Trying Five in a Row

I have been researching many programs for next year.  One of the ones top on my list is Before Five in a Row for Megan and Beyond Five in a Row for Laura.  I have read page after page of reviews on the curriculum.  I have been surprised that I can't find much in the way of negative reviews.  The only negative reviews are from people that don't like unit studies.  Finding reviews where the reviewer just didn't like Five in a Row is difficult to find.

Not wanting to invest money in a program that isn't going to work for us, I decided to use one of their online digital downloads.  While it isn't Beyond or Before, I picked up the book Snowflake Bentley from the library.  This book is from Five in a Row Volume 4 for 7-8 year olds.  I paid the nine dollars and downloaded the unit study for this book.  This should give me and Laura a taste of Five in a Row so I can see if this is a program to keep considering for next year.

I know that Beyond Five in a Row is different, since it uses chapter books.  The books are read a chapter at a time with studies branching off from the chapters.  With Five in a Row, the book is read for five days in a row with a different subject studies each day.  I am hoping it will be a nice balance for Laura and still give me a taste of the program for Megan.

I have always been curious about unit studies.  We tried Konos last year, but we didn't stick with it.  I was very new to homeschooling and was kind of afraid that it wasn't going to cover enough.  All my research on unit studies, however, shows that they can actually provide quite an extensive education.  I bought a used version of Weaver off ebay only to discover that most of it was missing.

With the end of the year creeping up upon us, something different is just what we need.  We'll try this and see how it goes.  I will say that, when I bought the study I didn't expect much.  I haven't looked through the pages yet, but when I opened the download and found out that it was 65 pages long, I was shocked.  Wow!  I expected maybe 20 pages.  Plus, if I like this program, all I will need to add is math, grammar, and spelling.

The Rest of the Semester

I've had to plan out a schedule for the rest of the semester. I was going to do Konos for the rest of the year, but I've decided to mix things up. Laura did not want to study the Colonial period. My feeling is that she just needs a little change. So, I went through the two Konos volumes that I have borrowed and went to the books I already have. I went through my Learn at Home book that I bought when I first pulled Laura from public school. By combining the two, I have a rough schedule of the rest of the school year. Of course, all schedules are subject to change. Depending on what curriculum I decide to use next year, I may mix some things up again so that Laura isn't repeating the same material two years in a row and getting bored.
There are roughly 16 weeks left in the school year.
Week 1 - Ants/Communities and Towns
Week 2 - Bees/Farming and Communities
Week 3 - Valentines Day - Family & Church
Week 4 - Butterflies/Holidays
Week 5 - Butterflies/Government
Week 6 - Adam & Eve/Government
Week 7 - Noah's Ark & the Flood/Communications
Week 8 - Machines/Communications
Week 9 - Konos Easter Week
Week 10 - Konos Easter Week
Week 11 - Hot Lands, Deserts, The Flood/Brazil
Week 12 - Artic/George Washington & Abe Lincoln
Week 13 - Geology, Vocanoes/Hawaii, Washington, Mt. St. Helens
Week 14 - Geology, Rocks
Week 15 - Geology, Weathering and Erosion
Week 16 - Last week of school - finishing up - possible testing

I realize that this list needs some fine-tuning. For one, I don't have any Social Studies the last month of school. I'm thinking of studying Dinosaurs and how they relate to Creation. Either that or we may study map skills. However, the main curriculum I am looking at for next year begins with map skills. If I get the curriculum fast enough, I may begin it early. It's a unit study, so I can stretch things out if I want. (Still not 100% on curriculum though. Depends on where God leads.)

I've also been looking at books I want Laura to read this year, or read to her. I want her to read roughly 2 books a month (Novels, not books necessarily having to do with what we are studying). I want to read to her 1-2 books a month. For some reason it is easier to figure out what I want to read to Laura than what I want her to read. There are a lot of books I'd love for Laura to read, but I need to stick with options I can get at the library at this time.

