Expressions from our Youngest

Expressions from our Youngest
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

2011/2012 Homeschool Course Plans

I wanted to take the opportunity to record the Course of Studies for my two children this year.  In my family's education, time management plays an important role.  As a result, we may engage in more activities that take less planning time on my part.  Although we do get creative, we often break large projects into manageable chunks to accomplish the task, learn skills, or gain knowledge.  My children do remind me that we are not homeschoolers but were homeschooled (up until ninth grade).  Go figure!  Whatever you say.

It was much more manageable, as a Christian family, to let my children attend Catholic high schools because they were showing great strides in maturity.  We have greatly benefitted from two different private high school communities because it has allowed me to devote more time educating the elementary and middle school aged children.  Thus, you can see how time managment plays a role in our lives.  It has also propelled my older children to meet the demands of college life.  In fact, my two college children tell me that college is easier than high school was for them.

You will note that a couple classes are with our homeschool Co-op (HFA) where they do not have an accelerated program.  I do request that my own children are pushed, ever so gently, to go beyond what they are capable of.  Therefore, I require a certain level of progression with them.  This does require some mild form of acceleration or 'bringing about certain skills at an earlier time' with the instillation of additional knowledge gained through inspiration, not force. A great deal of this inspiration also comes from establishing a strong relationship with Jesus Christ.  The Lord has become the one who inspires us.

With younger children, I have found that there may possibly be more of a gentle coaxing in the learning process.  Thus, I have to manage a certain level of differentiation or 'modification of the parts' to my curriculum to achieve performance of particular skills and gain certain knowledge.  You can view my other blog to see some of this differentiation at http://nucleusoflife-ordainedpraise.blogspot.com/.  I also use some supplemental resources.  The materials I utilize permit me to be creative in teaching when it is required for the kids to advance.

My five year old sometimes would rather be entertained than learn.  There is more motivation involved with him to do his work.  My four older children are all inspired by the learning process and understand the requirements needed for gaining knowledge and applying their skills to the task at hand.  There was a process to go through in mastering this virtue that required a gentle teaching of important skills and occasionally a motivational aspect (like taking away a priviledge if the work does not get done) to accomplish tasks while the child was still young.  Working people are inspired and motivated by a good paycheck.  So too can children learn when priviledges that inspire and motivate them are attained through good work and good behavior.

Let's face it, we are born with weaknesses that we have to overcome and we can't just learn by osmosis.  Therefore, it is this younger age that sometimes needs more assistance to perform some of the work and gain additional knowledge.  I believe mothers are the best educators of young children because of this reality.  I often stress this point on my website at http://www.nucleusoflife.com/

What it really boils down to is that our children need to have a good attitude and work ethic in seeing and knowing the value of learning to enjoy the process.  Much of this comes from within us rather than outside of us.  This is why I stress, as a requirement in education, to know the Faith.  As a result, our children do not have to be shown extravagant and beautiful things to catch their attention in every single lesson that is taught to them.  Occasionally though, I will resort to a more extravagent approach that can instill more in their memory in the learning process.  My homeschooling methods and high school experience of my children seem to achieve a good balance and exposure which brings out their talents and God given gifts.

 

I.  Middle School Daughter - 7th Grade
Course of Study

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Language Arts:


English - Voyages in English 8 Text (Kolbe Syllabus, Course Plans, and Tests).  We follow the Kolbe syllabus which is very thorough.  It carries my daughter through the assignments in the Voyages Text which I also get from Kolbe.  Voyages comes with a good teacher's answer key too.  There is even a place on the syllabus to record and calculate your child's grades each week.  The syllabus does not go through the paragraph development in the Voyages Text.  Therefore, we will do this ourselves as time permits because we use a separate program for writing (see below).  


