From Life Take 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are a variety of different ways to teach math. Is mental math better than drill? Do you need to include life application skills? When do you introduce higher level mathematical thinking skills? These are all questions that have plagued me as I have tried to get it right. Math is one of those skills that I have always struggled with and I do not want to have my children do the same thing. Maybe that is why I struggle with the decision so much. Maybe I should just relax but I can't. I always second guess myself on this one.
I started out with Singapore Earlybird Math Series. This was perfect for the preschool years but what to do afterwards really bothered me. I didn't feel Singapore had enough drill although I loved the mental aspects of it. Kris did well with it and enjoyed the color so I decided to start him on the Singapore Primary Series. Feeling that Singapore alone would never be enough, I decided to combine it with Saxon Math.
Saxon Math, we soon found out, would be a lot different than Saxon Phonics. First off, skip K unless you are using it with a 3 yr old. All it is is guided manipulative play. Save your money and start with 1 for your K year. Everything covered in K through play is covered in 1. There was a lot of teacher prep, which as you know is a big downside for me, but I spent two weeks preparing for the year. We started and Kris hated it. It moved too slow, had too much repetition, too much black and white and wasn't at all fun to teach or learn. We dropped it after forcing ourselves through 16 lessons. I felt horrible since I spent the money on 2 Saxon Math programs and never used either. (I should probably sell them on EBay.) I ended up pulling all the drill sheets from Saxon and using those with Kris. It would have been cheaper to purchase Calculadders .... which does the same thing.
We were struggling through Singapore as well. He was doing the work just fine but I didn't think we were learning anything. A friend of mine (thank you!) found a Scott Foresman Exploring Mathematics workbook at a yard sale, knew I had been interested in it and sent it to me for free. It was a second grade book but Kris really wanted to try it. He loved the way it looked. Another friend sent me the schedule for this program by Janet Fitts. So.... I figured why not. It will be over his head. I will let him try a few pages and then if he still likes it order the 1st grade book. He loved it. Not only that ... it was the right level. He had learned much more than I ever though. This series, however, is no longer being published and maybe difficult to find. Check EBay and Academic Book Source for this series if you are interested. You will need the schedule from Janet to emplement the program. Cost is $15 for a CD-ROM with schedules for K-8 along with the stories, answer key to chapter reviews, and enrichment ideas.
So.... this is how we came to a Singapore/Exploring Mathematics Combination. So far ... it is working well and what I plan on using with all 3 boys. We will also use the software programs for Singapore as well as Quartermile Math to help with my need for drill.
We considered Miquon as well but too many reviews of "if the teacher has a math phobia (that's me!) this program may be hard to teach" caused me to shy away from it. I may do this though when they are older for review. If you like the idea of Exploring Mathematics but don't want to hunt for out of print books ... I suggest looking at Horizons Math. From what I understand, it is the closest thing on the market to Exploring Mathematics.
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Monday, August 25, 2008
About Language Arts
From Life Take 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before we get to what I use/have used in the past. I want to address another topic that has been asked a lot recently. What are the sub-topics of LA? LA encompasses so much that many new homeschoolers feel overwhelmed with this subject and always feel that they are leaving something out. Below is a list of sub-subjects so that you won't have to feel like you forgot something anymore. If there is no starting time indicated, that means to start whenever developmentally appropriate. Ending times will depend upon the programs you use. All are suggestions based upon the "normal" recommendation for usage.
Spelling (starting at 1st grade)
Phonics (up to 2nd grade)
Grammar (starting at 3rd grade)
Handwriting (up to 6th grade)
Vocabulary (starting in 2nd grade)
Readers (books your child reads aloud)
I think I have covered them all. LOL!!!
Anyways, on with our journey with Language Arts. Kris showed all the signs of being able and wanting to learn how to read at the age of 3. By around 3.5, I still refused to teach him ... thinking later would be better than early. So, he decided to teach himself. If he couldn't figure out a sound, he would make one up. I quickly decided to put an end to that. So we began our journey in learning how to read.
The first book I choose to guide Kris was, Reading Made Easy. It is very similar to 100 EZ Lessons but was prefered by Rainbow Resource Center and a few other places so I went with it. I thought it looked like a great program. Kris had other ideas. He wanted his own book. He didn't want to share with me. The book seemed overwhelmingly big to him and he was instantly frustrated that he would never be able to complete it. After trying for a few months, I gave up on this program.
