acurtis75
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Posts posted by acurtis75
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I've taught dd to say "if I were in school I would be in 4th grade" as a response to anyone who asks about grade. I explained that it is usually just another way of asking her age. Once a person talks to her for 5 minutes they usually realize she is very advanced because she has talked like an adult since she was about 3 but this way they figure it out on their own instead of her telling them she does middle school or high school work.
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This thread reminded me that there is also a history bee. We didn't participate because I found out too late this year but will probably do it for 2015. The individual registration cost is $75 and the first round (which can be done online) is conducted in January.
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In addition to almost all the ones that dmmetler listed we have done:
Just for Fun and Scripps Spelling Bee - (1-3rd, 3rd-8th respectively), no cost, usually in February. We do a qualifying bee through our local homeschool group to go to the regional group bee which then has a spot if you win for the citywide bee in our large metropolitan area.
Geography Bee - Same age divisions as spelling bee through the same group. No cost. Usually January.
Information for our area for both of these http://www.sethsa.org
AWANA quizzing competition. No cost. Through our local church but I believe they have these all over the country.
Bible bee - three age divisions ranging from age 6 or 7 all the way up to seniors in high school. Approximately $30 for family study materials. There are verses to memorize and then a study guide for a particular book of the Bible. You study over the summer and then in late August either compete in a local bee or take a test online (which we did due to travel schedule). Top 120 in each category go to a national competition in October/November. DD participated this year for the first time and we're going to nationals next month. There are pretty significant scholarship and cash awards but the scholarships are mostly for pretty conservative Christian schools so that would be an issue for some people. I like that some of them are for online tuition and were dd to win some we would probably use them during high school years. www.biblebee.org
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Just dug out the file and the certificate and ribbons are in there...apparently I forgot to tell dd about the scores and give her the award.
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We had to have a proctor for the Bible Bee and parents weren't allowed in the room. Dh and I laughed about that because we couldn't have helped her with a single answer since she studied and we didn't. I am a fan of online testing because when you're done, you're done. No mailing in score sheets and waiting months for results. The email reminded me that I'm not sure I remember getting results from the exploratory latin exam so I've got to dig out my file. I know we received the medal for mythology because it's hanging up in the classroom but I can't remember whether we got Latin results.
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My grandfather (dd's great grandfather) died last week and the funeral was earlier this week. She's been dealing with everything pretty well so far. This morning she told me she woke up a little early and wrote a poem. Dh and I were pretty impressed once we deciphered the writing. Dd still has the penmanship and organizational skills of a 9 year old even if she has deep thoughts. I was amused that she justified the writing on the left and right side of the page but won't start a new line after the comma. She told me that makes it take too much paper. She also REALLY likes commas :lol:
Apparently I can't attach the picture so here goes...
The Great Man
I saw a great man once,
walking all alone,
I asked where he was going and if I could come along.
He said, "I am going where you cannot follow, indeed;
I am leaving, searching for tomorrow."
I asked him where tomorrow is and how he would get there.
He said, "I will walk, so long as I get there,
as for where it is, it's never really far,
it's always near by, close to our hearts.
I hope that I find it, I really truly do,
for when I find tomorrow,
I'll be happy."
And then he turned and left,
and never since then have I seen that great man,
searching for tomorrow.
We are gathered here to celebrate this great man,
who never again will have to go looking for tomorrow
for he has found it,
and now he is happy.
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I saw the email yesterday and plan to check in to it for DD. We did the Bible Bee online and she likes doing online tests. I haven't looked at the study materials or anything yet but put it on a list to check in to next week.
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We did it the last two years and never received a sales call. I think we received a few newsletter type emails but that is it.
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Thanks for posting. Last year we had to drive over an hour and I'm not sure I would have remembered to check this year. There is a new location 15 minutes away so we'll go ahead and do it.
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I'm glad you posted because it reminded me of a talk at our state conference this past weekend. One of the speakers gave a list of questions to ask when you meet with mentors. It made me think of your daughter and the conference so I meant to post it. You probably already have some of these questions but I thought it was a good list.
What made the difference for you to become a leader in this field?I'd like to hear your story about how you got in to vocational fieldMost important lesson you've learnedKey leaders in field I should pay attentionWho are people who personally influenced you5 books you've found most helpful in this fieldMagazines or Publications I should be readingTime and money aside what would you be doing? -
I agree with the recommendation to look older books but do watch out for unelightened attitudes towards racial/ethnic/religious minorities and be prepared to discuss them with your child. I can remember being appalled that my then 6 y.o. referred to Barack Obama as a "half-breed" rather than biracial and it turned out she'd learned the term from one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.
Yes, I can't remember the specific terminology because it has been a while but we had a similar issue after reading The Secret Garden. I just try to discuss them with her so she knows what is no longer appropriate/acceptable.
Like dmmetler I also have a daughter who is extremely sensitive. We've read a lot of the suggestions here. A few that I remember being upsetting for her:
Either the 2nd or 3rd Oz book had a twist at the end that really upset her. Something about a boy being a girl or vice versa.
