It's only eleven days until we begin our school year. I need to finish my curriculum posts so I can get ready for the new year. Here is what Princess S will be using for next year.
Tapestry of Grace DE Year 1: We are using this for history, literature, church history, and some geography. I plan to incorporate more narration and copywork for her this year. She will be completing the UG level for most of the year, but I plan to begin the transition to D level part way through. I will have her reading a few of the D level literature books this year and including her in our discussion times for it.
Math-U-See Delta: She will continue on from where she ended the year. I anticipate she will be moving on to Epsilon about halfway through the year.
Latin for Children Primer A: This will be her first year with Latin. I'm hoping we get through this in one year, but I am going to be flexible. I'd rather go for mastery than finishing a book in a year. In fact, I really think we will only get about 2/3 of the way through. Last year, I had all the pages in page protectors for Princess E and she wrote on them with an ultra-fine permanent marker. I used an Expo board doctor to get that off. However, because I had waited until the end of the year it took a long time and lots of elbow grease. I finally gave up and threw away about 40 page protectors. This year we will use wet erase markers. I also purchased the activity book used, so that will give some more variety in the assignments.
God's Marvelous Works Book One: The last two years we have done science together. This year we are trying science separately. So Princess S will be working on this book. I plan to incorporate narration and notebooking with this subject. She will do the reading and answer the questions. I entered the vocabulary words on Quizlet so she can study them there. I also bought the test booklet.
Globalmania: We are going to add in this program for our geography studies. My hope with this is that they will be able to have a better grasp of where things are in the world. We will be setting aside a little bit of time each week to work on this adventure.
Language Arts - I am a language arts fiend! I was an English major and this is my love and comfort zone. But finding something that works for all my princesses is difficult. These choices below may seem like a lot, but Princess S really needs repetition as well as variety in order for concepts to sink in. She also needs lots of hands on practice. So I am blending a variety of programs together. We won't be doing all these each day, but we will be working with each thing at least twice a week. Most of these I purchased used.
Caesar's English 1: This will be our first year using MCT for vocabulary. This is an intense program. We are going to take it slow, but hopefully finish in one year.
Grammar Town: This is the next book that follows Grammar Island, which we did this past year. They enjoyed the story aspect of learning grammar, so I'm hoping this will be the same. As per MCT recommendations, we will be "front loading" this program. She will complete the book in five weeks.
Paragraph Town: She will use this after she completes Grammar Town. There are so many different activities to choose from with this one. We will be choosing those that look the most fun and the most helpful. (Yes - this might overlap some with IEW - but the approaches are different and like I said, she needs the constant review.)
Practice Town: Last year I purchased the student books for each princess. This year, I am going to be including this exercise during our meeting times. I only purchased the teacher's manual and will be dictating the sentence to them. Then they will be working through the four level analysis.
Fix It! Grammar - Tom Sawyer: This will be an additional grammar exercise. Princess S is a very good writer as far as creativity - but her mechanics and usage need some real work. I am hoping that this will help her become more conscious these aspects in her own writing.
McCall Crabbs Book B: We will be continuing this exercise this year. They will complete it during our half hour meeting time. They will be alternating between this and Practice Town. We may need to double up for about three weeks spread out through the year in order to finish.
Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons (IEW): This will be done with a friend's sixth grader. I will be teaching my oldest two princesses along with her third DD, and she will take my youngest two princesses with her youngest DD to do the Tapestry LG literature book and a craft. I really like the looks of this program and am hoping that Princess D will spur my two princesses to excellence. Princess D really enjoys writing and it's one of her favorite subjects I'm told.
Well, there you have it. Princess S's school year in a nutshell. I'm actually getting quite excited for it.
Showing posts with label Tapestry of Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tapestry of Grace. Show all posts
5/28/11
What I've Learned From 3 Years of Tapestry of Grace
I just finished my third year of TOG. I did year one during the 2008/2009 school year. Princess E was UG, Princess S was LG (though she did read many things on her own), Princess L was three turning four and Princess M was one year old. I only glanced at the Teacher's Notes most week, preferring to get what I needed to know from reading many of the girls books a week before they did. It was just more interesting and easier that way. We did maps the easy way - I gave them the teacher map and they copied in the answers. They didn't color the maps unless it was necessary for understanding. We did several cookie dough maps, several hands on projects and that was all I could handle. During the 2009/2010 year, I started Princess L in preschool (which was really MFW K done over two weeks per lesson) and that made me busier. We did year two. The big changes were few. We added in The Story of the World, which I purchased the audio CDs for and we listened to them over lunch. Because I was busier with Princess L, Princess S did the LG reading on her own. Princess E did three units at the UG level and then transitioned to some D level work that last unit. We did a few hands on projects, not as many as I would have liked, and called it good. I began to see how unprepared Princess E was for the D level. I began to see some skills that needed to be built up.
