[Favorite Science(s) for Elementary Years?]

A various huge mixture rofl.

 

As a base we are using Oak Meadow, so if only one, I would use that.

 

We are science crazy here though :p I'm planning to make up Science Activities in a Bag for summer school (we don't school in summer).

 

Depending upon my children's interest, I add other things (last year we got a whole bunch of science experiment books, they just wanted to watch the experiments and play, we also did a couple of science curriculas, but my daughter wasn't happy with those, they were too dry (shes not a narration/copywork+lit=science gal, shes more of a "lets make experiments & draw" kinda child.)

 

This year my daughter is wanting some simple stuff her siblings can join in, so I'm tentatively adding in some of the Exploring Science by Elemental Science (her stuff last year we have both earth science & biology, and were'nt particularly fond of either for reasons I just said we also had RSO bio and Earth, with same problems), but the Exploring Science is a little different (still has narration/writing pages though), and we'll just use it as an organizer for Science Play which we already have and use our Main Lesson Books for anything we would like to draw rather than using the student pages.

 

Other stuff I am looking at (at my daughters request): Real Science 4 kids, I like the textbook, unsure on the labs, but they look simple and easy enough to quickly do or we can just skip the labs. Equine Science by Winter Promise, I originally looked at this as my daughters starting to go horse crazy, but I can only see one book out of the lot that would be anywhere suitable for her age, so I'll probably look into either a unit study or another simple book on horses. Exploration Education - LOVE the look of this, I've been thinking of doing it in 2014 so the other kids can have their own additional packs and do it too (I'm aware most of it may be over their heads, but DS would have a field day with it, and DD would be happy to have a science program she can do practically by herself. exploration with Atoms & Molecules Books 1&2, I was looking at these to stretch RS4K a bit (and of course add the all important extra activities). I have also been looking at BFSU, I am still undecided on that, it looks rigorous and thorough, and a good program, it just depends if I can adapt it for my kids.

 

We are inspired by waldorf, right-brained learning, unschooling/natural learning/radical unschooling and hands on/discovery. So whilst I don't adhere exactly to waldorf standard, I do look at them before deciding on a program. For instance BFSU is a great book, brilliant by the looks of it, but it does not mesh at all with waldorf standards. Waldorf standards in the younger years is really about the fact the child is very "one" with the world, and making them step back and answer questions directly (making them have to pull back from their self, and think logically and sort the answer) pulls them too quickly from that one-ness. Same as young children should view science & nature through their eyes, not through microscopes/magnifying glass, as this does something similar). Its more an osmosis style of learning in the beginning, rather than facts being forced upon them or them forced to look at things from an adults perspective. The child asking questions is something different entirely, thats the child wanting a bit more insight to understand, so is encouraged. In return you answer them at an age appropriate level (sometimes with analogies that they can understand). I'm just blabbering (I could go on for days about babble) my point is we look at things from an entirely different perspective from people who may be reading this.

 

So there is some ideas. My kids are very much "do" kids though. They really don't want to read about something, when they could actually be doing it instead. So it depends on your childrens learning styles.

[What levels of OM are you currently using?]

We're using OM1, but having to supplement Language Arts (we're Aussie) and are supplementing math (although this may be temporary, DD just wants extra stuff for maths as she misses singapore. So will probably be doing Math Mammoth, Rays Arithmetic and Classic Curriculum Workbooks, and "I love hand on Math!" which is cartooned styled (or something rofl). Eventually I'll also have Lentil Science setup. Most of the above (except the phonics) is stuff she asked for, so happy to drop it if she wants.

 

We did a week of OMK with Chaos, but decided to do another intensive pre-k year to concentrate on his fine motor, speech and listening skills instead.

 

So eventually I will have three grades of OM going lol.

[What color is your front door? What color would you like to try?]

We have three doors, but we are on a farm so I'm not sure which door the front is (rofl!). We have one glass sliding door at the front....straight onto grass and middle of nowhere, one glass sliding door to the verandah (main door we use, I suppose its the side of the house) and one unfinished raw detailed wooden door with frosted glass.

 

I don't think our house could handle a coloured door....it would look like a barn. Our whole exterior of house is bright sunshine yellow.

[Now what? with my Ker?]

Language Lessons for Little Ones, perhaps? Always remember that you could use FLL and others earlier, but do them orally instead. You could look at stuff like Five in A Row, Sonlight or the Core Knowledge Books. Or perhaps Language Language Arts through Literature?

 

You have explained an overview, but are a little vague on what you want, type, and budget.

 

If you have a printer and want free items, search for the Free Curriculum list on here. Are you wanting to concentrate on Language Arts? (to me, from what I read, it sounds like thats what your after).

 

If happy to have to print stuff, maybe looking at currclick, Evan Moor, Teacher Filebox (Homeschool Buyers Co-op currently has it), or Scholastic Express or Subscription.

 

Hoagies Gifted website might shed some light or have a browse through Rainbow Resource. Without knowing more about what exactly your after in the way of money, printables, or subjects, I can't really think of anything else.

[do you ever find a blog that makes you jealous/ forlorn/ envious?]

Yeah, but I do know most of them (having somewhere mentioned, possibly in small print on their sites) admitted to just shoving stuff out of the picture with their foot :laugh: after having too many people admire their houses.

 

I do like the ones with nicer photos, but again, I find out these are taken with 400-4000 nikons. I'd rather spend that money on field trips and fun.

 

As for the "perfect homeschoolers" I admired, these people have usually gone through either one of two scenarios. They are hiding their behind the scenes life (I thought one family was uber perfect until I found her son does end up clocking his sister on the head with the remote and that no matter how waldorf lifestyle supposedly is, if they are fighting with remotes they are watching tv *gasp* rofl) or they have been through umpteen years of homeschooling and are finally blogging near the end of it, when they worked everything out, so you don't see the process it took to get there.

 

I have lots of pics of my children doing many messy activities in my albums...but you don't see the mess left afterwards. I also have lots of cloth diaper pics with cute home photoshoots in various woolly leggings/soakers, pretty outfits....but you don't see what the kids are wearing on an everyday basis. Most of their everyday wear has unremovable stains from various lots of those messy crafts, they wear two odd socks, they choose their own clothing which means sometimes I'll have my 4yo wearing one of my dresses for the day. And they can't seem to keep their clothes on and streak through the house. I have pics of my dogs with their beautiful shiny coats and whilst they do (somwhere) have that beautiful fur and sparkling eyes, most of the time they are covered from head to toe in dirt because they like to dig holes in the bare garden and sleep there during the day. You see cute pics of our cats being all sweet, washing each other, hugging, but you don't see them at 2am when they decide to make fire alarm sounds and chase each other through the house, knocking stuff down as they go. Nor will you ever see a picture of my bathroom....we use the bathtub as a clothes hamper and the bathroom/laundry/toilet all-in-one is just big enough to fit one person, so no room for clothes hampers.

