2015 Reading Challenge

This year I am participating in my first Reading Challenge. I used to be an avid reader, but my interest has dwindled over the years and I find it hard to find books that truly capture me from cover to cover. However, this year I wanted to not only motivate myself to read more, but also broaden my horizons a bit (young adult fiction is still ok for late 20's right....).

This is what I am currently working on:

Trilogy: Divergent series by Veronica Roth
        I have finished Divergent and Insurgent and only have Allegiant left to read in the series. I absolutely love this series so far.

A book that became a movie: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
       I have not seen this movie, but the previews intrigued me. So far I am hooked. Little clues are slowly unraveling which keeps you reading along to find out what happens.

A book with a one-word title: Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst
      Emotions and I do not have a good relationship. I tend to explode on my children the most and then feel horrible after. This book is helping me to make imperfect progress.

A book you started but never finished: Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
       Started this book about two years ago and it keeps getting put to the side for the next shiny book. I'm hopeful of finishing it soon.... hopeful...

What about you? Do you participate in reading challenges? Any suggestions for books I should read this year?

Finding Our Groove

Finding a groove for after school work has not been easy. Homework, friends, outside obligations, and general free play time leaves little time left in the day for any extras. However, we seem to have found the right mesh of time and curriculum at this point*.

*Meaning I will not be surprised if I am back to the drawing board in a few months. 

Working on Life of Fred together

The biggest change has been throwing away all of the math workbooks and trusting Life of Fred as our only math curriculum. My kids absolutely love Fred, but I always felt it was light on math and left it as an occasional "fun" math. I've finally let go (who says we have to work through math in a traditional way!) and the kids and I are finally enjoying math time again. I hope to work through the first 4 books of the series by the end of summer and then re-evaluate. Monkey will probably continuing moving forward, but Boots may need to start from the beginning again to make sure her math skills are solid before proceeding on in the series.

Both kids moved up in reading levels this week!

I also threw all phonics/spelling curriculum out the window. I still think All About Spelling is a wonderful solid curriculum, but it just isn't necessary for my two kiddos. Monkey has proven to be a natural speller. He is a visual learner and simply recognizes correct spelling from all the reading he does. Boots was frustrated with the slow pace of the program and just wanted to spell the words she needed for her notebook writing. She writes all the time and just asks for a spelling if she is unsure. I did add in a handwriting workbook for both kids as I do value neat handwriting.

Other than that, we are just reading, reading, and reading some more. I read to them and they read to me. Greek Myths is a favorite around here right now and we just started the Wizard of Oz.

Painting is easily their favorite thing to do

Linked with Weekly Wrap-up

2015 - Reflecting and making a new start

Merry Christmas! 

WHOA! Where did 2014 go?! I feel like it blew past in the blink of an eye. However, I love the start of a new year. We have the opportunity to clean the slate and begin anew. We are taking this time to re-start here at home. New curriculum, new schedule, and new attitude (hopefully!). First, I want to reflect on what did and didn't work in 2014 so we move forward more wisely this year.

So, let's begin with what didn't work this past year:

Outdoor time with his new bow

• Any mom assigned work before dinner. This just didn't happen at all. Monkey was wired from sitting still all day and needed to go outside and play for a while. Homework from school gets done right away at the kitchen table with a snack, but anything beyond that waits until after dinner. 
• Heavy oral curriculum. While I love New Franklin Arithmetic's way of teaching math, Monkey just couldn't focus long enough to get through the lesson. He knew the material, but would zone out halfway or turn every question into a discussion about superheros. Math started to slip and we weren't getting anything done. 
• Phonics instruction with Boots. Make that any instructional time with Boots really. Anytime I think I've figured out what level of instruction she needs, she makes a leap ahead and is bored once again. She hated the phonics-based readers I gave her to practice. She wanted to read "real" books. So I made her a list of books and she has taken off. I do explain the phonics behind any word she doesn't know, but she rarely stumbles and is up to reading Frog and Toad books at the moment. 

Now for what did work in 2014:

• Reading aloud daily. Monkey and Boots loved to be read too. I noticed so much more retention from read alouds this past year than anything else we were doing. I've added in some history and science books to our reading basket and it has been a big hit all around.
• Teaching spelling as needed for writing. We started off last year with All About Spelling, but I dropped it and started addressing spelling as needed. This has worked wonderfully with Tank and Monkey. Both of my children appear to be natural spellers at this time and I don't want to bog them down with unnecessary extra work.   
• Dedicated art time. Both of my children love art time! Anytime I bring out paintbrushes and watercolors, they are ready. I don't follow any curriculum or dictate what they create at this time. I'm more interested in exposure and working their creative juices at this time. 

Watercolor painting

We have a few new things that we've added in for 2015 that are already big hits around here, but I will talk more about that in my next post. 

What worked or didn't work for you in 2014? Will you be making any big changes in the new year?

