How We’re Using All About Spelling Level 2: syllable marking

 

 

I made the switch from Abeka to All About Spelling this year and have zero regrets! Even though I was tempted to skip forward, I am SO happy that we started with Level 1. She sailed through the first book but it laid a great foundation AND helped us both develop our flow. Flow is important in our home.

 

We aim to do AAS lessons four times a week. She loves AAS because it’s one of our subjects that she knows I’m with her the whole time. She does quite of bit of independent work these days…but is a sappy head like me and still enjoys our together time.

 

While I glance over the lesson & prep anything that needs prepping, I’ll have her busy sorting and organizing all of our letter tiles in ABC order.

 

Typically, once I’m set, we’ll do a little review work. She’s a big fan of me letting her be “the teacher”!

I do have a full set of the tiles. I use and encourage others to purchase them! You really need them. And though there are ways to make your own (I’ve tried) the quality of the product is worth the investment! In fact, I’m planning to buy a second set this year! But now that we’re further along, I find myself utilizing her mini white board more often. The great thing with AAS is that you’re encouraged to be creative!

 

In this lesson you can see I mixed tiles with whiteboard marker.

This is a review of syllable division concepts she’s learned. She loooooves the little cards. They have really helped root the “rules” in her mind…which helps her spelling globally. It’s always so cool when you see your child generalizing (using what they learned in the real world) concepts that you’ve poured yourself into helping them catch!

 

Because I’m such a HUGE fan of All About Spelling I’m also an affiliate! That means if you purchase curriculum via my link – I make a small commission! 

 

…danielle

Play-Doh Geography–a twist on map blobbing

 

 

My daughter has really struggled retaining the names of the 50 states. We’ve tried music and workbooks and iPad games and trivia during dinner.

 

 

But I think it was all just too abstract for her.

Enter map blobbing.  I love love love the idea! We’ve been using the idea to learn the continents. One day the idea popped into my head that we could modify the idea to help her learn her states too. And she doesn’t need to draw it to retain it! Why, she could play-doh blob the states instead! Everything is more fun with play-doh!

 

 

So I searched Pinterest for the cutest FREE USA printable I could find.  Hands down it’s this one. I printed & laminated & added magnets to the back so it can hang on our white board. We just pull it off the board for geography lessons. I have her shape play-doh over 5 (gradually increasing the number) states of her choice. She then has to tell me the names of the states she’s play-doh blobbed.

You can make it as intensive as you’d like. My goal right now is just helping her learn the names of the states and where they are geographically. The natural connections, like places we’ve been or have family help make it more concrete too.

 

 

This is so much fun even the 7th Grader can’t resist helping when he happens to find her state blobbing!

 

…danielle

we’re using Easy Peasy for Science

 

 

If you’ve been homeschooling for a bit by now then I’m sure you’ve heard rumblings about Easy Peasy or All in One Homeschool.

 

 

I’ve slowly been replacing other curricula with Easy Peasy.  Science being one of them.

 

 

Honestly, there is so much to love about this program. It’s well laid out and easy to follow. It promotes independent learning. It’s written to be aligned with PA homeschool standards. PA is among the more stringent states which helps me feel confident that what they’re learning is robust. Also, my kids are having fun! That’s not my guiding light when making educational choices for them…but it is a nice perk!

Learning is a blend of both online activities, readings, games and printables. Click here if you’d like to peek at the full Scope & Sequence.

 

 

Printables, like lapbooks, are linked in the daily schedules. This makes it SO easy to implement! I’ve always wanted to incorporate more lapbooks but I’m the girl that drools & thumbs her lips in the big box stores because there are too many choices! Too many choices paralyze me and trigger my “second guesser” instinct! That’s how I’ve felt about lapbooks. Easy Peasy makes it so…well…easy. And peasy!

