A New Year, A New Newsletter

Welcome back, everyone! 

We stopped blogging for a while, thinking that a better way to reach our family and friends would be to mail our newsletters (not everyone has internet access, right?) but, after a year and a half of writing our newsletter, and often forgetting to go to the post office to mail it, or running out of stamps and only sending them to half of our list, we decided to give this medium another try. 

This school year we are doing something quite different! We will be integrating our literature-based curriculum (Sonlight) with online programs (Time4Learning, ABCmouse). In our technologically advanced world, we know it's important that our children know and understand how to utilize computers and similar systems, and what better way than to mix this integration with necessary core material? Asher and Savannah will be focusing on Math material this year, while Rosalynne and Gabrielle will focus on Math and Reading. All four of the kids will have access to core material in other subjects, but for our purposes this year, those subjects will be purely for fun.

As we did in our Newsletters, the kids will be responsible for some of the information in the blog, though I intend to post regular updates about our progress. I'm still not certain how frequently I will post, or just how much of a contribution the kids will have (we have an extremely rich and full curriculum this year). 

Last week and this week is our "soft start" which is my way of saying we are taking two partial weeks to become acclimated with our online programs so we can work out any bugs well before our official "start" date of September 4th. This is as much for me as it is for the kids, since I am learning two completely new parent 'portals' and reviewing the lessons and objectives along with the overall scope/sequence of the programs. Since we already have a "complete" curriculum with Sonlight, we will likely spend a few weeks adjusting our schedules to achieve the correct balance. Feel free to check in and see how that adjustment is going.

As many of our family and friends know, we have welcomed two new children into the family since this blog was regularly active. Rosalynne and Gabrielle will move to be featured here, in Adventures in Homeschooling, and our two youngest kiddos will be featured in Nursery News. 

Well, in a nut shell, that's where we are at right now as we approach the official start of the new school year! We look forward to sharing our adventures with you this coming year. If you know a family member or friend that might enjoy following along, please feel free to share a link to the blog with them, or send me a message with their email, and I can email them a link to new posts as the come out! 

Shrinking our Schedule

As our school year winds down in the next few weeks, it's nice to look back and see what we've managed to accomplish, not so much in terms of scope and sequence, but in terms of overall growth.

This year, Asher went from hardly reading to reading graphic novels and has finished the year off with completing a unit study in Where the Red Fern Grows. That's an impressive amount of progress. He also advanced from reading basic stories at the beginning of the year and writing very brief summaries to reading a chapter book each week and writing a book report. 

Savannah has gone from reading moderate chapter books to reading full-fledged novels this year. She has read Harry Potter novels, Nancy Drew, Monster High, and towards the end of the year we've thrown in the classics in varying degrees of difficulty. Right now she is reading Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. Her book reports have advanced from simple one to two paragraphs to one to two pages. I continue to be impressed with her ability to read, but even more so, her true love and appreciation for reading.

Math, which has been one of the few subjects that the kids struggled with in the last few years started as one of the easiest and favorite subjects this year, but as we wind down, it is again one of the most difficult. Fortunately, Teaching Textbooks really has made a difference, and the kids seem to be excelling even while they are not particularly fond of the subject just yet. 

Science this year has been an amazing journey into the deep blue sea. We have learned about all manner of sea creatures and their classes. We have done a number of interesting experiments and projects. The Ocean is a topic that has enthralled Asher since he watched Finding Nemo at three years old. He has been drawn to all sorts of marine creatures and books about sharks, jelly fish, and octopus, taking Savannah along with him, so it has been really fun to study these creatures in depth.

At the beginning of the school year we were completing a move. In the middle, Jeremiah joined our family, Trevor started a new job, and we both earned college degrees. You can just imagine how much our schedule has changed with so many events happening within this year. Some of the changes were easy (not having coursework to complete has certainly given me more time!) and other changes have required us to adjust (like Trev's schedule). Overall, this has been our best year homeschooling yet! 

As we prepare for our year to end, I will be scheduling some assessments, ordering curriculum for next year, and planning summer activities and review. Though we don't like to admit it, we really need a schedule to keep us on track, even in the summer. 

