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Momling

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Everything posted by Momling

  1. I like both Miquon and Math Mammoth. I used Miquon with my older daughter in Kindergarten and I thought it was very good. At the end of the red book, she told me she didn't like it, though I'm not sure why. She now uses Math Mammoth and I think it's the right choice for her as she doesn't really need the constant manipulatives. My younger daughter, however, is a quirky kind of kindergartner. I tried Miquon with her earlier this fall and it failed. She wanted to do one and only one kind of problem at a time and wanted to move on only when *she* was ready. For instance, there was a page with addition and subtraction on the same page, so she changed all the subtraction to addition. Anyway, I changed to Math Mammoth blue and she's as happy as a clam doing only one topic for an extended period of time.
  2. Ours were roughly treated and did fall apart at around 4-5 years. We had two armchairs and a loveseat. The arm on one of the armchairs came apart from the rest of the chair and the leg broke from the love seat. Also, the cover was never the same after washing (a tan color). That said, for the price, they're reasonable... if you're planning on using it until your kids know how to treat furniture, it will be just fine -- but I don't think Ikea furniture generally holds up over the long run.
  3. What is the goal for you? If you want them to be officially Roman Catholic, (recognizing that they may not actually stick with it through adulthood), then you need to insist they go. Whether they have faith or not isn't really in your control... but attending weekly is. If you want to have a peaceful time of worship, then you need to leave the kids with husband or a babysitter. If you want them to have a more child-appropriate church experience and avoid the first communion issue, I'd suggest finding an Episcopal or Lutheran church with an active Sunday School (look for Godly Play - it's really cool).
  4. My 7 yr old loved her Project Runway fashion design set and her book "Take me back". My 5 yr old loved her mosaic jewelry box, fusion beads, remote control car, microphone... Actually, she loved everything.
  5. We got these 2 years ago... five of them! From my mom... We left them at her house 'accidentally'. Two weeks later, she *sent them to us*!
  6. A pair of Keen shoes and an immersion blender from my sweetie. Several cool homemade gifts from my girls. A food processor from my parents $50 gift certificate from Amazon from my brother Lots of little things that I can't remember
  7. I got a fancy pen and a dinner out, my partner got a party at Costco (??!?) along with a gift card.
  8. I would go with a 'specialty' dorm, if that's your concern... You know... all-women or all-freshman or substance-free or religious dorm would probably be more appropriate. I went to college at 16 and was pretty unready for the experiences I came across. What about a home-stay type program? You know... renting a room in a house with a family? Or for a 16 yr old student, there are a few colleges that cater to younger students (Simon's Rock?) A single room might also be a good idea. In the end though, you don't send your kids away to a college unless you know they have the skills and knowledge and strength to take on the challenge.
  9. Krashen was a big thing for a while and he certainly made some good points about learning a second language... but his ideas apply to fluency in communication. Do any classical Latin learners expect communicative fluency? In a way, he (and others) sort of paralleled the whole-language vs. phonics debate that happened in reading instruction at the same time (or the more recent 'math wars'). I'm not completely into 'Krashen bashin' though... for young children learning a second language (as in ESL programs in US elementary schools), Krashen's theories and their pedagogical application certainly make sense. For Latin? They're not appropriate... For adults or older people with metalinguistic knowledge that can be applied to learning? No. His views on spelling? Not for me.
  10. It's a montessori school, right? It's an awesome educational philosophy.
  11. That's a great project... Here are a few thoughts on good quality girl-books: Dicey's Song A summer to die Catherine called Birdy Because of Winn-Dixie Ramona and Beezus Anastasia Krupnik Ella Enchanted Anne of Green Gables Hundred Dresses Diary of Anne Frank Are you there God, it's me, Margaret A tree grows in Brooklyn Little Women
  12. Thanks for the ideas -- we love beans and rice and really ought to be eating more of them. As for noodles, try Barilla Plus -- they may be a little bit more expensive than the cheapest noodles, but they've got incredible amounts of fiber and protein and are much less expensive than meat.
  13. If you're not looking for a formal program, you might find success with Montessori materials that use little shapes to identify parts of speech and subject/predicate. Or if you just want to teach or reinforce parts of speech, how about just using mad libs? Though if your kids are anything like mine, be prepared for some serious toilet humor within a minute of doing it without you.
  14. How about "A Christmas Story"? Otherwise some of our family favorites are: Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver, Sound of Music, Hairspray (PG), Anne of Green Gables, Muppet movie, Ratatoille, Up, Lion King, Wallace and Gromit Were-Rabbit, Mary Poppins, Finding Nemo...
  15. My daughter is a leftie too... I'd love to blame her poor handwriting on that. But I also think she's a bit flaky when it comes to taking care with her work. On the other hand... she's not yet 8 years old. It might be that my expectations are just a little too high.
