2_girls_mommy
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Posts posted by 2_girls_mommy
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We practiced the triplets every day that it said to. If I remember correctly, it was mostly oral. I guess the "extra" activity in the workbook, the 4th page, had them write them on the beehive too.. For the most part dd did this every time. We only skipped that last page if we were really in a hurry for something else, which was very rare.
We are in R&S 3 now, and we still recite the triplets. It especially helps dd to practice them before a speed drill. She also does the flashcards for 1 min. every day.
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I had the same situation as you a couple of years ago. My dd read before K too. By the end of K, she was reading chapter books silently to herself before we had even done a formal Phonics program.
I agree w/the others, to go ahead and complete a phonics program at some point. We used Rod and Staff. We skipped the first unit which is the initial letter sounds because she definitely did not need review on that. Then we did the Rod and Staff reading and phonics 1st grade over the course of the end of K (like the last 2 mos.) and all of first grade. Doing it this way meant we could do it 3 days a week, and use the other days for fun stuff. Yes, she could read beyond the short stories and poems in the R&S readers, but she learned so much from the lessons anyway. Now dd is in 2nd grade. She is doing the 2nd grade R&S phonics now. This is the end of their phonics program. It is very simple work for her, and she does it mostly independently in about 5 min. every morning. But it is very helpful for her spelling (we haven't even done a formal spelling program yet, besides the suggestions in R&S reading 1 from last year) and she is a wonderful speller. I just have to remind her of her phonics rules once in awhile.
For most of her K year, we didn't do a phonics program. We just kept learning and reading. Like I said we started this towards the end of K and it has worked out perfectly. HTH!
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I made a list for this year as an idea of things I want them to memorize. For my 2nd grader:
The Rulers of England from our History Encyclopedia (one and a half mos. in, she has half of the saxons down so far.)
The order of the planets
Shakespeare, sonnet #18
various Bible verses as they come up
another poem or two
speeches as they come up (I think SOTW has them memorize a Shakespeare speech later)
For my Ker:
The pledge of allegiance
The girl scout promise and law
order of months
nursery rhymes and a poem or two
A few Bible verses
Up until this year, we have mainly worked on Bible verses and poetry. DD did learn the first 10 presidents in first grade too. We are starting to branch out now into other things.
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Sorry, I didn't read the OP very well!.. Nevermind.
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We did 2 chapters from R&S 2nd grade Science over the summer. I ordered it because I was placing my order for the other things I use from them, and I threw it in, just to have on hand. I was having trouble finding a spine for our plants study at the time and hoped I could use it. We did for the plants and over the summer we did the chapter on insects also.
It was nice to have the worksheets all made up, and not have to put stuff together myself I will say. But in all, it is not how I like to do science. It is a little dry. I am keeping it for my younger dd to have on hand later when she gets to 1st or 2nd grade and my older dd's science gets a little over her head. I will let her do the remaining chapters then. But for me it is more of a fill the gap thing, not our main curric. I tend to not use one thing for content subjects anyway though. I like to read from a variety of sources.
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We do what you are doing, instead of instrument lessons. If we do instrument lessons one year, then that would be most of their music for the year.
We use Rod and STaff music, which is simple workbooks that teach beginning music theory. We also read from the What Your xx Grader Needs to Know. It introduces things like instrument families, rhythm, different types of music (folk, patriotic, classical, jazz, etc..) I pick up books and C.Ds and videos on the types we are reading about.
The rest we do like you.. Lots of singing, learning new songs, listening to lots of music. The girls sing in children's choir at church and perform in Christmas and Easter pageants there.
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My 2nd grade dd gets and enjoys National Geographic for Kids magazine. She has the same taste in books and videos as your son it looks like.
For Science experiments we usually just pick activities out of the stack of library books we pick up. I did get lucky a few years ago at a Scholastic Warehouse sale and bought some little books and activities in a box for a dollar each that have been good. One on time, one on Weather, and one on colors. She enjoys reading those and doing the activities given.
For a spine we use the Usborne 1st Encyclopedias. They are a little more juvenile than the kingfisher, but we just use them to introduce a topic, and read further from library books and the online games. (Of course, I also have a ker, so it is a good fit for her too. )
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In R&S 2 there are more workbook pages than there are pages to do in R&S3. But they have to copy the problems to their own paper in 3, so it would be too much writing to do the 4 pages like in 2. Also, if you look at the last page in R&S 2, it is an extra activity. The same as the blacklines.
Here is how we did it: We did the lesson as is from the T.M, step by step. flashcards, practice problems, drill of triplets, etc. Then in the workbook, dd could cross out 2 lines on the page with the 4 or 5 rows of problems. Then she did all 4 pages (except the crossed out lines.) We did not do the blacklines.
We are in lesson 24 of R&S 3 now, and we still practice the triplets. She will ask to practice them before a speed drill even when it does not tell her to because it helps her.
