(no subject)

[mommydama]

I'm posty today.

We took all the change I could find in the house to a Coinstar today and got a $91.40 certificate for Amazon. Then we came home and I spent it all plus $7 more. It was hugely fun and satisfying. Feels like I just got a bunch of books for free because it was money I didn't really know I had. I can't really quite believe we had that much change hanging out here. All four of us dump our change in this metal basket thing I have sitting on a bookshelf, but it was full a long time ago and overflowed into many other containers. It was cool to get rid of it all. I did the Coinstart/Amazon thing about a year ago and got about half the books for our homeschooling year. All the books I bought today are for our history and literature studies for the next six to eight months. I wish coinstar would give me vouchers to the Rainbow Resource Center too! Then my children's education could really be paid for with pocket change! Hehe.

I just ordered pizza for dinner because I'm lazy tonight. My neck hurts. I must have slept on it wrong. Of course it doesn't help that I've been spending about an hour a night for three nights cutting out the cards for our new All About Spelling program. Eeegads, there are a lot of cards to cut out! I hope the next level doesn't come with this much cutting to do! Although if the word cards that came with this one are any indication, I think it will. Looking through the Level one book, I think Maria and Zoe can move through this in about a month. I want to do it, to make sure there are no gaps, but they know most of this already. So we will be able to start Level Two before we move. I think that also will go quickly for Maria at least. I intend to have Maria in Level Three by next fall.

Singapore math is going spectacularly well for all of us. It is not quite as cool as Rightstart, but it is much less time consuming and all three girls seem to enjoy doing the workbooks. I'm combining them with Kumon workbooks for math fact practice. Luci should be through the Earlybird stuff very soon. I don't know if I'll start her on the Primary math stuff then, or wait until the fall and just do some Rightstart stuff with her. Rightstart is really just a lot of games. I love the games.

Subjects like Spelling, handwriting, and math are so hard for me to figure out how to teach. I've had no real trouble teaching my kids to read or deciding on literature and history stuff. Science too falls into place easily. It is the stuff that requires repetition, workbooks, lots of lined paper....I just get bogged down in it. I really can't wait until my kids are at the Logic stage and I can stop focusing so much on this Grammar "fact" stuff. Heh.

Can you tell that I've given up on my homeschool blog? It was just too hard to write in two different places. My life is so intertwined with our homeschooling that it was impossible to separate the two. This is my focus and where I am right now. I am educating my children. I like to talk about it. I like to write about it. I hope you all don't mind too much.

Comments

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I like you being posty.

I also like your combining the blogs. It seemed weird to me to separate them, too, like...it's all connected.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

:) I called you day before yesterday. Did you get my message?

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, it's a LOT of cutting. ;) As for level two... you may want to invest in a rotary cutter. We haven't gotten to it yet (we just finished lesson 18 in level 1), but it was on sale a while back, so I got it. It has 42 each phonogram and sound cards, 5 key cards, 230 word cards, and a few other sheets. I dread cutting out them all.

I have been having a hard time with handwriting, myself. It doesn't help that I always had awful handwriting (still do!) and so don't can't exactly uphold high penmanship standards.

I would be reading about your homeschooling wherever you blogged it, so it's simpler to have it here. Obviously, I"m not keeping up mine, either. ;)

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Holy cow on the cutting for level two!!! Oh I hope I don't have to do that with each kid. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to reuse with Luci, but I may end up with two in level two at least. Ugh.

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

Also, I was just looking at Singapore math, and it's... well, a lot less expensive. I like RightStart, and I think that Hannah's learning some great mental math (though it does take time...) but Singapore involves a pretty significant cost savings. Huh.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Well, no manipulatives come with Singapore. One of the reasons it is cheaper. Also it teaches things at a much quicker pace. I'm using Rightstart manipulatives to show some of the Singapore concepts.

Singapore is very mental math based too.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I would love to read more about what you are doing. And I wouldn't worry too much about the bragging thing. I do a bit of it, I'm sure, but my kids are not advanced at all. They are pretty much right where they should be, for which I'm grateful and relieved. But often I learn a lot reading about what others are doing with learning delayed and special needs kids. Luci is not completely typical. It helps to hear about others struggles and successes.

[jeffholton.livejournal.com]

CHARLOTTE MASON!

That's the name I was trying to remember a few weeks ago. THANK YOU!

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Charlotte Mason's stuff is really great. But I think we've talked about this before,

[rowannrose.livejournal.com]

As someone who was homeschooled her whole life and who plans on homeschooling her own children, I find it all interesting. :) I am taking notes on what works for people and what doesn't!

[ardentreader.livejournal.com]

I certainly don't mind. I've heard of Singapore math...haven't actually seen it though. I'm picking Teaching Textbooks for my son next year (he'll be in 5th grade but is a year ahead in math right now) TT is very interactive and that is what he needs. That's what my daughter used this year for pre-algebra! LOVED it....I am NOT a math person.... and this took away the usual arguing between us on math... she loves to tell her parents they are doing it wrong (when she's the one with the wrong answer...) and with my math issues, I don't deal with that attitude well at all....

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I've looked at Teaching Textbooks several times, but to tell you the truth I don't like having my kids on the computer much yet. And I really, really like knowing exactly what they are learning and doing the work with them most of the time. Singapore, supplementing with Kumon, seems to be a nice balance for us between do alone work and do with mom work.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Oh and there is the fact that my kids aren't in fourth grade yet either. Isn't that were Teaching textbooks starts?

[ardentreader.livejournal.com]

I understand what you mean. My son only uses it for math and my daughter for math and some research...of course, she is in 8th grade and he is in 4th...I think your kids are younger? Anyway, TT comes with a workbook too, so she does write down her work and I can see it. I like that too.

[jeffholton.livejournal.com]

I got stuck on the first line of this entry and now I have Tommy Bolin's "Post Tostee" stuck in my head.

Thanks.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

You are so welcome. :)