To start, we'll talk about reading. For Reid, my goal has simply been to read a book together every day. Sadly, too often this falls through the cracks when we get too busy around here. Plus, Reid isn't the best about sitting still to listen to a book like his older brother used to be, which makes it harder to steal a chunk of his time for cuddling with a book. However, just putting this on our daily to-do list has made a difference. We still miss days throughout the week, but we are reading together now more than before and hopefully will become more consistent as time progresses.
With Caleb and Hadley, we read books pretty much every night at bed time as well as sometimes throughout the day. Lately though, Caleb has shown interest in word building and learning to read as well. I think what really got this started was the Leapfrog Talking Word Factory my cousin Stacey bought him. From watching the video multiple times, he learned how to spell several words, especially ones in the -at word family, and has taken off from there. We have been working on letter sounds for a while but are really starting to put them together to form words. A self-motivated learner, Caleb will try to write out words on a piece of paper, type them on his Leappad or other computer toys, or just talk about how words are spelled. One night recently I found him in his room creating words using a popcorn game I bought him a long time ago to work on letters.
 |
| Pop! |
 |
| Dad |
 |
| Proud of himself |
 |
| Hunting for the right letters |
 |
| I helped him with a couple words and then went out of the room so he could surprise me with new ones. |
In addition to doing some phonics, I began introducing him to sight words. I made a little section on the back of one of our doors to make a word wall and started with the words "I" and "like." These words were the first two introduced in a series of sight word books my mom bought for us to use a while back. Learning just a couple words, he was able to read the first one in the series and boy was he proud! I had him point to each word as he said it to make sure he was looking at the text and not just memorizing the book.
When Daddy got home, he read to him too:
Before school even started this year, we worked on a bit of sorting too. A great way to prepare kids for reading is to give them practice with rhyming words. When Caleb was much younger I picked up a puzzle set with pairs of rhymes to match up. Each set has its own special fit so he can even do this on his own and check his work by himself.
Hand in hand with reading, of course, comes writing. My friend Melanie and I worked with Caleb some over the summer in this area, but neither of us made much progress, especially since he preferred to go play with his siblings than sit and practice. I've tried to do a couple handwriting activities with him since school started at home too, but he is so disinterested, and even frustrated, that usually I just steer clear of it for the time being and let his preschool teachers work with him. I don't want to push him if he isn't ready nor do I want to dampen his spirits for learning.
 |
| I printed this maze thinking it would still require him to practice using a pencil but would be a little more high interest. |
 |
| I also thought numbers might be more interesting than letters since he has a growing interest in math. However, as you can tell by the look on his face, I was wrong. |
Grandma McKinstry - math major and former math teacher - may be wondering at this point, where's the arithmetic part of the curriculum?...Don't worry, Grandma! We have that covered too.
For months (maybe even a year), there's been a bulletin board calendar set I purchased at Michaels waiting to be put up. Finally, last month we put it on the closet door of the playroom and have been using it to work with several skills, including math. For the longest time, Caleb was stuck on the number 12 and just not moving forward. However, each time we did the calendar this month, I had the kids count all the days from the beginning with me, and over time he's got it! He still needs help with 30, 40, 50, etc. but he gets through the teens and understands the pattern now.
When I was a long term sub for first grade before we had children, I remembered the teachers organizing a "Lucky Charms Math" day when the kids used cereal to learn graphing, addition, and subtraction. I thought this might be a good hands-on activity for Caleb too. A quick Google search led me right to the handouts I needed so I didn't have to start from scratch, and knowing Granny usually has Lucky Charms on hand, we took our papers up there to give it a go.
Caleb was so motivated by this activity and, even at four years old, did well with it. After the graphing was finished we did a few math problems together talking about how to use a graph, how to add numbers together, and how to subtract. Then came the best part...eating the marshmallows after the learning was complete.
I tried a couple times to show Caleb how to use his fingers to do math problems, but one day completely out of the blue he started saying random math facts by himself. "5+5 is 10"...and so on. At first Dave and I thought, maybe he just memorized a few problems so we started him a few more. To our surprise, he got them all right! The most fascinating part was, unlike the way I modeled, Caleb wasn't using any fingers to help him. We could see him move his little mouth as he did all the work in his head. I can't take credit for this newly acquired skill because once again he just took control of his own learning, but I was thrilled. And, while I was excited, Dave, the engineer, was beaming with pride, smiling from ear to ear.
A few days later Caleb got in the car and said "5+5+2 is 12." That night at supper, Dave asked him 3+3+3 to which he replied 8 on his first try but then thought about it again and came up with the correct answer. (I love watching Dave's reaction.) The past few days he's even tried some subtraction and last night I saw him out in the hall when he was supposed to be in bed and asked him what he was up to; "3+3+2+2 is 10" was his response. That kid is too much!
Beyond those core topics, we also got creative with a little bit of art. You saw in the previous post some of the fun paintings the kids made, but here are a few pics of a craft we did using a kit for handprint art.
 |
| Hadley's hand turned into a giraffe. |
 |
| Caleb's was an alien. |
 |
| For a chicken one, we used Baby Reid's hands for the baby chicks and Caleb's for the big chicken. |
In the library post I did not long ago, you'll also see some of the topical studies we've touched on so far, such as seasons. The calendar has come in great for reinforcing this topic as well as teaching days of the week, months of the year, and weather.
One night, Dave even sat down with the kids and put on a DVD from the Plant Earth series to watch and talk about together where they learned about landscapes, different countries, climates, animals, etc.
For a while now I have really debated the idea of homeschooling long term but felt insufficient and unsure of where to start. While the kids have grown a good bit over the past month or so, I really feel my confidence is what's grown the most.
I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find time to plan learning objectives and activities for each of the kids and keep up, but I've found that it doesn't require as much time as I originally thought. There are so many resources online, in the library, and just in the little games and sets of books I've bought along the way that make it easier.
Some thing that has really helped is having daily goals planned out for each of us on a chart so I can keep perspective and not overlook something important. Once I have the bare bones of what I want to focus on each week, I can flesh it out with what we have time for. I've also learned to write things in pencil and move them around if I need to so I don't have a bunch of uncompleted tasks staring me in the face at the end of the day/week. Likewise, I add things as I go even after I've already done them because it gives me a little extra boost to see what we've accomplished.
 |
| I used to use something like this from Michaels... |
 |
| ...but now that our family has grown, a chart that has a space to list tasks for each family member has really helped me stay on track better. I found this at Big Lots. |
From the time I was a little girl, I wanted to teach. I lined up all my dolls or played school with my cousins pretty much every chance I got. As I entered college, I continued to be drawn toward that line of work despite what people warned me about the long hours and meager salaries. As I reflected on that recently, it is no wonder that I've felt more energized over the past month as I have been more diligent in putting to work some of the skills I've acquired in college and grad school on my own kids' educations. Rather than just sweeping up crumbs, wiping bottoms and faces, and doing laundry, trying to stay ahead of the mess, I have felt more like I am working towards a purpose lately, like there is something to show for my effort, like I am making a difference to someone.
I know I'm a homeschooling novice and there is a lot to learn. I am still not even sure we are going to go the homeschooling route when it is all said and done, but I feel a little more that it is a doable option. That I have choices.
I would really love to network with other moms who are doing similar things to find more ideas, suggestions, resources, etc. I know so many ladies who are doing an excellent job at this and I would love to pick their brains. Whether I opt to homeschool exclusively down the line or choose just to supplement what my kids are learning at school, having a plethora of support and tips from others who are more experienced in this area will definitely be invaluable so if you have something to share, I'd love to hear from you!
No comments:
Post a Comment