All About Reading

I got a great email about a new program that just came out called All About Reading.  I am disappointed that my boys are past this stage but thought I would post about it anyway.  I love All About Spelling and we are still using it and I'm sure that this reading program is just as wonderful.  Even if you don't get the program you can go get their free e-books at this link... https://marierippel.infusionsoft.com/go/activitybooklets/gr84u/ 

Our family is using All About Spelling.  I have a 3rd grader and a 13yr old dyslexic which use this program.  My dyslexic son loved this program from the beginning.  It's fun and easy for him to learn it.  Can't beat the fun part.  Here is a whole article about dyslexia. 

This is what we use for spelling.  So what I write about our spelling curriculum is from experience.  We are also an affiliate which helps us continue in our wonderful choice of spelling programs.  I'm sure those two free e-books will not be free for long so grab them while you can.    

Currclick's Sale

Hurry and go to Currclick to get your school supplies before the sale is over.

Spelling Out the Answers

I did a post on All About Spelling a few posts back. In that post I talked about a great hands on spelling program. What is so hands on about it? Well, you use magnetic tiles at the beginning to show what letters go with what sounds. Then you start putting them together. When my boys see this coming out they look at it as a game. Which means it's one of their favorite subjects and that is a good thing.


From the previous post I was asked a few things. One of the things was at what age level would you start level 1? What I have to say about that is that this program is not level1=grade 1 or level 2=grade 2. I started my 6yr old on level 1 and I also started my 11yr old on level 1. You would always want to start at level 1 to make sure the kiddos know what sounds go with what letters.

Those older ones that start with level 1 will zip through the level faster than a 6yr old. What I like about this program is that you go as fast or as slow as you need to. If your child knows the information then do it and move on till you get to something that they need a little more time on. You will notice that each child may have something they missed and they need a little more time on it to get it and that is ok.

What I did was start with level 1 with both boys. I got one book and two extras student materials. My 11yr old will be going on to Level 2 this year and my little one is still on level 1 so I don't need the extra set of things for the little one.

Another thing is that this program is also good for those with dyslexia which my 11yr old has. I see improvement in his reading and spelling every day. It will never be what the others are but that is ok. He is getting better and will be the best he can be.

There will be 6 levels in this program and by the time we reach level 6 it will be a high school level. So for 6 books you get up to high school. The advantage to buying it one book or level at a time is the cost in my opinion. There are some programs out there for dyslexics that cost a ridiculously amount of money that you have to dish out at once. This way you pay as you go and if it doesn't work for you then you don't feel like you spent so much money for nothing.

I hope this review will answer questions about this program. We will continue using it this year.

Little House for boys?

What do you think? I've always wanted to read the Little House books but since I have boys they have always looked down on it. They look at them and say that those books are for girls. I am still going to read them. Has anyone ever tried reading them to boys with success?

Since starting this blog earlier this week, I started reading the first book in the series. I can't wait to continue to read these with the boys. Even though, they complain every time I say that it's time to read the book they listen intently. So I guess that means, don't tell anyone we like the stories.

Another book I wanted to get was The Prairie Primer to go along with the books. I saw it last year at the homeschool convention and almost got it but then I figured the boys would complain about the "girly" books I was going to have to read with them. So guess what? hehehe This book is on order. Now I'll be looking to see when it gets here. This book is a unit study for a year or two. It goes thru every subject except math. I will be using that for some of the subjects so it can go along with our reading.

One more thing I got.....yes, the cookbook. I saw one at the library and it seems to have more reading in it. It tells you a little about where it was referenced and in which book. I think it will be nice for the boys to see how people used to eat and what they used to eat. Maybe they will not make faces when I make beans or dishes like lasagna. What do you think, should I make them some succotash, blackbird pie or what about pot roast of ox? Yummmm.....I can just see you all laughing at the thought of me making it. I'll be outside running around like a loony trying to figure out how to catch those blackbirds. hehehe

Can't wait to see how the reading goes and can't wait for UPS to drive up with my little box of books. "Like I really need anymore book!"

The Well Trained Mind part 1

I could say that we use TWTM and we do, sort of. I think a better statement would be that we follow it loosely. I think very few people could say they follow it to the letter. I do have my own copy of the book and look over it from time to time. I also have the book series of What your __ grader needs to know.

