Thursday, May 29, 2014

2013-2014 Curriculum Plans vs Reality

The year academic is officially over! For fun, and future knowledge, I'm putting together a post on my plans for the year verses what actually went down in the Cotter homeschool. Let's see if they post makes me feel worse or better about the year. I'll let you know when I'm  done.

Bean – 2nd Grade



PLAN
We used this program last year and I'm happily using it again. It is very different from how I was taught math, so sometimes I doubt their methods, but once we finish a lesson and Bean understands the concepts I mentally apologize. At this level there is minimal prep, so I typically look at the lesson between breaks, grab the supplies needed, and we are ready to go. They use lots of hands-on manipulatives and tons of card games for mastering math facts, so Bean rarely complains about math.

REALITY
I get an A+ on this one. We completed the entire program. Wait I skipped the very last lesson on introducing negative numbers. I still get an A+.




PLAN
I don’t really like this program, but it’s free from our public homeschool support program. We used it last year and it worked, but I very loosely use their methods. At the end of the day she knows her parts of speech and can diagram basic sentences, so that works for now. Next year we will switch to IEW, which seems to be the program of choice for most of my friends, but I didn’t want to splurge on it just yet.

REALITY
I warned you, I don't like the program, so it's no surprise that I ditched is 3/4 of the way through the year and went ahead and began IEW. Well pick IEW back up again in the fall.

Handwriting



PLAN
We’ve used this since preschool and are still very happy with the fun and creative way that they teach penmanship. If we can breeze through the 2nd grade book I’ll move on to cursive, which Bean is pleading for.

REALITY
The book is complete, but we never made it to cursive, however that is in the plans for next year. If you ever use this program know that you don't need the teacher edition once you get past the initial teaching of the letters (preschool and kindergarten levels). Bean just took the book and filled out a few pages a week on her own.



PLAN
We use this as a fun supplement for copy work and a bit of art. The program teaches the child how to draw a simple object and then has them copy a few short sentences about their object. So far Bean really enjoys doing each lesson even although she’s not typically into drawing and coloring.

REALITY
She made it through the first unit on farm animals, but we stopped there. It was supplemental fun, so I don't have to feel bad. I think she stopped around the time Peanut was born.

Spelling



PLAN
We did levels 1 and 2 of All About Spelling last year and I was happy with their approach. It’s hands-on and logical. The child is given a spelling principle explaining why we spell certain words a certain way, then the words for that lesson use that principle. Maybe I missed something in my education, but I remember spelling being a list of random words that you memorized and nobody told me things like “English words don’t end in “i”, so we use “y”. I was a terrible speller with this approach. So, I too am learning how (or more so WHY) to spell.

REALITY
Done, done, done! We are now using the cards for spelling quizzes throughout the summer. I'd rather her not forget everything she learned.




PLAN
Reading Eggs is an awesome online program that has several components, including one for spelling. Bean is learning where the letters are on the keyboard, as well as how to spell with this supplemental program. Try it out for two weeks for free.

REALITY
We did this, but not as consistently as I thought we would. I think it's because the words started to get beyond her ability, making the lesson too difficult.

Reading Comprehension

PLAN
After a child has completed the Reading Eggs component which teaches them how to read, they move on to Reading Express, which focuses on reading comprehension. Bean has been working her way through the program and sees this computer time as a treat. It has an avatar element where your kids can play games with other kids, just a heads up. We don't use it because avatars creep me out.

REALITY
Bean continues to love this program and we continue to use it!

Writing

PLAN
One day a week Bean goes to a public homeschool options program with other homeschooled kids and this is where she works on her writing skills. Other than that, I have her write stories once in a while, but nothing formal. Sorry, no real insight on writing here.

REALITY
She had a fantastic teacher and we are looking forward to bringing writing home next year with IEW. (Bean's signed up for a Lego class, which left no room for writing at her options program. Priorities, I know.)


Classically Catholic Memory - Gamma Year 

PLAN
For the following subjects we use the memory work laid out by Classically Catholic Memory as the backbone of our studies.

Science
History
Religion
Latin
Geography
Poetry

For more on what this looks like check out my Classically Catholic Memory tab for bi-weekly wrap ups.

REALITY
Um, just read through these posts. Yes, we completed all 18 weeks, no my kids do not have everything memorized. I'm looking forward to Delta year!

Social Studies

Because we are studying North America in geography this year, we are focusing on one state each week until we've covered all 50 states. Here are the basics on my insane goal.




The textbook behind the project. We don't use the workbook, as it's for 4th graders, but the textbook has worked well for us.

