stm4him
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Posts posted by stm4him
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I am using Recipe for Reading with my 5 and 7 year olds who are my fourth and fifth kiddos and both of them really like it. I just ordered the K book for my four year old to slowly go through this year. It is similar to Explode the Code but the teacher's manual is more simple and it also teaches cursive. There are two sets of cards you can buy and three sets of readers. There are nine workbooks total if you count the K book, but book 1 basically re-teaches what is in book K. The manual is only $20. I also like that if my kids get stuck anywhere, I can most likely find the workbook or readers from either Primary Phonics or Explode the Code to give them extra practice before moving on. The readers are cuter than most I have seen and the root/affix cards are color coded by origin and include a key word and definition, which is great for vocabulary. I don't think those are used until the last workbook, though. A workbook approach might be worth trying if the lap reading with 100 EZ isn't his style.
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I also so appreciate your encouragement. My oldest didn't read until she was 8 and I think I put fear in her by worrying about how "behind" she was. While I regret that, I still struggle with worrying about her being behind because she is still in a 4th or 5th grade math book (and struggles through it) and she is 13. I have finally seen her read much more consistently on her own and as a result her spelling skills jumped. I wonder how she will finish and get enough credits to graduate and what she will do afterwards, etc. but I am trying to learn to trust the process. I know she will become a wonderful, godly woman and that is what matters.
I love what you said about taking the time to enjoy the moment and fall in love with our kids each day. I so agree! Life is so precious. It has taken my son getting cancer for me to really see that and my own health problems for me to slow down, breathe, and enjoy life. I have cut down tremendously on curriculum and it is helping me think of the bigger picture things I want to communicate to my kids. I so wish I had listened to other veteran homeschool moms in the past who said these same things. It will be the same message I will continue to pass on to other homeschool moms in the future.....
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As part of my new plan for next year I am wanting to buy sets of books such as My Bookhouse, Collier's Junior Classics, Young Folk's Library, My Journey Through Bookland, The Book of Knowledge, The Book of Life, etc. I think the reason I want to do that is that I want my kids to immerse themselves in the world of "common knowledge" from ages past in both fiction and nonfiction and then learn how to research out what they don't know as they read. Then I want them to record their findings and respond to what they have read with artistic journaling and some sort of written response that could come in a variety of forms. There probably won't be a format they have to stick to, but more of a buffet of options they can choose from as they mature. They can respond in poetry, copywork, narration, recording of facts, diagrams, or any number of other ways they come up with. This will be a process I will have to teach and model at first until they get the hang of it. I realized recently that this is similar to the Core Knowledge series in that these sets of books usually represented the most important information and works but instead of putting grade levels on it (though some of them progress from appealing to younger children up to older children), it would be likely a small library for them to peruse as desired. Daily they would have to work on this reading/researching/journaling for a set amount of time and I would have them rotate through Bible, nonfiction, and fiction (one each day). Daily they would share with the family their take away. There is a small chance that I would have them work in order through a series, but I doubt it.
Anyway, I want to do this alongside them and I am really excited about it. But I sort of want a quick series to go through myself so that I have a good base to work from. I am thinking of using the Core Knowledge series on my own to brush up on my own cultural literacy. I think I have most of the books, though I think some are older editions and some are newer and I am not aware of the various differences between them. They are in my guest house somewhere in boxes. Has anyone read through these themselves (or with the kids) long enough to get a feel for how good they are? I did have two of my kids read some or all of one or two of the books and I went through the preschool one with my third kiddo years ago but I can't remember how much they liked them (or didn't).
Any other recommendations along these lines or from E.D. Hirsch Jr.?
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Husband isn't on board with the idea except that he finds the lunch plan very interesting and is willing to try that. So I will start there and see how it goes....
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I am thinking about this idea for our house. I want meals that we can prepare easily and that even kids can mostly put together. I want to be able to shop for what is on sale and seasonal, but with the same basic list each week. The meals would contain about the same choices daily but would have many combinations that they could put together with what is there. The ingredients could all be bought in an organic form (or not) or from various local sources and many of the items could be switched out eventually for our own homemade versions if we want to make it even healthier as we go along. All of the items can come ready made, be made quickly right before the meal, or made weekly and reheated. With a variety of sauces available, people can create a dinner that is Asian, Italian, Mexican, or whatever suits their fancy that night. The same set of trays, serving utensils, and containers could be used over and over again and refilled each day as needed and then stored back in the fridge or pantry. Trays and ingredients could be laid out on our counter next to our table for them to go through and then sit down with their plate like at a buffet restaurant. It also cuts out a lot of processed foods.
