Our first day of school is on July 1st. We school year round and that is when the government requires me to report for Lydia, so it works out nicely for us. I have mostly finalized our upcoming plans for the year. Lydia will be a 1st/2nd grader (I haven't decided which), Eleanor is legally a preschooler because of her birthday cutoff but for our purposes she is more a kindergartner, and Adelaide won't be doing much school this year, at least not until the Spring, when I will maybe start reading and math with her.
All three girls will be taking classes at a local homeschool co-op for two hours a week this fall. Our main goal is to get them out to meet people and enjoy themselves, but also experience a classroom environment and another teacher besides me. We did not choose these classes based on their academic needs. Adelaide and Eleanor will both be in a preschool class together, which will be below Eleanor's level academically but that I'm sure she'll enjoy anyways. She missed the birthday cutoff for the more advanced classes. Lydia will be taking 2 classes. The first is called Stories and Art and the second will be working from the curriculum Five in a Row. They are both classes where there will be a book and a project related to the book, which I think she will really enjoy. Crafts are not my strong point, so outsourcing them is a bonus for me too!
We do lots of little extras just through our daily lives. We have passes to a science museum with a zoo and aquarium and regularly take advantage of it. The girls also listen to tons of audio books at bedtime. So this is by no means a comprehensive list of everything we'll do, but it is the most formal.
Plans for Lydia:
Math: Last year we started math with Saxon. In theory it worked well for her, but the program itself was taking us almost 2 hours a day, which was just too much. After a few months, I switched over to Christian Light Education math which had all the benefits of Saxon without the downsides for us. As a result of her late start with it, though, she hasn't quite finished Grade 1 math. So she'll finish that up and then start Grade 2.
Language Arts: Lydia finished Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading last year, so for reading I assign her reading for 20 minutes. A few times a week I have her read out loud to me from a leveled old fashioned reader like the Treadwell Readers to catch any mistakes she might be making. She reads a lot on her own as well, so at this point, I'm not too worried about her reading and her writing program covers comprehension. She didn't finish Writing With Ease Level 1, so she'll finish that up and then we'll likely start Writing With Ease Level 2. She finished First Language Lessons Level 1 and will doing Level 2. Her grammar at this point is learning basic grammar terms and memorizing lists of things like pronouns. I bought the First Language Lessons Audio Companion to help with that memorization that we'll be listening to in the car. We also analyze her sentences for WWE, which she really seems to enjoy and we'll keep up. For spelling, she'll continue with All About Spelling Level 2 and then move on to Level 3 when she finishes it.
History: This will be our first year doing deliberate history. She and Eleanor will both be doing Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancients. They've listened to the audio book many times at bedtime, but we'll be going through it together coupled with books from the library and some suggestions from the accompanying activity book. She is also working through Evan Moor Beginning Geography, which she seems to really enjoy.
Science: This last year was the year of human anatomy. We finished the girls' MyBodys, but we really never did Beginning Foundations of Scientific Understanding like I planned. They got a lot out of it, so I don't regret this last year, but I think we'll try more formality this year. We'll go through the first 12 lessons in BFSU as a family with Eleanor (and Adelaide if she wants) participating.
Plans for Eleanor:
Math: Eleanor did an awesome job last year. She finished Essential Math A&B and also Miquon Orange. She seems to have a good grasp on math so far and is thriving in the more experimental, puzzle-type of math that I'm introducing her to. She just started Miquon Red and Mathematics Enhancement Programme Year 1. Miquon Orange and Red together make up a first grade math and MEP Year 1 is also a first grade math, so she is solidly working at that level. If she finishes Miquon Red, we'll start on Miquon Blue. The jury is still out on whether we will continue MEP, but so far it has been a success for her, so I don't foresee changing soon. For some reason, Math Mammoth just didn't seem quite right for her. At some point, I might add in a word problem book, but we'll see.