Are you wondering what we do exactly? Well, in Texas according to law I have to teach reading, spelling, grammar, math, and a course of good citizenship. That is all I have to do by law. As long as I have those subjects covered I'm fine.

I don't stick by the time set up in the book either because that would cause a revolt in my house. I'm sure it would in many houses too. I looked and read every entry on the subjects we will do and then I chose my own books. I also used the book 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy. This gives an idea of different curriculums and books out there for each subject and which would be best for which type of student.

Here is our list for the two younger ones. Now keep in mind that my 11yr old has dyslexia.

I will start with the 11yr olds list first.

Reading: There is so much we do for this. We have used Pathway Readers. He is working on Busy Times. My Book of Bible Stories is very good too and we read that together just for reading. He has been read that book so many times but now he has to do most of the reading in it.

Spelling: We started All About Spelling this year and he loves doing this program.

Grammar: He is doing Growing with Grammar. This is a quick and easy program and not expensive.

Math: He is doing Rod and Staff 3rd grade. It has lots of repitition which he needs.

As for the course in good citizenship....we do that all the time with going to meetings and having our family study.

Now my 6yr old.

Reading: He is doing the Pathway Readers too, working on First Steps. Also, reading out of My Book of Bible Stories.

Spelling: All About Spelling He also loves this program. It's more of a game to him.

Grammar: Growing with Grammar This program may take a total of 15-20mins to do a day.

Math: Rod and Staff 2nd grade. He feels so grown up doing the same program that his brother did last year.

Now this is not the only things we do. We do science using Apologia Swimming Creatures. Both boys do this. We do history by doing the 4year cycle that TWTM has. So there is my WTM part. hehehe We also do nature study, art, writing and lots of PE to get those wigglies out.

This has turned into a long post and I am not finished. Well, maybe this will be part 1 and I'll work on part 2.

Our Spelling Program

I have been asked what we use for spelling. So here it is. Taaadaaaa! We are using All About Spelling. We started at the beginning with both younger boys. Since dyslexia is in our lives we decided to use this for that too. Of course the younger one doesn't have it but it is still great for him.

This program is sort of like Spell to Write and Read in that is has phonograms and you learn them like SWR. So far there are 4 levels. We started on level one and it starts off with them learning the phonogram sounds. Then it goes to learning some rules and alphabetizing.
Here he is putting his tiles in alphabetical order. We have a magnetic/white board and I put magnets on the back of the tiles.

The boys love this program. They can't wait to get to it. So I think I have a great program. I think this is the first program that we have used that they look forward to do. Don't you just love it when that happens?

So this is the magnetic board that we are using. This is how it is supposed to be set up. Well the whole alphabet is supposed to be on one line but I was not about to get the huge magnetic board they said. This one is big enough where we can put it on the table when they use it.

In the center they will eventually do words. So far we are on lesson 4. We do as much as they can handle and also make sure they get it before moving on.
We have also done segmenting words with the tokens they give with the program. Oh and by the way, did I say they love to do this program. What a great plus! Then if that is not enough, I have joined their affiliates program. What is that? Well, if you click on my link to the program and you buy it I get a percentage. I just got my first payment and I will be using it to buy levels 2 and 3.

So that is what we are using. I give this program 2 thumbs up.

What's for Science?

If you don't know by now, I guess I have to tell you. We just love to go over the Apologia books for science. We are finishing up the Flying Creatures one right now and will be doing the Swimming Creatures starting next year. I have plans for this book too. We are doing some lapbooking for the birds but I think that with the Swimming Creatures book we will just do it as the book suggests.

So what are our plans. Sort of the same thing as in history. The book has 14 lessons and we will do each lesson in 2 weeks. That gives us a total of 28 weeks to finish this book. What will we have at the end of this book? We will have a notebook of drawings and illustrations. My favorite is the ocean box that takes all 28 weeks to do. You do a little at a time and end up with a box of all the animals you learned about in the box made out of clay or paper. I think we will do ours out of clay. Of course, there are the experiments that they love to do. I really can't wait to get started with that because I can just see our field trips....the beach, the aquarium and more of the beach. Oh, what fun!

So here you have my lesson plans for the first 4 weeks in science. I have it all done it takes too much room to put it here. If you want to see more or know more just ask.