I have found that for us using notebooks (rather than file folders) works best for our lapbooking. This way I can include other projects right into the same book. Plus, we’re enjoying the scrapbook-y feel. And it looks so neat and tidy! I have a thing for organized and tidy. This year I’m using composition notebooks. I like them best. Maybe it’s nostalgia?

 

 

The only thing I’m adding to our Easy Peasy Zoology studies is using Apologia’s Swimming Creatures as a read aloud. And that’s really only because a friend offered to let me borrow it.

 

Overall, I’m really enjoying this program and we will definitely continue to use it next year!

 

…danielle

randomnings

 

I (occasionally) *heart* Speech Delay

Like when Trevy calls his high tops high heels.

 

*****

 

Bristel and I had some alone time in the car after dropping Tobin off at his engineering class. The conversation inevitably went to romance. Because clearly that's what 8 year old girls think about.

 

Bristel randomly broke the silence with a sigh: Sometimes I think I may never find a husband.
Me: Well, honey, it's better to wait for the right guy rather than settle for the wrong one.
Bristel: That's a good point. (pause and then giggle) Daddy looked so silly in those circle glasses he used to wear! Did you think he looked silly even though you married him?
Me: They were pretty silly! Buuuuuuut...your dad made me laugh. So that balanced that out.
Bristel: I have really high expectations, I think.
Me after choking on the fact that she's EIGHT: Well, what are your top five expectations?
Bristel: He has to love Trevor. He has to love God. He has to love me. And he HAS to love my sense of humor! Also, he needs to be funny too.

 

I thought that was a pretty good list.

 

*****

 

Evidently a 5 day vacation just wasn't cutting it for Trevor. When it was time to go to school he flopped on Bristel's bed and started incessantly crying, "Not enough time!!!"

 

*****

 

Trevor was chasing the dog around with a pair of play-doh scissors saying, "I doctor! I doctor!"

She was NOT amused. Even if the rest of us were.

 

*****

 

Jonathan schlepped our tree up from the basement and is in the process of trying to get it all set up. Trevor has been fascinated.

He just came up to me and asked, "Little People?"

We have a Little People nativity set that we bring out with all of our Christmas gear. He hasn't seen that thing in a year!!!

That boy has an amazing memory!

 

*****

 

I just told Trevy to open his mouth and when he obeyed I surprised him by spraying whipped cream into it.

 

The face he made was PRICELESS!

 

Now he's following me around with his mouth hanging open like a little baby bird.

 

*****

 

Bristel loves FaceTiming her friend, Jamie. Trevor didn't quite catch her name once and called her "James" instead of Jamie on accident. It was cute but the girls tried to correct him. Big mistake. He thinks it's funny when he says things wrong and it annoys people. And when you correct him it only makes it that much more fun.

 

So now, every time Bristel is on FaceTime he's always hollering, JAAAAAMES! And Bristel always hollers back, "IT'S NOOOOOT JAAAAAAMES!"

 

This situation happens dozens of times a day and always ends in Trevor laughing hysterically. LOL

 

*****

 

Random Bristel

 

I'd rather be bitten by a vampire than be surrounded by spiders.

 

 

…danielle

a scenic tour of our dive into All About Spelling Level 1

 

My choice to use All About Spelling this year really flowed from two places.

 

I felt like, while she learned SO much with Abeka, she just wasn’t connecting.  Actually, she hated…loathed…dreaded…the video program.  While I’m not a total buy-in to the whole delight driven movement.  Because let’s face it…sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do.  Even if it’s the opposite of delightful.  At the same time…I don’t want her to HATE learning.  We need a little balance here!  And there are way too many raving reviews out there to ignore AAS! 

 

 

Also…Trevy.

 

 

Even though I don’t homeschool him yet…I’m always thinking about when I do.  And trying to be prepared with the best curriculum choices out there to help him achieve his fullest potential.  All About Spelling is what all the cool special needs mommies go gah-gah over. 

 

 

 

 

So it seemed like a win for her-win for him.

