Last night, we did our first lesson using Singapore Math's EarlyBird textbook. It was a complete hit with Punkin! We were able to work three-fourths of the way through it, since she has already been doing math at her school. I was pleased with the amount of hands-on activities it had within the instructions, and was able to do them all with things around the house and our set of Cuisinaire Rods, which I have on hand from when I was a kid.
We are on the measuring unit in the curriculum now. I had planned to buy a balance before we got the section, but since it has been such a big hit, I don't want to wait for one to arrive before continuing. I found a great craft blog that included instructions on making your own balance. This will be part of what we do today, along with a trip to our local science museum with friends.
It's a relief to see at least part of the curriculum I bought is going to work out for us, since I had begun to doubt all my purchases. I'm still not sure that I needed a handwriting curriculum, since Punkin can already form her letters and numbers quite well, and I think between her math and phonics work, she will get plenty of practice. I may simply hold onto it for when Buddy is a bit older and use it for him instead.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Curriculum arrived! Now what do I do with it?
The anxiously awaited arrival of the curriculum has come, and now that it is unpacked and glanced through, I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do with it. I'm aiming at this point to start lessons in February and give Punkin one more week of very informal learning and playing as part of our transition.
Now I have to answer a few questions for myself and Punkin.
* What type of schedule would work best?
* How long should lessons be?
* Should we do all the subjects everyday or rotate?
I love the idea of unit studies. For those who are uninitiated in the world of curriculum, unit studies are when you revolve all your lessons around one theme. For instance, you do a week or month surrounding horses. You could read Black Beauty and study horse breeds. You could study how horses have been a part of our history - taking pioneers west and helping to fight wars, for just two examples. In math, you could talk about measurements - horsepower and how horses are measured in hands. You could end by visiting a horse farm.
I use that example specifically because my daughter loves horses, and I wonder if that might not make a good theme for our first month. However, I also want to have a somewhat organized and logical progression for learning, and am not sure how to do that with unit studies. Right now, I lean more towards them being supplementary and not primary because of this.
Now I have to answer a few questions for myself and Punkin.
* What type of schedule would work best?
* How long should lessons be?
* Should we do all the subjects everyday or rotate?
I love the idea of unit studies. For those who are uninitiated in the world of curriculum, unit studies are when you revolve all your lessons around one theme. For instance, you do a week or month surrounding horses. You could read Black Beauty and study horse breeds. You could study how horses have been a part of our history - taking pioneers west and helping to fight wars, for just two examples. In math, you could talk about measurements - horsepower and how horses are measured in hands. You could end by visiting a horse farm.
I use that example specifically because my daughter loves horses, and I wonder if that might not make a good theme for our first month. However, I also want to have a somewhat organized and logical progression for learning, and am not sure how to do that with unit studies. Right now, I lean more towards them being supplementary and not primary because of this.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Day Two
Today was our first Park Day with our local homeschool group. Sadly, it was not encouraging.
Despite the rain and cold, which - let's face it - are typical for a Pacific Northwest winter, I drove the half hour to the park to meet up with the homeschool group (HSG). This wasn't a park I had been to before, and the equipment at the playground was aimed at older kids than mine, I would guess 8-10 or so. Of course this didn't stop my two year old from wanted to play, so he had to be watched closely on it, as he's shown a definite lack of a sense of self-preservation many times before. I could see a group of women chatting under a tree near the playground, and I assumed this was the HG. I managed to wrangle Punkin and Buddy up and head over there.
When I got there, no one acknowledged me in any way. I then asked, "Is this HSG?" "Yes, it is," one person said. I told them it was my first time visiting the group, and two of them introduced themselves. The rest of them, perhaps six women, ignored me completely. I talked to one woman for about two minutes before having to follow Buddy, who had gone back to the playground. After that, there was no more interaction with them at all.
The kids that were there were all much older than mine, and while I've been told several times there are many younger kids, none were there that day. I might have been able to find this out before dragging my children out in the rain to a playground that isn't suited to them if communication was better, but instead I was left feeling like a first year student who had tried to approach the older kids only to be completely ignored.
