My Botched Early-Elementary Vocabulary Plan

I thought we had done great with vocabulary this year. Richie and Veronica did Vocabulary Cartoons and loved it. They learned a lot and use the words around the house. They also did Word Roots Beginning, which tested Latin parts of words.

We just did standardized testing and Veronica scored great, 95%, but Richie scored 65% having studied the same things. His test tested on words like ease and spoil. Not near the level he worked with all year.

So I'm redoing my vocabulary plan for the early years and making it mainly a reading comprehension plan. By having some reading comprehension skills in decoding word meaning through context, the biggest vocabulary gain is through reading. This year was Richie's 3rd grade year and that's when we start Reading Comprehension study. Now I'm rethinking that. It took half the year to just get through 1st-3rd simple comprehension before he could do the critical thinking-based 3rd/4th grade Reading Detective Beginning curriculum I had planned. It's decoding word meaning through context lesson was great, but he needed all the before stuff to understand it.

So my new plan is to get through the 1st-3rd basic stuff the summer before 3rd grade or even the last semester of 2nd. The problem with the latter is reading ability. It needs to be at a fluency level to even be able to tackle comprehension on those levels. We do all the sentence comprehension and following the story with the pictures of early readers, but I was surprised to find that those did nothing to prepare Richie for 3rd grade comprehension. That's what leads me to think a short intensive of simple reading for comprehension unit during summer would be the best plan.

So, where I'm going with this is here: we accomplished reading comprehension wonderfully this year and Richie scored 95% in that test; the only question missed being a vocabulary one. It was just too late to reap any vocabulary benefits with is new ability to understand the meaning of words through reading. We didn't follow up the reading comprehension with lots of grade level reading. For my kids who will naturally love to read by that age, this won't be an issue, but so far I haven't had one of those.

Testing the Boys for Reading Level

I tested Kit online for his reading level and with 2 different tests he scored on a 3.1 grade level! I'm not entirely buying it, but I guess he's doing better that I gave him credit for. His 2nd grade phonics workbook is the only 2nd grade thing he has not completed and it's because of slowing down with reading.

Richie did the same two tests and scored on a 4.8 grade level in both. I would have really never guessed that one! He is my delayed reader (well compared to the reading novels in Pre-school impression I have of modern public school demands). He didn't blend sounds into words until after 6 years old, whereas Kit was doing it before he turned 4.

He has also worked his butt off in Reading Comprehension this year. I started him with a critical thinking reading comp program for 3rd and 4th graders that brought him to tears every time, so we tossed it aside and I printed off worksheets online...starting on a 1st grade level. We did them together for months working our way up through 3rd grade. He finally took the leap back to the tear-inducing book around January and just tested 95% in RC on his standardized testing last week. The only question he missed was vocabulary related. I've learned my lesson and Kit will be starting off with the worksheets next year, not the book.

Pre-Algebra and the Over-Planner

Planning the Pre-Algebra Year has been daunting. I figure there's a ton to cram in there, but I have two entirely different students' needs to meet. With one our goal is to get her graduated before 18 and therefore she needs to complete 7th and 8th grade work this year and one who's years ahead of the game, but needs to be kept challenged. So to keep them on a mostly similar path so I can keep up, my plan is to start broad and narrow in.

We're starting with Life of Fred's Pre-Algebra set of Fractions then Decimals and Percents. People love them and say they are conceptual, but I'm leary. I picked it mainly for Veronica who prefers literature to math and they contain a cute story of Fred the 5 1/2yr old math genius who teaches at a University. I figure it'll do Richie some good since his reading comprehension isn't advanced the way his math skills are and if we present math in literary terms, he might be interested enough to keep reading and gain some reading comprehension skills. Veronica will also add in related worksheets on the concepts to help them stick. These two Life of Fred books will take a combined 20 weeks.

After those, we'll include Kit in the beginning unit of Hands-On Equations, which I'm really excited about. I'm goofy and get excited over balancing equations...hopefully it's catchy. It uses chess pawns in two colors for X and -X and two colors of dice for positive and negative numbers that you "balance" on a printed scale representing both sides of the equal sign. Kit will work with us through X and positive numbers, then the older two will continue into the unit on -X, then the final one on negative numbers. It's about an 8wk course.

