Home School For Summer: Between Elementary and Middle School

My son, Random is going into middle school next year. We have several things planned for the transition, but more on that later. For the summer we had hoped summer school would be at the middle school he will be attending. Unfortunately, after our hopes were up, we were told that the location of summer school for the 5th going into 6th graders is not in his middle school. It is not even in our neighborhood. So rather that send him to summer school we will be attempting to home school again this summer. There is a lot less balking at the plan this year than there was last year. I have several books and programs we are going to work on during the summer months.

image via: http://www.staples.com/Typing-Instructor-for-Kids-Platinum-for-Windows-1-5-User-Download/product_954893

Firstly is a CD-ROM, Typing Island - Typing Instructor for Kids. It is also available as a download or as an app for the Mac. Random is going to have to boost his output for middle school and one way to do that is to use his computer to write up his papers. His handwriting is barely legible and he lost his OT handwriting help at his 9 year old reassessment.

image via: https://heartsathomestore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=416_452

In order to address that lack of assistance at school I have also found the Getty Dubay Italic Handwriting series of books for teaching readable handwriting.
The school has done nothing to help him in this area since that reassessment and he still needs to work on letter formation, size and spacing.

image via: http://www.walmart.com/ip/1884933

The next item on our agenda is math review. He has really made improvements in math this year thanks to some adaptations and modifications to his math program. He is required to do only part of the problems on the homework worksheets and he gets homework help to review the day's lessons at the end of the school day. The combination of both has really made him more confident in his math skills. We have to keep the positive momentum going, so we are going to use Math Minutes.

image via: http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Curriculum-Basic-Skills-Grade/dp/1609963350

Last year we used a comprehensive curriculum book. This year we will be doing the same with the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Sixth Grade. It has a nice overview of what to expect next year and some basic review pages too.

image via: http://www.dalebasler.com/2013/02/coding-to-learn-with-scratch/

The part I am most excited about is the Scratch programming book I found. Super Scratch Programming Adventure. The format of the book is comic book style but it has real programming instruction to make games in the Scratch programming environment.

image via: http://www.carsondellosa.com/cd2/Products/GuinnessWorldRecordsReading/ResourceBook/104422

Lastly, we have The Guinness World Records Reading Grade 5. I figure if we sail through this one we can get another of that type from Amazon or from the Lakeshore Learning store.

So, that is our plan. I am hoping that Sensi's Extended School Year goes well and I won't have to pull her again this year. If it goes well for her I can spend some quality time with Random reviewing and prepping him for his big transition.

The Tide Is Out: Summertime

I have both kids home being home schooled instead of summer school. I am having some trouble getting the routine established with SensiGirl as she is not being cooperative about school type activities. She has also taken up these irritating vocalizations she picked up from somewhere. It is a high pitched fake baby crying/cooing sound, "Whahahaha, whahahaha, woohoohoo, oow, ooooh, ooh.

image via:  http://www.parents.com/web/parents/flash/milestones/loader.swf 

I usually can ignore these kinds of things because I know if I ignore it that it will eventually go away. The baby sounds bother me because it is as if she wants to act like a baby again, after all the progress we made this year. It makes me irritated and want to cry all at the same time.

image via:  http://www.sitecheat.com/unlock-ipad-passcode/ 

Random Guy has been using SensiGirl's iPad to surf the net in his room upstairs. I haven't liked this situation, but I had to deal with it last night after turning on Safari and finding a weird fetish site cued up.  My husband and I erased the history so it wouldn't be easy to return there, but Random Guy knows how to use Google.  I am pretty sure at his age; he made a mistake typing in the address of one of his Lego brick sites and got the weirdo site. It was bothering me, enough that I couldn't sleep last night, so I changed the pass code for the restrictions so he couldn't use the internet without me knowing. I told Random Guy not to take the iPad this morning since I changed the code. I didn't want him trying passwords and locking it up. That is exactly what happened this morning. I had forgotten that I added using the pass code to just open up the iPad not only for changing restrictions. I am still waiting to use the new pass code to open up the iPad.

image via:  http://yogacalm.org/store.asp

When Random Guy then refused to go to his new yoga class, I lost my patience. I turned into that crabby yelling mom I hate. I give myself props for explaining why I am mad and for coming up with appropriate consequences for not going and decent rewards for going and being able to follow through.
I then took Random Guy to yoga. He wanted me to stay for the whole class and I had SensiGirl with me. Ms. Katie asked if Sensi and I would like to stay, we did, Ms. Katie and the other girls in class were great. Random Guy gave his class 7 out of 10 and said he would go again if his sister didn't have to come. I can totally understand him wanting something for his own. I am glad that Ms. Katie gets both Random Guy and SensiGirl.

photo by Tom Oliver
image via:  http://www.flickriver.com/places/India/Kerala/Kanjikkuzhi/ 

I still am feeling like a crab though, I gave up today and the kids are watching PBSkids and I am writing my blog rather than having a school session as planned. I gave up that idea as soon as we got home and the lunch I bought them as the reward wasn't eaten. Rather than harp about it I made grilled cheese for us. I am so tired that I left the pan on the lit burner for the whole time we were were eating out sandwiches. I have said before that if I don't get enough sleep the tide is out for me and I can only see the crap that surrounds me. I warned the kids this afternoon that I was going to be off the clock and not helping anyone with anything after nine o'clock. Smart kids...they agreed.

