Story of the World, Story of My Day

Today we finally got into Story of The World. We've been doing it but it wasn't working like I wanted it to, so I tweaked the schedule and made it fit. I first had to decide what students I really wanted to take the course. Students come and go from here all day and there's a different mixture at different times of the day. No matter how I thought about it I just couldn't decide where to really fit it in.

I finally figured out that my problem was that I didn't want any of the kids to miss it! Well, I tucked it into the Tuesday afternoon slot and that will catch 5 of the six kids that come through my door. The other one is only 5 years old and wouldn't be interested anyway.

I love the Cd's. Its so nice to have someone else read the story to the kids besides myself. While the story is being read the kids do the color page. After the story they narrate back to me and orally answer the questions in the book. We do this in a class setting.

Then we do the map work and chart out the different areas. The kids love it. I thought of dividing everything up into tiny segments and cover several days but it just works better for us if we take out a chunk of the afternoon and just do it all then.

Today was a very rough school day. Nobody wanted to listen. Tink was in a sensory frame of mind. Peter fought with the other student his age all the live long day! I thought I was going to lose it with that boy! Peter and Tink just couldn't pull i together today. Tink had to have her 2 cents in on everything and if I turned my back for one minute chaos reigned! I ended the day so exhausted I actually crawled into bed at 6:00pm, turned out the light and slept soundly for an hour.

Its the Small things in Life

You should see the rain! It's coming down like it did in the days of Noah, I declare! My schoolroom is quite cozy on a rainy day. Over the weekend we went to Ikea and my husband bought me a wonderful desk chair; padded, reclining, swivel, handle that raises the seat up and down, big tall back on it - just cant be beat! Now I just have to keep the kids out of it.

Wanting So Much More

I'm so frustrated! I want so much more for the kids on the educational front. I know, I know, my kids do a lot but I want more. I want them to delve into Shakespeare. I want them to study artists. I want them to study and appreciate the different music genres. There is just so much I want to do and there is no time to do it!

I found a wonderful weather game online. Check this out! Its called Treehouse Weather Kids and wow it is an awesome program for teaching kids about clouds, weather, and storms etc. I would love it if Peter had the time in his day to do this. The problem is that I am a firm believer in playtime. I could have Peter doing this sort of thing in the late afternoon after his 3R's are done but I also want him to play. I love looking out the window and seeing him sneaking around behind the trees with his toy guns waiting to ambush the neighbor boy who is also sneaking around the bushes with his own gun.

And oh the joy of hearing his voice in the wind as he talks to his friend while biking down the street as fast as they can go. Something has to be said for the carefree days of childhood. I want to preserve this but I also want to press for more work on the academic side of life.

There are days I wonder if Tink will ever get it. I went to the hair salon today and left the kids with assignments to do in their books. Tink didn't finish even half of her stuff in each subject. She said it was too hard. When I checked her work I saw she wasn't even half trying. Listen, when a 12 year old writes that the US exports Kangaroos then you know for sure her heart isn't in it!

We haven't been able to get to Story of The World at all this week. That saddens me. I'm seriously thinking of cutting out the charter school next term except for the orchestra classes. It takes an entire day of our school week. I'm always thinking about what else I could be getting done on those days with the kids.

Just when I decide I will indeed quit the charter school Peter will ask excitedly when Wednesday will be here so he can go be with his friends. I'm all at sixes and sevens about this.

I have decided that I am going to have to divide things up by terms. Our days are taken up mostly be Reading, Phonics and Math. Peter does Science and Tink does Social Studies here at home. The kids I tutor don't even do that. I realize I am working with children who have disabilities at some level and that reading, math and phonics have to take precedence. But I'm just so frustrated. I want to do more. I want to do tons more.

I have this nature detective book that I printed off the Internet that I would love to have Peter work on. But there is no time. I have to find the time! I just have to. Here is another contrary thing; I don't want the charter school but the charter school is providing the fun hands on type learning that the kids love. I'm giving them the nitty gritty. So maybe it all balances out.

