Simplifying Math Mammoth

We tried Math Mammoth this past school year after Saxon totally bombed at our house. It was better than Saxon...for about two weeks. Then the same problems started happening. Like, the whining. And the complaining. And the frustration. And the tears, even from the 6th grader! So we stopped and began doing just Life of Fred. Nobody complains about doing Life of Fred. Ever.

Well, there may be a complaint here and there when "A Row of Practice" pops up in "Your Turn to Play", but on the whole, LOF is very, very popular around here. We will keep doing it, for sure.

And yet.

Grace still has a bit of confusion with things like ratios and decimals. Granted, she hasn't done Life of Fred Decimals & Percents yet, but I would really like to see her  finished with sixth grade math now that she is due to start 7th grade. So I am going to have her do some Math Mammoth to catch up.

Christopher (rising 5th) needs more practice on concepts than LOF provides. So he will be doing some Math Mammoth.

James (rising 3rd) started at the beginning of the LOF books and has yet to reach the books that cover things he has already learned. He needs more challenge. So he will be doing some Math Mammoth.

Rose (rising K!) will start the first LOF after she finishes up with Singapore Essentials A & B. And then she will also do some Math Mammoth.

So in short, pretty much everybody is going back to using Math Mammoth.

My plan right now is to go more lightly through MM than we did in the past. I actually read the introductory material for the curriculum and realized that even the author does not recommend doing it all. I think this was my mistake before, having them do every problem.

So new plans are in order-

• We will not be doing every problem, except on the tests. We will aim for maybe half of the problems on the sheet, unless more practice is needed. If the material is too easy we will try to move along fairly quickly.

• The kids who are "behind" grade level, will start out just doing the tests, in order. If they do okay on a test, we will skip all the lessons leading up to the test. If there are issues, we will back up and focus on those things. When there are more than a few things causing confusion, we will back up and start doing the lessons properly.

• I am going to make myself sit at the table with them all to do the math sheets together, instead of just handing them the sheets. It's a huge temptation to just let them figure it out on their own while I do another subject with someone else, put the laundry in, etc.. But I think that is not working out. I think math and snack time will now coincide and everyone will sit down together. Like a little math party:). And maybe I will get some knitting done while helping.

• Due to many requests,  this little guy will be joining us at the table.

• After we spend 30 minutes or so on Math Mammoth, everyone will do a chapter of Life of Fred to finish up math for the day. Rose can sit at the table and do her math along with everyone else, but that should only take a few minutes.

I printed out the first few pages of Math Mammoth for each child and put them in a folder on their shelf. So I think we are pretty much ready to go, math-wise at least! One week left of break!

Monday Musings

 

For June 17th, 2013

Outside my window...It isn't raining! We have had so much rain here lately that the sun is like a miracle:).

I am thinking...about my baby turning five this week. And just how bittersweet that is! She assures me that I will still be able to pick her up and that she will still be a little girl though. My sweet sunshine:).

I am thankful...for how well our garden is growing this year. We have had kale, lettuce, radish, microgreens, little carrots, Swiss chard, scallions, rhubarb, snow peas, garlic scapes, and probably some things I have forgotten. And so much more is on the way!

In the kitchen...we went strawberry picking over the weekend. Oh my. Lots of strawberries. I made jam and shortcake, and we had chocolate dipped strawberries. I already want to go pick more.

I am wearing...jeans, t-shirt, and sweater. Yes, a sweater in June! But it is supposed to warm up, later.

I am creating...A slideshow for Rose's birthday. All the kids got a slideshow when they turned five. It's a lot of work and I usually cry while I make it and especially when I watch it. But it's still good and cathartic and feels very much like a celebration of their babyhood. And they love it.

I am going...to Six Flags this week to redeem the kids Read to Succeed tickets.

I am wondering...what else one can do with kale. We have had steamed kale, kale chips, and kale with pasta. I am thinking creamed kale.

I am reading...The Invisible Bridge. It's very good, but very long. Also it's a library book so I need to get moving!

I am hoping...for a nice, calm, healthy birthday week and a great start to our summer.

I am looking forward to...starting our lessons again next week. As much as I enjoy a break, I always look forward to getting back into a routine.

I am learning...that I need to spend time by myself every day. I have been very good about this the past week and it has made a huge difference in my energy level. Even half an hour alone is great and really helps out. Now I just need to figure out how to continue this habit while we are in "school-mode".

