25 May 2011
by denisethinks
in Curriculum, Resources, Schooling
Tags: History, language arts, Living History, Math, Math-U-See, Noeo, Science, Susan Barton
In planning what we are going to do, Kelly (she’s the mom of the other family we are going to school with) and I have been racking our brains trying to find the best possible curriculum for the kids to use. Thankfully, we’ve found some absolutely incredible programs out there! First, we looked at history, as we both feel we simply must teach our children history. We feel that if they learn accurate history, they will be prepared for many of the things to come in this world, as patterns in history tend to repeat. Kelly found this great history program called Living History. It is so full of information and also includes some great activities for the kids to be actively engaged in what they are learning! It is also written from the perspective of a Latter-day Saint scholar and incorporates the gospel into the history, which is great! Next, we looked at science. There are so many good things to choose from, but I think we’ve settled on Noeo, which is experiment based and includes biology, chemistry, astronomy, physics and geology. Those were the areas we were looking for and Noeo is the program that provided those, along with a ton of hands-on learning. The best way to learn science is by experiencing it! I have also been looking for a language arts program, including learning to read. Kelly has been using this program called Susan Barton, and really loves it. While it is designed for those with dyslexia, it works great for everyone. It is an all encompassing program, and I’m leaning toward using it, also. The last area we looked at was math. Several years ago I went on a search for a math program (that was before I found NVVA), and I found Math-U-See. This is by far the best math program I’ve found. My problem with math in school was that I had a hard time understanding why we were suppose to do things. Having the teachers just tell me that “it’s the rule” never worked for me. When I finally got someone who made things make sense with the why, I soared in math. My children are the same way. When we understand why we do something and when to do it, we can work through any math problem. Math-U-See teaches why. They also approach math from a hands-on perspective and in a way I’ve never seen done before. I think it is going to be awesome for the kids!
We are still working out some logistics, but we are all very excited about working together on all of this and we have some great plans! We will be getting started soon! Wish us luck!
13 May 2009
by denisethinks
in Uncategorized
Tags: language arts, Math, Progress, reading, success
So, the school year is winding down, but we are still in full swing. In fact, we’ll be working over the summer, but only on fun stuff like art and science. We will be finishing up all the language arts and such very soon! Hooray for that! The boys are happy about it, too. Gavin is trucking along in his 1st grade math very well. He catches on to it so fast, it’s crazy! And, Logan finished his 2nd grade math yesterday! For someone who has had trouble with math, I’m so excited that he finished early! Both of the boys are doing really well, and picking up in areas that they have been lagging in or having trouble with. Still battling Gavin with the phonics, but we’ve decided that instead of formal phonics lessons, we’re going to just have him read and read and read. He’s not too happy about reading because he doesn’t like it. However, I’m going to be sneaky and have him just randomly read things throughout the day. Hopefully, we’ll get him proficient soon.
So, we are winding down a bit, especially with this nice weather outside, but that’s alright. We’re also getting a bunch done, too.
