1850MOD - We're Finished

Well, we've been "finished" for a while. Our state only requires 172 days. When we hit that, we're done! 

I did want Rabbit to at least hear all the history (the boys will get it again in 5 years), so we buckled down one day and spent 2.5 hours listening to and reading the last week of history. She has also listened to the rest of her General Science book. We are still working on Saxon 8/7. We usually only get to about 4 days a week of that. I have finally gotten her to use a calculator: I got a Calculator app for my iPad. She loves the big buttons, she can change the skins, and we can check the history to find her mistakes. 

I didn't worry about the boys finishing the 2nd/3rd grade supplement stuff. They finished Singapore 2B recently and we started on 3A this last week. I've been able to teach them their lesson and then work with Rabbit while they do the workbook. They can then come to me when they have questions. That has worked pretty well. 

We've just been doing Spelling, Math and trips to the library this summer. My plan is to start ECC on August 5. I've upgraded to the 2nd edition and Rabbit will be doing the 7th/8th grade supplement. I've been trying to figure out a schedule/routine for the fall, but I keep feeling overwhelmed with it all. I'm sure it will come together soon, but right now it's AAAAHHHH!

Seeing the Accomplishments

Sometimes we forget to really look at all we and our kids are accomplishing in our homeschool days. Take yesterday, for example. Rabbit really struggled through her hour of math. She was really frustrated by the end of it. She said, "Mom, I feel like my brain has melted." But, last night, I was thinking about how much math she did in that hour, and it was amazing! She had two problems to finish from lesson 86. Then she did the practice test for lesson 87, which was 12 problems. We worked through the two example problems in lesson 87, did the 8 practice problems, and 10 of the problem set problems. That was 34 math problems! My dyslexic Rabbit did 34 math problems in an hour, plus learning the new concept in lesson 87.

I could look at it as we have 2 weeks of school left, and we're only on lesson 87 out of 120. But, even at our current pace of 2 to 2.5 days to complete a lesson, we'll have finished 75% of the book in a school year. Not bad! And we'll continue through the summer. 

I look at Rabbit and see a young lady who is a hard worker, tries hard, has a good attitude (most of the time), and is growing spiritually. What more could I ask for? Those are the important things, not whether we finish a math book in a school year.

So, in spite of days where things look bleak, really try to see what you have accomplished for the year, not what you haven't finished. 

1850MOD: Week 28

Here we are on week 28... We have about 4 weeks left to get our official school days count in. I really need to blog more often.

Let's start with Bible. We loved Tales from Persia. On AWANA missionary night, the missionary who spoke was someone who reaches out to Muslims in America. The missionary was asking the kids if they knew what Muslims believed, and because of that book they were able to answer the questions. It was a big surprise to the missionary that any of the kids knew anything about Muslims, but it also confirmed that the book is accurate in their beliefs. Then, my husband took the book to work and gave it to a coworker who is interested in Christianity who comes from a Muslim background. Although the stories are written to appeal to children, I thought the gentle way it presented the concepts of Christianity from a Muslin perspective might help.

Now we're doing the T.H.U.M.B. prayer section and continuing on in A Young Person's Guide to Knowing God. We have good discussions on the topics.

History is interesting. Just Rabbit and I are doing Story of the World. They added the writing from an outline component, which has been challenging, but Rabbit is getting the idea more. I don't always agree with the organization of the outline, though, and that really challenges us sometimes. The boys enjoy the US Facts and Fun book. Most of their history comes from book basket. Tigger has even read one of the American Girl books and enjoyed it.

The boys LOVED the Fun with Magnets kit for the 2nd/3rd grade supplement, and the experiments don't take too long. The World of Science book is sometimes over their heads, but they do like looking at at the pictures while I'm reading it (and some of the computer stuff is a little outdated). The Apologia General Science hasn't been too bad for Rabbit. I have been using the alternate tests from the Yahoo group. We're on module 13, which has lots of terms and things to memorize about the digestive tract, so Rabbit has asked for a couple of extra study days before taking the test.

Math has been Rabbit's nemesis. Here test scores started going down, and after researching it, I realized she needed to be doing all the problems. Since we started doing that, her test scores have gone up. However, it takes 2 to 2 and a half days to do one lesson. We still have quite a few lessons to go. We'll continue over summer. My thought is to try to do an hour in the morning and then an hour in the afternoon to get caught up.

The boys have been doing pretty well with Singapore. Occasionally they struggle with a concept, but they have really gotten it. I wonder if Pooh will ever learn his math facts. I have tried several different methods, and now he is using math Wrap-Ups. Tigger really works hard at it and seems to get them much quicker. It will be a focus this summer.

