As an end of the school year activity, I had Sparkle take the DORA (Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment) test at the Let's Go Learn web site.
I got the test through homeschoolbuyers-coop, for $15 plus a $1 service fee. You can take the test within minutes of placing your order. The results are available immediately. The test took about an hour for Sparkle to complete. (I gave her the test during Glitter's naptime to reduce distractions.)
The DORA test is criterion-referenced, rather than norm-referenced. That means that a student's scores are reported as grade level equivalents, rather than percentages. Most states that require testing for homeschoolers require a nationally normed test, so this test wouldn't satisfy that requirement. Fortunately, I'm not required to test Sparkle; I just did it for us.
DORA is a computer adaptive test. It chooses which test questions to present based on how well the student does on previous questions. The test covers kindergarten through 12th grade. Thus, you can test out-of-grade level.
The test has several sub-tests. For high frequency words, word recognition, and word analysis (phonics) the computer says a word and presents four written choices. The child has to click the word that was said. For Phonemic awareness, the computer gives instructions, and then four talking heads say different answers, and the child has to click the head that said the correct answer. For oral vocabulary, the computer says a word and presents four pictures. The child clicks the picture that best represents the spoken word. The spelling section is the only part that isn't multiple choice - the computer says a word and the child has to spell it using an onscreen keyboard, or the actual keyboard. For reading comprehension, the child reads a passage and then answers multiple choice questions based on the passage.
Overall, I was pleased with the testing. Sparkle assumed it was a game, even though I told her it was important to do her best. The test results helped me because they put her asynchronous development into concrete terms.
I'll do a few things differently whenever I have Sparkle take the test again. (1) On the timed portion of the test, I'll make sure to tell Sparkle that it is more important to go fast than to click the bouncing fly in the exact middle. (2) I'll make sure that Sparkle has more practice using a computer mouse so that she won't have errors due to poor mouse skills. (3) If Sparkle gets tired again, I'll save the reading comprehension section for another day.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Lunchtime listening: redoing Jack & Jill
We finished "A Little Princess" at lunchtime listening. I found myself getting a bit teary-eyed at the sad parts, even thought I've known the story for years.
Next I decided instead of moving on to a new story, we'd revisit one we've heard before. I figured that these stories are so rich that they bear listening to over again. The girls chose "Jack and Jill" by Louisa May Alcott. It has 24 chapters, so we're set for another month or more. Glitter picked it because of the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill went up the hill ...."; she didn't remember the story at all. Sparkle did better. She actually remembered that it was about a boy and girl that went sledding and got hurt.
I was reminded of one of the reasons that I chose to start repeated listening by a library book I just got: "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. Malcom Gladwell has probably influenced my homeschooling more than an other non-homeschooling author. In "The Tipping Point" he explains the success of the tv show Blue's Clues. In a nutshell, kids pay attention to, learn from, and enjoy things that they understand. Children repeatedly watch (and learn from) Blue's Clues because the show has layers of meanings. With each viewing the kids understand more and more of the show. Older kids get bored and tune out because they don't get the same revealing of extra meaning with each iteration.
Quality literature has that same richness of layered meaning. By reading or listening to the story over again, we can extract more meaning and enjoyment from it. The first time we listen we get the general gist of the story - the plot, the characters, the setting, etc. With repeated listening we can give more attention to the nuances of the story, the literary devices, and other choices the author has woven together to form a pleasing whole.
Next I decided instead of moving on to a new story, we'd revisit one we've heard before. I figured that these stories are so rich that they bear listening to over again. The girls chose "Jack and Jill" by Louisa May Alcott. It has 24 chapters, so we're set for another month or more. Glitter picked it because of the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill went up the hill ...."; she didn't remember the story at all. Sparkle did better. She actually remembered that it was about a boy and girl that went sledding and got hurt.
