The first day of our local library reading program is Monday. I told the kids that they could "earn" a reading day if they completed extra math last week. Both of the girls were up to the challenge!
We are planning to go pick up the reading sheets at the library in the morning, then they can read all day long!! They each already have a stack of books ready to go:) Haley thought she would get her tent out and take a pillow inside to read.
It's awesome that they will be reading all day long and think it's a privilege!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Loathe
Brian spent the good portion of yesterday completely taking apart our washing machine. It has not been in working condition for about a week. He had it put together in the afternoon, but it still was not working. So. . . he took it apart again. Finally, he found a marble in one of the filters (obviously the source of the problem), put the machine back together, and it started working again! I was not looking forward to taking 7+ loads of wash to the laundromat!!
Our dinner vocabulary word last night was "loathe." Of course, Brian came up with all sorts of interesting sentences dealing with the stupid washing machine! I don't think the kids will forget that word for awhile.
We have been working on our government unit. Maddie is struggling a little with this unit. I think she had a lot more background knowledge with the rainforest unit, so it was much easier for her to comprehend. Haley's helping her quite a bit when they get an assignment to do.
Yesterday, they were instructed that they were each going to be politicians running for the office of president of the Nuehring household. Haley's assignment was to write a campaign speech. Maddie had some general questions to answer for a debate. We are getting ready for the "news conference" on Friday. They had a lot of fun with this assignment! The thing Haley would do differently is plant flowers in our house. She would spend some money from the budget to buy soil, pots and flower seeds. I thought that was a pretty great idea!
Our dinner vocabulary word last night was "loathe." Of course, Brian came up with all sorts of interesting sentences dealing with the stupid washing machine! I don't think the kids will forget that word for awhile.
We have been working on our government unit. Maddie is struggling a little with this unit. I think she had a lot more background knowledge with the rainforest unit, so it was much easier for her to comprehend. Haley's helping her quite a bit when they get an assignment to do.
Yesterday, they were instructed that they were each going to be politicians running for the office of president of the Nuehring household. Haley's assignment was to write a campaign speech. Maddie had some general questions to answer for a debate. We are getting ready for the "news conference" on Friday. They had a lot of fun with this assignment! The thing Haley would do differently is plant flowers in our house. She would spend some money from the budget to buy soil, pots and flower seeds. I thought that was a pretty great idea!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Lazy Weekend
It was actually nice to have a weekend with absolutely nothing on the calendar for once! Brian got a few projects completed that have been on his "to do" list for awhile! The kids got to swim quite a bit. Luckily, the metereologist has been incorrect in his forecast for rain all weekend!
Last night, we spent a nice evening at Tom and Rachels' house. The kids enjoyed running around with friends and making smores:) I think Hunter had more than his share of chocolate!!
Haley has been working on memorizing four of her piano pieces all weekend. I have an ongoing contest with my students. If they memorize four songs during a month, they get a prize. It finally occurred to her to ask if she could do the contest as well! She finally got all four for me today: The Arab Horseman, The Prancing Horse, Festive Dance and Barcarolle.
Last night, we spent a nice evening at Tom and Rachels' house. The kids enjoyed running around with friends and making smores:) I think Hunter had more than his share of chocolate!!
Haley has been working on memorizing four of her piano pieces all weekend. I have an ongoing contest with my students. If they memorize four songs during a month, they get a prize. It finally occurred to her to ask if she could do the contest as well! She finally got all four for me today: The Arab Horseman, The Prancing Horse, Festive Dance and Barcarolle.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Top 10
I was browsing the internet today and came across Suzy Red. Many years ago (has it really been that long?) when I taught public school, I went to her training. She was publishing literature units to follow the Texas Bluebonnet books each year. She had some wonderful activities and did a great job with her units! Anyway, her business has really grown and now she has an entire website full of great units and curriculums. I found a "Top 10 List" that she wrote on reasons to use an integrated curriculum in your classroom. It is geared toward a classroom teacher, but definitely works in our homeschool environment as well! I especially like #'s 1, 4, 6, 7 and 8!