Language Arts: She will continue working through Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. She seems to really enjoy reading and spends a lot of time reading beginning readers on her own. I expect that she'll be able to move from the sounding out every word stage this year, and if that happens, I'll start her on All About Spelling Level 1. She is also working through Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten (and doing handwriting apps on the iPad) and when she finishes that she'll start on Writing With Ease Level 1. I don't know that I'll do formal grammar with her this year, but she'll be listening to Lydia's grammar and the CD in our car, so I bet she'll pick most of it up on her own anyways.
History/Science: She'll be tagging along with Lydia for these with the exception of geography. We'll probably wait a year for that simply because of the reading skills required.
Plans for Adelaide:
Since Adelaide won't be four until almost the end of the school year, I have no formal plans for her at this point. Mostly I have her working on iPad apps to learn her letter sounds and beginning blending. I assume that I'll start reading with her sometime after Christmas. She has already expressed that she wishes I would teach her, but she just isn't ready yet. I'll probably start her on math around the same time as well.
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Friday, June 26, 2015
Friday, August 2, 2013
Goals for 2013/2014 School Year
This is another post that is mostly for me, but like usual, if you are interested, go ahead and read it. As Monday will be the first day of our new school year, I thought it would be helpful for me to write down some goals that I have for the year. Lydia will be starting Kindergarten and Eleanor will be doing K3. This year, I will consider the year complete when Lydia completes 170 "days" of school. I don't have any particular number of days that I want Ellie to finish; school will be completely optional and mostly-child led for her this year.
Math:
Lydia- At a minimum, I'd like to get through Math Mammoth 1A and Miquon Orange, although if we can get through Math Mammoth 1B and Miquon Red, that would be ideal. Like last year, it will be difficult to predict where she might hit walls with concepts, so it is hard what sort of pace she will be able to set, and completing both of those programs is a lot of work. I'd also like to have her skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s.
Eleanor- If I can have her accurately counting to 20, or 50 as a higher goal, that would be great. I'd also like to get through MEP Reception which is only 60 lessons, so we'll see how that goes.
Reading:
Lydia- I'm not really sure how far she will get, but my biggest goal for this year is fluency. I want her to be able to read the words she knows quicker than right now. A lot of that will be training. Currently she reads a word and then looks around and I have to get her attention all over again for another word. I guess as a big goal, I'd like for her to be able to mostly read books like Little Bear or other beginner readers books on her own. I also really want to be better about doing read alouds with her, so I'm going to try to read her seven books this year.
Eleanor- I'd like her to know all the sounds of the letters and possibly begin some pre-reading towards the end of the year (e.g. "what letter starts the word, bat?"). Depending on how she does, I might start cvc words later, but that's a ways off right now.
Spelling:
Lydia- I'd like her to finish All About Spelling 1, which means she could confidently spell all cvc words and some others.
Eleanor- I have no aspirations for spelling this year. Except I might teach her how to spell her name?
Handwriting:
Lydia- I want her to finish HWT Kindergarten and hopefully start doing copywork. With that, she'll learn lowercase letters, which she still needs to work on.
Eleanor- I want her to work on pre-writing activities and focus on control and correct pencil grip.
Math:
Lydia- At a minimum, I'd like to get through Math Mammoth 1A and Miquon Orange, although if we can get through Math Mammoth 1B and Miquon Red, that would be ideal. Like last year, it will be difficult to predict where she might hit walls with concepts, so it is hard what sort of pace she will be able to set, and completing both of those programs is a lot of work. I'd also like to have her skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s.
Eleanor- If I can have her accurately counting to 20, or 50 as a higher goal, that would be great. I'd also like to get through MEP Reception which is only 60 lessons, so we'll see how that goes.
Reading:
Lydia- I'm not really sure how far she will get, but my biggest goal for this year is fluency. I want her to be able to read the words she knows quicker than right now. A lot of that will be training. Currently she reads a word and then looks around and I have to get her attention all over again for another word. I guess as a big goal, I'd like for her to be able to mostly read books like Little Bear or other beginner readers books on her own. I also really want to be better about doing read alouds with her, so I'm going to try to read her seven books this year.
