:iagree: My 9 year old is as slow as they come. I don't think it's changeable. She was a slow baby and slow toddler. She just does things at a different pace. We're very fast eaters, so the three of us will have finished dinner in less than 10 minutes, while my lovely 9 yr old has just taken her second bite. The slow eating is a good thing, I guess... but slow dressing and slow working and slow getting to the car when I'm in a hurry is a problem. She's getting better at being organized to compensate for it. For instance, last year there used to be a giant rush as she forgot to put on her ballet clothes or put her hair up. This year, she'll put her leotard and tights on in the morning for a 3pm class. I figure she's at least thinking it through.

I had a climber too. It won't help you much now, but in a few years you should take her to an indoor climbing gym or rock wall. My fearless climbing toddler turned into a great rock climber. Here she is competing at age 6:

I'm sure they're pretty much the same, so I went with the more colorful SE version because of the way it looked. Also, it was newer... so I figured they're more likely to discontinue the US edition and I wouldn't have to switch. But they'll both probably be around for quite some time...

My 9 yr old daughter and I *love* the "Supersizers ..." series. Alhough it's wildly and hilariously inappropriate for kids at times, they do a good job of talking about the historical context. It's two comedians who spend a week dressed in historical clothing and eating foods from different historical periods (mostly British). They're all on youtube -- Roman to the 1980's.

You might include reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma". There's a young person's edition that my daughter found really interesting. Also, brain pop has a lot of nutrition information on it...

I have one daughter who was born with heaps of empathy. As a baby, she'd cry when someone else got hurt. As a toddler, she would hug me if I seemed upset. She's grown into a girl who deeply cares about what other people are feeling. I also have a daughter who has very little empathy. She's not intentionally mean or anything, she just isn't aware of other people, their feelings... their opinions... She is kind of a free spirit in her own land without much awareness of anyone else. I go out of my way to try to ask her about how someone might be feeling (like on a movie or book). She's starting to get it... but then will do something dumb to the dog or whatever and it just won't occur to her that the dog doesn't like it. So she's not there yet...

While I'm more on the pacifist side of things, you could probably put together a study of history with the "Horrible History" series. I'd bet he'd like that. If he just generally likes gruesome things, we were recently reading "Poop Happened: A history of the world from the bottom up", which is a great book on history... focused on toilets. He might like that?

I let my kids decide whether or not they want me there. My 9 yr old has recently said 'no' to having me at dentist and doctor checkups, but I do go anyway if there is something unusual going on (like a first orthodontist appointment, or a sick-child visit). My 7 yr old doesn't have me go back at the dentist, but wants me with the pediatrician.

Try TS Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"

:iagree: Thank you, Sharon-in-Austin :)

Do a Youtube search for "Supersizers go 80's" and watch it. It's British, but has some pretty good 1980's food and drink ideas.

Quack

They are articles... a type of determiner. They are not adjectives. I know we had a long discussion on this topic last spring. :glare:

Oh -- and for more of a composition focus, I really like Ann Hogue's "First Steps in Academic Writing". It does have also include skills work in writing mechanics and sentence construction and grammar, though it doesn't work on the trickiest parts of English grammar like verb tense or articles or phrasal verbs or question formation, etc...

For an adult ESL student, you need something totally different. Grammar books for middle schoolers will have more difficult vocabulary and will address common writing problems for native English speakers. ESL books will address different problems... such as "when should I use 'will' and when should I use 'going to'?" or "When do I use 'the' and when 'a' and when no article?" or "How do I know when to use present perfect and when to use simple past." I prefer Murphy's English Grammar in use, which is especially good for self-study or working with a tutor. Another good grammar book is Azar's English Grammar. The red book is beginner, black is intermediate and blue is the advanced version. I find it's best with a class or at least a partner, but can be done on your own. Let me know if you have any other questions... I think I've used just about every ESL book out there at one time or another.

:iagree: When public school districts (or states) offer pre-kindergarten classes, they are often doing it to try to level the playing field... encouraging kids who might not otherwise have access to pre-schools get ready for kindergarten. The point is to provide an introduction to school life -- how to line up, how to follow directions, how to use scissors or pencils and erasers or glue, how to raise your hand to talk in a group... It's really not about how to read or do math. I'd be surprised if academics went much beyond letter/color/shape recognition. And that's totally okay for most 4 year olds. If you daughter is ready for more, I'd suggest keeping up what you're working on at home....