Here is what I've come up with:
Breakfast:
scrambled eggs with cheese
tray with plain yogurt, cottage cheese, and leftover fruit (from lunch the day before)
granola, cereal, toast, and oatmeal
honey and maple syrup
Snack:
trail mix
Lunch:
meat and cheese tray w/ mayo and mustard
veggie tray w/ ranch, guacamole, and hummus
fruit tray w/ peanut butter
beans w/ chips tray
Dinner:
beef and chicken (shredded and strips)
brown rice, pasta, and potatoes
cornbread and rolls
salad w/ leftover veggies (from lunch) and dressings
cooked onions and peppers, green beans and broccoli or collards
dipping sauces
Dessert:
frozen fruit w/ whipped cream
fruit pops
dark chocolate or avocado pudding (flavored like chocolate pudding)
I want to do a trial run next week with shopping at Trader Joes and then compare the prices and products I find there to a similar run the following week at Whole Foods, one at Harris Teeter, and one at CostCo and see which has the best choices and prices because I would prefer to get it down to one store each week. Then we can decide which ingredients we are having the hardest time finding containing only a few ingredients and make those ourselves. I'm guessing the sauces are going to be the hardest. I am hoping this has consistency but still enough variety to keep us happy, healthy, and not all over the map with grocery runs and costs.
Another idea would be to make pizza dough at the end of the week and make pizza with any leftover cheeses, meats, and veggies and then put any leftover fruit and salad on the side. Any leftover beans could also be made into burritos......
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My answer is pretty much like Misty's. I want to be able to come and go in whatever I am wearing and to be pretty comfortable in whatever I am wearing. I also don't want to be mortified when/if people show up at my door. I spent at least one year doing school in my pjs and I hated the stress of worrying that someone might come to the door when my husband wasn't home to answer for me.
That being said, I just had a c-section on Tuesday so I am still in pj-ish clothing right now. Jean bottoms don't sound comfortable right now, but I would put some on if I were going out somewhere or if someone were coming over. I also almost always have a leisurely morning to unwind (especially now with a newborn to get used to) so I aim to be dressed by 12 at the latest. Sometimes I am dressed early but not usually unless I have somewhere to be (which is also rare).
I shower every morning and get into one of 7 outfits I have or one of 2 church outfits. I put on all my toiletries but I only wear full make up and jewelry on Sundays or for special occasions. Most days I wear chapstick and lipgloss, mascara, and under eye concealer plus earrings and my watch. If I am going out I may also wear a bracelet and/or necklace. I do wear some kind of shoes almost every day but they are often something that slips on. I rarely wear lace up shoes because that involves socks which makes me hot. My shoes stay on at least until evening.
If I don't feel well, though, I don't get dressed or if I begin feeling poorly later in the day I will undress and wear something like pjs. I don't feel better when I dress up if I am hurting or very tired.
I usually wear a skirt and a cute shirt that would be ok to wear in most places I would go and then I wear a little bit more dressy outfit for church. Because I was just pregnant and had given away all my maternity bottoms I wore more capris and shorts because they were easier to find on consignment, but usually I wear mostly skirts because I find flowy or stretchy skirts to be more comfortable than pants or shorts and slightly more feminine and girly (which fits my personality). I like feeling put together and naturally beautiful without looking over-done-up and fancy or being uncomfortable. I wear my hear up most days in a messy bun or a bun or a pony tail, but it is clean. My style takes minimum time and minimum products but makes the difference in how my skin and face feels and looks. If I feel clean and presentable I feel much more productive and if I get nothing else done at least I don't look like a slob of a mom who doesn't care about herself.
Now to work on nutrition.......
