Confessions of an Extroverted Homeschool Mom

Is it just me, or are there like THOUSANDS of blog posts about introverts who homeschool? 

I’m not complaining. I imagine it is very hard to be an extreme introvert while homeschooling.  The kids are always around.  You have to find groups for them to socialize in.  It can be tough.  I love reading Simple Homeschool’s blog.  The founder of Simple Homeschool is an introvert.  She has written multiple posts about  homeschooling as an introvert.  Last December, she even put together an Introvert’s Mom’s Advent Calendar with little activities for introverts to do each day in order to recharge themselves.  I hear it was very popular. 

First of all, this is not a blog to roast introverts. Introverts are some of my favorite people.  I’m married to an EXTREME Introvert.  My college roommate is an introvert.  My roommate from overseas is an introvert.  I like them.  They let me talk.  Usually.

Also,  homeschooling is difficult.  Whether you have blonde hair or brown, like coffee or tea, roll toilet paper over or under, teach classically or unschool, have an extroverted or introverted personality… homeschooling is difficult.

Since Extroverted-Homeschooling-Blogger-Moms seem to be in the minority, I am going to step up today and be their voice. (This is totally a self-nomination.)

I’m not really that outgoing.  I don’t have a gazillion friends (but you can read here about some of my closest friendships.) I’m not the life of the party.  But I am an extrovert. 

The word extrovert comes from the Latin extro (outside) and vertere (to turn).  Extroverts turn to the outside for motivation and recharging. Introverts turn inside.

Every once in a while someone hears that I'm an extrovert, AND THEY DON'T BELIEVE ME. 

 

Evidence that I am an Extrovert:

Exhibit A

I was 2 years old.  My mom was incredibly sick with the flu.  She put the tv on for me and tried to take a nap on the couch.  What she got was a toddler staring her straight in the face pleading, “Don’t leave me, Mommy!”

Exhibit B

If I was sick in high school, I would sometimes stay home by myself while my parents went to work.  As soon as my mom came home I would follow her around the house for hours, even though I felt bad. I just needed the company.

Exhibit C

In college, every time my roommate left to take a shower, I would leave our dorm room and find someone else to talk to.



I’ve calmed down a little in my old age. Things are quieter here in the country.  I can’t just walk ten feet to the next door neighbor’s house to borrow a cup of sugar.  Now I have to walk through a cornfield or jump on the golf cart for a farm fresh egg.  Did I mention my husband is an EXTREME introvert?  I can’t full on extrovert him when he comes home from work. He needs time to sit in his little cocoon and process the day. The point is… I’m calmer.  Usually.

But there are some reasons why an extremely extroverted personality can make homeschooling challenging.



Mini Me and I are suffering from Cabin Fever

1. Extreme extroverts are easily distracted. 

 I spend too much time scrolling facebook on my phone when I’m waiting for my kids to finish assignments.  I just want to know what's going on in the world.  If you text me during the school day, I will probably answer you.  If you call me, I may just answer the phone.  I sometimes live in a fantasy world- I’m pretty sure I live in Stars Hollow with the Gilmore Girls.  I still have a crush on Calvin O'Keefe, and I can make myself cry thinking about Matthew Cuthbert.  Any time I see an injustice in the world, it reminds me of my loathing for Professor Umbridge.  Anyway, if I’ve been reading before school starts, it is super hard for me to want to get started with our school day.  I also have a difficult time staying on task when there are so many characters living in my head.  Let me be clear, book characters are not a great substitute for real live people spending time with me, but they help.  (It’s kinda like switching from sugar to stevia in my coffee… not quite the same, but it’ll do.)

2. The feeling of loneliness is my nearly constant companion. 

I’m rarely by myself, but I feel like I’m alone.   I love my children, but they do not fulfill my need of people.  I’m sure that other extroverts may feel differently than I do, but I have fairly specific needs that have to be met before I feel like I’m not alone: I need to be with an adult who is genuinely happy spend quality time with me.  I spend my day trudging through school subjects that my children may or may not want to study.  This is not what I would call quality extrovert time. 