Home Schooling: Summer, Part Two

Since SensiGirl was losing skills at her ESY class, we decided to pull her to arrest any more regression of her skills. Her occupational therapists agree she has a distinctive lack of focus and needs lots more of large sensory input in the form of crashing and running around in circles. She hasn't been talking as much, this is such a change that her speech teacher was visibly upset last week. Both of her occupational therapists agreed that she was not able to focus as readily and was losing ground.

 Arresting Regression
 image via:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/belarus-election-violence-lukashenko-eu 

I talked with the ESY director and he didn't have any acceptable solutions. Such as it is, pulling her is hopefully the right way to go. Friday was her last day of ESY and I contacted the school and told the bus driver and aides that  Friday was her last day. If I had any reservations about pulling her from school, her performance that morning was enough to convince me that things couldn't go on as they were. She wouldn't get out of bed, wouldn't get dressed, didn't use the toilet and refused her breakfast. I got her out the door with literally two minutes to spare.

image via:  https://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=2883

I contacted a couple of the moms of her friends from her Kindergarten class and asked for some play time in the park with them. I also contacted the music therapist that both her speech therapist and her OTs suggested. I am hoping that we can fill some of the time with those things. I am going to check out swimming lessons for both SensiGirl and Random Guy soon.

I put together a summer school schedule for Random Guy two weeks ago, and we have been making progress on his math and reading. Geography, grammar and keyboarding are coming along as well.  My dilemma is how to school BOTH kids for the rest of the summer.  I worked yesterday on a complementary schedule for SensiGirl so that we won't interfere with the progress Random Guy has made and will bring Sensi's skills back up to acceptable levels.

image via:  http://www.betterworldbooks.com/comprehensive-curriculum-of-basic-skills-grade-1-id-160996330X.aspx 

We have three weeks until her intensive listening therapy starts, and it runs for two weeks. This may or may not cause some old behaviors to re-emerge from what I am told. Since that has already happened from two weeks of ESY, I am not terribly concerned.  I will continue to do school sessions during that time to keep things as normal as possible. I am going to take a little vacation towards the end of August. This wasn't originally planned that way, but it is turning out to be very motivating for me to know I will be getting a break from the kids for a few days during the summer.

image via:  http://article.wn.com/view/2011/08/06/Growing_Flood_Potential_Brainerd_Lakes
Area_severe_risk_late/ 

I never thought I would be schooling my children at home or that I wouldn't have them in summer school. Circumstances being what they are, we are being more typical than I thought we could be.

Fun Math Apps for Summer

Since we are home summer schooling I am looking at some math games to make math more fun for the slightly math phobic Random Guy. All prices are the usual .99 to 4.99 unless otherwise noted. Here is what I found:

image via: http://ipad.appfinders.com/motion-math-zoom/

Motion Math Zoom: Free, uses concrete objects to teach abstract objects. This app teaches the number line and fractions in a fun way. Encourages flexible mental computation
.http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math-zoom

image via: http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/math-evolve/id482475948?mt=8

Math Evolve:  Highly rated, fun game style play while learning your math facts. Customizable to your child's level and tracks their progress.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-evolve

image via: http://www.downloadcheapapp.com/rocket-math-iphone-app-36774.html

Rocket Math: Complete any of 56 math missions to earn money to build a rocket based on physics simulator. Covers basic numbers to square roots.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rocket-math

image via:  http://www.mikeweisermusic.com/credits/games/operation-math/

Operation Math: Select missions to stop Dr. Odd from eliminating  the world's even numbers. Unlock spy gear as you complete your missions. Play different levels from Addition through division, or a combination.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-math

image via: http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/099/Purple/e1/06/33/mzl.twviajdg.480x480-75.jpg

Numbers League: Super heroes must combine the sum of their powers to find the answer to defeat villains. A fun super hero comic book style way of practicing math facts.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/numbers-league

image via: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/marble-math-junior/id528617628?mt=8

Marble Math: Tilt the iPad to move the marble to the correct combination to get the right answer. Multi-level play. This app covers addition through division, fractions, decimals, money, and more.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/marble-math

image via: http://www.famigo.com/app/move-the-turtle-programming-for-kids/

Move the Turtle: Teaches basic computer programming using graphic commands. This app uses geometry, angles and measurement for coding complex activities by using simple graphic commands. This one looks really fun!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/move-turtle.-programming-for

image via: http://schoogle.wordpress.com/author/mendhamt/

Khan Academy app: The complete Khan library of over 2,700 videos, learn almost anything. One of my favorites for homework help.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/khan-academy


We are excited to get started with Rocket Math and Move the Turtle. If you know of any cool math or programming apps, let me know. Have fun with these.

resources:
http://www.applesandapps.blogspot.com/
http://imaginationsoup.net/2012/05/40-stem-ipad-apps-for-kids-science-technology-engineering-math/
http://www.mathsinsider.com/16-cool-ipad-math-apps-that-your-child-might-actually-love/