(Sally, by the way, may be new to the blog, but she's not at all new to me. Her older sister Gail was in my kindergarten class, so we go waaaaaay back. In fact, besides my parents, Sally may be the blog reader who has known me the longest. Oh, except for Aunt Elaine, who has known me all my life...and also Aunt Helen who keeps tabs on us from her home in Chicago through this blog...and my Aunt Joyce in Canada who reads along, too. It's nice to have all these caring aunts, :) and I guess they've known me since birth...but besides them, Sally just might be the one who's known me the longest. Anyway...where was I? Oh, yes, I remember...)
Experienced homeschooling mothers would nod and smile when I told them I was teaching Josiah for his year of kindergarten. They'd inevitably get a far-away look in their eyes and say something like, "I remember when I taught my child kindergarten. That was so much fun! We read so many books and had a great time snuggling together on the couch. Those were the days..." I have a feeling that will be me in five or ten years because--wow!--this year of kindergarten really was fantastic; and I've got wonderful memories in the storehouse of my heart to show for it.
What's the first question two homeschooling moms ask when they get together? From my experience, I've found it to be: what curriculum do you use? And since I ask others that a lot and get asked that myself, I'll write a little about that here.
For this past year, I used a hodge-podge of materials rather than a single curriculum. Through the generosity of various people who found out I was planning to homeschool and through my own purchases of materials at various places (mostly, discount places or our local book fair) and through consistent use of the library, we quickly had more than enough materials for this year. Before we got started, I had several trusted friends with solid educational backgrounds look over my plan for the year and give suggestions, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything vitally important. That was very reassuring to me!
Here are some things that we did that worked well (and that I would do again in a heartbeat):
~ Read-n-Grow Picture Bible - this was a Bible that I had as a girl and LOVED it...after doing it this year with Josiah, I love it still, and so does he...we read one of these stories a day, except for the times when it was too exciting and we couldn't stop at just one...a lot of meaningful discussions were sparked through this book
~ Horizons Math K - I found this simple to use and attractive with bright colors and interesting things to look at on these pages...the teacher's manual suggests various math activities to supplement the written work, but I found that Josiah didn't need the extra work with manipulatives, etc. because of his good mental grasp of math concepts at this stage
~ Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons - I liked the simplicity of this and the solid building bit by bit on a strong phonics foundation...of all the things we did this year, reading was the one area that Josiah fought me a little; and I realize that it was because in his perfectionist nature, if he couldn't do it perfectly, he didn't want to do it at all...throughout the year, I used various "extras" to help him through this and spice up the blandness of it...sometimes we would pick an unusual place in the house to do his reading lesson (like sitting on the floor behind the door of Tobin's room or lying under the kitchen table--anything to make it silly and fun)...sometimes I would have a special activity page that he could do after his reading lesson, if he kept a good attitude...recently though, he was doing so much better with his attitude towards this and even showing eagerness to do it...another thing that helped was getting a little notebook for him to use as a reading journal and helping him to begin reading "real" books that he could record in his journal and get paid for (his grandparents pay him 10 cents per book...lucky boy!)...doing that really spurred him on in his reading...one more thing about teaching reading, particularly with this book: looking back, I think I probably should have pushed him a little more towards the beginning of the book to take the time to sound things out like the book asks...we skimmed through some of that, and I didn't emphasize that as much as I probably should have...I feel like Josiah has a good grasp of phonics, but that he also learns a lot through whole-language learning...he has such a good memory that if I tell him what a word is, he often remembers it just from that...makes me wonder if some students just do better with whole language, and some do better with phonics...although I'm certainly not about to abandon phonics!