3. It is easy for me to be depressed when I feel alone. 

It is hard to be a good teacher when I’m depressed.  Do you see the cycle here?

There are also a lot of great extroverted attributes that make homeschooling easier for me.

1. When I get that feeling of loneliness, it reminds me to draw back to God. 

James 4:8 says, "Come near to God, and He will come near to you."  I have found that to be true in my life.  And when I spend time with my heavenly Father, I am a better teacher.  A better person.  A better friend.  Please don’t get me wrong- Introverts are great at this, too.  It is much easier for them to just “Be still and know He is God.” I’m just explaining how God gets my attention.

2. I live for community days! 

We are part of Classical Conversations, which meets at a church once a week.  I’ve been subbing in the morning for Foundations and tutoring Essentials in the afternoon.  I tell you what… when we get home we are all exhausted.  But I feel more alive than I have all week. 

Our Essentials Class is learning how to write a Bibliography

3.  The need for community also drives me to open my home for tutoring and classes. 

My absolute favorite class I teach is Shakespeare Camp.  I love having people in my home.

Devotions at the Cross during Shakespeare Camp

What To Do If You Are An Extroverted Homeschooling Mom

1. Draw near to God.  He's the only one who can fill the void of loneliness you may feel.

2.   Put your kids in classes.  Stay and have some coffee with the other adults. Go to the library.  Go on Field Trips! Have school at McDonald's or Starbucks one day.  GET OUT OF THE HOUSE.

 

 

3. Join an adult Bible study or a class.  I just joined a dance aerobics class.  It's great fun!

4. Have playdates!

5. Be sensitive to your children’s personalities.  I have two extroverts and one introvert.  They need different things. 

6.  Be sensitive to your Introverted friends. They love you.  Just differently.

Four of my attendants are introverts.  They love me. I tell them so all the time. :)

Any other Extroverted Homeschool Moms in the House?!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bathrobe

Note: This is usually a blog about education or tutoring.  Today I'm veering away from that subject to talk about friendship.  It doesn't have much to do with education, but I'll tell you this:  I am a better teacher, a better wife, a better mother because of my friends.  Here is just a glimpse of our story.

20 years ago, two bored college students found an ugly peach bathrobe in the give-away box.  It was a Friday night.  Our Christian College was not known for the night life.  We decided to wrap it up in a beautiful package and give it to another friend.  We called it Fashion Awareness Day, or FAD for short.  We’ve been celebrating ever since.

Behind the scenes of our Infinity Picture. (A picture of us, looking at a picture of us, looking at a picture of us...)

 

When we left the utopia that is college, we thought we were so grown up.  So old.  So wise.  We soon learned that life is hard.  One of us has fought leukemia.  She is cancer free now.  Two of us have children with special needs.  Three of us homeschool.  Two of us have lived overseas.  One lives in a dangerous country as a missionary.   All four of us are teachers.  Together we have faced heartbreak, disappointment, and sickness.  Together we have laughed, prayed, and dreamed.  Together.  And even though we live so far away from each other, somehow God and the bathrobe keep us close. 

When one of us is hurting, we send them the bathrobe.

Yes, I know there is a book with a similar theme.  That book was published in 2003. We started FAD in 1997.  WE HAD THE BATHROBE FIRST.

 

The Traveling Bathrobe

 

 

This weekend, I had the privilege of spending 4 glorious days with these dear friends. 

We laughed; we cried; we prayed. 

We celebrated Fashion Awareness Day. 

And some day we will be together again.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage each other and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Life of Fred: A Love Story

Prologue

“I can’t wait for Calculus!” my then 6 year old girl sighed wistfully. 

In September I hosted 5 extra children in my house for a homeschool day.  The preschoolers played in the living room while 6 elementary students sat around my dining room table for Morning Time.  I wondered how these bonus children would respond to Life of Fred.  I asked my daughter to explain Life of Fred.