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My dd7 has said since she was 3 that she will be a paleontologist. She has never faltered. At times, she has thought being an author or archeologist would be good too, but she always says she will be a paleontologist. We have gotten to where we don't only read dinosaur books like we did when she was 3, 4, and 5, but she still sleeps in dinosaur sheets and blankets, and picks dinosaur coloring books, etc.! I don't know. I kind of believe her!! We shall see.
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I have not, but I like the idea.
My dd7 is the same way. Today she got 29 problems in a one min. speed drill. 2 days ago she only got 13, so I was very impressed, and praised her very much. TOO much for her. She got up and left the table and buried her head in her bed. She has always been that way. I had to go get her, and not say anything else about it. She is proud of herself, but doesn't like to talk about it. In fact, the first time I remember this was while potty training too!!
ETA.. I forgot to add, that I don't do tickets, but we do have a weekly prize box. They get to pick a prize on Friday, if they have done well and not fussed during lessons for the week. Last week, when I offered dd7 hers, she declined, stating that there was a day that she wasn't good during lessons. So this system works very well for her. She regulates herself!
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I can help you with the steps! I have not gotten to lesson 40 yet, but we had the steps in an earlier lesson. First of all, the stuff it has drawn on there is for you to have on the "board" before you start. I draw mine on a small whiteboard. Then you start the lesson with instruction #1. whatever it is, it may not be related to your drawing of the steps yet. Keep following the numbered instructions, and you will come to the one that relates to your drawing on the board.
When it was time to use the steps in our earlier lessons, they would be the +4 steps or the +5 steps or whatever. Basically, if the first number on your drawn step is 11, then she is to answer the problem, 11+4= ?. Then jump to the next step, and say it has a 9 on it. Then she is to add 9+4. It is just another form of drill of the facts.
I would actually hold the whiteboard in front of our actual steps in our house, and dd would get to hop up a step as she did each problem just for fun.
And I do timed flashcard drill daily. If it says to do the 11-18 cards, then we see how many she can get in a minute or two min. every day, instead of the whole pack. We do practice saying all of the triplets every time it says.
HTH!
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I do help mine. AFter a full year of narration in 1st grade helping her figure out the main points (and not rewriting every detail of the plot!!) my dd7 is pretty good about doing it herself now, with very little help.
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I am late getting back to this. I make my own flashcards too. It is so simple w/ a marker and a 30 cent pack of index cards. You don't have to make them all at once. Just the current facts it is introducing. You just add to it as you go.
I made all the posters that it gave instructions for in Math2 also. There are two besides the bee and blossom: The boat poster and the clover and bees. They were fun, and not too difficult to make. It does have instructions for the bee poster too, I just never did make one and I should have! HTH.
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Yes, they learn borrowing in math 2 and carrying. We finished math 2 in May, so it is still fresh in my mind :) No, the entire 5th book is not just measuring or any one thing. There is constant review, especially of the learning the "triplets." Yes, the T.M is very helpful. All of the teaching and class time is laid out in it very well IMO. One thing I wish I had purchased was the Bee and Blossom poster to go along w/it. I constantly wrote my triplets on the whiteboard, and it would have been nice to just have had the poster to hang up. There is a pattern in the back of the book I think to make one yourself. So I would advise one or the other.
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We are on lesson 20 of math 3. I have never used another math w/mine, so I don't know how it compares. But I am very pleased with it. Like others said, 3 is when they begin to copy the problems to paper instead of writing in a workbook.
I use a regular spiral for my dd, but w/the same above principle. She writes the lesson # on the top of the page and never tears it out. With this being my dd's first year to copy problems like this and she being so young, we are only doing half of the problems per day so far which equals about 15 problems copied, plus then the word problems and other things at the end. Her math facts are very strong from using this program.
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I heart Rod and Staff.
Like PP said, you can order the 1st grade speed drills separately, but not the 2nd. It is embedded in the workbook. You can then buy 3rd grade separately again. The 3rd grade gets into multiplication and division. The first is all addition and subtraction.
For extras: We use from 2nd grade the handwriting, phonics, English, and music. I like it all. The phonics is all review from last year, but it is a good reinforcer of the rules. The handwriting begins cursive mid year 2nd grade.
Music worksheets are super simple, especially since we started in 1st grade. There are very brief instructions for the teacher in the book. Very inexpensive, and begins teaching music theory. I have the music flashcards which are very good quality to drill the things they learn, and we supplement their music studies w/other things. But it is nice to have and to know that music is getting covered, since I am not a musician.
I love the ABC preschool workbooks if you have a younger child. I bought an extra copy of the Bible coloring book, so that both my dds have their own copy while I read the stories.
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I would vote for Rod and Staff. We use a lot of their materials. I love the math, English, phonics, music, and spelling. We have used the 2nd grade science. I think it covers everything well enough, though not very excitingly. We remedied that by using lots of library books and making notebook pages to supplement. I have not looked at their social studies, so I can't comment on that. But it is very affordable, and we love what we use.
