I'm trying to figure out how people get ahead in Singapore. My son has not struggled with the concepts except for "Time" in 1st grade. But by the time I teach the lesson, do the textbook, the workbook, CWP, Extra Practice, the reviews, take the tests, and do some occasional enrichment/math facts, we don't get ahead doing about an hour/day. We just keep up, and that's with doing some work in the summer. Are we: --Doing things too slowly? --Doing too many things? --Not spending as much time as other people? :confused1:

I saw a good quote once about skipping class: If you skip a class, it's like paying for a night in a nice hotel and then sleeping in the car.

http://calnewport.com/blog/ He has some books too but I personally think you can get what you need from the blog. ETA: When he branched out from study tips he archived all the student-related materials here: http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/

Yes, and if your kid can figure it all out without the guide you might as well move up to AoPS. Or ask AoPS for a job for your kid. :) There are ways to solve the workbook problems that are not the AoPS way. If you don't have the guide you can miss the point. For example, the guide teaches a great trick for solving squares that end in 5, but if you just see the workbook it will ask you for 45 squared and not having read the guide, the student will solve it the typical way (vertical or lattice or grid, depending) rather than practicing the trick. (The trick is to take the 4 from the 45, multiply it by one more that itself (5) and then stick a 25 on the end, for an answer of 2025.) The reasoning of the trick is explained by showing how squares work in the guide; they don't just give the trick to the child. Or in the guide they might show you a way to add the first 10 odd numbers and it will seem crazy in the workbook when they ask to add the first 100 odd numbers if you didn't read the way to do it. Unless your kids figures out the trick, in which case see my first line.

Gave you 5 stars...

Hmmm. I should try that. :D

Take a look at this thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/499321-talk-to-me-about-online-class-options/ :grouphug:

Crazy Horse is expensive--check the prices before you decide. We greatly enjoyed Custer State Park. Also check Wind Cave; it's not on your list but is interesting. We also enjoyed Badlands scenic drive and their cabins as well. The remodeled ones were very nice and it was so quiet at night. There's a homeschooler who runs a hotel in Custer; PM me if you want info. If you make it to Cody we greatly enjoyed the Buffalo Bill museum. In addition to their usual exhibits, that days we saw a birds of prey demonstration. Luckily they were leashed because we also saw lots of baby bunnies on the grounds.

One is a wild animal and one is supposed to be leashed per the law in her area. If you lived in a world in which your only exposure to snakes were while they were on a leash as legally required, and one guy had a snake that would come up and literally climb your leg, you would be fine with that and not feel he had any responsibility? You would actually change your whole attitude, learn to handle snakes, and research and memorize safe and dangerous ones, all for this one guy's pet? She's not talking about wild animals that you run into and it can't be helped, she's talked about an animal that's legally supposed to be leashed. Why in the world would someone need to change their feelings when they don't need to have contact as long as the law is followed? This analogy makes no sense to me.

Yes, we have one and it's working well so far. It's always good to open a college account; sometimes family members will contribute even if you don't. You could compromise and put half in the 529 and half elsewhere, although I'd do the whole thing. You could also spread it over a couple of 529s with different brokerage houses or states.

I love the house stories...

Our house has a concrete foundation and was built in the 1920s. It's painted gray and has a porch and a brick walkway.

I agree. I've been trying to think of what I could do from here. The only thing I could come up with was Shipping. All. The. Books. (In reference to what I've read on WTM about the prices for shipping to Australia.) This sounds like a more reasonable idea.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Like many others here, I am finding words inadequate. May you find some peace.

Unusual voices, regardless of whether your son can match them: Michael Jackson Leonard Cohen Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction) Bob Dylan (somewhat unusual voice, definitely unusual style; folk-ish) Neil Young (very unusual voice, some folk-style songs, some more rock)

I don't personally know, but I found this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0739078151 ETA: It's part of a series so different voices may be better. Also, Joan Baez went lower in her early years.

Thanks everyone. There's lots to take in and I plan to implement some ideas and discuss with the mom. I had planned some ideas for yesterday but the student came by and told me he had forgotten he had a music performance. We are unavailable Thursday afternoons so I hope to try some of these suggestions tomorrow and Monday.

Ooooh. I have a question: Did you use a cattle prod or a riding crop? :tongue_smilie:

Thanks everyone for your help. So far the plan is for me to continue tutoring him during the summer. His mom is going through a lot of personal/medical stuff right now which is why the meeting with the teacher felt overwhelming to her and I offered to try and step in with another approach. We haven't spoken of stopping. She's not paying me or anything; he's my son's friend and I enjoy him and saw an opportunity to either help him or at least provide her with more data. If I may be really frank...I hope I don't regret this....full story time... I really do wonder if he's trying to get out of our work. He doesn't like school at all. He doesn't like reading. He doesn't like work. He's a bit spoiled with material things and ruling the roost at home. After school, aside from 20-30 minutes of homework (which he whines about a lot to his mom) and 15-20 minutes with me for 1-2 WWE lessons (no whining), he spends all his time either outside playing (lots of energy), playing video games, watching movies, or watching Youtube videos of other people playing video games(!) When I asked him the purpose of watching other people play video games is, he said he likes to watch the games he's not allowed to play. His mom sets up the videos for him. This makes me :confused1: . I can honestly say he has his mom under his thumb and manipulates her a bit that I've seen, not sure how it is in private. When the passages were easier he really did fine and I spent my time reassuring his mom that so far we had not run into trouble yet. Suddenly, starting 2-3 weeks ago when the passages required more thinking and close listening, he just started giving me these non-sensical answers. "Lobster?" When the whole passage was about a land dragon who didn't want to fight, with no mention of sea life whatsoever in the entire passage? I really want to help him and if there's a genuine problem I'd like to do what I can to get him the help he needs. But I have the nagging feeling he's trying to get out of work and end our tutoring because I'm tougher on him that either the school or his mom. ie "The school and mom don't make me use complete sentences." I'm the only thing standing between him and video game time. Then I feel guilty that he probably has a real problem and the level of difficulty has exposed it and I shouldn't be suspicious of an 8 year old. :( Despite the above, I do enjoy working with him. I also think he enjoys having the passages read to him.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. It's very helpful. I am not a visual person and do not visualize anything when I read so this is new to me. I'm going to have to figure this out for him. He didn't have trouble with the easier books, such as Charlotte's Web, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, or The Frog and the Princess. Does that still indicate a visual problem? Another thing he does is give answers that don't make sense or were never in the passage. For example, today's passage (from Child's Geography of the World) talked about how the planet has layers, like a jelly roll cake. Some of those layers have coal, diamonds, oil, etc. The top layer is stone and is like a potato skin on a hot potato. When I asked him what the top layer was made of, he said coal. When I asked him to name something in the layers, he said jellyfish. The passage had talked about people using wells to get oil out of the ground. When I asked him what we use wells for, he told me fire comes out of the wells, when that was actually part of the sentence about volcanoes. A couple of weeks ago he used "lobster" for an answer and there was nothing about food or sea life in the passage at all. When he answers he thinks for a bit and then gives me an answer and his voice is triumphant, like he suddenly figured it out and is excited. :sad: And despite the fact that I remind him to give me complete sentences, he never remembers until I remind him each time. eg "Where does lava come out from the earth?" "Volcanoes!" "Full sentence, please." "Lava comes out of volcanoes." He understands what a complete sentence is and has crafted some very nice ones, but in the "aha' moment he forgets, and the "aha" is incorrect too. :confused1: He has not been evaluated. His mom has had one meeting with the teacher. She and I agreed I would try a different approach so that's where I came in. The teacher's complaint was that he skips words when reading and writing, but he has never done that for me. I have him copy sentences and he rarely makes mistakes in that task, maybe missing a comma or forgetting the period at the end of the sentence, totally normal for a 2nd grader. When I ask him to tell me one thing he remembers from the passage, he has no problem coming up with something in a well-crafted sentence.

Sorry for the novel... My neighbor and I get along well and she told me her public-schooled son has been having trouble with writing, according to his teacher. He's in 2nd grade. We hypothesized that perhaps he didn't do well with the typical writing instruction at the school, which includes lots of writing, creative spelling, and "research reports" which seem to mostly be done with the parents' help. She liked the idea of copywork and dictation. Because I already own WWE I offered to help and so I've been doing the lessons, starting at Level 1 Lesson 1. We were able to move quickly through the first 18 weeks or so. Now that the excerpts are more advanced (think The Reluctant Dragon vs. Charlotte's Web) he's struggling. I read him a passage, typically 4-7 paragraphs, and he seems to be listening and interested. At the end it seems he genuinely does not know the answers to any of the content questions. I have tried re-reading entire passages rather than just the section he needs to answer, so as to made it undesirable for him to be lazy about it. Today, the answers for 4 different questions happened to be in the same paragraph, which I read him 4 times so that each time he could find the answer. So it was ask Q1/read entire paragraph/get answer for Q1/ask Q2 (answer is in same paragraph)/reread paragraph/get answer for Q2/etc. 4 times. I asked him if he prefers hearing the question first and then listening for just that answer and he said yes, and requested I give him the questions before reading. I refused because I told him we were working on his listening. He has also requested that he be allowed to go back and re-read the passage to find the answer. (When I read it aloud I haven't let him look at it.) When I declined, he said when his mom reads to him and asks him questions, she allows him to read and find the answers. He's a good reader and is at about an early 4th grade level. He doesn't like to read, though, and his mom tells me the only thing he reads voluntarily are video game articles and Captain Underpants. He's a very active child and somewhat oblivious to things around him (spilling water, pencils rolling away, tripping, etc) I'm at a loss. My son at that age just answered the questions without a problem and I'm not starting WWE with my daughter until September so I don't have a different experience. Any ideas? ETA: Not that people who spill water are oblivious, I mean after it's spilled and spreading everywhere in front of him, he still doesn't realize it. :)

:grouphug:

You're welcome. I love that site and am using it to learn how to type. I'm pretty fast (at typing incorrectly) but I have to look at the keyboard and I use the wrong fingers for the wrong keys. I'd like to be able to look elsewhere like a document I'm keying. Once I have to look away I slow down considerably.

OS X is based on a Linux-like system under the hood. You can access it via Applications/Utilities/terminal. Try inserting a DVD or CD into the drive. Then start terminal and at the prompt, type "drutil eject" without the quotes and it should eject the disc. This is an example of using a Linux-like system. But it's command line and most non-technical people who use Linux use a GUI (graphical user interface) in which they can point and click (like Windows or Apple) instead of typing all commands.

http://www.typingweb.com/