But oh for a 30 hour day so I could fit just a wee bit more into our schedule! I have to admit that right now I just don't have an extra half hour to do anything more in my day than I am doing. Its just not there. I had a little bit more time this week with the Christian Academy closed. That was nice. I didn't have to rush right out of here after school. But I couldn't really start anything permanently in that time because Monday it all picks up again...that is if I let Tink return this coming week. I may just hold her out another week. They shut down because of swine flu and its still making its ugly rounds out there.

Well I have to figure out something here. There is just so much out there for the kids to learn and I want them to learn it! I will have to figure out a way! The frustration builds!

Time for Math (Part 3 in the series on independent study)

We do Math from 10:15 to 11:30 every day. How much independence should you give your child in Math? How do you teach Math at multiple levels? I begin my Math period with a 5 minute Math drill for all grades. Some are working on addition and some are working on multiplication. We see how many problems out of 100 they can complete in that 5 minute timed drill. Tink does these drills with us.

Even the first grader is in on this. She doesn't have 100 problems nor is she really being timed but to include her as if she was part of it is good practice for later. Everybody puts their name on top of the paper including the first grader with her page of apples filled with little addition sums. At the mark they all begin the drill. This gives me a blessed 5 minutes to regroup and make sure I have everything ready to go at the end of the 5 minutes.

After the timed drill Tink and the two boys do oral multiplication drills with me. We use flash cards or just do recite them by rote, whichever the kids want to do that day.

After the multiplication practice Tink takes her books and heads for the computer to do Teaching Textbooks. She is working independently on her Math. Other days she moves on in her Math book in Bob Jones. I have already checked everything over and have written down exactly what she is suppose to do that day. If she hits a snag she checks to see what Lesson in Teaching Textbooks I have written down to correspond with that part of Bob Jones. To see more on how I use the Teaching Textbooks in conjunction with Bob Jones you can read this post; Teaching Textbooks and How They Measure Up.

You can see here that it is important that I have done my homework and lesson plans. If I wouldn't have plotted all this out for Tink the evening before or the weekend before I would now have to stop and try to figure things out while I have three others waiting. By writing this all out I have made it so that Tink is in charge of her own destination in Math. So now she is working independently and I turn my attention to the two boys who are both in 3rd grade Math.

The first grader is still working on her sheet of apples while I'm getting the boys started. I explain each section of Math that is due that day. I work out a few of the problems on the board and we solve them together. Then the boys on their own. I spend the rest of the time until 11:30 working with the first grader. We do her Math lesson in just a short period of time. She doesn't need that entire time for the Math she has. I use the rest of that period to do Reading with her. If you look at yesterdays post you will see that she doesn't do her Reading during the reading time slot with the other kids. I fit her Reading in here in the Math space.

After lunch I read a story to the kids. We are reading Snow Treasures. This is one of two times that we all come together every day. The first one is at eight in the morning when we all meet in the living room and sing our morning prayer, Father We Thank Thee, and then do our Bible Memory. These two activities keep us all together as a group and keep even the most independent student involved with everyone else.

Story time is finished at 12:30 pm. The next period is from 12:30 to 1:45. This is the time that we do phonics and grammar, language arts and spelling. Again all the children are involved for the first five minutes. We do drills on the parts of speech or the different kinds of sentences; interjection, question, statement, command. Then everyone is off to their own books. I have laid the worksheets to be completed on their desks during the lunch break so they know exactly what to do. I then go to each child and explain each section of their lesson. They then begin work.

At this point the first grader who has done her phonics in the early morning reading time will go to the living room and listen to her Hooked On Phonics Tape. This gives me time to drill with Peter who still needs phonics help even though he is in the third grade. We go over charts of beginning and ending digraphs and consonant blends. He does timed word drills that focus on whatever digraph we are working on.

Peter is a fast worker. While the other third grader does his Language Arts Peter not only completes the drills with me but he does his Language Arts in CLE and his phonics pages in Horizons and A Reason for Spelling. Twice a week he works in Science and Bible. These subjects are just fitted into the time slots when he finishes early.