After that, if we're all still sane enough to go on, we'll be starting Chalk Dust Pre-Algebra, which is DVD lessons of a man at a chalk board teaching each concept. There is a huge worktext that goes with it. I splerged on two of those at the insane price of $0.50 each used on Amazon...new, $156 each. I even got the $200 DVD set for only $50 there. See, it pays to be an obsessive curricula researcher!

Now, I live in reality and know we won't barely scratch the Chalk Dust surface, but I figure by this point we'll work with concepts not previously touched on and gleen from the worktext's work problems. I never did word problems with anything equation based in high school so I'm not going to skip any of the application stuff of doing Algebraic word problems with my kids...boy they're going to love in for Algebra I and II!

I figure by this point Veronica will be prepared to attempt Algebra the following year as a Freshman. *Crossing Fingers* Math is not her strong suit, but at worst we could continue on with Chalk Dust Pre-Algebra the 1st semester of the following year before switching to Algebra. With Richie there's no time line, at least not for a few years, so he can leisurely do everything in Chalk Dust's full-year course over the end of next year and however long of the following year. I am also planning on him doing Math Logic and Word Problems with Kit, but it might be way below him. It's a 3rd/4th grade level but I think he'd get a kick out of teaching Kit to do it anyway.

Both will also be mixing in Math Detective by the Critical Thinking Company. It's a great CDRom program that has full-page story problems with difficult multi-step questions to figure out pertaining to each. It's on a 5th/6th grade level, but add in the logic and length and it'll be a good challenge. Plus it will again incorporate reading.

Getting At This Again

I figure blogging is a good outlet for my obsessive need to babble about homeschooling and family without directing it at anyone forced to hear it! All the boring curriculum planning and scheduling details will be outlined here to my heart's content, ad nauseum. Lucky you, my reader!

Setting the Writing Foundation in Young Children

Narration, Copywork, and Dictation. These three will set the foundation to a confident, fluent writer. That means no journal writing for a 1st or 2nd grader, contrary to popular use. Children need to understand written language before they can do it themselves. There's separate skills in being able to verbalize their thoughts and writing properly constructed sentences.

Through narration, they learn to process what they learn or think and verbalize those thoughts to you. You do the writing down of those words for them. A child can discuss with words far beyond his understanding of written language. A child needs to first become comfortable organizing thoughts and summarizing information learned.

As for your child actually writing, he should practice writing through copy work which takes out the added element of formulating his own thoughts into words. He just has to copy someone else's writing. This also teaches grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. You can also expose him to great written works of fiction at the same time.

As your child progresses with his use of language, handwriting, and spelling abilities, he can then begin practicing visualizing "pre-thought" sentences (first of someone else's words and later his previously narrated words) though dictation. Dictation is the bridge from thoughts to paper. Even if they aren't his own thoughts, he still has to picture how they would be written, spelled, and punctuated in his mind before writing them. This only relieves him of the act of formulating the thoughts himself before writing.

Narration, copy work, and dictation work in incremental steps to teach how to write. Each task is separated out and done alone before the child works up to doing them entirely on his own - from organizing his thoughts to putting them into words to writing those words down in correct written language. He will not be ready for this undertaking until about 3rd grade. Sure, he can probably strew together some simplified sentences of words he is secure in being able to spell correctly before then, but the goal is artfully written thoughts. That takes time, confidence, and understanding of the steps involved.

Story Time Art

The twins went to Story Time at the library and the theme of course was Thanksgiving so they got to make turkeys with construction paper and colored feathers. They were very proud.

Last Birthday for months! WooHoo!

We just celebrated our oldest's 11th birthday. Hers is the last kids' birthday until March! I can hardly believe the birthday rush is over! We celebrated the 10 kids' birthdays in our house (plus added a birth-day for next year's list) plus another 3 with other friends. I'm exhausted! Now we're on to the holiday rush...it never ends.