One Month Down

The first full month of school is done! I can't believe how fast this past month has gone by. October is one of my favorite months and I am already in high preparation mode. I have a tutu to make this weekend and I will pull all of the Halloween decorations out of storage. Pinterest has become my best friend for the next few weeks :)

Not much afterschooling has happened around here. I was pretty sure we wouldn't get to too much work this early in the school year. We are adjusting to the new schedule and amount of homework being sent home. I must say that I am very impressed with the little amount of homework that is sent home with Monkey. Last year we were so overwhelmed with daily homework that any extra work was pretty much impossible. I am confident we can now alternate school homework days with afterschool work without feeling overwhelmed throughout the week. Tank is dying for more work at home as she blazes through her homework. I am still adamant that Kindergarten homework is ridiculous. She brings home a few pages of coloring or cut and paste work. However, she does it all joyfully so I will not cause any ruckus over it.

Monkey has already done reading level testing in his classroom and is at a solid 2nd grade reading level. According to him there are two other children in his reading group and I am really satisfied with the level of reading material he comes home with. Tank will most likely start bringing home simple readers next month, but is already demanding her own reading material. I despise most early readers so this is slightly a challenge for me. Monkey shares my distaste of easy readers and pushed through to quality books quickly. However, Tank struggles with phonics and needs some confidence building books. I may try out some Dick and Jane books as they are very repetitive, but filled with simplistic vocabulary.

Even though we haven't done any math work at home, Monkey and Tank have been having some very interesting conversations about math! They have figured out that place value understanding makes it very easy to add larger numbers. 20 plus 20 is easy if you understand that 2 tens plus 2 tens is 4 tens. Monkey has mastered this concept up to the thousands! I am so proud of my little mathematicians and love seeing the hard work I put in constantly reinforcing place value.

Other than that we have been doing a lot of this:

Our 2014 - 2015 After-School Curriculum

Monkey and Boots currently attend an excellent elementary school so I don't feel the need to supplement every single subject at home. I will keep the focus on areas that they struggle in or are excelling in beyond their classroom at the current moment. 

New Franklin Arithmetic

This is a vintage math program that is free through Google Books and I absolutely love the way it teaches arithmetic. Most of this book will be done orally and with manipulatives. 

Math is not a struggle subject for either of my children. I contribute this mostly to my love for math and making my children count everything they do. Math is a constant conversation in our house. However, Monkey lacks confidence in math. He struggles to remember facts or the process of figuring a problem. 

All About Spelling

This is a phonics based spelling program that focuses on the rules behind spelling.

Although this is a spelling curriculum, it is the workhorse of language arts work in our household. Monkey is a natural speller and can usually remember a word based on sight. He is very visual, but has a hard time remembering why a word is spelled the way it is. I want to take him through this program to learn the rules behind spelling, reinforce phonics to advance his reading, and practice handwriting (see what I mean about being a workhorse of language arts!).  Boots will work through this, but at a much slower pace than Monkey. Reading and spelling are definitely her struggling points. 

We will also read, read, and read some more. I read aloud classic novels and try to include some history and science as well. Monkey reads at least once every day. I am hoping to start Boots on some simple books soon as well. 

That is the plan for the year. Now ask me again in a few months what is actually getting done. Ha!

Linked with Weekly Wrap-Up

Start of a New Year

The beginning of the school year brings back some of my greatest childhood memories. New school supplies, new clothes freshly laundered and hanging in the closet, and new shoes to test out on the playground. I love seeing the excitement in my children's eyes when they meet their teacher for the first time and discover the classroom they will spend the year in. The first week is full of stories of reuniting with old friends and new blossoming friendships. Even the first homework assignments are completed with delight as my children can't wait to impress their teacher with their supreme knowledge.

I have two bright children: Monkey, who is 7 and in 1st grade, and Boots, who is 5 and in Kindergarten. 

Monkey has an August birthday that barely meets the cutoff. We decided to hold him back a year before beginning Kindergarten. I wanted to give him another year to mature as he can be overly hyper and highly impulsive. It is yet to be seen if this decision will benefit him in the long run or if we will eventually ask for a grade skip. Last year he attended a very academic Kindergarten program that worked great for his level, but he would have struggled to complete the necessary work the year before. I'm withholding any judgement until further along in his education, though. 

Boots is my tiny Kindergarten princess. She just turned 5 in May, but loves everything school related and loves to wow people with her math abilities. I am excited to see what this year brings for her. I love her Kindergarten teacher and am happy to hand off the messy activity time to someone else. 

Monkey and Boots enjoy school and I absolutely love the elementary school they attend. However, I want to be a partner with the school in my children's education. One teacher cannot target the strengths and weaknesses of each and every child. One teacher cannot give each and every child the exact review or acceleration that they need. I don't expect it and I think parents should give teachers a lot more credit for the amazing job that they do. This is why we will also be working through some extra school activities at home this year. I can't wait to document this journey with our family and friends.