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tdbates78

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Everything posted by tdbates78

  1. I too am super interested. I love the fun cute drawings and journal ideas.I haven't been able to find many reviews and I have about 5 of them in my amazon wish list.
  2. Thank you all so very much!! I'm so confused! I honestly don't this she has dyscalculia as she doesn't have a majority of the warning signs. I am very interested in the Rodit Bird ebooks but as I have an Android (as opposed to an ipad) the ebooks are pretty expensive. Still researching them. I'm definitely going to add in more games. I purchased a few on amazon, and math mammoth lists quite a few game options at the beginning of each chapter. She likes the manipulatives and seems to get it much easier with them, so at this point I'm kind of leaning towards switching to math-u-see for next year as its very hands-on and she is quite visual. We are fortunate to live about 10 minutes away from an awesome homeschool consignment with a great selection of math curriculum so I may pick up the alpha used to work on this summer to see how it goes. But I'm also still researching all of the great advice I received. Definitely switching to one-on-one math time with each of them starting tomorrow. I purchased Arithmetic Village and we read through Polly Plus and did some of the activity sheets this evening and she did a great job. She likes the colorful presentation of the book and the cute activity sheets. When trying to come up with the answer of 5 gems + __ = 10 gems (for example) she had to draw little gems to by the answer but she did it on her own. Huge huge thank you for all of the great advice!!! I'm still researching all of it! Tracy
  3. This is so true! When DH and I were dating (we were high school sweethearts) he would try to help me out with my math homework but couldn't seem to break it down to my level. I will need to give him some pointers first :P
  4. I researched dyscalculia and I don't think this is what is going on. She just doesn't have enough of the warning signs. I promise I'm not trying to be in denial :) Her twin sister has high functioning autism so I'm open and accepting of potential delays. I just don't think that is what we are dealing with. I think some kids/people are "math people" and some aren't. She does know how to add and subtract, can count upwards of 200, understands greater than/less than. It's like she is confused by the extra digit(s). For example, she knows 5 + 2 = 7 (may take her a few seconds to mentally do the math) but if the question is, say, 105 + 2 = ? she just isn't getting it. If I bring out the manipulatives (I have math link cubes and the base 10 squares of 100) she can figure it out pretty quickly. I *think* the problems are frustration over trying to keep up with her sister and MM may not be the right fit for her. In the interim of figuring this out, I have decided that I am going to separate the girls for math and do one-on-one with each of them while the other is working on something else. That should hopefully eliminate the distraction, competition and some of the associated frustration. I'm also going to pick up a few basic addition and subtraction workbooks and my husband is going to work with her in the evenings. He is much more of a math person than I am, and maybe having someone else teach the material will help her out. I hesitate to do a complete curriculum switch now, as we only have three months left in our school year, but I am still looking for supplements and a change for next year. I just got home from a long day out so I'm diligently researching all of the great suggestions you all gave. Thank you so much! If anyone else wants to chime in, please do so!
  5. Thank you all so much. My husbnd and I went to our local homeschool consignment store this morning to peruse other curriculum choices. I think we need to seperate their math curriculum as its leading to competition and upset. Does anyone have experience switching math curriculum? I pulled her put of PS midway through first grade. Not sure how they were teaching math in the classroom. At home we immediately started MM. Will switching her again cause problems? We are leading towards Singapore Math or Miquon just based on our flipping through the books.
