We went to the archery range yesterday, so Sofie wore her Boudica costume (it's pretty far off, of course, but we call it a "Renaissance interpretation").
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Second Grade Math Restructuring and Map
We only used one curriculum for math for kindergarten and first grade (RightStart Math A and B), but while planning our second grade line-up for Ozzy I read many accounts from parents who found that RS, while top-notch for K and first, lost a bit of its luster in second grade and had more serious issues later on. I decided to continue with RS, but to supplement with Singapore Math (we use the Standards edition), which, like RS, uses Asian-style math pedagogy, but otherwise seemed to be the inverse of RS: its K and first grades, while good, were not necessarily among the most highly regarded programs for those levels, but beginning with second grade it reached the front of the pack, and it uses a mastery approach instead of RS's spiral approach. I expected to use RS most heavily for second grade, supplementing with SM, and then reverse those positions in third. So I ordered both, and when they arrived I compared the two.
Upon a cursory inspection, I found that RS C and SM 2A/2B (both programs' second grade curricula) covered the same scope (though RS covered more geometry), just in a different sequence. I considered feeling as though I'd wasted my money, but decided that having SM's workbooks would give me the option to let Richard or Brandon facilitate a math lesson on occasion, and extra flexibility is always a good thing. That did work out nicely, and as we progressed through RS C I was very happy with our setup.
When we began RS C, we did the first three weeks' worth of lessons in three days, which I was relieved by because ordering curricula through our charter school had taken much longer than I'd anticipated and we were getting a late start. We then slowed down to two lessons at a time, and I expected to stop doing double lessons quite quickly. This week, however, I realized we were fully a third of the way through and hadn't slowed down any further, nor (after looking through the rest of the book) did I continue to expect to. Out of curiosity, I checked out the next few chapters of SM and found that while my initial assessment that RS and SM covered the same topics with similar methods was correct, SM was now assigning much more challenging problems and more review than RS. I briefly considered putting RS aside entirely, but when I compared the methods used to introduce topics, I found I still preferred RS.
Since we're moving at a doubled pace through RS, we have time to fully utilize SM as well. I ordered SM Challenging Word Problems some time ago but have yet to receive it; we'll use those probably once or twice a week, depending on time. We're also skipping RS's review lessons because we'll do SM's instead. Because RS and SM use different sequences and I've decided I prefer SM's, I've mapped out the rest of second grade according SM's scope, but using the RS lessons to introduce each topic. We're also using a computer game called Timez Attack, which uses quite respectable graphics and a very clever and engaging premise to teach and drill multiplication. I prefer it enormously over our previous game (Math Rider), though at the moment the game is only available for multiplication and division, with addition and subtraction allegedly becoming available this week (Oscar doesn't need those, but Sofie does). Oscar's already used it and made excellent progress, but since we're now following SM's scope we're spending some more time on subtraction before coming back to master multiplication.
The rest of our second grade math map now looks like this:
1) Subtraction: RS lessons 48-57, 86-94, 100, 110, and 113. SM 2A chapter 2.
2) Multiplication: For two weeks, all of math time will be devoted to Timez Attack, which will then drop to 10 ten minutes daily until mastery is achieved. After those two weeks, we'll do RS lessons 101, 103, 109, 119, 120, 122, 124, 131, and 142. SM combines multiplication and division, so we'll wait to cover those chapters until we've introduced division in RS.
3) Division: RS lesson 132, followed by SM 2A chapters 5, 6, and 2B chapter 8. We'll also begin the division part of the Timez Attack game.
4) Mental Math Strategies: SM 2B chapter 7.
5) Money: RS lessons 44 and 45, followed by SM 2B chapter 9.
6) Fractions: RS lessons 133, 135-139, 141, and 143. SM 2B chapter 10.
7) Time: We've already covered all of the RS lessons on time, so we'll breeze through SM SB chapter 11.
8) Capacity: This is the sole area not addressed by RS, so we'll just be doing SM 2B chapter 12.
9) Tables and Graphs: We covered these concepts at the end of RS B (first grade), so we'll have a quick review in SM 2B chapter 13.
10) Measurement: RS lessons 96, 126, and 127. SM 2A chapters 3 and 4.
11) Geometry: RS C covers much more geometry than does SM 2A/2B. We'll do the SM 2B chapter 14 first this time, followed by RS lessons 60-81, 97, 114-118, 121, and 129-130.
Finally, we'll cover a few bits and bobs RS throws in in lessons 84-85, and 144-150. We'll be covering all lessons in RS except the review ones, and all chapters of SM. I also plan to complete SM's Challenging Word Problems, but until it arrives I won't know for certain what our pace will be like.
Upon a cursory inspection, I found that RS C and SM 2A/2B (both programs' second grade curricula) covered the same scope (though RS covered more geometry), just in a different sequence. I considered feeling as though I'd wasted my money, but decided that having SM's workbooks would give me the option to let Richard or Brandon facilitate a math lesson on occasion, and extra flexibility is always a good thing. That did work out nicely, and as we progressed through RS C I was very happy with our setup.
