Reading Assessment

Knowing what your child is comfortable reading is important for choosing a reading list that suits the child's ability.  For me, it was important that my children feel good about their reading skills and at the same time meet some challenges.

The Lexile Framework  is a great tool for selecting books that are progressive, or within a certain ability range.  Other leveling systems exist out there, like the grade level system found on the backs of some school age books.  For example 4.2 indicates 4th grade 2nd month.  And there's the letter system used by school teachers that begins with AA and goes to Z.  These are great if you are looking at a series of books which are already catalogued.   But what about the great literature out there that hasn't been catalogued?

Lexile Framework has been a great source of reference for us.

For example here are the results for 20,000 leagues under the Sea:

Jules Verne's original:  870L

Retold by Carl Bowen: 440L

Judith Conaway's adaptation:  440L

This is a very helpful chart for determining which book is appropriate for my children to read.

My eldest is reading in a lexile range of 700-900, so the original is fine for him.  But,  if a younger sibling wanted to read the same story, either of the 2 retellings would be more appropriate reading level.

Try a search for yourself and see!

Online Math Curriculum Supplements

I have found a couple of websites that I frequent for math enrichment.

They are from 2 text book companies which publish online support materials.

The first one is Houghton Mifflin Math.  I use the table of contents from the leveled practice link to pinpoint appropriate material to support the concepts that we are working on.   For example, if I'm helping my 5 year old with adding by counting on then unit 6 from grade 1 reinforces that concept.

By selecting the leveled practice link, we are able to view all the lessons in the unit and the type of worksheet to generate (practice, reteach, homework, problem solving and English learners.)   The reteach is helpful if I'm looking for another way of explaining a concept (since Houghton Mifflin is not my primary math curriculum.)  The .pdf files that support these units are quick and to the point.   Click one circle from the 2 sections to view a worksheet.

Another good math resource is the Harcourt online games which correlate to their math program.  These are a nice treat, or a good way to keep one child active while working one on one with another.  The games are simple but fun for kids.

Bob Books - Basic Phonics

My kids felt such pride after being able to read their very first book.

For each of them their first book was Mat, which is book 1 in the Bob Books Set 1.

Bob Books are written by Bobbi Lynn Maslen and illustrated by her husband.  Each page is paced perfectly for the fledgling reader.  There are not too many words on the page and the stories all end with "The End!"

The stories are charming and the kids love them!  Each book adds a few new letter sounds and keeps familiar characters in the story.   The second book in the series is called "Sam."   I highly recommend this set of books for any child who has learned their consonants and short vowels.  Check them out!  If you want to peek inside the books, amazon has some sample pages and also customer images posted  from readers.

   

Kids in Mind Movie Ratings

I know this topic isn't directly related to homeschooling, but this website has to be the greatest invention since the VCR!  Kids in Mind movie ratings is an online resource for determining the appropriateness of movies for children.

Each film is rated according to the level of sex/nudity, violence/gore, and profanity.  Each element is scored from 1-10.  1 being mild and 10 being extreme.

The site doesn't stop there, however.  It then procedes to outline the details which gave the film the rating.  So in the sexuality description it might say something like "A woman wears a short skirt.  A man kisses a woman on the cheek."  '

I love this site and have found the ratings to be fairly consistent.  I know that my sons' violence levels are a 2 for the youngest and 3 for the oldest.  So I can use the search feature to find films that have violence ratings of 2 or less for family viewing.

Another interesting feature is that it lists topics for discussion that are presented in the film.  

This has been a great help when my kids ask about seeing a particular movie.  I might want to still pre-screen some of it, but I have a better idea what I might be looking for!  

Sunday Surfing: Educational Websites

I guess it's no surprise that if Mom is a blogger that the children are also involved in computer/internet learning.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Galaxy Zoo:  This is a real life research project where individuals with time to spare can help classify galaxies.  Yes, that's right actually classify galaxies.  

Krampf:  This guy is so cool.  He's always got an experiment or demostration to share.  Lots of cool videos and you can even subscribe to a newsletter with an experiment of the week.

Wildcam:  Ever wonder what wild animals are up to in their natural habitat.  Wild cam give you a sneak peek of what's going on in the wild! Some of the cams are highlights and others are in real time.

Choosing a Grammar Curriculum

Grammar is something that can feel dry and complicated if it's not dealt with carefully.

We looked for a long time before finding the "just right" grammar program for us.

Growing With Grammar by Tamela Davis was our final choice.  We began with the Grade 4 book, since that's what grade our son was in at the time.  Up to that point we had discussed parts of speech and looked for them in differen types of texts, including prose and poetry.   We played some word substitution games to make crazy sentences, but then it was time for some "real grammar."

I wanted a book that was straight forward, comprehensive, and fun to work with.  Growing with Grammar was just the program for us.  It comes with 3 books:  a student text, a student workbook, and an answer key.  Each of these books is coil bound.  And, I love it that the workbook is coil bound in stenographer's style, with the coil at the top.  This makes it easy to work with for left or right handed students!

The series is now available for grades 1 through 6 with grade 7 coming soon.

It can be purchased directly through the publisher, or through some private distributors. 

Elements With Style!

We made a really fun find last summer at Chapters book store.

While perusing the science section (our favorite) we came across a set of books created by Basher.  They are a unique series that mix science and art to give personality to scientific concepts.

In the book Periodic Table, Elements with Style, each of the elements is given a persona and is illustrated cartoon style.  There's a bio of sorts for each one.  

For example:  "Nitrogen: On first impression I'm a regular sort, but I've got an explosive temperament.  You might hardly notice me, but I make up almost 80 percent of air, and I'm essential to plant life on Earth. I'm normally a pretty uncreative gas, made up of two atoms of nitrogen.  The triple bond between these two atoms is hard to break, and that is my hidden power.  When nitrogen atoms form nitrogen gas, they release massive amounts of energy.  This make the many compounds that contain me potentially explosive!" The group number and other important facts like density, date of discovery, melting point, boiling point, atomic number and weight are also included for each element.   We also have the book Physics: Why Matter Matters; and we plan on getting a couple more in the series, as there are more! These books have proven engaging and entertaining.  A fun way to get acquainted with sometimes dry material!

Rainbow Jello

...Sometimes working in the kitchen is the perfect way to enhance a learning activity!

Recently my 5 year old was learning the colors of the rainbow.

He was having a little trouble remembering the order, so I went online to find a way to help him remember them.

Fly to My Window is a blogger with lots of creative ideas.  And this one was no exception.  Taking the day to add layers to this jello art masterpiece was a great experience.  Spending the day mixing and pouring while naming the colors is a great hands on way to reinforce the light spectrum, and kind of tasty too!