Abundant Life Christian Academy

2012 School year update

2012-02-03T11:54:00.000-08:00

This year has been a success so far... at least that is what I keep telling myself. We have had to make so many changes to the way we do things with another baby in the house.

Big D is in his very last year of middle school this year, 8th grade! I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that he will be started high school next year! Grace Pie started kindergarten this past summer. Thaniel is doing some fun preschool stuff and chimes along with his sister while we work on our phonics book. Little P, being only just over a year old, either sleeps or plays with blocks while we do school.

We have done Ambleside Online for several years now. I don't know if having another baby in the house and schooling a kinder was what scared me away from it or what, but I left my true schooling love behind. Big D is still doing pieces and parts of AO, but not the full curriculum. With Grace Pie, I totally lost my mind and went all workbook style on her. Poor thing! The school year has not been a bust, but it has been boring.

Big D is doing pretty good. Things didn't change drastically on him since I still stuck with a partial AO schedule. His line up looks like this:
History: The Story of the World 4 book (seems to be liking it fairly well)
Science: Apologia's General Science (also seems to be going well, we LOVE Apologia)
Math: Started with CLE and now back with Life of Fred (Left Life of Fred to go back to workbooks (Christian Light) and that wasn't going so well. He hated math again! So, we are back with LoF and will be completing both of the pre-algebra books before the end of the year.)
Grammar: finishing the last season of Analytical Grammar (I really have liked this curriculum. It is challenging, but very thorough. Once he finishes up in the next week or two, we will begin their Essay class. Writing is an area that we have not put much work into yet, so I want him to take the essay class to prepare him for LOTS of writing next year.)
Reading/Literature: We did start using Christian Light Reading and doing AO's free reading list. (I have mixed feelings on this. Personally, I don't care for it and neither does my son. However, I don't think it is a bad curriculum. It seems to be very well put together, but just very dull if you ask me. The stories are good stories, but after spending 3 years reading challenging classical literature, it just seems like a step back as far as I can tell. The comprehension questions are good, but I just don't love it. I think we would be better off sticking to what we were doing...reading a classic novel and either talking or writing about it. I think I will drop this for the rest of the year. I want him to love reading and I think this takes the joy of it away.)
Bible: working through several young men's devotionals (I have been very pleased with this approach this year at his current age)

Grace Pie's line up looks like this:
Reading/phonics: We started with just Christian Light's Learning to Read curriculum. We have recently added Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. (I like LTR, but don't love it. She, however, likes it and is doing very well with it. We started with it in the summer and she was overwhelmed by it, so we put it up for a few months and got it back out this fall and she is doing so much better. She can read a huge list of words and does really well with sounding out words with short vowel sounds that she hasn't seen before. I LOVE Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We start our school day out doing this book and the kids love the little rhymes and songs.)
Math: Christian Light Math 100 (Here again, I think Christian Light is an outstanding curriculum if you love workbooks. I don't think anyone could say anything different, unless you have a problem with a God centered curriculum. I just don't love workbooks or the drill and kill method, so we will be moving her to Life of Fred elementary books for 1st grade...now that he finally wrote books for the younger years).
Bible: Christian Light Bible 100 (This is one area that I do like in Christian Light, at least for this age group. The workbooks have a little Bible story and then a worksheet activity to go along with it. I do very much like this part of the curriculum).
Language Arts: Christian Light Language Arts 100 (Going against my better judgement, I put her in the full first year curriculum except for science and history. I am not ever fond of LA for a child this young. I don't completely dislike CLE LA, but I think I like what I have done in the past better. So, I will be going back to First Language Lessons next year.)

I completely abandoned the AO

Currently, I am working on next years school line up. I will be posting as soon as I get all of it figured out.