“Well, Fred is a 5 year old Math professor at Kittens University.”  Giggles all around. “He sleeps under his desk in his office.  He has a doll named Kingie.  He just recently found a stray cat and took him back to his office.”

“Are you sure this is a math program?” the extra kids wanted to know.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. 

“And how can he be only 5 years old and teaching math?”

My daughter sighed.  “We have to get to Life of Fred: Calculus to find out.”

What is Life of Fred?

Life of Fred is a series of books written by Calculus professor Dr. Stanley Schmidt.  Dr. Schmidt has written Life of Fred books from his elementary series through the third year of college (Linear Algebra is currently the last book in the series, which is studied after two years of calculus.) I’m going to talk about the Elementary series because we are in the thick of it right now. We have two more lessons in LoF Farming (the sixth book in the elementary series).

The Elementary series consists of 10 books with 18 or 19 daily lessons in each book.  It is possible to work through the entire series in one year.  Each book costs $16 new. (Z-twist books is the publisher. You can also purchase them from Educents, which also has an adorable Kingie doll for sale. Guess what I want for my birthday?!) The book titles are alphabetical.  The first book is Apples, the next is Butterflies, the third is Cats, etc.  When I first heard about the series, I didn’t want to invest $160 in a math program, but what I didn’t understand is that LoF Elementary is cyclical.  Dr. Schmidt says the best way to use the program is to repeat all the lessons from Apples to Jellybeans several years in a row.  If you start with a first grader, you probably will not complete the series the first year.  You might get to Cats (book 3) or Dogs (book 4).  Then in second grade you may start again with Apples.  Even an older child should start with Apples.  They can do more than one lesson a day until it gets challenging.



Student completes a Row of Practice

Each lesson has a six page story about Fred’s crazy life as a 5 year old math professor.  He encounters a lot of math in each lesson.  At the end of the lesson is a Your Turn to Play.  The YTTP section has a 4-6 math problems to solve.  Many of these questions are in story problem form. The books are not consumable.  The children answer the YTTP on a separate sheet of paper.  Many of the lessons also include A Row of Practice.  These are just simple arithmetic problems.  Starting in Edgewood (book 5), if a child misses one of the five Row of Practice Problems, he or she needs to try them ALL again.  I’ll be honest.  We had TEARS.  So many tears.  When she questioned me about the need to do them all again, I told her she could email Dr. Schmidt (That’s right folks!  He hands out his email address and tells parents to have their children email him with questions, complaints, or mistakes they found in the books.) We have not emailed him yet.  My daughter eventually got used to it, and now her arithmetic is much more accurate than it ever was even with the drill and kill workbooks.  She even checks her work before looking at the answer key!!!!

From start to finish a LoF lesson takes about 15 to 20 minutes.  In the upper books, it may take more like 30 minutes because children have to practice multiplication facts before they earn the right to read the chapter.

What I like about Life of Fred

First things first.  You guys, there is no prep in this math curriculum at all.  None.  Pick up the book and read the next lesson.  That's it.  The only supplies you need are the books, a pencil, and a piece of paper.

Dr. Schmidt published LoF: Calculus first, then worked his way down.  His books were so popular and refreshing that there was a demand for an elementary series.  When he wrote the Elementary series, he had the end in mind.  In the Elementary series, he exposes children to more upper level mathematics than I have ever seen in a math textbook.  He loves to teach set theory.  My children can tell you the cardinality of a set, and they are learning to find the union of two sets.  I don’t think I learned that until Algebra 2! One of my favorite things about Apples is that right away, Dr. Schmidt dangles the promise that when the students get to Life of Fred: Calculus, they will find out how Fred came to be a Math professor.  Dr. Schmidt also shows students what a calculus problem looks like.  I love that.  I love showing children that things exist in this world, even if they don’t understand it yet.