 

As others said above, you are just seeing the higlights of those peoples lives, what they decide is worthy to blog about. Put a cam on them for a couple of days and you would see a different story.

 

As for me, I'm known to count pyjamawear as everyday wear. Its comfy. :lol:

[How much of the time do you actually "teach"?]

We jump around a lot, going between all-day learning, all-day rabbit trails to unschooling/natural learning.

 

Because of that I can't really give a time rofl. Some days we literally spend 10 hours (minus food breaks so about 8) in the school area either because the kids want a really long day and keep asking for more or we end up rabbit trailing and following a particular interest. Other times we're more all over the house doing our own things (or outside in the yard, on the farm etc).

 

If we followed our curriculum, no extra trails, it would probably be about 1-1 1/2 hours (with a break in the middle) for "head" learning (i.e. academics) for our eldest. This isn't all sit down work though, probably about 10-20 minutes is actually doing stuff into her main lesson book (drawings, letters etc) the rest of the time is circle time/stories/dramatisations/exploration etc. If we just did the bookwork for the day -no frills- it would probably be half an hour.

[Look! Alternative to MMM for pre-miquon stage on Currclick!]

So instant gratification :D

 

I'm in Aus and already have my favourite brand of Cuisenaire Rods (over 600 pieces rofl). I was trying to find something similar to Maths Made Meaningful to introduce the rods and sort of hold my hand (something that doesn't come with rods). I was thinking I would have to sit down and create my own task cards. (we all know when we have more then one child, its easier to have some sort of "note" jotted down so you know what you want to accomplish for the week with each child, lol).

 

I saw the discovery book download and printed it out but my kids aren't interested. They are more learning center/lentil science or proper worksheet types. And I wanted something a bit more complex that grew (like MMM).

 

SO anywayyy (rofl) I found "Ensure your child suceeds at math" (not the best title by the way), but its based around rods, and works with Spycar's suggestions listed for pre-miquon (general play, staircases) and works its way up to more worksheet/complex discovery equavalents/families/number names/signs etc.

 

There is also a software/program available from them that allows you to make your own rod worksheets (and other stuff I don't really understand rofl).

 

Here's there Currclick Site: Help your Child Succeed

[Bored 3yo?]

1. Is she getting one-on-one time? Like taken away from all the other kids, sat on her mummys lap, snuggled and being read to? Or being able to sit there and play a game or something with just you for a few minutes everyday? This helps.

 

2. Kids at this age LOVE to imitate, therefore you have to give them something to imitate. Reading a book or sitting there talking doesn't give her much to go by. Letting her join in YOUR activities (cooking dinner, and yes doing the washing, cleaning/dusting/sweeping).

 

3. Look at Counting Coconuts blog for ideas. If you really need time that your just not getting (after all happy mummy = days that don't fall apart :p ) then something like Kumon First Steps or Core Knowledge Preschool + Activity Books. If you have time Activity Bags are fun.

 

4. When Main Lessons are going here, I have duplicate of my kids Main Lesson Books that I give to E (these are basically blank artist sketchpads) so she can join in on the lesson if she wants. I also have 3 tubs of various Math Manipulatives that she can pull outduring school time and play with.

 

5. Another option is Sensory Tubs or some offshoot thereof. I have seen people use their bathtubs for Sensory tubs (well for messy ones anyway), or just doing a toned down version of Lentil Science (i.e. plastic tub, lotsa lentils and various containers, let her have at it).

 

3/4 there is this small phase they can go through where everything causes a meltdown/tantrum. Half the time I doubt she remembers why she's crying. Remember (as they supposedly say) this too, shall pass. It seems like this phase lasts forever, but it really doesn't (my lil one is currently in this phase, so I do understand). If you don't reply within the specified short time period (i.e. usually about 1 millisecond) and with the correct answer and phrasing, its bound to start another meltdown. It happens. rofl. After going through this particular phase with 3 kids, (plus the numerous kids I dealt with in my previous job) I have gotten to the point where I can make this perfectly commiserating coo/aww, that seems to settle them down when they start. Commiserating with their upset-ness seems to help, who knew? Misery loves company. :laugh:

 

I'm pretty well laid back, but I do have very firm boundary areas. And I make sure these lines aren't crossed. You also have to remember to just let the stress roll off your shoulders some how (either via prayer, a quick quiet walk, meditation etc). I use a simple mediation method. I go somewhere quiet (or as quiet & blocked off it can be at that time, even if its the toilet :lol: ) close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing. I imagine each inhale is white,bright & pure, is relaxing and calming, and each exhale is black/dark and is all the negative energy/anger being exhaled from my body. Works quite suprisingly well. After a few breaths, I'm calm & centred and can successfuly divert the child onto something more meaningful than her sitting on the floor pitying herself loudly. :nopity:

 

I have plenty more ideas (whether I'll forget them or not by later I have no idea) but just depends on your situation.

 

HTH xxx :willy_nilly:

[Preschool Round Up]

We have one preschooler and one pre-ker.

 

Eve will be doing:

 

Curriculums: Core Knowledge Preschool (loosely, mostly reading the stories, and letting her walk around flipping through the pages) & both Activity Books. Live Education/Waldorf Homelife Pre-K/K (loosely). Little Acorn Learning Guides (loosely) (5 day & enrichments). Sonlight 3/4 (loosely, pick and choose bits and pieces).

 

Maths: Singapore Essentials (I was just going to skip it, but she found it in the back room and wants to do it). Her Choice.

- Mixture of Math (MEP, CSMP, Shiller, Miquon, and probably another other digital math for PK we have). Obviously NOT doing the actual curriculums (LOL, now that would be completely insane). I just tend to pick and choose sheets/activities depending on what needs review or what she wants to do, if she just wants to play with the Math Manipulatives tubs in the cupboard, thats fine too. Not particularly bothered with what she wants as I know shes bright, and follows on. She can just play with a wooden spoon and saucepan if thats what she wants (lol, although I might need earmuffs). I tend to somehow collect digital stuff and she eats up workbooks/activity sheets.

 

Science/Social Studies/Language: Nada. Real life stuff (gardening, cooking, field trips, walks, nature walks etc). I suppose part of health we do for Atlas can be counted as Social Studies, and we base our days round the seasons, plus Atlas is doing OM1 so she overhears that. So I'm going to count SS/Sci as done, lol. as for Language Arts, none. She overhears everything from OM1.

