my daily home school schedule

Parenting and Education (Other) Homeschooling
41

SongSchool Latin review

i love this program
very teacher friendly, you don’t need a answer key or a teachers guide
easy to use even if you never took a day of Latin in school
the book has a great pronunciation guide
and all the songs are sung in both classical and ecclesiastical Latin
for $15 you get a workbook and CD
the book is broken up into 31 weekly lessons of about 3 pages each
the lessons are quite short taking about 15 minutes to do
each lesson starts with learning a simple song or two
then you trace the words, fill in the blanks, color etc
most lessons teach about 4 or 5 basic Latin words or phases
the songs are easy to learn, pleasant, and sung by both a male and female

(sung to the tune of My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean)
My pater is really my father, My mater is really my mom.
My frater is my little brother, And I am the soror, you see.

Pater,pater. Pater is really my father.
Mater, mater. Mater is really my mom

repeat with: “My soror is my little sister, And I am the frater, you see”

we try to listen to the CD three times a week and then work on one lesson a week
so far my 3 year old loves it
the program is marketed for kinder through third grade
i feel it could be used with younger children if you modify it a bit
for example i’m making flash cards with all the words in the program (about a hundred)
so instead of writing the answer she can simply pick a card
for example i place three cards on the table for her to choose from, bene, optime, and pessime
then ask, “How do you feel when you fall and scrape your knee?”

42

There are many good ideas there but a little expensive.
I like the pom pom push and think it is very easy to make. Just the pompom and a cilinder open at both sides. Really good ideas there.
Thanks.

http://www.earlyschoolmaterials.com/toddler/pom_pom_push.html

43

tatianna, i look for the CD at amazon and already place it in my cart even though I could not listen to a sample. Do you know anywhere I can hear a part?
I did not have a plan of teaching latin but since i studied it a sophomore and junior highschool i think it would be nice for me to remember and play with my grandchild as you recomend with flashcards.
I think you will have a very good foundation for other latina languages (french, italian etc) if you take some latins since child.
Karma for this information.

44

Sing, Spell, Read and Write

we are only 4 weeks into the program (it’s should take about a year to complete)
so i will update as we go

what you get in the First Grade kit

manual
2 work books
assessment book
17 readers
a CD
6 tapes
video guide
treasure chest with prizes
5 games
2 charts

don’t bother getting the preschool or kindergarten kits
save you money you don’t need them
both sets have writing in them so you can’t really start them any earlier anyway
when your child is ready to learn to write start with the first grade kit

the first book you start with is Off We Go
in it you learn all 26 letters
and manuscript writing
each letter get 4 pages
-coloring
-writing
-cut and paste (auditory discrimination)
-dot to dot (alphabet sequence)

we choose not to use all 4 pages as she already knew the phonic sounds
but the writing page is excellent
i love how the book teaches writing
it can be very different from the traditional ball and stick method
but it’s worth learning as it help kids avoid confusion and reversals
as well as makes the change to cursive easier

during this stage you play 2 phonics games
and sing the phonics song
i’m not a big fan of the style of music on the cd
it’'s a little too 80’s for my taste
but my 3.5 year old enjoys it
and the songs themselves are very helpful
the basic abc song starts a a apple, b b ball, c c cat and d d doll
while you sing the song you follow along on a big chart
you point to the uppercase A, then the lowercase a, then to the picture of the apple
another important part of the program is they way they teach the sounds of the letters
it’s bh bh ball not buh buh ball
s s sun not su su sun
m m (humming), not mu mu monkey

the next book Raceway is the heart of the program
it’s split up up onto 36 steps
some steps takes only a few days others as long as 2 weeks to complete
which at the end your child will learn to read,write and spell
it’s covers everything
by the end of step 36 you child should be able to read,write and spell almost any word
i think most kids will learn with this program
it’s colorful and engaging
the games are fun and the songs are helpful
the prizes are lame so you will need to make a trip to the dollar store if you choose to use them
it’s also very multi sensory
all in all it’s a very well thought out program
and you won’t have any gaps

i won’t recommend it to everyone though for two reasons
1 it’s pricing
2 you may not need it
if you have a very good understanding of phonics and have no problem making your own materials and lessons
then save your money you don’t need this program

but if you never learned phonics
are disorganized
and hate phonics teaching books then this may be the perfect program for you
i would highly recommend it for any non native English speakers teaching phonics
as the cd helps a lot

45

i use teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons , she already knew her letter sounds but like you said she would say duhhhh instead of d , muhh instead of mmmm . i got scared from it in the beginning , it looked very dry but you can make it interactive and fun . i modified it a bit , following montessori making games with the words we learn , because i am disorganized , i found the books takes me through the lessons covering all the rules . i don’t really do anything and don’t teach , she goes through it but help her when she got stuck on a funny word , they call irregular words that don’t follow the rules funny words . i found it easier than drilling her with hundreds of sight words to memorise . so we read from the book and when we meet a new funny word in the context of a story i help her with it .
and often i don’t really need. you know they say kids who are read to a lot you don’t have to bore them with rules , they were already exposed auditory to the english language , my daughter when she read a word that should be read differently from how you sound it , when she reads it in a story , she laughs from the funny way it was sounded and could correct it immediately guessing what the word should be .
and the book is really not very expensive like all those reading kits .
love
viv

