Updates »

i haven’t been updating school stuff lately partly because we’re just truckin’ along, we’ve taken a few breaks since daddy’s been home more lately and weather’s been awesome, and i’ve been in one of my insecure valleys.  don’t worry, as usual, it’s not severe or life-changing or anything, and it’s already passed, so all’s well.  i just cycle in and out.  no great biggie.  so anyway, here’s some of what’s going on.

my 6 year old:

reading:  he’s still trudging through a combination of hooked on phonics and teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons.  i’m not as strict on “we must do this lesson everyday”  partly because i realized he was flying through hooked on phonics because he had such a good foundation on 100 easy lessons.  so to break up the monotany of 100 easy lessons we read some out of hooked on phonics.  and i’m having him read more “real life” around the house stuff and instructions on worksheets.

math:  definitely one of his strong subjects.  he can remember sums that i have to count on my fingers.  and he doesn’t mind it at all.  i’ve set singapore math aside for the time being (only because we don’t have the money for the workbooks right now) and am working on “real life” money, time, and number sentence worksheets.  this is the area where i assign “homework”, in other words teaching him to work on his own.

handwriting:  still a monumental battle.  ever. y. day.  but along we trudge.  trudge.  trudge.  i’ve quit having him write out Bible verses or even just letters and words on paper for no reason other than to practice.  now i have him write out his answers to questions on other worksheets, i have him write out what he wants written about his superheroes in coloring books.  he does better with a purpose (don’t we all?).  he’s still getting almost half of his letters backwards.  but i sit with him more and remind him as he writes instead of correcting his work after he’s done it.  definitely an area that i’m glad he’s home and i can change my teaching to what he needs right now.  a lot like our reading also. 

my 4 year old:

reading: we’re going through 100 easy lessons with amazing progress.  i started him because he wanted to read like big brother.  but he has taken to it like a fish out of water.  and now i understand why people rave about this book.  he loves it.  hooked on phonics is going a little fast for him right now, so we’re getting ahead in 100 easy lessons and will revisit hooked on phonics later. 

handwriting:  just practicing his letters and numbers on worksheets that we have.

math:  typical pre-k stuff.  which is more?  learning our numbers.  learning to add.  and anything that trickles down from brother.

i work individually with them on the above subjects and work together with them on science, social studies, history, Bible lessons, spanish, and read-alouds.

spanish:  maury gave me a workbook that’s too advanced right now - lots of reading and writing involved.  so, i brushed up on some of my basics from it: months, days, colors, numbers, body parts and i use them as i think of them.

science:  we make fun!  we watch lots of man vs. wild, the magic school bus, dirtiest jobs, and, of course! mythbusters.  and we discuss all of these at length.  we observe everything - including our rotting pumpkin! - and i have them tell what they observe in at least 3 complete sentences, i write out it for them, read it back to them, and post it.  (the writing we only do about once a week).

social studies:  we discuss as it comes up - columbus day, halloween, map-making, this is usually incorporated into our history and read-alouds.

history:  also combined.  we’re reading through the Little House series and are discussing all the differences from now to then.  i just discovered that the hallmark channel is showing the little house series and i’ve begun taping it - my oldest watched it with joy yesterday!  we’ll unit-study pilgrims and indians this month and have a dress-up party with the drapers for thanksgiving.  we have an actual history book, but i only use it about once every 2 or 3 weeks.  we’re studying colonies in it and it will fit nicely with thanksgiving.  i’m planning to start a time-line on their wall (way up high - out of my girl’s reach!) so that they can begin to “see” history as we study all the different parts - from the Christmas story next month, to paul, to the colonies, to little house - we jump around alot and it will be nice to get an idea visually of what we’re talking about.  i’ll also put the maps back on the wall - thanks to my 2 year old! - and we’ll continue to map everything as it comes up.  like laura’s trek from the big woods to the prairie, when we read a little written for younguns “around the world in eighty days story” we marked all the stops they made, we talk about where paul traveled and where he met lydia when we discuss the color purple/morado, and the royal soldiers uniforms - which also led to a study of the full of armor of God.  eclectic to say the least!

read alouds:  i’m loving!  and probably have too many irons in the fire, but they seem to love it and know exactly where we are in each.  they also each have their favorites.  we’re reading Little House, Ramona the Pest, and Charlotte’s Web.  my oldest loves them all.  my 4 year old’s favorite is Charlotte’s Web.  i just read whenever i can.  it’s scattered, as with all of our schooling!

i included some of our work, if you’re a goofball, like me, and want to really look at the kiddos’ work i left it really large so that you can get a closer look when you click on the thumbnails.  (sorry about the blurriness)  yes, i really do like looking at other kids’ work!  so in case y’all are out there here’s a little of my brag book.

