Skip to main content

Homeschool Chumash: Caught on Video!

Here’s Naomi Rivka working through two pessukim of Lech Lecha in her Bright Beginnings workbook.

The first one is Passuk 12, which we've been working on since just after Pesach. 

Our step-by-step method is: 

  • First, vocabulary - using homemade cut-ups, examine some of the new or tricky words. 
  • Second, read the passuk in the workbook, line by line, in Hebrew and English. 
  • Third, line by line in Hebrew only. 
  • Finally, close the book and say the entire passuk from memory.  When we are first starting a passuk, we don't do it from memory, but instead, say it 3 times together without looking at the book.

We repeat this procedure for the last SIX pessukim we have learned, finishing with the most recent passuk.  So, for example, we’re now on Passuk 13, so we learn 7-13.  For a while, we were doing all of them, from 1-whatever, but it got to be too much for her.  I told her that once a MONTH, ie the first time we do chumash after Rosh Chodesh, we will review all the pessukim we have learned in Lech Lecha.

Also, whenever we sit down to learn chumash, we also work on exercises in our Bright Beginnings Workbook OR in Rabbi Winder’s Lashon HaTorah Alef.  Bright Beginnings comes with flashcards, and we also occasionally review those, though most of them are too easy for Naomi (we moved the super-easy ones into an “easy” pile, and only review the hard ones regularly).

Sometimes, I feel discouraged that we have been at this since July – ten months! – and we’re only on Passuk 13.  I mean, that’s just a little over 1 passuk a month.  But then, I also feel encouraged that she seems to know them so well.

Also, our lives have been so hectic lately that we are lucky if we get to chumash twice a week.  Sometimes, it’s only once.

This is on top of our regular Hebrew stuff, by the way, which I try to get to twice a week (but realistically, sometimes only once).  We have moved into our new workbook, Shalom Ivrit 2, to somewhat mixed reviews.  I chose Book 2 because Book 1 looked far too basic.  The first story was a bit long.  Repetitious, so it’s easy enough to read, but it looks daunting to see a page of text.  However, the story/question format is good, and Naomi was able to work through many of the questions after the story without help once she got started (code for “got past crying” :-( ).

I hope to alternate readings and work in this book with continuing readings in Yesh Lanu Llama.

And get back to Rosetta Stone again someday… maybe.

Ah, if only there were 25 hours in the day… doesn’t it seem like one extra hour would make a HUGE difference?  I think the secret lies in waking up an hour earlier, but this has never, ever worked for me.  Perhaps I’ll try again, though, as I also believe Naomi is fresher and works faster in the morning.  By afternoon, she’s resentful of having to sit and do still MORE school.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You, here’s a

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful.  Three pages are included:  one page with two po

It's Heart Month: 3 days left to save lives!

Dear Friends & Family: Hi, everybody! Sorry I can’t stop by in person... you're a bit out of my area.  :-) We’re out walking up and down on our street on this beautiful afternoon to raise money for Heart & Stroke.  This cause is important to me (I won't say it's close to my heart , because that would be tacky!).  I hope you'll join me by donating online. Growing up, I watched as every single one of my grandparents' lives were shortened by heart disease and strokes, and my father had a defibrillator that saved his life on more than one occasion.  Heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 Canadians and are the #1 killer of women. Please click this link to be redirected to my main page at the Heart & Stroke website: http://tinyurl.com/AtlasHeart Thus ends my personal appeal.  Official information follows.  :-))) ----- Heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women - taking more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. But no one is immune. Th