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Miss Tick

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    handwriting program: prettier than HWT

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I switched from HWT (for the same reason) to Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting after reading a hand writing review article from the Wall Street Journal. I was more pleased with the look of all the letters, and the cd lets me print out my own copy work for them to do which has been useful. For first grade I'm going to explore using it in Word - the fonts are there from when I loaded the software, I've just not tried it. That would let me fit more copywork on a page - but I suspect my kids still need the reference lines, so I'll have to see what I can do.

     

    Forgive me now while I try to figure out how to make my first "hotlink"...

    Barchowsky

     

    (Yay!)

    How to continue teaching reading

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I just listened to SWB's Q&A #4 (?) on YouTube today. She suggested that if you have a really good natural reader you want to still teach them the phonics rules. Her suggestion was to use your phonics program and treat it like a spelling program. That might save you some money over AAS. :) I think she suggested going through the rules and then spelling the associated words for practice.

    Year round schooling? Pros and cons?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    This is the end of our Kindergarten year, but I don't expect to grind to a halt for the summer. :001_smile: I plan on lightening our load a bit, but math we will keep moving on and reading is still too tenuous for one of mine to stop regular read-alouds.

     

    My husband's work ebbs and flows with the traditional school year so we use that schedule as a base, but the curriculum flows along at its own pace. Although I scheduled our breaks to coincide with DH's, we tend toward taking off random days rather than big chunks (like Spring Break), in part because we all seem to do well with the routine of school days, and partly because he is often working those break days anyway!

     

    I would like to do some things during the summer like teaching them to knit, and maybe a day camp at the zoo, that we would not do during the "regular" school year.

     

    I'm enjoying reading some of the other responses - they definitely have given me some ideas! What to expect in coming years, other possible schedules as my children move into more independent work, etc.

    Reading Help

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    For starters, try to keep the reading lesson short and have it everyday at a predictable time. If he is struggling with all those different things (as PP pointed out), you might consider a big "do-over".

     

    For one of mine, we made it to the mid-point of the phonics lessons with lots of frustration and I decided to just start back over. She was happy to be back at material she had already gone over, and I was glad to be back to the fundamentals (although not excited to hear some of those stories again!). :)

     

    If the problem doesn't require that drastic of a solution, you might also be able to find early readers at the library that help reinforce particular phonics ideas.

     

    HTH.

    Confused about pick for Spanish curriculum?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I have tried multiple times to access Salsa. I get nothing. The site sends me to a directory to view the videos, and I look up ""Salsa"....but then I can't get any videos to play. ? Anyone else have trouble with it or is it just me? It looks like a great resource and I'd love to use it...

     

    I just got it to work, from the "Digital Library" I clicked the play button on the thumbnail and then waited. A long time. It took me 3 tries before I waited long enough. :) I watched one (Salsa 204) and it was good, but tiny, and it seemed to stop before the actual end (although it was long enough that my little look-ee-loos learned that angry is "enojada" in Spanish).

     

    I think teaching kids Spanish needs to be a multi-pronged approach. We don't have a native speaker in our home so we watch Muzzy and Adentro y Afuera (and now Salsa), we have a tutor come once a week for an unstructured lesson, and I read them Spanish picture books from the library.

     

    Susan

    1st grade- do spelling, if haven't learned to read yet?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We focused on reading in the pre-K, K years and my son picked it up quickly. His twin, however was much slower, but got the basics. I started Spelling Workout A in the second half of K and found it was a nice complement to our phonics program reinforcing the rules in a different format. We just do one lesson a week and then review the spelling on different days. It seems like reading and spelling are different (closely related) skills.

     

    Susan

    1st grade curriculum for next year? Post yours.

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Math: Finish Saxon 2 and work on Saxon 3

    Language: FLL finish 1 start 2, WWE, Spelling Workout finish A start B

    History: SOTW1

    Science: Hmm. Here's a hole to fill...

    Spanish: Once a week tutor and lots of story books from the library's Spanish-language section

    PE: Swim class, ballet, gymnastics, other? Depends on what is of interest at the time.

    Art/Music: Study composers, perhaps with more emphasis on particular pieces, or styles?, Art study and also general creative mess-making.

    I'm intrigued by the idea of a nature journal, although it doesn't fit one neat category.

     

    This is my first time trying to write it all in one place and I'm glad I have a few months to iron out the details!

     

    Susan

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