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Everything posted by skueppers
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Now that I've thought about your situation more, I think what I would do at this point would be to switch to a different approach. I did this several times with my daughter when she was learning to read, and each method helped her reach a new level in reading. She started out with Reading Eggs on the computer, which helped her learn the basics of decoding. Then she read some BOB books and used Progressive Phonics. BOB books helped her learn to read entire sentences, and Progressive Phonics provided fun ways to practice skills (she's not the type to read the same book more than once.) A few months later, we started the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. The main benefit of that program for us was that it offered a lot of graded reading exercises, which helped her with fluency. That was the point where I started requiring her to have reading lessons; we had talked in advance about her desire to learn to read and I told her we could work harder at it, but only if she committed to doing the lessons with me every day. She was a couple of months past five at the time. We used the OPGTR faithfully for four or five months, and then she got engaged in the summer reading program at the library. She insisted on choosing much more difficult books than I would have picked for her, and we read them together. Her reading improved tremendously during that summer. This fall, she started Kindergarten. I tried going back to phonics lessons, but she really didn't want to, and I decided just reading real books was working fine for her. I currently expect her to read for 15 minutes on her own and 15 minutes out loud at least 5 days a week, and also to read an easy reader in German out loud once a week. (I waited to introduce reading in German until she was fairly proficient in English, defined as being able to read an Amelia Bedelia or similar book.) It's been two years since she started learning to read. I don't regret having adapted the approach we were taking to what seemed right for her at the time.
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I would never require a four-year-old to have lessons in anything. I might require a five-year-old to have lessons, depending on the situation. If she's frustrated that she can't read the books she wants to read, point out that she's welcome to have more reading lessons, which will help, but put it on her to take the initiative. Do you read the books together with her? My daughter made a lo of reading progress by reading books out loud that were too difficult for her. I helped her with the words she didn't know.
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Tell me what to drop! No hard feelings!!!
skueppers replied to joyfulhomeschooler's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
Not being familiar with the MFW curriculum, what is the purpose of having your first grader tag along with one level, and do a second level also? Could the kids be combined into one level? -
:auto: Will definitely be there!
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What's "not to miss" in the D.C. area?
skueppers replied to A.J. at J.A.'s topic in General Education Discussion Board
Regarding the DC metro - yes, it is definitely crowded during rush hour, and since the museums don't open until 10, it's easy to wait until rush hour is over to head downtown. But don't feel intimidated by the possibility of crowds - if you should happen on a crowded platform or train, hold hands, wear babies, and you'll be fine! Everyone uses the metro in DC - you will never feel like you're surrounded by people who might not be so nice. -
What's "not to miss" in the D.C. area?
skueppers replied to A.J. at J.A.'s topic in General Education Discussion Board
You might take a look at the hotels in Greenbelt, MD. There's a subway station there with a big parking lot, and a number of reasonable lodging options. I'm sure there are similar locations in Virginia, I'm just not as familiar with them. -
What's "not to miss" in the D.C. area?
skueppers replied to A.J. at J.A.'s topic in General Education Discussion Board
How much do you want to spend, and what kind of room(s) do you need? -
What's "not to miss" in the D.C. area?
skueppers replied to A.J. at J.A.'s topic in General Education Discussion Board
I live just outside of Washington, D.C., and visit the sights frequently. Here are my thoughts if you've been studying American History: * The monuments, of course. I don't really consider going up inside the Washington Monument all that worthwhile, as the windows are very small, and last time I was up there, some were obstructed with monitoring equipment. To get a view of the city from above, the Old Post Office tower a few blocks away isn't as tall, but it's a much more pleasant experience. * The American History Museum. My favorite museum downtown, obviously the place to be if you're interested in American History. Also has a decent cafeteria. * The National Archives. See the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc. Note that the National Archives are generally open later than other museums on the mall, so you can plan to go there after other things close. * The Air and Space Museum. It is awe-inspiring to be in the presence of the actual Apollo 11 command module, the Spirit of St. Louis, John Glenn's Mercury capsule, etc. -- in the same room. Other worthwhile sites nearby: * The Natural History Museum. This doesn't make my top list not because it isn't a great museum, but because it has less to do with history, and it's not as unique. You can see stuff like this in other major Natural History museums around the country and the world. Cafeteria is decent. * The Holocaust Museum. This is really not to be missed if your family is at all interested in World War II and the Holocaust. Just be prepared to be horrified. * The National Gallery. A world class art museum, with an exceptional impressionist collection. Cafeteria has tasty food. * American Indian Museum. I find this museum a bit lacking in the history department, but it does have a lot of interesting exhibits. If you've studied Native American peoples and the history of European conquest of the Americas, this museum will be of particular interest. The food in the cafeteria is totally different from what you'll find at other museums. Other potentially interesting sites: * Mount Vernon. See where George Washington lived, see his farm, etc. This is nice, and quite close to the city, but I don't consider it an absolute "must see." * Arlington National Cemetery. Personally, I don't really see what all the fuss is about unless you come from a military background, and I think many kids would be really bored. But I suggest visiting the web site to see if it's something your family would be interested in. * Zoo. There are other zoos in this country that are just as nice as the National Zoo, but if you need a break from museums and monuments, this is a good bet. Plus, it has pandas. :) The Asia Trail is particularly nice. * The Newseum. Learn about the production of news. This is a private museum with an admission charge. Even if you don't go to the museum, it's worth making sure you walk past it once or twice -- every morning, they put the front pages of dozens of newspapers on display along the sidewalk. * The International Spy Museum. Learn about spies! Another private museum with an admission charge. As for where to stay -- remember that the subway system in Washington is clean and efficient. You can stay anywhere near a subway station and get downtown easily, which opens up a lot of options. I'd suggest looking for something near one of the subway stations that has a parking lot, generally near the end of the line. -
I use IZArc, which can be downloaded safely from cnet.com. I never had any trouble with the Math Mammoth archives, and my computer is pretty old.