Reading - Setons Reading 6 and 7 for Young Catholics - Comprehension and Setons 6 and 7 for Young Catholics - Thinking Skills.  These are wonderful workbooks that teach you about the lives of various Saints.  The stories really interest my daughter and I can tell she is learning from the readings.  She often gives me verbal feedback from the readings when she learns something new.  My daughter is very independent when she works in these books. (Literature - see below)


Vocabulary / Spelling - Vocabulary for Achievement, Introductory and First Courses by Great Source.  I love these Vocabulary books.  They group the list of words each week by having something similar in meaning.  For example, one week her vocabulary list dealt with all the words similar in meaning to honest, fairness, and openness - like 'genuine and fabricate.'  There is also a short story included where the student has to show she understands how the words are used in paragraphs and sentences.  We try to have a weekly exam which my daughter writes the correct spelling of the word in her Vocabulary Notebook and also uses the word in a sentence of her own.  Occasionally, the workbook has a writing project where the student needs to use five vocabulary words in their own paragraph.


Write/Speak/Draw - IEW or Institute for Excellence in Writing - Student Writing Intensive, Group B (1/2 the year - Concepts learned can be applied to work the entire year) and Write at Home - Eighth Grade Level (the other 1/2 of the year).  IEW is a wonderful way to teach kids how to write because it helps them remember patterns in sentence development that can be recalled easily.  The Student Writing Intensive, Group B has a series of actual classroom sessions conducted on videos that teach your child the lesson.  Anthony Padewa is the great teacher on the videos and I highly recommend his materials.  I will be utilizing Write At Home come January.  The skills learned from IEW will still be in play while we tackle more writing assignments in the future.  As for drawing, every week my daughter assists my younger son in sketching a bible picture for his journal and he colors it afterward.

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Religion: St. Francis Parish's Religious Education Program and Following Jesus by Loyola Press.  This local parish has a wonderful R.E. program run by a good director who is devoted to using Loyola Press materials - which I love.  Next year will be my daughter's sacramental year for Confirmation.  'Following Jesus' actually directs the student to analyze different religious articles with a partner (me or another student) and choosing and recording the main topics.  The articles are all very good and informative.  I highly recommend Loyola Press.  I believe their new series is called 'Finding God' which is just as good.


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Science: HFA Co-Op:  Christian Kids Explore Physics by Bright Idea Press (Co-Op Teacher: (Z.B.) and Health Activity Book:  Developing Life Skills by Mark Twain/Carson-Dellosa.  My good friend is teaching this class once a month and the kids follow a weekly syllabus.  The book is very user friendly but does not seem to stick to the subject of Physics in every chapter.  We are finding that Chemistry is mixed in with it.  Therefore, my friend is supplementing this book with her high school Physics book which is working out well.  

Developing Life Skills is a great book with good summaries to learn many practical life skills.  They include Understanding Yourself, Relationships, Consumer Skills, Nutrition and Fitness, Food Preparation, Grooming, and Careers.  It is a great book to use if you have to have a Health requirement for your state.


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Literature: I received a Reading List of 15 novels from Totally Tailored Reading.  I like the books Totally Tailored picked out for my daughter because they analyzed her reading skills and History curriculum to choose the proper fit for her.  We also read various library books like those written by Mary Downing Hahn.


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Math:  Finished Saxon Math 6/5 Home Study Kit and Started Saxon Math 7/6 Home Study Kit.  I love Saxon Math because it establishes an excellent 'work ethic' into your child.  I do not start Saxon until 4th grade though.  My daughter is extremely independent because each chapter explains the concept to be learned in a very clear and understandable way.  Some people have trouble with it because it skips around at times.  To help in this area, we are recording different concepts in a notebook to try to commit to memory some computational procedures.   Once a child begins Saxon and gets conditioned to its process, other programs just don't seem as thorough.


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History:  HFA Co-Op: All American History, Volume 2 by Bright Idea Press supplemented by Christ and the Americas by Anne Carroll (Co-Op Teacher: Eileen Miller).  All American History is very good for middle school age because it covers important areas without analyzing every detail so that the student can gain a broader perspective for the entire year.  I love the workbook because it lets you record important information onto various forms that could be used for study purposes. Although I do create my own tests to instill information to memory in the children better, the material is summarized in a way that covers the most important topics for this age and is very manageable for the homeschool mom..  