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I will have grades 8,6,3,2,k, and preschool in the fall plus a toddler and infant. Here is our schedule:
12-1:30: Saxon math or flashcards and manipulatives
1:30-3: phonics or grammar
3-4:30: read/research/journal
4:30-6: memory work and music
Non readers will work with me as needed and may be allowed to leave after half an hour each period. Readers will check their own work and then bring it to me for double checking and going over what they don't understand.
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We use Hake Grammar and Saxon math. You don't have to wait until fourth grade as long as your child can read well and knows all the math facts.
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worksheetworks.com
It is free and you can set the parameters.
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One of my biggest regrets was over doing curriculum with my oldest instead of letting her play and naturally explore with me. I have done much better with my younger ones and I continue to prune. Here is what I have planned for my fifth child's K year:
Recipe for Reading
Saxon Math flashcards and manipulatives for fun
Singing hymns, memory work songs, and fun songs
Read aloud and journaling (dictating to me and illustrating)
Draw Write Now (to help with illustrating her journal)
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Maybe I will do 1 1/2 hours each since it is possible to get in two lessons of math and two lessons of grammar plus memory work in that time. I would have them read only Bible, nonfiction, or fiction each day for the 1 1/2 so they could research as they go and create one journal page for me. So our school schedule could look like:
12:00-1:30 Math
1:30-3:00 Language and Memory Work
3:00-4:30 Read/Research/Journal
4:30 Music Theory or Practice
Since my oldest three are sharing the grammar book right now they will have to rotate, but ideally this would be the order of subjects.
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Recipe for Reading, math flashcards, memory work songs, read aloud and narrations and drawings about the read alouds or what he reads would be easy.
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2 hours is something we would work up to, by the way. My third child (8) just started Hake and I am fine with him doing one lesson and slowly working up to more. In two hours they could get through 2-4 lessons.
I do have one change for my list. I am thinking that instead of the modern languages I am going to put Hebrew and Greek in there and try to use the Basics of Biblical series (though I have read a lot of mixed reviews so I may need to try different programs). I may allow them to choose which to study first or even just to study one. I am not sure yet. When they have finished Hake and one or two of the Biblical languages I will let them design the rest of their own high school path with me from AMSCO, studying one language, test prep, or AP book at a time. They offer other subjects too like economics, philosophy, personal finance, and current events. I would also bring alongside a Christian book on the same topic for them to compare/contrast but I think AMSCO would give them the tools to get the credits they need and I have heard really good things about their modern languages books (not sure if the good reviews I read apply to the Latin books or not, though). They would continue Saxon Math all the way through. I decided that the opportunity to study Biblical languages may be easiest to tackle while still at home and would aid them in their Bible study. They can always pick up a modern language in their adult years if they choose. I keep changing my mind about languages but I think I am going to stick with this plan. If there was one "classic" I would want them to read most in its original it would be the Bible. Even if they wanted to graduate after Alg. 2 and at least one language I think they probably could as long as they had read enough on the other required subjects to earn credits. I also think that at least rhetoric could be studied through reading and that logic may need to be in the math line-up or after a certain point in math. Anyway, I'm not going to worry about that now. Just thinking ahead a few years.
So:
1. Saxon Math flashcards to Saxon Math 5/4+
2. Recipe for Reading to Hake Grammar and Writing to Basics of Biblical series to AMSCO.
3. Singing to music theory to instrument studies.
4. Journaling (including artistic visuals) through Bible, nonfiction, and fiction reading and researching.
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And going through cancer (my son) and my chronic illness for almost two years (and almost three for my son) I can tell you that Sahamamama (I am sure I spelled that wrong) is spot on with her list. We deal with those issues every day, and they are more important than the curriculum and academics.....
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By the way, I LOVE your quote!!!
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I actually really like the books, too. I am drawn to the simplicity of them. But I realized that I have another goal in our house, which is self-teaching, and in her house she does so much of the teaching. The teaching she does is very simple and I would really enjoy that kind of day but I realized that it is all so dependent on me and my husband wants them to not be waiting on me to move on because of my health issues and having a newborn this week. So I am going to only be in the role of checking work/editing writing and doing read alouds with my younger ones (and older ones as they ask or we have time but not necessarily daily). I may help my little ones with some journaling by helping them write what they want to say, but I also may delegate that. I am going to work with them one on one to teach them and inspire them about their daily reading journal responses (various formats and materials they can use) but then they will be able to take off. There will always be lots of history, fine arts appreciation, literature discussions, nature walks and videos, etc. around here because it is just who I am and what I love, but I will be able to share it as part of regular life rather than as part of a curriculum. That is exciting for me. I would still recommend the books. They give ONE excellent way to simplify and I found so many ideas (especially in the green book) that I have come to agree with about life and homeschooling and wish I had believed when we started (because I was too busy overcomplicating everything to listen to the veteran homeschool moms who told me to KISS).
