CM Companion: Inconstant Kitty and our 1st day of school:)

[psreit]

Our first day of school - finished in good time! Overall it went pretty well. We did Bible first and dd really was attentive. As time went on, though, attention became less. I think if I schedule things a little differently she will do better. I may need to give her more breaks and not do too much back-to-back, even though it doesn't take very long to do one side. She attended K at our Christian school this past year, so she was wanting me to do some things like were done in school, like ringing a bell. So, I know she responds to routine. That will be a challenge for me.

Anyway, I have been reading the CM Companion book. Ironically, I just happened to be on the chapter of Inconstant Kitty today. I couldn't believe how my daughter fit so well into that scenario. Those of you who have read it will understand what I'm talking about. DD may not be quite that extreme, but there are many similarities. It will be a challenge to keep dd's attention sometimes. She can get something on her mind and, no matter what we are doing, she can't push it aside.

I was describing some of dd's behaviors to her pediatrician the other week when she had her physical. He mentioned that there could be some obsessive-compulsive disorder or even an autism spectrum disorder. She has been with us over four years and dh and I have noticed for quite some time that there are attention and processing issues. DD also has some struggles with anxiety. So, we don't know how much is genetic, how much is a result of past neglect, or how much is her just needing the habit of attention formed in her. I seriously believe we are dealing with a combination of the three.

DD is a very bright child. So, as long as I know she is learning and moving forward, we press on. I know HOD is a good fit for her. I just need to find a good system, a routine that she can follow. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free. I'm not disappointed with our first day. I just want a 'constant' for dd's sake, as much as possible.

[mommadonna]

Hi Pam..we too had our first day with lhfhg today. It went well. I am interested in the other replies here. My son and I both struggle with phonics lessons. I like to start our day with Bible, but I am just not sure when is the best time of day to do the one thing we both struggle with the most. Not to mention, with my 3yo dd and a wild little 15 mo old under foot, it can be difficult to find a quiet moment. I am sure it will pan out. We did begin doing TRL a couple of weeks early, bc I knew this would be the thing we had a tough time with.

Also, I think I should read the CM companion. I am rather new to cm style, but so far so good....May God bless you on your journey!

[psreit]

Thanks, Donna! I haven't had CM Companion very long, but it has been helpful in truly understanding the CM method. I know that not everything works the same for everybody, but it has been giving me certain methods to try to incorporate with dd, especially with the struggles she has.

I would recommend getting the book. You mentioned phonics being a struggle. DD also has some struggles with that as well. She wants to sound everything out. While reading CM Companion today, I found a chapter called "Reading by Sight and Sound'. We are using TRL, also. I understand better the reason for going to emerging readers after TRL instead of doing more phonics. Many of the English words need to be learned by sight. Certain rules need to be learned, but too much decoding can be frustrating for a child. My oldest two were more sight readers and did well in spelling. My youngest bio was a phonetic reader and really struggled with spelling. I can see dd(7) having that struggle, because you can't spell all words how they sound. So, after reading the fore-mentioned chapter, I have determined to add more sight words to dd's phonics program. Ruth Beechick is another good one to consult about phonics.

As far as the best time to do phonics, I did it near the end. But, maybe it would be good to do it early. Math too. I definitely want to do Bible first. I just think it is a good way to start the day. I'm already in sort of a bind tomorrow. I got 150+ ears of corn to do. But, I'm not taking our second day off. I'm going to try to do some school first thing in the morning and then do corn. I'll save the easy stuff for after the corn.
God bless your HOD journey, too!

[mamayi]

I was hoping you'd post about your first day of school.
I've been following your "journey" here on the board and your enthusiasm always made me smile!
I am glad that it went well for you both.
And as I am sure you WELL know after already hsing your other children there is always adjustment at the beginning.
I pray that you and your precious daughter will have a wonderful year together!
Blessings,
Andrea

[mommadonna]

Pam,
So glad my corn came in early this year! This being our first year to homeschool, I need to focus on getting our routine worked out. I too believe that a day that begins with scripture, in any form, will be a better day. I am so excited to learn along with my little ones! It was nice to finally hear my son say that school work was fun..he usually rolls his eyes and says bo-ring! We began last year with the Abeka dvd program and it was so very different from what we are doing this year! He never realized we could actually have fun learning..that's embarrassing for me to admit. But, I am definitely a work in progress as well! Hope tomorrow is a good day as well.