Veronica helped make her own cake because she wanted a dolphin jumping out of a blue "ocean" cake. The dolphin was made out of rice crispy treats...it was really easy to make compared to all the cakes I've made with just cake and frosting. The hampster's already spinning the wheel for next year's cake ideas! Her cake turned out really well except the head kept slowly falling down so we propped it up with a blue frosted cookie. Then...of course, the dolphin's nose started falling...so we ate it!

Earlier in the day we celebrated by the whole household going roller skating and just the girls later getting Veronica's ears pierced. The kids loved roller skating and want to do it again next week...but the parents aren't as enthusiastic!

Getting Ready for Mayhem!

Here's my daughter trying on a children's gas mask. Can't prepare them too early! We have one adult mask and 3 children's masks.

Mummies in the Pyramid!

During our Egypt unit we mummified Barbies and built and decorated a pyramid. The kids drew hieroglyphs on the pyramid and colored it. They salted and pretended to prep the Barbies for mummification before wrapping them with gauze...yes, the same gauze they used for their Halloween mummy costumes. It's much faster mummifying dolls than it is to mummify children! After making the doll mummies they drew stories with heiroglyphs about them. Their pictures included Anubis, building of a pyramid, a queen with her servants, and the funeral of a pharaoh.

Also, as part of our Egyptian unit we watched shows about the building of the pyramids, King Tut, and about life in ancient Egypt. They also learned about the geography, building methods, and worship in ancient Egypt.

My Language Arts Plan

This is my rough plan for Language Arts for the Grammar Stage (1st-4th grade). Many include curriculum I'm looking into and will chose from when the time comes. We don't/won't use all of these for all subjects in each grade. I plan the year for what the child needs and often drop and add things through the year. Some things can be covered in unit-type lessons and are not covered daily or even weekly. This is also goals for the entire year and work builds up to most difficult assignments. I'm very flexible and like having a buffet of options to teach from.

First Grade
Phonics – Explode the Code A, B, C, and possibly D.
Spelling – Reading Rod letters to practice ETC words. Spell to Write and Read.
Writing – Copy work of phonics words in sentences then paragraphs from early readers.
Grammar – Nouns and Verbs. Punctuation and Capitalization through copy work. Discuss quotation, when to capitalize, apostrophes.
Handwriting – Pages from Zaner-Bloser and copy work.
Reading – Explode the Code, Bob Books, early reader set, and then Step into Reading. Being read to.

Second Grade
Phonics – Plaid Phonics 2 (and 3)
Spelling – Reading Rods and Word Searches.
Writing – Copy Work from books, Dictation, Sentence building with Reading Rod word blocks then writing sentences. Story development: Beginning, middle, end. Simple book reviews. Alphabetizing through second letter of a word. Letter writing and addressing an envelope. Poetry writing and reading.
Grammar/Language - Primary Language Lessons. Adverbs and Adjectives. Subject and Predicate. Proper quoting, use apostrophes. Discuss comas. Primary Language Lessons. Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms.
Reading – Early Reader set, Step into Reading, beginning chapter books and free reading.

Third Grade
Writing – The Complete Writing Program (3-12), Story Writing program 1st yr of 2. Copy work from books 2x week, Sentence Building blocks then writing sentences, Dictation 3x week (tests Spelling, Punctuation, and Capitalization). Sentence Composing for Elementary School: A Worktext to Build Better Sentences, IEW?? Beginning cursive writing, Concept of paragraph, Using period, comma, question mark, apostrophe, quotation marks, Writing short, original stories and poems, Postwriting skills: editing and proofreading
Reading – Reading Detective by the Critical Thinking Co (3-4grade)
Grammar – Intermediate Language Lessons. Looks boring. ??? Start Language Mechanics a year early?
Spelling – Work from list of misspelled words from child’s writing (sentence writing, writing 10 times, word searches, blocks). Spelling Power, Spelling Workout, Sequential Spelling, or Spell to Write and Read. Simply Spelling gr3-12. Five simple activities per week of one topic; based on America and classical writings.
Vocabulary – Thesaurus word swapping. Prefixes and Suffixes. Word Roots by the Critical Thinking Co.