For the 2010/2011 year, I decided to skip year three in order to join a TOG co-op that was a half hour away. Princess E did full time D level, Princess S did UG level work, and though I intended to do some LG with Princess L, I just didn't have time. Princess L did MFW 1st Grade. Princess E and I struggled, all year long, with the Socratic Discussions that are done at the D level. She fought the work load - whining that she couldn't find the answers in her reading and not reading for understanding but reading to get Mom off my back and have her free time. I grew weary of the argument. Needless to say, I realize that I've got some more work to do in order to get Princess S ready to transition to D in another year.
Next year we will again be doing year one. Both Princess E and Princess S seem to remember many of the facts they learned the first year. Actually, I'm kind of surprised by that. It tells me that they were probably reading and understanding more than they let on. One thing I did then, that I am planning to continue now, is something I learned from MFW. That is the concept of the book basket. When I went to the library to pick up the books I had reserved, I would look at the call numbers and go to those sections. I would pick up other books in those sections that looked interesting. Then I kept them in the library basket. I didn't assign those books, but inevitably, the girls would pick them up and read them. I think the majority of their learning came from the reading they didn't have to do. But, since the books had the facts that were deemed important on the Threads pages, I was fine with that.
Here are some of my learned strategies. First, the LG level is all about the fun. I'm planning to make sure I get to the History Core book each week. I plan to read it with Princess L and have her narrate back to me - a la Charlotte Mason - and do one of the LG Response Pages for the book. I have the History Scribe books, and I will pick out one or two that go with the threads for the week to have her copy and draw a picture for. If I have the History In Depth book, or if it looks interesting to me and our library has it, I may add that in if we have a lighter week. I want to make sure to get in at least one hands on project every other week with Princess L and Princess M. And instead of doing the paper maps at this stage, we're going to do one cookie dough map per unit. I also have a map skills workbook that I purchased from Sam's Club years ago that I will be using with Princess L.
Second, for Princess S, this will be her last year at the UG level. I have identified some skills that I want to build up so that she is able to transition to the D level by the end of the year. I plan to have her do a KWO - a la IEW - for her History Core book each week. She is going to fight this - but I think that it is a skill that will help her to find the important facts in her reading. She has had great trouble with that this past year. She will narrate from her KWO what she has learned. For the History In Depth books, I will not require the KWO, but I will require her to narrate the book to me, and complete some type of response page. I will be using the History Scribe pages for her as well, more for the fact that she needs the handwriting practice, but she might as well practice on something that has meaning. I am considering having her do some of the D level literature books. She certainly can read at that level, and I think she would have an easier time transitioning in this area than learning to do the AQ/TQ questions and discussions. That would give us less to have to deal with next year. I won't have her do all of them, but I will have her do at least two D level books per unit.
For Princess E, this will be her second full year at the D level. Next year, she will be doing the LLC for her history discussion. For the moment, I am planning on being one week ahead of the LLC for our reading. That way she is assured of getting her reading done. We run our TOG week from Friday to Thursday. Her online discussion day will be Wednesday. So she will have time on the weekend to catch up on anything that she is missing. If that proves to difficult for her, we can switch things up easily. I will be requiring her to do a KWO for her History Core as well. She will have to read the History In Depth, as there are often AQ/TQ questions from those as well. I'm debating whether to require the KWO for that as well, or just to have her narrate them to me. I will have her turn in her written AQ/TQs to me and look them over. She usually does these on her netbook as she can type much faster than she can handwrite. She won't have to do any copywork, but I will be adding in some dictation for both my elder princesses, as I have determined that their ability to listen and put down what they heard on paper is sorely lacking.
I have come to the conclusion that Charlotte Mason's idea of Reading, Narrating, Copywork and Dictation are all skills that my eldest two have been lacking. We are going to use her ideas at a much higher level next year. And I know how to focus my efforts with my little two in the future.
I've come to embrace the idea that TOG is a smorgasbord. There is so much there, but I just don't have time to do it all. I need to use the TOG materials as a springboard to build up the skills that my kids need, and how I use it will be determined by what skills they need. I also will worry a lot less about getting every thing in at the early years, and even with my older two, and instead focus on the Threads pages. If they can understand the two or three concepts I think are most important, I'll call it good. I'll worry less about whether we've completed all the SAPs we can, or whether we've read every book. Instead, I'm going to focus on their listening skills, and their ability to comprehend what they read and communicate it back to others.
For the 2010/2011 year, I decided to skip year three in order to join a TOG co-op that was a half hour away. Princess E did full time D level, Princess S did UG level work, and though I intended to do some LG with Princess L, I just didn't have time. Princess L did MFW 1st Grade. Princess E and I struggled, all year long, with the Socratic Discussions that are done at the D level. She fought the work load - whining that she couldn't find the answers in her reading and not reading for understanding but reading to get Mom off my back and have her free time. I grew weary of the argument. Needless to say, I realize that I've got some more work to do in order to get Princess S ready to transition to D in another year.
