Mathematical Manipulation

Math has always been the hardest subject for me to grasp. I think it's because it's too precise. I'm more abstract. In fact, I dropped out of my Accounting 1 class in high school because I couldn't keep up with the debits and credits ~ so, I took Music Appreciation instead! My result is that I can conduct, sing, or play the piano in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, and even 9/8 and 12/8. I've also conducted a 5/4 pattern ~ just please don't ask me what pi or x equals. I have absolutely no idea!

My son seems to have inherited my math inadequacy. The hubs was an accountant for 5 years ~ he loves math. Tweenager is a mathematical genius as well. She can do mathematical cartwheels around me! Sadly, though, Bubby has my patience and skill for math. That left me with a problem. How can I motivate him to get his math done without getting frustrated, and where he can feel good about completing it more independently?

My first option for last year was to make him a math office. There are several great ideas on the web ~ The Busy Teacher's Cafe (located in my sidebar) has great links.

So, I fired up the printer and went to work making all kinds of charts for addition, place value, multiplication, money, liquid measure, time, shapes, Roman numerals, and skip counting. These worked great for last year, but I soon realized during the first quarter that my son wasn't committing anything to memory. He was just copying from his math office. It had to go!

I've found the best way is rote drilling. I found a great CD of multiplication facts. We put it on, and chant the facts. It gets a little monotonous, but it's working. I still need to wean him off of his number line and addition chart.

I also found a great online source called http://www.kidsnumbers.com/ . It has plenty of games for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. Tweenager can benefit as well.

Although the math office is great tool for 1st-2nd grade, I believe it to be best to supplement a bit of drilling every day as well. I've learned from my mistake, and hope I can help my son with his mathematical memory skills!

History Alive!

I truly enjoy history. In fact, it was one of my favorite subjects in school. However, for the first year of homeschool, history seemed to be one of "those" subjects I had a hard time getting into with my kids.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, we use Winter Promise's "American Story 1". We look at the info texts together, do the family reading, and the kiddos have their own readers that go along with our theme for the week. It can be a little time consuming, but as long as we stay on schedule, we're fine.

Even though there are many activities included in this package, I've found that one has to have regular access to a copy machine to do them. Fortunately for us, I've been allowed to use our church's copy machine as long as I provide my own paper. I don't do all the activities, either. I've found supplemental materials we enjoy more.

As I mentioned in a curriculum post, I've acquired a DVD about American History. We also use Netflix downloaded through our Wii to watch "Liberty's Kids" and several documentaries from the History Channel.

I also found "History Pockets" to fit well into our study. Yes, there is more copying for Mom to do, but the kids really love the activities and time lines. I highly recommend this product for history. There are many books available, including ancient history, Native Americans, and even Literature Pockets.

History has come alive for my kiddos! We read the facts together, I read a chaper from a scheduled book, they read an age-appropriate story, and we do hands-on activites that correlate with what we're studying. Finally, an episode from a DVD or download brings it all together.

It is a lot of extra work, but it's fun. I'm such a workbook/study guide person, though. I may continue with this for the elementary grades, but for middle school, I'll probably use BJU.

Valentine's Day the Preschool Way

Since this is Popsicle's first official Valentine's Day in "school", I wanted to do something extra fun with her today. Our normal school preschool week has only 4 days ~ we usually start on Tuesday ~ so today I had some seat work and games I downloaded from "Musings of Me". She has amazing theme-based printables ~ each theme is easily over 150 pages worth ~ to pick and choose from. Yes, my printer ink almost ran dry, but I couldn't resist these adorable Valentine's Day pages. Here's Popsicle in action:

Valentine Dominoes with Bubby

(Sorry about the flash!)

Coloring Hearts and Following Directions

Valentine Tic-Tac-Toe with Bubby

(Don't you just love that winning grin?)

Counting Kisses

Putting Hearts in Numerical Order

5th Grade Curriculum

My oldest child is in 5th grade, although it seems like she's still that tiny little person on my profile pic! She never ceases to amaze me with her insights. She's so precious! "Tweenager" is easy to homeschool. She's extremely self-motivated and works hard to get her assignments done. In her opinion, the sooner she gets her work done, the quicker she can have free time. It's not unusual for her to have her core assignments done before 11 AM!

All in all, she has the same curriculum as her younger brother, but on her grade level.