Readers
The Secret in the Maple Tree - Nortvedt
Adventures of Laura and Jack - Wilder
School Days - Wilder
The Sword in the Tree - Bulla
The Whipping Boy - Fleischman
A Lion to Guard Us - Bulla
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain - Dalgliesh
Sarah, Plain and Tall - MacLachlan
Stone Fox - Gardiner

Read Alouds
Charlotte's Web - White
Emily's Runaway Imagination - Cleary
More Story Times with Grandma - Yoder
A Little Princess - Burnett
Ralph S. Mouse - Cleary
Pilgrim Boy - Nortvedt
Little House on the Praire - Wilder


If I find any other books that I just HAVE to read instead, I may switch out one or two. I've tried to pick a variety of books, not just present day or historical. I've got a couple Christian novels, though I would like to find more. However, the books I have chosen are all top quality classic novels with good morals portrayed. Many are Sonlight selections, though a few are ones I have at home. A couple are easy little chapter readers, but Laura got them for Christmas and they are Little House books. I thought she'd like them. The reading level is a bit easy for her, but I think the stories will stick with her.

Weekly Wrap-up 1-23-09

BIBLE - Laura read about the death of Moses, Jericho's walls falling down, and a little about Joshua in her Old Testament Bible Stories. She read Matthew 22-24 in the New Testament. She finished her Animals badge for Prims.

MATH - Laura did five lessons in her Abeka Arithmetic.

SCIENCE - Laura finished Pace 1031, plus learned about Beavers for Konos.

READING - We finished Spycat for our Read Aloud. It was a fun book. Laura also finished her Better Bridges Abeka Reader. She did two lessons in her Reading Skills book.

LANGUAGE ARTS - Laura finished studying commas and started learning possessives.

WRITING - Laura learned cursive T and began cursive U.

KONOS - In Konos we finished up the study of Beavers. Laura made a Beaver Hat out of fake fur.

Next week we are beginning a study of bees and communities. I'm kind of mixing things up. The Konos is fine, but I'm taking a few lessons from the Konos and mixing it with lessons from the Learn At Home book. Studying only one thing, like just Beavers, at a time is kind of boring. I want to mix up Social Studies/History with Science. I think I will do both, or at least alternate them every other day.

Making the Beaver Hat

Laura with the fake fur. Fitting the fur to the cardstock.

Laura trying to see if the fur was going to fit.

The completed hat.

Megan taking the hat off as fast as she could.

We did a silly project to go along with Beavers. We decided to make a hat out of fake Beaver fur. I bought a little thing of fake fur from the craft department at Walmart. I made a sort of crown out of cardstock and fitted it to Laura's head. Then I attached the fur to the crown. I used Duct tape, but a stapler or really good glue would work too. It isn't the most professional looking thing, but we had a laugh making it. Laura and I tried to see if Megan would wear it, but she was not going to allow that.

A Boring Week

It's been a slow week so far. Laura is learning about Beavers. She watched an older National Geographic movie about Beavers that we checked out from the library. Other than that, she has been working steady on her regular subjects like math and grammar. I realized recently that she is nearly done with her cursive writing book. Soon I'll be searching for a new book to advance her writing skills. She's been using the Harcourt Flash Kids Cursive Writing Practice Book. With a couple letters a week, she has nearly practiced and learned the basics for all the letters. Now, it is time for a more advanced book to help with skill.

I have had to have a talk with Laura today about doing her best. Her work lately has not been her best. She seems to be a bit lazy, or she'll rush through things and not do a good job. She missed many math questions this morning due to rushing through the work and making errors that she normally wouldn't have missed.

Weekly Wrap-up 1-18-09

This last week Laura worked hard to finish up her unit on Pets. I still want to go on a field trip to a pet store, but the frigid temps of late last week kept us home. We also haven't completely finished our read-aloud, Spycat, but we are about three quarters of the way through.

MATH - Laura completed four lessons in her ABeka math book plus a couple extra worksheets on the beginnings of multiplication. She used her Math-It game for the first time and seemed to like it. I think we will use it more and more.

