Webinate- meaning to give an item the capacity to connect to the World Wide Web (also known as internet!)
Sentence example: (as given by Daniel) Mom, when I grow up I am going to invent this thing. If you want to read a book but dont' like to read, and can't find the movie any place 'cause it is really old, then you take my invention and webinate it so you can scan the book and it will read the book out loud to you.
Webinate!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thoughts on our School Year 2007-2008
AS another school year comes to a close I find myself reflecting on the progress we have made. The areas that need more work and the resources we have used this past year. IN light of that I thought I would list some thoughts on the resources we used this past school year, how well the kids liked them, or didn't like them and if we will use them again.
Language Arts Resources:
~LLATL: This is a new resource for us. We started the year using Blue level (1st grade) for Sarah, Orange level (4th grade) for Daniel and Tan level (6th grade) for Mallory. VEry quickly we discovered that Orange was not a good fit for Daniel, as he needed more work with phonics and reading fluency. So we discontinued it's use with him. It was not a matter of the curriculum being a "bad fit" but more a matter of readiness. Blue Level turned out to be a good choice for Sarah. I got easily frustrated with the little "games" included but she loved the whole program. WE did skip some things that seems redundant, but for hte most part did the curriculum as planned. She is ending the year reading well for her age and level. This resourced worked well and we will continue with it next year using the Red level (2nd grade). On to the Tan level for Mallory. AT first, it was a bit of an adjustment for M. The copywork/dictation part took some time for her to get accustomed to, but once we got in the groove of it, we both liked it well. The creative writing assignments were interesting and led to some very nice stories, peoms and writings. We flip flopped with using the literature passage as dictation/copywork but settled on using it as copywork for the most part due to spelling issues. The books chosen for the book studies were all interesting and engaging and she enjoyed all of them. Though we did use the study guides a bit, for discussion we did mostly oral discussion of the books. She has chosen to stick with this resource for LA (except spelling) for next year.
SPELLING: This was a difficult subject this year. We started out using LLATL as the only spelling, but quickly figured out that for Mallory we were trying this out too late! So for both her and Daniel we tried Dr. Aardma's spelling drill until our dog ate it. THe kids liked it but I am not sure it helped a whole lot. We used Sequential Spelling (tried it out for the second time) and they both hated it! We switched to Spelling power for both her and Daniel for hte last 3 months or so of the year and I hate it! I did not see any results, and I DID use the program the way it describes I think we need something different. Sigh.... We have decided to use All About Spelling for next year. I actually wanted to try this when we got Spelling Power but the price scared me away! LOL. Now I wish we had just bitten the bullet and tried it anyway. I feel like we've wasted the last 3 months or so using Spelling Power, I know some people love it, but it just didn't work for us. I'm going to keep it though, cause you never know, it may work at another time or for another child.
PHONICS: For Daniel we stopped using LLATL to do some more intensive phonics/reading fluency exercises, most of which I just threw together. We did continue to use Phonics Pathways and almost finished the book. We discontinued using it about 2 months ago because it seems like he has made the leap that he was getting stuck on. He spent a lot of time this year doing silent reading and we have been adding in oral reading in the last month. I see some vast improvements doing this. We have also added Explode the code workbooks for the end of the year, and into the summer months.
History: Mysery Of History Volume 1.. We did about half of this resource. While we were using it, I really liked it. I did dislike some things about it, like the mapping, but for the most part was happy with the resource. It is well written and interesting. It held Mallory's attention very well, but not quite so with the younger two. We really enjoyed using the time line and it was our favorite aspect of the curriculum. BUT, once we were about half way through, we evaluated the kids to see if they had retained anything and discoverd that even Mallory, who was really enjoying it, had not retained very much. SIGH! After talking to them all, we also discoverd that the things they remembered from history all came from interesting books that we had used as read alouds.. so we are going back to winging history with read alouds again for next year. I have to say that I was disappointed in the results from MOH, because I DID enjoy reading it and using it. I am sure that it works great for other families, as it is a great resource. I am also hanging on to this one for future use as a reference ect.