  6. One of my 7 year old twin daughters is struggling with math, and I'm freaked out a little because I see myself in her. I've always struggled with math. Literally, like starting in second grade. By the time I figured out the concept the class was several chapters ahead of me. I chose my degree (liberal arts) mainly because it didn't require more than one college algebra class ;) So right now we are using Math Mammoth, book 1. I really like it and it's working great for my other daughter. They are identical twins with vastly different interests and personalities, and math seems to come naturally for one of my girls. She catches on to the new concepts very quickly. The one that is struggling is much more of a dreamer. She has a fantastic imagination and loves to draw and create and, frankly, doesn't like math. Right now we are doing units of 10s. She hasn't yet mastered basic addition and subtraction without the use of manipulatives, despite Math Mammoth's high level of repetition amongst the chapters. I pulled my girls out of PS first grade at the beginning of January, and I started with Math Mammoth at the beginning despite them learning adding and subtracting in school, because they needed it. So now that we are in units of ten and even skip counting by 2's is difficult for her and she gets very upset. I'm nervous about the upcoming chapters. I don't want her to go through what I did as a child and all through my school years. I'm planning on sticking with Math Mammoth for the remainder of this school year. I'm trying to figure out course of action to take. I'm considering adding a supplement that may be of more interest to her, like Life of Fred or Arithmetic Village, that involve stories and drawing. I'm also thinking about adding in an online program, either as a supplement or in it's entirety. Or should I consider switching curriculum altogether? She seems to do much better when I bring out manipulatives, so I'm wondering if Math U See would be a better fit for next year? Or is there another curriculum that you guys can recommend? I would obviously prefer that both of my girls stay with the same curriculum, but at this point I'm willing to do what it takes to make sure she gets it. Can anyone give me some advice? Would LOF or Arithmetic Village be a good fit? Online programs? Different curriculum? Thanks!!
  7. The "dummy" meaning myself ;) I've only been homeschooling since the beginning of January and so far we really enjoy it. I have my lesson plan filled and love to check off completed tasks each day. But as much as I like that, it does feel a little too much like school sometimes and I think it could get monotonous for us next year. I love the idea of a Charlotte Mason-style approach but I'm the type that needs more structure. Which leads me to unit studies. I'm really intrigued by the idea of unit studies but I don't really get it either. I could use some help! 1) How do you come up with a topic? Just something random based on my girls' interests? What if it's something like horses...can a whole unit study be done on a subject like that? Or does it have to be more complex like a specific book or history/science topic like space (which I often see mentioned)? 2) If you don't come up with your own topics, are there recommendations for unit study curriculum that would be easy enough to follow? 2) How do you incorporate it into your day? Do you forego all other curriculum for the duration of the unit study? Or do you still take time to do math, language etc.? Or do you try to incorporate all subject matter into the unit study? Not sure how I would convert our math lessons into a unit study. I don't think I would want to do one unit study after another, but I kind of like the idea of something like 6 weeks of "regular" school followed by one or two weeks of a unit study throughout our school year. One of my daughters has high functioning autism, one of the reasons why we chose to pull her (and her twin) out of school, and sitting through school each day is difficult for her and she gets easily frustrated. I think taking time for unit studies may be a nice break amongst our regular school days. Thanks!! Tracy
  8. Hi again! I am sorry for yet another question. I dived right into homeschooling and my mind seems to be going in all different directions and I'm constantly bugging y'all! :) So one of my daughters, who is 7, has high functioning autism and still used a fisted grip when she writes. She had an OT eval and we were suggested HWT so of course I immediately come home and place a large order. I got the Workbook 1, teacher manual, slate chalk board, large lined chalk board, gray block paper and notebook paper. I just started her on it last week and I'm just not feeling it. She knows how to write, and when she wants to she can write well. She is very familiar with all of her alphabet and has been writing it since the age of 3. She writes legibly. Her problems more stem from hurrying, which results in messy writing, word spacing issues and sporatic handwriting (sometimes very large and sometimes super small). I'm wondering if she may have dysgraphia. I pulled her out of public school first grade before winter break, but she went there for pre-k, kindy and half of first grade and has been learning those methods of handwriting for awhile. So of course trying to switch over to the HWT paper and method is challenging. She seems frustrated because she is being asked to write letters that she already knows how to write, so instead of following the 1-2-3 letter formation directions in HWT she is reverting back to how she already knows how to write them. And to make it more difficult, she is using a special pencil grip to work on holding the pencil correctly, so she is trying to do that and use a new method of forming letters and numbers. It just seems like overkill at this early point. Prior to HWT we were using Draw Write Now, which both of my girls love. Her handwriting did seem to improve just from trying to copy the workbook, although granted that didn't always translate to other writing. It doesn't seem like a traditional handwriting curriculum but I'm really tempted to go back. My gut is telling me to switch back to Draw Write Now or a more traditional method like Zaner-Bloser, that doesn't use all of the manipulatives and different writing paper. Not sure what I should do. Should I just continue on? Or go back to Draw Write Now? Zaner-Bloser? Or another suggestion? ETA: If I keep going, should I switch her notebooks for other subjects to the HWT notebooks to reiterate what we are learning? And if I want to introduce cursive next year, for both her and her sister, do I have to stick with HWT? I would prefer to use another handwriting curriculum like Zaner-Bloser and I obviously prefer that they both use the same curriculum instead of switching between the two. Thanks! Tracy
  9. We are currently using WriteShop, which I just started this past week (we are new to homeschooling). I like it ok (I found it used at our local homeschool consignment shop) but I wish I had gone with WWE after reading reviews and seeing samples. I'm going to stick with WriteShop for the remainder of this school year (we are loosely following our public school schedule) and start WWE next year. My girls will be in second grade and one of them is a very reluctant writer and takes OT due to pencil grip and low muscle tone. Do you think WWE would be a good fit? And if so, which level? I'm not sure if I should start at level 1, since they aren't strong writers, or level 2 since they will be in second grade. Any thoughts? Thanks!