Eleanor- I'd like her to know all the sounds of the letters and possibly begin some pre-reading towards the end of the year (e.g. "what letter starts the word, bat?"). Depending on how she does, I might start cvc words later, but that's a ways off right now.
Spelling:
Lydia- I'd like her to finish All About Spelling 1, which means she could confidently spell all cvc words and some others.
Eleanor- I have no aspirations for spelling this year. Except I might teach her how to spell her name?
Handwriting:
Lydia- I want her to finish HWT Kindergarten and hopefully start doing copywork. With that, she'll learn lowercase letters, which she still needs to work on.
Eleanor- I want her to work on pre-writing activities and focus on control and correct pencil grip.
End of Lydia's PreK Year Review
We start a new school year on Monday, so I thought that I would review how far Lydia has come this year. This is mostly for myself, so I don't intend for many other people to all be interested in this information. However, if you are or if you think it would help you, read on!
Lydia completed 40 weeks of school, counting 3 days of work as a week, so approximately 120 days of school. In that time, I really saw her progress a lot. For example, she went from not grasping the concept of bigger/smaller to using it to describe things to me.
Reading/Spelling
July: "Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help."
October: "She can read all cvc words. She can also read several short vowel 4-letter words. Mostly these are ones that end with double letters, like "mall," but also words that end in -ck. She's still fairly slow at reading, but she is definitely improving and progressing. We haven't worked at spelling at all."
January: "She can read most short vowel 5 letter words as well as most two-letter blends, like "bl" or "st". She still needs some practice with these to solidify them, though."
July: She can read all the blends and digraphs that have been brought up in OPGTR so far, including "th," "sh," among others and she can blend very confidently. She can also read simple silent "e" words and words that only have e at the end (like he and she). She has completed through Lesson 73 of OPGTR. For Spelling, she has started All About Spelling Level 1 and has completed the first 6 steps, which means that she can spell most cvc words, although she is still practicing with them.
Math
July: " She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses."
October: "She can count to 30 without help and recognize numbers 1-30 when written. She can count objects with accuracy if she takes the time. She understands the concepts of smaller/larger, same/different. She is struggling with the concept of more/less."
January: She can count to 100 with help. She has a basic grasp on more/less and can do some simple addition with help or c-rods.
July: She can do all addition/subtraction within 10 with manipulatives and can usually do it within 20 with manipulatives. She understands the concept of "0". She knows all the important shapes, colors, etc. She understands place value through 10s and can tell you that 15 is made up of 10 and 5. She finished all of Essential Math A, 2/3 of Essential Math B, about 40 pages of Miquon Orange/Red, and is on Lesson 2 of Math Mammoth 1A.
Handwriting:
She finished Handwriting Without Tears PreK and is halfway through HWT Kindergarten. She can form all of her uppercase letters with ease and legibility, although writing on a line is still difficult and she often writes the letters with incorrect strokes.
Memorization:
Lydia blew me away with her memorization abilities this year. She memorized 10 religious selections, 7 poems, and 7 facts and lists. She also started memorizing her timeline of the world.
All told, it was a very successful year!
Lydia completed 40 weeks of school, counting 3 days of work as a week, so approximately 120 days of school. In that time, I really saw her progress a lot. For example, she went from not grasping the concept of bigger/smaller to using it to describe things to me.
 |
| All the books she finished completely this year |
Reading/Spelling
July: "Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help."
October: "She can read all cvc words. She can also read several short vowel 4-letter words. Mostly these are ones that end with double letters, like "mall," but also words that end in -ck. She's still fairly slow at reading, but she is definitely improving and progressing. We haven't worked at spelling at all."
January: "She can read most short vowel 5 letter words as well as most two-letter blends, like "bl" or "st". She still needs some practice with these to solidify them, though."
