We are starting up school again this month, then August off, then 2nd grade beginning September. The goal for this month is to finish up all the 1st grade work I wanted to do. We will have 4th of July off and a couple of weeks for cousins to come visit and for us to go to Florida with them to stay with Grandma.
I have a few other goals this month. I am introducing more formal spelling and grammar, the same format we will use for 2nd grade. I am also starting Right Start Math with Xander. It has lots of manipulatives and few worksheets. My Singapore Math book and workbook seemed great, but Xander did not enjoy them. He has a mind for grasping math quickly, and I thought if he is dreading math, then let's try a different approach. Right Start uses the same approach as Singapore but with more manipulatives and games, less workbook work, and a special abacus to help group numbers rather than relying on counting.
We started Spelling Workout Level B today. I set a timer for 15 minutes. Xander was resistant at first, but was soon laughing as we went through the different activities. He was doing his first crossword puzzle ever, with the word list for this lesson, when the timer went off. That was not good news to him. He wanted to finish the puzzle before stopping. !!!!!!! This is my son who supposedly doesn't like to write and doesn't like formal instruction such as what one might use for spelling.
We also did a few lessons in First Language Lessons and that went well, too. I had tried this book with him a couple years ago and it was a flop. He seems more mature or simply more able to handle it this year. The lessons are going to be easy for him, but they add a few more useful bits of knowledge to what he already knows, providing a better base of knowledge for his future education.
I had Nick sit down with me to do a lesson in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. I had used quite a bit of this (long) book with Xander when he was about four years old. He did not like it. It was hard to get him to sit down long enough to do a lesson. I see that Nick is the same way right now. A good solution would be to wait until he is five, but when I asked him if he wanted to learn to read like Xander, he said yes. In that case, I told him, he had to sit down with me and do the lesson. It was challenging to get him to repeat after me when he needed to do that. He loves to spout off nonsense words instead. I had to make him do it on the threat of taking away Imaginext toys. If he continues to resist a lot this week, I will put away the book for a while. I would rather he do more of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready, which is at his level, than rush the reading if he resists.
So anywho, after I did that review for Time4Learning I was contacted by the company with an offer to get a free premium trial for VocabularySpellingCity.com. In fact, after I post an honest review, I can get the free trial for a full year! I described above what we are doing for spelling, but here's where VocabularySpellingCity.com can fit in: You can make your own word lists, so I could put in the word lists from Spelling Workout Level B. Then you can have your child play games on the site using those word lists. If Xander ever gets resistant to the Spelling Workout activities, we can take a break by playing computer games with the same word lists.
Following is the disclosure from VocabularySpellingCity.com:
"Disclosure:
I've been given a Premium Membership to VocabularySpellingCity.com for a candid, personal, online review.
VocabularySpellingCity helps students study word lists using 25 different learning activities such as Unscramble, Hangman, WordFind, andCrossword Puzzle. Parents can create their own spelling lists, find published lists already available on the site, or use any of dozens of free teaching resources on topics such as Multiple Meaning Words and Possessive Nouns . Be sure to come back in three weeks to read about my experience.
There might be more free memberships available for bloggers. If you're interested, find out how you can review VocabularySpellingCity.com."
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