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I am going to JUST do Recipe for Reading, math flashcards (if/when she can recognize her numbers), and read alouds with a composition journal for her to draw in and I can write for her what she wants to say about our reading. We have lots of wonderful music for music appreciation and lots of drawing books (we especially love Draw Write Now). Recipe for Reading is a series of workbooks like Explode the Code (same publisher). The workbooks are self-explanatory and can be done while she is sitting next to me as I work with other kids. All I need to do is briefly tell her the directions and make sure she does the pages right. There are extras one could buy (a guide, two sets of cards, lined paper, a sequence chart, and readers) but they are optional. And the workbooks also include cursive so I don't need a separate cursive program. I am skipping the K book because the same material is covered in Book 1 and the K book is on backorder for a few weeks so I decided to go ahead and try book 1. There are 9 books all together (with the K book) and they can be done at whatever pace she is ready for, but as long as she doesn't get stuck on a concept she could finish them in one year and be ready to move on the following year depending on her reading level. If she does get stuck on a concept or needs more practice, Explode the Code (which is coming out with its 2nd edition in July) and Primary Phonics will be our back ups to fill in extra practice where needed, but she probably won't need that. It is just nice to know it is an option. Explode the Code may go a little farther in what it covers (not sure yet) so I may test her at the end of RfR and see if she can test out of EtC and if not I would finish up with that. I am expecting a very laid back, productive, enjoyable year.
For journaling inspiration I want to read The Living Page this summer and I have The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, which my older kids love so much they fight over it.
For read alouds we are probably going to focus on Aesop's Fables, Bible stories, picture books about ancient history and world history, stories from around the world minus Europe and America but including Canada, Mexico, and Native Americans. We are going to also do animal stories like Uncle Wiggly and Brer Rabbit as well as nature stories. For non-fiction we will focus on life science and earth science (though I am considering reorganizing to put one of those two topics next year).
I am still reorgainizing our library and figuring out what to keep and waiting for new shelving. In the mean time (and possibly long term) I am thinking of just buying old vintage sets of books and using the ones geared for younger children for our main read alouds. In that case, I am sure there would also be lots of children's poems, Mother Goose, and fairy tales and folk tales included in the books geared for young children. Otherwise we will focus on those in her 1st grade year because we have a three cycle rotation of our books right now. We did American history and literature this year, but mostly she enjoyed the modern American picture books from our home library and Liberty's Kids DVDs.
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I have thought about this a lot and part of my education plan in general is based on the fact that I want to be able to continue homeschooling if something were to happen to one of us. I have chosen materials at least up through middle school that my husband could have them do and all he would need to do is check their work (really just double check). He works from home anyway, so he would be around to supervise most of the time. If necessary, he could even hire a tutor to come in and check their work weekly or something. We used to have best friends with a large family (actually it was our pastor and his wife at the time) whom we asked to take our kids if anything happened to us because I don't think anyone in our family would homeschool them, but then their marriage kind of fell apart and so now we don't have anyone. There are two mom friends that I would really trust to homeschool my kids but their husbands are not quite as mature and they are not financially stable enough to take on the number of children we have (not that we are, either). So we are still praying and looking for who would be a good fit if something ever happened. I have chronic illness (not diagnosed with anything official yet) and my son has leukemia so I have realized over the last 2 1/2 years how fast things can change. I have chosen to use methods and materials that are almost completely student led or simple and straightforward enough that anyone should be able to step in in a checking work role. If we were both gone, I pray that those closest to us would know our desires and find a way for homeschooling to happen.
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My signature is a crisis plan. And I think it is better than my old non crisis plans. I am praying that our curriculum is so simple that my focus would be their hearts.
