Math

Math! It makes me want to pull my hair out. Even though I was worried about teaching my youngest to read, I never found it frustrating. I think part of the problem is the whole memorization thing. Memory work is cumbersome to me. However, one must remember the math facts in order to progress.

I was trying to teach table by table, rote memorization, but it just wasn't working. So, I needed a plan. After we memorize skip counting (Teaching Skip Counting) we will work on adding doubles.

Once doubles are memorized, we will learn the "Near Double Strategy." Hopefully, this will be an easier way for him to recall the facts that are "neighbors" with the doubles.

When working the facts out of order like this I do tend to get lost. So, in order to keep up with what has been learned, I've been using an Addition Fact chart that I made. I highlighted the facts he knows in yellow, the doubles facts he will learn in blue, the "neighbors" in purple, and the cumulative properties in orange. This chart provides me with the "big picture" and it just doesn't seem as overwhelming looking at it this way.

I don't want to get ahead of myself so I will stop planning there. Once we have these facts down I will figure a way to teach the rest. But that's for another post.

Teaching Multiplication with Skip Counting

Math is one of those subjects that we haven't really found our groove yet. We've been using Teaching Textbooks for my oldest and have switched to Ray's Arithmetic for my youngest. We've dabbled in Math-U-See, Living Math, Math Mammoth, used many supplements such as Xtra Math, Snap It Up and other math games.

I think math is hard for us because memorization is difficult. Maybe not for the kids but definitely for me!

It was suggested somewhere to learn skip counting first and then work your way through the fact tables. This has made an amazing difference for my oldest in learning multiplication facts. Being visual learners these really appeal to us.

You can print, laminate and hang up. You can also print and place in a three ring binder for your student.

Happy Counting!

Homeschool and Housekeeping Help

I'm not the worst housekeeper but I'm probably pretty close. Before I had kids life was different, the house was always clean and tidy. Well, a husband, two kids, and a few dogs later life isn't as "tidy."

I have found that if I have a plan in place it helps battle the procrastination and back burner battle. If something isn't urgent or deemed a priority for me I have no issue with putting it on the back burner where it will eventually simmer down to a burnt pot if I'm not careful.

Or there are seasons when I'm just completely overwhelmed and don't even know where to start. I tried Fly Lady for a while, which is a wonderful organizational tool, but I got overwhelmed between trying to "Fly" and trying to homeschool.

Finally, I settled on using a little chart that reminds me to do daily, weekly, and monthly chores. When I follow this guide I actually feel pretty good about the house because I know I'm focusing on those "back burners" at least once every five weeks.

I think it would be neat to have this printed up into a little note pad for ease of use. I could check the chores off as I finish them and once the sheet is done, rip it off and start fresh the very next day!  Oh, that would greatly appease my task oriented character!

Scope and Sequence at a Glance

I've mentioned in earlier posts how I've found it difficult to envision the big picture with Ambleside. In order to remedy that I started pulling together Scope and Sequence Sheets.

These sheets give me a good overview of our year. As you can see the ones above are personalized for us. We are still trying to decide which Holling C. Holling book we will be using in Y2 because my son has previously read the one required.

These were also created before I decided to combine our Shakespeare and poetry. I will likely choose Y3 poetry and Shakespeare readings to give a good middle of the road between the two students.

The other neat thing about these forms is they tell me which books I still need to purchase and which books we've completed reading at the end of the year. I will keep these forms in our end-of-year file along with each student's 36 week grids from the Ambleside, their attendance record and progress reports should I ever get "audited." Not that they do that in our state but it's still nice to keep up with and will help with transcripts in later years.

Daily Schedule

I live for checking things off my list. Its a part of my character that if I'm not careful can really hurt our Charlotte Mason directed homeschool culture.

Being task oriented is a tremendous asset in getting things done. On the flip side though, it can easily result in missing the beauty of CM. I have found those little boxes seem to get bigger and bigger the further behind one gets! At one point in our journey I was just plowing through because I believed if we worked harder and did more we would stay on track! No body was happy in that season!

While reading "Teaching from Rest" by Sarah Mackenzie I realized I had allowed my schedule to become my master. I also learned that if I don't have something to guide me I tend to lose sight of the big picture, skip subjects because of brain overload, and just because I'm a procrastinator. I know a procrastinator who loves check lists. Yes, I own that t-shirt that brags about being an "imperfect perfectionist!"

So I needed a guide, a check list with flexibility. Some love loop scheduling but I'm not sure I will ever feel comfortable with that. This list keeps me on track with everything we need to get done in the week. It has daily boxes I can mark as we go and blank lines for those things we don't get done and need to carry over.

I've built some margin into it as well. Usually we don't take two days to read certain books but its there if we need it. If I don't get something done I just write down the stopping point and can easily transpose it to the next week's schedule. This schedule follows along with our Year 2 schedule with Ambleside Online.

Prior to this format I had a bad habit of putting certain subjects on the back burner. This year we will start our days with a Power Hour. During Power Hour we are combining some subjects the kids were doing separately, such as poetry and Shakespeare. I want to stay within the framework of Ambleside Online as much as possible but desperately need to lessen the load between my beginning reader and not quite ready for independent Shakespeare Y4 reader.

We are definitely excited about starting our new school year and that alone is a success!

Below are pictures of our Y2 and Y4 schedules.