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

my favorite curriculum choices this year

 

All About Spelling

If you’ve been homeschooling for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard of All About Spelling.

 

I decided to buy the first two volumes (pre-owned) to use with my daughter this year.  Also, to have on hand for my youngest who has special needs.  I’ve heard so many special needs mommies rave about the program that I thought it would be a good investment.

And I have NOT been disappointed when it comes to my daughter.  We used Abeka for her first two years at home and while she did okay…it wasn’t easy.  Especially with the spelling piece.  If had been keeping grades she would have flunked every spelling test.

 

This year has been SO much better!

 

I love that AAS doesn’t have weekly memorized lists and focuses instead on learning spelling rules.  Each lesson is fully scripted and organized.  Each lesson includes review…review…review…and lots of practice!  And the best news is…she’s successful!  In today’s lesson she wrote two sentences with a total of 15 words (we counted) and made ZERO mistakes!  She rolled her eyes at my excitement.  But I’m pretty sure she was feeling proud of herself too.  We’ll definitely be sticking with this curriculum next year!

 

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Math U See

My 3rd Grader was actually doing wonderful with Abeka’s math program but I decided to switch her over to Math U See this year anyway.  A friend was giving away a couple teacher’s manuals and dvds.  All I had to buy was the student workbook and manipulatives.  I couldn’t resist!  This was another program I’ve been eyeing with Trevy in mind.

 

My daughter is thriving with the program.  We both love the dvds and manipulatives.  We’re in Gamma this year and she’s getting the hang of multiplication. 

I’ve loved it SO much for her that I bought a used Primer set to use with him too!  I consider my youngest blended schooled.  He attends a wonderful public school program in the mornings.  And we do a lot of work at home evenings and weekends and snow days.  We’ve had a lot of them this winter!

 

Below is a sample of the Math lesson I did with him for today’s snow day!  I love how he added the 10 to the number line. 

We will definitely be sticking with Math U See!

 

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Homespun-School.net

I stumbled on Homespun-School in a FaceBook forum.  There was an ad sharing a free 6 week digital learning class.  Psssst…the next one starts on February 10th!

 

I was sold on the idea of a FREE computer class taught by someone other than me.

 

I wasn’t super sure what to expect.  And to be honest, in the beginning both my 7th Grader and I were quite overwhelmed.  But we stuck with it and went from overwhelmed to in love.  My son is learning SO much.  More than that…he’s LOVING what he’s learning!  It’s one subject he doesn’t complain about how much time it takes to complete.  He’s created his own website and is now learning how to create animations like the cartoon below.

He’s totally proud of himself.  I couldn’t be more happy we stumbled on HSS.  In fact, we’re enrolling in a Spring course!

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Draw Write Now

 

I love Draw Write Now because it combines art with penmanship/copywork!  Genius!  I’ve been borrowing the books from our library and perpetually renewing.  I should probably think about buying these!

 

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The Care & Keeping of You

A girlfriend mentioned how much her daughter was loving this book.  I thought it looked like a good choice for “Health”.  I had NO idea how addicted she was going to be!  She really doesn’t put it down except to hide it from the boys’.  We’ve had a lot of interesting conversations.  The topics range from hygiene to puberty to relationships.  Gotta hand it to American Girl on this one.  A great book for a tween-y health choice!

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Easy Peasy Homeschool

We’re using Easy Peasy for a number of things this year!

 

Science.  Reading.  Grammar.  Writing.  Spanish.  Thinking.

Easy Peasy is so great because it’s FREE!  But not just that…it’s quality.  Lee Giles, the developer, has spent a LOT of time & energy making these lesson plans available to moms like me for FREE.  It’s such a beautiful gift and I appreciate it to my toes.

A little sample of some poetry (above) and Spanish (below) that they’ve been working on with Easy Peasy this year.

We will definitely continue using Easy Peasy 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)

 

 

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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