Embassy
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Posts posted by Embassy
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The only thing I like about balanced literacy is its stated claim of getting children to love books and read real books. Unfortunately, the hundreds of children I have remediated in my 17 years as a phonics tutor have not been able to read books until I taught them phonics using a lot of nonsense words to help them undo their guessing habits from learning sight words and being taught to guess from context.
I think it was disruptive to my students' brains, the older my students were and the longer they had been guessing at words, the longer it took to remediate them and the harder it was to remediate them. The only older students who have remediated very quickly were the students I taught in a homeless shelter in Los Angeles, they had missed so much school they had never been taught sight words, the were able to quickly get up to the 12th grade level, they were fastest older students I have ever taught, much faster than my middle class students who have been taught sight words.
I think you are referring to the whole word approach and not the whole language philosophy. They are quite different.
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My son is wanting to do Zoology and Astronomy next year for his senior year. Any recomendations for either of these would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Gloria
There is a great set of video astronomy lectures available online.
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LisaK,
I loved reading through your list. Reading what others are using is one of my favorite things on these boards :)
I'm still in the planning process with my kids, but this is what we plan to use at this point in time.
Older son:
LA - CLE (Grammar and handwriting only), R&S Spelling, Excavating English, Caesar's English, Jump In, Killgallon, Figuratively Speaking, classics
Math/Logic - Singapore. Life of Fred, Speed Math Strategies, Road Rally Race, living math, logic puzzles, chess
Languages - Hey Andrew, My First Chinese Reader, Pinyin for Everyone, Alif Baa, Arabian Sinbad
History - Finish ancient Greece and go through the early church
Geography - Thailand and Sri Lanka studies, Mapping the World with Art
Science - Finish zoology, Physics, Technology, Inventions
Bible - Finish missions study and start Fruit of the Spirit study
Art - Art appreciation of a few famous artists
Music - Music Ace Deluxe and music appreciation of a few composers and modern artists (probably use Connect the Thoughts for composers study)
PE - Dr. Sears LEAN Kids, swim lessons
Younger son:
LA - Very Very Vocabulary, Rummy Roots, Vocabulary Cartoons, StartWrite, R&S Phonics, R&S Spelling, Experiences with Writing Styles, Growing with Grammar, classics
Math/Logic- Singapore. Life of Fred, Speed Math Strategies, Road Rally Race, living math, logic puzzles, chess
Languages - Hey Andrew, My First Chinese Reader, Pinyin for Everyone, Alif Baa, Arabian Sinbad
History - Finish ancient Greece and go through the early church
nt Greece and go through the early church
Geography - Thailand and Sri Lanka studies, Mapping the World with Art
Science - Finish zoology, Physics, Technology, Inventions
Bible - Finish missions study and start Fruit of the Spirit study
Art - Art appreciation of a few famous artists, lots of free art time
Music - guitar lessons with Alfred's course, Music Ace Deluxe, and music appreciation of a few composers and modern artists (probably use Connect the Thoughts for composers study)
PE - Dr. Sears LEAN Kids, swim lessons
Little girl:
Probably get her some art supplies for messy art play. Other than that pretty much encourage pretend play with the toys she already has.
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I use a flexible time schedule so I can pull out a more "fun" subject anytime or any day and still keep pace with everything else.
Today for instance, I am focusing on potty training this morning so I pulled out the project/field trip category and I am having my boys spend a couple hours on coming up with an invention. The other things don't get behind because I spend a certain amount of time on each subject per year. If we skip a day we just pick it up the next day and maybe spend a little more time on it.
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I just added a note defining grade level as the level of books read without much difficulty. If you don't know the grade level of books you can look up the grade level at Scholastic's Book Wizard.
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I just posted another poll here It would be interesting to look a little more into the actual reading level range for 3rd graders here.
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What is/was the reading level of your 3rd grade aged child? Multiple choices available for multiple children. For the purposes of this poll reading level is the grade level of books your child can read without much difficulty.
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Do you push your child in any subjects? Push sometimes has negative connotations. Do you believe a child should be pushed?
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Could just be individual differences too. My boys would be behind most kids their age. But it isn't due to a lack of physical exercise. I require daily cardiovascular and muscle building exercise in addition to PE 3-4 times per week. They would probably not be able to keep up with your daughter either due to motor delays.
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Just wanted to state that I know of someone like this. He is now an adult. He went to public school his whole life and was always told that "if he would only apply himself he could..." Truth was, he didn't care. He didn't care if he received an A or an F. But this person was highly motivated to learn about what he was interested in. Today he is one of the most knowledgeable people I know. I think an unschooling approach would have fit him very well.
