Smrt Lernins

Ok, this isn’t actually a treatise, but it is his explanation (swiped from the comments of the Weekly Reviewins I posted today) of how he uses the abacus with Tank. I’ve had several people ask me how we’re integrating the abacus, but I’m not the one doing it, so I had to rely on Officer Daddyman to betray his secrets. Since not all of you read all of the comments, I thought I’d post it here for your enjoyment:

The abacus I bought for Tank has 2 rows each of 5 different colored beads (blue, green, red, yellow, tan). We started by just using the blue beads to count to 20, as well as writing the numbers on the dry-erase board. About two weeks ago I started writing some simple addition and substraction problems on the dry-erase board, Tank would use the abacus to find the answer, and then he would write the answer on the dry-erase board.

Last week we used the green beads to count by 10’s, and wrote that sequence on the white board. We then did simple addition problems using multiples of ten to illustrate how the tens and units place combine in written form and with the abacus. For example, we would write out 20+2=22 and he would count out 22 on the abacus.

Today we ventured into subtracting from numbers greater than 20. First we practiced substituting 10 blue beads for 1 green bead, and vice versa. Next, I wrote down some subtraction problems on the board with numbers greater than 10, and we practiced starting with a green bead and exchanging it for 10 blue beads to facilitate the arithmetic. The final problem (his Challenge problem) was 30-14. He was a little confused at first, so I re-wrote the problem as 30-10-4. He understand that no problem. We started with 3 green beads and he took away a green bead (10) and then exhanged a green for 10 blue to subtract the 4.

When I told him how well he did with subtraction, and that he even figured out the Challenge problem, he said “I know! That’s what’s making my mind get bigger!”

The abacus is a great tool, and I have the advantage of first learning arithmetic using one. I used poker chips to teach Cpt. Science about odds and ratios. I highly recommend Texas Hold’em for those concepts.

Amelia asks, “If you’re going to homeschool for preschool next year, what will that look like? Will it look different from the usual parenting of a preschooler?”

We’re definitely home preschooling next year. We haven’t re-enrolled Tank in his current preschool and he’s quite excited about “doing homework” (he used to call it “table learnin’”) with Captain Science and (more importantly, to him) with Patchfire’s Fabulous Boy, whom Tank swears he is going to either grow up to marry or to crush (with requisite iron-fist-of-Stalin crushing hand gesture). Even if we didn’t have plans to homeschool Tank, we’d have to start doing something during Captain Science’s school time, because Tank wants so badly to be homeschooled, too.

Another reason I want to homeschool is to make sure Tank doesn’t have gaps in his basic knowledge. Because Captain Science was so bright in most areas (he was reading at 2), his teachers either didn’t notice that he didn’t have certain important skills or thought that, because he was so gifted in other areas, he would either catch up or the skills weren’t that important. As a result, Captain Science never really learned how to hold scissors properly or cut well, to hold a pencil correctly, or to trace a straight line. It’s been an uphill battle to instill those skills in my now-9-year-old. I don’t want Tank to end up the same way, so I’ve carefully compiled a list of skills I want to make sure he has, and will address each of them in turn.

While any of the skills we’re planning on working on next year could be taught through the informal daily routine of parenting, Tank will have a short instructional period every school day to work on these concepts more formally.

We’ll start with the cheap and simple, using Kumon workbooks for the basic skills like tracing and cutting. We might also use them for some beginning math skills. Tank is already pretty good with numbers and does simple arithmetic using fingers or objects. We’ll probably also find some “fun” math activities to do with him.

On the recommendation of several homeschooling friends, I’ll be using The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading, which is co-authored by one of the authors of The Well-Trained Mind, for teaching phonics and other reading skills. I’m also considering getting the flashcards that go with this book. We have a magnet board and a fairly good collection of magnet letters, so as much as the idea of something like this magnetic phonics teaching set appeals to me, we’ll probably stick with the letters we have.

Something I am going to put in the formal schedule, just to make sure I don’t put it by the wayside, is art. Tank loves all arts and crafts. He loves to paint, draw, glue, model, and make ridiculous projects out of various substances. Patchfire and I have talked about doing art class with our small boys, so that will satisfy both Tank’s need to have a class with FB and my need to make sure he has art regularly.

