For once, I'm right on top of this. Turns out, we got our work done today by 10:30, so it's no hurry trying to get the blog updated before gym class.
For the next 8 weeks, our schedule goes:
F: Homeschool
S: Homeschool (video call with Hammie!)
Su: Homeschool
M: Preschool, Science experiment
Tu: Homeschool, Gym
W: Preschool, Weekend
Th: Weekend
We're busy, which is good, but it's a bit of a stretch trying to get our four days of school in. Monkey has a hard time focusing if more people than just the two of us are around, so Wednesday and Thursday are out, as Skeeve is home. After preschool, it seems mean to put homeschool on top of it, so we skip Monday as well. As a result, we're working on four day weeks, and I'm trying really hard to make sure we keep our four day weeks - and not falling back to three day ones.
I've also realized that I'm not really actually teaching much yet. For now, I'm still just finding the bottom end of what Monkey already knows and essentially getting ready for next year. I suppose that's all JK is anyhow, getting ready for the following year, but it seems really weird to be proposing a JK curriculum that "studies" grade 2 reading, kindergarten math, grade 1 history, logic, French, and some kind of weird K-2 science. I suppose that's the beauty of homeschooling, though.
Anyhow! The update.
Reading: We've adapted Trash Words for our use here. Monkey loves it. I've taken the review words from unit 3, and he reads them to me. He is better at the beginning of the game than at the end, but that's pretty normal for him, so I'm not worried. He also LOVES playing, so it's even better. More often than not, he has a great handle on what is being asked of him, but the problem is that too much review makes him twitchy. So, Trash Words has been working well, and we'll watch Unit 3 a few more times, and then we'll move right on to level 2, and I can toss his sight words in as well, which will help, too.
Math: We've had a bunch of issues with math recently, it's become a struggle to get math done on a daily basis. However, I have no real way of knowing whether it's because of too much review, or too fast a pace - either way I get the same result - Monkey refuses to do the work. So today, we had a nice chat about how I really need him to answer the questions if he knows the answers so I can move on - otherwise I don't know he knows, and we keep working on the same things. This resulted in three rapid-fire answers, and so we moved on. In the last two days, we covered four lessons and skipped several others (all review!), so we're certainly moving right along. And it keeps Monkey happier, so I'm glad to do it.
French: Really unsurprisingly, French is difficult for us. I have a hard time trying to get Monkey to understand that it's a real thing, and that people in other countries, and in other parts of Canada, speak this way instead of how we do. I'm doing what I can, but I have plenty of time. He needs two years of French between now and grade nine, so I think we'll be okay.
Logic: This is still fabulously easy for him. Aside from some confusion over the instructions (he was trying to physically fit items into the starting box, instead of matching their use), it was really easy for him, and he was looking to do some more right away. I really need to get the next few books of logic so we don't run out quickly.
History: This is still a bit of a struggle. I'm not too worried, as we'll likely hit on Egypt and Akkadia again eventually, and he is enjoying the mapwork, so it's not a total loss.
Science: This is no end of fun. Monkey is adoring his unit on the Human Body, and is branching out every which way he can around The Magic School Bus. It's really neat, watching how quickly he picks things up out of thin air. I'm really proud of him.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Week 19 Wrap.
This week was a bit of a toss-up for us, honestly. Some things were easier than I'd thought, others were suddenly like pulling teeth, and then we had a moderate revelation that will hopefully make life easier for all of us.
Reading: This was substantially easier than I'd thought. I'm still not sure if this is boring to him, or if he's still learning. Tonight, he wanted to watch one specific episode of The Magic Schoolbus - "the one with Ralphie!" The title screen came on "Inside Ralphie," and he jumped and cheered. I have no idea if this means he can read "Ralphie," if he recognizes the episode that starts with I and R is the one he wants, or even if he just knows that the second episode on the disc is the one he wants, but SOMETHING is up. He's busted out reading things before, and I don't know what his actual reading ability is anymore. I know his prediction skills are fabulous, and I know he is wonderful at putting in words that match pictures, but his actual ability to read? No clue anymore. We're going to look into Magic Schoolbus books for him so we can see if he's willing to read them or not. Who knows, really?