  10. It looks like the vendor hall only is free on opening night, which is a Thursday evening at 6. That's probably when I would go. Or I guess I could go on Friday and try to do some workshops. I don't mind staying for a day but I can't really stay for a night or a weekend. We have a two week Europe trip coming up in early April so our budget doesn't really allow for a mom's weekend away, as nice as that sounds. But it sounds very interesting and I would love to browse (and browse and browse and ;)).
  11. Thanks for the responses! I'm kind of thinking it may not be worth the effort. texasmom, I'm not really sure if there is any specific vendor I wanted to see. Since I am new to this I am a tad bit obsessed with research curriculum choices! It's just nice to see things in person and really get a feel. I am a Christian, although we do not go to church. I don't mind a little bit of religion mixed in (we use Abeka Aesop's Fables and My America and My World, for example). I just don't want it to be fully integrated into the curriculum to the point where I couldn't skip over it if I'm not enthused. Of the vendor list I am most interested in IEW, Elemental Science (although I just purchased RSO Earth and Space online today with the Pandia Press sale that is going on), Rainbow Resource and just general browsing.
  12. The Great Homeschool Convention will be in Greenville, SC in a few weeks and I'm debating whether it's worth going. Greenville is about 2 hours from me (I'm in the Charlotte, NC area) and I don't have any other homeschooling friends yet to share the drive or experience with. My husband would stay home with my girls so it would be just me. I'm not really interested in attending the workshops and events alone so I would just be checking out the vendor hall for curriculum. Is it really helpful to see all of the curriculum choices in person and hear the sales pitches? Is it common to find special convention pricing? Also, we are a secular homeschool. From the looks of the vendor list many/most of the vendors are Christian-based. I'm hoping there would be enough secular vendors available as well. It's difficult to tell from the exhaustive vendor list!
  13. Yes, I'm way too focused on our schedule! I started homeschooling at the beginning of January and we want to keep our options open as far as potentially putting them back in public school so it's important to us that they stay on par with their grade level. My husband was very nervous about homeschooling. He feels much more comfortable if we keep a schedule to make sure we are hitting the main subjects, and I'm entirely too type-A not to have boxes to check ;). I'm hoping that once I get a firm handle on this homeschooling momma thing I will feel comfortable enough to ease up a little. We do make time for fun homeschooling events (scheduled in advance, of course!). On Tuesday morning we saw a local performance of The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. With our tight schedule we are usually done within 2.5 hours so we have time to go to the library, out to lunch, walks, playground visits, etc.
  14. Thank you for the responses! I went ahead and purchased the RSO Earth and Space ebook for next year. I'm excited to look through it!
  15. Hey everyone! Since I'm new to homeschooling I'm curious if many/any curriculum typically goes on sale in the summer as it gets closer to the beginning of the traditional school year? Just curious. I received an email from Pandia Press announcing a 25% off sale and I'm thinking about R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey for science next year for my girls. Not sure if I should go ahead and buy now or if I should wait to see if it would go on sale later. Thanks! Tracy
  16. Ha!! Good point!! :P I admit while flipping through it that it does seem kind of cumbersome. I have a habit of finding a great website, getting sucked in and then thinking I need it. Once I got the workbook home I started having second thoughts. Yesterday went well, but it was only three sentences. I'm going to stick to it for a few weeks, or through the first lesson, and see how it goes.