For example if he finishes his reading before reading period is over he begins reading in his Science. In Math if he finishes early he will again pull out the Science and start from where he left off before. In this manner these two subjects get done. Any experiments are done after the other students leave in the evening.

I give all spelling tests on Thursday. I call out the words to each grade so everyone is taking the test at the same time. I call out their names and the word that is for them. It goes like this: K- run, P & P - struggle, Tink - appreciation and so on down the list. Spelling is over in ten minutes and every one has had their test.

In the afternoons Tink is working independently on her History and Language Arts and Vocabulary. She does the spelling with us. Once again that keeps Tink, the independent learner, involved with the rest of us.

Once a week we take 15 minutes at the end of the day to do Story of The World. All four of the students are included in that class.

Hopefully this gives you all some idea how to include independence with one on one learning in your homeschool. Independent learning should begin at the first grade. Even when your child has mastered independent learning he should never be left on his own at the grade school level. Include that child in all drills, and memorization and any class that covers multiple grade levels, such as; Story of The World.

Remember there is nothing set in stone about all this. Do what works but keep the end goal in mind. The end goal is an independent child that can pursue his future with confidence because his mother gave him the skills at a young age to do so.
Does this all make sense to you guys?

More on Independent Study and Homeschool Structure

To school younger children who are less independent than the high school you will need to know your child and what they are capable of. Again remember that independence is the goal.

I discussed in the last post how I leave Tink on her own much of the time. But I still have three others to teach who are not independent learners yet. So how much independence should you give a child? A child at the first grade level will not be able to do a lot on their own. I start my first grader on handwriting first thing in the morning. The others start on their reading.

The first grader is doing handwriting because she can do that without help. The others are all doing reading. I start with the one reading at the second grade level. He reads to me the words from his word wall. Then we read in Pathway Phonics which is a wonderful book that teaches blends of sounds and then flows them into words. This takes about 15 minutes. I then release him to go read his story while I get the third grader. The third grade boy has been reading in his reader while I'm working with the second grader.

As the switch between the boys is being made I use this minute to switch the first grader into her phonics book. She will now be circling all the pictures that start with the letter w. Then she will circle all pictures that start with wa then we then wi and so on through the vowels. It doesn't matter at this point whether she gets them right or wrong. This just gives her something to wrap her brain around and try on her own until I have time to work with her.

Now the with the second grader reading his story and the first grader doing her phonics I turn my attention to the third grader. He reads the words on his word wall then he reads a page of his story with me. He doesn't need a separate phonics course, being very proficient at it. He gets a lot of phonics stuff in his reading workbook and language arts anyway. So he reads a page to me.

There is no need for him to read the entire story to me. One page can tell you if the child is comprehending or if there are words that he doesn't know in the story. So he reads the page to me. Then I have him read the next page after me. I read a about two sentences and then he reads those same two sentences. This is fluency practice. I do this with every reading class including Tinks.

If reading two sentences is two hard and the child is still hesitating I read just one sentence at a time. Sometimes I have them read right with me. We both read a passage aloud. This gives the child the idea of how reading flows without stopping. This sort of reading is a huge part of teaching fluency.

By the time we are done the second grader is done reading his story. I take him and do the exact same thing with him for fluency that I just did with the third grader. Then both boys finish reading whatever they haven't finished and then move on to the comprehension exercises in their workbooks.

At this point I turn my attention to the first grader and for the next 20 minutes before break we do our reading. The phonics she was working on will be corrected and done together by the two of us after lunch. But for now it is just 10am and time for a 15 minute break. After break we do Math. Of course, that is a post for another time. Hopefully though, this has given you some idea how to teach reading to multiple grades and how to foster independent learning at each level.

Note that by the time reading period is over each child, other than Tink, has worked independently for about an hour and with me for half an hour. The reading period lasts an hour and a half.

What Age Should a Child Start Studying Independently Part 1

At what age should a child be studying independently? I hear this question asked everywhere I go in the homeschool community. Let me just start by saying there is no magical age. Having said that I want to add that if you have a child without any learning disabilities he should definitely be studying independently by the time he's in high school.