Math: For whatever reason, this week Math was suddenly like pulling teeth. Wanted NOTHING to do with it at all. I don't know if it's just not moving fast enough for him, if there's too much repetition, or if he doesn't like having to work at it, but something is up. I'm going to see how next week goes, and once we're through that, if it's still an issue, I'll ask him his thoughts, and see where we end up. We made our way through three lessons this week, each taking one day. We're rapidly approaching the end of the book, with lesson 52 starting this week, and 77 lessons in the book. When did this happen?!? Yikes!
French: We're working on a two-week approach to French as well. Week 1 is an introduction to the concept, week two is a review of things to date. I have no idea how this is going to go, as Monkey still doesn't seem to grok the concept that some people speak another language.
Logic: Again, this seems ridiculously easy for him. He's flying through each lesson, then asking if we can do some more. I have to hold him back, expressly for the reasoning of not having the next book in the series yet, and not wanting to fly through a year worth of curriculum in a month. I'm looking at getting the next book at the next available opportunity, and we'll see where we go from there.
History: This week, we built a pyramid. Monkey adored it. Just adored it. It took a while for him to understand the "stair step" concept around the design, but once he got it, it was 45m spent building a pyramid, taking it apart, and building it again. He's LOVING it. I'm always so excited when he's happy with lessons.
Science: He loves science. Can't get enough of it. It's crazy. This week's experiment was making a stethoscope so he could listen to his heart beat. We talked about what the heart does, that it's a muscle, it's size, all that, and he thinks this is just the coolest thing ever. He is really taking off, courtesy of The Magic Schoolbus DVD we got, the LeapFrog Tag board he has, and the Little Labs he's loving so much. It's so neat to watch him just absorb all this stuff. He was telling me today during his lab that yes, the heart pumps the blood full of nutrients around the body, and the blood gets nutrients from the small intestine, but really, they come from the villi in the small intestine, which soak up the nutrients from the food we eat, that goes through the stomach, after the esophagus, which is where it goes once you swallow after you chew. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this child sometimes.
All in all, a great academic week. He also had a great week at preschool, which is wonderful news. We also found out that Monkey is a very sensory-seeking child. He is avoidant in some things, but he is primarily seeking. We have now given him unrestricted access to an iPod of music, and a pair of child-safe headphones. Whenever he feels upset, he can turn on his music and calm himself down. I'm also trying to make a point of keeping music playing all day, so there is some background noise, as the quiet seems to drive him nuts. We shall have to see, once again, how it goes, and with any luck, this will be a great breakthrough for our sanity!
Reading: This was substantially easier than I'd thought. I'm still not sure if this is boring to him, or if he's still learning. Tonight, he wanted to watch one specific episode of The Magic Schoolbus - "the one with Ralphie!" The title screen came on "Inside Ralphie," and he jumped and cheered. I have no idea if this means he can read "Ralphie," if he recognizes the episode that starts with I and R is the one he wants, or even if he just knows that the second episode on the disc is the one he wants, but SOMETHING is up. He's busted out reading things before, and I don't know what his actual reading ability is anymore. I know his prediction skills are fabulous, and I know he is wonderful at putting in words that match pictures, but his actual ability to read? No clue anymore. We're going to look into Magic Schoolbus books for him so we can see if he's willing to read them or not. Who knows, really?
Math: For whatever reason, this week Math was suddenly like pulling teeth. Wanted NOTHING to do with it at all. I don't know if it's just not moving fast enough for him, if there's too much repetition, or if he doesn't like having to work at it, but something is up. I'm going to see how next week goes, and once we're through that, if it's still an issue, I'll ask him his thoughts, and see where we end up. We made our way through three lessons this week, each taking one day. We're rapidly approaching the end of the book, with lesson 52 starting this week, and 77 lessons in the book. When did this happen?!? Yikes!
French: We're working on a two-week approach to French as well. Week 1 is an introduction to the concept, week two is a review of things to date. I have no idea how this is going to go, as Monkey still doesn't seem to grok the concept that some people speak another language.
