krisandpaula
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Posts posted by krisandpaula
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We just finished our first full year on Friday! :lol:
It has been such a great experience for the entire family. My ds was in 1st and dd in Pre-K/4. When we started, I was looking at the stack of curriculum materials thinking to myself, "How will we ever get through all of this?" But you know what, we did. And it was fun! If I were to sum up our year in one statement, I would say that homeschooling my children has made me into the Mom that I always wanted to be.
We are taking a two week break and then jumping right back into Kindergarten and 2nd grade!
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I am not sure where I should take our SOTW study from here. This was our first full year of homeschool. DS (1st) and dd (PreK) ended their 'year' on Friday. :001_smile: We started off in Anciencts, completed about 7 chapters and switched to the Middle Ages. My son has been completely obsessed with that time period for a year now and it just made sense to go ahead and switch and let him chase his passion.
My question is, what should we do next? We have finished Book 2 through the Middle Ages. When we start our new year in 2nd grade and Kindergarten we could either start in on the early Renaissance or go back and do Ancients. Do you see any pros or cons for either path?
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We have used MUS Alpha and Singapore US 1a & b this year for ds for 1st grade. I went through each program and divided the chapters into our 36 week schedule. We mostly alternate, 3 days of one and 2 days of the other every week. However, MUS got a bit too monotonous for ds part way through the year. We did only Singapore for a couple of weeks, and then started adding MUS back into the mix. The break helped him a lot and we are finishing both books this week.
He is strong in math, but not so strong to move as fast as he would go if we only used one program. I feel that he would "hit a wall" so to speak, and that would be frustrating for him. Using two programs interleaved keeps him interested by approaching the same skills from different angles and strengthens each concept before moving ahead too fast.
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We really enjoyed this lapbook for K and Pre-K spring plant studies last year!
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Just fyi, I'm currently waiting on Write Source K and Grade 1, both are backordered at Rainbow Resource. It's been about 3 weeks now since I ordered. I'm getting a bit impatient!!!
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:bigear: Subbing! We love this show at our house as well. It is so well done and our go-to program right now if we are going to have any "tv time" in our school week.
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I bet we Dallas/Houston/Austin/San Antonio gals could host a shindig or 4. :)
:iagree:
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Yes, yes, please pick Dallas! It is central for several mid-sized cities, and I can already think of at least a dozen families locally that would drive the 4 hours for what you've described!
BTW- Before now I have never attended any homeschool convention, or even wanted to for that matter. Once again, SWB has changed my mind on a subject! :D
I would also be more than willing to help with Dallas. I would gladly offer my home if needed and help, plan, and participate in any way that I could be of use.
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Bellerophon Books has awesome publications. Don't let the "Coloring Book" label fool you; most of them are very text-heavy. In the paper dolls books, for instance, the figures are drawn with details and historical information about each is printed on the base of each figure. The Dragons "coloring book" was written by a professor of Classical Archaeology at UC Berkeley with a dry wit and a wide acquaintance with dragons, medieval and otherwise. All Bellerophon illustrations are copies of actual art or illustration from the time period covered.
The biggest medieval hit for my girls was the book of paper dolls for the Hundred Years' War. Who gets to be Edward III? Who gets to be Joan of Arc? I didn't have access to my dining room table for a week while the fate of Europe was decided.
I had not seen these! They are perfect for my dc. Thank you for posting! :001_smile:
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I'm trying to use filing as a distraction to keep me occupied for a few more weeks. It isn't working very well! :001_huh:
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This is what I have found that works for us. Some of our workbooks, I just haven't been able to cut apart. Those are kept in a basket with red and green repositionable tabs in them to mark where to start and stop the next lesson. Right now, I don't cut up our HWT workbooks, Maps, Charts, and Graphs, or ETC. I think having some workbooks whole and some cut helps the kids feel like they have more variety in what they do too, but that might just be my imagination.
I do cut apart both of our math program workbooks (MUS and Singapore Primary +IP), WWE, GWG and logic books. With these, I divided them evenly over our 36 week year, or close to it. MUS has 30 lessons, so we do one per week. If we happen to get behind because we are doing two programs, we carry the chapter forward to the next folder until we get caught up. This year, we have managed to finish it early. YAY!
