After spending two days this past week (unfortunately not consecutive) with the stomach flu, I have some perspective. I hate how it takes getting ill to make you relax about life. I had literally been flitting here, there, and everywhere trying to get my curriculum choices firmed up for fall. For a five year old...seriously, how much really should I be worry about this? I need to CHILL OUT!
Fortunately, my choices are made. First, for teaching reading we've been using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise. Red's on lesson 37 or so. We skipped the first 26 because they were about the sounds consonants make, which she already knew. We're learning right now how to read CVC words. We've gone through short A, short E, and short I. We're mid way through short O. I'm trying to do a lesson per day. We quickly review the previous two lessons and then start a new one. We don't always make it through a complete new one. It might take a couple of days. I tried to sense when she's getting tired or frustrated and quit before we hit a wall. Then I let her play on http://www.starfall.com/ for 15 or 20 minutes after as a treat. I'd like to keep doing this until we finish the book...hopefully by the time she turns 6.
I'm going to get Rightstart Level A and B. That way I can start with A, but if it's going to slow we can switch to B. Otherwise, I'll already have B for first grade. I bought the B teacher's manual on eBay, but I'm waiting to hear back from another homeschooling mom about selling me her A set used before I buy it new. No hurry on this one. That's what I have to keep telling myself because buying homeschooling stuff is like buying Christmas gifts for me. I want it now!
I have Getty Dubay Italics Book A, but I don't know if I'll even use it this year. Maybe...I don't know. I really don't know if Red has the manual dexterity yet to handle writing. I know her grip is funky so we're working on correcting that. I'm about to buy her some pencil grips from Amazon that I heard about on the blog Satori Smiles.
And I think we've discovered that she need breaks between chapter books. We picked up On the Banks of Plum Creek from the library a week ago. We made it through 4 chapters over the course of the week before she decided, "I don't want to read that one anymore because Laura got in trouble with Pa." I don't really think that's the reason. I think she's just fatigued from the long book. Maybe her maturity level isn't ready for the story. I think I'm ready to table the Little House books for now. Aaaahhh...the beauty of homeschooling. If something isn't working, you can just stop for a while.
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