The State of the School

We have been finishing books right and left around here.  Mr. Man finished his "Primer" level math book last week and I started him on "Alpha" Monday.  We are skipping the first four or five lessons because the are review and he pretty much has addition down pat. I think he will be done with his preschool handwriting book in another month or so and we will move to the kindergarten one.  M is still going to speech weekly and OT one time a week.  I am getting better about doing speech work on the days he doesn't go and we do OT most days.

 

N has also been finishing books.  He probably has about one week left in his grammar book. Truthfully, I should have started him at grade 3 in Rod and Staff but I didn't know and it has been a comprehensive (if not high level) review of the basic parts of speech.  He finished his Primary Math 2B book today so he will be moving onto 3A next week.  I really need to work with him on his basic math facts but, unless I trick him into making it "fun", he doesn't want to do it.  N is also 3/4 of the way through the last of his "Explode the Code" books that he has been doing online.  He is working on about a fourth grade level there--some of the words are just INCREDIBLE. We have settled down into Level 3 of "All About Spelling."  I have not done a good job of doing the lessons for that in January, it is usually an afternoon thing and requires both of us and I just give want to give up some afternoons. N started "Life of Fred: Goldfish" today.  I ordered "Honey" as well. After he reads those two I think I am just going to have him go back and read them again. There is so much random information in there, how could you ever retain it? And they are neat stories. I have contemplated buying "Apples" and "Butterflies" which are the first two but WOW! do I spend a lot of money on homeschooling.

 

L has thirteen lessons left in math and the only thing that I have left to order is the new math series for him.  We are still slowly making our way through the European countries and the geography puzzle of Europe has been a huge hit. L is also continuing to do Rosetta Stone each day. He just does it for about 10 minutes so I am not sure that is "long" enough for him to do the course in a year (plus we had computer troubles that derailed us for three weeks with Rosetta) but he is moving along and learning. Since he will be going to a Spanish speaking country in July on a mission trip, I am trying to encourage Rosetta Stone each day.  He also finished his book that he has been writing last week and is working on editing it, one chapter at a time, this week. I asked him if he wanted me to edit it but he said he really wanted to do it himself. I  must say watching him write it each day and the plan he has for it is quite impressive. He finished up the "Wordly Wise" grade level 4 two weeks ago so I went ahead and bought online subscriptions for L and N (since N will be down with Explode the Code soon)-

 

We are halfway through our science book so I expect to switch to whichever topic L picks in mid-March.  On Tuesday we finished our history read-aloud "A Child's Guide to the History of the World" and will start "The Year of the Horseless Carriage" in the next week or so. The Carriage book is a book that takes one particular period in time and looks at all the people living then--presidents, world leaders, inventors, musicians, etc.  I am not quite sure how that will work in. Do we do an in depth of each person? Each chapter?

 

One thing I have slacked on is Composers.  We have been listening to music but not really doing the activities. They are just a little below my kids. I check out books on the composers and we read and they are still taking piano too. 

 

The big boys also finished "A Horse and His Boy" last night. Handsome read it with them.  I am about to start some book whose name I can't remember right now--maybe "Detectives in Togas"? L's fourth grade class is reading it at school so I figured the boys would love it. I also bought the sequel because the library had neither one of them. (Yes, I am spending a lot of money) Probably my biggest failure was the use of the Progeny Press Study Guides. L hated them. He likes reading the books, just not doing the breakdown and we could never really get into a good routine with them. I think it might be better for middle school when I am forcing him to write more anyway. So, for now, we are just focusing on the books. After "Detectives in Togas" I will let Handsome pick another book or go back to the Little House books. Or I could just steal the book ideas from Progeny Press without buying their study guides. :)

 

With homeschooling, I just do the best I can.  Praying that the Lord will bless it.

Preschoolers

I bought a "Letter of the Week" curriculum for my little ones and used it pretty by-the-book the first month.  However, the excitement for school kept dropping and, by the end of September, neither one wanted to do what was in their workboxes. J is a little too young to be writing but my goals for him are basic cutting, recognizing (and then writing his name) and to learn colors. My goals for M are kindergarten math completed, all letters learned, and basic handwriting. Technically, M will be in kindergarten next year.

