Putting together Trisms

We spent this week getting our stuff together. I read as much as I could beforehand and ordered books to go along with each unit, at least the ones I could find. We still had some things to figure out as we went though. The kids have 3 ring binder with dividers for worksheets (questionnaires), vocabulary, timelines and language arts. We are opting to skip the science assignments since we are using Singapore Science.

One of the Trisms sets I bought came with their timeline, It's About Time, but I wasn't sure I really liked the format. Maybe I would once we got into and maybe I'll hate the one I made, but I made my own anyway. I think I need to tell Middle Child he doesn't need to fit each week's on one page, but at least he did a decent job of squeezing it in! I can't wait to see how it works when we get into it - the first week is pretty light.

I got the books for Middle's set, History Makers, ordered up to week 18, I believe. He'll read one book, usually historical fiction, a week. I did a post it note on the front of each one with the week's number on it. This is by far the most organized I get. (If you're wondering, yes, those books are stacked two deep on a shelf. I need to part with some stuff to make room, but it's so painful to say goodbye.)

Some of the books overlap with Oldest's set, Discovering the Ancient World, but mostly, hers were just impossible to find. I think I found a total of 3 for the first few months of assignments. She is the one I want to be doing a lot of reading to go in depth! I think I found something (books we already had! ha!) to fill the gap for the first few weeks at least.

Talk about comparing and contrasting! The Bible is...well, it's the Holy Bible. It's pretty heavy, serious stuff. The Cartoon History of the Universe is evolutionist, humorous and pretty silly, but fairly scientific by most views. She will also be reading creationist theories from different cultures. Some of it is already planned in her book, but I also need to find some outside reading for it. Meanwhile, these two should hold her over for a week or two.

The vocabulary and questionnaires seem to be pretty straightforward. I think I need to come up with some ideas to use or make the vocabulary more interesting. While it's only a few words each week, it's not very exciting or educational to just write definition after definition.

Tomorrow, I tackle IEW so I can figure out those assignments!

Learning to study

This was one thing that I have read about on other blogs and in other forums: Homeschoolers need to learn how to study. They need to learn how to take tests.

Yes, I nodded my head in total agreement, but did nothing about it. My oldest is a perfectionist and can be very unhappy with anything less than 100% or any form of criticism, perceived or actual. Trying to fit tests into our already busy schedule seemed daunting. Making the tests would be even more hassle.

As usual, the path of least resistance wasn't the way to go. I asked Oldest Child if she had studied before her first test for her FLVS class. Yes, she assured me. What she thought studying was, we will never know. She got a 70 on her first test despite knowing the material well. Many tears ensued. Threats were made to quit the class. Counter threats were made that may have involved the phrases such as "would you like fries with that" and "grounding for a lifetime."

Somehow we made it through to the second test. Oldest and I sat down and I showed her how to study. Well, somewhat. We didn't take notes or highlight, but we did go through each type of problem, looked at how the directions were phrased as this was a huge cause of panic in the first test, and made note of all vocabulary words. She took her test the next day and scored a 100% with plenty of time left over! Everyone was happy and she even admitted that studying definitely helped.

Fast forward to test 3. We studied together again, but she was a little less involved and more reluctant, like I was punishing her with this whole studying thing. We got through it, but I felt that it was more like dragging her along. She did make a study sheet since the chapter involved a lot of formulas. However, when she did her oral review and panicked because she wasn't sure what he was asking in the first question. I have learned once she panics, the recovery is slow. We reviewed a little more the next day just to be sure she had seen problems in different forms, but she definitely knew the information. She took test 3 and got a 91/95. Woot!

Unfortunately I can't teach "staying calm" which I think is the biggest factor in her success, but we will definitely have to work on making sure she is prepared beyond what she needs to avoid the panic moments. I hope that the mere act of taking more tests will help her and, if nothing else, at least she knows that one poor test doesn't ruin a grade because she has a solid A in the class now!