Hello all . Today was a wonderful day . Too irresistable to NOT to go outside . Even though there was still snow we had a day of a balmy 65 degrees.
So to add school into our day while taking advantage of the outside weather . The girls made snowmen . We talked about water of course . Temperature , what the weather needs to be outside for the water to freeze . Why Frosty was melting while we made them .
I think that is one of the beauties of schooling our children at home . We can stop from the academic work and still learn while playing . We can take the time to stop and smell the roses .
Also another fun way of learning is what I call telephone learning . The girls spent the night at grandma and grandpa's house this weekend . We still needed to work on spelling words . So I decided to do spelling over the phone . The girls thought it was pretty neat .
Tomorrow we will start back on book work as we need to get their test lesson 60's out . The one thing I've learned is that after 3rd grade the Calvert tests get really time consuming , are much harder to do and require alot more work to be turned in . Some of the questions I am surprised they are asking a 4th grader and to me would require much more thought and at a much higher grade level . But I guess that is what makes Calvert such a great curriculum. The fact that it really makes children think .
I'm still working with the math . I just donot like this new math they teach in schools . In my opinion it is VERY important to learn the math facts first. It makes math much easier and quicker to do . If a child takes too long with a math problem , too much frustration begins to start and that is when the tears start . So I really need to take a different approach to math for the girls . Even though math is Marilyn's strong subject , she is just really hitting a wall and I think it has to do alot with NOT knowing her math facts quickly .
Katie , well , math has never been her strong subject , and Calvert math doesnot by any means work well for her . We had MUCH , MUCH more success with Saxon math . Which leads me to giving Christian Light math a try . It is very much like Saxon math but in workbook form . My girls are 'workbookie' kids so I really think this approach will help them feel more confident about themselves .
Even though we 'school at home' with a cyberschool the traditional homeschooler comes out in me to want to customize their education so it suits them better and are more successful in their learning and understanding of subject matter . I know my girls won't always understand everything , and there will always be that one thing that just doesn't click for them at the moment . But if I can use something that helps them feel more confident about themselves then it is all worth it in the end .
So to add school into our day while taking advantage of the outside weather . The girls made snowmen . We talked about water of course . Temperature , what the weather needs to be outside for the water to freeze . Why Frosty was melting while we made them .
I think that is one of the beauties of schooling our children at home . We can stop from the academic work and still learn while playing . We can take the time to stop and smell the roses .
Also another fun way of learning is what I call telephone learning . The girls spent the night at grandma and grandpa's house this weekend . We still needed to work on spelling words . So I decided to do spelling over the phone . The girls thought it was pretty neat .
Tomorrow we will start back on book work as we need to get their test lesson 60's out . The one thing I've learned is that after 3rd grade the Calvert tests get really time consuming , are much harder to do and require alot more work to be turned in . Some of the questions I am surprised they are asking a 4th grader and to me would require much more thought and at a much higher grade level . But I guess that is what makes Calvert such a great curriculum. The fact that it really makes children think .
I'm still working with the math . I just donot like this new math they teach in schools . In my opinion it is VERY important to learn the math facts first. It makes math much easier and quicker to do . If a child takes too long with a math problem , too much frustration begins to start and that is when the tears start . So I really need to take a different approach to math for the girls . Even though math is Marilyn's strong subject , she is just really hitting a wall and I think it has to do alot with NOT knowing her math facts quickly .
Katie , well , math has never been her strong subject , and Calvert math doesnot by any means work well for her . We had MUCH , MUCH more success with Saxon math . Which leads me to giving Christian Light math a try . It is very much like Saxon math but in workbook form . My girls are 'workbookie' kids so I really think this approach will help them feel more confident about themselves .
Even though we 'school at home' with a cyberschool the traditional homeschooler comes out in me to want to customize their education so it suits them better and are more successful in their learning and understanding of subject matter . I know my girls won't always understand everything , and there will always be that one thing that just doesn't click for them at the moment . But if I can use something that helps them feel more confident about themselves then it is all worth it in the end .
No comments:
Post a Comment