After a little longer than a half an hour, the rain, a tired two-year-old and my complete disappointment with being unable to make any connection were topped off with Buddy falling, and so I carried my crying son to the car and left to drive the half hour home.
We salvaged the afternoon with cream cheese brownies and hot chocolate.
Dinner was a near disaster, with rock hard beans refusing cook, but at the last moment they softened, to finish off a dinner of smoky hot anasazi beans with cornbread and coleslaw.
So the day wasn't all bad, and Punkin had swim class tonight, which she loves.
We will try Park Day again tomorrow, and hopefully find a connection. I do not want our homeschooling to exist in solitude.
Despite the rain and cold, which - let's face it - are typical for a Pacific Northwest winter, I drove the half hour to the park to meet up with the homeschool group (HSG). This wasn't a park I had been to before, and the equipment at the playground was aimed at older kids than mine, I would guess 8-10 or so. Of course this didn't stop my two year old from wanted to play, so he had to be watched closely on it, as he's shown a definite lack of a sense of self-preservation many times before. I could see a group of women chatting under a tree near the playground, and I assumed this was the HG. I managed to wrangle Punkin and Buddy up and head over there.
When I got there, no one acknowledged me in any way. I then asked, "Is this HSG?" "Yes, it is," one person said. I told them it was my first time visiting the group, and two of them introduced themselves. The rest of them, perhaps six women, ignored me completely. I talked to one woman for about two minutes before having to follow Buddy, who had gone back to the playground. After that, there was no more interaction with them at all.
The kids that were there were all much older than mine, and while I've been told several times there are many younger kids, none were there that day. I might have been able to find this out before dragging my children out in the rain to a playground that isn't suited to them if communication was better, but instead I was left feeling like a first year student who had tried to approach the older kids only to be completely ignored.
After a little longer than a half an hour, the rain, a tired two-year-old and my complete disappointment with being unable to make any connection were topped off with Buddy falling, and so I carried my crying son to the car and left to drive the half hour home.
We salvaged the afternoon with cream cheese brownies and hot chocolate.
Dinner was a near disaster, with rock hard beans refusing cook, but at the last moment they softened, to finish off a dinner of smoky hot anasazi beans with cornbread and coleslaw.
So the day wasn't all bad, and Punkin had swim class tonight, which she loves.
We will try Park Day again tomorrow, and hopefully find a connection. I do not want our homeschooling to exist in solitude.
Monday, January 17, 2011
How I Became an Accidental Homeschooler
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." ~ Albert Einstein
A little more than a week ago, on returning from our local public school, my daughter told me through tears, "I hate learning!" This from a child who came back every day from her Montessori preschool bursting with information for me. "Mom, the Earth has a crust, a mantle, and a core!" she told me one afternoon, before making a play dough model of the earth to illustrate the idea. These last few months, she has come home and drawn worksheets, which she then completes, saying to me, "Now tell me what a good job I did!" She pretends to line up and be quiet and says to me, "Pretend you chose me as the quietest kid in the class, so I get to be today's helper!" In four months of school, she has never, even once, come home and told me about anything she learned. When asked about school, she says her favorite parts are free time and recess.
A little more than a week ago, my husband and I decided we could no longer send our daughter to the local public school. We couldn't risk the loss of her love of learning and her innate sense of curiosity, which were already, after only four months, starting to fade. Nor could we afford to continue Montessori school or another private school option.
A little more than a week ago, we decided that we would homeschool our daughter.
My daughter attended her last day of Kindergarten three days ago, and so this Monday morning I awoke and began my first day of homeschooling.
But let's rewind a bit, back to right after we made this decision, and I began researching curriculum, resources, laws, support groups, and teaching methods, with just over a week to go before homeschooling was to begin. I have an advantage here; researching is one of my best skills, and I enjoy it immensely. As with any other topic, homeschooling seemed overwhelming at first, and then, as I began sorting through the information and categorizing it, I could put together a rough outline of the main topics and figure out where to begin.
Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with ABC...
My daughter knows her letters well and has a good beginning on handwriting and phonics. She reads some sight words and can sound words out, although it sometimes frustrates her. I knew I wanted some phonics curriculum. But which one? After exploring reviews, I decided on Explode the Code. I liked the preview pages, it had good reviews and it wasn't expensive, so if I ended up not liking it, no harm done.