~K

Life of Fred Math

2009-11-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

This is our first year with using Life of Fred as our math curriculum. This is truly the most unique of all math books that I have ever seen! He finished the Fractions book in 10 weeks, doing math 4 days a week. This math is one that Momma doesn't actually teach. The author wrote it for the student, which can be used by adults as well. Yes, it's that entertaining and good!
Big D did really well all the way through the book. However, the last chapter and the final bridge (end of book test) he just wasn't on his game. I e-mailed the author, found in the book, to ask what his thoughts were. He e-mailed back the next day with a bunch of questions. He wanted to see how the book was being taught, self-led or parent taught like he suggests. He asked if all the practice work was being done without looking at the answers. He asked if he was doing the bridges (tests throughout the book) correctly. We have done this book by the book. Big D works independently, does all the practice work without peeking at the answers, and he is to finish two bridges (getting at least 9 correct out of 10) in order to move forward in the book. Since it seemed I was doing everything right to the author he suggested I call him. Yes, call his personal number!
So, I called him. He is one of the nicest folks ever! He is super easy to talk to and very helpful. After looking over my answers to his questions he asked me a few more. After talking to him and the two of us looking at what is going on with Big D and why he bombed just the end of the book, but did great with all the rest of the book he helped me decide how to handle this. For now, rather than pushing or moving him forward when he is clearly not ready, I will be letting it rest. We are putting the book away for a while and moving on to the Key To Measurements books. I will get him to go through those four books for now. Then, when he is finished with those he will do the Fractions book again. We decided there must be something going on with Big D that shut him down. He is really smart, loves math and loves Life of Fred. Most of his mistakes were simple errors that were just laziness and trying to move to fast. However, there were some things that he just plain forgot. Since he is still only in 6th grade, it won't hurt for us to wait a few more months and do it again. No need to rush him, no need to move him on before he is ready, no need to put on the pressure, no need to stress! We will just give it a break and come back to it with a fresh mind.
I write this because I am totally impressed with this author! He really knows kids and he really knows his stuff! It is really unusual to be able to just call an author of a school book to ask them how you should handle their books and issues that occur. The only other book that I have had this kind of experience with is Analytical Grammar.
Even though Big D will need to do this book again, I still believe that this book is by far our best option. Rather than having a textbook that merely teaches how to do the problem or equations and then gives hundreds of problems that look the same for the child to complete, it teaches the math in an engaging way that is fun but also teaches why and when that kind of math would be used. This is something I never got in school. I can't remember how many times I asked the question, "When will I ever use this math in real life”? There is no need for this question when it comes to Life of Fred books. The math is taught as it comes in contact with Fred's daily life!
This book and author have my vote of confidence!

Horray for a new school year!

2009-08-13T13:42:00.001-07:00

Wow, can't believe we are already two weeks into this school year as of tomorrow!

So far, everything is going really great! We are loving our new book line-up! We are still working with Ambleside Online since we had such a great year with it last year. Right now we are working on a few books that are really neat!

Here is a list of books that we are currently working on:
Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream
Poor Richard by James Daugherty
This Country of Ours (we worked on this one some last year too, but just picked up where we left off)
Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley
A Child's Geography: Explore His Earth by Ann Voskamp
It Couldn't Just Happen by Lawrence Richards
Exploring Creation With Botany by Jeannie Fulbright
Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Bambi by Felix Salten
Poetry by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life of Fred: Fractions
Plutarch - Romulus

Big D is absolutely loving the Life of Fred math book! It's so unique and fun that he forgets he is working on math, yet he is still learning!

We both LOVE Voskamp's Explore His Earth!!! This is the best geography I have ever seen. It's so engaging and fun, but it really gets into a kids head (even this big kids head...mine!)! There is a section Reaching Out where it talks about ways we can reach out to other's by showing God's love. During this section you also spend time with your child praying about something specific. There are optional extra reads and optional hands on work.

I read Robinson Crusoe over the summer and really loved it. It was full of adventure and really made me examine my walk with the Lord. Big D is working on it now by himself and seems to be enjoying it as well.

Well, all of the books we are working on this year are extraordinary. We have never felt that one book AO has offered was below our expectations. There have been some books that have been harder to get into at first, but once we got going it captured our imaginations and interests!

This year, especially this fall, is going to be really busy. I have decided, for the first time, to get Big D really involved. So....he is really involved.

Next weekend we have our fall kick off with the homeshcool group. It will be a great time to meet more folks from the homeschool community/group here. We didn't attend the kick off or summer gathering last year. I am really looking forward to it.

We are also doing a homeschool co-op this year, for the first time. We have our Back to school Bash at a park in two weeks. I am assisting the teacher in Big D's class, Science Happens Everywhere during the first hour of classes. During the second hour, I am planning on doing a Bible study that is offered for the mom's. This year's class is about the power of praying wives. Grace Pie will be in the 3-4 year old preschool and Thaniel in the 2 year old class. We will attend the co-op every Friday from 9 am to about 12:45pm. We are all looking forward to this time. I am excited about making some friends, as are the kids.

Big D is also doing a Logic and Rhetoric class one day a week in the afternoons with some other homeschoolers. This is the first time we have done anything like this as well, so it will be very new. He will also be participating in the homeschool PE twice a month that is offered through our local group.

This fall will be a very busy time for us, but exciting at the same time! In the spring we will probably do the PE class again and the co-op, but instead of the other class Big D will take guitar lessons. He has been wanting to learn to play, so now is a great time.

Well, the little ones have finished their naps and it's time to get a move on!

Memories of times past...

2009-08-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Today was the start of a new school year for us. Big D started 6th grade. As we were preparing our books and getting everything laid out this morning my thoughts were taken back to his first day of pre-school.

He was so little and it seems like it was just yesterday. He loved school, learning, friends and all the other things that come with it. He would come home everyday and show me his newest creation. At this time, I was a single mom and there was no chance of homeschooling. Actually, I had never thought once about it. I just did what I could. Really, at that time, his school was really good as was his teacher. He continued in public school to the first grade.

