March Math

Ch 12 E (p. 145 of Alpha)

W is finishing up Chapter 12 of Math-U-See, so I thought I would share a couple examples of his work here. Math-U-See has a test and Xtra fun book to go along with the textbooks, and W loves the Xtra fun pages. This one involved a crossword puzzle, and got him excited about writing letters when usually he prefers to use the digits. As you can see, he still writes backwards sometimes but as long as I understand that he knows the number and concept, that is what matters at this age.

                                
                                          MUS Alpha Ch 12 Extra (from test booklet)

Other math supplements include math themed games, verbal math problems, real world examples, other worksheets like connect-the-dots by numbers, and online math games. I try to fit in "something" math each day, and a little bit frequently seems to be working well with W.

C likes numbers and counting, but at 3 years old he often "forgets" numbers as he is counting, or they wind up in the wrong order. I figure he's got a couple more years until he's ready for the Math-U-See Primer. ;)

Happy Groundhog Day!

How is it February already? We have had a homeschooling hiatus lately with a virus affecting the whole family. I am still feeling the affects. I am hoping to get back into the swing of things and updating here more regularly. Between the lack of sleep with the puppies and being sick, it has been a rough month here.

Today we watched a Jack's Big Music Show video circa 2007; more specifically a Groundhog day episode featuring Jon Stewart and a fun song by Steve Burns and Steven Drodz. I don't think C had seen it since he was an infant, but W enjoyed it when he was younger. I am thankful that children's programs are way more appealing and amusing to grownups these days compared to the cartoons of my youth. We also learned about Groundhogs and Punxatawney Phil. Supposedly we will have 6 more weeks of winter. I say bring it on, it feels like we have not had much of a winter since October! ;)



W has been plugging away on Explode the Code book 2, up to page 43. He is on Math-U-See Alpha Chapter 11, which is about 1/3 of the way through the book. Geometry is a section of this chapter, so he is doing some side work of classifying shapes from our Comprehensive Curriculum 1st grade workbook. For a history and science combination project he made a paper mache volcano shortly before we all got sick, so as soon as I charge my camera batteries we will make it erupt. At least it has held up and is dry. That will certainly have its own post.

For reading material, we are rowing Owl Moon by Jane Yolen this week for our Five in a Row group. W learned about Great Horned Owls and he often gets to observe the woods outside. We have only actually seen one owl in the wild since moving to this town, so one theme from the book to focus on is patience. It is a nice book for this time of year and also incorporates some astronomy studies. We discussed the phases of the moon, and have plans to attend some Skywatch events in the near future with our homeschool Astronomy club.

 Lately W is still into the Dinosaur Cove series by Rex Stone (almost finished with book 6). He also adores the Mr. Men books by Roger Hargreaves. I had collected several of these which we came upon years ago during a trip to Scotland, and now he loves reading them on his own. We are also continuing with The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, although we are re-listening to the early chapters on CD as I haven't had much voice to read aloud for long. I am SO glad W is an independent reader and can read to his brother too.

I'm hoping to find an unabridged version of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie for him to read this spring, and also read more of A.A. Milne's books. C is at a good age for the original Thomas the Tank Engine stories as well, so a bedtime re-read is in order. :)

math & wrapping up some code

Lately for Math W has preferred to work on the floor instead of at the table. It is a bit harder for him to focus when there are toys in the room, but for the MUS blocks it makes pick up much easier and I am not sweeping (as many) blocks out from under the kitchen table. W finished Chapter 8 (Solving for the Unknown) and we will be squeezing in Chapter 9 before/during the holidays, 9A section today.

As for Explode the Code 1 1/2, W has only a few short pages left but it seems like the last stretch is taking so long. He likes some aspects of it, but loathes writing. W still needs to work on using lowercase letters more often since he prefers to speedily write in all CAPS. We will start up Explode the Code 2 in January, and have a couple of other grammar/phonics books to work in as well. Today he wrote a short letter to his great-grandmother in FL. I should encourage him to write more letters. That gives him more of a purpose, not to mention it is more fun sending real mail.