 

Plus Kumon books, painting, modelling, maryann kohls stuff, vintage texts etc. Sounds like a lot rofl, but its pretty much flying by the seat of my pants. She does group lessons (waldorf homeschooling, so she is included in circle time, middle lesson and afternoon lesson (hearts & hands), and just wants worksheets to do when I am doing main lessons (if shes had enough drawing in her "main lesson book") so I just have a selection of pre-printed stuff, as well as that weeks CK Prek pages. Other than that, she just gets her one-on-one reading & play time with Sonlight which takes only a few minutes a day and gives her that bit of special attention. Our school is mostly one-room schoolhouse type thing, everyones combined.

 

Her curriculum is really all her choice, so if she didn't want to do any of it or started to get frustrated, I'm happy to drop it. Everything she's doing is stuff I already had, so I'm not really purchasing anything "new" for her.

 

Chaos will be doing:

 

Chaos has been held back a year to concentrate on his special needs, so he'll be doing another more intensive pre-k year and do K next year.

 

Curriculum: Sonlight P4/5 (for listening skills and one-on-one time). Doing it loosely, in our own way. Super Star Speech Expanded & Language programs (so everything from those people lol) obviously for his speech (really this is his "main" curriculum).

 

Math: I'm thinking Miquon and maybe Math U See Primer. I'm still working this out, I will probably sit down with the video & student text tommorrow to see if it would be suitable for him.

 

Science/Social Studies/Language: Nada, again. Well his super star speech & language would cover language, but SS/Sci is covered by everyday life for the moment.

 

He'll also be doing Kumon Books for his fine motor delays, I'll be purchasing another set of Developing the Early Leaner for him.

 

Literally everything (apart from Super Star Speech & Developing the Early Learner) was stuff I have/collected, so was already in my storage. If I had to purchase stuff (i.e. I had nothing) apart from the Speech & DEL stuff, and was on a tight budget, I wouldn't purchase anything or really do anything with them, apart from including them in our day. I wouldn't even be doing 1/4 of the things listed above if it wasn't for my kids (Eve wants worksheets, activities, and just wants more and more and more lol. She loves painting, and "proper" preschool activities, but shes one of those girls that is a teachers pet :p ) (And Chaos needs a little extra hand this year in order to begin OMK next year, so I'm hopefully just helping him along with that).

 

So in other words, take what I am doing with a big grain of salt. I would of been quite ecstatic to give them a pail of mud, and a paintbrush and let them paint the sidewalk, LOL. They've already turned my verandah into sandville. Apparently sand is more fun on the floor than in the sandtub :hat: I can honestly say it is, too. I was sitting there the other day crossed legged on the floor and drawing a "Story" into the sand, whilst yabbering on, I had great fun :laugh: Kids had fun too. I get a story from one of them every time I sit on the verandah now, so I left the sand there. :closedeyes: To me thats much more fun than worksheets, but not to Eve. She'll drop everything to run inside to do one little worksheet :huh: kids. :lol:

[KIndergarten Roundup!]

We did have a kindergartner....for a week, lol. We were using Oak Meadow K (love this!) with other waldorf-y bits and pieces

 

We've had to push him back to another pre-k year to concentrate on his speech, fine motor and listening/comprehension skills.

 

So for his Pre-K / K5/6 year he'll be doing:

 

*Waldorf Kindergarten (Live Education) + Normal Waldorf Home Activities we already do (daily act Mon-Painting, Fri-Practical Life etc)

*Play & Learn French

*Nature Activities & Stories

*Developing the Early Learner

*Super Star Speech Expanded + Super Star Language

*Kumon Books

*Rowing books (ala FIAR) with books chosen from BFIAR & FIAR and some non-fiar books along with activities on my pinterest board

*Core Knowledge Preschool Activity Sheets (his lil sister does CK Preschool+activity book, he mostly just does the sheets, and isn't interested in the rest)

*Following along when he wants to on his sisters 1st Grade OM

 

Boys are usually a bit behind the curve anyway, and with him being on the cusp of the cut-off age for age of when to begin 1st grade, plus his other needs, we decided it was better to just have a year where we just concentrate mainly on his speech, fine motor and listening/comp. so he'll be doing first grade work when he's 7 1/2 - 8 1/2.

 

And we don't do formal learning in summer (US winter), so we have a 3 month (approx. Life intervenes :p ) break from 21dec-21mar. We are a mix of unschool/waldorf & just us. We've learned our lesson the hard way with this, any school just doesn't get done. Summer gets way too hot here (Aus country) to do much of anything in the way of formal schooling, everyone just gets frustrated/cranky too easily. Summer plans for this year are activity bags. I plan to use large ziplock bags and just fill each up with an activity of some sort (probably mostly science experiments, my kids are nuts about science), I'll do this over the school year with ideas from my pinterest boards and by the time summer comes along, hopefully I will have a good stash of learning/schooly activities for them to do if they are bored or want "school". So summer school consists of activity bags and weekly visits to somewhere (museums, reserves, etc).

 

So next year we'll pick up OMK again. Glad I finally found a curriculum that works for us! (and ironically both of the curric's I pooh pahed right at the beginning of researching about homeschooling (FIAR & OM) are now ones we are using, after 3 years of jumping around like crazy).

[If you were only doing *1* math curriculum which would it be?]

Oak Meadow.

 

Which is now what I do anyway, lol. I was sick of having multiple resources for one subject. Only things I buy now are things like manipulatives, games, and "teaching maths" stuff. So like whats on my wishlist right now is Eric Fairmans Path of Discovery Maths book, and Dorothy Harrer's Maths Lessons for Elementary Grades (which it seems like OM may have used her as one of their sources, so I get it straight from the horses mouth so to speak). This way if the kids need extra lessons on a particular area or don't understand, I can use either try to present it in a different light or I know enough about that area and how to present it that I can make up new lessons on the spot. Another thing on my wishlist is Math by Hand for games & fun bits to add when OM calls for examples or review. But in the end, its OM. I may need one Math Mammoth pack down the road for Australian Money, but I may end up just doing it myself or finding something of use in Fairmans guides. I think even if you stick with just one program, one should have the ability to properly present that program, and be able to come up with different approaches/ways of introducing the concept and practice questions on the spot, because (at least in my family) this sort of thing is required. I watch their faces as I'm explaining and if I see a hint of confusion, i'll immediately draw examples or another viewpoint from my head and continue on without a pause.

 

If I wasn't doing waldorf-style, we would of probably stayed with Singapore Maths and associated SM supplements. But then we would have probably had two different math programs then, as my son has a totally different learning style that doesn't mesh with either of his sisters. Waldorf math has the ability to happily cover all their learning styles.

[Nursery Rhyme-centered curriculum?]

I actually have one....somewhere....possibly. You Rock! I totally forgot I had this, lol. It will help me for this year.

 

The one I have is Teaching Math & Science through Nursery Rhymes

 

But there is also Teaching Art & Music through Nursery Rhymes , and Teaching Language Arts through Nursery Rhymes

 

So I have the Math & Science one, i remember peeking at it, and it looked quite good. I ended up with the IRL book somehow, probably from one of my charity store sprees lol.

