Nancy Ann
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Posts posted by Nancy Ann
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The Joyful Homeschooler by Mary Hood is so inspiring and helpful and I think it's just what your looking for. It is based on a child interest education and Mary Hood is very encouraging and really helps you to understand. Also the Relaxed Homeschooler is a bit more nuts and bolts.
She recommends setting up learning centers around the house for each of the main subjects. They are not required to do anythign with the learning center, it's their to spark interst and when an interest is sparked run with it!! Keep changing it out if they don't show an interest.
http://archersforthelord.org/resources.php
Math on the Level may be helpful to take a relaxed and more natural approach to math. I would recommend spending a month with very limited TV, doing lots of reading together and some math, set up some learning centers around your home for the subjects of literature, history, science, writing, art, math, or other interests and see where it goes.
Learning centers can be a side table, book shelf, we have a small home but I was able to find 5 spots to put up learning centers. I brought out books, games, art supplies, just all sorts of things we had around the house. For a writing center I had lots of paper, pens, pencils, post its, whatever seemed interesting, books and things that would be interesting to write about. Mary Hood has a pamphlet that only cost a few dollars that details setting up learning centers. It's really helpful.
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Each month I get a cd from the library. I put it in during the afternoons.
I have a hard time fitting in music as well but atleast this way he will recongnize pieces of music.
You can also purchase cd's like the Best of Beethoven , or the Best of Mozart. You can also do Jazz, Folk, Opera etc... whatever you want.
You can also get a simple book from the library for that month on the composer or type of music to have your child read.
I think this is simple and effective.
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Hi Stacey,
I haven't read all the replies, I am really tired so I hope this is all coherent! :) But I used TOG for my Kindergartner and it went okay. The problem we had was that the literature is not as good, hands down Sonlight has better books. For my young son I really wanted him to enjoy literature and I just did not see that happening. TOG has alot more hands on stuff which is fun but I found TOG really hard to use, it really took alot out of me to plan and implement. I think it would work better with kids that are older and you can assign things to them. It also got boring. My son did not want to spend 10 weeks on the middle ages. Castles and Knights are fun but 10 weeks was just too much. I ended up shortening it to 8 weeks. Many of the books were not interesting to my 5 year old. Lots of the history books had lots of words and not very many pictures and just did not hold his attention. My son likes the Usborne type of non fiction books informative and intersting to look at.
There is alot of talk with TOG about starting earlier so you can learn and be better prepared for when they are older, however, my focus was on my childs education at that time. Sonlight and Five in a Row are great curriculums for little kids and I think lots of reading with good literature is key with the younger years. We are using FIAR with lots and lots of library books and that' my plan until 6th grade. Sonlight is also great. TOG just did not have the literature that I wanted and thought was key to this young age, I also was not able to add in more books because the curriculum took enough of our time.
If you have several children and have to use 2 or 3 Sonlight Cores, than I see how TOG could be really really good!
I will be considering between TOG and Sonlight for 7th grade and on.
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My son is in 2nd grade and he is still not ready for it. Too many words. He prefers books at the library on a given subject. The Let's Find Out series, Gail Gibbons books...basically the meatier picture books.
Apologia is written in a wonderful style but my son likes to see more pictures. If he is interested in a specific animal he would rather us read a book from the library about it that has lots of pictures and not as much wording.
I have heard of moms not use this curriculum until their oldest is 3rd or 4th grade.
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It sounds like he does have some interests. This book you picked up at the thrift store. Also, even though his talking outside of doing his work is bothersome it shows interest on his side. I think he needs a more engaging curriculum. I think the workbook after workbook or subject after subject may not work. I don't want you to spend a bunch of money on new curriculum and trying a bunch of things but to just experiment if he will respond better to a different way of doing school here are some suggestions.