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Yes. I think you are right. I just ordered Recipe for Reading for three of my kids but at some point I may still want them to learn SWR rules and phongrams and I am sure it will impact their lessons. I did buy the guide but I am mostly planning to use the workbooks and maybe the readers.
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I am fine with my kids over learning a subject, if that is even possible. How long do musicians do music drills or athletes do drills? I think it is equally beneficial in academics. Otherwise I would not choose a program like Saxon.
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When I say minimalist I am not talking about amount of time. Some people think 2 hours of math is inappropriate. In my mind there is just as much to learn in the world of language (English and other languages) as there is in the world of math and science so when they finish studying the Hake books they can move on to other things like logic, rhetoric, and other languages.
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ETC is more than a workbook if you buy the guides and use them. From the look of the guide, though, I would be more likely to use the RfR than the other because RfR looks pretty simple and straightforward. I think the workbooks are pretty straightforward in either case and both of them have a few issues with people not knowing the pictures, but supposedly there is more of that with EtC than RfR. There aren't even answers for the workbooks in RfR from what I have read, so I think they are supposed to be self-explanatory for the teacher. I am not really planning to use the lessons, but maybe I would as I had time. But I am glad to know that it wouldn't likely hold a child up if they didn't get to do the lesson before working on the worksheets for the lesson. I don't think the readers are necessary, but they do look more cute than many readers we have used or seen so I am thinking that when I can I will buy one of the three sets and see how they go over with my kids. I usually don't like readers very much and some of the earliest ones in the set may seem like nothing special, but the ones I saw from the second set looked pretty cute and more like a storybook than a reader. The illustrations are well done.
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So, right now our day looks like this (when we are doing school, but we have been off this week and will likely have a few modified weeks after the baby since I am having a c-section):
Kids wake up and have a list of chores to do before playing
12:00-1:30 Devotion (sing hymns, pray, read a few verses of Psalms and Proverbs and discuss), Memory work together, Read aloud while they draw
1:30-4:30 My oldest three start Saxon Math and the fourth child does her math flashcards by herself while I work with the 5 year old on number cards (yes, this is for learning to recognize the numbers and having a basic understanding of place value) and then reading from the McGuffey Revised Primer. I usually work with her for about an hour. Then I meet with the fourth child to call out spelling words from the McGuffey lesson and have her read the lesson to me and copy it by herself. Then I double check the math of my third child and do the same with the spelling words in the McGuffey. If he has done copywork I check that too. With the oldest two I was calling out words from about 10 lessons per day to try to find the accurate placement in the McGuffey's for them to begin copywork or to see if they were ready to move on to a spelling book I have called Prof K Spelling (which is meant to be self-taught).
But as I have been off this week my husband has been asking why they can't study for themselves and what they are going to do when the baby comes, etc. We both know that we don't know what to expect in terms of my pain levels after the baby (the pregnancy is actually helping me feel better in some ways than I did before the pregnancy), so I begin to think more realistically about the coming weeks and months and realized that I need to make things more self-teaching. I was in Classical Conversations for 3 1/2 years and one room schoolhouse style teaching is strongly encouraged there, which I loved doing (at least in theory, though many days it was a challenge to get everyone on the same page.) I saw benefits for some of my kids and not as much for others depending on how auditory they were, and as my health declined I felt like it became harder and harder to be consistent, which doesn't lead to good feelings emotionally and isn't in their best interests, especially because my oldest struggles and loses ground when she is "off". So after we left CC, I hit major burn out and freaked out about what to do for their education because at least when they were going to CC and I was teaching an SWR class once a week I could at least know they got something educational those days. When we quit those it was all on me. My long term CC plans for their high school years became obviously unrealistic and I felt like I was back at square one. I freaked out and tried CLE and Monarch, neither of which were a good fit. So Robinson began to look more and more appealing and my version of it was actually getting done pretty consistently, which was very comforting. I was experimenting with using the McGuffey's for language arts with the idea that they would graduate into the spelling and then grammar books that come with the program, but the more I looked at it and thought about my role with the McGuffey's the more I realized that it involved me too much or would likely not be what I thought (and I am an all or nothing kind of person).
