Solorio Academy: March 11, week in review

When someone tells me "I have good news and I have bad news", I always want to hear the bad news first. If I hear the good news first, I can't enjoy it, because I'm too nervous about the bad news. So I will start with this week's "bad news"

Beckham is making progress with his phonics lessons. It's happening very slowly, but he is actually learning how to read! Did I mention it was happening very slowly? This week I had to teach him the "th" blend. The problem is, he couldn't tell when he was supposed to use the voiced or unvoiced version on the "th" blend. 

Example:

Voiced "th"... there, them, those, that.

Unvoiced "th"... thin, thick, three

Beckham always wants to use the voiced "th" blend. And I think I'm going to lose my mind.

I was reading a chapter book to the older kids last week. Kitty was wandering through the house as usual. I heard her messing with the computer, which is actually my husband's iMac computer that he doesn't really want the kids using. But she was being so quiet, and I just wanted to finish the chapter before I got up. When I checked on her a few minutes later I discovered that she had crammed all 4 of Abby's math software cd's into the computer's disc slot. I had to break the news to Adam when he got home from work. He wrestled with it for a while and got 3 of the 4 cd's out of the computer, but the 4th cd was stuck. He watched youtube video tutorials showing how to disassemble the computer to retrieve the cd. It was a lengthy process, and considering Abby had already completed the cd that was stuck, he decided to purchase an external cd drive and save worrying about the captive cd for another day.

We loaded up all 5 kids and drove 35 miles to the nearest Best Buy. They were all sold out of external drives and wouldn't get a shipment until next week. Adam left Best Buy and drove to Staples, only to find out Staples didn't carry them at all. We drove back home and ordered one from Amazon. 

When the anticipated package was delivered 2 days later (thanks, prime!) Adam got it hooked up, and inserted the next math cd. And it didn't work. Apparently in the process of being crammed in and yanked out of the computer, the cd's became so scratched that they are now unusable. Since Abby was only 1/2 way through the school year, I am forced to buy another set of 4th grade math cd's to finish out the year. 

Let me break this down for those of you in Rio Linda: Leaving Evah-Kate unattended for 5 minutes cost us an unproductive 70 mile round trip to Best Buy, $25 dollars to purchase the external cd drive, $100 to replace the math curriculum, an obligation to disassemble the computer, and 10 school days without math for Abby.

Moving on to the good news...

I was checking the work in Abby's grammar book (I don't grade work. If the kids answer something incorrect, I review it with them and we correct it together), I came upon this beautiful sight...

We are currently meeting with some specialists to figure out some ongoing health problems Kitty has been facing (more details in a future post). She started speech therapy a couple of weeks ago. She still isn't saying words (aside from baby, night-night, and bye-bye) but she has a big interest in the alphabet. She watches the Wheel of Fortune each night and will repeat the letters that are called out by the contestants. I was in a teacher supply store and thought I would pick up some alphabet flash cards and just see if she would like them. I was absolutely amazed on Monday when I showed her the cards for the first time and she was naming some of the letters without any prompting at all. It has been so exciting to hear her sweet little voice!

Do you have any tips on teaching the "th" blend? Can you suggest activities to help teach Kitty the alphabet? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

Solorio Academy: Mid year slump

Remember my posts from the first quarter of the school year? Remember our great daily schedule? Remember all of the fun trips and activities?

Our current school situation looks nothing like that right now. It's amazing how rapidly things can change.

I'm going to be very frank here: juggling a fussy baby and a busy toddler while trying to simultaneously teach pre-k, 1st grade, and 4th grade is proving to be quite the challenge. I am currently running my household like the triage of an emergency room.
"Oh, you're hungry? Take a number"
"Need help rinsing the shampoo out of your hair? I'll get there when I get there."
"What time is dinner? Sometime between 5-9pm"
"No clean socks? Just look for your least dirty pair and make do"
"Can't find the car keys? Take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning"

Having 5 young kids can be stressful. And then on the other hand, it is kind of a cure for stress simply because you choose to care less and less. Yesterday I got Evah-Kate dressed for church in a cute black and white polka dot sweater dress with a pair of teal leggings. And then she added a coral tu-tu skirt under her dress and chose to wear one black suede slip on with one brown leather Mary-Jane. And she would not let me comb her hair. I would have never let Abby be seen in public looking like that, but 4 kids later I look at the bright side: at least she had shoes on.

