Wow- i'm behind as usual.....

The trip to/from CA & ID really took it out of me. We got a late start to school this year, but I'm really not that concerned about it since we are homeschooling and can work at our own pace. We've been going strong for the last two weeks.

We've been concentrating on the basics for the most part. We are using Pathway Readers for reading allowed, including the comprehension workbook that goes with each of the readers. I'm big on reading aloud, and since it's only DBall and I we just take turns reading the little stories. Then D does the workbook pages- which I usually stretch out over two days or more.

We're still using Singapore math, and the workbook that goes with it. Come to find out he really enjoys going over the pictures in his text book, so we're careful to look at each one now. It helps him see it in [his] head" he tells me.

I do have some spelling words I got from another program Celeste is using, and it's been going really well. We've recently come upon a few words he's having quite a bit of trouble with (neighbor, though, eight??) but Celeste is going to let me use her Spelling to Read & Write phonics things which might make spelling even easier for him (I hope).

D reads silently at least 50 pages a day, unless I have him read more. We're also working on cursive, though he doesn't seem all that interested in it for some reason. I am definitely interested in it though- so he's going to do it.

I've been having him practice soccer dribbling, drop kicks and goal kicks. Also we started out walks again this morning- we were gone a little over 30 mins and he rode his scooter the whole time. We have Science Club (that Celeste and I teach) every other Friday, and Art Class on the opposite Fridays. We also have Science at Celeste's house on Mondays occasionally- which D really enjoys.

The goal is for him to go to bed by 8:30 on nights when he doesn't have soccer practice, chess club or Cub Scouts.... so he can get up at 6:30 for Family Prayer before B leaves for work. The other nights he will just go ASAP, because he's still getting up at 6:30 and refuses to nap.

Whew- I think that's all for now. Off to shower- and I need to start the crockpot quesadillas!

Books I've requested for DBall from the local library....

DBall really like cartoons/comics. He was for several weeks "reading" huge volumes of old Peanuts comics. Then he found Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Unfortunately there's only 4 books in the entire Wimpy Kid series.... so now he's back to moaning and complaining about how he hates to read. (clearly the boy gets this from his father- I'd rather read than eat half the time). Today I was searching online for books that might peak his interest, and I ran across a few on Amazon that looked at least somewhat promising. I was able to locate them in our local library system soI "requested" them there, and hopefully in the next few days they will have them ready for me to pick up. Tomorrow would be ideal since it's "library day"- but I'm not overly optimistic they'll all be available by then. Certainly the ones in the actual Springdale library should be able to be gathered off the shelves by then, so he should have SOMETHING to read for the next few days anyway. Here's a brief list of some of the books we're hoping will be worth reading, to an almost 8 y/o who insists he "hates to read":

Andrew Lost On the Dog
Nate the Great
Gecko and Sticky
Lawn Boy
39 Clues Maze of Bones
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Animal Rescue Club
Detective Camp

Well that's a few of them anyway.I hope he likes them. He's going to read them either way, but it would really be more peaceful of me if he didn't feel compelled to complain about it the whole entire time.

A little update......

Singapore math is going well so far. The workbooks are really handy, and it's been review for the most part. I should know more when I actually have to teach him something I suppose. When he does do math, he generally does 2 exercises each day.

I'm using the spelling program Celeste shared with me. It was a lot of redundancy on the child's part though, and the 'tests' were cold tests, as the child had never seen the word ahead of time. This was extremely frustrating for DBall, so I've kept the actual words but devised a new program for using them. It's nothing fancy or ingenious, I just typed the words out with a long line next to them for him to write a sentence with each word. Then he will test over those words tomorrow. Since we're basically only doing 4 days/week of school, he will have two spelling tests per week.

I have found most of the Pathway Readers, with their Teacher's editions and children's workbooks. Unfortunately the issues for his grade/reading level are missing the actual readers.... so I need to write the Amish to secure them, or look for them on ebay prehaps. Fortunately there is a reading program at the library again this Summer, and they would like them to read 3 books per week. At least he won't forget how to read altogether!

He does also spend a lot of time playing with legos, which I figure couldn't hurt him much. He builds all kinds of things, including what the set was meant to build plus whatever else he thinks of. In the last few weeks he's become increasingly more cheerful, and less morose. I don't know if he was depressed or what, but he liked literally nothing, never laughed anymore, said everything was "boring", and moped around every day. I HATED it. I am SO RELIEVED he's reverting back to his original happy personality.

Okay I think that's all for the moment.

Have officially started Singapore math

and so far, so good. It seems so simple, and non-repetitive that I think we will both be able to deal with it well. Of course today's worksheets were completely review for him, but I hope he will continue to enjoy it when he's actually learning new things as well.

DBall informed me today that he does not like Time4 Learning and doing school work on the computer. He requested that I find a Language Arts curriculum that includes a book and worksheets for him to do. PLEASE HELP if you know of anything that sounds remotely like this please!!!

We're occasionally doing spelling, but he isn't enjoying cold spelling words at all. So I've decided to - when I get around to it- print off the words for him and give him a couple days to become familiar with them, then test once or twice a week.

Okay that's all for the moment, but please feel free to suggest away for language arts curriculum!!

Not keeping up so well.....

We manage to keep fairly BUSY all the time with homeschooling. I sometimes manage to update my regular (Coleman Chaosity) blog, but clearly am falling behind on this one.

We've been on several field trips and tomorrow is the last day of Treehouse. There's also a big meeting there to set up officers and such, and decide classes and organization as one of the founders is moving away, and the other two (founders? I guess?) don't want to assume the presidency or vice presidency of the organization. I did not volunteer for Pres. or VP exactly, but did say that I would be willing to fill one of several other positions. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.

