Homeschooling Continues......
Well another homeschool year is over.....has been a odd year......depsite all the sickness and aborted schoolwork, DS1 seems to be reading FAR better than he was at the beginning of this year. SO much so that when we did the CTBS testing for 2nd grade he finished all the reading comprehension areas in the time allotted (some thing that he has to read all himself, I cannot even help him decode a word). Not only that but he barreled through the whole test in one day (this is 5-6 hours plus break time worth of testing, mind you)!! All of us were amazed, from his grandma school teacher, to me and DH, and his supervising teacher at the school.....
He has hit a short wall in math , but nothing that cannot be scaled over with some effort.
Grandma Schoolteacher will be retiring in 2 short weeks, and we are all thankful for it......she will design their cirriculums and I will make sure they do their homework and art and music and science experiments...this is just fine by me since I have no idea where to start when designing a cirriculum!
On a kinda-funny note, my 3 yr old was complaining today that he doesnt know how to read....it is apparently frustrating him to no end....after all big brother can and now big sister is starting too on her own with plans to work over summer with gma on it. HE wants in!!!! So I will spend the next several weeks drilling both preschooler kids on their alphabet letters, and playing flash card game with DS1......wish the stupid June Gloom (fog every morning, sometimes all day) would just pass on, happens every year and never fails to drive me bonkers.......though having the two youngest decide to become the "Terrible Twosome" of late is not helping!!!!
I am off to bed since I am getting grumpy and yawning!
posted by Spirited 3 Mom @ 12:03 AM
5 Comments:
Remember, no heavy machinery until you get some sleep.
:)
Though you don't know me and probably will walk away thinking I'm nuts, I will give you a hand up on helping little bit read. My son started reading a few months ago (he just turned 4 last month, but is obsessed with words and reading, and telling time, but that is just so momma can't scam him on bedtime I think). I had a few tricks up my sleeve (btw, Lachen knows me if you want to know if I'm on the up and up...)
I got Leap Frog's Fridge phonics (yes, it will make you crazy, but it works!) and the 3 videos that work with that toy (The Letter Factory, The Word Factory and Code Word Caper). My son watched the videos about 3 times per day (starting with the first till you pull 1/3 of your hair out, and moving on from there). I also got Scholastic's Bob Books.. Of course, reading with said monkey boy also helped and when we hit a 3 letter word I had him sound it out like in the video and on his game. If he was not sure, he ran to the fridge phonics and listened to that letter again and tried again. It totally worked. It involved all senses (except smell, thank goodness! tasting, well, yeah, they still put stuff in their mouths don't they...see your above marble story for proof) and he reads. We are working on 4 letter words and blends now and he's coming along.
They sure are a handful at this age, but what an adorable way to let him learn to read and make your homeschooling job a stitcheasier in the process later on down the road. We too will most likely home school as the State of Tennessee, while not as far out as California is just as silly in their educational concepts.
Respectfully,
Momma M
Thanks Momma M for the tips! I will keep those in mind! I did invest in some Leap Frog Leap Pads and some books at their levels which they use intermittly....usually in the car on trips to gnpts or other places....at least it keeps them mostly from fighting in car (sighhh....whole other issue).....plus gma is a reading specialist and teacher, and VERY good at what she does so I have faith in her ability to lead us thru the jungle of reading and writing.....oh yeah and the DVD of School House Rock (anybody else remember that?)....kids love the songs!
I LOVE Schoolhouse Rock...we have the DVD too and my monkey will actually jump around and watch it...then I'm somewhat shocked when I hear him singing the songs...silly mommy.
My MIL is also an English teacher, she teaches ESL on the college level and (gasp, choke, chuckle) beginner English at the college level. It's amazing (and scary) how many of them can not write a complete sentence. brrrr...
Liking your blog. Thanks.
MommaRia, formerly Momma M
I was searching for homeschool, and came to your site Spirited 3 Mom. After reading Homeschooling Continues......, I could really use this on my site, homeschool, with your permission of course.
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