If I had a pet dinosaur, I would ride it like a horse. I would feed it too, but spend most of my time riding it. I would feed it meat like cows from farms or horses from fields. It would sleep in a big wooden shack, and I would name him Rex.
That is what I would do with my pet dinosaur. Ashleigh
2 Comments
Before I start, I just want to apologize for not posting much over the past week or two. I am a stock analyst and I research companies and write reports about the prospects for the equities of the companies I cover. I had thirteen stocks due on Tuesday, and they were going to press this week. Next week I will be a bit less busy, and I should be able to write blog posts regularly again. Usually, once people find out that I home school my daughters I get asked a lot of questions about how I do it. In today's post, I will try to explain the process I use to teach my girls. This post, I will focus on Ashleigh, and the early years of education. Next post I will focus on Maddie and how I interact with her to help her learn. To start, I just want to say that I only loosely follow a set curriculum. After researching a number of programs, I thought that the Robinson curriculum would work best for me. The Robinson curriculum is very heavy into math, and stresses a lot of free time for reading so that the children learn through their spare time as well. ReadingThe biggest challenge, I find, is actually teaching the children how to read. With both of my daughters, we started by using Hooked on Phonics. I like the flash cards that help to show the children which sounds come from which letters. Although Ashleigh now knows how to read, I still go back to asking her what sound a particular letter or set of letters combinations make to help her figure out what a word is when she gets stuck. The second stage I used for Ashleigh was to have her write down very simple words, repetitively. I would give her a set of about six to 12 words and have her write them down ten times each in a row. On trickier words, I would have her say them out loud as well. I had her do this every day for weeks on end. As she began to recognize words, I started having her copy short sentences too. After a few weeks I began having her try to read some of her story books to me. Since she was very young, My Mom and I have always read little stories to Ashleigh. As she progresses, we began having her read them to us! Unfortunately, many of the Disney books are not geared towards young children reading them themselves. I found that too many words were there for adults to read them to the children. I solved this problem by finding an old McGuffey Reader online. For many weeks, I had Ashleigh read passages from the reader to me. I then wrote down sentences based on the words she read in the passages and had her write them in a notebook. We have gone through a number of notebooks that way. The exercise helped to improve her reading AND writing abilities. Next, I began to have Ashleigh write a short blog post each day for this website. Her topics are simple, but it helps her to learn to write out her thoughts. Me or my Mom will usually help her with spelling for some of the larger words, and I do read it with her and help her to fix punctuation mistakes. Ashleigh has to read out loud each day and when she finishes reading a book she has to write a book report for it as well. She publishes these reports on this blog, as well as on a site set up strictly for her reports. You can find that web site here. MathematicsAnother area that is very important to my curriculum is mathematics. I started teaching Ashleigh basic math at an early age. There are two things that I do to teach math. First, I give her a page or two of hand written math problems each day. I started her with very basic adding and subtracting problems, and then moved her up to larger and larger numbers. At the same time, I started her on IXL. IXL is a computer-based math tutoring program that follows the state standards for math knowledge. If you are interested, you can find it at www.ixl.com. Ashleigh has completed the program through level C math and is currently about 50 completed segments into level D math. Each day she covers about five segments, so they add up quickly. The program is good because when she gets an answer wrong, it sets back her progress in that area and she then needs to answer more problems correctly before she is allowed to graduate out from that segment. I have found her math skills have really improved since she has started that program. Recently, I have also started to give her the times table to copy down and learn. Although I have taught her the basics of multiplication, she still views it as a derivation of addition, so her progress has been slow. We still work on it weekly and she has started to be able to answer some of the smaller multiplication problems in her head. When I was teaching Madison. we used the same programs, however we also used the Saxon math books. These helped to broaden her understanding to some degree. Once Ashleigh can read better, I will likely use the same books with her as well. Physical EducationPhysical education is one of my favorite subjects for the girls! Each of my girls started training in karate when they were three years old. Currently, Maddie is a second degree black belt and 2015 Grands sparring champion. Ashleigh is currently a purple belt with a black stripe, and will be testing for her blue belt in two weeks. Both of my girls have won invitations to the Grands tournament in November. Maddie will be competing in sparring and weapons, while Ashleigh will be competing in sparring and forms. Recently, Ashleigh was honored to have her picture featured on a flyer that was sent out to all of the students in the New Ipswich school system advertising a new after-school karate program. The picture is below. Although karate is a great physical activity, the girls gain so much more from it than they would a regular gym class. The most important thing to me is that they are learning to defend themselves. As a Dad, I worry about their safety, and I wanted to make certain that they have every chance available to them if they ever have to defend themselves.
