Haven't written lately on my big homeschool thing. Since this is my first year, I'm taking a while to settle in, but it's starting to even out. People keep telling me how stressful this must be for me, but I gotta say, it's a whole lot less stressful than sending them to public schools! After having taught them for six weeks, I can honestly not imagine any other way to educate my kids.
We have our routine pretty well established. Up in time for an hour of PBS Kids. Breakfast, pencil sharpening, and ready to start by about 8:15. Handwriting, spelling, then journal. Arithmetic, then snack. Science, then lunch. (I have to do a LOT of one-on-one, so this takes longer than I reasonably think it should.) After lunch, it's history and reading.
Sometimes, I find the best way to present science or history to The Girl is to simply curl up in the recliner and read it with her. It means that science and history take twice as long as it should, since The Boy likes to do it standing up, but it works.
My one fight is the television. In summer, they got used to watching a lot of PBS kids, sometimes for noise, sometimes to watch, but always on. (Hey, it wasn't only on my shift either!) So, if we finish up Science early, we'll catch Word World at 11:30, and we might catch Big, Big World at 2:00. But then the thing gets turned off until closer to the arsenic hour, when I need all the help I can get to cook dinner without hurting anyone.
On the advice of the Suburban Correspondent, I invested in some A Beka for the basics, such as spelling and arithmetic. The Boy is doing grade 4 spelling and grade 3 arithmetic. The Girl is doing grade 3 spelling and grade 2 arithmetic. It's working out pretty well. I'm adding in extra materials for clocks, roman numerals, etc., and I've done some really fun hands-on for measurement. I'm also using Addition the Fun Way for The Girl, and she's through the 5's already!
Their handwriting is atrocious, but improving. I'm still doing Handwriting without Tears "Printing Power" with both of them. (I love, LOVE, LOVE their double-line paper!) The Boy is almost finished with it and ready to move on to Zaner-Bloser second-grade cursive next. I know he worked through most of it last year in school, but I can't see how! He just now learned to hold the pencil correctly and "bounce" the r, n, and m. He resisted the change for quite a while, but he's starting to see that making the letters correctly is both neater and faster. The Girl will require another pass through Handwriting without Tears. She's just all over the map! My latest ploy -- instead of saying "bump the lines", I say "kiss the lines!" She likes it better, but she still runs all over the lines anyway.
Let's see... Oh and some journal writing. Nothing profound yet, just getting them used to not hating it. ;) What I'm loving is the journal I found at Office Depot with the Zaner-Bloser lines on the lower half of the page!
We're just working our way through the McGraw-Hill 3rd grade Science book for now. They cover "Living Things" first, so I have a "let's go visit Auntie in the mountains to see the colored leaves" field trip planned. Heh, heh, heh. I love this job!
Our state standards have the kids hitting all major ancient civilizations in five months. Hmm. I think maybe not. I'm doing my best to help them tell the difference between Mesopotamia and Narnia, and we'll see what happens. I tried quite a few nice books on ancient civilizations, but most are geared for 5th grade or so, when kids develop a better sense of time and history. We've done quite a bit of time-lining, so I think they understand "a long, long time ago". For now, we're using those resources, plus the Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Stone Age Boy and History Pockets for the Ancient World. (That second one is The Girl's favorite book right now. I know WAY too much about the Stone Age.) The Boy has developed a phobia of mummies, so Egypt has been replaced with Mesopotamia for now. He particularly likes the "You wouldn't want..." series of history books! There's plenty of material to work with -- Sumerian slaves, Assyrian soldiers, etc.
Let's see, that's handwriting, spelling, journals, arithmetic, science, history. That leaves reading. We're just reading for now. Actually, I'm reading to them. I started out reading Elmer and the Dragon, which they both enjoyed, but The Girl tended to ignore sometimes. I separated them, and now The Boy is reading some Series of Unfortunate Events and Goosebumps, while The Girl is reading advanced picture books. I try to work in as much non-fiction as I can for her, just to get in a little more science and history!
Notice what I've left out? Yup. The deadly reading comprehension. *sigh* The Boy is very resistant to answering questions on what will happen next, what the characters are thinking, what the author is trying to tell us, etc. He absolutely hates it. And the Girl just looks blankly at me. So for now, we're letting it go. We stop and talk about what's going on in the book and what might happen next. I pause to preach the author's message. I admire the nuances of the text and use of vivid language. I gasp in horror when The Blob that Ate Everyone, well, tries to eat everyone. We have plenty of time to get around to the misery-making later in the school year. I know I should shove an "author's intent" worksheet at them every now and then, but I just don't have the heart. Maybe second semester.
So, that's what's shaking. I find the best resource I have is my HP Officejet printer/copier/fax. I can't imagine living without it! I know I'm supposed to buy six copies of Handwriting Without Tears Printing Power, but give me a break -- two copies are enough for my budget! The History Pockets just assume I have a copier. Now, I just need a cheap source for ink.
Oh, and I decided not to join the homeschool support group. It's a long story, but I don't think we'll go to any of the events, I don't particularly agree with their religion or politics. But I do need someone to show me a third grade portfolio pretty soon. Hmm. Must do more digging.
2 comments:
Time for true confessions: I don't work on handwriting until the later grades, particularly for boys. It was too painful. And reading comprehension questions? At that age? Fuhgeddaboutit. Just let them enjoy.
My 2 oldest were allergic to "fact" books. Historical fiction was a lifesaver.
Don't we get to hear about the homeschooling group?
I love historical fiction, too. And mine are still young enough to like arts and crafts stuff. Color-n-cut-n-paste the pop-up Ziggurat! Tie drinking straws together to make a papyrus boat! (Float it down the Nile; sail it back up.) Yayyyy.
Jeez. No reading comprehension at all? It seems like 2nd grade was our introduction to "How was the author feeeeeling when he wrote this?" "Why did the author write this?" (Because misery likes company?)
The homeschooling group. Hm. Mostly, I felt disconnected apathy. More tomorrow on that.
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