Plans for 3rd and 1st

Rebekah brought it to my attention that Thing1 is no longer a beginner. At the end of third grade, he will be halfway to junior high! And Thing2 is a 1st grader. It's gonna get real for him this year.

Here's the plan for both of them:
Classical Conversations Memory Work from the Foundations Guide along with printables from CC Connected.

If we don't do anything else in a day, we do this. My favorite way to keep track of practicing the memory work is to use a Charlotte Mason memory box. Here's a link to an instructional video.
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Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times

Of course, this book contains wonderfully told stories. But the activity book provides enough corresponding literature suggestions to keep us busy for the next three years. The maps and coloring pages are great, too, but not as useful to us this year. Unless it an epic battle scene, the boys really don't care to color, and we get enough geography from CC that we can usually picture the general location we are reading about. Our routine is to read a chapter while coloring from the activity book then type up a narration page with a picture cut and pasted from the Internet. The narration pages go into their history notebooks. We try to have library books from the activity book's corresponding literature list on hand always.
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Apologia's Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology

Apologia's Exploring Creation books are just plain fun. The pre-made Notebooking Journals are an unbelievably simple way to compile a super cute science notebook. Thing2 is excited that he has his own notebooking journal this year.
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Song School Latin

I add one new thing each year. This year it's Latin. Hopefully it will be profitable.
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Here's what we've got planned for the third grader:

Math-U-See Gamma

Slow and steady is the name of the game for Thing1 and mathematics, and Math-U-See fits the bill. Plus, Mr. Demme's short lessons on the DVD are much more effective than my blundering.
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Growing With Grammar, Level 3

Levels 1 and 2 served us well. Considering that this is our last year before Essentials of the English Language through Classical Conversations, why quit now? Level 3 introduces diagramming sentences. (I am excited! Nerd.) I considered buying Digging into Diagramming for extra practice, but then I realized that it doesn't take a $15 book to practice diagramming.
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Writing With Ease, Year 3

Agenda for our third and final year of WWE: Reading, narration, copywork, dictation; repeat.

I have decided not to buy the workbook this year. Instead, I am going to use McGuffey's Eclectic Readers (John Wiley and Sons, 1879) for the exercises. If it doesn't work (i.e. we skip it because it takes too much time to prep), I will just download the workbook. I'm also toying with the idea of using the McGuffey's for spelling as well. More on this endeavor later.
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Prescripts Cursive Words and Drawing: Math Terms

Normally handwriting books are the first thing to be dropped when we are short on time, but these books have them writing things they should be memorizing anyway, so it seems more productive.
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The plan for our first grader:
Alpha Math-U-See

I already had everything but the student workbook from when Thing1 did it two years ago. After buying the workbook, I decided to make copies of the consumable pages this year. These books get expensive!

Thing2 did well in the Primer math book last year, and I don't regret my decision to do the kindergarten math program. I think he will be well prepared for Alpha this year, but I am still bracing myself for the task of making him memorize all the addition facts.
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Growing with Grammar, Level 1

I discussed here my decision to use GWG and Writing with Ease in first grade for Thing1. I was satisfied, so we are doing it again. My worries about it not being enough for a well rounded language arts are obsolete. With Classical Conversations memory work, GWG, WWE, Prescripts, and all the reading we do in Story of the World, I believe we cover language arts sufficiently.
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Writing With Ease, Level 1

This was easy because I already own the Level 1 workbook in PDF format. I like being able to print of the pages as I need them.

With the workbook, there is virtually no preparation for these lessons, and the book excerpts are always interesting: Little House, Peter Rabbit, Caddie Woodlawn, and The Railway Children to name a few. Both Level 1 and 2 workbooks stretched Thing1's reading repertoire because he almost always wanted to read the whole book after he heard an excerpt from it.
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Prescripts Cursive Letters and Coloring: World History

Why not start cursive in the first grade like they did in the olden days? After this year, I will know. Each opening has a page of cursive letter practice and a picture from the Timeline Cards that he can color.
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Finally, to pull it all together, I bought a Well Planned Day planner.

I decided to go with a premade paper planner this year for the first time. I am not convinced I really need it, but I want to try it out.

Again, a good school day does not have to include everything I have listed here. CC memory work, math, and language arts are the core. The rest is extra. These plans, like all plans, are a guide and always a work in progress. They are as flexible as we are. We use them to be productive, but we will not let them run our lives.

b or d?

Make a bed.

First Day of School: English

Our English consists of Growing with Grammar, Writing with Ease and The Complete Writer Level One Workbook, Handwriting Without Tears, and Reading Reflex for spelling.

I chose Growing with Grammar instead of First Language Lessons to go with Writing with Ease to avoid repetition and to get a slightly different perspective instead of going with everything Well-Trained Mind. Also, I couldn't get over the fact that FLL is written by Jessie Wise, who wrote The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, which I did not love. Another advantage to GWG is its simplicity.  It is black and white.  He does the front and back of one page every day.  There are not separate teacher's volumes and student workbooks. The one spiral-bound volume is instructional book and workbook all in one. I felt we needed this in grammar (a subject that is comfortable for Thing1) since the rest of our day is pretty teacher intensive.

But you know me. I will find something to worry about. I worried if GWG is too simple. Will he get a good foundation in grammar without the scripted approach of First Language Lessons or Shurley English?  I concluded that he would. And if he doesn't, there is always next semester or next year.