  16. The public school tested our daughter last year (for a non-existent TAG program) with the WISC IV and I have to say that there was no benefit. The school psychologist said that the test just wasn't designed for kids like ours. He explained that on one section, for instance, the tester says two words and the child is supposed to say what's the same about them. So he said "Red and blue" and our daughter didn't say "They're colors" (which would have given full points), but instead tried to explain how they're kind of on opposite ends of the spectrum of visible light and they're both primary and together they make purple and etc... so didn't get the full credit for the question. Apparently she continually would miss getting points on the easy questions, but correctly answer difficult questions. After 2 1/2 hours of this (it's supposed to last about an hour), they had only finished 7 out of 10 of the subtests and the psychologist decided to stop the test, write up that she had an extraordinary vocabulary and was clearly gifted but that the test was not valid for her. But even if they had finished, what would it have told us? I can't see how a test would give us any information that we didn't already know about our child.
  17. I think the HWOT has taught her a good way to form letters, I think she just doesn't care enough to try and maybe doesn't have developed enough fine motor skills for it to come easily without trying. I find that erasing and re-writing only make her (and me) more frustrated. So I don't. I guess I try to focus on the skill being learned rather than expect correction of everything. For instance, if she's struggling to learn how to spell a word, I'm fine to correct her and ask her to fix a mispelled word, but I avoid focusing on bad handwriting... Or if the focus is handwriting, I'll definitely have her re-do poor handwriting, but I try to ignore the punctuation (or whatever)... Once mastered, though, I have to say that I do have higher expectation and that's where the problem is. We're almost done with grade 2 HWOT and going to try the HWOT Can-do print in January. It looks like it includes some grammar and vocabulary work along with a focus on good writing. She perceives the HWOT to be 'babyish' and I"m hopeful that this text (aimed at 5th grade still in need of handwriting help) will be just the thing. I'll let you know if it's any good!
  18. I don't know, but we have the same problem with our 2nd grader. When she wants to have nice handwriting, she will. But mostly she doesn't care and it looks like a 4 yr old wrote it. She's working from the HWOT 2nd grade book and hates it (she calls it Handwriting with tears). I don't know whether we should ask her to re-do careless work or let her drop handwriting because she can print nicely when she wants, or maybe even start her on cursive (which she wants) or calligraphy (which she really, really wants) because she is really motivated...
  19. Most chores in our family are also as-needed... but the first proper 'chore' that my girls have had is emptying-the-dishwasher at about 5 or 6. Unlike vacuuming or sweeping (which can be done poorly or halfway), there's nothing scalar about emptying the dishwasher. I like that it's either empty or not-empty -- done or not-done.
  20. Okay, wise homeschoolers, I'm ready to take the next step and I need your help. After winter break, I'm moving from "afterschooling" my older daughter (2nd grade) to part-time homeschooling. She'll be attending an alternative 'homeschool support' learning center in our district. I believe she'll be taking a multi-disciplinary 'core' class and a math class and maybe a creative writing or art class. It'll probably average about 3 hours per day. The 'core' class is a science-based thematic unit with a heavy whole-language approach. The math is the infamous TERC Investigations. Given the tone of the school, I'm pretty sure that the classes will not be academically rigorous at all. So I'm kind of thinking of these more as electives and social experiences rather than as actual academics. So here are my questions: How much instruction time should I set aside for a 2nd grader with this kind of schedule? I definitely want to continue doing math at home (We're using math mammoth), plus I do want to do some specific work on language arts skills that probably won't be emphasized (grammar, mechanics, spelling, handwriting). And we'll continue with history (Galore park). I think I'll leave science alone this semester since she'll be getting some in her 'core' class. Does that sound right? What do you suggest for how much time to give each subject? This past semester we've been working for about an hour and a half in the evening, right before bed.. in pajamas, snuggled under the covers or lounging on the floor... I'm thinking it's time to be more serious. I admit it's hard to have good handwriting when you're lying down. Out of curiousity, do most homeschoolers use the kitchen table for their work space or do you have dedicated rooms? Is there any reason (other than handwriting) why the sofa wouldn't work as a place to study? I've been thinking a small white board or chalkboard would be useful.. any thoughts? Anything else I ought to know before pulling my daughter out of full-time school?
  21. I don't know where you're at, but our state's virtual schools (K-12 and Connections, I think?) apparently provide a computer. What about CLE? That strikes me as a very low-maintenance curriculum.
  22. "Fly guy" and the "elephant and piggy" books are my 5 yr old's favorites. Also, Eric Carle...
  23. I think bookwizard is kind of cool: http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do You can put in the title of a book your child likes and it'll suggest similar books. It also lists 'reading level' by grade/lexile/DRA.
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