I do supplement the book with Christ and the Americas.  This is an excellent text.  For example, the 'All American History' left out an important point that the slavery issue surfaced at the Constitutional Convention and a compromise was made to satisfy all. This point set the stage for further development of the issue.  Therefore, if 'All American History' leaves out something important, we pick it up in the supplemental resource by Anne Carroll.  I am the only one reading Christ and the Americas though.  I will verbally tell my students any important points this text covers that should also be known.  History is like this because their are various opinions and much research that can be done to uncover the truth.

I would recommend Christ and the Americas to every middle school or high high school student at some point in their education.  It is well written and really takes in the consideration of a Christian point of view toward politics without getting too in depth as to opinion.  It diplomatically points out injustices from a Christian perspective.


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Geography:  World Geography and You by Vivian Bernstein and Map Skills Level G.  World Geography can even be used for children with learning disabilities but challenges each child enough to be able to work independently while the teacher supplements information from a teachers manual which may include important questions to consider and short writing assignments.  It also includes simple forms to outline or lay out the writing assignment for the child before it is composed.  I believe that to understand History you have to have a  flavor of  some Geography too.  Therefore, I wanted to incorporate this into my daughter's curriculum.  

Map Skills is a great way to familiarize students with reading maps and using an Atlas occasionally.  For example, my daughter just did an exercise on understanding map grids.  Reading maps is a valuable tool because we have to be able to navigate our way around in this big world.


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Art:  National Gallery of Art Activity Book, 25 Adventures with Art and Kids Guide to Digital Photography by Jenni Bidner.  The National Gallery of Art book is great for introducing my daughter to important techniques of  famous artists.  Each lesson has a famous artists painting to analyze a specific technique taught and a simple assignment to practice the technique in their own creation.  We went through 12 lessons last year and will finish up the book this year with the other half of the book.  So it has helped us for two years.  Art is not one of my strong skills.  

Also, Kids Guide to Digital Photography is good but you need a camera and computer.  My daughter is  just reading it to get a flavor of the process.  Next year, I would like to enroll in a photography class with her.  As you can see from my blog, I do not have many pictures.  This is not one of my strengths either.


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Latin:  Latin Alive! by Karen Moore and Gaylan Dubose.  This book is so user friendly I can scream!  I am actually learning right along side my daughter.  I even have a notebook for myself to do the lessons.  We are really enjoying completing short manageable assignments together.  Each chapter introduces the student to five or so new vocabulary words and we make new index cards to quiz eachother and study.  The lessons introduce new concepts in verb conjugation so far in a step by step process with easy access to refer back to previous concepts when necessary.  We have learned to conjugate present tense, future tense, and Imperfect tense thus far.


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Music:  Piano Lessons from a fellow parishioner.  We need to practice more.

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Physical Education:  Ballet in the winter months from a local dance studio with an excellent teacher and swim team every summer with a great coach. My daughter's ballet instructor used to be a rocket!  She is very strict and serious in teaching the girls but also often weaves in some good humor.  Can't beat her approach.  She is a master.  Our swim team coach is like a big teddy bear you want to give a big hug to.  The whole team has a lot of  fun together, and we become like a big family.  My husband is heavily involved with the swim team which helps me tremendously.  Go dads!




II.  Kindergarten Son - Course of Study


English:  Kolbe Academy's English 1 - Ignatius Speaks and Writes Series by Dianne Muth .  This is a wonderful book but my son is helping lead the way on what he can do in this book so far.  I do not want to overwhelm him too soon.  Some of this book will have to be utilized in first grade too.  Nevertheless, he already knows the four different types of sentences and how they are punctuated.  Pretty good for five years old.