After only a couple months of first grade, I married Dan. I was no longer a single mom. I finally, for the very first time, had time to go and visit Big D's class. I spent lots of time with this class helping in different ways. I even was a substitute for a handicapped child in another class for a short time. He had a sweet teacher who really did a good job. However, I begin to see the decline quickly. He was bringing home loads of busy work like coloring, connect the dots, etc. These are great for pre-schoolers who are still working on fine motor skills, but half-way through the first grade they are more like busy, fun work. They weren't getting done and were being sent home. His teacher told me that most of the children always finished their work in class. Big D was bored, distracted (by some unruly children in the class) and the class was being held back by a slightly handicapped child. The teacher could only move as fast as that child could keep up.

With much prayer, talking, visits to his class, and talking/meeting with homeschool parents I decided to try something totally new to me. We began our homeschool journey right after spring break.

I was scared when I thought about how I was going to school my child. How would he keep up with the other children? Would he be as smart? Would he be as socially well-rounded? Would this work? Now, he is in 6th grade. Our journey has had some rocky moments. It has had some times where we wanted to give up. Actually, we even took a year off in 4th grade and put him in public school only to realize it just wasn't for us. His grades went down, his end of the year test scores were lower, he wasn't enjoying it and he was losing his love for learning.

I have worked hard to instill a love for learning in him. Unfortunately, this was not something that I acquired until I was an adult. We spend a lifetime learning. The more we love it, the better we are at it. I want my children to love to learn about everything. I want them to love to read and study new things.

It took us no time after our year off to get back in our groove. Now, I homeschool him with a 3 year old and a soon to be 2 year old. The challenges are different, but they are still plentiful. I know without a doubt that this is what the Lord has called me to do. It's not an easy job. Actually, it's very stressful at times. Mom never gets a break. It consists of tons of sacrifice on my part, but every bit is well worth it.

Big D has done so well in school through these years. I see now that my fears were not to be feared at all. I am not so smart as to give him the best education. Nor am I so creative to always have everything fun and exciting. However, one thing that I do know is that God has been faithful to supply all my needs. He has given me wisdom when it was needed, strength when I didn't have it, patience when I was trying to teach with two little ones needing me at the same time, and creativity to offer fun to our studies.

I am not the best homeschool mom. I lack in so many ways and places, but my son is well rounded socially, he is smart and loves to learn. I will never be like some of the "super" homeschool mom's I know, but I will always strive to honor God in the responsibility He has give to me, to train up and teach my children!

5th Grade is Over

2009-07-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

In saying that it's over, I am not sure how I feel about that. This means that Big D will begin 6th grade in just a few weeks. He is no longer an elementary student...he is officially a middle schooler! I guess part of me feels sad because I know that he is growing up and seems to be doing it very fast. I am proud of the young man that he is becoming. However, the mommy in me still wants to hang on to those little boy years. :-)

Our 5th grade year went really well. It was our first year back at homeschooling after taking a year off. Not only was it our first year back on, but it was our first year with using Ambleside Online as our curriculum. I do not know if there are enough words to express my love for this curriculum.

When I first found Ambleside it all seemed so overwhelming. I had no idea how I would implement it all or put it all together. I joined the yahoo groups attached to this curriculum and gained much knowledge from the seasoned AO mom's. Without the help of these ladies I am sure I would not have done so well in the beginning.

The trick was to start slow and work our way in. We had never tried a Charlotte Mason style curriculum. For anyone reading that is not sure what this is, it's basically a living books based style of learning. Charlotte Mason's main goal in teaching was to encourage a love for learning in her students. She didn't use harsh, boring textbooks that sometimes stifle the joy of the stories. She used living books that told the story in a way that engaged the child.

In the middle of our year, I wasn't sure how I liked AO. I actually considered changing paces a little. The lovely ladies in my yahoo group encouraged me to finish out the year and then make a decision from there. That is exactly what I did.

As we continued on with our studies, I saw the light come on in my son's mind. He was beginning to understand and really enjoy. There was one point in our year that he told me he never wanted to do any other curriculum again. He loves the Ambleside curriculum.

Although, we didn't stick to the AO way 100%, we still followed it fairly closely. We never did get much into to the nature studies, handicrafts, hymns, and things of this nature. These are things I want to see us add through the years, but taking them all on at once was just too much.

We read some amazing, wonderful books together. We read some beautiful poetry from three different poets. We studied and talked about some interesting pieces of art by 3 different artists. He began working on learning Latin root words and Spanish. We studied and read stories of history during the Renaissance to the Reformation periods. We read a story about an amazingly talented artist that was really a genius of sorts. We read stories of the first people who landed on our American lands and the trials and tribulations that they endured. We studied and learned about every planet in our universe. We laughed over the funny tails in the American Tall Tales and rejoiced when Christian and his wife and children entered heaven in Pilgrim's Progress after the trials they overcame in their journeys. We examined our spiritual walk as we read the stories of Christian martyrs in Trial and Triumph. We got excited at how the Bible came alive with our new book Good and Evil. We learned about the struggles and faith of many missionary's.

