Tuesday, September 04, 2012

First Day of School and Curriculum Choices pt. 1

It is 12:15 p.m. on the first day of school, and I am giddy.  Giddy, I tell you!

You know what's awesome?  That planning things out actually helps to make them happen.  I made out a lesson plan in chart form for this first week back so that reading children could just look and see what was expected of them, and reading adults whose brains are fried from, I don't know, life and stuff, can also read and see what's on deck for the non-reading child.  And the 2 year old, who also thinks she's in kindergarten, can just pretend that one of the rows is for her.  Which it's not, but please don't tell her, okay?

Anyway, I keep intending to...

What's that?  Why am I blogging?

Because my hubby came home early from work, and we are basically FINISHED with the work we need to do, the remainder of which people will complete once said 2 year old is napping (or not napping but banging around in her room instead, depending on her mood)!  Yes.  I needed that exclamation point.  You know that virtually zero days in the future will look like this, right?  I need to revel and rejoice while I can.

So, I keep intending to do a rundown of all the books we've chosen for this school year, but with 3 kids and a zillion ideas, the idea of getting it all down is so daunting that I post, like, not helpful things instead.  No mas!  No mas!  I'm just going to start sharing a little at a time and I'll label the posts, and then eventually, if you really want to put it all in one place, you can open up 11 browser tabs at once and we'll call it good.

The curriculum choice that has so far (after one whole entire morning) made me pat myself on the back the hardest is Singapore Primary Mathematics for my 5th grader.  We started the 5A textbook and workbook today and she. Is. Thrilled.  She, my non-math-loving, artsy, imaginative chef-girl, actually said, and I QUOTE "This math book is awesome" and "I'm a genius!" which she never, never, never, never would have said about herself in regards to math ever, ever, ever in the past.



Then the clouds parted, angels rejoiced, and mama wiped a solitary tear of relief from her eye.  WINNING!

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15 comments :

  1. What is it about Singapore Math that appeals to our artsy kids?? My George is totally in to it (praise God!)!! Have a great school year!
    ~Susan
    www.solesearchingmamma.com

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    1. That's great to hear! We needed this shot in the math arm so badly, as I'm sure you understand. My older, math-minded girl is doing Saxon (which is what I did growing up) and it's perfect for her black and white, analytical way of thinking.

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  2. That's great, Dwija! So wonderful. Breakthrough. Happy dance. Math phobias are the WORST and the hardest to get rid of.

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  3. I wish that I had had a choice for Math when I was a kid - I was terrified of math, and still am, all these years later.

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  4. I love Singapore and use it for all my kids. Even the analytical, black and white, people. But my "non-mather" loves it the best. We went right from 6B back to Saxon for him after and he handled it completely fine, because by then he realized he COULD do math.

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  5. Yeahhh to her!!!! We spent our "first" day back spending waaay too much time figuring out how to find short cuts and spent a school day's number of hours doing Math and Language Arts. Maybe I should be more proactive next year and prepare ahead....
    Oh yeah, and my #2 only ran away in tears once. Happy first day of school...quick, we need a distraction!

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    1. Oh nooooooooooez! Hey, seriously. If your #2 just needs some time away from the house or whatever, drop her and her books off here for a couple hours. I can handle 2nd grade! I am a WHIZ at...whatever...um...you learn in 2nd grade. I swear.

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  6. I'm looking that up right now! We just started talking curriculum with our teacher on Friday, and I was leaning toward the traditional Saxon text for my daydreamer to keep him from getting too distracted. I figured keeping it simple and straightforward would be the way to go with him. He's actually pretty good at math, but the current books he is used to from school are a mess. they make it so much harder than it has to be, ya know?

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  7. We used Singapore in the good ole days of homeschooling! (Not so long ago...had to put 'em back in school and go back to work...waaaaaa) Loved it. Worked for the 6th, 5th, 3rd, and 1st grader. And for the mama.

    Yay!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "if you really want to put it all in one place, you can open up 11 browser tabs at once and we'll call it good." I love THOSE directions.
      I have no idea how you do the homeschool "thing" with all your little (and not so little) loves. God knew it was not for me. Montessori, on the other hand, thank you Maria, was very good to us.

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  8. You know we really love Singapore! Math is my favorite to teach (because I'm a math nerd...and probably because I don't have to do a whole lot since my kids seem to be taking after me!)

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    1. We be schoolin' twins, yo.

      I think with Singapore for L., I'm not going to have to do much either. I hope. I pray.

      Praying right now, in fact!

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  9. Oooh, Singapore is awesome! And yay for charts! Charts are freakin' awesome!

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