This past Monday, we started up with our full load for this school year. I had already started the full load with my younger two a couple weeks ago. But now we're doing the full load with my 4th grader too. And it has been a difficult week. Is it only Wednesday still?
I have 2 rather resistant students - my youngest and my oldest. They both would really rather just play. We have had a number of talks these past few days, about the rules for when we're doing school (like no electronics, no talking or sound effects while I'm reading aloud, no pestering me with questions about what time we eat lunch while I'm in the middle of a lesson with another child, etc.), about the value of education, about the value of persistence, about obeying your parents....
My youngest is having adjustment issues since this is his first year of homeschooling. He went to preschool 3 days a week last year (and loved it), but has been very insistent that he wants to be homeschooled for kindergarten. I'm not sure he understood that this involves doing actual work at home, and not just perpetual playtime. We are mostly working on learning to read this year, but he struggles with blending. I've tried (over the summer and up til now) All About Reading (not quite ready for level 1, I don't think), and A Beka (not sure the consonant-vowel blend ladders are as intuitive as word families for him), and now we're taking a break and trying Reading Eggs, with him sitting on my lap in front of the computer as he does the lessons. He is ok with this, though not too happy. We'll see. The only other main things I'm doing with him are math (using MathSeeds for that right now, again sitting on my lap), and Sonlight Core A for Bible/literature/history/science. He likes the Sonlight stuff best, and it only takes 15-20 minutes, but he still has to be scolded almost every time for playing (noisily) with his toys while I read. His full load is not that long - maybe an hour altogether - so hopefully he'll settle into it soon. Once reading starts to "click," I think it will be better too.
My oldest is having adjustment issues since 4th grade is requiring a bit more work than 3rd grade. I'm trying to push things a bit more this year. She's way ahead in reading ability, history, science - but still struggles with handwriting, writing, spelling, and math. So, that's the work she resists doing, of course. In the past, I have let her drop some things that she struggled with, thinking that at her grade level, it wasn't that much of a big deal. But this year, I'm not planning on letting her drop much at all. So, our days are rather long (due to all the scolding and "pep talks" I'm having to give, and having to re-do some things when she wasn't paying attention). But I am hopeful that once we get into the schedule a few more days, she will get used to it, and things will go more smoothly. Today was already quite a bit better.
So, it's been a tough few days, but we're still going, despite my threats of packing them off to "big school." My middle child is my inspiration. She is eager, happy, and determined to do whatever I ask her to do. She loves worksheets, she loves reading, she loves math - she just loves school. She is a joy to teach. Of course, she's not perfect either, but she is an encouragement. And the other two have their moments of teaching joy too - my youngest's giggles of happiness when he recognizes a rhyme, and my oldest's amazing inventions she comes up with, with intricate detail and surprising links to what we've been studying (when I didn't think she was listening).
Your new school year may be starting out tough too, but try to find the high points, no matter how rare. It will get better. Just keep at it.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Curriculum Update for the New Year
I just updated my curriculum page for this coming school year. We actually started most of it this past week, so I figured I should really update this page! Either click on "Curriculum Choices" up above, or click here to see the page.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Sonlight for real!
I have been using Sonlight material, to some extent, since my oldest started 1st grade - so, for 3 years now. But we haven't actually bought a full core until now.
For 1st grade, I bought a used Core A instructor guide, to see how we liked it. We were using BJU Distance Learning videos for 1st grade also, so we just did the history/geography/missionary readings, and not any of the language arts or Bible parts. I discovered that the read-alouds were really fun for the kids, and that Rebekah learned the most through that style of learning (rather than textbooks or workbooks or even videos).
I debated our future plans quite a bit, considering combining Sonlight with BJU videos (which we eventually decided to not use, mostly due to worldview differences, plus they took too long and did not take advantage of the one-on-one instruction that my oldest does best with). For 2nd grade, I finally just bought many of the Sonlight Core B history books listed on their webpage, and we just read through them at our own pace. Again, this worked really well. For English, we ended up trying a variety of things - CLE (which she hated- though she loved CLE math), various workbooks (done orally mostly), Writing with Ease, Wordly Wise, Sequential Spelling, and the Sonlight Grade 2 readers, which I just bought separately and had her read as she wanted. The only thing she loved and did well with? The Sonlight readers. At this point, I began to come to terms with the fact that the Charlotte-Mason method of language arts was really the best fit for Rebekah, and that she really was learning without all the grammar drill and details. At least at this age.
