100th Day of Homeschool

As of today, Reezle has 567 hours and 20 minutes of attendance hours logged, and 100 days of school. Little G, officially a Kindergarten student, but taking three first grade courses, has 378 hours and 45 minutes of attendance hours logged, and 100 days of school. This means we're more than half way through the school year...and we still love it, and it's still going great! Whew.

In preschool and public school, there was always a special celebration for the 100th day of school. I didn't realize it had come up so quickly, or I would have planned something. It might be a bit tricky, since ice cream sundaes are out due to the blood sugar issue, but I'm sure we can find a way to celebrate all of their hard work. They both deserve a celebration, both of them have been the best students.

Little G had a special milestone of his very own today: he completed first grade phonics! He's little more than half way through his Kindergarten year and he is all done with first grade phonics. I am so proud of him! His spelling, as well as his mastery of grammar concepts and language in general is impressive. He was an early reader, but I didn't expect him to be tutoring his older sister with spelling homework when he was in preschool (he did, for real). His progression seems steady, rather than just an early starter who settles into average. I don't expect him to keep this pace (then again, maybe he can tutor me when I take that logic and philosophy college course I need...ha!), but he has my full support to move at his own pace.

Oh, uh...and he's teaching himself cursive.

New Materials

These are Little G's first grade materials. My 5 year-old first grader is pretty stoked.

There is also new Math materials, not pictured here since it was a lot more of the same items we had for Kindergarten and I've already put them away. We do have Math+ Green now, and apparently the color change is pretty exciting stuff. There will be plenty of pictures soon.

The weather remains unseasonably warm and beautiful for October. My husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary yesterday, and the warmth and sunshine reminded me of the weather when we got married in 2001. I've got all of the windows open and we're taking advantage of these beautiful days before the dreaded snow starts to fly. Outdoor hooping for the win!

Spain and First Grade Curriculum

Our quote of the day is brought to you by Reezle: "Sticky is my furry sister. She picked me to be her non-furry sister." Indeed she did.

This morning started off with some unexpected excitement; the OLS had Little G's 1st grade Phonics and Language Arts! The good news? He was super excited and we worked on Phonics today. The not so good news? They don't have 1st grade Math in there yet, nor is it listed in our orders. Of course, that is the one he wants the most, so I bought him a math workbook to hold him over until the OLS updates his curriculum.

In other academic news, we are currently studying Europe in K History. Today's focus was on Spain and I had G color Spain on his Europe map while we talked about it. I found a couple of beautiful time lapse videos on YouTube, which had both of my children saying they want to go to Spain.

They also did some Art, which I will share sometime this weekend. R chose her favorite illustration from a book she recently read, Clara and The Bookwagon, and it turned out amazing! Little G colored Spain's flag and his suitcase for our European adventures.

Over the weekend, I plan to spend some time working with G on his handwriting. His capital letters are great, but his lower case letters could use some refining. I also want to get him writing more sentences, which I'm sure can be easily accomplished just by encouraging him to write descriptive sentences about the things he loves. Like cats. And Math.

I am ready for the weekend. I'm sort of emotionally drained for non-school reasons, and I just want a day or two where I don't have to think about much of anything but snuggling up with my kids and maybe watching some movies, playing a little Monopoly, and getting lost in a good book. The chilly, windy, rainy, 55-degree weather almost begs for chili to be made, so I will probably be adding that to my to-do list as well.

Grade 2 Assessments

Below are the results from R's Grade 2 assessments in reading and math:


That little blue dot at the top of the charts, well above the "Above Average" line, is where R scored. The recommendation on both is, "Consider need for individualized instruction." I did consider that need, and thus we are homeschooling.

Her confidence after seeing her accomplishments in print has soared, and we knocked out quite a few lessons in Math yesterday. She is really looking forward to the Grade 3 Math curriculum.

Little G's assessment is on Monday, and I expect similar results. He is more than halfway through his Math workbook and has 27 of 36 units of Phonics completed, just 15 days into the school year. He keeps saying, "I want to learn stuff." Hopefully when the grade 1 curriculum materials arrive, he will. He's already coveting his big sister's Math workbook.

This year ought to prove interesting! Any doubts or concerns I had are pretty much gone at this point, and we have some fun activities coming up on our Fall calendar. They are happy and thriving, and I couldn't ask for more.

Groovy

We're finding a groove.

I am more grateful now than ever about finishing up my last few college credits via correspondence courses. It gave me an idea of what a partially web-based school curriculum would be like, taught me time management in terms of independent learning, and gave me the confidence to do teach my children using a method which can be very personally rewarding for students. I loved independent learning, and it appears that my children are feeling the same way.

Today we experienced our first Elluminate sessions with each of their virtual academy teachers. This is where students and/or parents/learning coaches have virtual conferences and assemblies via an online sort of Skype-like interface. It was a fun, highly interactive, and very informative experience for us. The children even had a chance to doodle on a white board, a program similar to Paint, with their classmates. It seemed a bit overwhelming at first, but it was actually very user-friendly and fun to use.

We are becoming comfortable with our scheduling very quickly and beginning to settle into a routine that works for us. It's not nearly as scary as it feels just starting out, and I am already identifying places where we can supplement some of the things I was hoping to fit in. Study Island (mentioned in my previous post) is something we enjoy doing pretty much any time of the day, since both R and G like to test their knowledge. The most difficult part for me so far is letting R answer her own questions on the assessments even when I know she's wrong. That is part of the learning process, and her skills need to be evaluated for what they are. I write down any areas where she seems to have hesitation, and come up with a fun way to help her understand it better. The main issue for her seems to be with reading all possible answers before making a selection, and following instructions, not the actual material. She is still Accelerated or Advanced across the board, so I'm not concerned. Similarly, Little G has scored Advanced in all of his assessments, never getting below 100% on any of them thus far.

This Kindergarten Phonics, though...ugh. It's frustrating the heck out of G - not because he doesn't know it, but because he's bored to tears. It's like asking a 9 year-old to do sight word flash cards. He was (no joke here) helping R study for her first grade spelling tests and instructing her on the proper way to pluralize words when he was in preschool last year because he had already mastered what she was learning. I will never forget hearing R mutter something in frustration at her desk as G said, very animated with hands going and all, "You have to drop the Y and add an I-E-S, sissy." I wrote a quick note to his teacher and asked if we could at least change his Study Island Reading items to first grade. She's awesome about getting back to us quickly, so I should know something as soon as tomorrow.

Since the Kindergarten Phonics is what it is, I am having G join in R's Phonics and Language Arts lessons. I even print extra worksheets for him so he can actually do the work, too. And I supplement a lot in this area. In addition to the curriculum, they both have at least an hour of independent reading each day. We also make time to take turns reading aloud to each other after we break for lunch. It is a relaxing way to get their minds back into thinking mode.

Daddy is also helping to supplement their curriculum. In the evenings and on the weekends, he is often doing math flashcards with them (addition, subtraction, and multiplication) or playing skill games like chess, checkers, or memory. I love this, because it is a great way for them to spend special time with Daddy while also learning. This is not anything new, but now that we have specific things to study, he discusses a lot of what they are learning.

We're all looking forward to getting started tomorrow. R has already asked me if I have printed out our lesson plans for the day yet. I have. We talked a little about what we have planned for the day, and she was literally jumping with joy about Science because we will be going around measuring things. And, for Music, stuffed animals will be participating. How cool is that!?

Very cool, indeed.