Stellalarella
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Posts posted by Stellalarella
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Disagreeing with an OP, suggesting an alternative view based on personal experience, or offering an opinion about boundaries doesn't make a poster a Drive By Troll. Those things also do not imply that every poster sees the OP as a Puppy Kicker.
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This is what it takes for the average organized activity:
Parent sets the date (may involved paper mail, email mail, phone calls, texts; often more than one communication)
Parent must remember the date (!!) Remember to not take on any additional activities for that time period
Dress for the date (parents and kids)
Transport to the date (hello, gasoline and mileage!)
Pick up from the date (which involves a second transport and load up) or stay there and get nothing done at home (which means you will have fast food or junk food for lunch or supper)
Kids are highly supervised and watched over during activity. So, adults end up doing a lot of thinking on behalf of the kids.
Come back home and reorganize mentally
Clean up whatever happened from the date (clothes, art projects still floating in the van, put away supplies)
Plan for next organized activity
Deal with kids who say they are bored now that you all are back home.
This is what it takes for an unorganized neighborhood activity
Kid goes outside.
Kid sees neighbor kid.
They chat.
They move to one home or the other.
They play.
They make a mess (perhaps).
They eat (perhaps).
Parent says clean up and please go home.
Kid goes home.
Most of the first event was entirely parent directed. The second event was mostly kid directed.
We humans are built differently, but the way it feels to me, the first kind of event might be worth it, but I have to balance the value of it against the amount of stress. The second event puts the kids in the place of directing and being responsible for the activity. I think that kind of activity is great for their emotional and intellectual development. And all that happens with considerably less stress on me.
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Are you an only child? I have 5, and I feel like we're enough to keep each other satisfied most of the time. I do worry about the loneliness factor for my daughter, however, who is the only girl (one of the neighbors is a girl about her ago). But we also do YMCA sports, co-op, and get together with friends quite a bit.
I am the oldest of 4 girls.
When I went off to college I made friends and had a great time doing so.
If a parent can say, This is why we do xyz : because we enjoy it and we believe in it, and this is right for us and somehow manage to convey that love, trust and enjoyment to the kiddos and the community at large, I see that as a healthy thing.
Making family life-style choices where the preeminent motivation (not the only, just the main one) is fear based, dislike based, and is expressed to the kids and community with that negative vibe is not so good, in my opinion.
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There aren't enough problems in LOF lock the skills it into long term memory, in my opinion. If someone is really motivated, she could latch on perhaps, and get excited about finding more problems to do, but that just wasn't what my ds did.
Foerster explains the math quite well. A motivated student should be able to open and go with Foerster, IMO.
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Tried that same pathway.
In order to make it work, you will need a highly self-motivated learner.
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Folks don't go around with signs taped to their foreheads with boundary rules. It's something you discover about folks empirically, you know. Which means people have to actually interact.
If I ever spontaneously call someone or (oh my gosh!) drop by to say hello to someone and I sense it makes them uncomfortable, I get the drift real quick. I have friends that feel most secure when I email several days or weeks in advance, follow-up the day before, and I have one that still requires me to call a few minutes before I leave so she can know exactly when I will arrive at the front door.
But thank goodness I have some friends who are a bit more spontaneous.
All that to say, I cannot understand why encountering neighbors/kids for the first time has to be so worrying. It should just be part of navigating life. I'm sure that those kids caught the drift that they were not really wanted at your house. The only thing that would make them come back is a really deep, serious need for friendship. And somebody would have to want friends really badly to go to someone's house where they knew the parents scorned their presence.
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I grew up with a mom who did not like to have people over (and I can understand that), did not like me going over to anyone's house (because she wanted to protect me), hated to get on the phone and call to see if I could have friends. She wanted to protect us from outside influences she did not approve of, she wanted to maintain control over her home environment so that she felt comfortable, she did not want to put herself out there by calling other moms.
So, indeed, she felt more comfortable (except when feeling negative emotions because she was not participating in the community norm), our environment was controlled from untoward influences, my siblings and I were not exposed to harm because we rarely went over to any one's home, and no neighborhood kids felt like they could roam over to my house.