Skip language arts and math for two weeks and go to the library and get 2 or 3 books on subjects he is intersted in. Airplanes, Civil War, Egypt, Alligators etc...whatever he wants. Have him read the books and just discuss what he finds out. Pick a meeting time each day for him to talk about what he read.
Have him pick out an inexpensive science kit.
Have him pick out a Hands of a Child research kit on a subject he is interested in.
Beyond Five In A Row unit studies - This will cover all basic subjects except Math and a few mechanical Language Arts skills like grammar and spelling. There forums are helpful, the ladies are very nice and helpful.
Amanda Bennett Unit Studies. He can pick something of interest and do the research and read the materials.
Don't do all these things at once, it may be overwhelming, but trying out some of these things and have him lead a bit with what he wants to do may encourage him. I think the curricula you have for him covers all the subjects but that sort of style of learning could just be something that he does not respond to.
Unit studies may be a better way for him to learn. He can learn language arts, science and history, and even art all through subjects that are more engaging to him and in a style that is better than workbook type stuff. Math will have to be dealt with eventually. But first try to get some interest going for him and than maybe Math won't be so hard.
Also, if he is struggling with reading than that could make all his subjects hard. Find what level he can comfortably read fluently at and have him practice reading aloud to you everyday or a few times a week on a book that is of interest of him that he chooses from the library or the bookstore.
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We just started using level B and are on lesson 25. So far I think it's absolutely great. I don't find it all that time consuming. The beginning part has a section called Warm Up and I don't always do that. I love, love, love that this curriculum does not have a daily worksheet. Sometimes there will be a worksheet but mostly it's just teaching the lesson with the manipulatives and playing games. I also really love how RS does not use drills for math facts, it uses games instead.
I do use my photocopier often to copy off something in the appendix or a worksheet. So not sure if that would be a problem if someone did not have an all in one printer.
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In FLL 1/2 SWB begins to explain what a real sentence is (lesson 92 first grade) so I don't think it is too crazy to tell your 6-7 year old that "A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought." I follow that up with every sentence should have a subject (usually a noun or pronoun) and a predicate (usually a verb phrase or something that expresses something about the subject). IMO this isn't too much for a 6-7 year old to learn. And of course you follow this up with lots of examples.
So when you say "Use a complete sentence to list two things you remember about the story," and the student responds, "A gingerbread house and a witch." You respond, "Right, in the story there was a gingerbread house and a witch. Repeat the whole sentence after me. 'In the story there was a gingerbread house and a witch."
We have not gotten that far in FLL. Even though my son is a second grader I decided to start close to the begining with FLL and WWE. I will look at that lesson and try that and see how it goes. I will continue with the example way and see if it clicks as well.
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How do I explain to my child to answer in complete sentences! I feel like a complete idiot!!:D This should be an easy thing to explain but for some reason I can't get it out and I might as well be talking in Klingon! Though he may actually understand Klingon with all the Star Trek we watch!:)
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Thanks,
I am thinking of using it as sort of a narrative as well. I am also thinking of purchasing the Biology and the Earth and Science and use it as a resource for when these topics come up with Five in a Row. Five in a Row has ALOT of science topics and normally we have been just getting some books form the library but I kind of like the idea of having a Christian perspecitve on some of this and I just like to have a curriculum that will remind my son AND ME of God's hand in all this.
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Which one have you used? There is a 2 pellet kit for $18 and another really cheap one for only like $4. Just wondering which one I need to order?
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Is this too much for a second grader?
I really like how it is organized and I like the christian emphasis. How do you guys like it?
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I am looking at purchasing this. I would really like some christian science materials. We are reading lots of Usborne and DK type books and other various books from the library on differnt topics. It's engaging and my son is learning but it's starting to feel very empty and purposeless. I really would like to have some materials that emphasize God in our science studies.
I have some of the Apologia books but he just can't get into them at this age. I am wondering if Considering God's Creation is more for his level and I really like the pasting and worksheet type thing..he is in second grade but he still loves to cut and paste!:)
Thanks for any advice!
