OnceUponAFullMoon
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Posts posted by OnceUponAFullMoon
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I am teaching my child writing.
I need to learn how to teach since writing is not my expertise.
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The author of the diagramming dictionary book (SWB?) showed a few examples of sentences that are grammatically correct but sound off. To her, "if you cannot put it in the diagram, it doesn't belong in the sentence." I need a little more hand holding than that to teach my dc what makes a good sentence haha. I am myself not a native English speaker, and though my writing is grammatically correct, my husband says it still sounds "non-native, unnatural."
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I read the old posts saying that sentence diagramming can be used to identify bad sentences. I just got a book that can teach me how to do the diagraming, which is not that hard. Is there a grammar book that shows me how to use the diagraming tool to identify and fix unclear sentences?
Does diagraming also make it easier to imitate great literature work?
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Yeah I think I meant adverbial phrase. I never did sentence diagraming. I thought the 6-sentence shuffles is good at teaching paraphrasing and sentence structure variation.
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On 8/27/2021 at 11:54 AM, PeterPan said:
Well I used the Aesop levels with dd and bought Homer
Did Homer show how to use the sentence diagramming to write different sentence variation?
For example, did they dissect the sentence to show you that you can move the prepositional phrase from the end to the beginning of that sentence = creating new sentence structure? Did they give an example of removing a specific prepositional phrase to paraphrase by subtraction?
On 8/27/2021 at 8:42 PM, serendipitous journey said:What we did NOT do: anything grammatical, no sentence diagramming.
From the limited samples, I cannot really tell how CW teach the imitation portion. I thought the diagramming and the 6-sentence shuffles/grammar change are their meat?
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On 10/10/2021 at 12:52 PM, SeaConquest said:
I am just no longer able to keep up with his math level.
I am trying to study it alongside with him. I want to help him learn how to question and do follow-up questions too. It's his first AOPS class but he studied BA 2-5 and the previous AOPS books by himself before. I don't know how long I can keep this up (my head hurts after a 2-hour class last night lol.) But I hope by then, he can be on his own.
On 10/9/2021 at 1:18 PM, daijobu said:Just FYI, it won't take 1.5 hours to reread
Right. I still feel for re-reading purpose, the book is better.
On 10/9/2021 at 8:36 AM, Not_a_Number said:I'd probably briefly go over that concept with a kid, yeah. It's a tricky concept for a lot of kids.
Would you mind to share your AOPS username via private message? I can share my son's.
I currently have to sit next to him asking if he understands the reply, if not, what is it that he doesn't so he can ask the follow-up question. Maybe after many modeling, he'll can do it by himself one day.
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13 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:
I don’t know. I know that I try to be as helpful as possible to kids on the message boards, and it would not occur to me to tell a kid which section to read over.
If a student is having trouble with a concept in a given section, chances are they could really use a review of the whole thing. The danger with pointing to specific tools is that the holistic view doesn’t get absorbed.
Could you give me an example of a problem he was stuck on and the unhelpful help he got, though? Because I’ve definitely seen TAs try to “help” on autopilot, which is no good.
It's sorta hard to tell my easily-frustrated and perfection kid to go re-read the entire 20 page chapter plus 1.5hr transcript 😅. Also some concepts are from previous chapters that he forgets.
An example would be a problem about a parabola intersecting a line. That concept was introduced 6 chapters prior. They replied by asking him what he thought it meant. They probably hoped to see him figure out that the x value on parabola is the same as the x value on the linear. He didn't, so it was better off at that point to just point him to lesson 1 of the earlier chapter, unless they wanted to briefly went over the concept with him there.
With that problem, I eventually had him graph the two functions on Geogebra and asked him the same question the TA did, then he got it.
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48 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:
Is he re-reading the relevant transcripts and sections?
In classes where I’m very engaged with the message board, I’d have very long exchanges with the kids, but I certainly wouldn’t spoon feed them by pointing to specific sections to re-read. Knowing what tool is relevant is part of learning the math.
It's a long transcript. It wouldn't be too unreasonable to point him to a specific section to re-read, especially those are Alcumus and not challenging problems. It's not the same as telling him what specific tool or strategy to use.
