One thing I've found very helpful in working with my daughter in particular, who is very intelligent but struggles with motivation, attention, behavior, and phonics is to change things up very often. When I see that she's at the point of frustration with a lesson, I ease back and try to encourage her to finish it. But that tells me that the next day, and usually for several weeks afterwards, we'll be doing something else. Since a lot of her work is above grade level, I feel like I can take things slowly and not rush through material before she masters it.
math book, reading book, and our two new CHC workbooks
One example is her math program, Math U See. A couple months back we got to a stopping point when she wasn't mastering her +8 and +9 addition facts. I think it's very important and advantageous for children to learn these without counting on their fingers (like I still do!), so we've taken a break from the math program and slowly worked on these skills the past couple months. We've done online math drills, made-up worksheets, flashcards, and games to practice these facts. Daddy has helped with this too. I also spent a couple weeks working on counting backwards by 2s so that she would be better at doing the +8 facts. And it's worked! Today I felt confident to start back with Math U See. I don't make a big deal out of this; I just tell her what we're doing for the day. Most days she still fights tooth and nail with doing any schoolwork, but once she starts she has less frustration when I change things up often.
The same goes with her reading. I put away the 100 Easy Lessons book before Christmas. Neither of us was enjoying this and we were both becoming easily frustrated. So we spent a few months using easy readers, flashcards, and writing activities. Then a few weeks ago, I got out the book again and she was ready and eager to start back. She found the stories to be so funny and was proud at getting to Lesson 70 in the book. But just a couple days ago, I felt the frustration level rising again. The stories are getting too long and she is struggling to sound out the words. So I got out the easy readers again and started some new language arts books.
Usually I'm not a big fan of textbooks and workbooks, but for Mary Clare who enjoys them and finds confidence in completing lessons, they are a welcome activity. So last week I ordered two workbooks from Catholic Heritage Curricula, the Kindergarten handwriting and First Grade speller. She had a good time doing them today, and it's nice that they also incorporate certain aspects of our Catholic faith into the short lessons.
I love the flexibility of homeschooling. We can tailor the curriculum to each individual child, and adjust it frequently throughout the year. It will be interesting to see how this works as the years go by. I know as she gets older I'll be a little more concerned with covering certain subjects. But for now, I'm content here in Kindergarten, a happy Home Schoolin' Mama!
and lest I forget the "work" that the baby is doing,
here was his favorite activity yesterday, pouring water!
here was his favorite activity yesterday, pouring water!
