[Math Mammoth on HSBC]

I missed the March sale for MM on HSBC. Does anyone know if it will go on sale again soon? I thought I had read it would in August, but now I can't remember where I saw that.

 

Lydia

[If you had $40 to spend on toys... er, um, "curriculum" for your wiggly 18 month old]

I recently bought some Montessori materials for my 3 yo, and my 18 month old loves them too, especially the pink tower and the red rods (which quickly turned into a sword and was put away for the day). Unfortunately, he doesn't handle them with care and the paint has started chipping. So, I put the expensive Montessori materials away and I am looking for unfinished blocks for him to stack.

 

We keep all the 3 yo's school materials in two bookshelves that are connected with hinges and are mounted on wheels (the bookshelves open and shut like a book). When the 3 yo wants to do school, he opens the bookshelves and picks an activity. When he is done, he closes them. The 18 month old has figured out how to open and shut the bookshelves, so he too gets into it. The reason I mention the shelf system is that you could use it to keep activities from being over-used and eventually ignored by your toddler.

 

We use a lot of Montessori-style activities. My 18-month old loves the sensory bins (loved Chris's post above on that!) and transferring lima beans from one bowl to another using a large, deep spoon. One of my favorite blogs for Montessori ideas is countingcoconuts . blogspot.com.

 

I also use my older children to play with the toddler as I work one-on-one with another child.

 

I have seen the lockbox mentioned in an earlier post, and would love to have one except they cost $60+. Instead, try gathering a couple of small boxes with different types of locks on them. I sometimes hide things in the boxes- a life saver, a toy animal, a rolled up piece of ribbon. You could also stuff plastic Easter eggs with something. Try stuffing a box (diaper wipe container, kleenex box) with ribbons for him to pull out. My toddler loves opening and pulling out anything.

[MUS gaps]

I was wondering about the "gaps" too. We are starting home school again after a year in ps, and since I used MUS before, I was going to use it again. Then I started worrying about the gaps in learning because of jumping between ps and hs. So, what are my kids missing?

[Pattern-Based Writing - has anyone used this?]

I would like a copy of the report.

[piano bench for TINY kids? Stokke Tripp Trapp?]

I put a small stool under my children's feet while practicing. My three-year old uses a larger stool. The idea (for sitting at the piano) is to be able to sit straight and tall, yet relaxed, with your feet not dangling or pulling the pianist down. In the primary level of Piano Adventures by Faber and Faber (which I love), it has a "check Yourself" page for sitting at the piano, #2 says about sitting at the correct height: "With your hands on the keys, your arms should be level with the keyboard. If not, you may need to sit on a cushion or book."

 

The chair that you have (the tripp trapp? I forget the name) looks fine for playing at the piano for beginners. Like one other person said, the chair will be fine until they need to start moving up or down the keyboard, which shouldn't be for a while.

 

Good luck!

[Public school frustrations for former HSers]

My husband and I prayed about sending our oldest 2 kids to school, and it was the right decision. It still is the right decision (for me and my other 2 kids).

 

I appreciate everyone's input. There has been some great advice.

 

I really don't know why dc wanted to go to ps. I've asked them, and they've been vague. I think they like to ride the bus with neighbor kids and they like recess.

 

I can't imagine that they didn't have enough friends while we home schooled. We were active in hs groups that met twice a week; our best friends hs.

 

I guess what bothered me about the meeting was that the supplemental teacher was slightly patronizing. My son reads on a 7th grade level (according to their test) and is doing math work a grade ahead, and yet he is "average". I have no problem with him being called "average", except that he's not. I'm not blind to his weaknesses. I don't think I am lying or exaggerating his strengths.

 

I read through the post on gifted children. That was great! I wish I could think, explain, and write so clearly and succinctly.

 

I think what we will do is wait for a few weeks and then evaluate where we are and if it's a good time to bring them home again, which is the eventual goal.

[Pie Pumkin? HELP!]

I have made pumpkin pie from scratch, and the only thing I can remember is that I had to puree the pumpkin to get rid of strings. Oh, and it was soupy, so I decreased the amount of liquid. I use the recipe from Libby's canned pumpkin- it's pretty good. I double the spices, though.

[Public school frustrations for former HSers]

I homeschooled my two older boys until this year when they decided to attend public school (grades 1 and 2). I have been so frustrated with the teachers and the curriculum and the redundancy of it all. They are covering topics and materials that I taught them over a year ago. I have met with the teachers and the first grade teacher was supportive and said she would try to challenge him. The second grade teacher was been wishy-washy about what she can do. My second grade son has been coming home, complaining that he's bored. I'm thinking, "great! come home school again!" But I don't want him deciding every other year that the grass looks greener at public school, so I am making him stay at school until Christmas. Actually, he hasn't said he wants to come home, just that he's bored at school. (He really likes recess.)

