Handwriting Composition Books

 

I was really excited when I found these books.  We were using the regular spiral notebooks that we took all that time to recovered, but the lines were a bit confusing for them.  When I seen this notebook, I knew we would be better off.

So where did I find this little gem, you ask!  The Dollar Tree!  Can you believe it!  You never know what you are going to find.  This is working out nicely for handwriting.  We have 2 notebooks for the first grader, one for handwriting and another to write the date in every day.  I just picked another one up for the kindergartener. 

We are still having adjusting pains to figure out what we need to be doing.  I am really needing something that is effective and not overly time consuming for mommy or kids, because this momma does not want to constantly be after them. I hate to keep sharing our “new” plan. 

On my previous post, I shared the whole curriculum books from the warehouse store.  My only fear is the public school system has taken say fifth grade work and simplified it to be introduced in fourth and then more so to be shown in third and then so on until it is in first grade.  So it seems as though there is so much introduction for so many years that when it is time for it to be taught, it feels more like a review and the child is bored and never really got to the lesson.

My fear and as I read those books, is that they are introducing things a lot earlier than I really want.  I would hate to be introducing the structure of writing and hinder the love and desire to express themselves in writing.

I guess before I can really layout my curriculum, I really need to figure out the goals we have for first and kindergarten.  I read the new state guidelines and really for more over amount of education, you really have to go to decoding school on how to implement all that taught thinking they plan to do.

Any suggestions?

~trish

Adding to First Grade

Oh wow, imagine that, slightly changed my curriculum.  Hmm, again?  That is sometimes how I am feeling.  I have added for a couple of reasons, convenience, fell into our lap, and needing something more.

The need of convenience, HANDWRITTING!

Writing things out was getting a bit much for me and then to figure out what to write was another brain storm session everyday.  I found a digital copybook file and printed it off, can a mommy say, “ahhhh.”  At the moment I have Winnie the Pooh classics for her to copy.  All were free.  Because, my new favorite curriculum store is www.currclick.com! Thousands or more digital PDF curriculums to pick from.  You have got to check it out!  It is not a lot of money and they have just about anything you can think of.  I also bought files for our next unit study.  The best part its all electronic so it is reproducible and I do not have to find room on a shelf.  YEAH!

Needing something more, MATH!

Our math just wasn’t making the mark with Spectrum.  It is pretty, but not drilling enough for her.  I some how came across Math Mammoth and YEAH!  Again all digital.  It is a bit self led, so all I need is to answer questions and has a systematic approach.  Again I can re-use it for each kid.  I think the entire math curriculum for First is $35, I bought just the part A at $17 and I will get part B when we need it (just in case we change it up again).  It is working like a charm. www.mathmammoth.com

Fell into our laps, SPELLING!

Well ,I have a spelling program, A Reason for Spelling, but I was given this by another homeschool mom.  THE COMPLETE PROGRAM – LEVEL ONE!  SO I checked it out.  Well, I quickly realized it would be a great addition to our day.  The nice part is, it is all about the rules of the English language for spelling.  So now, poor #1 is doing both.  Thankfully, it is all hands on; so it goes almost undetected.  Bonus, since it is a lot of flash cards #2 is joining in.

Sometimes I get a bit worrisome that I feel like I cannot stick with one thing.  But I remind myself, it is better to spend a year finding what works (while of course teaching along the way), than it is to build frustration for me and my children with something that does not work.

 

By the way, I am working on restructuring how I deliver the work to them.  I had really wanted to do a workbox style, but space and time, just are not permitting it.  I tried a big 3 ring binder, but they are getting confused on what to work on.  Frankly, I need them to be a bit more independent on their work (this is how you think when you have several littles).  Mostly, I need to be able to give them direction and then NOT have to stand over them. 

The best thing I can think of is to put each topic in its own prong folder.  This way I can only pull out the folder they are working on for the day, laid open to the page they need to work on.  Kind of my own workbook style.  Now I am just piling the folders in front of them. 

Lets see how this works out!

~trish