So far, it has been great!  The daily chunks are small, but they are complete. He can even do them independently when he needs to. I am satisfied.

I love Susan Wise Bauer's Writing with Ease.  It is also in bite-sized chunks. The ideal homeschool mother would pick up something she has been reading aloud to her classical child and choose a passage for copywork, dictation, or narration from that.  But for imperfect homeschoolers like myself, the workbook (I opted for PDF format from Peace Hill Press so that I could print pages as needed for each of the kids) is great. I never have to crack a book the night before. The literature selections are already made and printed in the workbook. As if the author predicted that I would feel a little guilty about using snippets of literature, she included a list of all the works used in the workbook. My job is as simple as going to the library and borrowing the books in their entirety for Thing1 to read if he is so inclined, which he usually is. One more thing: The copywork exercises include a short sentence and a long sentence so that the teacher can decide which is more appropriate for the student.

Handwriting Without Tears is what it is. The only difference in Printing Power, the 2nd grade workbook, and the 1st grade workbook is that the lines are smaller, and the subject matter for writing practice is a little more grown up.

For spelling, we are picking up where we left off last year in Reading Reflex. No major adjustments. More of the same wonderfully systematic organization of sounds.

The physical act of writing is still overwhelming. I am writing for Thing1 half the time except for in handwriting and copywork in hopes that he will not end up with a pencil allergy. In one week and one day, his writing has already become more automatic.

Milestone

At our school, a lot of learning is "snuck in" during dinner time, riding in the car time, bath time, pretty much any time. Lately, my sneaky lessons for Thing2 have been the blending and segmenting games found in Reading Reflex.

From the beginning he could blend sounds to make a word (I say, "c-a-t."  He says, "cat!") almost every time.  But segmenting (I say "cat."  He says "c-a-t.") was beyond his comprehension.  For example, I would ask, "What is the first sound you hear in mmmmouse?"  He would answer, "p!"  I would reply, "Not pouse! (insert silly laughter) m-m-mouse! mmmmm."  And we would try again.  And again.  And again.  We would even reverse the game and try to think up as many 'c' words as we could.  His 'c' words would often include moose, shirt, etc.

Well, I am happy to report that today, after a few weeks of the exercise described above, he actually identified some first sounds correctly!  I believe he is capable of learning to read!

Reading Reflex

I did some research this morning on the Phono-Graphix method I'm modeling Thing1's phonics (or non-phonics) after.  I had no idea there was a book for parents!

This is a very logical system that teaches that words are made up of "sound pictures" instead of teaching all the rules and exceptions to rules of traditional phonics.  Basically it teaches from sound, which the child already knows inside and out, to the pictures (letters) that make the sounds instead of teaching letters, which mean nothing to the child, and then linking them with the sounds he already knows.

It is immensely satisfying to my very logical child to make lists of all the different ways that one sound is represented in words.  We call this a map.

And then, eventually, to make a list of the different sounds one picture can make.

The book is Reading Reflex by Carmen and Geoffrey McGuinness.  I am ordering it now.  I just might ditch my Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading that I planned to use for Thing2 now that I have found this book written for parents.  I'll let you know.

oo

Today Thing1's Phono-Graphix-inspired phonics assignment was to listen to me read a story and write all the 'oo' words he heard.

He needed help with June, you'll (snuck in a contraction lesson), and group.

I am excited about this exercise for the way it makes him think, the spelling practice, and the handwriting practice.  Obviously we are still working on letter reversals...mostly S. I plan to do this exercise again with our next sound picture.

Sound Picture: ea

There are a lot of different ways to sound out ea!  This is something you probably won't consider if you never teach someone to read.

 

A Few Things

First, I tried the Scratch Sheet Spelling with Thing1 over supper last night.  He thought it was a fun game.  I think we will just keep using it as a casual game here and there.  He surprised me by getting every one of these right on the first try except for 'throw,' which was the only word on the list we had not used in our mapping exercises. 

Second, remember how I said I hoped I didn't regret letting Thing2 cut up the old t-shirt material on the first day of school?  This was my slipcover on the loveseat in the school room.  I do not think he will try it again anytime soon...Then again, what do I know?  I'm the one who gave him access to the scissors in the first place.

Third, this little guy came to visit a couple nights ago while The Husband and I were working on the computer. He must have enjoyed the quiet of the school room after the kids went to bed as much as we did.

Phonics Advice, Please.

In the last two weeks, Thing1 has worked on the long O sound.  He has read 'O' words like coach, go, cone, foe, grow, etc. and then mapped them.  Here's an example of the map inspired by Phono-Graphix's system. 

I did the writing; he showed me where to put the word and told me how to spell it.  I am letting him get more comfortable with writing before I make him write a lot.  I hope that will allow him to learn phonics while eliminating some of the frustration of "school work" while he is so young.

The next step is "scratch-sheet spelling drill."  The student is supposed to write each 'o' word with all the possible spellings of 'o' (oa, o_e, etc.) and circle the one that looks right to them.  Example:  The spelling word is 'goat.'  The student should write 'gote, got, gowt, goat' and then decide which one is correct.

I realize that this program is used a lot for remedial reading instruction, so I wonder if I should make the words really simple and do this with Thing1 or if I should skip it for now until he is older, letting the mapping be our spelling lessons.

I know at least two people who are familiar with this system and a lot more who have experience teaching kids to read.  Help me out, please!