craftyerin
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Posts posted by craftyerin
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IMO, yes. SOTW or Veritas is too much for K. I have never looked closely at ToG. For kindergarten here, we use Phonics Pathways, Handwriting without Tears, and Singapore Essential math K, all of which are just "open to the next page, and go" type books. We use Five in a Row for all the other fun stuff. FIAR does require some planning, though, so that may not appeal to you. There's no reason why you couldn't just use an open-and-go resource for phonics, handwriting, and math, and then read a ton of good library books and be done! Kindergarten doesn't need to be complicated.
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My favorite classroom discipline resource was Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay. Very practical, very effective.
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I have twin kindergarteners. They went from sounding out CVC words around Christmas to reading at about a 2nd grade level in May. They turned 5 in June. This blew me away! This summer they've continued to add reading skill at an astonishing pace. They never put the books down! I've been filling in holes with Phonics Pathways, and we're almost finished with it. I know the general answer for "what's next?" is a phonics-based spelling program and continue having them read aloud to me and on their own. That's fine with me. I just didn't expect to get here at the very beginning of our kindergarten year!
The complicating factor is that they are very typical for beginning Kers in terms of writing ability. We are still very much in the "learning to form letters correctly and consistently" phase. I'm stumped on how to do spelling with them because of that! I own WRTR and have borrowed the first level of AAS from a friend who will need it back in a few months, but I'd have time to try it and see if I liked it. I imagine the amount of writing in Spalding would be frustrating at this point. I'm afraid AAS is going to be too slow? We dropped ETC at some point mid-spring when they rocketed past the level they were working on, skill-wise. I could pull those back out and continue with ETC this year for spelling and phonics reinforcement. The material would be easy, but the writing not too painful. Is there another program that would be *perfect* that I should consider?
What would you do with these little people?
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I own and like both the first and current editions.
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I haven't read it in years. I think I should re-read!
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My Kers are already reading, and I'm using Phonics Pathways (similar to OPG, and OPG would serve the same purpose) to skip through and fill in the holes for sounding out the different letter combinations that they haven't already figured out on their own. AAR would have been FAR too slow for my Kers. Now, my 1st grader is not reading, and I'm considering buying AAR for him, since he needs something slow and methodical, I think. I vote for you using OPG, but using a white board or some other not "reading right from the book" approach with it. We have tons of success with Phonics Pathways that way. I write the words, phrases, sentences, etc on a big white board, they read them and erase them. They aren't fans of sitting on the couch with me reading from the book.
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I have owned 2 Bissels and the Eureka Envirosteamer, and I'm passionately in love with my newest steam mop, the Haan Total. It sweeps and mops AT THE SAME TIME!! I owned the Bissel Steam&Sweep which does the same thing, but the Haan does it so much better. Really, it's is superior by far, in design and function, to any other steam mop I've owned. I do wish its cord was ~8" longer. But hey, can't have it all. :tongue_smilie:
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My favorite names that I couldn't use because of our last name were Noah, Silas, Jonas, and Elias. My favorites that DH shot down for various ridiculous reasons are Calvin, August (Gus), and Simon.
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I need to work on my second sock. I finally got the CO right and the first inch of ribbing down. Now I have to get back into the swing of the pattern and make a lot of progress. I promised Rebecca she'd get socks next!
**This is not the sock with the bad pooling I discussed last week. I'm going to reverse wind the ball to rip it out and wait until I get my Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn book. I should put a sign on it - DO NOT KNIT - bad pooling!
Pooling is the world's MOST maddening thing.
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I realized that a friend is expecting a baby in 2 weeks and I might should work on a gift. :lol: I have a cute navy and teal simple striped beanie stashed in my baby gift pile, so I'm going to give that along with a pair of these in teal: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-baby-converse
I'll post a pic when I'm done. Should be mid-week?
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DH shops on the weekend with the chiidren in tow. He's a lifesaver!
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My kids will graduate when they pass the 5-step test. Most informative article I've ever seen on this:
http://csftl.org/boosters-are-for-very-big-kids/
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Still not getting much crafting time. :(
I did ask for a sky scarf kit for my bday after they were mentioned on here and got one! I got my yarn wound into balls yesterday and cast on. So, that's something!
Tomorrow I will have the challenge of building an Ikea couch after it's delivered. That counts as crafty, right?!
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I'm reading Milly-Molly-Mandy to my 5yo DD right now. Adorable. We've also enjoyed some American Girl books, the Catwings books, and I'm going to try The Hundred Dresses next. Planning to try Betsy-Tacy, some Little House, and some Ramona at some point after that.
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FYI: Many parents (myself included) find that the Nautilus doesn't work for their child as a booster. It was okay as a carseat (not our favorite though, to be honest) but didn't work as a booster because it made the seatbelt run right across ds' belly instead of his thighs.
