1850MOD: Week 4

Well, to be honest, I didn't post about this week because this last Monday was one of my worst days ever as a mother and homeschooler. The little school around the corner was highly appealing, and I didn't want to have a pity party on my blog, so I decided to cool off before posting.

We are enjoying the Bible lessons. It is mostly me explaining, but sometimes the kids jump in. We don't always answer the Young Person's Guide to Knowing God questions out loud, but I can tell it is making us think. And Rabbit is asking me hard questions like, "How do I grow up to be a godly woman?"

Spelling has been a struggle for Pooh. A combination of writing neat and then not hearing the words right gives him trouble, but as the week has progressed, he is getting better. Tigger keeps bounding along. Rabbit is doing pretty well in her spelling book, and I noticed in her writing she is trying harder words (but usually spells them wrong).

For the English lessons for Tigger and Pooh, I made little worksheets for them to fill out. Pooh complained, but did his. Tigger was glad to get something done quickly. Rabbit did okay with Capitalization. I was trying to figure out how to grade her page. She got all the things that needed to be capitalized right, but she also added 2 more things that didn't need to be capitalized. They are wrong, but how many total possible do you count?

Both Tigger and Pooh finished a reader this week. Rabbit is still working on the Progeny Press guide for Bronze Bow. We've been doing much of it orally. I do have her write down the vocabulary words and such. The boys got their T-n-T handbooks this week, and so have started working on them. I need to make time to go over their verses with them and make sure they are understanding the sections.

The boys learned how to borrow this week. I really need to add in subtraction math facts, but I'm not sure when/how. Math facts just don't seem to stick in Pooh's head. Tigger usually gets them after a while of just solving problems. I get frustrated trying to squeeze more into the day. They are already using xtramath and MathBlaster to drill math facts on their own.

I'm managing to squeeze history in with Rabbit before lunch, but sometimes that means the regular science doesn't get done, and then I forget to do it later (that and God and the History of Art book). The boys get their read aloud at bedtime, but have enjoyed the pages in the U.S. Facts and Fun book.

Speaking of read alouds, we are behind on Courage to Run because I misplaced it. I did find it, but we're now about two days behind. Not sure how to squeeze them in.

I also feel like I'm going to need to spend a little time on Saturdays with Rabbit. There is some new vocabulary in Saxon that she needs to learn, and she needs to spend a little time studying for Science. Plus, I find it hard to squeeze Writing Strands in during the week. 

I've been rearranging the days the last two weeks and making the light day be on Wednesday. I really wish I didn't have to switch days around like that and that it would just fall on Wednesday. Oh well.

It hasn't been bad after that horrible Monday, but I do wish things would get easier for my dyslexic kids.

1850MOD Week 3 Day 5

Today I was very glad we had switched from Math-U-See to Singapore Math. Not that Math-U-See is a bad program. But, today had to be our light day because of all the outside activities. I was about to start Math with the boys, and asked Rabbit what she was doing. She said she was doing her math. I was quite surprised, and she said, "Yeah, Mom. It's perimeter. I know how to do that!" And we had done a ton of perimeter problems in Singapore Math the last few years. So, I worked with the boys - the were learning regrouping in Subtraction problems. I would say we only got about 1/2 way through the lesson in 45 minutes. Then Rabbit asked for some help, so I told the boys they could take a short break while I worked with her. She had two problems she needed help on, and then we went back and checked her work - she had only missed 2. I am so proud of her.

So, we basically only did Bible (worked on our verse, and read and listened to our hymn), Spelling, Math Drill, Reading, studying AWANA verses, Math, and played State Rummy. They all had P.E. today, and Rabbit had worship dance. Plus, we spent time at the libraries today. They always spend a good hour or more reading on the days we go to the library.

I don't think we'll be doing school tomorrow - we have some things coming up that I need to prep for. So, our days will still not line up so the light day falls on Wednesday yet, but eventually it will.

1850MOD Week 4 Day 1

Not bad, considering we started late... We finished by 2:15!