10. Unless you have 50 hours a day to teach, you'll never get it all in.
9. An integrated curriculum allows science and social studies to frame your reading, writing, and math.
8. The brain thrives on connections.
7. Life is not divided into neat little blocks of time called science, math, reading, writing, social studies, and recess.
6. Problem solving skills soar when all of our knowledge and higher level thinking from all curriculum areas are tapped.
5. Real literature in real books provides an authentic diving board into learning all subjects. Award-winning literature provides models for problem solving, peer relationships, character development, and skill building as students are captivated by exciting adventures with realistic characters who go through problems very much like their own or problems (like war)from which they will learn historical truths.
4. School's got it backwards! In real life you are tested with a problem and then must scramble for answers, but in traditional school you are given the answers and asked to... regurgitate them.3. Group interaction and team building inherent in an integrated curriculum depend on using various strengths and skills to create bridges to understanding.
2. Your standardized test scores will hit the top! By inspiring students to think, to love learning, and to put their learning to work in authentic ways, your kids will be equipped for whatever curves they might be thrown...on standardized tests and in life!
1. Students LOVE an integrated curriculum and thrive on its challenges!
10. Unless you have 50 hours a day to teach, you'll never get it all in.
9. An integrated curriculum allows science and social studies to frame your reading, writing, and math.
8. The brain thrives on connections.
7. Life is not divided into neat little blocks of time called science, math, reading, writing, social studies, and recess.
6. Problem solving skills soar when all of our knowledge and higher level thinking from all curriculum areas are tapped.
5. Real literature in real books provides an authentic diving board into learning all subjects. Award-winning literature provides models for problem solving, peer relationships, character development, and skill building as students are captivated by exciting adventures with realistic characters who go through problems very much like their own or problems (like war)from which they will learn historical truths.
4. School's got it backwards! In real life you are tested with a problem and then must scramble for answers, but in traditional school you are given the answers and asked to... regurgitate them.3. Group interaction and team building inherent in an integrated curriculum depend on using various strengths and skills to create bridges to understanding.
2. Your standardized test scores will hit the top! By inspiring students to think, to love learning, and to put their learning to work in authentic ways, your kids will be equipped for whatever curves they might be thrown...on standardized tests and in life!
1. Students LOVE an integrated curriculum and thrive on its challenges!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Reflections on the Year
I sent Haley to school last year in part because I was feeling overwhelmed and not confident that I could do it all. I got this great idea from Rachel to reflect on everything we have actually done this year. It gave her a great perspective and encouragement that yes, she’s doing the right thing for the kids!
VOCABULARY
This past semester, we started doing a lot more vocabulary. This is one of my kids’ area of weakness. They had a list of 10 vocabulary words to learn each week. Every day they took two words and wrote sentences and made flashcards for them. So. . .when you add it up, they’ve learned approximately 200 new words over the past five months. Also, each night at the dinner table I choose a new word for them to learn. Each time someone correctly uses a word in a sentence, they earn a dime. When they earn enough, we go to Fritz’s for ice cream. Maddie LOVES this game. She loves to go around and use the words whenever she can. One day we ran into the teacher I requested for her for next year. The teacher chatted with me for quite some time. When we left, Maddie said, “Mrs. C was really loquacious!” At other times, she'll rub up against me. When I ask her if she needs anything, she replies, "I'm just adhering to you momma."
SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES
I am very excited about the curriculum we are using! I have found that nearly EVERY activity they do involves higher-level thinking. For every activity, there are great thinking questions to ask the students. This is so far from the learning Haley was doing in school. At school, nearly everything she did was answer questions in which there was only one answer. Basically, you read and answer recall questions: no thinking involved. We started with the Rainforest Unit 7 weeks ago. While reading, they located literary elements such as onomatopoeia, similes and metaphors. They wrote a paragraph pretending to be a rainforest animal to tell about their day. I had them also do a research project on a different animal. Maddie took notes on the sloth, but Haley actually organized her notes and wrote a research paper. They did a lot of research on the computer at different rainforest sites as well as watched some videos we checked out from the library. In addition to our unit study, the girls also complete a Scholastic News once a week. Haley writes a paragraph summary (in cursive) of an article of her choice.
