Math.................

I have looked for a math program that fits Samantha. I have tried a few.

We tried Horizons for first grade and part of second grade before I ditched it.  Not saying its bad but She would get so frustrated with it. She was learning but one lesson could take forever to do.  For her it didn't work.

I bought Bob Jones second grade and didn't even try it I knew it wouldn't work once I looked it through.

I looked at Abeka and realized it very similar to Horizons math.

I tried math mammoth blue and although I liked it she didn't. It too is a good curriculum but not a good fit for my daughter who is very hands on. She could do the work in all these curriculum but she was beginning to hate math so it wasn't working.  

So we are trying a combination of Life of Fred, hands on learning and games and I recently saw an excellent deal on Math U See and after hearing a friend and her daughter sing it praise I figured I give it a try, starting this week.  The only thing I didn't get was the DVD I haven't been able to find it at a good deal.  The Teachers Book, Student book and the skip counting Cd I got for $20 all together.  

Here is a picture of Sam using some hands on learning.  

Learning how to do the 2 times table.

 Skip counting the 4's table. 

The one thing that stuck with Sam from Horizons math was the skip counting. I was surprised how high she can skip count 2,3, 4, 5, 10 and 11's.  All the first steps in learning her times tables.  

2013-2014 CURRICULUM

So this year I am trying something new and keeping some old.

We are trying a curriculum called Heart of Dakota. Through this curriculum what I will be following is their Science, History & Spelling Fully. Then I will be using only parts of their Math, Reading & English.  I am really liking what I have read in the teachers manual. With Hearts of Dakota they suggest a math and English curriculum but you can use whatever you want to use.

Math- We will be continuing with Life of Fred and adding in worksheets and games. Most of the games I will be using is found in the HOD teachers manual.  But there are some online games I found on the Easy Peasy all in one Homeschooling website.

English- We will be using a variety of materials. Grammar Skills workbook (same company as Singapore math), Language Arts Practice Galore skill based puzzles from The Mailbox and Scholastic Read and Practice Mini-books Parts of Speech.

Phonics & Reading- Modern Curriculum Press Phonics Level C, Hearts of Dakota reading list, and some reading comprehension workbooks I picked up.

Science, History & Spelling- We will be using Heart of Dakota and for science I will continue with our Magic school bus science kits.

Cursive- Cursive Writing with a Twist!

The bonus to our work will be continuing with Five in a Row. Samantha and I absolution love this curriculum.  Its so much fun to read and learn from these books.  I think instead of one week with each book we might stretch it out to 2 weeks just so we are not trying to do too much in a day.

Samantha will continue with Baton, ice skating, the once a month museum homeschool class and hopefully taking music at the school.  We are waiting to see what is offered at the local coop and looking forward to the field trips the Life group plans.

I am also going to do a once a week Geography class with some friends.  For this we will use Road Trip USA.

New type of Math

I have been looking into a different math program for Samantha.  I looked at Singapore Math which looks excellent BUT I think it would frustrate Samantha. It teaches math in a different way and even looking at the second grade book I think I would need to start below what she already knows so she could relearn some things differently. I wish now that I started with Singapore as it was my first choice back when I looked at curriculum in Kindergarten.

Not that I don't like what we are doing. She has learned a lot already.  

On a homeschool message board I go to often there were a few posts on this math called Life of Fred.  It was created by a math teacher. He taught first high school math then onto college math.  It teaches in a story form.  I asked questions on the board and loved the responses I was given.

If you look at the LOF website it states that it can be used as a complete curriculum not just a supplement.  On the message board I got mixed reviews of this.  One lady made a good point. She said for most its hard to let go of the method we are use to. Its hard to believe that a child could learn in a different way.  That had me thinking.  She is so right. I homeschool for many reasons but one of the biggest reasons I choose to homeschool Samantha was to adjust the learning to how she learns.  To not be public school at home.  To give her to opportunity to grow and learn.  I often tell Steve that I feel like I am not accomplishing my goal.  That some days all school is, is worksheets. One sheet after another.  While that is good for some That is not what I wanted for us. I wanted to give her plenty of hands on learning, living books and stories full of wonder and imagination.  To see the light in her eyes knowing she learned something new.

One thing I loved about my son's time in the charter school was the hands on learning.  At least in the lower elementary grades it was more about experiencing all they are learning then it was to drill it all in using worksheets.  I remember telling others how much I loved the school for the different kind of learning they provided.  Well that is what I want to provide for Samantha.  

Samantha really loves when we do the Five in a Row books.  The whole learning she gets from them. Not just worksheets but the fun of learning. She has learned a lot from this curriculum.   So I revisit what I want for her and decided I am going to give Life of Fred a try........ it didn't hurt that after doing the first 2 lessons with her she took the book into the bathroom to keep reading it.  I didn't know she did that until she came out laughing with the book in her hands.  She loves math now. She wants to keep on reading and learning.  How can I say no to this.  I will also have her complete worksheets. But her core math is going to be Life of Fred.  Thanks to my mother in law Muriel she has given us a few math workbooks for extra practice and those will go along nicely with LOF.  Thank you Muriel!!!  

I have the first book from the series and will purchase the rest in time as needed.  So what is Life of Fred... you read the lesson which is told in a story of this boy Fred.  Then you complete on a separate paper the problems.  Then turn the page and I have her correct her own work.  She is not even minding the extra writing that she has to do.  Samantha hates to write.  She tries many ways each day to get out of writing even the shortest paragraph.  With this she is even adding in stuff.