I ❤ Chocol-8

In Math-U-See, W is currently solving for the unknown in Chapter 8. He is halfway through the chapter, and is finding the blocks to be useful tools to help him figure out the problems. C has been enjoying counting blocks and building things with him while his brother works away. Last year I worried about him with the smaller blocks, but he is great with them now and even likes playing with little legos.


M-U-S now has t-shirts, so an elf may be delivering some pretty soon to our household. (Shhh... don't tell W! I will make sure and post photos after the holidays.) The "I ❤ Chocol-8" shirts are too sweet, and MUS-ers will be able to recognize us in a crowd. The "Can you tell me how to get to Decimal Street?" shirt is pretty cool too.


W has been continuing with Story of the World this week, with reading and projects Mon & Tues and listening to the CD for review today. He has been doing some Explode the Code 1 1/2 and lots of lego creative play & playing UNO. We are rowing a couple different books at once over the past couple of weeks including A New Coat for Anna for our FIAR group. He has been reading a lot of seasonal books lately. 


C has been a bit grumpy but he took a big nap today. I think he still needs naps, although some days he goes without them. He will be 3 next week, he is growing up so fast.


Today we raked some leaves outside and they played on the swing set. Then we went a little bit into the woods (with orange hats on this time of year) to see the seasonal stream that has developed. It sounds like a babbling brook and there are a few large rocks nearby to sit on and enjoy it. This weather has been really warm lately but I know before long the snow will come again.

Math Monday

This week W begins Chapter 6 of Math-U-See Alpha. He completed chapter 5 last week and even wanted to do the extra fun pages that go along with the chapter, woohoo! I am hoping he can cover a chapter per week now that he's on a roll with this material. I think that is a good pace to be challenging enough. He works on the Kumon geometry workbook every now and then but doesn't find it as appealing as MUS. They use the number line differently, so I don't want to confuse him too much (MUS goes 0-9, while Kumon uses 1-10).

He is working on addition problems and sometimes it surprises me what he can get right and the things he gets stuck on too; the "teen" numbers are difficult for him to remember how to say and write sometimes when just reading them, although he can count them fine reciting out loud. W continues writing some numbers backwards, sometimes both ways on the same page. I can tell his brain is trying to figure them out and by 3rd grade or so kids usually can master writing numbers properly.

Math-U-See "names" some of the manipulative blocks by color & calls 8 chocol-8, 7 se-vanilla, and 9 minty nine so W likes these nicknames for numbers and it's helpful when doing the color matching exercises. We use the blocks sometimes for building or solving problems that aren't even MUS. C likes them too, mostly for building towers, but also likes counting.

What we're using this year (part 1)

It’s been a while since I did a post on the curriculum we’re using (besides FIAR of course). This year first grade was a bit more intimidating, although I know it shouldn’t be. We sent our first letter of intent to homeschool in July. That felt very liberating, but after that the need to plan for this year set in. We are not using a box curriculum and haven't yet, so planning each subject was a wee bit overwhelming at first. Now that we are a couple of weeks into our routines I am seeing what works and what can wait a while. I find that with W just leaving books that I want him to read around the house will work almost by osmosis, since he loves reading most anything. I will break this post into a few posts by subjects.

Math

W is using Math-U-See Alpha this year, which he started last spring after finishing their Primer, but took a break on over the summer. As we started our first week he got a bit frustrated (mainly the writing part) so next summer we may keep doing some worksheets more often. He loves math but sometimes it is a chore to sit down to do workbook pages, but he loves the Math-U-See blocks and even little C can join him in building towers and bridges with them. W finished up Chapter 3 and is starting Chapter 4 this week. We didn’t watch the DVD lesson overview for 3 (How I’ve missed Steve!) We will catch up on that this week. As Math supplements W has Kumon workbooks on Geometry and Counting Money, as well as the board game Sum Swamp.

