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jmjs4

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Posts posted by jmjs4

  1. I got Dots yesterday, read through the first chapter, and have the first game set up for today.  Should I have my ds watch the video first?  Or can I just introduce the activity?  Also....do you master each activity/game before moving on?

     

    ETA:  We did the first activity today (dot patterns w/dice & even/odd numbers), and it went really well!  He easily did the activity and passed the quiz.  It looks like tomorrow for numbers inside we will need to watch the video together.

  2. Would it be wise to continue a normal math curriculum while also doing the Ronit Bird games/activities.  I was looking at either CLE (worked great for my other children), MUS, or Math Lessons for a Living Education (she stated in a FB group that she originally created the curriculum for her daughter that has dyscalculia).  We were previously using Math Mammoth.  It was going ok, but some of the exercises were just too much for him right now since he has a hard time with mental math.  

  3. If he has not nailed addition and subtraction, I would go back to Dots. Then C-Rods. Then Multi-. She also has some free ebooks. And take rabbit trails with those to apply the concepts to time, money, etc. Then you'll have done the equivalent of Toolkit, so you'd go into Overcoming. You can use Resource alongside the ebooks. 

     

    And I agree, definitely go ebooks. Even if you're going to get the print books (which I have), get the ebooks. They're beyond helpful. They have videos and bring it to life.

     

     

    Thank you!

  4. Honestly, having borrowed both of those paperback books and buying the books for the iPad, I very strongly preferred the ebooks.....and I don't normally feel that way.  The activities were outlined more specifically in the ebooks.

     

    Both of those paperback books have templates for activities in the back of them.  In addition, I recommend buying plastic coins, dice, dominoes, a deck of low vision playing cards, cuisenaire rods, and some white cardstock.

     

     

    Thank you.  Which ebook would you recommend starting with?

  5. Can someone please tell me more about the Ronit Bird materials?  Which is the best book to start with for an almost 8 year old that struggles with math?  I prefer an hardback book to an ebook.  I never getting around to looking at or using any ebooks that I buy.  I have the Dyscalculia Toolkit and Overcoming Difficulties with Numbers in my shopping cart on Amazon.  Are these books a good place to start?  Do they offer clear activities to work on?  What manipulatives would I need to go along with these?

  6. My first grade daughter is bored with math programs that are mastery based.  I am looking into getting her either CLE, Horizons, or Abeka.  I actually have Horizons 1 here, but we didn't do Horizons K and there is a lot of stuff it starts off expecting them to know that she does not.  I like that CLE starts at the beginning and assumes nothing.  Abeka looks really fun with all the color and variety.  Which one do you think is the most fun, and is easy to teach?

  7. My children (1st and 2nd) are frustrated by conceptual programs.  No matter how much I try they just produce tears daily.  I am wanting to switch to a more traditional math that still has review.  Between Saxon and CLE which one do you like the best?  We did do the placement test, and would need to start with grade 1 in both.

  8. I am surprised you only made it through loe a. How much time did you spend on phonics each day? If you worked on it consistently, then it seems like there might be some sort of learning issue going on. If not, then the commitment to put in the time and effort will probably prove far more important than which program you use. If you did not put in the time, then I would go to opgtr and commit to spending an hour a day with the 2nd grader (maybe 3 sessions of 20 minutes per day) and maybe 45 a day with the 1st grader (3 sessions of 15 minutes). If there are learning issues, then opgtr might not be the best choice.

     

     

    :/.  They started the year in public school, so we got a late start.  We got to lesson 12 of AAR 1, and many of those lessons had to be split up into two days.  We switched to LOE in March, and got through it in two months.  In the beginning we did two lessons of LOE a day, and then when we got to the spelling lists we did one lesson a day.  I am committed, and we did phonics/reading daily.  I switched to LOE because I heard so many raving reviews.

  9. Do you think OPGTR is a good phonics curriculum, or is something like Logic of English Foundations necessary? I really want something simple and easy to get done everyday. I am also considering The Good and the Beautiful level K, or even just ETC with some readers.

  10. The American Odyssey has "key questions" at the beginning of each chapter.  There are usually about 3-5 of them.  I tried using them when my older son did the book, but I found that many of them were actually quite difficult to answer.  With him, I ended up having him write summaries of each chapter.  With the younger one, I had him write a short essay every few weeks on a topic of interest.

     

    I would not use the entire Human Odyssey series with high school students.  The third volume may be appropriate for a 9th grader, but the other two books are very obviously written to a middle school audience.  If you want a high school version of the series, take a look at World History: Our Human Story.

     

    Thank you!  I actually meant to write Our Human Story, and I updated my original post :). 

  11. I am seriously leaning towards using Our Human Story and The American Odyssey for my daughters high school history classes.  I have always followed curriculums that had everything scheduled and laid out for me.  

     

    Do these textbooks have questions inside of them?  

     

    How would you use these textbooks to make a full history course?  What kind of assignments, etc?

  12. That makes sense. And I have to admit, even though I've wanted to from the beginning I've never been able to get cursive first to work for ANY of my kiddos. :(. It's a lot to think about at once.

     

    I know is it's possible. I know people that did it! I just can't make it work.

     

     

    Cursive has definitely made my life more complicated this year with a K and First grader.  But......they both love cursive.  My ds 7.5 has had some ADHD/learning struggles, and his handwriting was really bad before LOE.  His cursive is actually is REALLY pretty.  It is just the act of combining spelling/writing that has been a struggle for him.  He is ok if I demonstrate the cursive word first, but he struggles writing it first without any instruction how to write it.  I teach how to write the phonograms in cursive, but sometimes writing the word in cursive he just needs to see first (how to connect the letters).  I think we will use the tiles for spelling, and then use the words for cursive copywork.  I sometimes wish we were doing LOE with manuscript, but his cursive is much nicer....:/. 

  13. Ok.....thank you both.  I was doing the spelling analysis.  I think part of it has been that learning cursive has been new for them and in the middle of trying to remember the word, how to segment the word, which phonogram makes that sound, and how to write the letter in cursive they were either forgetting the what the original word was or how to segment it.  I know we can use the tiles, and I normally do for my ds, but they both are adamant at the beginning that they want to try writing them.  I will have them use the tiles first, and just help them as much as needed.  We just recently started blends which mean the spelling words have more letters, and they would forget what they were writing in the middle because they were so focused on how to write the word in cursive.

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  14. I have been using LOE A the last few months with my 6 and 7.5 year old.  We started level A because I decided to go with cursive, and they needed to learn all the different sounds each letter made.  They were reading good enough that we could have started with level B if they hadn't needed to learn all the sounds for each letter. We are almost done with A.  I thought it was going great until we started getting to the spelling lists with bigger words.  I do use the spelling analysis, and segment each word before they spell it.  It seems to frustrate my children to be asked to spell work without having ever seen it before.  I know this issue is only going to get worse as we continue on to level B & C.    So I am looking at switching to something else.  

     

    What is another phonics program that you would recommend?  

  15. Logic of English is working amazingly well here!  We tried several other things before LOE (including AAR), and LOE has been the best.  It is my kids favorite part of school too!  They are always talking about how much they love their dragon book, and my 7 year old is already asking me to order the C book (we are about to start B).

  16. I am still pondering using Rightstart.  I have level A sitting here while we have still been working through Math Lessons for a Living Education.  I see a lot of old posts on TWTM where people switch after B or halfway through C.  This was before the second edition though.  Do you think the second edition addressed some people's previous concerns?  I just don't know if I want to use RS for A & B and then have to switch to something else.  

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