Next year we will again be doing year one. Both Princess E and Princess S seem to remember many of the facts they learned the first year. Actually, I'm kind of surprised by that. It tells me that they were probably reading and understanding more than they let on. One thing I did then, that I am planning to continue now, is something I learned from MFW. That is the concept of the book basket. When I went to the library to pick up the books I had reserved, I would look at the call numbers and go to those sections. I would pick up other books in those sections that looked interesting. Then I kept them in the library basket. I didn't assign those books, but inevitably, the girls would pick them up and read them. I think the majority of their learning came from the reading they didn't have to do. But, since the books had the facts that were deemed important on the Threads pages, I was fine with that.
Here are some of my learned strategies. First, the LG level is all about the fun. I'm planning to make sure I get to the History Core book each week. I plan to read it with Princess L and have her narrate back to me - a la Charlotte Mason - and do one of the LG Response Pages for the book. I have the History Scribe books, and I will pick out one or two that go with the threads for the week to have her copy and draw a picture for. If I have the History In Depth book, or if it looks interesting to me and our library has it, I may add that in if we have a lighter week. I want to make sure to get in at least one hands on project every other week with Princess L and Princess M. And instead of doing the paper maps at this stage, we're going to do one cookie dough map per unit. I also have a map skills workbook that I purchased from Sam's Club years ago that I will be using with Princess L.
Second, for Princess S, this will be her last year at the UG level. I have identified some skills that I want to build up so that she is able to transition to the D level by the end of the year. I plan to have her do a KWO - a la IEW - for her History Core book each week. She is going to fight this - but I think that it is a skill that will help her to find the important facts in her reading. She has had great trouble with that this past year. She will narrate from her KWO what she has learned. For the History In Depth books, I will not require the KWO, but I will require her to narrate the book to me, and complete some type of response page. I will be using the History Scribe pages for her as well, more for the fact that she needs the handwriting practice, but she might as well practice on something that has meaning. I am considering having her do some of the D level literature books. She certainly can read at that level, and I think she would have an easier time transitioning in this area than learning to do the AQ/TQ questions and discussions. That would give us less to have to deal with next year. I won't have her do all of them, but I will have her do at least two D level books per unit.
For Princess E, this will be her second full year at the D level. Next year, she will be doing the LLC for her history discussion. For the moment, I am planning on being one week ahead of the LLC for our reading. That way she is assured of getting her reading done. We run our TOG week from Friday to Thursday. Her online discussion day will be Wednesday. So she will have time on the weekend to catch up on anything that she is missing. If that proves to difficult for her, we can switch things up easily. I will be requiring her to do a KWO for her History Core as well. She will have to read the History In Depth, as there are often AQ/TQ questions from those as well. I'm debating whether to require the KWO for that as well, or just to have her narrate them to me. I will have her turn in her written AQ/TQs to me and look them over. She usually does these on her netbook as she can type much faster than she can handwrite. She won't have to do any copywork, but I will be adding in some dictation for both my elder princesses, as I have determined that their ability to listen and put down what they heard on paper is sorely lacking.
I have come to the conclusion that Charlotte Mason's idea of Reading, Narrating, Copywork and Dictation are all skills that my eldest two have been lacking. We are going to use her ideas at a much higher level next year. And I know how to focus my efforts with my little two in the future.
I've come to embrace the idea that TOG is a smorgasbord. There is so much there, but I just don't have time to do it all. I need to use the TOG materials as a springboard to build up the skills that my kids need, and how I use it will be determined by what skills they need. I also will worry a lot less about getting every thing in at the early years, and even with my older two, and instead focus on the Threads pages. If they can understand the two or three concepts I think are most important, I'll call it good. I'll worry less about whether we've completed all the SAPs we can, or whether we've read every book. Instead, I'm going to focus on their listening skills, and their ability to comprehend what they read and communicate it back to others.
7/23/10
Getting Ready - Part One
Well, we're on the countdown for the start of our school year on August 9th. I cannot believe how fast this summer has slipped away. I still have a few things left to do, but I'm almost done. Here is where my list stands so far:
Make spreadsheet with library request datesMake and print schedules for everyonePurchase bookshelf for home school room- Clean and organize home school room
Make copies of phonics gamesGet MCT books spiral boundGet Latin books put into page protectorsPurchase school supplies - pens, pencils, markers, paint, glue, etc.Print TOG SAPs- Organize recipes and menus for meal planning (I'm beginning a kids cook night where the older two princesses will help me with a meal, so I want to decide which recipes are simple and easy for them)
Make handwriting books out of this year's Awana verses- Finish summer unit study on the Civil War
- Finish summer science chapters on the planets
6/18/10
Plans for 2010/2011 School Year
I decided that it would be helpful to do an entry on what we are going to be doing for next year. I'll break it down by subject.
Math
We will continue with Math-U-See. Princess L will finish lessons 19-30 of Primer and continue on to Alpha. Princess S will finish lessons 21-30 of Gamma and continue on to Delta. Princess E will finish lessons 21-30 of Delta and continue on to Epsilon.
