Husband managed to get a ride with a co-worker, from which I quietly shouted "Hurrah!". He had an early meeting and kids were still asleep. Waking kids up in the morning is a tough one for me: I walk into their bedroom and see them curled up with their blankets, puffy lips, and snoring sounds... How can I shake them up and say, "Time to get up!"
I went back to bed and curled up myself and thought that today had to be a different day. Kids woke up and found me in my bed, both snuggled up with me and showered my cheeks with kisses.
That's a morning to start a day with! :)
Somehow, after all that cuddling it didn't feel like pulling out the workbooks and spending two hours at the desk. Instead, we got comfortable on the couch with abacus for my son's math and flashcards with simple additions for my daughter. That was our Math class!
For English Mr.J read sight words on flash cards and Miss A. read her book.
I read this article today and I it was an eye opening for me. I can literally see that happening - homeschooling moms get trapped in their systems! This is my second year of teaching (first year of teaching both kids) and I am still overwhelmed by the choice of curriculum!
If you feel overwhelmed and trapped, please, read this article. It will help to put things into perspective.
I love having an opportunity to be with my children as much as I do right now. Nothing can replace those cuddly mornings filled with kisses.
Welcome, No Workbooks Thursdays! :)
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Science Class on Rainforest Ecosystem and Coco Beans
A few weeks ago we studied about different types of forest, including the Rainforest from this book.
We also watched this video on Youtube about the Tropical Rainforest:
I have recently signed up for Netflix trial and we've been enjoying watching The Magic School Bus videos. It's really a wonderful way to learn for little kids!
Today we watched an episode of Rainforest and after the video discussed what we learned, made drawings, and reviewed our knowledge of a rainforest.
While I am writing this post, they are watching the video the second time of their own choice :) I think daddy will hear all about coco beans tonight!
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| 5 yr old Mr. J |
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| 5 yr old Mr. J |
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| 6 yr old Ms. A |
I have recently signed up for Netflix trial and we've been enjoying watching The Magic School Bus videos. It's really a wonderful way to learn for little kids!
Today we watched an episode of Rainforest and after the video discussed what we learned, made drawings, and reviewed our knowledge of a rainforest.
 |
| 5 yr old Mr. J |
 |
| now 7 yr old Ms. A |
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| Mom |
While I am writing this post, they are watching the video the second time of their own choice :) I think daddy will hear all about coco beans tonight!
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Choosing Curriculum
Choosing Curriculum is probably the hardest thing that I had to do for my homeschooling journey. Once I chose it all and it all seemed to work, our son decided to be homeschooled and it's been almost a year now that I was struggling adjusting to a double sized classroom.
With my daughter I knew what level she was on and what books worked with her; and, of course, giving attention to only one child is so much easier than to two... not mentioning the second one being a younger child and a boy, who has shorter attention span and has hard time sitting in one place for more than 10 min. We love him to pieces!!! :)
Having our son at home has been so wonderful. If my teaching is not what I want it to be, the sibling relationship is off the charts amazing! They've been playing so well every day - dress ups, pretend, dolls, cars, name anything - they've done it. Of course, there is occasional bickering here and there, but nothing we can't handle.
To continue with the curriculum topic - I think I've finally got it! It's talking to other moms at co-ops not researching endlessly online that really helped me. I had the books in my hands, different levels of the same curriculum, and the testimony of my friend - a mom who's actually done it and have seen it work.
Another advantage to discovering curriculum through friends is that your children could also see it and hear that their buddies are using the same books. Miss A. was not confident of letting go of her Go Math book, because she was scared that "the other one" that mommy decides to do is going to be too hard for her and not as fun (in black and white print, for example).
I am a little late starting new curriculum (starting with this second/winter semester into summer), but as a Russian saying goes - it's better late than never. This is an advantage of homeschooling - you keep trying different curriculum until you find the one that works for your children.
Mr. J, 5.5 years old, Kindergarten
Math - GoMath workbook. He is able to read the problems himself most of the time. They are simply worded and also repetitive in nature: so he recognizes the words from one problem to another and he expects to see the same pattern in wording as well.
Both Miss A. and Mr. J also love using Mathlinks when working out their math problems.
Phonics - Explode The Code.
Spelling - Sprectrum Grade K Sight Words, All About Spelling Level 1, Spelling You See A.
P.E. - Last semester Mr. J was in soccer, Hip-Hop Dance, and gymnastics. This semester we are upgrading our gymnastics to a better one, starting tennis, and instead of soccer we decided to join the track team.
Reading - We read as we do math, we read simple books with 3-4 letter words, we read in all the other workbooks (sight and spelling words) and we love to play Reading Rods Word For Word Phonics Game, where you put words together out of blocks. I used to stress out so much about Mr. J's reading capabilities, but I see his progress and I am reminded so often by other moms that he is only 5 :)
Combined Curriculum with Miss A.
Science - We learn science in several ways. One of them is being part of the co-op. There kids are learning Cytology and Botany. I actually teach that class in our co-op and I have two groups of kids - older (10 and up) and younger (5 through 9 year olds). I simplify it for the younger ones.
At home we use Hartcourt Science book and just follow its simple lessons with little projects in the beginning of each chapter. It's very inexpensive, which is nice for a homeschooling family with one income.
We also use How do things grow? for simple lesson plans and hand on projects, A Reason for Science (only the workbook, I could not afford the entire set, but I hear it's really good), Creatures, Large and Small from Snoopy's Worlds to find fascinating facts about creatures. Bite-Size Science has simple experiments that you can do in just 15 min.
