Devotional Soul
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Posts posted by Devotional Soul
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I mix essential oils in a bottle with water and spray it whenever we go it. Theives oil saved lives during the black plague, we use those oils plus oregano oil and lavender. Also, lomatium root extract saved lives of the Native American tribes during the Spanish Flu pandemic. These plus eating healthy, homemade food, plenty of vitamin c, and we never get sick.
I think the most important way to keep the swine flu away is by NOT getting the flu vax and NOT taking Tamiflu. These profit the same company, Baxter, that most likely created and spread this flu, and suppress the immune system.
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I'm considering FIAR for my storybook-loving 5 year old, and I have some questions. Thanks in advance for helping me get a better idea about FIAR. :)
How is the science in FIAR? Do you supplement the science? What are the science topics?
Do your studies jump around from book to book, like learning about China with the Story of Ping one week, then Ohio with Lentil the next week. Is there a flow to the order, or do you switch it around?
Do you supplement with anything else besides phonics/reading and math?
Thanks again!:001_smile:
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We liked the About Three workbook at that age (Rod and Staff). You can't go wrong for $2!
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Just to add some Vedanta for anyone interested, in Vedic scriptures, one day of the Creator equals 4.32 billion years, and one complete day and night equals 8.64 billion years.
According to Vedic scriptures, God created this universe (among unlimited universes) 150 trillion years ago, and there have been 36,000 partial destructions/recreations since then, the last one by flood being 120 million years ago by flood, in which 8 saintly people survived with the plants and animals in a boat (the story of Matsya), and 2 billion years ago is when this 'day of the creator' began which is also a recreation, which aligns with scientists earliest life forms.
According to Vedic scriptures, God rests on an ocean at the bottom of the universe, which aligns with "God's spirit moved across the waters of the deep". According to the Bible, everyone spoke one language before the tower of Babel, and according to Vedic scriptures, the whole earth was united in Vedic culture and spoke Sanskrit, the oldest language. Moses spent decades with the Midianites who had connections with India and Vedic knowledge. Vedic culture has been greatly corrupted since the beginning of the age of corruption, Kali Yuga, which began 5,000 years ago, when scriptures began being written down because memories and life spans shortened.
I believe that none of this really matters compared to what Jesus said "love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself". Everything else is mental and knowledge that will be revealed as we are ready, and falls perfectly into place when we aspire to love and serve and surrender to the Lord.
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I think choosing curriculums is by far the hardest part of homeschooling for me! Follow your heart. Focusing on one time period for history would be easier for sure.
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I say get some Bob Books and also explore http://www.starfall.com.
My kids love Bob books, they're short and sweet and silly and let little ones read on their own. I think you can find them at Costco and bookstores like Borders.
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Hang in there, mama! It does get easier and all K'ers have an adjustment period ;). New transitions take at least a month to sink in with my ds. Then, school is normal and it's weird when you don't do it.
The beauty of homeschooling is that you can customize it to what works best, unlike the overcrowded elementary school. If he prefers later in the day, go for it! It makes sense to me to be relaxed, well rested, and well fed before school.
I've found being well fed is really important. Our worst homeschool days were when my ds was hungry, and our best are when he's well fed.
Our school has greatly improved since I started doing a small treat/snack break in the middle of one hour of focused time. I make it fun by hiding the 'hidden treasure' before school, then after the lesson and work, I write the 'clue' to where it is hidden, which is an easy word to read according to what he's learned like fan, mat, hat, bed, box, socks, shelf, stove, etc. Then he finds it and eats his snack while I start teaching the next lesson or read a story. I usually use dried fruit for the treat, but anything not messy and quick to eat works great. My ds loves the treasure hunts so much now that when we don't have any treasure, he asks me to hide water as a treasure, lol!
I hope that helps!
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MFW K is pretty easy to make secular and is flexible, just leave out the lesson's motto and the Bible quotes. I started it when my ds was 4 and stretched 1 week of lessons to last 2 weeks, adding lots of library books. At 4 1/2, he had a big shift and was able to start 1 week on each animal/subject. We had a lot of fun learning with this gentle introduction to animals, geography, the alphabet, writing, and reading short vowel cvc words. It was perfect for my 4 year old, but wouldn't have been enough for my ds at 5.
Here is what I put on my blog about our year with MFW K:
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McRuffy K covers a lot, so 1st jumps right in.
We did MFW K and it was a nice, gentle introduction to the alphabet and reading. But I could not go to McRuffy 1st next, we are doing McRuffy K. Too easy is better than too hard at this age.
HTH!
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Dish soap added to the vinegar and baking soda makes it even better (slower like lava).
We made the volcano with crayola clay and painted it black.
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I'm looking into all of this for the future. My ds really doesn't like dry text or boring books, he needs pictures and fun and adventure, or child characters, etc.
To add to the other great suggestions, here's a few more that I've found:
Teaching US History Through Children's Literature:
http://www.amazon.com/U-S-History-Through-Childrens-Literature/dp/1563084406
Maestro books, picture story book for younger kids, check your library:
http://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Americas-Betsy-Maestro/dp/0833586017
Highlights of Homeschooling: http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=1600&it=1&filters=0_24100_0
Free curriculums (besides Los Banos):
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MUS primer was a huge FLOP for us. There were several things we did not like about it.
Instead of having dotted lines to trace for number writing practice, the workbook has an outline of the number for the student to fill in. My ds started writing number one in an outline style, like a skinny rectangle, saying "that's how it's written in the book".
The number 9 is written like an upside down 6 instead of a circle and a straight line. Who writes a 9 like that? Sure, it looks like that when you type, but does anyone really write it like that?
