Weeks One and Two

Well we have made it through our first two weeks.  I have definately learned a lot about my son and still have a lot of tweaking of curriculum layouts.  Our Moto is to start and complete an activity.  I allow for a break between activities and he can do whatever he wants:  Video game, TV time or Computer time.  We also cover some fresh air and stretch time.  Gives him something to work for and allows me time to set up for the next activity.  We have had a couple melts downs and a day where we stopped everything and had to take a nice walk before continuing with our work but we have seen a huge difference in his frustration level at home.  The idea is to get through an activity and then work on getting it done in a more reasonable time.  We have lots of review to cover through out the month of September because he definately is missing some key understandings of main educational topics.  He has continued with speech and I can now work his speech issues into review on a daily basis with "school" work.  I figure I will update the blog over the weekend cover our topics of the week.  By October I will have the science curriculum started and should have some additional resources added.  What is also nice is when something needs reviewing, I can get the review completely set up by the following day and when questions come up I can work it into our schedule to cover at that time or before the end of the day.  Our science project was not planned this week but after a trip to the library and one of the books Lawrence picked out we covered what Amoebas are (covered simply for a 3rd grade understanding) and now have a two week science lab in the works.  I also believe the library will become one of my best friends for resources on topics we would like to cover.  I put in my first request for books for an activity we plan on covering next week, our first social studies/history project.  Other than me being a little under the weather, so far things are going as smoothly as expected.  Over the weekend I will print out my next week units from his e-curriculum's along with writing up review sheets on his new paper from his handwriting program.  Prep and using proper timing and paper makes his life a lot less stressful.   Another thing that is nice I have more time to spend with my daughters since Lawrence covers everything he needs to cover during the day we have nights with no homework and time to spend as a family.  A surprise has also happened and it is my son is reading on his own.  His choose to read, he brought a book to bed and read before he went to bed and he also has started but time aside to read a chapter of his book during his free time.  Looking forward to enjoying the weekend because Mondays come to visit quickly.  

Math program http://www.mathmammoth.com/

 Language Arts program   http://activities.macmillanmh.com/reading/treasures/

Handwriting http://www.hwtears.com/hwt 

and review sheets

We spent some time outside on our field trips:  

Apples and Raspberries

What we did for our art time

Tissue paper and Water colors

We worked on review and

started our first Science project

He was able to cover gym activities during our first week in the pool

He did the log roll and climbing obstacle course for another gym activity

We also plan on visiting the local library at least once a week

Best part is being able to relocate our classroom 

Overall a good start and he has been up to the task

Our First Day

First Day

The two oldest headed back to school today and we started some review in our home school adventure.  First learning experience is to start home school once the two oldest are in school full day.  It is a crazy two days of running them back and forth and trying to get review in without interruptions.  Even with the craziness we had a good start to this new experience.

Wonder Wall:  

I saw this on Pinterest and loved the idea.  http://nurturestore.co.uk/wonder-wall   It is perfect to keep track of teachable moments that otherwise we might not remember to go back and research.

This was a fun activity to start with.  This allowed Lawrence to be hands on with his learning choices.  This also was good for his gross and fine motor skills.  It was big whole body movements while laying/painting our bricks in a pattern on our wall.

We added our first note to our wall.  It is to research Birch trees and the woods and forests.

Lawrence has a couple fine motor skill issues so I am making sure our activities are hands on and fun as we build up his strength in these areas.  

Overall it was a pretty good day of review and starting some of our regular curriculum work.  We started our Handwriting without Tears program, http://www.hwtears.com/hwt    We reviewed our math facts, started our reading log and book reports.   Nightly reading has also made its way back into our routine.  

Day 1 down and only 179 more to go ... LOL.   I will continue to blog our experience over the next couple of days and weeks.  Friday our math programs makes its first appearance and our reading/language arts program starts on Monday.  We will be building and transition into our home school days through out the month of September.  

Curriculum: Language Arts

Reading and Language Arts

Last year Lawrence's spelling words were separate from his reading which was separate from grammar.  This is an area he really struggles with because of his apraxia.  I had read and decided to search for a program that linked all components of Language Arts together.  This way the spelling, vocabulary and grammar are all in the reading passages associating everything together and hopefully helping Lawrence see the connection between reading, grammar and spelling and how it plays a role in becoming a strong reader.  The program I decided to use is the program my girls had used when they were in elementary school.  

Macmillan/McGraw-Hill has a reading program called Treasures,  http://activities.macmillanmh.com/reading/treasures/

Online the workbooks are free:  We have spelling, grammar and on-level practice associated with the reading passage for the week.  http://www.mhschool.com/reading/treasure_workbooks/national.html

I was able to order the student book on-line used and it is in great condition.  I am fortunate to have two printers, laser jet and color, which makes printing the on-line workbooks easier for us.  

The Macmillian website has a parent, teacher and student site so we can add some on-line activities to the program, mixing up the learning materials for better comprehension.  

Through out the book we have stop points for strategy skills, comprehension checks and on-line sources that help reinforce what is being taught through the reading passage.  

We will be starting this program the week of September 8th.  Since this is an area that Lawrence struggles with, in October we are adding two more programs as reinforcement programs for reading and language comprehension.  Those programs are made up of several different approaches so once those programs arrive at the house I will share on the blog.  

Curriculum: Math

We are about to begin our adventure in home schooling.  It was not an easy decision to make but I know it is a decision that is best for everyone.  Over the month of September I plan on reviewing topics and subjects that were covered last year.  I am looking into an art program outside of the house to make sure we have interaction with other children while tackling core subjects in an environment with little distractions.  All the curriculums will be established over the month of September.  

MATH

Lawrence did fairly well with math and didn't have any issues with the Singapore approach.  I was weighing towards staying with the same program but decided to go with a different program that was more teacher/student home school study friendly.  Plus all the materials are sent over in a digital download, which I prefer.

The curriculum we went with is Mammoth Math  http://www.mathmammoth.com/

I am in the planning phase.  I have 180 days and 3 hours per week that I have to get into my log.  This is a complete program with 2 work books.  The program is nice because each chapter has links to on-line math games and lessons plus links for additional review and worksheets so the entire program is just not work book based but it is also visual through the on-line options that are available.  

I'll continue to share as we progress through the program.