On the Home(School) Front
Well, we've been doing school around here for about a month, and I have not yet posted about how our year is going so far. Actually, I've been holding my breath a bit, waiting to see if it gets harder. But, I have to say with a little sigh of relief, that I think it's gonna be okay.
For one thing, we're all in new math programs, and that is working out well. You know why? Not because the programs themselves are necessarily better, or my kids like them more. No, it's this: all of them are Mastery programs. You know, some math programs are Spiral-based: they teach a little of a skill, then a little of something else, then a little of a third thing, then come back around to the first thing and teach the next step. That seems to work well for a lot of kids. Not mine, though. Or maybe I should say, not for ME. I got so frustrated when my kids could not get through their math without tons of errors, and then I'd go to try and correct them, and then we'd have to backtrack 20 lessons to find the one little skill they never mastered so that they could not make the rest of the problems work out.
With their new programs, we stay on a skill till I know they've GOT it. If they get more than 3 or 4 problems wrong, we do more of the same the next day. We're not moving on until it is solid. Math is taking a long time this way... but it is SO much easier to correct. And I don't have that horrible twisty feeling in my guts that they are going to blow their math exams in high school because I've failed them as a teacher now.
Someone asked me what we are using - it's Chalkdust for the boys, and Math-U-See for the girl. Yeah, the MUS is a little on the easy side... but I'm okay with that. It's very homeschool friendly, with none of the silly classroom stuff that wastes hours of time, and it's very visual. We're doing two pages a day. The Chalkdust is pretty good. There's a video instructor who teaches each lesson, then the boys do the problem sets that go with the video. I do like being able to control how much practice they get.
At Classical School (the one-day-a-week program the boys attend), the year has gotten off to a good start. Things that were excruciatingly hard for DS2 last year have miraculously gotten easier, such as writing papers. Grammar and Latin we have been doing together, and that is paying off - DS aced his first tests in both subjects! (This TRULY is miraculous, believe me!) Their teacher has come up with a clever plan for Latin... I just love this. Even though the boys are a year apart in the program, they are on the same lessons in the Latin book because the older class started Latin at the same time as the younger class. DS1 is head of his class in Latin, which his little competitive heart just loves, but there are a couple of other kids hot on his heels. So their teacher made a deal with DS1 - he could earn extra credit every time HIS BROTHER aces a Latin quiz or test. In other words, if DS1 helps DS2 succeed, they both win. How cool is that? The best part is... it's working. DS1 has taken over Latin lessons with his brother. Heh, heh, heh. Let the revolution begin.
DD and I are whizzing through First Language Lessons and Story of the World Vol. 1. That's because we were supposed to be halfway done with the former and completely done with the latter by the end of last year, but sadly, we weren't. So I'm trying to stay completely on track this year to catch up. We're skipping some of the SOTW lessons, which is unfortunate, but hey, if we didn't I don't think we'd finish the book by the end of THIS year! I'm hoping to start Vol. 2 in a couple of weeks, and again, we'll have to skip a few chapters, but we should be able to finish up, which is the goal. One thing I do know by now, after 6.25 years of homeschooling, is that you have to be master of the curriculum and not let it master you.
Let's see, what have I left out? Piano lessons! We have another new teacher (long story), but the big advantage of this guy is he comes to my house! Woo hoo! This is so efficient! And I really like him as a teacher... he is very focused, and positive, but he has high standards, which has helped my kids want to practice. Whew. We are not doing any sports right now... which needs to be corrected... but we'll get there. Right now I'm feeling like we're not TOO busy, and not TOO idle, and I hate to upset the balance. Margin is a good thing.
For one thing, we're all in new math programs, and that is working out well. You know why? Not because the programs themselves are necessarily better, or my kids like them more. No, it's this: all of them are Mastery programs. You know, some math programs are Spiral-based: they teach a little of a skill, then a little of something else, then a little of a third thing, then come back around to the first thing and teach the next step. That seems to work well for a lot of kids. Not mine, though. Or maybe I should say, not for ME. I got so frustrated when my kids could not get through their math without tons of errors, and then I'd go to try and correct them, and then we'd have to backtrack 20 lessons to find the one little skill they never mastered so that they could not make the rest of the problems work out.
With their new programs, we stay on a skill till I know they've GOT it. If they get more than 3 or 4 problems wrong, we do more of the same the next day. We're not moving on until it is solid. Math is taking a long time this way... but it is SO much easier to correct. And I don't have that horrible twisty feeling in my guts that they are going to blow their math exams in high school because I've failed them as a teacher now.
Someone asked me what we are using - it's Chalkdust for the boys, and Math-U-See for the girl. Yeah, the MUS is a little on the easy side... but I'm okay with that. It's very homeschool friendly, with none of the silly classroom stuff that wastes hours of time, and it's very visual. We're doing two pages a day. The Chalkdust is pretty good. There's a video instructor who teaches each lesson, then the boys do the problem sets that go with the video. I do like being able to control how much practice they get.
At Classical School (the one-day-a-week program the boys attend), the year has gotten off to a good start. Things that were excruciatingly hard for DS2 last year have miraculously gotten easier, such as writing papers. Grammar and Latin we have been doing together, and that is paying off - DS aced his first tests in both subjects! (This TRULY is miraculous, believe me!) Their teacher has come up with a clever plan for Latin... I just love this. Even though the boys are a year apart in the program, they are on the same lessons in the Latin book because the older class started Latin at the same time as the younger class. DS1 is head of his class in Latin, which his little competitive heart just loves, but there are a couple of other kids hot on his heels. So their teacher made a deal with DS1 - he could earn extra credit every time HIS BROTHER aces a Latin quiz or test. In other words, if DS1 helps DS2 succeed, they both win. How cool is that? The best part is... it's working. DS1 has taken over Latin lessons with his brother. Heh, heh, heh. Let the revolution begin.
DD and I are whizzing through First Language Lessons and Story of the World Vol. 1. That's because we were supposed to be halfway done with the former and completely done with the latter by the end of last year, but sadly, we weren't. So I'm trying to stay completely on track this year to catch up. We're skipping some of the SOTW lessons, which is unfortunate, but hey, if we didn't I don't think we'd finish the book by the end of THIS year! I'm hoping to start Vol. 2 in a couple of weeks, and again, we'll have to skip a few chapters, but we should be able to finish up, which is the goal. One thing I do know by now, after 6.25 years of homeschooling, is that you have to be master of the curriculum and not let it master you.
Let's see, what have I left out? Piano lessons! We have another new teacher (long story), but the big advantage of this guy is he comes to my house! Woo hoo! This is so efficient! And I really like him as a teacher... he is very focused, and positive, but he has high standards, which has helped my kids want to practice. Whew. We are not doing any sports right now... which needs to be corrected... but we'll get there. Right now I'm feeling like we're not TOO busy, and not TOO idle, and I hate to upset the balance. Margin is a good thing.
posted by Mamabird @ 7:05 PM
1 Comments:
At 12:08 AM,
Dy said…
Oh, sweet deal! I like the way the Latin teacher thinks. Sounds like you're off to a great year with the lesson! WOOHOO!
Dy
Post a Comment
<< Home