I’m also going to make sure I address some of those things that he might otherwise miss as a homeschooled student, things like knowing his parents’ names, address, phone number, and how to react in a fire or other emergency.

The most noticeable difference between days where I’m home preschooling and the days when I’m just parenting a preschooler will be that he will feel like he’s having school time. I don’t have to keep records or worry about him making tremendous academic strides, but I can give him a way to be closer with Captain Science and feel included.

That’s how the [Smrt] Homeschooler plans to do preschooling at home!

Do you have a question for the [Smrt] Homeschooler? Email them to
smrtmama@smrtlernins.com

Should have blogged this yesterday, but it was a full day and I just didn’t get around to it.

Yesterday, I went to spring conference at Tank’s preschool. I met with his teacher and looked over her assessments of his abilities and development. I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw!

First, Mrs. SweetTeacher (he also has Mrs. HappyTeacher, the assistant teacher) showed me the assessment from the music class instructor. The Tank showed concept mastery in all areas, including the area of “how to behave yourself in a music class.” It wasn’t worded exactly like that, but that was certainly the implication of that particular bullet point. Tank apparently knows the names of all of the instruments used in class and can categorize them (drums are percussion, for example). He always participates in class and enjoys singing. This, I knew, as I can’t put on my Glee cd without the child belting out “Don’t Stop Believing.”

In Mrs. SweetTeacher’s class, the Tank has also been making great strides. His gross motor skills are just as good as I knew they were and his fine motor skills are also excellent. He can jump, skip, draw a straight line and a circle, and draw a picture of himself with all the parts that a child should be consistently putting in drawings at this age (head, facial features, arms, and legs). He is social and gets along well with other kids, always has a playmate as is right in the middle of the action, though he shows a mature ability (“We usually see that in much older children!”) to identify the kid that won’t put up a fuss if he swipes their toy — yes, the Tank is the kind of child who could easily become a bully if that sort of behavior weren’t parented out of him, which is one reason why I think homeschooling will be much better for him than public school, where his innate bullying instinct might be fed. I’m glad he has such a high level of social intelligence, but I want him to use it for good, not evil!

He knows all of his colors and shapes. He can count to 15, though he often skips 16 and/or 17, then can continue to count up through the 20s and 30s, and often beyond, especially with a little prompting. He has sight recognition for the names of all of the boys in his class (the preschool ended up with way more boys than girls this year, resulting in an all-boy classroom for the M/W/Th group). He can write his own name, from left to write in all upper case, though he writes each letter from right to left, which is sort of interesting. They don’t expect them to have name recognition or the ability to write their name, but they assess them for that anyway, just to see if they can, and the Tank can!

The area where I wasn’t at all aware how the Tank was developing was in letter recognition. He won’t even sing the ABC song for me (“I don’t know them all.”) and I didn’t know that he could now recognize all of the letters, at least the upper case ones! He sometimes misreads G for C, but otherwise, he can correctly identify all of them. Wow, this really blew my mind. On the one hand, I was really excited that he could do so much more than I realized. With Captain Science as my barometer, it’s often hard for me to know if the Tank is behind, normal, or even ahead, because Captain Science was so far above average that the usual “above average” seems like “average” to me, if that makes any sense. It was comforting to know that the Tank is not only NOT behind, but is ahead in most areas.

On the other hand, that I didn’t know all the things he can do leaves me with a slight feeling of loss, just like missing any milestone in your child’s life. Where was I when he learned the alphabet? How could I miss that he knew all the things he knows? I don’t think it would have occurred to me to feel regret about this if I hadn’t been homeschooling Captain Science this year. I like being a part of my children’s education. I like knowing what they know, because I’m the one who helped them learn it. I’m sad that I wasn’t the one who taught the Tank the rest of his letters and it only reconfirms my plans to homeschool him starting next year.

Mrs. SweetTeacher asked if we were reenrolling him for next year and I told her we would be homeschooling. She seemed disappointed that he wouldn’t be returning to the school. I’m glad his teachers seem to genuinely like and enjoy him, because he’s an enjoyable, entertaining child. Both Mrs. SweetTeacher and Mrs. HappyTeacher have remarked on his good sense of humor, his advanced verbal skills, what a great personality he has. It’s always nice to hear that from an outside source.

I’m thrilled this conference was full of so much good information, but now I can’t wait to start preschooling at home next year!