October-November K-2 Chat

[Clarita]

I know there's a conversation going on the August-September one. You can continue it there or here.

I'm starting to think my first grader is capable of more writing than he thinks he is. So, we are increasing the amount of writing he does. I'm struggling a bit on figuring out how much neatness is age appropriate. Mostly because my Kindergartener has really neat handwriting.  (Hands-down beats daddy's handwriting.) 

 

 

[Nm.]

I really need to just stick to what I have…. And just somehow motivate her to peel away from her little brother for a few minutes and do her school.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[Green Bean]

Lang Arts is trying to kill me, I swear! I can't decide which direction to go in with this child. My usual suspects are not flying after repeated trying. SIGH! Oh the problem of being Child #6, right?

I decided to wait on science choices until after he finishes the BJU Heritage Studies thing. It's okay- just basic stuff- but not something I would ever buy again. Meh!

 

[BusyMom5]

I'm a very bad 1st Grade mom.  I have been so busy with Dr appts and big kids, my little just gets to read stories and play games.   We are almost half-way through AAR2.  I want to just pause here and bit and work on fluency.  

[countrymum]

What consistently is getting done 

2nd grade 

Math With Confidence 2 as written sometimes a game gets skipped, moved to another day or played with a sibling ....otherwise working through with success skipping enrichment lessons

Language Arts

AAR review level 1 while we work on fluency (15 min)

Flyleaf readers or American language series readers later in the day.... more fluency (10-15 min)

AAS 1 plus some words from the day's stories (15 min)

FLL (10 min)

Italic C (10 min)

Science Berean Builders in the Beginning 3 days a week

Social Studies

Just the history and geography boxes of HOD Bigger Hearts

 

Plus 1 read aloud. We read bible at night, but I want to do something more with littles.... we'll see.

K4

Foundational Phonics letter mastery

Math with Confidence K

 

 

I want to add in more from A year of Playing Skillfully.....

[Green Bean]

8 hours ago, BusyMom5 said:

I'm a very bad 1st Grade mom.  I have been so busy with Dr appts and big kids, my little just gets to read stories and play games.   We are almost half-way through AAR2.  I want to just pause here and bit and work on fluency.  

No, you are not a bad 1st grade mom! You are taking care of the physical needs of a lot of people which is more important right now. Little Person is having a grand time and learning that caring for others is more important than school. Just tell people that you are taking the Waldorf delayed academics route this year. You are a GREAT 1st grade mom!

Edited October 5, 2023 by Green Bean

[Green Bean]

I started looking at Oak Meadow again. I tried using it with my older crew years ago but could not pull off all the hands-on with 5 kids. Placement was always a problem as my kids are asynchronous learners. But it is all so pretty and sounds so soothing! Save me!

[Nm.]

@Green Bean how old is your youngest?  This week is going better.
 

DD6- I decided to stick to what I have…

Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[Green Bean]

Little Man just turned 7 mid-September.

Here cooling off means we can go outside. It was a brutal summer that seemed to start way too early and end way too late, but no hurricaines or tropical storms this year so that is a plus.

I decided no Oak Meadow. He is too much like his siblings: right smack between their 1st and 2nd grade. He does not like drawing, and I can't draw. I would need to go to the library a ton which I do not have time for at this stage. It is insanely $$$, to boot! It's a "fall" (what passes for it here anyway) obsession, I think.

I know I should be a good homeschooler and finish what we started first. I just feel like I don't have a good plan of where to go next.

Nm., is this what you are using?

https://weefolkart.com/homeschool/

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by Green Bean

[Clarita]

44 minutes ago, Nm. said:

Seasons afield & around the world I decided to wait til next year (or never).

I get a unit in of around the world every 6 months to a year or so... I have so many good thoughts about it but when we actually do it, it falls a bit flat somehow. 

[Nm.]

https://weefolkart.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/HarvestTimeCurriculum-preschool-kinder.PDF
 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[Nm.]

9 hours ago, Clarita said:

I get a unit in of around the world every 6 months to a year or so... I have so many good thoughts about it but when we actually do it, it falls a bit flat somehow. 

It does!!

