Tag: Little Ones

Life of Fred, A Very Different Math Book

Posted on by resources_38ie7n

Life of Fred, A Very Different Math Book

The Life of Fred books by Dr. Stanley F. Schmidt, are very different Math books. Two things I have always come back to in our homeschooling are that learning should have real-world applications and it should be fun. Life of Fred hits the mark on both of these. We always “play” with math, up until our children are in about 3rd grade. They may do some problems in a workbook but the majority is done in real life. At the store, we count items, figure out tax, and figure out the percentage of sales. We compare prices and sizes to get the best deal. At restaurants, we guesstimate the bill and figure out the tip. We measure ingredients in the kitchen for recipes. We are always counting and doubling numbers. We measure everything and talk about shapes and colors. Math is everywhere!

Life of Fred is all that and so much more. Little Fred is looking at math all around him and finding solutions to his strange problems. The stories are ridiculously humorous so that you and your child will have no choice but to remember and continue to think about them. These books are not only math, just like real life, Fred discovers so many things around him and the author uses every opportunity to give fun tidbits of information on many subjects, from how to set a table, to Magellan traveling around the globe.

The chapters are short and your children may want to do more than one a day since they are so much fun. After each chapter, there are a few questions to do on your own paper. The questions are even done in such a carefree way that your children will enjoy them. We always end with my children drawing a picture of something in the chapter on their paper after the problems. This has come naturally since Fred’s doll Kingie, in the story, is an artist and the stories are so interesting that it spurs a child’s imagination. I think, also, drawing isn’t intimidating since Fred does not draw well at all.

These books are meant to be a complete math curriculum. They are, and then some. They are also good for a wide range of ages. I personally have a ten-year-old, seven years old, and a five-year-old that I teach all together with Life of Fred on the couch. I started at the beginning in Apples and even though my 10-year-old was far ahead of that in skill, she was not bored and thoroughly enjoys the books, she is also still learning because of all the other information provided in the stories. We progressed fast through the books and are now up to what I would say is her level and so are her younger brothers. I will read them again with my 5-year-old when we are done with the elementary books; Apples through Jellybean (in Alphabetical order A-J). For now, the stories keep his interest and even though I don’t have him do the written questions at the end, he will often draw a picture of something in the story, so I know he is listening.

You may go another route and choose a more traditional math curriculum, if so, you should consider Life of Fred as a supplement or enjoyable reading because just reading these books would benefit any child. A word of warning though, if you are lacking a sense of humor, do not consider these books, but if you want to jump way outside the box and have some fun learning with your child, give these books a try. There are a lot of unexpected lessons to be learned in the Life of Fred books.

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3 Tips to Teach Your Child to Read

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3 Tips to Teach Your Child to Read

Learning to read at a young age is important for the development of the child. It helps them develop a better understanding of their surroundings, allows them to gather information from printed materials, and provides them with a wonderful source of entertainment when they read stories and rhymes. Children develop at different rates, and some children will develop reading skills quicker than other children; however, what’s important is that as the parent, you are keenly aware of your child’s maturity and reading level to provide them with appropriate books and activities to help them improve.

As parents, you are the most important teacher for your children. You will introduce your child to books and reading. Below we have some tips to help you teach your child to read.

Teach Your Child How to Read Tip #1

Teach your child alphabet letters and sounds at the same time. Studies have shown that children learn best when they are taught the letter names and letter sounds at the same time. In one study, 58 preschool children were randomly assigned to receive instructions in letter names and sounds, letter sound only, or numbers (control group). The results of this study are consistent with past research results in that it found children receiving letter name and sound instruction were most likely to learn the sounds of letters whose names included cues to their sounds. [1] When teaching your child the letter sounds, have them slowly trace the letter, while saying the sound of the letter at the same time. For example, if you were teaching your child the letter “A”, you would say:

“The letter A makes the /A/ (ah) sound.”

Then have your child say the /A/ sound while tracing the letter with his or her index finger.

Teaching a Child How to Read Tip #2

When teaching your child to read, always emphasize with them that the proper reading order should be from left to right, and top to bottom. To adults, this may seem so basic that anyone should know it. However, our children are not born with the knowledge that printed text should be read from left to right and top to bottom, and this is why you’ll sometimes see children reading from right to left instead – because they were never explicitly taught to read from

Teaching a Child how to read tip #3

Teach final consonant blends first. Teaching words such “at” and “and” can lead your child directly to learning words that rhyme with these. For example, for “at”, you can have:

Lat Pat Mat Cat Sat Bat Spat Chat

For “and”, you can have these rhyming words:

Sand Band Land Hand Stand Bland Brand Grand

and so on…

You can start teaching blends once your child has learned the sounds of some consonants and short vowel sounds. You don’t need to wait until your child has mastered the sounds of all the letters before teaching blends.

Learning to read is a long process, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult process. Broken down into intuitive and logical steps, a child as young as two years old can learn to read, and older children can accomplish even more.

>> Click here to for a simple, step-by-step program that can help your child learn to read, and watch a video of a 2 year old child reading

Notes:

1. J Exp Child Psychol. 2010 Apr;105(4):324-44. Epub 2010 Jan 25.

Learning letter names and sounds: effects of instruction, letter type, and phonological processing skill.