My best friend is a car seat tech and she warned me about this, but my son's Nautilus actually fits him really well as a booster! I even had her check to make sure I wasn't just being hopeful. So it can fit well as a booster, on some kids, in some cars.
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I have twin Kers who are reading well (I'd estimate 2nd-3rd grade level at his point, and moving quickly). I plan to start spelling as soon as we've covered everything I feel like we need to cover through Phonics Pathways (similar to OPG).
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So, my next question is: what is the ideal age to do SOTW 1? I hear a lot about 1, but not much after that. Why is that? Do most of you do all 4 volumes in elementary school, and if not. what do you use for history?
Does SOTW take 1 school year? Are the lessons scheduled or do you just pick what you want to study when you want to study it? I'm looking for open and go,and FUN! We have the academic things down, but are missing the spark. My kids see school as something to get done, and it saddens me. They're very young (1st and K) but I really want to see them inquisitive and interested. I'm not sure if I should bring in more history or science...Anyway, random thoughts. I appreciate everyone's feedback!
I have kids the same ages (K and 1st). We use Five in a Row for that spark. I *love* it. FIAR takes children's picture books (really wonderful high quality ones) and has you cover one subject each day over 5 days using the story as the jumping off point. This week, we are "rowing" The Giraffe that Walked to Paris. Today we had a social studies lesson that was mostly geography and a little bit of "what it's like to live in Egypt (where the giraffe came from) and France (where the giraffe went)." We read the book, used the illustrations as examples to guide our discussion of what the landscape is like in each of those places, what sorts of clothes the people wore, what sorts of transportation they used, etc. Then each of my kids colored Egypt and France on a printed map and drew the path that the giraffe took across the Mediterranean Sea and then up through France to Paris. I love that we cover some history, geography, and social studies in a way that is relevant to my kids (through the books we read) and is fun for all of us. FIAR covers art, science, some math, and some language arts on the other days.
We used FIAR last year, and we plan to do it this year and next. After that, I plan to start a proper WTM trip through history chronologically, but I absolutely do not feel the need to do SOTW with 1st graders and Kers. I taught at a classical private school for several years before I got married, and they had the 4 year cycle through history in 2-5th grades and did more typical social studies and early American history in K-1st. I thought that was PERFECT and plan to do the same.
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Done:
FIAR
phonics
first day photos
library for books on hold
Target for photos finished and ready to be picked up
Still to do:
Clean kids' rooms
Wow, this morning was hairy. Kids were difficult. We got it done, but it wasn't smooth or cooperative. Deep breath.
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First day of school here! :D
FIAR
phonics
first day photos
clean kids' rooms, vacuum, dust, wash sheets (this will take longer than the above 3 combined!)
library for books on hold
Target for photos finished and ready to be picked up
Other? TBD
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My husband makes dinner 4-5 nights a week.
My house is clean, organized, and (relatively) clutter free. I have young kids, but no babies. Their work is almost all teacher-intensive due to their ages.
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I DIY a planner. Some pages I make myself, several I printed from this site this year. I'm sure I'll tweak it as we go along.
http://tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/about-dynamic-2-moms-free-lapbooks/7-step-curriculum-planner/
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We love the Circo mini babies from Target. We have several. They're about 6" I think, but super cuddly.
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I have b/g twins who just turned 5. My daughter is very stereotypically girly in school things. She reads, writes, colors, talks incessantly, will narrate everything she reads and hears whether I ask her to or not. Her twin brother is every bit as smart! But he's not as motivated with school. He actually reads very well, but he's super wiggly, has a MUCH shorter attention span, and doesn't like to write or draw or color AT ALL. We are homeschooling with a long-term mentality, but I would never have considered that he wasn't ready for K this year, wiggliness or not. Sure, he needs shorter lessons and more writing dictated to Mom, but he's so very capable and eager to learn. It just looks different than it does for his sister!
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I have super busy 5-6yo boys, and some read alouds we've enjoyed lately include:
the three tales of My Father's Dragon
Catwings (series, 4 books)
Mr Putter and Tabby (series, many)
Poppleton (series, several)
and we've started on some Magic Treehouse. I think when we tire of MTH, I plan to try some Beverly Cleary and Mr Popper's Penguins, etc.
Why are you here at TWTM boards?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
1) have ever read The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer all the way through or not
Yep! Several times, and at least 2 of the editions.
2) read TWTM by SWB before or after you came to the boards
Yep! I read TWTM first about 10 years ago when I was teaching in a private classical school. I was curious about SWB and someday homeschooling my future children, and I liked the general curriculum and approach of the school I was teaching at, so I read it. Then I read it again, aloud, to my then-fiance-now-husband. It was the first time we discussed the possibility of homeschooling one day. Fortunately, it didn't scare him off. :lol:
I consider myself more a Charlotte Mason homeschooler than a classical homeschooler, but IMO, TWTM is one of the best homeschool resource books out there. I recommend it to everyone considering homeschooling, without reservation.