Tracy
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Posts posted by Tracy
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I felt the same way about the WTM approach. DH and I just couldn't wait until year 4 to do physics! We are using BFSU now, and we love it. Here is more about it on my blog: http://myfamilyiseternal.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-of-building-foundations-of.html
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Right now, we are doing:
Math: Horizons K Math
Science: BFSU
Language Arts: Reading books from library to mom, SWO A, Copywork
Social Studies: Unit studies--countries, biographies
FIAR
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MapAids has different assignments for different levels, including LG. I am going to use it with my 5yo next year. (But she is obsessed with maps!)
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I usually recommend to new homeschoolers that they do a year of geography first.
:iagree:
We are doing K this year, and we have done unit studies for geography/history. DD chooses a country, and I get books from the library, and we learn about that country. I try to tie in important people and events. I think it is a great basis for starting with the ancients next year.
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I feel a lot like you do about American History. Too bad dd5 loves world history and geography so much more. So we are starting with ancients in the fall. But we have been doing FIAR this year, which has given me many opportunities to talk about American history. I also bring home lots of books from the library, especially around holidays like President's Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Columbus Day, etc. So I feel like she is getting some American History.
Tracy
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:lurk5:
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No rules here in IL. The only thing I had to do was write a letter of intent to the school to pull DD(then7) out. She's 13 now. :)
And if you homeschool from the beginning, there are virtually no rules. No reporting, no testing, no required number of school days.
Tracy
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We just started, and when I presented it to her she was really excited, but she doesn't seem to make the connection between her behavior and what happens on the chart.
I don't know if maybe it's because we've never used any kind of chart with her before. Ice cream is pretty much the ultimate in rewards for her. :tongue_smilie: I didn't want to have a cumulative reward because I didn't want her to have to wait that long for it. She's only 6 1/2, and it's only for this one part of this one subject.
Here are some of my thoughts.
- She may need a greater reward immediately following the assignment. It doesn't have to be something you give to her. Consider playing a game together afterward or some other special time together.
- Have you tried having her do the assignment orally? If not, I would try this to see if she has an easier time with it. At 6yo, sometimes the writing is still a chore and really gets in the way when doing challenging or boring material. Even if a child has good writing skills, that does not mean that they have the stamina or the ability to write well at the same time as doing other mental tasks.
- Do you sit with her when she does these assignments? Most 6yo's cannot do everything independently, yet. She may just need someone to sit with her and help her focus.
- On another forum that I am on, there was a recent discussion of the value of giving a child more challenging material than he is currently working on. Although the thread was in the context of gifted children, there was a comment made that this often works with non-gifted children, as well. Our society has made us think that we have to learn things in a certain order, and that is just not the case. Perhaps she needs to move on to something else, and she can come back to this in a few months.
HTH,
Tracy
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She has to do one lesson a day, without dawdling or bad attitudes. She has one hour to do a lesson (she can easily do a lesson in 20 minutes.) The chart we're using gives three options: :001_smile: (very good), :mellow:(okay), and :sad: (bad). If she gets through the week without any sad faces, she gets a small treat (ice cream cone, hot cocoa after skating, etc.) Ice cream and hot cocoa are her favorite things in the world. She'd move mountains for ice cream. lol
That is a really good start to a chart. You have immediate and long term rewards. Did you just start, or has it been a while? If you just started and you don't see results pretty quickly (or at least motivation and excitement), then you either need modify it or set aside the goal for later.
Tracy
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Becky,
What are you doing for the behavior chart? In order for the behavior chart to work, she has to get it. I am really big on charts, and IMO, there are 2 reasons for their failure. The first is because the child is not developmentally ready to do what is expected. The second is that the chart does not offer sufficient or frequent enough incentive.
Tracy
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You can make your own copywork that he can trace at: http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/writing/handwriting.html
Tracy
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No, not too much, but you might want to add some extra elements to help with the memorization. You can play a games with it. For example, print a portion on a chalkboard, and each time erase a couple of words. You could challenge her to see if she can beat you. Someone else mentioned dramatizing it. You can pick key words and look up the sign language for those words: http://www.aslpro.com/.