Piasta SB, Wagner RK.

Preschool Language and Literacy Lab, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.

Homeschooling in our House

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Homeschooling in our House

I get asked a lot, How long each day do I spend homeschooling?, or How do we homeschool? Homeschooling will be as different for each family as there are families homeschooling. But for the sake of ideas in your home, I will share what works well for us.

First, let me share a little about our family and our lifestyle. We have seven children ranging from 18 down to my one-year-old. I knew I would homeschool from the time I was pregnant with my first child, at the time I didn’t know anyone else who homeschooled, it was just what I felt and I have ever since. We have a farming lifestyle, so our School changes with the seasons of the year and the seasons of life.

So how long do I homeschool each day? This is a tricky question. I may only sit down for an hour or 2 of truly directed “schooling.” But to us “Life is School” So I could also argue that we homeschool for as many hours as we are awake.

Right now, at the beginning of spring, I will share our typical day. The weather is nice. We have lots of dairy goats to milk and chicken eggs to collect and a new puppy to train into a working farm dog. We all get up bright and early to get the chores done, all the animals taken care of, little children fed and diapers changed. This takes everyone’s cooperation and even the littlest ones get some kind of chore. This is instilling teamwork and a good work ethic, not to mention the science involved with the animals, child care, and strengthening our family as a unit.

 

Then we all gather around our table, this is my favorite part of the day. We read a Psalm (or any part of Scripture) we like to read the same portion each day until we have it memorized. Then we pray, this can be a challenge with little ones but trust me the more consistent you are, the more loving direction you give, and the more they mature, they will grow to expect it. Of course the one-year-old we just try to keep occupied with something quiet or hope he takes a nap, but my 3-year-old, who is quite wild, now sits mostly still and likes to put his hands together, he will even pitch in with something like “Thank you YHVH for turtles” Everyone gets a turn, as I want them all to be comfortable praying, depending on Yahweh and trusting in Him.

Then we get into the more “school-like” stuff. We are reading poems by Emily Dickenson, we spent one day reading about her life, and now we are enjoying discussing and trying to figure out what she was trying to convey in her poems.

Then we read out of a child’s devotional book, “God’s Amazing Creatures and Me” We learn some interesting facts about a characteristic of an animal and then look at what that teaches us, we talk about listening better or watching our tongue, and then we read a bible verse related to it. We are liking this book, I will be sad when we finish it.

Then I use flash cards. My older ones are working on reading Hebrew, so while they pick out a few Hebrew cards to read to the group I give my little ones ages 7, 5, and 3 worksheets ( the 3-year-old just gets a coloring sheet ) I am doing Dolch words with them, they are common English sight words, you can look it up. We review words we have done, then I go back and forth giving my little ones a new word to write in their worksheet and while they are writing my older ones 18, 17, and 15 take turns reading a Hebrew word and showing the group. It’s all good practice and I try to keep everyone busy. Then my little ones get a handwriting worksheet appropriate for them. (The 7-year-old is doing cursive, the 5-year-old is doing reading readiness-type stuff, and the 3-year-old is still sort of coloring or getting into whatever manipulatives I have brought to the table.)

As they do handwriting we start our Polyglot training, we have always been interested in foreign languages, we are all studying Hebrew, we have learned some Spanish and French, and we start sign language with our babies (We like the videos Signing Time) So we decided to see if we could learn a bunch of languages at once, a Polyglot is someone who speaks many languages. So we picked 6 languages and are simultaneously learning phrases and vocabulary for all. It is slow going but fun as we try to remember and quiz each other each day. The little ones repeat the words too as they do their writing. I will let you know how it works out, it is all an experiment right now, but language stimulates different parts of the brain and if we are enjoying it, I know it will benefit their learning as a whole whether we end up polyglots or not.

Finally, we talk about any news or things we need to do for the day, I give my older children their independent assignments (English, History, Science) and we break for lunch.

In addition to the assignments I have given them, for the remainder of the day, my older children also have ongoing math, music, and Hebrew Rosetta Stone lessons; they dabble in art from the many books we have; Abi sews; the boys are learning programming, and we all are interested in fitness and health. As long as they do the assignments I give them and stay active, I don’t bother them much. I do show interest and give them advice and then I check the assignments when they are done. I am blessed that we don’t have many problems, we have always had a learning environment and my children enjoy it.

As for my little ones, I find a good time to sit down with Rebekah my 7-year-old, and do her reading lesson, we have tried a lot of different reading programs, I am using “Hooked On Phonics” with her right now and we really like it. You need to find what works with your personality as well as your child’s learning style. I am doing the “Hooked On Phonics” cards with my 5 and 3-year-old. Once they are comfortable with all the sounds we will move into the workbooks and reading. Kaleb is almost ready.

Other than that the rest of our day is filled with reading aloud; crafts; playing; nature; an educational video; listening to a CD of music, a story, or history; and some days we run errands. At the end of our day we do our chores, have dinner, and clean up, and some nights as a treat we watch something on tv together, a movie or educational program. Sometimes with organic popcorn.

We really enjoy homeschooling and my children are thriving academically, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. What more could we ask for?

I will share more about what we do with our high schoolers in my next blog.

Happy Homeschooling!