[alysee]

Finally back to handwriting with my 5yo after the broken arm. She is very keen to learn and still loving Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She's passed her Moana obsession and we learned a ton about oceans, volcanoes and the Hawaiian islands. Now she's in full Halloween mode so I picked up DK Through the Night Sky from the library to read through. 

We move tomorrow so we will be taking another week off so that we can focus on getting settled. 

 

[wisdomandtreasures]

My 6yo (7 in January) is doing CLE math 1. She had a bit of trouble with math facts related to 11 through 13 so we spent a couple weeks playing math games and building them out repeatedly. I thought I was going to lose my mind but those facts are finally sticking! 🙂

Language arts are Rod & Staff English 2 (done mostly orally or correct the sentence on the chalkboard, with just one sentence copied down in a notebook--right now it's very basic stuff like capitalize and punctuate every sentence), Traditional Spelling from Memoria Press (she likes the word scrambles) and cursive copywork. 

History is SOTW 1 with lots of supplemental books. 

Science WAS Elemental Science biology but it was causing tears so I'm setting that aside for a year or so and right now she's doing Patterns of Nature from Rod & Staff. She likes all the coloring pages. I just have her read and narrate. I don't have her answer all the review questions.

Piano & ballet lessons continue. 🙂

Right now for reading she is in a retelling of "The Heroes", the first of the original McGuffey Readers, and A Child's Garden of Verses. She's also recently read Pinocchio and The Velveteen Rabbit. I just have a big list of books loosely organized by reading level that my kids all go through. Read, narrate/discuss, and enjoy the books! 🙂 I use the McGuffeys for practice reading aloud and clear speech twice a week.

[Brittany1116]

Second grader successfully completed his project board and costumed interview for his chosen book at the co-op event. He was reluctant to sign up but enjoyed it greatly and wants to do it again next year. 

We have moved into Patterns of Nature for fall/winter rotating subject.

[Nm.]

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Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[countrymum]

Math with Confidence 2 is going really well. It is a great fit for this D's. So are First Language lessons and writing with ease, though may go back to copy work and narrations based on history. It takes so little time to add in WWE though and he likes the book selections.... this child needs the promps some too.

Beyond little hearts history and geography are great!

Science in the beginning is good and bad ..we will see we may change this? We'll see. He is tired of light but we have only 1 lesson left....

AAR is slowly plodding on.  Maybe dyslexia child 2...

AAS is perfect.

Extra reading practice to someone 4-5 times a week is necessary.

 

[Clarita]

We switched over to Explode the Code from AAR. I switched over DSalmost7 because I want his writing ability to catch up to his reading ability, and to be frank he can read anything. DD5 switched over because they prefer doing the same things. I can see why people say it isn't "complete" but I actually think it'll work for us. I like that it combines spelling and reading. I also like the predictable activities because it gives my kids the freedom to say can I skip this activity because I understand this concept.  

We are also working on increasing the number of problems DSalmost7 does in Beast. Really this is just trying to up the math time from less than 10mins to around 15min of work. 

DD5 LOVES to write. So, working to strike a balance between giving her tools to write all the things she wants to write, while differentiating those lessons with more specific instructions for DSalmost7.

 

[countrymum]

Well the last light lesson went well.... Papa cane down and expanded on it....now he's interested in the optional lesson on light transmitting information.....so it looks like we'll continue;) 

[Nm.]

8 hours ago, countrymum said:

Well the last light lesson went well.... Papa cane down and expanded on it....now he's interested in the optional lesson on light transmitting information.....so it looks like we'll continue;) 

I have had this for a few years… how are you handling the experiments each lesson & gathering supplies?  

Edited October 26, 2023 by Nm.

[Nm.]

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Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[countrymum]

@Nm.

Preschool math at home is good. I've used it 2X...never all the way through but until the child was ready for kindergarten math. I also really like a rod and staff book Counting with Numbers (like 3-4$ new a 2 pg spread for each# 1-10 then a bit of patterns? In the back). Those 2 books are my 3 or 4 yr old math ( the age depends on child). 

My current 7 yr old was totally uninterested in school at 4.... I do suspect dyslexia and you see where he is now. Incidentally he likes to draw and has decent handwriting despite the reading challenges. ( He's barely interested now...)