Karate is much more than a sport. It is a life style. Our dojo has five rules: effort, etiquette, sincerity, character, and self-control. We also practice peace over power. In other words, we are trained to not use our skills to start fights, but to finish them. We are only to use our skills in self defense. I like that my daughters will be bale to train in karate throughout there lives. So many of the sports I played as a child are no longer played by me or my friends. Even so, at 50 I still train three times a week. I picked up karate late in life. I started training at the age of 42. I started to train because we reached a point in Maddie's training where I could no longer help her because I did not know the material. I started to train to help her, but ended up continuing because I enjoyed it so much as well! We like to say "A family that kicks together, sticks together!" Both of my girls love karate and it is a major part of their lives. Even so, I made a rule early on that neither of them could date until they had a black belt. Maddie got hers at ten, so the rule did not impact her dating life at all. At her current pace, it also looks like the rule won't have an impact on Ashleigh's dating life. Although the rule was made half jokingly. It makes me feel better to know that the girls are trained to take advantage of weaknesses in anatomy if the need ever arises. A second way that my girls get exercise is by having a love of the great outdoors. I try to take the girls hiking regularly, and they both seem to enjoy it. We all take pictures while we are out, and many of them end up gracing many of the blog posts on this site. Madison also has an instagram account, where she posts many of her pics. Well this post is running a little long, so I will end this post here. On my next post, I will tell you how Maddie's education differs from Ashleigh's since she is older, and I will also touch upon how I teach science and history. Here are four more pics of my girls through out their karate careers! Today I am going to talk about my i Pad. I can play games on it. I can make videos with
it too. I like to play ''Learning with Homer'' also. I make funny videos. I also do some of my math homework on it. Ashleigh Now normally, I'm not one for putting schoolwork up as a blog post.. but this week in sociology we were discussing racism and different social situation in which race and ethnicity come into play, and I'd like to share at least some of it with you.
Define race and ethnicity. What is the difference between the two? Race was socially constructed by humans to categorize large groups of people based on their culture, appearance, and economy. Race isn’t biological due to the fact that different societies have different races (or ways of defining them) than us. Ethnicity is often confused with race and used interchangeably; when they have different meanings almost entirely. Where race judges and places you in a category based on appearance and the society you were raised in; ethnicity categorizes you based on your heritage. This includes country of nationality; ancestry; language; and religion. Race is used to bring out biological differences/similarities, while ethnicity is more focused on different cultures. Do you think that racism still exists in society? Why or why not? Racism definitely exists today; just not to the extent that it did years ago. While racism was defined by discrimination; laws; and slavery in the past... it has now taken a lesser (but still just as offensive) form. Racism now exists in the form of online videos, memes, and insults tossed about by people trying to be funny. Just because you label something as a joke; doesn’t make it any less insulting. List one stereotype that you have heard. Where did you hear this? Do you think it is a common stereotype in society? How might this stereotype be damaging to the group involved? I often hear stereotypes about my own religion; as I was raised in a Catholic church. I may not love the religion I was brought up in... but some of the things people associate it with are horrible. I’ve heard all sorts of stereotypes about it but I feel that the worst one is that people label Catholics as being snobby and/or intrusive; feeling the need to cram their religion down people’s throat. Now while I have met Catholics like that; I’ve met more who are respectful of other religions and mind their own business. I’ve heard it so many times online and a few times from people who live in my area; but since it’s online I’d assume that it’s a pretty common stereotype. This is damaging due to the fact that if people find out you were raised Catholic (or still attend a Catholic church); you may be discriminated against and people may be less likely to approach you. It affects the group as a whole as well, since less and less people want to be a part of that religion. It is actually estimated that atheism is the dominant “religion” in the U.S. currently. - If anyone would like to add to this, they can feel free to. Leave me a comment! - Maddie There are lots of games on my iPad. Learning With Homer helps me to read. It helps me
with numbers and tells me stories also. I like to take pictures and make videos with my iPad too. My iPad is very useful! Ashleigh Today I read another new Biscuit book. It is Biscuit's Birthday. The book is about Biscuit's
birthday and the party the little girl gives him. Daisy and Puddles attend the party. They have nice treats. Biscuit receives a new collar and a bone. His best gift was a big box of biscuits. I guess you can say it was biscuits for Biscuit! Ashleigh Today I read Biscuit Finds A Friend. The story is about Biscuit and the little girl find a
baby duck. They bring it to a pond, where it finds its mom and dad. Biscuit then falls in the pond and gets wet. The little girl then brings him home as the duck quacks good bye. Ashleigh I read another Biscuit book today, Bath Time for Biscuit. Biscuit did not want to take a
bath. Instead, he wanted to play with his friend Puddles. They played in the mud and ran under the sprinkler. At the end, they knocked his owner into the bath. I thought that was funny! Ashleigh I just read the book "Biscuit "". I think the book could have been called "Biscuit Goes To
Bed.'' It was very hard to get Biscuit to go to sleep. First he wanted a snack.Then he wanted a drink. He also wanted a hug, a kiss, his blanket and his toy. Finally, he fell asleep! I liked this book very much. Ashleigh Today I finished reading" New Tricks I Can Do!'' by Dr. Seuss. It is a story about Spot,
who works at the circus. He has many tricks that he can do. Two children think he should be on TV. Ashleigh I just read Biscuit and baby, and I liked it very much. The story is about Biscuit
meeting the family's new baby for the first time. Biscuit is curious about the baby. He finds the baby's rattle and bunny and wants to bring it to the baby. The baby is sleeping until Biscuit wakes her up. He then finally gets to meet the baby. Ashleigh Today I read '' Biscuit Goes To School. ''. I liked it very much. The book is about Biscuit
a puppy, going to school. When his owner goes to school, he chases the bus and follows her. He meets the teacher and students . They like him very much! Ashleigh I just read " I Am Lost". The story is about a little puppy that gets lost while chasing a leaf . When he got lost he was frightened and sad. He is saved when he walks up to a police officer. The officer reads the address on his collar and takes him home. I liked the book very much.
Ashleigh I read, my first book today! It was " Biscuit's Day at the Farm "by Alyssa Satin Capucilli.
The story is about Biscuit, a puppy, who goes to visit a farm. He helps to feed the animals. They feed chickens, goats, sheep and pigs. A piglet likes Biscuit and follows him around the barn yard.They both run back to the pig pen when a flock of geese scare them. I am excited that I read my first book! Ashleigh |
Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|