I also file extra handwriting practice paper in the folder. We only use the HWT workbook 2 or 3 days a week, the other 2 or 3 days, we practice what we have just learned in the book on HWT lined paper.
I found this past year that I do not do well having science and history filed in the weekly folders. About midway through, I pulled those subjects out into separate folders. This year, I'm just going to copy everything that I can for those two subjects early and file them into folders specifically for science and history. That way, if we decide to go off chasing rabbit trails, we will have everything ready when we get back on track, just not filed for a specific week. I need that flexibility with those two subjects. Then, every Sunday, I just pull out the science and history we need for the week and add it into that weeks folder.
What I haven't figured out yet, is what I am going to do with Spanish. I am thinking of trying GSWS. Has anyone used this with the filing system? I'm not sure if I should copy and file each lesson (knowing it will get done more regularly if I do) or just add it to our basket with tabs. Last year, I did not file Spanish and it didn't get done nearly as much as it should have. I have a couple of other new programs that I'm not sure how to handle as well. Hopefully, it will come together as I get everything else filed.
Aside from feeling more organized, I think the greatest benefit that we experienced from the weekly file folders was how easy it made it to pick up school and take it to Daddy's office or to the park or just outside. We only had to grab the one file folder, and a couple of extra books and we had a full day of lessons with us. It made for quick and easy (and light!) packing.
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These look fantastic and just up our alley! Thanks for sharing!
:001_smile:
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Is the Word Factory one this good?
I have to say YES! It teaches how to sound out basic CVC words, how to "put the words together" and the job of the (short) vowels. This video worked great for us paired with the first set of BOB books.
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We love Leap! My dd, then 3, taught herself to read after watching The Letter Factory and The Talking Word Factory. One day she brought me a BOB book and said, "Look Mom, I can read this!" And sure enough, she could. I recommend them to everyone.
What does Bill call it? Oh yes...
"The Cartoon Road to Reading!"
:lol:
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Just to add to this thread, we recently found The Dragons are Singing Tonight by Jack Prelutsky, a collection of all of his dragon poetry. It has been a wonderful addition to our ongoing study of dragons.
If you don't believe in dragons,
It is curiously true
That the dragons you disparage
Choose to not believe in you. -Jack Prelutsky
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My dd, then 3/4, loved poems from this book:
The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry
She has memorized several just from us reading it together.
Currently, we are enjoying the work of Jack Prelutsky.
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Filing worked well for us this year. We will be doing it again for next year but this time around I will not be doing it for the content subjects--it caused my stress level to rise at scary heights.
I had the exact same experience. Content subjects in file folders make me pull my eyebrows out. :001_huh:
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:party:
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Anyone else about ready to start slicing spines and filing for the next school year? I couldn't resist the huge filing thread last year. We had our ups and downs with it, but I think over this past year, I have figured out how to best make use of this system for us. I am chomping at the bit to organize my files the second time around. I certainly found that anything that was filed in "the box" was much more likely to be completed on time. Needless to say, more subjects will be going in this year! (I'm giving myself a bit more time to get organized this time too!)
If you used this system last year, will you do it again? How have you modified it to fit your family? Any tricks or tips that you would like to share for making the most of the file box?
I have accumulated most of our curriculum for the upcoming year. My books are stacked. My exacto knife is standing at the ready. Let the slicing begin!
:001_smile:
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The IP books do have the answers in the back of the book. They don't really include much teaching instruction. Just do this or do that for each type of problem.
HTH.
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We found this book at our local library and it went straight to my Amazon wish list!
Words, Wit, and Wonder by Nancy Loewen
It speaks to the child and discusses 12 tools of poetry including rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, haiku and others. Each tool is well well illustrated and includes at least one sample poem.
At the end of the book there are a few starting exercises. My kids are 7 and 4 and they loved it!
There are several other books in this series. We just checked out the Once Upon a Time book and we can't wait to read it.
SOTW Audio. Experiences with this product?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
We love them at our house too! Honestly, I personally wouldn't use SOTW without them! We use them in the car and the kids ask to listen to them constantly.