When we began RS C, we did the first three weeks' worth of lessons in three days, which I was relieved by because ordering curricula through our charter school had taken much longer than I'd anticipated and we were getting a late start. We then slowed down to two lessons at a time, and I expected to stop doing double lessons quite quickly. This week, however, I realized we were fully a third of the way through and hadn't slowed down any further, nor (after looking through the rest of the book) did I continue to expect to. Out of curiosity, I checked out the next few chapters of SM and found that while my initial assessment that RS and SM covered the same topics with similar methods was correct, SM was now assigning much more challenging problems and more review than RS. I briefly considered putting RS aside entirely, but when I compared the methods used to introduce topics, I found I still preferred RS.
Since we're moving at a doubled pace through RS, we have time to fully utilize SM as well. I ordered SM Challenging Word Problems some time ago but have yet to receive it; we'll use those probably once or twice a week, depending on time. We're also skipping RS's review lessons because we'll do SM's instead. Because RS and SM use different sequences and I've decided I prefer SM's, I've mapped out the rest of second grade according SM's scope, but using the RS lessons to introduce each topic. We're also using a computer game called Timez Attack, which uses quite respectable graphics and a very clever and engaging premise to teach and drill multiplication. I prefer it enormously over our previous game (Math Rider), though at the moment the game is only available for multiplication and division, with addition and subtraction allegedly becoming available this week (Oscar doesn't need those, but Sofie does). Oscar's already used it and made excellent progress, but since we're now following SM's scope we're spending some more time on subtraction before coming back to master multiplication.
The rest of our second grade math map now looks like this:
1) Subtraction: RS lessons 48-57, 86-94, 100, 110, and 113. SM 2A chapter 2.
2) Multiplication: For two weeks, all of math time will be devoted to Timez Attack, which will then drop to 10 ten minutes daily until mastery is achieved. After those two weeks, we'll do RS lessons 101, 103, 109, 119, 120, 122, 124, 131, and 142. SM combines multiplication and division, so we'll wait to cover those chapters until we've introduced division in RS.
3) Division: RS lesson 132, followed by SM 2A chapters 5, 6, and 2B chapter 8. We'll also begin the division part of the Timez Attack game.
4) Mental Math Strategies: SM 2B chapter 7.
5) Money: RS lessons 44 and 45, followed by SM 2B chapter 9.
6) Fractions: RS lessons 133, 135-139, 141, and 143. SM 2B chapter 10.
7) Time: We've already covered all of the RS lessons on time, so we'll breeze through SM SB chapter 11.
8) Capacity: This is the sole area not addressed by RS, so we'll just be doing SM 2B chapter 12.
9) Tables and Graphs: We covered these concepts at the end of RS B (first grade), so we'll have a quick review in SM 2B chapter 13.
10) Measurement: RS lessons 96, 126, and 127. SM 2A chapters 3 and 4.
11) Geometry: RS C covers much more geometry than does SM 2A/2B. We'll do the SM 2B chapter 14 first this time, followed by RS lessons 60-81, 97, 114-118, 121, and 129-130.
Finally, we'll cover a few bits and bobs RS throws in in lessons 84-85, and 144-150. We'll be covering all lessons in RS except the review ones, and all chapters of SM. I also plan to complete SM's Challenging Word Problems, but until it arrives I won't know for certain what our pace will be like.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Week in Review--December 16, 2011
Being productive was a little difficult this week, at least at the beginning, due to Sofie's performances in The Nutcracker. She was a mouse, and was in three shows last weekend and two on Tuesday. Oscar's decided that he doesn't want to miss being in the show next year; he was the first of the two to be interested in ballet, actually, until shyness overcame him when he was four. He's over that now, largely in thanks to jujitsu and his wonderful sensei. I'm very glad he realized now that he wants to get back to it, while he still has time to make good headway before reaching the ages of the parts he hopes to play, instead of going back in a few years and being too inexperienced to play the more interesting roles.
In the end, though, we did still manage to do school each day. We won't begin using the winter quarter schedule that I posted this week until the quarter starts in January, so for now we've been taking advantage of my extra time and doing a slightly heavier load, which we also do during the summer break. Instead of doing three long math lessons and two short drilling sessions, we're doing math lessons each day and dropping the drill until I go back to school. We're also doing writing four times a week instead of three.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Wordless Wednesday--December 14, 2011
We covered the Viking invasions of the British Isles this morning, so naturally, we then did Oscar's first *ahem* "poetry analysis".
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Weekly Lesson Schedule--Winter Quarter 2012
Note: We homeschool year-round and don't use a quarter or semester system for our homeschooling, but Brandon and I are both undergraduates (for physics and math, respectively), so our own schedules change with each quarter and the homeschooling schedule is adjusted accordingly.