I wasn't originally planning to do a handwriting curriculum, but after reading through some posts on the Secular Homeschool Forum, and decided I at least wanted one on hand. My daughter (let's call her Punkin from now on, like her little brother does) was using Zaner-Bloser materials at school. I liked the vertical letter and continuous stroke approach, and so I went with a program, Handwriting Without Tears, that also has those qualities. Again, it's not an expensive curriculum, so I didn't feel like it would be a calamity if I didn't end up using it much. I also figured I could use it with Punkin's little brother (we'll call him Buddy). He's only two right now, so it will be a few years, but I tend to look ahead on things.
After getting both of these, I realized I was loading up on worksheets, one of the things I hated about her school experience. So I am also planning to get Happy Phonics, which is more game based.
“Math is like love -- a simple idea but it can get complicated.” ~ Albert EinsteinI like math. This hasn't always been the case. I had a dismal teacher for algebra in (public) high school, who instilled in me both a dislike for and great fear of math. My college roommate, a math major who helped me with calculus, also helped me rediscover a lost love for geometry (I had a good teacher for that) and to conquer my fear of math. It's an all too common fear in the United States, where people practically sound like they are boasting when they declare, "Oh, I'm no good at math."
I had read about Singapore Math in the New York Times, and I was intrigued by it. The more I researched math curriculum, the more I felt it was the right method for us, so I bought the first level of Singapore Math. I also plan to incorporate Cuisenaire Rods and some Montessori methods into our math learning, along with some other manipulatives. I'm curious about Math U See, but have not bought any of their tools as of yet.
"Without music life would be a mistake". ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
I've always wanted to learn to play the violin, and Punkin is interested, too. I have contacted a teacher, and hope to start Suzuki violin lessons with my daughter soon.
"[Science is] an imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of mystery." ~ Sir Cyril Herman Hinshelwood, Nobel Prize in Chemistry Winner, 1956
At this age, I want science to be an exploration. I want Punkin to learn how to ask questions and not just memorize facts. I want her to learn through discovery, so that she will better remember. We will visit the local science museum quite a bit, and have our first visit planned for next Monday. I have bought the book Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding to help develop my science curriculum. Punkin has always shown interest in science, so we have already read about some geology, astronomy, and biology, including life cycles and evolution.
As you may have already guessed, I am a secular homeschooler. This cuts down quite a bit on my choices for science resources and curriculum in the largely Christian based homeschooling world. To be honest, this seemed almost like a gift, in a way - I was able to quickly narrow my choices down and pick one that looked good for us.
Loading . . . Loading . . .
We are looking into Spanish lessons and Spanish camp. I'm contemplating using The Learnables computer program, as it's the only one I've seem that seems appropriate for a five year old.
Punkin takes swimming lessons, and we also looking into gymnastics, as well as a homeschool P.E. class.
We meet tomorrow with a local homeschool group, and I hope we can connect with some other families in the area.
So back to that first day...
Today went well. Punkin spent more time outside than she does during a whole week of school. We learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and segregation (it being MLK day and all). We did a few things with letters, but mostly I want her to relax, deschool, and rekindle her love for learning.
A little more than a week ago, on returning from our local public school, my daughter told me through tears, "I hate learning!" This from a child who came back every day from her Montessori preschool bursting with information for me. "Mom, the Earth has a crust, a mantle, and a core!" she told me one afternoon, before making a play dough model of the earth to illustrate the idea. These last few months, she has come home and drawn worksheets, which she then completes, saying to me, "Now tell me what a good job I did!" She pretends to line up and be quiet and says to me, "Pretend you chose me as the quietest kid in the class, so I get to be today's helper!" In four months of school, she has never, even once, come home and told me about anything she learned. When asked about school, she says her favorite parts are free time and recess.
A little more than a week ago, my husband and I decided we could no longer send our daughter to the local public school. We couldn't risk the loss of her love of learning and her innate sense of curiosity, which were already, after only four months, starting to fade. Nor could we afford to continue Montessori school or another private school option.
