Oh my, I haven't laughed this hard in a long time...
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Book Review
A friend of mine recently recommended this book to me - The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. She was using this book in her decision to keep her daughter (who turns 5 in June) in preschool for the Fall and wait until the next year to start her in Kindergarten.
Now since my son turned 5 in July 2008 and started Kindergarten that same year, I guess I was feeling a little defensive. Also, I was a "young" first grader (they didn't have mandatory Kindergarten when I started the school system).
I don't really know where her child is in the "readiness", but it seemed in her e-mail that she was using this book to make her decision for her. She didn't mention her daughter at all in why she made her decision. Also, I don't normally "read" non-fiction. I don't know why I decided to read it.
I loved it! It's actually more about why certain people are successful and why others aren't. Only one example is given about age in starting Kindergarten being an unfair advantage to the older ones. All the stories though, were riveting, at least to me.
Actually, I kind of came away feeling that a home where the emphasis is on learning would be an advantage to any child, regardless of age. And it also gave me some things to be on the look-out for in helping Samuel be as "successful" as he wants to be, in whatever that might be.
So, I'm going to recommend it too, but for a totally different reason than my friend. And isn't that the mark of a really good book, anyway, that it can be different things to different people?
Now since my son turned 5 in July 2008 and started Kindergarten that same year, I guess I was feeling a little defensive. Also, I was a "young" first grader (they didn't have mandatory Kindergarten when I started the school system).
I don't really know where her child is in the "readiness", but it seemed in her e-mail that she was using this book to make her decision for her. She didn't mention her daughter at all in why she made her decision. Also, I don't normally "read" non-fiction. I don't know why I decided to read it.
I loved it! It's actually more about why certain people are successful and why others aren't. Only one example is given about age in starting Kindergarten being an unfair advantage to the older ones. All the stories though, were riveting, at least to me.
Actually, I kind of came away feeling that a home where the emphasis is on learning would be an advantage to any child, regardless of age. And it also gave me some things to be on the look-out for in helping Samuel be as "successful" as he wants to be, in whatever that might be.
So, I'm going to recommend it too, but for a totally different reason than my friend. And isn't that the mark of a really good book, anyway, that it can be different things to different people?
Friday, February 26, 2010
Spelling Bee!
Samuel's school is out for "Spring Break". The reason for the quotation marks should be obvious as, not only is it not even officially Spring yet, it's extremely cold outside. Really, it should be called "Trimester" break, since the second trimester just ended. He's doing great in every area except timed math fact drills. He is fairly motion-oriented and that doesn't make for quick work.
Normally they have a spelling test every Tuesday, but since they would be gone for a whole week, his teacher decided to have a class spelling bee yesterday on their words for the week. Whenever we do "bee" type studying, he makes lots of mistakes while he dances around to the tune of "The Spelling Song" or whatever he hears in his head.
So, I'm trying to get him to act like a real bee, spelling the words while standing still...no mistakes. I point this out to him and it's like a light bulb in his head. He actually won the class bee yesterday, and if you ask him, he is very surprised because he thought either Meg or Tristan were the best spellers in the class.
So, now I'm going to work on translating that to the timed math drills - 21 problems in 1 minute. And he thought he wasn't going to have any school next week!
Normally they have a spelling test every Tuesday, but since they would be gone for a whole week, his teacher decided to have a class spelling bee yesterday on their words for the week. Whenever we do "bee" type studying, he makes lots of mistakes while he dances around to the tune of "The Spelling Song" or whatever he hears in his head.
So, I'm trying to get him to act like a real bee, spelling the words while standing still...no mistakes. I point this out to him and it's like a light bulb in his head. He actually won the class bee yesterday, and if you ask him, he is very surprised because he thought either Meg or Tristan were the best spellers in the class.
So, now I'm going to work on translating that to the timed math drills - 21 problems in 1 minute. And he thought he wasn't going to have any school next week!
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Sweetness in Classic Literature
Samuel received a Hardy Boys mystery in his classroom's Christmas book exchange. However, it was #3 in the series and he is one of those people who has to read the books "in order" even if they don't really build on each other. So we checked out #1 "The Tower Treasure" from our church's children's library and began reading it.
Now I don't want you to think I am confusing this with "The Classics", but since this book was originally published in 1927 and people still want to read it today, it has shown the undurance of "good literature".
We still have 6 chapters to go, but I want to say that even though the main characters, Joe and Frank Hardy, are teenagers, I think this is a great book to read to a six-year old. You can't say that about some of the teen literature out today.