1 hour ago, daijobu said:Parents call me for just this reason. 😉 I've seen discussion board threads about the writing problems that were a nightmare to parse. Multiple students posting to the same thread along with multiple TAs responding. Sometimes variables get changed in the process leading to more confusion, not less. Students post their solutions only to be redacted later.
I think a lot of the TA hints are scripts as well, so I don't think the responses are very personal.
I do exactly what you describe. I remind the students of what they learned that week. "Lecture this week was about similar triangles. Do you think similar triangles might be helpful here?"
I know the transcript is available, but for younger students it can be a big ask to get them to reread the transcript. So I'll sometimes review the transcript with the student, or just make up my own practice problems.
I agree I think using the textbook is a better option for most students.
Are you a tutor lol? I was thinking of having a tutor to work with my kid using the book before, but not sure if it'll be more expensive than the online course.
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Update: my son is keeping up with the online class. However, I still have to help him when he gets stuck. The message board isn't quite helpful. It is not an immediate back-n-forth chatting even during office hours. He explained what he did so far and how he got stuck. I know they shouldn't just give away the answers but the hints are usually too vague. Honestly, after a while of back n forth and he still didn't get it, the teacher should have realized he didn't fully understand the concept and should have pointed him to the specific lesson sections (in the book or class transcript) to re-read. I wish they would do what I have been doing since the purpose of a class is so that I don't have to teach.
Tell me what you think the question wants to know from you. Any vocabulary you don't know? ---- If he says he doesn't know a certain concept word, point him to that lesson to read.
What concepts do we learn this week? Which of those concepts do you think you should apply in this problem? That doesn't work, so have you tried this, or that?
What [the problem inputs] make you think of using? What does this mean? etc.
None of these give away the answer.
I assume it wouldn't be too much to ask considering the courses are a few hundreds of dollars each?
Now the pace isn't really an issue anymore, I wonder if the in-person academy class is even worth it, since they also use the message board for homework help.
What do your kids do when they are stuck and/or do not understand a certain concept even after reading the book & attending the class?
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22 minutes ago, Teegarden said:
You can think of "intermediate algebra" and "algebra" as two different "stats" that his character has. The problem is level 8 in intermediate algebra, and level 23 in algebra, and gives separate experience to each stat.
This is a little confusing because the two stats happen to be so similar. Normally it would be (e.g.) "number theory" and "geometry", where it makes more sense for the two aspects of the problem to be rated separately and give separate experience.
He can go to his profile to see his current level in each of the seven stats, and how much experience he needs to get to the next level.
Ooo thanks. I didn't know how to access his profile report without your link. Just curious why it shows his overall algebra level is 1 yet that specific problem assigned is level 23? Does it mean the question is at too high level? He's taking the class so alcumus is automatically set to normal.
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What does this mean on one of the Alcumus problems? He never used Alcumus until the class. Does it mean if he gets this problem correct, he'll earn 117xp to get to level 23 Algebra?
Level 23 Algebra +117 XP Level 8 Intermediate Algebra +55 XP
Accuracy +47, Stamina +75
TIA
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Which teacher in AOPS academy matters due to teaching style. But does it matter which one you take from the online classes?
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2 minutes ago, GracieJane said:
My second grader uses McGuffey‘s fourth eclectic reader. I love it! It asks reading comprehension questions at the end of each passage, along with great vocabulary words.
If you are searching for more direct reading comprehension instruction, we‘ve done all of A-D Continental Press Reading Comprehension workbooks, and they are amazing (and cheap!).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0845416847?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image
That's odd. I have the electic version too but there is no comprehension questions at the end of each paragraph, only the vocabulary.
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Hi is the McGuffey's Reader set good to teach comprehension? How do you teach it? TIA.
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When he self studied with a book, he did all the problems in the book but with a slower pace (about 1 chapter per week.)
With the online class, he will need to complete the challenging problems+alcumus+writing problem that covers materials from around 2 chapters per week. It'd be nice to know how many alcumus problems there are on average to expect assuming (even if it's a big assuming) that he can get them all correct.