Teaching Littles and Cosmic Yoga

Last week we started doing something different in school. Normally, I spend the morning teaching Asher and Savannah and then when they move on to their Independent Work, I work with Rosalynne and Gabrielle before making lunch. Last week we officially started "Teaching Littles" which all the kids seem to enjoy. Once or twice a week, I let Asher and Savannah pair up with one of their younger sisters and teach things that they have mastered.

This is something entirely new to our homeschool. Asher and Savannah have naturally taught their sisters things, but now they are actively working to teach skills or information. One day Asher might work with Gabrielle on colors and shapes, while Savannah works with Rosalynne on the alphabet and phonics. Then the next time the kids pair up, they switch partners and teach different things. Asher works with Rosalynne while Savannah works with Gabrielle.

Each lesson lasts about thirty minutes and the topic varies. I make sure to include something "hands-on" during the pairings, too. So far, the favorite activity has been a sink/float experiment in the kitchen sink. I also have the "littles" pick two books each lesson. This is nice because reading out loud is not something we practice every day, but it is beneficial for all the kids, and encourages reading across the board.

In the hustle and bustle of family life, it's easy to miss how influential children can be on one another, so this new pairing is truly a delight to see. Asher brings his active personality, going from one activity to another with a selection of sound effects, while Savannah brings her cheerful, singsong personality humming a tune or creating a song as she encourages her sisters.

We have a pretty full day until around lunch, by which time I am typically done "teaching" for the day. Once Asher and Savannah complete their independent work (Teaching textbooks, copywork, worksheets, activities, reading/writing), then the kids spend the day playing together, going outside, and doing crafts or on the fly experiments. With homeschooling, it would be pretty easy to let them have a lot of screen time, so I try to avoid it whenever possible. Normally, that means that I entirely forget our television exists during the week.

Besides incorporating teaching their younger sisters information, we have started incorporating a much more consistent PE "program" into our day. Whenever possible, the kids would play outside for at least thirty minutes to an hour each day. Sometimes the weather is too cold or blustery to warrant that kind of activity, so we would run around the house. Certainly the kids get exercise, but finding activities they can all do has become difficult. Fortunately, Trevor found Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube, and the kids absolutely LOVE it! Asher prefers to do the Darbee Hiit's exercises first thing in the morning, then listens to the story while the girls do Yoga.

I have to say, I am truly enjoying this addition to our day. Jeremiah loves watching his siblings while they exercise (or sometimes he is even still asleep in the cradle), and by the time they have all finished exercising, usually around 7:30, I have breakfast done and ready to plate. Cooking while they are all in the kitchen/dining room can be a difficult and slow process, and this has proven to be an accidental solution to that problem as well as a PE element they all enjoy!

Overview of Materials and Where the Red Fern Grows Unit Study

Hey Everyone! I know, it's been quite a while. We have had a very busy year, and unfortunately, keeping up with the blog fell by the wayside for a time. BUT, hopefully I will be able to get it back up to date....and keep it that way! I have had a LOT of people ask me what we are doing this year for school and how we are doing it, so this post is devoted to briefly talking about the various materials we are using and what we are doing with them.

This year our curriculum is from Timberdoodle, a Christian Homeschool company. They don't sell lesson plans, at least not in the same way that other companies do. They select some pretty fantastic homeschool materials (that come with their own plans) and form them into grade packages. We LOVE Timberdoodle materials, but we have found that depending on how we plan our year, we are doing a LOT more writing and worksheets than the average student. That's not a bad thing, but it is something we will likely change for next year.

For Spelling we've been using a program called Spelling You See. I have noticed progress, but next year we will probably try Sequential Spelling, a program that might fit just a little better with our homeschool. For Geography, which we have just completed, we used Exploring God's World which dealt much less with people of the world and community (like our last few programs) than it did about the Earth itself. We took an in-depth look at Volcanoes, the Atmosphere, Plate Tectonics, Oceans (and currents), and the Earth's Core.

We have been doing intense grammar studies using First Language Lessons for Grade 4. It is a really involved program, and the kids have learned so much more than basic grammar. They are diagramming rather long, elaborate sentences (stuff I didn't learn until college!) and the activities are broken down in such a way that I know the kids are learning the material. They have also been studying poetry, the breakdown of syllables, parts of a sentence, punctuation...pretty soon we will be starting our unit on letter writing, too.