Writing and Drawing:  See http://nucleusoflife-ordainedpraise.blogspot.com/

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Reading:  Many library picture books, Early Readers, We Both Read Series, Little Stories for Little Folks from CHC - Catholic Heritage Curricula, and Anything that perks our interest, etc.

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Science:  HFA Co-Op: Funtastic Frogs by McGraw-Hill featuring Light and Color, Air, Water, Force and Motion, Sound, and Magnets; MCP Science Level A; and Health, Safety and Manners - 2 (Co-op teacher: A. H.).  These are all older books which may be out of print.  The Funtastic Frogs is wonderful as it permits us to conduct fun and simple science experiments for these young boys in the class.  My sons have always loved Science, and I see much value in teaching it to them at this age.  Some programs do not even teach Science in Kindergarten.  

MCP Science is awesome.  We just supplement reading the Level A book to understand some important items.  For example, my son learned about the solar system already.  This lesson gives him a broader view of our position in the larger scale of things at an early age.  The pictures in this series are excellent visuals! 

The Health, Safety, and Manners book is just something I read to my son to ensure a good requirement for the county/state which is also beneficial for his development at this age.

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Math:  MCP Math.  This is pretty basic material and I - once in a blue moon - will skip a page if it does too much drill.  This age can take some drill but in small quantities.  Sometimes I will divide the page to do 1/2 of the page one day and the other half a second day.  The book has some great visuals to help with understanding simple concepts.  Later in the year, he will begin telling time and learn place value.  Right now he is doing simple addition and subtraction.  I do not feel the need to use a manipulative right now.  Although we have used pennies or simple objects for counting purposes in the past, he prefers to use his fingers to count now.  He does like legos and is pretty good at putting some of the pieces together on his own just from looking at diagrams.

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History:  The Story of the World, Vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer and Bible History by Most Rev. F.J. Knecht (part of the year).  This is something I haven't started yet but as soon as he begins to show more interest and ability - I will begin.  The materials will also be used for first grade. 

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Geography:  Map Skills B (part of the year) and Road Trip USA CD - A Journey Across America (part of the year).  These subjects will also phase into first grade when he is ready.  I have experience with Map Skills from my older children, and it has been very good in teaching many concepts for reading maps.  The Road Trip USA just sounds like a fun and interactive way to learn about our country but I need help figuring out how to get it to work on our computer.  I will tell you more later is we can figure this out.

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Art:  Drawing and Coloring included with Religion Journaling.

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Music:  HFA Co-Op:  Dance and Movement (Teacher:  Eileen Miller/Cancelled - maybe a spring activity to look forward to).























3 comments:

  1. I noticed your 7th grader that she is doing EIW and then Write at home. I was wondering if you had looked at Time4Writing? My daughter is in 6th grade and we are looking into T4W because I feel like she needs a live teacher since she is a very reluctant writer. What made you decide to do the writing curriculum the way you are? Anyway, thanks for sharing, I'll check out some of the sources you noted. Happy homeschooling!

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  2. This is really interesting to share so many details of your programs. Few people are as thorough in their explanations so this makes OrdainedPraise particularly interesting reading.

    How do you feel about online programs? I saw your comment (somewhere0 that you were exploring reading programs. Any experience with the Time4Writing.com courses? Ever use VocabularySpellingCity.com?

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  3. I looked at both of these websites and Write At Home looks to be more thorough than Time4Writing. They give you the whole 8th grade spring semester layout where as Time4Writing just gives you one example of a paper they will do. I've gotten very good feedback on Write At Home from a fellow homeschool family. VocabularySpellingCity also does not seem as user friendly and thorough as my Vocabulary for Achievement. My Vocabulary for Achievement lists all forms of the words and we'd really miss the story they include to choose words that come closest to meaning of the word in the story. They also provide occasional writing assignments and special skill features. For example, there was a lesson on using context clues to help figure out meanings. The website just seems more confusing to me. Another vocabulary series that intrigues me though is www.dynamicliteracy.com.

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