Reading Without Tears

My youngest son is finally starting to read. He is one of my later readers, but with the older students doing well in school, it has been easy to feel relaxed about it. However, it is one of my goals for this season to get him reading fluently. Once a student is reading, they can move much more easily into independent learning, as well as being equipped to absorb tons of information naturally as they read.

It is also one of my goals to keep learning an active process as long as that is needed, and to keep learning tear free. Some of my son's work involves writing in a workbook (Explode the Code, Cursive Copywork), so for other reading activities I try to incorporate games as often as possible.





Some of these games I have referred to in other posts, but I made up a few new ones this week..



Word Pick Up- My son had dumped a huge tub of Duplos on the floor. I told him that for every word that he could read, I would pick up a Duplo, for every word that he could not read, he would have to pick up a block. It not only got the toys picked up without tears, but it also got lots of reading done.

Obstacle Phonics-Another afternoon with a messy floor, but this time the floor was covered with stuffed animals and a bin of toys. My son set up the toys as an obstacle hop, and for every phonogram he answered correctly he could take a hop forward. If he missed one, he would have to go backwards. He loved the extra challenge of jumping over his toys, and was happy to take his time about getting through the obstacles.

Mosaic Spelling- I had a pencil outline of a heart, and for every word my son spelled on his little chalkboard, I would glue a scrap of paper inside the heart. I explained to him that when the heart was filled in, he would be done with spelling. This helped him focus enough to pay attention to improving letter formation, and helped him see that there would be an end to the task.

None of these activities took me much time in preparation or clean up. The mosaic activity was a left over art project from our history day, that I really wanted him to do as a record of our day. The other two activities helped get toys picked up, and in every case, the reading, and the activity, accomplished dual purposes. Cleanup, exercise, and crafting, all got done along with the reading.



I can't always make reading fun, but when possible, I will take the time to make school an opportunity to build connection, and show my son how well loved he is.

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Country Life is Healthy For Kids (But You Can Meet Nature Needs in the City)

                       

We had been reading about pioneers in much of our read aloud times; Laura Ingalls Wilder, Sarah Whitcher, Kirsten, and so I should not have been surprised when she came to me, eager and pleading with a faded prairie skirt that I was to put on. I hesitated at first, I had lots of real life pioneer work to do; caring for the goats, folding up the line gathered laundry and watering my thirsty fruit trees, but as I saw the disappointment in her face at my hesitation I complied. I slipped the bulky skirt and thread bare apron on over my jeans and tromped about the property doing my chores while trying to be as Ma like as I could with my modern busy mind.

As we worked and played I reflected on an article I had read earlier in the day. This study was conducted in Australia where a school had their safety conscious playground removed and were left with a mud hole and some spare parts. The results were amazing. Suddenly kids were engrossed in creative play and as a result anti social behaviors decreased. This article talks about even more health and wellness benefits which come when children are allowed free play in the great outdoors. 

                        

Many of these benefits I simply take for granted. With homeschooling and country life we are free to adapt to our children's needs. Instead of putting a child on medication to help them focus in class, I can set them on an exercise ball to finish a math lesson, and then send them outside to jump on the trampoline to get some wiggles out. It would never even occur to me to make a child sit indoors under artificial light all day and then pressure the parents to medicate him so he would comply with my unreasonable demands. When did adults forget that children need time to play, to explore and to think their own thoughts? When did school administrators get so enslaved by the idea that all children should learn and test the same things at the same time that it would be worth putting non food substances in their body to make them able to comply? When?

I realize how privileged we are to have the freedom and the means to live in the country and to homeschool. And I was still privileged when we lived in a tiny suburban house with a tiny lot. During those intervals when I couldn't just send the kids out to run circles around the property, or bounce on the trampoline to release energy, we had to be creative. It often meant leaving areas of our small yard unadulterated so the children could plant flowers or build minuscule roads for their matchbox cars.

He's smiling because he just walked through a creek!

