What to do about math....

So we are going through Singapore Earlybird B then moving to Horizons K before starting 1st grade math. The plan was to pick which curriculum style is best for Squeak by using both (mastery vs spiral). Today, Squeak and I discussed math and I think the mastery approach is boring her. We worked on Unit 17 the past two nights and she said that she was bored doing the same stuff because it was easy. So I figured with Horizons, she will be introduced new concepts while working the older concepts. And I will be able to skip problems of the stuff she already knows.

We are going to finish up EB still and I think we should be done by the end of January. For the rest of the week, I'm going to just let her pick pages of her Critical Thinking Math A to do and end unit 17.

The next unit we are going to work on is the TIME unit and clocks and calendars are pretty new to her so she should like this unit.

Bible Curriculum

I think I found a Bible curriculum to use in the fall when we start Kindergarten!!!


Bible

There are Bible stories and activities to go along with the stories. The samples looked really good too. Very exciting! Praise the Lord!!!

Week off!

Not an exciting week as we were off the entire week!

Squeak did a few things on her own....mainly her websites: readingeggs.com and starfall.com.

I asked if she liked having the week off and Squeak said "yes" and then she went into how she loves school and all her favorite things to do in school. (Mainly projects and math)!! And it's definitely official that she can do simple adding and subtracting in her head!

I was a nice break for me too since I am sick. Darn head cold!!!

Next week, we are starting Unit 17 in math and will do another animal or two in our habitat. I will also get a new memory verse posted up on the wall!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekly Report #12 (11/16-11/20)

Bible- Even though we incorporate the Bible into our daily lives, we didn't do anything in "school" this week. I am not crazy about the progression of the Horizons PreK Bible lessons for some reason. I've been praying about what to do and I think I know what we are going to do in future. Now I just need to find some resources. Right now, I rather learn a Bible story then make a project/craft about the story.

Math- We were suppose to finish subtraction today but I ended it early. Wednesday night, Squeak worked 2 or 3 problems pretty much on her own: she read the subtraction sentence then counted the little pictures above it and crossed out the ones "taken away" then counted the remainder. Then she calculated 6-6= in her head and that's when I figured she is good for now! She is also demonstrating an understanding of addition and subtraction during the day - today, we played "hide the animals"...I hide 5 animals and she finds them. So she was looking and found 2 and I asked "since I hid 5 and you found 2, how many are left to find?" After a couple seconds of thought, Squeak said "3". See, this is a nice relief because I never realized the burden placed on the parent's shoulders who are home educating. You don't think about it because in regular school, someone else is teaching your kids and the responsibility is on their shoulders! Yeah, she's young...yada, yada but it's still nice to know the stuff I'm teaching her is clicking!

After Thanksgiving break, we are going to start Unit 17 in Singapore EB B (counting to 30) then go back to the combined addition and subtraction unit (16). Counting to 30 isn't a NEW concept for Squeak but seeing what the quantity of 30 looks like will be new.

Moving Beyond the Page - Squeak made a Woolly Bear Caterpillar for her forest habitat. Those are the little orange and black guys you see during the fall! We also talked about all the other animals and plants we can find in the woods.

Literature Pockets - Friday, Squeak completed a "Little Miss Muffet" Literature Pocket. Then we acted out the nursery rhyme a couple of times. She enjoyed bouncing the little spider she made around. If they had BIBLE Literature Pockets, I would be thrilled!!

Squeak also worked on readingeggs.com and starfall.com this week but she goes on those sites outside of "school" time.

So next week Squeak is off from official school. I'll still have projects for her when she wants to do one.

Week #11 Report (11/9 - 11/13)

Night school was a complete success! We will do "project school" in the morning when Piglet naps then night school shortly before bed.

Bible: Continued discussion on trees and Creation. We also talked about how we can always trust God's Word, no matter what! It never changes.

Math: Squeak buzzed through the whole week's worth of lessons Monday night so Wednesday, we worked subtraction problems in her Critical Thinking Math book using her little wooden cubes. Friday night, she was actually tired so we did a page or two in her Singapore textbook then called it a night.

Habitats: Squeak made a lovely cactus for her desert habitat. Working on habitats is our main "project school" right now.

Other stuff: We worked in her Evan Moor books several times. She likes the Read, Think, Cut & Paste book. There are four pictures and you cut out four little slips of paper with a story sentence on them. Then you match each slip of paper with the appropriate picture. After we put it together, we re-read the story and Squeak reads the words she knows. Sometimes she colors the pictures too - she is not much of a coloring fan though. She also enjoys her Critical Thinking Company "Can You Find Me?" book. I read a little poem of "clues" for her and she picks out the picture the clues are referring to. There is a choice of four pictures.

And of course, her Never Bored Kid book is always on the top of her agenda too!

Next week, we should finish up subtraction and do another animal or two for our habitats. When we complete all habitats, we are going to research where a snail lives and build a habitat for this little plastic snail we have.