Science
We were given three books in the God's Design For Heaven and Earth series by Answers in Genesis. (This series has been reworked and we have the old version without a CD-ROM.) We started working through the first book during our spring break this year, and will work through the summer to finish it up by the time we begin in the fall. We will then do the second book during our regular school break times.
Humanities (History, Literature, Church/Bible History, Fine Arts)
We will continue to use Tapestry of Grace. Princess E will be D level (dialectic level for you non-TOGers), Princess S will be UG (upper grammar) and I will read a select few LG (lower grammar) books with Princess L, based on what is available at our library. We will be skipping year three in order to line up with a co-op near us that will be doing year four. Both of the older princesses will do a brief unit study this summer on the civil war and reconstruction, as these ideas will be central to much of year four. I am excited to meet with some awesome women who love TOG as much as I do. It will be a bit time consuming to pack everyone up, eat lunch in the van, and travel to co-op every other week. But is is an experience I think we desperately need. The co-op is small, but there is room to grow. If you are interested in TOG, please click the link on the right to check it out.
Music
Both princesses will continue with their piano lessons. Princess E is hoping to qualify for a scholarship to take vocal training lessons at a local music school. Princess L really wants to start piano this year but she has to wait one more year like her sisters.
Writing
I am planning to have the oldest two princesses begin IEW this year. I purchased TWSS and SWI-A for them. I haven't figured out yet how we will work these into the schedule, as we really need a block of time without interruptions from the little two. Perhaps we'll just have to set aside nap time for Princess M and find something for Princess L to do.
Spelling
We didn't do spelling this year. (Blush!) This is mostly because Princess E and Princess S seem to have DH's and my natural spelling ability. But I was very intrigued by the Pioneer Woman's description of how she does spelling with her kids, and am planning to adapt it to fit our schedule. I will dig out my copy of Spelling Power and use those lists to do a spelling bee three times a week (with the option to par down to twice a week if it becomes necessary) and let them earn small things like M&Ms, Skittles or Pretzels.
Grammar
Princess S will be doing Grade 4 of Growing With Grammar. I love the simplicity of this series. Princess S has attention issues and tends to get distracted by colors and pictures. This lovely book has no color and no pictures. And it is so simple, most of the time she can read the handbook and do the workbook without any help from me at all.
Latin
Princess E will continue with Latin, but she will be switching over to Latin For Children. We had some issues with our computer speakers not working and I was not able to get the files downloaded to a CD. So while she can read the first year Latin words, she can not pronounce nor understand spoken Latin. So this series will be a blessing. There is both a CD and a DVD.
Handwriting/Copywork
For Princesses L and S, I used my StartWrite software to make copybooks out of their Awana verses for next year. This way they are getting double practice every day. I haven't decided if I will do one for Princess E, but I am leaning towards having her work on keyboarding skills, as she will be using the computer a bit more this year. I also made a Presidents book for the older two princesses. For each president and first lady there is a facts page for them to fill in and two pages of practice with a famous quote from each president and some of the first ladies.
Phonics
For Princess L, I will be using Winter Promise Advanced K. I'm a little concerned because she has only really worked with the short sounds of the letters. She does know, thanks to the Leap Frog videos and toys, that many of the letters have other sounds and what those sounds are. She just hasn't learned any of the rules for their usage. I may need to take a little longer than the three scheduled weeks of sounds review before we dive into this. But it is a lot of hands on and really great simple readers, so I know she'll have fun with it.
Language Arts
Though I've already listed curriculum considered LA, I was dismayed at some bad habits, bad attitudes and "uncreative thinking" that was rearing its ugly head by the end of the year. To that end, I researched some things to add to address some of these specifics. Therefore, both of the older princesses will be doing one of the exercises from McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading each day. The goal is to practice reading for meaning rather than to simply finish the assignment as fast as possible. I will also be having Princess E begin with Dynamic Literacy's Foundations 1 book. She will do one exercise per day. Finally, I purchased the teacher's books for the first level of Michael Clay Thomas's Language Arts program. This program has a unique way of presenting grammar, writing, and vocabulary using challenging passages from classical works. I believe that the first level will pretty much be review for both of them. But I think it will help to pull together the various areas of LA which they are pretty good at individually, but struggle when they must put them together in, say, a writing assignment. The methodology is similar to TOG in that you read the beautifully and creatively done stories together, then lead them in a dialectic discussion about the various elements taught in the story.
Princess M
To be honest, I do not know where I will find the energy, with all of the above, to do very much with this little one. I'm leaning towards the "better late than early" idea with her. I purchased the Letter of the Week activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I plan to print out a few activities for each letter and put them in either a ziplock or a file folder, depending on the activity, and pulling out one or two a day when I need her occupied. I also plan to schedule each of the older princesses to do "school" with her for twenty minutes a day each.
