Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Math

So far, I love our home school journey.
It is amazing; watching my children learn and discover,
seeing the world through their eyes.

But we do have our moments.
Lest anyone think every day is a walk in the park,
I present to you exhibit A;

Camden...

Sporting the classic "waggoner" pout,
{deemed ever so affectionately by my husband.}
because he didn't want to count/write by twos to 60 in his Math workbook.
"It takes too looooong!" (aka, all of 2 minutes)



Along with all of his wonderful, easy going traits
Camden has received a laid back, pokey, {and yes, LAZY!} spirit.
Something we're working hard on...much to his chagrin.


Thankfully, he's not quite as stubborn as he can be lazy
and Mama knows how to break him.
See that smile he's hiding?
Careful, buddy, a smile might crack that frown you worked so hard to accomplish!
Time to wipe the tears...
And get to work...





And, yes, it really is fun...this learning business!

Geesh!
And all because I wanted to show you how proud I am of this boy!
He finished his first 80 lesson Math workbook last week and is now starting on his second.
I chose Horizons because it was what Sonlight offered in their Newcomer package.
And I have fallen in love with it. It is amazing, the material we are covering this year!
Counting, 1-100
Number recognition, all families to 100
Number writing, all families to 100
Number value
Number after/before/between, to 100
Place value, ones and tens
Addition, single digit to all families without regrouping
Subtraction, single digit from all families without regrouping
Money, recognition and value and use of
Time, digital, analog and written
Calendar, naming, writing and reading days of the week, months and seasons
Number theory, recognition of ordinal numbers, even and odd
Comparisons, of items and quantities
Direction and position
Graphs, read and complete bar graphs and pictographs
Measurement, reading length in inches and centimeters, perimeters in inches
Units of measure, identify and count cup, quart, gallon and liter
Fractions, recognize whole, 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4
Sequence, determine what comes next
And this is Kindergarten!
This is what they have to say about their method:
Using a spiral learning technique, children are first introduced to a concept and then asked to solve related and increasingly difficult problems over the course of several days or weeks. The concept then re-emerges in later exercises for a new concept. This frees up the children's minds and does not overwhelm them with too much information. They feel confident because they get to take steady, measured steps, and as they revisit concepts over time, they continually strengthen and reinforce their existing knowledge base.
And it really works!
Camden instinctively knows what he needs to do next and understands the concepts instantly.
They have even incorporated some reading and writing into the problems and he can virtually read all of the instructions on his own...
For instance, on the calendar, he can not only understand how it works but also read the months and days of the week.
So, if you're looking for a great Math program for your littles...I think I've found one! (;
(p.s. Isn't home schooling the coolest?! I mean, where else can you be spiderman while doing math?)

3 comments:

Shaggy said...

Are the smart ones always lazy? I have to work at anything I do, this guy barely has to try to do anything. His drawing is amazing!

The Chad Beck's said...

Ahhh, poor boy.
Kira and I LOVE Math time together, Bob Jones math sounds almost the exact same! The only thing I saw that was very much different then what you listed is she's doing a lot of adding up to 900's. Chad and I can't believe the stuff they teach at such a young age! It's almost scary for mama, not sure how many years I'll be able to keep up!
I never would have dreamt, me saying, " I too LOVE homeschooling!" ;)

Terah said...

Don't feel too badly for him...
It's all show!

I can't wait to see what they teach in 1st grade!

I'm thinking this (k) may be too advanced for Jude and Gwyneth for next year, so I think I may try the preschool level with them...