WRITING
Each day, the girls have 20 minutes in which they write in their journals. For this activity, I let them write anything and they don’t have to worry about their handwriting. Every day I have Maddie work on her handwriting as well. (this still needs a lot of work!!) Haley works on her cursive with quotation practice once a week. She’s pretty much mastered cursive now. She still has trouble with a few capital letters.
READING
Maddie
Read Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Double Fudge, Shiloh, Whipping Boy, One Day in the Tropical Rainforest, Where the Red Fern Grows. She also read dozens of biographies, Magic Treehouse books, Weird School Books (her favorites!) She has almost completed three books of reading passages, grades 2-3 in which she worked on context clues, predictions, and main idea.
Haley
She’s read too many books to even list here. She has 30-minutes of free reading each day, but usually reads more than that. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she is required to read nonfiction during the 30-minute time slot.
MATH
Maddie has whizzed through grades 1-4 workbooks and is almost completed grade 5! She is currently working on multiplying and dividing decimals. (ie: 54.5 x 3.14) She struggles a little with math reasoning, but we are doing a lot of problem solving in a 3rd and 4th-grade book. She has gotten a lot better! Just a list of a few things she’s learned this year: telling time, adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, adding money, multiplying and dividing up to 3-digits, perimeter, area, mean, range
Haley completed pre-algebra last fall and has almost completed Algebra I. I am starting to feel a little uncomfortable teaching her the concepts. I have forgotten a lot of the algebra rules and hope I am teaching her correctly??
MUSIC
Of course, the girls are still practicing the violin and piano. Haley played in the orchestra again this year, but wants to take a year off. We will continue the violin lessons and try orchestra again the following year. Maddie is in the middle of Level 1 Suzuki and Haley’s in Level 3. Maddie is working in level 4 on piano and doing quite well. Haley is doing a hodgepodge of piano work. She is working on a couple Sonatinas and I’ve started having her do some listening. She needs to start working on her musicality. Her fingers move like the wind, but playing musically is more of a challenge for her.
In reflecting over the past year, the kids have learned SO much here at home. They are so happy learning at home and feel challenged in everything they do. I only need to find the balance with Haley and her perfectionism.
VOCABULARY
This past semester, we started doing a lot more vocabulary. This is one of my kids’ area of weakness. They had a list of 10 vocabulary words to learn each week. Every day they took two words and wrote sentences and made flashcards for them. So. . .when you add it up, they’ve learned approximately 200 new words over the past five months. Also, each night at the dinner table I choose a new word for them to learn. Each time someone correctly uses a word in a sentence, they earn a dime. When they earn enough, we go to Fritz’s for ice cream. Maddie LOVES this game. She loves to go around and use the words whenever she can. One day we ran into the teacher I requested for her for next year. The teacher chatted with me for quite some time. When we left, Maddie said, “Mrs. C was really loquacious!” At other times, she'll rub up against me. When I ask her if she needs anything, she replies, "I'm just adhering to you momma."
SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES
I am very excited about the curriculum we are using! I have found that nearly EVERY activity they do involves higher-level thinking. For every activity, there are great thinking questions to ask the students. This is so far from the learning Haley was doing in school. At school, nearly everything she did was answer questions in which there was only one answer. Basically, you read and answer recall questions: no thinking involved. We started with the Rainforest Unit 7 weeks ago. While reading, they located literary elements such as onomatopoeia, similes and metaphors. They wrote a paragraph pretending to be a rainforest animal to tell about their day. I had them also do a research project on a different animal. Maddie took notes on the sloth, but Haley actually organized her notes and wrote a research paper. They did a lot of research on the computer at different rainforest sites as well as watched some videos we checked out from the library. In addition to our unit study, the girls also complete a Scholastic News once a week. Haley writes a paragraph summary (in cursive) of an article of her choice.
