Update on Blaise (11 year old early learner)

I've had several request for an update on how my 11 year old is doing. He was my first early learner, after having been inspired by IAHP many years earlier in a college psychology class. I haven't been posting about him much recently, because there was a period where he wasn't sure if he wanted me to share about him on the internet. He has now decided he is happy to share.

As part of our local home-school requirements children are required to take tests in 3rd, 5th and 8th grades. Blaise took his 5th grade test this year and scored at the 99% in all sections.  We were a little worried about how he'd do as he hasn't covered many of these topics for quite some time, but overall he got almost 100% on the entire test. He ended up missing 3 questions in total. They were in the math section and unfortunately it sounds like silly mistakes from just moving too fast.

Currently, Blaise is working his way through Algebra 2 in Saxon. Algebra 2 is generally considered to be about 10th grade math. At this point he only has Advanced Math and Calculus prior to completing the Saxon math sequence. Unfortunately, our community college only goes through Algebra and I was really hoping for him to complete the Saxon sequence and then go on to a college Calculus class. Perhaps, we will choose to just do the AP tests for college credit instead.

In English he is working on Cover Story. We were torn between that and "One Year Adventure Novel"(OYAN). I think he would have done well, but I thought he would really enjoy this program. At the end of the program he will have created an entire magazine on his chosen topic. It also has the added benefit that his 7 year old brother can do it at the same time. They really enjoy the goofy instructor on the DVD's and in general find the writing assignments enjoyable as well. We will probably go on to OYAN after this as Blaise has lots of really interesting ideas for novels and I think it would be really rewarding for him to see one through to completion.

In reading he is currently reading "The Iliad" from the Great Books of the Western World series as well as Don Quixote. I also got him a few magazine subscriptions this year including National Geographic History and Scientific American. Interestingly, the National Geographic History had a whole Iliad section this month, which really dovetailed nicely with his reading. 

For science, he continues to do a ton of science reading, as well as working on high school biology. He does coding through Kahn Academy on his own volition. Both boys got Arduino kits this year, and Blaise also got Snapino which allows you to connect your Arduino and Snap Circuit kits. 

He also works on French daily with DuoLingo, and weekly tutoring via Spyke on italki. We have been working on incorporating spaced repetition with Anki as well. In addition we try to work on French easy readers and videos on Discovery Streaming and YouTube.

For fun he enjoys swimming competitively. His team practices 1.5-2 hours a day, five days a week. He also enjoys baseball, skiing, and surfing with the occasional competitions. 

Overall he is an amazing, compassionate and thoughtful boy, and I can't wait to see what his future holds. He sees the problems in today's world, and he tells me he sees his education as a way to help him become one of the leaders we need for the future. 

Learning French for Kids

So my children have been learning French for quite a while. We began with Little Reader and the French add-on. Subsequently we have used many of the traditional options including Rosetta Stone and DuoLingo. I will be honest, that although they have learned a large number of nouns and other vocabulary they have not learned to speak. We have been searching for that missing component of our program that will get them from being able to identify what a French phrase says or what a French word means to having meaningful interactions in the language.

Initially, I had hoped to find a French tutor to come and speak with them for a few hours a week, or even a nanny/babysitter. Unfortunately, in the area in which we live it is nearly impossible. French is not even offered in the local schools.

For that reason I turned to italki. Italki is a tutoring program that connects French learners with certified French teachers at a time which is convenient to the learner. You can choose a certified teacher (most expensive option), a community tutor (less expensive), or a language exchange (free). For my kids I have opted for the lessons with the certified teacher, however we've had such great experieinces, I am contemplating taking some lessons on my own with one of the community teachers.

Most of the lessons we have had so far are taught in an immersive conversational manner. They are usually video lessons although we had one instructor that did audio and had us look at different pages, which they then discussed. After the lesson the kids are given a list of words and pharses covered, which they can then review on their own prior to the next lesson.

My hope is that as their conversational skills improve we will be able to incorporate in more movies and books as well. I'd love to hear what other parents are doing to encourage fluency in non-native languages with their children. Leave your strategies in the comments!