Science

First grade is traditionally supposed to be when you learn about how your body works. You know, organs, muscles, skeleton, etc. Unfortunately, W is totally freaked out by anything like this right now, so we will ease into that gradually. He prefers to focus on Astronomy, so for now that is the plan. W loves the book A Child’s Introduction to The Night Sky by Michael Driscoll. He also likes doing experiments, and has a mini weather station that his Grandpa gave him set up on the deck to check the wind speed, temperature and rainfall totals. W is also keeping a nature journal and I encourage him to observe things outside to notice all the details of the local wildlife and changing seasons. I want to work in a few more trips to the Aquarium in this year as well, especially to see some feeding times and shows for the animals like the penguins and sea lions.

History

Initially I resisted buying a history curriculum, as W learns a lot by reading books, but something drew me to the Story of the World. I am drawn to history. Yes, even census records and some dry facts, but I know most people aren’t. W isn’t necessarily drawn to it unless he understands the context, the story that it tells. This curriculum is Classical in approach but it is very accessible. We went ahead and ordered The Story of the World with the workbook for Volume 1 (Ancient Civilizations) and the book on CD. We have so far made an archeology dig in the sandbox, learned about the Fertile Crescent and are working on the Egyptians this week. One of the projects is mummifying a chicken, but I don’t think I’m ready for that one yet! I love the workbook, and we are keeping a notebook with printouts of the pages along with a journal for narration and W’s illustrations along the way. Adults can brush up on their history knowledge with this book as well; I am excited about introducing timelines to W! :)

Geography

We are members in a local geography co-op which just started up last week. The co-op will travel the United States through literature so it is a great way of learning of the different regions of our country. We also have 2 GeoPuzzles for the US & Canada, and Europe. W likes them as puzzles so it is kind of a sneaky way to work in learning about other places while he’s at it! They are tactile maps and many of the European puzzle pieces are the same shapes as the countries. I am planning to get some of the other GeoPuzzles for Christmas this year. W also subscribes to Highlights’ “Which Way USA?” as a supplement.

Coming soon: books and curricula we like for literature, grammar, writing, spelling, spiritual development, art, languages, exercise, an overview of unit studies we're planning for this fall/winter, and a C update.

Jumping into First Grade

Our first day of first grade in our homeschool was an unusual one yesterday. We had lost power from Tropical Storm Irene passing through, but luckily our family was safe and our house was unharmed so we were extremely lucky to only experience a temporary power outage. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the folks in our neighboring state of Vermont and to all those across the east coast affected by the storm.

the crafty little chipmunk 

Without the lights on, W made a list of all the things we use daily that need power to run. It was quite a long list! Certainly it was an interesting project to relate to the “olden times” we are studying in Story of the World. W & C had a fun day with a lot of outside play time in the garden and on the swing set. W began a nature journal as well and observed a chipmunk up close. Those critters are pretty used to hearing the boys play. This I believe is the same chipmunk that I saw trying to roll an apple into a chipmunk hole. The crafty little guy was outfooled by the apple, which did not fit. Today we observed the same apple half eaten with numerous bite marks left by a certain chipmunk which probably had a tummy ache today.

We are getting back in the swing of Math U See Alpha & Five in a Row as well as introducing new elements to our learning materials such as The Story of the World. W mentioned to me that maybe we shouldn’t have stopped lessons for writing & math over the summer so it may be something to keep in mind for next summer. This summer was more of a “read a lot, work on some projects, and do workbooks when you want” approach. He is having difficulties with writing lower case letters so this year he will work on that and we will also be getting C better acquainted with the alphabet as well.

W picked a carrot for snack time.

Today the power is back on and we did some sit down lessons before lunch and then were outside for a few hours. C is now napping and W is playing. Earlier we looked at web sites about butterflies and hummingbirds to identify those we saw outside and learn a bit more about them. When reading about flowers that draw hummingbirds, W recognized Lupine as the flower featured in this weeks' Five in a Row book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. (That book deserves its' own post! One of my favorites so far out of the world of five in a row.) Sadly we will have to take the hummingbird feeder down once the fall settles in, as we learned the ones we see now are probably just migrating south, but hopefully they will remember our house and be back in the spring.

snow day (no fooling!)

