[Does Art of Problem Solving ever go on sale?]

Oh well 😞, thanks for replying.

18 hours ago, WTM said:

I’ve never seen AOPS on sale….

ETA: I've been using AOPS products for at least 5 years...

 

[Does Art of Problem Solving ever go on sale?]

I've noticed quite a few curriculm providers have sales over the summer. Anyone know if AoPS does?

[Best Computer Science Curriculum for Elementary]

On 7/2/2021 at 6:59 PM, Clarita said:

My husband (who taught CS at a University of California) says teaching the algorithmic concepts is much more important than the languages. He likes to start with saying that computer science is just being able to give excruciatingly detailed directions. As for the topics for a 3rd grader he says to start with linked lists, arrays, and bubble sort. He thinks that should take a year to learn well.

Do you know of any good resources to learn this? It sounds really interestjng!

[Science]

On 7/2/2021 at 10:58 AM, MamaSprout said:

So... I wasn't going to post, but I guess I will. What is the goal of using this book? For a student who going to see material again later when they have the math chops to handle it, it could be a waste of time. Unless he really loves what you are doing, look at some of the less conventional sciences- geology, astronomy, environmental science... whatever. I mean, if he can handle the math in a regular high school chemistry course, then sure, go ahead and do it. It could get super boring though if he's going to see this again at the high school level and then at the college level.

It covers a lot of different topics - ones that he hasn't learned about yet, but not in much depth and is very light on math. There are also videos that go with it, and he really likes that. We kind of just use it as a spine to get general background information, then he reads more or watches more videos. If we can get the materials, we test out the ideas that he's learned about, but nothing fancy. I'm not worried about him being bored in high school.

[Science]

8 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

We basically did high school science in middle school using high school or college non-major materials 

That's pretty much what we did last year. He got about 1/3 of the way through Conceptual Integrated Science (about half of the physics portion and we skipped ahead to the back of the book where they cover astronomy), and I'm planning on continuing with that same book this year.  I think Chemistry will be a hit. He's reading a science fiction novel involving radioactive elements now and is loving it.

We didn't do any formal labs, though. He just explored with the demos that they illustrate in the book. I think I need to add lab reports and a long term project this year. His writing and planning skills both need a lot of work so I'm expecting some pushback from him. I'm trying to balance keeping it fun because he really loves this stuff and pushing him to be a little more rigorous than he would be on his own. Actually a lot more rigorous; if I let him decide, he would probably just watch hours and hours of youtube physics videos every day and do nothing else (and I would be sitting right next to him saying "wow, that's so cool" or "what? I didn't know that!" every five minutes or so - ha!)

[Science]

bumping this because your 13 yo sounds like my 11 yo. 🙂

[7th Grade Writing - into public school]

Do you know which curriculum the public school uses? You could try to get a copy of the textbook or take a look at the table of contents to see what is covered. 

Killgallon is great for sentence and paragraph composition. There is a lot of practicing by imitating great authors' sentences and paragraphs. Those sentences tend to be complex and descriptive so it should help with his tendency to write as little as possible (although there is nothing wrong with that if his word choice is precise.) It is more of a supplement or an 'intro to writing' course than it is a full curriculum. I don't recall any writing to a prompt practice. You would need something else for that.

I haven't tried Jump In, but it does seem to fit the bill for writing to a prompt practice. The most common negative comment that I have heard about Jump In is that is brings up some pretty grown up topics as things to write about (i.e. abortion, same sex marriage). Some 7th graders are mature enough for those topics; others need a few more years of growth.

You could also try Sprectrum Writing or something similar for writing to a prompt. It's a simple workbook and is based on the way most public school teach writing (and it's cheap!) You could easily do both Killgallon and something like Sprectrum Writing to prepare for public school. Combined with writing across the curriculum, I think you would have a full writing program.

 

[6th Grade Planning Thread 2021-2]

I'm really impressed that so many people plan months ahead of time. It's summer, and I am just now planning for next year. Here's my tentative plan for my STEM loving soon-to-be 6th grader.