In Apples, the first book, the only arithmetic used are the numbers that equal 7.  For example, 0+7=7, 1+6=7, 2+5=7.  These are the ONLY math facts that students encounter in the entire book.  Many homeschooling parents look only at Apples and decide LoF isn’t challenging enough for their students.  But what they don’t see is all the math that is covered. In Apples, the students learn how to subtract a number from 7.  They also learn some basic algebra like x + 2 = 7.  They explore geometry and set theory.  Here is a sample from Life of Fred: Apples.

In Butterflies, Dr. Schmidt adds other math facts, and students play with numbers using a very limited amount of arithmetic. 

Dr. Schmidt gradually adds math facts until all are covered and practiced in Farming (book 6).  In Honey (book 8) multiplication is the focus.

By the end of the elementary series, children should be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide with confidence. They will also explore some basic fractions and decimals, solve basic algebra problems, and be exposed to many upper level math concepts. Here is a sample from Life of Fred: Ice Cream.

I know I said this before, but Dr. Schmidt wants children to email him with questions, complaints, or when they spot a mistake in his books.  What other math publisher does that?

The story is zany. Fred meets interesting people and animals, adopts 30 dogs, his doll is a world renown painter, and Fred is swindled multiple times by crook C.C. Coalback.   

Dr. Schmidt also puts in short essays about random things in his stories.  He says he doesn’t teach math, he teaches students.  He has taught my children about the Titanic, Orien, asterisms, and so many other things.

*One thing to note is that Life of Fred does not use very many math manipulatives.  Before Life of Fred, I would have said that any math curriculum without manipulatives will not teach children conceptually. Life of Fred is the only curriculum I know of that does teach math conceptually without heavy use of math manipulatives. 

Life of Fred is not for everyone

I believe that finding the right curriculum for homeschoolers depends largely on two factors: 

1. It must appeal to the student.  I know that not everything we have to learn in life is fun.  However, if a child loathes a certain curriculum for some reason, find another choice.  I had to do this with a Bible curriculum I was using.  I loved it.  My daughter did not.  It wasn’t worth the daily arguments.

2. It must appeal to the parent. If you or your child would rather do worksheets and not have all the “story fluff” of Life of Fred, then it isn’t for you. That’s ok. 

Also, can I just say that Dr. Stanley Schmidt is a genius, but he is more than a little eccentric?  Look up his tv show from the 90s.  He has been known to wear a toga while teaching philosophy.  His eccentricity might be a turn off for some. 

If you do not want a Christian math curriculum, then you might want to skip Life of Fred.  Personally, I love the Christian references.  They are subtle and natural.  I have always felt like some Christian math curricula seem forced.  Have you ever seen a curriculum that has word problems like- “What is the sum of the elephants and zebras on the ark?”  LoF isn’t overtly Christian, but just seems to be a natural outpouring of the author’s belief system.  For example, on a Your Turn to Play one of the questions is to name a set with three members.  I named my three children as an example.  My daughter named {Larry, Mo, Curly}.  In the answer key, Dr. Schmidt gave the example of {the trinity} as a set with three members. 

 

How NOT to use Life of Fred: The Evolution of my LoF Implementation Plan

1. When I first heard about Life of Fred, I bought Apples and Butterflies.  We read through Apples and Butterflies. Great math exposure. Little math computation.  Funny stories.  My overall feeling: Meh.  It’s missing something.  We switched to Rightstart Math.  Moral: Don't just buy the first two books. 

2. A couple years later I bought Cats, Dogs, and Edgewood.  I supplemented Rightstart with Life of Fred when I felt like it.  I think we got through Cats.  My overall feeling: The kids didn't retain very much. Dr. Schmidt is a genius.  I wish there was more math computation. Moral: Be consistent.

3. In January of last year I tried to make Life of Fred the spine of our math, and I supplemented with worksheets for extra practice.  My third grade daughter was really struggling to remember subtraction facts so I thought a daily drill and kill worksheet would help.  We got through Dogs, and my daughter was in tears because of the daily worksheets.  She continually made subtraction mistakes or forgot subtraction facts.  Moral: The Row of Practice problems can be just as effective  (or more so) than 25 problems each day.