Around the house...it's much easier to get housecleaning done when one is not also trying to teach! So things are looking pretty good right now!

I am pondering...how to fit in time for myself once we are in "school mode" again. Not just quiet time, but time to create, time to write, time to read, time to exercise. And garden. Not lots of it everyday, just little bits here and there.

A favorite quote for today..."Hardly anyone knows how much is gained by ignoring the future"~ Bernard de Fontenelle.

One of my favorite things...Peonies. Unfortunately ours got crushed by all the rain and don't seem to be reviving. I may just have to go out and cut a few to bring inside. They make good cut flowers.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Six Flags and the birthday plans are the big events, but I also need to finish tidying up the school shelves a bit and do a few other things to get ready to start school. I also plan to go to the dentist, take Rose to her last gymnastics class of the year, plant a row of bush beans, tie up the rampant pea vines, clean the goat shed, and start pre-reading some of the kids' books for next week.

A peek into my day...the view from my porch....

Hope you have a great week!

Don't forget to visit The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Setting Up the Sonlight Cores

We are on a three week break right now. And by we, I really mean the children. I have been spending most of my spare minutes planning for the start of our new year. And I am finding that, even though I am using a curriculum that bills itself as "open and go" there is still a ton to do to get things ready. I was hoping to have the bulk of it done this week, but it ain't going to happen. I do have Core P 4/5 and Core C mostly set up though!

Core P 4/5 Shelf

Core C Shelf

This is what I did to get set up for the Cores:

• I set up the binder for my Instructor Guide, which just involved putting the sheets behind the correct tabs and adding in the Language Arts sheets.

• I realized I should have bought a bigger binder since P 4/5 plus Language Arts K makes for a rather stuffed binder! Oh, well.

• I took a few minutes to look through the Instructor Guides to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything and penciled in any substitutions I am planning on.

• I printed out Sonlight's schedule  for the Getty-Dubay handwriting book, and added that to our P 4/5 binder. Incidentally, even if you don't use Sonlight, these schedules are super helpful! I never know how much to have the kids do in a day. I wish they had a schedule for Zaner-Bloser, for James.

• I gathered together the books we will need, using the lists in the IG, and cleared off some shelf space. This year, each child is going to get their own shelf to keep their stuff on because I am sick and tired of hunting around every five minutes for someone's lost book. Naturally they will keep their shelves perfectly organized and never lose anything again, right? Don't laugh, let me live in my dream awhile longer;).

• I debated my math decision for Rose and James again. I was planning to do math very informally for Rose, just with math storybooks from the library, but I have decided to order Singapore Essentials A & B instead. It's cheap and it will be easier than trying to dig out appropriate math books at the library every week. I decided that James and I will do Math Mammoth 3 along with Life of Fred.

Two children (mostly) organized, two to go:). Whew!

Tweaking & Changing

It's inevitable, right? As soon as I think something is decided, it needs to be changed. At least we decided on the changes before the orders were placed!

What we changed:

Rose will be doing Singapore Essentials A and B rather than just doing informal math from picture books and such. She has been asking about math a lot lately and wanting to start school. I think these books will be an easy and inexpensive introduction to math for her and will take the pressure off me to locate and request library books for math. I decided to cut the Bible storybook I had planned for her after thinking some more about it. I'm going to wait until next year to introduce her to Bible stories.

James will be using Math Mammoth 3 along with Life of Fred. I do still think that Life of Fred can stand alone as a curriculum for some children. But....it is taking us a long time to get up to the LOF topics that cover and go beyond what James already knows.  I don't want to rush through the books, we enjoy taking our time with them, but I do want him to have a bit more challenge. So we are going to add Math Mammoth in for him, though I have different ideas about how we will go about using it this time around. More on that later;). I am also going to finish First Language Lessons 2 with him, picking and choosing topics to cover. Oh, and he's going to try some Dr. Funster's.

Christopher and Grace will going back to Math Mammoth as well. I hope to finish MM4 with him and MM6 with her and move on to MM5 for him. I decided to skip the optional Wordly Wise book Sonlight schedules in favor of continuing with Caesar's English, which we dropped last fall. In fact, I am planning on finishing up the whole MCT Town level with them. I actually penciled MCT days right into my Sonlight instructor guide to encourage myself to do this.  How I will go about combining the two will be a whole 'nother post.

