Increased reading in Preparing

[MelInKansas]

I just read through this again. I agree, Julie is so helpful and her experience is such a blessing to those of us coming along behind.

With my oldest, who can read quickly but tends to dawdle and daydream through independent work sometimes, when I made it about rushing and trying to beat a time I sometimes get very sloppy, rushed work. A good schedule that allows enough time, and some motivators (once the child knows they can in fact accomplish it in that time if they try) are good. My DD does get some computer time if she finishes independent work before I am done with Beyond and LHTH. She gets 5 minutes more if she practices piano very carefully instead of rushing through.

So just a thought about having balance there. I hope the schedule works well and runs smoothly and your kiddos learn and grow! My DD also resents sometimes how long school takes her versus her younger sister (who is exactly 2 years younger). We have discussed it and she is doing better with it now. At least her attitude seems to be a lot better than it was. I prayed for a changed heart and again have tried to encourage her in the things that she is learning and doing.

I think it's so great that your DH does the Bible Study box with her. We have some family devotions in the evening, and I deifnitely treasure as much teaching as my DH can give her in the time he has.

[Nealewill]

I am happy to report.....that today went GREAT! I did a couple of things. I do actually highlight my guide to show what is "T" and what is "I" This way, my dd can easily visually see what is something she can do independently. I don't know that she will need to see it now that I am spelling out every single day for her now and the order but it is a habit. But - I also penciled in each box the amount of time each item should take. This way she could set the timer and see how she was doing compared to the timer. That was pretty helpful today. So Bible was first thing with dad before breakfast with all of the kids. After breakfast dd hung out with younger siblings. She did the Independent History Box first and she got that done in 20 minutes with oral narration. Science actually took a while today because it was A LOT of copy work. It took her 45 minutes. Ouch. But that is okay. With bathroom breaks and starting a little bit late, she got done at 10:05. She ate her snack while I read the Reading About History Box. Then she worked on the Research box alone to start. I have an iPad and she is good at looking things up in Safari and on Wikipedia. She did that while I listened to her siblings read out loud to me (yes - they can read out loud at the same time and remember their stories). They half way race each other and I quiz them when they are done to see if they remember and they actually do. Weird, I know. And sometimes even with them - they both read pretty well, I listen to half of what they read each and they rarely miss many words. I am doing both the emerging readers and the books listed in the back. They read pretty well so sometimes they read 2 days worth a time - we read for 15-20 minutes each. Then I gave the younger 2 their copy work - they do 4 lines a day. And they have pretty good handwriting and stamina. It takes them about 5-7 minutes to finish. While they finished their copy work I was able to help my dd finish her research (she struggled a little today) then we did story time. It was 11:05 and we made it out for our walk! We came back and ate lunch and read story time for the youngers. I started my teaching block with my oldest dd at about 12:30 - we did spelling, poetry, grammar, math instruction and DITHOR instruction. My youngers went outside and jumped on the trampoline while I was teaching my oldest. After this hour block, she took a break for 30 minutes or so and then got to work finishing math and DITHOR. And she was done for the day by 2:45! It was a great day! Now my youngers, once she started her break they both did spelling and then onto math. We had piano lessons today (the teacher comes to my house) so we had to take a break after those two subjects for the youngers. But once the piano teacher left, we completed History Reading and Rotating box (science today with 2 experiments) and poetry. This only took us another 40 minutes max and it was all more like playing than school anyway so no one complained. Even my older DD joined in and "played" with the youngers for their activities.

I know there will be days that things won't go perfectly but she really liked getting done much earlier. Plus, I made a desk top sign for her - Colossians 3:23, "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." She really liked that too. I think this schedule really helps to spread me much better and provides some great opportunities for a solid amount of learning time and solid breaks. Thanks again.

[MelInKansas]

Sounds great! Keep up the great work! Stick with it, I am sure your DD is going to learn and grow so much from learning to manage her own time and do her work independently in a timely manner.

I should really schedule a daily walk in for my kiddos too. There are really only a bare few days we could not do that if we tried.

[Nealewill]

It definitely helps me scheduling it all out. I think it helps to keep me moving more than just my kids. I think now that we have been working with HOD and are starting unit 14, she is familiar with what is going to happen each week. So implementing this change is just putting the finishing touches on our schedule to make it run that much more smoothly.

[MelInKansas]

As obviously your time is at a premium, because you are the one and only teacher, a good schedule seems to help maximize the time you have. I am a fan of scheduling or at least having a routine, I feel it goes so much more smoothly that way. I am also a big fan of this independent thing and the way it is planned out in Preparing. Small parts she can get done on her own with the directions (though science experiments have been a challenge so far, the 2 of them we have done, she has not been able to do them independently yet). She is starting to take ownership and I love the growth I am seeing even only 2 units into it!