Science: We continued with Apologia's elementary curriculum. We used Zoo I Flying creatures of the 5th day. We had previously done Botony and Astronomy and loved them. Zoo turned out to be a flop for us. Simply because my oldest two already knew all the information contained therein. WE did about 3/4ths of the book and all just got tired of the upshot hands waving in the air because they knew what I was about to read. We feel we have exhausted Apologia's elementary curriculum right now, so we will try NOEO next year as my middle wants to learn some Chemistry and it was the most interesting resource I found that I would have the least amount of work with.
MATH: Well, we started the year out using MUS for all three. We have used MUS for 4 years. While I have always been a die hard MUS fan, and still think it is a fantastic program, we did make a switch this year for all three kids. Mallory is still have difficulty with memorizing math facts.. her dyscalculia is rearing it's ugly head and MUS was putting so much focus on memorization that she was despondant and hating math. So much so that I would find her scribbles on her assignment sheet declaring that fact! I did plenty of research, since I was so sold out on MUS it was hard to find something that met our needs, but I eventually found Teaching Textbooks. We purchased it several months ago and she is really doing well with this resource. I will try to post a full review of it another time, but we'll have to let it suffice to say that TT has revolutionized math at our house. We are still working on fact memorization but for everyday math, this program is better than apple pie! Once Daniel saw it in action he was done with MUS, lol!! So he switched within a few weeks of Mallory starting it. AS for Sarah, this was her first official year using MUS and she struggled with it from the beginning. It just was not a good fit for her like it was in the beginning with her siblings. AFter much more research I decided to try Rod and Staff and she is doing beautifully with it. I would never have thought that such a traditional textbook math would work so well, but it fits her learning style great, so for now we are staying with it.
We did do some other extra things but those are the main things we used. I am planning on getting reviews posted of the individual resources we used, as time allows this summer.
I'll save the new things we are trying for next year for a seperate post, which I am sure that you are thankful for. ;-)
Language Arts Resources:
~LLATL: This is a new resource for us. We started the year using Blue level (1st grade) for Sarah, Orange level (4th grade) for Daniel and Tan level (6th grade) for Mallory. VEry quickly we discovered that Orange was not a good fit for Daniel, as he needed more work with phonics and reading fluency. So we discontinued it's use with him. It was not a matter of the curriculum being a "bad fit" but more a matter of readiness. Blue Level turned out to be a good choice for Sarah. I got easily frustrated with the little "games" included but she loved the whole program. WE did skip some things that seems redundant, but for hte most part did the curriculum as planned. She is ending the year reading well for her age and level. This resourced worked well and we will continue with it next year using the Red level (2nd grade). On to the Tan level for Mallory. AT first, it was a bit of an adjustment for M. The copywork/dictation part took some time for her to get accustomed to, but once we got in the groove of it, we both liked it well. The creative writing assignments were interesting and led to some very nice stories, peoms and writings. We flip flopped with using the literature passage as dictation/copywork but settled on using it as copywork for the most part due to spelling issues. The books chosen for the book studies were all interesting and engaging and she enjoyed all of them. Though we did use the study guides a bit, for discussion we did mostly oral discussion of the books. She has chosen to stick with this resource for LA (except spelling) for next year.
SPELLING: This was a difficult subject this year. We started out using LLATL as the only spelling, but quickly figured out that for Mallory we were trying this out too late! So for both her and Daniel we tried Dr. Aardma's spelling drill until our dog ate it. THe kids liked it but I am not sure it helped a whole lot. We used Sequential Spelling (tried it out for the second time) and they both hated it! We switched to Spelling power for both her and Daniel for hte last 3 months or so of the year and I hate it! I did not see any results, and I DID use the program the way it describes I think we need something different. Sigh.... We have decided to use All About Spelling for next year. I actually wanted to try this when we got Spelling Power but the price scared me away! LOL. Now I wish we had just bitten the bullet and tried it anyway. I feel like we've wasted the last 3 months or so using Spelling Power, I know some people love it, but it just didn't work for us. I'm going to keep it though, cause you never know, it may work at another time or for another child.