The Girl Who Could Fly - she was in tears because the girl had to live away from her family because of her gift
She also liked Magic Treehouse at that age. I know the reading level isn't that high for them but there are a lot of them and dd enjoyed them. I never really paid much attention to reading levels because dd could read anything I put in front of her by the time she was 5. I always mixed in good classic literature (like many of the books listed already in this thread) with stuff she enjoyed reading like the Magic Treehouse books and I believe it contributed to her love for historical fiction.
ETA: We also did LOTS of picture books. She's probably read hundreds of fairy tales, books on mythology, etc. We've probably had 10 different picture books with various cinderella stories from different cultures. She still reads her D'Aulaire's (sp) Greek myths and Norse myths books over and over again.
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In addition to the curriculum mentioned you might try a fun supplement. We use mindsnacks SAT vocabulary on the iPad and really like it.
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I'll start by saying that I'm impressed that all of you had a plan for next year done in February. My planning motivation has been really lacking lately so I'm glad this thread has been resurrected so I can make a list of our tentative plans for the summer. We have had a lot of travel breaks and have been a bit inconsistent with our schedule for too long so this summer I'm planning to do "school" for a few hours most week days.
Math - finish honors problems for MUS pre-algebra (we're done with the book but saved the honors problems for the end), finish BA 3D (this is her review/fun math) and start AOPs pre-algebra and LOF pre-algebra (for fun...she asked to keep going with the series).
Science - finish the book we've been neglecting for the last year and a half.
History - complete the activities for SOTW 2 as a review and do more of the supplementary readings. Be ready to start SOTW 3 in the fall
Latin - finish LFC A and start B
Language Arts - take a summer writing class (checking in to several local options), finish current vocabulary from classical roots (can't remember which book we're on), finish figuratively speaking and come up with a plan for next year because I currently have no idea what we're going to do.
Bible - complete indépendant study that goes with Bible Bee materials
Spelling and Geography - begin self study for both subjects because she wants to compete in both the spelling bee and geography bee
Typing - complete the online program she has been using off and on for the last few months
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I'm so glad someone liked an old post of mine on this thread because I went back and read a lot of the funny things dd said a few years ago that I had forgotten about.
Here's a new one from this week. We were on a business trip last week and dd saw a lot of people she hadn't seen in years. She was asked about "school" a lot and this week she answered everyone with the same thing.."I don't go to school. I am homeschooled which is way better because I get to study about rational numbers which are fun, awesome & very cool. They are also very easy but apparently schools won't let you learn about them until you are in 7th grade. Isn't that crazy?" She got a lot of blank stares in return.
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I didn't want to start AOPs for 2 weeks and then go out of town so I gave dd LOF Decimals & Percents (from library) and told her to work on the bridges during this time. She had been making a lot of silly errors and taking forever to complete the assignments which made me wonder if we needed to back track and review. Really, I knew better but it is always tempting to worry that she has those dreaded "gaps" since we've accelerated so much.
Today I told her to do the bridge and then we would go outside and swim while the baby is napping. She finished in less than 5 minutes with no mistakes.
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I'm certainly not an expert but here is one link:
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/Newsletter/socratic_method.pdf
It is a rather technical explanation. Google had several other resources. This is probably a gross over-simplification but attempting to apply the principle with dd in math is "asking leading questions to make the child think through the problem logically and get the answer". The idea that the article references of a "guide on the side".
I haven't had any formal training but the basic goal I'm shooting for is to prompt her to think logically through the problem. I've been intending to read and study more about the method as we move in to literature and other more formal studies but for math I think it is a little more straight forward.
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MCT is written for PS GT programs for about 3rd grade, and there's really not much grammar taught in K-2 PS, so you'll be fine starting MCT at age 8 with just doing Charlotte Mason copywork before then. If anything, your DC will be ahead of the expectation. That's one reason why so many of us use MCT younger, because it really does start out basic. However, the writing is anything but, and it ramps up a lot between Island and Town. In my DD's case, we've kind of stopped after town for two reasons-the first is that she's got a heavy load anyway, and taking time to stretch out the writing wasn't a bad thing for her-and the second was that she scored ridiculously high on the English section of the EXPLORE, so I kind of figure that grammar is something I can let slide a bit ;). She loves MCT and wants to go back to it, but they're expensive books to just let sit because we don't have time to do everything, and they're not something DD can do on her own (which was one reason why I did buy the LOF LA -I don't think she'll learn anything new from them, but she loves Fred and he's something she can do independently).
I didn't know there were LOF LA books...you are not good for my budget dmmetler :lol: . I am feeling the same way you did after the explore testing and was considering either finding a less formal approach or even skipping grammar and focusing more on writing.
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I think the book to start with depends on exactly what you want to get out of it. If you are going through it to increase understanding, then Pre-A would work well. You more than likely know how to do all the problems, but may have not seen it presented in the way AoPS talks about. I frequently am surprised and smile at the way the book approaches the concept. Not only does it create a better understanding for me, but it often gives me a completely other angle to explain math from.
