Embassy
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Posts posted by Embassy
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Here is what we have done:
Toddlerhood/Preschool: Exposure to Mandarin
Kindergarten-1st: Mandarin, Greek, Arabic, exposure to French
1st-3rd: Mandarin, Greek, Arabic, and French
2nd-4th: Mandarin, Greek, Arabic, French, and Sinhala
5th + Continue with languages
If you are looking for Mandarin, I'm very happy with Better Chinese. After trying Rosetta Stone for years with little progress, we are all learning well with Better Chinese. My boys are not only learning to speak Mandarin, but read and write it.
The grade ranges vary because my older son did things a little later than my younger son. And my little girl is getting exposure to Mandarin, French, and Arabic by being around her brothers.
I don't know any of the languages we are learning so we are all learning together. I do have a "trained ear" so I am better able to instruct my children where to put their tongue or lips to make certain sounds not found in English.
Oh, you can read why we chose those here.
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Spelling was a real bear for her in the early grades because visual input is stored in the brain randomly while auditory input is stored sequentially.
Do you mind sharing how you discovered this or where I can read more about this? Is this typical visual-spatial?
I'm still trying to figure out my son. He wrote me a note today asking for help and spelled help like "hlpe." :tongue_smilie:
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My kids have a tendency to melt down when they have to do something that doesn't come easy. I attempt to teach at their level and go broad and deep in subject matter so we don't have many issues there. But it does come up from time to time especially when dealing with motor skills.
How do you teach your child that difficulties are just a mountain to climb over rather than a wall that knocks you down? Is this just a maturity thing? My kids are still elementary age.
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Thank you for the responses and for letting me know I'm not alone. :)
He is reading which I was hoping would help more. He really wants to read with me. He loves starfall.com and can run it independently - yay! That is the only thing that has given us any peace. I'd love any suggestions on other good websites.
Thank you for the ideas and please keep them coming.
Does he have a couple interest areas? I would spend an afternoon surfing the web finding sites that you think he would enjoy. Bookmark them in a file for your son to access. My son spent a lot of time on sites like Nick Jr and science sites that had anything to do with dinosaurs. Years later the computer is still a great way for him to feed himself. I let him have a bunch of time on the computer too. I'd also get many picture books from the library on various topics and set aside some time each day to read with him, but the rest of the time he would have to access them on his own.
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Can he read yet? If you can get him reading to the level that he enjoys it, that could take some of the strain off you.
:iagree:
Reading will give him the ability to feed his hunger. Also, if he doesn't use the computer independently I would start that. There is so much information available online and sites designed for kids that could help satisfy him.
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We spend about $1000 for curricula and supplies for 2 elementary-aged kids. This amount would be cut in half if we weren't doing 4 foreign languages. I use the library heavily for history, geography, science, and literature so I don't really spend much for those subjects. The needs are different each year, but generally we buy a math program every year and see what is needed in other subjects. Part of our budget this year went towards a guitar and another part towards a zoo membership.
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Around age 6 or 7.
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My 7 year old son wants a pen pal. He loves Legos, Roblox, and math. Dictated letters are fine. Communication by email or by snail mail is fine. Please send a PM if interested.
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My first grader typically does between 5-6 hours a day although today he did 6.5 hours. Compare that to the standard public school student he still has much more free time. I count everything in the 5-6 hours and we spend a lot of time in read alouds and hands-on activities. Seat work probably takes 1-2 hours a day. For instance today I counted an hour for PE (sledding), 1/2 hour for dancing around to praise and worship music, 1 hour toward read alouds, 1/2 hour for a math DVD he wanted to watch, 1/2 hour toward a Math computer game, and 1/2 hour for a science project with Play-Doh.
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Thanks! I've been doing an average of 30 minutes of math a day - probably not enough then.
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I am using two different approaches to math this year. For those who combine two different programs or approaches, do you increase the amount of time spent on math?
I've increased the time spent on math slightly and I've found progress is slower in our main math program because of the time spent elsewhere. But I've seen positive changes because of the second approach. Both of my boys enjoy math now and their depth of understanding has increased greatly.
So, for those who have done this do you find it all works out years later? By this I mean if you did not finish a years worth of math, did you find that you child "caught up" later on because of the greater foundation built?
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That is just ... neat! This was a cool find!
Do you have it now? Is it possible to do in a few months? I know that you have not used it, but have you had time to go through the text? I like the content and application. I believe - interest driven - that we could get lost in this one for a while. I would need a time limit. :D
Yes I have it now and have read through most of it. I think it would take most of a school year for middle school or younger students. When I use this I will probably do it along side another study like birds, lol. ;)
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Looking for some mix of the above as none seem to develop well for an ancient history study. This was my initial puzzle or conundrum originally.