PHONICS: For Daniel we stopped using LLATL to do some more intensive phonics/reading fluency exercises, most of which I just threw together. We did continue to use Phonics Pathways and almost finished the book. We discontinued using it about 2 months ago because it seems like he has made the leap that he was getting stuck on. He spent a lot of time this year doing silent reading and we have been adding in oral reading in the last month. I see some vast improvements doing this. We have also added Explode the code workbooks for the end of the year, and into the summer months.
History: Mysery Of History Volume 1.. We did about half of this resource. While we were using it, I really liked it. I did dislike some things about it, like the mapping, but for the most part was happy with the resource. It is well written and interesting. It held Mallory's attention very well, but not quite so with the younger two. We really enjoyed using the time line and it was our favorite aspect of the curriculum. BUT, once we were about half way through, we evaluated the kids to see if they had retained anything and discoverd that even Mallory, who was really enjoying it, had not retained very much. SIGH! After talking to them all, we also discoverd that the things they remembered from history all came from interesting books that we had used as read alouds.. so we are going back to winging history with read alouds again for next year. I have to say that I was disappointed in the results from MOH, because I DID enjoy reading it and using it. I am sure that it works great for other families, as it is a great resource. I am also hanging on to this one for future use as a reference ect.
Science: We continued with Apologia's elementary curriculum. We used Zoo I Flying creatures of the 5th day. We had previously done Botony and Astronomy and loved them. Zoo turned out to be a flop for us. Simply because my oldest two already knew all the information contained therein. WE did about 3/4ths of the book and all just got tired of the upshot hands waving in the air because they knew what I was about to read. We feel we have exhausted Apologia's elementary curriculum right now, so we will try NOEO next year as my middle wants to learn some Chemistry and it was the most interesting resource I found that I would have the least amount of work with.
MATH: Well, we started the year out using MUS for all three. We have used MUS for 4 years. While I have always been a die hard MUS fan, and still think it is a fantastic program, we did make a switch this year for all three kids. Mallory is still have difficulty with memorizing math facts.. her dyscalculia is rearing it's ugly head and MUS was putting so much focus on memorization that she was despondant and hating math. So much so that I would find her scribbles on her assignment sheet declaring that fact! I did plenty of research, since I was so sold out on MUS it was hard to find something that met our needs, but I eventually found Teaching Textbooks. We purchased it several months ago and she is really doing well with this resource. I will try to post a full review of it another time, but we'll have to let it suffice to say that TT has revolutionized math at our house. We are still working on fact memorization but for everyday math, this program is better than apple pie! Once Daniel saw it in action he was done with MUS, lol!! So he switched within a few weeks of Mallory starting it. AS for Sarah, this was her first official year using MUS and she struggled with it from the beginning. It just was not a good fit for her like it was in the beginning with her siblings. AFter much more research I decided to try Rod and Staff and she is doing beautifully with it. I would never have thought that such a traditional textbook math would work so well, but it fits her learning style great, so for now we are staying with it.
We did do some other extra things but those are the main things we used. I am planning on getting reviews posted of the individual resources we used, as time allows this summer.