Today was probably the longest that C has been happy playing in the snow. The power was off and on this morning but with most of the snow off the tree limbs I would be surprised if it goes out again. The temperature was warmer than it has been after most of the snow falls this year considering it is April after all. The boys enjoyed making snow angels and running around in the snow. I saw some wild turkey foot prints in our driveway but this time no other evidence of the bird was left. At least this snow should melt soon and potentially be beneficial to the maple syrup producers.

Last week we rowed The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf for FIAR Volume 2. Check out this post from last year about Ferdinand which recently celebrated it's 75th birthday, and check out the cartoon based on the story. The book is one of my favorites.

Last week we also took a field trip to Parker's Maple Barn with a homeschool group to see how maple syrup is made, and the trip finished off with a delicious pancake and cocoa. We will likely make this a tradition since it is a fun place to visit and there is nothing like the smell of a sugarhouse. W celebrated his 6th birthday with a party this past weekend and spent some time this week writing thank-you notes to his family and friends. Unfortunately this week the boys have had runny noses so I hope no colds were spread to the other little ones during the party. They had insisted on going outside and running around in the cold much to the dismay of the parents.

This week we have been reading The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift (what a name, love it!) W has been recalling some of our big trip to NYC last spring and learning about lighthouses, rivers and geography among other subjects. He has finished chapter 25 in the Math-U-See Primer and we have the Alpha curriculum waiting in the wings for later this spring. We are in the planning stages of our next vacation later this spring to SC, with perhaps some stops on the way back north in VA & PA. :)

   

When One Plus One Equals One

The other day W told me that sometimes one plus one equals one.  I was a little skeptical, but I've been helping him understand addition by showing him that it is a process of putting things together.  I've been emphasizing the process of addition because I don't want math for him to be what it mostly was for me and most children: meaningless manipulation of symbols.  I remember some half-hearted attempts at making math meaningful in school by making us solve contrived word problems or insisting upon units.  One teacher would become upset if the class answered "what is 3 pigs plus 3 pigs?" with "6" instead of "6 pigs". 

In any case, I asked W when it might happen that one plus one equals one.  He replied that when he attaches one toy to another toy, he has one toy.  I liked that example.  I suggested another by taking two glasses of water and pouring them into a third glass, showing that one glass of water plus one glass of water can equal one glass of water.  The best example was then suggested by Beth: if you add one herd of sheep to one herd of sheep, then you have one herd of sheep.  I was happy to see W developing an understanding that our answer depended on how we performed the addition, as well as what we were interested in counting. 

So there you have it.  Sometimes one plus one equals one.

    

FIAR The Glorious Flight

I was not familiar with Alice and Martin Provensen before reading The Glorious Flight which is covered in Five in a Row Vol. 1. After this week, I will be looking to add some more of their books to our home library! W enjoyed The Glorious Flight, and it was a perfect book for FIAR since it has many different elements and you could really go in any direction with this one. First of all, for geography we covered England, France, and the English Channel. We also talked more about French culture and language which we had previously talked about when reading Madeline for FIAR. Other topics which applied to the book included art, language arts, history, inventors, the science behind flying and of course early aviation. Another great book about aviation is The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski, which is very descriptive of the mechanics of the airplane. Today to finish off the week we made paper airplanes and tried flying them outside. (Most of them were a little top heavy thanks to taped-on "propellers").

W finished the first book of Handwriting Without Tears "Letters and Numbers for Me" and was very enthusiastic about singing the song featured at the end of the book. He is on chapter 13 for Math-U-See (Addition Plus One) and I love watching that little light bulb go off as he figures out the problems. On Thursday we spent the day in Hudson with Aunt Julie, and then met with friends for the annual downtown trick or treat. It was such fun! Needless to say W didn't get much workbook work done that day, but we had a great time with his best friends from Hudson (A & his little sister C and their mommy). We will do a separate Halloween post (or re-cap post) in the next few of days.