REALITY
We are still loving our Journey Across America, but we are way behind on finishing it by the end of the summer. This week we are on our 30th state, Wisconsin. There is no way I can pull off 20 states in 12 weeks. I guess we'll just keep trucking until we get it done!

Spanish


PLAN
We purchased Rosetta Stone last year and Bean made her way through the first 3 units. It’s an investment, but it will take her 6 years to get through it at this pace, plus Pal and baby Cotter will be able to use it as well. Dividing the curriculum out this way makes it about $20.00 per child per year and any other Spanish program would be more than that... not to mention I can’t teach Spanish. We did not get the homeschool edition, and I personally don’t think it is necessary.

REALITY
Bean moved on to level 2 in the 5 level program. I was hoping she'd get a bit further, but really, so long as she finished before high school, we're good.


PLAN
This one is purely for fun… and it was free from our public homeschool support program, so why not. The kids think it's funny. I can cook dinner when they watch it. I like Muzzy.

REALITY
We rarely watched Muzzy.

Music, P.E., and Drama

PLAN
We get these "specials" covered at our one day a week public homeschool options program. I can't sing, P.E. with two kids is awkward, and the only role I've ever taken on in a play is that of a poppy flower in Holy Spirit's 8th grade production of the Wizard of Oz. I believe I had two lines, one to the effect of "Girls, let stop arguing, we all know that I'm the prettiest flower in the field." That was important for my self esteem. 

REALITY
Check.

Pal - Pre-K

Workbooks



PLAN
We used these workbooks with Bean and are now using them with Pal. They cover all the main concepts a preschooler should be learning, such as basic math and alphabet skills, as well as concepts and reasoning. I like the set because it is affordable and often has the kids doing cut and paste projects. It's also christian, so you get church bells and bibles mixed into the exercises. Instead of doing one book at a time, we rotate through the books doing 2-3 pages total each day.

REALITY
Pal completed all of the workbooks! I'll probably use them again with Peanut... in 5 years.


Reading



PLAN
So far this book has worked as the starting point of reading for both of our kids. It is very easy to follow as the teacher and I love how comprehensive it is.

REALITY
I had hoped to complete all 100 lessons this year, but we only made it to lesson 80. The kid is 5, so I'm not concerned. We did a lot of readers along with the lessons so were were not doing one lesson a day, it was more like 2 a week. I hope to complete the last 20 lessons this summer.




PLAN
I adore these sweet little readers that teach lessons on virtue and the Catholic faith. They can be used as an entire reading program, but Pal only reads the stories in them for some supplemental fun.

REALITY
We finished Reader A. Reader B will be used next year!


PLAN
Pal is using the main component of this online program for supplemental practice with learning how to read. It's also great for basic computer skills!

As a heads up, I have a whole post on what we've used for teaching our kids to read. Check it out for more ideas!

REALITY
He completed 100 of the 120 lessons and is doing well. I imagine he'll finish the last 20 lessons over the summer.

Handwriting

PLAN
I mentioned this progam above, and here is a whole post on it!

REALITY
The book is complete.

Math



PLAN
Another program from the fine people who created Reading Eggs, Mathseeds is a supplemental program that lets mom make dinner in peace... sometimes. It's really impressive and sometimes I want to watch him do it, instead of make dinner, because it is so entertaining.

REALITY
Pal loved this program and made it through the first 75 lessons. The quiz to get to lesson 76 stumped him, as they were starting to introduce division and he was still working on understanding subtraction.


That's it! Plans vs. Reality.

Let's see how do I feel? Pretty good. I obviously planned more than we could handle, but I think that is better than planning less and realizing that you don't have enough. The key is to let go of some of your plans when necessary.

Here's the take away lesson for newbies to homeschooling. Curriculum plans always get tweaked, don't freak out, you're not failing.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Summer Bingo or How we Prevent the Summer Slide

Let's be honest. As a homeschooling momma, if I allow my kids to participate in the summer slide, the main person I'm hurting is myself. While I sometimes have dreams of abandoning all educational efforts for a full three months, I know that it wouldn't be worth it when we start school again and my kids have forgotten all of those math facts and spelling words that we worked so hard on committing to memory.

I also know that throwing workbooks and drills their way when they believe they should be solely building forts, playing in the backyard, and swimming, will result in my burning out on home educating.

So my answer to this dilemma (no school vs. burning out on year-round school) is to try to make summer maintenance fun (or at least tolerable). Enter Summer Bingo.