The Best Way to use Life of Fred: Dr. Schmidt's Way

This year I dropped the other curriculum and I use Life of Fred daily.  We sometimes double up lessons, especially in the books we have repeated a few times. I never skip a day of Life of Fred.  My children are doing amazing things in math. I do still supplement the math occasionally, but I try to use math games more than workbooks.  My second grade son really likes his Star Wars Math workbook, so he does that a couple days each week. 

A few more thoughts:

 My daughter is behind.  She is in fourth grade, and she doesn’t know all her multiplication facts. She has dyslexia, and I’m wondering if she also has dysgraphia.  Math facts are harder for her to retain than typical children. She can solve multiplication problems because she can skip count numbers up to 15 (Thanks Classical Conversations memory work!).  I think that if I had used Life of Fred as our main math curriculum a few years ago, my daughter would have retained more of her subtraction facts.  She still needs to learn a lot of math before she is ready for long division, fractions, and decimals.  But it will come.  She has become a subtraction master, and I trust Fred and Dr. Schmidt to carry her through.  

Not ready to commit yet? See if you can borrow LoF books from a friend.  This year I have lent my LoF books to three friends.  We stagger when we start Apples so multiple children can use the same set.  Another option is to check your library or use an inner library loan.  The books are $16 with free shipping from the author’s publisher. I buy them used for $10-14 each.  They retain most of their value, so you can always resell them.

 Struggling Math students would benefit from Life of Fred.  The curriculum is zany enough that even a struggling 7th or 8th grader would benefit from the elementary series.  Let your student work through them in the summer. An older child could breeze through one book each week in less than an hour each day.

Students are ready for Life of Fred: Apples when they can write and recognize numerals, and have a basic number sense of the numbers 1-7. For example, when they see five Legos, they know there are five there.

Looking to the Future



Students use "Fred Bucks" in denominations of the
powers of 3 ($1, $3, $9, $27, $81) to buy things and make change.

Our plan is for my daughter who is 9 and my 7 year old son to go through A-J this year.  I hope my daughter will be ready to start the intermediate series (Kidneys, Liver, and Mineshaft) this summer when we start the next school year.  If she struggles through the multiplication and division books, I will have her repeat those before going on to K,L, M.  At this point, I would love to take my children through Calculus.  We will finally know how five year old Fred came to be a math professor.

Epilogue

And they all lived happily ever after.



How to Homeschool Your Child When You Feel Like You are Never Home

I am so thankful that 2017 is behind us.  My 7 year old son with Spina Bifida was burned by a space heater in January and needed two skin graft surgeries.  Then he had 4 scheduled surgeries in April.  He spent the rest of the year fighting infections due to complications with his April surgeries.  Since January, he has had 6 hospital stays, all lasting a week or more.  Homeschooling with a special needs child can be complicated.

A hospital stay won't stop this cool kid from dabbing

 

 

Even if you don't have a child with special needs, you may have ballet and piano lessons, orthodontist appointments,  Bible study, errands, library programs and a exercise class during the week.  Am I the only one who feels like homeschooling should be called On-The-Go-Schooling?

Many people have asked me how I schedule my school day around doctors appointments, therapy, and hospital stays.  Every year is a little different, but I have started viewing my homeschool schedule the way I treated scheduling in the classroom.  After I graduated from college, I taught second grade at a Christian school on the island of Saipan.  When I moved back to the states, I was a fourth grade teacher at a Christian school.  In both cases, I had to apply a chapel schedule to our Wednesdays because we spent 45 minutes or so with the rest of the school in a chapel program.  Also, we had several specials such as PE or Art.  Usually one day a week, we would have two specials.  If I hadn’t planned a 2 specials schedule, we could have lost a lot of valuable teaching time.  Teachers have to do this every year.  I really think that homeschooling is no different.  Let me give you some examples of how I rearrange my day and our homeschool priorities so that I can make sure my children are continually learning and progressing according to their needs.

