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Staceyshoe

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Everything posted by Staceyshoe

  1. A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children by James T Webb has really been incredible for me as far as increasing my understanding and giving me concrete strategies for dealing with some of the challenges.
  2. I posted this in the K-8 forum yesterday and thought I would get feedback here too. The general consensus there was to start at the beginning in both programs. I was curious whether I would get the same advice here given ds's problems with boredom from reviewing info he already knows. Here goes: I just want to get some feedback to see if I am on the right track for placing ds in math. He took the placement tests for Singapore and got 100% on the test for 1A and 64% on the test for 1B. According to the website, he should be placed in level 1B. I do think he would very bored with 1A. I'm just a little concerned that he hasn't had any exposure to Singapore's way of doing math, and that seems important for continuing in the program. I'm thinking about getting him 1B and maybe getting the blue downloads for grades 1-3 in Mammoth Math if he needs extra practice with the conceptualization. Is this what you recommend? The SM 1B with the MM for extra practice or explanation? Also, I want to try Miquon with him. He's already had some exposure to some higher math concepts (fractions, multiplication, negative numbers), so I'm thinking about skipping the orange book and going for the red book. Would this be a mistake? (Still can't quite wrap my mind around Miquon without actually seeing it in action.)
  3. I just want to get some feedback to see if I am on the right track for placing ds in math. He took the placement tests for Singapore and got 100% on the test for 1A and 64% on the test for 1B. According to the website, he should be placed in level 1B. I do think he would very bored with 1A. I'm just a little concerned that he hasn't had any exposure to Singapore's way of doing math, and that seems important for continuing in the program. I'm thinking about getting him 1B and maybe getting the blue downloads for grades 1-3 in Mammoth Math if he needs extra practice with the conceptualization. Is this what you recommend? The SM 1B with the MM for extra practice or explanation? Also, I want to try Miquon with him. He's already had some exposure to some higher math concepts (fractions, multiplication, negative numbers), so I'm thinking about skipping the orange book and going for the red book. Would this be a mistake? (Still can't quite wrap my mind around Miquon without actually seeing it in action.)
  4. I've been looking at spelling until I feel like I'm just going in circles. I think I've narrowed it down to R&S Spelling or How to Teach Spelling. If you've used these programs, what are the pros and cons of each? Can you compare/contrast them? Any insights would be helpful!
  5. I know they offer free shipping on large orders and have their bargain/clearance section. I'm trying to figure out how long to wait before I go ahead and order what we'll need for next year. In Dec, they had free shipping on smaller orders. Do they typically do something like this in the spring or summer?
  6. I love this! It's so interesting to see how unique and amazing our children are! DS1 (4) is an early reader and a little scientist! His attention span for his current learning obsession (which changes over time) seems limitless. As a result, he already knows more about some areas of science than I learned in my entire ps education. His educational path will be interesting, to say the least. DS2 (1) is a builder, music-lover, and has amazing fine motor skills. I realized a couple of weeks ago that he holds a pencil correctly 90% of the time even without ever being shown!
  7. I have no idea how available it would be in the UK, but RightStart Math seems to have a lot of manipulatives.
  8. Peggy Kaye's book Games for Writing is excellent! You might check whether your library has it.
  9. When we start hsing full-time, I plan to regularly do "life skills" as a subject to teach ds a variety of things that would be useful. (Examples I'm thinking of include how to do various household chores, basic mending, telephone etiquette, and later budgeting and so on.) I'm structured list-checking type. Does anyone have some type of guide for these random but necessary skills and with approximate ages for teaching them? Is there something similar for physical skills? (Ds seems to be very physically uncoordinated so I thought we might do some fun games like hopping on one foot, etc. I'm just not sure when he should be able to kick a ball straight, stand on one foot, do a jumping jack that vaguely resembles a jumping jack, etc.)
  10. I'm seriously considering using Miquon also. I have absolutely no experience using the rods at all. I was never taught math with manipulatives and have no idea how to do it. Will it be explained in the Miquon materials? Or should I get an additional book specifically about teaching math using Cuisenaire rods? (I saw that Rainbow Resources has a book like this.)
  11. I am hopelessly behind in technology! My car's audio system has a tape player only, and I want to be able to play MP3s and CDs so we can listen to audio books in the car. Is there some way to rig my current system to play CDs? I could also look on Craigslist for a different sound system (would you consider this a "safe" thing to do or would I get swindled?). How would I know what systems are compatible with my 1999 Subaru Forester? Any suggestions are much appreciated!