Tracy
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I would give her more challenging problems and set aside the easier ones. Sometimes, we all just need a break from the drudgery. She is likely to memorize the basics while doing the more challenging work, anyway. And if she doesn't, you can approach them fresh in a few months, perhaps with some great incentive.
At whatever point you want to create an incentive, I would be inclined to ask her what the problem is and what she wants to work toward. Does she want a special gift, special time with mom and/or dad, a trip to a museum, beach, theater, etc.? If she is involved in the planning, she will be more invested in learning the material.
Tracy
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I would have him compose his copywork. He can tell you a sentence, and you can put on a paper for him to copy. To create copywork, I use http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/writing/handwriting.html.
Tracy
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Is this true? Could you provide a source for this? I've never heard this before. I purposefully choose books for my phonics level readers that do not contain extra stimuli. I want them sounding out the words phonetically, and not guessing what the words are based on other information on the page.
I don't have a source, except for my own experience and that of dd4 (almost 5yo). For myself, it is how I learn just about everything. I piece together all the clues and come up a hypothesis, then I try it to see if I am right. Dd4 works the same way. After she had been reading to me for a few months, I noticed that every time we turned the page, she would pause at length. I watched her eyes and noticed that sometimes she was reading to herself and other times she was scanning the pictures. Sometimes her eyes would move back and forth between the two. I realized that this was how she could read as high as 4th grade level. She could do it, but it was exhausting to her, and she could only keep it up for a few pages. It required so much mental gymnastics.
But at the same time, her reading level and her reading stamina were consistently increasing. So I did away with phonics since her reading level was climbing without it. And I opted to stick with a phonics-based spelling program, instead. I was surprised at how hard spelling was for her at first, given her reading level. But after a few months, she has developed more of a mind for spelling, taking note of certain spellings, especially in homonyms.
Because I recognized her reading behavior as the way I do everything, I was not worried. I consider it a gift to be able to look around me, gather all the clues and know how things work. If her reading level were not increasing, then I might be concerned. But since it is increasing, I think it is important for her to use all of the gifts that she has been given. Anyway, I am not sure I could stop her, even if I wanted to. It is quite instinctual.
Tracy
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This year I noticed some concerning habits when my daughter was reading. Instead of sounding out words, she tends to look around the page and guess. I have a feeling that she is taught this in school. I would like her to return to school in the fall with this habit broken.
She is currently in 1st grade and reading at nearly a 3rd grade level. She would probably be reading better if she was instructed better (she is several years ahead in math).
I don't have any specific advice, but I just wanted to say that I wouldn't assume that she learned these reading habits in school. It is very common for advanced readers to do these things. It is part of the reason they are advanced readers. They have the ability to take all of the clues on a page (phonics, sentence context, pictures, etc.) to formulate what the words say. My dd5 does the same thing. I let her do it, because I consider it a gift to be able to do that--to get the right answer using all available information, even if the intention was not to give her extra clues. I have her read to me at least one book per day, and over the past year that we have been doing that, the searching for clues on the page is gradually decreasing as her confidence and reading ability continues to climb.
Tracy
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When we started with SWO A in the fall, dd was having similar problems. I received some advice to split up the writing and spelling. It is hard for a young child to learn how to write and learn some other thing at the same time. So we do spelling orally now, and do copywork for writing. I can't tell you how much difference this has made in dd's attitude. She now does both enthusiastically, whereas before, it was like pulling teeth. Is oral spelling as effective? Probably not. It is more teacher intensive, and at the same time harder for her to learn. But at this age, I want her to love learning, even if it isn't quite as effective. Once writing becomes more second nature, we will go back to writing the spelling assignments.
Tracy
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I just bought the entire God's Design for Sex series. It contains pretty detailed information considering the ages it is geared toward. But the reasoning is that you want the information to come first from the parents, and in our society, you have to start young. But I am so impressed at how that information is handled.
