Monthly Archives: August 2011
My Super Readers
KC- TheSuperReader
I have 3 Super Readers. This is KC & KJ when they 1st read a whole book by themselves.
Yep!
I was able to teach all my sons how to read.
KJ- TheSuperReader
2011 Home Education Plan
This is our 2011 Home Education Plan; and I am so very excited to be able to join in on
Heart of the Matter’s “Not Back-to-School” Blog Hop.
Here at MunroePalms Learning Centre, our school year runs from January to December.
So, I’m sharing what we have used since Jan. as well as what we plan to use through the end of Dec.
2011
All Together
BIBLE, HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY & SCIENCE:
~My Father’s World from A-Z
>>We had a great time working through this together.
~Adventures In My Father’s World
>>We’re just beginning to pick this back up again.
READ ALOUD:
~The Chronicles of Narnia
>>This includes the whole book set, the Focus On The Family radio drama series, the movies made by the BBC (I watched them all as a little girl), as well as the new movies by Disney/Walden Media.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
~Rosetta Stone-Spanish
>>This was our major purchase this year & we’re just getting into it. So far, so good.
~Signing Time
>>Not using the DVDs in any particular order, just what we can get from the library.
ART:
~I Can Do All Things
>>We’re going to “try” to do this together.
HEALTH:
~Upward Sports-Soccer
>>All the boys LOVE this & are waiting in eager anticipation for the season to begin. (Not ’til the end of September.)
~Family Sports Day
>>Directed by Mr. C., these are days where the whole family hits the field/park for any sport to learn, play, or practice. This also includes Nature Walks/Rides on the county trail.
~HomeEc
>>One of the boys rotating Jobs is to be “Chef.” The Chef assists in the Kitchen for Lunch & Dinner.(which means none of the other boys are crowding in there when it’s not their turn) I plan to use one those days to show them how to cook a real meal using the Microwave. (Starting with CJ first)
CJ – 3rd grade
MATH:
~Math Mammoth 1A/1B/2A/2B
>>We worked through these so he could use…
~Teaching Textbooks Math 4
>>CJ has been wanting to use this for SO long. Now, that he’s ready, he is doing Very Well. 🙂
ENGLISH:
~Language Lessons for the Very Young 2
>>After he finished this in May we tried Emma Serl’s Primary Language Lessons and Rod & Staff English. But…
~Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 1
>>This is what he prefers so we will continue with the series.
~Spelling Power
>>CJ likes only studying the words he doesn’t know and he loooks forward to discovering the activities he gets to choose from. (I prepare 2 or 3 each week and let him pick one each day.)
~Getty-Dubay Italic D
>>I LOVE the end result and this is helping his writing look neat again. (He did not do well with the program they used at the private school.)
~Writing Strands 2
>>We’ll begin this in Sept./Oct. at a slow pace. Maybe once a week.
~ABEKA Readers
>>I love that I can get some of these at our local used bookstore 🙂
- Ms.Jenni & Mrs.C. (best friends since 6th grade)
MUSIC:
~ Private Guitar Lessons
>>He LOVES this special time each week with Ms. Jenni. ❤
(& I love that it means that as busy as life gets, I get to see my best friend every week.) 😉
KC & KJ – Kindergarten
ENGLISH/PHONICS:
~The Reading Lesson Book
>>They REALLY enjoy doing this together and the CD-Rom for Computer Time.
~My Father’s World 1st
>>We just started this since completing the phonics portion of mfwA-Z. If it’s too much, we’ll just finish The Reading Lesson.
~Getty-Dubay Italic B
>>Going very slowly with them on this. A little at a time.
~ABEKA Readers
>>did I mention about finding these at the local used bookstore? 😉
MATH:
~Smart Alec Math Problem Solving PK
>>I love this series. They’re very inexpensive and I used them with CJ when he was at this stage.
~Smart Alec Math Problem Solving K
>>They’ve actually completed these books already.