Bible, English, reading and spelling are Bob Jones. As I stated in my earlier post, I really like BJU Bible, English, and reading. The spelling is good, but I really prefer Horizons. Unfortunately, 3rd grade is the highest level of spelling so far.

Speaking of Horizons, we use math 5 for Tweenager. It's incredible to see her whiz effortlessly through each assignment and ace it! She gets her mathematical ability from her dad ~ definitely not me!

Handwriting is also "A Reason for Handwriting" but instead of transition, she uses "Cursive E".
The writing lines on the decorative paper are narrower than the transition, preparing her for college-ruled notebook paper.

For science, she has level 1 Real Science 4 Kids. Geography is map skills and Mailbox USA states and capitals.

We do history together, but she has her own readers that are scheduled to go along with our lessons. She also does history pockets and uses the Wii for videos.

She's involved with Upward basketball and is amazing at the violin. We had to take a break, however, due to fiances. We hope to get her back into lessons soon! She's also in children's choir at church ~ she loves to sing! I also want to get her into piano as well.

Tweenager on the defense!

3rd Grade Curriculum

My son, (whom his younger sister refers to as "Bubby") is currently in the 3rd grade. He's not exactly thrilled to do school ~ he'd be much happier to play basketball, run around outside or play Wii. Needless to say, it's a bit of a challenge to get him going each day & keep him on task. I'll be sharing my hints on these issues in a later post.

For Bible, we use Bob Jones. I really like the one-on-one instruction. The teacher's edition has the Bible lesson as well as an application story each week. The workbooks are colorful, fun, and informative. These include Bible lessons, hymnology, and studies on "Heroes of the Faith". This curriculum also includes 2 application readers (purchased separately) with worksheets to correlate.

In my opinion, the best math curriculum out there is Horizons math by Alpha Omega publishing. My son loves the colorful workbook pages ~ I love the teacher's editions. Grading is easy, and the TE includes printable worksheets to go along with the lesson. There are 160 lessons and 16 tests. I can't say enough positive things about this math!

For Language Arts, we have what my son calls his "L.A.N." ~ Language Arts Notebook. Original, right? :) I just bought him a 3-ring binder and divider tabs. I divided his weekly English, Spelling, Handwriting, and Reading workbook assignments into the labeled sections. I also included the English handbook and glossary from the back of his English workbook, as well as the Skill Stations from his reading workbook. This keeps his work neat & organized. It also gives him more of a feeling of accomplishment that he's completing a goal when he sees the number pages decreasing in each section.

Bubby with his L.A.N.

Our English and reading curriculum is Bob Jones. I like them both! The TE are very informative and help with easy grading.

For handwriting, we use "A Reason for Handwriting". I like this a lot because the goal is to write out a scripture verse on the 4th day. They include lined paper with pictures that the child colors. It makes a lovely presentation. He's in the transistion book, which includes both manuscript and cursive handwriting.

For spelling, we use Horizons. I really love this, too! Every Monday, the child is given a pretest, and any words missed have a practice area at the bottom of the pretest page. There is daily work, a Wednesday post-test and a Friday final test. My son likes this a lot, and his spelling has improved immensely!

I must admit, Geography and Science have always been a bit of a struggle for me. I purchased a map skills book for him and we're working on states & capitals. I have a Mailbox book for that. I've seen some great ideas on Carissa's site (1+1+1=1) and on "Musings of Me". Erica (Confessions of a Homeschooler) will be introducing a unit on the USA as well.

For science, I'm using Real Science 4 Kids. It was written by a Christian, homeschooling mom who happens to be a scientist. We're doing biology right now. He's doing pre-level 1. This is age-appropriate reading, and the experiments are fairly simple. You can buy the experiment kit at Home Science Tools.

History is Winter Promises' "American Story 1". They have age-appropriate readers (purchased seperately through the Language Arts section) to go along with what you're studying. This curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason method, which is using "living books" to teach. However, the readers are very advanced! Although I like WP, I'm not sure if I'll purchase the American Story 2 next year. I do have their "Quest for the Ancient World", so I feel as if I must use it in the future. However, if I do choose to buy American 2, I won't purchase from them any more. It's on the pricey side, and takes a LOT of prep work for mom. I've supplemented with "Liberty's Kids" videos (downloaded through the Wii) as well as History Pockets (also photocopy prep work).