Anatomy - My First Human Body Encyclopedia, See Inside Your Body, and Miss A. is getting Squishy Human Body for her birthday this month.
History - Story of the World, Volume 1 and the textbook. We are also learning history in co-op.
Geography - We are learning the states and coloring our Jumbo sized U.S. States map we got at the dollar store with the help of this Geography textbook.
Art - big thanks to Erica from confessionsofahomeschooler.com for her wonderful Artists curriculum.
Music - we are learning how to play piano with Harmony Road Music course and learning about musicians from Erica's Composers Unit.
Miss A., 6 years old (about to turn 7), Second Grade
By now Miss A. has completed many workbooks and curriculum, including Math for Gifted and Talented Grade 1, GoMath 2nd grade, Spectrum Math 2nd grade, Writing with Ease level 1, First Language Lessons level 1.
Starting in January she will learn from:
Math - Singapore Math level 2A, will be using a lot the Fraction Tower set.
Writing - Spectrum Writing grade 2
Reading Comprehension - Spectrum Reading grade 2
Spelling - All About Spelling level 2, Spelling You See level C
Grammar - First Language Lessons level 2
We decided to skip on Writing With Ease this year, because there is already plenty of writing in her other books. We don't want her hand to fall off writing! :)
Good luck to you and to us this new year of 2016! We are excited to learn and happy to learn together! :)
With my daughter I knew what level she was on and what books worked with her; and, of course, giving attention to only one child is so much easier than to two... not mentioning the second one being a younger child and a boy, who has shorter attention span and has hard time sitting in one place for more than 10 min. We love him to pieces!!! :)
Having our son at home has been so wonderful. If my teaching is not what I want it to be, the sibling relationship is off the charts amazing! They've been playing so well every day - dress ups, pretend, dolls, cars, name anything - they've done it. Of course, there is occasional bickering here and there, but nothing we can't handle.
To continue with the curriculum topic - I think I've finally got it! It's talking to other moms at co-ops not researching endlessly online that really helped me. I had the books in my hands, different levels of the same curriculum, and the testimony of my friend - a mom who's actually done it and have seen it work.
Another advantage to discovering curriculum through friends is that your children could also see it and hear that their buddies are using the same books. Miss A. was not confident of letting go of her Go Math book, because she was scared that "the other one" that mommy decides to do is going to be too hard for her and not as fun (in black and white print, for example).
I am a little late starting new curriculum (starting with this second/winter semester into summer), but as a Russian saying goes - it's better late than never. This is an advantage of homeschooling - you keep trying different curriculum until you find the one that works for your children.
Mr. J, 5.5 years old, Kindergarten
Math - GoMath workbook. He is able to read the problems himself most of the time. They are simply worded and also repetitive in nature: so he recognizes the words from one problem to another and he expects to see the same pattern in wording as well.
Both Miss A. and Mr. J also love using Mathlinks when working out their math problems.
Phonics - Explode The Code.
Spelling - Sprectrum Grade K Sight Words, All About Spelling Level 1, Spelling You See A.
P.E. - Last semester Mr. J was in soccer, Hip-Hop Dance, and gymnastics. This semester we are upgrading our gymnastics to a better one, starting tennis, and instead of soccer we decided to join the track team.
Reading - We read as we do math, we read simple books with 3-4 letter words, we read in all the other workbooks (sight and spelling words) and we love to play Reading Rods Word For Word Phonics Game, where you put words together out of blocks. I used to stress out so much about Mr. J's reading capabilities, but I see his progress and I am reminded so often by other moms that he is only 5 :)
Combined Curriculum with Miss A.
Science - We learn science in several ways. One of them is being part of the co-op. There kids are learning Cytology and Botany. I actually teach that class in our co-op and I have two groups of kids - older (10 and up) and younger (5 through 9 year olds). I simplify it for the younger ones.
At home we use Hartcourt Science book and just follow its simple lessons with little projects in the beginning of each chapter. It's very inexpensive, which is nice for a homeschooling family with one income.
We also use How do things grow? for simple lesson plans and hand on projects, A Reason for Science (only the workbook, I could not afford the entire set, but I hear it's really good), Creatures, Large and Small from Snoopy's Worlds to find fascinating facts about creatures. Bite-Size Science has simple experiments that you can do in just 15 min.
Anatomy - My First Human Body Encyclopedia, See Inside Your Body, and Miss A. is getting Squishy Human Body for her birthday this month.
History - Story of the World, Volume 1 and the textbook. We are also learning history in co-op.
Geography - We are learning the states and coloring our Jumbo sized U.S. States map we got at the dollar store with the help of this Geography textbook.
Art - big thanks to Erica from confessionsofahomeschooler.com for her wonderful Artists curriculum.
Music - we are learning how to play piano with Harmony Road Music course and learning about musicians from Erica's Composers Unit.
Miss A., 6 years old (about to turn 7), Second Grade
By now Miss A. has completed many workbooks and curriculum, including Math for Gifted and Talented Grade 1, GoMath 2nd grade, Spectrum Math 2nd grade, Writing with Ease level 1, First Language Lessons level 1.
Starting in January she will learn from:
Math - Singapore Math level 2A, will be using a lot the Fraction Tower set.
Writing - Spectrum Writing grade 2
Reading Comprehension - Spectrum Reading grade 2
Spelling - All About Spelling level 2, Spelling You See level C
Grammar - First Language Lessons level 2
We decided to skip on Writing With Ease this year, because there is already plenty of writing in her other books. We don't want her hand to fall off writing! :)
Good luck to you and to us this new year of 2016! We are excited to learn and happy to learn together! :)
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