My new plan for Courtney was for her to read to me everyday and for me to read to her.
Well, Megan has taken over the "read to her" part of the day. I found them both last night sitting on Megan's bed and Megan was reading her a chapter book. This morning, they were snuggled in Courtney's bed doing the same thing.
After we got done with school today, they were back in their room reading a book together.
I love it!! Not only is it sweet that they are getting a long so well, but they are BOTH improving their reading skills!! How long will this last??
Monday, October 8, 2012
I quit!
I have never quit a curriculum before but I am now.
Sonlight Language Arts and Readers for First Grade you are just not working for us and because we homeschool and have the freedom to do what we want, I am going to put you back on the shelf and make life soooo much easier for myself and Courtney. Adios!
My problem with Sonlight is that they had a book that we read, but everyday, they would put in about 10 new words that Courtney didn't know. I was going through every Sunday night and preparing all these new words for the week. I had about 30-40 new words per week! I would then teach them all to her Monday and review them all week long, I thought then she would know them and know the meanings when we got to them in her stories. This was working, but taking too much time and it wasn't fun. I could teach her the words as we go, but I thought that would break the story up too much. What would you think yip, yap, nab, gab, quip, dibs would mean if you got to them??
Like you can see, these weren't words you used every day either. She could easily read the words, but I think it was too much. Too many odd meanings, too many words, too many rules to remember on how to spell them (such as "hill" having two l's, sometimes she gets her b's and d's backwards). I was getting frustrated because she wasn't learning all of this. The stories were also very odd and sometimes I had to think about what they were trying to say, Courtney wasn't understanding them at all.
Plan B: We are going to continue to work hard on Phonics (which I was doing in addition to reading!) and work on those words more. Then for reading, we are just going to take books off our own bookshelf and read them! I am going to read to her some (which I didn't have time for earlier, but she was always begging me to do) and then we are just going to find the Level 1 readers and the simple Dora books and start reading those. We are even going to visit the library about once a week and get new books. If we see words we don't know, we will talk about them and probably practice writing them. She knows enough phonics that she can sound out MANY words, so I think this will work great.
I think this is a much better plan that Courtney and I will enjoy more. As I was told by a fellow homeschooling mom, kindergarten is about reading and making sure they understand what they read, not about having spelling lists and making sure they know every word in the story. That is exactly what I needed to hear! We start our new plan today!
Sonlight Language Arts and Readers for First Grade you are just not working for us and because we homeschool and have the freedom to do what we want, I am going to put you back on the shelf and make life soooo much easier for myself and Courtney. Adios!
My problem with Sonlight is that they had a book that we read, but everyday, they would put in about 10 new words that Courtney didn't know. I was going through every Sunday night and preparing all these new words for the week. I had about 30-40 new words per week! I would then teach them all to her Monday and review them all week long, I thought then she would know them and know the meanings when we got to them in her stories. This was working, but taking too much time and it wasn't fun. I could teach her the words as we go, but I thought that would break the story up too much. What would you think yip, yap, nab, gab, quip, dibs would mean if you got to them??
Like you can see, these weren't words you used every day either. She could easily read the words, but I think it was too much. Too many odd meanings, too many words, too many rules to remember on how to spell them (such as "hill" having two l's, sometimes she gets her b's and d's backwards). I was getting frustrated because she wasn't learning all of this. The stories were also very odd and sometimes I had to think about what they were trying to say, Courtney wasn't understanding them at all.
Plan B: We are going to continue to work hard on Phonics (which I was doing in addition to reading!) and work on those words more. Then for reading, we are just going to take books off our own bookshelf and read them! I am going to read to her some (which I didn't have time for earlier, but she was always begging me to do) and then we are just going to find the Level 1 readers and the simple Dora books and start reading those. We are even going to visit the library about once a week and get new books. If we see words we don't know, we will talk about them and probably practice writing them. She knows enough phonics that she can sound out MANY words, so I think this will work great.
I think this is a much better plan that Courtney and I will enjoy more. As I was told by a fellow homeschooling mom, kindergarten is about reading and making sure they understand what they read, not about having spelling lists and making sure they know every word in the story. That is exactly what I needed to hear! We start our new plan today!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Is it naptime or not??
I think Christian is transitioning out of naps. He is following his sisters for sure.
Megan stopped napping when she was around 2 years 3 months old.