WRITING
Each day, the girls have 20 minutes in which they write in their journals. For this activity, I let them write anything and they don’t have to worry about their handwriting. Every day I have Maddie work on her handwriting as well. (this still needs a lot of work!!) Haley works on her cursive with quotation practice once a week. She’s pretty much mastered cursive now. She still has trouble with a few capital letters.
READING
Maddie
Read Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Double Fudge, Shiloh, Whipping Boy, One Day in the Tropical Rainforest, Where the Red Fern Grows. She also read dozens of biographies, Magic Treehouse books, Weird School Books (her favorites!) She has almost completed three books of reading passages, grades 2-3 in which she worked on context clues, predictions, and main idea.
Haley
She’s read too many books to even list here. She has 30-minutes of free reading each day, but usually reads more than that. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she is required to read nonfiction during the 30-minute time slot.
MATH
Maddie has whizzed through grades 1-4 workbooks and is almost completed grade 5! She is currently working on multiplying and dividing decimals. (ie: 54.5 x 3.14) She struggles a little with math reasoning, but we are doing a lot of problem solving in a 3rd and 4th-grade book. She has gotten a lot better! Just a list of a few things she’s learned this year: telling time, adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, adding money, multiplying and dividing up to 3-digits, perimeter, area, mean, range
Haley completed pre-algebra last fall and has almost completed Algebra I. I am starting to feel a little uncomfortable teaching her the concepts. I have forgotten a lot of the algebra rules and hope I am teaching her correctly??
MUSIC
Of course, the girls are still practicing the violin and piano. Haley played in the orchestra again this year, but wants to take a year off. We will continue the violin lessons and try orchestra again the following year. Maddie is in the middle of Level 1 Suzuki and Haley’s in Level 3. Maddie is working in level 4 on piano and doing quite well. Haley is doing a hodgepodge of piano work. She is working on a couple Sonatinas and I’ve started having her do some listening. She needs to start working on her musicality. Her fingers move like the wind, but playing musically is more of a challenge for her.
In reflecting over the past year, the kids have learned SO much here at home. They are so happy learning at home and feel challenged in everything they do. I only need to find the balance with Haley and her perfectionism.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Balance
I'm struggling with the idea of balance between challenge and discouragement. Haley is very perfectionistic, but also has a great need for challenge. She gets very upset when she doesn't do well and can't figure out an answer. However, on the flip side, she also gets upset if an activity is "too easy" for her.
I found a great book with Greek and Latin roots, along with vocabulary to follow each. Last week, they worked on the root ped = foot. Their words for the week were quadruped, biped, tripod, peddler, pedestrian, pedicure, millipede, impediment, centipede and pedal. They had a vocabulary quiz on Friday. The first half of the quiz was a bubble-in format. #1 said, "Cats and dogs are examples of these." They had to bubble in the correct answer. (Maddie only completed these 10 questions). For the second half of the quiz, you had to fill in the sentence with the word that fit. Haley immediately started sobbing when she got her quiz because she couldn't figure out one of the answers. The sentence was, "Tristan's speech ______ lessened every year, so people could hear his words more clearly when he gave his graduation speech." She ended up getting 14/15 correct, which I explained to her was still an "A" on the quiz. She just sobbed, "but I could have done better!" Maddie, on the other hand, was happy with her 7/10 score. :)
I think I just have to ask Haley what she really wants: easy work so she can get a perfect score, or challenging work in which she may occasionally miss some problems.