Shortly after this, I ordered SL LA K. Thinking we love all the other SL programs, why didn't I just get this in the first place. SL expected too much too fast for us. His reading level needed to be equal with his writing capabilities. Maybe his writing capabilities being ahead of his reading skills would have been even better. Regardless, it didn't work. Too much dictation. The introduction to letter sounds was to slow. We tried many suggestions to make it work by dropping this, adding that, etc.. etc... it all had they same affect for us. It didn't work. Later on, I gave SL LA 1 a chance ... thinking it maybe better for us now that we have the basics under our belt. I am sad to say, that it still did not work with for us. So, unless SL redoes their LA programs I do not see us using them in the future. However, I do like their readers (which I use) and the games for K and 1 were great as well.
So, tired of spending and getting nothing from it. I decide to let Kris make the choice of what he wants to use. I had 3 different programs in mind (Sing, Spell, Read and Write (SSRW), Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL), and Saxon Phonics) but I didn't tell Kris what they were. I just sat down with him and the big RR (Rainbow Resource Center) catalog and read discriptions to him. Thinking I would purchase the one that he picked that matches mine. Unfortunately, he picked 2 of the 3 I did. Now, I needed to narrow it down more. Another hs mom had Saxon Phonics and offered to let us come over and see it. Kris feel in love with it instantly and wanted to take it home (Thank you Marci!). So this is the program I ordered next.
Saxon Phonics was the perfect fit for us. We did not do everything the IG tells us too but took what we needed and left the rest. By the end of Saxon Phonics K ... Kris could read just about any picture book he could get his hands on. By the end of Saxon Phonics 1 ... he was reading chapter books, magazines, and the newspaper with ease. We did not think he need Saxon Phonics 2. So we skipped it.
Finally, we found the program that works for us. There is a saying that says, the 3rd LA program you buy is the one that will work. Whether it is finally learning your child's learning style or your child has finally had enough time or exposure to mature enough to handle phonics ... either way this has been the case for me. I just hope that the other 2 will use something we already own when it is their time to learn to read. If not, the next one I plan on trying is The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. The reviews so far have been fabulous!!
In addition to our phonics curriculum, we use several other workbooks. These have greatly helped improve Kris' abilities and I highly recommend them as do several other hsing moms I know. I plan to use these through the end of the series. When we have completed them all ... we will stop. I plan to use these with all 3 boys regardless of what phonics program works with them.
MCP Phonics (turns into Word Study at Book D)
MCP Spelling Workout (older edition ... my boys prefer sports; the newer edition is a multicultural theme. Both are in color and other than the theme are identical.)
Explore the Code (include the premiers for this series (Get Ready for the Code, Get Set for the Code, Go for the Code))
Reason for Handwriting
Wordly Wise (Books A-C)/Wordly Wise 3000 (starting in Book 1)
Handwriting was another hard choice for us. We started out wiht Handwriting without Tears but in this house it caused a lot of tears. The manipulatives for this program were a hit but Kris was confused by the 2 lines, never understood where to start his letters above the line, and hated the way that the letters look. He also did not like the black and white workbooks. In contrast, A Reason for Handwriting is a more traditional approach. While I was not to thrilled with the idea of writing Bible verses every week for handwriting ... Kris was. He loved the fact that some pages were in color and some in black and white. He also enjoyed the animal project pages that are a part of book K ... a lot! I really think it was those pages, and the ability to color the scripture pages any way he wanted to that made him want to use it. We use Startwrite Software to supplement our handwriting program. It can be used with any method you choose to teaching handwriting. It is an excellent program and one of those that I think should be found in every homeschool. If you can't afford a workbook program or prefer to make your own ... this is the one for you. Also, if you have more than one child using more than one style ... this would be a great investment for you.
Spelling caught me by surprise. I was planning on using the spelling that was part of Saxon Phonics but it just didn't work too well for us. So I picked up Spectrum Spelling 1 when I was out and about. The only program the store carried for spelling. It is too... schoolish for me. Word lists seem to be picked at random. We completed the year while I looked for something better. Spelling seems to be a schoolish subject regardless of what you use. I choose Spelling Workout because of its theme and recommendation by The Well Trained Mind. My son seems to learn anything related to sports so I figured I would capatilize on that love. I also very seriously considered Spelling Power which is recommended by SL but after hearing about all the teacher prep work needed to be done prior to using the program ... I decided against it. Anything with a lot of prep work is a big no in this house. I have no time for lots of prep work. I have 3 little boys!!