Here is a really cute example of what I mean by "sweetness":
"...Frank's face lighted up, for he had recognized Callie Shaw, who was in his class at Bayport High. Frank often dated Callie and liked her better than any girl he knew."
Now isn't this much better sounding than today's world where boys and girls are acting like they are in adult relationships at age 13 and up? Just something I'm thinking about after watching Lifetime's "Pregnancy Pact" last night.
Now I don't want you to think I am confusing this with "The Classics", but since this book was originally published in 1927 and people still want to read it today, it has shown the undurance of "good literature".
We still have 6 chapters to go, but I want to say that even though the main characters, Joe and Frank Hardy, are teenagers, I think this is a great book to read to a six-year old. You can't say that about some of the teen literature out today.
Here is a really cute example of what I mean by "sweetness":
"...Frank's face lighted up, for he had recognized Callie Shaw, who was in his class at Bayport High. Frank often dated Callie and liked her better than any girl he knew."
Now isn't this much better sounding than today's world where boys and girls are acting like they are in adult relationships at age 13 and up? Just something I'm thinking about after watching Lifetime's "Pregnancy Pact" last night.
Monday, December 28, 2009
What We're Up To
Life is a little more hectic in the first grade than in previous years. I find myself with not as much to say or time to say it in. Here are some of the learning activities we've been doing:
Budgeting - using the Kid's Wealth Program.
Crafts - including painted and decorated wall letters and Christmas ornaments.
Math - for some reason he likes flash cards right now, so in addition to "living math" he is up to the 8's in addition and 7's in subtraction.
Art and Music Appreciation - saw The Nutcracker for the first time, as well as attended the lower and upper school Christmas Cantata which is a Lessons and Carols format
Compassion - shopped for two Christmas children and worked at the "toy store" for one charity's gift distribution.
Chores - cleaning, folding and putting away clothes, setting the table, helping in the kitchen.
Reading - began team-reading (I read one page, he reads the next, etc.) his first real chapter book, even if it is "twaddle".
Literature - read a wide variety of Christmas tales and poetry (Christian and secular) every day from Thanksgiving until December 26. I didn't keep an exact list of these, but I worked from another blog's list that I had cut and pasted a couple of years ago to my own Word Document, so I can probably re-create a list and may do that in a subsequent post.
Budgeting - using the Kid's Wealth Program.
Crafts - including painted and decorated wall letters and Christmas ornaments.
Math - for some reason he likes flash cards right now, so in addition to "living math" he is up to the 8's in addition and 7's in subtraction.
Art and Music Appreciation - saw The Nutcracker for the first time, as well as attended the lower and upper school Christmas Cantata which is a Lessons and Carols format
Compassion - shopped for two Christmas children and worked at the "toy store" for one charity's gift distribution.
Chores - cleaning, folding and putting away clothes, setting the table, helping in the kitchen.
Reading - began team-reading (I read one page, he reads the next, etc.) his first real chapter book, even if it is "twaddle".
Literature - read a wide variety of Christmas tales and poetry (Christian and secular) every day from Thanksgiving until December 26. I didn't keep an exact list of these, but I worked from another blog's list that I had cut and pasted a couple of years ago to my own Word Document, so I can probably re-create a list and may do that in a subsequent post.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Samuel's First Story
Totally out of the blue. A big secret. Samuel found a small empty notebook and decided on his own to write a story. Occasionally he asked me how to spell a word. Usually I would encourage him to use his phonics and see if he could figure it out first. Here is the finished product (I left in his spelling and grammar):
The place
ther was a 6 year old. he was A nice boy. Who Loved books! (a note at the bottom of the page to "Go on")
one of his books The Gengerbread man. another of his Books Was the place. The place It was his faveret book ever!
Onece he jumped into the Book. there Was candy. there was dinosaurs. even rainbows every day. But he got tired of eating candy he got a bellyache. he desidced he wanted to go back home. so he jumped Out of the book And went to bed
The End
Spelling and grammar aside, I was impressed with the fact that his story had a clear beginning, middle and end. Now that I know he is interested in writing stories, I think I will encourage it just a bit :-)
The place
ther was a 6 year old. he was A nice boy. Who Loved books! (a note at the bottom of the page to "Go on")
one of his books The Gengerbread man. another of his Books Was the place. The place It was his faveret book ever!