Tracy
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Tracy, $300 is too, too much for one teacher's guide to be printed!! Save yourself some money and try this first---
I'm not sure the whole teacher's manual is necessary. I would first:
*Look at the schedule for the year you are teaching
*Find in the manual where that lesson is first introduced
*Save those page #'s for printing
*Teach yourself how the strings, arrows and mini-computer work. Read about Eli's peanuts. I can't imagine that you need much more instruction than that. Just print off the lessons you feel are necessary, or that you need help with. Could you print only the workbook, then access the stories and teacher's guide online? That's how I use MEP.
:iagree:Totally! Didn't even consider calling FedEx back. We have a couple of other options. DH can print it out on our own paper at work for the cost of ink. We just have to figure out how much that will be. We have also considered buying an efficient color laser printer. You can get them for $300. If our current printer weren't already older than my oldest child, I wouldn't consider it. But taking into account that I also just purchased TOG DE, there is plenty we would use a new laser printer for.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will take a look at these and see if perhaps we can get by that way.
Tracy
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About the 700 page teacher's guide....I think it might be meant as an introduction to all of the Primary level materials, meaning that some of those pages are probably part of the teacher's guide to second and third grade as well.
:iagree: I looked at the teacher's manuals for the 2nd and 3rd grade years, and they are much shorter than the 1st grade manual. But this gives me all the more reason to print it out. It is a one-time expense, and it seems a necessary introduction to the entire elementary math curriculum.
Tracy
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Ya, I am slowly making my way through the TG, but I don't want to print it out...I wonder how much it would cost to get it printed at Staples. Probably too much....
I inquired at FedEx, and they quoted me $300 for the entire 1st grade curriculum, most of which is the 700-page teacher's manual. The cost is that there are so many pages with color. Even if there is one dot of color, they charge you for a color copy. (And there are many pages with just one or two dots of color.)
I don't see how I can do the curriculum without printing the teacher's manual, though. I just can't get through it online. We are actually considering buying a new laser printer since this is not the only online curriculum that we are going to use.
BTW, you might want to check out this blog post for a review of CSMP: http://puzzler.multiply.com/journal/item/12/Show_and_Tell_3_CSMP.
Hey, does anyone know if there is a yahoo group or other forum for CSMP?
Tracy
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I recently started something for my 2yo that has been a big hit with my 5yo. We do singing and signing time. We sing all kinds of songs, especially those that require lots of movement. When we are done, we review signs (ASL) that we have learned. We have been borrowing the Signing Time videos from the library also. We started this for my 2yo, because he isn't speaking yet. But dd5 is really enjoying it. DH and I are also really enjoying learning a little sign language with our family.
Tracy
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I am doing Horizons Math K with my 4yo Kindergartner. I got it because I read a review that indicated it was one of the more advanced K math curricula. Although it is advanced, it takes a very gentle approach to the advanced material. (For example, perimeter is introduced by counting how many footsteps around a rectangle.) But in many ways, it has some remedial qualities, as well. For example, there are several weeks at the beginning where the child works on writing his numbers. Additionally, even though we are in the second semester where we have started topics like counting currency and subtraction, we still see sections that ask the child to show what number comes after 23, for example.
As for whether it is more appropriate for K or 1st grade, it really depends on the child. It might work for a 1st grader that is behind in basics like writing his numbers and counting. On the other hand, there are some assignments that some K'ers would just not be developmentally ready for, in spite of the gentle nature of the lessons. For my dd, I have had to start crossing out the simplest sections, because she was so bored with doing the same stuff over and over.
You have to keep in mind that this program is designed for a classroom rather than for a homeschool. I think that this is the reason that you see such a range of difficulty on the same page. In a classroom, you are going to have some children that can handle counting coins while others are still struggling with counting to 100. But this approach does not make a lot of sense with an individual child.
I would also caution that the TM provides absolutely no guidance in teaching the material to a child that may be struggling with it. I would say that for Horizons K to work, you need a child that can handle a written worksheet with little or no instruction.
For the record, although dd has settled into Horizons K and gets the work done quickly and correctly, she is saying that she doesn't like math. I can see that in spite of the pretty colors and pictures of Horizons Math K, it is still just drudgery for her. We are switching to CSMP next year.
Tracy
What is your plan for K?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
:iagree: FIAR is our favorite part. DD asks for it even when we don't have school. We are starting CSMP next year. I wish I had known about it last year.
Tracy