First Language Lessons (FLL) was brought up so many times during the end of 2004, that I decided that I should look into. The reviews were incredible but I wanted to see for myself if this grammar book aimed at 1st and 2nd graders was as wonderful as all the raves I have heard. I can now tell you that indeed it is! There is a rumor (or at least I think it is ... as I cannot find any information on it no matter how hard I try) that their is a Second Language Lessons (SLL) in the works. Oh how I pray that it is true! These books are similar to Primary Language Lessons (PLL) and Intermediate Language Lessons (ILL). If there is no SLL then I will probably be using ILL after FLL.
Leap Frog just came out with some Phonics DVDs this year (2004) that I cannot recommend highly enough. These would be perfect for introduction prior to starting any phonics program and would be great for review throughout your child's learning to read phase.
From Playpen to Podium was one of the first homeschool books I ever bought. It teaches speech and communication skills from your child's first word through college. It has 12 things every family should have available in their home to promote communication. This is an excellent resource for parents who think speech and debate are as big a part of LA as reading and writing.
There are the basics that you will need in addition to the actual program. A child's dictionary and thesaurus are one of those such items. Also paper and pencil. I also suggest having some fun LA manipulatives around the house ... magnetic letters, letter tiles, a chalk board for use anytime. These all will help promote LA skills through play. I am sure this section will grow over time ... I know there are a few things that I will be adding to it as we progress on our journey. But for now ... this is our plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before we get to what I use/have used in the past. I want to address another topic that has been asked a lot recently. What are the sub-topics of LA? LA encompasses so much that many new homeschoolers feel overwhelmed with this subject and always feel that they are leaving something out. Below is a list of sub-subjects so that you won't have to feel like you forgot something anymore. If there is no starting time indicated, that means to start whenever developmentally appropriate. Ending times will depend upon the programs you use. All are suggestions based upon the "normal" recommendation for usage.
Spelling (starting at 1st grade)
Phonics (up to 2nd grade)
Grammar (starting at 3rd grade)
Handwriting (up to 6th grade)
Vocabulary (starting in 2nd grade)
Readers (books your child reads aloud)
I think I have covered them all. LOL!!!
Anyways, on with our journey with Language Arts. Kris showed all the signs of being able and wanting to learn how to read at the age of 3. By around 3.5, I still refused to teach him ... thinking later would be better than early. So, he decided to teach himself. If he couldn't figure out a sound, he would make one up. I quickly decided to put an end to that. So we began our journey in learning how to read.
The first book I choose to guide Kris was, Reading Made Easy. It is very similar to 100 EZ Lessons but was prefered by Rainbow Resource Center and a few other places so I went with it. I thought it looked like a great program. Kris had other ideas. He wanted his own book. He didn't want to share with me. The book seemed overwhelmingly big to him and he was instantly frustrated that he would never be able to complete it. After trying for a few months, I gave up on this program.
Shortly after this, I ordered SL LA K. Thinking we love all the other SL programs, why didn't I just get this in the first place. SL expected too much too fast for us. His reading level needed to be equal with his writing capabilities. Maybe his writing capabilities being ahead of his reading skills would have been even better. Regardless, it didn't work. Too much dictation. The introduction to letter sounds was to slow. We tried many suggestions to make it work by dropping this, adding that, etc.. etc... it all had they same affect for us. It didn't work. Later on, I gave SL LA 1 a chance ... thinking it maybe better for us now that we have the basics under our belt. I am sad to say, that it still did not work with for us. So, unless SL redoes their LA programs I do not see us using them in the future. However, I do like their readers (which I use) and the games for K and 1 were great as well.
So, tired of spending and getting nothing from it. I decide to let Kris make the choice of what he wants to use. I had 3 different programs in mind (Sing, Spell, Read and Write (SSRW), Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL), and Saxon Phonics) but I didn't tell Kris what they were. I just sat down with him and the big RR (Rainbow Resource Center) catalog and read discriptions to him. Thinking I would purchase the one that he picked that matches mine. Unfortunately, he picked 2 of the 3 I did. Now, I needed to narrow it down more. Another hs mom had Saxon Phonics and offered to let us come over and see it. Kris feel in love with it instantly and wanted to take it home (Thank you Marci!). So this is the program I ordered next.
Saxon Phonics was the perfect fit for us. We did not do everything the IG tells us too but took what we needed and left the rest. By the end of Saxon Phonics K ... Kris could read just about any picture book he could get his hands on. By the end of Saxon Phonics 1 ... he was reading chapter books, magazines, and the newspaper with ease. We did not think he need Saxon Phonics 2. So we skipped it.