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Hank the Cowdog has been a hit with my 7 year old boy
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I teach the basics like math and language arts, history and science but the other subjects I do as interest based and do not push. My goal for homeschooling is to give my child a great basic academic education and the rest I want to help them pursue what things they are really passionate about.
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Our priests wife wears a headcovering only during worship service and it is just a scarf over her head and comes together under her chin.
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Five in a Row is very economical and you can add math and the LLAL and Spelling Workout and that's all you need along with a library card.
Volumes 1-3 are for 4-8 year olds and Volume 4 is for 7-8 year olds. Though many of us who use FIAR say that volume 4 can be used with a 9 year old no problem.
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Do you have sinus problems? I can have very slight short of breath when my sinus cavities start causing me problems.
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My cousin became a doctor through Harvard. He lived in a small town in North Dakota and went to the public school there. His mother and father were very supportive of his education..not pushy but just always found outlets and for him to do things and be active. He recieved scholarships most of the way through. He is now a cancer research doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
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That was a math lesson?:001_huh:
This is why I stay clear of overtly Christian curriculum as well, unless I am using it to teach bible lessons. But even than I am careful of what I use.
I suppose the short answer is yes but it's more complicated and I would also be uncomfortable having something like that as a True and False question.
I assume there are other open and go curricula out there, but I am sure you have already invested in this and it's working for you.
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Driving up the California coast on the pacific coast highway to Monteray.
Camping...pretty much anywhere.
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We joined a homeschool group this year even though I am limited to how much I can participate because I don't have a car, but on park days I will meet other moms and inviting them to my house is a great idea!
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Actually I just remembered my husband does Cubscouts with him but that's about once a week...sometimes twice. They haven't done much this summer and things won't be starting up until the middle of September and I guess that's why I didn't think about it. Maybe once that starts up things will feel better.
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I have used the Medela Harmony and it works great if you only want to pump once a day or so. I really got sore using it often. This same brand also has electric pumps that you can use if you need to pump often. I only used mine to get a few bottles for if I go out to the store or somethig and it worked for that.
Having Trouble Engaging My Son In Our Studies!!
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
My son is a second grader. I have tried several different methods with him. WTM, Sonlight, FIAR, and other odds and ends. It seems like it doesn't really matter what I do, he just doesn't seem to really love school, look forward to much or show much of an interest in what we are doing. Last year we did Sonlight, he just didn't seem engaged, he didn't put up a fight with school but I didn't see any sparks. So I felt for this year I needed to try something that would be more flexible and we could choose books and subjects that would be interesting to him. So for this year we have been doing Five In A Row. It's a great curriculum and we have explored a variety of topics but he just doesn't seem excited or all that interested.
I guess I just hear so many homeschoolers and read on their blogs about kids just really interested in learning and reading and I am wondering what I am doing wrong. I have created a great learning enviornment with lots of books and reading, we go to the library regularly and always have about 15 books out at a time. TV and Video games are on time limits.
My husband says he was not interested in reading until about 5th grade. My son also is a very curious kids and asks tons and tons of questions. So he is interested in things but he still can't wait for school to be done. Even if we are studying something interesting to him, he looks forward to when we are done.
I just put soooo much time and energy into planning our school and I feel like it's just not worth the effort. I am wondering if I should just do the basics. The three R's, than read from Apologia science books(which he likes) and trying to find a history/geography like STOW or Mystery of History. Just do these basics and than do interest based learning the rest of the time. My husband says our son should keep a 3 ring binder that he can write down all his questions he has and things he wants to learn about and investigate.
I figure we could do our lessons in the morning and have the afternoons be up to him to what he wants to do or learn about or play. School just seems to be school to him and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to make it fun and better for him. So I feel like the only thing left is to make sure he get's the education he needs and allow him to explore what he wants the rest of the time.
Does this sound okay?
Anyone have similar problems?