We got started 15 minutes later than my intended start, and then reading about David Livingstone took longer than expected. No problem, though. Then we did our regular routine through the morning. It was funny, when we got to Math and Handwriting time, Pooh wanted to do Handwriting first, and Tigger wanted to do Math first. Since it was a Practice page from the text book, it wasn't a problem. Tigger took his math notebook and went outside (I wrote all the addition problems down last night, and then copied the page from the textbook so they could work the word problems on their own). Pooh did his Handwriting and then started on Math. Eventually Tigger needed some help, so I went out and helped him on the last 3 word problems. He only missed 2 of all the problems. Then I showed him how to write his letter for Handwriting Without Tears, and made sure he could do it correctly and he went back outside to work. (We have a picnic table he can work at.) Pooh plugged away, and then I helped him on his word problems too. He only missed one problem. The amazing thing was, I expected that Pooh would take way longer to do his math, but he was done in about 5 minutes after Tigger came in with his handwriting book. 

We did the U.S. Facts and Fun book - I read the story, and then they answered the questions themselves. They did book basket while Rabbit and I read our History. Over the weekend, I went through the T.M. and wrote the disc numbers and track numbers from the Story of the World on CD so I can find those faster. Rabbit did a great job answering the Review Questions and the Outline. She's picking this up quickly. We didn't do the science project, but we did read it. I could see 4th and 5th graders doing that one, but not so sure about 6th - 8th graders.

After lunch I had the kids watch a video on Florence Nightingale that was listed in the Book Basket list - it's due back tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure they had watched it. Then Rabbit and I did math and I checked her Reading, Spelling and English. She did her science this morning (there were no experiments), and I had a short moment where I could go over the On Your Own questions with her.

They all finished piano after Rabbit was done with math, and the boys did some time on the typing software, too.

Overall, a good day. (Well, except the boys lost Wii privileges.)

1850MOD Week 3, Day 4

So I'm not always great about keeping up. 

The main thing from today is the Capillary Action experiment. We set it up like it said, but we didn't see any Capillary Action right away, and the book didn't say how long it would take for it to work. So, we left it on the counter and went on to other things. Later that afternoon I checked it again, and there was red stain on the paper towel. So, if you do that experiment you might have to give it quite a bit of time to see the results. I wish the book would have been more clear on that one.

For the history portion, we still have yet to do any of the Story of the World Activity Book projects. I realize the T.M. says they're optional, but am I short changing Rabbit by not doing any. We read through them, but that's about it.

Looking back at my T.M. I realize that we didn't do our God and the History of Art lesson. Oops!

Everything else for the day went as usual.

For this next week, things are going to be weird. I'm actually going to do Week 4 Day 1 on Tuesday (we took Memorial Day off), and then do Week 3 Day 5 on Wednesday. This week we start P.E. and Worship Dance, and so we really must be done by 11:00am on Wednesday in order to eat lunch, pack up our books and head out. Also, I may not get to school on Thursday, depending on some other things going on, and will definitely not do school Friday. I really need those light days to be on Wednesday. I may need to do some juggling to make stuff work this year.

1850MOD: Week 3 Days 2 & 3

Trying not to be a slacker in keeping up with the blog.

Let's see, yesterday went pretty well. I think the new order is working okay, except for Rabbit's down time.

So we start with Bible, and I'm really enjoying the Young Person's Guide to Knowing God. For the copywork, Rabbit and Tigger have the verse on the top half of the page, and the lower half is lines for them to write. I expect Rabbit to do it completely in cursive. Tigger will do words where he knows all the letters in cursive. For Pooh, I have the verse in gray (done with StartWrite software) for him to trace. On dictation day, I expect Rabbit to be able to completely write the verse from dictation. For Tigger and Pooh, I give them papers with the harder words filled in and space to write the rest of it. Tigger knows more words, so he has less words filled in. Pooh only has to write the simple words and trace the filled in words.

Rabbit is pretty consistent about getting her independent work done. She even does typing. I do try to find time to check her English and Spelling. I usually get Spelling done with the boys before morning snack, but not always English - which puts us about 20 minutes behind where I'd really like to be. English usually doesn't take us the full 10 minutes each, but the other boy is usually working on Rosetta Stone, so sometimes we take the full 10 minutes so they can finish their Rosetta Stone lesson. 

Reading time is going well. I only schedule 10 minutes for the boys to each read to me. Usually though there is only a half page left to finish the story so we go a little over. I count their Book Basket time as reading, too, at this age.

It is Math that usually takes so long. They've been learning about regrouping (carrying) this week. Tigger picked it up, but Pooh has to use manipulatives to see it. In order to keep him on task I have to sit by him while he does his math book. I was really hoping to use that time to look over Rabbit's stuff. I'm hoping as he gets those math facts better, he'll pick up speed. Handwriting usually doesn't take them too long. 