I found a great book with Greek and Latin roots, along with vocabulary to follow each. Last week, they worked on the root ped = foot. Their words for the week were quadruped, biped, tripod, peddler, pedestrian, pedicure, millipede, impediment, centipede and pedal. They had a vocabulary quiz on Friday. The first half of the quiz was a bubble-in format. #1 said, "Cats and dogs are examples of these." They had to bubble in the correct answer. (Maddie only completed these 10 questions). For the second half of the quiz, you had to fill in the sentence with the word that fit. Haley immediately started sobbing when she got her quiz because she couldn't figure out one of the answers. The sentence was, "Tristan's speech ______ lessened every year, so people could hear his words more clearly when he gave his graduation speech." She ended up getting 14/15 correct, which I explained to her was still an "A" on the quiz. She just sobbed, "but I could have done better!" Maddie, on the other hand, was happy with her 7/10 score. :)
I think I just have to ask Haley what she really wants: easy work so she can get a perfect score, or challenging work in which she may occasionally miss some problems.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Wrapping up the Rainforest
We are finished with our rainforest unit. Haley completed her manatee report yesterday (posted at the bottom of this page). Maddie just took notes on the sloth. I thought it would be too hard for her to organize the information into paragraphs. They both learned a lot about the rainforest. Maddie found The Magic Treehouse: Afternoon in the Amazon. She sat down and read from cover to cover this morning! She usually NEVER reads on her own. Normally, I set the timer for 30 minutes each day and as soon as it goes off, her book goes back on her shelf. Needless to say, they both were very interested in learning all about the unit study!
Haley has found an interest in chess. She and her friend, Zeke, have been teaching each other with a computer program I have. They played their first "real" game last Friday night at chess club. Although Haley won, they both still have a LONG way to go. Unfortunately, I have never played myself so I'm not much help at this point. Haley told Mrs. D (5th-grade JET teacher) that she was learning chess and she was so excited! She said she would make some copies for Haley and Zeke to learn some strategic moves.
The girls have been swimming nearly every day in our pool! The weather has been pretty nice, but the water is still way too cold for me to take a dip! The kids don't mind at all. . .they are just happy to be swimming again:) It was a long winter looking out our windows and seeing the pool all closed up!
Ede, Rachel and I are going to plan a "mystery camp" for the kids this summer. The kids can not wait to begin! I am really excited about all the fun things we have found to do with them, but I just wonder if there will be time. . . . I found some really fun lesson plans that have activities to learn about mysteries in history. We have chosen to learn about the Mary Celeste, Witch Trials, Lost City of Atlantis, and the Disappearance of Amelia Earhart. I also wrote a mystery when I was teaching 5th grade, "The Mystery of the Stolen Laundry." The kids will have to do a few scientific experiments and solve some math problems to eliminate suspects, and, eventually lead to the thief. We are going to read and discuss The Westing Game, a novel written in a style similar to the Clue Game. I think they will have a blast!
Haley has found an interest in chess. She and her friend, Zeke, have been teaching each other with a computer program I have. They played their first "real" game last Friday night at chess club. Although Haley won, they both still have a LONG way to go. Unfortunately, I have never played myself so I'm not much help at this point. Haley told Mrs. D (5th-grade JET teacher) that she was learning chess and she was so excited! She said she would make some copies for Haley and Zeke to learn some strategic moves.
The girls have been swimming nearly every day in our pool! The weather has been pretty nice, but the water is still way too cold for me to take a dip! The kids don't mind at all. . .they are just happy to be swimming again:) It was a long winter looking out our windows and seeing the pool all closed up!
Ede, Rachel and I are going to plan a "mystery camp" for the kids this summer. The kids can not wait to begin! I am really excited about all the fun things we have found to do with them, but I just wonder if there will be time. . . . I found some really fun lesson plans that have activities to learn about mysteries in history. We have chosen to learn about the Mary Celeste, Witch Trials, Lost City of Atlantis, and the Disappearance of Amelia Earhart. I also wrote a mystery when I was teaching 5th grade, "The Mystery of the Stolen Laundry." The kids will have to do a few scientific experiments and solve some math problems to eliminate suspects, and, eventually lead to the thief. We are going to read and discuss The Westing Game, a novel written in a style similar to the Clue Game. I think they will have a blast!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Handwriting Practice
A few months ago I ordered a book of handwriting practice pages for Haley. Each page has a different quotation that you need to write in cursive. Haley started these sheets yesterday and I love the quotations! The first one was Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. - Nelson Mandela
The second one was The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. -Vince Lombardi
When asked, Haley was not able to explain the quotes to me. We were able to have a good conversation about each. I am excited for her to continue with these for handwriting practice!
