The chapter book I am reading to Peyton:
This is a great series. We are almost done with this book. I think we have 2 more chapters to go. I try to read one chapter a day to him, sometimes he asks for more. We will read the second stories in the series when this one is the done.
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
What Peyton is reading to me:
He loves these stories. He is doing a really good job reading. Sometimes I am surprised at the words he can read...and I'm just as surprised at the ones he gets stuck on. He gets stuck on a word and then doesn't look at it, so of course he can't read a word if he doesn't look at it. :) His reading speed has improved. When we do math, he can pretty much read everything on the math worksheet to do the worksheet himself.
Speaking of math...I use Saxon Math 2. He is doing pretty well in math and is starting to memorize some of the addition facts. He has learned the fact families of 8 & 9 and then he wanted to do 10. (i.e. the fact family of 8 is 0+8, 8+0, 1+7, 7+1, 2+6, 6+2, 3+5, 5+3, 4+4). He has learned his doubles plus 1 facts as well. i.e. 7+8 (you add 7+7 then add 1). It took 2 weeks to see him process it as they recommended it, but he has finally gotten it this week. ;) He enjoys math, so that makes me happy. I'm sure having a mom who isn't afraid of it helps too. :)
For Spelling I use:
I like it for the most part. I used Saxon K for phonics when Peyton was 4 1/2. I liked it a lot. The lessons were fast. In grade 1, they became twice as long, so I quit using it last year. I used Open Court reading. I use All About Spelling, but when he needs more emphasis on sounds or spelling, I use Saxon phonics for 1st grade and combine All About Spelling. Saxon makes you code the words, which I like a little bit. It helps to code the word and break it up so he can read a word when he is stuck on it. AAS doesn't teach that. But I like the magnet letters they use with the program for spelling. It makes it fun, and face it, phonics isn't the most fun subject. :)
I also use First Language Lessons & Writing With Ease by Jessie Wise. This goes along with the Classical method & the book The Well Trained Mind.
I like both of these books. The lessons are really short and sweet. First Language Lessons (FLL) covers grammar and the like. We have been learning about nouns for 39 straight lessons. Today on lesson 40 we finally hit something else. They have him do some memorization of poems and dictation or answer questions after a passage is read. He also has to do some copywork. I only make him copy about one sentence because it takes him forever just to copy one sentence. When I see him having difficulty with a letter, I make him copy that letter over a few times. The lessons of Writing with & FLL compliment each other. I enjoy using both of them for him.
We are still studying about China. We have continued reading Stories from the Silk Road. I enjoy that book. We read a few chapters from Story of the World: Volume 1 about China. For some reason he has an interest in China. I think he would love to learn to actually write Chinese, but I'm a fish out of water trying to teach that. I can identify with Spanish and teach that with no problem...Chinese is another story. I have gotten some books out of the library to try to teach him some things. We will see how that goes.
We are still using SALSA for Spanish. Each week Ashley & Peyton watch a new video. They both enjoy the video. Whenever a Spanish word is said, Ashley repeats it. She counted to 5 in Spanish today when I asked her to for Chris.
For Science, I use:
The author who wrote this book is a college professor. He wanted to have the children learn science in a certain order so they could build upon prior knowledge (kind of like the way math is taught...you need to know adding and subtracting to do multiplication and division). We have been learning about atoms and matter and solids, liquids, and gases. We are on the different properties of matter right now. Peyton really enjoys it and there is a lot of hands on activity, making it all the more fun.