46

i tried using the book the The Writing Road to Reading
it was soooo dry, so big, and so boring that i resold it within a week
so i went out and bought the biggest, flashiest, most successful program i could find lol
you certainly don’t need a big expensive reading kit to teach your child to read
i was just worried because almost 3 years of doman reading cards and brillkids just didn’t work with my daughter
but i do think most any phonics book could work as well

47

I’m finding with my son variety seems be the key. We started with Leap Frog videos and toys, that helped him build a strong understanding that letters make sounds. Then we did YBCR, LR and flashcards, that helped build a collection of words that he could read. But then he got board with that. So I tried the fleshcards daddude created, but they didn’t work for us, my som wasn’t interested. So that’s when we started Tweedlewinks, Reading Eggs and Starfall mixed with Sidney Ledsons Blockgame and Exploded the Code workbooks. So far it seems to be helping him a lot. I mean he’s not reading like some of the children filmed on this forum, but he is reading much more then the average child who just turned 5.
Seriously looking at Dr. Jones Geniuses program. I guess my problem is I want to try everything, but mixing things up seems to help.
He is also doing ABA therapy which is my option is very left brain. Lots of repetition until a skill is learned perfectly. But seeing as he is 5, and I think it’s important he works both sides of the brain.

48

Tatiana,
Have you looked at Math in Focus Kindergarten?
I saw that it has way more materials than 1st grade. I was trying to use virtual sampling feature, but looks like that is only for teachers.
I was looking at Kindergarten Big Book, it is expensive, but looks like that is the major thing you will need at that point.
I saw the MinF K complete set on e-bay for great price, but then I realized that the set did not included this Big Book, just everything else except it :slight_smile:
Would appreciate your opinion.

49

the big books are really just a few rhymes and stories
like “ten in a bed” etc
there is only one per unit
the earlybird program later turned them into ten little math readers
when i used the first part of earlybird (prek) i didn’t know they had them
we used only the books and did just fine
the next year i bought the readers and activity book
i hardly used them
if i had seen them first i don’t know if i would have bought them at all
i did like the activity book though
when i start the program with my youngest girl i will most likely only buy the student books
MATH IN FOCUS Grade K Student Book - Parts 1 (A and B) and Parts 2 (A and B) Bundle $25
if i could find the teachers guide at a very good price i would think about those too

along with the books you will need the following manipulatives

counters
unifix cubes
solid shapes
tangrams
balance scale
coins (plastic or real)
number cubes or number cards
dot cubes or dot cards
spinner

ok i just looked at the virtual sample
and i have a few thoughts to share

1 you really don’t need the big books
most every story is already in the student books

2 the student books start writing sooner then the earlybird books did

3 all the instructions are not in the student books
in the early bird books each page had a little teaching notes box
the math in focus books do not

you could probably still use them without the teachers guide
but if this is your first time teaching math you may want them

in that case unless you can get a good deal on the guides
you may be better off using earlybird for pre k and kinder
then switching to math in focus starting at first grade

50

Tatianna,
Thank you for such a detailed explanation.
That sounds really good, since I saw some used sets listed on eBay for good price,
So far there are some bidders on them, so I will keep looking to snatch a deal lol :yes: We are in no rush!
Also I would like to thank you for recommendations on A Beka flashcards, just got them today, they are great!
And from what I see they have a great resale value, I got my ones on eBay, a little cheaper than from A Beka catalog, but… not dirt cheap :yes:
Please do continue to share the things you do with your girls,
We all will appreciate that!
Every time I sign in on Brillkids, I look for your name and add karma lol :yes: , - your posts are always so informative.
I really appreciate that you took time to have a look at M in F books!

51

Thanks for the sharing that was great. keep up the good work everyone. Having a schedule is very important when homeschooling. It provides structure and support. Thanks for the ideas, and links.

52

Hi Tatiana,

Thank you for all the information. Karma to you!

I was doing Doman and LR with my son since he was 4-5 months old and we were doing wonderfully until the time I had to start working full time. After that I wasn’t able to spend as much time with my son as I’d like, so we didn’t do much for 9 months and I feel like we missed out a lot. I stopped working to spend more time with him. I am really wanting to make up for the time I didn’t spend with him and as a result am going through all the educational resources to come up with a good schedule but am getting overwhelmed! Would you be able to give me some suggestions?

He is an auditory learner.

I did math dots with him when he was a baby. what is a good method for math at his age? miqoun or singapore?

we are doing EK with LR twice a day, he loves to see a new set everyday so it is a little tricky for me.

I tried Doman for reading earlier and was doing LR now, but he doesn’t show much interest in just words, loves multisensory things- he loves ‘animal tracks and sounds’. when and how should I start phonics with him. Are the phonics in LR enough or do I need the read, sing and write package?

I would really appreciate your input.

Take care,

Shaman