| Author | |
Schoolrmacres
Forum Pro
Joined: Feb 09 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 153
|
| Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 7:19am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I have been re-reading Ruth Beechiks book You Can Teach Your Child Successfully and I think I am going to use that for my teachers manual. I am going to start over with math and rebuild my dd's foundation in what she does/doesn't know. I also will be using the writing lessons and ideas from that and even the spelling. What we have been using this year is just not working and we are both getting very frustrated. SOMETHING has to work and since I have this resource we will give it a try.
Does anyone else use the ideas in this book and have further ideas for how I can implement it in our school? My dd is in 5th grade.
__________________
Darlene, wife to Shawn and mamma to Haleigh Elizabeth, our Gift from God through adoption.
Peace be with you
http://achampionfamily.blogspot.com/
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Sarah M
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 06 2008
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1423
|
| Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 10:10am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Mine aren't old enough for me to use that resource yet, Darlene, but I did want to pop on here and say that I am using Ruth Beechick's 3 R's book as my basic manual for the early grades. Her advice is so simple and common-sense-- and it seems like a lot of experienced homeschoolers recommend her books. I look forward to using You Can Teach Your Child Successfully in a couple of years.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JuliaT
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 25 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 563
|
| Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 2:10pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Darlene, I used this book primarily for our language arts last year. I love how she incorporates literature with grammar, spelling, writing,etc. It simplified things for us. But it did take a lot of work for me to figure out what I was going to focus on for the week.
The way we worked it was that we used our regular curriculum in the morning and then what we learned during that time was incorporated it the RB way into our unit study. This worked well for us.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3(10,8,6)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Erin
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 23 2005
Location: Australia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5814
|
| Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 2:53pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Darlene
How funny, I've just been re-reading that book. She is full of commonsense, so often I think we make homeschooling more complicated than we need to. Ruth grounds me. I use her Language Arts approach although not always her selections, nothing against them I just use another book. We've been using this approach for several years now.
__________________
Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SuzanneG
Forum Moderator
Joined: June 17 2006
Location: Idaho
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5465
|
| Posted: Oct 22 2009 at 11:49am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Sarah M has a GREAT POST about Ruth Beechick's books! Sarah, your "narrations" are wonderful!  
Ruth Beechick 101
__________________
Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Sarah M
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 06 2008
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1423
|
| Posted: Oct 22 2009 at 12:23pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Why thank you, Suzanne.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Elena
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 13 2006
Location: Ohio
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 592
|
| Posted: Oct 22 2009 at 1:36pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Great link Suzanne. I needed to re-read that today!!
__________________
Elena
Wife to Peter, mom of many!
My Domestic Church
One Day at a Time
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kbfsc
Forum Pro
Joined: Jan 26 2009
Location: Florida
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 216
|
| Posted: Oct 26 2009 at 5:56am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I have been reading Beechick's 4 R's lately, too, and am very interested in implementing her approach. And I, too, loved your thoughts, Sarah!
I would love to hear some specifics about what her approach looks like in homeschools. Those of you that are using it, what do you do? How do you plan? I need concrete guidelines to help me fill in these thoughts that are running in my head. 
Adding: I have children in second and kindergarten.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Sarah M
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 06 2008
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1423
|
| Posted: Oct 26 2009 at 9:54am | IP Logged
|
|
|
kbfsc wrote:
I would love to hear some specifics about what her approach looks like in homeschools. Those of you that are using it, what do you do? How do you plan? I need concrete guidelines to help me fill in these thoughts that are running in my head.
Adding: I have children in second and kindergarten. |
|
|
I have a 2nd and Kindy, too, kbfsc, and I'll come back and share what the specifics are looking like just as soon as I can. For now, you can see a bit of what it looks like here, in my learning notes. But it all looks *much simpler* than that at the beginning of the week in my lesson plans!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Sarah M
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 06 2008
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1423
|
| Posted: Oct 26 2009 at 2:58pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Okay- I got a chance to sneak back here. Keep in mind that we are new at this, so I am not an expert or anything- I've just been reading up on her ideas and then beginning to really implement them in our home.