[Reading ideas]

A Little Princess.

Secret Garden

Chronicles of Narnia

Jungle Book

Winnie the Pooh

Barbar

Tales of Tiptoes Lightly

The Wise Enchanter

Peter Pan

Alice in Wonderland

Charlottes Web

Brothers Grimm

Mary Poppins

The Borrowers

Milly Molly Mandy

The BFG

Ella Enchanted

The Indian in the Cupboard

My Father's Dragon

100 Dresses

seven little Australians

Pippy Longstockings

All-Of-A-Kind Family

 

HTH xxx

[OMK dropout. Ideas? Not listening. building up lit dose?]

It could be just the boy factor (lol). He is a "full on" child (to the extreme). I was actually thinking about acting stuff out, but he gets too focused on particular pictures or sounds (the "crash" of the car, or peter rabbits door as I mentioned above) so for acting out the story, he would probably just be the bear, get overexcited on the sounds of the bear "ROAR" and start hitting (the hands are not for hitting is a whole completely 'nother story. We are working on this). The only time it actually appears he is listening is the times when he is still fully awake during bedtime and is slurping down his sippy cup (obviously he can't make noises, and he's awake, and stuck in the bed, rofl.)

 

He does pick up songs very easily. I'd count him really as a mix between visual-spatial/bodily-kinesthetic & musical learning style. I've looked at the bouncy seat balls and wristbands/rubber bands ideas. In an ideal world I would just create puppets and scenes for every story we are reading, and keep his mouth full with his sippy cup. But obviously neither of those things are going to happen.

 

Bottom line he is very, very active (unless watching TV, but even then he's wiggly, and only watches it for brief periods between running about) and the biggest downside is he is VERY loud. The wiggly-ness I can deal with. But he obviously can't be listening if he is yelling, roaring and making humoungous crashing sounds rofl.

 

As for your q. He's been read to at least twice a day with a variety of books from birth, both picture and non-picture books. But he doesn't want anything to do with them, bottom line, if he can leave or distract everyone away from the story, he will. I've tried puppets (he will just start talking *LOUDLY* with the puppets), tried legos (just starts bashing and crashing them), he dislikes drawing except when he decides it will be fun, so drawing cant be a daily activity, tried stretchy fabric on a chair legs (he just manages to make even that super loud), tried swaddling (yep, I got that desperate at one point rofl, he just thought it was a game to escape it as quickly as possible), probably tried a number of other things I can't think of right now.

 

I was thinking something along the lines of BFIAR/FIAR might help, but I would love to hear other ideas, I am really desperate. I just want him to be listening to the story/textbook/anything, elsewise obviously, we will have huge problems trying to h/s him if we can't get him to hear us out about subjects.

[OMK dropout. Ideas? Not listening. building up lit dose?]

Hi guys & gals,

 

We started our first week, and the eldest is plodding along happily.

 

Chaos is not, however. I just cannot see him being able to go through OMK for a couple of reasons, most I already have an idea or two of what to do about, but I'm kind of stuck on one of them.

 

He's not at all good at listening and taking in whatever your telling him (simple instructions are fine, more longer eloborate or missing ones are not i.e. Get the milk is fine, but if your talking about the broom and say "go get the green one" well, he came back with a green towel, and I had to literally put him in front of the broom I was talking about before he saw it). He won't wait for you to tell him instructions in a workbook, but will rather figure out what he "thinks" is supposed for happen on that page and randomly start doing stuff that isn't correct. Stories he tunes out, walks away, or will keep interrupting (peter rabbit for instance, he got hung up on the rabbit near the door and kept saying "knock knock, knock knock" and not allowing me to finish the sentence (that had nothing to do with knocking btw lol.) Obviously it doesn't matter what program/curriculum etc you use, your child needs to be able to listen and take in what you are saying, which he isn't, and needs to be able to listen to stories, and actually "be" listening and know what happens in the story.

 

Before you say it ( :p ) we actually read a lot in the house, we are reading aloud or making up stories to the kids all the time (in the car, bath, bed, meals, or just snuggling on the couch to read) trouble is, Chaos wants nothing to do with it. He'll walk away, tune out and start crashing his cars, being loud etc or in the case of bedtimes, will use it to snuggle up to daddy, whilst daddy is reading to all three of them, and fall asleep listening to his voice, but won't actually "take in" even a word from the story.

 

Is there something I can do to fix/help with this? I think he is more of a visual learner (I think, its hard to know with little ones) (remembers mechanisms and will try to explain what hes talking about by using his hands to replicate the mechanisms movements, will pick up songs and pictures from the TV, has always been good at puzzles etc).

 

I decided after a few conversations with DH to delay Chaos (5 1/2) for a year, and start Kindergarten next year. So we'll be concentrating on areas he needs help with this year, something like this:

 

-Core Knowledge Preschool & Activity Books (Eve loves the stories, and both Eve & Chaos adore the activity books, so Chaos is just doing the activity sheets from this).

 

- Continue Waldorf preschool (activity days Monday - Painting, Tuesday - Handcrafts etc) and homelife.

 

- Get some Kumon Skills books (cutting, pasting, mazes (he loves mazes) etc

 

- Use Super Star Speech Therapy @ Home program. His speech has improved dramatically, but I think this will be a big help for him.

 

- Movement activities, activities from Sensory & ASD books, perhaps get that little Oral Motor Movement book I was looking at (seems to cover speech & food aversions/pickiness which fantastic that it covers both) as well for some more ideas.

 

- Let him go in and out from 1st grade lessons (sometimes he'll join in if we are doing an interesting activity like drawing the gnomes or making projects or doing something messy).

 

So most of the above should help with his other areas, I just need something to allow him to take in stories and me talking for a couple of minutes (lol).

 

Thanks to anyone who can help :)

[I've read about Waldorf over the years, but...]

Donna (Christopherus) uses squirrels if thats any difference (LOL) she too, had enough of gnomes ;)

 

And I'm probably one of those heading down the road to what WI calls spiritual hardcore, although I will never absolutely hit that wall, because I don't believe in cutting everything off in its entirety (unless our family were in a situation where that would be fine) but more that each family is different and what you need to look at is limiting and moderating certain acitivities as much as possible, and if you can, cutting/quitting other activities, and preferably delaying them for a long distance down the road.

 

Heres a very small excerpt of something I posted elsewhere (i've altered it quite a bit (deleted all the personal info, so its now just a booklist), but it leaves the info you want intact)

 

Basics: You are your child's first teacher.

 

Other Interesting Books: Heaven on Earth, Simplicity Parenting, seven times the sun, Child of Wonder etc.