Much of a child's success at school is found in his study habits. If as a homeschool mom you spend all your time going over every problem with your child and coaxing him through every page you are doing that child a huge disservice. One of the main goals of parenting is to teach a child to be independent. If you haven't taught your child that by the time they leave home, your child will flounder in the real world.

So how much should the homeschool mother be involved? How independently should a child be working for their grade level? This question has about as many answers are there are homeschool moms. But since this is my blog I will just give you my opinion on this. Bear in mind that I am speaking of the child without special needs.

First grade is almost entirely hands on. Second grade is too. Third grade the child should be more independent. By fourth grade and on up a child should be able to work on their own about 3/4Th's the time.

I am schooling four children this year. They are working in curriculum at 6 different levels; grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Tink is the fifth grader and she is almost 100% independent. Tink would be a 7th grader if she were in public school. But we all know the story of Tink. If you don't you can go over to Dishpan Dribble and click on the Tink label and read about her struggles.

But even though Tink is working independently I go through every one of her workbooks on the weekend. She has a terrible habit of just skipping over a section that she doesn't understand or just doesn't want to do. I go through every subject and circle in red the sections that were skipped or the sections that she got wrong. She self corrects her books but she doesn't always go back and correct the wrong ones after checking them wrong.

As I go along I write on a piece of notebook paper what page each section is on. I tuck the paper into the book and this becomes her first assignment in each subject on Monday morning. Every book has a notebook page of sections she must repeat.

Before doing any quizzes or end of unit tests Tink has to check with me. I give a cursory look through the book and give her the go ahead or stop her and send her back to do more work. No quiz can be taken until all those little sections skipped have been made up. But sometimes Tink will go ahead with the quiz. Whenever she does this she fails the test.

If after completing, grading and redoing the entire section she still fails the quiz at the end of the unit then I take the section that she got most wrong and give her Extra Practice worksheets until she understands that section. You will find that usually if your child fails quizzes or tests it wont be the entire thing. It will be one or two sections that she just didn't understand thoroughly while going through the workbooks. Pay close attention to the things your child is missing most and concentrate on that area.

I give Tink a lot of independence but she will be 13 in a few weeks and she needs this. I even have her on her own at the charter school on Mondays. It is up to her to get herself from class to class and to write down the assignments and know what her homework is for the week. Again this is practice for life outside my four walls. All this does not come easy for a child with a processing disorder but Tink is doing very well and Im proud of her.

I say she is independent but even then I have her read aloud to me at least three days a week. She either reads from her history book or her reading book. I help her with fluency and comprehension while we read. She also reads the words to me from her word wall every day. Mondays post will have more about how to do a reading class with your child and how to teach them to be fluent readers.

If Tink is going to test out low on something you can count on it that it will be in the vocabulary part of it. She is doing book 5 of Wordly Wise and again I have her read every vocabulary word to me before doing the lesson. You can see that although Tink is basically an independent learner at this point I still need to be involved in a very real way in her learning.

Now you may be wondering why I don't keep a closer eye on Tinks work during the week and why I just go through her books on the weekends. The answer is two fold. I want to teach her to study independently and I don't have the time to check it all while she's doing it. I can tell you though that the parts she skips are becoming fewer and fewer because she's catching on that if she doesn't do them now she has to do them later. This is all part of teaching a child independence.

Now the other three children I follow closely. The first grader never leaves my side- well almost never. I will explain tomorrow how to work with children in grades 1 - 4 so you will more clearly see the progression of total dependence to independence.

Teaching Textbooks: How do They Measure Up?

I have heard so much about Teaching Textbooks for Math that I finally decided to put my daughter in this curriculum in the hopes that it would save me some time. Teaching Textbooks is a math program that comes with Cd's for each grade. As of now they only have the Cd's and books for 4th grade and above.