Wednesday we have a fieldtrip to the Stanley's tire bale home in Rogers. It sounds- well, tedious at best to me (from their perspective, I mean if *I* were building a tire bale home) but ought to be an interesting fieldtrip. Here are some links about it: FreShare article and Zimbio article. I recently heard something about filling plastic 2-liter bottles with concrete for insulation? I'll try to remember to take my camera.

Never having found the Saxon math items I was purported to have, I've decided to try Sinapore math for real now. My understanding is that is isn't repetitive, and once you 'get' it you can move on. DBall doesn't love rehashing the same thing over and over.... it kind of traumatizes him. I'm optimistic this math will 'work' for him.

I've yet to find anything other than what I call "comic books" (graphic novels, Peanuts books, Marvel comics all bound together, etc.) that DBall will read without complaining. He does enjoy the Black Lagoon series, but they're really short and he's read all that we can find here. I love to read, and I just can't understand why he doesn't love it?! Well, obviously I know his father hates to read so clearly he gets it from his father. What I guess I don't understand is why he got the OCD and perfectionism from me, and couldn't at least have gotten my love for reading as well.

Alright my head is pounding. I think I've found a Dr. who in theory accepts my medical insurance and also prescribes Armour Thyroid. I need to make an appointment with him for myself this week. Also need to make dental appointments for DBall and I at a new dental practice nearby. Aball has made himself an appointment with a LASIK surgeon to have his surgery the last week of May.

So I never found the Saxon math.....

and I'm looking into Singapore math for the time being. I'm fairly satisfied that D-Ball's on target for his grade level (maybe a little above) and AceBall is fairly proficient at math and encourages him to do more. There are many positive reviews online; I've yet to find a negative one. I'm not sure if this is because they're all advertising for Singapore math, or because no one has any qualms with it? It doesn't seem to go over and over and over stuff ad nauseum- which is positive because neither I nor DBall can deal with that.

Alright I have to go now. :) I'm excited that we're moving out of this house, and remain concerned that I'm not concerned whetehr or not I can properly educate my child.

From main blog (Coleman Chaosity) 1st April 2009

We did finally start Time 4 Learning. DBall did a lot of math yesterday, and some language arts + Science today. He really likes the Science best, but they have very few of them on that site/program. Going to have to send him to Celeste's for Science enrichment activities every week.

In regards to homeschooling, I kind of wonder why I'm not worried. I mean, I can't actually figure out what my mindset on the topic is. I thought I would be concerned that I couldn't do it, or that he would be "behind" (behind what exactly, I don't know). I haven't ruled out putting him back in public school if we decide that's what he needs, but for the moment I don't think that's what he needs. He was a pretty good bit ahead anyway, but I hope I'm not subconsciously slacking because I figure "he's ahead of the game anyway....."? I'll have to ponder it some more. I've prayed about it, and I still feel like this is the right thing to do. I'm still surprised that I'm not more worried for some reason.

Today we had TreeHouse and that went pretty well. I asked him if he liked all 3 of the classes he's taking there (I have to pay for them, after all) and he indicated that the first one wasn't "all that". I asked if he'd like to drop it, and he said,"No, I don't hate it... and I do have friends in that class!"LOL. There's only 3 people total in the class.

Tomorrow is library, plus T4L and typing in the afternoon I'm thinking. I totally forgot about typing today- I should write that down. I didn't get my daily chore done today, but tomorrow is open so I can work it in there. Presently I don't even recall what it is. I really love the vacuuming days since we got Paco (the roomba).

Tentative schedules

Just so I can see it in black and white and work on it some.

Wake up
Eat Breakfast
Scriptures
Family Prayer
Get Dressed
Walk to Park
Time 4 Learning
typing

after lunch reading aloud and nappies :)

A little more official

Yesterday I told DBall's 2nd grade teacher that I would be pulling him out at 9 weeks and homeschooling him. She was not impressed, to say the least. I actually was surprised by her reaction. She informed me that she wasn't a fan, and she was extremely concerned about socialization with other children and adults. I personally don't think this could possibly be a problem, but I've noted her concerns. They also don't love that he's one of their best students, and with all the illegal aliens their standardized test scores may not be quite as high without him.

I also filled out the intent to homeschool and Ace & I turned it in at the Springdale Administration offices this morning. I'm excited! I'm in the process of signing him up for three afternoon classes at the Treehouse. He will only have 4 more times to go really before the end of the semester, but it'll give him an opportunity to try it out before going for one full day a week starting in the Fall.

Alright I've got to check the night's lineup, and see about the weather (it's thundering, lightening and raining- Oh My!)

Homeschooling Curricula on hand

So far I've found the McGuffey's Readers, some unit studies on Egypt, George Washington, General U.S. Grant.... and Mom says I have Saxon math somewhere around here. Still looking...

I've found a series of books in 'The Core Knowledge Series" titled "What Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know" Fundamentals of a Good Third Grade Education (for grades1-6).

Many A Beka Books and Teacher's Keys for Science, Geography, History, Vocabulary & Spelling, Government & Economics....

"I Love America" by Julianne S. Kimber (stories, songs, poems, projects, games & resource material).

"A Children's Companion Guide to America's History" by Catherine Millard. (I really like this one from what I can tell).

"Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills" only grades 2 and 4 so far.

Several "Learning Language Arts through Literature" (Debbie Strayer and Susan Simpson)

Some "Health for the Glory of God" booklets (Rod and Staff Publishers).

Now my head hurts, and I've got to rest. It actually hurt all along (I woke up with a migraine) but it's nearly intolerable now.