Video Lessons for Early Elementary

I wrote earlier (here) that I was planning on not using BJU video classes next year, mainly because of disagreeing with some of their worldview. I wanted to add my impressions of the video format in general though. We all really loved having the videos at first. It was new, fun, and my daughter loved being able to do it all on her own (without me telling her what to do, in particular).

After a few months (or maybe less), she began to grow tired of it, though. We weren't doing all the 1st grade level classes (not science, and not history, except a few lessons here and there just for fun), but even so, it made for a long day for a 1st grader. As time went on, I found that I had to be present, sitting right next to her, more and more of the time to make sure she responded to the teacher's questions, paused the program if needed, and didn't just sit there waiting to hear the answer. The type of responses I'm talking about is pronouncing new phonemes, word lists, math fact drills, and things like that. I can understand just thinking of the answers to comprehension questions in her head, but for phonics, she really needed to say the words out loud to learn the vowel sounds, digraphs, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn't be there all the time to sit through the videos with her, since they took a good 3-4 hours a day, at a minimum, and I had 2 other smaller children to take care of. At times, I would come by to check on her, and find her sitting on the other side of the room playing with her toys while the video ran on! Maybe she still heard some of it, but I know it wasn't as much as I wanted her to hear. I discovered that when the work got difficult for her, she tended to tune out, and just quit trying. If she can't do something perfectly, she doesn't like to even try (such a perfectionist!). Her inability to consistently and correctly identify vowel sounds (long vs. short, for example) showed me that she really needed to focus on this more.

We've been working on it more, lately, and I've been sitting in on the phonics portions more, but this has just shown me that video lessons, without any enforced interaction, is not always the best option for younger students. For older students, I would say that their attitude needs to be adjusted, and they should be expected to pay better attention. But for younger students, they are still learning how to learn, and how to behave properly and be responsible for themselves, and the learning itself should be emphasized more than study skills at this critical time. Responsibility is a whole other topic, and is still very much a work in progress at this age.

My middle child has also been doing some video lessons. She likes them, and begs to do them sometimes - but then gets tired of them halfway through and wanders off. She's still a bit too young for such long lessons. So I split them up some, and teach some on my own. But overall, I'm thinking she will definitely do better, in the long run, with direct teaching too, and not the videos. I am realizing that, for her, the videos actually move too slow. She catches on really fast, and is able to move much faster than the videos teach.

Some young students will do very well with video lessons, I'm sure, but not all. I think online/software lessons, which require interaction to move forward, might be a better choice for children like my oldest daughter. But what is even better for her, I'm finding, is direct interaction with me. I could still use the videos and then reinforce or reteach what she needs more work on, but it's much more efficient and effective to just do the teaching myself in the first place. I've been teaching more and more of her classes myself, directly from the teacher's editions, instead of using the videos, and she is learning much better, and the lessons take less time. The video lessons have great amenities (skits, images, audio clips, skilled teachers, etc.), but they are not customized for your student. The video doesn't stop to wait for replies, or focus on just the area your child needs extra work. Just like a real classroom - the video is geared toward the average student (perhaps slightly above average, in the case of BJU videos, but still geared toward one particular level of student). Homeschooling, on the other hand, can let you tailor the teaching specifically to your child.

I hate to be so critical of the videos, since they were so wonderful for us at first. Watching those teachers has really helped me learn to teach better. Having video teachers really lessened the burden on me, too, at a time when I was getting burned out by the neediness of my younger children, the realization of what homeschooling was really going to be like, and by the resistance of my oldest to my (admittedly poor) teaching methods.

But now, my oldest can read sufficiently well to read many of her lessons on her own, which will go a long way toward satisfying her need for independence. My younger children are older now, can play quietly on their own for longer amounts of time, and require less of my continual presence. And I have learned a lot about teaching, child psychology, curriculum, and other things. I am excited about the curriculum we are planning to use for next year! More on that later....