It's not scripted. So, it's not "open and go" style, you have to read the lesson ahead of time and prepare how to say it to the student. The dvd's help with that, but for me, it's easier to have the lesson objectives written out so I don't forget anything. My ds did not like the dvd's and got upset after two tries.
Lesson 1-8 were simple counting and were nice and easy. But then place value is introduced at lesson 9, which is a big concept for a kindergartener. My ds was discouraged after flying by so nicely and then get this huge hurdle, which he kind of got with lots of help, but it was somewhat over his head.
The lessons have lots of review, and after a while, it was a chore to get through a whole lesson. There was quite a bit of coloring required, having to color in several 100 blocks, which was tiring. We started just writing the number while counting instead of coloring in, since he needs practice writing numbers. We stopped halfway through the primer.
My ds was not happy with the blocks because they would not stay stuck together. The would click together but not stay like legos, they easily come apart. Then some of them would not even connect all the way. I let my ds play with them when we first got them, and he was frustrated that he couldn't build with them because they fell apart. He likes the connecting Cuisenaire rods much better. He also didn't use the blocks for the lessons much.
Mastery vs. spiral approach are important to consider with math. I thought my ds would be mastery, the concept of mastering something first makes perfect since. But I found out that my ds got bored of too much of one thing, and does better with spiral, changing with new things, but still reviewing and coming back. This is all a personal thing that each child is different with. I was also concerned with MUS being spiral because we have to do state testing at 3rd grade, and if I had stuck with MUS, he might not have gotten to master all of the concepts on the standardized tests.
We've switched to McRuffy, and math is now fun and not a chore to get through. When I ask what subject he wants to do first, he asks for math. With MUS primer, he dreaded it and I had to push him to get it done. McRuffy is so much more appropriate for his age and is so much more fun. I love how the objectives are very clear and organized.
Maybe higher levels of MUS are better than primer, but I'm most likely not going back. I'm glad I didn't spend too much of MUS stuff, I recommend getting things used for cheap, so if it is a flop, you don't loose too much. The homeschool journey is so different for everyone. MUS is so well loved and popular, I never thought it would have been such a flop for us, but it was a big one that I'm trying to undo now with number writing practice.
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Play-doh is what I give to my 2 year old to play with. He only gets it at school time, so it is that fun, special thing...his 'school' work, lol.
Play-doh, a spatula, small rolling pin, play-doh scissors, spoons, and cookie cutters are plenty to keep him entertained for a while. I just have to make sure he keeps it on the table.
If he starts needing more attention, I will make him a nest and roll little play-doh eggs or play-doh worms or play-doh vegetables to chop while I teach big brother. I also use homemade play-doh, and one big batch of it in a big container.
Baby's naptime is truly the ideal school time, but sometimes that doesn't happen on schedule.
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We just started McRuffy and my ds and I both LOVE it. We are having fun, and I feel like it is perfect for his age, with lots of fun games to reinforce everything. I'm not worried about it not having a long record because it's set to national standards, and math is now finally fun, which I think is most important.
BTW, I ditched out on Singapore and MUS primer.
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Definitely check out your states department of education. Your library may also have What Your 1st Grader Needs To Know.
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I don't mind talking animals, but it gets weird for me when animals are wearing human clothes! But now I'm reconsidering them since I need help falling asleep, lol.
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Brittney,
First of all, those particular rhymes are not really correct, in my book. The only one I learned as a kid that I *still* think is correct is: I before E except after C or when it says A as in "neighbor" or "weigh"...
...and when it's wEIrd! ;)
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There's tons of cute little songs for phonics rules including the ones you mentioned at http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f, try different ones on that page, also before the stories, there's a lot!
Here's a few we sing often:
Y can be a vowel: http://www.starfall.com/n/y-as-e/y-as-e/load.htm?f
Lonely Vowels (at the end of a word): http://www.starfall.com/n/skills/the-lonely-vowel/load.htm?f
For the silent E, I made up the character of the silent E who is shy and quiet, but hangs out with words to whisper to the other vowels "Say your name, say your name, say your name", which is sung to the melody of some old 90's tune 'sail away, sail away, sail away', lol, I know it's cheesy but it works. Starfall has it as "silent E at the end of the word, makes the A say A (E say E, I say I, etc.)
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Another vote for McRuffy, it is fun! The Singapore early bird books were way too distracting for my ds with the cartoon characters in the corner of every page...we stopped after halfway through 1B.
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I'd like to learn more about this one as well. I'm seriously considering using this, and also beautiful feet books from the library, and maybe some of the MFW books, too.
There is a mom who posted in this thread about using it.
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Cool, thanks for that link!
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I tried MUS primer and didn't like it for many reasons.
Singapore 1A and 1B were too distracting for my ds (he was more interested in the silly cartoon character in the corner than the math work above).
McRuffy looks like a lot of fun! I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail!
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I've decided to focus on our state for history and earth science for K as and will do American history next year for 1st, then world geography for 2nd and the ancient history and on from there. It just makes sense to me to start out locally and get bigger (I'm in Hawaii where there is a lot of history and culture).
I want to do a one year American history for 1st and can't seem to find what I'm looking for, so I might just make it myself. I'm thinking a mix of ideas from MFW Adventures, Beautiful Feet books from the library (for history and geography), Bigger Hearts, and Christian Cottage, lol.
I'm really interested to hear ideas from others as well. I think it's really important to know the history of our state and country.
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Too add more activities for each letter for free, you can go to
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/year_age_3.html, and http://www.enchantedlearning.com/letters/big/.
The Letter Factory and The Word Factory are fun dvds!
Five In A Row questions
in K-8 Curriculum Board
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Thanks for the replies! My instincts are telling me that my ds would really like it, since every great story we read makes lasting impressions in his memory. Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm off to check them out now! :D