 The other major change is that we decided not to use Sonlight Science F. We are goign to use Level E instead, because Level F is very much focused on the human body and Grace just spent several weeks covering that with Oak Meadow. Science E needed no tweaking at all, I ordered it entirely as is, and it looks pretty fun!

Finally, instead of the critical thinking books suggested for this Core, I have decided to order a Dr. Funster's book for each child.

Those are the changes for now, and since most of our orders are starting to arrive, hopefully there will not be anymore for awhile!

Year-Round Homeschooling, Again

I wrote a post about year-round schooling last year, when I first considered moving to more of a year-round homeschooling schedule. This year (2012-2013), we started our lessons at the end of July and took time off sporadically throughout the year. The other day I posted about our plan to finish up at the end of June.

 But.

 Things always seem to change, just when I think I have everything decided. First it was Memorial Day, which always feels like the start of summer to me. And the weather is going to be really, really nice the next few days. And I am really, really tired of homeschooling. So I started re- thinking. Which I naturally do every time I think I have decided on something! And I read a lot about homeschooling year-round and thought about some different options.

In the end, it comes down to these things:

• I need a break

• The kids need a break

• We did not take enough breaks last year

• I want to take more breaks this year

Also, June is a really nice month around here. July/August can be very hot. Too hot.

So....I changed my mind. As of last week, we are finished with the 2012-2013 school year!! The kids finished their Oak Meadow levels...everything I wanted them to do anyways, and everyone except Grace is right on target with math. I would have liked her to get through a bit more, but such is life. I was going to have them finish their Latin, but really- does it matter if they start next year by finishing up this year's Latin??

 I think not.

However,  we will not be taking the whole summer off. We have tried that and it is nothing but a dismal failure. Lots of boredom and whining (both the kids and me) after a few weeks. We do better with routine. So I sat down and came up with a year-round homeschooling calendar for us. I am under no illusion that we will follow this perfectly! But, it is something to shoot for, and it lets us see when the next break is coming up.  I color-coded it: red for school days, blue for break weeks, yellow for catchup weeks which will be break weeks if not needed. It is posted on the side of the fridge, where I can easily console myself that a break is coming up:).

 So as of this week we are on a three week break. After that we will start our 2013-2014 school year, but we're going to take a lot of breaks. And we are going to ease into a 3-4 weeks on/1 week off schedule. The kids are psyched about that. A week off a month!

I love the idea of having a whole week off every month to take care of other things- catch up on cleaning, do the photo albums, work in the garden, pre-read the kids' books, check papers, and whatever else needs doing. I have also heard of scheduling appointments for the week off and I like that idea too!

So the rough plan for the 2013-2014 school year is as follows....

June 1-23rd-*Summer Break*
June 24-28- School week 1
July 1-5-School week 2- this week will be light though, because of the holiday!
July 8-12-School week 3-Grace is in camp, but the other kids and I will do lessons
July 15-19-School week 3 again! Boys in camp, lessons with other kids
July 22-26-catch up to week 3 if needed, the kids are taking a few summer classes this week
July 29-August 11-*Vacation Break*
August 12th-August 30th-School weeks 4-6
August 31st-September 8th-*Labor Day Break*
September 9th-26th-School weeks 7-9
September 28th-October 6th-*Autumn Break*
October 7th-October 25th-School Weeks 10-12
October 26th-November 3rd-*Halloween Break*
November 4th-November 15th-School Weeks 13-14
November 16th-November 24th-*Thanksgiving Break!* (use the first few days to catch up, if needed)
November 25th-December 12th-School Weeks 15-17
December 13th-January 5th-*Christmas Break* (use the last few days to catch up if needed)
January 6th-January 31st- School weeks 18-21
February 1st-9th-*Winter Break*
February 10th-March 7th-School Weeks 22-25
March 8th-16th-*Late Winter Break*
March 17th-April 11th-School Weeks 26-29
April 12th-April 20th-*Easter Break*
April 21st-May 16th School weeks 30-33
May 17th-26th-*Memorial Day Break*
May 27th-June 13th-School weeks 34-36

The kids will get their birthdays off, like always, and we will adjust the breaks around travel, the inevitable flu, or whatever else comes up. The plan is by no means set in stone! But it looks pretty good on paper:).