Scheduling my crew is always a challenge. Whenever we have tried to implement a schedule a-la-Managers of Their Homes, we all end up frustrated and in tears. We tend to do better by listing the order of our activities, but not expecting to do anything at a particular time, with the exception of a few things like piano, lunch and co-op. Princess S cannot work when given a time frame to work in. She does better if I challenge her to try to finish something in x amount of time and give her a food reward if she accomplishes it. Princess E can finish most everything in a time frame, but her accuracy and creativity suffer greatly as a trade off. Princess L still needs me with her at all times. Princess M will tear a room apart in seconds if not adequately monitored. So I struggle with how to get everything in from day to day. Last year, I printed out a daily task schedule from HST+ for Princess E. She had no say in what assignments she had each day, but she was allowed to complete them in whatever order she pleased. Princess S was using the workbox method. I changed how I did them halfway through the year. She really disliked this method and wants to go back to a paper schedule. Therefore, I will attempt to do with her what I did with Princess E last year. For Princess E, I purchased this planner. One of the things that TOG stresses is teaching your children to take responsibility for their own learning by having them schedule their work themselves. We started this in the last unit to some extent this past year. My plan is to give her a laminated card with the target days for certain subjects. This is necessary because I have to be able to plan out times for correcting their work. For her reading assignments, I will print a list on Thurdays for the following week. She needs to plan on doing some reading on the weekends. (I know she will be devastated by this, but she's beginning middle school and this would be expected in a public school setting.) She can decide how to complete the reading assignments and put them in her planner, and will be expected to have everything read by Tuesday evening. She will have to work on her AQ/TQ questions on Wednesday and Thursday for our discussion on Friday. I will be having a daily meeting with the older two princesess to go through their assignment goals, give them their checked assignments needing corrections, and the McCalls reading test. My goal is to have these meetings last 10 to 15 minutes tops. While I am meeting with the one, the other will have their time with Princess M.
So that is how I've spent all my thinking energy and time for the last two months. I'll post another time on how we have been doing our Bible time, as I plan to continue with that method for now. When I finish going through our school room and get some badly needed bookshelves, I'll also post some pictures.
Math
We will continue with Math-U-See. Princess L will finish lessons 19-30 of Primer and continue on to Alpha. Princess S will finish lessons 21-30 of Gamma and continue on to Delta. Princess E will finish lessons 21-30 of Delta and continue on to Epsilon.
Science
We were given three books in the God's Design For Heaven and Earth series by Answers in Genesis. (This series has been reworked and we have the old version without a CD-ROM.) We started working through the first book during our spring break this year, and will work through the summer to finish it up by the time we begin in the fall. We will then do the second book during our regular school break times.
Humanities (History, Literature, Church/Bible History, Fine Arts)
We will continue to use Tapestry of Grace. Princess E will be D level (dialectic level for you non-TOGers), Princess S will be UG (upper grammar) and I will read a select few LG (lower grammar) books with Princess L, based on what is available at our library. We will be skipping year three in order to line up with a co-op near us that will be doing year four. Both of the older princesses will do a brief unit study this summer on the civil war and reconstruction, as these ideas will be central to much of year four. I am excited to meet with some awesome women who love TOG as much as I do. It will be a bit time consuming to pack everyone up, eat lunch in the van, and travel to co-op every other week. But is is an experience I think we desperately need. The co-op is small, but there is room to grow. If you are interested in TOG, please click the link on the right to check it out.
Music
Both princesses will continue with their piano lessons. Princess E is hoping to qualify for a scholarship to take vocal training lessons at a local music school. Princess L really wants to start piano this year but she has to wait one more year like her sisters.
Writing
I am planning to have the oldest two princesses begin IEW this year. I purchased TWSS and SWI-A for them. I haven't figured out yet how we will work these into the schedule, as we really need a block of time without interruptions from the little two. Perhaps we'll just have to set aside nap time for Princess M and find something for Princess L to do.
Spelling
We didn't do spelling this year. (Blush!) This is mostly because Princess E and Princess S seem to have DH's and my natural spelling ability. But I was very intrigued by the Pioneer Woman's description of how she does spelling with her kids, and am planning to adapt it to fit our schedule. I will dig out my copy of Spelling Power and use those lists to do a spelling bee three times a week (with the option to par down to twice a week if it becomes necessary) and let them earn small things like M&Ms, Skittles or Pretzels.
Grammar
Princess S will be doing Grade 4 of Growing With Grammar. I love the simplicity of this series. Princess S has attention issues and tends to get distracted by colors and pictures. This lovely book has no color and no pictures. And it is so simple, most of the time she can read the handbook and do the workbook without any help from me at all.
Latin
Princess E will continue with Latin, but she will be switching over to Latin For Children. We had some issues with our computer speakers not working and I was not able to get the files downloaded to a CD. So while she can read the first year Latin words, she can not pronounce nor understand spoken Latin. So this series will be a blessing. There is both a CD and a DVD.
Handwriting/Copywork
For Princesses L and S, I used my StartWrite software to make copybooks out of their Awana verses for next year. This way they are getting double practice every day. I haven't decided if I will do one for Princess E, but I am leaning towards having her work on keyboarding skills, as she will be using the computer a bit more this year. I also made a Presidents book for the older two princesses. For each president and first lady there is a facts page for them to fill in and two pages of practice with a famous quote from each president and some of the first ladies.