And no matter where we live we have made forays into the natural world a priority. Hiking trails, creeks, beaches and ponds all offer calm and creative places for our children to explore and connect. Where better to encounter Father God, who is the source of all life than in the natural world that He created with such care.

       
                       

Looking for a good read aloud about a girl who got a little lost in nature? 
check out Sarah Whitcher's Story (affiliate link)

Linking up with Welcome Home Wednesdays

The 2013/2014 Curriculum Plan

I love seeing what other moms are using for curriculum. I can get into a rut of using what we have on hand or have always used. If it is working, it is not worth changing, but it is nice to know what is out there so I can evaluate whether I have the best fit for each child.

I don't have individual Bible for each child this year. My husband has assigned Bible readings for each day and we copy the verse that stands out to us. We also spend the first hour of our school day in worship and Bible reading. We are finishing Long Story Short which we have loved, reading the daily passages and looking for the next Bible curriculum. My second daughter is also in a Kay Arthur study group on the book of Revelation.

I also haven't listed reading selections. The older three are voracious readers, and with the next 3 I am assigning special books that they have not yet read. I usually assign books that go along with the history curriculum for the year but since this year is a special focus on art history, we are changing that routine a bit by just filling in some of the books that are important to us.

This year's plan for our family,

4 yr old (boy)

Explode The Code- Get Set for The Code

Handwriting Without Tears, Letters and Numbers For Me

Little Giant Steps-a wonderful multi sensory math program for preschool

Lots of good picture books, and listening in on our Bible, science and art studies.

SWR phonogram flash cards

Playing with puzzles, coloring, play dough and other fine motor skill activities

Swimming, going to the park, and other large motor skill activities

Calendar time, crafts and Bible verse memorization

6 yr old  (girl)

Math U See Beta

Explode The Code 41/2

Spelling Power Book A-freebie busywork for days I don't get to spelling

Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

Reading-Rod and Staff Readers only, BJU Heritage Studies 1

Apologia Elementary Science- Swimming Creatures with Jr Notebook

How Great Thou Art-Barry Stebbing

Drawing With Children-Mona Brookes

Mommy It's a Renoir

English For The Thoughtful Child

Spell To Write and Read

10 yr old (boy)

Teaching Textbooks Grade 6 Math

Daily Grams, Grade 6 (We started with Rod and Staff Grammar Grade 5 but it was not working with him)

IEW Writing, Finishing All Things Fun and Fascinating and then picking another book by them.

Handwriting Without Tears, Can Do Cursive

SWR Spelling

Apologia Elementary Science, Swimming Creatures

How Great Thou Art

Abeka World History

Various Literature Selections, He just finished Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis and will start Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson next.


13 yr old (boy)

Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1

Rod and Staff Grammar (gr. 6)

IEW writing

Apologia General Science

Understanding the Times (Worldview's)

Latin's Not So Tough

15 yr old (boy)

This year he is taking three classes at a local Jr. College. He goes twice a week with an older sister who is graduated.

Algebra 1 (Jr. College)

Elementary Music Theory (Jr. College)

Political Science, Constitution (Jr. College)

Apologia Chemistry (home)

Bob Jones Spanish 2 (home)

18 yr old (girl)

For our second daughter who has learning difficulties we chose to use a charter school this year. She just turned 18 (today) and we wanted to get the testing done and possible diagnosis before she graduates. We have done lots of private testing and therapy but wanted her to have the opportunity to go on to college or get work with the adaptations she may need. There is a lot of pressure in the charter to pass the high school exit exam, because of this, the charter has added lots of work. We are in line for private tutoring and testing for special needs so when that comes through it may prove to have been worth the hassle.

Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1

Holt Grammar 6 (charter, 12th grade grammar)

Holt Literature

ELA workbook (for exit exam)

Math workbook (for exit exam)

Abeka Health


The oldest children go to martial arts twice a week which helps with covering physical education. The 6 year old does ballet, I wanted her to learn to be graceful before she learned how to gouge someones eye out.