How to Teach Toddlers to Ski

We love to ski as a family, and there is nothing more exciting than watching a child fall in love with skiing. It was that excitement to share the joy of skiing that prompted us to begin teaching our oldest child to ski at age 2 almost 10 years ago. Since that time he has become a a great skier capable of attacking any run we've come across. Using the same methods we also had great success teaching our younger son also at age 2. By age 3 he was independently skiing most intermediate runs at the hills in Oregon and Montana that we usually visit.

 This is a video of Mason at 3 years 3 months.

We were planning on getting Arden up on the ski hill next year at about two and a half, however when we were at a local used ski shop we saw the absolute smallest ski boots I have ever seen.  They were Nordy 14.5s and with some thick socks they were perfect. The nice thing is that they are real ski boots, just sized down. Plus at under $20 they were meant to be. So at just 20 month old Arden's ski journey began.

Of course, we had to get her a new extra small set of skis, as we'd never had a little one start quite so early. Since the rest of her ski gear will likely be hand-me-downs from the brothers we got her a used set of cute little Rosignols with hummingbirds and butterflies.Once she was set up she was pumped to start skiing. 

The first thing is getting a toddler used to the boots at home. We let her wear them around for a 5-10 minutes at a time. Pretty soon she was putting them on herself. 

We also had her practice binding into the skis and sliding around in the skis in the house. 

When planning your visit to the ski hill it is important that you choose a time when your toddler is well rested. We definitely have had times when by the time you get to the hill and get all your gear on, the youngest skiers are ready for a nap. 

In order to ski safely with a toddler you need a little bit of extra gear. The first thing I strongly recommend is a ski harness. I like that the straps come around from the front and you are able to help control the child's hips for turns. I also recommend toe clips, as it forces your child to hold their skis in a wedge position.

At the hill the first time your toddler binds in you may just want to practice walking next to them and helping them glide along while you hold the safety handle on the back of their harness. After that I advise going straight to the "bunny hill". I leave the toe clips on while loading/unloading small children. I just hold the handle on the harness and slide them forward. The handle on the harness is also helpful in lifting them up onto the lift. While on the lift I hold onto the harness and keep my other arm wrapped around my child. Once you get to the top I always remind them "tips up". Then help them slide off and holding the handle direct them off to whatever side you are going.

 

Once at the top get the harness straps out from the pouch, and make sure they are appropriately positioned. 

Help your little one towards the angled part of the hill and have them shuffle until they start sliding. At that point I slowly let out the straps and we are off!

With toddlers it is important to keep in mind their limited endurance. With Arden under 2 I noticed we would only get about 3-5 runs before she needed a break (and usually about a 3 hour nap). Another tip to consider is if your ski hill has some nice long easy runs that aren't too steep it may be worth it to move to them from the bunny hill relatively quickly. The benefit is that you are avoiding the constant on and off of the chair lift in exchange for more actually skiing time. Just beware that if your little one decides half-way done the hill they are too tired to continue you may need to ski the rest of the way with them between your legs and you holding them under the shoulders.

As your child progresses and over the next year or so you should be able to remove the toe clips and then once you are confident in their stopping abilities the leash. I left the handle on the back of my middle son until he was about 6 just for piece of mind and loading on the chairlift. 

Using this progression my 3 year old was place directly into level 3 of 6 in ski lessons and quickly moved up to level 4. The funny thing is the lessons he was in were for 6 and under and because no other children of that age were skiing that well he would always get private lessons. Teaching your toddler to ski is definitely rewarding. The best part is that soon you will be skiing as a family and making amazing lifelong memories!

January Update

The past few months have been busy around here. We've been trying to move into our home/construction zone, as well as homeschooling, working and of course celebrating the holidays. We were able to take a trip to visit my family and Arden loved hiking and exploring their property.