Phonics
For Princess L, I will be using Winter Promise Advanced K. I'm a little concerned because she has only really worked with the short sounds of the letters. She does know, thanks to the Leap Frog videos and toys, that many of the letters have other sounds and what those sounds are. She just hasn't learned any of the rules for their usage. I may need to take a little longer than the three scheduled weeks of sounds review before we dive into this. But it is a lot of hands on and really great simple readers, so I know she'll have fun with it.
Language Arts
Though I've already listed curriculum considered LA, I was dismayed at some bad habits, bad attitudes and "uncreative thinking" that was rearing its ugly head by the end of the year. To that end, I researched some things to add to address some of these specifics. Therefore, both of the older princesses will be doing one of the exercises from McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading each day. The goal is to practice reading for meaning rather than to simply finish the assignment as fast as possible. I will also be having Princess E begin with Dynamic Literacy's Foundations 1 book. She will do one exercise per day. Finally, I purchased the teacher's books for the first level of Michael Clay Thomas's Language Arts program. This program has a unique way of presenting grammar, writing, and vocabulary using challenging passages from classical works. I believe that the first level will pretty much be review for both of them. But I think it will help to pull together the various areas of LA which they are pretty good at individually, but struggle when they must put them together in, say, a writing assignment. The methodology is similar to TOG in that you read the beautifully and creatively done stories together, then lead them in a dialectic discussion about the various elements taught in the story.
Princess M
To be honest, I do not know where I will find the energy, with all of the above, to do very much with this little one. I'm leaning towards the "better late than early" idea with her. I purchased the Letter of the Week activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I plan to print out a few activities for each letter and put them in either a ziplock or a file folder, depending on the activity, and pulling out one or two a day when I need her occupied. I also plan to schedule each of the older princesses to do "school" with her for twenty minutes a day each.
Scheduling my crew is always a challenge. Whenever we have tried to implement a schedule a-la-Managers of Their Homes, we all end up frustrated and in tears. We tend to do better by listing the order of our activities, but not expecting to do anything at a particular time, with the exception of a few things like piano, lunch and co-op. Princess S cannot work when given a time frame to work in. She does better if I challenge her to try to finish something in x amount of time and give her a food reward if she accomplishes it. Princess E can finish most everything in a time frame, but her accuracy and creativity suffer greatly as a trade off. Princess L still needs me with her at all times. Princess M will tear a room apart in seconds if not adequately monitored. So I struggle with how to get everything in from day to day. Last year, I printed out a daily task schedule from HST+ for Princess E. She had no say in what assignments she had each day, but she was allowed to complete them in whatever order she pleased. Princess S was using the workbox method. I changed how I did them halfway through the year. She really disliked this method and wants to go back to a paper schedule. Therefore, I will attempt to do with her what I did with Princess E last year. For Princess E, I purchased this planner. One of the things that TOG stresses is teaching your children to take responsibility for their own learning by having them schedule their work themselves. We started this in the last unit to some extent this past year. My plan is to give her a laminated card with the target days for certain subjects. This is necessary because I have to be able to plan out times for correcting their work. For her reading assignments, I will print a list on Thurdays for the following week. She needs to plan on doing some reading on the weekends. (I know she will be devastated by this, but she's beginning middle school and this would be expected in a public school setting.) She can decide how to complete the reading assignments and put them in her planner, and will be expected to have everything read by Tuesday evening. She will have to work on her AQ/TQ questions on Wednesday and Thursday for our discussion on Friday. I will be having a daily meeting with the older two princesess to go through their assignment goals, give them their checked assignments needing corrections, and the McCalls reading test. My goal is to have these meetings last 10 to 15 minutes tops. While I am meeting with the one, the other will have their time with Princess M.
So that is how I've spent all my thinking energy and time for the last two months. I'll post another time on how we have been doing our Bible time, as I plan to continue with that method for now. When I finish going through our school room and get some badly needed bookshelves, I'll also post some pictures.
4/7/10
This One's For You - Pam
So I finally got to meet my friend Pam. We "met" in an online prayer/support group for TOG. But today, she had a layover at our airport. So I picked her up and took her to lunch before her next flight. It was so awesome! It shows how God has His hand in every aspect of our lives - even in our online friendships. Pam told me I needed to post more photos - so here is the photo of us. (It's small, but if you click it you can see the photo larger on Photobucket.)
2/21/10
How To Decide Which TOG Books to Buy
This has been a busy week for me, not that it is reflected in what we did. Our annual homeschool convention is coming up, so I've had to look at what I need for next year. The steps I took are as follows:
- Determine what books can be gotten through our local library or inter-library loan. (We have an awesome ILL system here!)