July: She can read all the blends and digraphs that have been brought up in OPGTR so far, including "th," "sh," among others and she can blend very confidently. She can also read simple silent "e" words and words that only have e at the end (like he and she). She has completed through Lesson 73 of OPGTR. For Spelling, she has started All About Spelling Level 1 and has completed the first 6 steps, which means that she can spell most cvc words, although she is still practicing with them.
 |
| Pages she completed in Miquon |
July: " She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses."
October: "She can count to 30 without help and recognize numbers 1-30 when written. She can count objects with accuracy if she takes the time. She understands the concepts of smaller/larger, same/different. She is struggling with the concept of more/less."
January: She can count to 100 with help. She has a basic grasp on more/less and can do some simple addition with help or c-rods.
July: She can do all addition/subtraction within 10 with manipulatives and can usually do it within 20 with manipulatives. She understands the concept of "0". She knows all the important shapes, colors, etc. She understands place value through 10s and can tell you that 15 is made up of 10 and 5. She finished all of Essential Math A, 2/3 of Essential Math B, about 40 pages of Miquon Orange/Red, and is on Lesson 2 of Math Mammoth 1A.
Handwriting:
She finished Handwriting Without Tears PreK and is halfway through HWT Kindergarten. She can form all of her uppercase letters with ease and legibility, although writing on a line is still difficult and she often writes the letters with incorrect strokes.
Memorization:
Lydia blew me away with her memorization abilities this year. She memorized 10 religious selections, 7 poems, and 7 facts and lists. She also started memorizing her timeline of the world.
All told, it was a very successful year!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
New ideas for the New Year
I've decided it is time to do a little more school-wise, and although I touched on this in my latest Quarterly Review, I wanted to be more specific so I can have a reference for myself and a little accountability as well.
So far, we've been great about doing math, reading, art study, and memorization almost every day. The major reason for this is because we do them either during, or immediately after lunch when the younger two girls are down for naps. However, these subjects about max out that time and I want to do handwriting, read alouds, and exercise daily as well. Mornings are mostly out because we either have therapy appointments or social obligations most mornings of the week. So that leaves afternoons and evening. Knowing this, here's my new plan:
Continue to do math, reading, art study, and memorization during and right after lunch. As it is a new "semester," We're doing a new art study along with Ambleside Online's schedule focusing on Jacob van Ruisdael and Pieter de Hooch. We're also listening to a new composer, Bach. I've also added a few more memorization selections to our list. Lydia seems to pick up poems faster than scriptures, so she still has tons of religious selections left but only one poem and fact. So I've added "The Rainbow" by Walter de la Mare and "A Dragon-fly" by E. Farjeon to our poems list. I've also added Lydia's, Mommy's, and Daddy's full names and Mommy's cell-phone number to her facts/lists memorization section.
After naptime (which is now quiet time for Lydia and Ellie because they almost never sleep anymore) I think I'm going to try to be consistent about doing a chapter book read aloud. I'd love to work our way up to half hour at at ime. Daddy does picture books every night before bed time and we do family scripture study before bed as well. The girls and I have just really gotten out of the habit of doing a chapter book together. It is tricky to pick books for them, though, because they still don't really follow the stories very well. So basically I need to pick books that I would enjoy reading aloud that they might get some enjoyment out of. It is especially helpful if there are at least a few pictures. So here's my book list. Some of these I've read to Lydia before, but she was very, very little and didn't get at thing out of it other than some cuddle time:
Little House on the Prairie, starting with Farmer Boy
The Hobbit, illustrated by Alan Lee
Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner
I think I'm going to try to do handwriting right after read alouds.
And I mentioned exercise. I found some awesome children's yoga videos on YouTube called Cosmic Kids Yoga. They are adorable and the girls have enjoyed them the few times I've turned them on. I'm thinking I'll try to make it something that we do in the morning around 9 or so. If Lydia is at therapy, she just misses those days, but at least Ellie and I will get in the habit.