Finally, we found the program that works for us. There is a saying that says, the 3rd LA program you buy is the one that will work. Whether it is finally learning your child's learning style or your child has finally had enough time or exposure to mature enough to handle phonics ... either way this has been the case for me. I just hope that the other 2 will use something we already own when it is their time to learn to read. If not, the next one I plan on trying is The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. The reviews so far have been fabulous!!
In addition to our phonics curriculum, we use several other workbooks. These have greatly helped improve Kris' abilities and I highly recommend them as do several other hsing moms I know. I plan to use these through the end of the series. When we have completed them all ... we will stop. I plan to use these with all 3 boys regardless of what phonics program works with them.
MCP Phonics (turns into Word Study at Book D)
MCP Spelling Workout (older edition ... my boys prefer sports; the newer edition is a multicultural theme. Both are in color and other than the theme are identical.)
Explore the Code (include the premiers for this series (Get Ready for the Code, Get Set for the Code, Go for the Code))
Reason for Handwriting
Wordly Wise (Books A-C)/Wordly Wise 3000 (starting in Book 1)
Handwriting was another hard choice for us. We started out wiht Handwriting without Tears but in this house it caused a lot of tears. The manipulatives for this program were a hit but Kris was confused by the 2 lines, never understood where to start his letters above the line, and hated the way that the letters look. He also did not like the black and white workbooks. In contrast, A Reason for Handwriting is a more traditional approach. While I was not to thrilled with the idea of writing Bible verses every week for handwriting ... Kris was. He loved the fact that some pages were in color and some in black and white. He also enjoyed the animal project pages that are a part of book K ... a lot! I really think it was those pages, and the ability to color the scripture pages any way he wanted to that made him want to use it. We use Startwrite Software to supplement our handwriting program. It can be used with any method you choose to teaching handwriting. It is an excellent program and one of those that I think should be found in every homeschool. If you can't afford a workbook program or prefer to make your own ... this is the one for you. Also, if you have more than one child using more than one style ... this would be a great investment for you.
Spelling caught me by surprise. I was planning on using the spelling that was part of Saxon Phonics but it just didn't work too well for us. So I picked up Spectrum Spelling 1 when I was out and about. The only program the store carried for spelling. It is too... schoolish for me. Word lists seem to be picked at random. We completed the year while I looked for something better. Spelling seems to be a schoolish subject regardless of what you use. I choose Spelling Workout because of its theme and recommendation by The Well Trained Mind. My son seems to learn anything related to sports so I figured I would capatilize on that love. I also very seriously considered Spelling Power which is recommended by SL but after hearing about all the teacher prep work needed to be done prior to using the program ... I decided against it. Anything with a lot of prep work is a big no in this house. I have no time for lots of prep work. I have 3 little boys!!
First Language Lessons (FLL) was brought up so many times during the end of 2004, that I decided that I should look into. The reviews were incredible but I wanted to see for myself if this grammar book aimed at 1st and 2nd graders was as wonderful as all the raves I have heard. I can now tell you that indeed it is! There is a rumor (or at least I think it is ... as I cannot find any information on it no matter how hard I try) that their is a Second Language Lessons (SLL) in the works. Oh how I pray that it is true! These books are similar to Primary Language Lessons (PLL) and Intermediate Language Lessons (ILL). If there is no SLL then I will probably be using ILL after FLL.
Leap Frog just came out with some Phonics DVDs this year (2004) that I cannot recommend highly enough. These would be perfect for introduction prior to starting any phonics program and would be great for review throughout your child's learning to read phase.
From Playpen to Podium was one of the first homeschool books I ever bought. It teaches speech and communication skills from your child's first word through college. It has 12 things every family should have available in their home to promote communication. This is an excellent resource for parents who think speech and debate are as big a part of LA as reading and writing.
There are the basics that you will need in addition to the actual program. A child's dictionary and thesaurus are one of those such items. Also paper and pencil. I also suggest having some fun LA manipulatives around the house ... magnetic letters, letter tiles, a chalk board for use anytime. These all will help promote LA skills through play. I am sure this section will grow over time ... I know there are a few things that I will be adding to it as we progress on our journey. But for now ... this is our plan.