Fourth Grade
Writing – Story Writing program 2nd yr, Sentence Building blocks then writing sentences, copy work, dictation.

I Love Logic!

I've become a firm believer in teaching children logic. Haven't we all met someone who sounds like a complete moron by saying things that are so far from making sense you wonder what drug they're on? Seriously though, some kids won't outgrow that stage of making stupid comments without being actively taught how to think things through.

I want my kids to be able to see a problem and devise a logical solution. Or to have a thought they want to verbalize and be able to articulate it so that others can follow. Sounds simple but it doesn't come naturally for all kids and I won't accept that any of my kids will grow up to be one of those moronic adults!

My 7yo son started the Building Thinking Skills book 1 in September and there is already a noticeable difference in his thinking abilities. He's learned how to manipulate objects in his mind and 'see' the reversed, rotated, or mirrored version. It's also helped him in being able to describe things by their properties and we're using that new skill to help with creative writing. He's describing nouns to make more interesting sentences. For example, yesterday he worked on making two simple sentences with word blocks and wrote them down. One was: An elephant was at the zoo. Today he listed attributes of his nouns and made that sentence into: A big gray adult elephant was sleeping in a cage at the zoo. Hey, I just realized his lesson from last week on a/an usage stuck...he knew it was AN elephant! Considering last year he was still saying 'him's car'...I feel really proud.

Rant about BAD Homeschoolers

Yes, there are bad homeschoolers who's children would be better off in school. Sadly I've met a few. My first qualm...which I admit is just an opinion, but I do think it's detrimental for the children. Parents who never let their kids play with other kids. Never. I've known 4 kids since moving here who aren't allowed to play with other kids besides mine. We're no longer friends with either family. One family has an only child and he only plays with his dad even when they go to a McDonald's playplace. I feel bad about those children and wonder how lonely their childhoods are.

Second issue, parents who spend all day on the computer for "me time" and expect their children to teach themselves or at least to stay out of their hair. Mind you, I say this while sitting at the computer...during school hours...but my kids have finished their lessons for the day and they're all playing educational games together. They don't need me right now...but there really are women out there doing this all day long claiming to homeschool.

Last and worst issue, which is completely abusive, is parents who medicate their children without a doctors' consent. You can buy anything online...including Prozac and Ritilin. I know a mother who gives these to her child WHO IS COMPLETELY NORMAL so he will stay out of her hair while she spends all day online because he's too much of a typical boy to teach himself! She has not only herself convinced, but her husband and most sadly, her son thinking he has a problem. She even tried to convince me he has mild autism!!! An example of proof from her husband, he jumps on the couch. He literally said this to my husband - father of FIVE boys. Meanwhile because she homeschools, the poor boy has no help. She's also one of the families whose children never play with other children.

So there, I've said my peace. If you're not guilty of these, give yourself some slack as a homeschooling mom. There are far worse ways to harm your child than skipping math for a few days.

Vaccinations

My oldest non-vaccinated son just got a tetanus vaccine! *GASP* I've always figured one day they'd need it and now that time came for my 7yo. He wore his shoes to the chicken coop and then took them off when he got there. Silly kid. He cut a huge gash in his foot on a rusty screw.

He's a constant surprise when it comes to things most kids find scary. He gets his shot and says it didn't hurt a bit. He's not hesitant at all about getting his second shot in 4 weeks. He was the same when he went to the dentist at 4 1/2yo and got two cavities filled. He came home thinking the dentist was fun!

Reading Decimals

My 7yo son hit his first road block being unable to understand a math concept. The great thing is we'll just skip it and keep right on truckin'! That's one of the great aspects of our new math curriculum, Math on the Level, which I can't praise enough.

He did awesome with fractions last month and can add and subtract them, draw figures to represent them, compare them, and change improper fractions into mixed numbers. I figured it'd be an easy progression to toss in a decimal. Not so, but I am so glad to be done with pizza analogies! We also just worked on place value so I really thought this would be a simple next step, but I guess this is this string of concepts' stopping point for now. We'll pick it up again in a month or two and see if he's able to understand it then.