We also have the oldest 6 children in piano, voice or guitar lessons. However, I am terrible about enforcing music practice so our progress, until they start practicing on their own is slow.  Thankfully, several of them want to learn, and take the time to practice.

I am sure I have forgotten something, I was up till midnight making a birthday banner, baking a paleo pumpkin breakfast cake, consulting with my daughter on her anthropology homework and washing my husband's jeans. Life with little ones and college students is very busy, but very fun and fulfilling.

Happy Homeschooling!

An Extra Busy School Day

This is the beginning of a completely different school year for us. I have 6 students this year and to my great joy, after nearly a year of being mostly gone with work and Bible School, my oldest daughter is home to go to college as well. Today was a really big day for all my students. My 19 and 15 year old offspring left at 6:15 am for their first day of college. Meanwhile my second daughter was at her volunteer job this morning while I did school with the youngest four. In between reading aloud, checking school work and cajoling the four year old to pick up the Duplos he had scattered throughout the school area, I made a batch of paleo pumpkin bread and tidied the house for our upcoming visit from my daughter's educational specialist.

For our second daughter I am using a charter school this year, which is a big leap in a different direction for me. I have consistently resisted government oversight in my schoolroom. I don't want to burden my kids with tests when they could be designing amazing projects or immersing themselves in quality literature, but with my second daughter nearly 18 and nearly out of school, I decided it was finally time to seek a label for her learning difficulties, mainly so she could get some extra help if she chooses to go to college.

Busy Students

We spent an hour with the E.S., going over forms and talking about the tests, yes, tests that my lovely girl would have to pass to get a diploma, while the younger four quietly played with Lego's. We then rushed out the door to speech therapy where we sat for an hour reading books and playing games until big sister was done. After a quick stop at Trader Joe's we hurried to relieve a friend of her children for a special night out and then home to get the lowdown on the older students' first day at school. I perused the stacks of assignments my children would be required to hand in this month, put away the groceries and then headed to the park with a combined total of 6 children under 12.

The Baby

It was a day that highlighted lots of changes. The biggest change is the realization that my older children are not going to be quite as available to work on family projects and help with little ones while they are busy working to finish their education. These older ones have been a big help, and for a few years now I have had built in babysitters for doctor's appointments, quick shopping trips and even the occasional pedicure. Having to adjust back to an earlier time when I only had young children and had to take them on every appointment and errand I was doing is a good way of also realizing that I need to develop some better sitting skills in the young ones.  Raising children who can both manage a home and handle a challenging class is a manageable feat, but it may have to happen in separate seasons.

Eight Great Resources for Parents of Special Needs Kids

#1 www.nathhan.org 

A lending library, family directory and discussion board are just a few of many resources here for families with special kids

#2 www.hslda.org  

Home School Legal Defense Association has counsel at their web site for parents of special needs children

#3 www.avcsbooks.com

Sharon Hensley has 28 years of experience counseling home school families with special needs kids. Her ministry includes book sales, a private umbrella school and counseling.

#4 www.help-with-learning.com

Help with Learning Neuroeducational Consulting is dedicated to helping children and adults reach their full God given potential.
They provide testing and a home program of activities to help children with a variety of disabilities.

#5 Homeschooling The Challenging Child

This book by Christine Field is one of my favorites for home schooling special kids. Full of practical advice, checklists and resource lists.

#6 Too Wise To Be Mistaken, Too Good To Be Unkind

Cathy Steere writes a memoir about helping her autistic son. It includes a good resource list as well as an overview of the neurodevelopment approach.

#7 The Out of Sync Child

Carol Stock Kranowitz writes this wonderful book which includes many exercises to help children overcome sensory difficulties. It includes helpful checklists.

#8 Healing The New Childhood Epidemics 

Kenneth Bock’s fascinating book which links autism, asthma, ADHD and allergies to toxins that children are exposed to. I especially appreciated the information about the impact food allergies have on learning as well as the nutritional information.