As yet another Shower of Roses inspired activity in our home, Summer Bingo consists of the kids earning tickets, which they can trade in for rewards, for completing tasks on their bingo card. Here are the rules:


This set up gives the kids a chance to earn 10 tickets per week... and an AMC stands for "Augustyn Movie Center". Augustyn is my maiden name and it's something my mom did as a teacher. We turn the house into a theater with a ticket booth and concession stand... it's basically family movie night on steroids.

The vast majority of tasks on our cards are school based. You could include chores or fun activities (like draw with chalk or blow bubbles), but we have a separate system for chores and summer fun (which I haven't posted on yet... what can I say, I like systems).

Here is Bean's card (Age 7/8):


Some clarification on a few tasks:


Here is Pal's card (age 5):


Some clarification on a few tasks:

  • Dry erase numbers and ABCs: Kumon
  • Alphabet Bingo: Target Dollar Spot
  • 100 Easy Lessons
  • Cutting Activity: Kumon (This is a little more girly than I had hoped, but it's super fun.)
  • Reading Eggs and Math Seeds: Reading Eggs
  • Sight word cards: Uh, garage sale?
  • Summer Bridge: Workbook (They have to complete all 5 lessons for the week to earn the sticker.)
Our little method worked last summer, so I'm hoping it will work again this summer!


Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

The Good Shepherd's Garden Party: Week 5

Inspired by Jessica and Charlotte we have an Easter tradition in our home of celebrating the entire Easter season with the Garden of the Good Shepherd. The program consists of a daily prayer time in which you add a scripture inspired sticker to your garden. By the end of Easter season your scene is filled with reminders of Jesus, the good shepherd, and heaven.

This is our 3rd year having a weekly garden party at the end of each themed week. For dinner on Saturday we incorporate each sticker into our meal and talk about what we've learned from our nightly prayer time. It's a favorite tradition in our home and one that keeps the season of Easter alive.

Week 5: The Gardner Plants Paradise

For week five I made an Italian dinner with pasta, bread, salad, fruit, and dessert. If I'm being honest, I was so excited about how this all came together as a complete meal!


Day 29: The Tree of Life's Leaves


A mixed greens salad, which represented the leaves, started out our meal. And before you think I'm able to get my kids to eat salad, let me state that this was only served to mom and dad.

Day 30: The Tree of Life's Flowers


Our main dish was a simple flower shaped pasta with red sauce. The pasta is technically called Fiori (flowery in Italian) and is made by Barilla. I had to buy it in bulk on Amazon, so now we have 11 more boxes to eat. Between the 20% off on-line coupon, free shipping, and no tax, it didn't cost any more than a box at the store, so we'll be having lots of flower pasta this summer!


I also had some flower straws from an after Easter sale, so used those as well.

Day 31: The Tree of Life's Fruit


Yes, I've already used this photo, but the mandarine oranges on the salad represent the fruit! The fruit depicted on this day's sticker is oranges. I love mandarine oranges on salads, so it was meant to be.

Day 32: The Owl


For dessert I made mini owl fruit pizzas. It's a graham cracker base covered with frosting and topped with kiwi and blueberry eyes, strawberry eyebrows, and mandarine orange beaks. They were almost too cute to eat. 

Day 33: The Olive Tree


Our olive tree was represented with olive oil, which we used to dip rosemary bread in... more on the bread later.

Day 34: The Palm Tree


A side dish of fruit palm trees made from bananas, apples, and blueberries were served for the palm tree. You could use the apple palm leaves to represent the tree of life's leaves and the blueberry coconuts to represent the tree of life's fruit, and then omit the salad.

Day 35: Roses and Lilies


And finally, the rosemary bread, which we dipped in the olive oil, reminded us of the roses and lilies!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

Monday, May 26, 2014

American Girl Unit Studies: Caroline

We are studying our way through the American Girl historical characters as we learn American history. So far we have covered Kaya and Felicity and now we are ending this school year with Caroline. So far everyone has thoroughly enjoyed this approach to history, so we'll be picking this back up in the fall!

I've coordinated these units to work with the history sentences we are memorizing with the Classically Catholic Memory program. (I'm blogging about that too!) Caroline lines up with week 18 of gamma year.

Caroline Unit Study


Caroline is the newest AG historical character. In the past AG produced great supplemental resources for their dolls, things like cookbooks, craft books, and non-fiction historical books. However, now that Mattel has taken AG over, these gems are no longer being created. It's kind of sad. And it made the creation of the unit a bit more tasking, but no less fun!

Fiction Books
Bean happily read the following books to get the unit underway.


Six Book Boxed Set
The Traveler's Trick
Traitor in the Shipyard

*Coming in August 2014: Beforever Journey Series


Usually we also read some non-fiction supplemental books, but AG has not produced any such products and there aren't really children's books on the War of 1812.