Logic: Again, this seems ridiculously easy for him. He's flying through each lesson, then asking if we can do some more. I have to hold him back, expressly for the reasoning of not having the next book in the series yet, and not wanting to fly through a year worth of curriculum in a month. I'm looking at getting the next book at the next available opportunity, and we'll see where we go from there.
History: This week, we built a pyramid. Monkey adored it. Just adored it. It took a while for him to understand the "stair step" concept around the design, but once he got it, it was 45m spent building a pyramid, taking it apart, and building it again. He's LOVING it. I'm always so excited when he's happy with lessons.
Science: He loves science. Can't get enough of it. It's crazy. This week's experiment was making a stethoscope so he could listen to his heart beat. We talked about what the heart does, that it's a muscle, it's size, all that, and he thinks this is just the coolest thing ever. He is really taking off, courtesy of The Magic Schoolbus DVD we got, the LeapFrog Tag board he has, and the Little Labs he's loving so much. It's so neat to watch him just absorb all this stuff. He was telling me today during his lab that yes, the heart pumps the blood full of nutrients around the body, and the blood gets nutrients from the small intestine, but really, they come from the villi in the small intestine, which soak up the nutrients from the food we eat, that goes through the stomach, after the esophagus, which is where it goes once you swallow after you chew. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this child sometimes.
All in all, a great academic week. He also had a great week at preschool, which is wonderful news. We also found out that Monkey is a very sensory-seeking child. He is avoidant in some things, but he is primarily seeking. We have now given him unrestricted access to an iPod of music, and a pair of child-safe headphones. Whenever he feels upset, he can turn on his music and calm himself down. I'm also trying to make a point of keeping music playing all day, so there is some background noise, as the quiet seems to drive him nuts. We shall have to see, once again, how it goes, and with any luck, this will be a great breakthrough for our sanity!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Week 18
Week 17 completely passed me by, unfortunately. We have been the house of plague this month, so it's been harder and harder to not only accomplish what we have planned, but also to remember to update status reports on it. Week 18 though... That's a doozy. Week 18 is officially the halfway point of the year. Big stuff, especially for October!
Our Progress to Date:
Reading: With the completion of this week, Monkey has mastered three of the six skills I had set out for the year. While I'm not willing to assert mastery of Table of Contents, Retelling, or anything to do with Handwriting, I am willing to say he is reading at or above a grade 1 level, he understands the basics of punctuation, and he has a good handle on grammar and the concept of spelling. I think we're well on target to not only meet, but also exceed our reading goals for the year. I have some reservations about "effort" on this, as there is a lot of "I don't want to do that" interspersed with the "I want to learn to read!" going on here, but all things in time. I'm now just waiting for the moment when he realizes he already CAN read. He's quite capable, he just doesn't realize he is.
Math: With the completion of this week, Monkey has progressed through Lesson 48 of Right Start's Level A. There are 64 lessons remaining in my goal for us for this year, but as the goal was created using the notion of schooling from June to May, no 3-month break, I'm fairly confident in thinking that he will continue to meet expectations, and we will progress through the remainder of Level A, and into Level B by the new year, and then move through Level B at a good enough clip to see us complete the first 35 lessons well ahead of schedule. He is still plowing through lessons at 1 per day, and given that math tends to fall by the wayside whenever we get sick, I'm not entirely surprised we're "behind" on this - or, at least, compared to other subjects.
Health: We have been slowly working on health aspects in with the rest of our lives. We're working on Human Body right now for Science, which will cover all aspects of health with ease. While we don't have perfect mastery of all concepts, he is quickly picking up many things just by being involved in preschool and home life.
Science: Science is continually evolving. Both in classroom and out, I suppose. However, Monkey is doing a fine job of picking things up, and of working on experiments and on jumping in with both feet when we hit new topics. He has a good grasp of living and non-living things, he has an astounding grasp of Sun/Moon/Stars/Planets, he understands experimentation, and he is working toward understanding scientific method. I don't expect mastery of that for many years, but being exposed to it is always good. The remainder of the year will see us cover things like weather and seasons, air and water, fire and temperature, and solids/liquids/gasses. Some things will be more practical than lab, but that's perfectly fine by me.