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I'm so glad to hear that we'll still be able to go and hear SWB and MCT! They're the main reason I decided to go in the first place!
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I've only done this for the first grade books, but I imagine it's possible for the later books too -- the names of the sections in the table of contents in the topical books for first grade match up exactly with the light blue first grade books. So it's pretty straightforward to see exactly how much Maria Miller thinks you ought to be able to do in a year proceeding at an average pace. For grade 1, Addition 1, Subtraction 1, Place Value 1, and Add & Subtract 2a make up the bulk of the material.
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That's great! I'm glad he's found a way to be comfortable, and that he's expressing an interest in a homeschooling method!
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How to teach math to a boy who can't read
skueppers replied to AnthemLights's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
My six-year old can read the instructions for her math work just fine, but she prefers that I do it for her most of the time. I don't perceive this as a problem - I want to be there to help her as needed anyway. The point is for her to learn the math, not to work as independently as possible. -
Don't look at me, I usually do my review on Sunday night. Too many interesting things happen on the weekend for me to feel like school is "done" on Friday! Since I posted Friday night this week, I've already made one change to my report, and will probably make more tomorrow.
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Yikes! I'm glad none of the jurisdictions around here require the use of an outside proctor, that really drives up the price of testing!
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Ours is up. I didn't write a report last week, so this one covers two weeks. It was an odd couple of weeks, but it seems like it turned out OK in the end!
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There will be "gaps" in your child's education as compared with a child who used Abeka. There will also be "gaps" in the education of a child who is raised with Abeka, compared with the education you provide. Of course you need to make sure that you're not missing something you think is important, but you'll make yourself crazy if you spend too much time comparing. Know what your own educational priorities are, and make sure the methods you choose are in line with that. You cannot do everything.
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The dragon, horizon, and castle are from a Mini-marshmallow lesson. Erika added the flames, fireman, sun, and path leading to the castle. For those who haven't seen them, the lessons are totally step-by-step (draw a circle here, a line here, a shadow here...). It's definitely a learn-by-doing approach, but I feel that the lessons do provide knowledge and attitude that can transfer to original artwork. I've seen Erika draw cubes outside of the lessons, and experiment with various perspective techniques she has learned about. And Erika would be delighted to get a letter from Satori. :)
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This method worked fine for me. I just helped my daughter read words she couldn't figure out when they came up in actual books. Eventually, she remembered them.
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Fascinating. I used google.de and got the same result. One thing this shows is that if you want to find information in Wikipedia, it's best to go to the Wikipedia site to do the search, rather than using Google. Even on Wikipedia.de, a search for "Nefertiti" brings up "Nofretete" before the Nefertiti piercing. English-language Wikipedia doesn't show the piercing unless you search for "Nefertiti piercing." Google's algorithm for determining what to show first is based on the popularity of the page. Also, since Nefertiti has a different spelling in German, Google.de will prioritize German-language content with the spelling Nefertiti ahead of English-language content with the spelling Nefertiti. If you actually go to the Google.com site, rather than typing the search into the search box in your browser, do you get the German results? I wonder if the search box is configured to use Google.de. I know when I set the language of my iPhone to German, it changes which Google site is used to do searches when I type them into the browser's search box.
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When I plugged Nefertiti into Wikipedia, I only found information about Ancient Egypt. The disambiguation page listed two musical albums, but no piercings. Where did he find this on Wikipedia? And I'm so sorry your kids saw such a thing.
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I have the blue series download, and it takes about 55MB as compressed archives, or 58MB as individual files. It will trivially fit onto a thumb drive, CD-ROM, etc. To offer a comparison, thumb drives typically start at 1GB these days. You could fit more than 15 copies of the Math Mammoth blue series on a single 1 GB thumb drive. The light blue series is going to take up a bit more space, but not enough to make a difference in your ability to store it on a thumb drive or CD ROM. You can also back it up online for free by storing the individual files in Google Docs (tell it not to convert the files to Google Docs format when you upload them), or by using dropbox.