 

 

 

 

She has a good grasp of phonics and did wonderfully with the initial assessment. 

 

But…

 

when it came time to put the letter tiles in alphabetical order the first time…we realized that she’d forgotten how!

 

 

 

For the first couple lessons we used the Wee Sing & Learn ABC on the iPad.  I just had the song playing while she worked on organized the tiles. 

 

It only took a couple days for her to remember and request that we turn off the song already!

 

 

Originally I thought I would use the little magnetic board for the letter tiles.  Hmmmm.  Not so much.  It just works better to have the tiles in a long row for the lessons that have her use them to segment words.

 

Even on days when she’s not going to use the tiles I have her go ahead and put them in alphabetical order.  I’m all about having a “grounding” routine.  Also, I use that time to read over the lesson plan and prep for our work of the day.

 

 

 

Some of the phonograms with multiple sounds are tricky.  We’ve started making up little movements to help it stick in our brains.  She thought it would be a great idea to make little videos to help “other kids”.

 

 

We’ve been rolling through the Level 1 lessons.  It’s mostly been review for her up until now.

 

 

Once we had a nice routine established I started spicing things up.  Like letting her choose if she wants to write on paper or the white board.  Um.  Like that was even a choice, right?!

 

 

We’re on Step 14 in Level 1 and she’s doing wonderfully.  We’re doing wonderfully!  She’s enjoying learning together.  I’m enjoying actually teaching her this year rather than delegating her teaching to a video.  Video teaching is a wonderful tool but it was just time for us to move on.  She’s building confidence not just with spelling but also with reading.  When she stumbles on a word now I can either prompt her to segment it or even better, watch her segment on her own!  And even though it took me a minute to gather my “teacher wits” about me…I’m feeling more confident every day too!

 

Anyway…I know this sounds like a sponsored post.  It totally isn’t!  Although I am an All About Spelling affiliate. 

curriculum choices 2013-14

 

His 7th Grade Curriculum Choices

 

We do NOT do each of these daily.  Puh-leeeze.  I’m no Super Woman.  But this is a list of materials that we have used, are enjoying and are continuing to use throughout this year.  You’ll notice quite a few freebies listed.  Every year I’m trying to pare down our homeschool budget.  My hope is to alleviate some stress for my hubby and maybe even have some mulah to squeeze in some extra funsies!

 

 

Day by Day Kid’s Bible

Life of Christ – Sermon, Miracles and Parables

Saxon 8/7

Xtra Math  (FREE)

Mystery of History Volume 2 

Spanish with Easy Peasy (FREE)

Daily Grams

Grammar 101 (FREE)

Wordly Wise (FREE) flashcard only iPad app

Spelling Workout H

Exploring Creation with General Science Textbook & Student Notebook

Read Theory (FREE)

FreePianoLessons4Kids (FREE)

Typing Club (FREE)

Song School Latin

Maps, Charts, Graphs E: The United States and its Neighbors

Thinking Games/Logic with Easy Peasy (FREE)

iCivics (FREE)

Computer with Easy Peasy (FREE)

See The Light Art

Total Health: Talking about Life’s Choices Middle School

 

**Co-ops & Classes**

10 Week Lego Engineering Class (expensive but he loves it)

Once a Month Karate Class (not free but almost!)

Once a Week Art & Gym Co-op (FREE)

Once a Month Science Classes at the Museum of Natural History (not free but almost!)

Once a Week Ice Skating Oct-Mar (FREE)

Friday Math Counts Club ($25 competition fee in the Spring)

 

 

Her 3rd Grade Curriculum Choices

 

Same goes for her.  We don’t use all of these daily.  This is just a glance at all of the materials I intend to use this year.  Most of them we have already used and are enjoying!