I also have some phonics and safety pages in my organizer to work on for when she tells me she wants to do more.

A new approach: Night School!

Squeak seems much more academically focused and alert at night time, so we tried night school last night! Wow, did she do great! I think it's a combo of being able to stay up longer and she always seems to have a bundle of energy before bed. So I figured I would use that energy constructively and Squeak was fully on board and excited to go! She did a week's worth of math lessons last night and a page from her new phonics book. Like an energizer bunny!!

I figured we will do our Bible and crafty stuff during our regular school time (in the am) then math and phonics or whatever else in the evening. For example, our habitat animals will be done in the am then we will wait and work on math after she gets into her PJs. We are still staying on a 3 day schedule for now but I won't be surprised if she asks to do school tonight again.

On another note, a friend sent me Singapore Math 1a to review (the 1st grade math) and it wasn't as intimidating as I thought it was going to be. The workbook looked much more difficult than the textbook. But what we use for 1st grade is still up in the air....depends on how Squeak likes Horizons K.

Week #10 Report (11/2 - 11/6)

This was our first 3 day school week and it went over pretty well. She did work out of her Never Bored Kid book on the "off days".

Bible- We talked about trees this week and how the Lord made trees to be so important in our lives. We are working our way through Creation right now. Our memory verse is 1 Peter 1:24 and we've been talking about that verse for a couple of weeks because I really like it.

Math- Squeak finished Unit 14 (addition) in Singapore EB B on Wednesday. She did really well with it and was adding x+1 without using the pictures to help. She worked a couple of pages in her Critical Thinking Math book on Friday.

I also have her math "plan" settled. We are going to continue to use Singapore Earlybird K math (with Critical Thinking Company Level A math as a supplement) then we will continue to Horizons K math. Horizons K math takes kids much farther than Earlybird K does and it will give Squeak good review as well as taking the math skills farther. I'm very happy I found a more challenging program than Singapore EB because I would like Squeak to be a bit closer to 5 years old before starting 1st grade math. Actually, the end of Horizons K seems more like beginning 1st grade math so that will be a nice transition. I am planning on using Singapore Math for 1st grade but we will see how well she likes Horizons too.

Moving Beyond the Page - we read about all our habitats this week and I showed her the poster board I made which lists them all. Next week, we are going to make (as a craft) one animal from each habitat. I just need to get some supplies from Wal Mart for this!

Squeak also used starfall.com this week and her math website. She was doing subtraction on her math website last night too - subtraction is the next unit we are starting Monday....I guess she wanted a jump start! LOL!

Learning Style

Even though she is young, I'm trying to figure out (somewhat) what Squeak's learning style is...or at least have some idea of the learning styles so I know what to look for. This way, I can better serve her as her teacher.

So far, I'm fairly certain the way she processes information is spatial. She can see the whole picture of a concept verses going step by step through it. This is becoming very apparent in math. More often than not, when we start a brand new concept, by the 2nd or 3rd lesson, she is already at the end of the unit. Somehow she goes from Step 3 to Step 10 without the steps in between. This bothers me because I need to go step by step all the way through to step 10 - I'm definitely a sequential learner. If I don't do steps 4 - 9, then I'll have no clue what step 10 is about!

I also asked her how she learns best: by seeing or by listening. Squeak insists it's by listening. Unfortunately, I guess auditory and spatial really don't go together! You are usually visual-spatial or auditory-sequential.

Anyways, if she's a spatial learner and I'm a sequential learner...we are going to clash! So I will just have to pray for wisdom on how to "read" her better.

The First Post....

Officially, this is week 10 of school. When we started on September 1, 2009, my intent was to follow Squeak’s lead and go to school when she wanted to...

Well, this week we are starting something new – 3 day a week school! Squeak was going at a 5 day a week pace and I was starting to get a bit tired (Piglet’s screaming wasn’t helping!). So I broke the news to Squeak last week that we were going down to 3 days a week for a while and in this panicked voice, she asks “WHY??” It was really cute!

Anyways, I bought a bunch of “non-school” activities to do on non-school days. More project-like things – I listed a few under my “curriculum” listing on the side. Literature Pockets, lap booking and I bought a book called “Never Bored Kid” book. All of those things require coloring, glue, scissors, etc. That way, I can shorten our official school time and still give her lots of crafts and projects to do. BEFORE (Squeak led), we were hitting about 45 minutes or so of school. I’m trying to tone it down to less than 30 minutes.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday is the schedule (of course days can be switched around) and each school day I like to cover the following: Bible, Memory verse, math and something else. We’ve been learning about Habitats with our Moving Beyond the Page environment concept so that is really the current “something else”. I also toss in Safety lessons or Community Workers or Thinking Skills as the “something else”.

My thought on this blog is to give some juicy tidbits throughout the week then have a weekly progress update at the end of the week. I will get some pictures up too. We will see how it goes! Please feel free to leave comments…I have it set to leave comments!