Courtney stopped napping around 2 years 3 months old.
Guess how old Christian is? Yep, 2 years 3 months old!
Guess who doesn't want to take a nap anymore?? Christian!!!
I have found out that if I put him down and he is not really tired, he will play in his bed for an hour and won't go to sleep.
Lately, I've just let him stay up. It's almost easier than wasting my time putting him to bed to only get him up an hour later plus have to pay attention to what he is doing for that hour! (This is while I am teaching the girls.) It is easier to just let him stay up and play all afternoon and not deal with it. If he gets cranky, I will put him down though!
The nice side of not napping is that he goes to bed around 8 pm!!
Megan stopped napping when she was around 2 years 3 months old.
Courtney stopped napping around 2 years 3 months old.
Guess how old Christian is? Yep, 2 years 3 months old!
Guess who doesn't want to take a nap anymore?? Christian!!!
I have found out that if I put him down and he is not really tired, he will play in his bed for an hour and won't go to sleep.
Lately, I've just let him stay up. It's almost easier than wasting my time putting him to bed to only get him up an hour later plus have to pay attention to what he is doing for that hour! (This is while I am teaching the girls.) It is easier to just let him stay up and play all afternoon and not deal with it. If he gets cranky, I will put him down though!
The nice side of not napping is that he goes to bed around 8 pm!!
Lunch Prayer
We usually have somebody pray at our meals, but lately, Christian has been mumbling his own prayers during that time.
Today I paid attention to what he was saying.
"Dear Jesus, thank you Uncle Shawn. thank you Shane ride tractor. Amen."
I think he's thankful that his two uncles took him for a tractor and combine ride one day!! Obviously he is still talking about it!
Today I paid attention to what he was saying.
"Dear Jesus, thank you Uncle Shawn. thank you Shane ride tractor. Amen."
I think he's thankful that his two uncles took him for a tractor and combine ride one day!! Obviously he is still talking about it!
Gone!
I made 15 oatmeal muffins and a 9 x 13 pan of rice krispy bars yesterday and they are GONE!!
(we had some friends over yesterday morning, so they helped with the rice krispy bars, but still!)
I guess I will be making some more today!
(we had some friends over yesterday morning, so they helped with the rice krispy bars, but still!)
I guess I will be making some more today!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Need a Break!
We are going to take a break from school today. I need it. I call it a mental health day.
School is taking way too long and Courtney's reading curriculum is overwhelming me. I had some good conversations with some fellow homeschooling moms yesterday and I definitely need to scale back. She is only in kindergarten! So now I need to think through what I want to change.
Everything else is going great! I am not completely happy with our Bible program, but I can make it work. Math is great for both girls, science is way too much fun, phonics is coming right along (Courtney can read books by herself now!!), and all of Megan's history, reading, read-alouds are great too. We're studying American history, so we are learning about the Aztecs right now- it is definitely not for the faint of heart- did you know they had human sacrifices?? I really have to be careful what I teach Megan.
Anyway, today we are going to the zoo. We have been studying animal habitats in science and have made some really neat posters to go along with our lessons. We have learned about grasslands, deserts, oceans, and rain forests. We are going to go to the zoo and apply our learning! Even though there is school we could be doing, I think we need a break. :) I think we are going to do nothing this morning and head out about noon. Megan has dance at 4:15, so we need to be to class by then. Hopefully the clouds will go away and it will be a beautiful day out!
School is taking way too long and Courtney's reading curriculum is overwhelming me. I had some good conversations with some fellow homeschooling moms yesterday and I definitely need to scale back. She is only in kindergarten! So now I need to think through what I want to change.
Everything else is going great! I am not completely happy with our Bible program, but I can make it work. Math is great for both girls, science is way too much fun, phonics is coming right along (Courtney can read books by herself now!!), and all of Megan's history, reading, read-alouds are great too. We're studying American history, so we are learning about the Aztecs right now- it is definitely not for the faint of heart- did you know they had human sacrifices?? I really have to be careful what I teach Megan.
Anyway, today we are going to the zoo. We have been studying animal habitats in science and have made some really neat posters to go along with our lessons. We have learned about grasslands, deserts, oceans, and rain forests. We are going to go to the zoo and apply our learning! Even though there is school we could be doing, I think we need a break. :) I think we are going to do nothing this morning and head out about noon. Megan has dance at 4:15, so we need to be to class by then. Hopefully the clouds will go away and it will be a beautiful day out!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Check, Check, and Check
Much accomplished this weekend. This is what happens when you stay home and clean up after a tornado hits.