The student listens to a lecture, does the practice problems and then proceeds to the rest of the problems. A huge workbook comes with the Cd's. The problems to be worked are in the workbook and on the Cd. The student has the choice of doing it all online or using the workbook. This is handy because the child isn't always by a computer. If you are going to be gone the student can listen to the lecture and then do the lesson later.

The program also has a button that the child can "rewind" and listen to the lecture as often as the like. They then watch the problems being worked out as a voice walks them through each step. After viewing the method they then do the problems that follow.

There is a gradebook online that the parent can check to see all the problems the child has done. It shows how many times he tried the problem and which ones were wrong. It also shows if he viewed the solution to the problem. Ideally if the student misses a problem he will watch a demonstration of the problem being worked out step by step. The parent can check quizzes and quiz grades too. Every problem in the workbook is repeated on the Cd so the child could possibly view the solution to them all if he were so inclined. Now keep in mind TT doesn't just tell them the answer. It works it out step by step explaining the entire process.

I love the concept behind this program. However, there is one thing I don't like. Teaching Textbooks is behind most faith based Math such as Horizons, Bob Jones, Abeka, etc. Because of this I am using the Cd's as practice in trouble areas. For example, Tink, who has a processing disorder, is having a difficult time with long division. She has been at it now for 2 months. Some days she seems to grasp the concept and other days she just has no idea how to get the answer. So now I have her listening to the Cd's and working through a lesson a day in the long division chapters of Teaching Textbooks. I started her at Lesson 64. When used in this way I love the books.

I would not advise anyone who has been using faith based Math to go to Teaching Textbooks as their sole Math program. When I discovered how slow the Teaching Textbooks were I decided to continue in Bob Jones. I use Bob Jones for my main curriculum. I use it as my compass to show me where my daughter should be. If she hits a snag we stop and do those chapters in Teaching Textbooks. To show you just where Teaching Textbooks line up with Bob Jones I will do a chapter by chapter comparison. I will use BJ for Bob Jones and TT for Teaching Textbooks in this review of the curriculum.

This is a review of Bob Jones Grade 4 with Teaching Textbooks Grade 5. Note the grade differences then note that in BJ 4 they are covering the subject matter of TT 5. I will go through the Table of Contents in the Teaching Textbooks beginning at Lesson 1 of fifth grade.

Number Patterns - BJ doesnt cover this because they did it in Grade 3
The Way Numbers Work- again too elementary for BJ 4
Numbers and Words- BJ (same as above)
Millions - BJ (same as above)
Greater than Less Than- BJ reviews this but it was taught in Grade 3
Addition Basics up to 4 digit numbers- BJ
Subtraction Basics - BJ
Surveys and Tally Marks- BJ
Rounding and Estimating with 2 and 3 digit Numbers- BJ
Addition with Carrying and adding more than 2 - BJ
Adding and Subtracting with 3 digit numbers - BJ
Roman Numerals- Bob Jones
2 step word problems- BJ
Multiplying 3 digit numbers with carrying- BJ
Rounding and Estimating- BJ
Geometry- lines, segments angles, polygons, perimeter, area, - BJ
Fractions - equivalent, reducing, comparing, adding and subtracting with different denominators -BJ
Decimals in fractions, words, dollars, adding and subtracting, regrouping twice, regrouping with zeros and comparing decimals - Bj
Percentages - BJ
Metric Measurements- BJ
Dividing a Decimal by a Whole Number - BJ

You can see here that everything covered in 5th grade TT is covered in 4th grade BJ.

On the other hand Bob Jones has added Statistics, Graphing, and pre algebra to their 4th grade program.

This is not a matter of Grade 5 TT teaching the same things as BJ 4th grade but using more complex problems. No, not at all. Most, if not all, of TT 5's problems are simpler than BJ 4!

To sum it up, again I say Teaching Textbooks is a wonderful program if used as a Math Lab for the student. However, if you have had your child in faith based curriculum you must get Teaching Textbooks a grade higher than where your child is in the faith based books.

My hope is that this will clear up some of the confusion about TT that I am seeing on homeschooling sites. I hope you have found this review helpful. I will gladly answer any questions you have on this..that is.. if I know the answer!