YodaGirl
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Posts posted by YodaGirl
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What does he mean that he wants to read the book and not the words?
My oldest is very headstrong. She's in 5th this year, and we are just now getting to a point where school isn't a struggle.
My youngest is a new 6 who is in 1st. We're also doing more formal work with him. Last year was probably about 30-40 minutes. This year is a couple of hours. He's highly energetic. He's the kid that wears you out just by watching him. I don't think he could stop moving if he tried. He talks about as quickly as his feet move. It's definitely an interesting environment.
Last year, we did about 20 minutes of math followed by a break to watch tv/go play. An hour or two later, he read a book to me of his choosing. It took a lot of consistency in regards to "do math then watch tv" before it really sunk in. Towards the end, he was waking me up in the morning to "do math" so he could watch tv. 😂 It was a huge turn around from the kid who was throwing himself in the floor because he hated work.
I also have to be pretty vigilant about watching his triggers. If he gets too frustrated or doesn't feel like he's being heard/understood, he melts down. Once that happens, you can forget about getting anything done.
He still doesn't do a lot of writing. Last year, he dictated everything to me, with the exception of learning letter formations. I require a very small amount of writing per day. Today, I'd say he wrote 6 words in addition to his math work. The math work I was prepared to write for him, but recently he decided he wants to do it himself. Again, that's a huge step.
It's been very slow-going, and there were days I never thought we'd get to where we are now. I will say that I probably spend half my time redirecting him after he gets lost on a tangent. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of deep breaths, and a lot of repeating what I tell him.
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Your daughter's concern was one of my own. I was a decent math student. I made it through high school pre-cal and college algebra, but teaching math? Nope. That was something incredibly different.
I pulled my youngest out of public school at the end of K, and I started her on Math in Focus 1A/1B in first grade. Using the teacher editions as a crutch, I was able to teach it effectively. That sounds lame, I know. A TE for 1st grade math? But, I wanted her to know how to do it correctly. Plus, it helped me grow with her. As problems became more complicated, I understood them and the methods to teaching them. That comes in pretty handy now that she's in 5th grade. Some days I wonder if I really am smarter than a 5th grader. ;)
After tons of research (and with 2 kiddos and commitments to multiple organizations, I understand limited time), I had decided to go with Saxon with Saxon Teacher when she hit 4th. I tried it last year, and ya know what? I preferred teaching it, and she preferred me to the CD-ROM. Now, the plan is for me to continue teaching all the way through. We're back to Math in Focus with the plan to move to AoPS.
My point is that I think she'll surprise herself with what she can do. If she doesn't, there are SO many good options out there. I honestly wouldn't switch until I had to.
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IEW has a program Excellence in Writing for older students.
I keep a paced-out, constantly changing, idea of what I might want to use. EIL is on my list for late middle school-high school.
The two suggested prerequisites for the EIL books are The Elegant Essay and Windows to the World, IIRC.
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We're required to record 180 days of attendance, 10 of which can be teacher-planning days. Instructional days must be 6 hour days. (Sidenote - My daughter attended public school for kindergarten. There's no way there were 6 hours of straight instruction time. They were there for 7 hours. 30 minutes was opening & work stopped 30 minutes prior to end of school. That leaves 6 hours without discussing travel time, potty break, lunch, & recess.)
We also eased into school. The first week or two, we only did have days. In the past, I would've counted each half day as a half day. This year, I just recorded the second half day as one full day while ignoring the first half day, if that makes sense. It's just easier.
When counting instruction time, if the suggested length of math is 1 hour, I log 1 hour. If they finished early in public school, they'd be killing time while waiting for the class to finish. Our first year, I tried to time everything that we did. That became very confusing, very quickly.
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She placed in those on the placement tests?
There's a huge gap between Saxon 7/6 and 3B. If she truly placed in Saxon 7/6, I'm afraid she'd be incredibly bored with Singapore 3B or even 4A/4B.
Granted, we used Math in Focus, but we used Saxon 5/4 after 3A/3A.
We used MiF for most of 3rd grade, but we finished it with Khan Academy. Last year (4th grade), we used Saxon 5/4. I pulled out her 3B workbook to have her finish over this past summer, and it became painfully obvious that it was nothing more than busy work that she had down solid. I scrapped it.
As for spiral vs mastery...
