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lindsrae

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    Packer fan in the middle of MO
  1. Any recommendations for gentle introductions to cursive?
  2. AAS was not a success. She spent more time worrying about where the letter tile was on the board than thinking about the sound it made, etc. I haven't spent a ton of time researching, and many times I end up picking what *I* would like instead of what would be best for DD, so that's why I'm asking for opinions :) I will look into the programs suggested. I appreciate the feedback and welcome more options!
  3. My DD is in Grade One and a Half :) She needs lots of repetition and gets easily overwhelmed with having to write a great deal. I love using WWE, but we have had to just drop level 2 for now because it is stressing both of us out. Spelling has been very sporadic this year. I would like to do something systematic. We died on the vine with Phonics Road, and I tried to do just the spelling lists from The Writing Road to Reading, but she just needs more than that. Workbooks are ok--writing a single word isn't too stressful for her, but having to write sentences is. We have found real success with Saxon Math 2 this year and Easy Grammar 2 because I think there is enough review/repetition that she can feel confident. Any suggestions for spelling?
  4. No, you are correct. I just updated my signature today to reflect more accurately what we are doing. We've ditched Phonics Road but are using the spelling lists from WRTR (which are also in PR) because I also have that book. And I would LOVE additional suggestions on how to make spelling work better!!
  5. I wouldn't worry about the main idea part yet--that comes in WWE 2. And sometimes i skip questions that I know are challenging :)
  6. My DD is 7. We do one sentence a day of copywork. 3-5 spelling words. Math. We do grammar and other dictations orally. She will color all day long, so for her, it is the actual process of forming the letters that is a struggle.
  7. I worried tremendously about curriculum before I started homeschooling and the first year or so. I read hundreds of threads here religiously--studying curriculum options as if my life depended on it. In year three of homeschooling, I depend less on curriculum, more on skills and method. We still use books, of course, but I am refining my own ideas about education, and I realize "I" am the teacher, not the books, so I don't have to depend on them so much. It sounds like you already have your research done and have a pretty good idea of what you think would work for your family. I say go with what you have picked out. As the PP said, different things work for different families. You won't really know until you try something. You do the best you can and constantly reevaluate. The options can be overwhelming, but if you feel comfortable teaching the basics, as your post sounds like you are, you will be fine with almost everything. You haven't picked any "stinkers," IMHO, so go with your instincts :)
  8. Creativity is not my strong suit, but I'm seeing that I need to think out side the box. I so appreciate all ideas and suggestions.
  9. Thank you, 4evercanucks, for the links and articles. I haven't had my DD evaluated yet, but I did TONS of reading and researching. The dyslexic symptoms didn't seem to fit. I think the reason I felt the VSL "label" fit better was because it isn't so much an inability to do the work as the WAY is was asking her to complete the work was the problem. Not that I was speaking a foreign language but a different dialect. And yes, I think some of it has to do with her maturity level and maybe me having expectations that were not entirely realistic. But she is my firstborn, and my 4 year old loves to do schoolwork, so the comparison is difficult. I read the Wash Post article, and I see the point. I taught in the PS system before I had my kiddos (high school, so elementary school is like a foreign language to me!), and it bothered me when there had to be a label for everything. But when it comes to MY child, I want to have as clear of an understanding as possible of what helps her to learn, and that's why I've been seeking answers. I haven't ruled out dyslexia or maybe needing an eval, but just modifying some of our work and doing Brain Gym exercises have made a difference in a matter of three weeks, so I'm grateful for that. And also grateful for all the support and help I've been given here!
  10. This is my child. It was like a battle every day. We still battle, but things are SO much better when I understood WHY she hated writing and spelling so much. It is also comforting to know I can chill a little bit, work with her, and see things start to balance out.
  11. THANK YOU for all of the replies. I so appreciate the time you took to answer my post!! I need to update my siggy--DD is now 7 and 3 months. We did "first grade" last year, but I really wish I could say first grade for this year :) OhElizabeth, we're dropped PR because ohyesitissoboring! Got caught up in the "look at this program! It does everything! You are missing out if you don't do it." I am getting better at looking at what works for MY child over what is the prettiest, shiny program. I have the Peggy Kaye and right brained books on hold at the library. Today I decided to skip the copywork in WWE and just do our own. Create printing worksheets for day 1--where she traces the letters, have her copy the sentence day 2, MAYBE do dictation day 3? I am also going to skip around in WWE2 to cover books she is already familiar with then use passages from our reading. Not having context for the story makes her struggle unnecessarily. Guess I needed some reassurance that with some careful planning and research I CAN do wht is best for her. Nice to hear the comment that classical Ed is writing intensive and it is OK to modify that so my DD has success. I don't want her to hate doing schoolwork every day!
  12. Thanks for those recs. had never heard of either of those resources. Gives me a great place to start.
  13. I've had some concerns about my eldest DD the last year because she didn't seem to be progressing in reading and writing skills in the "usual" way. She's bright and can memorize things easily, loves books, adores history and science, but she seemed to struggle with reading and writing. It was almost a resistance to reading more than a few sentences per page or writing more than a few words. Spelling was also not much fun to get through. All the reading and research I did wasn't clicking until I read Dianne Craft's site about Visual-Spatial learners or right-brained learners. Now it made sense why she writes with her right hand but does cart wheels as a lefty--she has mixed dominance! No wonder she resists writing--she is not automatically retrieving letter formation, so it is a big struggle for her! Spelling is so complex: trying to associate sounds with letters and than reproducing them on a page was like a nightmare for her. We've been doing some Brain Gym exercises at home: cross crawl, lazy 8s, etc, and I 've seen improvement in just a few weeks in her attitude and even her willingness to work. She will actually pick up a book and want to read it, which she wasn't doing on her own just a month ago. So I think we are making progress, and I'm so glad that my "gut feeling" that something wasn't quite right is being validated. With all of that background, my question is knowing how much work to expect from her. We are using WWE2--she ALWAYS picked the shorter of the 2 sentences in WWE1, but she doesn't have that option any more. I've set aside the dictation right now because it completely stresses her out. I've even changed the copywork to creating worksheets on a handwriting generator so that she can copy the letters; this has helped because we don't battle over copywork any more, but I'm wondering what is helping her and what is not letting her progress. (Even as I type this, I know it is individual for every kid, but any kind of guidelines to help me know when to expect more and when to just provide support would be helpful!) For spelling, we took about a month off because it was just such a battle of tears and trials, and I remember SWB saying that tears, consistent ones anyway, are often a child's immature way of saying that something is too difficult. She doesn't know how to express the difficulty, so she just cries. So I have tried the visual spelling method (not sure if there is an official name) where I write out the spelling word and she draws a picture incorporating the letters of the word in some symbolic fashion. DD LOVES this and enjoys coming up with pictures for the spelling words. I am still struggling with how best to review these words, because as soon as I ask her to spell the word to me (orally, without writing it down), there are the tears again. I'm having a hard time of knowing what is difficulty and what is resistance to trying work. She's very dramatic in ALL areas of life, not just in schoolwork... I guess I'm just looking for a little help in knowing how much to assist her and give her confidence and how much to encourage her to try something a little bit difficult. And any other advice or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for sticking with me if you read through all of this!
  14. What are some of your favorite literary passages that you have your children begin memorizing? My dd7 and dd4 both have decent memorization skills, but I'd like to begin expanding them. We memorize Scripture and facts or Classical Conversations, but I'd also like to include some beautiful poetry or passage from great literature. Any suggestions?
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