petepie2
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Posts posted by petepie2
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My oldest, a natural speller, is almost finished with AAS 7, so I've seen the whole kit and kaboodle. It's a great program, and even though I'm a natural speller, I've learned a ton myself.
My DS is on Level 3. He is not a natural speller, but AAS seems to be working for him. Starting in Level 3, you have to start using visual memory along with rules. For example, knowing when to use "a", "ai", "a-e" or "ay." There isn't a rule to know when to choose "ai" or "a-e." So we just do a lot of practice. If I know the origin of the word, I try to throw that info in, as well. I also do any kind of tricks I can think of to help him remember, i.e. "here" is in all the position words like "where" and "there." EAR is in "hear." Think "Thus SAITH the Lord" when you're trying to spell "said", etc. I'm teaching him to ask, "Does that look right? If not, what are my options for fixing it." That's where the rules come in. We also started Evan-Moor's Daily Paragraph Editing that has a few spelling errors here and there. It's helpful if he can at least recognize that something is spelled wrong. It's been slow going, but he's definitely moving forward.
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Daily: Latin, math, handwriting (for youngers), reading. My 2nd grader also does spelling every day. My oldest does spelling only twice a week because she is a natural speller.
Everything else is divided up according to how many lessons we have to complete in a year. First Language Lessons is 3x a week. However, next year my oldest will be using Rod & Staff English and that will be 4 lessons per week. Writing With Ease and Classical Composition is 4 days per week, etc.
For science my goal is 2-3 lessons per week. For history we use TOG, so the reading is just divided into what is manageable. Some weeks, we can cover it in a couple of days. Other weeks, my oldest may spread it out over four days.
We also have subjects like "Greek Myths" and "Christian Studies" by Memoria Press. My oldest may complete each of these lessons in one day, or she may spread them out over two days.
I have goals for what needs to be covered in a week, and I have a rough idea of what each day's goals should be. But in the end, we're flexible in how and when the work gets done.
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It's exercise for the brain.
I like this article at Memoria Press:
http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/apology-latin-and-math
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We're in FLL4. There's definitely more, but also everything is reviewed. The review is not always necessary for my DD, so it sometimes gets skipped. It just means our lesson is shorter for that day. It's a solid program for 4th grade grammar.
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I always love the complaint about SM and shuffling books. I have used it successfully with two kids and never cracked anything but the workbooks. (Though I do use the HIG later).
Some kids need more problems and more frequent review than what's provided in the SP textbooks & workbooks. I'm glad the workbooks worked well for your children.
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Entering the conversation.....I noticed that MM has review books for each grade level. Do you think going through one of those in the summer would be a good indication of MM is a good fit? My DS is doing Singapore, which I don't think has enough problems or review. So I'm curious if MM is what I'm looking for.
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I guess I don't see how some art instruction interferes with creativity. I've had ZERO art education, and as such I'm very intimidated about using different art media because I'm clueless about how to use them. With my children I've done a little bit of "Drawing With Children", although we haven't gotten past drawing from graphics. It's been very helpful with my two oldest because they now enjoy trying to draw different things because they have some tools at their disposal. Even my younger two kids don't like to draw things that they feel they "don't know how to draw." I tell them to draw it however they want to and it will be fine, but they're often not satisfied with that.
And here's another example of how art instruction is helpful. My oldest can spend quite a bit of time drawing something and then try to to paint it with watercolors. Well, she comes to paint a particular part (like the eye in a portrait) and because she doesn't know any better, her brush is too big and the nearby colors are too wet, and what she ends up with is a big blob of blue for an eye. And now she's upset. All of that can be avoided with a little bit of art instruction.
Next year I'm looking into something like Atelier....
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We do art and science together. We use Tapestry of Grace for history, so sometimes I may read history aloud to both of my older kids together if I only have one book on the topic. But mostly my DD is independent with UG TOG, and I do LG with my DS. Next year I'll have two in LG. Everything else is a skill subject, so I keep them separate.
ETA: I've worked on getting my oldest to be independent, and thankfully, it suits her very well. On her own subjects, spelling and grammar are the only subjects that I directly teach her.
Your children are close enough in age that they may be working on the same level in some skill subjects. It doesn't hurt to try. I've learned that you just have to be flexible, and each school year is almost like a blank slate as far as scheduling and logistics. You take it as it comes and adjust when necessary.
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We just had a play week: Barefoot in the Park
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I played trumpet in middle school, and then moved to French horn through high school and a year of college. It's a very smooth transition. And as someone mentioned, playing trumpet->French horn will give him experience reading the treble clef.
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It looks like Essentials would be a good choice. If anything I like that it's cheaper....and she will probably like to color some of the pages, too. We also add in a lot of c-rod activities. Education Unboxed is a great resource!
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I used Singapore Earlybird with my first three children.....Book A when they were 4 yrs old and Book B in Kindergarten (w/ R&S Math 1 thrown in)....I'm thinking of doing something different with my youngest (mainly because after doing something 3 times, you're just ready for something different!), who will be K4 in the fall. Is there a good reason to prefer Essential Math over Earlybird? I read that the money unit isn't in Essential Math, and I'm okay with that. Only one of my kids "got it" anyway, and I think it's unnecessarily difficult. Would Essential Math A be appropriate for K4? Right now she can recognize numbers/count almost to twenty.
