I posted this on my Facebook page last Thursday:
Sterling sat at the supper table tonight with his glasses on the table beside him, squinting at the sun in his eyes. Ruby told him to put his glasses back on - maybe they'll work like sunglasses. His reply: "No, Ruby. Those make me see BETTER. I don't WANT to see the sun better!"
Tonight, Sterling came up with a solution to this sun in his eyes dilemma that later sunsets is presenting.
My dad called last week and said he had a blog topic for me. He suggested I search for an 8th grade test from the 1800’s and see if I could pass it.
I think he was just trying to humble me.
I found a test here and the answers here. While the English section I could pass all right, and the math I could do if I knew how much a bushel was and what a mil levy and struck bushel and a whole host of other terms I haven’t a clue about. The history was pathetically beyond me and who on earth knows what orthography is anymore?! While numbers and English rules are fresh in my mind from teaching them on a daily basis, we don’t really have a clue.
An 8th grade education use to actually be enough to make it in most industries. Today, even if we changed the language to today’s English, I doubt many of us have learned that much by 8th grade – or even 12th.
Something to consider. My pride at watching my 4th grader pick apart sentences and name all 8 parts of speech in each was greatly diminished when I consider how poor I am educating my children in comparison to what they used to teach in schools.
It’s all about expectations, my friends. I’ve often said that my children obey only to my lowest expectation. If I expect them to disobey, you can bet they won’t disappoint. If I expect them to learn orthography, they will.
Now if I can just figure out exactly what orthography means.
This morning as I finished up in the bathroom after my shower, I noticed the bathroom sink and mirror needed attention. I set out to get the rag to clean the mirror.
I got sidetracked. The rag hangs on the side of the fridge. The fridge is next to the laundry room. I started a load of laundry.
I rearranged under the futon and vacuumed under there to fit my new exercise mats.
I rearranged under my bed and vacuumed under there.
I went through my drawers and closet, purged a bunch of clothes that were just taking up space, and rearranged my closet.
I fed two kids lunch. I did reading lessons with two kids, math lessons with two kids, English lessons with two kids, and ate lunch.
I made supper prep plans. Swept the entire downstairs. Put babies down for naps. Switched laundry.
…and wrote a blog post. Because my bathroom is still dirty.
Some day, I’ll gain the focus my husband possesses for staying on task. It hasn’t happened yet.
As part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received the Delta books from Math U See as well as the DVD that teaches the lessons, and manipulative blocks. Eden jumped in, thoroughly frustrated with her math this year. I was reservedly hopeful this would be a better fit – that she would enjoy math and learn at the same time.
Eden is 8, in third grade, and has done pretty well in math in the past. This year, math has not been an easy subject for her. I was struggling to help her along, and emotions were running high each time she did her work. And then.
For the last month, she’s enjoyed math. She’s done well, she hasn’t cried once, is speeding right along – and learning. We’d had discussions of repeating third grade math in a different curriculum earlier this year, unsure what to do for next year but quite certain that neither of us wanted a repeat of this year.
For a dear child to struggles with staying on task and paying attention to her own work, Math U See has been amazing for her. It hasn’t jumped around nearly so much as what she’s used to, and that seems to have helped tremendously. It builds and changes in slow increments and has given her confidence in leaps and bounds. The dear girl who I found changing multiplication problems into addition (Confession: I remember doing the very same thing as a kid.) is dividing and multiplying with ease. Her quote last week had me laughing.
“Math is FUN!”
Really?! This from the child who cried on a nearly daily basis about her math all year?
Delta is all about division for both single and multiple digit numbers. Each book, instead of going by grade level, teaches mastery of one topic, introducing other topics as needed and provided plenty of review so concepts are mastered well. Their website has placement tests that made it really easy to figure out which books Eden would need to keep her learning from the level she’s at and moving forward. They don’t use grade levels, so the placement tests were super helpful in figuring out where she’s at. If you follow one book per year, Delta is grade 4 and Eden’s just wrapping up grade 3 so they follow a progression similar to the books we’ve been using – but be sure to check out the placement tests to be sure.
We’ll be doing Math U See next year. She’s actually excited about it. Both of us have reduced stress levels. That’s awesome.
Math U See Delta is available here. The Instruction Manual, DVD, and Answer Key are $44. The Student Pack contains worksheets, lessons, and tests for $30. The Manipulative Block Set is $38. I received two block sets – that makes it easier for some lessons so that the student has at least 10 of each piece.