Social Studies: This is ridiculously easy as far as most scope and sequences are concerned. The goals I originally set are all but met - Monkey needs to work a little more on map reading and holidays, as well as heritage (I have no idea how to cover this, so it's fallen by the wayside), but everything else is completed. No worries. As far as history, though, I've opted to take my time. We're going to work on one chapter of reading, then spend the following week doing extension activities. For example, we learned about ancient text, then made cuneiform "tablets" the following week. Last week, we covered the Pyramids. This week, we're going to build our own pyramid. History will take a lot longer than I'd planned, but we've gotten a significantly earlier start on it than most, so I'm not worried even slightly.
All told, if I had to guess, I would say that Rowena's Browncoat Academy's JK program runs the gamut of "regular" school grades SK-2, depending on the subject. I'm not sure if I'm impressed, frightened, both, or just hanging on and hoping for the best. ^_^
Our Progress to Date:
Reading: With the completion of this week, Monkey has mastered three of the six skills I had set out for the year. While I'm not willing to assert mastery of Table of Contents, Retelling, or anything to do with Handwriting, I am willing to say he is reading at or above a grade 1 level, he understands the basics of punctuation, and he has a good handle on grammar and the concept of spelling. I think we're well on target to not only meet, but also exceed our reading goals for the year. I have some reservations about "effort" on this, as there is a lot of "I don't want to do that" interspersed with the "I want to learn to read!" going on here, but all things in time. I'm now just waiting for the moment when he realizes he already CAN read. He's quite capable, he just doesn't realize he is.
Math: With the completion of this week, Monkey has progressed through Lesson 48 of Right Start's Level A. There are 64 lessons remaining in my goal for us for this year, but as the goal was created using the notion of schooling from June to May, no 3-month break, I'm fairly confident in thinking that he will continue to meet expectations, and we will progress through the remainder of Level A, and into Level B by the new year, and then move through Level B at a good enough clip to see us complete the first 35 lessons well ahead of schedule. He is still plowing through lessons at 1 per day, and given that math tends to fall by the wayside whenever we get sick, I'm not entirely surprised we're "behind" on this - or, at least, compared to other subjects.
Health: We have been slowly working on health aspects in with the rest of our lives. We're working on Human Body right now for Science, which will cover all aspects of health with ease. While we don't have perfect mastery of all concepts, he is quickly picking up many things just by being involved in preschool and home life.
Science: Science is continually evolving. Both in classroom and out, I suppose. However, Monkey is doing a fine job of picking things up, and of working on experiments and on jumping in with both feet when we hit new topics. He has a good grasp of living and non-living things, he has an astounding grasp of Sun/Moon/Stars/Planets, he understands experimentation, and he is working toward understanding scientific method. I don't expect mastery of that for many years, but being exposed to it is always good. The remainder of the year will see us cover things like weather and seasons, air and water, fire and temperature, and solids/liquids/gasses. Some things will be more practical than lab, but that's perfectly fine by me.
Social Studies: This is ridiculously easy as far as most scope and sequences are concerned. The goals I originally set are all but met - Monkey needs to work a little more on map reading and holidays, as well as heritage (I have no idea how to cover this, so it's fallen by the wayside), but everything else is completed. No worries. As far as history, though, I've opted to take my time. We're going to work on one chapter of reading, then spend the following week doing extension activities. For example, we learned about ancient text, then made cuneiform "tablets" the following week. Last week, we covered the Pyramids. This week, we're going to build our own pyramid. History will take a lot longer than I'd planned, but we've gotten a significantly earlier start on it than most, so I'm not worried even slightly.
All told, if I had to guess, I would say that Rowena's Browncoat Academy's JK program runs the gamut of "regular" school grades SK-2, depending on the subject. I'm not sure if I'm impressed, frightened, both, or just hanging on and hoping for the best. ^_^
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
State of the Academy and Week 16 Wrap.
