Luke finished 3rd grade, Paul finished 1st grade and Ruth finished her Beginner's class. Ruth will be in Beginner's again next school year because we actually started her before she was technically the correct age to start. We aren't interested in starting Kindergarten early, so somewhere in between, she'd need to repeat. This seems like a good year to repeat...she doesn't recognize letters or numbers and can't write her name, so really "school" is a place where she gets to play with other children, paint, dress up, learn about things like transportation, seasons, etc. This summer, however, our Summer Home School goal for Ruth is to improve her fine motor skills...pencil grip, writing, etc. AND teach her to write her name. We'll see how that goes.
Luke and Paul are working on math, problem-solving, reading comprehension and grammar this summer.
Admittedly, I'm pushing Paul a little hard on the math with this Tenmark website I was turned on to. I do think it is good as he is having to confront problems where he has to think about what to do rather than just solve a bunch of problems he's already learned how to solve. Sometimes, on that website, the end question is "what is a number sentence that shows what you would do to solve the problem" and not what is the answer. The answer is a choice, but so are several number sentences. Paul often misses the question because he didn't read what was wanted...he just assumed solving the problem is what he needed to do. I'm happy about this because he needs to read the actual question!
I have taught him how to borrow...which is a bit advanced for coming out of first grade. He can do that with no problem now (with double-digit numbers). Some of the work is really having him do algebra...instead of 10+20 = ?, it'll ask 10 + ? = 30...AND it asks it in a word problem like: "Gina has 30 marbles. She had 10 and then Mary gave her some. How many marbles did Mary give to Gina?" So...he has to figure out that he first has write out the number sentence and then actually figure out what the ? represents. So...I went ahead and taught him how to get the ? by itself. Yep, I taught him to do: ?
? +10=30
10+?=30
30=10+?
30=?+10
are all ways to write the same thing.
I'm not really concerned with him be able to DO this kind of math reliably...by himself. He'll be fine in school with his 10+2 = 12; 12-4=8 problems. I just want him to practice confronting problems where there is more thought that he has to do. He has got to get comfortable thinking and not freaking out if it isn't instantly obvious what he's supposed to do.
Richard is creative with thinking of manipulatives to help Paul "see" the concept. Getting out pennies so he can see, "if we have 20 pennies to start, but in the end we have 14, how many did we have to take away to get 14?" - because, like I said - these are all word problems that he has to figure out what the actual math is. Richard also came up with getting out the scale (balancing scale) to show Paul that = means both sides are the same. We haven't done that yet, but I think that is a good idea.
Luke is so the opposite of Paul (thus far) so far as problem solving is concerned...he is not phased by word problems or new concepts. He was working in a book that had a chart that showed "cooking" conversions: 8 oz = 1 cup; 2 cups = 1 pint; 2 pints = 1 quart, etc. Then he had all of these questions that went something like "Suzy had 2 gallons of cider, her recipe called for 3 quarts. How many cups of cider did she have left over". He just went about doing it...Paul would have looked at it and said, "I don't know what to do". Now, I realize Luke is older than Paul, but given a similar thing...a chart with a bit of math to do...at his level of ability...he would have not tried to do it without me there "pushing" him. He just doesn't get jazzed by the challenge...and Luke does (which is how I am too). This is my goal for Paul...to get him more comfortable with problem-solving.
My summer goal for Luke is to just keep challenging him and to keep him "balanced". He like math and problem-solving, so he'll readily do that. We need to balance that with reading...which is doing readily right now. While he hasn't formally learned division in school, he caught on (without help from me) that, for example, 27/9 is asking "what times 9 = 27?" and he goes from there. He did encounter a problem that was "bigger" than the multiplication tables he know...something like 72/4, so I showed him how to do "long division"...with no remainder, so we are upping the learning when he gets stuck.
After lunch, everyone goes to their room...Paul read 1-2 chapters of whatever book he's reading (Right now, he's reading Henry and the Clubhouse) and then he usually falls asleep. Luke can just read (I don't encourage him to close his eyes anymore)...right now, he's reading the 4th Harry Potter book. Ruth has to nap! She is currently "reading" Max's Birthday Cake...she will make up stories based on the pictures.
Baseball is over - Luke's team came in 2nd in his division (kid pitch) and Paul's team was way out of any rankings anyone would want to talk about! Luke has improved quite a bit...gotten some good hits in and really hustles. He usually plays right field and does a good job backing up 1st and 2nd base. Paul had a peak of being able to hit (from the pitching machine), but seems to have lost that. He hits just fine at home, but during the last few games, he seems to have lost his head and had some crazy swings. He usually plays right field and his throwing has gotten MUCH better, but still needs to improve. We think next season he'll show a lot of progress.
