craftyerin
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Posts posted by craftyerin
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I have a loose plan for elementary, and then I think Farrar's plan of going interest led in middle school sounds awesome! So far:
PK-K: We did social studies with FIAR
1st (this coming year): Early American, DIY plans, using picture books, activities/crafts, and field trips
2nd: Ancients (might split this up into two years--OT/Egypt and Greece/Rome, and bump everything else back a year. We'll see.)
3rd: Medieval
4th: Early Modern
5th: Modern
My vision for 2nd-5th sounds very much like what Farrar did. I will have SOTW, but reading it straight through and doing the activities doesn't really interest me. I'd rather listen to some SOTW in the car, but skip around and focus on major events/people/places, and read more supplementary books, etc during our school time.
I have no vision beyond 5th/6th grade. It's hard to see that far ahead when my kids are 6 and 7. LOL
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Teach Your Monster to Read is free and really good. It moved too fast for my dyslexic kid, but he LOVED it until it got too hard. I think my kids who don't struggle with reading would have done well with it, though. I didn't try anything online with them, though.
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I think Phonics Pathways is a fantastic bang for the buck. $21.50 on Amazon
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Have you seen the videos at educationunboxed.com?
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I used parts of this one last year (may have been linked upthread, I didn't look) http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/free-printables/7-step-curriculum-planner/#top
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My 6yo DD and my 7yo DS have been finger knitting a lot lately. Both of them express interest in knitting with needles, but are easily frustrated by it. I am planning to do some loom knitting and/or loom weaving potholders with them this year.
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SWB has a blog post about how she did not want to include the times for each subject in the WTM but her publisher required it. Really, don't worry about the printed times and do what you think makes the most sense for your children.
I'll have three ~1st graders this year. I anticipate the following:
30-45min: Morning Time: Bible reading, scripture and poetry memory work, and one of the following: picture/composer study, art, spanish, nature study
1 hour: 3Rs with 6yo twins
1 hour: 3Rs with 7yo son (even though they are all ~1st grade, they use different materials for the 3Rs due to learning style and ADHD in my oldest)
30 min: Literature Loop: AO literature selections
I'll have some space in the afternoon 1-2 days/week where we might do some interest-led science experiments/activities, and I'm hoping to do a Bravewriter-style poetry tea once a week (or every other week, we'll see).
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We used Singapore Essential Math, Handwriting Without Tears, and Phonics Pathways for K, with a bunch of good read story books. I'd absolutely use the the same combo again if I had another K student.
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Yep, I'm in the "she's not ready" camp. But I would practice with oral blends all the time! Make it a game to play in the car or wherever. In AAR's PK level, they set it up like this:
Mom: I'm going to talk really slooooooow and silly, like a turtle. You see if you can guess what I'm trying to say. rrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaat
and see if she can blend it into "rat". Mine loved the "turtle game"! Also try it without drawing out the sound, but with a distinct beat between the sounds. /r/ /a/ /t/ and see if she can get "rat". Once she's orally blending easily, I would try Phonics Pathways again. -
Thank you for this thread! I have been having EXACTLY the same thoughts. I have a daily list of subjects, materials chosen for my morning time loop, for my 3Rs, for my read aloud loop, for history, for science, etc. But I was planning on mostly "doing the next thing" in each loop/subject, without any more detailed planning than I have right now. I keep reading all the blog posts and discussions about CM-ish homeschools needing more scheduled days and struggling with whether or not I was doing enough of that. I think I'm OK! I know how long each lesson should take, and I'm committed to obeying the clock, not the amount of material we cover, so that we're keeping within CM's time frames for lessons at my kids' age/stage. I just don't see how I need more of a schedule than that! Anyway, you're not alone, I'm right there with you, and I think we'll both be fine. ;)
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I instituted a "toy library" instead of having a rotation that was on me to rotate. They can get out whatever they want, whenever they want it, but they can't have more than 3 things out in any one room at a time. (We have no play room, so toys are in bedrooms). Toy library lives in the shed, although I'd KILL for a good closet inside that I could use instead. I've had it in practice almost a year and it has saved my sanity. No one has more out than they can reasonably clean up. Everyone gets to play with whatever they're most interested in. But my house is not run over by toys.
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I looked at Phonics Pathways at a store today, but I was confused by how it started with vowels and then moved into blending. It never went over the rest of the alphabet first...
Hmmm... My kids already knew all their basic letter sounds from the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD. So we really started with blends, after doing a quick vowel review. I guess I'll change that to my recommendation, then--Letter Factory, then Phonics Pathways.
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I taught my 4yo twins to read with Phonics Pathways. I'm not sure it qualifies as fun, but it was easy to use, effective, and inexpensive. As quickly as mine plowed through it, I was grateful I didn't spend money on something with more levels or bells and whistles. They didn't need that.
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I have a friend who sells them and is super evangelistic about it. I tried. They peel off within two days. Every time. I was told that was "very unusual" and probably means I have ph issues and should soak my fingertips in black tea before trying again. Yeah, no. That's just weird.
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I checked both of those and Phonics Pathways out of the library to preview before we started phonics. I preferred Phonics Pathways to both if them. OPGTR would have been my second choice. I was not impressed by 100 Easy Lessons. The other two seemed easier to use and more thorough.
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No, you don't need the guide. People kept telling me that....but I still purchased the guide and realized I didn't need it. The guide is pretty looking, but not that useful IMHO.
I would suggest just reading the books in a 'rough' chronological order and then discussing them casually with your kids. "Can you believe what happened?? What would you do if you were him?" etc.