Asher finally convinced Savannah that
Comic books are cool!

For Reading the kids have been doing a multifaceted program. They have been using Pilgrim's Progress, Pathway Readers New Friends and More New Friends, and they have been picking chapter books and novels each week to read independently and write a book report each week about their reading. These books are their own selections and range from Children's Classics to modern literature. Savannah is quite taken with Nancy Drew, Monster High, Babysitter's Club, and Harry Potter while Asher leans towards books like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Bernstein Bears.This means by the end of the year, they will have completed nearly 40 book reports! Next week we are preparing to begin a Unit Study using the novel Where the Red Fern Grows. Once we start this unit study, the kids will be taking a break from their weekly book report.

This semester we have also started a family Read-Aloud series. We read from the Chronicles of Narnia daily and are in the fourth book of the series. The girls typically play with mega blocks or color while we read Narnia together. Right now we are reading The Silver Chair and should be finishing it shortly. Our Unit Study will include assigned independent reading, chapter questions, section quizzes, and a variety of activities, whereas our read-aloud series is much more relaxed. I will read a chapter or two aloud to the kids and then I will either ask questions about the chapters or we will just discuss the reading and what we think will happen next.

Lego creations are a favorite
pastime in our home.

The kids are working through Teaching Textbooks Grade 4 this year. Math is definitely not their favorite subject, but they are doing very well. It is a computer based program, so other than checking their grades and answering the few questions they have, their Math is independent work. We are still working through Life of Fred. We are finishing the tenth book in the elementary series. LOF is fun, and the kids really enjoy it. I don't think of it as Math, as much as it is Logic, and I'm on the fence if we will continue it next year. We may use it at a slower pace next year, just because the kids enjoy it so much.

For Science we are using the Apologia text Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. The kids are really enjoying this text, which, as you might imagine, focuses on Ocean animals. We are beginning the last section next week, and then we will complete our Ocean Box Project (with all the creatures we've learned about) and doing more of the experiments that just weren't feasible in the winter. The kids LOVE Science, so it is never a chore to get them to do extra reading or activities for it.

We are about twenty-five weeks into our school year at this point. The year has gone very smoothly despite the move and unexpectedly taking over a month off to welcome Jeremiah into our family. We have about ten weeks left of school so we will be done around the same time Public school students complete their year.

So - in a nutshell, that's what we've been using this school year.

I know...it's been...a while

We have been very busy homeschooling since the last posts of our new classroom. We LOVE our new classroom and it has been fantastic having so much space devoted just to our learning! Unfortunately, the boiler in the house broke down. We have temporarily replaced our heating source with an awesome pellet stove, but it doesn't quite warm the attic enough to do school up there, and while our infrared heater works great, the space is just a bit large to keep heated while the temperatures are in the negative 20s.

The Pellet Stove Trevor installed around Thanksgiving.

SO we have temporarily moved our classroom to the dining room. The benefit is that it's more convenient for that pesky little necessity called eating, especially since we have decided to eat much healthier as a family for 2015. The downside is that with the dining room acting as our classroom, we again have a multipurpose room, which is not my favorite. However, I have...adjusted my teaching style to fit the area much better and invested in a few new 'toys' for the teacher which are helping immensely!

 The first 'toy' I have invested in is actually a scrap-booking item, but it is working great for our classwork, the copies of the kids' assessments/important paperwork, my dry erase markers, flashcards and just about any of the other essentials that I need to teach. Plus, it's on wheels and has a pull-out handle! This is extremely convenient for traveling, so we don't miss any lessons while we are away, and we can take it with us to the library or outside (if it ever warms back up!) so it will be a permanent addition to my classroom supplies. Each of the kids have their own over-sized folder to keep all their worksheets and papers organized without having a bin organizer floating around the downstairs. I haven't even finished filling it yet! Guess that means I can buy more school supplies...lol

The second 'toy' is really more of an adjustment. Running up two very large flights of stairs several times each day to get an art/craft item or math manipulatives or any of my other larger classroom/teaching supplies was getting old pretty quickly. Last year, I had everything organized in the drawers in the dining room, and it worked really well, but we redistributed the drawers with the move of the classroom for some of our college and hobby needs. Instead, Trevor had the idea of creating a craft closet from the spare closet in the living room where I stored some of the rarely used kids' toys and summer items. So, after a day spent clearing it out, re-organizing and distributing, I finally have a 'teacher's closet'! Hard to see, but there are hours of educational enjoyment hiding in there. Plus, the two while rolling carts are one wheels, so I can move them in and out of our classroom whenever necessary for bigger projects.