That same attitude has carried over to our homeschool. We make a list of priorities, and we do our best and let everything else fall by the wayside. We always complete math and our read aloud. Most days we fit in phonics and spelling. Some days we even squeeze in Latin and penmanship.

It's comforting when I'm reminded that the kids are still learning even without formal lessons. Beckham asked to go in the dollar store for a candy bar last week, he said he had his own money. When the cashier said his total was .91¢, he placed a handful of loose change on the counter. When the cashier counted the change it was exactly .91¢. The cashier was shocked (So was I!). I asked him how that happened, and he said "What? I just remembered it cost .91¢ last time, and I counted out my change before we left the house." He didn't know how to count change at the beginning of the school year!

So, we will keep moving forward, making progress little by little.

Solorio Academy: Weeks 7-9

Prepare yourselves, I'm going to be brutally honest here.

School hasn't been a huge priority lately. 

I'll catch you up on what's happening in the Solorio world, schooling and otherwise.

Our church plant celebrated it's 4th anniversary on October 19. We feel so thankful that the church is doing so well. We have so many friends who have planted churches and worked their fingers to the bone, yet had to close their new work within a few years of starting. Each anniversary is a big milestone for us.

At the end of October, our lease was up in the rented facility that has housed our church plant from day 1. To say that my husband spent hours, and hours, and hours on the phone and meeting with potential landlords is an understatement. Finally, at the very last minute, our church was presented with the opportunity to purchase a permanent building of our own. It has been a total God-thing, but it definitely isn't the easiest option. Let me give you a peek into the new church foyer...I hope you have a good imagination!

Adam has been totally tied up with this project. My poor parents have been working like they are going to the electric chair every day, and church members have been working at the building every evening. Thankfully our church is filled with agreeable, get-along people who aren't afraid to work. We should at least have flushing toilets by church time on Sunday morning!

I'm now 35 weeks pregnant with Solorio baby 5.0! There is a part of me that can't believe I still have 35 days (give or take) to be this miserable and huge, and the other part of me is completely unprepared to bring home a new baby! I don't have a single onesie, pair of socks, disposable or newborn cloth diaper, blanket, carseat, crib, or pack-n-play for this baby. I've got some shopping to do!

My thyroid isn't working, my iron is low, my acid reflux is akin to a sleepover at the gates of hell each night, my Chiropractor is my BFF, and I actually ran out of breath just peeling potatoes yesterday. Yes, peeling potatoes. Here is a current picture, no imagination needed.

Adam and I just keep reminding each other that if we can just make it through the end of the year, things will get easier. The baby will be here, the church will be useable, the holidays will be over, and hopefully we will be able to find a new "normal".

Even through all of the distractions and busyness of life right now, we have only taken 2 days off from school. The kids are plowing through their work like champs! We are finishing up our second read-aloud of the year, The Farmer Boy, from the "Little house" series. Our first read-aloud was The Trumpet of the Swan, by E.B. White. We have enjoyed both books very much.

I was curious to see how much time it actually takes to read a book aloud to the kids, so I started setting my stopwatch on the phone each day as I was reading. The Trumpet of the Swan took a little over 7 hours of total reading time. It looks like The Farmer Boy will be more like 9 hours. That's a full work day!


What book should we read next? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

Solorio Academy, Week 6: Attitudes and Arithmetic

I believe the novelty of a new, exciting school year has worn off. At least it has for the kids. This week was heavily laced with reluctant attitudes. Abby overheard me telling Adam one morning how I hadn't slept well the night before, and she quickly suggested that we "just take the day off so mom could rest" (she is so thoughtful). There was lots of bargaining going on, each kid playing "let's make a deal", promising to do double penmanship the next day if they could just take a break from it today.