As you can see, it was an exciting and eventful year and we loved it! My desire for next year is to make it as good if not better than this one. We will have a whole new palette of books, poetry, artist, composers to learn about and enjoy.

For now, this year has come to an pleasant and memorable end.

The results are in...

2009-05-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

All my worrying, all my fretting over math. I got all worked up thinking the results were going to be less desirable than I wanted. Now, the results are in and I am thrilled to say that they were very desirable.

Isn't it funny how being a teacher you worry more than the student does when it comes to testing. The thing is, they aren't really being tested...the teacher is. Every year, I get uneasy at testing time. It's at that moment I realize that all the time and effort I have put into teaching my son that year will be in the spotlight. I worry, stress, pray, and stress some more and it's always for no reason.

Every year that we have homeschooled, my son's state test scores have well exceeded my expectations. Every year, no matter how much I worry and stress, he does a great job. This year was no exception.

In earlier posts, I spoke of my concern for his math scores. Somehow, after all this time, I still forget every year that the tests are meant to be over the child's level of understanding. They are not meant to get every problem correct. The more difficult ones are there to see how much knowledge past their grade level the child has. Why do I always seem to forget this little piece of information? Regardless of why, I do forget and it causes me stress! When will I learn?

Well, the worrisome math scores were fabulous! He did so good that I was shocked! I can't remember if I mentioned in earlier posts or not, but in the basic math portion of the test, he only missed maybe 4 out of 80 or more problems. It was the fraction problems that he missed more. Where in reality, even though he missed more in the fraction portion, he still scored high for a 5th grader. As a whole in math, he was in the 92 percentile and about an 8.5 grade equivalent. For those of you who are not familiar with this type of testing and how it's rated, the grade equivalent represents the grade level (year and month) of the students ability compared to the median score of students at the same academic level. The percentile scores are equivalent to the percentage of students from the norm group who received lower scores than the student.

In other words, there was absolutely no reason for me to worry in the least.

I guess, Teaching Textbooks deserves more credit than I gave them. We may very well use them again. However, for the coming year (6th grade) we will use the Life of Fred books and Key To book that I have already purchase. Because of their unbelievably low prices, I felt it might be a good idea to give them a try.

I wanted to post about this since I had thought his math scores would be lower and the fault might lie with Teaching Textbooks. I was wrong! However, I am glad that all this came up when it did or I might not have tried anything else.

I am anxious to see how the Life of Fred books work for us next year. They are much more affordable and I have heard great things about them. Teaching Textbooks has won back my trust and admiration. Their cost is still outrageous, although will be worth it if they turn out to be the best match.

Decision made...I think! :-)

2009-03-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

It is just wrong how much time you can waste on this crazy computer!!! I can't tell how many countless hours I have spent researching, not just this time, but total on school curriculum's.

So, after talking to other mom's, researching on my own, and reading tons of reviews I have finally decided what I think we should do with math! Whew! Can you say roller coaster ride? :-)

For now, I am going to continue with my original plan to have my son go back through three of the fraction chapters with him on paper. He does have a good handle on the basics of fractions, the issue begins when he tries to add fractions with different denominators. I think this will really help him get a better foundation. I have also decided that it will probably be best to finish the book this way.

I have discovered something else in all my searching and talking with him and others. I believe the biggest issue is not the curriculum, it's how he is using the cd-rom. He admitted to not using it's best feature and it's my fault for not keeping a check on this. When he misses a problem, he has not been watching and listening as the instructor shows the solutions and how to get it. I love this feature because the answer is only a click away, so there is no guessing. Go figure, my son wasn't interested in the answer, he was interested in being done. This is typical for a 10 year old boy who wants to go play. So, if I continue or go back to TT, it will be vital that I stay on top of this and make sure he is using this resource.

Next year we are doing a little something different. Teaching Textbooks, in my opinion, is still a great choice and we may use it again. However, I don't think we will for 6th grade for two reasons. One, the price is steep at $150. Two, I want to test the waters on something else that is more economical as well. I want to really dig deep into fractions, decimals and percents next year rather than touching on them for a few chapters.

Here is the plan... I am going to have him give Life of Fred a try. I purchased the fraction and decimal/percent books on www.polkadotpublishing.com. I was amazed that I bought both of the books for $28 and the shipping was free. I also purchased Key To Measurement on www.keypress.com for $19. They will not take the entire year to complete. I will use some of the wonderful free online math helps to print practice pages, plus let him play some math games to keep his basic math fresh and help him gain speed with them as well.

A couple of the math resources that I will probably use are:
www.keyonline.com ($5.95 a year), this program will help him review build basic math skills and it will keep track of his progress for me
http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm, recommended by the following wonderful site that has other great resources for math and other subjects...http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/index.html

We will move through the 6th grade math choices as he feels comfortable with the concepts. I have no idea how long the three books will take us, but I doubt they will take us the whole year. If after he finishes these three books and I feel confident with his math skills, we may go ahead and move on to the Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra or Life of Fred Beginning Algebra or both. We may or may not hold off on beginning algebra until 7th grade. Our moving forward will depend on him and his readiness to move forward.

I am so thankful for homeschooling because it does offer us this flexibility. If there is a subject that is creating and stumbling block, we have the option of slowing it down, repeating it or finding a solution. It's unfortunate that in a school setting, the teacher is forced to move forward and hope that the kids can keep up. If there are kids struggling, the teacher must ask the children and the parents to work double time to help correct the problems. Even then, sometimes the issues are never corrected and the child his moved forward and gets farther behind every year because he is still lacking understanding in some areas.

When I was in school my math struggle was geometry. I got through it, but didn't do well and never developed an understanding for it. When that level comes I will be certain to find a curriculum that will teach it well. I will probably take the course ahead of him to prepare myself so I can help when he needs it. Fortunately, math (outside of geometry) was one of my better classes. I made good grades in math and made straight A's in college math. Science was another one of my favorites.

I don't want my children to barely make it through a course (or school for that matter) and then leave it behind without real understanding as is so common in a school setting. A child can pass a class with barely a C and move on. This was me for most of my school career (until college). I was lucky to make it through with a C. Please understand that I am not saying this with disrespect to a teacher. I have known and know some wonderful teachers that have worked hard to help struggling students. However, the teacher is "graded" on how well her students do and how much material she covers. So, it is very difficult for her to stay on one subject very long, even if some of the students aren't keeping up.

My idea of schooling my children is that I don't want any of my children is left without understanding or the love for learning! If my child doesn't understand, and I mean fully grasp a concept, I will camp out at that concept until it is completely understood. That is in any subject, not just math. It's also very important to me that I create a love for learning in my children. The desire to want to learn will be a great asset to them in their future, be it in college or life in general.

Oh, the plot thickens...

2009-03-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

I have posted my "issue" with Teaching Textbooks on several of my homeschool yahoo groups. I have gotten some great feedback. I also sent and e-mail to Teaching Textbooks to get feedback from them as well.

Teaching Textbooks suggested that we just revisit the chapters that were causing him trouble. The other thing they strongly urged was to make sure that he was viewing the solutions to the problems he missed. The nice thing about this (when using the CD-roms) is that you not only get the solution, but they actually walk you through the problem and explain how they got the solution.

Last night, I had already decided to redo the fractions chapters, before hearing from Teaching Textbooks. I figured this was the most economical way to approach this. However, the thing I am doing differently, I am not having him do it again on the CD-rom. I decided it was best for me to sit down at the table and go through it with him. He is now doing all his work on paper and I am right there by him as he is working. This way I can help him understand more and I can catch any errors right away before he gets used to doing them the wrong way. Yes, it takes more time, for both of us, but I think it will be well worth the time. We will still have time after revisiting these chapters to complete the book by the end of our school year, so he won't miss anything. I do believe that I will continue my new way of teaching this to him through the end of the year.

Some really great mom's have offered their opinions and suggestions. I had one mom say that they were not happy with Teaching Textbooks and switched to The Key To...series. I have done some looking into this curriculum and it looks really good. However, from the looks of it...it will not be enough to call a full curriculum. It looks like it might be a really great supplement for a child that is struggling through a certain area and needs to know the "key to" it. It is really reasonably priced, especially compared to TT.

Another mom uses TT and has loved it and seen her son excel. This made me wonder if I pushed using Math 6 instead of Math 5 this year. However, his pre-test scores really pointed to the Math 6 book. She suggested some supplementing to TT. I am open to this if revisiting the chapters with my help does not do the trick. However, after working on math for 30-45 minutes a day already, I don't want to push more on him and burn him out or make him frustrated.

Then, there was another suggestion for Math-U-See. I have seen this curriculum and looked through it a couple of years back at a homeschool curriculum meeting. It's impressive, but it's also a mastery program. Once a child completes a topic, they move on and do not get much more review. I have also heard that many students are totally irritated by the videos that accompany this. It's cheaper than TT, but I am not yet sure if this will fit my child.

The final suggestion that was made to me was the one that has interested me the most. I am still doing some searching on it and reading all the reviews I can. I even e-mailed the author to get some input from him. The curriculum is The Life of Fred. I know...it sounds like a ridiculous name for a math book...my thoughts exactly! However, after reading an excerpt from the algebra book, I was highly impressed. All the reviews for these books have been raving about these great books and how their kids loved them and did so well. I have yet to read one single negative review, which is shocking to me. This is a "living math" book. It teaches math in a way that a child can relate to and also can understand why he needs it for his life. It teaches in a way that draws the child/adults attention. It seems these were not just written for kids. I read somewhere that a Navy school used the statistics book to teach officers a stat course. It's real math, applied in real life situations that make sense to everyone.

