Mrs. Swann's Homeschool

Hey all,

A bunch of people have asked what Rah & I do to maintain his academic stand over the summer. Well I've decided to record the math & reading lesson that we completed today.*

The math lesson was his first attempt at addition, a skill that is going to be examined more so in early 1st grade - at the level you are going to see. Although he can identify/count numbers through 100, he has a weakness in writing numbers (those darn tricky 3's and 5's) so this lesson will support that skill. He has also mastered adding two groups of numbers with the use of pictures but has not been exposed to the use of other strategies such as using fingers and adding in his head (a higher level skill). The use of the the number "0" and writing addition sentences in of itself will also be introduced. So the math lesson although fun, serve to expose him to a variety of skills while allowing me to informally assess where we need to focus.

Our record sheet!

Swann Lane - c the gutters?

OK, the competition is on!

Rah was excited when he knocked down 8 pins!

Now he has to record it - Swann Lanes is not tech savvy, lol

OK, Daddy's up!

Rah helps daddy with his scorecard!

Robert got a STRIKE!!!

Daddy refused to let Rah win - but his addition skills, sentences, and handwriting showed great progress

In reading, the Dolch Kindergarten sight words are read. The Dolch sight words/high frequency words are a list of words for each grade level through the primary grades that if known increases fluency in reading by decreasing the students need to decode thus increasing comprehension. Before bedtime Rah & dad will generally read a story comprised of many of the words. Afterwards Rah will retell the story using a certain skill i.e. sequencing (what happened first, next, then, and last) and he will also story map the story (retell the title, author/illustrator, characters, setting, and summarize). Some of these areas need support, but we've been doing this for sometime now so he basically does it automatically. The ability to retell a story is a measurable standard and skill that is often taken for granted. We also may address character traits if we had a particularly mean or funny character and compare and contrast them to one of Rah's friends or even one of you! HA HA HA

From 50-75% of all words used in school books, library books, newspapers, and magazines are in the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary of 220 words (preschool thru Grade 3). The Dolch word list is made up of "service words" (pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and verbs) which cannot be learned through the use of pictures. http://www.kidzone.ws/dolch/kindergarten.htm

Both skills are going to be built upon throughout his academic career and serve as building blocks or a foundation for future learning. The more that these basic functions are made to feel common place the more easily he will be able to transfer them into higher thinking skills in his future academics - when that darn standardized testing comes into play, but don't get me started on my views of that!

Nonetheless, it is my belief that the stronger foundation Robbie has, the better able he will be to apply skills critically. My views were reinforced after I was informed that it was not necessary for me to prepare him for college just yet and I then replied that I understand that some children must be average but my child has the aptitude to be more and that conversation ended accordingly...

However I must admit, exposing him early and subsequently having him master skills that are not yet being taught in the classroom can had an adverse effect, such as creating a climate of inattentiveness (as he already knows the materials presented). Yet, in my professional opinion a competent educator will differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. i.e. if a student is below grade level an educator will alter (differentiate) lessons to meet that students' needs, thus if a student is above grade level an educator SHOULD do the same.

Now, that does not always happen unfortunately and if as a parent you are not diligent you will encounter a phenomenon I refer to as "dumbing down". This is when your child loses all growth beyond what is expected of the school's curriculum or classroom teacher. As a parent and educator I believe the fault then lies with the parent, because if you feel your child is not being offered the education desired, YOU need to step in and make it happen. That can of course take many forms but you get my drift.

Above all things, you are your childs' #1 advocate and the welfare of your child ultimately lies with YOU. So I am fully prepared (and I did the same thing with my first child, prior to entering the education field formally) to supplement him as I see fit. And that's just what I do.

And off of the soap box I now step...

Math Lesson

Reading - Dolch Sight Words **

*Lessons are no more than 20-minutes because Robbie's attention span is limited, other children or older children may be able to handle more. Lessons are also generally more structured. We are in the same spot each day, free from distractions - he is rewarded by comparing his growth and mistakes are not seen as failures but as normal occurrences of the learning process.

**AND....I figured out what was wrong with my camera! I had mistakenly changed the video mode to Web format which only allows short segments of recordings based on some internal function versus the HD format which allows me to record indefinitely, my bad!