My daughter is pretty good at math. She catches on pretty quickly. Saxon was a terrible fit. She hated the constant review because once she has it, she has it. Mastery works much better for her. It truly just depends on the kid.
We're switching back to MiF this year (5th grade), and we'll be doing 5A/5B.
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I have 2 k-3 and 1 4-5 Artistic Pursuits books with all the supplies, but I thoroughly suck at completing the lessons.
My youngest is 6 and a perfectionist. If doesn't look like he thinks it should, he'd just as soon tear it up and throw it away as opposed to finish it. It's just easier to let him do free art.
My oldest is in 5th grade and does much better with in-person instruction to provide feedback which I'm not really skilled to give.
I prefer to outsource to an amazing teacher in town.
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In addition to some that have already been mentioned, I'm pretty sure that was around the time I read the following:
Across Five Aprils
The Ancient One
The Upstairs Room (& the sequel, The Journey Back)
Bridge to Terabithia
Just as Long as We're Together (Judy Blume)
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If he can write them from memory, I'd say he's got it. The main idea is to have the addition facts memorized. It sounds like he does.
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I don't feel as though I've done a very good job with keeping my kids abreast of current events. I remember watching Oliver North on tv when I was a kid because my mom always watched the news. They obviously hear what we discuss regarding politics and current events, but they don't really hear unbiased news (not that I'm sure that exists anymore). I try to give them both sides, even if I disagree with one side just because I want them to be able to discuss both sides of any issue.
I've thought about having my 5th grader watch https://www.channelone.com this year. I remember watching it in public school from 7th grade on up.
Is CNN for kids left-leaning, or is it more moderate?
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What about Build Your Own Library?
Edit: What PP said. :)
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There are 3 levels - A, B, & C. One your child has finished level C, he is completely done with spelling. The words are pretty challenging, so I can see how that could be true. We're only on level B.
Each lesson has the same phonetic rule regardless of the level that your child is on.
Each lesson has a card. The teacher's guide has instructions for how to use them. We've tried two ways (baseball card-type notebook & 3 panel board), but they don't really seem to be helpful.
We bought the cheapest kit ($30ish). It has everything you need for all 3 levels with the exception of the CDs. It does include some additional webinar/audio helps from Andrew Pudewa which are available for download from their website (instructions in the kit).
We do not use the CDs. It's much easier for me to read the lesson hint/rule/jingle at the beginning and after every 5th word (15 words in all). That's similar to what the CD does. Plus, it's cheaper. One level with the CDs is around $99.
The student takes a test every day over the word list that he is on. When he makes a 100% 2 days in a row (focus on number right, so 14 out of 15 right instead of missed 1), he goes to the next lesson. Every 5th lesson is review. It's a personal list based on the words he had trouble with. When he finishes A (or whatever level he tests into, he goes into B, etc).
This is the way we use it:
In her ELA binder, she has a bunch of blank spelling tests. For spelling, she pulls out a blank list and fills out the top (name, date, level, lesson, number attempting the list).
I read the rule, say the first five words (say the word, use in a sentence, say the word), then I repeat the rule. This goes on until the end.
She switches from a pencil to a pen to check her work. I start at the beginning, read the word, spell it, read the word. If she got any wrong, she corrects it. At the end, she writes down the number correct at the top. If she's missed any, she goes back to that line and writes them out 2-3 more times.
I will say that a downfall to it is if she gets 100% one day but misses one the next day. That can be frustrating.
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So, what would a "detailed" plan look like, say, if I were to open your planner and check out what is planned for a day in December?
I love planning in advance, and detailed planning, but as some others have mentioned, I can't necessarily do both together. So I can pencil in that we are going to use certain resources and curricula, I can pencil in unit studies and subjects by day and week and month, but I really don't fill in the details more than 2 weeks in advance unless I'm in one of my "I'd rather plan homeschool than vacuum the cobwebs" moods.
But we also don't participate in a co-op or outsidel classes at the moment; reading Ellie's comment above, I realized there might indeed be a connection between needing to have more of a "scope and sequence" and knowing you will be out of the house a certain number of days and thus really must have a plan to accomplish certain things on the days when you are at home? It is good to see how others do it as I can imagine looking back at this comment in a few years and thinking "Oh, that's not the way I do it anymore." Happens all the time!
