I have been using a curriculum guide to get an idea on what Shmoo should be learning and when. Of course, standards vary widely from state to state and country to country so I've just been using it as a general guide, not following it too strictly and we've been tailoring it to where Shmoo's at - giving him more advanced stuff to learn where he's obviously ahead and doing more work where he struggles. The problem is, this guide covers preschool, kinder and then grades 1-12. Not being a Tassie native I assumed that the kinder in the guide was the same as the kinder in the Tassie education system, and preschool was 'pre-kinder', ie the stage Shmoo is at now. Last night I finally managed to work out that in Tasmania kids do kinder, prep and then grades 1-12. So what I've been thinking of as 'kinder' would really be the guide for 'prep' LOL. According to the curriculum guide on where kids 'should' be at, Shmoo's now about a year ahead in 2/3 of the subject areas LOL. Oh well. The good thing about home schooling is that we are able to tailor our curriculum to suit the student!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
23w5d
LOL In the space of about 30 minutes today I got told by one person how big I am for (nearly) 24 weeks and then later someone else told me how small I am. Can't win! But I am loving my pregnant tummy. I am so obviously pregnant now. It's nice to be at the stage where people don't have to wonder if I'm pregnant or just overweight! Will have to do another belly pic on Sunday.
Beanie somehow managed to give me quite a good kick in the ribs this morning. I'm not quite 24w! Imagine what it's going to be like in 10w time LOL. I am feeling movement all over my tummy now except for high up centre front and slightly to the right. I'm sure that's where the placenta is and it blocks the movement somewhat. I am curious as to how big he will be when he's born. Shmoo was about 6lb 10oz at 37w5d and Loo was 7lb 6oz at 39w5d.
In other news, Shmoo has been working on his writing. We've done 'a' for a while and now we've added in 'b'. He struggles with holding a pencil correctly and therefore he doesn't really have the control required to write as well as he could (he tends to wrap his entire hand around the pencil and tries to write like that). It's a bit frustrating for him. I'm going to try and hunt down some proper pencil grips to see if that helps him. Shmoo is also starting to get the hang of basic addition and the terminology (X + Y = Z). Not doing too badly.
Beanie somehow managed to give me quite a good kick in the ribs this morning. I'm not quite 24w! Imagine what it's going to be like in 10w time LOL. I am feeling movement all over my tummy now except for high up centre front and slightly to the right. I'm sure that's where the placenta is and it blocks the movement somewhat. I am curious as to how big he will be when he's born. Shmoo was about 6lb 10oz at 37w5d and Loo was 7lb 6oz at 39w5d.
In other news, Shmoo has been working on his writing. We've done 'a' for a while and now we've added in 'b'. He struggles with holding a pencil correctly and therefore he doesn't really have the control required to write as well as he could (he tends to wrap his entire hand around the pencil and tries to write like that). It's a bit frustrating for him. I'm going to try and hunt down some proper pencil grips to see if that helps him. Shmoo is also starting to get the hang of basic addition and the terminology (X + Y = Z). Not doing too badly.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
21w4d
Is it too early to be nesting? Maybe I've just been bitten by the spring cleaning bug. Either way, I have been a little preoccupied with cleaning lately - vacuuming, scrubbing, mopping; cleaning and reorgansing the pantry and kitchen cupboards etc etc. It's not doing my aching back and hips any good but oh well. And at least the OH knows enough now not to argue with the obsessed pregnant woman LOL.
Shmoo and Loo's snowpeas are coming up well with all the sun we've had lately. I think the parsley seeds are just sprouting too... there's a wonky line of little green shoots anyway, so I'll wait and see if they're weeds or parsely before pulling them out. We've forgotten to water them lately after not having to water them at all because we had so much rain (I'd actually worried that the seeds might have washed away!) so the soil's a bit compacted and dry. I snuck out when Loo was asleep to pull out the weeds but didn't have much luck because it was so dry. Will have to wait a couple of days until we've gotten it all moist again. (Didn't want Loo to see me pulling the weeds out as he's too young to understand the difference between weeds & plants - turn my back for a second and he'd be ripping up the snowpeas LOL).
Hoping to get back into playgroups and homeschooling groups soon, now that the pregnancy's going well and hopfully there's not so much swine flu about. There was a homeschooling meet-up today 2 mins up the road from us and we'd been looking forward to going but Loo woke up all croaky and coughing, snot everywhere. Typical LOL. He doesn't seem so bad now but we didn't want to pass it on to all the other kids.