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How do I keep rabbits out of my fenced in backyard. I tried blocking off all the gate areas that had ways to slip under, but found that they could slip under small areas too. Is there any way to keep them out of the garden where they are eating food without hurting them? I can't fence off the areas any more than they are already fenced.
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Just my perspective :)
Because he is ahead of the curve you have some wiggle room. Maybe you can take a year and do interest led studies. Let his interests determine what he studies. Ask him what he wants to learn about and help him find a way to learn it. Maybe that will ignite something in him. He can also go as deep as he needs to challenge himself.
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I also think that there's some truth to the idea that kids develop in one area primarily at a time.
This is my understanding as well. Perhaps your child is focused on growing in other areas like motor skills or social skills.
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We won't finish for at least another 2 months :tongue_smilie:
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You need options for kids who learned after age 5.
I realized I only set the poll for 5 and under as I was curious about the correlation between early readers and later reading ability. It would be interesting to include higher ages though.
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Good tip! I've started doing the page protectors. I fasten on 4 or 5 at a time and then rinse them off when they are complete.
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I love Zinn, but I still wouldn't use it as a stand alone because it does so strongly represent a certain viewpoint. One that needs to be represented and more often, but still. Pairing it with a more traditional text seems like a good idea to me. But I do think it could be one of a couple of centerpieces to a curriculum for upper elementary school or middle school.
Could you enlighten me here? It was my impression that the Young People's History of the United States told the cold hard facts rather than the romanticized version of history found in typical textbooks. What is the viewpoint you are referring to?
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I've heard several times that many children who learn to read early are pretty much on level with peers who didn't learn to read early by the time 3rd grade comes. Anyone know the source of this information? Has it been your experience?
I'm posting a poll that will allow for multiple choice options. I've differentiated among children who learn to read at different ages. Maybe it makes a difference? For the sake of this poll I'm defining a reader as a child who is able to read a first grade level book. I'm also defining a 3rd grader as a child who would be in third grade according to his/her age
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We used it to supplement SOTW 3 & 4, alongside the Children's Encyclopedia of US History. Dd enjoyed it. I love it, but then, I love Zinn and the original version of the book.
I don't know how well it would work solo as an overview, simply because it does assume some base knowledge of the typical American narrative, but I think it would be more than adequate alongside something like the encyclopedia I mentioned above.
Good idea. Thanks for your advice.
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having a home birth?
I had a home birth, and 2 others in a birth center, all 3 VBACs. My dd is considering a home birth. On the one hand I'm excited, but otoh, my older, more paranoid self wants her to have every emergency option at hand.
I firmly believe that home birthing is safe, but this is my baby having a baby. Why am I so paranoid though?
They live about 5 minutes from the hospital where she would deliver.
Any input?
I would be very proud of her.
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Has anyone used or read this book? Did you use it as part of a further study of American History or as a stand alone? I am considering it for a brief overview of American History.
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I require my sons to do it by making a ten. This has been our first year using Singapore. I think it is crucial for improving mental math skills to be able to start with the tens and then add the ones. I've been using Singapore strategies this year and I have seen an amazing difference in mental math abilities. As you continue through the book and the next books the mental math problems will require your child to understand how to add the other way in his head. It was a bit frustrating at first because I knew my son could it the other way easily, but we plugged at it and are reaping the rewards now:001_smile:
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I am curious about other responses because we deal with this in our home. I've taken the stance of teaching my children that their depth of feeling is "normal" and a part of who they are and there is nothing wrong with feeling deeply or strongly. At the same time I teach them appropriate and inappropriate ways to express those feelings to others. I try to distinguish between feelings and actions. In other words feeling intensely angry is fine, but hitting others in response to that anger isn't acceptable. I also try to let natural consequences be the teacher and have them make amends for situations in which they expressed themselves in a way that has impacted negatively on others. As for crying over things or an exaggerated response to some incident I try to be more understanding. Sometimes a hug is all it takes.
As for an age to expect self-control? I'm not sure. I do expect self-control to grow as my children grow. It may grow with baby steps, but I do have increased expectations as they grow.
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I do quite a bit with spelling because my kids don't have a strong phonics background.
Quebeckers not allowed to homeschool
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I think most of us use whole language in combination with phonics. However, I'm guessing very few of use here use the whole word approach. I find this site describes what whole language is.