Each lesson will be 2 weeks long and it will be 3 days a week.
Lesson 1 Aquatic Animals
Day 1 Read pgs 1-4
Day 2 Read pgs 5-10 do Try This!
Day 3 Read pgs 10-15 do Try This!
Day 4 Read pgs 16-17 do Your Notebook
Day 5 page 17 Ocean Box
Day 6 page 18 Experiment

Lesson 2 Whales
Day 1 Read pgs 19-23
Day 2 Read pgs 23-28 do Try This!
Day 3 Read pgs 29-34 do Try This!
Day 4 Read pgs 35-39 do Your Notebook
Day 5 Read pgs 39 Ocean Box
Day 6 pages 39-40 Experiment

Lesson 3 Seals and Sea Cows
Day 1 Read pgs. 41-45
Day 2 Read pgs. 45-50
Day 3 Read pgs. 50-53
Day 4 Read pgs. 53 do Notebook
Day 5 Read pg. 53 Ocean Box
Day 6 Read pg 54 Experiment

Lesson 4 Aquatic Herps
Day 1 Read pgs. 55-58 do Try This!
Day 2 Read pgs. 58-64 do Try This!
Day 3 Read pgs. 64-68 do Try This!
Day 4 Read pgs. 68-71 Notebook
Day 5 Read pgs. 71 Ocean Box
Day 6 Read pg. 72 Experiment

History Plans

Jackie over at http://www.cenla.net/jwtrue/ commented on my last post and thought I would share how my planning is going with in history. I have always liked The Well Trained Mind because it gives you an idea on how to get your "stuff" together for each subject. I love the lists they have for history. I have a list going on what we will study this coming year. The only part I have finished is the beginning. I am using the History Pockets of Colonial America that you can get at any bookstore. It reminds me of lapbooking and notebooking together. The best of both worlds in my opinion. Anyway, this is my list. Keep in mind that it is not finished. Only the first part is done and we will probably spend 3 or 4 weeks on that. I will include Netflix movies and maybe a book or two. There are also some magazine articles I need to work on getting in there.

The rest of my list is in the making. I have to put events together with people in history and probably delete some things.

Do you have any ideas for me? Suggestions are welcome. *wink*


Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)

History Pockets of Colonial America by Evan Moor
The Mayflower
Native American cultures
early American settlements
George Washington (1732-1799)
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Pocahontas
Squanto
William Penn (1644-1718)
John Smith, Jamestown


Russia under Peter the Great and his successors
the Enlightenment
the agricultural revolution
the British in India
the French Revolution
British-French conflict in Canada
the American Revolution
The Napoleonic Wars
the industrial revolution
Simon Bolivar's fight for independence in South America
the siege of the Alamo
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
the California gold rush
the Lewis and Clark expedition
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)
Sacagawea (c.1788-1812)
the US acquisition of North America territories
Australia's beginnings as a penal colony
the Constitution
Salem Village and the Witch Hysteria
Slavery in the US
the War of 1812
Napoleon

Books

Don Quixote (abridged)

List of people
Charles I (1600-1649) Rembrandt (1606-1669)
John Milton (1608-1674)
Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
Louis XIV (1638-1715)
Isaac Newton (1642-1715)
Peter I (Peter the Great) (1672-1725)
Yoshimune (1684-1751) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fredrick William I (Fredrick the Great) (1688-1740)
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Qianlong (1711-1795)
Maria Theresa (1717-1780)
Catherine the Great (1729-1796) Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Betsy Ross (1752-1836)
Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784)
Louis XVI (1754-1793)
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
George III of England (1760-1820)
Eli Whitney (1765-1825)
Captain James Cook (1768-1771)???
Tecumseh (1768-1813)
Napoleon (1769-1821) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Simon Bolivar (1783-1830)
Shaka Zulu (1787-1828)
Nat Turner (1800-1831)
Buffalo Bill
Andrew Jackson
Paul Revere
Sitting Bull

Busy, busy

So what is up with us that we haven't been on here in a while? Well, I've been busy going over this new program with my 10yr old. We just started and since the beginning it has been easy because we have used other programs and also let him learn at his own pace.

When I saw someone talk about this book I thought I would get it and see if we would like it and so far it's a thumbs up for it. This reading program has a total of 55 lessons long and each lesson should take between 20-40 mins to complete. It is based on the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching.
If you go to their website it has lots of extra information. Information about dyslexia and about reading and writing. This is the first book I got that seems easy enough to stay with. So I'll give updates on our progress soon enough.