But I was a lonely kid.
My mom is still an introvert with firm boundaries on her home. And that's OK. It was just a little hard on an extroverted person who really enjoys community.
So, I became the mom who lets my kids roam to neighbor's houses and neighbor kids come over here. The reciprocal relationships are valuable to me. It's been a blessing to know our neighbors and enjoy their kids.
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Our Brock microscope has diagnosed pinworms. :) So....it's at least good for that. :w00t:
The kids do use it often and I feel comfortable allowing them to do so.
For older kids (middle school and on up) I would get a scientific scope. The adjustment on the Brock is not fine enough.
The main advantage of the Brock is that children can enjoy it without destroying it. And you do not need to hover over the kiddos to protect the Brock.
I purchased 2 of them second hand.
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Is this thread a JAWM thread? Kindly asking.
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I've done FLL 1-4 with several kids through grammar and logic stage, other grammar programs, grammar study in Latin, Rod and Staff Grammar.
Grammar is abstract.
Grammar is abstract.
Grammar is abstract.
Little kids are concrete thinkers.
Don't panic.
:)
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If you have a natural speller, and are needing to hold costs down, AAS is not a good choice.
If you don't enjoy scripted curriculums, AAS is not a good choice.
If you dislike constantly picking up ineffectively magnetized tiles off the floor, AAS is not a good choice.
If you have a struggling speller who needs constant review, AAS is a good choice.
If you, the inexperienced teacher of reading and spelling, need a curriculum that explains how phonics works to make words, AAS is a good choice.
If you can spend extra and get neodyminum magnet for your tiles, AAS is a good choice.
If you need to save money and are willing to only buy one student pack and tile set for your many children to share, AAS is a good choice.
If you put a high value on spelling, and count the spelling dictation sentences as part of your children's writing instruction, AAS is a good choice.
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My kids that struggle with school tell me they love Latin.
It's very satisfying to learn something from the parts up to the whole.
Lively Latin has worked well for us, followed by Wheelocks.
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My 8th grader did fine with SWBs History of the Medieval World this year while the younger kids all read SOTW Vol. 2. I know you said she wouldn't enjoy doing her own thing, but maybe it would work if your family was all studying the same time period? Or you could have her read SOTW 2 with the family but add in chapters from HMW in addition.
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I've gone through LIvely Latin 1 and 2 for myself and the two older kids and have now started over on the Big Book of Lively Latin 1 for the 3 younger. (BBOLL).
With BBOLL, you have access to good quality audio files for both ecclesiastical and classical pronunciation. You can listen to them online or download them into your music library. We did ecclesiastical the first time around and are doing classical now. There are also video lessons online should you need them.
I enjoy the history stories in BBOLL, the picture study, the map work and the kids like the opportunities to draw pictures.
BBOLL teaches Latin in a systematic way, learning the parts and how to put them together into a whole. You start with nouns, move on to verbs, how to conjugate in present, then imperfect, then future tenses. Today our lesson introduced sentence diagramming.
I've found that ongoing vocab study is a must and we practice the chants for the declension and conjugation endings.
BBOLL is not an immersive language experience.
I have two kids who are struggling learners in other subjects, but beg me to do Latin in our BBOLL books. It's work, yes, but they do enjoy it. Th 5th grader finds BBOLL fairly easy, the 4th grader takes a bit longer, the 2nd grader needs a lot of help with it and my 1st grader knows the chants and vocab better than them all, although she doesn't do the worksheets.
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My son said that you will also need a keyboard and mouse to interface with the Raspberry pi.
As a mom, my observation is that it seems easier to learn things on regular size computers and only use the Raspberry pi if you need a microcontroller for a robot or something like that. But there is also a learning curve (and expensive parts) to build a robot. It's way more than a $70 investment, because there is no sense in acquiring a microcontroller unless there is something you want to control.
The other thing I've noticed is that Raspberry pi and Arduino people end up with multiples--so they get passed down and passed around. You could see if there is someone in your community that has an older model your child could start with before you invest.