 

 

Primary Bible Reader A Beka Book

Miracles of Jesus Coloring Book

Math U See Gamma

Math U See online drills

Mystery of History Volume 2

English 3 Writing and Grammar Bob Jones

Wordly Wise (FREE) flashcard only iPad app

All About Spelling Level 1 (and 2, if needed)

The Complete Book of Animals

Abeka 3rd Grade Readers

Read Theory (FREE)

FreePianoLessons4Kids (FREE)

Typing Club (FREE)

Song School Latin

Maps, Charts and Graphs C:  Communities

Thinking Games/Logic with Easy Peasy (FREE)

Computer with Easy Peasy (FREE)

See The Light Art

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kid

 

**Co-ops & Classes**

 

Every Other Week Horse Girls Club (FREE)

Every Other Week Fifty States Club

Once a Month Karate Class (not free but almost!)

Once a Week Art & Gym Co-op (FREE)

Once a Month Science Classes at the Museum of Natural History (not free but almost!)

Once a Week Ice Skating Oct-Mar (FREE)

 

 

*******************

 

I’m always filling in gaps here and there with new things I find.  Especially if I see neat-o freebies around.  But this list is the nuts & bolts of what we’ll be learning throughout any given week.  I know the lists look super long but we rarely spend over 30 minutes on a particular study.  Also, these aren’t daily.  It’s a list of learning we do weekly. 

 

I am SO blessed to have friends that help me with rides.  Without them my kids could not be as involved as they are! 

 

…danielle

oh the places…

 

 

It's not uncommon to walk around the corner of the island and find her squirreled away (sometimes sitting as seen…sometimes sprawled out) on the floor (I guess those gel filled chef's mats are comfy?) reading a book.

 

 

 

Do your kids have funny interesting favorite spots?

 

 

…danielle

missing badges, parenting fails and forgiveness

 

 

She puts on such a brave face.

 

 

Such a sweet, sensitive heart she has.  Neither of my boys seem to posses that thing that makes you sensitive of others.  But she has it in spades.  She’s always thinking of others.  Always ready to cuddle.  To nurture.  To love.

 

 

But I knew.  I knew behind her big blue eyes and dimpled smile hid a broken heart.  But she was thinking of me and trying desperately not to make me sad.  She hates to see me sad.  And so she smiled even though I had failed her big time.  I felt the guilt and grief and sadness climb up my throat until I had to catch her and make her see how sorry I was.  Apologize on my knees.  Until she knew to her toes that I meant it deeply.  Until any possible root of bitterness could be plucked from the soil of her tender heart.  To God, I don’t want her to grow bitter with me.  With him. 

 

 

Having a child with significant special needs impacts the whole family.

 

 

And last Saturday, at her American Heritage Girls ceremony, she missed out on receiving extra badges as a direct result of her brother’s care sapping her mother’s energy.

 

 

It was not her fault.  She worked hard for those badges.  She earned them.

 

 

I should have ordered them.

 

 

But somehow…in all the chaos of these last few months…I missed the order placement period.  And she missed out.

 

 

The thing is…

 

 

she had already missed out before.  I vividly remember promising her at the middle of the year ceremony that next time I would get it right.  Next time she would have those badges that she worked towards.  I would NOT let her down.

 

 

Talk about a parenting fail.

 

 

I pulled her aside and with tears running down my cheeks begged her to forgive me.  She promised it was okay.  That she understood.  Her blond hair and blue eyes looked so innocent and sweet.  But she’s eight.  Can an eight year old heart really understand how much energy leaks out of me every time her brother has a seizure or an IEP meeting?  How half way though the day…I’m toast.  And ready to just curl up in bed with a book.  It feels like I’m always tired anymore.  Ordering badges are the last thing on my mind.  Can she understand that and be okay with me pouring myself into finding new treatment options and talking to specialists to help her brother…but forgetting to order her badges?  I cried because my heart broke for her.  I cried because sometimes my heart groans for the day of Redemption fiercely.  I cried because I’m mad at myself.  Always, I’m reminding myself that I’m a mom of more than one.  And yet that one takes so much energy to parent.  I hugged her hard because I wanted to squeeze any doubts that she’s not as important to me as he is right out of her.  I didn’t want to let her go because I’m afraid that someday she won’t want to come back.  That she’ll look at my choices and judge them as partial.  I fear that because I know my own heart so often is bent towards bitterness.  And I can’t bear the thought.