 

So, I asked the 2nd grade teacher to have my son tested for gifted. I needed SOMETHING to challenge him. I just met with the supplemental education teacher and she essentially said that my son has holes in his learning (e.g., he can multiply 2x5, but he can't explain why he's doing it) and that he's completely average.

 

On the way home, I wanted to start bashing mailboxes. I am furious. While my son may not be gifted per se, he most certainly is not average. I feel like Bob in "The Incredibles": "They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity, but if someone is genuinely exceptional..." My husband has said that I need to just blow it off, and I will. But what should I do about my son? I don't want him to stagnate this year, but I don't want to pull him out. Should I invoke parental privilege and say that home school is for his own good? Good grief, that makes home schooling sound worse than getting shots.

[What to do with bright 2yo]

I have taught several children (and am in the process of teaching my 2 year old) to read by the age of 3. I used Glenn Doman's "How to Teach Your Baby to Read".

 

All of my kids have loved animals, so I made a huge stack of cards with animal pictures on them. I cut out pictures from National Geographics, Zoo Books, posters, and other animal magazines, glued them onto 5x7 pieces of poster board, and then laminated them. My 2 year old loves going through the stack. When I introduce new animals, I first tell him the name, as specific as I can get. Then, on subsequent times, I tell him whether it is a mammal, bird, fish, etc, where it lives, and other interesting facts. Later, we play games with the cards- he has to find the card I describe or he sorts them into piles of mammals, birds, reptiles, etc. I also use the animal cards to play games with the reading program.

 

I use the Right Start math games kit with my older kids. I have started teaching my 2 year old how to use the abacus, using the pamphlet included in the kit. He loves to count so we do a lot of counting, too.

[What do you pay for piano lessons?]

I paid $10/30 minute lesson to a graduate student a few years ago. He was amazing... wish he was still available.

 

We just switched from group lessons (approximately $12/ 1 hour), but my son only received 15 minutes of 1-1 time with the teacher.

 

Now, I pay $25/30 minutes for a piano teacher who is a trained concert pianist. I gagged a bit when I heard her prices, but I have to remember that teaching piano is also her livelihood.

 

Bottom line, you get what you pay for. For a first-time teacher, I would offer $10-15/30 minutes.

 

Another thing that I have discovered that I like is setting a time-frame for the length of lessons. For example, we switched teachers, but only for the summer until our regular teacher comes back. I dislike having to tell my kid's teachers that I am no longer going to have them take lessons from them. So, if I set up lessons for only three months, then I can evaluate whether or not I like the teacher at the end of the three months. I want to explain this better, but time is short and babies are crying.

[Please talk to me about miquon math]

I started using Miquon about 2 months ago hoping that it would re-ignite my two boys' love for math. I had read so many posts from parents saying their kids loved the program, and I had envisioned my kids dancing around me, chanting "mom is great! we love math!" I don't think I am doing it right. They still don't like math, and there's no singing.

 

Can someone give me a detailed scenario of how they present math using Miquon to their kids? For example, this is how I do it: I sit down with my son who has a stapled booklet (all of B pages from the Orange book) in front of him. He looks over the page and starts to do the problems. If he gets stuck, I explain it to him. (They don't really like the C rods for some reason. I thought they would love anything with which they could build, but they don't pull them out unless I tell them to.) I often have to remind him to get back on task as he day dreams a lot during math.

 

I'm a little frustrated. I love math and I want my kids to love math. Maybe it they saw ME playing with the C rods they would play with them too?

 

I am going to try the games posted earlier as well. Thanks for those ideas!

[If you have an early reader, is it because of anything YOU did?]

I taught my oldest son to read when he was 2. I used "How to Teach Your Baby to Read", which uses whole words on flash cards. I am now going through Reading Reflex with him to make sure he understands phonics and how to sound out words that he's never seen. These lessons are super easy for him because he figured out phonics on his own.

 

I taught my second son to read using 100 Easy Lessons, starting when he was 4, maybe 4 1/2. We stopped around lesson 80 (should've stopped WAY before then- the whining was horrible during the last 20 lessons) but he still wasn't a fluent reader. He went to public school for a bit (treaded water with reading), and is now home using Reading Reflex and doing fantastically.

 

I am currently using the word cards with my 2-year old, and he loves them. He can read about 20 words after 2 weeks, and will most likely progress at 20 new words a week. I will continue doing the cards and home-made books with him for about a year or until he can read fluently, and then start phonics when he's 5 or 6.

 

So, my experience has been that you can teach young children to read (and it's been easier and less stressful than the phonics method), but I haven't used a phonics method until they are older.