So, instead we're moving on to skip counting 3s and 4s and memorizing facts with 2s. We'll play with manipulatives to make sure he completely understands why we multiply and what it represents. Eventually we'll add in fact drills. The point is to make math fun without stress and one day when we come back to reading decimals, his love of math with still be in tact.

Game Day

Do you ever have a day where you know your kids truly enjoyed each others' company? Some days around here it feels like those are an urban myth. Yet today, add in teaching manners, good sportsmanship, and a lot of fun learning and you have our game day. Did I mention, I actually hate playing games...yet even I had fun.

I suppose I need a better name for them since it's not all about games, but any sort of fun learning opportunities. Yet if I called then Fun Days, the kids would hear Free-for-all Days.

Today we played Connect Four, Chutes and Ladders, read books about dinosaurs, had a dinosaur puppet show, did the dino hockey pokey, watch some science shows and practiced long division. Yes, there was even an Ah-ha! moment that made the long division fun!

Our Homeschool's Schedule

I have our year set up with 28 4-day Lesson Weeks and 8 Exploration Weeks. During our Lesson Weeks, we do the basic skill subjects: math, logic, phonics, spelling, grammar, reading, handwriting, and writing. We don't do all subjects per grade and the subjects each child does are planned to be completed in just those 112 days. On Wednesdays during these weeks, instead of lessons they play educational games like chess, Cosmeo.com games, various logic and math games, Blocus, Othello, and puzzles. They also do art projects and painting. They play with our globe which has talking quiz and information settings. They also play more outside with sports and build onto their forts in the woods. We also catch up on TV shows I've recorded on anything educational that interests us and Magic Schoolbus episodes. This day is also for field trips and Cub Scouts.

Exploration Weeks include our content subjects we don't stuff into lesson weeks: Science, History, Heritage, Geography, Art, Music, Character Building, and Biographies. This coming week is our second Exploration Week and we're studying prehistory and evolution. Our first week was on Africa. So far I only have a basic World Geography week planned next then I might do ones of each of the other continents.

Richie, our 7yo 2nd grader, has about 2 1/2hrs worth of work per lesson day. He does a 5 problem mini math test, a math lesson or activity, 3 pages in his logic workbook, 3 pages in his phonics workbook, 15 minutes of reading aloud to an adult, and a writing assignment. We also throw in vocabulary, difficult sight word cards, and language lessons whenever we get to them.

His writing assignments change each of the 4 days. On Monday it's copy work from his classic language book. Tuesday he makes 2 well thought out sentences with word blocks and we go over them for correct grammar, he then copies them to his notebook. Thursday is copy work usually from whatever book he finds interesting because they include quotations. Both copy work assignments are usually 5 or 6 sentences long. Friday is dictation. I am now a firm believer in dictation. It's a spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar test rolled into on one! I read the sentence then slowly read each word as he write them. We do about 3 or 4 sentences.

Kit, our almost-6yo Kindergartner, only does about 1hr worth of work. I make sure we cover something for phonics, often his Explode the Code workbook plus some kind of activity like word building with letter blocks or word card games for first, middle, and ending sounds of words. If his Explode the Code pages didn't include a lot of writing, he does 4 short sentences of copy work that I make up from his phonics words he's learn at the time. When he's ready for it, we'll add in reading practice. He's just at the beginning of reading c-v-c words. Every lesson day he also does some kind of math related activity with manipulatives and some times writing numbers and basic number sentences from his counters.

Hope that makes sense! We're all loving this schedule and I am more consistent with it because I only have 2 hectic lesson days back-to-back before either game day or the weekend. Plus with content subjects taken out of the usual rotation, it's not overwhelming for me.

Here We Go!

I'm finally starting a blog like everyone else in the world. I'll be putting up pictures of our family, write about what we do around the house, the fun we're having homeschooling, heritage activities we do, and silly things the little badgers do and say.

This is our home. Looks picturesque with flowers blooming in the field backed by woods you just know kids love exploring. We finally have the secluded room to roam we wanted our children to grow up with. Of course, soon after this picture was taken all the flowers died and we're back to sand spurs on our huge sand box. One day all the grass seeds we've spread will finally grow something.