Art

We have been using Artistic Pursuits this year. Since we have never really used watercolor that much before it has been fun to use this book this year. We have done lots of watercolor paintings. This was a watercolor wash. You basically wet the paper then add color and move it around. It's been fun getting all the boys in on this.
You can see the color going up with the wet paper.
They figured that if you put dots of color it would move around because of the wet paper. So they started doing lots of dots.
We had fun. All of us had fun seeing the colors blend on their own.

What is school anyway?

Me in Canada, that is not Texas snow

This post came about because of a question someone made on a yahoo group and my thoughts on the matter. Since this is my blog these are my opinions. You can like them or not just like I do when I read other blogs. So here goes....

Since I've been a homeschooling mom for about 7yrs now, I've thought a lot on this subject. What is the subject you might ask? Well, I've heard newer ones to homeschooling want to know what grade their children should be for a particular subject. What should they be learning for that year? Since my child is in 5th grade what should he be learning for language or math or whatever other subject? These are some of the questions I hear and it gets me thinking.

I think, "what is a grade anyway?" Yes, we have to have goals to meet so that we can educate our children but where did grades come from? There is a thin line here. We all use grades. Like we say my child is in 3rd grade or 7th grade but this is all to make those happy that ask. Grades have to be made by the public school system in general because they have to have a plan and they have so many kids to keep on the same levels.

Homeschooling our children gives us the opportunity to go beyond what the public schools say we should and can teach. Where is it written that we can't teach chemistry in 3rd grade? Why can't we teach about biology to our younger ones? Why do we limit ourselves in what we can teach and during what age levels they should be taught? It is nice to have those records that the public schools have about what to teach at what level but we are open to teach at any time and any age so why box ourselves in to what limits have been set by the public school system? Where is it written that if we don't teach our child about earth science in high school that we are not doing it right?

So our short answer to those that ask what grades our kids are in we say, 1st, 5th and 8th and move on. For those that want to really know we say, we homeschool and we learn at our child's pace. There are not many that want to know the long version so this is my way of saying to those that want to know.

If you plan on putting your child back in public school after homeschooling a year or two then, yes, you would want to follow public schools as far as their schedules but for as long as we have been doing it there is no way I am willing to send my children back to that.

Now this in no way saying we don't get the next level of math or different levels of language books we get but what I mean is that we go by our child's pace and ability. Some kids are ahead of other kids their age on a subject or behind others their age but they are on the right level for them. If your child has a disability or gift as I prefer to call it, you work on their level. We all work and think differently so why get frustrated because they are behind where we are told they should be. No fair! No fair for the child and for us moms that have a ton to worry about as it is.

Relax and enjoy the fun that can be had by going out of the box.

What should I buy?

What curriculum should I get for my 5yr old? I've heard that question more and more lately. I don't know if it's because more are homeschooling. I think about that and wonder who in the world likes worksheets, bookwork for every subject and to sit and do that day after day.

Children learn more when things are fun. Do we have to get a language book? Do we have to get a math book? What about science or history? I've learned after all these years that fun is better to prevent burnout. If things are fun there will not be the whining of "do I have to do this again" or "not that again."

Some kiddos like to do worksheets but I don't bombard my children with them. When my youngest was learning to add I used those little bear counters to show him what adding was. Of course then that lead to playing all day with those teddy bear counters. It was fun for him and he played putting them and taking them away. Did I mention my boys are into Lego creating? Their little brains figure out how to make different things. It's amazing sometimes at the things he can make with those little blocks.

We do lots of reading together. I have him read a little bit everyday. Then I read a book or two. What makes it fun is that our reading time ritual is that now it's a bit colder we go read in my bed under the covers. Yes, under the covers. That means my bed doesn't get made till around noon. Whooops, did I just admit that! Those are the times that make it fun and make memories. My little one looks forward to getting into my bed to listen to me read a book and a few bible stories from our Bible Stories book.

There are art projects to add to the fun. Watercolors have been a big thing this year.

So what am I saying with all this. Well, children learn more in a fun way. My little one is a 5yr old and I want him to love to learn and have fun while doing it. He picks up so much from the others when we are reading their science books or talk about history. Soon enough he will be older and then I will add more sitting down work and have him do more writing. For now I am enjoying our fun times.