Here's an example from mine under the heading "Reading & Spelling" (I have them separated with DD's first & DS's 2nd. There's a circle next to each item to check off when completed, and I have their initials in each circle):
(DD) TE Ch2 & Vocab
(DD) PZ B
(DD) K12
(DS) P&R L8 p29-32
(DS) S&V L6 p13-15
Translated, it means:
(DD) Tuck Everlasting Chapter 2 & Vocabulary (She has the novel study guide in her ELA notebook - I print off everything during the summer.)
(DD) Phonetic Zoo B (Due to the nature of the program, I don't have the lesson numbers written down, but it serves as a reminder that she needs to do it.)
(DD) K12Reader.com worksheet (Again, she has a section for them in her ELA binder. She does one reading comp page on Friday and one of her choice on Monday.)
(DS) Phonics & Reading Lesson 8 p29-32
(DS) Spelling & Vocabulary Lesson 6 p13-15
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I use this one from Mardel:
(It's religious-based, although that wasn't the reason we bought it.)
It's amazing! I'm actually a huge planner. With all the activities I lead during the school year, i like to have everything planned before it starts.
I pace out all the subjects into the yearly overview section, then I go back and fill in the daily assignments, 1 subject at a time, until the entire planner is full.
I don't mind erasing and changing if necessary.
When it comes to following the dates, I'm pretty loose. Our school year technically was going to start tomorrow, but we ended up starting early with half days here and there. I just check off subjects as we complete them. We're currently 6 days into our year.
Having it all written down lets me know if we're on track, we need to speed up, or we have time to slow down. It also keeps me from having to write out plans during the year.
I've tried it various ways (notebooks, regular school planners, excel planners, etc), but this has been the best so far.
There's a section in the back for attendance (state requirement) and future planning.
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Thanks!
I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you!
I'm having issues uploading the pictures but here's a YouTube video that the company made to showcase their student planner:
The six subject sections do seem to be enough, but I had to combine subjects (reading & spelling, grammar & writing etc).
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What size is this? And what does the monthly page look like?
They don't list the student planner size or show the monthly page online that I could see. I love the look of the it. Is the 6 subjects enough?
I'll post some pictures of DD's when we get home. :)
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I've only flipped through a Sonlight guide, so maybe this doesn't make sense. Can you just look at wks 6 & 8 and write down the work that would have to come between the two, then pace it out over 4 or 5 days?
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Can you tell me more about this?
IEW has its own way of teaching writing. If you're not familiar with it, the theme-based writing would be difficult. If price is not an option check out IEW's Student Writing Intensive programs. For 4th grade, you'd probably want to do SWI-A.
There are different packages for SWI-A, but I think this is the cheapest:
http://iew.com/shop/products/student-writing-intensive-level
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School is so so so so so so different than homeschooling. It's like apples to oranges.
I volunteered in my sons k class last year and noticed all the cute little things they did that filled up time. Not intentional time wasters, but they took time nonetheless. When they'd go somewhere in the hall, they would sing whisper a cute little song about being quiet in the hallway before they went. Stuff like that.
Yes, school is not the most efficient use of time, but they're not just sitting around all day. The kids were kept plenty busy doing age-appropriate activities that I just didn't have the energy or drive or desire to do. Like glitter. Or hopping around like frogs after reading a frog book.
My daughter's K class would fill time by taking brain breaks. Good idea in theory, but the teacher turned on Sponge Bob. o.O
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Not sure if this was already discussed but CC parents provide their child, for the most part, an at home classical education which stats has shown time and again to lead to good educational outcomes and high test scores. When CC compares their scores to typical homeschoolers are they comparing to those reporting to provide a classical education or are they including all types of homeschooling (typical box curriculum, unschoolers, common core focused, free online schooling, and so forth)?
I guess what I would like to see are scores that show CC, classical at home, Cottage Schools, VP online etc. That would be interesting to me.
I don't even know where to get those statistics. I picked a few types of curriculum and googled their results. I have no idea what year(s) the sites used for reference.
ACE students tended to perform lower than the average public schooler.
Sonlight users tend to have scores higher than the national average.
I didn't find anything for Abeka, Calvert, VP online, classical at home, Alpha Omega, or Bob Jones.
I did not dig through sites to find solid, scientific data to verify anything in the above links. If someone is interested, feel free.
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To clarify, CC did NOT compare their scores to typical homeschoolers. Someone asked upthread, so I showed numbers for the average homeschooler vs. CC. I would assume those would be the average homeschooler (unschooler, boxed curric, classical, etc).