 

Maybe try to do 1 math or phonics thing each day. So hit each 2-3 times a week 

You could try AAR prereading it's super gentle playful ear and other training and then a coloring picture with something little added to it like yarn or marker finger prints extra. My littles have enjoyed it about 3 or 4 also  

[countrymum]

2 hours ago, Nm. said:

I have had this for a few years… how are you handling the experiments each lesson & gathering supplies?  

I have a bin. I check the list every month ...it goes on the grocery list or I collect it if it isn't an always around thing like a flashlight. I do the same for my 7th grader....he studies mostly independently though;) We generally do science right after lunch.....today was great we did it at like 11:15 while leftovers heated up. The reading is really short and the experiments are not usually too time-consuming.(though here in the fall at least I have not been able to get white paper to light with a magnifying glass.... I've tried several times..... black lights super fast though .....not the lesson point though;)

[macmacmoo]

Youngest is 6. I feel like such a slacker with her compared to what I did with the olders.

But life dynamics have changed, not only is she one or four competing for my time I now have a part time job so my time is super limited. 

I started her on Phonics Pathways last week, I have explode the code pulled out for her and the All about readers. We worked started through Barefoot Meanderings Handwriting lessons through literature for beginner readers back in the spring but took a break from it during the summer, need to start it up again. 
 

still haven’t decided what I want to do for math.  I think because i don’t have much time I want to use my one on one time with her to focus on only math facts. I have the whole math facts that stick series but I’m not sure that’s the route I want to take. She chooses to play prodigy/Boddle as her fun screens so she is getting all the other math stuff presented.

it’s really funny: it was pulling teeth to get the olders to watch letter factory and such when they were younger but she just gobbles it up and asks for more. He favorite show is number blocks. Really wish that had been around for the olders. 

she sometimes joins the middles for group read aloud: we are reading through life of fred, American history using the Memoria press simply classical three book list, and the child’s introduction to books.
 

in the car she gets story of the world and lyrical science.
 

co-op she is doing a Waldorf numbers class, a science class, and a makers class. 
 

written all out she actually has a pretty well rounded kindergarten lined up. Just need to be consistent with my one on one lessons. 

[Clarita]

17 hours ago, Nm. said:

Struggling with what to do for ds4 (just turned 4 recently).  He enjoys read alouds (WeeFolkArt and BFIAR are great) but not much else for “school”.  I have Tgtb old math K that he likes to play with the manipulatives with, but no interest in actually doing the lessons.  He really seems quite immature still for anything remotely structured.  I adore the ear training lessons from underthehome and will keep trying those with him as well as easy peasy preschool.  I know he’s super young still so I’m not worried or anything.  I just remembered our libary has Kate Snows preschool math at home…. 

I also want to say my eldest when he was toddler/preschool age never really liked the "school" stuff. Apparently he learned by osmosis, not really, he just really doesn't tolerate doing anything that he doesn't see as progressing his education. The ear training stuff brought my son from not know his alphabet to reading, without us ever going over things letter by letter.

[Nm.]

@Claritawhat did you do for ear training?  I think it is a missing link for some of my children that struggled.. & there are not enough lessons in underthehome for it, so I’m trying to make up my own too.

[countrymum]

2 hours ago, Nm. said:

@Claritawhat did you do for ear training?  I think it is a missing link for some of my children that struggled.. & there are not enough lessons in underthehome for it, so I’m trying to make up my own too.

I'm not Clarita;) Here are my thoughts take them or ignore them if they're not helpful;)  The All About Reading pre reading book has lots of them. You can find the manual used for cheap the cards Are nice but you could make your own and you can totally skip the student book if your child isn't crafty. 

The readers aren't strictly necessary either find them used if you want them. The zigzag zebra is more useful I think. It's alphabet rhymes. Lizard Lou is just a Book of poetry you can use any poetry.

[Clarita]

2 hours ago, Nm. said:

@Claritawhat did you do for ear training?  I think it is a missing link for some of my children that struggled.. & there are not enough lessons in underthehome for it, so I’m trying to make up my own too.

Yes to what @countrymum is saying. You could get the AAR pre-reading just the teacher's manual the reason is as she stated above.

So the few main activities are:

1. What's the beginning/ending sound? - This can further be broken down into 3 steps. First step is just you telling the child what the sound is. Second step is what sound do you hear. Third is what words/objects begin/end with this sound.
   • Simply saying in conversation "Cat starts with a /c/ sound"
   • Sort objects or picture cards by beginning/ending sounds
   • Matching objects or picture cards by beginning/ending sounds
   • Find the object with a particular sound. "I spy with my little eye something that starts with /f/"
   • Find things around the room/store/book with a particular sound
   • Read good alphabet books together and leave it for him to look at. My favorite is the ones from Logic of English or Denise Eide.
2. What sounds do you hear in general? (the middle sounds) It's best to start with things that only have only 3 sounds like boat, cat, ship.
   • Same as (1).
   • After they learn some of the vowels. I have them also sort into the vowel sound(s) they hear. You can continue to extend this even after they learn the vowel diagraphs for spelling. 
3. Finding number of syllables.
   • Simply in conversation talk about the number of syllables. "wa-ter has two syllables"
   • Sort into number of syllables
4. Finding number of words in a sentence.
   • Same as (3)
5. Read words aloud 
   • Pretend to stumble on words sometimes and sound them out with your finger following under the letters.
   • When you are reading books with larger text point to the words as you read.
   • Sound out the STOP sign or words on other signage. (Signs and packaging are great sources of giant words.)
   • Have letters/letter tiles so they can spell things and you try to read whatever they've spelt. DS never did this DD loves this activity. You can nudge them toward putting vowels in-between every 1 or 2 consonants to make it easier for you to read. When you feel they are proficient enough I do refuse to read words that are "unreadable" (they don't have to be real words) I just make attempt then say "I don't know how to read that word."  

Some of these things you are probably already doing. If you hadn't notice already some of the stuff extends until after they already start to know their letters and perhaps are even learning to spell. 

[Nm.]

No I’m not doing hardly any of those activities!  I am going to work on it.  Are you saying the manual has all those activities planned out?  Or those are the activities that you do?

Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[countrymum]

It's all planned out. It's the back side of each lesson page

[Nm.]

What clarita wrote is all on the back side of the lesson page?  I’m not seeing it in the manual sample, so just checking.

[countrymum]

I think at least most is. I'll try to look and give you some time examples tomorrow. Beginning and ending sounds are I'm sure as well as counting words /syllables. Also blending and segmenting words and saying the wrong 1st sound for child to correct ..... I've added in more of similar stuff for a child who really struggles but I really liked the plans. Like I said they are independent from the letter recognition stuff.

[Nm.]

Gotcha thank you.  I thought you meant literally what she wrote 🙃

[BusyMom5]

Anyone using AAS new edition?  Or the new supplement books?  We are halfway through AAR2 and I feel the need to pause for fluency and looking for something to do instead.  I did pull put all my readers and we've been reading those.

[Nm.]

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Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[Clarita]

14 hours ago, Nm. said:

Are you saying the manual has all those activities planned out?  Or those are the activities that you do? 

I had used a different reading resource prior to trying AAR pre-reading most of that list came from that resource (https://www.lisaadele.com/playful-path-to-reading). That resource is based on the Montessori method, which has a ton of discussion/how-to on the web for free (but you have to look them up and prepare). However, when I tried AAR pre-reading it had a lot of the same activities, I don't think they had a list of them but they were interspersed in the lessons.

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, BusyMom5 said:

We are halfway through AAR2 and I feel the need to pause for fluency and looking for something to do instead.  I did pull put all my readers and we've been reading those.

We did readers, plus I would do buddy reading (Elephant and Piggie books are magic) of regular picture books (I would pretend I needed help reading). The other thing I found worked wonders for fluency is menus, and signs in the wild. They have big print, there is some motivation to read them and they are short.

[Nm.]

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Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[countrymum]

I don't remember any phonemic awareness but it's been 8 yrs since I used it. Lots of letter recognition tracing and letter sounds...maybe first sound in a word kind of thing.

[countrymum]

My kids like Dr Seuss ABC book for silly first sounds

[Clarita]

6 hours ago, Nm. said:

 I wonder if getting ready for the code A might be a good jumping off point.  (It’s nice that it’s used in WeeFolkArt).  Has anyone used it and know whether they teach phonemic awareness?  I would basically use the book I’m reading now for the booklist to go along with each letter, print out picture cards (which I’m laminating now) to work on initial sounds (then final sounds, then rhyming words etc), do all the silly songs and poems (which I confess it just does not come natural to me!)…

I'm going to affirm your decision, I don't think your DS4 is going to like it. It's going to feel like "school" to him. DD liked it but she desperately wanted to do schoolwork. To me it's busywork and you'd supplement with stuff that you could have just done to bring them to the same place. I'm using Explode the Code with tweaks with DD5 and DS7. (See post above: I'm kind of switching from AAR to ETC).

[Nm.]

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Edited November 3, 2023 by Nm.

[Clarita]

DD5 and DS7 are participating in a Science Fair! They picked such great topics too. DD5's topic is how cats climb, DD7's topic is what paper airplane flies the farthest. I don't know how much handholding/guidance I should provide... We'll see how it all goes.

[countrymum]

Science supplies bought or found for Science in the Beginning unit 2 water.....2nd grader and siblings are excited for the mentos and diet coke one.....

We made a thankful tree today (A Year of Playing Skillfully) and sourced or bought supplies for November for AYOPS  too. The younger ones all painted big pictures on cardboard after we painted our tree.

As it cools off we're doing more art and fun play stuff. The kids play outside alot in nice weather. Diggers and tractors in the mowed off garden, swing set play, cowboys or pioneers with stick horses ....very undirected.

I also had the 2nd grader start reading the Alice and Jerry preprimers again. He can sound out many of the words and the few sight words left are ok. He likes them and is gaining confidence and fluency. We have 2 reading times Phonics (AAR and AAS) and Reading (Alice and Jerry). 

 

[Green Bean]

I signed Little Man up for Clever Dragons- the all boys site of Miacademy- to give him something to do besides TV while I work with the high schoolers. 

[Nm.]

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Edited November 13, 2023 by Nm.

[BusyMom5]

On 11/11/2023 at 4:51 PM, Green Bean said:

I signed Little Man up for Clever Dragons- the all boys site of Miacademy- to give him something to do besides TV while I work with the high schoolers. 

It's so hard to do High School, Jr high, and then teach a little one!  We took about a month off due to travel, sickness, and just getting life back on track.  Ive been much more consistent the last week or so.  Still paused in AAR2, but she wants more games.   Considering the Something Fishy supplement,  but really just want to focus on reading!  We've been doing Moffatt Girls Spelling,  but some activities are frustrating for her. Considering just getting her another workbooks instead.  

Big leaps in handwriting!!!  This has been something she's been behind in, but recently she's loving to write and has been more willing to listen to instruction.   Yaya!  

What holiday crafts are you planning?  I am looking for some fun things to do the next few months.  

[Clarita]

On 11/6/2023 at 9:03 AM, Clarita said:

DD5 and DS7 are participating in a Science Fair! They picked such great topics too. DD5's topic is how cats climb, DD7's topic is what paper airplane flies the farthest. I don't know how much handholding/guidance I should provide... We'll see how it all goes.

We completed the projects today. DD5 ended up being How Cat's Communicate and she even included an interview with our cat on there. DD7 has paper airplanes taped all over his poster. He put in a surprising amount of work in the project. He even did instructions for folding 2 of the types of paper airplanes (he just taped a bunch of partially folded planes). 

I guided them to relevant research materials, helped them stay focused on the testing (paper airplanes), scribed the headings and wrote their bibliographies. Grandma and daddy are both going to go see the kids present their projects tomorrow. 

[BusyMom5]

On 11/14/2023 at 6:33 PM, Clarita said:

We completed the projects today. DD5 ended up being How Cat's Communicate and she even included an interview with our cat on there. DD7 has paper airplanes taped all over his poster. He put in a surprising amount of work in the project. He even did instructions for folding 2 of the types of paper airplanes (he just taped a bunch of partially folded planes). 

I guided them to relevant research materials, helped them stay focused on the testing (paper airplanes), scribed the headings and wrote their bibliographies. Grandma and daddy are both going to go see the kids present their projects tomorrow. 

Love this!  ❤️ 

[countrymum]

Ok so science in the beginning is going very well. Big sister joined us.... experiments are even easier now;) she likes it better than what she had been doing.