Nikita
-
Posts
57 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Nikita
-
-
My son has never been to school, so being a late reader didn't bring the baggage that it would have if he'd been in school. We had always read together a lot every day, and I had taught him all the letter sounds, but he was not interested in reading at all. However, by the time he was 8 and not reading even the simplest words, I decided we needed to focus on getting him reading. He was not motivated at all until I told him I would not read aloud the next Harry Potter book - he would have to learn to read it himself (I think that was book number 3).
I used Reading Reflex primarily, and did a lot of work with him playing the games they suggest. I also made up cards with a whole lot of CVC words, and we'd go through them every day, logging how many words he could read in 3 minutes, with rewards for beating his previous score. It was slow going but it finally clicked. He was so proud when he could read his first BOB book to me.
After RR, I used Phonics Pathways, but I had to cover most of the page and only show him a few words at a time because the number of words on the page was overwhelming.
It was hard work teaching him to read. We worked together for almost an hour (broken up into shorter times) every single day until he got it. He got frustrated, and it took so much patience and creativity to keep him at it. But in six months he went from being a non-reader to being able to tackle that Harry Potter book. He's never looked back.
(The side benefit was that his 4yo sister, who spent most of that time on my lap or sitting beside us drawing pictures, inhaled all the reading lessons too, and figured out how to read within a few months of her brother, without any direct teaching. I hadn't even realized she was listening to any of it!)
Nikita
-
I've just purchased Trail Guide to use with my kids (9 and 13). I'm not keen on the Rand McNally atlases that they recommend, so I was looking at other student atlases wondering what might be good - National Geographic, Kingfisher, Oxford?
For those of you that have used this program, which atlases did you find were useful or frustrating for finding the answers?
Nikita
-
I'm Nikita, homeschooling in southern Ontario with dh and my 2 children who have never been to school. We do "classical lite", so I have lurked here for a while but never posted - I feel like my experience is a bit different from a lot of folks who have a more structured homeschool. I love reading everyone's comments on these boards, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all that you accomplish with your kiddos - my older one is just not academically inclined even though he's bright. So...
13yo son (grade 8) is currently doing Singapore's New Syllabus Math, and Galore Park's Latin Prep 1 (thanks to Laura in China for recommending it!) We follow the suggestions in The Writer's Jungle for writing, because he is such a reluctant writer, although he's done some R&S grammar in the past and we've dabbled in lots of other writing programs unsuccessfully. We're also taking a break from formal science and history right now and unschooling those, as he has his plate full with a bunch of outside activities. He's been involved in First Lego League for the past 3 years as well. These outside activities are crucial for him as he is so social - it's getting harder and harder for us to keep homeschooling as most of his peers are drifting off to institutional schools for high school and he feels the isolation.
9yo daughter (grade 4) is finishing up Miquon Math supplemented with Math Mammoth right now (then we'll switch to Singapore), and L'Art de Lire French, also Writer's Jungle for writing and R&S 3 Grammar. I'm using Nebel's for science for her, and SOTW although not on a strict schedule. I'll be starting the Trail Guide geography program with both of them in a couple of weeks (after a family vacation). She's involved in a lot of extra-curricular stuff too, mostly music- and dance-related.
Nikita
-
My 13yo is doing Latin Prep 1 and enjoying it.
We are using the workbooks as well, and for my son, I wouldn't do it without them. He's the type of learner who needs to take a second swing at things to really get them. We work the whole chapter, then do a brief review and he does the workbook exercises so I can see if any of the new material didn't stick.
-
My 9yo daughter really likes it, although we're taking a break from it right now because she wanted to focus on French instead. I think it's a really nice, fun introduction to Latin. My son started with Prima Latina and enjoyed that too, but he's jealous that his little sister has gotten to use Minimus. She loves the characters, the cartoon illustrations, and the activity sheets. He was drawn to the history and the illustrations - if he'd used it, I know he wouldn't have liked the activity sheets and would have rejected them as busywork. He did well with the rote learning of PL.
I agree with the others that you really need the TM to get much out of Minimus, and I wouldn't worry about doing it on a rigid schedule - stop and review or do additional practice when you need to, because it isn't grammar intensive and that makes it a bit harder for the kids to retain what they've learned, in my experience. There are many activities that keep it fun for the kids, so I do think it holds their interest more easily at that age than other programs.
-
I've been using the gr3 multiplication set with my 9yo daughter who hates math. (She was struggling with Miquon and it seemed like a good time to work on math facts). It has worked really really well - has enough review and a good mix of interesting tasks as well as routine problems. She did already know the principles of multiplication, though, and I think if the ideas had been brand new to her, it maybe introduced the concepts a little too quickly.
I'll definitely be getting more to use as supplements along the way, but I don't think I'll use it as my main curriculum. Instead I plan to switch to Singapore for our main math program after Miquon (the same path I used with my older one who is now on New Syllabus Math).
Another online program I've used is from LearnNC, and it's free. Go here and choose the Resources for the right grade level, then choose the Week by Week Essentials. I've used these worksheets for both my kids to keep me on track when we've needed a break from our regular curriculum, and to keep up skills over the summer break.
Nikita (who usually lurks)
Help with ideas for an 8yo struggling reader
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Finding interesting material for him to read was one of the biggest problems with keeping him motivated, and absolutely, I have JK Rowling thank for a big part of it. I kept a journal through that time, and I wrote: "Most of my selections [of easy readers] were not enthusiastically received - he felt they were simplistic, childish, and just plain boring."
Yet, "every few weeks, he would reach for Harry Potter and try it out, then announce that it was still too difficult."
Between the BOB books and Harry Potter, we did have success with the Amelia Bedelia books, the Commander Toad series (by Jane Yolen), A Big Ball of String, and The Christian Liberty Nature Readers. After those he picked up the Wizard of Oz book that had been our family readaloud and snuck off to read it under the bedclothes with a flashlight. That was the moment I knew he was hooked on reading.
At one point, he turned to me and said, "Remember how you told me that once I started reading, I wouldn't be able to stop? How reading would open up a whole new world for me that I didn't even know about before? You were right, Mom!"
Truly, teaching that boy to read has been the most satisfying experience out of all our years of homeschooling. I really have to hold onto that feeling when we are having our down days.
Nikita