I am not sold yet on The Life of Fred, but my appetite has been whet for this curriculum. The price is unbelievably cheap, ranging from $19-$39 a book. The books start at fractions and move to decimals and percents. They then move to beginning algebra and go all the way to statistics.

I will update when we decide what to do for next year!

Update on Teaching Textbooks...

2009-03-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

Not terribly long ago, I wrote that I really loved the Teaching Textbooks Math curriculum. In truth, I still do like it, as does my son. However, somethings have come up since my last post on this particular curriculum.

We have done part of our standardized state testing. He did fantastic on all the math, except the fraction part. The fraction part was only about 20 questions long, but he missed several. When we talked about it afterward, he explained to me how he did the problems to get the answers he got. I realized then that he didn't understand the concepts behind adding and subtracting mixed fractions. He also didn't understand that the problems were not finished until the fraction was in it's lowest form.

As we were discussing things, I wasn't putting two and two together. Every lesson he has been making really good grades. He has an A average with his actual math lessons and quizzes. So, why did he not remember how to do the fractions that was studied some time back. Then, it hit me! Each lesson only has 5 review problems from previous lessons. What has happened is he learned it when he needed it and forgot it after he didn't use it any longer...sound familiar? Boy, I will tell you, this runs right down my alley!

When I was in school, I managed to learn the things I needed to, but once those things were no longer apart of my "need to learn" materials, they were soon forgotten. Actually, truth be told, the same still holds true for me today. My memory is short and if I use something over and over for a period of time, it sticks. So, now I am seeing why this curriculum has not been the best for my child.

I will say, it is a great curriculum because he has enjoyed it very much and is doing a superb job on all of his basic math items. However, if your child is like mine (and me) and is easily distracted, forgets things easily and takes a while to really learn a new concept...this curriculum may need some tweaking or supplementing.

We did the pre-tests before beginning this curriculum this year. He aced the 5th grade, so I tried him on the 6th grade level. He did really well on that one and scored in the range that made me believe he was ready for the level 6. So, we began in book 6. If I had it to do over again, I would probably just keep him in the math 5 and let him ace it and move on more slowly. A lesson learned! So, very likely had I put him in book 5, he would have done much better because there is more coverage in fractions in that book from my understanding.

Now we are trying to decide on if we should stick with this curriculum and add a little supplementing in the fraction department or find a new curriculum. My favorite feature of Teaching Textbooks is that it is easy to teach and use. I can use the book to teach him where things are really laid out well or he can read the book himself for each lesson and then do the problems on paper...Or he can use the Cd's and let the professor on there teach the class and he can do the problems on the CD, letting the CD keep all the records. I like this because there is no mistaking what he missed, it can't be changed. It keeps the grade book and everything. For a momma with two smaller children, this has been a nice feature that I will greatly miss if we change routes.

More than likely, we will spend some time studying fractions and I will continue to use TT, but I will move more slowly through it.

Whew...3 weeks over, back to work!

2009-01-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, our three week Christmas break came and went so fast, we hardly realized it was over! Big D had a great time at his Dad's for two of those weeks. Then, the week he spent home with us, we were all sick...ugh!

Well, yesterday was our first day back in school. Isn't it funny how when you get out of routine for a while, it's tough to get back in? Our school days have been longer than usual because of many interruptions and lack of routine. We are, however, getting everything done...which is all that counts, right?

So, this week was the start of Big D taking on at least one more subject to do alone. We started the year with me helping him with almost all of his subjects. We have done them together and have enjoyed doing them together. However, now, I have to work him into doing more alone. He is ready for more independent study and I am in need of some free time.

When I say free time, it's not really my time. I am preparing myself for time that will soon be spent with Grace Pie. She will be three in only a week...to soon for school, but not to soon for fun learning times. So, with Big D working more independently, I can free up some of my time to spend working with her.

Now, Big D has gotten to the point where I only work with him in four subjects: Bible, History, Literature, and Grammar. I will likely continue with all four of these through the end of the year. Next year, he will begin doing literature independently and possibly history. I will hang on to Bible and Grammar though. I will likely keep doing history with him as well, but only because I want to learn it with him (it was my weak area in school). We do Bible, history, and literature as read alouds, so these will continue to be read that way as to begin listening skills and such with the younger ones. They are still too young at this point to get anything from the readings, but it's good for them to be there playing quietly during them right now.

Fun learning with Grace Pie has already begun, but very sporadically. We sing songs, draw numbers and letters, make things in the kitchen, count things (marshmallows, cheerios, toys) and other things when the interest arises. Now, I will begin making time for this special play. She got a play-doh set for Christmas just for times like these. We will make things, count things, draw pictures in dough, and have all sorts of learning fun. I will have set times where we sit and read books everyday on a schedule, rather than on demand alone.

Grace Pie is only 3, but she can count to 20, sing her ABC's and identify each of them, knows her colors and the basic shapes, can identify things in a picture (even if it's a really badly drawn picture). I feel like our random fun learning has brought fruits, but I feel she is ready for some scheduled "school" time, even though it will not really be school for some time now.