The last 'toy' was really more for the kids. We do a lot of our classwork and lessons at the table, but sometimes they like to be able to study independently. We didn't want to move their desks from the attic classroom, partially because taking them apart would not be fun (and they take up a lot of space), and partially because we still use it whenever possible, so the alternative was to buy a few middle school desks (along with some other pretty cool school supplies that the school decided to sell).

Now on to the more interesting part of homeschooling...the students!

In November the kids both took DORA and ADAM assessments. These are standardized tests in Reading and Math with a lot of sub-tests built in; things like comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, retention, prediction, algebra, geometry, numbers - the list goes on - are all tested individually to better illustrate where a student needs more guidance, plus they are scored an average for their grade. Standardized tests are not something Asher and Savannah have ever used before, so this was a learning experience for all of us. It was also completely online, which meant there was a bit of a learning curve to figure out the program and how to answer the questions. I loaded the web page, told them how to sign-in and let them take over, so they took both assessments without any guidance or explanation of how to use the program because I didn't want to risk affecting their score on the assessment by 'helping' them too much. In light of that, they actually both did excellent, and I imagine that the next time they do the assessment they will be better prepared.

As expected, Asher and Savannah both scored around the third grade level in Math (some of their scores were higher (4th grade) some a little lower (Mid-Upper 2nd) depending on the area and what we'd already covered/reviewed this year. Neither one had any true 'red-flags' especially considering this was their first experience with a test of this kind and magnitude (the Math test alone can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours).

After all the painting was done, they decided to experiment with mixing colors.
The plate was actually beautiful when they were done, but because it had a
shiny surface, the paint came right off when it was dry. Guess it's paper
next time we try it!

The Reading assessment told us what we expected as well. Asher is scoring a bit lower than we would like in a few areas, at about the mid second grade level. He did score as high as 4th/5th grade on vocabulary (understanding and defining the meaning of words), but most of his other scores were in the Second Grade range. We are not discouraged. With everything he's dealt with Speech and Language wise, this is actually a pretty good score, especially considering this was again, the first time he has taken this kind of test, and which lasted around an hour and a half. Most children with SLD and/or SSD, struggle with reading, and we have been actively working with him and his SLP. In only a few weeks he has already improved his scores in several areas by 33%-66% and in the secondary assessment he took on the fifth he scored within the third grade range in several areas.

Savannah is our reading queen. Her scores were off the chart for a child her age. Her lowest score in the reading subtests was in Spelling where she scored at a mid third grade range. Her highest score was in Vocabulary, where she hit a whopping low 8th grade range. Her average scores were around 5th/6th grade level. Considering she struggled with the computer program quite a bit during this assessment, she really did fantastic!

The kids are both doing Smart Tutor now as well. For the last few years we used Time4Learning, but it is really grade based, not ability based, so Savannah was being given assignments that were just way to easy for her by the end of last year, and Asher was struggling because he needed more phonetic and phonemic awareness work. So, without giving the program too much free publicity, Smart Tutor is a great system. The kids can take a short assessment whenever I deem it necessary, and it's a 'smart' program, meaning it learns with them. Once they master a skill, the assignments become more difficult, building on what the kids have shown they know. It has prevented a lot of Savannah's frustration that the work is just too easy, and alleviated Asher's frustration that it was just that little bit too hard. It is online and follows the federal and state standards for education, so we know they are learning what all other 3rd graders are learning.

The kids have also been participating in classes at the Y-Center this year (so many we are there at least three days a week!).  Below are a few shots from our school day yesterday during our Writing, Social Studies, and Science lesson. We were painting posters about health in Science...