The second one was The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. -Vince Lombardi
When asked, Haley was not able to explain the quotes to me. We were able to have a good conversation about each. I am excited for her to continue with these for handwriting practice!
Broken Record
Sometimes I wonder IF my kids ever listen to me. I think I am turning into a broken record a lot! Yesterday was just one of those days! All day long I was repeating the same things:
"Haley, remember order of operations!"
"Maddie, where do you put your dishes when you're finished eating?"
"Hunter, time to go potty. Hunter, time to go potty. Hunter, NOW!"
"Madeleine, stop the whining!" (Notice I use her full name for this one. LOL)
"Girls, there's another pencil on the floor the dog's going to get!"
"Haley, you have to indent the beginning of a paragraph."
"Haley, where do you put your dishes when you're finished eating?"
"Hunter, go back and wash your hands."
"Hunter, you don't hit or kick!"
. . . . . . and I could go on and on!
Hopefully today will go much more smoothly for all of us. Despite the numerous reminders I had to give, they did work hard and got a lot accomplished yesterday. Haley is working on writing her research paper. She was forgetting to indent EVERY time she got to a new paragraph, however, she was doing a great job organizing her notes into separate ideas for different paragraphs. She got about half of the paper written yesterday. She is getting to some pretty tricky algebra work, but is doing very well. I am a little concerned that I do not know exactly how to teach the stuff. I know how to do everything, but hope I'm telling her the correct way to do it! It might not be a bad idea for her to take Algebra II at the Learning Center next year! Maddie and Haley are answering chapter questions together over the book they read: One Day in a Tropical Rain Forest. They are finishing up all their rain forest work this week and we are having a culminating party tomorrow night! Yeah! Hunter read "Go Dog Go" all by himself. He only had trouble with a few words. His reading fluency is getting a lot better and his attitude has improved a TON! He doesn't fight me when I say it's time to read anymore.
"Haley, remember order of operations!"
"Maddie, where do you put your dishes when you're finished eating?"
"Hunter, time to go potty. Hunter, time to go potty. Hunter, NOW!"
"Madeleine, stop the whining!" (Notice I use her full name for this one. LOL)
"Girls, there's another pencil on the floor the dog's going to get!"
"Haley, you have to indent the beginning of a paragraph."
"Haley, where do you put your dishes when you're finished eating?"
"Hunter, go back and wash your hands."
"Hunter, you don't hit or kick!"
. . . . . . and I could go on and on!
Hopefully today will go much more smoothly for all of us. Despite the numerous reminders I had to give, they did work hard and got a lot accomplished yesterday. Haley is working on writing her research paper. She was forgetting to indent EVERY time she got to a new paragraph, however, she was doing a great job organizing her notes into separate ideas for different paragraphs. She got about half of the paper written yesterday. She is getting to some pretty tricky algebra work, but is doing very well. I am a little concerned that I do not know exactly how to teach the stuff. I know how to do everything, but hope I'm telling her the correct way to do it! It might not be a bad idea for her to take Algebra II at the Learning Center next year! Maddie and Haley are answering chapter questions together over the book they read: One Day in a Tropical Rain Forest. They are finishing up all their rain forest work this week and we are having a culminating party tomorrow night! Yeah! Hunter read "Go Dog Go" all by himself. He only had trouble with a few words. His reading fluency is getting a lot better and his attitude has improved a TON! He doesn't fight me when I say it's time to read anymore.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Cramming
What in the world am I teaching my kids???
