Education Excitement

I'm in the midst of an intellectual growth period where I am consuming all the videos and literature about education and what the ideal educational situation may be for my children and the children I have the priledge of helping to teach.  I've watched this video a few times and each time it blows me away.  I have 7 years until CJ is Logan's age.  Is there any chance in the world he will be as articulate and have such clarity about the importance of life?  Once again, I found myself taking notes and pondering what the nitty gritty day to day should look like in order to achieve greatness.  Check out the video if you have 12 minutes to watch:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=46La-hV_PLs

Breakfast with They Might Be Giants

Seriously.  Have you checked out They Might Be Giants, Here Comes Science?  Music I'm happy listening too and the kids love.  Plus, they're learning from it.  This morning CJ told me that he had the "Elements" song stuck in his head and asked if I could play the music video during breakfast.  I remembered that I love the album and that I'd really like to get our homeschool group together and discuss the information in each of the songs.  A little co-op/play-date learning.  Maybe I still will someday...

Improved Writing

After completing the mid year assessment (report card) for CJ I recognized that he hasn't been doing a whole lot of writing.  I decided to make a change in our every day routine and have him write his narration of the book he read and add a picture.  It helps that EMan always wants to hear a story and I can have him do the same assignment at the same time, on his own level of course.  Today CJ read Balto and I'm so impressed with their writing.  Great job boys!

 

Using Blocks to Teach Math

It was nice to admit outloud to another homeschooling mom the other day that I completely failed at teaching math.  See, we have officially reached CJ's actual learning level of math and I'm so used to him picking it up super easy that I was lazy and didn't teach him the concrete subtraction that borrows from each greater place value.  I taught him the shortcut.  On paper.  Bad homeschool mom.  I know better, and since I was able to admit my fault to a dear friend I was ready to go back and commit to making it right.  So today, we did subtraction with blocks.  LOTS of blocks.  And got through 3 problems in a full hour.  ONLY THREE!  I had to keep telling myself (in my head) to chill out.  Because seriously it was SO slow.  So there you go, a little error on my part.  It happens to the best of us.

Heading into first grade and our last year of preschool

This is going to be a great year of learning.  CJ will be a 1st grader and EMan will be in his last year of preschool.  I will be teaching a 3 year old class and a 4 year old class oer at Little Adventures Preschool this year.  EMan will participate in both classes just to make sure that he has a solid foundation for moving forward.

CJ will enjoy one day a week at a program set up for homeschool students where he will take classes like PE, Robotics, Science, Karate, Art, World Geography and Language Arts.  He will get to be with his friends learning things we can't do as well at home and EMan and I can work on Preschool stuff with our friends. It's a win, win.

Through CJ's homeschool program we get to check out curriculum through their curriculum library.  This year I decided I'll be doing Book Shark, 1st grade; Singapore 1B and 2A; and Rosetta Stone Spanish from the check out library.  I'll also be utilizing TouchMath 1st Grade and TouchMath 2nd Grade  (he's already done most of TouchMath 1st grade at this point).  I'll be utilizing the Moffatt Girls reading materials to suppliment book shark, he'll still have weekly piano lessons, recorder lessons and we'll do some writing.

I'm utilizing the Melissa and Doug magnetic chore chart to keep track of school work for the week.  It lists the subjects (with a wet erase marker): Reading, Math, Piano, Recorder, Spanish, Brush Teeth, Extras (items are written on the daily spot such as laundry, pick up room, clean bathroom).  YES.  Brush Teeth is part of our school work right now.  It's the best place to get it in front of their faces that they need to brush them every day.  Eman's chart simply lists: Reading, Math, Brush Teeth, Extras.

It should be a great fun year!

Are You Ready? Game Show Giveaway from Lakeshore Learning

We were given the fantastic opportunity to review the new "Are You Ready?" series of assessment games from Lakeshore.  We picked "Are You Ready for First Grade?" because it fit our current needs.  This game is a fantastic way to get a quick glimpse of what didn't sink in or what I accidentally forgot to teach CJ during the Kindergarten year.   It's set up like a game show and for each grade level you get 6 different games that let your child earn pretend cash for each math and language question answered correctly.  CJ and EMan LOVE money and were giddy with excitement as they learned the rules to the game.  In fact, before starting the game I overheard CJ say, "EMan, let's finish the laundry fast so we can play the earning money game!"  The put away their laundry in record time. 

We had a great time playing this game.  Each game has a set of 33 cards that you set up on the game board.  Your "contestant" gets to pick a card and if they answer it correctly they get the amount of money listed on the card.  This inspired CJ to pick the highest valued cards right off the bat.

If they get an answer incorrect you make note of the card number to reference later.  I'd highly suggest pulling out their journal or writing book to use for this game.  There are a few cards that specify to write something: such as their name, the alphabet or an answer. 

 We finished the first game quite quickly and CJ wanted to move onto the second game and earn more money right away!  There is only enough money to get all of one game's answers correct, then the money must be recycled for the next game.  There are, however, certificates for what they've won at the end.  The best part is that you get to fill in the reward to something that fits your family.

After you've played one or all six games you head to the game site here and start the Post Game Assessment on the right hand side.  Lakeshore makes it easy for you to type in the number cards that were incorrect.  The website then identifies Skills to Develop with a short description of what that skill encompasses.  It also provides free printable activities and additional Lakeshore products that target that skill.  I took pictures of my computer through this process, but they turned out terrible and unhelpful.  Just trust me that it's awesome to get immediate feedback and a few work pages to go over with your kid(s).  It's a perfect homeschool companion.   

Now we'll be ready for 1st grade for sure!  Will you?  We're giving away our set and would love to see it go to a family who will love it like we did.  Scroll down and enter to win today!

This great game is available in levels K-5.  To get $10 off any Are You Ready? Game Show(R), enter code 9141 at checkout or click here for a store coupon!  Expires 7/31/14.

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