I still have some time before Thaniel will reach this point, but I get excited thinking about all that he will learn as he is with Grace Pie and I during these fun learning times. This is one of the wonderful benefits of having children closer together. Big D, unfortunately, doesn't have this benefit, but his learning and such will be a benefit to the younger ones. What a joy it is to see him reading to them and teaching them things he knows.

So, we begin again, but this is a new chapter for us as Grace Pie is worked into our "schooling" schedule. I love homeschooling!

What we are doing now

2008-12-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

After this next week, we will have finished Ambleside Online's 15th week of year 3. This is our first year with Ambleside and so far it has been wonderful. We have hit some rocky moments where I wasn't sure how things would pan out, but it seems we always work through them.

When we first started Ambleside Online, I really struggled trying to decide what year to place my son in. I joined all the groups I could and asked all the questions I could. I was overwhelmed with the amount of help and advice that I was offered. After realizing that the years of AO do not coincide with grade level, I started to look closer at the book selections for each year. This made it a tougher choice because the selections are wonderful throughout each of the years.

I picked year 3 because I just thought so many of the selections at this point were too good to be missed. I have begun collecting from years 1 and 2 because I have two smaller children that will be using these books. Now, I have many of the earlier selections for my older son to choose for his personal reading time.

I have been thrilled with year 3 so far and my son has loved it. We have talked a few times about the difference between AO and using the workbooks. He hates even the suggestion of using workbooks. I love that I have finally found a way my son can learn where he actually enjoys it.

I can't believe how much we have accomplished so far in only 15 weeks. We have read many books (history, literature and free reading), listened to lots of classical pieces (Bach and Liszt), studies many pieces of art (Botticelli and DaVinci), studied Latin and Greek roots (Vocabulary Vine), studied Spanish (Rosetta Stone) and typing, learned much about the Great Lakes and the states that surround them (geography -Paddle to the Sea by Hollings), learning about the planets (Apologia - Astronomy), read about many missionaries, grammar (First Language Lessons), math (Teaching Textbooks) and much more. We still haven't gotten to everything yet, but we will.

This is one of our favorite ways to do school! :-)

We have recently started reading, The Children of the New Forest. I am very much enjoying this book as is my son. I love the classic literature. The way it reads is so different from what he had been used to, but we are slowly growing accustomed to it and both are growing fonder of it daily. This book is wonderful in showing children how life can be eventful without modern day technologies. Somehow today's children have no understanding of what life can be like without them. I love how this door has been opened.

The four children in this book are forced to begin caring and providing for themselves with the help of an older caregiver. The younger of the two boys learns many trades and how to make many things by merely reading books and experimenting. What would happen if our children were taken out of a technology driven world and put into a position where they had to provide for themselves. I fear they would not survive! The children in this book are so industrious and inventive. We are becoming more enthralled in this book with each new chapter. I love how Ambleside encourages the reading process to be slow. We are reading one book over the course of a 12 week term. It gives us the chance to really soak up the material and chew on what we are learning, rather than devouring it only get to through the book without really gaining anything from it.

Each day brings new adventures!
Kari

These are the moments...

2008-12-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

Every homeschool mother has days where she is ready to throw in the towel, it's perfectly normal. However, there are days where we just sit back and are so thankful for the privilege of homeschooling. This was one of those days.

Grace Pie loves books, loves being read to and loves to "read" to you. On this day, she grabbed a book and curled up on the couch with Big D to read. I think Big D started out reading to her and then she took over.

Thaniel couldn't resist the fun and stood by them anxiously waiting to be included. Big D helped him into Grace Pie's lap and they all sat there reading together for sometime. I stopped cooking dinner to embrace this moment and freeze it in time.

Even with the great distance in age of my children, they still find joy in being together. Homeschooling has encouraged their bond and brought us all closer together. It is a joy to watch Big D sit and read to them as I once did with him.

Grace Pie and Thaniel are a ways off from being ready for any formal schooling, but they get lots of "schooling" as they are close by when Big D is doing his school. They hear lots of stories, listen to the classical music we play, hear our conversations, join in during experiments, etc. By the time they get to schooling age, they will be far ahead of the game because of getting a lot of informal fun schooling.

Already, Grace Pie loves to sit and count the little marshmallows or Cheerios. She is now counting up to twenty. This is not school for her, this is a fun game we play. She can tell me what most every letter in the alphabet is when I write it on her drawing board. This is also a game, not school. She loves to help momma in the kitchen, measuring, counting, stirring, etc. All of this is fun, she has no idea she is actually "schooling" in a very informal fashion when she is only 2 (almost 3) years old.

He finally loves math!