- Determine, of the books that are available through the library, which would be better to purchase based on the length of use versus the number of copies available. With TOG, if the book is used for literature, and I need it for longer than two weeks, I will place it on my list to consider purchasing it. Or if there is only one or two copies, and I need it for longer than three weeks, I will consider purchasing it as well.
- Of the books that we do not have, I look at how many weeks it will be used. If I will be used for more than two weeks, I will place it on my list to consider purchasing it.
- I will then look at the books not available that are one or two weeks in length. First I will look to see if there is an alternate book for that level available from the library. If it is not, I will see if the book a level below or above is available. If the level below is available, then I will put that on my list with a note that I should look for a few other books from the library with the same call number to fill in the blanks. If there is still no luck, I will place it on my list to consider purchasing it.
6/4/09
How I Used TOG This Year
Thanks to Rhonda for asking this question. Hopefully this will help out anyone who is thinking about TOG, or looking for more information on it. Tapestry of Grace is a curriculum covering a multitude of subjects (the humanities) and written for kindergarten through 12th grade students. TOG has the reputation of being very daunting for those who first look at it. That's because they need to have enough meat for the 12th graders. But the creator, Marcia Sommerville, is always reminding people that we are to take from it what works for each of our students as individuals. If you have a kindergartner and all you are able to fit into your day is the reading assignments done as read-alouds - then that is what you do with that student. But, that child is then better able to understand when you are talking with your 2nd grader, your sixth grader and your 10th grader about what they are learning in school.
I am using TOG Year 1 Redesigned. This is our first year using this curriculum. I have an almost 10 year old DD who is doing UG (upper grammar) work, and an 8 year old DD who is doing LG (lower grammar) work. (I also have a 4 yr old DD and an 18 month old DD who will take over the house if not occupied.) It is my plan to have the UG do part time D (dialectic) work the last half of the year next year to ease her into doing it full time the following year. I wanted to do the same with the LG but have some ADD issues with my LG girl, and as such there are many things we’d like to do that we just cannot get to with either of them. But, here is what we have been doing so far this year.
Geography: We have been simply using the Map Aids disc. I have a book with all the teacher’s maps printed out. They get out their student copy and simply copy down the information. If we had more time, I would probably incorporate some of the maps available at Enchanted Learning for these lower levels as I think it would be more interesting for them. We have done several cookie dough maps as well this year. They really enjoy these.
Vocabulary: We started out the year going through the words and deciding which ones they knew, and which needed to be looked up in the dictionary. This proved too tedious, however, so we instead moved to looking them up online at the Merriam-Webster, and doing a cut and paste. But, they really weren’t learning the words they didn’t know this way. Then I discovered Quizlet. Both the girls and I absolutely love this! I set up my own account that is not accessible to anyone else, as I knew that posting the words online would be a violation of the copy write laws. I was able to upload the words from the Evaluations CD to my dashboard. My girls go into the dashboard, pick the week we are on, and are given the words and definitions to look at. Then there are virtual flashcards that come up to allow them a chance to try to remember the words. Next are two different games they can play with the words. Finally, they take a test on the words. They can print the words out as either flashcards or a word list. We do the latter, and then they cut out the list and tape it into their vocabulary notebooks.
Important People: We have been doing this as copy work. I printed out the list from the Evaluations CD and then have a list, printed for each unit, with the weekly people on it. They look up the person and copy the information into their important people notebooks. I am considering putting these on Quizlet as well, or perhaps alternating with the copy work method, for next year.
SAPs (student activity pages): Some people make neat, bound notebooks out of these. I don't. I simply print out the sheets from the Loom and keep them in a central folder. Each week I pull out their papers and put them in smaller paper folders. We don’t do many of the activities on these for lack of time – ADD issues – but I hope to incorporate more next year. My UG student often is required to do the Bible Questions written out on notebook paper. At the end of the week I take all their loose papers and they get put into a large one for each girl.
Scheduling: TOG is designed to have the child, increasingly by age, do their own schedule. However, neither of my girls is able to do that yet. So I use HST Plus to fill in the assignments that they have on various days. They are allowed to pick what order they do them in. We are currently operating on a five day a week plan, however it is my goal to get them to work ahead on their own so that we have Fridays free. I eventually hope to have them look at their week on the computer (we have DE now) and fill in their schedules themselves, but we have to conquer the ADD monster first.
Writing: We are currently using Writing Aids, which I, as an English major, really like. I am planning to adjust their writing assignments for next year, however, so that they do their writing for the week on last week’s topic. They cannot adequately do their rough draft when they have not thoroughly fleshed out the topic, which sometimes does not happen until Friday. So, I think next year I’ll just keep the writing a week behind to give them more of a chance to reflect and try to find their own answers to the topic throughout the week.