From September 12-27, we were on a break. We left the country to attend a funeral, so it wasn't exactly fun and games around here. However, because of the nature of life, we covered basic geography, existential questions on the nature of life and death, and trees, grasshoppers, and what happens if you poop in your pants and mama doesn't have a spare pair. Generally, a very educational trip, though not in the formal sense.
Week 16, we were back with a vengeance. This ran from 9/28 to 10/2.
Reading: We worked with vowel blends this week, ow and ai specifically. Monkey grasped these very well, and very nearly right away, so it was actually ridiculously easy. We haven't gone back to silent e words yet, though I do intend to review that shortly.
Math: Monkey made it through three lessons this week, 42-44, with no particular difficulty. He seems to have a grasp of math that I just never did. I'm glad to see it, but I'm wondering when these lessons that are supposed to take two and three days... will. So far, they're not.
Science: Monkey and Skeeve have moved up to two experiments per week, and an occasional lab report. The report is more for my benefit than Monkey's, but it's there all the same. This week, they grew cress seeds and built a barometer. We're still observing the barometer, and we observed the seeds all week. Lots of fun had by all, and Monkey seems to be at minimum entertained by the experiments, which is good.
History: History seems to be an awful lot like pulling teeth. Monkey does NOT want to sit still to listen, but if he doesn't, he doesn't listen at all. I'm hoping this has something to do with his lack of interest in the subject matter, so it is something I can correct as we enter "pyramids" and "mummies" and such. Much more interesting than "these rivers" and "ooooh, floods!"
Logic: Once again, logic is Monkey's absolute strong suit. We have moved into relationships now, and if I let him, we would blow through the Lollipop Logic book in a whopping 4 weeks, as he would go through each section in one fell swoop. However, as I'm not in the mindset to be going through textbooks by the millions, I'm holding him to one lesson per week. His skills in relationships are rather impressive to me - he got 4/5 questions "correct" per what I thought the answer would be, and the 5th one... Well, that one was right, too, but for a different reason. He was given a picture of a birthday cake. Then told to pick which picture was related to it - a book, a party hat, or a pencil. He chose the book. I went with it, and at the end, asked him his reasoning. Turns out, he chose the book because it would be the one closest in size to the cake. I gave him full credit for that one (as in, "hey, that was really nicely reasoned, I hadn't thought of that" not "full marks"), and we hung it on the fridge.
French: This week, we introduced French. I think Monkey is having a failure of understanding (also parsed as "What we have here is failure to communicate.") as to what the purpose of this is. I ask him "Comment t'appelles-tu?" and he looks at me and says, "I'm FIRESTAR!" Which, in and of itself is an appropriate answer, as he'd not five minutes before run to the kitchen to "transform" into Firestar, but when I prompt him to use Je m'appelle with that, he tells me, "No, not Je m'appelle Firestar, just Firestar!" So, I'll have to work on that one.
In other news, we went to Circle R Ranch this week! We participated in their Farm Animals program, and had a wonderful time. Monkey got to ride a pony, pet two other ponies, take a hay ride (with REAL HAY and not straw!), pet a sheep, a goat and a pig... He had a great time. I just wish these outings were easier on both of us than they are. It's so hard to keep a psychomotor-ly overexcitable child engaged in this sort of setting without losing him entirely - which almost happened. He very nearly ran away on me, and because I get the "wow, helicopter much" looks while I'm out with him in open spaces, nobody would listen and GTFO my way when he did run off. After all, he should be just like all the other kids and stop where he's told. But he doesn't, and he nearly chased a farm cat into the woods, then took off into the parking lot. Maybe next week. o.o;;
Also coming up on the horizon, we've enrolled Monkey in a gym class for homeschoolers! It's indoors, which will make it so much easier to avoid the running away, and he will undoubtedly love it to bits. I'm really looking forward to it!
Monkey is also enrolled in twice-weekly preschool. He adores it, and he's getting more social interaction, so it's all good. They want me to put him in for a third day per week, but I don't know that this is a feasible option for us. We'll have to see how it goes. I don't like the idea of losing an educational day from our regular homeschool week, and I'm not sure we could afford it even if we weren't losing the day. Ah, well. We'll see how it goes, and run from there!