~ Five in a Row - we did not do all the books in Volume One, but the books we did study in this way have become friends...looking back, I wish we had done more (in fact, we still might!)...I love the integration of various subjects that are learned through reading a book...and I also love the fact that when I pull out Blueberries for Sal or Caps for Sale (from Before Five in a Row which we did in our Learning Time sessions when Josiah was four years old), Josiah still says excitedly, "Oh I love this book!" :)
Well, there's more I could say, but these are some of the things that stand out to me as I look back over this year. I think most of all, I'll remember all the reading we did together: story after story, book after book, from our own shelves, from the public library, from Anna Kathryn Eby's house (a former public school teacher who is more than generous with her teaching materials).
In the picture below, Josiah reads his last lesson of his reading book to Jeff one evening recently. That was quite an exciting accomplishment! :)
Another thing I learned during this past year is that hands-on experiences are so important, and we as homeschoolers can enjoy more hands-on experiences through the flexibility that we're offered as part of our way of life. I remember one day back in the fall, there was a Saturday activity in town that I knew would be interesting for the boys. However, we were using Saturday as a "school day" (and Wednesday as a non-school day because of Jeff's work schedule), so in the end I decided that we should skip the activity and stay home to "do school." I've regretted that ever since. Not that the particular situation I'm referring to was such a big deal, but I learned my lesson to not worry so much about completing workbook pages and having sit-down-at-your-desk-and-study times, but rather embrace the lifestyle of learning that true homeschooling is all about. I'll probably need to be reminded of this in the future, since my style of teaching (and living life) tends to be more schedule-oriented; but it was a valuable lesson for me that stands out in my mind--and will hopefully stick with me as we go on to first grade for Josiah in the fall.Speaking of first grade, we are planning to use Sonlight (got a super deal on it on e-Bay some time ago) for first grade which I'm excited about because of all the great books we'll get to read! :) Most of the people I talk to that have used Sonlight really liked it, but the one criticism is that it was A LOT OF READING. Sounds good to me! :) But again, with the flexibility of homeschooling, I realize that if it gets to be too much, it's not absolutely essential to read every single word of every single page. (Shhhhh...did I just say that? Don't tell anyone!) :)
Speaking of extra activities (which we were speaking of a little while ago), last night we had the privilege of going to a chicken farm to see the little chicks that were a day or two old and had just been delivered to this farm. There were 35,000 of them. That's right. 35,000. That's a lot of balls of fluff in one poultry house. One of Jeff's customers from the barbershop owns this farm, and he had mentioned a while back that it would be fun for our boys to come and visit when he got a new batch of chicks. He was right--it was fun, although I'm not sure which of us enjoyed it most. I grew up in the country, but I had never been inside a chicken house with 35,000 chicks before, and I was fascinated by how the whole operation is run. Besides that, there were deer in the forest right next to where we were, and the farmer even put out some grain for them so we could watch them eat. Beautiful creatures!
~ David with a chick
~ Josiah with a chick
~ chicks in the feed troughs
~ piles of chicks...they were so soft and cute!
7 comments:
I'm glad to hear that you had a great homeschooling year. By the time you get to Tobin you'll be a pro!
It's very hard to comprehend 35,000 chicks all in one place. They are very cute.
Well done with the homeschooling year. I was wondering if you do anything with David at this stage, since he and Boo are so close in age. We've started using counting books, but he is only interested for a few minutes. And I don't want to push him -- just give him an interest in learning.
Morning, as far as David goes, I have always read stories to him, beginning with very simple board books when he was just a baby. At this stage now, I give him the freedom to either sit with us on the couch and listen to the stories that way, or play while I'm reading to Josiah. Most of the time, he wants to be with us on the couch...but not always. I can see that his attention span is increasing because, in the past, he wasn't nearly as interested in being still and listening as he is now.
At one point in time, probably back in the fall, he was disruptive during my focused time with Josiah...so I started giving David blanket time at that point. We spread out a blanket on the floor, put toys and lots of books on it that he could look through, and then he needed to either be on the blanket playing quietly or on the couch listening. That was very helpful for that stage.