My son is involved in the Upward b-ball program at this time for his PE. He's in the children's choir at church for his music. I'm planning on teaching him piano next quarter. (Isn't it sad that I'm a piano teacher but haven't gotten around to teaching my own kids yet?)

Bubby during a game

Preschool Curriculum

My youngest kiddo, "Popsicle" turned 4 in December. She is outgoing, funny, and has a sunny disposition. She loves to "write" (on her bedroom walls with a sharpie pen) color, and draw. She was SO ready to begin school that we officially started Preschool in August.

She love, love, loves it! Each morning, she comes to breakfast asking if it's time for school yet. I enjoy her enthusiasm!

At first, I wasn't sure what to use for my curriculum. As you know there is so much out there, one can get completely overwhelmed!

Fortunately for me, I found Carissa's site, "1+1+1=1". Once a kindergarten teacher, Carissa has tons of great ideas, as well as hundreds of printables to download for free! We are currently using her "Raising Rockstars Preschool". Each week, we have a letter of the alphabet to learn, a memory verse, a number for the week, and a sight word. She has a week's worth of activities that go along with the lesson, as well as an emergent reader that focuses on her sight word. It's amazing to hear her "read" her story each week!

Linked to her was Erica of "Confessions of a Homeschooler". Erica has made a wonderful curriculum based on the Letter of the Week that enhances Carissa's. You can download her stuff for free one item at a time, or pay $10 for an instant download for all 26 letters. Just recently, Erica has introduced a K4 program that goes along with her current preschool program. It includes more advanced skills, like beginning sounds, blends, writing skills, as well as numerical/alphabetical order.

Also linked to Carissa was Jolanthe of "Homeschool Creations". She has wonderful (free!) printables and has another site called "Preschool Corner". I've used many of her ideas as well!

(All of these ladies' websites are linked on my sidebar. Just click on their button!)

We're currently using Winter Promise's "I'm Ready to Learn" for preschool. We're studying about the pond right now. It includes activities and books to go along with our study. We keep busy, and we're having fun!

We also use Horizon's Prechool curriculum. Popsicle loves the colorful pages!

Here is Popsicle doing her favorite cheer, "Dribble it, pass it."

Why We Chose to Homeschool

When I received my degree in Music Education and minor in Elementary Education in the spring of 1991, it never once occured to me that twenty years later, I would be homeschooling my own children!

As a young child in the late 1970's, the idea of homeschooling was still quite new. Even though we lived in the "Buckle of the Bible Belt", many Christian parents, including my own, believed to get a good, solid education, one must attend a public school. There were a few Christian schools in the area where I lived, but they were either too far away, too expensive or not administrated well. What I meant by the last comment was at that time, every church seemed to have a small school in a dark, dank basement.

Fortunately, the area in which I lived had a wonderful public school system. I was blessed to have many Christian teachers in my life that strove to be salt and light to their students.

Fast-forward to the Fall of 2005. My oldest was about to begin kindergarten. We live in a capital city, and let's just say that the school district we live in isn't as kind and gentle as mine was. Also, throw 30 years of moral depravity into the mix. I felt as if we had no choice but to put her into a Christian school that we really couldn't afford.

Now fast-forward to the Fall of 2007. My son was to begin kindergarten, and there was no way we could afford the pricey tuition for both children at the Christian school. We had no choice but to put them into the "dreaded" public school.

At first, all was well. Both children had wonderful teachers. They helped them and worked with them in many postitive ways.

By the beginning of their second year, however, the Lord began working in my heart. I tried to push the disquiet away, but it took some disturbing circumstances to finally get my attention.

You see, I believed the lie that the media bombards all moms/women with: I deserve time to myself! I reasoned that I was too unstructured, too undisciplined, and too impatient to teach my children!

However, I coudn't ignore the tug of the Holy Spirit, so I began to browse online about Christian homeschooling and read many articles about it. These 2 quotes have stuck with me ever since:

1. When you send your child to Caesar, why are you surprised when they return as Romans?
2. When you shoot the arrows out of your quiver, don't be surprised that when they are returned, they are shot back.

Humbled and convicted, I felt a sense of urgency to remove my children out of public school at semester. We began our homeschooling journey in the Spring of 2009. Although it can be frustrating at times and I can allow myself to become overwhelmed by the enormity of my responsibility of it all, I've seen my children flourish. I truly enjoy being with them each day, and delight in their learning. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!