So, two weeks ago, I realized I needed to revamp things. I went online and found out about "Sensory Boxes" and also googled a bunch of crafts for last week's letter of the week "P."  Since then, it has gone much better. I never figured it would take me more time to prepare for the little ones then the big ones but it has absolutely gone that way.  The boys are big into painting right now so we try to paint something most days.

The whole idea for the sensory boxes came because M kept asking me to play with flour. He remembered doing it during the first few days of school and asked over and over again for it. That got me thinking about other creative ways he could get messy.

My first sensory box. I just used what we had on hand so it was oatmeal with some glitter in it, cups, spoons, and Mr. Potato Head toys. Wow, sensory boxes are messy. I mean, maybe they are not for some, but they are all mess here.

My second sensory box effort.  M liked it, J LOVED it and I found that even my two oldest wanted to play in it. I will admit it did not keep M interested for as long as I would have liked at one sitting but he did go back to it throughout the week.

I also created five smaller boxes with individual items in them. The first week's boxes I pretty much borrowed from a website. M played more with these but he was forever getting them ALL out and mixing them together (big mess). I keep wondering if I am missing something.

This week's boxes have not been as big of a success-he is not as fond of the pattern blocks and letter tiles.

We are still doing some of the "Letter of the Week" activities but I add in more crafts.  I also started a "Color of the Week" last week to help J learn his colors.  Since we were doing P last week and were going to the pumpkin patch, we started with orange. This week, it is blue (which J says is one of his favorite colors).

An incompleted craft in the box. M liked looking at the picture to figure out how he was supposed to put it together. I need to do more of this with the picture.

Completed penguins.

We wrapped up our week with painted pinecones and a piano.

We are doing "F" this week and the crafts were a little harder to find.  J made a fox one day out of the letter while M filled his with feathers.  We painted paper plates and will glue on frog stuff tomorrow.  Part of the hassle is just the planning, with painting so many of the crafts are two day events. 

M will pretty much do everything in his boxes but J skips around.  At the beginning of the year, J was big into coloring and now he can't stand it. That is the hardest thing to keep up with--their changing minds. :)

Homeschooling is absolutely a process.

Life as a Teacher...

You know, when I was younger, I never went through that phase where I wanted to be a teacher...I can say it hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be.  We have good days, we have bad days. But, most days, I feel like this is where we are supposed to be right now.  L and N were at Dollywood for 4 days with their grandparents about 10 days back; I picked them up last Sunday.  That made for a HARD day last Monday--getting back into the routine.

Last Thursday, L told me, "I am starting to get used to this homeschool thing."  Then Friday it was attitude out the wazoo.  Some days it is truly moment to moment.  I am not sure how much the children are learning but WOW! I am learning a great deal. I don't think I have ever prayed this much in my life.

September, for us, is a full month.  Lots of soccer games, camping one weekend, and several homeschool activities.  Tuesday I start baby-sitting during LBC again.  I am slightly nervous but thankful for the opportunity. What other job is available where I make $25 an hour while bringing along my four children and their books? Plus our friends, the Troupes, will be there too and L was excited about seeing Chris weekly when I asked him if he might be interested.

The money will be a blessing and it isn't that long. If it is a disaster, I will not do it in the Spring.

 Spelling out letters with these two.  I spend more time filling up their workboxes then big brothers. J is hit or miss about doing his stuff but M goes through every single box (not in order!)  They are usually done with their stuff in less then an hour but I know they enjoy it.  With J, I am working on cutting, coloring, and identifying the letters in his name.  He is also working on number recognition.

I still have M using the special pencils. He is doing a Reading Eggs online program that he LOVES and is a whiz at math. We haven't quite made the leap to reading yet, he is very good at memorizing but not at recalling. I am going to try and work with him on sight words this week.

Last weekend, we worked with both boys on their bikes. M is learning to ride without training wheels and J is learning to ride a 16 inch without Mommy pushing him. It is a work in progress.

Once a week, so far, we have gotten together with the Troupes. They match up in age with my kids perfectly (except for N--their son is 1 year younger then him but they still play well).  Last Tuesday, we went to the mountain Children's Playground and then on a nature walk. At their old school, my children kept "Nature Notebooks" so my hope is to do that at least once a month.  They each picked a bush (L Witch hazel, N Coral Bells) and we brought it home and they illustrated it in their notebook.  N is really into painting right now, I am hoping to get him some nicer brushes and water colors this week since Handsome has gotten paid.

