Archive for the 'Curriculum' Category

First Language Lessons Level 4 Lesson Schedule

Friday, July 9th, 2010

C’s officially starting 4th grade! Well, as official as we get. He’s finished his 3rd grade grammar and that was his lingering non-4th grade level work.

I decided instead of saving the “bonus” lessons for the end of the book like we did this time we’ll intersperse them with the rest of the book. Their lesson schedule has 3 lessons per week for 36 weeks (a standard school year) but since we go year round I’m changing the format to do grammar lessons 2x a week.

Will we actually follow this? Unlikely, but it lets me see where to add in the bonus lessons and if we take off a week here or there I like having a reference point to go back to and pick up again. Plus since we’re starting next week, even with several weeks off over the course of the year we should be able to finish up this grammar book by Sep. 2011 and C can start 5th grade then. (Note to self, find grammar/writing program for 5th grade!)

1. 1, 2
2. 3, 4
3. 5, 6
4. 7, 8
5. 9, 10
6. 11, 12
7. DS 1, 2
8. 13, 14
9. 15, 16
10. 17, 18
11. 19, 20
12. 21, 22
13. 23, 24
14. 25, 26
15. 27, 28
16. 29, 30
17. WL 1, WL 2
18. WL 3, 31
19. 32, 33
20. 34, 35
21. 36, 37
22. 38, 39
23. 40, 41
24. 42, 43
25. 44, 45
26. 46, 47
27. 48, 49
28. 50, 51
29. 52, 53
30. 54, 55
31. DS 3, DS 4
32. 56, 57
33. 58, 59
34. DS 5, 60
35. 61, 62
36. 63, 64
37. 65, 66
38. 67, 68
39. 69, 70
40. 71, WL 4
41. WL 5, WL 6
42. 72, 73
43. 74, 75
44. 76, 77
48. 78, Contractions
49. 79, 80, 81 (Reviews)
50. WL 7, WL 8
51. WL 9, WL 10
52. 82, 83, 84, 85 (Reviews)

Note: we just started our first lesson and it was very much a review of concept he’s learned in the prior 3 years. The entire book appears to be a repeat of prior concepts in more depth, which is great! Things he still needs help with are reiterated and those things he’s already mastered we can just move quickly through. This does involve more writing & dictation, both areas we need to focus on since he’s developed the fine motor skills for lengthier writing assignments. Before now we’ve let him narrate instead of writing everything but he’s 8 and I think he’s ready for some more practice in that area. We still keep it brief because before 10 years of age I question how much they have the fine motor skills/patience to do lengthy compositions but we’re working that direction. (And that will depend on each child and how much I see them struggle or get worn out by the handwriting.)

SWR Syllabus w/out Cursive First

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

If you’re NOT using cursive first then my SWR lesson plan doesn’t help because that threw things off. This is the layout of steps combing the two books, the teacher’s guide (SWR) and the spelling list (WISE Guide) presuming your child already is printing well. Any lesson that is for the teacher to do on their own (prep stuff) I specified as TEACHER PREP – those do NOT involve the kids. It’s reading & explanation for you to prepare for further lessons.

Each numbered step is NOT a single lesson – it may take awhile or it may be something you can do on the same day as other lessons. For example, #9 says WISE A (first spelling list.) That would be the step you work on for the entire week as you review phonogram cards (M) then introduce the spelling words (T) and review them (W) then play a game to enforce them (Th) and do the test (F.)

WISE lists A through G are single lists of spelling words, 20 each. After that the lettered sections change and are H1, H2, etc. Each of those is listed as a different step and each WISE section has 20 words so you can assign 5, 10, 20, 40 words per week – whatever works for your child, but I wrote this up assuming you do 20 words (one complete list) per week.

I wrote this up to give myself the week by week outline but obviously that’s totally flexible and this gives you the order of the lesson but they can easily be smooshed together/spread out as you need.

Week One
1. TEACHER PREP: SWR lessons 1 to 4 (have kids entertain themselves! This is going to take some time to read through, prep your flashcards, and learn the program.)
– Plan Before Teaching (explains program)
– Prepare Preschoolers (but really all ages)
– Read Aloud (hooray, an easy lesson!)
– Evaluate Achievement Level (for each student starting)

Week Two
2. SWR 5: introduce student to phonogram sounds/cards (make it fun – games, phonogram bingo, treasure hunt for sound cards, etc)
3. SWR 6 & 7: writing alphabet & numbers neatly (make sure their print is legible)

Week Three
4. SWR 8: intro to learning log for student
5. SWR 9: vowel & consonant page in LL (learning log)
6. SWR 10: multi letter phonogram page in LL
7. SWR 11: placement test for WISE

Week Four
8. SWR 12: prep to start WISE (TEACHER PREP)
– phonogram and handwriting review for kids

Week Five
9. WISE A (first spelling list for students this week)
10. SWR 13: Reinforce spelling (TEACHER PREP)
11. SWR 14: Classic literature (TEACHER PREP)

Week Six
12. SWR 15: number page in LL (Mon.)
13. WISE B

Week Seven
14: WISE C
15. SWR 16: grammar (TEACHER PREP)

Week Eight
16. SWR 17: final E (Mon.)
17. WISE D

Week Nine
18. WISE E
19. SWR 18: start sh and ti

Week Ten
20. SWR 19: AEIOU page in LL (Mon)
21. WISE F

Week Eleven
22. SWR 20: drill rules cards on Mondays w/phonogram cards (TEACHER PREP)
23. WISE G
24. SWR 21: start composing own sentences (TEACHER PREP)

Week Twelve
25. WISE H1

Week Thirteen
26. WISE H2
27. SWR 22: explain ed

Week Fourteen
28. WISE I1
29. SWR 23: reading in books assigned (TEACHER PREP)

Week Fifteen
30. WISE I2
31. SWR 24: vocabulary
32. SWR 25: abbreviations

Week Sixteen
33. WISE I3

Week Seventeen
34. WISE I4

Week Eighteen
35. WISE J1
36. SWR 26: er page

Week Nineteen
37. WISE J2

Week Twenty
38. WISE J3
39. SWR 27: plurals

Week Twenty-One
40: WISE J4

Week Twenty-Two
41. WISE J5
42. SWR 28: contractions

Week Twenty-Three
43. WISE J6

Weeks Forward:
WISE Sections K through Z and they alternate with further lessons in the SWR guide. Each section lists the preliminary work that needs to be done on Monday and will include any SWR lessons that need to be done before the students start the spelling words on Tuesday.

For the record, I do NOT follow all the steps. I skip some preliminaries, I don’t always have the kids write the stuff in their reference section in back. I don’t always make them mark their words with the red pencil – it depends on how they are doing with the spelling words and how lazy I am. Since my kids are still young and this program has you review past words I figure we can go more in depth each time we review.

Also in the back of the SWR book there are suggested lesson plans and a ton of resources. It’s a lot to take in, give yourself at least a week of preparation & learning time!

Summer-Fall 2010 Schedule & Goals

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Monday: art, motor lab/outside time, preliminary SWR, First Language Lessons, math

Tuesday: Mo & Ben speech, PE, new spelling words, math

Wednesday: music, Cub Scouts (off for summer), spelling words review, First Language Lessons, math

Thursday: Mo & Ben speech, history, PE, spelling enrichment, math

Friday: catch up/field trips/day off, teaching the classics, swimming (off for summer)

Saturday: science

Sunday: journal

daily – SWR (spelling) reading aloud, outside time
4x week – motor lab/PE, math
2x week – grammar lessons (MW), speech (TTH)
1x week – music, art, history, science, out of sync activity, journal writing
2x month – science experiments, field trip

Add in: shakespeare (Lamb for kids) (F), blackline maps (Th)

Christopher
math – Saxon 5/4
language – First Language Lessons 3 & 4, SWR for spelling, reading aloud to us , journal, and read with family (novels, poetry, parables, etc)
history – Story of the World I, 2x month special projects
science – read for fun, experiments 2x a month (creation)
music – piano volume 2; basic music theory intro, orchestras, composer study
art – weekly art/craft project, artist study
PE – 4x week (exercises & motor lab, games, PE in fall

Moira
math – Saxon 2
language – First Language Lessons 1 – 2, SWR for spelling, reading aloud to us, journal, read with family (novels, poetry, parables, etc)
history – SOTW 1, 2x month special projects
science – experiments 2x month, creation unit
therapy – 2x week motor lab, 1x week swim lessons (fall), 2x week movement for special populations, 2x week speech (summer/home in fall), 1x week horseback riding (fall), sensory activity?,
music – piano volume 1, basic music theory, orchestra, composer study
art – weekly art/craft project, artist study
PE – 4x week (horses (fall), swim (fall), movement class

Bennett:
math – Saxon 1
language – SWR for spelling, reading aloud to us, read with family (novels, poetry, parables, etc), enunciation, handwriting Start First Languages Lessons January 2011
history – SOTW 1, 2x month special projects
science – experiments 2x month, creation unit
therapy – 2x week motor lab, 1x week swim lessons (fall), 2x week movement for special populations, 2x week speech (fall), 1x week horseback riding (fall), sensory activity?,
music – basic music theory, orchestra, composer study, start piano 1 when feel ready (fall or winter?)
art – weekly art/craft project, artist study
PE – 4x week (horses (fall), swim (fall), movement class

Free High School Courses from MIT

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Here. They are not accredited, it’s a free course but you aren’t receiving official credit for them – just the education. :) But since in Texas we write our own transcripts for the kids anyway that’s not a problem for me. Good prep for them to attend local university courses.

Curriculum 2010

Monday, January 25th, 2010

I know, they are sideways, I took them with the iPhone and they are not cooperating with me. :(

Christopher: First Language Lessons 3 (grammar, narration, dictation, memorizing scripture mastery instead of the poems in the book.) Piano book 2, composition book for Spell to Write & Read lists, binder with spelling tests, grammar writing, science notes, etc. Missing – timeline/century binder for history.

Moira: Saxon 2 & workbook pages in binder, piano book one, First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind level 1, composition book for Spell to Write & Read spelling lists, Ready Bodies Learning Mind activity guide for OT work. Missing century binder & binder with spelling test, science notes, etc. And Out of Sync Child has Fun.

Combined work: Spell to Write & Read with Wise Guide (teacher’s manual), Teaching the Classics, Cursive First, flashcards for phonograms and spelling rules, etc.

Bennett: Saxon 1 with workbook pages, speech therapy workbook pages in binder, phonics binder with spelling test.

Science: Just a ton of books for reading and science experiments on “creation” to cover solar system, animals, rocks, etc.

Social Studies: Right now it’s Texas/local history and geography but in fall we’ll start Story of the World again. Lots of geography books and social studies stuff the kids enjoy plus My First Book of Biographies.

Art: Annotated Mona Lisa, American artists book (with huge posters to accompany it), Ed Emberly, lots of sketchpads, Discovering Great Artists, Science Arts.

Free Classes

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Mathematics from BYU, aimed at grades 7 through 12.
Writing
Spelling
Astronomy
Speed Reading
Finance
People & Cultures of the Holy Land
Civics

There’s a lot of other stuff, family responsibility, genealogy, religion.

Teaching the Classics

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Teaching the Classics is a literature program I just picked up. I had viewed some of the DVD and decided to get the syllabus. I really like it, it lays things out beautifully and has a ton of great information. I don’t think I can even begin to summarize it! :)

I like that it’s Socratic method – ask questions and encourage the children to think and make connections. I like that it can be used with really any book, and starts using children’s stories to help lay it out more clearly. It covers the key points of any story and you can make it very simple for little ones or very complex for teens. I like that it has the story chart so you can help the kids lay out visually the plot, theme, characters, etc… And it walks you through some sample ones so you can get the hang of how it works.

It was $25 plus $5 shipping but it was the same shipping for one or two copies so a friend and I ordered together. I think this blends well with A Thomas Jefferson Education and it’s classical approach so it would fit perfectly with Charlotte Mason methods of live books and The Well Trained Mind.

This is a reading program, to supplement our grammar program (First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind) and it will involve some narration as well. We’ll also be adding handwriting (Cursive First) and spelling & composition (Spell to Write & Read.) I’m anticipating they will all blend together well with some overlap but this should cover much of our language arts for the next several years at least…

More later to explain that as C is now a very proficient reader, we’re adding much more in depth lessons.

Memorization Work Ideas

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

We really like First Languages Lessons for the Well Trained Mind but I’m not so impressed with the memorization work. Some of it is great but some of it is just poems or nursery rhymes that aren’t impressive. I would rather the kids memorize things that they will really need or at least that’s beautiful!