Well, Haley and Maddie had their final exams in Spanish today. I guess the fact didn't really register to me this weekend. We enjoyed Sunday at the zoo as a family and have been swimming a lot in our pool. I asked the girls to make flashcards of the vocabulary they didn't know this weekend, so they had been studying those. However, when I looked at Haley's study sheet on Monday night (at 7:30 p.m. after teaching piano for 5 hours), I realized that there was a WHOLE lot more she needed to know for the test. So. . . . we studied and studied and studied! She stayed up until 10:00 with me, then I woke her up before 7 to study some more. In addition to hundreds of vocabulary words (some of which she didn't even know the English counterpart), she had to conjugate over a dozen irregular verbs. I am pretty proud of her for hanging in there. She is just too young to understand the concept of studying and I should have been on top of this during the semester! Good news: I think she did okay on the test. The teacher gave them the final 10 minutes to look in their book, so she said she frantically looked up items that she had left blank on the test. Maddie was a little better off. The teacher wanted them to review last semester's information as well as the new. So. . . . . she knew half the stuff already. I think Haley and I learned our lesson about waiting until the last moment possible to study!!
Well, Haley and Maddie had their final exams in Spanish today. I guess the fact didn't really register to me this weekend. We enjoyed Sunday at the zoo as a family and have been swimming a lot in our pool. I asked the girls to make flashcards of the vocabulary they didn't know this weekend, so they had been studying those. However, when I looked at Haley's study sheet on Monday night (at 7:30 p.m. after teaching piano for 5 hours), I realized that there was a WHOLE lot more she needed to know for the test. So. . . . we studied and studied and studied! She stayed up until 10:00 with me, then I woke her up before 7 to study some more. In addition to hundreds of vocabulary words (some of which she didn't even know the English counterpart), she had to conjugate over a dozen irregular verbs. I am pretty proud of her for hanging in there. She is just too young to understand the concept of studying and I should have been on top of this during the semester! Good news: I think she did okay on the test. The teacher gave them the final 10 minutes to look in their book, so she said she frantically looked up items that she had left blank on the test. Maddie was a little better off. The teacher wanted them to review last semester's information as well as the new. So. . . . . she knew half the stuff already. I think Haley and I learned our lesson about waiting until the last moment possible to study!!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Ganging Up
Well, we had our meeting about Madeleine's schooling today. I felt like everyone was ganging up on Brian and me, but we held strong. They are concerned about her written expression. It is definitely a weakness of hers, but not something that should hold her back in areas. For example, they gave her the 2nd grade skills test. She got the answers correct, but didn't know how to "explain how she got the answer." For the question, there are 5 rows of 4 marbles. How many marbles in all, she wrote "5 x 4 = 20." They expected her to draw a picture. Where I understand the need for struggling students, Maddie is efficient in multiplication and division and I don't believe it's necessary for her to draw a picture or explain how this works. She's way past that point. No one asks me to "explain my work" every time I balance my checkbook!
I was tired after the hour-long meeting. I felt like I had to justify her strengths (which they didn't test) as well as explain that maybe we have different goals for our children than most parents. The assistant superintendent said her major goal was to make sure Maddie was "happy" and "successful." I interjected and said our goals are to make sure our children are challenged. We make sure they are successful and they will only be happy if they ARE challenged. She didn't quite know what to say after that!
We did come to a compromise after they realized we weren't backing down. We are going to try to send Maddie to 1st grade next year, but let her attend 2nd grade for reading and math. I think she will continue to grow in reading. Math will be quite boring for her, but maybe the teacher will agree to let her do harder worksheets when she completes her work. I like the idea of her going to specials with kids that aren't 2 years older than her. I also think she will enjoy making friends in two different classes! She is quite the social butterfly :)
I was tired after the hour-long meeting. I felt like I had to justify her strengths (which they didn't test) as well as explain that maybe we have different goals for our children than most parents. The assistant superintendent said her major goal was to make sure Maddie was "happy" and "successful." I interjected and said our goals are to make sure our children are challenged. We make sure they are successful and they will only be happy if they ARE challenged. She didn't quite know what to say after that!