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We are doing R&S English 2 here, and have no problems doing the written work. The only time dd has asked not to do it, was when it was a review assignment. Instead of the normal 2 sections of work, it had 4 sections. So we did the last one orally. I haven't looked at the higher grades yet, but I am hoping that it moves up gradually, so it is not a huge increase from grade 2.
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For PreK I used Letter of The Week dot com to teach the alphabet and beginning phonics. We also learned the sign language for the alphabet as we went. We created an alphabet notebook of her coloring pages. For seat work, dd did the first of the Rod and Staff ABC workbooks. The counting w/numbers one was very good for teaching the numbers and counting. I also made up flaschcard games when needed.
For K this year she is finishing up the the Rod and Staff ABC workbooks and doing Rod and Staff grade 1 math. We should finish the ABC workbooks around Christmas. Then we will start R&S phonics and reading. I would like to finish the first section of grade 1 for K and finish the rest for 1st grade next year. This is the way I did it w/my odd too. This is not particularly WTM K suggestions. We did not discover WTM until I was researching 1st grade for my older dd, and we move closer to it's suggestions as we go. But I am sticking w/what works for us.
So daily my dd5 does a lesson of math w/me, then her math workbook. I like to get a couple of pages done in her ABC workbooks most days. Then I read her a chapter of our read aloud (currently we are reading Little House in the Big Woods,) then she reads a Bob book to me. I am starting some flashcard games with her to reinforce her CVC words from the BOB books. And that is her official K day. She participates in Science and History and Art and Music along w/my 2nd grader. She will go to co op one day a week starting this month and have K level P.E., music, sign language, and another fun K class.
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I have a 5 and 7 yr old and we are in Middle Ages w/Earth Science. We are pretty much following WTM suggestions for Science and History. We are doing SOTW vol. 2 which gives lists of read alouds and picture books. I do have to check them all out and go through them to pick the right ones, as there are tons of books listed. I just take my A.G. to the library once a week and reserve them all for the next week. I pick them all up and choose which one or two we will read. I also choose one that is for my dd7's reading that week. She usually reads one full of stories, like Aesop's fables or favorite Medieval stories.
For Science notebook from our Usborne Encyclopedia of Earth, playing the online games, and reading extra books. I have a different book for experiments than listed.
So far this is working fine for my 7 & 5 yr old. 5 yr old even narrates a little back to me for a science page. This past week she told me "The earth has many layers and we live on the crust." And she is able to answer most of the questions at the end of a SOTW chapter. I do not make her do any written work for these subjects though. She will start that next year for her 1st grade year.
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For extra read aloud time here I have dh do it at bedtime the nights he is home. I usually read a chapter of something to my dds during schooltime, or a picture book of my dd's choice. The rest of our reading aloud during schoolwork is school based: A chapter of history or a science picture book. Then dh does 30-45 min. at bedtime. Our bedtimes used to be about an hour of reading, but we have come down as they have gotten older and stay up later.
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I love it too! I love researching the curric. and making plans. I love learning new things and reading great books w/my kids and to myself to gain more knowledge on the subjects. I love making and decorating our school areas w/learning posters. I love doing crafts w/my kids. I love the unexpected stuff that comes up like watching a big cicada on our porch lose it's skin. I love taking time to play in puddles after a nice rain and deciding to experiment in wet sidewalk chalk for art. I love spending an afternoon at the park w/other homeschool friends and watching the kids play after a week of studying. I just like most things about it.
We have our fussy days, but even after 4 years and adding a new official student this year which is a little different than only having one, I still love it! I have the best job in the world IMO.
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We take first day of school pics. The girls each have a poster to hold up that says "First day of 2nd grade 2009" or whatever grade they are in. Then when I print the picture it is glued to the poster, and it is the first page of their scrapbook that year. We lay out their new books, supplies, and notebooks and any surprises for the year, so that when they get up they get to go through them. Then we decorate folders and spirals for awhile. My dd is very proud of her math spiral, because she used ocean stickers to decorate it to match her R&S math book this year w/the ocean theme! She drew music notes all over her music folder. My dd5 stuck a million animal stickers on her K folder :) Then we have a special breakfast and hit the new books!
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There are occasionally a few things in the T.M. that are not in the child's book, like an additional example that you can write on the board if they are not getting it.
I just have my dd read the lesson out loud to me and work the first example. Then we read the instructions together to make sure she gets it, and she is off to do it on her own. 5 min. lesson time so far.
Suggestions for 2nd Grade Grammar needed
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Another vote here for Rod and Staff 2. I have never used anything else to compare to it, but based on reviews and the fact that I like most everything R&S, we went with it. I feel it is very gentle and easy to use. R&S lessons build on each other very gradually and thoroughly IMO.