I am pretty pleased with everyone's progress so far. We'll see how the rest of the year goes.

1850MOD: Week 20

Well, posting once a month is better than not posting at all. Let's see, where should we start?

After struggling with Saxon math with Rabbit, we've decided we're going to limit ourselves to an hour a day. We just pick up where we left off and then continue into our next lesson until our hour is up. I will say this, Facts Practice Test N has really helped Rabbit with her fractions. Sometimes I have wondered about the value of doing the Facts Practice Tests, but this one has carried over into her ability to work the fraction problems in the Mixed Practice.

We're on Module 10 in Science. Not sure if we'll finish the whole book or not by the time we are officially done with our 172 days. She is getting a B in class right now. I have been using some of the alternative tests from the yahoo Apologia group to make our lives a little easier. We are really trying to do the experiments. I even bought some ivy for Lowe's so we could do the experiments.

Rabbit finished the Progeny Press guide for Johnny Tremain today. She did pretty well. We didn't do any of the extra projects at the end. I feel as if she is getting enough writing from Essentials in Writing. She has been continuing on in the Apples spelling book, and I am seeing improvement in her spelling in her writing. The All-in-One English book has presented some challenges for us, but we are making progress though it.

We have just finished reading about World War I, but we are way behind on Sargent York. I did order the CDs from Mantle Ministries, but it feels like he reads a little slow, so I have taken to reading it with a Southern accent. Rabbit did her first writing from an outline today. She didn't do it exactly with paragraphs. But, I tried doing it too, and even I had a hard time working in all the points.  It is hard when you don't exactly agree on the grouping of the outline. For a first time doing such an assignment, it wasn't bad. I expect it to get better as we go on. The boys have been getting their History from the book basket and the second grade supplement books. I'm fine with that as they will repeat all if this in 8th grade.

We are really enjoying Tales from Persia. It is encouraging to read these stories of how God has worked in the Middle East. We are also enjoying the hymn study. I am glad they have the songs on the message board, even if the kids think the singer sounds like an opera singer.

Each if the boys is about halfway through their level in All About Spelling. Tigger is in Level 3 and Pooh is in Level 2. Tigger has started doing a lot more free writing. They are both in the 3rd grade Pathway Readers, with Tigger a book ahead of Pooh. Pooh prefers graphic novels (comics) over regular books, but at least he is reading. Tigger has been reading Star Wars junior novels (not based on the movies). It's not the greatest reading material, but he finished those and is now branching out into some other stuff. It is hard to find good stuff at the library for boys (girls have many more choices, in my opinion). Hank the Cowdog is a bit below Tigger's reading level, but other series seem to be too high. We did find a sports series that he is enjoying, but the characters are middle- and high-school.

Math is going well for the boys. Pooh has a hard time remembering math facts when we do drill, but he completes his math assignments just fine.

1850MOD Week 17

Well, seeing as how I haven't been a good blogger...

Just a quick update. We're on Week 17. We have a pretty good rhythm for things. And overall things are going pretty well. 

Rabbit struggles with Math, and sometimes it is hard to get those science experiments done, but we're getting there. (What do you do with a batch of worms from Walmart, after you're experiment is done and it is too cold to put them out in the garden?) We are doing the Johnny Tremain Progeny Press guide this semester. This time I'm having her write her answers in the book. She does pretty well with that. We decided to switch to Essentials in Writing for writing. I have liked Writing Strands until we got to Level 5. I really feel that Essentials in Writing will prepare her a little better for writing papers in high school. 

Pooh and Tigger finished their Singapore 2A books a couple of weeks ago and are now on 2B. We're reviewing subtraction facts most days. I'm amazed how they can do the mental math. All About Spelling is going really well for Tigger. Pooh struggles with each step at first, but usually by the time we finish all the sentences for a step, he gets the rule we're learning. The boys seem to enjoy the See the USA and U.S. Facts and Fun books. I've added in doing some practice testing (we have to submit standardized test scores this year) once or twice a week. I've also added in some writing exercises on the days we don't have English.

I think my biggest frustration is that we don't get to do hardly any of the activities from Story of the World with Rabbit. There just isn't enough time in the day.

