We have had a LOT of changes at the Home Builders Academy since Christmas. They have been good changes! The first change is we now have a tutor. Her name is Elizabeth and she is AMAZING! She comes every Tuesday and Thursday and she works with Sophie and Jackson for an hour each. They ADORE her. She has taken a HUGE load off my shoulders. She has not only helped with their confidence, my work load, and their reading but she has also helped me to freshen up my teaching. She tells me about resources I didn't know about. She has such fantastic ideas. She has consulted with me on what we are doing that is working and what we are doing that is not working. Change number 1....FANTASTIC!
Another change is we have a Teacher Assistant! Yes....I am blessed! My sweet Mama has started coming on Monday and Wednesday from 8:30-11:30 and she helps me SOOOOO much. She listens to kids read. She does their Spelling lessons with them. She reads to kids. She reads History and quizzes them on it. She goes over phonics lessons. It makes our school day go so much quicker and the kids are much more cooperative with another adult in the house! Change number 2.....BLESSING!!!!
Finally, I have changed how I teach Math. Elizabeth suggested I buy a new math curriculum for Jackson and Sophie. My current math program covers new material every few days and reviews older material each day. This works well for 3 of the kids but it is too much changing gears for the other 2. So I looked into ordering the new Math and realized it was going to cost a fortune and we are near the end of the year.....so I didn't want to do that just to order again in a few months. So....with Elizabeth's encouragement I went through all the younger kids math books. Listed all the concepts left to cover. Grouped them together and have cut up their Math books and made my own new Math sheets and ditched the teaching format and hunted down my own hands on ways to teach the lessons and my kids LOVE it! This week Sophie has learned songs about Perimeter and Area, Read Spaghetti and Meatballs for All and used manipulatives to act it out (deals with perimeter and area), measured shapes I taped on the floor and figured out the perimeter, used a geoboard to build shapes and figure out the perimeter, used wheat thins and Twizzlers to figure out the area (wheat thins) and perimeter (pull-apart Twizzlers).....and today we will find out the area of different candy bars. Yes she has also done a few worksheets and math fact drills. But that has not been the focus. Math has been their new favorite part of the day. No longer torture. It takes more time to prep on my part....but I look forward to it too and get excited about it. I even integrated Math and Spelling by having Sophie write her spelling words on one-inch grid paper and figure out the area/perimeter of each word! FUN! I was switching Math up for Jackson too and decided to let Audrey and Lydia do it with him and it has been a hit! They are working on graphing and have learned about bar graphs, line graphs, and pictographs. They have really enjoyed learning the characteristics of graphs, picking out a topic to graph, gathering data from people and are looking forward to making their own graphs from the information they gathered today! Change Number 3.......Reminds me why I wanted to be a teacher!
The final thing I've done is lossen up a little. Not too much! I have done things like today: Give the kids a 2 hour school delay. We were out with basketball until 10:30 last night. I told Andrew not to set the alarm...and that they could sleep in. I NEVER DO THAT! The other day a friend invited us for tea and a playdate. Spur of the moment. I usually would say no....we always have more to do....but I got crazy and said yes! The losening has helped the atmosphere. Which has helped the attitudes. Which has helped the Mama. Change Number 4.......Helps me to BREATHE!
I love these changes!
These new changes have made school sooo much better for ME and for the kids!
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