I'll save the new things we are trying for next year for a seperate post, which I am sure that you are thankful for. ;-)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Geography
After much prayer, thought and consideration, I have decided to tie geography in more with our readings and current events. We have been very loosely trying to learn the states and capitols over the last two years, but for some reason that is the first thing that gets laid aside. Sigh....! The ones we have studied the kids know pretty well, but we have only done about half to three fourths of the states. I had firmly decided that we were going to use a curriculum for next school year, and spent much time researching what the best fit would be. I asked the kids if they wanted to continue US geography or move to World geography.. as usual they were split with the decision. Mallory wanted to finish what we started, not surprising if you know Mallory, she like to organize things in neat compartments. Daniel wanted to study world geography, also not surprising as he has very broad interests in the world. Sarah of course would rather play baby dolls than do either, so her vote got cancelled, since she didn't really care!! I had actually decided on Trail Guide to World (or US) geography, which I still think is a great resource, but as I was planning our schedule for next year, it just looked way too cluttered. After more prayer, thought and consideration (henceforth called "PT and C") I decided to just use our readings from history ect and current news and world issues. So when we come across something geography related, we'll try to find that place on our maps, this should fill Daniel's need to learn more about the world, I think. We'll also finish up the states with the current book we are using Kids Learn America And I have on my wish list the GREAT Hollings C Hollings book Minn of the Mississippi. We started this years ago and didn't finish it in time for it to be returned to the library... which happens more frequently than I care to admit. On a side note, I have come to the realization that I really need to start buying some books, instead of being a cheapskate and borrowing them all from the library!
I think using this combination of handling geography may be better for us, although more hodge podge perhaps.. we'll see. One tool that I have purchase to help this along, though are geography placemats. The biggest hinderences to our locating something in our reading or daily discussions is the fact that we have no real place to keep large maps. Our globe is handy for some things, and the atlas works ok, except it is hard to use for the kids, they still need more practice using it (hey, I need more practice using it sometimes! LOL) besides which, we only have ONE atlas, and it is rather cumbersome to use, having to shift through the contents to find the area we are looking for. I figured if we could have maps for each child on hand everyday then we are more likely to find those things we read about. That is what I am hoping anyway.
I found the perfect maps for this at Blooming-Babies dot com.
THere are two placemats, one USa and the other for the world. One side is a full colored labeled map and the other side is a blankline that the kids can use dryerase markers to write on. Don't you just love dry erase markers?
Here is the usa placemat:
So here is my little poll... how well do you know geography? US geography? world geography? Share your experiences, and how geography has either helped you in your careers or life or if it was not an issue at all.
I think using this combination of handling geography may be better for us, although more hodge podge perhaps.. we'll see. One tool that I have purchase to help this along, though are geography placemats. The biggest hinderences to our locating something in our reading or daily discussions is the fact that we have no real place to keep large maps. Our globe is handy for some things, and the atlas works ok, except it is hard to use for the kids, they still need more practice using it (hey, I need more practice using it sometimes! LOL) besides which, we only have ONE atlas, and it is rather cumbersome to use, having to shift through the contents to find the area we are looking for. I figured if we could have maps for each child on hand everyday then we are more likely to find those things we read about. That is what I am hoping anyway.
I found the perfect maps for this at Blooming-Babies dot com.
THere are two placemats, one USa and the other for the world. One side is a full colored labeled map and the other side is a blankline that the kids can use dryerase markers to write on. Don't you just love dry erase markers?
Here is the usa placemat:
So here is my little poll... how well do you know geography? US geography? world geography? Share your experiences, and how geography has either helped you in your careers or life or if it was not an issue at all.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Ramblings
It has been almost 2 months since I last posted. Life just gets away from you sometimes eh? There has been nothing special going on around here, just the mundane, day to day things. But those things do keep us occupied! THe pool is up and running and we have been enjoying time in it. That is until we noticed that both Mallorya nd Daniel had developed rashes after swimming, and tested the water. The ph is WAY too low, which it turns out makes the water corrossive!!! Doesn't that sound scary? So we hope to get that fixed over the next couple of days with pool chemicals...thankfully there will be rain for hte next day or so so the kids won't be staring out of the window longingly at the pool while we wait for the water ph to balance out! School is coming to a close. We are slowly finishing subjects and are working on mostly basics now. I will be posting several posts over the next few weeks to review the things we used this year. I am pretty confident that I have any necessary curriculum or resources picked out for next year, we just have to place the order.
We are all looking forward to summer break. How about all of you?
We are all looking forward to summer break. How about all of you?
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