You’re being watched, imitated, copied, and admired.
Playing “house” was just taken to a whole new level. Now he has a badge to wear to work.
Just like Daddy.
(Oh, except he doesn’t take photos at work. He builds houses. With Legos.)
About a month ago, I was selected as part of the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew to review the Adventus piano software. Adventus has MusicIQ, software specifically designed for the homeschooler, from ages 4-18. I received their software download Children’s Music Journey. I received Volume 1, 2, and 3 to review. For ages 4-10, at first I set up the lessons for Liberty (9) and Eden (8). They’ve talked about music lessons for years, but we’ve never had the ability to enroll them. The excitement in the house when I told them we were going to do the Adventus program was fantastic. (Okay, I was a little excited too. I woke them up at 6:00 am when I got the email.) Since then, I’ve added Ruby and Sterling as well. Since they were crowded around the table when anyone was practicing, I threw them all in there.
They LOVE it.
“Can I do another lesson? Play another game?” Is the oft-heard question when they are finished. They argue about who gets to play first. There are lessons, practice rooms, games, printables, and all sorts of fun to be had with the Children’s Music Journey. Lesson plans can be purchased separately if you so desire. It begins simple, discussing the higher octaves as “high bird notes” and lower notes as “low whale notes” and middle c as a man in the middle of the sea. Even Ruby (4) and Sterling (5) “got” it. It is progressing into teaching music notes for Liberty and Eden – Sterling and Ruby are still just a couple weeks in. Each of my kids practice in the practice room each day and lessons are set up to do one per week. The early ones had my older kids doing a bit more, until they were being challenged a bit more. They spend about 30 minutes playing before I make them switch students. (And it’s really MAKE them. They don’t switch without being told it’s time.)
The curriculum is highly interactive with the student. If a lesson isn’t completely finished, it cues up to do that lesson again next time. The images are colorful and fun and one part of the program “knows” how much practice has been done in other areas. I’ve been highly impressed with how well it communicates within the program and how easy it was to jump in and begin. It does have to be online (the downloaded program does) to verify your product key each time you log in.
My children have had no prior music instruction but they are lining up for their piano lessons. Having taken years of lessons as a child myself, I know this is NOT normal! It’s been so much fun to watch them learn, to enjoy their time, and beg for more. I can’t wait to see how far this takes them! Taking them to lessons isn’t feasible right now, but I’m not certain it’s even necessary at the rate they are going! The thought of them learning to play at home, having fun and without tears, is awesome. The program notices their rhythm and warns them “Careful!” when they don’t get it right or hit the wrong note. It’s really cool! I hope their enthusiasm continues with this – and I have no reason to think it won’t. It’s colorful and fun and challenging and interesting. Even Charlotte (age 2) hovers to watch and asks if she’s allowed to have a turn. It would be a bit above her head, I’m afraid, but she’s always watching.
See what I mean?!
Adventus offers programs for older students as well. Piano Suite Premier is for ages older than 10 and offers beginner to intermediate instruction on a multitude of topics. With only young students, we didn’t try that program, but more information can be found about it here.
Composers “teach” the lessons on the Children’s Music Journey software. Volume one has 25 lessons, and Volumes 2 and 3 each have 35 lessons. The student hears famous works by the composer that teaches the lesson. It’s pretty fun to hear names like Beethoven, Joplin, and Bach become household words! Information on the composer isn’t discussed, but they offer a blog that covers some info on the composers discussed on the Children’s Music Journey’s software that is located at http://mcresource.wordpress.com/. For this homeschooling mom who likes to make everything into a study… I really appreciate that!
The Children’s Music Journey program is compatible with almost all computers made after 2000 and needs a MIDI Keyboard (a digital keyboard that connects to your computer via a USB cable). Adventus has one they recommend on their website if you don’t own one already, and they offer it for purchase with their programs if you’d like to purchase it that way.
You can use the program for $10.95 a month (all levels included – great when you have a variety of age groups using it). There are many different options for purchasing the Adventus program, detailed here. The lesson plans are not included in the monthly subscription price, but are priced separately. Read here for more information.
Read more reviews on the Children’s Music Journey and hear from others who tried the other levels offered by Adventus at the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog.
Pierce found the bottle of ibuprofen and was determined to get it open.
I watched from a corner as he got a stool, dug out the wine bottle opener from the kitchen drawer, and went to work.
Darn child proof caps.