 

 

So I hugged her tighter.  Until she said, “um, mom, I can’t breath” with a little laugh.  Which made me laugh too.  Because not only does she have the gift of compassion…she also has the gift of comedy.  Her voice was dead pan hilarious.  Against every fiber of my being, I pried my arms open and let her run off with her little friends.

 

 

I worry about her tender heart often…

 

 

But I have hope too.  I believe in Providence.  I know that we are not a family by chance.  We were chosen to be together by a loving God for His glory.  And I believe that He’s using Trevy shape all of our hearts to look more like His.  Missed badges and all.

 

 

It also helps when I read thoughts of older special siblings like this one…

 

 

“growing up with a special needs sibling equips you with a unique sense of humor, a special ability to marvel at the small beauties in life, and a boatload of patience!”  -- Brittany, SpecialSiblings.com

 

 

…danielle

our day in pictures

 

Thanks to a tip from another homeschool mom we’ve been starting our mornings each day with CNN’s Student News.  Bristel didn’t want her picture taken because she still had bedhead.

Today’s episode covered the weather in OK.  The kids and I took some time to pray together.  It’s always precious praying with them…

This (above) is my Morning Meeting Basket. Our morning meetings are a time to connect & review before the day begins. Some things I have in my basket are: mini-white boards for Scripture review or just review games in general; colored whiteboard markers; American Flag for the Pledge; Brain Quest cards for fun; Binder with odds n’ ends; Index card binder with hand written things to review; Random other review-ish things.  I like to have a theme for each day of the week…but now that summer is closing in we’re all ready to just be done.  So I’ve just been flying by the seat of my pants.

Even though summer is comin’…I finally got my hands on a copy of Sue Patrick’s book this week.  I LOVE the workbox system on so many levels and reading through the book re-energized me again.

**her e-book is half priced right now**

So I spent the weekend cleaning out my school closet and creating new workbox tags for the kids.

Including a Question Mark Flag which they can pop into play-doh whenever they have a question for me rather than just leaving their seats all.the.time.

I have promised to check-in frequently.

And so far it’s working WONDERFULLY!

Other than Toby whistling and/or loudly drumming on the table for my attention.  That’s plucking me nerves…I may have to limit the number of questions allowed per day like Sue Patrick recommends!

Bristel thought her popsicle stick was too boring so she added some bling using left-over gold pieces from a mosaic kit.  Her girly girl styles makes me smile!

Toby wasn’t thrilled that she be-dazzled his too and made us remove them all!  LOL

My new love – repositionable spray glue!  I found mine at Michael’s for around eight bucks.

I sprayed it on poster board to make a Latin vocab review game.  I’ll be using it for LOTS of review games since we can just keep sticking and unsticking!

I also used it instead of velcro to make the kids workbox cards.  I’m hoping it works out because I’m a fan of LESS bulk!

The kids have both been daily doing Xtra Math, a free math fact practice website, for the past week and I’m definitely seeing improvement.

All my online reading program memberships have expired, so I have Bristel reviewing phonics with this nifty McGuffey app.  I’m using the lite version right now but I’m really REALLY liking this app for her AND for Trevy!  I may just have to purchase the full thing…

I couldn’t resist sharing my fan set-up.  It was stinkin’ hot yesterday…and we have these really weird shaped windows that are too small for regular window fans but too big for smaller fans.  Enter Duct Tape: the everything fixer!

On a super personal note, Life has been really stressful lately. 

