And I've found some cool new resources for learning. The bane of any parent, especially a homeschooling parent...finding cool new resources and, ahem, buying them if you are impulsive like me. I didn't buy EVERYTHING I've found lately. That's what Pinterest is for: reminding me of the things I didn't do or didn't acquire that I might want to do or acquire later.
Math, and Some Spelling
First off, Xander is playing a free trial of Dreambox. This is an online math program full of games that look like they came straight from the RightStart Math curriculum. (RightStart is the curriculum I bought for this year. It uses a lot of hands-on learning tools and emphasizes problem-solving and understanding.) Xander is not super excited about textbooks or workbooks, so I try to get the information out there in many other ways. There are lots of games and manipulatives in RightStart. We are reading living math books that supplement the material. I found some great songs for memorizing skip counting and addition and subtraction facts, but I'll talk about those later. Back to Dreambox: He loves it. It is challenging math that approaches the subject from a RightStart perspective, especially the way it helps children to think about and visualize numbers in sets (say, of five or ten plus or minus whatever number is left over). I love RightStart. Xander drags his feet a little - or a lot - when he sees textbooks coming out. One solution right now is playing Dreambox. It is just a beautiful program. Their parent notifications and parent dashboard are wonderful: detailed, clear, positive. You can take a look at it here.
 |
| one of our recent activities |
Life of Fred. The Life of Fred series is comprised of math books that tell you a story. The story is about Fred, a five-year-old college professor who draws terribly, who is always silly, who has a doll that draws wonderfully, and who comes across situations in real life that require him to use math. Readers learn about math from reading his adventures and looking at the illustrations. All kinds of math and other topics are sprinkled in everywhere - as in life. They are endearing, and silly, and marvelous. Each book costs about $16 (free shipping if you buy from the company directly) and you would do about two or three books a year to be "on grade level." At the upper levels, Life of Fred includes all math topics, like calculus, geometry, linear algebra, trigonometry, statistics... Our son was not thrilled initially, maybe because I was so excited myself. Now he smiles, laughs, enjoys, and asks for more when we finish a (very brief) chapter.
 |
| oh, you know, just another dragon |
Addition and subtraction facts songs: I also found what sounds like a great album of songs of addition and subtraction facts up to 18. It is Sing a Sum...Or a Remainder by Alan Stern. I like his music, too, what I can hear of it, but I haven't ordered the album. Yet. Take a preview listen. There are linked titles that you can preview in the title list.
THUP Games has some nice-looking educational games apps and I bought two of them yesterday for the kids. Monkey Mathschool Sunshine is a math app that is maybe slightly over Nick's head but he can still play and learn. It is too easy for Xander, but he likes it. It cost $1.99. Monkey Wordschool Adventure is more on Xander's level and it has him begging to do spelling work. Not too shabby. However, he gets overly excited/enraged with timed on-screen games, and I don't think I like the attitude he has sometimes when the app freezes or whatnot. So I don't wholeheartedly recommend it.
I also found an interesting, free Montessori-type app that has a moveable alphabet and a limited number of words for kids to make by dragging letters up to the right spot. Ah, here it is. Montessori Words & Phonics for Kids Lite. I was intrigued because of its relation to Montessori materials. I like it for itself, but don't want either of our kids having too much screen time.
I do think Nick has learned a few things after one full day of having these apps. He's played maybe 15 minutes total. I'm not sure that Xander has learned anything new from them, though they are great fun in his opinion.
History
We finished Benjamin Franklin by the D'Aulaires. I've known for a year or so that we love the D'Aulaires' books. Benjamin Franklin was just fantastic.
I picked up a copy of How Ancient Americans Lived and Xander and I discovered they give instructions for all kinds of different handicraft projects within. He can learn to make a teepee, a headdress, and a soap carving, among other things. We are gathering together the materials to make a headdress currently.
 |
| oh, just another army |
We are reading aloud Understood Betsy. I just finished it and thought it was the most fabulous parenting advice book ever. That's a joke, because it's a juvenile fiction book. Yet it's not a joke, because it has a few powerful ideas in it that I am trying to apply to my parenting. I decided to start reading it to Xander and he likes it a lot. He even read several pages of it to himself one night when I said I was just too tired to continue.
Oh, and we are reading aloud The Wind in the Willows. Our library had a beautiful edition of it, 8 x 10 with full-color pictures by Michael Hague. There are SO MANY editions of it with so many different types of interesting illustrations. I can't find the edition we've borrowed on Amazon at the moment.
One thing we have done a lot lately that is not new is telling stories. Our children love to make up stories and tell them aloud. This is not something I ever really prompted, although who knows... I did start by telling them a story about their pet one day that they liked. It's just that I've tried harder to introduce other things, if you know what I mean, things that did not necessarily start a fire in their little hearts or brains.
Life Skills
Oh, and something I really felt guilty about buying: Children's Miracle Music to help them get their morning tasks and evening tasks done. I felt bad because these are simple things, we just have to do them. And the program, which includes two CDs of music and positive instruction, a nice laminated chart, a wet-erase marker, a "manual" of sorts on the back side of the chart, and a sheet of star stickers, cost $30. But the kids really do love it. They have done almost 100% of their morning and evening tasks willingly and cheerfully in the last five days because of this program. And what is more, I have done almost 100% of those kinds of tasks myself, because I am also participating.
They are doing more things on their own and gaining confidence in their skills. I am being reminded to set up structures and systems in which they can do for themselves, rather than doing things for them. As part of this process, I bought two five-drawer plastic storage systems from Walmart and put them in the kids' closet. Most of their clothes came down from hangers where only I could easily reach them. They are now in clearly labeled drawers where even Nick can do all the clothing-getting and clothing-putting-away himself. This helps me with laundry, too. :)
Look at this nice picture of made beds after the morning CD finished playing:
One more pro of the program is that I love the music selections. They are high-energy or soothing songs, depending on what we are trying to do at the moment, whether it is waking up gradually or finishing eating breakfast or doing an act of kindness. Some songs are classical, some have a cajun feel, a couple have a Scottish feel, and one is a song from an opera.
As for the stuff I'm learning and trying to accomplish, well, that is part of the racings going on in my head. Lots of cooking, baking, and menu planning, some volunteer service, studies of Thomas Jefferson Education books, our fledgling business... Whew! Also watching Foyle's War on Netflix and knitting lots and lots.
To end on a funny note, Nick just put his paper crown on me, saying I was the prince. Then he stepped back, looked at me, and said, "Now you look like a girly-girl." I said, "I look like a girly-girl?" He said, "Yes. Because of your girly-girl hands."
No comments:
Post a Comment