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Lady Lulu

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Posts posted by Lady Lulu

    Move onto First Grade Curriculum?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    My brilliant son, Merrick, will pretty much be finished with his kindergarden curriculum by January. He finished 100 EZ a couple of months ago (he started it when he was 4), will be finished with ETC 1 by next week, and will be finished with both kindergarden Singapore Math workbooks.

    Soooooo....where do we go from here? Honestly, I think most of what we've studied so far have been a bit below his level. He breezes through ETC and Singapore (not meaning to brag here...but my son must be brilliant, right?!?). :001_smile:

     

    I also have the ETC 1 1/2, but I've been thinking of skipping it and moving onto ETC 2. Any thoughts on that?

     

    We've also been doing unit studies this year, including a few Five in a Row books. You can check out our blog to get a better sense of what we do:

    Gettin' Skooked Blog

     

    My husband thinks we should move onto to first grade. I've been wondering if we should just play educational games (to reinforce) and do fun unit studies, but I do feel concerned about not challenging my son (which causes him to get bored and lose interest).

     

    Thanks for all your help!

    Homeschool Pumpkin Day (ideas for next year)

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    I am totally late in posting this. The holidays have kept us busy around here. However, I thought I'd share this with everyone in case you could use any of the ideas for next year.

     

    Our homeschool group got together in October for a Pumpkin Day. We had a blast measuring pumpkins, seeing if pumpkins float, playing pin the face on the Jack-o-latern, etc. Here's the link to the post in case you'd like to do something similar in the future:

     

    http://gettinskooled.blogspot.com/2011/11/homes-cool-pumpkin-day.html

     

    Thanks!

    Attentiveness Unit Study

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    I little while back, I asked you for some ideas on how to help my kiddo pay attention during school. I ended up putting together a unit study on Attentiveness. Thought I'd share it here with any one else whose kiddos struggle with the same thing.

     

    I'd love to hear any feedback on this as I will probably be reinforcing this unit again and again in my house. :)

     

    Here's the link:

    Gettin' Skooled Attentiveness Unit Study

     

    Thanks!

    Leslie

    Thanksgiving Unit Study

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    Just thought I'd share the info I collected for our Thanksgiving Unit Study. Hope it's a help and saves someone out there some research time. My son is on a Kinder/1st grade level (with toddler siblings along for the ride) so most of the info is geared toward that age. However, a lot of it could be useful to older kiddos as well.

     

    Here's the link:

    Gettin' Skooled Thanksgiving Unit Study

     

    Thanks!

    Leslie

    Attentiveness Unit Study?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Does anyone have any resources for a unit study on attentiveness? I've seen an Attentiveness lapbook on homeschoolshare.com and was wondering if it went along with a particular study. I know Konos has a unit, but I'm not interested in buying the entire curriculum for just that unit.

     

    I'm looking for Kinder/1st grade level info.

     

    Thank you so much!

    First Time Homeschooler - Needing Encouragement

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Hello all. :)

     

    We are on our third week of homeschooling my kindergartener. Though I think we've been having lots of fun, he has said to me several times, "I don't like homeschool." It breaks my heart to hear him say this. I know the issue is that he doesn't like doing the work and that it takes away from his "play all day" routine. But, it is still very difficult to hear. And, it makes me wonder if I could be doing something better.

     

    You can take a look at our homeschool blog if you'd like to get an idea of what our days have been like. Basically, I stick to a Bible story, reading lesson, phonics (ETC), handwriting lesson or activity, and a math game or worksheet. In addition to that, we've read plenty, had an All About Me unit study, and made a lapbook.

     

    There are times when his 2 year old twin siblings are doing puzzles or watching Mickey Mouse and he gets so frustrated that I pull him away to do "work." Sometimes, I feel like I have to coerce him to get through each line of a worksheet (ETC), but those are also the places where I feel he is learning the most.

     

    Next week, we'll begin "rowing" our first book with FIAR. I'm curious to see if he'll like that any better.

     

    Does this attitude ever go away? Any suggestions on how to handle it?

     

    Thank you so much for any and all help.

    Explode the Code - How often, how much?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Hello!

     

    For those of you who use ETC, I have two questions:

     

    - How many pages does your student(s) complete in one sitting/lesson?

    - How many times a week do you have a ETC lesson a week?

     

    We are officially in our 3rd week of homeschooling Kindergarten. We've done 2-3 pages each day, but I'm wondering if this is something I don't necessarily need to do every day. My son gets bored easily doing workbook/worksheet activities. We also have a 100EZ reading lesson and a handwriting lesson/activity every day. And, we read lots.

     

    Thanks so much for your help!

    Building Our Schoolroom Furniture!

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    This will be our first year homeschooling and I am so eager to have a room in our home that is designed to help facilitate effective and fun schooling. If I had tons of mula, I'd just pick my favorite pieces of furniture out of the Pottery Barn and Serena and Lily catalogs. But, as it is, I had pretty much NO money to spend!

     

    So, we had a garage sale and raised about $550 to spend on setting up the schoolroom. Then, thankfully, I found Ana White's site with hundreds of free plans on how to build furniture (this is not an advertisement at all...though it's sure starting to sound like one, huh?). I found the exact plans for the table AND storage system I had been eyeing for more than a year!