Core K
From Life Take 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2004-2005: My plans for our Kindergarten year is a lot!!! Boy am I ambious with a new little one due right smack dab in the middle of our school year. Below is a list of things I have ordered -- we will see how far I get, what get's moved to 1st Grade and what get's thrown out all together. I will let you know as we go along and I find time to update you all!! Here's my list, in addition to SL Core K:
Bob Jones K5 Bible Truths (We used this for 2 weeks and hated it. It is structured for a classroom and not a homeschool environment. On top of that, Kris complained because we weren't using a Bible for our daily Bible story. The only good thing I found from using this -- is that he truly did learn a lot more than I thought about the Bible using SL's Preschool Bible Program. From now on -- we will only be using SL for Bible studies.)
Kids 10 Commandment Videos (also called K10C; This is an excellent series that describes the 10 commandments using vocabulary and examples a child can relate too!)
Singapore Earlybird 2A & 2B with Saxon K (In hindsight I would have done Saxon K with Earlybird 1A & 1B last year and Saxon 1 this year with Earlybird 2A & 2B but that plan will wait until the next child. Saxon K is a preschool not a kindergarten program in my opinion. It could even be used prior to beginning the Singapore Earlybird Series. It is all manipulative based, no writing, no workbooks.)
Singapore Primary 1A/1B (we finished up the Earlybird series early and decided to keep going. About half way through 1A, I realized that Kris was able to do the work but was not learning or memorizing facts. He was still having to count on his fingers to know the answer to what 5+3 equals. So, we are yet again on a hunt for the perfect math program. We haven't found one but are now using a Scott Foresman Exploring Mathematics Series (which is out of print but still available through Academic Book Services or Ebay ... just make sure you get the right ones or you'll be disappointed!) and a Singapore Combo. This seems to work really well for us. He still needs help with memorization though.)
Saxon Math 1 (We ended up skipping Saxon K. It was simply to easy. Everything that was covered there is reviewed in depth in Saxon 1. My suggestion would be to save your money and skip K if Saxon is your math program of choice. We also ended up ditching Saxon math. It is just not a good fit for us and I could never make it work no matter how hard I tried. It is too boring, too repetive. We tried doing parts of it and tailoring it to fit our needs but still nothing works. We have to force ourselves to try and it simply isn't worth it.)
Rainbow Rock Cd-Rom (okay this is now back on my want list since we are doing Singapore again and Kris is begging for it. So we will see what it is like when it arrives. I pray that it is worth the money! Don't you all wish I would make up my mind?)
Quarter Mile Math Cd-Rom for K-3 (my son loves the horses and race cars in this program. It is really helping him build up the math facts that he so badly needed to learn. Another good thing to help with learning math facts is Calculadder. I have not personally used it but am considering it for the future as it somes highly recommended.)
Subtraction and Addition Songs (my sons loved this and the 1 yr old started counting to 3 after the first day of listening to the addition songs CD.)
SL Math Manipulatives Activities & Games (I have still yet to use this. Maybe if it was scheduled in someplace but alas it still collects dust on my shelf. Maybe some rainy day I will pull it out and discover what is inside.)
SL Science K (This was a great introduction to life sciences and how some things work. The things though are out of date. Consider getting the DK book The NEW way things work to supplement with. Makes a great addition and comes with an interactive CD-ROM. We rarely got to the science experiments except for once a month on family science day but the DVD was great as the kids could watch it over and over again and learned a lot of the terminology just from this.)
Startwrite Software (We use this to supplement our handwriting program. I also use for dictation or when my son wants to write a story or song. He tells me what he wants to write, I type it in this program and then have him trace it. This has worked great and has even improved his spelling since he is tracing words that he knows. Now he is trying to write these things on his own in his journal!)
MCP Phonics A
Bob Books/Readers (We have the whole set. These were great in the beginning but my son never got past the Level B Box 1 set. Not because he didn't need them any longer but because he got bored by the stories. He would much prefer easy reader books and muddle his way through those asking for help when he needed it.)
Reason For Handwriting K
Reason For Handwriting 1 (we finished up K early)
Usborne Internet Linked First Dictionary (We haven't really used the links yet but the dictionary itself is excellent!! It is easy enough for my son to use on his own to discover words to use with his spelling computer game.)
Saxon Phonics K
Saxon Phonics 1 (We finished K in less than 3 months and are moving onto Saxon Phonics 1. I cannot say enough good things about this program. It is easy to adapt to fit to the needs of your child, if it is too repetive (which it often is) you can easily skip that part but it is there if you need it and, as an added bonus, the way they present the phonics rules is superb! Thanks to these my sons spelling lessons are a breeze. As he tries to figure it out, I hear him repeating outloud to himself the various rules to fit his needs. We have had so much success using the first 2 Saxon phonics programs that I do not feel that we will need the third as he is already reading chapter books easily. So we will skip it and move onto other things.)