Speaking of homeschooling, Shmoo's doing pretty well. We do need to focus on numeracy a little more though. His reading is coming along well. He does well with all his letter sounds (phonics stuff) and we've just started on some sight words. He can read short sentences when he wants to too (bit of a daydreamer and a short attention span so it's all done in short bursts). The other day he read: 'a frog on a log', 'a baby cat is a kitten', and 'a drink of milk'.
Loo has an appointment with the allergist in Launceston in just over a week (the 19th). He'll be restested and we need to get another prescription for epipens. The eczema around his mouth has been clearing up well with the reduction in salicylates. This has also made it obvious that he is still reacting to something in his diet. The common factor seems to be soy products so we'll try to cut those out and see how he goes. I know he did react to soy when he was a baby. I thought he'd outgrown the intolerance but perhaps his tolerance for it had just increased a little. Anyway, we'll cut it out and then re-introduce it slowly at a later date. It's going to be a PITA though as I can't stand the taste of rice milk. Anything that requires milk I'll have to cook separately, use rice milk for the kids and soy milk for us.
Shmoo and Loo's snowpeas are coming up well with all the sun we've had lately. I think the parsley seeds are just sprouting too... there's a wonky line of little green shoots anyway, so I'll wait and see if they're weeds or parsely before pulling them out. We've forgotten to water them lately after not having to water them at all because we had so much rain (I'd actually worried that the seeds might have washed away!) so the soil's a bit compacted and dry. I snuck out when Loo was asleep to pull out the weeds but didn't have much luck because it was so dry. Will have to wait a couple of days until we've gotten it all moist again. (Didn't want Loo to see me pulling the weeds out as he's too young to understand the difference between weeds & plants - turn my back for a second and he'd be ripping up the snowpeas LOL).
Hoping to get back into playgroups and homeschooling groups soon, now that the pregnancy's going well and hopfully there's not so much swine flu about. There was a homeschooling meet-up today 2 mins up the road from us and we'd been looking forward to going but Loo woke up all croaky and coughing, snot everywhere. Typical LOL. He doesn't seem so bad now but we didn't want to pass it on to all the other kids.
Speaking of homeschooling, Shmoo's doing pretty well. We do need to focus on numeracy a little more though. His reading is coming along well. He does well with all his letter sounds (phonics stuff) and we've just started on some sight words. He can read short sentences when he wants to too (bit of a daydreamer and a short attention span so it's all done in short bursts). The other day he read: 'a frog on a log', 'a baby cat is a kitten', and 'a drink of milk'.
Loo has an appointment with the allergist in Launceston in just over a week (the 19th). He'll be restested and we need to get another prescription for epipens. The eczema around his mouth has been clearing up well with the reduction in salicylates. This has also made it obvious that he is still reacting to something in his diet. The common factor seems to be soy products so we'll try to cut those out and see how he goes. I know he did react to soy when he was a baby. I thought he'd outgrown the intolerance but perhaps his tolerance for it had just increased a little. Anyway, we'll cut it out and then re-introduce it slowly at a later date. It's going to be a PITA though as I can't stand the taste of rice milk. Anything that requires milk I'll have to cook separately, use rice milk for the kids and soy milk for us.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Spelling
Okay, so he's not the greatest speller yet, but Shmoo's having lots of fun trying...
Rabbit
An easy & obvious one
Cubby
Rabbit
An easy & obvious one
Cubby
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ants in the Apple
A little while ago I purchased a few things from Ants in the Apple, including the alphabet CD. Shmoo's pretty good now (most of the time, when he's paying attention!) with recognising the letters of the alphabet so we're making a start on phonics. The boys have been listening to the CD for 2-3 days now and I'm totally amazed at how Shmoo is just getting it so easily. The songs on the CD are great and after we've sung them together I go through some letters with Shmoo and he's able to apply so much of what he's learnt from the songs. Definitely recommend the CD!
Shmoo has also had a bit of a breakthrough with his numbers recently. He still struggles a little to count past 29 (unless he's stopped and corrected he'll count 'twenty-ten, twenty-eleven, twenty-twelve etc' LOL) but he's getting quite good at putting 2 numbers together - eg. 4 & 9, put them together and it's forty-nine etc. He can do that up to 99.
Shmoo has also had a bit of a breakthrough with his numbers recently. He still struggles a little to count past 29 (unless he's stopped and corrected he'll count 'twenty-ten, twenty-eleven, twenty-twelve etc' LOL) but he's getting quite good at putting 2 numbers together - eg. 4 & 9, put them together and it's forty-nine etc. He can do that up to 99.