First, let me tell you about a PERFECTLY scheduled day in which we have no interruptions or appointments. (As you well know, there is no such thing as a perfect day.)

I learned from Classical Conversations Foundations program the value of having Crisp Components.  The Crisp Components I use in our homeschool day are different than in the Foundations program.  This is our “Normal School Schedule.”  When Classical Conversations is finished for the year, we will have a different school schedule and will study some different things.

 Here are our 5 Crisp Components:

1. 7:45-8:30 Foundations Review

I don’t want to spend a lot of time explaining the Classical Conversations Foundations program right now, but basically each week for 24 weeks we have little tidbits of information to memorize in 7 subject areas- History, Science, Latin, Geography, Timeline, Math, English Grammar. 

I put on the Foundations Memory Work CD, and we listen to it as we wake up, get dressed, clean up the house, and get ready for the day. My son with special needs requires a little more help getting ready in the morning.  We sometimes play review games, but usually just listening to the CD daily is enough for the students to memorize the information. 

How I tailor Foundations Review when we have appointments: 

Everyday, we have to get up and get dressed, so I don’t usually skip the CD.  Some families spend a lot more time studying and reviewing, but I’m pretty happy with just listening to the CD.  For geography, we have started using Draw the USA. 

2. 8:30- 10:00 Morning Time

This looks a little different every day, and it is an area where I can tailor it to fit our day’s schedule.  During Morning Time, the children eat breakfast.  In a perfect world, I have already eaten mine.  I usually get a big latte mug of coffee (I’m a Harry and David’s Chocolate Cherry Decadence coffee fan!) While they are eating, I always start the day with Bible.  We are reading through Long Story Short, which goes through the Old Testament chronologically.  I really enjoy it because it always has one lesson a week that links the Old Testament story to Jesus.  After Bible, we enjoy poetry. I’m using How to TeachYour Child Shakespeare.  We have been studying Twelfth Night.  I love teaching Shakespeare to children! Are you familiar with the book Wonder?  I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I love the book!  The author, R.J. Palacio wrote another book called 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Brown’s Book of Precepts.  Each day, we read the precept that corresponds to the date and discuss the meaning.  The precept for January 3 is from Henry James: “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; the third is to be kind.” Then I read from The Story Book of Science, and A Child’s History of America.  This is the only formal Science and History that I do right now.  My children do a Science Project every week at CC.  The combination of CC History, CC Timeline, and what my daughter learns from her IEW History Based Writing is enough for us right now.  I also take this time to read a chapter or two from a read aloud book.  I used to try to read at night, and I was so tired that I didn’t make it a priority.  I have dyslexia.  Reading aloud when I am tired is not an easy feat. This year we have read The Secret Garden, The Tale of Despeareuax, Holes, Rush Revere books, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I end Morning Time with a chapter or two from my absolute favorite Math Curriculum: Life of Fred.  We are currently working through Life of Fred Farming.  If we have no commitments, here is what Morning Time looks like:

Coffee and My Stack of books: The Essentials of Morning Time

Bible

Poetry
Precepts
Science
History
Read Aloud
Life of Fred

 

Morning Time is the heart of our school day.  All three of my children and I sit around the table as we learn together.  It sets the tone for the rest of the day.  The students are allowed to color, play with Legos, paint, play with play dough, or other quiet activities while I read, as long as they are listening and participating.  I have gradually been adding things to Morning Time. A few things I would like to add are an Artist or Composer study, Greek Mythology, and some fairy tales from The Blue Fairy Book.

 

How I tailor Morning Time when we have appointments:

If we have a busy day, we will only do Bible and usually Life of Fred.  I am happy when if we do Science and History 3 days a week.  Do you see how easy this is to rearrange according to our needs?  