Our winter quarter schedule is actually very similar to the one we had this fall, so we don't have to make many changes. The only significant change is that instead of leaving at 10:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays, Brandon and I will now need to leave by 7:45. The goblins will spend Sunday nights through Monday afternoons with their grandparents, and Richard (their dad) will stay over at our place on Tuesday nights. I'm the primary homeschooling parent, but now that I'm at university full-time Richard's taken on some of the more open-and-go curricula on the days I'm unavailable, so I've structured our homeschooling schedule with that in mind.
Our winter quarter schedule is actually very similar to the one we had this fall, so we don't have to make many changes. The only significant change is that instead of leaving at 10:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays, Brandon and I will now need to leave by 7:45. The goblins will spend Sunday nights through Monday afternoons with their grandparents, and Richard (their dad) will stay over at our place on Tuesday nights. I'm the primary homeschooling parent, but now that I'm at university full-time Richard's taken on some of the more open-and-go curricula on the days I'm unavailable, so I've structured our homeschooling schedule with that in mind.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
It's days like this one...
All day Monday through Tuesday morning was mostly un-fun on the homeschooling front. Tonight, Sofie begged to do a second spelling lesson and Oscar actually ran over when I said it was time for writing. Both kids shouted with joy I agreed to do a history lesson, even though we'd finished history for the week. It's days like this one that remind me how worthwhile this is.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Wordless Wednesday--November 9, 2011
Ozzy's choice for breakfast reading: the American Physical Society Newsletter
Standards and Grade Levels
Kindergarten isn't mandatory in California, so last year, which would have been Ozzy's kindergarten year, we didn't file an affidavit with the state or register with a charter school. I researched curricula and settled on a plan, then we implemented it. I didn't worry much about how he compared to public school kids, though I did try to pay extra attention whenever friends with kids in school mentioned what their kids were required to do, in an effort to make sure we didn't miss anything important. This year, having registered both goblins--Ozzy for first, Sofie for kindergarten*--with a charter school just to take advantage of the funds available for curricula and activities, I'm required to fill out a form throughout the year, indicating when they reach certain milestones in various subjects. I sat down with it at the beginning of the school year in August, and checked every.single.box. Everything Ozzy was supposed to be able to do by the end of first grade, he'd been doing for months. In fact, Sofie, at 4.5, was halfway through the list herself, and every box on her kindergarten form was checked.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Keeping up
Another question we're frequently asked about homeschooling is whether we plan to keep ahead or even just keep up with the goblins in each subject we cover--i.e. do we plan to keep our knowledge of each subject ahead of or at least equal to the goblins' progress? This question comes up frequently in homeschooling groups or forums as well, and I'm continually surprised by how many respond that they don't feel any need to stay ahead or keep up after a certain point, often the beginning of the high school years. This seems to come up most often in regard to math, and many parents (but not most) freely admit that their children have surpassed them so they just buy the textbooks and leave the kids to it.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Kindergarten Curriculum
With Sofie having a just a few weeks left of kindergarten penmanship and having started first grade in all other subjects, this seems like a good time to write about what worked and didn't work for us for kindergarten. Our main foci in kindergarten are reading, penmanship and early math, balanced by a picture book tour of ancient history, lots of projects, and playtime. The goblins took very different amounts of time to do kindergarten due to starting at different ages, which I'll discuss in another post. I'll do a set of curriculum review posts soon, as well, with more details and descriptions of how we used the materials, if our methods differed from the recommended ones.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Weekly Lesson Schedule--Fall Quarter 2011
Note: We homeschool year-round and don't use a quarter or semester system for our homeschooling, but Brandon and I are both undergraduates (for physics and math, respectively), so our own schedules change with each quarter and the homeschooling schedule is adjusted accordingly.
I think I've finished revising our weekly lesson schedules, at least for a little while. B and I start back to school ourselves on the 21st, so things could be in flux for a bit as we adjust. I've scheduled the goblins' lessons around my class times, but if there ends up being some reason that the homework schedule I anticipate for myself will need to be changed, I can shift theirs around as well.
I think I've finished revising our weekly lesson schedules, at least for a little while. B and I start back to school ourselves on the 21st, so things could be in flux for a bit as we adjust. I've scheduled the goblins' lessons around my class times, but if there ends up being some reason that the homework schedule I anticipate for myself will need to be changed, I can shift theirs around as well.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Long-Term Plans
One of the first questions people ask when we say we're homeschooling is "How long are you planning to do that?" We've always planned to homeschool through at least middle school, but we weren't sure how we would proceed after that. Many homeschoolers that continue through high school enroll their kids in classes at community colleges, which I myself did when I was in high school. Having gone that route myself, however, I'm unconvinced that it's the best option for my own children.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Fall '11/Spring '12 Curricula
I've been meaning to make a list of what we're using this year, and I've had questions asked on occasion so posting seems the most efficient option. As it stands now, Oscar (6) is finishing up first grade in a few subjects and working on second in others. He's using:
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