 

Recommended: Donnas (Christopherus) Audio Talks. Why Waldorf gives an understanding overview, transitioning shows ways to slowly add waldorf into your day etc. Early Childhood pdf which is packed full of

articles and forum discussions on important waldorf basics. Pre-K at home audio

tends to talk a lot about the birth, baby and toddler, and not so much on the

cusp of Pre-K onwards, I may have to listen to it again to see how much is

actually about "prek" and how much is birth/baby/toddling.

 

A few others: Millenial Child by Eugene Schwartz (more of a thesis styled book, so heavy reading), Waldorf Library, Rudolph Steiner Archive & Ruldoph Steiner Audio.

 

Have a look around Waldorf Books dot com and you may find some interesting bits more specific for what you are looking for. If you looking at the hows & whys of maths, I would suggest concentrating on Rudolph Steiners Lectures & Roy Wilkonsons books (I think theres also another hefty book about teaching mathematics in Waldorf schools that gives more info, but I can't remember the exact title)

 

OR (in case you just want a simple answer)

 

SIMPLE ANSWER: Waldorf maths uses a story-like format to introduce concepts for the child to easily understand and relate to. Waldorf central way of teaching is whole to parts rather than the parts to whole a lot of other curriculums used. I'm not sure where the concept of math gnomes came from I hear a lot of people mention Margaret Peckham and Dorothy Harrer (probably DH to be honest) being part of the origins. Everybody latches on to Gnomes so easily, when its really has NOTHING to do with gnomes (I like the gnomes, but if I had to deal with them several year down the road, that would be something else) the POINT of the use of gnomes (or fairies, or people, or rocks, or sticks, or money, or squirrels or whatever you honestly want to use) was to bring this mysterious abstract concept and pull it into "our" world, make it real, concrete, understandable to the kids. These mysterious four processes can now become four gnomes (who manage to lose stuff, gain stuff etc). Its taking it a few steps further past manipulatives based math.

 

HTH (going to get caffeine now lol)

[Planners]

Heres pics of my old one: http://missedumacated.blogspot.com/2012/07/our-hs-series-babs-binder-system.html

 

My Recording Log (the "after the fact" planner :p ) and my new planner I have yet to photograph. I'm also switching to a new blog I've been setting up for a bit, so I'm not sure if I'll keep that blog, if I do, it will probably be for the binder systems and planner stuff, as well as "teachers view" type things. I'm setting up two new blogs , one will be for the change in direction our homeschool and lifestyle went and the other will be my pondering blog (I tend to get philosophical a lot, and DH asked me to put up a blog for it, and to stop bothering him, because he doesn't understand a word I'm saying ROFL). But I would say any new planning & organizing/scheduling bits & pieces will stay on Miss Edumacated.

[Project based learning....I'm intrigued! Ideas/advice please.]

What sewing mama said :)

 

I think you seem to be more thinking about Learning with Projects, or Hands-On Homeschooling rather than PBL (which is similar to a lot of so-called PBL in schools, not all, but most).

 

The Project Based Learning/Homeschooling I am familiar with is more close to unschooling/child-led learning, so I will take about that (and yes, a fantabulous book to help with this is Project Based Homeschooling by Pickert).

 

1. Accessibility - We have a tendency to lock all the supplies away, in "do not touch" areas. The children always have to ask for what they need without knowing what exactly you have. Think more about displaying the craft supplies (and there are many attractive ways to do so) which provides a way for the child to see what there is, and do something with it.

 

2. PBL is based around childrens interests, and you follow their lead, not the opposite. The basic premise follows the child wants to make "something", and it follows a rabbit trail of info, researching etc to the final result. It is similar to a unit study in that they can end up learning measurements, LA, math, science, social studies, health etc, depending on what the project is, and the obstacles they need to overcome to get there. Think of it akin to you wanting to for your hobby out of the blue, make a working robot or a realistic model of your town, you would then research how to make it down to the detail, if you didn't have something, you would brainstorm how to substitute it, along the way you may end up down rabbit trails (find out the history of the local theatre, and how it ended up closed, which may end up as a full local history or experimenting with different techniques to get the robot to work)

 

3. Creekside Learning (Julie's Blog, aka project based homeschooling) seems to be based around/inspired upon the Reggio method, which might be something to look at. With anything, I always say, research, research, research. After I have researched enough of the whos, whats and whys, I tend to chuck everything out the window, keep the golden nuggets of info that suit me, and do it my way. So just because a particular method says to do something, you don't have to follow. Merely finding out the reason why they want you to do that would be good enough, you can then adapt it to fit your situation. (of course, if they say something that you agree with, go ahead :p)

 

4. Most children and adults won't fit perfectly into a labelled box. (even if it seems like they do, somwhere, you may be squishing parts of them in there to make them fit :p )

 

5. Try looking into things like unschooling, child led learning, and gently directed learning, as well as unschooly games, and what I like to call "sneaky persuasion methods" (they aren't really called that, but they are ways of gently steering your child in a given direction without the child realizing your doing it, the child tends to think its their own idea) these might be possible ways to get past that bump.

 

I have more ideas, but I have been successfully interrupted about 7 times since starting this and its taken me 2 1/2 hours to finish writing it (now that is completely insane! but irrelevant to the topic... ;)

[Daily Nature Study Plan?]

A few suggestions:

 

handbook of Nature Study (and blog) as per OP somewhere above

15 Minutes outside (book) (Does what you said, ideas/etc for every day (365 ideas, by month/season & day).

Take a Walk (Book Series)

One Small Square (Book Series)

Winter Promise Themed Program (Animals & Their Worlds) follows habitat to habitat/season

Little Acorn Learning Guides (not a nature plan but adds a nature feel & crafts)

Create a Seasonal Table (let kids collect stuff on their walk)

[Is Oak Meadow worth it for K-2 or so]

schmeh, thats what we are basically doing :p

 

I will be doing the phonics (following along with the letter stories, and using the weekly lessons as a base) but I can't use it for us for actual phonics work, as we're aussies. So my plan is to just pull out the appropriate letter sheet and teacher info from my phonics program (Fitzroy). Eventually we'll be at the point we're some parts of LA will be replaced with Fitzroy completely, and others will be doing OM completely. So I use it to "know" what to do each week. OM is our framework, as I was tired of pulling everything together and tweaking stuff from scratch, it was giving me burnout lol.

 

Maths I'm getting stuff that will align/help with OM math (I had kitchen table Maths, but it was before we changed directions, and Kitchen Table Maths to me doesn't suit it) its hard to supplement or play with OM stuff because of the fact it is not pure waldorf nor is it traditional, so getting Waldorf Math supplements doesn't really work to well either. I found Family Maths (Equals Series) of books seem to be what I am after (I was after a replacement for Kitchen Table Maths, something divided by the process in question, with different ideas/paths incase they get stuff) that plus Maths Games for Learning by Peggy Kaye. I do have Miquon, Math Mammoth, and other PDFs I have collected, so if we ever need to switch it u[/have a break, we have stuff to transfer to.