Friday, February 27, 2009
So Much for the Terrible Twos
The terrible twos were a breeze compared to the trying threes. At 3 years and 9 months old, Shmoo is amazing and can be so sweet and wonderful and well mannered at times. Lately, however, it has been one tantrum after the other and I find myself getting increasingly frustrated. On the one hand I think the rudeness, selfishness and toilet training regression is probably quite common and normal for this age and stage of development. On the other hand I find myself wondering where we've gone wrong and wondering if we should send him to kinder next year after all, just so he learns how to play well with other children.
Playgroup was awful today. Shmoo screamed at and shoved Loo when Loo (in true oblivious toddler style) sat on the train tracks Shmoo was playing with. Shmoo also screamed and threw tantrums when other children played with the other end of the train set and they accidentally broke apart the tracks. I know it was disappointing and upsetting for him to see something he was enjoying playing with being wrecked like that so I kept showing him how easy it was to fit the tracks back together, tried to get him to show the other children how to do it, but to no avail. Lots of tantrums. He also wet his pants despite me asking numerous time if he needed to go to the toilet.
I find myself wondering if it's because he's a firstborn. He spent 22 months not having to share his toys with anyone else. Loo, being a 2nd child, has had to share from day 1, he's always had to contend with someone barging in and snatching things away. Today Loo was more than happy to let a little girl draw on the same piece of paper he was using and they also made a bit of a game out of banging on one of those spinning globes together. I can't remember Shmoo ever playing 'with' another child (other than with Loo at home). Shmoo doesn't even seem to do 'parallel play' well (playing side-by-side with other children). I know he has always been very sensitive and has overcome a lot of his fears and anxieties given time, patience and encouragement, but I still worry.
I am really unsure as to what to do about the kinder issue. Maybe it would be good for him. But maybe it would be disastrous to drop him into a situation/environment that I'm sure he would find very stressful. I also think that once you're in 'the system' it makes starting homeschooling more difficult. I'm concerned about the indoctrination, the ideologies, the routines/habits/behaviours, conformist attitudes etc, they pick up in schools. A lot of the stuff we were hoping to avoid/delay with homeschooling. I hear so many stories too about how easily, even in kinder, kids learn aggression and negative language (and I don't necessarily mean swearing by that - they get that from their dad at home anyway LOL). It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the current education system, especially considering that Tas schools apparently score the lowest in literacy and numeracy!
It's so hard to know what the best thing to do is.
And I've heard that after the trying threes comes the f'ing fours. Something to look forward to LOL!
Playgroup was awful today. Shmoo screamed at and shoved Loo when Loo (in true oblivious toddler style) sat on the train tracks Shmoo was playing with. Shmoo also screamed and threw tantrums when other children played with the other end of the train set and they accidentally broke apart the tracks. I know it was disappointing and upsetting for him to see something he was enjoying playing with being wrecked like that so I kept showing him how easy it was to fit the tracks back together, tried to get him to show the other children how to do it, but to no avail. Lots of tantrums. He also wet his pants despite me asking numerous time if he needed to go to the toilet.
I find myself wondering if it's because he's a firstborn. He spent 22 months not having to share his toys with anyone else. Loo, being a 2nd child, has had to share from day 1, he's always had to contend with someone barging in and snatching things away. Today Loo was more than happy to let a little girl draw on the same piece of paper he was using and they also made a bit of a game out of banging on one of those spinning globes together. I can't remember Shmoo ever playing 'with' another child (other than with Loo at home). Shmoo doesn't even seem to do 'parallel play' well (playing side-by-side with other children). I know he has always been very sensitive and has overcome a lot of his fears and anxieties given time, patience and encouragement, but I still worry.
I am really unsure as to what to do about the kinder issue. Maybe it would be good for him. But maybe it would be disastrous to drop him into a situation/environment that I'm sure he would find very stressful. I also think that once you're in 'the system' it makes starting homeschooling more difficult. I'm concerned about the indoctrination, the ideologies, the routines/habits/behaviours, conformist attitudes etc, they pick up in schools. A lot of the stuff we were hoping to avoid/delay with homeschooling. I hear so many stories too about how easily, even in kinder, kids learn aggression and negative language (and I don't necessarily mean swearing by that - they get that from their dad at home anyway LOL). It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the current education system, especially considering that Tas schools apparently score the lowest in literacy and numeracy!
It's so hard to know what the best thing to do is.
And I've heard that after the trying threes comes the f'ing fours. Something to look forward to LOL!
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