That's great! Kids just don't have all that emotional baggage tied up in it. Camille is just not at all concerned that Meredith might never learn to read and be doomed to (add baggage here) ;) My ds has the perfect length of pause before telling dd the word she is struggling with. Part of it, too, is they aren't in any particular hurry. They aren't trying to "accomplish" anything today, they just want to know where the story is going. Not every experience needs to be a "learning experience" etc., etc. I've marveled at this phenomenon before, too. Humbling.

We are working in Logic Safari 1 now, 1 or 2 a month (for each). I have LS2 and LS3. They are the same, but the grids get more complicated. I would want them to be doing the work independently soon into LS2, because as the grids get more complicated it will be harder to guide/hint from across the kitchen. :001_smile: Other weeks I fill that slot with math games or word problems.

It sounds like the parts-to-whole circles are a good, basic description. I would keep using that consistently. I think that walking him through the step-by-step instructions is correct, even if it takes a crazy amount of patience. Can he handle, shorter, more to-the-point word problems? Uptown School had 267 students in gym class, but 125 took the bus to the museum, how many are left in the gymnasium? Or ones with smaller numbers? Uptown School had 3 boys that played tuba and Downtown school had 1, then 2 boys switched... If he can do these problems as straight-up math problems, then I don't think it necessarily follows that he "a fundamental lack of understanding of how to manipulate numbers."

FWIW I felt like this was a transition in the series from fun, childhood adventures to more adult themes - although treated in child appropriate ways. If you liked the early books, try Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink.

Thanks! It is nice to have the Hive weigh in with new ideas and btdt.

I guess that's my question really, is there a reason to speed up WWE1? We just finished FLL1, so they already get that names start with capitals and abbreviations have periods, they know the seasons... So skipping weeks would look like no change (as far as I can see) and doing two weeks in one would just mean two times the same thing. So wouldn't that be finishing WWE1 just for the sake of finishing it? Or do you think there is truly something to be gained by staying the course (speeded up)?

I do this, although I haven't tried to tie it to history. One tip I have is to do multiple weeks at one go. Every once in a while, I sit down, and write out a list of what is proscribed for the copy work (proper names; abbreviations like Mr., Mrs.; months of the year; etc.) for the next 10 weeks. Then I pull out a stack of books from our shelves (it would be easy to insert the history book in this stack) and start flipping through. You quickly find that some books are filled with proper names, but don't mention a single month by name, never use initials, or "sit" and "set". I also keep a list of some of the upcoming copy work tasks so that if I come across something rare I can mark it for next time. It takes me 20 to 30 minutes per book (I think), to come up with copy work, reading passages and narration selections. One nice thing is that you will be automatically tailoring the reading and comprehension questions for your family. The tricky part would be trying to work ahead, since sometimes history slows down or speeds up. If you were OK with it occasionally being review you could probably work it out. Plus, the copy work doesn't HAVE to be from the reading, that could be sentences you make up to cover the assignment (if you wanted.)

It feels like WWE1 is not progressing quickly enough for us. I like the slow, incremental approach, but I'm thinking we need to move on to WWE2. Neither dc have trouble answering the questions or coming up with one thing that they remember. In fact, ds plays the system by coming up with long, rambling things on the day it isn't for copywork, and concise statements when he knows he will have to copy it. :glare: I want to move to WWE2 mainly to start with summarizing and picking out the important elements. I'm not sure how dictation will go. For those of you who are farther along than I am, what do you think?? We have done 16 weeks of WWE1. I'm working from the text, so I don't have two half-finished workbooks to nag at me. It also means that if we needed to slow down I can just insert "extra" weeks.

What if we made the mnemonic "Please excuse mad, dangerous aunt sally." Then it would still make sense if it were "Please excuse dangerous, mad aunt sally."