CC ONLY compared their scores to those of the top ranking state and the national averages.
No one, including CC, suggested that CC students were better educated than all other homeschoolers. I posted stats regarding certain groups when they were questioned. When I researched it, I had no idea what the outcome would be. Researching to prove my point could have easily backfired. It's pretty much wherever the chips fell. The whole point of posting the scores from the get-go was due to someone questioning whether or not CC students were well-educated. They are. That was the point. The end.
I'm certain that the variances in the average public schooler's scores would be about the same as the average home schooler's scores. Effectiveness of instruction goes from one end to the other.
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Oh! I meant to add that Rainbow Resource has a few sample pages if you went there.
Here's the link for the search for 1A/1B:
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When we first stated out, I bought MiF testbooks, workbooks, enrichment, extra practice, & reteach.
Enrichment is a bit more challenging, extra practice is just that, and reteach seems to be a gentler version for students having trouble. Those 3 have the answers in the back.
If I had it to do again, I wouldn't purchase EP or RT, for sure. I might not even purchase enrichment. I haven't bought it since 1st grade, and DD is in 5th. DS is using enrichment this year, so who knows?
ETA:
The reason DS is using enrichment this year is because we're doing 1A/1B again. We used it last year for K because he was above K material. He didn't quite master 1A & 1B the way I wanted. I pulled out our unused EP & RT books. EP seems to have more problems than RT, in addition to the problems appearing to be more challenging than RT. We're going with EP & Enrichment this year. I still don't think we'll use RT.
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I haven't read all the comments, but I wanted to share some things I have learned about CC corporate policies that, according to what I have read on their closed Facebook group, they expect their contracted directors (community leaders) and above (support and area representatives - they used to be called "managers") to follow. And in some cases, according to the thread on the CC FB group and according to some of their support reps and directors, they even expect their customers to follow the policies.
The first is called a SMART plan - something that was first described to me years ago as a way to correct a "wayward community" but was more recently described as a way to approach any major conflict in a community - even among customers. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Reasonable, and Timely They are supposedly steps in a written plan for conflict resolution that may be implemented by a director or a higher-up rep.
The second policy is PIRPL (some call it PERPL). From the Classical Conversations FB group, PIRPL is to say that there should be no written communication (email, paper, etc...) of anything of a Personal, Inflammatory, Religious, Performance-related, or Legal nature. It was also confirmed by a support rep in that FB group that the director's licensing guide (their handbook) explains that emails of this nature are to be immediately deleted by the director. I have heard a version where the email that violates PIRPL is to be deleted without being read.
The apologists explain that the deletion directive is simply to encourage face-to-face or voice-to-voice communication, but those who question it wonder why the email must be deleted. Why not simply read the email and then follow up in person?
I try to be careful what I share since CC threatened to sue me for defamation among other things, but everything here is true opinions (not defamatory) to the best of my knowledge from reading them in a large Facebook group and from my own personal experiences in a CC community. I share it now and here because it is relevant to the OP question about if there is a cult-like nature and because it was clear from the CC FB group thread that many people in CC did not know about these policies.
Hope this helps!
I can't speak to the SMART plan, although that sounds vaguely familiar.
The PIRPIL rule is true. The idea is that things can be misread when it's just in word format. Sometimes it's hard to detect tone, etc.
However, the flipside to that is - intentionally or not - the plausible deniability that exists when nothing is in writing. It gives the person the ability to backtrack, change her story, etc.
I'm not saying that was CC's goal (their official reasoning is so that people can discuss things face-to-face without misunderstandings), but it does seem to be a dangerous side effect.
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We'very got several versions of Leap Frog readers, including the toddler ones, the tag readers, and the old-school one with the cartridges.
The tag reader was our favorite, but even at that, my kids really weren't interested in them.
ETA The tag pens are compatible with the tag books. Tag readers can read tag Jr books but not the other way around.
You have to download leapfrog software, connect the reader to your computer, then download files for whatever specific leapfrog items you have. (In addition to books, we have 2 tag floor puzzles & a tag flip through thing about animals.)
The readers can only hold a certain amount of books/products, so we can't have all of our items on one tag reader.
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My initial impression of BA 2A
in K-8 Curriculum Board
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Your son sounds just like mine. According to tracking information, mine should be here tomorrow. I can't wait!