For History, I've been doing the U.S. Facts and Fun first with the boys, then we did the President sheet. Then I do the advanced History. So far we've not done any of the projects in the Activity Book. The outlines are a little bit tricky, so I'm glad we have the answers. 

Yesterday we read the science for the boys, but the T.M. said the experiment didn't work well and to skip it. And we just talked about what a family tree is and how the boys inherited different traits from me and Dad. 

After lunch we finished up Art (just reading the lesson, not doing it). The boys did book basket while Rabbit did Math yesterday, today they did it while we had History. Yesterday Rabbit had a math test and scored an 85% - much better. My husband said to be a little easier on Rabbit on her math tests, so if she did things like forget to put decimal points or reduce a fraction, I would let her go back and fix them. I wouldn't tell her what the problem was, I would just say, "I think you forgot something here," and then let her see if she could figure it out. I think the fact that I copied it onto graph paper for her really helped that go better. Then today she had a science test and scored a 91%.

Since Rabbit did her science test this morning during her independent time, we had time to work on the Progeny Press stuff and Writing Strands. We finished by 2:00! That is great for us.

1850MOD: Week 3, Day 1

Well, we did it. We added in Story of the World, and it went fine. The boys didn't take as long as usual in Math (there was no textbook time, and just 2 pages in the workbook), so that helped. Plus, we got Bible done in a reasonable amount of time, except I forgot to have the kids work on the memory verse for the week - so we did it during English time. 

The boys seemed to enjoy doing the U.S. Facts and Fun books. They each have one. I read the passage, and then they answered the questions. Tigger filled in the blanks by himself. I wrote for Pooh.

Then they did book basket while I did History with Rabbit. The boys could have sat in on today's history, but I'm fine with them not doing so. I had typed up the review questions, but I think I won't do that next week. Rabbit did pretty well answering those. The outline was okay. I'm not sure I 100% agree with how that first outline was written, so I'm sure glad I have the answers to make sure we're going in the right direction. It was already well past noon once we got the map and timeline done, so we didn't do the activity. We did read through it. I'm guessing Rabbit might not do as much of those.

This afternoon I did Math and Science with Rabbit. Today's lesson seemed to have a lot more practice problems. Tomorrow she has a test. I copied the problems onto graph paper, so she has room to work them and won't have to copy from the test page to her paper (that is where some of her mistakes come in). In Science we finished up the module reading and went ahead and finished in the study guide. Then I had her go through the flashcard website to do some studying. I'm wondering if I should rework this week's test into a multiple choice. Writing is such a challenge for her.

While folding laundry after school, I watched a little more of Indoctrination. It made me wonder if Rabbit will really be ready for college in 6 years. I question if I'm preparing her in the right way by making accommodations for her dyslexia. It's not that she is "unmotivated," as some people implied in the movie. (One teacher was talking about how the students are given learning disability labels like "non-reader" so the teacher must accommodate the student to help them pass.) It really is very hard for her and things that should take someone 10 minutes take her 45. I can see she works hard. But, I'm going to keep watching the movie and keep on homeschooling as long as God allows.

1850MOD: Week 2 Day 5

You would think a lighter day would take less time! Not in this house.

We started with Bible time. Basically, on Light & Independent day we listen to the hymn and pray for Bible time. Then, I decided to do History since I had everyone's attention. So, we added Alaska and Hawaii and did the post-test. Rabbit got a 100%! She only got 29 right on the pre-test. Tigger got 46 out of 50, after only knowing 4 states at the beginning. Pooh got 38 out of 50, knowing 11 states at the beginning. I'm thinking about putting the CD in the car and just listening to it whenever they're all in there to nail down those states just a little more. But, that's awesome improvement.

Math took a VERY long time today with the boys. It was introducing carrying. Pooh could do it if he had blocks, but he struggled otherwise. Tigger eventually got it. Sigh. I wish math wasn't taking so long.

The boys got their Start Zone's last night for AWANA, so I recorded their verses onto their mp3 players so they can listen and follow along. So, that's been added into things. 

Rabbit still had Math and Science today. Math only took us 45 minutes! And we spent about 45 minutes on Science. The reading was not that long, but we decided to start reviewing for the test a little bit. Still need to figure out how to work in Writing Strands. Sigh.

It was a good day. The boys still dawdle some at transitions. I know we'll get there as we keep working at it.