Phew! Homestretch to get us up to date! I decided to start a math program I got from one of our friends who used to homeschool their kids. It's actually a Christian program, but we've fortunately only come across one comment about God creating 7 days….and the rest of the word problems have been about pets and animals. What I love about it is that (1) it was free (2) it's cumulative, so it introduces a new idea, but them reviews older information (3) every lesson starts with some mental math and flash card work and (4) it's so much less work for me! With the lessons laid out, I'm essentially just his guide. To keep him from just doing worksheets the whole time, I also bring in some math apps to review and a hands on activity at least once a week. This week we're focusing on multiplication facts and did the skip count stomp (essentially like sight word stomp - but it's a hit so we stick with it). I'll also keep an eye on the VA curriculum and pick certain activities to focus on each week to make sure they're covered in this one. He struggles a lot with all of the reading, but I'm doing that for him at this point. Hopefully, he'll start reading some of the problems on his own by the end of the year.
In Barton we're moving into the 3rd Level. He's doing great, although keeps insisting that it isn't helping. It's not the same thing as reading a book so he doesn't see the improvement, but he consistently does an awesome job with each lesson and new skill. In order to make sure he's not falling too far behind on other English material, I'm trying out some second grade passages with his for reading comprehension and sight words. That seems to be pretty good for him, and he did an awesome job on a Thanksgiving passage we worked on this week!
In science we're moving into geology, and started our unit making different rocks with starburst. Needless to say it was a hit and here is is eating his metamorphic rock, while watching his igneous rock melt! We also did an experiment freezing water in a glass jar to tie into A Magic School Bus video on Rocks and Erosion (still one of his fav videos - along with Jeff Corwin). We've introduced the scientific method and will start using it with every experiment we do! Gotta love Dinosaur Train for introducing what a Hypothesis is.
In Barton we're moving into the 3rd Level. He's doing great, although keeps insisting that it isn't helping. It's not the same thing as reading a book so he doesn't see the improvement, but he consistently does an awesome job with each lesson and new skill. In order to make sure he's not falling too far behind on other English material, I'm trying out some second grade passages with his for reading comprehension and sight words. That seems to be pretty good for him, and he did an awesome job on a Thanksgiving passage we worked on this week!
In science we're moving into geology, and started our unit making different rocks with starburst. Needless to say it was a hit and here is is eating his metamorphic rock, while watching his igneous rock melt! We also did an experiment freezing water in a glass jar to tie into A Magic School Bus video on Rocks and Erosion (still one of his fav videos - along with Jeff Corwin). We've introduced the scientific method and will start using it with every experiment we do! Gotta love Dinosaur Train for introducing what a Hypothesis is.