Lapbook
I don't believe a Caroline lapbook is available for download, so we had to create our own. I used some of the basic templates from Homeschool Share's free American Girl templates and made the rest of the books using their free lapbook templates. You can insert text boxes onto PDF documents, which is how I put them together.



Bean also decorated the lapbook with pictures that she cut out from an American Girl catalogue. In the past we have used American Girl stickers as embellishments, but Caroline is to new to be in the set.

Timeline and Map
The absence of Caroline in the sticker pad also posed a problem for our timeline and map. So, we again turned to the AG catalogue to find replacements.


Eh, Caroline is a bit of a giant compared to the others, but it's better than nothing!


And Caroline found her home by Sackets Harbor, New York, right on the shores of Lake Ontario where she grew up. You can see it right above her head :).

Food
Food options that we found in the books include:
  • Ginger Cakes (but we don't like molasses)
  • Stuffed Whitefish (not gunna happen)
  • Lima Beans (tourture), 
  • Cabbage and Apples (we could have gone for the apples, but cabbage?), 
  • Carrot Pudding (pudding is supposed to be good), 
  • Apple Pie (yep, feeling too lazy)
  • Burnt-Sugar Cake (I feel like this would need to involve a mini blowtorch, but maybe that's just me)
  • Biscuits and Honey (YES! There it is! Something I could handle during our last week of school!)

Meet Caroline, Page 62: "She and Caroline were sitting in the kitchen, watching Seth gobble up warm biscuits and honey" (Thank you Seth.)

Craft
Thanks to this handy-dandy Caroline Color and Craft book, the craft portion of our unit was a cinch. It's provided hours of fun and a cover for our lapbook.


Activity
For Christmas a few years ago Bean received a Caroline Paper Dolls set. This was the perfect time to pull them out again! Unfortunately it is now $50+ on Amazon because it is no longer being made. While it did keep the kids entertained for several stretches of time, it's not worth $50.


Online Games
And last, but not at all least, we played some online Caroline games at AmericanGirl.com.

Josefina is up next, and by next I mean early September when school starts again.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 18

Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 18
I'm blogging my way through our four year curriculum program so I don't forget everything that worked for us! Please feel free to use what works for your family and share in the comments anything you would add. For more on Classically Catholic Memory go here.

Religion
At Worksheet Works I created a copywork worksheet of this week's Bible verse for the kids to copy.

Latin
We are learning the Anima Christi by listening to a few different versions on youtube.

History

Lesson 1:
Our topic this week is the War of 1812. Bean read Flames in the City and we learned the Star-Spangled Banner with Peter Spier's illustrated book.



Lesson 2:
More importantly we completed an American Girl unit on Caroline, whose stories revolve around the War of 1812! The lesson plans can be found in this post.



Science
It's week 18 and when I saw the supply list from the CCM Teacher Text I wanted to take a nap. So rather than gather the 253 items needed (I may be exaggerating here, I'm not sure however because I didn't want to take the time to count them), I opted to buy a pre-packaged kit.

In conclusion, here are the supplies I needed for our one and only science lesson this week... it's week 18, did I mention that?


Simple Machines (Rookie) and Simple Machines (True Book) were borrowed from the library, and subsequently read. Simple Machines (Learning Resources) was bought on Amazon. Would someone please help these people come up with subtitles? Simple Machines: They aren't Complex. Simple Machine: It's Easy. Simple Machines: Machines that are Simple. Really anything to break up the monotony would be nice.

The box says it for children aged 10+, but my 5 and 7 year old had little trouble putting the machines together, they are after all, simple.


Over the next several days the kids came up with their own concoctions of machines. Any product that keeps my kids attention over several days is a winner, so I say spring for this one.

Finally they watched a Bill Nye episode titled... wait for it... Simple Machines.

Math 

Lesson 1
It's time for our last formula friends, the volume of a rectangular prism. I pulled out some 1 cm cubes and built a few so we could practice the formula and gather a visual understanding of the concept.


Lesson 2
Then we took it to the computer to play Minecraft Volume. I gave Bean a calculator and she was so thoroughly enjoying herself that she calculated 30 problems before I had to tell her to stop doing so much math because she was approaching a dangerous amount of educational screen time.

(Once she came to me very concerned about the fact that she had watched an entire movie and played some school computer games in the same day. She told me that doctors recommend that kids only have 30 minutes of screen time each day. I didn't want to have that conversation again. It's a good thing she's here to parent herself.)

Timeline

Lesson 1
Final timeline activity!

Timeline Word Scramble.


Thank you Worksheet Works for being so awesome and having a word scramble maker available to my friends and me. Go on, try it, it's easy.