I could see Beechick's ideas working in structured and relaxed homeschools alike. The principles of it are very simple, the how-to-make-this-work-in-my-home part is up to each family.
I will say that since we've been implementing these ideas, we are making more progress in the 3 R's, enjoying the work more, and are all getting along much much better. Our days are more peaceful and flowing than ever. We get our work done in an hour (maybe two) in the morning, and then the rest of the day is ours for arts and crafts, nature walks, visits with friends, read alouds, baking, and anything else that strikes our fancy. I've found that we have lots of time to pursue delight-directed learning on the side, so I'm really happy with how it's working out for us.
In the primary grades, Beechick doesn't recommend planning very far in advance. This is because you are following your child and not the curriculum. One cannot know in September where, for example, a child will be in math in February. Maybe she catches on and cruises right through it. Maybe it's hard for her, and you slow down and take a lot of time with it. You can't know that in advance, so Beechick recommends planning out a week in advance (or so). And remember- for the primary grades, she recommends focusing on the 3 R's and not worrying to include history, science, etc. So that's what I'm doing. I'm planning reading, writing, math (and sacramental prep for my 7yo), and the rest of it we are encountering through real life. I LOVE IT!
Each weekend, I'll get out my 3 R's book and just see what she has listed as the next skill. She pretty much lays out what a child needs to know in Reading, Writing, and Math in the 3 R's book, and you can just slowly progress along at your child's speed. In the book, she gives some ideas for how to teach each skill, and I use those as well as the ideas that pop into my head as we go along.
As an example of what my lesson plans look like, this week's plan (handwritten on a piece of notebook paper- nothing fancy) looks like this:
October 26-30
Math:
~Practice place value with 2nd grader. Review tens and ones columns. Write out a few double digit addition problems and let her use the popsicle sticks to figure them out. If she's ready, show her how to write them.
~Play dice game: she rolls three dice, writes out the number sentence, and solves. Play it with subtraction, as well.
Language Arts
2nd Grader:
~Continue to work on proper spelling of high freqeuency words.
~Read to me (whatever she chooses) daily.
~Begin making a poetry work. Use our autumn poem selections for copywork, and illustrate.
Kindergartener:
~Review the letter sounds she knows
~Begin blending- use the first Bob Book.
~Let her play with the moveable alphabet to form words.
~Play memory with letter sound cards
Both girls:
~Handwriting Without Tears workbooks
As you can see, I don't assign certain tasks to certain days or times or anything. That's just not my style  . I know that others find that kind of planning helpful, but I don't. I know that we can get to all of the above (and more) in a week, so I don't stress about exactly when to do it. Then next weekend, I'll make a plan based on where we got with the lessons this week.
Does this make any sense? It's all really simple and yet I feel like I'm going on and on  . And I can't reiterate enough that I am new to this! I'm not a wise and experienced homeschooler AT ALL!!! So we'll see how it all plays out as the year goes on.
I do hope that's just a bit helpful for you, though, kbfsc, or at least gives you a better peek into the nitty gritty of how it works for our family.
Blessings!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kbfsc
Forum Pro
Joined: Jan 26 2009
Location: Florida
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 216
|
| Posted: Oct 26 2009 at 6:09pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks, Sarah M! It helps very much to see the "nitty gritty." I want to begin to implement this stuff - tomorrow!
I really enjoy Beechick's perspective. It just feels right for my family. Common-sense and gentle and not complicated. (Amen to that with a 3 yo wild man underfoot and a newborn at the breast!)
Any other experienced "Beechick-ers" out there?
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Barbara C.
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 11 2007
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 882
|
| Posted: Oct 27 2009 at 9:34am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I can't wait to read the Beechick books. She sounds right up my alley. My plan for Kindergarten and First Grade has been to mostly focus on reading and math. I plan a semester at a time but I keep it very flexible. For instance my weekly plan just says "Math" on four out of five days and then I have a sheet listing all of the lessons in order that I check off as we go through. Sometimes we pause for extra practice and sometimes we skip lessons completely.
__________________
Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
Box of Chocolates
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Ruth Beechik book