Baptism

My firstborn, Rebekah, was baptized today! She became a Christian last year, when she asked Jesus to forgive her sins, and to come into her heart, promising to follow Him. She went forward at the end of the service at our church, to tell the pastor and the congregation. However, being only 5, she was a little too nervous to declare her belief very loudly, and while she became a member of the church that day, we decided to wait on baptism for a while. We, and the pastor, talked with her quite a bit, and were convinced that she understood enough to have made her decision. But we told her she could wait until whenever she felt comfortable enough to be baptized. (She is also afraid of being under water, so we figured it would go more smoothly when she was older.)

She had talked and talked about waiting until she turned 7 (which isn't until July), but last month, after another person was baptized, Rebekah told us that she was ready. My in-laws were planning a visit in a few weeks, so we decided that weekend would be a perfect time for it. We met with the pastor, visited the baptismal, practiced at home, and so this morning, Rebekah was baptized. She was nervous, but was very brave, and was so excited afterwards that she couldn't stop talking and hugging everyone she met!

It has been a nervous week this past week, though. My dad had to make a trip to the emergency room last Monday night, and was admitted to the hospital for 2 days. They think he had a TIA (or "mini-stroke"), but he recovered very quickly, and was able to come to our church today for the baptism. They changed my dad's medication again, so hopefully he won't have any more episodes like this one.

My in-laws will be here this whole week, and they will be keeping my 2 little ones under control while I give Rebekah her first standardized test - the IOWA 1st grade level test. Homeschoolers are not required to give standardized tests here in Texas, but I wanted to anyway, for my own knowledge. We'll see how she's doing, after almost 2 years of school, 1.5 of those being homeschooled. I have a feeling she's going to do great!

Online Preschool Games

We've been trying out some online fun stuff lately, mostly for my younger two, though my 6-year-old has been enjoying them just as much. First, I went ahead and subscribed for the year to More Starfall, which is an extension of the free Starfall website. For $35/year, you get a lot more math, and some additional phonics and books and nursery rhymes and other neat things, for up to 3 simultaneous users.

The kids have loved it! My 4-year-old was doing all the addition games, and she absolutely loved the geometry - shapes and symmetry and puzzles. I have discovered that she really has a good eye for geometrical design.  And my 3-year-old has been equally fascinated by the site (he has just recently - finally - made the connection that the mouse controls the cursor on the screen, so he is so eager to try out everything he can on the computer now). In fact, the other day he started running around the house counting to 6 over and over again at the top of his lungs! This is my boy who, though I suspect he has known many of his letters and numbers for a year now, has refused to recite them to me out loud. And my 6-year-old also has found things to challenge her on the site.

So More Starfall is definitely a success.

We also signed up for a 1-month free trial for ABCMouse. This is mostly for preschoolers, as my 6-year-old finds even the highest level a little too easy. She still likes playing it though, as do the other 2. What they mostly like, though, is spending their tickets and playing with their hamsters. The way ABCMouse works is that for each activity the student completes, they get a certain amount of tickets, which they can then use to go shopping. The more tickets they have, the better things they can get (yes, just like real money). I think my kids aren't too enthused about many of the activities, but they really like spending their tickets. The songs in the music activities are too long for their attention spans, usually. They do like the puzzles and the coloring activities, but they are a bit repetitive. Most of the time, I find my 4-year-old sitting there staring at her hamsters as they roam through her extensive collection of tubes and cages. She has "bought" more tubes than she has room for on the screen, but she keeps buying more! They also try to con me into doing activities for them, to earn them more tickets for a particular item.

One of the issues I have with the program is that the kids can switch users too easily, and they end up playing as their brother or sister without permission, messing up their sequence of activities. Also, they can change their own level, instead of staying on the path for their age and ability. I've even gotten 2 emails trying to confirm I wanted to change my password since somehow, one of the kids ended up trying to sign in as me!

So I probably won't continue using ABCMouse after the trial period. I think the kids learn more on Starfall, and they've stopped using that since they prefer playing with their hamsters! What I wish is that I could find a similar hamster game (for free, preferably, or else for just a 1-time price) that lets them try out different cage configurations without all the tickets. Then that could be their reward after a certain amount of time playing Starfall or doing other school work!