I didn't feel like Raspberry pi and Arduino was that great of an investment. Taking apart old computers, fixing up computers, learning to code with programs on a regular computer seemed to pay better dividends. Once he understood those things, then worked on building robots, etc, the microcontrollers got more useful.
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This is from my 16 year old:
Here is a link to a Basic raspberry pi kit on Amazon. This includes almost everything you will need to get started with Rasberry PI. part of setting up the pi Involves an SD card. The Kit includes a SD card that already has the operating system on it. I recommend using this one as flashing a new OS to the SD card is not very simple. The Operating system on the card Is called NOOBs. Dont be worried about the name. It includes A suite of free learning tools that can help your child learn about coding with arduino, python and several other basic coding platforms. However, if your child is wanting to learn coding languages, a Raspberry Pi may not be the best choice. I would try to find an old PC that someone is throwing away and install the NOOBs operating system. This would give your child the full learning experience on something that will do the same thing an for cheaper depending on where you can find the PC. Unfortunately, you will need to flash the NOOBs operating system to a flash drive or burn it to a DVD to install on the PC and would wipe everything on the PC.
One of the main reasons the raspberry pi was designed was for basic projects like running a server, creating robots and much more because of its size. In my opinion is it not the best tool for on the go programming. I think an old laptop running the NOOBs operating sytem would be the best bet for teaching a kid how to program. You can probably ask his mentor for help on flashing an operatingsystem to a laptop.
Anyways this is just my 2 cents on this stuff.
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Five In A Row
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It was here, which was linked in the article I posted:
http://hechingerreport.org/should-we-stop-making-kids-memorize-times-tables/
ETA: But, her position is obviously more nuanced than the headline implies.
I cannot imagine a plurality of current elementary math educators handing kids a piece of paper with numerals on them and saying "Memorize These Equations. You will be timed tomorrow."
I have my kids work daily on untimed flash cards--but that's not how we start out. It's all manipulatives, number sense, learning how to play with the numbers (8 + 4 = 12; Eight wants to be a 10 so it takes 2 away from the 4 to make a 10. 10 plus 2 is 12). But at some point, after I've gone round the mulberry bush 57,000 times with all the number stories, number bonds, manipulatives and what not, I say--here are your facts. Please learn them by heart. Honestly, I think in those classrooms where kids are lucky enough to have a teacher insist on basic facts mastery it probably goes much the same.
It disturbs me that someone could read that article and the takeaway be that it's perfectly fantastic a kiddo hasn't learned the times tables.
There are always outliers--I remember a story of some famous conceptual mathematician who never learned his times tables. Apparently it didn't hold him back too much from putting together great number theory. But for most of us swelling up the ole middle bell curve of humanity, learning your times tables should just be a normal, expected, disciplined practice in basic education, a mid product stemming from number sense and a pathway to easier stepping stones in more complicated mathematics.
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FLL 3 is great.
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In case you were feeling guilty that your kids haven't memorized their times tables yet:
http://hechingerreport.org/memorizers-are-the-lowest-achievers-and-other-common-core-math-surprises/
I didn't see where Boaler was advocating that students should not master math facts in the linked article.
I feel sorry for upper elementary, middle school and high school (neurotypical) kids who do not know their times tables. Really sorry. And I feel sorry for every higher level teacher that has to deal with students who do not yet know their times tables.
For a clear argument about why math fact mastery is valuable, please see Daniel Willingham's research compliation in "Why Students Don't Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the MInd Works and What It Means for the Classroom.
I've been learning Latin as I've been teaching my kids. If I don't have the facts, the grammar of Latin locked into my knowledge base, it's such a slog. Yes, I can look up every other word in the dictionary, then consult the conjugation and declension charts in the back, I can chant every pattern for every word in my head--but translating one sentence that way takes forever. Forever!
Submit yourself to the discipline of learning, memorizing the basic facts and reap the benefits.
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The issue is when Algebra in 7th or 8th grade becomes standard, then Algebra I in 9th begins to be considered remedial regardless of whether the course is labeled remedial.
