Sunday, December 28, 2008

2009 School Plans for 2nd Grade

Bible - family Bible study, and hopefully I’ll start Building on the Rock

LA - phonics is still up in the air, probably Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading; First Language Lessons 2, Writing With Ease 1, All About Spelling

Math - A-Ha Math

Science - Apologia Zoology

History, Geography, Read-alouds, etc. - Sonlight 5 Eastern Hemisphere

Other - Read, Write & Type, God’s World News, various Critical Thinking products, and probably a bunch of other stuff 

2009 School Plans for 4th Grade

Bible - family Bible study, and hopefully I’ll start Building on the Rock
LA - phonics is still up in the air, probably Phonics Pathways, Explode the Code Online, Reading Upgrade; First Language Lessons 3, Writing With Ease, All About Spelling
Math - A-Ha Math, Math Upgrade
Science - Apologia Zoology
History, Geography, Read-alouds, etc. - Sonlight 5 Eastern Hemisphere
Other - Read, Write & Type, God’s World News, various Critical Thinking products, and probably a bunch of other stuff 


2009 School Plans for 6th Grade

Bible - Remembering God’s Awesome Acts, plus family Bible study
LA - Wordsmith Apprentice, LLATL Purple, All About Spelling, Vocabulary Vine
Math - NEM 1, Calculus without Tears 1, Descartes’ Cove
Latin - playing with PowerGlide Latin until Stellae at Lone Pine Academy starts back up in February
Greek - Elementary Greek 1
Science - Apologia Physical Science
History, Geography, Read-alouds, etc. - Sonlight 5 Eastern Hemisphere
Other - Mavis Beacon, God’s World News, various Critical Thinking products, and probably a bunch of other stuff 


Saturday, December 20, 2008

What would you want to see in a vocabulary program for late elementary students?

I'm trying to figure out what I want, and deciding I may need to create it myself.
I want a program that isn't full of $50 words. My oldest son is learning lots of $50 words in his Latin studies -- quintessential is his current favorite -- and will be learning lots more as we get further in Greek. 
I want words that you can use in conversation with anybody, wherever. The checkout lady at the grocery store, his scout leader, the barber, anybody... where he can finish the sentence without the other person raising an eyebrow at his 'fancy-schmancy' vocabulary.
I don't want a simple "word a day" thing where you spend two minutes learning about a word, and then assume that they now "own" the word. I would like something a bit more spiral -- so a word, like confide, is used in part of the description of another word on one day. A few days later, we'd actually study confide, learning what it means -- but if it is a word they didn't know, they at least would have heard it in context recently. We use it a bit. And then over the next week or two, we use it in other word study a few times.
I don't want to be filling out a bunch of worksheets, or doing word-search puzzles, or other busywork-looking activities. I wouldn't object to some type of computer reinforcement - matching games, for instance. Or to some crossword puzzles now and then. Mostly, I want to be learning about the word, and then actually using it.
I want something that could be used with multiple ages, with some adaptation. So my 4 year old can listen and make up his own sentences. My 2nd grader, similarly, could mostly do things orally, maybe doing doing copywork of some worthwhile (and short) saying. My 4th grader could do the above, plus create his own simple dictionary. My 6th grader could be required to go to a dictionary or thesaurus and find more etymological information, or spend some time differentiating between some synonyms. 
This is all totally off the top of my head! I have no idea what would be age-appropriate for some of this. I just know that I want to start doing something and have it work for all of them. 

Friday, December 19, 2008

Me & My Struggling Reader

I've been catching up on Focus on the Family broadcasts, and just listened to one from September or so called "The Pain of Illiteracy" with John Corcoran. Talk about convicting.
He's talking about how there is simply no excuse for parents and teachers to let a child grow up without learning to read. Okay, that isn't quite what he said, but that's what I heard. Once again, I'm confronted with massive guilt over what I have -- or have not -- done with my second son.
It isn't like I haven't tried. It isn't like I haven't bought program after program, trying to find something that will do it. And it isn't like he hasn't made progress. But, he's ten. And reading worse than most seven year olds I know.
So, he & I sat down with an array of programs that we own, and I told him to pick one. He chose Phonics Pathways. I am absolutely going to see to it that we sit down at least five days a week for 15-20 minutes. Preferably every day.
He will continue some of the other things he is already doing, like Explode the Code Online. And Reading Upgrade. And I'm hoping he'll finish the last ten Click'N'Kids lessons too.
And come January, when we are actually back in school, I need to make some more decisions, and undoubtedly make some changes.


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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Panic about High School

So, last night I accompanied my eldest to a Boy Scout thing, which was held at a charter school in town. I hadn't really heard of this school before, and wow! I left there fighting the notion that this is where Connor is supposed to be.
After I got home, I started researching it a bit online. That only made me more certain that we do need to seriously think about this. Scary. From the beginning, I have assumed that we would be homeschooling all the way to graduation. After last night, I'm not so sure.
Now, the frustrating part is that this research really screamed out at me that my 6th grader is not prepared for junior high level writing at the moment, and if we continue on our present course, he won't be ready for high school level work when he gets there either. He & I have been perusing the various writing curricula we have pieces of, and investigating things online.
How does one make a decision like this???
I feel reasonably comfortable about other subject areas, but this one, well, I need to spend some time figuring that out.


Monday, December 8, 2008

The First Entry is the Hardest, Right?

Here's hoping anyway.
My goals: I want to be able to document some things going on in our homeschooling life, so that maybe I can remember just why I'm doing this, or I have something to help me remember cool things I want to be doing.
Who I am: I'm Debra, and we've considered ourselves to be homeschoolers since before the kids were even born. There are now five of those kids. 

Connor: my 11 year old 6th grader. He's in Boy Scouts, loves science, is great at math, reads everything in sight, and is currently on a computer programming kick.
William: my 10 year old 4th grader. He has struggled with reading, and therefore with a few other things as well. He loves to cook, he loves read-aloud time, and he absorbs almost everything he hears. He's a Webelos Scout, and his goal is to earn all twenty activity badges, faster than his big brother did. Five down so far.
Thomas: my 8 year old 2nd grader. He's a pretty typical 2nd grader, and he'd rather be playing games than doing school. He loves the read-aloud time too, particularly the less schoolish ones. He loves Cub Scouts.
Richard: my 4 year old. He wants to do everything his big brothers do, has taught himself to read and has taught himself a bunch of math. He's counting the days until he's a real kindergartner, and the days until he can be a Tiger Scout.
Katrina: my 2.5 year old daughter. She is always on the move. She happily runs around the house, insisting on being called "Princess" and reciting her ABC's (I ought to get that recorded.... she skips letters, and once she gets to P, she jumps back to E or so)

Okay, so that is it for today. I need to get busy with trying to decide whether or not Scouts should be called off due to snow. (one post down... think I can keep it up?)