Wordly Wise A
SL LA 1 (parts of it. We are skipping the vocab, phonics, and spelling portions of this program. I ended up ditching this whole program with the exception of the optional workbooks and readers. Sonlight Language Arts is another program that no matter how hard I try to make it fit and work for our family -- it simply does not.)
SL LA 1 Readers
Language and Thinking for Young Children
Explode the Code 1,2,3
Usborne Peoples of the World (Actually ... we decided to combine GTG with Core K and it has been a great fit for us. Using the Create-A-Calendar that comes with the Core ... each month we have discovered a new country. We started a month before the calendar with the introduction and then each month the calendar chooses our country of the month. So we are once again using this book. We also did the Christmas study during the month of December. This will take us into Core 1 as it is a 16 month Calendar but that is okay. Also ... on the months when there is not much to find out at the library for the country we pick up another country that is in GTG but not on the calendar.)
Usborne Children's World Cookbook
It's Disgusting and We Ate it! (This book is hilarious and a fun way to learn about what other people eat around the world. Perfect for a K!!)
Come Look With Me Animals in Art & Come Look With Me Enjoying Art With Children
The Children's Book of Family and Home
Joseph The Canada Goose (Way to complicated for a 4-5 yr old. My hubby even thinks parts of this is too difficult for him -- we are shelving it for another year. Like Core 2?)
Start Smart Art Series (we replaced the above item with this -- much more age appropriate and fun!The crayons are very soft and after a few uses have started to curve to form against my sons hand. The also break easily. Well... to update you on this. We are now 6 months into the program. Save yourself some money and pick up a couple of color by number books at the grocery store. You will get the same results that we got here. The only thing Kris got out of this series was about shadows under objects and how to color in the lines.)
Color The Classics Godly Composers & Hymn Writers
Music Master CDs
The Story of Me
Visual Perception Skill Building 2
Can You Find Me? K
Dr. DooRiddles
Dale Seymour Critical Thinking for K-3 (we will only be doing the first part in each of the 3 sections -- you know the easy parts ... saving the rest of this book for later.)
Elmer & The Dragon, Dragons of Blueland (these were so fun to read and it seemed like one book instead of three. If you don't read these you are missing the ending to My Father's Dragon.)
Heroes For Young Readers Series (These are now available on audio CDs and with a curriculum guide. Both come highly recommended adn I am looking at purchasing these items in the future.)
Children Just Like Me Celebrations
A Life Like Mine
McGraw-Hill Animals Workbook (We used this as an introduction to animals and purchased several plastic animal kits so we could play with the animals we learned about.)
Singapore Start-Up Science books (much like the Earlybird Math series. Written at the same level in similar format. We went with these and dropped SL Science K for awhile because I was to pregnant to keep up with all the experiments.)
Everyday Graces (I love this book!! Every family should have one regardless if they homeschool or not. Teachs manners and life rules in the context of poetry and story exerpts. I highly recommend!)
And we will see what all else I add to this long list as well...... Remember this is what we are planning on accomplishing in a year. Not a day! Please note that some of the items we dropped because they simply did not work for our family -- the reasons why are listed above. If something doesn't get done this year --- we will simply add it onto the next. A lot of the extras are done on fun days when I simply don't want to do LA, Math, Science, etc... so I let Kris find something educational to do on his own. Or we do music or art or something else that is normally forgotten about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2004-2005: My plans for our Kindergarten year is a lot!!! Boy am I ambious with a new little one due right smack dab in the middle of our school year. Below is a list of things I have ordered -- we will see how far I get, what get's moved to 1st Grade and what get's thrown out all together. I will let you know as we go along and I find time to update you all!! Here's my list, in addition to SL Core K:
Bob Jones K5 Bible Truths (We used this for 2 weeks and hated it. It is structured for a classroom and not a homeschool environment. On top of that, Kris complained because we weren't using a Bible for our daily Bible story. The only good thing I found from using this -- is that he truly did learn a lot more than I thought about the Bible using SL's Preschool Bible Program. From now on -- we will only be using SL for Bible studies.)
Kids 10 Commandment Videos (also called K10C; This is an excellent series that describes the 10 commandments using vocabulary and examples a child can relate too!)