[Nealewill]

I think that is fantastic! I can definitely see how this will really prepare our kids for the next level. I am only in unit 13 (almost 14) and I can't believe how smoothly things are moving now. When I first started the assignments were pretty slow moving also. I am really proud of how hard my dd is actually trying to finish timely now. Today was a great accomplishment for her. I must admit, I did perouse the future weeks toward the end. And the reading will increase there as well. But I think I am just going to take it day by day. If I need a little bit of extra time here and there too, then I am not going to worry about it. I will just use the 5th day if I need it. Or I will just use a couple extra weeks of school to help my kids get used to the volume of reading. I am just excited that even though it is a bit more than we are used to, that she is loving it anyway.

[my3sons]

HOOORAY! PRAISE THE LORD! I am thrilled to read this! I was so hoping that you and your dd would have a good day. I know what it is like to work part-time and homeschool, and it is difficult to juggle it all sometimes. Homeschool moms have an especially big responsibility in caring for our dh, our dc, and our homes. There are many more meals we are responsible for, the house naturally gets more messy as we are actually in the house with our dc all of the time, there are more school books/supplies/projects to find places to store and care for, and the list goes on. It is a special God-given purpose for a woman to homeschool her dc. It is a big, important purpose that the magnitude of the impact of success if often overlooked by the rest of the world. Raising dc to know the Lord, to value siblings/parents/family, to do well in school - all of these things are HUGE. Just imagine if every parent in the world worked diligently to do these things - what an army for the Lord we would have! So, I am celebrating with you today, and congratulating you on all of your hard work as homeschool mama juggling many, many things well. Way to go, mom!

In Christ,
Julie

[Nealewill]

Thank you so much Julie. It truly is a blessing to be able to homeschool my kids and get to work part-time from home....even if we can't find the floor. All I can say is Praise God for wonderful husbands that are supportive of working homeschool moms. My husband does help a lot with cleaning when I need help. And now that my kids are a little bit older, they have been given a lot more responsibly too. And yes, there are many a day where we honestly can't find the floor and I have just had to learn to deal with it!

And I am so thankful that both you and Carrie have worked so hard to create and publish this wonderful curriculum. It is definitely a challenge to work when you are also homeschooling your kids. This is my first year with HOD and we are loving it! I have been eclectic before. But I love having everything so wonderfully laid out. And my kids have told me multiple times how much they like school now as well.

[Gwenny]

I want to just throw this out there. Does your daughter read well, just slowly?
I have 7 daughters and they all ready really well (except for the 2 yo haha). My
daughter who is 22 now-was never a book lover like my others. She would mostly
Read non-fiction if she had a choice. She could read all of the words-she just couldn't
Understand the fascination with reading books.
When she was about 16, she picked up my son's speed reading video course that
he got from college plus. She did the test-she was SLOW! She went through the course,
all on her own-I didn't know she was doing it. After-she was at AVERAGE speed.
She loves to read now and has read a bunch of books and now she "gets" why people
enjoy reading.
Anyway-just a thought.

[Nealewill]

My dd does actually like to read...luckily. She has really been enjoying the book selection this year with HOD.

And she has actually sped up a little bit recently. She just finished the book Little Miriam and she had no trouble with it at all. I am finding that she does really well going up to her room and reading in there when she is reading a novel of any type. This way her brother and sister don't disturb her while she read. I find that really helps.

And while she is slower, it is not as painfully slow. I think what takes her forever is she reads something and then rereads it 2-3 times to see how it sound better in her mind. So if the sentence is: The dog ran fast. She would read it like this: The dog ran fast. The dog ran fast? The dog ran fast! And then she would read it the 4th time the way she picked in her mind was the best. I think she has cut some of that out recently.

And I know she is liking the books. I am teaching DITHOR at my co-op next year and I picked 6 genres to cover and picked a girl and boy interest book for each. Well, when the books came in, she picked the ones she wanted to read next year and then hijacked all the others to read on her own in her own time! I was very surprised at that. And all of those books are a 5th and 6th grade reading level. She started Stormy, Misty's Foal on Tuesday and she is about 4 chapters in. She reads it every night before bed - our kids get 30 minutes to read in their beds at night every night. And this is what she is reading. So it seems like she is happily persevering with this book. Plus, we basically limit significantly screen time. My kids out of boredom have finally developed a love of books. We go to the library every month and I let the younger kids half way fill a laundry basket with books (at least 30 or so) and they read these throughout the month on their own. My oldest only picks 2 books a month to read unless she has stuff here she wants to read. With those extra books, she is set for a few months at least.

[quiverfull]

It is a special God-given purpose for a woman to homeschool her dc. It is a big, important purpose that the magnitude of the impact of success if often overlooked by the rest of the world. Raising dc to know the Lord, to value siblings/parents/family, to do well in school - all of these things are HUGE.

In Christ,
Julie

I loved this
So true and encouraging…..Thank you!