Wait, are you specifically talking about dividing fractions? Is it because you are writing it 1/2 (division symbol) 1/2 and then can't remember to invert and multiply because there isn't a visual clue about whether the inversion or multiplication happens first? If so, what if you write it with 1/2 perched way up over the other 1/2 as a huge compound fraction, then is it more clear (because there isn't much else you can do with that super tall fraction...)? I read Liping Ma's book a while ago, I remember the fractions were more unusual than 1/2 and 1/2 but I don't recall what they were. Or perhaps I'm taking your question too literally and you are looking for some grander "order of operations"...

We loved "Toys Go Out" by Emily Jenkins. There are two more books after, although we read them (don't know if they are available as audiobooks or not).

Sorry you are having trouble! We did 100EZ and I ran into this. First I broke down the lessons, that helped. In retrospect, they were taking way too long for the age/attention span. Eventually that didn't work either. With my ds we just kept moving through - he didn't have as much trouble and once we got going the lessons would go quickly. With my dd we first took a big leap backwards in the lessons and repeated a chunk. That helped for a while. Eventually, though, the momentum wore off and (in retrospect I realize) the lessons started taking too long again. We stopped altogether and just worked on leveled readers from the library. Then a friend handed down her "I see Sam" books (some of which are available free online). We started at the beginning and that was essentially a big step back again, but it built her confidence. We didn't finish that series either, but we got up to what they called second or third grade reading level. Then I switched to read alouds from the library for her. If you can handle the nonlinearity, I would take a break altogether, ease into random readers from the library, and maybe look at other reading programs (like some of the older free ones on the web). You may be able to return to OPGTR, or not, depends on the two of you. Good luck!

You are correct, WWE is not phonics and spelling. I am not familiar with ETC. We are finishing Spelling Workout A (SWO A) and it is fine, probably great for some people, but I will caution you that although the words are grouped (long a, short e, consonant blends with "l") they are not using "rules" as such. Perhaps this changes in later books, but if that is something you are concerned about you may want to look at another program (there seem to be a lot out there). That said, it is inexpensive, and if you take a smarter approach than I did, you won't have to do so much backing up and retesting. By this I mean despite the seeming ease of the lessons, spread it out over an entire week with plenty of repetition. HTH

I saw a puzzle that had been backed with magnets, that might be a nice distraction for little ones... I wonder if you could come up with a series of "chutes" made of pvc pipe lengths (perhaps with some fittings) and then magnets glued on to make a "Marble Run" on there. I'm not sure about educational value of that one, but it might be fun! I might use super balls instead of marbles - or beans if you were over a piece of carpet to keep them somewhat contained. With beans you could fashion a balance pretty easily, or add in a pinwheel..... Hmmm... :001_smile:

I always thought I would do unit studies but became petrified by the perceived immensity of long term planning and simultaneous flexibility I thought I would require. :tongue_smilie: I just wanted to tell you that we do (flexibly) scheduled curriculum, and I still get burned out after a while. Everything needs a little bit of work from me (even if it is just getting everybody to the table) and some days I just don't feel up to it. Maybe what you need is to choose your preferred style - like unit studies, and then have an occasional week where you pull out a math workbook, a few grammar rules, an 8 word spelling list, and, say, a geography workbook and do those (and only those) for a week. So, whenever you plan your unit studies, you could plan those too - it's OK if they turn out to be review, or a gentle introduction to something you haven't covered yet! All it would take is a little of your time...... (If I hear that phrase again this month I will curl into a ball and roll in with the dust bunnies in the closet.)

Thanks, I too put it on hold and look forward to checking it out. I'm guessing that it will be of interest to my dc due to the high-graphic content...

Have you checked out the amazing list here? the first "feature" is movies and documentaries. We don't usually incorporate any videos, but her other stuff is good and I have heard good things about the doc./movie list.