Onece he jumped into the Book. there Was candy. there was dinosaurs. even rainbows every day. But he got tired of eating candy he got a bellyache. he desidced he wanted to go back home. so he jumped Out of the book And went to bed
The End
Spelling and grammar aside, I was impressed with the fact that his story had a clear beginning, middle and end. Now that I know he is interested in writing stories, I think I will encourage it just a bit :-)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Swine Flu, Anniversaries, Afterschool, Vacations, and Birthdays
I just realized it had been a few weeks since I had posted, but since I don't have a post idea in mind, I'm just going to ramble about some stuff:
Swine Flu
There have been a lot of absences in Samuel's school, making me slightly paranoid. Not that the swine flu is much worse than regular flu, unless you have something else wrong with you. I'm paranoid just the same.
Anniversaries
My mother-in-law passed away almost a year ago. My husband doesn't talk about her at all. He didn't want to go visit her grave on Memorial Day or Mother's Day or her birthday. I'm worried he's bottling in his feelings.
Afterschool Efforts
Not going as well this year as last year. We still read at bedtime and look for educational opportunities at other times. Our two "spines", so to speak, "The Burgess Animal Book" and "The Story of the World". We don't read from these every night, but usually at least once a week. We have one novel from my "list" going at all times. I throw in poetry, living math books, living science books, artist and composer study periodically, but not regularly. There's a lot more homework this year, and less time with Dad (due to work and school schedules overlapping), so the time we have for this is significantly less. I also want to give him lots of free creative play time. I just think that's what he needs right now. So I'm happy with what we're doing, it's not what I planned.
Family Vacations
Four years ago this Christmas, my dad had a great year business-wise and gave all of us an extended family cruise. We all had such a great time together and we kept saying we're going to do it again soon. Well, it looks like "soon" might be next year (although it's not a gift this time, just all of us going to the same place). We've talked about another cruise or maybe renting a beach house. I'm hoping for someplace we can drive to.
Birthdays
I turned 41 on Sunday. Although other birthdays have had special significance for me, this one was just a number. I had a great day though. Samuel and Chris let me sleep in and fixed me cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Samuel gave me my fourth pair of annual Halloween birthday socks (after the first pair, I told Chris I didn't want any more Halloween socks or jewelry, which I have also gotten; he thinks it's funny to let Samuel get me a pair every year...now I love it)! Then he made me a sweet little bracelet of orange yarn and rainbow-colored shiny beads. We went for "Sunday Supper" at my parents house with my sibs. I just love spending time with my family!
Swine Flu
There have been a lot of absences in Samuel's school, making me slightly paranoid. Not that the swine flu is much worse than regular flu, unless you have something else wrong with you. I'm paranoid just the same.
Anniversaries
My mother-in-law passed away almost a year ago. My husband doesn't talk about her at all. He didn't want to go visit her grave on Memorial Day or Mother's Day or her birthday. I'm worried he's bottling in his feelings.
Afterschool Efforts
Not going as well this year as last year. We still read at bedtime and look for educational opportunities at other times. Our two "spines", so to speak, "The Burgess Animal Book" and "The Story of the World". We don't read from these every night, but usually at least once a week. We have one novel from my "list" going at all times. I throw in poetry, living math books, living science books, artist and composer study periodically, but not regularly. There's a lot more homework this year, and less time with Dad (due to work and school schedules overlapping), so the time we have for this is significantly less. I also want to give him lots of free creative play time. I just think that's what he needs right now. So I'm happy with what we're doing, it's not what I planned.
Family Vacations
Four years ago this Christmas, my dad had a great year business-wise and gave all of us an extended family cruise. We all had such a great time together and we kept saying we're going to do it again soon. Well, it looks like "soon" might be next year (although it's not a gift this time, just all of us going to the same place). We've talked about another cruise or maybe renting a beach house. I'm hoping for someplace we can drive to.
Birthdays
I turned 41 on Sunday. Although other birthdays have had special significance for me, this one was just a number. I had a great day though. Samuel and Chris let me sleep in and fixed me cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Samuel gave me my fourth pair of annual Halloween birthday socks (after the first pair, I told Chris I didn't want any more Halloween socks or jewelry, which I have also gotten; he thinks it's funny to let Samuel get me a pair every year...now I love it)! Then he made me a sweet little bracelet of orange yarn and rainbow-colored shiny beads. We went for "Sunday Supper" at my parents house with my sibs. I just love spending time with my family!
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