When I was working with my 6 year old this semester (who just turned 7 in May), I saw how much she disliked the American Language Series readers even though they were getting the job done for reading practice. I decided to not make her read outside of her McGuffey Reader until she at least finished the phonics sounds which end part way through the First Reader. I thought about using a real book of her choosing to teach her and my other daughters coming up behind her and just use the SWR phonograms as we came across them in the book. I think I got that idea from the Homeschool Simplified Dictation Book by Bonnie Landry. But I realized that that isn't very systematic and could be slower to make progress possibly and again relied totally on me. And I thought that it might be a bad idea for her to struggle with a real book because maybe she would begin to get discouraged or dislike reading. Just giving her the flashcards or working with the flashcards might also discourage her and would need a lot of hand holding from me. (My Mom and husband couldn't really help with that in my absence since they don't know the SWR phonograms.) So I started looking up if one could learn to read just with Explode the Code and I found many people online who just used that and it worked fine with a child that was ready (readiness is always key). I started thinking how simple it would be for that to be their only schoolbook. After I typed out that list last night I realized that it may even not be worth my time to teach the number cards the way I am doing because once my daughter can read the number words on the cards she will likely pick it up just fine without all the time I am spending trying to get her to recognize the numbers. And you can't really give a child math fact flashcards if they don't know how to recognize higher numbers. So I am probably just going to wait. With the 7 year old, she picked up the number cards faster and has moved seamlessly into learning her math facts by herself. It has been interesting, fascinating, and rewarding to watch her study those cards on her own. Do you know how much of my time I could have saved with my older three?
Because Recipe for Reading is O-G based and has cursive on the pages (starting in Book 2 I think) I am probably going to try that first. My thought is that any of my other older children can read the directions to them or my Mom or husband and they are easy enough that any older child or adult could help with it as needed. Some days I know my 5 year old will want to do a ton of pages and others not so much and that is ok. I can try it out with my 4 year old who is asking to learn without needing to push her if she isn't ready. There are no answers for the workbooks and I think that a child who is ready to read can learn just from the exercises as long as someone was making sure they were doing the pages correctly. That is easy enough for me or someone else to do while my others are working on their Saxon books or while I am nursing the baby even.
So my new plan of getting them to self-teach more I think will eventually look like this:
2 hrs: Saxon Math (including self-checking, corrections, and me double checking)
2 hrs: Hake Grammar (including me checking and corrections without the dictation, journal writing, or writing book, though we will eventually focus on those too on their own) with some part of the time focused on practicing their own memory work that we will pull from The Book of Life, catechism songs, and maybe The Book of Knowledge and our CC apps.
2 hrs: Personal Bible reading and prayer (possibly written out by my older kids). Read a chapter or section of a book, research (proper nouns, dates, and new vocab words from the reading), narrate (either orally to someone who can write it for them or in their own writing), create a visual (probably a drawing), and relate what they learned to someone (a sibling, another adult, or on a video). This doesn't require a teacher and a variety of listeners or helpers can be recruited as needed to write for them or listen/look at what they have learned.
There would be breaks between these or at least between the first four hours and the last two, but I am not sure how much of a break. Since I wouldn't be leading the first hour and a half I may not keep their starting time all the same but allow them to set their own schedule as long as they completed all of the parts. I also would likely allow them to choose their own reading, but would probably direct how often they had to read Bible, fiction, and nonfiction as their base reading for their research. I would have to teach them one by one how to go about the research part.
I honestly don't know how much time I would spend with my non-readers. I may have a set goal by age of number of minutes, but in general I will likely base it on their own motivation day by day and month by month. I will likely push my 7 year old (who just finished "first grade") to go through it quickly to allow her to move on to more self-teaching next year. She will continue her math fact flashcards on her own. I remember one new homeschool Mom that is a friend of mine who got advice from an older homeschool mom of many. She told her that the first goal was to teach her child to read and not to worry about anything else (besides read aloud or devotion which she would have been doing anyway) until her daughter could read. This was sooooo wise and I wish I had listened to that advice. I always had to overcomplicate things with doing many, many subjects and lots of curriculum.
I am sure that is way more than you asked for, but I process out loud (or in writing) so it was at least helpful for me :-)
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Please list all of the Orton-Gillingham programs you know of.....reading a book
in General Education Discussion Board
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I am really liking Recipe for Reading so far, but I have been using it without the manual.