BIBLE - Laura read several stories in her Bible Stories book. She is almost to the end of the life of Moses. She read Matthew 19-21. In Prims she finished her Creation Badge (though she still needs to tell her verse to the leader. Church services were cancelled Wednesday due to the weather.) She began her Animals badge. Both Creation and Animals go with the Konos responsibilty unit.

READING - Laura read a few stories from her Better Bridges reader from A Beka. She also finished reading Tornado plus many other smaller books for Konos. She did four lessons in her reading skills book.

LANGUAGE ARTS - In spelling, Laura had a rough week. She missed four on her final test. Next week is a review week and I am going to hit those words again. In grammar, Laura was working on Capitalization and Punctuation.

WRITING - Laura learned cursive R and S this week.

KONOS - We worked a lot on cat care. Laura read several books on cat care. She did several activities with the two kitties we have. She had a great time playing with her kitties and counting it as school. Next week we move on to Beavers.

A Failed Experiment...or Not

For the Pet Care Unit, Laura was supposed to leave an open brown paper bag on the floor and observe her cat's reactions. Our cat looked in the bag and ran away. Laura took off to chase her kitty. A couple of minutes later the toddler walked in to the kitchen. She spotted the bag and was quickly peeking inside. She was interested in what might be in the bag. It sparked her curiosity. Well, if Laura is not able to get a lot of good info on cats, she is definitely learning about the curiosity of toddlers.

Pet Care Unit Study - Cats

Laura's activity was to make different noises around our cats and write down their reactions. Unfortunately our cats are lazy. They didn't want to wake up. So, some of the reactions weren't playful. Minnie, the white kitty in the pictures, simply growled and acted very disgruntled. Fluffers, our other kitty, also got mad and ran away. It seemed that one of the cats sneezing was the best reaction.

Tales of the 4th Grade Curriculum Quandry

I have been spending hours researching what to do for next year. My inexperience has gotten the better of me. I know I want to do a Unit Study. My reading and research is telling me that learning with Unit Studies is a wonderful way to learn. It may take a lot of planning and gathering of supplies, but the experience of learning this way is worth the hassle for the student. I just haven't seen many of the choices except for Konos. Now, Konos is an award winning program. I even looked around e-bay today at some used selections. I just want to explore all my options.
I hit on the Learning Adventures site this weekend. It seemed pretty impressive.
I am also looking at Weaver. I like that Weaver is customizable for Kindergarten through 12th grade.
Both the Learning Adventures and Weaver use a biblical history format. Which is better? Biblical History format(in chronological order) or the Character Trait study of Konos? I'm not sure.
From what I have gathered, until Laura is a little older she won't truly grasp the flow of history in chronological order. With a timeline and the Unit Study method, she will be able to piece things together.
I have planned some chronology. We have been studying American History. So far, we have studied it in chronological order. I plan to continue this for at least the rest of this school year. It depends on how deep we get into the Colonial period on whether we will study the Revolutionary War or save that for later.
I'm praying for guidance. God led me to homeschooling, so I have to trust that God will lead me in the right direction. Chronological order or not, my main goal in homeschooling is to help foster a heart in my child that seeks God. But, while secondary, it is a concern of mine that my daughter receive an education that is sound, well-rounded, and has her excited to learn.
Money is an issue for us. Again, I have to trust God here. Huge sums for curriculum just isn't an option. I have to plan well and save for important things. However, from what I have read online and in a couple books, many people homeschool for practically nothing with excellent results. My major purchase this spring may not be a pricey curriculum but a good quality printer. I can't believe all the free stuff online that is available for printing. (My old printer wouldn't work with our new computer.)

Weekly Wrap-up 1-09-09

This week was alright. I had a hard time getting back into the groove of things after Christmas Break. We started the Konos program, which went so-so. (I don't think I planned well enough.) Then, today, Laura woke up not feeling well so we had a movie day.
Here's our week:

BIBLE - Laura read about Moses and the building of the Tabernacle in Old Testament stories in The Book for children. We are also reviewing the life of Moses for Konos. For her New Testament reading she read Matthew 17 and 18. In Prims, she finally told her memory verse to the Prims leader for her Helpers badge. Yesterday, we began the Creation Badge to coincide with Konos for next week.