I was reminded of one of the reasons that I chose to start repeated listening by a library book I just got: "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. Malcom Gladwell has probably influenced my homeschooling more than an other non-homeschooling author. In "The Tipping Point" he explains the success of the tv show Blue's Clues. In a nutshell, kids pay attention to, learn from, and enjoy things that they understand. Children repeatedly watch (and learn from) Blue's Clues because the show has layers of meanings. With each viewing the kids understand more and more of the show. Older kids get bored and tune out because they don't get the same revealing of extra meaning with each iteration.
Quality literature has that same richness of layered meaning. By reading or listening to the story over again, we can extract more meaning and enjoyment from it. The first time we listen we get the general gist of the story - the plot, the characters, the setting, etc. With repeated listening we can give more attention to the nuances of the story, the literary devices, and other choices the author has woven together to form a pleasing whole.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Summer Plan
We've transitioned out of the school year and will be starting summer activities next week.
For June, we've got ...
Monday: ballet class
Tuesday: summer reading program & swim lesson
Wednesday: currently open
Thursday: summer reading program & swim lesson
Friday: library & nature walk
In July, ballet and the library will continue. Swim lessons and the summer reading program will end, but there will be a week of Vacation Bible School.
I don't know what August holds.
For June, we've got ...
Monday: ballet class
Tuesday: summer reading program & swim lesson
Wednesday: currently open
Thursday: summer reading program & swim lesson
Friday: library & nature walk
In July, ballet and the library will continue. Swim lessons and the summer reading program will end, but there will be a week of Vacation Bible School.
I don't know what August holds.
I survived my first year homeschooling
A friend posted a kindergarten analysis on her blog, and I thought, "what a great idea." So, here goes.
I thoroughly enjoyed homeschooling this year, even though I ended up completely ditching my original plans. This was our first year homeschooling, and it was an experiment. At the beginning of the year, we didn't even know if we'd continue past kindergarten.
Last summer, I had everything planned out. For English, we'd finish "The Reading Lesson" and then move to "Spell to Write and Read." For math, we'd do RightStart Math. Then we'd snuggle up with a book and do "Five in a Row" for social studies, science, and art. Short and simple. Sounds good, right?
The first part of the plan to go was "Five in a Row" (FIAR). It didn't even make it to the official start of school. I had tried doing a couple of books in the summer before school started. Sparkle loved listening to the picture books, but didn't want any part of the discussions. I also didn't want to put in the effort for the extras that make FIAR fun (extra books, crafts, activities). So I put all the FIAR manuals and books on a shelf for later and decided that it would be okay to skip those subjects for kindergarten.
We finished "The Reading Lesson," but "Spell to Write and Read" (SWR) only lasted about halfway through the year. Both of us hated SWR's lengthy process of dictating new words. I never used any of SWR's enrichments. Even though (or possibly because) Sparkle is a natural speller, I had trouble tracking and reviewing misspelled words. I also learned about studied dictation. I ended up switching to a homegrown spelling program of word analysis, copywork, and dictation. That program has since expanded into a language arts program.
"RightStart Math" lasted the longest. We're still using it, although I am looking for something else. We finished Level A in mid year and then continued to Level B. I still struggle with not knowing what we're doing for math until I open the book. Math is one of Sparkle's weakest subjects.
Throughout the year, I picked up and dropped several other curriculum and activities. Some lasted a few days, others lasted weeks or months, but I ultimately dropped all of them in mid stream. Drawing with Children, Mark Kistler's Draw Squad, Charlotte Mason picture study, Chinese for Children, Sonlight Kindergarten Core, McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader, What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know, index card timeline, geography coloring sheets, me writing down Sparkle's dictations, drawn narrations.
The school year ended very differently from how it started:
Journal. Every day Sparkle draws a picture and writes a few words in her journal. I'm not involved at all, except to admire the results.
Daily worksheets. I got math drill worksheets from the internet and math word problems from "The Math Lesson". The McCall Harby book provides reading comprehension. We'll move on to the McCall Crabbs book when McCall Harby is done. We finished the Kumon tracing and maze books developed fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. I threw in some critical thinking worksheets for good measure. Sparkle does her worksheets (mostly) independently, and then I go over any corrections with her.