Singapore Earlybird 2A & 2B with Saxon K (In hindsight I would have done Saxon K with Earlybird 1A & 1B last year and Saxon 1 this year with Earlybird 2A & 2B but that plan will wait until the next child. Saxon K is a preschool not a kindergarten program in my opinion. It could even be used prior to beginning the Singapore Earlybird Series. It is all manipulative based, no writing, no workbooks.)
Singapore Primary 1A/1B (we finished up the Earlybird series early and decided to keep going. About half way through 1A, I realized that Kris was able to do the work but was not learning or memorizing facts. He was still having to count on his fingers to know the answer to what 5+3 equals. So, we are yet again on a hunt for the perfect math program. We haven't found one but are now using a Scott Foresman Exploring Mathematics Series (which is out of print but still available through Academic Book Services or Ebay ... just make sure you get the right ones or you'll be disappointed!) and a Singapore Combo. This seems to work really well for us. He still needs help with memorization though.)
Saxon Math 1 (We ended up skipping Saxon K. It was simply to easy. Everything that was covered there is reviewed in depth in Saxon 1. My suggestion would be to save your money and skip K if Saxon is your math program of choice. We also ended up ditching Saxon math. It is just not a good fit for us and I could never make it work no matter how hard I tried. It is too boring, too repetive. We tried doing parts of it and tailoring it to fit our needs but still nothing works. We have to force ourselves to try and it simply isn't worth it.)
Rainbow Rock Cd-Rom (okay this is now back on my want list since we are doing Singapore again and Kris is begging for it. So we will see what it is like when it arrives. I pray that it is worth the money! Don't you all wish I would make up my mind?)
Quarter Mile Math Cd-Rom for K-3 (my son loves the horses and race cars in this program. It is really helping him build up the math facts that he so badly needed to learn. Another good thing to help with learning math facts is Calculadder. I have not personally used it but am considering it for the future as it somes highly recommended.)
Subtraction and Addition Songs (my sons loved this and the 1 yr old started counting to 3 after the first day of listening to the addition songs CD.)
SL Math Manipulatives Activities & Games (I have still yet to use this. Maybe if it was scheduled in someplace but alas it still collects dust on my shelf. Maybe some rainy day I will pull it out and discover what is inside.)
SL Science K (This was a great introduction to life sciences and how some things work. The things though are out of date. Consider getting the DK book The NEW way things work to supplement with. Makes a great addition and comes with an interactive CD-ROM. We rarely got to the science experiments except for once a month on family science day but the DVD was great as the kids could watch it over and over again and learned a lot of the terminology just from this.)
Startwrite Software (We use this to supplement our handwriting program. I also use for dictation or when my son wants to write a story or song. He tells me what he wants to write, I type it in this program and then have him trace it. This has worked great and has even improved his spelling since he is tracing words that he knows. Now he is trying to write these things on his own in his journal!)
MCP Phonics A
Bob Books/Readers (We have the whole set. These were great in the beginning but my son never got past the Level B Box 1 set. Not because he didn't need them any longer but because he got bored by the stories. He would much prefer easy reader books and muddle his way through those asking for help when he needed it.)
Reason For Handwriting K
Reason For Handwriting 1 (we finished up K early)
Usborne Internet Linked First Dictionary (We haven't really used the links yet but the dictionary itself is excellent!! It is easy enough for my son to use on his own to discover words to use with his spelling computer game.)
Saxon Phonics K
Saxon Phonics 1 (We finished K in less than 3 months and are moving onto Saxon Phonics 1. I cannot say enough good things about this program. It is easy to adapt to fit to the needs of your child, if it is too repetive (which it often is) you can easily skip that part but it is there if you need it and, as an added bonus, the way they present the phonics rules is superb! Thanks to these my sons spelling lessons are a breeze. As he tries to figure it out, I hear him repeating outloud to himself the various rules to fit his needs. We have had so much success using the first 2 Saxon phonics programs that I do not feel that we will need the third as he is already reading chapter books easily. So we will skip it and move onto other things.)
Wordly Wise A
SL LA 1 (parts of it. We are skipping the vocab, phonics, and spelling portions of this program. I ended up ditching this whole program with the exception of the optional workbooks and readers. Sonlight Language Arts is another program that no matter how hard I try to make it fit and work for our family -- it simply does not.)