MATH - Laura completed three lessons in Abeka Arithmetic. She is being introduced to multiplication.

SCIENCE - Laura is doing the ACE paces and Konos. This week she is starting to learn about mammals.

WRITING - Laura learned cursive Q.

LANGUAGE ARTS - Laura is learning about Capitalization Rules this week.

READING - Laura read several stories in her Better Bridges ABeka Reader. She is also reading lots of books for Konos. Laura's main book this week is Sophie Hartley on Strike.

KONOS (Literature, Science, History, Bible) - Okay, now that we are doing Unit Studies, I guess I need to report on what we are doing and learning. We started the Responsibility unit this week. I'm not sure it was great, but it wasn't horrible either. It's a lot of planning and work, but I do think that with time, practice, and experience things will go more smoothly. Laura started some age-appropriate chores. We read lots of books about responsibility, laziness, etc. We started reading about Dogs and Cats. For the next couple weeks we will focus on Pet Care, with the emphasis on Cats. It's easier to study cats instead of dogs since we don't have a dog for a pet.

I feel like we didn't get much accomplished this week. Weeks like this happen. We'll start again next week.

Learning with Chores

We finished everything really quickly today. There were no attitudes. Laura even did her chores like it was a fun project for school. She says she likes cleaning the bathroom. Of course, this is the first time she has been allowed to use cleansers, and the novelty may wear off. But she did her chores without complaining or whining. In fact, she barely had to be reminded. Her bed is made and her room is clean. She feed the cats and cleaned the bathroom. Wow! If Konos has this kind of effect than I am astounded.

In all seriousness, I don't expect things to go as easy all the time as they did today.

Starting the New Semester with Responsiblility

We began learning about responsibility today. I checked out bunches of books. Some of the books are really quite easy, like the Berenstain Bears books. I don't mind the easier reading level as long as the message of the books is understood. I want Laura to understand responsibility. I think some books that are more simple will get across a simple lesson. Besides, I have other readers that are more challenging.

I sat down with both Laura and Tasha and made up new chore lists for each. ( I haven't gotten to the oldest yet!)We discussed responsibily and work and rewards. We discussed that not all rewards are monetary, and sometimes the reward is a job well done. (Laura still wants an allowance.)

Laura read a little about Moses. She colored a picture of Baby Moses in the basket. She began the book Sophie Hartley, On Strike. We also began The Incredible Journey as a read-aloud.

I know it is only the first day of using a Unit Study. So far, Laura seems as bored and unmotivated by this as she was before. However, I have lots of things planned. Plus, I really think this is partly an attitude issue she has developed that needs to be corrected. I think I am going to throw in some stuff on being responsible for your attitude.

Laura's chores that we decided on are:

Bedroom - make bed, pick up toys and clothed, sweep floor

Bathroom - clean sink, clean toilet, sweep floor, put clothes in hamper, hang towels

Pet Care - feed the cats

Laundry - put own clothes away in closet and dresser

I don't think this is a bad list for an eight year old. She won't have bathroom duty indefinitely. That will be switched between the girls. She is old enough now to have some chores that require more responsibility, and taking care of the bathroom was a good suggestion from Konos.

A Friday of running errands

Today was an errand day. This was one of the first trips to one of the libraries to get books for the first Konos unit we will hopefully be starting on Monday. This library is 20 minutes away, so I have to go with a list in hand and a plan of what I will need for a couple of weeks. I still have some planning to do for this unit. (I keep letting myself get distracted by taking down Christmas decorations and playing Phase 10 with my daughter.) I have the first couple of weeks nearly done.

My daughters Tasha and Megan and a couple of Tasha's friends had fun clowning around at the library. Megan found a stuffed Blue from Blue's Clues and didn't want to leave it. Blue's Clues is her favorite. Laura enjoyed visiting with her grandmother and the ride to go pick up daddy from work. All in all, it was a productive day. Break is almost over. Then, it is back to school!