ThadenPierce School

Doing activities from the Ready Bodies, Learning Minds book – the kids have to roll the ball up and down each other’s backs and it’s good practice at crossing midline and nice tactile input for the one getting the massage. You can see Bennett anxiously waiting his turn.

More details to follow after I find the book and remember which chapter this was.

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.)

There was a Junior Naturalists meeting at our library for 6 to 8 year olds, but they said Moira could come. We learned about turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. (I’m not the only one that didn’t know what a terrapin was, right?) The kids were able to play with shells, get some coloring pages and check out books, and hold not only a turtle but also some earthworms (turtle food.) I’m not sure which they preferred, the turtle or the worms. It was fun and I was very impressed with how well Christopher answered questions and Moira (with some translating help from Mom) asked questions! Though it made me sad to realize I have to play translator for her… but still, WE HAD FUN and learned a lot.

(hard setting — it can go much easier. )

Here’s an Open Source (and FREE!) math game geared for kids. Tux, of Math Command, or Tux Math for short. Comets blaze down with math problems on them, and kids have to punch in the answer before they clobber four poor penguins huddling for shelter beneath igloos.

Yes, it sounds weird. But with the various training options and such, we were able to give Mo number typing help (no math, just find the numbers) as well as gearing the game to C’s basic math skills. The fact that there’s a time limit helps to reinforce quick thinking about basic sums.

Give it a whirl. Let us know what you think!

Mac Version
PC Version

Copied from main blog –

Are you a homeschooler? And would you mind emailing me or leaving a comment? I’m meeting more and more homeschoolers in real life or on-line or through comments/emails and I’m really fascinated by this, from a sociological standpoint among other things… so if you don’t mind de-lurking (or if I know you and know you are a homeschooler already, humor me and still email/comment) then let me know you are a homeschooler and I may pick your brain.

Thanks! I find this fascinating, and wonder if the numbers of parents seeking alternatives are really increasing this dramatically or if I’m just paying more attention now that I am actively schooling. OH, and if you don’t have school age kids but plan to homeschool or are considering it, I would like to hear from you, too. Or if you have school age kids and considered homeschooling but decided against it, whether you opted for another option like charter/private or public school. Okay, so pretty much everyone – I’m intrigued by this…

During circle time this morning Moira started to sign while we sang the days of the week song! I forgot until then that she had learned the signs for the days of the week thanks to Signing Time and she’s now trying to sign everything. I love it, but I don’t know enough signs to be much help so we’re trying to get our hands on more copies of the videos. My sister was kind enough to pass on two Baby Signing Times to us (that we’ve now seen 57 times in the last three days because Bennett knows how to work the DVD player and I was nursing my swollen toe so I let him.) And unfortunately, we only own three Signing Time videos of our own and Bennett has broken TWO of them!! I’m so sad because they are not cheap.

But I cannot say enough good things about them, the Baby Signing Times is great for the little ones (Bennett & Emy) but the regular videos are great for all of them. Moira especially adores the songs and of course that helps her better remember the signs. And anything that helps Mo communicate better is going to be a hit in my opinion!!

The first link is the website, the second link is the blog for Signing Times. Worth checking out! I heard PBS may have to yank the series but it’s still on some affiliates? And your local library may have copies.

From Kit:

Sing it with me!

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas,
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is converted into helium
At temperatures of millions of degrees!

The sun is hot,
The sun is not
a place where we can live.
But here on Earth
there’d be no life
without the light it gives…

The Big Picture

To explore, PBS Kids “Don’t buy it” website about media.