mathnmusic Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I'm seriously considering this. It's what they want (well, not the math so much but they don't mind it). When I schedule all their lessons in (spelling, history, science, geography, etc), it takes all day, it's not as much fun for them or me, and they don't get to spend hours poring over books like they want. They learn so much from reading the living books we have at home, and they voluntarily choose nonfiction as well as fiction. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenn in CA Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Sounds good to me. You should look into the Robinson Curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Rachel~ Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 You might like to consider something like Ambleside... it is very much structured around reading :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyrobynne Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 You probably should have some writing and check that they're covering a variety of content subjects but they'd get a lot out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 There is always a time and season for doing different things. I think math and reading could mostly work for the ages of your kids as long as their days also are full of lots of experiences. They are playing together and alone. Have time outside in nature. Help mom and dad while they work around the house--and talk about everything you are working on. Muck around with crafts, cooking, playing in the mud, ect. I would say more language arts would be needed for your 8 year old. I don't think that needs to take all day. More like an hour and half spread through out the week. So about 20 minutes a day total of grammar, spelling, and writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 MissMoe says:There is always a time and season for doing different things. :iagree: For the ages of your children, this sound like a fine idea! However, as your children grow, I would try to be aware of what their needs will be as adult. Sadly, we ARE judged on things we don't know. For example, an 8yo who misspells a word, especially an easy word, like "Tuesday," is not likely to be judged. A 28yo WILL be judged for this. (I have seen this!!!) An 8yo who does not quite understand the difference between Washington state and Washington, D.C. will be forgiven. It's understandably confusing. A 28yo WILL be judged for this. (I have seen this!!!) An 8yo who is fuzzy on the differences of the Revolutionary War (what century, who was fighting) and the Civil War can be forgiven. A 28yo will be judged for this. (I have seen this!!!) This doesn't necessarily mean that at a specific age, you need to incorporate a Spelling, Geography, or History course. But it may mean that if you see a gap in Child B's Spelling skills, you work on it. Children A and C may be "natural spellers." If you see a gap in Child A's history, you may guide him/her toward a specific book to read and discuss together. ---------------------------------------------------------- Also, Writing was mentioned above. A poor idea communicated well will ALWAYS get more traction than a good idea communicated poorly. Different parts of our brains are in charge of taking in information and sending out information. If we don't exercise dispensing of information, we are not as strong in that area as we could be. The solution could be something as simple as you asking, "What was the book about?" We are reading Little House books, and I am trying to get dd5 (almost 6) to list two things from each chapter as we read them. -------------------------------------- So excited for you to homeschool in this way!!!! And a little jealous that I am too neurotic to do the same!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 We tend to do this every fall for a couple of months. You don't want them to lose their writing skills, so I would sit down with the 8 yro every morning and do math and writing. Then, they'll have the rest of the day to read, go to the park, etc. You can teach so much LA just by writing (you can even teach spelling through writing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 With added writing, it sounds like a good plan to me! =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Personally I wouldn't do it. Becoming educated is about so much more then just gaining knowledge -it needs to be synthesised and integrated and used. If your kids really like reading I would look at finding a literature rich curriculum - there are plenty out there. At the very least I would have your kids do narration excercises on what they have read and a self-designed project or two. Speaking skills are so important - don't forget about them either. Kids really need to DO things with what they have learned to gain the skills of critical thinking and help them process their knowledge KWIM. Sonlight might be a worthwhile choice for you - we use it as a reading list and my kids have loved all the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I'm seriously considering this. It's what they want (well, not the math so much but they don't mind it). When I schedule all their lessons in (spelling, history, science, geography, etc), it takes all day, it's not as much fun for them or me, and they don't get to spend hours poring over books like they want. They learn so much from reading the living books we have at home, and they voluntarily choose nonfiction as well as fiction. Thanks in advance! Maybe you are scheduling too much each day. Are you scheduling the reading, math, spelling, history, science, geography, etc every.single.day? If so, break it up. Reading, math, spelling daily. Science Tues, Thurs. History Mon, Wed. Geography Fri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I like the idea of saying that there's a season for it. If you went on that way forever, then inevitably I think you'd find skill and knowledge deficits down the road. But you could do it for a long time and have your kids get a lot out of it. And then, after awhile, you might find a direction by going through it. You might decide that one of the book-based curricula being suggested would work for you (like Sonlight, Moving Beyond the Page, or Ambleside - all very different, but all very book-based). Or you might decide that your kids choosing their interests is what is working and you might consider something like Project Based Learning (and read that Lori Pickert book). Or you might just decide that it's time to go back to lessons for awhile and then cycle back to "just" reading and math and then back to lessons for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PentecostalMom Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I think it sounds wonderful. You didn't say forever and I am sure you are aware they need other skills, but they are you and reading is great! Take time for this now because as they get older this time will