I couldn't resist introducing W to the episode of one of my favorite television shows of all time Road to Avonlea entitled "Dreamer of Dreams" (Season 2), when Jasper Dale tries to invent a flying machine. Image courtesy of The Magic Lantern Road to Avonlea Epiosode Guide. W loves the kid scenes in Avonlea but doesn't quite know what to make of Mrs. Potts yet. But really, does anyone? :)

Early in the week, our picture books by post swap book arrived! Thanks to Zoe & her kids at Playing by the Book. W was thrilled to have a package to open and inside was Wendel's Workshop by Chris Riddell. It is a hilarious book to read aloud and also inspired W to learn more about inventors and robots. Thank you so much to our book swap partners!! W has read it dozens of times already. Your book is currently en route but I will let the title be a surprise when you receive it.

     

FIAR: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Last week for Five in a Row W read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. The book follows Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel Mary Anne during the time when steam shovels were being phased out by modern technologies, but in the end there is a good use for her. It has some repetition throughout, but also has some challenging words for beginning readers. This was one book that he was already familiar with but he is still enjoying it and thinking about it in depth. Also he can read it on his own now, so we alternated reading throughout the week.

On Monday W made composite characters using paper plates, he drew faces, and then he thought of two people he knows and what those people like to do, and made up a new name for his character. The one he based on me and the cat was Ludwiga who likes to cook and play with mice (eeew!) He also made up Tree who likes to play with their cat and give hugs based on two of his aunties, and Cada who likes to work on the sledding hill and play with masks. Anyway, I think he got the general idea of the term so when he hears it again he might remember it. ;)

For Math-U-See W finished chapter 12, and is grasping the concepts of addition. Each addition problem has a few different steps: identify the number, find the unit block for that number, write the number, color in the blocks on the paper to match with the unit block, and finally say the number. Sometimes the numbers wind up written backwards but for Kindergarten that is what happens. This makes for some very colorful papers! C even joins in the fun sometimes although I try to keep him interested in his own papers to color while W is trying to figure out problems.

Last week we also participated in a Paranormal "Ghost Hunter" Hike through one of the homeschool groups, it was a lot of fun and we found a nearby place to go hiking.

    

September Reflections & Great Web Resources

 The past month has been a whirlwind of moving in all while getting settled into our Kindergarten homeschool year as well. We have been loving rowing our first few books with Five in a Row, which we may refer to as FIAR on the blog sometimes. In the past few weeks we have read A Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack, Lentil by Robert McCloskey, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, and this week are wrapping up September with A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno. Through the stories we have covered a few geographical and cultural lessons about China, America, France, and Japan.

W is now on lesson 9 in his Math-U-See Primer and we are working on place value by using the "tens" and "units". Each lesson has 7 pages and some days he does a full lesson while others he will do one or two pages and then other math related projects. He enjoys playing with the blocks after he finishes the lesson part so that keeps it fun. We try to work math in other ways as well, like in FIAR projects and cooking (although he got pretty frustrated when actually trying to use chopsticks for their intended purpose). :)

Initially I did not know where to begin with teaching science. FIAR has a few science projects, but not many, so I picked up The Giant Science Resource Book for grades 1-6 which will be useful in the next few years. We used the section on leaves and trees to identify some leaves outside and then Will wrote the names onto cards which are now adorning our refrigerator.

W has wrapped up Hooked On Phonics Kindergarten levels 1 & 2, and is using a few different materials for handwriting which he is slowly improving with. I wouldn't push him into it except I do want him to be on the same "level" as the public school kids as he will have to be evaluated before homeschooling first grade in NH. Most of all right now we are enjoying settling into our new home and spending more time outdoors. Over the past month we have also attended a Colonial Fair in Massachusetts and an Apple Fest in NH, and have been lucky enough to meet some new friends in our town.

We are always on the lookout for homeschool resources on the internet, and here a few of W's favorite sites for reading, games, mazes, and music.

• Boowa and Kwala
• Starfall
• PBS Kids
• Playhouse Disney
• Childcareland - free printables and activity ideas
• Usborne-Quicklinks - if you have any of the excellent Usborne internet linked books this website has all the related materials. We have used it for the First Thousand Words in French book.

We would love to hear about your favorite kid friendly web sites and homeschool resource sites!