 

The science alone is beautiful, gentle and brilliant, and the Social Studies, arts, crafts & music are good as well. So, IMHPO, it IS worth it. But it depends on how you use it. If your just going to tweak everything anyway till its not what it originally was, and ignore science/social studies, then perhaps just getting the first book of crafts, the process manual, and/or something like Little Acorn Learning Guides or Earth*School (K&F Shops on Etsy, she has little units to be that give a bunch of ideas for the topics at hand) would be better to add that nature-feel to your day.

[Ask a Pagan Thread]

I had the same experience with my dh. He just kept insisting he was going to marry me until I finally stopped pretending he was out of his mind.

 

:D

 

A pretty similar thing happened here. I was strongly into the "never ever" going to get married view. I didn't need someone else, was very independant and my family knew this (and had to listen to me rant about it, I still get lots of karma from that, from them ;) )

 

I headed off for a tour round Aus, and didn't get very far. DH came in like a knight in shining armor when I was having some trouble, swooped me up, and we moved into a family-styled hostel (rented house with lots of UK people, whom we ended up befriending). From the moment he met me, he kept asking me to marry him, and the poor thing, I kept saying no. It was a bit of a whirlwind romance, we got to know each other quite well and quickly basically living together, and not working (he wasn't working, I was picking up the odd modelling contract whilst holidaying). About the 48th time he asked, for some reason I broke down, relented and agreed. About 4 days afterward I found out I was pregnant (HUGE shocker for me, I had been in a not-so-good relationship before that where the guy and I were actually trying to get pregnant, he already had a daughter with another girl, and I was told by the doctors I had major scarring and some sort of collapsed tube (TBH, I was in shock, I had always wanted a baby, and to just hear you can never have one is devastating, I don't recall the *exact* problem, but I remember bits like "major scarring" and "collapsed *something* *something* tubes). So then I found out I was pregnant and basically went into shock. I blame agreeing, plus all the stuff I have been through in the past 8 yrs, on pregnancy hormones rofl. I went a bit crazy :p All hormones are now out of my system, somehow we managed to have another two kids, but DH is now sterilized on doctors orders (my womb dropped majorly, during the last pregnancy, I was told if I get pregnant again, I could chance both the babies and my health or at worst our life).

 

Back to subject, a question.

 

We're bringing up the kids (for the moment) with general bible stories and an understanding of the Christian God, in respect for their fathers beliefs. With mine, I bring in more of an earthy Mother Nature view, as well as scientifical facts, and multicultural beliefs (right now we are learning about the Prince aka Buddha). The way I bring all of this in (and started all of this) was talking about Faith & Religion, an overview of What & Hows of faith, and a mini overview of world religions. I would of liked to have brought them up with my views, but its a family household, and I respect my husbands beliefs too, so I thought a better way was to bring them up the way I was brought up (Christian basics with a multicultural faith overview) and allow them to make their own decisions, and follow their own paths when they get a little older.

 

So the question is: In what faith do you bring up your own children? Is you husband of the same faith? If you husband & yourself are of different faiths how does he react to you being a practicing pagan? Do you have troubles with inlaws and your faith (and perhaps them trying to impose their faith upon your kids), if so, how do you deal with this?

 

I miss my altar, and my garden of herbs (most of those would definitely not be okay to be planted round children or pets unfortunately). Like Belladonna for instance, which I made the ointments for a friends coven they used for their drumming rituals. Does anyone else here actually use Belladonna? (there's another question). I can't remember, but I don't think I used it apart from making the ointment, as far as i am aware it seems to be quite limited nowadays except for use in covens, so just wonderin' :lurk5:

[Ask a Pagan Thread]

I wobbled away from Paganism, and am slowly wobbling my way back.

 

I haven't finished reading *subscribing* :D but wanted to add something.

 

I think the MOST important thing is to never ever assume something about someone elses spirituality or religion. Never. I don't mean asking questions like Bethany, thats perfectly fine, and to me, at least, encouraged. But assuming the worst of anothers religion because you don't understand it is very wrong. We should be able to respect anothers faith.

 

When I met DH and got married I was Pagan, deeply. I opted for a Earthy, Pagan wedding. My husband is Christian (although having faith issues) but was happy with the wedding. I sent off the invitations and my sister in law refused to come, and stopped my husbands own brother (her husband) from coming. She put her foot down and had what amounts to a huge spiritual hissy fit.

 

She didn't want to go to something that offended her religious values, and thought I was in league with Satan. This hurt me VERY deeply. Not because of her views on it (each to their own, especially when she hadn't asked or anything) but to stop DHs brother from coming upset me, because I knew somewhere it upset him. Perhaps she was upset somewhere inside her that I was pregnant whilst getting married (goodness knows, to be honest).

 

BUT you want to know the crackerjack of the situation? I found out through the grapevine something about her thinking we were going to be jumping over fire, and doing sacrifices, along with a whole bunch of other weird things (my jaw dropped when I heard this, I believe I sat that saying "what?" about 50 times).

 

Heres what actually happened: Married by a celebrant, who wrote earthy vows (I have them somewhere, but they are filled with stuff about the power of love), I wore a white modest dress that had lots of lacy frilly bits (the tailor did a good job of hiding my baby bump), we were married in private gardens (I was hoping to be married in the rose garden there, but it was drizzly, so we were married in this lovely wooden pergola with a pretty garden beside it). We had a handfasting (ribbon tied around both of our hands, I have that ribbon somewhere), and were pronounced wed inside a circle of rose petals..........I don't see that I wrote anything about fire there, maybe the rain put it out? lol, as for jumping, there was no way I was jumping anything, I would of gone A over T, I even had to have my father help me down the stairs for the wedding photos rofl. I suppose we sacrificed poor roses for the petals???? pmsl.

 

My sister in law is a very strict christian, and to be honest, she scares me. Not because of her being christian (my family is filled with christians and catholics), but because her mind is so closed, there is no room to see the beauty in the difference of people. I sent her children gifts for Xmas when we were first married, and she went off her high horse about something insensible, when we've visited she keeps pulling everyone away from me :(

 

As for my MIL, she goes to church every week, goes on about the importance of church, and then keeps trying to force us into going to church, even though I am not the same religion. The best line was (when I refused on my faith, and on account of the children): "Well its a great place to meet people" and explained I should go for social reasons! HUH? I am sorry, but that does offend me, and I am not even a part of that church. I respect churchgoers, and their faith, and would not willingly go to a church I do not have the same faith with, just for social reasons!

