Digital Homeschooling

We have several digital tools for our homeschool. I've gone to a web based tracking system. I have a Nook simple touch and a Cruz ereader. I prefer the Nook for plain books, it's lighter and the battery lasts forever. I've started using the Cruz for pdfs, it renders them better plus it's got a color screen but it only lasts about 4 hours. So I have downloaded a ton of books for the Nook, and also some from the library, and Cowgirl loves using it. A lot of the vintage stories we read are freely available, like Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, and the stories from the Grimm Brothers. Reading the originals are pretty challenging, the vocabulary is advanced and the themes are more adult. And I love the idea of having a lot of books available anytime, anywhere I want to read.

The Cruz is more of the teachers device, I've started downloading pdfs of various curricula to it for my use, instead of printing. So far I have the MEP math answer pages, the BFSU 2,3 texts, the electronics lab manual, some chemistry curricula I'm reviewing and whatever else I find. There are some educational apps I've downloaded too, such as Chinese and math practice apps. The Cruz also has a full browser, so I can access the tracker system and update it remotely. Usually I take both devices with me.

Finished with 1st grade Vietnamese!

We finally finished the 1st grade Vietnamese curriculum. Between starting it late, and not doing much school while my mom was sick, it's been slow going. I also slowed it down because it seemed like dd was not really retaining it so much. I changed the pace from one lesson a day to one lesson taking about 3 days. The first day we would read the passage. The second and third days we would reread the passage and do the workbook. There was usually enough in the workbook to split up. She was able to read much more fluently after multiple exposures to the same passage. She is still very sloppy about looking at the diacritics, and I constantly have to remind her which one it is. I was thinking of starting the 2nd grade right away, but since we didn't do the read aloud book yet, I think we're going to work through that over the summer and start 2nd grade Vietnamese in the fall after a short break.

Comparing Vietnamese curriculum - VN national books

I bought 1st grade Vietnamese language curriculum in two cities, Hanoi(North) and Saigon(South). There is supposed to be a standardized national curriculum where all students study the same things. But the books are different looking at first glance(plus I forgot I had purchased some in Hanoi) that I ended up with two sets of essentially the same material. BUT they have divergent approaches. Lessons do correspond; number 10 in one set teaches the same thing as number 10 in the other, but the Southern book is much more child friendly, with color pictures. There are no pictures in the Northern book. It really was an eye opener.

South - Part 1, Text book, Workbook and writing practice

South - Part 2

North - Text books for both parts, I would have bought matching workbooks if I had found them.

South -Lesson 28

North - Lesson 28 is on the left side, Lessons 29,30 on the right!

Back side of the South text and work books. 

This shows how cheap the books are, yet there are kids who don't go because they can't afford to buy books! 10,700d is about 50 cents for the Text, the work book is 4,000d and the writing book is 2,500d.I had thought to make copies and have her write on the copy, but the copies would have cost much more than the writing book did.

The backs also list the other available books. So for the Text books there are:
1) Vietnamese Language 1
2) Math 1
3) Nature & Society 1
4) Writing 1

Work books have:
1) Vietnamese Language 1
2) Math 1
3) Nature & Society 1
4) Morality 1
5) Drawing 1
6) Singing 1

Vietnamese 1st grade curriculum

During this most recent trip to Vietnam, I bought more books. Some are the language curriculum books for 1st grade. I bought some in Hanoi, then bought some in Saigon.

This is 1st grade text book, part one. There is another set of books which look a lot like these, but with pinkish purple covers. The two sets cover one years worth of material. These are the ones from Saigon, they are much more child friendly with color pictures and lessons broken up into smaller segments.

This is the workbook. It has some matching exercises and some writing.

This is a writing practice book. It has practice pages that correspond with the lessons in the book.

This is a book of stories that goes with the 1st grade curriculum. I'm having some difficulty reading them, I think they're read alouds with some questions to be asked of the students.

Vietnamese preschool curriculum

So while I was in vietnam I bought a bunch of books. These are the workbooks. They were all very cute, and very cheap, only about 6,000d (basically ~37 cents). I didn't really look that closely while I was in the bookstore, so it ended up that a lot are duplicate material. 

This is a series of books that have a story, pictures to color and letters to practice. The 3-4 year old books practice strokes, while the older ages 4-5 and 5-6 practice letters.

Inside Sample from 3-4 yo book

If you notice, the font used for the story is the same cursive that is taught for writing, so the kids are practicing reading cursive at the same time they learn to write.

3-4 Year Old books

4-5 year old books

5-6 year old books

These two are actually the same material, just presented by different publishers.

Inside of the two books from different publishers.