Thanks for sharing! Our teacher recently did Twister with my twins. I was also going to suggest a "treasure hunt" where you literally walk the person through in Spanish - "Walk ten steps forward, turn left, walk 3 steps, turn right and enter the dining room, etc." Making it up as they go, ending with sitting down?, picking up a Post-it without moving your feet?, something like that. Charades might be good - you could act out gerunds (swimming, biking, running, etc.), emotions (scared, angry, happy), occupations (doctor, dentist, baker, police officer, etc. - these might be easier if you allow talking) :bigear:

I don't know what you covered in your class so I hope these aren't too far off base... What about measuring using M&Ms as non-standard units? For younger students you could actually line them up, for olders you could measure and then calculate how many would be needed to ____. You could do something similar with volume and estimating. Tall thin container vs. short wide container could be fun. Patterns is another activity they call out for. Set up patterns and figure out what comes next. I don't know how the nutrition information is listed, but you could calculate the number of calories in a handful, a cup, a bag. (This might be a bit of downer for any adults waiting to help "clean up") If you have a scale you could obviously do mass comparisons. I suddenly have the urge to go scour my hidey-holes for forgotten chocolate. Hope you all have fun!

I think that kind of thing is fine if you are interested in it. You could always set a casual limit - "let's try this for a month", or something. If you over think it, bribery for things they should be doing (or learning) anyway doesn't make a lot of sense. But if you are both having fun, I don't see any harm. What a fun way to incorporate Latin vocabulary in daily use!

My son just read The Trouble With Chickens by Doreen Cronin aloud (over many days) and we all loved it. Sometimes after he read a chapter I would read one or two aloud (at his request) so we could hear more of the story. My dd is reading Grin and Bear It, about a wanna-be comedian bear.

I've been having a similar problem (although I was slower to recognize it!). We are nearing the end of SWO A, and with extra review outside the workbook my dc have learned to spell the words, but don't know rules to back them up, or to fall back on when they get stuck. Part of me thinks this will come with time, the more they read, the more comfortable the get - I don't have any memory of learning spelling rules... But then I get nervous :tongue_smilie: A friend just purchased Spelling Power. It is one book that takes you from early elementary (the book seems to expect spelling lessons to start around age 8) to adult. She has a nice survey of the studies she used to set up the program along with 44 spelling "generalizations" that cover 85% of the most common words. Each level has lists of words under the generalizations (not all are covered at each level). The expectation is that you spend 15 minutes every day on spelling. I'm not completely sold, but I'm considering it even if I just use the generalizations to complement SWO.

There is a series about "Benny and Penny" by Geoffrey Hayes that we liked. The publisher has other books in the same format, but by different authors, check out the Toon Book library for their graded readers. We also liked "Jack and the Box" ETA: We found them at the library

I've skipped the meeting altogether. We go over various parts of the meeting material as needed for review, but we don't do it all all the time once they get the concept. I got so sick of filling out the calendar in the K level! I would caution against skipping the lesson based on the worksheets, though. I've found that the worksheets usually lag the lesson material by a few days. That said, I have NO problem going off script, summarizing, or even skipping the lesson altogether if they know the lesson material. Just don't judge the lesson by that lesson's worksheet. I agree with the PP that you might try to combine the kids. Saxon K through Saxon 3 (although we are using 2 right now, I've looked through the index and some of the lessons of 3) all repeat the basics. They spend less time repeating, and add in new skills as you progress, but you still cover it all. Depending on your kids, and how far you are into the year, you could combine them both into the lower level and then play math games with your older for further practice and to introduce upcoming topics (once or twice a week) OR combine them both into the upper level, and then modify it for your younger (fewer problems, or instead of x worksheet do some work where she struggles).

I wonder what the consequences of not working independently were at school. Perhaps Mom isn't as "scary", and I'm sure she doesn't exert the same peer pressure.;) Plus, in many schools, if you don't finish your work it goes home with you to be homework. This is not to say that the consequences at school were BETTER, just different. It may be that there is more variety going on at home - what is Mom doing? what are siblings doing? what is my favorite toy waiting to do?