 I love seeing their smiling faces while they are learning! We might not always study their favorite subjects, but we do our best to make each subject fun for everyone!                                            
Rosalynne and Gabrielle typically join a few of our lessons, sitting at the table building with blocks, coloring, or playing with play doh. They like to do 'school' like their big brother and sister. Rosalynne and Gabrielle decided they HAD to paint with us. Thank you Grandma Mary for the toddler/preschooler paint kit! It was a big hit with both of the girls! We had a ton of fun, and it even came with a smock to cover Gabrielle! I may have to get a couple more for our messy activities.

 
Gabrielle and Rosalynne dove into the fingerpaints with gusto. Neither of them wanted to stop, though I only gave them a little paint. I will try to post more of their antics in the other blog, but for now, here are a few of those two cuties as well.

Asher and Savannah were not horribly impressed that I had them finger-paint their posters, they like paint brushes, especially for writing in paint. 

Classroom Changes...Some Pictures, Finally!

Math Time!

We were using our place value boards during Math...reviewing the value of numbers.

I think most everyone knows that we decided to take the plunge and move our classroom.  It was in the dining room last year, which worked fairly well, but drove this Momma to distraction because it seemed like an eternal mess.  Posters are fantastic in a classroom, but are very distracting in a dining room.  While having a dual-purpose classroom worked perfectly well for school, and the kids certainly enjoyed seeing their work displayed on all the walls of the dining room, it was a little less aesthetically pleasing for me.

Now the classroom is officially moved into the attic!  We are loving all the storage and whiteboard space. 

I finally managed to get some pictures. I have a couple bulletin boards to hang, and I still need to paint the "play" area of our classroom and a few spots I missed before construction of my whiteboard/storage carts began, but it is completely functional!

I'm sure I will eventually be replacing desks for the girls' high chairs, but we have a while yet. :)

We really enjoy having such a large space to work, study, and even play during our school day.

The kids have a hidden tunnel behind my cabinet
Rosalynne and Gabrielle love playing back here.

My little tour guide - Rosalynne loves having
a bed in the attic.

The kids helped pick neutral colors for our classroom - they actually aren't quite as bright as they appear in the photos. The toy area will be painted yellow, but with all the cold/rainy weather we've had, there just hasn't been time to get it painted.

School schmule

Last week was our first official week back in the classroom, and the kids did fantastic! We reviewed number patterns, skip counting, introduced a new book and talked about root words, examined the cursive alphabet, reviewed short vowels, talked about national, state, local, and familial holidays, and introduced our study topic in science for the coming weeks: ecology, environment, and organisms.

Whew! That was a busy week!

As we begin our second week, we are doing a slightly more focused science biome project.  The kids are making books about their biomes today. Asher picked the Rain Forest and Savannah picked the Coral Reef.

This year we will be adding three new topics in our curriculum beyond our core subjects from last year, but we are still waiting for the materials to arrive. What are we adding? Well, one of our subjects will be religion, which we covered last year a couple times a week, and has always been incorporated into our daily life, but we didn't have a specific faith-based curriculum to follow.  With the kids enjoying VBS and Totus Tuus so much this summer, they asked if we could add a more religious based subject of study. We considered entirely changing curriculum to one of the wonderful faith-based options by Seton, Our Lady of Mary or one of the many others, but thought that might be a bit too much of a change in one year. Instead, we chose two new topics of study from the Seton Curriculum to work with: Religion, and a History through Religion, which teaches history while examining changes and events in our faith. We are extremely excited to add these subjects to our daily lessons, though it will probably take a few weeks before I am able to fully integrate them into our lesson plans.

We are also incorporating Handwriting Without Tears into our curriculum.  Before we start really writing our pen pals again this year, we are going to take a while to review handwriting fundamentals (which seem to have lapsed a bit over the summer), and to begin working on the cursive alphabet as well.

Though we are starting school a bit earlier than normal, our plan is to take a short break at the end of August or beginning of September to give the kids one last hurrah before we really buckle down for the year, and also to give me a little more time to finish prepping the curriculum and adding our new topics. I am really excited that the kids are so enthusiastic about our faith and including it more thoroughly into our daily studies.

Keep checking back for more entries and updates about our school year. With starting school again myself, I can't guarantee that I will write quite as many entries, but I will do my best to keep everyone updated frequently. Also, feel free to message me or comment to remind me to post!