Then, you mgith consider looking places up on a map when a locaiton is mentioned. You could also add any dates you come across to your timeline if you keep one. Then, just keep history notebooks. In our history notebooks I have the kids do a coloring sheet or a drawing of what we read about. Then, I alternate narrations with copywork. Those are written under their picture.
On narration days they tell me in their own words what happened in our reading and I write it down for them. I might say, "Tell me the two most interesting thngs you learned today." or something like that.
On copywork days, I choose a sentence that summarizes our lesson and have them copy it from the white board.
Some people do lapbooks and other fancy stuff. My kids are not into that though.
This is precisely my plan with mine for early American History this year. I'm doing a series of picture books, with oral narrations, and occasional maps/coloring sheets/copywork, etc. I am not using any "spine" text, just roughly one picture book a week, in loose chronological order, covering the major people and events from pre-European settlement of the Americas through Westward Expansion.
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What does the composer/artist/poet study look like in your home?
Artist and composer study are in our Morning Time loop. We do each of them every other week, alternating. Artist study looks exactly like this:
​I choose 3 artists per school year, spend ~12 weeks on each, which means we do ~6 works from each artist. We leave the print hanging in our school area to look at for the two weeks in between each picture study. At some point during the term, we'll read a book or two about the artist from the library, and if possible, see a work of theirs at a local museum.
Composer study is done every other week as well. I was not super consistent with it last year, but I can tell you what my plan is for the fall. I chose three composers, and will spend 6 periods on them, just like with artists. I'm using Ambleside's suggestions for which works from each composer to focus on (although I'm not necessarily following Ambleside's schedule for which specific composers to study this year, although you could if you wanted to). https://www.amblesideonline.org/ComposerSch.shtml I've gone through and bookmarked youtube performances of each piece they recommend for my composers this year. We'll listen to/watch one new piece when it's time for composer study, and then I'll try to remember to play some of their music in quiet work periods or during clean up, or in the car, or whenever for the time in between. Again, we'll read a book or two about the composer during the term, and check out the classical kids CD with the story about them, if it's a composer that classical kids has (2/3 of mine this year are).
I found some good composer books by Opal Wheeler, but how are they implemented?
I would use something like Opal Wheeler's biographies for our reading about a composer during the term we were listening to them. In fact, I need to see if my library has any of her books for my composers!
What do you use for artist study?
answered above
Poetry, is it one poet for the year? I ordered 'Favorite Poems Old and New' which is supposed to arrive today!
​Well, there's no reason why you need to do study one poet per year, but you could certainly do it that way if you wanted to. I am using the poetry anthologies that AO recommends for Y1, plus we'll check out some other children's poetry books at the library off and on. My plan is to try a Bravewriter style "poetry tea" once/week in the afternoon. http://www.bravewriter.com/bwl/poetry-teatimes/ If that flops, I'll go back to following Ambleside's recommendation of reading one poem a day.
Hope that helps!
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I had correct guesses with my twins at 14 weeks. Tech was VERY careful to tell me that they were guesses, and not to be counted on until a later ultrasound confirmed, but she was right! One boy, one girl.
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Hazel. I love that name. It's one of the reasons I wanted to have one more, so if it was a girl I could name her Rosemary Hazel. I'm still sad I won't get to use it.
A friend had a daughter named Hazel about 6 years ago. At the time it seemed unusual (at least in my area), but it seems she was just ahead of a trend. I've since heard of quite a few other baby Hazels.
Charlotte was the name I was thinking when I started this thread. I think that is such a beautiful, classic name.
I have a 6yo Hazel. She was named for my great-grandmother. I could name dozen little girls with nature names. Ivy, Ruby, Opal, Fern, I love them all!
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We did FIAR for PK-K. I feel like I agree with all of the previous posters to some degree. We absolutely loved it and have such great memories of the stories and activities, but by the end of the second year, it was feeling disjointed and too non-sequential, and too planning intense. I'm thrilled to be changing directions for 1st. We are still waiting before jumping into SOTW. Instead, we are planning a CM inspired year pulling a lot from AO Y1, but subbing out their history for a DIY trip through early american history using picture books.
In your shoes, I'd give FIAR a try. Save SOTW. I really like it better starting in ~2nd grade.
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Feedly, I switched to it before Google Reader stopped and I love it more. They have an app and I use it on my phone but I know you can use it on the computer as well.
yep, feedly.
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I have rising 1st graders this year. We are doing a DIY year of American History, and then we'll start the SOTW cycle in 2nd grade.
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My dad met my step mom at ~55 at church. Not in a singles' class, but just a regular adult class. They are SO well suited for one another. Far more so than my dad and my mom ever were.
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We are adding morning time here this year, too, inspired by many of the same resources!
My plan:
Bible reading
Scripture and poetry memory work
Loop: nature study, foreign language, composer study, picture study, art
We do our big read aloud block after lunch before rest time, so I'm not including that in morning time.
Phonics
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I think AAR is overkill for kids who pick up reading quickly. I use it with my son who struggles, but my two who flew through phonics would have been seriously annoyed by the pace. I'd pick up something that's less expensive and easier to pick and choose through (like Phonics Pathways or Ordinary Parent's Guide) to finish up phonics instruction. I bet she breezes through it. My twins were finished with Phonics Pathways by 5.5 and now we just read good books aloud together to work on fluency and such during our reading practice time. If she likes using the tiles, I suggest you switch to AAS for spelling. It still moves slowly, but I think spelling skill generally builds more slowly than reading skill, so I don't find that eager readers are bothered by AAS like they can be by AAR.