The Weekly Review: Week 58

SLP Idea of the Week

Melissa did a post on Chasing Cheerios about writing sight words on uncooked (white) beans and tossing them in a bag to use for sight word practice on the go. You could do the same thing with your target articulation words. Then play a game with a sock monster or other hand puppet where the children say the word on the bean before feeding the puppet. I played with the kids the other day making the sock monster respond appropriately (he spat the "cat" back out hacking up hair, for example) and the kids absolutely loved it and begged to play again and again.

Ava this Week

We started a gymnastics class. Because it is a class of both three and four year olds, the children can attend together. I adore watching the children through the window. They've only gone twice so far, but I saw a big difference in their willingness to experiment and ability to follow along between the first week and the second. Ava is so comfortable in her body and actually looks pretty graceful for a three year old.

The first time we went Ava needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the 45 minute session, so the second time I made a point of taking her immediately before class. At the gym, she went potty right before class started. So when she came out in the middle of class to ask me to take her again I told her no. She went back in and immediately sat down crying refusing to participate any more. I caved. I went in and took her. She did, indeed need to go, but seriously. The child should be able to go 45 minutes without peeing, yes?

Weekly Michael

Early in the week Michael told me he wanted to write a story called "Lion on the Loose" and he needed my help. I told him he should write it. He (admittedly accurately) countered that he couldn't really write well enough yet. So I pulled a chair up next to my computer, opened word, and invited him to dictate to me as I typed. He LOVED it. After I got the story down we went through and chose some pictures to insert as illustrations. Then we printed and stapled the book and he promptly sat down and read it. I had fun too.

Then, a couple of days later I walked by his computer and discovered this:

He had typed (clockwise) "cat sat on du(the) mat". Not a bad beginning at all.

Ava's and Michael's Weekly Home Therapy Notes

This week has been even worse than last. I've still been doing mostly solo parenting in the evenings and we've done relatively little home therapy. I'll do my best to reset and reintroduce our nightly sessions next week.

Weekly Homeschooling

We've continued math, handwriting, and reading. So far the kids and I are still having a great time. Math lessons are their favorites. Handwriting is probably second, although I can tell the novelty of the current practice methods is wearing off. I'll have to get creative soon. The reading program is great, but the lessons are a little too long for the kids. I need to cut the length back on those, and I think they'll enjoy the reading lessons more.

Homeschooling has totally changed my outlook on "home days" (days with no preschool). I look forward to the mornings because we're all enjoying the homeschooling lessons. Our experiment with homeschooling is going extremely well thus far.

Weekly Random New Experimental Craft

Completely on a whim I decided to try some paper quilling. Perhaps I saw some on pinterest and it lodged in my subconscious, but I don't actually remember what gave me the idea. Here's what I came up with (inspired by this). Somehow, they make me really happy.

Throwing all caution to the winds...

I finally decided to give Michael free access to a wide variety of art materials. Scissors, tape dispenser, glue, paper, a wide variety of collage materials, and permission to raid the recycling bin at will. He'll also request random items at the grocery store for art projects. Most recently, he needed to choose a very specific box of pasta that has featured prominently in several recent projects.

The results have been prolific and remarkable. And, for once, that is not code for disastrous. He has been having a blast. So far, I have not discovered puddles of glue on the floor, scraps of items that shouldn't be cut, or piles of collage materials and raw pasta strewn about. Instead, I keep discovering random projects laying about or proudly taped on the walls.

This graces my front door:

I found these on his art desk: (his ability to create 3D objects with paper/cardboard and tape is impressive)

Exploration of the human figure:

I'm told this is the sun coming out after a tornado.

After incorrectly guessing train, fire truck, and spaceship I was informed that this was a car.

I watched Michael cut a piece of white cardstock into approximately 50 tiny pieces and then painstakingly tape them back together into this:

It wasn't until he taped it to his chin and called it a mustache that I realized he was going for a beard.

The boy is happily doing self-directed art projects from the moment he wakes up until he falls back asleep at night. Why didn't I give him all the materials months ago?

RightStart Mathematics-Level A: Review and Printable Progress Chart

I became intrigued slightly obsessed with the concept of homeschooling and decided to try a little bit of homeschooling during the next year and a half of preschool to see if we like it. Since Michael has a bit of an affinity for math that was one of the curriculum areas I looked into.

Months ago a homeschooling mother mentioned RightStart Math on a blog I read. Since I adore good concept based curricula I clicked through her link to check out the program and fell in love. In fact, I'm pretty sure the seed for my current fascination with homeschooling was planted right there. A couple of months ago when I decided to take things to the next level RightStart Math was high up on my list of programs to investigate.

RightStart Math focuses on building a strong conceptual understanding of math concepts rather than memorization of facts and strategies. The program is extremely hands-on and involves heavy use of manipulatives and multisensory learning. The core tool of the program is a special abacus that is grouped into fives and tens for quick visual recognition of quantities. The program is divided into five levels A through E that correspond roughly to taking a child through a grade school math curriculum. They recommend you start Level A at age 5 or sooner.

I decided to get the deluxe starter kit for Level A (pictured above) which includes the Level A teachers manual, student book, and all accessories necessary to teach the complete lessons in the book. I got two abacuses so that both of my children could use an abacus at the same time. Check out a sample of the RightStart Level A teacher's manual. Everything arrived promptly nicely packaged in a large box. So far, I've only unboxed/unwrapped the items I've needed for the lessons we've done so far.

So far we've done the first five lessons (the first four are included in the sample pages you can check out for free and the first four only require items you can find around your home if you'd like to check the program out before purchasing). Each lesson is a two page spread in the manual and the lessons have been easy to follow so far. I read through the lesson ahead of time and gather any materials I will need to teach the lesson and make some notes. Here's the next lesson we're about to do in the teacher's manual and some notes I made about modifying the lesson.

Now, due to an early childhood where I was taught to NEVER make marks in books I still can't bring myself to write in books so I make copies of the lessons and keep them in a single binder with the lessons for other things we're working on. I also keep the progress chart I made for RightStart Level A in the binder along with other random supplies we need for our lessons. After we do each lesson I make notes about how it went and move it to a finished section in the binder. Feel free to download and use the progress chart if you happen to be using RightStart Math Level A with a student (or students).

I've taken to keeping all the supplies for our math lessons on a single tray so that when the time comes for a lesson all I have to do is grab the tray and my lesson binder. So far, the lessons generally take about 10-15 minutes and then I let the children play with the manipulatives on the tray as long as they like. I use that time to make notes, read through the next lesson, and stock the tray with whatever I'll need for the next lesson. The kids love the math lessons and are excited every time I pull out the math tray.

In summary, I'm extremely pleased with RightStart Math. The children adore it and look forward to math time more than anything else we are working on so far. Now, we've only done 5 lessons at this point, so this review is based upon my initial impression of the program and its materials and the initial responses of my children to the first five lessons.