Thanks in advance!
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All About Spelling
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For us, the key has been that they're written differently:
b is a line and a buh-buh belly
d is a circle up duh-duh down
Also, here's an article from All About Learning Press:
http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/how-to-solve-b-d-reversal-problems/
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We start R&S 1 halfway through Kindergarten and then finish it in 1st grade and move on to Math 2. My 4th grader is now halfway through Math 5. I would say things really pick up in Math 4. Math 2 does not do any multiplication...or rather it relegates it to the optional blacklines. I think most 2nd grade curricula cover x2, 4, 5, and 10 in 2nd grade.
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I haven't written one of these in ages, so it hardly qualifies as "weekly"...it's more like a year in review....
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American Girl has a mystery series, but I don't know if they meet the criteria for "girl detective".....My DD is all about some Nancy Drew!
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As others have said, she probably just invited the kids in the class. Or maybe she didn't want your daughter to feel like the odd one out if she didn't know anybody else there.
Here's where a party invite went wrong for my DD a few weeks ago:
She was invited to a party for one of the younger girls in her AHG troop. I don't know if she was the only one from the troop that was invited, but regardless she was the only one there at the party. All the other kids were schoolmates or relatives, so she only knew the birthday girl. After about 30 minutes of swimming around in the pool by herself, she gets out and bursts into tears, saying, "I don't know what to do!" Bless her heart. It was nobody's fault. She's just like me in that she doesn't easily insert herself into a group of people that she doesn't know. The others kids all knew each other, were playing together, and were basically oblivious to what was happening. I'm sure it would have been fine if the party had had structured activities, but the whole "let's just all play and socialize together in the pool" made the whole thing a huge FAIL for my DD.
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Understood Betsy
The Wheel On the School
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This year in 4th we're doing Classical Composition: Fables and some WWE4. In 5th we're going to continue with CC: Narrative to put in a buffer year before Writing With Skill.
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This is all very encouraging...Thanks so much...I'll be passing all of it along....
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Has she considered getting an evaluation through a neuropsychologist and an eye exam through a Developmental Optometrist (not a normal eye doctor)? Everyone here can make guesses, but what she really needs are concrete answers for the specific issues that might exist as well as any strengths that can be nurtured and tapped into....
I think that's where she's at right now, realizing that there is more than just a spelling issue going on. To this point it's maybe been a matter of not knowing what is normal for her age, and also trusting the standardized tests results and believing everything is okay with her reading. She has mentioned that she suspects dysgraphia and is now wondering about dyslexia. I think she needs some affirmation that, yes, her DD needs to be evaluated. I'm sure those of you in similar boats can sympathize with the desires to not "label" your child and to prevent your child from feeling inferior in any way. I'm not in her shoes, but I'm sure having your child evaluated can be a very emotional thing for both parent and child. Any encouragement in that area that I can pass along? Does all that make sense?
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I need some help for a friend of mine (she's not on these boards), and I've done enough perusing on these boards to know that SOMEONE has seen some of these same issues in their child and can offer some suggestions. Her DD is in 4th grade. She struggles with writing (including penmanship) and spelling. She also tires easily when reading (like after 10 minutes) and starts to lose focus. She cannot answer questions about what she reads on her own unless it happens to be a picture book or a below grade level book. She ignores punctuation when she reads aloud, and she sometimes switches out words with similar words.
For math.....She struggled immensely with Saxon Math 3 and is now using Teaching Textbooks 4. She scores on average 86%, but still needs interaction with her mom to stay focused on math.
For standardized testing, she did the Terra Nova in 2nd and the CAT in 3rd. She aced everything except for spelling, even scoring 100% on the reading comprehension part. (As an aside, this conversation came about in the context of choosing standardized testing, as she doesn't feel these previous tests have given her any useful information.)
Back to writing/spelling, in 1st & 2nd grade she spelled everything without vowels except the pronoun I. She also rarely left spaces between words. She could do well on copywork, comparatively speaking, but handwriting has always been very difficult. Her mom thinks she learned to read at an average pace. She still writes numbers and letters backwards but not out of order. She has started putting spaces between words this year (in 4th grade) and now includes vowels in most words.
This is a sample from her journal:
Fed 28,2014 My2favoret anemalon NaRNia are minutas an falns. ILike minutars Becan thay hold2Sordat a time and thay are flexabull. I like falns Becals tumnis isa faln and tumnis is the fers anemal luce sowinNarNia. I Love NarNia!
Her strengths are auditory. She can listen to her mom read (well above grade level) for long periods of time and can narrate back. She has a great ear for music, but is having difficulty actually learning to read music.
What does this sound like to you?
Thanks in advance!!
:lurk5:
Why do some people skip ETC 4?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
When my oldest did ETC 4, I didn't quite understand all the stuff about open/closed syllables. Also, she was already reading fluently and it seemed silly to have her divide the words that she already knew how to read. For my next child, I attempted to skip it, but he couldn't read the multisyllable words in ETC 5 because he had no tools to do so. However, now that I've been through All About Spelling, I have a full understanding of open/closed syllables and of what they're trying to do. The point is that if you know how to divide the word then you know how to read it. My 6yr old is currently doing ETC 4 1/2 to just give him more practice because he's not yet reading multisyllable words easily. It's been a great help to him, and I think he's finally starting to get it.