 

I have an adults bible, mutiple childrens bibles, plus a lot of christian based books & media. I believe in the same things I have always believed in, but at the same time I keep my mind open and constantly read and research. I think religion, no matter the faith, is a lifelong journey. Although my beliefs tend to alter slightly over the years, the big things remain the same.

 

So I would say, my faith is there, but I would probably be counted as a non-practicing pagan. I have loosely, before, associated with UU, just because the values of it as a whole, keep in line with my beliefs on religion.

 

In summary: Respect others. :p lol. I should of just wrote that. I respect my MIL and SIL (I cannot, however, say I understand them, :p ) but it would be nicer if there minds were open and they would research before assuming certain things, and to just respect that I am different from them, as I already do.

 

That was kind of a half rant/half babble, but *hopefully* it made sense. Obviously I still have a few issues to work on in the area of my in laws, but I am trying :)

[If you've read the book, Simplicity Parenting,]

BOOK: What I am doing is slowly going through the book, whilst implementing the stages. So I haven't finished it yet. I found it was easier to do it this way to avoid getting overwhelmed. I still have another 64 things on my to do list before reading onwards ;) but this is because I am completely re-arranging the house to get the effect I want for the "use" of our home.

 

TV/MEDIA: We have a bedroom at the back of the house past the sunroom (which is really just the hamper, dryer and dogs room :p, the sunroom that is). So I'll be moving DH's huge TV and chair back there (it was previously a messy storage room, I've cleared everything out, and will be re-organizing it soon, it will become DH's den. That way he still has his TV, he has privacy to play the violent games he plays (GTA, Battlefield etc) and it won't cause "marriage problems" that telling him not to play those games would of (he works really hard, so those games and the times he sits there is his numbing/calming down time....he probably pretends they are his bosses rofl...anway). So that removes one TV.

 

MORE TV/MEDIA: The other TV is a small All-in-One. I am thinking of moving this into my bedroom closet. This way its out of sight, but for the music lessons we take, we need the "teacher" who is on the TV rofl, so I can just open the closet door and voila, our Tv teacher :) The best thing preferably is to get rid of the TV's but depending upon the family in question, this is not always possible. So its better to remove (if you can) the TV from the central family space. These spaces are usually open and in a thoroughfare that everyone passes through or conglomerates at. You want it to be removed from everyday living, therefore a spare bedroom with a closable door is a good place to make the new "tv room".

 

TOY/INSPIRATION/PLAY: I used to have a library, and realized it was really just another storage room and being wasted space, so I removed the door, removed the bookshelves (except two, mentioned in a second) and turned into a sort of toy holding space. Its what I call the "spire" for inspiration/inspired. I hung a queen sized lacy mosquito net from the ceiling and placed cushions on the floor inside it, it creates a multi-purpose play space/quiet space for the kids (and apparently Jaspers (my cats) new harem, rofl. He sleeps in there most of the day on the cushions whilst Mischa (our other cat) lies beside him off of the cushions at his side, LOL!) I put a lounge room table in there thats become the nature/play table, its decorated by season, and the kids bring stuff in there we collect from our farm and they also have lots of pretend play on there. One mini scrolled bookshelf has become a place for all the little "bits" (it has can baskets on it with stuff like marbles, ribbons, wood turned dolls etc for them to play with), and the other taller bookshelf was turned on its side and laid on the floor and became a place for the bigger baskets (which contain rotating collection of carefully kept (we chucked/donated a LOT of toys) toys, a basket with scarves and a wood basket of wood bits) and the flat top of the bookshelf I got 3 of those cane woven long bread baskets, and put them near the back of the top, near the wall, and they have the rotating collection of books in them (sort of like a cheap, movable version of rain gutter shelving). The books are kept in the den, and have been divided up by month, and wrapped up like a present in newspaper. The kids get to open a "new" collection of books every month for their room.

 

CREATIVE PLAY: Our previous loungeroom was turned into an area that is more "blank canvas" than anything else. Its become a place we're the kids can run round, create "houses & huts" and generally create bigger things. Its also where we hold our morning circle, and sometimes our handcrafts.

 

PLANNING/BOOKS/TEACHER: The teachers desk that was previously in dining room, the back/shelving has been taken off it, and moved ontop of my computer desk in my room. This is where I do all my planning now (where I ended up doing it anyway, but it didn't have shelves before) and where most of the books I need on a week to week basis (minus out-of-season books and stored books) are located.

 

ATELIER/MAIN LESSON ROOM: "formal dining" is an alcove of of the dining and kitchen, I moved the old bottom of the teachers desk in here, pushed it down it the bottom setting (mutiple table height) and placed that in the centre of the room. on one side is my big on wheels whiteboard (soon to be whiteboard/blackboard), and the other side contains an old dressing table with a mirror and heaps of drawers for supplies, a short, fat bookshelf for more supplies, and a big old wooden toy chest, which I store recyclable material in. Theres also a built-in closet for "just school" supplies and around the corner where the teachers desk used to be I put one of the bookshelves from the ex-library and made it a shoe shelf (everyone has their own shelf for shoes) it also has hooks I put in the side which I hang our trolly dolly shopping bag and another hook I use when we come back with office supplies or something (I go to my office supplies place a lot, when we come home its nice to have a hook to just plop the shopping bag on till I get round to putting it away). And next to it is the old art cupboard from the library, I use this to hold most paper based items for the kids craft/art. This whole area came mostly from inspiration cleaned from Project Based Homeschooling by Pickert. I realized I didn't have enough accessibility for the kids, but tended to lock everything up. Now they have everything at their hands to create and do what they want, and also a place for us to do Main Lesson Book work.

 

SCIENCE: My kids are science mad, and the curriculum we are using may not intrigue them enough by itself, as such under the outside of the kitchen counter I plan to add a little "station" table with Lentil Science and stuff for them to freely explore/play with.

 

SUPPLIES: Supplies before were either locked away in the library or in the teachers closet. Now everything is "Freely" available unless its very expensive "school only" stuff. So anything they could need for art/craft is set out on shelving/cupboards in the Atelier, anything for extra science and similar is in the cupboards above the sink (stuff like borax, baking soda etc). "School only" special books, beeswax, and exxy paints/crayons are in the teachers cupboard, but there are similar materials laid out for their use.

 

OUTSIDE: We have a verandah that has a toy kitchen, hobo car bench seat as chairs and an old broken BBQ (lol, sounds very trashy I know) it was a thoroughfare and is not really used apart to have quite time and to put science experiments in the sun. I am in the middle of converting this to an outdoor messy arts area and herb garden for the kids. We'll keep the toy kitchen there for mud play and to store old kitchenware for the kids to play with (mmm mud pie :D ) eventually we hope to cut out a gate and have a fenced vegetable garden connected to the side of the house, and put an orchard in the back paddock, but thats a little bit down the road. The verandah is just off the kitchen and has a light so suitable for getting herbs for dinner or quickly rushing out to grab more lettuce. And obviously suitable for messy arts area. Eventually I hope to cajole DH into making an outdoor sink, but goodness knows how long that'll take (pity as he's really good at making furniture & intertwining it with technology.)