For Christopher (now in book 3) we’re having him memorize scripture mastery cards – you can get them online for $.25 a set (four sets total.) We pulled out the scripture verses that were smallest to start with, but ones that I felt had meaning we could explain to him. Example – last week he memorized John 14:15 – “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” This week it is Doctrine & Covenants 82:10 – “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say ye have no promise.” So we’re starting small! But I like that instead of just poems (and we are still memorizing some of those) he’s learning scripture that will come in handy.

For Moira I was pondering what would be best for her. And inspiration struck! I pulled down our Children’s Songbook and started at the beginning. She knows the first song, of course – “I am a child of God.” The second song is the one they are learning in primary (that is making her cry because it’s minor key) – “I lived in Heaven.” So we went with #3:

I know my Father lives,
And loves me, too.
The Spirit whispers this to me,
And tells me it is true.

Perfect! It’s easier for her to remember because it’s lyrics vs. a scripture (the rhyme helps.) Plus we have the primary songs in my iTunes so I can play the song for her and she memorizes to music so quickly. (And Christopher is learning them, too.) I love that it’s something they’ll be glad to know since they’ll be singing these in primary. I like that they are memorizing teachings of the Gospel. It’s perfect!

Oh, source – the scripture mastery cards, children’s songbook and primary cd you can buy at LDS catalog and it’s free shipping. You can also access the church’s music player through the church website if you want the primary songs for free! I don’t know if you can download them

So whenever there is a new poem for the kids to memorize in either book we’ll use the scripture mastery or primary song instead, unless it’s a poem we like.

Spring 2009 – What We’re Using (w/pictures)

Friday, January 9th, 2009

What we’re using for school this next semester:

First, Christopher – this should be his first grade year. He’s in Saxon 2 (which is second grade level) and First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind book 3 (which is 3rd grade level.) He’s reading whatever books strike his fancy and we’re reading aloud to him still. He’s also using his composition book for his handwriting practice and dictation but typing his book reports (and using a new typing program.) He writes letters and is writing in his journal for more writing practice.

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Moira is in her kindergarden year. She’s in Saxon 1 (first grade) and First Language Lessons grade 1. She’s also using a workbook for some extra reading practice, Bob books for reading aloud, and her composition book for handwriting practice. For therapy we’re using a phonics book (for speech), Ready Bodies, Learning Minds for motor and sensory work and The Out of Sync Child has fun for sensory issues, speech & motor. Plus the Webber Phonology cards.

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For math manipulatives we have geoboards/peg boards, math cubes, tangram pieces and some plastic shapes. And a ton more, but these are the ones they use most. We have toy clocks, calendars, counting bears, flashcards, etc.

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For art we’re mostly using the Complete Book of Arts & Crafts right now, but we also have the science arts book, Annotated Mona Lisa, Discovering Great Artists, and some art history books (serious ones) from my family (they all did AP art history & one minored in it in college.) And we have sketch pads for the kids for their nature journals, among other things. And an obscene amount of art supplies. We try to do art on Mondays.

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Music – we have a basic beginner piano book C is almost done with and Mo will start with, along with the Primary children’s song book and a simplified hymn book. We have lots of toy instruments like triangles and shakers, the guitar, piano, and drums. We let the kids play on Garage Band, Kit and I play for them (guitar and piano) and we use Pandora to expose them to various composers. We’ll be doing artist & composer studies later this year, picking one of each to focus on per semester. (It will be a good education for me. We do music study on Tuesdays.

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Wednesdays we do an Out of Sync activity and focus on some extra motor work/sensory stuff for Moira, though all the kids participate. We do speech on Monday & Friday with Mo.

For history we’re in book two of Story of the World. We also have some geography encyclopedias, Circling the Globe, various atlases, blackline maps to go along with our history curriculum, and the biography books for the kids to read about some famous figures. We’ll be supplementing a LOT more with “living books” and biographies as we get more in depth later on – the Story of the World is a four book series we’re doing twice through so next go round we’ll have a lot more enrichment activities and additional readings. (Ask me if that made no sense at all and I’ll explain later.) Thursdays we do history and every other week we meet with a co-op for an enrichment activity.

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Science this year is earth & space, we have a variety of books and posters & the NASA cards. Right now we’re just doing some readings but we hope to add in science experiments again soon. The science readings go along with the history timeline. Life science, earth & space, chemistry, physics on a four year rotation.

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We also have some science experiment books and encyclopedias. There are more books for life, chemistry, and physics that I’ll photograph when we get around to those. And the Magic School Bus books. Plus we have the magnifying glasses and other hands on things for the kids. We do science on Fridays.