     

    I recently finished the school table and I'm currently working on building the cubby storage system. I am SO excited and grateful we can have the school room of my dreams on such a limited budget. And, I can honestly say the furniture, etc, is made straight from the heart!

     

    Here's a link to the pictures of the table:

    http://onesietwosie.blogspot.com/2011/06/elementary-table-build-complete.html

     

    Just wanted to share this in case there are other mamas/daddy's out there in the same situation.

     

    Thanks!

    NOT Back to School Party Ideas

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    This coming fall will be our first year homeschooling. We are so excited that several other families in our church have made the decision to homeschool as well. We are all relatively new to this and were thinking of having a "NOT Back to School Party."

     

    Any ideas on what we should do?

     

    I've heard several people mention going to the park on the first day of school, but I really can't wait to start lessons with my son on our first day. We were thinking about having a potluck at our house with some games (or perhaps at the pool?).

     

    Thanks in advance for all your thoughts!

    Any gourmet recipe sites out there?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    I get the majority of my recipes online from Recipeezar/Food.com. I love this site mostly because of the number of reviews on any given recipe. However, I'd really like to find a similar site that offers healthier, fresher recipes for when I'm in a mood to cook something without tossing in a can of cream of mushroom soup.

     

    Know of any helpful sites out there like this?

     

    As a side note, I just finished reading Frank Bruni's memoir Born Round. Loved it! He is a great writer and I can relate to his sad, twisted relationship with food. I highly suggest it (the book, not having a twisted relationship with food).

     

    Thanks!

    Leslie

    ETC - where do we start?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We've decided that we're going to try out Explode the Code workbooks for phonics next year. When I emailed ETC to ask about a placement test, they directed me to a $20 test I could purchase. I'm a little confused about this. The reason I wanted to give my son a placement test is to SAVE money! I didn't want to buy the first book only to find out that he's already ready for the second book!

     

    Any way. It's a really little thing, but does anyone using ETC have any suggestions as to which book we should begin using? My son, who will begin Kinder next year, is already reading at a basic level. We've gotten through about half of 100EZ, but the lessons are pretty easy for him still.

     

    Thanks so much!

    FIAR - too much to add to our plate?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I used it for my 1st 2. I plan to use it again for a year between HOD-LHTH and LHFHG for my next 2.

     

    I meant to add that when we used it, we did math, phonics, handwriting and FIAR. That was it! Great year for us!

     

    Sorry, but I can't figure this out...what is HOD, LHTH, LHFHG?

     

    I didn't see them on the abbreviations list.

     

    Thanks!

    FIAR - too much to add to our plate?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    There seems to be the impression that because FIAR is a cuddle-on-the-couch sort of program, that it is not rigorous or classical. That could not be farther from the truth.

     

    Through FIAR, my dd5 learned world geography such that she impresses any adult that comes to our house (our wall map is large and is a natural conversation piece). She already loved history, but that love was sustained in FIAR. She loved looking through her ever-growing vocabulary list. I began to see art techniques that we learned in FIAR being used in her drawings that she did just for fun. I am convinced that if I had used a more traditional approach with texts and worksheets, she would not have learned as much despite the seemingly more rigorous nature of those programs. FIAR was designed to help a child want to learn, and it is chock full of stuff to teach that child. FIAR was a solid foundation for a classical curriculum.

     

    Moreover, there wasn't really a traditional "classical" curriculum for K, other than learning to read--and even that was often put off until a bit later. K is very young to begin schooling your children, even in the classical model. So IMO, anything you do beyond learning to read for K is rigorous.

     

    Do not feel guilty about putting aside what you have planned in favor of a more "fun" curriculum. Most of us moms went to b&m schools that squeezed the love for learning right out of us, making us think learning and fun were diametrically opposed to each other. But learning is fun. Your job is to teach that to your young children (and hopefully to yourself along the way) so that you are not fighting with them about school when they are older.

     

    What great insight. Thank you so much for sharing all that.

    FIAR - too much to add to our plate?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    On a side note, (I know you did not ask.) all of my kids I tried ETC with found it unbelievably frustrating trying to figure out the pictures and too writing heavy for the age. I did not see any improvement with their reading using it. MCP Plaid Phonics (look at Rainbow Resource for it) is a better choice, IMO.

     

    Thanks! I appreciate that!

    FIAR - too much to add to our plate?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    I posted a thread recently asking about favorite Kindergarten curriculum and got an overwhelming response for Five in a Row.

     

    I have heard many people sing praises for FIAR, but it is very difficult to get a good idea from their web site of how it actually plays out in an every day situation. From the bits that I've seen on other peoples' blogs, it seems to me that it is basically reading a book five days in a row and doing projects that coordinate with the theme of the book (unit studies?).

     

    My concern with this is that as a first time homeschooling parent next year, I will be overwhelmed with adding this to our plate. So far, we plan on doing 100EZ, Singapore Math, Bible Lessons, Explode the Code, Artistic Pursuits, and possibly some geography. If things go well beyond that, we may do some Spanish.

     

    Would it be crazy to add FIAR to all that? Does it take a long time to prepare for the projects? Does it cost a lot of money?

     

    Also, I'll be homeschooling an active Kindergartener with two year old twins by our side...

     

    Thanks so much for all your help and for sharing your thoughts!

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