During this time Arden also turned 18 months old. She can read at least 50 words, including the top 30 Dolch sight words. She also routinely speaks in 5-7 word sentences. A few examples are "Momma, put the shoes on me" or "Daddy! Put your hand down!". She is quite opinionated and enjoys telling us what shoes or clothes she'd like to wear as well as how she'd like her hair done. She also loves pretending to "talk to Grandma" on her phone and "cooking pizza" with her Melissa and Doug Pizza kit she got for Christmas.

She has started to enjoy doing some "school" while her brothers do the same. She enjoys drawing in her Kumon coloring book. A normal day for her learning-wise would include a lesson of Little Reader in both English and French, a lesson of Little Musician, some flashcard review and lots of read alouds. A few days a week she will watch "Meet the Sight Words", "The Letter Factory", or "Suzy" a piano DVD which is a her favorite.

We also have been practicing counting. We like to make it more exciting by combining it with activity, such as counting the stairs while we climb or counting and then jumping into Mom and Dad's arms.

 We have begun to work on reading books. A few we have started include the Peter and Jane Keyword books and the Meet the Sight Words books. Although she should be able to read the books, and most of the words are words she knows she still is working on the fluency required to read them in series. At this time she will just read individual words as I point to them.

Reading progress at 18 months

Sorry if I've been a little spotty on posting. We're in the process of moving to/renovating an old school house. It seems kind of funny for a homeschooling family to move into a school, but we're excited.

In the meantime, we haven't let the chaos deter us from our early leaning goals. At this point Arden is reading more and more individual words. Even more exciting she recognizes them in books or if she sees someone writing them. Here's a video of her reading some of her words with her dad.

http://youtu.be/P5QFxoZdewg

Currently, she does Little Reader in English and French 1-2 times a day. She also does Little Musician. She watches "The Letter Factory" to work on letter recognition and sounds, although I suspect she knows them all. She likes to sit at our keyboard (which has letter stickers on it) and play the keys saying the letter on each one. To help with sight words she has been watching meet the sight words and doing some corresponding flash cards. 

Her other recent fascination is with books. She will have me read the same 10 books to her about 3-5 times a day. Her tastes lean heavily towards Dr. Seuss and PD Eastman. She also enjoys "reading" by herself and talking about each page and what it says from memory.

My future Olympian?

Preparing for a forward roll

With the Olympics in full swing. I thought I should post an update about our mobility program. We continue to give Arden as many opportunities as possible to be active through the day, and she definitely takes advantage of them. When people meet Arden they say one of two things. Either: "she is the happiest baby I've ever seen. Does she ever cry?" or "Wow! She is really active!".



Some of her favorite activities including climbing up the ladder, jumping on the trampoline, walking up and down stairs, and doing forward rolls.

We have continued to use a mobility program based off of the "How To Teach Your Baby to Be Physically Superb". She is currently in Stage V.  The best part of stage V is the introduction of early gymnastics. Arden has loves this! She had been watching her brother do forward rolls and when given an opportunity picked it up right away. Now we will often catch her doing them on her own. We also have some 4x4s that she enjoys using as a balance beam.

My number one recommendations for teaching forward rolls (or anything with younger children) is get someone they look up to to do it first. Anything her brothers do is instantly tantalizing, and if mom does a forward rolls she finds it hilarious and can't wait to copy. We started off by having her "touch [her] toes" and then helped her roll over. It didn't take long for her to start rolling down the hall on her own. Here is a video of her forward roll. I love her head tuck and arm swing. I can't watch without smiling.

Small motor activities

We've been working a lot on small motor activities lately, and I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.   Today's activity was a really simple activity. All I did was dive Arden an old empty spice container and some dried beans. While I worked with the boys on their school she amused herself putting all the beans in the container, dumping them out and starting over again.

Another favorite activity is drawing.

Intent on her artwork

Some other fun activities include Play-doh (also great to help strengthen hand muscles), bottles and boxes with lids to practice placing and removing, and other sorting/threading activities. It's fun to mix it up using different activities to practice the same skills. We recently bought a shaker and some party-color toothpicks for her to practice threading. So far that seems to be a hit.