculum.   I am a bit worried about boredom this school year.  For reading the school sent home a summer reading challenge that was 20 minutes a day.  They did really good!  They are advanced readers for their age and I am constantly impressed by what they are choosing to read.   I have a rule that they get to pick what ever they want to read.   Some days it is super easy others it is really complicated.   Handwriting is a challenge that my MIL took on as a personal quest.  She didn't like their handwriting and would make sure they did it daily.  I tried a curriculum but eventually she just started to write out 3 sentences a day for them.   They had to write each one perfectly then they were done.  It went really well and there is a marked improvement in their skills :)  
 
Everything below here was basically looped all summer.   We did most of them once in a while but never on a regular basis.   It was fun but I am going to have to reevaluate now that school is starting again and figure out what we will be doing.
- Daily Nature Journal (Draw anything in book from outside)
- Daily Rememborized Poetry Review
- Weekly Reading Lesson (They read from McGuffy reader)
- Weekly Artist Study (Show picture, talk about it, have kids draw it)
- Weekly Letter Writing to family (choose one person each week)
- Weekly Nature Connection book (work through lesson as a family)
- Weekly Individual Cooking Lesson (each kid cooks a meal, Start recipe book with each)
- Weekly Rememborize new Poem/quote
- Weekly Teach your Children Shakespeare
- Mom reads from Ambleside Y1
 
I feel like we spent more time outside than we have in a long time.  None of the following actually happened but we did a bunch of other fun stuff!
Outings
- Zoo
- Aquarium
- Hiking State Parks (Monthly)
- Camping (2x this summer)
- Visit with Grandma and Grandpa
- Visit GGma & GGpa
 
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I too bombed at the nature study stuff.  I bought some lovely books and never used them.  Oh well!  On the positive side, their scout troop is doing the nature & wildlife badge right now, so that's a start.  :)

 

The grand plans for cooking at home didn't materialize either, because we were not home enough.  I think we'll have better luck doing that on Sundays throughout the school year though.  They did learn cooking through some of the camps they did.

Edited by SKL
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Back to the reading topic.  Something good has come out of the summer reading we did (actual reading, audiobooks, read-alouds).  The kids are racking up AR points as they test on the books they already read.  My youngest is already more than halfway to the annual stretch goal, LOL.  My eldest is also on her way, though her memory isn't as good.  This will reduce the pressure to read as school work piles up.  Reality is that reading for 1+ hour per day, on top of everything else, isn't realistic for all of us.

 

They will be doing a couple of book club programs that will involve reading a couple meaty books per month (one audio, one actual reading) at least through the fall.  This seems to help keep my eldest on track without me being the heavy.  :)

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Well, we finally played chess.  :)  I am not good at chess, but I know enough to checkmate a kid who has no clue, for now.  :P  I promised my kid that if she perseveres, she will be beating me regularly.  :)  They have a chess club at school, so there is opportunity to be challenged even after surpassing Mom.

 

Today was the last hurrah of summer.  We enjoyed the air show, followed by a demonstration of hologram technology.  I will count those as summer activities.  :)

 

School is ramping up, we have a homework routine, scouts are in full swing, school sports and band start tomorrow, and they've had their first weekend math class.  Goodbye, summer.  See ya next year!

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