Well, maybe next week I'll start updating weekly. Then again, maybe not! :)

1850MOD: Week 8

We finished up Week 8 today. This week had more times where the boys sat in on the older reading. The boys really like the See the USA and the Fun Facts workbooks. They like to read the paragraph on the one page and then answer the questions on the next. Yesterday there was a question and although the boys couldn't do the math, they recognized that they needed to do multiplication to solve it. I think they like the challenges the books present, but the lessons only take 5 or 10 minutes. This week I've really tried to make sure we play the state games in the teacher's manual. The State Food game was a challenge. There are only so many "n" foods we could come up with: nachos, noodles, nectarines, nuts. The letter "m" was also a challenge. 

The boys are really enjoying the science, too. They love the experiments. We had to be a little creative on yesterday's experiment because we don't have rectangular margarine tubs here. So, I had them find one of their smaller Lego boats. Then we found a couple of rods from their Legos and K'nex blocks. We duct-taped those to the side of the boat, and then made the paddle as suggested in the book. It didn't seem to work as well as the book said, but we did get the paddle to turn and move the boat some.

The history for Rabbit seemed a bit lighter this week - I think because there was no reading on day 2. But that was good, because some of the chapter in Across Five Aprils have been long! We've been listening to the audio book (from the library) at lunch - I highly recommend doing that. I've been reading On the Banks of the Plum Creek to the kids at lunch, too.

We started up multiplication this week. The boys are kind of liking it because it is something new. They are not liking having to memorize the facts, though. I have made several different helps. The first is a multiplication table, with the numbers across the sides and top. The second is a book with each set on a different page. So all the times 1 are on the first page, times 2 on the second, etc. I dug out my multiplication flashcards, and I found some multiplication drill sheets in my Calculadders. I'm not timing the drill sheets yet, but I do think the idea of just writing the answers, even if they are looking at their multiplication table or book for the answers, will help them memorize it. Today Tigger figured out that times 2 just means to double the other number. He knows his addition facts pretty well, so that made the times 2's easy. Not so much on the times 3's.

The last couple of days, Rabbit has listened to her science by herself. She said today she took lots of notes because she found it really interesting. She has also been trying to read through the math lessons on her own and at least attempt them. Today was working with decimal numbers. She said at first she had trouble understanding about where to place the decimal point after multiplying, but then after she copied the problem from the book it finally made sense to her. I'm really proud with how hard she is trying.

We're still having trouble working the Progeny Press guide and Writing Strands into our day. We finally finished a Writing Strands lesson and moved on to the next section in the Progeny Press guide. Not only do the kids need check-lists, but I need one to remind me what I need to work on with her each day.

Over all it's been a good week. Tomorrow we have Presentation Day with our homeschool group. That always messes up the schedule. Plus we have piano lessons. We may end up doubling up some assignments on Friday just so we don't get our days off.

1850MOD: Up to Week 7

We're really in the middle of week 8, but I thought I might get things updated.

Let's see... Bible is going fine. Some weeks the kids do better at memorizing the verse, than others. But, since they are already memorizing for AWANA I don't make it a big deal. Tigger has decided he wants to do all his copywork and dictation in cursive, even though he hasn't learned all the letters. That's fine, it just takes him longer to write in cursive, but he has the neatest handwriting. 

In history we had to learn the capitals. Rabbit and Tigger memorized them all. Pooh got 40 out of 50. I bought the Stack the States game for my iPad and I think that will help Pooh learn his states and capitals a lot better. 

I've been trying to make sure we get in the science for the boys. Pooh really enjoys science and thinks it is fun. We had one experiment (where you put a paper towel between two rulers and stick it in water) that at first we didn't think was working, but we left it for a couple of hours, and when we came back to it, it had worked! I wish the book would have given some indication on how long to wait. 

Most other things are going pretty well. Pooh's reading is gradually improving. At the beginning of the year he was only reading 5 to 6 pages in 10 minutes, and now he is up to 8 or 9 pages. So that's a big improvement. Math is going well with the boys. Tigger seems to have most of his math facts (at least addition) down. I'm not sure Pooh will ever be speedy on his math facts. I have them do xtramath.com and Math Blaster (on my iPad) every day as practice. We start multiplication soon, so I really want them to get these.

I feel bad for Rabbit some days. I'm having a hard time working in going over the Progeny Press guide with her, Writing Strands, and then checking her English and Spelling. And then, when I finally do, I see how many mistakes she's made. It is very hard to do her General Science and the regular science with the program for the boys. Plus, her math takes about 1 hour every day. We're not getting done with the core stuff before lunch, so that makes the days quite long. I keep thinking we'll figure out a better way to do this, but it never seems to work. Sigh.

Oh well, we're plowing along and getting school done. This week we have Presentation Day with our homeschool group, so that is going to mess a bunch of stuff up. Hopefully I will remember to get the kids prepared before Thursday morning.