I thought this picture of Lily was too cute. She is the only girl in the mix and 2 months younger then my J.  All of the boys are looking at a frog, she asked me to take her picture.

L with his nest. Our science is all about flying animals and last week we did the chapter on nests.  One of the suggested activities that I had not picked was to make a nest for yourself so L asked if he could do it.  This is a "Scrape Nest."

Ummm...big mess.  I did this the third day of school and haven't repeated it. :) I am trying to do some fine motor stuff so hopefully J will be the ONLY one without handwriting issues.   I am going to begin work on trying to procure OT for N and M this week. I have been praying a lot about it, we do not have the money to pay for it out of pocket.  At times I wonder if there is some basic skill that I am NOT teaching my boys--that each of them writing so far would have trouble with grasping a pencil.

Prayerfully, we will have a good week. They are not too excited about doing school on Labor Day but it is going to be a busy time.

Four days in

Well, you win some and you lose some. Overall, this week has been a success.  We have gotten our hours in and, for the last two days, I have been able to refill the workboxes during the day (not having to do it at 10 p.m. at night!)  I wouldn't say we are in a routine but we are coming along.

Tuesday, for me, was mentally the hardest day. The boys did so much better and M and J played together.  However, I discovered my sweet second is a worse speller then I realized and that he HATES to write. I knew he had a modified pencil grip but, he complains about even writing 5 sentences.  I am investigating OT and going to look online to see if I can find some exercises to help him.  

Tuesday our local school also requested an updated evaluation for M to see if he could qualify for full day. Most of it centers around the fact that he, as well, could use some OT but speech only students do not qualify, just full day.  At first I thought, "No!" but, after talking to my Mom and Handsome, I realize there is nothing to lose by having him evaluated.  I do not think he will qualify, I think he just needs a year of Pre-K. I have really been working to fill his workbox with a variety of activities, some with small manipulatives and today I snapped a pencil in half and then stuck a big pencil grip on it. That really seemed to help him.  He holds the pencil correctly when he has that grip on it.  

Tuesday L woke up in a serious funk. He did not know it was the first day of school at his old school but he laid on the couch for about 30 minutes with his face turned inwards.  My heart broke for him.  He mentioned several times that he would rather be at his school.

Tuesday was hard.  I began to feel like I would be able to meet the educational needs of my children but not their emotional/physical ones. I am determined to do my best but they have such diverse needs.  Wednesday was a good day and the Lord blessed me with a sense of peace.  We decided to have M evaluated so that situation will work itself out (in NO WAY does this mean we are enrolling him if they say he qualifies) and L seemed more content.  My main school issue is with N right now--he is doing a phonics and a spelling program so I am hoping that will assist him with his spelling.  We will get him the OT and I will be able to research some stuff this weekend.

I read this wonderful excerpt from "Jesus Calling."  It was actually from a day in April but I flipped it open and it applied to my situation perfectly. It talked about that, when there is not enough of something (time, money, etc), a person must fully rely on Jesus.  In a way, homeschooling and the issues I am discovering with the boys prove that very point.  There is no way that I can be everything my family needs right now.  I must pray continually.  

Today was okay--N seemed somewhat out of it and it took us longer to do things.  But we made it through and I have heard from other Moms that those kind of days will come.

Blessings from this week:

1 - we put up a hummingbird feeder on Monday and had a hummingbird discover it the very next day! I would not say that we are overrun with hummingbirds but we have several now and enjoy them.

2- M has amazed me with his math progress and how much he understands about size and colors.  I was excited that the pencil grip worked for him.

3- J actually ASKS to do school.

4- L seems a little less down.

Over the next several weeks, we will begin some classes at the co-op and, next week, the two oldest will get to go on a trip with Nanna and Poppa.  I think it will be a great break for them and I am excited about the 3 day school week. :)  

Handsome has really been supportive. He is teaching six classes and gets up at 4:30 to do his school work.  He has been very supportive of me, especially this week.

Be with me, Lord.