 

3. 10:00-10:30 Workbook Time

Teach Your Child to Read
in 100 Easy Lessons

My 9 year old and my 7 year old each have 3 workbooks that they can usually do somewhat independently.  We use Spelling You See, Kumon or Star Wars Math workbooks, and handwriting.  In a perfect world, they do their workbooks while I work with my five year old in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and RightStart Math B.

 

How I tailor Workbook Time when we have appointments:

Workbooks are easy to pack with us.  My 9 year old likes to do them in the car on the way, but my 7 year old would rather work on it in the waiting room.  If we have appointments, I sometimes do not work with my 5 year old.  He also enjoys doing his lessons at night.

 

4. 10:30-11:30 Reading Time

I like to hear each of my children read out loud for 15 minutes each day. This gives everyone a little bit of a break while I work one on one with each child.  While I’m reading with one child, the other children play with toys.  No electronics are allowed during the school day.

My five year old is not able to read yet, but he is part of our library’s 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program.  So far, I have read 400 picture books to him.  We hope to finish before the summer.

 From about 11:45-12:00 We also do our geography lesson during this time.  I know it has nothing to do with Reading, but I tend to group Geography and Reading together.  I love the  Draw the USA book.  It’s been a really great way to teach drawing as well as geography.

 

How I tailor Reading Time when we have appointments:

I have found that my children get a little embarrassed if I ask them to read aloud in public.  Instead, I will listen to my children read in the evening.  I love the flexibility of homeschooling.  We are usually finished with school by 2:30, but if we need to do some school in the evenings, it is not a big deal.

 

 

12:00-1:00 LUNCH.

We are usually ready for a lunch break after Reading Time.  We take about an hour for lunch to eat, clean up, and play.  This is a good time to go outside if it is a nice day.  My 9 year old usually fixes lunch while I attend to my 7 year old’s medical needs.

 

5. 1:00-2:30 Writing and Grammar. 

My daughter's Essentials Notebook

My 9 year old daughter is part of the Classical Conversations Essentials program for 4th-6th graders.  We study Grammar for about 15-30 minutes each day.  Then she works on a writing assignment in her History Based Writing: United States History from Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW).

 My 7 year old son works on his assignments from IEW’s Bible Heroes program.

 

Each week, both children write a paper and illustrate it.  At the end of the year, I want to take all their papers and illustrations and bind them into a book.

 

How I tailor Writing and Grammar Time when we have appointments:

My daughter has to turn in assignments each week.  I have found that she can usually get her assignment done in 3 days, so we can skip one day a week if necessary.  There have been times when we have to work on the writing assignment on the weekend to get it finished.  I don’t worry very much if my son doesn’t finish his lesson.  We just work on it the next week.  It may take him two years to finish Bible Heroes, and that is perfectly fine with me.

 

I use this schedule four days a week.  On Wednesdays we go to our Classical Conversations classes.  We school year round, so on days where we spend the entire day at the hospital, we take the day off.  We started this year in June, and even with all our interruptions and 3 weeks of hospital stays, we are on day 112 as of January 5.  In our state, we have to have 180 days of school.  As long as we don’t have any major surprises, we will finish in April this year.  Even if we do have some  surprises, we still have enough time to finish before June.  As I mentioned before, the above is our “Normal School Schedule.”  When Classical Conversations ends for the year, we will go to our “Summer School Schedule.”  We will not do as much CC memory work or writing, but will instead focus on Latin and Science. 

A Final Note:

Don't be afraid to make use of your car! We have listened to several audio books on our trips to the hospital and other appointments.

 

I know that every family is different.  Your “Crisp Components” will probably be different than mine.  What does your day look like?

How to Teach a Child to Read

My 4 year old son is learning to read.  He has already started to show some early signs of dyslexia, so I haven’t rushed him.  I have many friends who are afraid of teaching a child to read.  I was terrified when I began reading mechanics with my children, so I thought I would post some tips.

My four year old is excited to start reading!