Trying to be considerate of their feelings, I did let up just a little this week. We took Monday off (Columbus Day), so Abby could have a friend over that she only gets to see every few weeks. The kids have also spent a lot of time outside, raking piles of leaves, riding bikes, and jumping on the trampoline.

I'll have to say, I am so proud of Beckham. He is proving himself to be very skilled at math. The new concepts click easily with him, and a lesson rarely takes him longer than 5 minutes to complete. He is working so quickly that he is now 9 days ahead of schedule (I'm just wanting him to be halfway through this year's work before baby #5 is born).

He is using Alpha Omega Horizons math for grade 1 this year, and I really feel like it is a perfect fit for him. The pages are colorful but not distracting, and the curriculum is spiral based so there is a lot of variety in each lesson. This is great for Beckham and his rapidly-firing brain!

Each lesson is just one page, front and back. Below are pictures of two different lessons that Beckham completed last week.

What math is working for your child? Have you ever used Alpha Omega Horizons? Did it work for you? Let me know what you think!


Catch up on previous weeks blog posts!
Week 5- All about reading
Week 4- Unit studies
Week 3- Daily routine
Week 2- Co-op kickoff
Week 1- Getting started


---

Solorio Academy, Week 5: All About Reading review

In 2013 I was pregnant with baby #4. I had two main goals while I was pregnant. One was to potty train Jonas, the other was to teach Beckham how to read. I accomplished neither.

Now it's 2015, I'm 31 weeks pregnant with Solorio baby 5.0. I'm not naive enough to even entertain the idea of potty training Evah-Kate in the next 9 weeks, and I'm still teaching Beckham how to read. Funny how things work out, isn't it?

Looking back, Beckham wasn't ready to learn how to read in 2013. I was ready to teach him, but that isn't what actually matters. He is ready now, and it shows. He can actually pay attention during his lesson, and remember what he was taught more than an hour later. I call that a win.

It took a long time for me to finally settle on a curriculum to use for reading this year. I wanted something that would work for both boys. I had many friends recommend "All about reading". I balked at the cost ($125+) and put off purchasing until the last minute. We are now finishing up week 5, so I'll give a little long review about the program and the boys' progress so far.

All about reading is a very complex program. It includes...
-An app for your phone/tablet
-Teacher's manual
-Student's activity book
-Phonogram (letter/blend) cards
-Word cards
-Magnetic letter tiles
-Student readers
And I didn't even order the Zebra hand puppet. I'm not kidding, there's a hand puppet.

When we started the program, I just assumed we would do a lesson each day.

No. Nope. Not even close.

We have been breaking up each lesson over 2 or 3 days. The first day of a lesson is teaching the new concepts, introducing the new letter/blend and word cards, and using the magnetic letter tiles. The second day of the lesson is completing the assignments in the student activity book, and reviewing the word and letter cards that were introduced the day before. Beckham also reads a new story in the reader on the first day, and re-reads the same story on the second day. To put this into perspective: We are just finishing lesson 6 and we have already learned 19 letter cards and 43 word cards. In my opinion, that's a lot of material.

The word and phonogram cards.

A sample page of the student reader. Each story has 6-8 pages.

Even though this program seems pretty intensive to me, the boys don't seem to mind at all. Jonas is drinking it up like a sponge, and Beckham isn't complaining. I think using cards, magnet tiles, games from the student's activity book, and the student reader provides enough variety to keep things fresh. Another huge bonus: the boys don't have to use a pencil at all. We do all of this in the family room instead of around the dining table.

Jonas using the magnet letter tiles to play "change the word". Please excuse my laundry on the couch, I'm going to put it away right after school, after dinner, tomorrow.

Jonas using the letter tiles to spell newly introduced words. Here is has to change bat > sat > fat > mat > rat > cat > and so forth.

