Entries Tagged 'kindergarten' ↓

Gamma has been dutifully bringing me one of the BOB Books every morning as of late, to read to me.  Not because I’ve asked him too, because I’d long ago written them off as uninteresting to him and resolved that there must be a better way.  (My attempts to find that “better way” hadn’t been terribly successful, and as you know, I’ve since taken a more relaxed approach to the subject.) And not because he enjoys them, because he does not.  But he’s suddenly decided he wants to learn how to read, and I must have at some point told him that these were books that would help teach him.

A couple months ago, I would have rejoiced at this.  And I do, in part.  I’m so glad he’s suddenly got this desire to read for himself.  I find him flipping through books, reading cereal boxes, store ads, etc.  But seeing his emotionless face as he slogs through these early readers, as if they are the dues he has to pay before he can move on to “real” books, saddens my heart.

He has a few Bionicles books, just beyond his reading level, that he’s been skimming through.  I pointed out that he could just as easily hone his reading skills on books like these, as there is nothing magical in the BOB Books.  He looked hopeful, and I think he’s chewing on that idea.  I’m hopeful, too.

I’ve done some editing as of late around here, to reflect our slightly less-schooly mentality (haven’t gone all the way, sorry JJ!).  Note the change from “teaching them to think for themselves” to “thinking for ourselves… all day, in every way.”    The reading seems to be rolling along just fine, despite my interference.  So, for the time being, I’m letting go of that.   I think Gamma’s getting more out of reading the instructions for video games, et al, than he was getting out of our phonics program.  Recently, he seems to be quite intrigued by maths, so we’re working on that more.  Funny to me, he still gets the numerals 6,7,8, and 9 confused, but he can add and subtract, and even multiply numbers much higher.  The concept is there, just not the notation.

Also, Gamma’s Lit Picks in the sidebar will no longer contain just our current reads.  Rather, it will hold only the cream of the crop — books Gamma personally recommends for other adventure-loving, thrill-seeking, irrepressible five year old boys!  As you can all ready see, we’ve been on a bit of a Roald Dahl kick, as of late.  We’ve also read Winnie the Pooh and attempted The Wind in the Willows, but neither of them have passed the 5-year old boy test!  Hopefully, someday, this list will help other starting-out homeschooling mums, desperate for good literature for their young sons — sons who are left cold by the current “recommended” reads for this age group!

This will hopefully become a weekly feature.  In keeping with the laid back, CM-ish tone of our homeschool, Gamma narrates a story we’ve read a few times this week, from Aesop’s Fables. **edited to add: from here on out, Gamma is dictating.  I just did the typing, because I’m a wee bit faster than him.  For now…

*****

A fable is a pretend story where animals act like humans and talk like humans.  There is always a lesson at the end.

The Lion and the Mouse

A mouse ran over the lion’s nose while he was sleeping.  It woke him up!  He waited his moment and then flashed out his paw onto the mouse’s tail!  He let him go because he wouldn’t make much of a meal.  The mouse promised that he would pay the lion back.

The lion was stalking his prey, a zebra, at dusk.  He finally got caught by a hunter’s net!  It held him fast!  He roared!  And it echoed through the forest so that everyone could hear him, even mouse.  The mouse ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to the lion.  He helped him get out of the net by gnawing on the net with his teeth.  The lion broke free.

The mouse said, “You see, I told you I’d pay you back someday.”

“A little tiddly thing like you helping a king of beasts like me,” said the lion.

The lesson: KINDNESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN STRENGTH

There hasn’t been a whole lot of *schooling* going on around here lately, hence the lack of posts.  Between sickness running its course two by two through the family, and then playing catch up on all the things that were left undone during those weeks, it simply hasn’t been our top priority.  Learning, however?  Learning has been happening all over the place.

Gamma’s starting to really read.  Not just two or three letter words, but really read.  We have some easy readers Gramma Alpha gave him years ago, and he can read 90% of what is on the page.  Of course, the stories are familiar, so some words are coming more from context than actual print, but he’s definitely progressing very quickly.  As most people report, I’m so amazed at how quickly the reading is coming.  He’s been able to sound out words for quite some time now, but that’s completely different from reading.

But he’s not limiting his new-found skill to easy readers.  Signs at the library, titles of books, cans at the grocery store, analyzing my shopping lists…

All over the place.

This week’s Think! challenge was to build a water wheel.

Allowable materials:

a long dowel
a cardboard tube or a two liter bottle or a can
8 index cards
a sharpie
string
tape

You may use scissors in construction but not the solution.

We went to You Tube and a watched a few videos of homemade water wheels to get Gamma’s creative juices flowing. Then we examined the raw materials at our disposal. A few used toilet paper rolls, a book of index cards cut in half (for flash card purposes), no string, cheap “magic” tape. I think we both sensed that the water wheel wasn’t going to be terribly hardy, so we’d better get movement the first time around.

Here is Gamma with his design. Simple, but functional.

Demonstrating what he thinks is going to happen.

A large wooden spoon, just long enough to bridge the expanse of our sink, served as a dowel.

You can’t tell in the photo, but it really did work! Unfortunately, we only got two revolutions….