1.       Give your child play time with letter manipulatives.

Children learn through play.  My motto has always been, “You might as well teach them something while they play.”  There are many letter manipulative toys on the market.  You can buy many of them at the dollar store.  Refrigerator magnet letters and foam letters are readily available.  Purchase lowercase letters if you can.  Lowercase letters make up 95% of what we read.  Uppercase letters are only used at the beginning of sentences and for proper nouns.  For some reason, the toy market is slow to understand this.  Many of the letter toys are uppercase. It won’t hurt anything for your child to play with uppercase letters, but they will read easier if they have more exposure to lower case letters.  Here area few of my favorite letter manipulatives. (Notice that some of them are uppercase because that is what is available).

 

2.       Read to your child. 

Reading with your child is such a great bonding experience.  My children and I are currently reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret as our evening read aloud.  My four year old and I love to read picture books together.  When I read to him, I try to point to every word to model the left to right reading method.  He has started to understand that letters make up words.  When he picks up a book, he now points to word and tracks from left to right while he makes up his own words.  This summer we are going to use Five in a Row as our literature curriculum.

 

3.       Wait for signs of Reading Readiness.

Some children are just not ready to learn letter sounds.  My youngest has been slower than my other two children to be ready.  Just about a month ago he started to pretend spell.  He says things like, “Mom, can I have some E-R-G-H?” Apparently ERGH spells ice cream according to my 4 year old.  His use of letters to make words, even though they were incorrectly spelled, shows me that he is ready to learn.  Other reading readiness signs include finding letters in a book, tracking while pretending to read, and trying to write.

Be careful with motivation!  Some children are more than ready to learn to read, but they do not want to do the work.  My youngest is motivated by the iPad.  I allow him 15 minutes of screen time AFTER he does a reading lesson. 

4.       Focus on letter sounds over letter names

Beginning to read is so much easier when you focus on letter sounds.  I’m not suggesting that we ignore letter names all together.  Children will need the names of the letters to spell out loud.  But let me explain why letter sounds aid reading.  If children have only been taught letter names, they cannot sound out the word “sat”.  It would be ESS-AY-TEEE.  If they are taught the sounds, then they can blend them to make the word sssaaat.  Then they can say the word quickly as “sat.” When I teach beginning letter sounds, I ONLY refer to the sounds the letters make.  I do not use the names of the letters until I have introduced them much later in the curriculum.  When we write in salt or paint, I ask children to write the mmmm sound instead of asking them to write the letter eM.

 

5.       Teach lowercase letters before capital letters

I touched on this before.  About 95% of what we read is in lowercase.  It is easier to teach uppercase letters after the child has made some progress in reading.  I even start out with sentences that are not capitalized.  “see me sit” is one of the first sentences the children learn to read.  Notice that it is not capitalized.  I gradually introduce capital letters at the beginning of the sentence and for proper nouns as the student has gained some confidence. 

 

6.       Don’t reinvent the wheel!

There are many good curriculum options available to help you teach reading.  I have used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with two of my children.  (My middle child was a spontaneous reader and did not need any instruction.  I didn’t believe children could actually teach themselves to read until my middle child proved me wrong!)  I also like Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading.  Several of my friends have had success with The Reading Lesson, but I am not quite as familiar with it.  When we finish with 100 Easy Lessons, we start Spell to Write and Read.   Another note: Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is NOT 100 Easy Days.  You may have to repeat a lesson several times before your child is ready to move on to the next lesson.  Do not be surprised if it takes 6 months to a year to complete the curriculum.

7.       Reinforce the Letter sounds with Writing. 

Use as many of the senses as possible! Reading uses the senses of sight and hearing.  When you write the letter, you use the sense of touch.  I don’t care at this point about beautiful handwriting; I just want the mind to know what a /t/ FEELS like.  It makes a huge difference to write the letter sounds as you introduce them.  My four year old almost always chooses to write them in salt, but finger paint, shaving cream, sand, or crayons are some of the other options.

 

What are some of your favorite tips to teach beginning reading mechanics?