Week 16, we were back with a vengeance. This ran from 9/28 to 10/2.
Reading: We worked with vowel blends this week, ow and ai specifically. Monkey grasped these very well, and very nearly right away, so it was actually ridiculously easy. We haven't gone back to silent e words yet, though I do intend to review that shortly.
Math: Monkey made it through three lessons this week, 42-44, with no particular difficulty. He seems to have a grasp of math that I just never did. I'm glad to see it, but I'm wondering when these lessons that are supposed to take two and three days... will. So far, they're not.
Science: Monkey and Skeeve have moved up to two experiments per week, and an occasional lab report. The report is more for my benefit than Monkey's, but it's there all the same. This week, they grew cress seeds and built a barometer. We're still observing the barometer, and we observed the seeds all week. Lots of fun had by all, and Monkey seems to be at minimum entertained by the experiments, which is good.
History: History seems to be an awful lot like pulling teeth. Monkey does NOT want to sit still to listen, but if he doesn't, he doesn't listen at all. I'm hoping this has something to do with his lack of interest in the subject matter, so it is something I can correct as we enter "pyramids" and "mummies" and such. Much more interesting than "these rivers" and "ooooh, floods!"
Logic: Once again, logic is Monkey's absolute strong suit. We have moved into relationships now, and if I let him, we would blow through the Lollipop Logic book in a whopping 4 weeks, as he would go through each section in one fell swoop. However, as I'm not in the mindset to be going through textbooks by the millions, I'm holding him to one lesson per week. His skills in relationships are rather impressive to me - he got 4/5 questions "correct" per what I thought the answer would be, and the 5th one... Well, that one was right, too, but for a different reason. He was given a picture of a birthday cake. Then told to pick which picture was related to it - a book, a party hat, or a pencil. He chose the book. I went with it, and at the end, asked him his reasoning. Turns out, he chose the book because it would be the one closest in size to the cake. I gave him full credit for that one (as in, "hey, that was really nicely reasoned, I hadn't thought of that" not "full marks"), and we hung it on the fridge.
French: This week, we introduced French. I think Monkey is having a failure of understanding (also parsed as "What we have here is failure to communicate.") as to what the purpose of this is. I ask him "Comment t'appelles-tu?" and he looks at me and says, "I'm FIRESTAR!" Which, in and of itself is an appropriate answer, as he'd not five minutes before run to the kitchen to "transform" into Firestar, but when I prompt him to use Je m'appelle with that, he tells me, "No, not Je m'appelle Firestar, just Firestar!" So, I'll have to work on that one.
In other news, we went to Circle R Ranch this week! We participated in their Farm Animals program, and had a wonderful time. Monkey got to ride a pony, pet two other ponies, take a hay ride (with REAL HAY and not straw!), pet a sheep, a goat and a pig... He had a great time. I just wish these outings were easier on both of us than they are. It's so hard to keep a psychomotor-ly overexcitable child engaged in this sort of setting without losing him entirely - which almost happened. He very nearly ran away on me, and because I get the "wow, helicopter much" looks while I'm out with him in open spaces, nobody would listen and GTFO my way when he did run off. After all, he should be just like all the other kids and stop where he's told. But he doesn't, and he nearly chased a farm cat into the woods, then took off into the parking lot. Maybe next week. o.o;;
Also coming up on the horizon, we've enrolled Monkey in a gym class for homeschoolers! It's indoors, which will make it so much easier to avoid the running away, and he will undoubtedly love it to bits. I'm really looking forward to it!
Monkey is also enrolled in twice-weekly preschool. He adores it, and he's getting more social interaction, so it's all good. They want me to put him in for a third day per week, but I don't know that this is a feasible option for us. We'll have to see how it goes. I don't like the idea of losing an educational day from our regular homeschool week, and I'm not sure we could afford it even if we weren't losing the day. Ah, well. We'll see how it goes, and run from there!
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