[psreit]

Andrea, I appreciate your kind words. I have been hoping my enthusiasm would 'rub-off' onto dd. I am going to keep my enthusiasm, and not let dd's attitude discourage me. She gave her K teacher a hard time for a while. She is adjusting to being home after doing K at school. She was again today telling me how things were done at school. I have been patiently just reminding her that kindergarten is over. Now it is time for 1st grade and we have 1st grade things to do. I think she was disappointed this morning because the schedule did not call for use of Devotions for the Children's Hour. She listened so intently to that yesterday. We didn't do our chapter of Reddy Fox yet today, because we have been working at corn. She also has some writing to do. Her sister helped her with her Math. She enjoyed that. She says she wants her sister for her teacher. I don't think that would last too long. I am confident as the days go on, she will realize this IS more fun than being in school. Thanks for your prayers.

Donna, we finally got our corn done! My one oldest dd and dh were not here to help, so it took a little longer than normal. I'm glad that's out of the way. Now I need to concentrate on schoolwork. We did get most of it done. My dd has been using the word boring, too. I don't know that she even knows what it means. She may just mean it is something she just doesn't want to do. Today, she refused to do the 'rhymes in motion'. I think it will take some adjusting as I mentioned above, because she still compares what we are doing to what she did at school. Also, certain bodily movements are harder for her, especially skipping and hopping, because she has CP which weakened one side of her body. She's stronger now, but gives up before she really tries certain things. Hopefully we won't have the interruption tomorrow like we had today doing corn. DD is a very lovable little girl. She just likes to feel in control of what she is doing. This, we have learned, is typical of abused and neglected children. So, we have these special needs to deal with. I just need to be patient with her and definitely need to make school 'fun'. So, I have a challenge here, but one in which I am determined to overcome. We are going to have fun doing LHFHG!

[my3sons]

I'm so glad your first day of school went well overall! That is not always the case, even if we do everything just right, have the best of plans, and have dc placed accurately. Sometimes, it still all falls apart. So, take encouragement it went well overall! For me, it helps if I jot notes as we go, like these were some of my notes years past: "too loud during phonics time", "Emmett (our toddler) needs something else to do at this time", "Storytime only took 5 minutes instead of 15", or "ds needs a break to run/play/be wiggly about here", etc. I just wrote them right on my schedule, and that really helped me see patterns throughout the first week. Those problems in scheduling do make themselves known over time, but I find I lose sight of them when trying to think back over the whole day at the end of the day. That's why it helps me to jot notes as I go (this could be an age and memory thing for just me though ).

I will say overall, I've found I need it to be very quiet when doing phonics/ERS/DITHOR and when I am reading out loud. I can't take constant interruptions or noise during those times (and my dc don't like to be interrupted either), so I always have the other dc away doing something I know they can do independently for a set amount of time during those times. I find it's fine for me to have it be louder or have more interruptions during hands-on activities. I can also have it be semi-loud as I bounce between tables for independent grammar time (at the end of grammar), independent math time (at the end of math), and handwriting/copywork. I have one ds at the kitchen table, and one at the dining table, as they are too distracted by each other otherwise, hence me "bouncing" between them. However, this again could just be a need I have.

For one of my dc, when he was doing LHFHG, he absolutely needed a playtime first thing in the morning with big brother. We set the timer for 30-45 minutes, and they just played. Yes, that made my older ds's day go longer (he was doing Bigger Hearts though, so we still finished by lunch), but it was worth it for my middle ds. This same ds also needed a break after doing half the LHFHG plans. I had him play in the middle for 30-45 minutes on his own. Then, when the timer rang he had to cheerfully pick up and finish out the other half of the plans. We did this for quite awhile. He eventually was able to do all of LHFHG in a row, though he still always needed his playtime first thing in the AM.

One point you could make to your dd about her comments about last year's teacher is she would have had a new teacher this year anyway, and that teacher would not have done things the same way either. I would be kind of firm on this, letting her know you are the teacher now and she does need to do things in the way you are asking her to as this is a sign of respect you'd expect her to have toward any of her teachers (you included). I know this isn't such a big deal now, but it can turn into one.

If you get a chance to jot any notes about your day in particular that you would be willing to share, we could chat through more here! I'd love to help you in any way possible, but my hat's off to you for a good first day overall!!! You may just need to give it some time for routine to settle in and do its magic.

In Christ,
Julie

[psreit]

Julie, thanks for the encouragement. I did have a rough moment today, but it may have been some anxiety dd was having because of going to get her glasses fixed. I don't know why it bothered her. She wasn't seeing the doctor. Anyway, I will try taking notes. I got the Bob books for dd today. I handed her set 2. After going by herself with them for a little while, she came to me and said "I know how to read!". She was so excited. She got upset when her sister started reading one. She doesn't want someone else reading them. I haven't listened to her read one yet, but she claims she can. I will let you know how things go the rest of the week.