A little more than a week ago, we decided that we would homeschool our daughter.
My daughter attended her last day of Kindergarten three days ago, and so this Monday morning I awoke and began my first day of homeschooling.
But let's rewind a bit, back to right after we made this decision, and I began researching curriculum, resources, laws, support groups, and teaching methods, with just over a week to go before homeschooling was to begin. I have an advantage here; researching is one of my best skills, and I enjoy it immensely. As with any other topic, homeschooling seemed overwhelming at first, and then, as I began sorting through the information and categorizing it, I could put together a rough outline of the main topics and figure out where to begin.
Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with ABC...
My daughter knows her letters well and has a good beginning on handwriting and phonics. She reads some sight words and can sound words out, although it sometimes frustrates her. I knew I wanted some phonics curriculum. But which one? After exploring reviews, I decided on Explode the Code. I liked the preview pages, it had good reviews and it wasn't expensive, so if I ended up not liking it, no harm done.
I wasn't originally planning to do a handwriting curriculum, but after reading through some posts on the Secular Homeschool Forum, and decided I at least wanted one on hand. My daughter (let's call her Punkin from now on, like her little brother does) was using Zaner-Bloser materials at school. I liked the vertical letter and continuous stroke approach, and so I went with a program, Handwriting Without Tears, that also has those qualities. Again, it's not an expensive curriculum, so I didn't feel like it would be a calamity if I didn't end up using it much. I also figured I could use it with Punkin's little brother (we'll call him Buddy). He's only two right now, so it will be a few years, but I tend to look ahead on things.
After getting both of these, I realized I was loading up on worksheets, one of the things I hated about her school experience. So I am also planning to get Happy Phonics, which is more game based.
“Math is like love -- a simple idea but it can get complicated.” ~ Albert EinsteinI like math. This hasn't always been the case. I had a dismal teacher for algebra in (public) high school, who instilled in me both a dislike for and great fear of math. My college roommate, a math major who helped me with calculus, also helped me rediscover a lost love for geometry (I had a good teacher for that) and to conquer my fear of math. It's an all too common fear in the United States, where people practically sound like they are boasting when they declare, "Oh, I'm no good at math."
I had read about Singapore Math in the New York Times, and I was intrigued by it. The more I researched math curriculum, the more I felt it was the right method for us, so I bought the first level of Singapore Math. I also plan to incorporate Cuisenaire Rods and some Montessori methods into our math learning, along with some other manipulatives. I'm curious about Math U See, but have not bought any of their tools as of yet.
"Without music life would be a mistake". ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
I've always wanted to learn to play the violin, and Punkin is interested, too. I have contacted a teacher, and hope to start Suzuki violin lessons with my daughter soon.
"[Science is] an imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of mystery." ~ Sir Cyril Herman Hinshelwood, Nobel Prize in Chemistry Winner, 1956
At this age, I want science to be an exploration. I want Punkin to learn how to ask questions and not just memorize facts. I want her to learn through discovery, so that she will better remember. We will visit the local science museum quite a bit, and have our first visit planned for next Monday. I have bought the book Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding to help develop my science curriculum. Punkin has always shown interest in science, so we have already read about some geology, astronomy, and biology, including life cycles and evolution.
As you may have already guessed, I am a secular homeschooler. This cuts down quite a bit on my choices for science resources and curriculum in the largely Christian based homeschooling world. To be honest, this seemed almost like a gift, in a way - I was able to quickly narrow my choices down and pick one that looked good for us.
Loading . . . Loading . . .
We are looking into Spanish lessons and Spanish camp. I'm contemplating using The Learnables computer program, as it's the only one I've seem that seems appropriate for a five year old.
Punkin takes swimming lessons, and we also looking into gymnastics, as well as a homeschool P.E. class.
We meet tomorrow with a local homeschool group, and I hope we can connect with some other families in the area.
So back to that first day...
Today went well. Punkin spent more time outside than she does during a whole week of school. We learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and segregation (it being MLK day and all). We did a few things with letters, but mostly I want her to relax, deschool, and rekindle her love for learning.
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