Tom and I plan to do school work from about 8.30am to 11.30am Monday to Thursday. We have morning tea between about 10 and 10.30 so sometimes we go until midday.
We have a dedicated table and study area that has all our textbooks and writing and learning materials.
We only cover spelling, writing, grammar and maths during this time. These are the only subjects we have a set curriculum for. History, geography, SOCE, science, art and other subjects are all done through read-alouds of books, or Tom researching on the internet.
Our spelling curriculum is called "All about Spelling". I cannot rave highly enough about this curriculum. I love that they disagree with the concept of sight words. I love that they disagree with letting kids just write and spell as they wish, correct later. If you have a poor speller, come see me. This formalised, rules based method of teaching spelling suits those kids who are more mathematically, logically minded. Tom has completed Level One in three weeks (it covers all the Grade 1 words) and most importantly is confident in his spelling abilities now.
Do you know the FLOSS rule? When F, L or S come at the end of single syllable word, you double them.
How do you know when to use ck or k when you hear a 'k' sound at the end of the word? If the sound before the k sound is a short vowel then it is ck, else k. So for example, e
How do you know when to use es or s for a plural? If the plural of the word creates a two syllable work is it es. For example, glass becomes glasses, as distinct from elk which becomes elks.
I cannot make a big enough deal about how this method of formalised spelling and rules based learning suits Tom.
Our grammar curriculum is First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind. This is a classical education text which stresses learning the basics of grammar, which I never learnt. I have no idea with a preposition, pronoun, etc is specifically. I guess Tom and I will be learning together. It also uses classical literature and art as the basis of the learning, as well as heavy doses of straight memorisation. They need to memorise a poem a week more or less. I thought this might be onerous. I read T the first poem in the curriculum. In two days he was reciting it word for word for all and sundry - he loved. I firmly believe children love to memorise and master at this age.
Our writing curriculum is Writeshop, which is a day to day, week to week writing curriculum. It uses a lot of guided writing, where Tom dictates the stories to me. It means he can 'author' without letting the handwriting and spelling slow him down. It is AMAZING. He is so strong in vocabulary and his imagination runs riot. He started this curriculum saying, "Mum, I'm no author" and now he is so excited when each new topic is introduced. Each week we plan and brainstorm the writing activity of his, then we write it and then we publish it. So one week per writing piece for him (each day we do a guided writing where he dictates for me). And the publishing can be on Word with clipart/pictures. This week we did acrostics. And my Mum is not well, so we published a Get Well Soon acrostic for her, which he then posted to her. Practical, useful writing. I love it. He loves it.
Maths is a the Singaporean curriculum. Worksheet based. Tom is flying through Grade 1 presently. I have slowed him down to make sure he is very confident with some strategies that I feel he needs to perfect more (for example, adding 6 + 37 by adding 3 to 37 to make 40, then subtracting 3 from 6 to then add 3 to make 43) (I made that sound complex sorry!). I just downloaded some additional worksheets via google for this.
So I am very happy with our daily plans and activities.
Everyday we try to read a book aloud to Tom. We received a lovely book on Mummies for his birthday and Tom loves the Egyptian gods like Anubis and Osiris and Isis. He spends ages on you tube looking at natural catastrophes like the tsuanamis, floods, cyclones, tornadoes.
Also I get Tom to update his personal diary weekly so he starts to understand the rhythm of the week and can organise himself. I now fully expect him to pack all extra curricular bags and get himself in the car for such. I don't check his bags. If he forgets something, his problem. Natural consequence. Less stressed Mummy.
I was just saying to D tonight that I feel like we treat T much more as a young adult now than before we home schooled. T made fruit salad for me tonight. After asking me if I wanted some. He chopped it all up. He even asked if I wanted it heated as he likes his heated. I LOVE that he is more independent and self sufficient now.
So that is an overview. It is working. Other balls have been dropped - like piano?! Inexplicable - but I am finding it hard to find the right time for practice. ... to work on. Also my exercise, my Thermomix business, .... all not as up to par as I would like. But we will get there just not in the next few weeks!!