So that's it. That's my new plan. Here's hoping I can stick to it.
So far, we've been great about doing math, reading, art study, and memorization almost every day. The major reason for this is because we do them either during, or immediately after lunch when the younger two girls are down for naps. However, these subjects about max out that time and I want to do handwriting, read alouds, and exercise daily as well. Mornings are mostly out because we either have therapy appointments or social obligations most mornings of the week. So that leaves afternoons and evening. Knowing this, here's my new plan:
Continue to do math, reading, art study, and memorization during and right after lunch. As it is a new "semester," We're doing a new art study along with Ambleside Online's schedule focusing on Jacob van Ruisdael and Pieter de Hooch. We're also listening to a new composer, Bach. I've also added a few more memorization selections to our list. Lydia seems to pick up poems faster than scriptures, so she still has tons of religious selections left but only one poem and fact. So I've added "The Rainbow" by Walter de la Mare and "A Dragon-fly" by E. Farjeon to our poems list. I've also added Lydia's, Mommy's, and Daddy's full names and Mommy's cell-phone number to her facts/lists memorization section.
After naptime (which is now quiet time for Lydia and Ellie because they almost never sleep anymore) I think I'm going to try to be consistent about doing a chapter book read aloud. I'd love to work our way up to half hour at at ime. Daddy does picture books every night before bed time and we do family scripture study before bed as well. The girls and I have just really gotten out of the habit of doing a chapter book together. It is tricky to pick books for them, though, because they still don't really follow the stories very well. So basically I need to pick books that I would enjoy reading aloud that they might get some enjoyment out of. It is especially helpful if there are at least a few pictures. So here's my book list. Some of these I've read to Lydia before, but she was very, very little and didn't get at thing out of it other than some cuddle time:
Little House on the Prairie, starting with Farmer Boy
The Hobbit, illustrated by Alan Lee
Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner
I think I'm going to try to do handwriting right after read alouds.
And I mentioned exercise. I found some awesome children's yoga videos on YouTube called Cosmic Kids Yoga. They are adorable and the girls have enjoyed them the few times I've turned them on. I'm thinking I'll try to make it something that we do in the morning around 9 or so. If Lydia is at therapy, she just misses those days, but at least Ellie and I will get in the habit.
So that's it. That's my new plan. Here's hoping I can stick to it.
End of Calendar Year Review
So although it hasn't been 9 weeks more of school, I thought now would be a good time to review what Lydia has accomplished and come up with new goals for moving forward. We've had a fairly long break and it is a new year and these types of things are on my mind right now.
Reading/Spelling
July: "Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help."
October: "She can read all cvc words. She can also read several short vowel 4-letter words. Mostly these are ones that end with double letters, like "mall," but also words that end in -ck. She's still fairly slow at reading, but she is definitely improving and progressing. We haven't worked at spelling at all."
January: She can read most short vowel 5 letter words as well as most two-letter blends, like "bl" or "st". She still needs some practice with these to solidify them, though.
Math
July: " She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses."
October: "She can count to 30 without help and recognize numbers 1-30 when written. She can count objects with accuracy if she takes the time. She understands the concepts of smaller/larger, same/different. She is struggling with the concept of more/less."
January: She can count to 100 with help. She has a basic grasp on more/less and can do some simple addition with help or c-rods.
Goals for the year
July: My goals for this year are to have her reading at least cvc word on her own. I want to complete Essential Math A and MEP Reception for math and be able to count to 50 or more on her own. I'd also like for her to be able to write her own name.
October: Get through Section 6 in OPGTR (she's in section 4 right now), which includes many blends and digraphs. It doesn't include silent "e". For math, I'd like for her to finish Essential Math B and as a shooting high goal, I want her to also finish Miquon Orange (we dropped MEP Reception). Once she finishes Essential Math B, we'll start on Math Mammoth 1A. I think this will probably be sometime around February, but we'll see. I also think it is totally possible for her to finish my memorization plan, so that is also another goal.