 

PLASTICS: We did throw a lot of toys & books away, BUT we did keep some plastics & characters. You have to keep in mind you are part of your family and whoevers advice you have taken isn't. The one way things fail is if you take & do everything that person/book says without stepping back and looking at your own life. Rigidly following someone elses example isn't the key. More, understanding and looking logically at the situation is. You know your weaknesses and the areas that are off-limits. I didn't touch DS's lightning Mcqueen collection for instance. Its both a character and mostly plastic stuff, but he has great imagination with those toys, knows each and every individual LM toy he has (even when I can't tell the difference lol) and has special needs that taking away that kind of item that he cherishes would only hinder, not help. I use LM for his speech therapy/exercises for instance, and for maths, counting, alphabet etc. We also kept two plastic babydolls & two plastic barbies. I honestly would of been quite happy to chuck them out, but you have to think of the childrens views and how they use these items. My two daughters (hence keeping two of each) LOVE to wash their dolls in the sink and like to take their barbies swimming in the bath. Wood or fabric dolls (of which they have too) would not hold up to this "abuse". The lovingly wash in baby wash, the baby dolls, dry them, put them to bed, before getting them up and washing them again. The barbies have had many salon/beauty days with makeup/hairwashing etc. I also kept a particular character for each of my children (DS was obviously LM, Eve's was her Dora stuff, and Atlas's was her Tangled/Rapunzel items), these are cherished, if gaudy, things. If the item is cherished, loved and well played with, there is no harm in keeping it (unless its a noisy flashing plastic POS. I dislike anything that starts flashing at me or that Bob the Builder phone that kept going off in the middle of the night. All of those disappeared into the charity bag with maniacal cackles of glee. Basically I am wary of anything that requires batteries). We also kept a few of the nicer plastic animals (mostly schleich (sp?) ) as these were nice, got the job done, and again, would seem to hinder rather than help if tossed. There is a bag of stuff that I was unsure about, or did want to throw away but we "just" got it etc (like the Chuggington train set DS got for his birthday, a few toys I wasn't sure whether the kids used or not), so this is stored in the cupboard in the back room. If it gets to midyear and I don't hear anything about wanting those toys back (so they were ignored enough to be forgotten about) then they will go to the charity shop. I keep the gaudy plastics and character stuff in the kids bedroom. The girls have a covered basket each of their "cherished gaudies" as I call them, thats their job to keep tidy and washed. If its found on the floor, it goes into my "detention bin" and the kids have to do a task to get it out. If that particular toy is caught on the ground 3 times, in the bin it goes, bye bye. I say stuff like "Oh the dolly was sad by herself, frightened on the ground. She told me to keep her until you show you can take care of her *give them task* she says if this happens (1 or 2 more times) she'll leave. She doesn't want to stay with someone who won't love her and take care of her." Its only happened once for Eve & Chaos, and twice for Atlas, and so far they haven't left their "dolls" out again :) bits and bobs are another story, but I'm still working on that one ;)

 

YOURSELF & TRANSITIONS: I think the biggest thing (at least when you have young ones) is changing your outlook. Children learn by imitation, and if you or DH treat things or do things a certain way, the children will copy that. I usually try to make everything a game as well. I have also found songs help. As long as I have a song for whatever we are doing (cleaning, getting ready to go out, getting them to be quiet when they are getting to loud) I am set, rofl. And they don't have to be masterpieces, i am known for picking up any tune I remember and making new words (I did it for an old pop song a few days ago when I was short on time and couldn't think), I am also trying this for getting them to remember/learn our phone number (mobile), that goes :

 

(phone number, ours ends with a three),

Whats my number, she asked me,

(phone number again...three)

Thats my number! said little old me.

 

I've used things like the hokey pokey for getting dressed (put our right sock on, pull the right sock up, Make sure the socks on, and shake it all about, I am getting dressed to go outside, and I've got to hurry up! hey! (told you, not a masterpiece lol, but it works).

 

SIZE DOES NOT MATTER/REMEMBER TO MAKE IT FIT YOUR SITUATION: We have a small house too, so it was just a fact of looking how long everybody is home for and what everybody does when they are home. This allowed me to re-organize the house to suit our particular situation (the dining table was also moved into the kitchen, so the whole family helps out with making dinner, then sits and eats together, which is a shift from something we weren't doing to something we wanted to do, and this was the arrangement necessary to create that mindset to make it happen).

 

Thats about all I can tell you/help with so far, hopefully its some sort of help anyway :)

xxx

[How to help 8 yr old's handwriting?]

When you did Waldorf, did you do Form Drawing? Form drawing is what equals to handwriting practice.

 

I've heard many people rave about the Handwriting section of One-to-One by Gareth Lewis, and it is probably much cheaper than handwriting programs. There was one person specifically saying that her daughters penpal had such nice writing and the little girl asked where she learned to write like that, the response was lewis' book.

 

Just a thought anyway :)

[Are you using a pre-k curriculum?]

Sonlight P3/4 was okay. Nice books. I have the 2011 version, so for me it was just a list of books to read for each trimester, plus an activity or two. I made up a weekly schedule along with other activities to suit the book.

 

Core Knowledge Preschool - We use and will continue to use this (we have the activity books as well, elsewise I'm not sure I would use it). The kids like the little activities, the pages are rip-out-able (my brains squishy, I just woke up, can't think of the word I want) so can be put in their work binder once finished (they love having a binder like their sister. I put their artwork, any pictures they make etc in there).

 

Bright Beginnings - Looks like a really cool thing. its 2 books, very christian/bible orientated, if thats the way you want to go. I purchased it late last year, but then we changed our lifestyle, so I haven't used it.

 

Oak Meadow Pre-K - Is just two books explaining the process and why-fores behind it. Since this is based (originally) off waldorf, you can get the same information from Christopherus (her audio downloads are like $14, grab why waldorf, importance of play and pre-k at home), or read through parenting passageway blog. Donna also has a downloadable PDF (Early Childhood at home $20) that would cover pretty much everything.

 

US Based monthly kits - There are lots of these about, like Carols Afforadable Curriculum and Mother Goose time.

 

To answer the original question, we are using CK Pre-K and activity books, sporadically. If I didn't already start with the activity books, I would probably just sell the whole thing. We are *really* just doing lots of crafts, baking, cooking, painting, dancing, and cleaning :biggrinjester: I just have stuff like Project Based Homeschooling, Playful Learning, Child of Wonder etc, to inspire and help me think of things from a different angle.