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We do language & math daily, we do the “specials” each once a week. Art, music, sensory (therapy, history, science.

The language & math with Christopher takes about 30 to 45 minutes total. The language & math with Moira takes about 30 minutes total. If they dawdle it takes about an hour. :) They both need one-on-one attention to cover the new math concept of the day and do the language, Mo needing more help than C, of course. The extra subject takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on what we’re doing. We also doing reading aloud with the kids for at least an hour a day but often two or more hours with them reading to us, each other and us reading to them.

Oh, and cost – we bought the Magic School Bus books from Scholastic for cheap. The Well Trained Mind book 3 and workbook I got off Amazon (it was cheaper that way) and the workbook for Saxon 2 we bought new. Those are the only books we bought new and we didn’t pay full price for any of them. Everything else we got as a gift or free from another homeschool family, bought used from a library sale, or found on Half.com or Amazon.com for used. We’ve not spent a ton on these, though if we find a book we fell would be good we find a way to get it. We did buy the manipulatives new, of course, but we purchased most of them during Mardel’s 20% off educators sale. Homeschooling does not have to be expensive.

Okay, I hope that answers most of the questions re: what we use!

And here are links in the post I wrote up, if you want to find out more about the books we use.

I lied – the Ready Bodies, Learning Mind program we purchased new as well. The therapy things are often harder to find used, but we checked that out so we knew it was something we felt good about.

2008-2009 What we’re doing

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Here are the books/programs/curriculums we are using. We rarely buy new, we love www.half.com or used from Amazon. We like books we can pass down through multiple kids and curriculums that can be adapted for several ages at once. We do language and math daily (alternating spelling & grammar for language, but reading aloud daily) and we do the other “specials” usually once a week (science, history.) Some subjects we get at the co-op and at home (music, art.) We do therapy of some sort daily (motor lab/PE, speech, sensory, etc.)

Language:

First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind, we have Mo starting 1st grade and C finishing 2nd and starting 3rd. There’s one book for 1/2 and another plus workbook for 3.

We also have the Bob books, set 1 and 2 (Mo’s in 2, Ben’s starting 1) and the LeapFrog DVD set, which is what taught the oldest three to read. :) Yes, movies. Sigh…


We’re not doing a spelling curriculum, I just have C practice stuff like days of the week, months of the year, prepositions, etc. He’s reading and spelling so well that I’m not worried about spelling this year. Mo I have practice some spelling lists from on-line and do the Starfall website (link to left) for help. We’re having C start the Tux Typing program.

Math:

Saxon 1 for Mo, Saxon 2 for C. We’re using older editions and all the rumors are true, Saxon is a ton of work. We don’t do it all. I check the teacher’s manual to see what new concept is being introduced, teach it (and often not following their script) and then have the kids do their worksheet (it’s front and back.) I don’t make them do the addition/subtraction drills except once or twice a month and we time them. Maybe once a week we do review things like time, calendar, etc. But it’s nice that I know what they know and where they are struggling so I don’t have to waste their time or my time doing all the work included. If C can answer everything orally, I don’t make him write out the worksheets every day. Same for Mo, of course.

But we really like Saxon as a foundation and how it includes hands on things (peg boards, tangrams, etc) and incorporates algebra and geometry throughout. We also let them do Tux Math after they finish their Saxon work.

History/geography/social studies:

Story of the World Volume II this year. We meet every other week with a co-op to do activities related to our readings. We’ll be reading volume 3 over the summer and next fall starting the history class at the co-op, volume 4. (They’re doing volume 3 this year.)

Art:

Complete Book of Arts & Crafts and we’ll also have art at the co-op.

Therapy:

The Out of Sync Child has Fun and Ready Bodies Learning Minds.

And for Mo’s speech, the Webber Phonology cards but just fronting and stopping for now.

Science:

We’re doing chemistry with the co-op this year and we’ve not explored the curriculum at all.

Spanish:

Ditto above, with the co-op and they’re using Rosetta Stone Spanish-Latin America but that price is a bit much for us right now. :) We shall see what we do about spanish…

Music:

They will get music at the co-op, we’re starting Mo on piano and having C start the second book, using the Alfred series. We’re also playing around with Garage Band (on the Mac) and Kit’s drums, guitar, and making our own instruments (from the arts & crafts book.)