      

     

Updates »

(aka the grandparents’ post and homeschooling post)

let’s see, an update…

we are waiting for our small group to start at church.  we like our group and are excited about this.  we’ve also joined a homeschool group and are looking forward to that starting up.  we’ve braved the library reading club this summer and it’s going well.  we’ve made a couple of friends (the hartley’s and maury’s crew) and that’s encouraging.

my oldest

is reading.  not avidly or excitedly, but sometimes actually tries it on his own.  we are using a combination of teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons, more often hooked on phonics, and occasionally just a “will you read your book to me please?”

handwriting is not by any curriculum.  i write out a Bible verse and he copies it or if he’s really excited about something, like snakes this week, then i’ll write out the name of his favorite snake and he’ll copy it or i’ll dictate it to him and get him to write it phonetically.  or i’ll just see that he’s been writing on some of his superhero pictures and call it good.

math is still using singapore math.  i love it.  i love it.  can i say again, i love it?!  we’re 2 pages from being through with the current workbook, he’ll start the last workbook in the kindergarten series next week.  then we’ll move on to the first grade primer when it is finished.  it’s hands on.  it’s colorful.  it’s quick and painless.  it’s easy for me to set up the hands on stuff.  it moves at a pace that he can handle.  i love it.

science is everywhere.  anything that sparks his interest we will research.  right now, as i mentioned, that’s snakes.  we have a poster from the arkansas game and fish commission.  we have a book from the library.  we watched diego and learned about anacondas.  we drew pictures of speckled king snakes.  we learned vocabulary words: venomous, constrictor, habitat, predator, prey.  we did art projects to make twirly snakes.  i would like to get a curriculum for the new school year, though, to actually follow something and i’m sure we’ll continue to supplement with our newest interests.  some of the prior interests have been planets, owls, ducks, how the stomach works, tornadoes, non-newtonian liquids, turtles, and rabbits.

still wanting to do spanish.  i’m teaching them the few things that i already know.

geography is done through osmosis as my friend does!

i’m excited about starting history, but i’m forcing myself to wait a few years.  i can’t wait to learn this one, myself!!

Bible is not a curriculum for us.  it’s in everything.  our church is reading ephesians weekly - one chapter a day monday through saturday and then rereading it each week this way for the rest of the summer.  so i’ve been reading this out loud to the kiddos while they run around and play.  are they getting it?  i don’t know, but maybe.  and we talk about what they’re learning at church because their classes are awesome!

my 4 year old boy

is learning his alphabet using teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons and everything i can find.  magazines, preschool workbooks, library books, you know, preschool fun stuff.

his handwriting is learning to write the letters he’s learning and learning to write his name.

he’s doing singapore math also.  he’s almost finished with the first wookbook of pre-k.  i love it, have i mentioned this?

he joins in all the science and geography stuff the rest of the family is doing.

he is so funny.  “oh, snap.”  “that’s genius, my man.”  “hey, dude.”  are used frequently with a straight face.  he keeps me rolling! 

he’s really questioning all things of faith.  i’ve been praying for him very much.  he wants to know all about Jesus.  a curiosity that’s amazing to me.

my 2 year old girl

oh.  my.  she is still the same as always. 

she almost has those colors down.

and she says things like, “i read to you, mama.”  and then uses this sing-song voice to tell me the stories page by page.  too funny.

she is almost potty trained.  she decided this.  i’d have chosen to wait a while.  but she decided it and we followed suit.  she only wears a diaper at naptime and bedtime and when we go to town now.  i’ll eventually get brave enough to venture out without one!  we have used candy bribes in the past, but since she’s the third and her brothers think she hung the moon, we haven’t had to this time.  she has a little musical potty that plays when she goes.  so everybody, short of daisy and the baby, go running to see the “results” when they hear the music.  and when she pees outside she stands up and holds her tt (the way her brothers do).  oh. my.

the littlest

is 3 1/2 months.

sucks his thumb and holds a little blankie to put himself to sleep.  it is so cute.  i’m working on getting a picture of this.

he kind of likes his daddy a little more now.  he will smile and laugh at him.  but still doesn’t want matt to hold him.  if matt holds him more than about 2-5 minutes he starts screaming.

he can bring toys to his mouth. 

he’s teething something terrible.

he requires a quiet nursing time with me in the afternoon or he will scream for hours on end.

the ergo has saved my life.

he rolled over one day several times.  and hasn’t again.  he will when he gets ready, not too worried about it.

expanding the parker family

either not for a long time or never.

something occurred to me last night while i was putting everybody to bed and my girl and my littlest were screaming the loudest.  i’ve always said that God gives us who He wants us to have in our family when He wants us to have them.  we were set up to have more kiddos when our second boy was 2 and our girl was an infant because the second boy’s toddlerhood was calm and my girl’s infancy was a dream.  seeing as how my girl’s toddlerhood is ridiculous and my littlest’s infancy is as insane as her toddlerhood.  well, let’s just say, i’m done.  and i’m loving homeschooling so much that i can’t wait to get everybody going at once.  and i’m enjoying each moment now and not looking forward to the next one so much.  and i like that i will be joining the rest of the family and not always sitting on the sidelines pregnant, nursing, or holding a baby.  it feels good.

to sum up

the medicine is working.  so everything looks better.  and life is pretty good.  it’s not all roses.  and i’ll be sure to post on the thorns along the way.  remember, it always sounds better than it really is when you highlight only the best parts of your life.  if you’ve stayed with me this long you’re probably a grandparent and i wanted to tell you that i LOVE that you grandmas are commenting.  i read them to the kiddos and i feel like you’re more connected with us.  and if you’re not a grandparent and you made it this far, wow.  you’re really devoted and i love you!  let me know you’re here!