SL LA 1 Readers
Language and Thinking for Young Children
Explode the Code 1,2,3
Usborne Peoples of the World (Actually ... we decided to combine GTG with Core K and it has been a great fit for us. Using the Create-A-Calendar that comes with the Core ... each month we have discovered a new country. We started a month before the calendar with the introduction and then each month the calendar chooses our country of the month. So we are once again using this book. We also did the Christmas study during the month of December. This will take us into Core 1 as it is a 16 month Calendar but that is okay. Also ... on the months when there is not much to find out at the library for the country we pick up another country that is in GTG but not on the calendar.)
Usborne Children's World Cookbook
It's Disgusting and We Ate it! (This book is hilarious and a fun way to learn about what other people eat around the world. Perfect for a K!!)
Come Look With Me Animals in Art & Come Look With Me Enjoying Art With Children
The Children's Book of Family and Home
Joseph The Canada Goose (Way to complicated for a 4-5 yr old. My hubby even thinks parts of this is too difficult for him -- we are shelving it for another year. Like Core 2?)
Start Smart Art Series (we replaced the above item with this -- much more age appropriate and fun!The crayons are very soft and after a few uses have started to curve to form against my sons hand. The also break easily. Well... to update you on this. We are now 6 months into the program. Save yourself some money and pick up a couple of color by number books at the grocery store. You will get the same results that we got here. The only thing Kris got out of this series was about shadows under objects and how to color in the lines.)
Color The Classics Godly Composers & Hymn Writers
Music Master CDs
The Story of Me
Visual Perception Skill Building 2
Can You Find Me? K
Dr. DooRiddles
Dale Seymour Critical Thinking for K-3 (we will only be doing the first part in each of the 3 sections -- you know the easy parts ... saving the rest of this book for later.)
Elmer & The Dragon, Dragons of Blueland (these were so fun to read and it seemed like one book instead of three. If you don't read these you are missing the ending to My Father's Dragon.)
Heroes For Young Readers Series (These are now available on audio CDs and with a curriculum guide. Both come highly recommended adn I am looking at purchasing these items in the future.)
Children Just Like Me Celebrations
A Life Like Mine
McGraw-Hill Animals Workbook (We used this as an introduction to animals and purchased several plastic animal kits so we could play with the animals we learned about.)
Singapore Start-Up Science books (much like the Earlybird Math series. Written at the same level in similar format. We went with these and dropped SL Science K for awhile because I was to pregnant to keep up with all the experiments.)
Everyday Graces (I love this book!! Every family should have one regardless if they homeschool or not. Teachs manners and life rules in the context of poetry and story exerpts. I highly recommend!)
And we will see what all else I add to this long list as well...... Remember this is what we are planning on accomplishing in a year. Not a day! Please note that some of the items we dropped because they simply did not work for our family -- the reasons why are listed above. If something doesn't get done this year --- we will simply add it onto the next. A lot of the extras are done on fun days when I simply don't want to do LA, Math, Science, etc... so I let Kris find something educational to do on his own. Or we do music or art or something else that is normally forgotten about.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
About Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
From Life Take 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. is a Christian, world-focused, mission-oriented curriculum that is based upon great literature. It uses the philosophy of Ruth Beechick as a backdrop for their instructor guides and correlates nicely with Charlotte Mason and Classical educational theories of home education. This program can be adapted for use with secular families and/or to teach children of multiple levels using one core. The options, thoroughness, and planning that Sonlight does for you makes it worth every penny you will spend.
However, as you will soon find out, Sonlight is more than just a curriculum. It’s a family of homeschoolers all over the globe who help and support one another. The forums offer a great resource to answer any questions you may have. It is also a place to meet others, pray, laugh, and share about your life.
If Sonlight sounds like the right curriculum for you or you would like more information, please feel free to email me, visit the Sonlight Forums, and I would also highly recommend that you visit this page -- which is all about the Sonlight experience.
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. is a Christian, world-focused, mission-oriented curriculum that is based upon great literature. It uses the philosophy of Ruth Beechick as a backdrop for their instructor guides and correlates nicely with Charlotte Mason and Classical educational theories of home education. This program can be adapted for use with secular families and/or to teach children of multiple levels using one core. The options, thoroughness, and planning that Sonlight does for you makes it worth every penny you will spend.
However, as you will soon find out, Sonlight is more than just a curriculum. It’s a family of homeschoolers all over the globe who help and support one another. The forums offer a great resource to answer any questions you may have. It is also a place to meet others, pray, laugh, and share about your life.
If Sonlight sounds like the right curriculum for you or you would like more information, please feel free to email me, visit the Sonlight Forums, and I would also highly recommend that you visit this page -- which is all about the Sonlight experience.
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
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