OK so seriously except for history/social studies we have changed up EVERYTHING!
Math
We had been using Math Lessons for a Living Education. I bought it because it uses a story to teach math. Fiona loves stories so I thought it would be a great fit. Well she did enjoy the stories, but it wasn't the best fit for her. Here she is doing stuff that was super easy for her and well, she doesn't look the happiest (and I SEARCHED for the happiest looking pictures I could find of her doing her math work).
After much research I decided on Math-U-See... but the high price for the curriculum was rather scary, especially as this is the second math curriculum for the year. Then a friend came to the rescue and offered to loan me the instruction manual and the dvd for Alpha until August when she needs it for her next child! So we still needed to by the student pages and the blocks, but didn't need everything. I LOVE math-u-see so far! We have only been working with it for 2 months and Fiona is doing lesson 14 today. It took us a week on lesson 1 being as her old book only had us doing numbers up to 20 and in lesson one you learn all numbers up to 999 in Alpha! Suddenly she can build, read, write and say all her numbers from 0-999!!! (With the sometimes exceptions of 13 and 30.... she has trouble remembering those names and also has trouble saying the "th" sound so that doesn't help.)
These pictures show a much happier Fiona doing much harder work! And better yet the words "I LOVE math" are heard quite often in this house! Its amazing.
You can see a video of her singing the multiples of 2 here...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBQDSh6aQ-E&feature=youtu.be
Reading
For teaching the letters and the letter sounds I SERIOUSLY recommend "Letter Factory" by Leap Frog. Really I didn't have to teach a single letter sound. She learned and remembered all her letters and sounds from watching this video!!!!
But then comes the next step, using those sounds to read. We have tried MANY different curriculum's for reading. She HATED "Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and "Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading". She did not like the McGruffy readers, and the Bob books didn't help her learn to read either. I think now that Hooked on Phonics could have worked but she just wasn't ready for the reading one when we tried. We had the letters one but she knew all her letters and so that one wasn't needed at all, and when I then tried to move on to the first kindergarten reading set with her at age 4 she just wouldn't remember a word from one second to the next! Being as we have moved 3-4 times since I last tried it I forgot that I even had part one of kindergarten and when i did find it I was missing some of the components. ABCmouse wasn't a good fit because there was so much extra that the teaching went to the way side. She found out that she could answer a question again and again until she randomly hit the correct answer and she would do that to get back to playing with her hamster or room or fish tank. Reading Eggs is a much better program but after having ABCmouse for several months she didn't like it because it was to boring and repetitive (would probably have been wonderful if we didn't do ABCmouse first). Teach Your Monster to Read is a great free game that she occasionally plays... But none of this was working.
I didn't want her to hate reading so I decided to just take a break from ALL reading lessons for several months. We took probably 5 months off, then I noticed her being super interested in her books again, and actually sounding out words. I had borrowed a Dick and Jane reader from the library just to see what they were like (mind numbing is the answer), however Fiona really liked them! And being as each story has about 4 words by the end of the story she was saying some of the words!!! I then found Progressive Phonics online and she read through several stories the first day! Wonderful!!!
I had part of what was needed for All About Reading - level 1 that I got second hand, but there wasn't money to buy the rest of what I needed for a while. So I continued working with Dick and Jane books from the library and free Progressive Phonics readers until I was able to purchase the rest of the All About Reading curriculum that I wanted to use.
I began at the beginning BECAUSE it is easy for her. She has had enough struggling with reading already. She is speeding through her lessons and gaining confidence because she is able to learn the new words without as much difficulty. She has now completely finished the first of the three "readers" that come with the curriculum. That is 14 stories that she can read with ease!
Science
I had planned on beginning a science program in Sept. but we never got around to buying one. I just found books and videos for science for the first half of the year. But I wanted it to be more structured then that so I got Exploring Science... I'm not sure if I should have, I did the entire first unit in one day because the information was so basic. However I already had the companion lab book and it was only $15.50 for the digital download of the instruction manual and the student pages. So even if she speeds through the entire curriculum in just 2-3 months its worth it I think to make sure we cover the very basics. Then I will get the next science curriculum from them. I am also thinking of getting the Sassafrass books, lab books, and lapbooks stuff for our summer science curriculum. I think Fiona will love doing those
I began this post over a month ago, and have decided that the science is not worth bothering with. It is so very basic that I spend hours scouring youtube for videos showing what we are learning in science so that she gets some real information.
I am planning on buying a new science book tonight! I am getting Science in the Beginning. It looks really good, I have been able to read the first 3 lessons online and I like what I see! Also book two of this series will be a companion for next years history starting at lesson 20 for history. So If I get the book and start now, being as we will school during the summer things should fall perfect for starting the next book in October or November or whenever lesson 20 will fall.
History/ Social Studies
This is the ONE school topic where we are still doing what we began with, lol. We are doing Adventures in America (which is from the same people I got the science I don't like.... they specialize in science so I got it because I like the history program, again, maybe if I had gotten the older kids book for science :/ ). It is VERY basic, but she doesn't need anything more at this point. I wouldn't recommend this program for anyone above kindergarten. We do a LOT of videos to go along with our history lessons, but its more because Fiona loves the history videos and because with the videos I can show her period clothing and stuff. We aren't doing the state study with the history like in the program... I think we will do the states after we are done with the history of the country as a whole. Among the youtube videos are every episode of Liberties Kids (or you can get the dvd from Amazon with all the episodes for $5). Fiona really likes watching these history cartoons :)
Bible
We are still doing the same for the Bible, but it needs to change. The children's Bible I bought for Fiona is really a baby's Bible. She is beyond ready for more in-depth Bible stories.... but I'm not sure which children's Bible to go to next (and I KNOW we had a precious moments Bible story book.... and I also know we will find it like 2 days after I order a new Bible story book for her). Same with her devotionals. They are cute, but to babyish. I think I know which book I'm getting next for that.....
So that is most of the curriculum! There are other random things I add in from time to time like;
Language Lessons for Little Ones which I use for critical thinking, and art and poetry appreciation..... We also do tons of ATCs (artist trading cards) for art, and I print out step-by-step directions for how to draw stuff. Then there is the ton of OTC (Oriental trading company) crafts that I order for the co-op.... And there is always cooking and cleaning that needs to be done, errr I mean home ecc ;)
I keep meaning to add music in, but we just never really get it in each week. I mean there is music playing all the time and between her father and I we play stuff from the 50's - present time (well more like up till 5-10 years ago, but close enough), as well as Celtic and ren faire music. When she wants to dance ballet I put on classical music. And when we are going to a cultural festival or she just shows interest in another culture (like ancient Egypt, because MUMMIES!!!) I will play that cultures music for her.... I think that's ok for kinder music class :D
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