1. .Language Arts:
   1. Reading:  Most of Core Knowledge LA Grade 6 plus middle school level editions of Beowulf, King Arthur legends, Sir Gawain, Canterbury     Tales, Saint George and the Dragon, 1001 Arabian Nights. Still looking for a few non-western stories of the Middle Ages era, especially India and China (suggestions welcome!). Free choice reading every day at bedtime.
   2. Spelling & Vocabulary:  CKLA Grade 6.
   3. Writing:  IEW SS B1. Maybe an occasional assignment from CKLA 6. Outline history 1x/week.
   4. Grammar:  CKLA Grade 6 and IEW Fix-it Grammar Robin Hood. Something to supplement with sentence diagramming??
   5. Poetry:  Memorization - one per month (ish).
2. Math:  AoPS Pre-Algebra plus Khan Academy.
3. Science:  Continue with Conceptual Integrated Science Exploration. MEL Science Kits. YouTube physics videos.
4. History/Geography:  Middle Ages with focus on science & technology of the era. Curiosity Chronicles - Middle Ages and Early Modern Era part 1. Finish Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim (and start Newton in the Center). Extra books about science and technology in India, Baghdad, China during Middle Ages.
5. For. Lang.:  Pimsleur Spanish.
6. Art:  Artistic Pursuits.
7. Music:  Classics for Kids.
8. Logic:  The Basics of Critical Thinking.
9. P.E.:  Swim lessons, PE class for homeschoolers at the Y if they offer it this year.

 

 

[Do I need the Teacher's Manual for MCT, IEW, W&R?]

I used MCT Island Level (except Practice Island)

1 minute ago, eternallytired said:

For MCT, I found it easiest to purchase the teacher editions, which contain all the material from the student editions plus some.  If I was reading a section to the kids, I'd just cover up any answers with my hand or a sticky note.  Anything they'd write in the book we simply worked on the whiteboard or on notebook paper.  (I actually bought these used and got a student and a teacher book, but I never used the student books at all.)

Same. I only bought the teacher's manual and covered up the answers.

[5th grade writing examples and expectations.]

I know this is a months old question at this point, but I have a 5th grader, too.  I thought I would give you a sample of his writing to use as a comparison. I don't know if he is at grade level so I would also love some feedback from someone who is knowledgeable about such things.  Your 5th grader's paragraph about Brownian motion looks awesome to me. It's full of information.

My son types his compositions because he finds that easier than handwriting. This is part of a report he wrote for Core Knowledge Language Arts. The formatting is a little off because I just copied and pasted in plain text.

 

Imagine building a city on top of a swamp with only stone tools. Think you can't do much? The Aztec will prove you wrong. The roads divided cities into districts and bridges crossed swamp water. In the middle of a city, there were palaces and temples on top of pyramids. Some pyramids were larger than the Mayan’s. Outside of the city center there were districts with their own school, farm, and markets. Commoners lived in adobe houses with steam huts. It turns out you can build a lot of stuff with only stone tools.

The Inca Empire's architecture was interesting. They had tunnels through mountains to other cities. They had a network of roads and suspension bridges, and they used a relay messaging system. All of the roads led to Cuzco, the capital city. In Cuzco there were luxury homes for the emperor, they were built with huge bricks with no mortar. The Sacsahuaman fortress is interesting because nobody knows how they built it without wheels. Machu Picchu is a city in the clouds and a place emperors lived and ceremonies were held. All of these houses were for the emperor but what did the ordinary people live in? The commoner homes had few windows and were a one room rectangular hut made of adobe. The Inca only had simple tools and had no wheels but they created all of this.

[Charlotte Mason Math]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:37 PM, katemm said:

I really do not like plastic, prepared manipulatives, such as the massive plastic RightStart kit, and really, I love the idea of not relying on manipulatives too much at all.

If you would be interested in manipulatives that are aesthetically pleasing, you could look into Montessori manipulatives. The beads are especially beautiful and have a nice feel to them.

 

[Middle School Science - What are my choices?]

Here's another one to check out. https://learnscience.academy/

My son is doing Conceptual Integrated Science Explorations now, is learning a lot, and is really enjoying it. It's designed for 7th & 8th grade.