If you are interested in TOG, I would suggest you first try out the three week samples. Follow the widgets on the side to take you there. If those get you more interested (and if money is tight) then I'd suggest you try to buy a used year plan as these may be resold if you decide it just won't work for you. There are many benefits to the DE (digital edition). You will always have the most updated edition. You will always have access to it in case of fire, computer damage, toddlers with permanent markers, etc. You can get a network license so that more than one student can access stuff at once. But, the disadvantage, at least in the eyes of some, is that you cannot resell it. I bought a used print copy. DE came out halfway through the year. I decided to switchover because I'm committed to using this curriculum with four kids all the way through (binding any currently unforeseen issues.) Therefore, the actual cost per student for me is $3.96 per year. (I bought DE at it's low introductory price last January.) You cannot beat that! And should my children decide to homeschool my grandchildren, the cost goes even lower.
Hopefully, if you came here with intrigue to begin with, you want to check this out further. Please click through my widget (so that I can get credit for any purchase you might make,) to bring you to the Tapestry website. Happy Homeschooling!
I am using TOG Year 1 Redesigned. This is our first year using this curriculum. I have an almost 10 year old DD who is doing UG (upper grammar) work, and an 8 year old DD who is doing LG (lower grammar) work. (I also have a 4 yr old DD and an 18 month old DD who will take over the house if not occupied.) It is my plan to have the UG do part time D (dialectic) work the last half of the year next year to ease her into doing it full time the following year. I wanted to do the same with the LG but have some ADD issues with my LG girl, and as such there are many things we’d like to do that we just cannot get to with either of them. But, here is what we have been doing so far this year.
Geography: We have been simply using the Map Aids disc. I have a book with all the teacher’s maps printed out. They get out their student copy and simply copy down the information. If we had more time, I would probably incorporate some of the maps available at Enchanted Learning for these lower levels as I think it would be more interesting for them. We have done several cookie dough maps as well this year. They really enjoy these.
Vocabulary: We started out the year going through the words and deciding which ones they knew, and which needed to be looked up in the dictionary. This proved too tedious, however, so we instead moved to looking them up online at the Merriam-Webster, and doing a cut and paste. But, they really weren’t learning the words they didn’t know this way. Then I discovered Quizlet. Both the girls and I absolutely love this! I set up my own account that is not accessible to anyone else, as I knew that posting the words online would be a violation of the copy write laws. I was able to upload the words from the Evaluations CD to my dashboard. My girls go into the dashboard, pick the week we are on, and are given the words and definitions to look at. Then there are virtual flashcards that come up to allow them a chance to try to remember the words. Next are two different games they can play with the words. Finally, they take a test on the words. They can print the words out as either flashcards or a word list. We do the latter, and then they cut out the list and tape it into their vocabulary notebooks.
Important People: We have been doing this as copy work. I printed out the list from the Evaluations CD and then have a list, printed for each unit, with the weekly people on it. They look up the person and copy the information into their important people notebooks. I am considering putting these on Quizlet as well, or perhaps alternating with the copy work method, for next year.
SAPs (student activity pages): Some people make neat, bound notebooks out of these. I don't. I simply print out the sheets from the Loom and keep them in a central folder. Each week I pull out their papers and put them in smaller paper folders. We don’t do many of the activities on these for lack of time – ADD issues – but I hope to incorporate more next year. My UG student often is required to do the Bible Questions written out on notebook paper. At the end of the week I take all their loose papers and they get put into a large one for each girl.
Scheduling: TOG is designed to have the child, increasingly by age, do their own schedule. However, neither of my girls is able to do that yet. So I use HST Plus to fill in the assignments that they have on various days. They are allowed to pick what order they do them in. We are currently operating on a five day a week plan, however it is my goal to get them to work ahead on their own so that we have Fridays free. I eventually hope to have them look at their week on the computer (we have DE now) and fill in their schedules themselves, but we have to conquer the ADD monster first.
Writing: We are currently using Writing Aids, which I, as an English major, really like. I am planning to adjust their writing assignments for next year, however, so that they do their writing for the week on last week’s topic. They cannot adequately do their rough draft when they have not thoroughly fleshed out the topic, which sometimes does not happen until Friday. So, I think next year I’ll just keep the writing a week behind to give them more of a chance to reflect and try to find their own answers to the topic throughout the week.
If you are interested in TOG, I would suggest you first try out the three week samples. Follow the widgets on the side to take you there. If those get you more interested (and if money is tight) then I'd suggest you try to buy a used year plan as these may be resold if you decide it just won't work for you. There are many benefits to the DE (digital edition). You will always have the most updated edition. You will always have access to it in case of fire, computer damage, toddlers with permanent markers, etc. You can get a network license so that more than one student can access stuff at once. But, the disadvantage, at least in the eyes of some, is that you cannot resell it. I bought a used print copy. DE came out halfway through the year. I decided to switchover because I'm committed to using this curriculum with four kids all the way through (binding any currently unforeseen issues.) Therefore, the actual cost per student for me is $3.96 per year. (I bought DE at it's low introductory price last January.) You cannot beat that! And should my children decide to homeschool my grandchildren, the cost goes even lower.
Hopefully, if you came here with intrigue to begin with, you want to check this out further. Please click through my widget (so that I can get credit for any purchase you might make,) to bring you to the Tapestry website. Happy Homeschooling!
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