diminish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PentecostalMom Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Double post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnmusic Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 Thank you, everyone, for your replies! Our weakness is writing, so it's a good reminder to stay on top of that. We've started doing this (math + reading), and the kids LOVE the new schedule. I'm sure we'll go back to our full schedule sometime, likely after the holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Just to add, a reading break can really help with the writing. Our winter holiday schedule is always math + music practice + reading, and at the end of it, I like to assign writing in the style or voice of whatever has been read the most. Wallowing in a certain style or genre is a great way to internalize that style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 That's what we're doing this week (for Thanksgiving week), but long term? No. My dd isn't the type who can learn across the curriculum just by reading related books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi @ Mt Hope Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 We absolutely have days and some seasons like this. My boys read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction. I put considerable effort into choosing books to have available for them across a range of subjects, though. They read Life of Fred often. Or other math/science related books such as Why Pi? or Mathematicians Are People, Too. We have lots of fine arts and geography/culture books. If I were trying to come up with a workable longer-term solution, I might organize the books so that the kids read several related books on one subject (a specific time in history or a science topic). I also might go every other day with some structured language arts lessons at the very least (spelling, grammar, and writing). We could even use their favorite books from the week to find writing topics, vocab words, or copywork. It would be great to have them involved in that process. So we could spend one extra hour on M, W, and F to do language arts in addition to daily math lessons and extensive reading time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briansmama Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 What Heidi describes is more of how we are going: my oldest is pretty motivated to learn when he's really interested in something, and after reading Project Based Learning, I've decided to spend more time mentoring him and fostering his love of reading and being read to. For the last few years we've been following the Waldorf-inspired method of main lessons, which is heavy on literature and all copy work, writing, and math came from developmentally appropriate stories. We also do skills work (directed by me) for 30min each afternoon- math, cursive, and spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 I did that many years ago-- I had an 8yo and a 6yo and I was having some health issues. We did 'casual schooling' like this for about a year. In the end my girls were miles ahead of where they would have been if I had formally schooled them! We did casual basic math fact drills (2 minutes tops!) and a math worksheet every day (they were using Saxon-- and they worked only one side)-- 'instruction' was minimal for most lessons. We chose a topic (alternating science and history) and hit up the library for as many books as possible-- I gave them Post-It flags and they would go through the books marking interesting things-- we would have 'couch time' 2-3 times each week where I would go through and pick out some of the flags to read out loud to them and discuss. I used an index card file to make a word bank for each child. New vocabluary/spelling words/sight words went in (they had to be able to read and spell the words in the word bank). Every day they had to make 3 different "train" sentences with their words and then use those for copy work. We casually talked about stentence structure and they would request/suggest new words to be added to their word banks for 'better sentences' next time. My 8yo tried to make her word 'train' reach across the whole room! Just today I was sorting through a closet and fould my middle dd's word bank... she had over 200 different words! An example would be: 6yo's-- train 3-sentences. The--cat--ran. Mom would ask 'where' and she would look through her word bank... The--big--cat--ran--out. Mom would ask what color cat? Where did he go? The--big--black--cat--ran--out--of--the--house. These would be individual index cards with one word on each (I did allow for a few article duplicates in their word bank) placed next to each other forming a 'train' sentence. We also did read-out-louds for 1-2 hours every day (sometimes that was all I could do on bad days). The girls have fond memories of that year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I did that many years ago-- I had an 8yo and a 6yo and I was having some health issues. We did 'casual schooling' like this for about a year. In the end my girls were miles ahead of where they would have been if I had formally schooled them! We did casual basic math fact drills (2 minutes tops!) and a math worksheet every day (they were using Saxon-- and they worked only one side)-- 'instruction' was minimal for most lessons. We chose a topic (alternating science and history) and hit up the library for as many books as possible-- I gave them Post-It flags and they would go through the books marking interesting things-- we would have 'couch time' 2-3 times each week where I would go through and pick out some of the flags to read out loud to them and discuss. I used an index card file to make a word bank for each child. New vocabluary/spelling words/sight words went in (they had to be able to read and spell the words in the word bank). Every day they had to make 3 different "train" sentences with their words and then use those for copy work. We casually talked about stentence structure and they would request/suggest new words to be added to their word banks for 'better sentences' next time. My 8yo tried to make her word 'train' reach across the whole room! Just today I was sorting through a closet and fould my middle dd's word bank... she had over 200 different words! An example would be: 6yo's-- train 3-sentences. The--cat--ran. Mom would ask 'where' and she would look through her word bank... The--big--cat--ran--out. Mom would ask what color cat? Where did he go? The--big--black--cat--ran--out--of--the--house. These would be individual index cards with one word on each (I did allow for a few article duplicates in their word bank) placed next to each other forming a 'train' sentence. We also did read-out-louds for 1-2 hours every day (sometimes that was all I could do on bad days). The girls have fond memories of that year! What a great idea! I think I am going to make a word bank for my 6yo. He loves words and making up sentences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.