Printable Flashcards

Abeka utilizes a bunch of various flashcards.  I just couldn't bring myself to spend even more money on a new curriculum at the moment, so I decided to try and be a bit resourceful and make my own.  I've had to look at the flashcard topics and do a bit of guessing, but they're coming along, and I think what I have will be quite useful for both kids.

I'll add more topics as I create them, but you're free to download and print what I've created.  I've designed each set of flashcards to fit three cards on a page, so once they're printed (I suggest colored cardstock, different color per topic) you can divide and cut each page into thirds.

Money Flashcards

Month Flashcards

Number Names Flashcards

Ordinal Numbers Flashcards

Roman Numerals Flashcards

Shapes Flashcards

Curriculum Switch

18 days into first grade, and already I've decided to switch a program.  I love the instructional process Steve Demme uses in Math-U-See, but the more time I spent with in it with Ethan, the more I realized that the program just doesn't cover so many mathematical concepts it needs to (weak in areas like symmetry, measurements, money, number lines, etc. - basically anything beyond major operations).

I had gotten Ethan an "advanced math" workbook this summer that I thought would help give a challenge, but I quickly noticed that though he had absolutely no problems in the Math-U-See book (in fact he never had a challenge at all, which was causing issues in the class) he struggled as soon as he was asked to do something other than addition or subtraction on a page.  (We didn't have problems when doing Math orally.)

I enjoy supplementing, but I don't want to feel like I have to in order for my kids to get a rounded education in a given subject.

So...

Hello Abeka.  Even though I haven't actually taught Abeka Math before, I have seen the program in action and taught entire classes that came from it, and have been very impressed with the results.  The final book arrived this morning, so we had our first lesson today.

I have always appreciated the spiral approach to mathematics, and am pretty sure I'll be much happier with the program.  Hopefully Ethan will, too.

Feline Love

Yesterday afternoon while Ethan was working on his map skills book he had a little help from his beloved cat.

Family Fun Day

This morning we had a little conversation at the breakfast table kitchen-area-where-we-all stand-or-sit-since most-everything-is-packed-and-our-table-is-sold.  We talked about how God provided the Sabbath as a day of rest and time to spend special with Him each week and how we need to have special time like a "family sabbath" where our whole purpose is to spend time together bonding as a family.  Today was totally family time; not work-on-the-house time, not chore time, none of that; just pure, plain fun with just the four of us.

We spent our morning down at the Amish produce auction.  Sorry, no pictures of there, out of respect for the Amish people.  We all enjoyed listening to the auctioneer, looking at all the yummy produce, and stocking up on peaches and tomatoes to can. (I know what I'll be doing for the next several days!)

Our poor car was stocked absolutely full to the brim on our way home.  We fit 8 1/2 bushels of peaches, 200 lbs of tomatoes, and even fit both kids, two small boxes of zucchini, and a pint of fresh blackberries for our afternoon treat somewhere into our car!

Once we unloaded all the goods we headed down to the State Fair for the rest of our day.  I DO have pictures from that!

Farmer Katie

Planting pepper seeds.  I wonder just how many seeds
get planted over the course of the 17 days.

Milking the "cow"

Sawing his own wood slab with the wood miser.  This machine
is so powerful and smooth that even he could move it
entirely by himself.

Enjoying ice cream while they watched
the evening tractor parade.

Weather Unit

We're starting the school year learning about the weather.  We haven't done very much yet, but the kids really enjoyed watching a well-done, informative children's video introducing weather and clouds.  Ethan had his first writing assignment afterwards, and of course that meant Katie felt she had to do one, too.  I didn't require her to write, but she did.

We Have Desks!

I've been casually looking on Craigslist, hoping some school might be shutting down and getting rid of desks (there is one, but it's 3 hours away) that I might be able to snag up.  Instead, something even better came up.

I found another homeschooling mom whose kids are older and aren't using their desks anymore, so she decided it was time to part with them.  It feels a little more "right," these continuing on the homeschool tradition.

You can see the remodeling mess in the background.  We won't get to actually use our "new" desks until we move, but hopefully we're coming close to the end!

Behavior Management, Homeschool Style!

My big challenge every day has been one child whining at me for any work I put in front of him while I have my other child hanging onto my arm and draping herself over me and my chair, whining that I don't give her nearly enough work.  Talk about the perfect recipe for strife, headaches, and resentment over homeschooling!

Ethan would bristle at anything I put in front of him, which of course provides the least ideal learning environment.  It makes everything he tries ten times harder.

Two nights ago, as I lay sleepless in bed, I spent time thinking and praying over the matter, asking God to help me come up with solutions.  

Earlier in the evening I had gone through all my various school-related books and found some more I might use with Katie, even though they're technically Kindergarten level.  I think they're simple enough that she'll enjoy them.  That was the easy problem to fix.  

Lying there I remembered my former classroom after-lunch routine of read-aloud while the kids worked on Handwriting and Spelling.  Even though I'm still wanting to be engaged and making sure Ethan is forming the correct habits in letter-forming, I decided I really could do both read and observe.  That would help cut down on the "boring" factor, and also help with his distraction and constantly talking to Katie and wanting to see what she's doing.  So yesterday morning, since all our books are packed, I made a visit to the Sr. Currier home and borrowed "The Bluebirds and Their Neighbors."  

