April Homeschool Update!!! 4th Grade Secular Homeschool

Рет қаралды 366

2 ай бұрын

Hi you guys! In this video, I discuss our core subject updates, where we are in the school year, our North Dakota Studies, creative writing/spelling/editing, Waldorf curriculum by Live Education! and more. Thanks for watching!
#homeschooling #homeschooling #4thgrade #5thgrade

Пікірлер: 32

@jessicaedwards4487 2 ай бұрын

I so enjoy your content. I relate to your methods of teaching so much. It's funny because we are just about to start a Waldorf main lesson block on Norse Mythology. I've found that I really enjoy ending our school year with a main lesson block. I've found we ebb and flow between educational styles throughout the year. At the start of the year we tend to be more traditional in our studies (each subject explicitly taught), by winter it looks more like Charlotte Mason (lots of reading aloud and more history), second semester is more Montessori focused (hands-on, more child led, very independent work), and we end the year with a big group study of piece of literature (more Waldorf or unit study based). To me, that's the beauty of homeschooling!

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I really like that idea a lot. I think I do the same. At least for the first year -- and maybe because I didnt know anything other than regular school. And we really have morphed into another style altogether. I am looking forward to trying Waldorf. It's those big main lessons I'm really interested in. Something we can sink our teeth into and not look at the time tick by or the days on a calendar.

@faithfullyinfertile 2 ай бұрын

We also love All About Spelling! My 6th grader struggles with language in general and especially spelling but AAS has really helped!

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I must have looked at All About Spelling 100 times! It was between AAS, Explode the Code and Spelling U See. In the end I went with the one I thought Morgan could do on her own - Explode the Code. I am noticing she prefers to teach herself things, even those things she struggles with. Which means finding a book for her to work on in an area she struggles where she won't give up while doing it on her own is like grabbing air sometimes 😂 Which is why I am really happy to see her editing her own short stories and poems.

@faithfullyinfertile 2 ай бұрын

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy we also love Explode the Code! It is so straightforward and fun! I use it as a supplement to reinforce AAS but I could totally see it being a full spelling curriculum for a self motivated student like Morgan!

@TheMommaLibrarian 2 ай бұрын

The channel Bold Homeschool (she doesn't make videos anymore so it's a few years old) has a really good video about Story of the World that you might find interesting.

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I found it, thanks! Oh gosh, she has energy doesn't she?! Why did she stop making videos? She should start again.

@faithfullyinfertile 2 ай бұрын

I absolutely LOVE Math U See. I realized my girls (finishing 8th & 6th) had some significant math deficits after I did some cognitive testing with them. I was advised to go back to Alpha with both of them to fill in the holes. I took the advice even though it was a hard pill to swallow taking my 8th grader to basically 1st grade math. However, I am incredibly thankful I did. We have almost finished Gamma now and the progress and, most importantly, the understanding of basic math concepts that just was not there previously has been astounding. My 8th grader has struggled with double digit multiplication for forever, but after gaining that solid foundation of place value, addition, subtraction and then multiplication, when we got to the double digit multiplication lessons she BREEZED through them - no issues. It was absolutely amazing. Literally YEARS of working with her on concepts and Math U See does it for her in just a few months of dedicated daily work through their program from the very beginning. I have two younger children (both boys) and I have already started them in Math U See Primer. I will never look elsewhere for math curriculum again!!

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

You are the only other person I know who went back in math like that the way we did. I am so darned glad we did. I am certain it avoided years of frustration and sadness for Morgan. We will stick with math-u-see for a good while and we will move only at her pace. Better to be good at what you know than not so great at a lot I think. Thanks for your comment. It's nice to know you did the same!

@faithfullyinfertile 2 ай бұрын

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy oh for sure we have saved these kids so much frustration. Well, my daughter was already frustrated, unfortunately. :( She was trying to do fractions, decimals & percents with major holes in her place value, addition, sub, mul knowledge! I didn't see the real issue until MUS but we have fixed those holes now and the progress is astounding. She's going into 9th so we are technically so behind but I have every confidence she is going to be able to make it and get her math credits to graduate highschool. I couldn't say that before MUS! We will be plugging right along with Morgan in Delta soon! Keep us posted on her MUS journey!