Beckham playing one of the games from the student activity book. He has to stack the rhyming word scoops on the ice cream cones.

This has probably been the boys' favorite activity so far. They have to read the words on the little slip of paper. If they read it correctly, they get to feed the word to the monster. It seems corny to me, but they ask to play this game almost every day.

Another unexpected advantage of using the same program with the boys at the same time is the element of a little healthy competition. Jonas is so very eager to learn to read, Beckham really hasn't been motivated at all. Watching Jonas as he learns to read has really lit a fire under Beck. He doesn't want to be shown up by his little brother, and now he tells me each day "this is so easy". :)

What about you? What did it take to teach your child to read? Have you used All About Reading? Leave your feedback in the comment section below!  

Solorio Academy, Week 4: Organizing a unit study

There are so many different styles, methods, and varieties of homeschool. We have a group of friends that can just about cover all of the possibilities. Classical, traditional, unschool, Waldorf, you name it. I would say our homeschool is a blend of Charlotte Mason and unit study styles. If you don't know what that means, I can sum it up for you in a simple phrase: Read all the things!!!

As I mentioned in my first blog post from this school year (to read that post, click here), I don't buy history or science curriculum. I probably will when we reach jr. high or high school, but for now we are loving unit studies. My kids respond so much better, and retain so much more knowledge when they are able to read, watch, touch, and explore. There are many resources that have ready-made unit study outlines, put I prefer to shoot from the hip. Here is how I typically structure a unit study.

1-Books 

An idea for a unit study usually begins at the library. I see a book that has fun pictures and a good story, and decide to go for it. I am a history junkie, so basically anything that has happened in the history of the world seems like a good story to me. Here are the books we used to get started on this study.

2-Experience

I took the kids out for a walk around our neighborhood and taught them how to use a compass. I explained how Lewis & Clark didn't have maps to find their way, they had to rely on a compass and the sun to make sure they were going in the right direction. Beckham thought this was super official business. 

3-Creativity

Typically, our unit studies are a blend of history and science. Since Lewis & Clark is mostly history, I decided to have the kids keep an animal journal for a little extra science. While I was reading to the kids each day, there was always mention of an animal that Lewis & Clark had seen or hunted. We would choose one of those animals for the kids to draw as a fun way to remember details of the story. Beckham definitely takes his creative liberty when drawing an animal. This picture of a buffalo quickly grew into a whole scene, complete with someone being gored by a buffalo during a rainstorm. While the kids were drawing, I would read to them a little bit more about the animal. We crumpled paper bags to use as a cover for our nature journals. The paper bags were supposed to be reminiscent of a leather bound journal that L&C would have taken on their expedition. 

4-Visualize

There are Netflix documentaries and youtube videos for basically anything you could possibly think of. I try to weed through and find a couple that would be educational and entertaining enough to hold the kids' attention. Even if the video repeats a lot of what I already read to the kids, it's a nice review. This time, the kids watched a children's documentary called "Song of Sacagawea" on Amazon prime (it was kind of cheesy), and a very neat National Geographic, reenactment type documentary, "Lewis & Clark" on Netflix.

5- Field trips

Sometimes it works out to take the kids to a museum, event, or historical site that ties in with what we have recently learned. As luck would have it, we live less than 2 hours away from the Lewis & Clark museum! (fun fact: my Dad was the one-millionth visitor to this museum). On Friday afternoon we left straight from co-op classes and drove to St Louis. In addition to the museum we visited the Confluence Tower, a 150 foot tower that overlooks the point where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi River. 

(I'm 30 weeks pregnant, and as big as a house. Evah-Kate is picking her nose and Jonas' arm is still in a heavy plaster cast. Real life!)

Evah-Kate thought the bed inside the boat cabin looked cozy. 

I would say this unit study was a success! It will probably be a week, maybe two, before we start another unit study. I don't know what it will be yet, I'll have to make another trip to the library to see what I can find. 

Do you have suggestions for a unit study? Leave your ideas in the comments below!