Signs and Seasons would go well with an ancient history study. You can see my review of the curriculum here.
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I found this place with lots of blogs listed: http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/homeschool-kids.html
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My son found a blog of a child who is homeschooled today and enjoyed reading and commenting. If anyone is willing to share their child's blog address please do so. I'm sure my son would like to visit.
Thanks!
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I've used phonics and spelling programs, but I've never used a reading program. I just pick books at their level for reading and let my kids read them.
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We haven't read Sawyer or Caesar yet, but we did Christmas Carol in Dec. Christmas Carol was easier for my 10 yr old to understand than Swiss Family so far.
I asked him today if he wanted me to stop reading and move on to something else. He said no that he was enjoying it. My 7 yr old had a different answer.
Try splitting them up for read alouds. I did that with my boys this year and it has been wonderful. It was difficult to find a good fit for both of them before that.
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I think it depends on the child, but there needs to be some degree of self-motivation in it as far as I am concerned. My 8 year old is learning the guitar and would have done well with learning it several years earlier. My 7 year old attempted this year, but was Mr. Goofy and didn't want to practice so I told him that he can have lessons when he turns 8.
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We were talking about different faiths/belief systems - not just theistic - the other day (big subject, as there are so many!).
My DD observed that some Christian religions have "doctrines"; other faiths have "beliefs" / "truths" / "precepts", iykwim. She asked whether there was any one - or maybe more? - common beliefs which are held by most or all faiths, and I don't know the answer. Can you help us?
Have her Google Norman Rockwell The Golden Rule. It gives a good visual that most groups have teachings relating to loving one another.
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Honestly, I think if you're getting tears and boredom with a very little one (I haven't worked with older kids yet, so won't speak to that) then something is going wrong. For me, it is far more important that my kids maintain a joy for learning (sometimes considered dirty words around here, it seems!) than it is for me to plow through something for the sake of getting it done. I just cannot imagine any reason why I would need a 5 yr old to push through boredom and tears to complete a math worksheet when it is completely possible for him to learn primary math without any formal instruction at all. So I would absolutely curriculum hop (or abandon) for boredom and tears... in a heartbeat.
A year can feel like a lifetime when you're only five. And I think a year of drudgery can set you up for some pretty negative associations that can take a very long time to overcome.
:iagree:
My son hated his math program in Kindergarten. I've been working against that since then. This year one of my math goals was for him to enjoy math. Last month he announced that he likes math now. I asked him why and he didn't know. I changed things big time for this school year. Maybe that had something to do with it, maybe not. But it sure makes me happy we changed.
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I wish I could come up with a blog!
Yes, please do! I would love to read it!!
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If you are a crafty mom and do lots of hands on activities, can you share how you schedule your days? I'm contemplating our schedule for next year. We are going to do American history and I have lots of craft books I'm ordering, history pockets, etc. Now, I also wanted to do literature type crafts with my dd (either FIAR or literature pockets, something like that). I know each child is going to want to take part in whatever the other is doing. So, many days that will mean two crafts. I'm trying to get a glimpse into some other homes and see how you schedule it.
Well, I wouldn't call myself crafty by any means but we do a lot of hands-on activities, games, read fun books, and add in lots of DVDs. We tend to school all day because going hands-on tends to take more time.
I use a schedule that keeps things flexible. We can spend hours on a project one day if we need to and then not have a time for history until the next week.
You can see how we schedule things here.
While no day is typical you can see examples of days here and here and here is a 4 minute video of one day last school year.
Some recent projects:
Paper Mache Sarcophagus
Pyramid cookies
Ancient Egyptian meal
Cookie cake of China
Pin the Bone on the Skeleton game
Skeleton Scramble
Model of Skin made out of Rice Krispie Treats
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I've hopped, but not too much. I've hopped this week though. I finally threw in the towel mid-year after trying a curriculum for 1 1/2 years and am now trying something new. Ds didn't like the curriculum. I didn't like it either. And testing showed it wasn't as effective as I had hoped. I also switched my other son's phonics program this week. He didn't like it and he was spinning his wheels progress wise. He is excited and relieved about the change.
I've changed math programs once in between school years because testing revealed weaknesses in the math program we were using. Right now my son doesn't like MCT, but I think it can grow on him and it appears to be effective so we are sticking with it.
I'm all for switching a curriculum if the child hates it, but I do give it a good try. I've found (at least with my kids) that enjoyment is closely associated with learning. If they hate something they aren't going to learn well with it.
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I use the library heavily. I also work from home several hours a week late at night. Those few extra dollars mostly go towards homeschooling costs. Also I try to buy everything at once to save on shipping and customs costs.
What languages do you plan to teach? Why and When?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted · Edited by Wehomeschool
They make a TM in English too. I don't know if that is new or not though. I couldn't use the program without the English manual.