We did come to a compromise after they realized we weren't backing down. We are going to try to send Maddie to 1st grade next year, but let her attend 2nd grade for reading and math. I think she will continue to grow in reading. Math will be quite boring for her, but maybe the teacher will agree to let her do harder worksheets when she completes her work. I like the idea of her going to specials with kids that aren't 2 years older than her. I also think she will enjoy making friends in two different classes! She is quite the social butterfly :)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Productive Day!
Aside from Hunter not willing to sing in his preschool program, today has been very productive so far! Hunter woke up this morning and told me he was NOT going to get up on stage. I really wasn't in the mood to witness a full-blown tantrum in front of all the parents of the school, so we kept him home. He was in bed taking a nap by noon, so maybe he is fighting off a bug.
The girls have been finishing up on their rainforest animal research. They are ready now to put it in paragraph form. Haley organized her notecards and figured out that she could organize them into about 5 or 6 different topics. I think she'll be able to write a pretty good report. Maddie will just work on rewriting her notes in her best handwriting.
We have been discussing different scientists that may work in the rainforest such as botanists, herpetologists, ornithologists, and mammalogists. Haley thought she might like to be a herpetologist when she grows up because she loves animals and would enjoy living in a warm climate :)
Haley is learning to multiply variables with negative and postive exponents. She was a little confused at first, but seems to have grasped the concept today. Maddie is nearing the end of her 5th-grade math workbook. She has mastered most concepts, but still makes a lot of careless mistakes. I always struggle with the question of holding her back until she becomes more accurate or continuing to teach her more.
The girls went to factmonster.com today to find answers to a bunch of questions I made up. Part of their challenge is to figure out what resource they need to find their answer. ie: atlas, encyclopedia, dictionary, etc. Maddie is struggling with this a little, but Haley's pretty good at locating information.
I was really excited to find some really cool CD's at the library today! They took classical symphonies and put catchy words to them to help kids recognize them. For instance, for the Trout Quintet by Schubert, the song lyrics center around the theme, "Schubert Fishing for Trout." Some of the songs are really corny, but beneficial for helping kids remember and appreciate famous classical works!
The girls are eating lunch now, but I anticipate them being done with their work shortly. They are anxious to complete their bromeliad plant art project :)
The girls have been finishing up on their rainforest animal research. They are ready now to put it in paragraph form. Haley organized her notecards and figured out that she could organize them into about 5 or 6 different topics. I think she'll be able to write a pretty good report. Maddie will just work on rewriting her notes in her best handwriting.
We have been discussing different scientists that may work in the rainforest such as botanists, herpetologists, ornithologists, and mammalogists. Haley thought she might like to be a herpetologist when she grows up because she loves animals and would enjoy living in a warm climate :)
Haley is learning to multiply variables with negative and postive exponents. She was a little confused at first, but seems to have grasped the concept today. Maddie is nearing the end of her 5th-grade math workbook. She has mastered most concepts, but still makes a lot of careless mistakes. I always struggle with the question of holding her back until she becomes more accurate or continuing to teach her more.
The girls went to factmonster.com today to find answers to a bunch of questions I made up. Part of their challenge is to figure out what resource they need to find their answer. ie: atlas, encyclopedia, dictionary, etc. Maddie is struggling with this a little, but Haley's pretty good at locating information.
I was really excited to find some really cool CD's at the library today! They took classical symphonies and put catchy words to them to help kids recognize them. For instance, for the Trout Quintet by Schubert, the song lyrics center around the theme, "Schubert Fishing for Trout." Some of the songs are really corny, but beneficial for helping kids remember and appreciate famous classical works!
The girls are eating lunch now, but I anticipate them being done with their work shortly. They are anxious to complete their bromeliad plant art project :)
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