  12. I am thinking that something a little more powerful than a magnifying glass would be lots of fun and open new doors for inquiry. Do you use some kind of handheld microscope? Is there a decent one that you recommend?
  13. I really love TWTM's method of having young elementary children draw a picture and dictate a short narration as a way to solidify concepts and document their work. I would love to do this with some of our children's lit selections and SOTW 1 which we are going to start this fall. Ds's fine motor skills are a little below normal. Instead of drawing a picture to represent something, he starts making lines on a paper and THEN decides what it looks like. Is this typical? Will he start drawing things before this fall? When I encourage him to decide before he starts drawing what the picture will be, he declines. I'm sure it's his frustration that things don't look right to him. Would it help to get some kind of drawing program or art program going this summer? If so, what would you recommend for a 5 year old?
  14. Very helpful again. I can see how it would be redundant. I guess that means I'll need to make a decision about which program to go with, eh?;) I'm considering ds in first grade. He places in MM 2A or Singapore 1B on the online placement tests. It's a challenge to find what fits him because he's in very different places developmentally and intellectually. He's extremely bright and his learning was 100% self-guided until about 4 weeks ago. This has presented some huge challenges for me as far as placing him in math. He already has a basic grasp of negative #, fractions, and multiplication, but I don't feel like he knows his basic addition/subtraction facts as well as he should. He doesn't know how to carry for adding/subtracting multiple digits, though I suspect he could learn it within a lesson or two. He tells time proficiently but doesn't know much about measurement. He's all over the place, and doesn't have much patience for going over material that he already knows. Long answer, I know. It's a simple question, but difficult for me to answer succinctly.
  15. :hurray: A HUGE "thank you" to everyone who has taken time to respond to all these questions (esp Corraleno). It's been incredibly helpful for me! MUS isn't working for either me or ds, and I was planning to switch to Singapore. Now I'm seriously considering doing SM and MM simultaneously. I like the idea of ds "getting" the mental math, but I think he may need extra practice or alternative explanations at time. It seems like these two programs would fit together beautifully. Any thoughts on this? I'm almost ready to purchase the MM package because it's such a great discount, but maybe I should just get one year and see how it goes?
  16. Thank you! So glad I saw this before I order materials. I feel like such a newbie! I research curricula here, read reviews elsewhere, look at S&S and samples if I can find them, and it seems like there's always more to learn about the various programs that I'm considering. The Hive is an immense help!:grouphug:
  17. We're about to make a switch to Singapore and I'm realizing I don't really know the difference between Standards Ed and US Ed. I assumed the US Ed included the more common measurements in North America. Are there other differences I should be aware of before I purchase? Sorry for the hijack!:blushing:
  18. I've been wondering about this also. When I look at the scope and sequence, Singapore seems way ahead of MM. According to the published scope, ds would need Singapore 1A or 1B but would be in 2nd grade MM. This alone makes me lean toward Singapore. I want an extremely challenging math curriculum, and the scope of MM just doesn't seem challenging to me. Maybe I'm off because I haven't actually seen either program, but that's what I've gathered from comparisons of their websites.
  19. This quickly got buried on page 4. Just a friendly bump up!;)
  20. I found this series listed in Cathy Duffy's book of reviews, and she was very positive about it. I did a search of this forum and saw a few people recommend it but not really any reviews or details about it. What are your thoughts? I have an opportunity to purchase BS Series One at a great price but can't view it ahead of time. What grade level would you consider these experiments? What area of science do they concentrate on?
  21. Steve Green has some CDs of Bible verses called Hide em In Your Heart. There is just a little talking between songs. The songs are very repetitive which helped my ds memorize them quickly.
  22. Kudos that you dc is actually writing words, lists, and stories! (My Kindergartener had a hard time writing letters, let alone words!) I would add some type of math. Math manipulatives seem to engage young kids. We started with MUS, but there are lots and lots of great program. As a pp mentioned, Mudpies to Magnets or Janice van Cleaves science experiments are good. My dc will turn 5 in a couple of months, and I try to do 40 minutes/day. Some days are less, some days he insists on 2 hrs. He's in public school K now so that limits our time. I would think that 2-4 hours with frequent break is ideal for this age if they aren't engaged in other school activities or co-ops.
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