Getting Back into the Groove
Two weeks of sickness in this household. Winter break followed by ear infections, chest colds, stuffy noses, runny noses, headaches, exhaustion...and finally we are all well. This is especially exciting for Neviyah because she is ready to get back to homeschooling. The two weeks of winter break followed by two weeks of sickness in the house has been too long of a break for her. She is ready to get back to learning!
I have decided to try something a little different. Before, every day we learned Language Arts, Math, Social Studies or Science (alternating days), Recorder/Music or Art/Finger Knitting (alternating days), and health. This worked out alright, except with three days of homeschooling only being three-hour bursts due to me still needing to work, it didn't leave a lot of time per subject. Even our full days of homeschooling twice a week does not expand our "subject" time because I try to get us out of the house more - library time, exploring, fort building, etc.
I am going to try, starting Tuesday when we begin homeschooling again, to only do two subjects a day. So - we might do math and recorder one day, and science and knitting the next, and then language arts and health on yet another day. This will give us more time. So, on a math day, we might actually be able to do gnome storytelling math problems that involve art, play some math games, and do a few pages of her awesome math program called Mammoth.**
For science, I joined Spangler Science Club for kids. They send a monthly box with experiments, lessons, and hands on learning. Neviyah loves science, and she really wants to do hands on experiments. This is the perfect solution! http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/club
** For those imaginary people who wonder what the difference between Mammoth and Singapore (the type of math Neviyah was learning in Day School)...
Both Mammoth and Singapore are mastery-based systems that emphasize conceptual understanding, mental math strategies, and use bar diagram methods for word problems. Mammoth has more built-in review. Review is built into each chapter, and chapters are designed to include prior knowledge review to current problems they are working on.
Mammoth has more emphasis on practicing and learning addition facts. In Singapore, you have to do that outside of the math program whereas in Mammoth, it is part of the program, the workbooks, etc. Mammoth also includes lessons about the concepts behind addition and subtraction (fact families).
Singapore covers material much more quickly at the earlier grades but again, one has to supplement math facts and sacrifice, if you will, extended reviews. So, while Singapore covers single digit multiplication and division in 2nd grade and Mammoth in 3rd, by the time 6th grade arrives, both have covered all the same materials. However, by 6th grade, Mammoth will have included more on statistics and probability than Singapore.
I have decided to try something a little different. Before, every day we learned Language Arts, Math, Social Studies or Science (alternating days), Recorder/Music or Art/Finger Knitting (alternating days), and health. This worked out alright, except with three days of homeschooling only being three-hour bursts due to me still needing to work, it didn't leave a lot of time per subject. Even our full days of homeschooling twice a week does not expand our "subject" time because I try to get us out of the house more - library time, exploring, fort building, etc.
I am going to try, starting Tuesday when we begin homeschooling again, to only do two subjects a day. So - we might do math and recorder one day, and science and knitting the next, and then language arts and health on yet another day. This will give us more time. So, on a math day, we might actually be able to do gnome storytelling math problems that involve art, play some math games, and do a few pages of her awesome math program called Mammoth.**
For science, I joined Spangler Science Club for kids. They send a monthly box with experiments, lessons, and hands on learning. Neviyah loves science, and she really wants to do hands on experiments. This is the perfect solution! http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/club
** For those imaginary people who wonder what the difference between Mammoth and Singapore (the type of math Neviyah was learning in Day School)...
Both Mammoth and Singapore are mastery-based systems that emphasize conceptual understanding, mental math strategies, and use bar diagram methods for word problems. Mammoth has more built-in review. Review is built into each chapter, and chapters are designed to include prior knowledge review to current problems they are working on.
Mammoth has more emphasis on practicing and learning addition facts. In Singapore, you have to do that outside of the math program whereas in Mammoth, it is part of the program, the workbooks, etc. Mammoth also includes lessons about the concepts behind addition and subtraction (fact families).
Singapore covers material much more quickly at the earlier grades but again, one has to supplement math facts and sacrifice, if you will, extended reviews. So, while Singapore covers single digit multiplication and division in 2nd grade and Mammoth in 3rd, by the time 6th grade arrives, both have covered all the same materials. However, by 6th grade, Mammoth will have included more on statistics and probability than Singapore.
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