I think a lot of well meaning parents latch onto the idea of "Montessori" being about the materials. I'd start by reading some of the books suggested along with "Montessori: the science behind the genius". If you can, check out some Montessori elementary classrooms and see how the kids are interacting with the teacher and classmates. There's a really cool flow and atmosphere in a good Montessori class. I don't know that it's possible to replicate it at home, but I sure wish it was.

In our public schools, letters and sounds are taught in kindergarten and actual reading instruction doesn't start until first grade. So at this point in first grade, most kids are working on CVC words. So a word like "Snuggle" is quite tricky! Keep in mind he may be 'struggling' because the material is just too hard. If he's feeling frustrated, I'd scale it back. For the next few weeks provide him really easy texts that he'll feel good about reading. Look for books where he can read every word or books that are so repetitive that he'll have things memorized. The goal is for him to read simple things, but read them fluently. I'd stick with that until he gets bored of it and is ready for a challenge. Meanwhile, keep working with a phonics program (like ETC) keeping it below his frustration level.... and try fun things like starfall or other reading programs or games.

So your switching was a case of "fixing what wasn't broken"? I think most people who switch curriculum are switching because the program is *not* working... because their kids struggle with understanding it or cry everytime they pull out that book, or because the parents don't understand how to teach it or because the book is tedious or pointless or poorly written or too religious or too secular. I still wouldn't beat yourself up over it :001_smile:. Math at middle and high school is a different beast from the math we do at elementary. Plus, your 9th grader has a different set of priorities and abilities and hormones than she had at 2nd grade. I do wish that I could have control over my daughters' opinions of academic subjects, but it doesn't seem to be a power I have. We, as parents, just do the best we can and there's no reason to feel guilty when our kids don't perform as highly as we want them to on a test or when they tell us that they don't like doing history or math or Latin or whatever.

I wouldn't beat yourself up over it... I doubt very much that changing math books frequently resulted in poor test scores. It sounds to me like your daughter struggled with math and disliked math (or perceived herself as being "bad at math") from a young age. Your switching math books was an entirely valid attempt at finding a math program that fit for her and for you. I don't think I ever had the same math book series twice. In elementary school, either we moved or the district adopted a new book, or one series went from k-3 and one from 4-6. Pre-algebra was a different publisher from algebra or geometry etc... No two college professors care that their coursebook requirement comes from the same publisher. Math is math. While there are some skills that are good to have before tackling other topics, it's not truly sequential. If a child had poor retention of history, nobody would suggest it was because they had not used the same textbook series from k-9th grade. Who knows? Your daughter might dislike math even more and have performed even worse on the test if you *had* stuck with the same series straight through.

Where is he in writing? Can he write a sentence with a capital letter and a period? What are your goals?

We were getting ready to go to our OB ultrasound visit. My mom called and told me to turn on the news. We watched for a minute but had to run out the door. We listened to the news on the way to the office. Everyone was cheery in the OB office so I think they must not have heard. We didn't tell them. We were focused on the ultrasound screen and the information and figured everyone there would know soon enough. Or maybe the OB and nurses did know, but didn't want to spoil our first ultrasound moment.

I was chatting with an MD who worked in a wellness clinic whose patients regularly wanted to go on the HCG diet. He would prescribe the hcg for them. He said his patients generally liked it and it worked well, but that it was the ultra low calories that caused weight loss. He said the hcg was just a placebo.... that it wouldn't hurt you but truly was snake oil.

I agree! A 7 year old who is "struggling" with reading is one who still has trouble with the first Bob books. Frog and Toad is a great book for a second grader... and one or two chapters are perfect! :001_smile:

I would not be concerned. A 5 year old who is reading and writing in any way is already ahead of the curve. I wouldn't expect accurate spelling out of any 5 year old. That said, I'd be inclined to do book 2.5 anyway. There's a jump in expectations after level 3 and unless she's deathly bored, I'd keep her working with short vowels for a little longer so she doesn't hit that before she's ready. She's got plenty of time and an extra month or two working with easier words might be a good idea.