Memory Work. I went through half a dozen different memory work systems. They all were too cumbersome until I found Anki. I connect the computer to the TV and just go through the deck. Once setup, Anki is really easy to use and maintain. Anki is so easy that I've moved everything that involves memorization or review to it: spelling phonograms and rules, musical notes, social studies and science terminology, telling time, prapers, and Chinese vocabulary. Going forward, as we cover science and social studies topics, if any of them are in "A Dictionary of Cultural Literacy," I'll add those topics to memory work and not worry about the rest. Anki rocks!
Homegrown Spelling / Language Arts. I love my new spelling and language arts program. Spelling isn't Sparkle's favorite subject, but it is her best. Every day we do dictation, copywork, word analysis, and writing original sentences. Each day, Sparkle fills up one page of wide ruled paper, writing on every other line. Going forward, I'm looking to expand the language arts program by incorporating aspects of KISS Grammar.
Math. We're still with RightStart Math, but I'm starting to shop around for a different math curriculum. RightStart Math is working, but it doesn't feel "right" either.
Artistic Extras. For drawing, we've been slowly, slowly, slowly using "I Can Do All Things." For piano, we've been working slowly, slowly, slowly through a mix of Pianimals and songs from some other beginner books. If we did these subjects daily, Sparkle would probably learn more, but I'm lazy. Sparkle does plenty of drawing practice on her own time. She doesn't practice piano on her own, but might if we get to some songs she likes.
Chinese. I was working through Chinese for Children, but it wasn't working for us. Listening to the same lesson over and over got too boring. But we couldn't move on until the old stuff was mastered. I'm waiting for a new breakthrough in what to do. In the meantime we're just treading water by reviewing vocabulary in Anki. If I can easily incorporate audio in Anki, I think we'll be good to go.
History. We've been on again, off again going through Story of the World 1 (Ancients). History is Sparkle's favorite subject, even though we don't do anything but look at books. She reads the selection from SOTW. I read the corresponding part in the Usborne Ancient World book while Sparkle looks at the pictures. We look at the maps in the activity guide. I get library books from the lists in the activity guide, and Sparkle reads any that catch her interest. We might look at our pre-printed timeline.
Daily Enrichments: "Morning Music" is me playing something from my iPod or a music CD from the library during breakfast. We've listened to several of the Classical Kids CDs and I've started Themes to Remember. "Lunchtime Listening" is an audio book, usually from LibriVox during lunch. "Bedtime Book" is me reading a chapter book on the nights I put the girls down. Sparkle gives spontaneous narrations for Lunchtime Listening and Bedtime Book. If there is a CD in the boom box, she'll occassionally play it during the day.
Weekly Enrichments. Monday is the trip to the library, followed by a nature walk in the adjourning gardens. Tuesday is poetry teatime, a la BraveWriter. Wednesday is ballet. Over the summer, ballet will be on Monday, so our library trip and nature walk will be on Friday. In the fall, ballet will be on Thursday and we'll have homeschool group activities on Fridays, so the library & nature trip will change days again.
******************
There is no way that we could have started the school year doing even half of what we did at the end. Sparkle has really grown academically over the year, both in terms of what she can do and in the ability to focus on a task.
Sparkle started out reading above grade level, and she continues to be a strong reader. She is on the verge of making the transition to chapter books. One thing holding her back is her inability to use a bookmark.
Sparkle no longer needs to think about how to form the letters when writing. She is working on spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and most importantly, holding a thought in her head long enough to write it down.
Sparkle has moved away from needing physical objects to represent small numbers (under 20). She understands place value if she thinks about it. She can mentally add numbers within 20 and subtract within ten. On the abacus, she can add numbers up to four digits long, including trading.
Sparkle's drawings now include more than one object, and she sometimes colors them in. Arms and legs now have width, instead of being sticks. She also draws a greater range of objects - houses, mummies, and animals, although her favorite subject is still the family standing in a row.