Trevor’s seizures have been crazy.  He’s been having drug interactions that could KILL him and HAVE caused some really scary episodes of balance and consciousness loss.  So we’ve been fiddling with meds…never fun.  I hate the med-merry-go-round.  But it’s a necessary evil when your child has a form of catastrophic epilepsy.  We almost had an admission…also never fun.  Even when it’s canceled.  We were packed and ready to head out the door when the neuro called to change plans on us…for a valid reason.  But we were already so emotionally invested that we still had to deal with a touch of “hospital hangover”.  And it’s just been chewing up our hearts.  The way life with a chronically sick child does.

This has caused me to actively search for ways to add more PEACE.

Some days that means “unschooling”.  Because I can’t gather my wits about me.

Some days it means staying in my favorite pink sweat pants from dawn til’ dusk.  Don’t you teach better in sweats?!

Some days it means spending awhile in the Word and prayer.  My Mother’s Day zero gravity chair is a great place for that! 

Today it was the Instrumental Praise station on Pandora.  The kids feel like the music is too sad.  But for me…it’s peaceful!  And I need more PEACE!  I let them change the station on breaks…Toby is a huge fan of the Newsboys station.

On the subject of Peace.  And the lack thereof.  It seems like the kids attitudes go to pot at exactly the wrong time.  I’m sure it’s partly because they feel the stress oozing from their parents.  And that’s how they deal.  But they’ve been at each other’s throats for weeks…and I’ve done more yelling and crying and well, just bad parenting moments than I care to confess.  And it’s just been not working on any level.

So another peace-chasing thing I’m trying is having a “Scripture Station” at the kitchen island every morning.

My goal is less yelling and more (penmanship, grammar &) character building.  When I feel my blood pressure elevating…I (mostly) send them to copy pre-chosen verses.

Both of my kids are really LOVING FreePianoLessons4Kids.  They think Mr. Hoffman is a great teacher and he must be because he’s keeping them engaged!

They also take lessons with Grams.  But it’s been hard to fit them in lately so I’ve been supplementing with this program.

Bristel’s Language is Abeka this year.  I’ve been letting her say some things out loud to me.  If she makes a mistake she’ll have to write it out for extra practice.  It’s been a great motivator for her to try and remember her phonics rules!  Oh and I’ve black board painted just about every school surface in our house too!  It’s SO handy.  See the bank she and I worked on before she wrote her paragraph?  I highly recommend going a little blackboard paint crazy every now and then.  It’ll make you feel so “teacher-y”.

 

 

…danielle

a day in the life (homeschool picture marathon style)

 

 

I thought it would be fun to take pictures randomly through one of our days this week.  These pictures don’t reflect everything that happened during our day.  Just the stuff that made me smile.

 

Bristel with her “Abeka Academy” class for Math and Language Arts.

Toby sweatin’ to Saxon 7/6.

Bristel is such a SLOB with her desk during our school day!  This is how she left it during her break time.

 

My grading bin is there because I sit beside her and look over their turned in work.  She pays better attention to the videos if I’m sitting with her.

Oh the irony that his space is neater!

Toby is looooooving Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool for his English.  In fact, next year we’ll be using EP a lot more. 

I had these set out to laminate.  Um.  Yeah…they’re still sitting on the table where I left them a few days ago.

Bristel was kind enough to warn everyone that there was a hornet in the mudroom.

I was astonished to find her bike neatly propped up!  She loooooves riding her bike during her break times but usually just drops it any ol’ place in the yard.

I didn’t catch a picture but Toby is often found working on his pitching finesse or shooting hoops during his break times.

She also decided to start a garden.  I’m guessing she must have been inspired by peeking at some of my recent pinning?

 

Notice the browning de-seeded apple below.  I couldn’t help but notice where she found the seeds.  She thinks she’s growing me some apple trees in the backyard. 

We discovered that Trevy got into her school work.

I guess he’s not a fan of Math. 

She had a sweet spirit about it though and laughed while she erased his scribbles.

Probably because she knew I was going to find her hidden message on our chore chalkboard. 

 

…danielle