I think this is a great point. I haven't gotten to any problems yet that I can't do (I'm only a few chapters in so that might change) but often after I read the approach in the book I can get the solution more quickly and explain it better. This is the exact opposite of the way I feel about Singapore teaching. For some reason the more I read the Singapore explanations the less I am able to explain to dd. It's not an issue of being able to work the problem but I just prefer the AOPs approach and thought processes for getting the answer.
We didn't use the whole Singapore program...just CWP so I may have felt differently if we used it as a complete program.
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Congrats! My DD did quite a bit better in terms of % questions answered correctly compared to last year, but the competition must be stiffer as her national & state percentiles barely changed
Congrats on the improvement. I'm excited to have something for dd to participate in where she doesn't get everything right. It's a good learning experience for her to strive to work harder :)
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I got an email from our coordinator stating that results were online and I just checked and dd's scores were online. The overall results aren't posted but when I logged in I was able to access her numbers. I'm not sure how to interpret them since this was our first year participating so maybe someone else knows what they mean.
Score 69
National Place 25 and 80.27 percentile
State Place 8 and 71.88 percentile
Are the percentiles compared to other 3rd graders?
ETA: I found the explanation of results after I posted.
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I've been playing a bit with alcumus and the first few chapters of pre-algebra. I plan to work through the books as dd does because she is young and will possibly need my input. I really enjoy the material. I dropped out of college to start a business with dh so I didn't do much college math other than calculus but I've always had an aptitude for math and feel like I'll be able to get through it.
When I first found AOPs and Beast Academy I was immediately remorseful that no one introduced me to problem solving the way they teach it when I was a student. I would have loved math competitions and had I learned the AOPs way I'm sure I could have done well.
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I always planned to send our oldest dd to private school but dd was determined to homeschool. Early on the conversation was about providing a good environment not necessarily meeting her academic needs because we didn't know that she would turn out to be PG in some areas. When she was a toddler I took her to work with me everyday in our family business. I started doing informal "lessons" with her when she was 2 or 3 because she expressed interest and I found that if I did something with her 2 or 3 times a day for 15 or 20 minutes she would play by herself for long stretches which allowed me to work. When she was well past K work before she turned 4 I realized homeschool was probably a better option than private school.
For the first few years of teaching her at home (probably age 2-5), if you asked me why she read early and easily, had exceptional verbal skills, etc I would have attributed most of that to providing a learning environment, homeschooling which allowed us to keep moving to the next thing when she mastered something, spending a lot of time with adults and resources. I knew she was "smart" but kind of assumed all kids could learn to read at 3 if they were taught properly.
Over the last few years through reading this board, interacting more with other local homeschool kids, testing for the talent searches and doing more research I've realized that dd's academic talent doesn't have much if anything to do with my teaching :lol: or the resources we've provided. She isn't ahead because we homeschool but if she were in ps or private school she would be working WAY behind her ability.
That is a rather long, wordy way of saying...yes, early on I wondered if dd was just ahead because we homeschool and figured she was bright but most kids would thrive if given the same opportunities she has had. More recently I've discovered that my perspective is a bit skewed because my parents and siblings, most of my aunts and uncles, dh and several of our friends are probably either gifted or PG.
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You always get your results a little before we do :) This was our first year and dd scored Magna Cum Laude. We didn't do any special studying other than reading through the list of words in the study packet and looking up ones that she wasn't familiar with in the few weeks leading up to the exam. We use Latin for Children and are almost done with book A. The exam came right after a long vacation where we did no schoolwork so I'm not sure she was particularly focused but she enjoyed both the Latin and Mythology exams so we'll do it next year.
She was pretty excited about the medal and ribbon.
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I will confess to rushing a little through elementary math because I knew once we got past basic arithmetic she would enjoy it more. Getting through long division almost killed us both because as a previous poster said " have been there with a self-professed math hater who seemed to understand math intuitively and never got anything wrong unless it was due to carelessness caused by dying of boredom."
Even now the mistakes dd makes are never because she doesn't understand. She either daydreams and gets off track due to boredom or her poor handwriting causes her to make errors.
There were a lot of doubts and sleepless nights worrying about how much time and energy I was putting in to math since it was her least favorite subject but I think we have now hit a sweet spot and it was worth it. She loves BA and does it for fun. She makes way less errors. I can't remember the last time she cried when I said it was time for math :lol: . She is building stamina for solving more difficult problems (thank you BA) and her handwriting is getting to the point where she makes less mistakes because she can't read her answers.
Also, on the subject of BA...it is hard in parts. We were well past 3rd grade math when we started BA which I bought as a fun supplement. Some of it was very easy for DD and other problems were and are very challenging since she was used to getting everything write on the first attempt in other curriculum. BA and AOPs are designed to force you to try different approaches to problems. I think most 3rd graders would struggle with parts of BA.
Yep, that's DD.
in Accelerated Learner Board
Posted
She was pretty easy to spot :lol:
Very cute.