For his 3rd birthday, we gave David a dot-to-dot book, and he's been enjoying that sometimes. He also likes to draw because he sees his big brother doing it. Don't tell Josiah...but David naturally holds his pencil much more correctly than Josiah does! ;)
This past year, I didn't do any "formal" writing stuff with David, but I may in the coming year, depending on his interest (simple activity books). At this point, I'm letting him be the guide completely because, like you said, giving him an interest in learning is the most important thing.
Here's an exception to that though (as far as letting him take the lead): at one point in David's early toddler stage where he found it particularly difficult to be still and listen to a book, I did "require" him to be in my lap while I read to him. They were very short books, of course; it wasn't as if I was confining him for an hour! :) But I felt like it was important to instill that bit of discipline in his young self at an early age. He quickly got through the stage where he resisted that and into the stage where listening to stories was one of his favorite things to do.
Another thing with David is that I make sure that during his afternoon quiet time (on the days when he doesn't nap), he has access to lots of books. It's fun to see him absorbed in a book, with other books spread out all around him on the floor. Makes more of a mess to clean up! But it's so worth it! :)
Are you considering homeschooling Boo? Is homeschooling common in Australia? From your blog, I know you well enough to know that whether you officially homeschool or not, you are an involved mother who teaches her son a whole bunch!!! :)
One more thing: quite often, when Josiah does his math work, David wants to be right there beside him, watching what's going on and occasionally guessing at what the answer is. He's almost always wrong, but it is still fun to have him involved in that way!
David definitely benefits from trickle-down learning!
Thanks for the insight on homeschooling. Your comments in the comment section were really helpful--doing lessons in fun places, etc. It sounds like you are doing a really superb job with teaching, not just the formal stuff, but informally with all of them. My husband's family is the learningest (o.k., maybe I coined a word here) family I have ever known. They are striving to learn more and more all the time no matter what age or how many degrees they have. I am giving it my best shot to get Paul (and Hannah) off to a good start with that mindset.
Do you remember ACE's "Learning to Read" program from Trinity? How do you compare "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" to that? My mom used it for the rest of my siblings, and since she has all the very nice materials and props, I am thinking of using that for Paul. I would only have to buy the 12 work books.
Sally, it's actually difficult for me to compare the two reading programs because, honestly, I barely remember ACE's Learning to Read! It obviously worked for me! :) But I don't remember a thing about it as far as HOW it teaches the child. Isn't that crazy? :)
But hey, if you've got all the materials (besides the workbooks) and if you like the program, I think it's worth a shot. You could always switch later if it wasn't working out.
One thing I've heard numerous people mention as far as reading goes is that there is no particular hurry with it. Especially with boys, sometimes reading just doesn't click until the child is 6 or 7. And that's really OK. As long as the child is read to a lot and enjoys the learning process, a solid foundation is being built regardless.
With Josiah, he was ready to learn to read this year. But I hope to approach each of my children with enough discernment to know when that time comes so that I don't rush them just for the sake of having them fit into the "accepted" timetable. Know what I mean?
Anyway, I got a little off-track there! :) But I think Mrs. Fawley would probably be a great resource person to ask, as far as her opinion of ACE's reading program. And I'm sure there are other people you know that would be well-qualified to answer that.
One of the reasons I liked Teach Your Child... is because it was so simple. One book, and that's it. It's very clearly laid out so that it's a piece of cake for the parent to follow. But I'm sure there are many other good reading programs out there.
Enough of my wordiness... :)
Hmmm...that is eye-opening, that you don't remember it. I didn't know the engravings on my brain were due to the 6,000 repetitions of the animal songs and the 1/2 dozen or more repetitions of each of the stories that go with each sound. It is a phonetic program. My mom gets credit for teaching me "Learning to Read" indelibly, even if it was indirectly as she taught my siblings!
Thanks for posting this...I really appreciated it esp. as we are currently looking at homeschooling Kathryn for kinder next year...thanks for mentioning resorces/books I'd already heard about elsewhere and was thinking about using...it is great to hear several people say they like something :) I also appreciated the reminder of looking on ebay (I love ebay :)) to get good discounts on materials...thanks :)
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