skueppers
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Posts posted by skueppers
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Oh, and for the original poster:
Yes, MEP is a complete program. At the moment, we've taken a diversion into Math Mammoth because my daughter was finding MEP frustrating. With a different child, we could have worked through it, but for this child, "sideways" was the way to go.
I'm hoping to return to MEP in the future.
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Very early on in level one a child will run into things like:
5<23
Which is 5 is two greater than 3.
You mean:
5 2> 3
For the record, when my daughter encountered this in MEP at a couple of months past 5, it was no more complicated for her to understand than the general concept of inequalities was. Once she understood greater than and less than, "2 greater than" made perfect sense to her.
The thing she has had trouble with in MEP is the balance scale problems. I think she gets distracted by the idea of the balance scale, because she can do the same problems using inequality symbols. Go figure.
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If you happen to own an iPod Touch or iPhone, the "Math Drills" application is well worth the $2 I spent on it. You can customize exactly which facts are drilled, and view reports individually for multiple students.
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You may have no need for a unit. I explained dictionary use to my Kindergartner in 10 minutes. Obviously, there are fine points she isn't ready for, but after one short 'lesson', she can now find entries she's looking for in the dictionary or encyclopedia.
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We spend about 2.5 hours a week on math, not including games we may play as a family that involve math. I don't consider games to be part of our curriculum, as we play games for fun.
My daughter is in Kindergarten.
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Our report for week 6 of Kindergarten is up. She started trying to read with expression this week, and built the Lego WeDo crocodile. It was a pretty good week!
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I don't think it would ever happen around here unless there were a truly catastrophic financial meltdown, much worse than what we've been having.
In that event, we'd have worse problems to worry about than where our children would go to school.
But if it were to happen while people stull had jobs, and thus needed the childcare being provided by schools, I would expect most of my neighbors to try to find private schools for their kids.
I suppose I might temporarily help a friend out with child care, but not long term. Part of what I value about homeschooling is schedule flexibility, which I can't get if I'm watching other people's kids.
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Thanks!! It really is considering just last week she was crying her way through her math and begging never to have to do it.
Heather
I remember you posting about that. So glad it's getting better!
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Yay! That's so exciting!
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Your son is in Kindergarten, right? If I recall correctly from my reading of The Well-Trained Mind, the only thing the authors thought was critical in Kindergarten was making sure kids knew how to read. Since you've already got that covered, you're good!
My daughter is also in Kindergarten this year, and my philosophy is to make sure we make regular progress in our major subjects (English, Math, and German). We do a lot of other things, but I don't feel that they're especially essential. To my mind, it doesn't really matter WHAT a Kindergartner does for Science or Social Studies, though it's a good idea for them to do something.
Relax. I'm sure you're doing fine!
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I would imagine it depends on the child and on the documentary.
My 5-year-old (almost six) can watch nature documentaries for fairly long periods if they interest her. My 3-year-old isn't interested, and I wouldn't expect (or particularly want) him to be.
My daughter became interested in nature documentaries soon after she turned five. We've watched quite a few documentaries about animals and dinosaurs since then. Examples include:
Walking with Dinosaurs
Parts of "Blue Planet" and "Planet Earth"
David Attenborough Wildlife Specials
The Life of Mammals (also David Attenborough)
Since starting Kindergarten this fall, we've been including documentaries in our school program -- we watch them for 20 or 30 minutes two or three times a week while we eat a snack. We've watched documentaries about penguins, the Antarctic Ocean, a (homeschooling) family's travel and work on the Antarctic Peninsula, Australia (mostly animals and geography), and the Great Barrier Reef.
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My daughter used to reverse things, especially numbers, often. She still (at almost 6) sometimes reverses 5 and 9, but she notices and corrects it herself.
She also often switches b and d when reading. She knows the difference, she just doesn't necessarily see it correctly the first time.
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I believe I first read the Diary of Anne Frank when I was in the fifth grade (age 9-10). It would have been the original English translation, not one of the more recent versions, as those hadn't been published yet.
I chose to read it because of my interest in the Holocaust; it wasn't assigned reading.
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I'm only on week six of homeschooling, so my experience is minimal, but I thought I'd share what's happened with us so far.
I wanted to do school out and about. At the library, in the park, etc.
The only problem is, that doesn't actually work for my kid! She does WAY better in our school room, a room I expected to use mainly to store things. Who knew?
I plan to stay flexible.
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I have no idea! I worked happily for many years before having children, and I'm definitely not the "keeping the home" type. So I'm sure I'll be doing something, but it could just as easily be volunteer work as paid employment.
I'll be 55 when my younger child goes off to college, and I expect my husband to retire about 10 years after that.
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My understanding is that the children take the SAT or ACT in 7th grade (gasp!)
Just to respond to this part of it -- I took the SAT in 7th grade many years ago (almost 30...), and I remember it being fun! Definitely not a stressful or unpleasant experience.
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I don't use K12, but this sounds like a local issue, not a k12 issue per se.
It sounds to me like the teacher initially gave you a reasonable answer and is now being told by someone above her to do an assessment to make sure the child really does know the required material. I'd imagine that the virtual academy has to pay for each level used, hence the small roadblock before being permitted to move on.
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We like this one.
:iagree:
We particularly enjoy the icons showing what the major economic activities are in different areas.
I do find that I get out the big atlas (Oxford Atlas of the World, probably about 15 years old) fairly frequently, but I'm not sorry that I bought a children's atlas in addition.
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Bumping this up for you.
For what it's worth, my daughter reads quite well, but she still confuses b and d.
Edited to add: my daughter was somewhere in the 110-120 range when her reading really took off. We discontinued the OPG after lesson 119 because she hated it, and I was unconvinced the potential benefit was worth the unhappiness in her particular case.
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My husband participates actively in conversations about homeschooling, is informed about what we're doing, and occasionally offers opinions, but I do the research and make the curriculum decisions. Since we talk all the time, he knows what's going on and has shared his opinions, so my decisions are shaped by his thoughts as well as my own.
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We have this one:
http://www.enasco.com/product/TB23367T
I like that it has covered buckets, so you can use it as a bucket or a pan balance. It also comes with a nice set of weights.
The only problem I've encountered with this scale is that it's too sensitive! I had a really hard time finding objects in my house that all weighed exactly the same amount to use when illustrating math equalities. I finally found some checkers from an old connect four set that work.
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How about giving MEP a try? It's free, and provides plenty of challenge!
We're taking a break from MEP 1 because it's "too hard" right now for my Kindergartner, but I hope to go back to it sooner rather than later.
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While we're on this subject...will MM tell you WHEN to use the abacus or are we just supposed to figure it out on our own?
I don't have the Light Blue curriculum, but in the Blue Place Value 1 book, she has a picture of an abacus next to the parts where you're supposed to use an abacus. I would expect that she did the same thing in the Light Blue series, but obviously can't say for sure!
Weekly Report: Oct. 3-8
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Our week doesn't really end until tomorrow, but I posted today.
My favorite thing about the week happened outside of our school time, when I overheard Erika reading out loud to a couple of her friends. In German, which she's in the very early stages of learning to read.