Weekly Report: Jan 25-29

Since discovering the concept of visual-spatial learners in December, and realizing how strongly Elyse falls on that end of the continuum, I've had to do some real adjusting in our curriculum. We changed curriculum for almost every subject at the semester. When I finally accepted the fact that she's a whole to parts learner, that she needs everything to have context and meaning, that she needs to see the big picture and worry about the details later, I was able to make smarter curriculum choices for her. I know, I know, it only took me 3 years, right? Poor girl...

Math: Her speed drills have greatly improved since we've had the steady diet of CLE-style warm-ups. Just two weeks ago, she could barely complete more than 9 simple subtraction problems in 2 minutes. Now she's up to getting all (or within 2 or 3) the subtraction problems completed. Her addition she consistently gets done with time to spare. This week we started LU 208. I've read that from RS C we could have gone directly to LU 300, but we decided to spend a month or two in Level 200 to do daily drill & flashcards (I need that kind of work spelled out for me for it to get done), to get used to the CLE way of doing things, and to go over any concepts that RS hadn't covered yet. The spiral method has been just what she needed!

We worked more on subtraction with borrowing. After teaching the concept with both Singapore's method and CLE's method last week (just slightly different), she got every problem wrong in her lesson Monday. So, I pulled out RS D, read through the lessons on multi-digit subtraction with "trading," and re-taught the concept to her their way. The difference was amazing; it was like we were doing the simplest single digit subtraction in the ease with which she was solving the problems. It makes sense to her, she really understands it, and the key is that it's more than just an algorithm for her. Here is a page of problems that I wrote for her and she completed in a matter of mere minutes:

 

So, then we went back to the aforementioned Singapore lesson on which she had missed every problem and which was only three-digit subtraction, and she immediately groaned because she knew she had had a hard time with it the day before. I reminded her that she had just found FOUR-digit subtraction easy and that we were going to apply the way we did those to this lesson. She brightened up and quickly corrected all her work with no mistakes. YEA!!

Latin: We completed Lesson 1 in Lively Latin this week! I introduced the online games to her and she's asked to play those games every evening. We spent an extra day finishing up her pages for the History of Rome Book and playing games, and started Lesson 2 on Thursday. Today we reviewed Lesson 1 in Minimus, and started Lesson 2. This is a really fun supplement that helps her to understand that Latin is a language that we can read and understand.

WWE: Let me just start by saying this program is really not my thing. This week made me remember why I dropped it last semester. Elyse doesn't love it either, but she doesn't hate it, so I hide my reluctance and we trudge onwards, with modification. I changed the dictation to studied dictation instead of the way SWB recommends, so that she can look at the passage and visualize it before I dictate it to her. This is important for her, I believe, because her spelling is terrible and I don't want her to get mis-spelled words etched in her memory. But...I would really love it if someone would please give me permission to just drop the whole formal narration thing?  I've read other VSLs who struggle with this, and I can't convince myself that it's really worthwhile. *Sigh*

Spelling: We've been using the Calvert 3 CD even though it's really above her level, because I really like the idea of it, she loves it, and I think the style is perfect for what she responds to. However, I finally decided this week that we need to back up some. So, back to square one in my search for the perfect spelling curriculum. (Meanwhile, I've pulled out my copy of Natural Speller.) I need something visually pleasing (not too cluttered), uses word families and stresses the patterns, is straight-forward without a lot of components, and doesn't include a lot of rules. We've used SWO (which was busywork and she retained nothing) and also 2 levels of AAS, which is a very good program, but too rule-oriented for her. She couldn't apply the rules outside of her spelling lesson (not to mention that she hated the tiles). I'm really just wanting something to hold us over until I start Spelling Wisdom in 3rd grade--dictation, copywork, context, spelling with meaning, all rolled into one! I'm eyeing A Reason for Spelling B, which looks like just what she needs to build confidence, and has great review and visual-techniques including using shape boxes. It's a little $$$ though, so I'll have to wait until next month to buy it. I will likely use Levels A & B for my upcoming kiddos in 1st and 2nd grade, also, so it then becomes more economical.

We also continued R&S Grammar, worked on cursive in Italic C, finished up LU 201 in CLE Reading, read about Prince Henry the Navigator and Queen Isabella of Spain in History, and studied farm animals in Science.

Aidan started the letter U in MFW K. I introduced him to Starfall, and he completed the whole alphabet in 2 days! He really enjoys working on the computer, so I purchased Hooked on Phonics K for him, which I'm hoping will be a big hit. And as it introduces some sight words, I hope it will help in teaching this next little VSL (even moreso than sissy! AAHHH!) to read. Here is his handwriting page for the letter U:

I am so proud of this little guy. Only a couple of months ago, he had no interest in writing, reading, letters, or "school" of any kind. I knew things would fall into place when he was ready, but I'm surprised at how quick he's picking everything up! I've always said I don't want to spend a whole month teaching something that can be picked up in a day when the kiddo is mature and ready, and he sure does make a good case for the "Better Late Than Early" theory.

Aislinn is the opposite of Aid. She wants "school," "school," and "more school!" She did her About Three workbook in two days. She is brilliant (in the Irish sense of the word=wonderful), and is really fun to watch work:

Overall, it was a pretty good week, although I'm starting to panic a little in planning for next year. How will I manage the extra workload that 1st grade requires in addition to E's 3rd grade work? Le cúnamh Dé! (With God's Help!)