Sparkle's narrations show greater understanding of the subject matter. Instead of parroting back whatever words she remembers, she is starting to pick out main ideas. She is also starting to be able to recall events in order - instead of telling about the end of the story and moving backward, she now starts at the beginning of the story and moves forward.
Other areas. Sparkle can read and play the notes in shared middle C position. She can read about 30 words in simplified Chinese characters, and make simple sentences of her own. She is learning to swim. As she is tall enough to stand up in the pool, she no longer needs flotation. She performed in her first ballet. She can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by herself.
I've been blessed with such a wonderful child to parent and teach. Amazingly enough, most of her day is filled with playing with her sister.
I thoroughly enjoyed homeschooling this year, even though I ended up completely ditching my original plans. This was our first year homeschooling, and it was an experiment. At the beginning of the year, we didn't even know if we'd continue past kindergarten.
Last summer, I had everything planned out. For English, we'd finish "The Reading Lesson" and then move to "Spell to Write and Read." For math, we'd do RightStart Math. Then we'd snuggle up with a book and do "Five in a Row" for social studies, science, and art. Short and simple. Sounds good, right?
The first part of the plan to go was "Five in a Row" (FIAR). It didn't even make it to the official start of school. I had tried doing a couple of books in the summer before school started. Sparkle loved listening to the picture books, but didn't want any part of the discussions. I also didn't want to put in the effort for the extras that make FIAR fun (extra books, crafts, activities). So I put all the FIAR manuals and books on a shelf for later and decided that it would be okay to skip those subjects for kindergarten.
We finished "The Reading Lesson," but "Spell to Write and Read" (SWR) only lasted about halfway through the year. Both of us hated SWR's lengthy process of dictating new words. I never used any of SWR's enrichments. Even though (or possibly because) Sparkle is a natural speller, I had trouble tracking and reviewing misspelled words. I also learned about studied dictation. I ended up switching to a homegrown spelling program of word analysis, copywork, and dictation. That program has since expanded into a language arts program.
"RightStart Math" lasted the longest. We're still using it, although I am looking for something else. We finished Level A in mid year and then continued to Level B. I still struggle with not knowing what we're doing for math until I open the book. Math is one of Sparkle's weakest subjects.
Throughout the year, I picked up and dropped several other curriculum and activities. Some lasted a few days, others lasted weeks or months, but I ultimately dropped all of them in mid stream. Drawing with Children, Mark Kistler's Draw Squad, Charlotte Mason picture study, Chinese for Children, Sonlight Kindergarten Core, McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader, What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know, index card timeline, geography coloring sheets, me writing down Sparkle's dictations, drawn narrations.
The school year ended very differently from how it started:
Journal. Every day Sparkle draws a picture and writes a few words in her journal. I'm not involved at all, except to admire the results.
Daily worksheets. I got math drill worksheets from the internet and math word problems from "The Math Lesson". The McCall Harby book provides reading comprehension. We'll move on to the McCall Crabbs book when McCall Harby is done. We finished the Kumon tracing and maze books developed fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. I threw in some critical thinking worksheets for good measure. Sparkle does her worksheets (mostly) independently, and then I go over any corrections with her.
Memory Work. I went through half a dozen different memory work systems. They all were too cumbersome until I found Anki. I connect the computer to the TV and just go through the deck. Once setup, Anki is really easy to use and maintain. Anki is so easy that I've moved everything that involves memorization or review to it: spelling phonograms and rules, musical notes, social studies and science terminology, telling time, prapers, and Chinese vocabulary. Going forward, as we cover science and social studies topics, if any of them are in "A Dictionary of Cultural Literacy," I'll add those topics to memory work and not worry about the rest. Anki rocks!
Homegrown Spelling / Language Arts. I love my new spelling and language arts program. Spelling isn't Sparkle's favorite subject, but it is her best. Every day we do dictation, copywork, word analysis, and writing original sentences. Each day, Sparkle fills up one page of wide ruled paper, writing on every other line. Going forward, I'm looking to expand the language arts program by incorporating aspects of KISS Grammar.
