Now it's my turn - AFHE Re-Cap

Okay, now that Monica and Malinda have both posted their thoughts I guess it's my turn. I thought going into the conference that I would spend most of my time in the workshops learning more about homeschooling in general rather than looking at specific curriculum. Johnny will only be 3 in December so I still have plenty of time. Before the conference I had bought a couple of things to direct our activities this year:

Before Five In a Row

Five in a row is a literature based program for school-age children where you read the same book each day for a week and then do different activities based on the book for social studies, language, art, applied mathematics, and science. The first book in the series Before Five in a Row is specifically for children ages 2-4.

It has recommended activities for 24 different children's picture books. These are very simple. For example after reading Jesse Bear, What Will you Wear? you can ask your child to look at the pages and see how many bears they can find. Also they have a separate section on different activities to do with your child to help develop large and gross motor skills and things to keep them occupied while your in the kitchen or at the grocery store. I am very excited by the book suggestions. We have a ton of books and both Johnny and Jacob enjoy it when I read to them, but a lot of the books are pretty boring. So far all of the books that I've looked up on Amazon have really good stories and good illustrations. My only problem is that I've decided that I'd like to own these books rather than check them out of the library so now I've been spending a lot of time between eBay and Amazon trying to get the best deals. :)

Rod and Staff - About 3 Workbooks


For the last month or so every time Johnny sees me sitting at the kitchen table making out my grocery list he has to have his own pen and paper. One day I left him at the table and when I came back he had "added" to my list. I should have saved the paper to show you. In straight lines he had added a series of loops as if he was trying to imitate cursive writing. These workbooks start out developing pre-writing skills by having the kids draw lines left to right. Later on there are coloring and cut and paste activities. They were very cheap and I thought it would be a fun way for him to practice his "writing".

So now onto the conference. I ended up spending way more time attending vendor workshops and looking at curriculum than I planned on. I did however walk away with a lot of good ideas for what I think I want to do in the future.

Teach 4 Mastery - Scaredy Cat Reading System

Do you remember learning how to read? I sure don't. I know that I struggled and I think that laid the foundation for my hatred of reading and literature all throughout school. I love to read now though. I don't think I was taught using phonics. I remember in about the third grade being pulled out of class for special instruction in phonics as a "new" approach. Even to this day when I am reading a new word I am unable to sound it out. I really couldn't tell you the difference between long and short vowels and all that other stuff. So I am really excited about this reading systems. It teaches phonics by making up stories for why the letters sound the way they do. I think it's going to be fun. I like hands-on stuff. I was a little worried because there is a video segment for each lesson, but I talked to the owner and he said that his preference is for the parents to watch the videos without their kids and then teach their kids the lessons. I bought the initial DVD which just introduces all of the letters and why they sound the way they do. I probably won't use it until next year, but I want to have it on hand for whenever Johnny is ready.

Teach 4 Mastery - Scribble to Scribe

This writing program goes along with the Scaredy Cat Reading System. One interesting thing is that the workbooks come with an musical CD to be played while the children write. I guess research has shown that in kids and adults who are re-learning after an accident, that they learn better/faster when music is played. I went a head and purchased both of their workbooks - the first is pre-writing skills and the second is making the actual letters. Again, I probably won't use this for a year or so, but I liked it so much I couldn't help myself.

Sonlight

I have absolutely fallen in love with this curriculum! The core is literature based and combines literature and history. You can also purchase your math, science, electives, Bible study, and language arts through them. I do still like Math-U-See better than their program (Horizons). And I also want to use Scaredy Cat for the first couple of years until they move from learning to read into grammar. I did really like their science program - at least what I saw for Kindergarten. What I really like is that they have a program beginning with 3-4 year olds that I can start next year (2009-2010). It's similar to my description of Before Five in A Row where you read books and then do activities based on the books - there are just way more books. I also looked at their "Pre-K" and Kindergarten curriculum and really just liked what I saw. The books look so interesting. I just can't get myself excited about teaching out of a text book. I like the way the program is set-up for parent read-aloud time and student read silently time. I mean how fun does that sound to curl up on the couch reading with your kids and then engaging them in discussions? Oh I can't wait!

Melissa and Doug

One of the vendor booths sold some really neat Melissa and Doug toys. I just love their products. My husband loves anything made out of wood so he likes them too. :) Heres's what I got for Johnny:

Basic Skills Board

Latches Board

Primary Lacing Beads

Jumbo Watercolors Set

Jumbo Brushes

I'll have to post pictures of Johnny and his watercolors tomorrow. He had so much fun with them!

I'm going to wrap up this post for tonight. I might post again tomorrow about one more vendor, Accountable Kids, and also my thoughts on the regular workshops that I attended. I will say that even though my kids are young I am really glad that I went this year. I felt that God confirmed my choice to homeschool.

Monica, I am so glad that you were my convention buddy this year! I had so much fun with you. I love how respectful you are of everyone's choices regarding whether or not to homeschool as well as what curriculum to choose. You have done so much research and I just love picking your brain. :)