Our district (which is suffering from these same swings) does not offer Algebra I in 9th grade. They offer a two-course sequence that covers Algebra I at half the pace. Students are then permanently on the regular math track and cannot get back onto the college prep track (partly due to district policy and partly due to the fact that once you are off honors you are always learning less math in each course and so are never solid enough to get back in honors). College prep kids take Algebra in 8th and accelerated STEM kids take Algebra in 7th, so the only kids left to take Algebra I in 9th are the remedial students who weren't solid on middle school math by 8th grade. It creates lowered expectations that become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Yes.
I hear you. I decided to put ds through Algebra 1 when I heard what his public school cohort was doing. I was fearful of him being "behind." Gah on me!
Now we're finding out that one has to perfectly maintain all those algebra 1 and 2 skills so that one can do well on the ACT, which I am sorry to say has become the measure of all things. When you look at it that way, the kid taking Algebra 1 in 7th grade will need to maintain that whole body of knowledge until spring of her junior year when she takes the ACT.
And to make matters worse, I decided to put him through Foerster Algebra 1 and 2--a rigorous, classic set of books that prepare him well to go on and do higher math, but don't use the same style and language as the ACT. You have to really know the algebra inside and out if you don't use the pipeline books.
I about wanted to weep when I heard a local, very highly praised and sought-after Algebra 1 and 2 co-op teacher explain her course. To paraphrase: I use the Glencoe book because the language is the same as what the kids will see on the ACT. I teach them lots of calculator tricks so that they can get those 60 problems done in 60 minutes. You really want an Algebra course that will get kids a good score on their ACT.
I guess learning the math is merely coincidental. The main point of Algebra 1 is college scholarships.
This is one of those places where the idealistic goal of educating the mind clashes with the poodle-hoop-jumping assembly line we call American Education.
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I'm on board for making sure students have strong fundamentals before Algebra 1. I think trying to force my oldest through Algebra 1 in 7th-8th grade was not wise. He is a STEM kid who can use CAD, program robots, build computers from scratch, etc. He can spit out obscure facts about computers (no memory issues), understands electricity well enough to fix electronics and work as an electricians apprentice, and is really good at explaining to others how things work. There was absolutely no advantage to forcing him through Algebra 1 that early. I guess I could type this in all caps because I want to shout it to the world. SO NOT WORTH IT.
I think I started him in Algebra before he had enough arm pit hair, if you know what I mean.
I watched other adolescent boys in my neighborhood crash in their early algebra maths. These are all kids with parents insistent on doing homework, high expectations, prepping-kid-to-be-college-bound.
I'm imagining a classroom filled with students whose minds are not yet ready for Algebra 1 and also do not have the parental insistence and support.
Nuts I tell you.
If a kiddo is happy to learn Algebra 1 in 7th or 8th grade, by all means! (Like my daughter!) but otherwise, I think 9th grade is a nice place to start.
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My son used Foerster Algera2/Trig after Foerster 1. We also used the Math Without Borders teachings DVDs for 2, but not Algebra 1.
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I join others to share that I have also inadvertently forgotten an infant.
Not long after dd was born, I bundled her up and drove a few blocks downtown to buy some thread at a tiny general merchandise store. I was so surprised when I came back after picking up the thread and there she was....in the car.
Whenever those stories come up about the parents who've left a child in the car and the child is injured or dies, I think about all the hateful things that are said toward the forgetful parent.
I don't think there is much room in our culture for the words "mistake," or "terrible accident" anymore.
Yes, that's me lit up in effigy.
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Quantity carrier for library books in the library - calling all classical lovers of library
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Lucky for us, the libraries in my town are usually glad to see us and our piles of books. The different branches have "competitions" about their checkouts and our large homeschooling family ups the circulation.
:)
I put our books in several! canvas bags. The kids tend to fill a bag for themselves and are typically responsible to carry it out.
Our state and city is one of those dead last in line or next to last for whatever metric of social disfunction and crappy public schools metric you can find. But somehow or other, we have simply the most outstanding library system you can imagine.
Every time I hear folks on the forum talk about their libraries, I am reminded of this gift we have. I wish I could give you all my library system. I really do.