January: My goals haven't really changed from October for math and reading. She even looks as thought she might finish Essential Math B around the end of February as I predicted unless she hits a wall. As for memorization, I've added a few poems and facts/lists for her. My main new goals are to work consistently on Handwriting Without Tears and to be more consistent with read alouds.
Reading/Spelling
July: "Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help."
October: "She can read all cvc words. She can also read several short vowel 4-letter words. Mostly these are ones that end with double letters, like "mall," but also words that end in -ck. She's still fairly slow at reading, but she is definitely improving and progressing. We haven't worked at spelling at all."
January: She can read most short vowel 5 letter words as well as most two-letter blends, like "bl" or "st". She still needs some practice with these to solidify them, though.
Math
July: " She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses."
October: "She can count to 30 without help and recognize numbers 1-30 when written. She can count objects with accuracy if she takes the time. She understands the concepts of smaller/larger, same/different. She is struggling with the concept of more/less."
January: She can count to 100 with help. She has a basic grasp on more/less and can do some simple addition with help or c-rods.
Goals for the year
July: My goals for this year are to have her reading at least cvc word on her own. I want to complete Essential Math A and MEP Reception for math and be able to count to 50 or more on her own. I'd also like for her to be able to write her own name.
October: Get through Section 6 in OPGTR (she's in section 4 right now), which includes many blends and digraphs. It doesn't include silent "e". For math, I'd like for her to finish Essential Math B and as a shooting high goal, I want her to also finish Miquon Orange (we dropped MEP Reception). Once she finishes Essential Math B, we'll start on Math Mammoth 1A. I think this will probably be sometime around February, but we'll see. I also think it is totally possible for her to finish my memorization plan, so that is also another goal.
January: My goals haven't really changed from October for math and reading. She even looks as thought she might finish Essential Math B around the end of February as I predicted unless she hits a wall. As for memorization, I've added a few poems and facts/lists for her. My main new goals are to work consistently on Handwriting Without Tears and to be more consistent with read alouds.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
First Quarter Review and New Goals
We've been doing preschool officially for 9 weeks now! It's been great and I've really enjoyed myself. I feel like Lydia is enjoying herself too. I've wanted to homeschool for a long time, but one of my main concerns was whether I would be better at it in theory or in practice. So far I'm loving it, so on we go.
I plan to homeschool year-round, taking breaks when we need them. Even so, my goal is to do at least the 36 weeks that brick and mortar schools do. I remember that every 9 weeks we'd get a report card, so I think 9 weeks is a good time to look back at my goals and see how we're doing.
Back in July I wrote down a few things that Lydia could do and what I'd like for her to accomplish by the end of the year. Here's those milestones, with her current ones added.
Reading/Spelling
July: "Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help."
October: She can read all cvc words. She can also read several short vowel 4-letter words. Mostly these are ones that end with double letters, like "mall," but also words that end in -ck. She's still fairly slow at reading, but she is definitely improving and progressing. We haven't worked at spelling at all.
Math
July: " She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses."
October: She can count to 30 without help and recognize numbers 1-30 when written. She can count objects with accuracy if she takes the time. She understands the concepts of smaller/larger, same/different. She is struggling with the concept of more/less.
I think she's done very well in 9 weeks. She's also memorized 2 religious pieces, 2 poems, and 4 facts/lists. I've seen a marked improvement in her fine motor skills and her coloring has definitely improved, as has her tracing.
Goals for the year
July: My goals for this year are to have her reading at least cvc word on her own. I want to complete Essential Math A and MEP Reception for math and be able to count to 50 or more on her own. I'd also like for her to be able to write her own name.