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8 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:
If he is getting them all correct, I would think that Alcumus + Challenge Problems would be less than what you were doing before, so I am surprised that you are finding it to be a lot of work. I came from a drill and kill background and the amount of homework in AoPS always strikes me as so little.
Yes but the class pace is much faster with average of 2 chapter work instead of 1.
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I enrolled my kid to the online course. There are A LOT of homework 😱.
The goal of the class is to learn study skills (writing, organizing, asking for help) and to obtain credits (may as well to make my money worth.) Is there a requirement on which Alcumus difficulty setting has to be? Does he need to do Alcumus to blue, or is green ok before moving on to the challenging short-answer questions? During self-study, he did every practice, chapter review, and challenging problems in the books, but never did Alcumlus. For those who took the class, how many Alcumus problems were there till blue/green, assuming he gets all of them right?
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On 2/13/2021 at 8:18 PM, Not_a_Number said:
OK, I think I see how do this in a pretty way. If you let s = 0, you get the equation
(Ar + C)(Dr + F)= 6r^2-23r+21.
And if you let r = 0, you get the equation
(Bs + C)(Es + F) = 2s^2-13s+21.
On 2/14/2021 at 1:47 PM, Not_a_Number said:Plus, you can think of it as a public service 😉 . If you guys are stuck, you may very well not be the only one. Someone else might appreciate having a questions answered on here!
Who knows while looking for more reviews on the online classes I came across this problem that we were also stuck🤣. The "let's assume s=0" just makes a lot more sense. Thanks Not_a_Number!
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Then it would be perfect if that's the case. My ds's fast solution can be countered by his slow typing speed🤣. He also likes to think of other ways to solve the same problem instead of just moving on.
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12 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:
Hmmmm. That typing speed might not fly 😛. But on the other hand, do you think this might motivate him to practice??
Hmmm I haven't thought about it that way. Maybe having mom looking and typing on HIS chat window will embarrass him enough to learn to do it himself🤔😂
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10 hours ago, calbear said:
I was mulling this over. If your son does well with pre-recorded lectures, and you aren't necessarily tied to AOPS. Derek Owens or Math Without Borders (Foerster's, no grading, but worked solutions provided). seem to be reasonable alternatives.
Right, except we like to stay with AOPS 😂
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1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:
Personal experience 😕 . The number of perfect scores went up tenfold when it moved online.
I believe I read about it somewhere too, probably our local forum. I heard people tried to cheat on the AMC when it was online also.
We only did math kangaroo last year while searching for a school that offers the competitions to the public.
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I think I'll sign up for the AOPS Online for a two lesson trial to see how it goes. The benefit of the academy (much more expensive) is in-person interaction with the teacher, and the director of our local academy wasn't sure whether they would be in-person all year or go back to virtual.
Do the kids typically read the entire chapter (4-5 lessons) before each weekly class? I just remember mine still types with 1 finger 😒. He fights tooth and nail in every typing or handwriting practice. Maybe I can sit with him through the classes and type his replies for him?
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After months of searching, I was able to find a private school in a neighboring county that happens to offer ALL of the math competitions listed above. We have to pay for it, which is ok, but the money adds up quick. We'll definitely sign up for the AMC & Math Kangaroo, though Math Kangaroo is a little more puzzle-y and not as straight forward as the AMC. Now I want to hear your experiences on the MOEMS vs. Continental Math vs. Math League in content & format. Which is your most favorite? TIA.
Wordsmith vs. Classical Writing vs. Writeshop vs. anything else?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted · Edited by OnceUponAFullMoon
Thanks everyone. After reading through all the online samples from CW, CC, W&R, WWS, IEW, I decided to go with CW. It's just more hand-holding (yet not too heavily scripted) instead of just saying to "identify the topic sentence" or "write an outline/summary" without any instructions on how to. All my DS's exercises from the Carson Dellosa, Evan Moore, or graphic organizers just didn't transfer to the oral narration and writing.
SilverMoon is right. I need the core (that has the skill lessons,) student workbook (that has the daily instruction planning for each week,) and the teacher guide (that has the answer keys to the workbook exercises.)
Btw I also found out about LTOW. Anybody used it? Is the teacher guide or student workbook more essential, or do you need both? Do you need to find your own samples/models for the lessons? TIA.