1. Girls' bedroom cleaned- check!
2. Playroom cleaned- check!
3. Hallway cleaned- check!
4. Christian's room cleaned- check!
You couldn't see an inch of floor on any of these rooms. It was probably the worse I had ever seen it. I should have really taken before and after pictures. While we were cleaning, Megan actually tripped over something in the hallway and hurt her elbow. She actually got mad at the mess and made her more determined to clean it up.
Most of the mess is actually Courtney's. I don't say this to be mean, but it is! I have seen her make it! Matt and I decided yesterday that she will definitely need some organizational skills taught her in the future. We also decided that the playroom will be closed indefinitely until these two girls (mostly Courtney) can prove to us that they can keep their bedroom clean first. I went in there this morning and there are already things on the floor. :( Matt and I have been slacking on the chore chart, so I think that would help motivate them too.
The problem is that Courtney just puts things wherever she likes. I tell her to put barbie clothes away in the barbie box and she will put them in the toy box! Things are just mixed up and scattered everywhere. Yesterday I was cleaning out the toy box and found her wallet. I put it on the floor and told her to come put it away. You know what she did? She threw it right back in the toy box!!! I kind of snapped at her for that one. :( When I ask her to get a backpack ready to take somewhere, like dance class where we have to wait for Megan, she will take various stuff and fill backpacks. Various items like glue, paint, polly pockets, pencils, colors, coloring books, some of her books and some of Christians. So guess what we had to do yesterday? Dump out these backpacks and buckets and put everything back where it goes! It is just so sporadic it drives me nuts! (Can you tell I am type A??) When we cleaned the hallways, there were just miscellaneous items in a pile. Where does this stuff come from?? I also had three laundry baskets full of stuff that I had acquired from downstairs that all belonged in their bedrooms somewhere! We dumped those out on the playroom floor and put all that away too. It's amazing that you seem to find the items you were missing! Like library books and my thermometer (could have used that this week with Christian!).
I love it when she says, "But mom, I don't want to clean!" My quote back, "Then don't make the mess!!"
1. Girls' bedroom cleaned- check!
2. Playroom cleaned- check!
3. Hallway cleaned- check!
4. Christian's room cleaned- check!
You couldn't see an inch of floor on any of these rooms. It was probably the worse I had ever seen it. I should have really taken before and after pictures. While we were cleaning, Megan actually tripped over something in the hallway and hurt her elbow. She actually got mad at the mess and made her more determined to clean it up.
Most of the mess is actually Courtney's. I don't say this to be mean, but it is! I have seen her make it! Matt and I decided yesterday that she will definitely need some organizational skills taught her in the future. We also decided that the playroom will be closed indefinitely until these two girls (mostly Courtney) can prove to us that they can keep their bedroom clean first. I went in there this morning and there are already things on the floor. :( Matt and I have been slacking on the chore chart, so I think that would help motivate them too.
The problem is that Courtney just puts things wherever she likes. I tell her to put barbie clothes away in the barbie box and she will put them in the toy box! Things are just mixed up and scattered everywhere. Yesterday I was cleaning out the toy box and found her wallet. I put it on the floor and told her to come put it away. You know what she did? She threw it right back in the toy box!!! I kind of snapped at her for that one. :( When I ask her to get a backpack ready to take somewhere, like dance class where we have to wait for Megan, she will take various stuff and fill backpacks. Various items like glue, paint, polly pockets, pencils, colors, coloring books, some of her books and some of Christians. So guess what we had to do yesterday? Dump out these backpacks and buckets and put everything back where it goes! It is just so sporadic it drives me nuts! (Can you tell I am type A??) When we cleaned the hallways, there were just miscellaneous items in a pile. Where does this stuff come from?? I also had three laundry baskets full of stuff that I had acquired from downstairs that all belonged in their bedrooms somewhere! We dumped those out on the playroom floor and put all that away too. It's amazing that you seem to find the items you were missing! Like library books and my thermometer (could have used that this week with Christian!).
I love it when she says, "But mom, I don't want to clean!" My quote back, "Then don't make the mess!!"
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