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

@@faithfullyinfertile I think at older ages, kids and adults can do so much more of a subject in a shorter timespan. I bet you could do delta, epsilon and zeta this school year. If you discover your daughter now really likes math, you could get her up through calculus before the end of HS if it was just those frustrating gaps that were so halting. Sky's the limit. I want to hear how it goes with you and I wish you all the greatest things!

@faithfullyinfertile 2 ай бұрын

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy it is interesting you share this because I know I heard somewhere that kids can learn all of elementary math in just a yr or two! Once they are older, their brains are just ready to take all that in and they can learn it in no time. Fascinating! I am definitely seeing this with my girls who are 12 and 14 yrs old. We are covering a lot of ground in just a short amount of time. I LOVE the way MUS is structured to make this possible. You could easily spend a whole school yr on a level…or just a couple months! Brilliant program. I’ll keep you updated. Not going anywhere. Love your channel and content. 💜

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

You are so right -- mastery programs just lets a learner go at their own pace -- fast or slow. I actually bought two Epsilon workbooks... one for me and one for Morgan. I have math gaps, too, starting with fraction conversion. So from there up, I will be doing math as well. I've often thought of going back to get a math degree after I'm 60. Or physics. Thanks for wanting to stick around!

@TheMommaLibrarian 2 ай бұрын

I have at least one video on my channel about the DORA and ADAM tests. Your state studies sound so fun!

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I'm looking for it... Did it have testing in the title?

@TheMommaLibrarian 2 ай бұрын

Reading & Math Assessments in our Homeschool kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nMmlgZul27WRoaM.html

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

@@TheMommaLibrarian Thank you. I have it saved to watch this afternoon :)

@bubbleandsquid 2 ай бұрын

We have done alot of wardolf inspired educating and have loved it. We brought a scratch off poster for musicals and are working through them for now, it's been great fun. Want to go to some open air plays this summer, do they do that in the US? We are in the UK.

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

Hello over there! I used to live in Harrogate and went to boarding school at Queen Ethelburga's. Thanks for watching my video! We have Shakespeare in the Park plays in many places in the US. It is far easier to go to plays in major cities than in our rural location but I have to say, our little school puts on a lot of student plays and invites traveling theatre. I'm really excited about starting Waldorf.

@bubbleandsquid 2 ай бұрын

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy That sounds great we live in the Surrey Downs, you are very welcome I'm enjoying watching.

@lisamlovely1271 2 ай бұрын

This has quickly become one of my favorite Home Schooling resource channels. I’m wondering what are your thoughts on the IXL program for enrichment & test prep for math & language arts.

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

You are so nice, thank you! I haven't used any test preps at all... Have you used IXL or any others? You know, it never occurred to me to actually plan test prep lol

@lisamlovely1271 2 ай бұрын

My daughter has used it for enrichment purposes but this year I was playing around with it & found out they had a diagnostic section where Rose can test to get her levels in math & what sections need extra attention. I think we are going to add the language arts over the summer to help see how she is doing as a reference & extra practice.

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I think Morgan is familiar with the interface because they used it at her school. The 4th grade teacher really liked it. I will have to look into it.

@victoriasbooktalks8882 2 ай бұрын

I'm interested in the interviews that your daughter did/is going with your state representatives, are you having her write out a report or give a presentation of her findings? Or is the interview a pathway to further discussions between the two of you?

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

Nope, no report. I’m mainly interested in 3 things: that morgan sees how easy it is to reach out to real government officials, she gets comfortable speaking with them (they r just people too), and it’s a means to show her real jobs available in different professions. It does generate all kinds of great conversations, too. Also I kicked myself for forgetting to mention the whole North Dakota studies packet she worked so hard on! So she was doing a report but the interviews are a great field trip for us both.

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I also forgot to mention Morgan wrote a thank you letter to Justice McEvers and snail-mailed it. In it, she listed 3 interesting things she learned from their meeting.

@StephanieMT 2 ай бұрын

i have a kid who loves volcanoes and dinosaurs most of my kids love science

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I think I liked it so much because everything comes North Dakota. And having moved 17 times in 22 years before we moved here, it is really fun to explore "home" and it's pretty cool "home" happens to have a ton of dinos!