Math. We're still with RightStart Math, but I'm starting to shop around for a different math curriculum. RightStart Math is working, but it doesn't feel "right" either.
Artistic Extras. For drawing, we've been slowly, slowly, slowly using "I Can Do All Things." For piano, we've been working slowly, slowly, slowly through a mix of Pianimals and songs from some other beginner books. If we did these subjects daily, Sparkle would probably learn more, but I'm lazy. Sparkle does plenty of drawing practice on her own time. She doesn't practice piano on her own, but might if we get to some songs she likes.
Chinese. I was working through Chinese for Children, but it wasn't working for us. Listening to the same lesson over and over got too boring. But we couldn't move on until the old stuff was mastered. I'm waiting for a new breakthrough in what to do. In the meantime we're just treading water by reviewing vocabulary in Anki. If I can easily incorporate audio in Anki, I think we'll be good to go.
History. We've been on again, off again going through Story of the World 1 (Ancients). History is Sparkle's favorite subject, even though we don't do anything but look at books. She reads the selection from SOTW. I read the corresponding part in the Usborne Ancient World book while Sparkle looks at the pictures. We look at the maps in the activity guide. I get library books from the lists in the activity guide, and Sparkle reads any that catch her interest. We might look at our pre-printed timeline.
Daily Enrichments: "Morning Music" is me playing something from my iPod or a music CD from the library during breakfast. We've listened to several of the Classical Kids CDs and I've started Themes to Remember. "Lunchtime Listening" is an audio book, usually from LibriVox during lunch. "Bedtime Book" is me reading a chapter book on the nights I put the girls down. Sparkle gives spontaneous narrations for Lunchtime Listening and Bedtime Book. If there is a CD in the boom box, she'll occassionally play it during the day.
Weekly Enrichments. Monday is the trip to the library, followed by a nature walk in the adjourning gardens. Tuesday is poetry teatime, a la BraveWriter. Wednesday is ballet. Over the summer, ballet will be on Monday, so our library trip and nature walk will be on Friday. In the fall, ballet will be on Thursday and we'll have homeschool group activities on Fridays, so the library & nature trip will change days again.
******************
There is no way that we could have started the school year doing even half of what we did at the end. Sparkle has really grown academically over the year, both in terms of what she can do and in the ability to focus on a task.
Sparkle started out reading above grade level, and she continues to be a strong reader. She is on the verge of making the transition to chapter books. One thing holding her back is her inability to use a bookmark.
Sparkle no longer needs to think about how to form the letters when writing. She is working on spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and most importantly, holding a thought in her head long enough to write it down.
Sparkle has moved away from needing physical objects to represent small numbers (under 20). She understands place value if she thinks about it. She can mentally add numbers within 20 and subtract within ten. On the abacus, she can add numbers up to four digits long, including trading.
Sparkle's drawings now include more than one object, and she sometimes colors them in. Arms and legs now have width, instead of being sticks. She also draws a greater range of objects - houses, mummies, and animals, although her favorite subject is still the family standing in a row.
Sparkle's narrations show greater understanding of the subject matter. Instead of parroting back whatever words she remembers, she is starting to pick out main ideas. She is also starting to be able to recall events in order - instead of telling about the end of the story and moving backward, she now starts at the beginning of the story and moves forward.
Other areas. Sparkle can read and play the notes in shared middle C position. She can read about 30 words in simplified Chinese characters, and make simple sentences of her own. She is learning to swim. As she is tall enough to stand up in the pool, she no longer needs flotation. She performed in her first ballet. She can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by herself.
I've been blessed with such a wonderful child to parent and teach. Amazingly enough, most of her day is filled with playing with her sister.
Arg. Wrong Blog
This blog is for recording my family life. This blog is primarily for me to look back and see what happened in my life. A side benefit is that friends and family can see what the girls are doing.
I have another blog where I put my personal musings (mostly a lot of complaining).
I hate it when I accidentally post to the wrong blog.
I have another blog where I put my personal musings (mostly a lot of complaining).
I hate it when I accidentally post to the wrong blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)