The first day it cut our Handwriting time down from 40+ minutes to just 20! (Note: the current HW pages are quite long, but as soon as we finish getting through the alphabet the daily work gets much shorter.)  I may have had to give him a gentle reminder or look to get him back on task, but I wasn't harping, and he did it with a smile on his face.  He completed the entire page without a single negative remark.  Success!!  ...at least for one day. :)

The other component I believe God brought to my mind was a more direct behavior management tool.  Yesterday morning, before we had prayer and started our day, I talked to the kids about the whining and what we could do about it.  I told them each morning they would receive ten pennies (I guess there's one good thing about not having gone over money value yet!), which would be theirs to keep.  BUT, for every whine or negative comment about school they would have to give me one of their pennies.

Yesterday Ethan ended the day with nine and Katie had all ten!  I realized with the negativity gone just how much easier it was for Ethan to focus and experience success in his school work.  We didn't have fits over each new assignment throughout the day, the reading came so much easier, the work got done so much faster, and overall it was a much more pleasant day, and I'm sure in the end I was a much more pleasant mommy to be around. :)

(**Update: Katie lost her first penny this morning when she whined, "I can't!" and refused to try to write the "2"s on her math page.  Her entire world crumbled and she had to spend quite a bit of time on her bed calming down before she could even get the penny to hand to me nicely.  Talk about a rough time!  BUT she did try it on her own and was successful.  They weren't perfect, but they were very well done for a four year old.  This evening during prayer meeting I looked over and saw that the previously-blank page on her clipboard were full of "2"s.  I'd say that was a rousing success!**)

I realize there may be a honeymoon period and it may not always work.  But while it does I hope we can form some new, positive habits and that when it wears off that I'll be consistent in collecting those pennies until they break the whiny habit.

Musings

We're slowly getting back into the swing of things after our vacation.  The kids are still sleeping in a tad later than normal, but I haven't pushed it in the mornings.  I know the early wake-ups will come soon enough.

I'm realizing that it's going to take me quite a while to fully adjust to homeschooling.  I'm so used to a traditional classroom, following and meetings standards, making sure I follow a prescribed curriculum that it's going to take some time breaking from that mold.  I'm feeling scattered, unprepared, like I'm breaking completely uncharted territory...at least in my own life.

I'm sure it doesn't help that we're in the middle of a long, messy move.  Most of our books are packed.  Half our school supplies are over at the new place, of which we won't be moving into for at least another couple weeks.  Whenever my house is in disarray I feel unsettled, jittery inside.  Well, my house is currently in a permanent state of disarray, and will be until we're fully moved and unpacked.  I'd better get used to it!

But despite these obstacles we're marching on.  I am seeing progress, and that's encouraging.  Ideas and strategies are coming back to me as we go, many of which are proving helpful (another post about those will follow).

By God's grace we're learning, and starting to have a fun time of it, too!

Language Arts Gold Mine

I may be a teacher, but I must confess that I have never actually taught a kid to read.  My methods classes, though good, were ten years ago, and sadly I don't remember nearly as much as I would like about dipthongs, dolch words, and all that good stuff.

This evening as I sat down to work on the week's lesson plans I started searching for rhyming activities I could do with both kids.  I stopped by one website and just stuck around.  Wow!  It's a treasure of ideas for  language arts activities, even if just for using them as a springboard for making my own for our personal use.

http://www.carlscorner.us.com/

Northwest Trip Day 21 - Seattle

Last day of vacation.  It's bittersweet.  I'm so looking forward to going home and being in our own beds and getting back to a routine.  The kids are exhausted, and starting to really show it in their behavior.  But we have had so much fun out here.

This morning we drove over to Bremerton and then took the ferry over to Seattle - another first for the kids.

Waiting for the ferry to arrive.

It's here!

Katie enjoyed being out on the deck.  Ethan preferred the
safety of the glass enclosure.

Uncle Andrew asked for a tour of the deck, and we got it!
We got to go into the unused one, since they switch decks
depending on which direction they're headed.

Sitting in the captain's chair.

Pretending to steer the boat.

Northwest Trip Day 20 - Portland and Friends

I so wish Indianapolis, the 13th largest city in the United States, had an actual mass transit system.  But sadly, no.  We have to go to Portland, the 28th largest city, to enjoy a light rail and electric street car ride.  It sure made for a fun morning, though!

Anxiously awaiting the streetcar downtown

We spent the afternoon at a local park.  The kids loved running around free for awhile.  They made some new friends while on the playground.  I don't think they even noticed or cared that they were my friends' kids. :)  Meanwhile I got a chance to catch up with Melissa and Laura, my two best friends from high school.  We hadn't all been in the same place for eleven years, so we had a lot of catching up to do!  Too bad we only had a short hour.

The playground babysitters

Melissa and I, good friends from high school and college,
and even college roommates for a year.

Melissa, Laura, and I

We had such a short time because we had to rush to another appointment, a barbecue with my great aunt and uncle, who had also invited another college housemate of mine over to visit.

A little after-dinner tag around the
rose bush.

Sarah and I

Ethan went longer than any of the other guys, I'm sure.
He was still begging for more tag after everyone else
had worn themselves out.