For 3rd grade, we continued with our "relaxed" history method of buying the Sonlight Core C books separately, and just reading them at our own pace. For English, we started out with Rod & Staff, and made it through 3/5ths of the book before burning out and switching back to a Charlotte-Mason method. I should have known. Despite various workbooks I used for grammar, Rebekah just never really liked them, and, due to her stubborn personality, she never learned from them. But I let her read Sonlight books as much as she wanted, and her reading ability soared. Her test results this year showed her to have a 6th grade reading level (91st percentile in her grade). She finished all the Grade 3 Sonlight readers early, and I bought the Grade 4-5 readers - which she has now finished also. She's also writing more on her own now, without any prompting on my part, though that area does still need more work. Oh, and her "social studies" test scores? Her grade equivalent was 7.8 (eighth month of 7th grade), and she scored in the 99th percentile.
So, for 4th grade? I bought Sonlight Core D in its entirety. It's just simpler this way! For 2nd and 3rd grade, I'm still happy we did them the way we did, at least for history. At those grade levels, we didn't really need the full structure of the instructor guide, and I think the language arts wouldn't have been a good fit for her, especially as far as writing ability goes. Maybe it would have, I don't know. But it's worked out fine. We will use Sonlight Core D for Bible, history/geography, and language arts this coming year. And we are both very excited!
For my younger two, I plan to use our old Sonlight Core A schedule again. It's been long enough that I am looking forward to reading those books aloud again! Ryan will be in kindergarten, and Reanna is somewhere between 1st and 2nd grade, so I think Core A will be good for them. (I'll write about English plans for them later.) For the next two years, I'm not sure yet if I'll just read through the Core B and C books like I did with Rebekah, or if I'll break down and get an instructor guide. My guess right now is that I won't, since I've already been through those books once and have a good grasp of what discussions to have. But starting with Core D, we are going all out, and doing the whole thing! Sonlight for real!
For 1st grade, I bought a used Core A instructor guide, to see how we liked it. We were using BJU Distance Learning videos for 1st grade also, so we just did the history/geography/missionary readings, and not any of the language arts or Bible parts. I discovered that the read-alouds were really fun for the kids, and that Rebekah learned the most through that style of learning (rather than textbooks or workbooks or even videos).
I debated our future plans quite a bit, considering combining Sonlight with BJU videos (which we eventually decided to not use, mostly due to worldview differences, plus they took too long and did not take advantage of the one-on-one instruction that my oldest does best with). For 2nd grade, I finally just bought many of the Sonlight Core B history books listed on their webpage, and we just read through them at our own pace. Again, this worked really well. For English, we ended up trying a variety of things - CLE (which she hated- though she loved CLE math), various workbooks (done orally mostly), Writing with Ease, Wordly Wise, Sequential Spelling, and the Sonlight Grade 2 readers, which I just bought separately and had her read as she wanted. The only thing she loved and did well with? The Sonlight readers. At this point, I began to come to terms with the fact that the Charlotte-Mason method of language arts was really the best fit for Rebekah, and that she really was learning without all the grammar drill and details. At least at this age.
For 3rd grade, we continued with our "relaxed" history method of buying the Sonlight Core C books separately, and just reading them at our own pace. For English, we started out with Rod & Staff, and made it through 3/5ths of the book before burning out and switching back to a Charlotte-Mason method. I should have known. Despite various workbooks I used for grammar, Rebekah just never really liked them, and, due to her stubborn personality, she never learned from them. But I let her read Sonlight books as much as she wanted, and her reading ability soared. Her test results this year showed her to have a 6th grade reading level (91st percentile in her grade). She finished all the Grade 3 Sonlight readers early, and I bought the Grade 4-5 readers - which she has now finished also. She's also writing more on her own now, without any prompting on my part, though that area does still need more work. Oh, and her "social studies" test scores? Her grade equivalent was 7.8 (eighth month of 7th grade), and she scored in the 99th percentile.
So, for 4th grade? I bought Sonlight Core D in its entirety. It's just simpler this way! For 2nd and 3rd grade, I'm still happy we did them the way we did, at least for history. At those grade levels, we didn't really need the full structure of the instructor guide, and I think the language arts wouldn't have been a good fit for her, especially as far as writing ability goes. Maybe it would have, I don't know. But it's worked out fine. We will use Sonlight Core D for Bible, history/geography, and language arts this coming year. And we are both very excited!
For my younger two, I plan to use our old Sonlight Core A schedule again. It's been long enough that I am looking forward to reading those books aloud again! Ryan will be in kindergarten, and Reanna is somewhere between 1st and 2nd grade, so I think Core A will be good for them. (I'll write about English plans for them later.) For the next two years, I'm not sure yet if I'll just read through the Core B and C books like I did with Rebekah, or if I'll break down and get an instructor guide. My guess right now is that I won't, since I've already been through those books once and have a good grasp of what discussions to have. But starting with Core D, we are going all out, and doing the whole thing! Sonlight for real!
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