… before it looked like this.

So… we never got a chance to try it behind a boat. But I think this week’s challenge has really sparked an interest for him. He’s making a design on paper for a better water wheel that he plans to build later today or tomorrow out of K’NEX. I’ll update with his results!

*****

edited to add some of his latest inventions. Obviously, these aren’t sticking to the materials of the challenge, but still fun to see!

Version 1: a little hand-held model.

Version 2: V1 upgraded to make it self-supporting.

Version 3: trying out a windmill design.

Gamma really enjoyed using his little grey cells and solving this challenge!

In my frantic search of other people’s blogs for anything science-y to be of interest to my budding engineer, I found a link to Think! This site hosts a weekly problem-solving challenges for your young engineer/scientist wannabe. Right up Gamma’s alley!

This week’s challenge was to create a catapult using only the following: six chopsticks (or substitutes), a plastic cup, a few rubber bands, a pen, and some paper. Initially, I thought this challenge might be a bit too much for Gamma — he is still only five, no matter what big words and big ideas he voices. But why not give it a go?

I found a few pictures of catapults online, and a few demonstration videos, and then gave him his supplies. At first he was stumped. I tried offering a bit of help, made a mess of things, and then got distracted hanging laundry. Then he surprised me with his handheld catapult.

It consists of four chopsticks rubber-banded together, and a fifth jammed through the middle. A bit of tape held a plastic bottle cap to the end of the fifth chopstick. The ammo? Raisins. They flew about 8 feet. Not bad for a first attempt, I think!
READY…AIM

FIRE!

This is our attempt at a kindergarten curriculum. Gamma is five and a half, so obviously this is just a warm-up phase for the real deal starting next year. This is my chance to figure out what learning styles do and don’t work for him, and what record keeping methods work best for me. Before anyone lectures me on how the work of a child is play, trust me, 95% of his day is play.

Language Arts — Gamma detested OPGTTR and the McGuffey’s Eclectic Primer — he found them immensely boring. Now we’re using Click N’ Read Phonics for phonics and beginning reading, and while it’s not the best fun he’s ever had in his life, he’s enjoying it. And reading full sentences. Narration usually takes the form of “tell Daddy what happened on our walk today” or some such thing. For penmanship…. oh, right… I knew I was lacking something. I’ve given him worksheets and had him work a bit on penmanship, and he’s been obliging, but he hates to do it. The kid just isn’t a worksheet/workbook kind of kid. Since I want to foster a love of learning, not a dread, I’ve pulled the worksheets for now. I’m still looking for what works for us. Currently, Gamma’s enjoying making lists and labeling the pictures he draws, and that’s good enough for me at this point.

Literature — The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter, the original Thomas the Tank Engine series, A Treasury of Mother Goose, A.A. Milne’s series, and all the best age-appropriate children’s literature I can get my hands on. Our library here is a little limited, but we’ve managed to locate some good finds. Still struggling to find good, age appropriate material that appeals to my very boyish boy.

French — for right now our French “curriculum” is really just life. When we’re out and about I dole out a little vocabulary here or there. He hears me converse in French and I explain what I’m saying and repeat certain phrases I feel would be useful for him. If we watch any kids’ programming during the day, it’s in French. Easy readers from the French children’s section at the library. Eventually, I’ll need to get a little more focused on this, but I’ve yet to find a boxed curriculum for French that I’m happy with. Rosetta Stone is great, but he’s just too young for that. TBD.

Art — very informal at this point. Gamma draws when he takes a fancy to do so. We have Drawing with Children and it’s already helped ME tremendously! Other than that, if he sees a project he wants to try, on Mister Maker or some such, I’m game. Not talented, but game.

Music — Classics For Kids is a great resource for this. Obviously he’s a little too young for the “lesson” side of things, but he’s enjoying listening to the music and being able to identify the composer. Ever heard of Dmitri Kabalevsky? No? Gamma has!

Math — games, games, and more games. Board games, dice games, card games. And some basic mental math. We plan to use Ray’s Primary Arithmetic for our actual “textbook”, but while we’re building familiarization with numbers and numerals I see no need to adhere to rigidly to a book.

Science — Science is the love of Gamma’s young life. And my bane. I never “got” science, thanks to the “science is for boys” mentality that ran rampant in my public school. I’m working on that, as we want science to be the spine of our schooling, so to speak. We have a few simple experiment books we work from, we browse the internet and find cool and unusual ideas and experiments, and we’ll be making good use of some of the great museums available to us. But choosing a curriculum? Unfortunately, science is the weak link in homeschool curriculum. I’m leaning toward R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey starting next year, and will probably spend this year letting the subject be led by his interests. Meanwhile, I’m educating myself. But that’s a topic for another post.

Social Studies — A Life Like Mine offers a good understanding of basic needs, as well as a look at children around the globe. Various internet sites like National Geographic Kids let us learn more about people, places, and cultures. Easy readers from the library, and simply being out and about in the community, round out SS for kindergarten. We’ll start formally with History and Geography next year.

Life Skills — from road safety to tying shoes, and everything in between. Our curriculum? Life, of course!