Lesson 2
Oh lovely timeline book, you have been neglected for three weeks now. Perhaps next year we will finally add in your last 24 entries.

Geography
Now that we have memorized all of the countries in North America, we are focusing on memorizing our continent's major geographical features. I'm letting our Journey Across America continue to be the supplemental fun on this one, as I point out these features when we study the states they reside in.

Great Words I
We finished memorizing "Pocahontas" by Rosemary Carr Benet this week.

I don't know of any picture books of the actual poem, but as you memorize it you could do several things to learn about Pocahontas. Check out the books Pocahontas a Life in Two Worlds or Pocahontas and head this Pinterest board for snack and craft ideas.


PHEW, I did it! One year down and three to go!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

Saturday, May 24, 2014

June Feast Day Ideas

Here are some of our favorite traditions for the month of June. This is by no means an exhaustive list, rather it's my way of creating a resource that I plan to revisit each year for myself! I hope you can find it beneficial as well!

Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus



Other Ideas:

June 13th: St. Anthony of Padua

Other Ideas:
June 24th: Nativity of John the Baptist

This Solemnity is one of the most ancient feast days in our Church! It is often called "Summer Christmas" and is rich with traditions, so make sure to celebrate it!

Other Ideas:
June 27th: Sacred Heart of Jesus

Check out the ideas listed at the top of this post for how to celebrate this feast day!

June 28th: Immaculate Heart of Mary

Other Ideas:
June 29th: Sts. Peter and Paul



Other Ideas:
Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 17

Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 17
I'm blogging my way through our four year curriculum program so I don't forget everything that worked for us! Please feel free to use what works for your family and share in the comments anything you would add. For more on Classically Catholic Memory go here.

Religion

Lesson 1
At Worksheet Works I created a handwriting worksheet of this week's Bible verse. The kids used it to practice their handwriting and learn their memory work!

Latin
We are learning the Anima Christi by listening to a few different versions on youtube.

History
Here are the additional resources we used for history this week...


Lesson 1:
The first portion of this week's history sentence has the kids memorizing the first three presidents. Because we studied George Washington during week 13, we only focused on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Bean read The Revolutionary John Adams and we all enjoyed reading Thomas Jefferson's Feast... several times. Finally we listened to Thomas Jefferson's America throughout the week, which is an excellent resource!

Lesson 2:
Next the kids studied Lewis and Clark and the Louisiana Purchase with Kevin by reading Lewis and Clark: Explorers of the American West.

Science
We are now at the end of memorizing one of Newton's laws of motion each week. There are three fun videos you can watch on various aspects of the laws. Here's what I suggest, but you can watch them in any order you'd like, I'll never know.

Week 15: The Magic School Bus Plays Ball
Week 16: Bill Nye Momentum
Week 17: Bill Nye Motion

Only one lesson was necessary for science as I believe this week's Teacher Text instructions are the shortest instructions of the year. Here are the supplies we used.


First we pounded our hands on the table to show that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... Newton's 3rd Law. The harder we hit, the more it hurt as the table pushed back.


Then we (being my kids and some homeschooled friends that I was watching that morning), blew up balloons and watched the equal and opposite reaction that occurred when we let them go.


Finally we channeled the balloon's energy and sent it along a string path by sliding a straw onto the string and taping the balloon to the straw.


To finish the lesson off we watched a quick demonstration of Newton's 3rd law on YouTube.

Math 
We flipped over the circle we used last week for the circumference of a circle, and wrote out this week's formula, which is the area of a circle. Due to the complexity of the formula we left it at that.


Timeline

Lesson 1
For our timeline game this week we played a modified version of The $10,000 Pyramid. One player turns the bottom left card over and describes the card using only one word descriptors (the real game uses phrases, but that was too much like our Catch Phrase game). When the other player guesses the card correctly the first player moves to the next card. The team has 60 seconds to get all 6 cards.


Lesson 2
Our timeline book was neglected again this week. We made it through the first 15 weeks, but I still haven't received my images for the last three!

Geography
Now that we have memorized all of the countries in North America, we are focusing on memorizing our continent's major geographical features. I'm letting our Journey Across America continue to be the supplemental fun on this one, as I point out these features when we study the states they reside in.

Great Words I
We continued memorizing "Pocahontas" by Rosemary Carr Benet this week.

I don't know of any picture books of the actual poem, but as you memorize it you could do several things to learn about Pocahontas. Check out the books Pocahontas a Life in Two Worlds or Pocahontas, watch the Disney movie (maybe, I don't know if it's any good, I've never seen it), or check out this Pinterest board for snack and craft ideas.


Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa