Animals Unit Study

Today we started the Animals unit study. Today's animal was sheep and we learned about David the Shepherd, what shepherds do, and interesting things about sheep. DD5 loves animals, so I am thinking that maybe we will go more in depth on this study. I can get books about animals from the library. Also, maybe we will do an animal lapbook. It would be a fun way to emphasize our phonics lessons in addition to learning about animals. DD5 also has a favorite computer game: Jumpstart Animal Field Trip (you should hear her belt out the bat "echolocation" song, LOL). Today we learned the letter "m", and added to our expanding vocabulary (tim, kim, mill, met, mug, etc.) I don't spend a lot of time on letter sounds because DD5 knows them well. Today I used our chalk board from Handwriting Without Tears. I turned it on its side and drew a dotted line. This actually worked really well for handwriting. I loved using the chalk board for HWT, but couldn't figure out how to use it once we did lower case letters. Turning it on its side worked brilliantly.

In Math, we are counting to 60 (still...DD5 wants to go to 100). Today we studied 36-39 (how to write it, etc.) We are using unifix cubes on our Tens / Ones chart. I dropped 36 cubes all in the Ones column. DD5 puts them together in groups of ten & puts them in the Tens column. We count the Tens (3 sets), and count the ones (6). We put our number 3 card on the Tens column, and our 6 card on the Ones column and read it as 36. DD5 seems to still have trouble reading the numbers - if I show her 34, for example, she might call it a twenty. So just today I started asking her how many tens there are (3), and reinforcing the idea that if there are 3 tens, then it is 30. It seems to be making a lot more sense to her, so I think we will see some improvement in identifying numbers over the next week. She is much quicker to get a concept then she is to identify a symbol. Which is probably the point they keep driving home in the Well Trained Mind.

Today I decided to try my schedule (10 mins of personal computer time left according to my schedule, LOL). I scheduled in a preschool time with DD3. So far, the schedule has gone well. If I actually can keep up with the home business, bills, and phone calls, then that will be the real test to the schedule. If it doesn't work, then I'll have to cut out something else & lengthen my bill/phone/business time. We shall see...

For preschool, DD3 & I used counting bears to 10. She skips right over "6". We sorted by color, we played with positions (on, under, in front of, behind). I used BJUP's charts to teach the alphabet song and the letter A. I will stay on A all week. We found things that started with A, and sang about the A sound. Last, I gave her red to finger paint with. She liked that, but doesn't like her hands to be icky for too long.

One more note: We have been reading Mr. Popper's Penguins (thanks for the suggestion, Melanie!) But lately, I don't think DD5 is paying a lot of attention to it. She is too busy finding all the words she knows how to read on the page! So we end up stopping in the middle while she shows me the words she knows (there are a lot of "the" in MPP, LOL). I'm very encouraged by this, and hope that she continues to find the words that she knows, and that the list of words grows.

The Homeschool Curse!

Homeschool families (moms especially) sometimes fall into a certain trap. I'm calling it "The Homeschool Curse". It starts by one homeschooler talking to another homeschooler. It's an innocent question "so what do you do?" Naturally, the homeschooler will then research that particularly program, because it really does sound Good. And maybe its Better than what she is doing. Or maybe it would make a good supplement or addition to what is currently being done. So. It whirlwinds out of control as the homeschooler is always hearing what other families are doing, and it always sounds BETTER. Should she abandon ship and try it? Should she buy it and start it next year? This is a constant struggle for me, and I never cease to hear from other moms that have a closet full of homeschool materials that either didn't work, or didn't get used. Even homeschool methodology always sounds better coming from another family. Here are some examples:

Homeschool family 1 started their children at the age of 3. They quickly learned to read and recite Bible verses. By age 4, they were reading Dr. Seuss, and by age 5, reading the Chronicles of Narnia for their own enjoyment.

Homeschool family 2 did unschooling. Their children didn't learn to read until age 8, but taught themselves. They skipped reading little kid material and from the first moment on, read Shakespeare.

Homeschool family 3 started their children on piano at the age of 3, violin at age 4, and guitar by age 5.

Homeschool family 4 uses Phonics Pathways and LOVE it. Homeschool family 5 uses Learning Language Arts Through Literature and LOVE it. Homeschool family 6 uses 100 Easy Lessons and its always worked for them.

And then there are the families that are doing various science, history, and art programs, and a bazillion other things besides.

ARRRGGGHHHH!

The families that I have seen successfully avoid the curse have a great sense of stick-to-it-tiveness. They might look at your program, smile, nod, and say "that looks nice". But then they turn their eyes upon their own program, and progress with it. They might jump ship once or twice, but very seldom. Only because something really wasn't working, and they knew it. But they latch on to the system that is working for them: it may not be glamorous, it may neglect art or foreign language, but they know their child has a good foundation in all the basics. So they put blinders on to all the other programs out there, and just stay the course.

Pace of lessons

So far, I've been happiest with the pace of BJUP. My biggest problem following my own method was Pace. I either went too fast or too slow. I wasn't sure when DD5 had mastered something well enough to move on. It doesn't help that she takes a few things and plays stupid (Math!) With BJUP, I move on anyway & usually find later that she really knew the material just fine. And BJUP has enough review that if an idea didn't quite cement the first time, it might in the next unit, where there is plenty of review activities in the teacher manual and in the workbook. I have heard that 3rd edition moves faster than 2nd edition. DD5 seems to be keeping up really well with the pace of 3rd edition. It really helped, though, that she knew her alphabet and letter sounds before beginning the program, and that she knew how to blend letters together (very slowly). She is starting to sound letters out quicker now. I've been working with her trying to get her to slide the sounds together instead of the short gutteral sounds she makes. She says "c. a. t." and I am trying to get her to say "cccaaaattt". Sometimes I think Phonics Pathways would've been a better program for this, but again...I didn't know the pace to follow it. BJU's phonics lessons has an alternative lesson plan for those that want to move much slower and still want to be ready for 1st grade at the end (without doing school all summer long...) The alternative lesson plans end with unit 5, instead of unit 6.

The Little Servant lesson

Today's lesson in Language Arts was The Little Servant & this week's theme is Bible Stories. After reading the story, we sat down to do the workbook page. The directions were: circle the pictures that show someone doing something that helps someone else. Pictures included one girl making a bed, a boy washing a car, and a man pushing in a woman's chair. These were all helpful things, according to the answer key. Well, another picture was a girl sleeping. We've been having a terrible time at night lately, and having a hard time with the kids calling me back to talk, and basically Stalling. So, DD5 pauses before she circles the sleeping girl, and says "this girl is sleeping, that's helpful, right?" So I ask "did she go to bed nicely, without calling her mom?" DD5 nods. "Then yes, that is helpful". Ok, so it wasn't in the answer key, but I think when a little girl goes to bed without a fight, that is definitely something helpful! I will remind her of that at bedtime tonight;)

Schedules...bah!!

Ok, so I read "Managers of Their Homes" by Steve & Teri Maxwell. So here is my update: I made a schedule that I think looks really good. It looks like I should accomplish a lot of things in my day, and get a few rest periods, too. I was eager to start it today. Well...

We had a rough night. I didn't get up at 7:30, as planned, but woke shortly after 8. So there goes my morning computer time. Exhausted, I got right in to my day.

I had a ton of shipping to do for our home business. It took priority today, so there goes lessons...

Other things came up, too - like today was my one shot at getting a free haircut. So that happened too. That's not on the schedule!

So the schedule didn't happen, not at all. I was rather grumpy about not using my schedule, but then I realized...Some days will be schedule days & some days will not. Today was not a schedule day. On the days where I wake up & have all the regular things to do - those will be schedule days. Some days will be half-schedule days. Wednesday is our library day. So Wednesday will be a half schedule day. We'll follow the schedule in the morning, then stop the schedule to go to library. When we get home from the library, then we will pick up the schedule again. Or, I can pick up a block here or there from the schedule that I want to follow (maybe we'll want to do our morning schedule block in the afternoon, after we get home, instead of doing our normally scheduled afternoon block). The schedule just helps me put things into blocks of time & organize my responsibilities, so that everything gets a little bit of Mama throughout the day. Its so I can have a plan for my day and not wonder what I'm doing.

I have to make a correction to my last post: MOTH does have schedules of moms to less than 5 kids, and kids all under the age of 4. It is nice to see how moms of young kids organize their day. So far, I give MOTH a good review. It has a lot of good tips on managing your time, and a lot of good tips for managing your children.

Managers of Their Homes

I'm most of the way through reading "Managers of Their Homes" by Steve & Teri Maxwell (www.titus2.com) A homeschool mom was kind enough to let me borrow her copy. I'm amazed at just how many homeschool moms have read this book! I got all sorts of feedback ("loved it, it changed my life", "we used some of the tips", "hated it, we aren't schedule people" etc.) So now I guess its my turn to leave my feedback...

What did I think of Managers of Their Homes?
There were some good tips in there. Its not a demanding "you must do this" kind of book (IMO), but gives a lot of scriptural emphasis on having a regular rhythm to things. I liked some of the ideas -especially about assigning certain playtimes, playareas, and sibling playmates in half hour increments. I always thought that if I could organize my child's time every day that the day would run so much smoother. I haven't tried scheduling my children's day yet. I began trying to puzzle out my own schedule first, then I'll fit the kids in to that. Oh, and the author keeps mentioning the schedule bringing out disciplinary problems in our children. Yup. I'm dealing with one right now! (dd5 on floor having a fit) LOL. And disciplinary problems in yourself. Yup. I don't have "write in blog" on my schedule right now, but I really wanted to write this morning...and I didn't get any real *me* time yesterday since the kids were sick & wouldn't go to sleep for me & I spent my entire time glued to one or two of them without any peace... Excuses abound! So. Interesting book, don't know if it will help me yet. My complaints:

• Most of these women scheduled their wake up time at 5:30AM!! Won't work for me, we are a late schedule sort of family.
• Most of these women had 5 or more kids. I think it was more of a challenge for them to piece a schedule together, but once they did, I think they had an easier time managing their children's time, because they naturally had more options (kid 1 plays with kid 2, kid 1 plays with kid 3, kid 1 plays with kid 4, etc.) And eventually had an easier time cleaning house, once they trained their children to do their chores. Can you imagine 5 people helping you clean house each day? I only have 2 kids, ages 5 & under.
• These women somehow managed to fit their own time into the schedule (half hour of reading, an hour of writing, hour of sewing, etc.) I don't think that will happen here, but I would love to have more time to do the things I want to do (blogging for one!)
• It didn't offer much advice on leaving the house & fitting in extracurricular stuff. Its main advice was: DON'T. LOL. I can understand that. I feel so unorganized & frazzled every time we come home from an excursion. Still, I'm feeling that pressure of "what about socialization?" and wondering if I provide enough - especially since we moved from a kid-run neighborhood out to the country on 10 acres. I wouldn't worry as much if I had 8 kids that could all play together. But somehow I think DD5 & DD3 might need a little more playmate time than with just eachother.

So I think the main argument I have for the book is that I saw moms with large families, and didn't see a whole lot of small families, or small families with only young children. I still think the ideas are valid, I just would like to see more examples for my kind of family.

All in all, it was a worthwhile book to read & I hope to implement some of it. I hope to post my schedule once I get it all worked out (and maybe I'll add an 8am computer time!)

BJU K5 Tip - Phonics

Here is a BJU specific tip I learned the hard way. Buy Phonics Stories in addition to the program. In K5, Phonics Stories do not come with the package, but is listed as a *recommended item*. If you're buying the package, buy K5 Phonics Stories. Your child has to read the stories anyway. But if you don't buy it, then you end up doing what I've been doing: scanning all the rebuses in the teacher's guide appendix, and making up the stories myself. I downloaded BJU's K5 font from their web site and type the story, then print it with spaces for where the pictures (rebuses) go. Then I shrink the rebuses (the picture words) from the appendix & paste it in to the story. I have to mess around with size and word spacing to fit the pictures in. Complete pain! Wish I had spent $10.50 and just bought the Phonics Stories. Lesson learned. It doesn't look like the 1st grade program has separate Phonics Stories. Still, makes me wonder what other recommended items I would have to buy in addition to a $500 curriculum for 1st grade. Yikes.

Definition: Rebus
A Rebus in the teaching world is a picture that represents a word. When you see the picture, you say the word. Today's lesson is about Peter Rabbit and our Phonics Story is about a rabbit. There is a picture of a rabbit in place of the word rabbit in the story. When DD5 reads the story, she will say "rabbit" whenever she sees the picture.

Reading progress

Here is our current BJU progress:

DD5 is doing really well reading the weekly readers. She's very proud of being able to read them. We give her the option of reading the books to herself in bed at bedtime. She is picking up other books and trying to read them. When I read to my kids, she tells me to follow the words I read with my finger so she can keep up with where I am in the book. I think all of these are very positive signs that she is progressing in her reading.

The other day I watched DD5 form her letters on the workbook page and she just looked so grown-up and was doing so well. I was glad that we had picked a boxed curriculum. I realized that perhaps I could've provided all the same things on my own, but I would've constantly been questioning what I was doing. I still question sometimes, but I feel the curric has set a good pace and I am seeing progress. I was really struggling with the progression of teaching when I was putting things together on my own.

So that was all the positives. Here are a few negatives I've run across:

• Capital D: is made by dropping from top to bottom and then curving around to the top again. This makes a sloppy letter IMO. I think it is better to drop, retrace up, and then curve around to the bottom. Or - drop, lift your pencil & start back at the top, curve around. OTOH, I understand *why* BJU has capital D that way - in cursive, it is a similar movement but with an extra little flare at the bottom.
• Capital E: looks like a backwards 3. Again, its the cursive thing, so I understand it, just don't like it.
• One more note: I am sooo thankful that I taught DD5 her letter sounds BEFORE BJU. I think it has been much easier keeping up and I can't imagine what it would be like teaching her the curriculum without prior knowledge of letter sounds. So I highly recommend spending that year before Kindergarten learning letter sounds. I think BJU K4 has this focus, but I think it still teaches word formations, too. I don't have any experience with K4 though and have never actually seen it. It may be exactly what is needed before K5.