~Cuisenaire Rods Math
>>I have a Really Old teachers book we’re doing activities out of for a while. They may move into Math Mammoth 1A.
But, I JUST found Math Lessons for a Living Education and I think this would suit them better. (Plus, it’s based on a story about twins.) 😉
What We’ve Been Doing
….for the past 5 years.
Munroe Palms Learning Centre “officially” began in Jan. 2007.
-Let me elaborate-
2007
CJ (our 1st born son) was attending a Church run PreSchool in the fall of 2006. (I had worked there as a teacher prior to the birth of the twins.) When we moved, the drive back and forth ended up being longer than his time in the half-day program there.
So, after the Christmas break he did @Home PreSchool in Jan. 2007.
2008
We enrolled CJ in the Voluntary PreKindergarten Program “VPK” in the fall of 2007 at a local Church PreSchool. After the first week he was wondering why none of the other children knew how to write their name or even any letters and he wanted to learn how to read.
So, after the Christmas break he stayed at home and we did Kindergarten @home in Jan. 2008.
-are you beginning to see a pattern here?-
2009
There was a local Christian Private School I had checked out. My neighbor’s daughter went there and they would accept him into 1st grade. WooooHooo!
He began attending there in the fall of 2008. While I did PreSchool @ home with the twins + two other little boys.
-guess what?-
We began to realize the school may not have been a good fit for CJ. He was thriving academically & even the boys in the 5th and 6th grade classes were saying “bye” to him when I picked him up.
-Is that what you call a “social butterfly?-
But, by the end of November it was clear, that this school was not the best environment for CJ.
I must confess, this did not sit well with me. I was looking forward to a “quieter” weekday. I thought we should give it another try. You know, at least until the end of December. But…….
-do you know what’s coming?-
We didn’t even make it to the Christmas Holiday. That 1st week in December it was Crystal Clear. The best learning environment at that time for our CJ was back at home.
So, he came home two weeks before Christmas break and after the New Year he did 1st grade @home along with the 4 PreSchoolers in Jan. 2009.
2010
In the fall of 2009, KC & KJ were eligible for the VPK Program. So, they went to a different Church run PreSchool and had a BLAST. It was GREAT for their speech development to spend 2 hours each day communicating with somebody else.
Meanwhile, CJ was doing 2nd grade @home but, I kinda’ became a worksheet drill sargent.
-not my finest hour. I mean, year.-
Anyhow, after the New Year in Jan. 2010 we trudged along through the “school year.” OR should I more accurately say I dragged him.
more 2010
In the fall of 2010 I was revved up and ready to go. Excited & nervous to be “officially” HomeSchooling all my children.
Yeah!
Ooooooooorrrrrrr…… Not so much.
I kind of choked under the pressure. We made progress but, not as much as I would have liked. We had a few too many “jammie days” and lots of enrichment activities.
However, as we reached the end of December we came to the end of some other responsibilities we had and I began to reflect on our HomeSchool journey.
2011
As January began I realized how God had had to “knock some sense” into me. I began to focus more intently on what was most important for our students.
For us All, that meant BIBLE: beginning our school day with Bible Study and Prayer again.
-duh!-
For KC & KJ that meant PHONICS: teaching them to read, because they SO VERY wanted to be able to read a book on their own.
For CJ that meant MATH: finding the way to teach him they way He needed to be taught.
By the end of May it was
MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
•We were able to go to our state’s annual Home School Conference.
•KC & KJ received their very own Bible. (The NIrV Adventurers Bible. The same as CJ. And because this mummy realized it is important for everyone to have the same translation.)
-double duh!-
•& CJ was able to finally begin to use the Teaching Textbooks Math 4 that we had and he had been wanting to use.
We had a relatively lazy summer. Only averaging two/three days of school each week. We are now ready to get back into the swing of things.
MunroePalms Learning Centre 