Here are a few Curriculum Extra items I didn’t mention in my Curriculum post, that I wanted to make sure I gave proper credit too.
In addition to the main curriculum, we will be using these supplemental materials:
READS Parent/Child Reading Comprehension System
We are WAY behind with Lego Club, but this was April’s project – a playground! We just got around to doing it this week. Lego Club is FREE through Currclick.com, you can use what Lego’s you have, order some from online sites (at a cost) or order a complete kit from the Club Leader. We do a little of both, just depends on my mood.
We are also behind in opening our Little Passport packages, so I pulled out India this week….since we were studying Ancient India.
For Art we used Home Art Studio First Grade and did the lesson on peacocks, since peacocks live in India.
We also listened to Story of the World, read a story from India and read about the People of India (using the books pictured below)
For Science we are still doing the Moving Beyond the Page review, and enjoying it…more to come the end of the month.
For the most part we are doing light loads over the summer, our weeks are jammed pack with Swimming Lessons, Field Trips, Science Class, Art Camps, Pool/Beach Trips, Gymnastics, etc…
Just a simple handout….it has a spot at the bottom for the girls to write their thoughts on the matter and to remember and record an instance in their life that they remember being blessed by the priesthood.
Right click and save to print OR click HERE for a PDF
We went to a performance by the Oahu Children’s Theatre of Robin Hood. It was a great performance!
This last week we talked about Ancient Africa in History.
In addition to SOTW (Story of the World) with Pandia Press
We watched:
Wishbone Season 1, Episode 6 Bark that Bark, which contained African-American folktales ("Anansi the Spider" and "The People Could Fly") on Youtube.
and on Netflix we watched a few episodes of Lost Kingdoms of Africa
We played Mancala – an ancient African game of counting and strategy
You can also get a free Mancala app for your iOS device
For Science/Literature we are working on a Moving Beyond the Page review, so stay tuned for that!
This Week will be continuing with Moving Beyond the Page and for History – Ancient India!
Some other great books:
We had the opportunity to review Christianity Cove’s Daily Dilemmas: 26 True-to-Life Devotions for Kids. Daily Dilemmas is an ebook that has 26 life situations that kids may encounter written in story problem format. Each situation then gives a a few Bible scriptures, and multiple choice solutions to solve the problem. The scenarios deal with things like lying, gossiping, cheating, stealing, peer pressure, obedience, teasing, jealousy, etc… Each scenario then has a reflection to go with it, to discuss the scenario and what the correct choice
We used this program daily with our morning scripture reading. We read the scenario, then looked up and read each of the scriptures using the KJV, then we read the scenarios. C would then pick which he felt was the best, and we would read the reflection and discuss further if needed.
My son is almost 7, I felt that he was not able to relate to some of the scenarios, but others he could.
The book includes a glossary of scriptures were they used a variety of translation for the scriptures referenced….for us we prefer the KJV (we feel it is the most accurate translation), but we found that many of the scriptures referenced did not make SENSE with the scenario in the KJV. In the Glossary the scripture translations were chosen based on how they related to the scenario and to make them the easiest understood by children. Using only the KJV did not work too well with the program, so I would definitely recommend using the glossary at the end of the book to look up the scripture references. For ease of use, it would be more helpful to have the actual versus listed in the scenario page, as opposed to just the reference…particularly since the translations they use vary.
I really liked that the scenarios are listed in the index along with what issues they were dealing with, this made it possible to pick scenarios based on issues we were currently dealing with at home, like lying, for example.
Overall I think it’s a great concept, and a good program to use. I think that it may be a bit more beneficial to older children, but depends a lot on their life experiences as well. I think affects how they are able to relate to the scenarios. It really opens up a line of communication about the scenarios as well. It is also a great way to help kids apply scripture to everyday life.
Daily Dilemma's is available in PDF/e-book format for $29.00, it is recommended for ages 6-12 years old.
You can get the list of scenarios at the website, as well as one full sample of a scenario(including all aspects – story, scriptures, choices, reflection) However, on the sample the actual scripture versus are listed with their references…this is not the case in the actual ebook.
Our official field trip this week is ON Friday, so it won’t go up until next week. But we did get together with other homeschoolers for a PE day with water balloons.
We had a great time reviewing Math Mammoth, we tried out several of the BLUE SERIES, which consists of a variety of units, each based on a specific mathematical concept (as opposed to a specific grade level). The units we trialed were:
Add & Subtract 2 B - grade 2. Carrying and borrowing are explained here, with the help of visual models, two-digit numbers only $4.25
Place Value 2 - grade 2. Three-digit numbers, comparing, rounding. $2.00
Clock - grades 1-3. Covers reading the clock, elapsed time, and calendar. $4.00
Money - grades 1-3. Learn to count U.S. coins, count change, and solve problems. $3.25
The Blue Series is great for supplementing a program you are currently using. It would also work great for Non-Homeschoolers as well. You can easily pick a concept that your child may need additional instruction or practice on and purchase for a nominal fee. Many times our current math programs are working great, but our children are having a harder time grasping one or two concepts, Math Mammoth, is great for these types of circumstances!
To save on Paper, we used the worksheets on the Ipad using a program called GoodNotes. Worksheets can be easily printed out as well.
(Note: We did have an issue with the Money PDF not showing the nickels on the IPad for some reason, otherwise this method worked great!)
As previously mentioned this series is designed with supplementation in mind, and that is exactly how we used it. We used each program in addition to our regular math program to provide more instruction and practice in the specified topic areas.
Although Math Mammoth does not include physical manipulatives of any kind, the worksheet instruction is set up well for a visual learner. There are many pictures to explain each mathematical concept. There are also many helpful links to other online math sources (games, virtual manipulatives, etc..) included in the beginning of each unit.
The math instruction is very easy to understand and follow, making this a perfect program for a child who may not be grasping the concept explained in another way on another program.
I found my observations to be consistent in all 4 programs we used.
I would recommend this program to others, and it will be my go to if I am in need of an additional boost in our current math instruction. It would also work well for summer practice to keep your child’s math skills sharp (whether homeschooled or otherwise).
They also have available full math curriculums by grade level, for grades 1-12. Math Assessments are available on the website, as well as over 300 FREE Sample pages.
You can see what other crew members have to say about these and other Math Mammoth products by clicking below.