October: Get through Section 6 in OPGTR (she's in section 4 right now), which includes many blends and digraphs. It doesn't include silent "e". For math, I'd like for her to finish Essential Math B and as a shooting high goal, I want her to also finish Miquon Orange (we dropped MEP Reception). Once she finishes Essential Math B, we'll start on Math Mammoth 1A. I think this will probably be sometime around February, but we'll see. I also think it is totally possible for her to finish my memorization plan, so that is also another goal.
So there it is. I'm doing these goals and progress reports more for me to have a record in the future than for any one else's benefit, so if you made it this far, congratulations!
I plan to homeschool year-round, taking breaks when we need them. Even so, my goal is to do at least the 36 weeks that brick and mortar schools do. I remember that every 9 weeks we'd get a report card, so I think 9 weeks is a good time to look back at my goals and see how we're doing.
Back in July I wrote down a few things that Lydia could do and what I'd like for her to accomplish by the end of the year. Here's those milestones, with her current ones added.
Reading/Spelling
July: "Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help."
October: She can read all cvc words. She can also read several short vowel 4-letter words. Mostly these are ones that end with double letters, like "mall," but also words that end in -ck. She's still fairly slow at reading, but she is definitely improving and progressing. We haven't worked at spelling at all.
Math
July: " She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses."
October: She can count to 30 without help and recognize numbers 1-30 when written. She can count objects with accuracy if she takes the time. She understands the concepts of smaller/larger, same/different. She is struggling with the concept of more/less.
I think she's done very well in 9 weeks. She's also memorized 2 religious pieces, 2 poems, and 4 facts/lists. I've seen a marked improvement in her fine motor skills and her coloring has definitely improved, as has her tracing.
Goals for the year
July: My goals for this year are to have her reading at least cvc word on her own. I want to complete Essential Math A and MEP Reception for math and be able to count to 50 or more on her own. I'd also like for her to be able to write her own name.
October: Get through Section 6 in OPGTR (she's in section 4 right now), which includes many blends and digraphs. It doesn't include silent "e". For math, I'd like for her to finish Essential Math B and as a shooting high goal, I want her to also finish Miquon Orange (we dropped MEP Reception). Once she finishes Essential Math B, we'll start on Math Mammoth 1A. I think this will probably be sometime around February, but we'll see. I also think it is totally possible for her to finish my memorization plan, so that is also another goal.
So there it is. I'm doing these goals and progress reports more for me to have a record in the future than for any one else's benefit, so if you made it this far, congratulations!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Goals and Current Milestones
Our official first day of Pre-K is going to be August 6th. Lydia will be 4 years old and I think I will be ready gathering materials, learning methods, and psyching myself up. Currently, we're doing some unofficial activities, like playing with c-rods, letter magnets, coloring, counting things, etc. At the end of August, she will also be starting soccer and dance. We plan on doing "official" school at least 3 or 4 days a week.
For my own records, I though I'd list some of the things Lydia can do right now before school starts so I can tell what kind of progress she's made at the end of the year.
Reading/Spelling: Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help.
Math: She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses.
My goals for this year are to have her reading at least cvc word on her own. I want to complete Essential Math A and MEP Reception for math and be able to count to 50 or more on her own. I'd also like for her to be able to write her own name.
I think these goals are attainable, but if not, that's ok. If she completes these early, I'll write up new goals.
For my own records, I though I'd list some of the things Lydia can do right now before school starts so I can tell what kind of progress she's made at the end of the year.
Reading/Spelling: Right now she knows and recognizes all the letters and their sounds. She can occasionally tell me the first letter of a word when she hears it. She can also spell her name using magnet letters without any help.
Math: She can currently count to 20 without help and recognize numbers 1-12 when written. She can mostly count small numbers of objects (10 or less) and tell me how many of something there is, but sometimes double counts things or guesses.
My goals for this year are to have her reading at least cvc word on her own. I want to complete Essential Math A and MEP Reception for math and be able to count to 50 or more on her own. I'd also like for her to be able to write her own name.
I think these goals are attainable, but if not, that's ok. If she completes these early, I'll write up new goals.
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