2008-11-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

This year has been the first year that my son truly loves math. He has always been pretty good in math and it was his best subject, but he never really enjoyed. Now, it's not so much of a chore to do his math everyday.
Not only does he do his math with ease and loves it, but he is doing really well in it.
I had heard a bunch of uproar about Teaching Textbooks (http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/) in some of my homeschool circles. I looked up reviews on the company and found so many good things about them. The price is a bit steep, but worth every penny.
Before ordering I had my son take the pre-test from their website. His scoring placed him in the Math 6 books. I spent $149 for the books/Cd's and that includes shipping.
When we got the package in the mail, it was a super large spiral bound textbook. The student can work in the textbook if he chooses, but mine didn't want to. It also came with a set of 4 Cd's for your computer. The Cd's cover the entire book. Each lesson has a lecture that the computer teacher gives. Then, the student does 5 practice problems (which are not graded) and 22 problems taken from that days lesson. If the student gets the problem wrong, most times they are given a second chance. They can also get hints to help them on some problems. If they miss the problem, they are given the option to have the teacher walk them through the problem so they can see how it's done. The program grades the lessons and quizzes and keeps the grade book for you.
For a parent, who needs their child to do this as a self-led class, it's a blessing. I have two smaller children and having a class that my son can do by himself is really a help. Everyday when he finishes he tells me what he made (it's always good). The lessons are fun for the child and easier for the parent. Ever once in a while I will go to the grade book and average out the quizzes to see what his average score is (right now a 94). I can keep up with what he is doing by going back and seeing each lesson and which problems he missed.
So, we have found the math that we will likely stick with for a while. He loves it, I love it...we are all happy.

Happy mom, sharing a good find!
Kari

Why do I choose Charlotte Mason?

2008-11-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

We have used workbooks. We have used the classical education approach. Both of these styles are wonderful, but just didn't work for my child.
When we used workbooks, in third grade, we used Christian Light and I thought they were wonderful. They are inexpensive, simple, Christ-honoring, and educationally sound. My son just did not thrive on workbooks. However, if we were to ever need to go back to that direction, I would choose Christian Light Publications again.
I really liked the classical approach, but the days were just so long. We did this during my son's second grade year.
As I was preparing to homeschool again this year, I decided to go a different approach. In my researching and sifting I found Charlotte Mason education. Everything I read, I loved. The lessons are short, but yet you get lot of coverage of many subjects. This approach uses living books, something I thought would make sense and hit home for my son...and it has. It also includes lots of hands-on, everyday things that we often overlook. You encourage handicrafts, nature walks, nature journals, natural interests, etc. We study classical music, art and the amazingly talented people who created them. We study foreign language, which right now includes Latin roots and Spanish. Instead of forcing, you encourage the love for learning by giving them things that interest them or spark and interest.
We choose Ambleside Online (http://www.amblesideonline.com/) this year to get started. I was not comfortable, being new to the CM style, to create my own curriculum. So, the answer was finding a curriculum that was already put together. There are many options in this. Some are expensive, some are not. Ambleside is one of those that lays out the curriculum for you, it's free. They give you a 36 week schedule to follow using the books they suggest. All you have to purchase/borrow are the books.
Ambleside Online is not the only option in free curriculum layouts. After we began Ambleside, I found some others that look wonderful as well, http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/ and http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/. I am really impressed with these other two as well. They both give book lists and break down a weekly schedule for the year. With all three all you have to do as far as scheduling is to break the weeks down into days.
We have been blessed by the CM style of learning. We are still learning the process and are slowly adding in different activities. The one beautiful thing about it is that instead of tears and drugery, I hear how much my son loves school and can't wait to read the next chapter. This is music to a momma's ears!

Many Blessings,
Kari

Our Homeschool Blog!

2008-11-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

So, I finally started a family blog and decided maybe we needed to also do a school blog. Much of what happens in our days could be put in either category, but I wanted to dedicate just one for school happenings.

Our homeschool story began in 2005 when my oldest son was only in 1st grade, well at the end of first grade. School wasn't going well. I do admit he had some major changes that year. In his first grade year, his teacher went on maternity leave and he had a sub for half that time. Then, I married my wonderful husband and moved Big D and I to Virginia. There he had yet another teacher, who would also be leaving on maternity leave near the end of the year. After much prayer and through God's leading I took him out of public school at spring break and, by faith, began homeschooling.

We started out with workbooks, went to Classical Education, back to workbooks and now we use Charlotte Mason education. I will write on this process and my thoughts on the different ways of homeschooling later.

We took 4th grade off from homeschooling and put him back into public school. Needless to say, that year seemed to be a wash. We had to make this move for many reasons though. I was expecting #3, #2 was a high maintenance toddler, and my husband was driving a truck over the road and was rarely home. It was a necessary break, but one I wished we could have avoided.

He finished 4th grade in public school and we went right back to homeschooling again. Homeschooling now with two little ones is a challenge, but also a joy. I am thankful that God has allowed me to homeschool and pray that I will be able to continue through the years. We love everything about being a homeschool family and are trusting that God will lead us in educating, training and raising our children.

~K