First, I had to make some changes to our reading program. Last year we used Teach You Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons and it worked out very well. But it seemed like right around Lesson 50, it took a giant leap in difficulty. And that was right around the time we stopped last year. When I picked it up again this year, Shannon became immediately frustrated and overwhelmed by the lessons. He would see it in his work box and say "Oh, no, not this. I can't do it". At first I was frustrated with Shannon's attitude but quickly realized that it wasn't working for him. So I busted out the Hooked on Phonics program that I got for super cheap at the beginning of summer. I meant to go through the kindergarten program over the summer but we never finished so I'm starting with kindergarten and we should be able to get through first grade by the end of this year. I have already seen a huge change in attitude with Shannon. He is gaining confidence and he is a sucker for a good progress sticker chart.
Chloe and I are reading the Hooked On Phonics readers together and using the sound cards to review the sounds of the letters. Basically I'm preparing to use the kindergarten program with her sometime in the future. I don't think she's quite ready.
We have also ditched the Writing with Ease program. Basically, this program focused on proper writing structure and grammar. At this level, Shannon is only expected to copy simple sentences and summarize passages that I read to him. The problem is, I already have him working in a handwriting program and Handwriting Without Tears has him doing similar copy work in his first grade workbook. And we are doing narration work in his other subjects so I just think at this stage, it is a little much. I will just shelf that text and maybe pick it up again if we finish HWT early this year.
Moving onto math. The problem with using a workbook, is sometimes I lose sight of what my goals are. The worksheets I had him doing last week were all addition problems, which is great, but he gets really frustrated with all of the writing. I think he is focusing so much on forming the number, he is not really learning any math facts. So, to the shelf with you, too, math workbook. I think this book will be useful later on but right now we need to focus on basic math facts. So, I laminated (with my awesome new machine) the flashcards I got with the manipulatives I bought from ebay and Shannon loves to write the answers in with a dry erase marker. It is a lot less overwhelming then staring at a sheet full of problems. We are also using the Cuisenaire Rods that came in the manipulative box. This hands-on approach is working out way better than the worksheets.
Hmmmm, I think that is about all for the big changes. We'll just see how it goes.