  17. I picked up the primary book A, used, at our local homeschool consignment store after stumbling upon the Write Shop website a few weeks ago. We just started it yesterday. I am not an arts-and-crafts type (sadly) and I'm a bit apprehensive about the rather long list of required materials. Now granted if various types of paper and other odds and ends gets the job done, I will happily continue, but it does cause me some concern. I don't see this curriculum mentioned too often, and I did do a search. I have 7 year old twins who are newly homeschooled, one of which is on the autism spectrum and very much dislikes writing. I appreciate the kind of baby steps that this book starts with. Yesterday we discussed our cat and wrote three painless sentences about him. We discussed the questions together and I proceeded to write our answers on the whiteboard and they copied the sentences into their notebooks. No whining or fussing, which surprised me. But I'm curious what others think since we are literally just starting. I assumed I would start WWE next school year but I guess that would depend on how this goes. Can anyone compare the two? Thanks! Tracy
  18. We typically do 2 pages per day
  19. My 7 year old daughter writes like that often. Sometimes her letters are very large and unevenly spaced out within a sentence. We just had an OT eval and found out that she has low muscle tone in her right hand. We meet with the OT this afternoon to further discuss, but at her initial eval we were suggested Handwriting Without Tears and pencil grips. Now give your son's age those may not work, but I wanted to share the low muscle tone. Has your son been evaluated?
  20. Thank you for responding. I will go ahead and start from the beginning. We could always move quicker if need be, but I really want her to focus on her writing more.
  21. Hi again! One of my first grade twins has high-functioning ASD. She had an OT eval last week and, although we haven't yet sat down for the formal review the results, she suggested HWT because DD has low muscle tone in her hand and still holds a pencil with a fist. I just got my box of materials today. I went with HWT 1st Grade. Because we just started homeschooling in early January we haven't used a handwriting curriculum yet other than Draw Write Now, which both girls love. Anyways I'm going through the HWT teacher's manual and I'm not sure if I should start from the beginning or jump ahead? She does know how to write. She can write all of her letters and numbers, both capital and lower case. The issue is that her sentences are kind of all over the place. She writes the letters but some are oversized, some are tiny, and some words in the same sentence are oversized and some are tiny. She gets very frustrated when I correct her. So in a way it seems odd to start at the beginning, teaching letters that she already knows how to write, but on the other hand she hasn't had instruction in the HWT method and I don't want to cause further frustration. So I'm confused! Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! Tracy
  22. Thanks everyone! I guess I'm still in the public school mindset of each year has a specific 36 week curriculum. Something I need to get over! :)
  23. First of all, sorry if I'm starting too many posts. As you can probably tell, I'm still pretty new to this (started beginning of last month) and everything is still kind of confusing while I work to sort it out. My girls were in first grade when I pulled them out of public school. Since I pulled them out mid-year, it took a little bit of time to figure out where they were, what they know/didn't know and generally how to start. Now that I've been doing this for almost two months I'm started to really get a feel for their learning styles and what we may be missing or would like to add. So my question is, is it common or practical to start a new curriculum mid-year? Like if I wanted to add a reading curriculum (we already do ETC and FLL but no formal reading program) or a geography curriculum (looking at Road Trip USA) is it too late to start? Is it common to carry over a curriculum from one school year to the next? Thanks! Tracy
  24. Does anyone have any opinions on either of these programs online? We currently do ETC and my girls like it. I have 7 year old twins who will be in 2nd grade next year. I'm struggling with finding ways to productively keep one busy while working with the other for things like math and when they are at different points in a subjects. Since they are twins, I try to teach together as much as possible but can't do it all the time. Right now we do Reading Eggs and they love it, but since they completed the maps it's starting to feel like busy work and play time, but I need to keep one busy to have one-on-one time with the other. So I'm thinking about either WW and/or ETC for next year. I've seen a lot of reviews about the curriculum but little reviews about the online program. Would love to get some input. ETA: I know these are different subjects. I plan on continuing with ETC and would like to add vocabulary as well for next year. ​Thanks! Tracy
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