mymommy1
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Posts posted by mymommy1
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I'd print some samples and really look at BA. I love it for my son who went through 2 levels of MIF in 3/4 of a year and has almost all his facts memorized for all operations in first grade. Not to brag, he just knows it. We didn't spend extra time on it. BA gives him a chance to play with math and pick it apart. I don't know that you will find the instruction and drill on traditional algorithms your looking for as much as trying to solve problems in new and many ways. That's why I love it for him.
My oldest son who is struggling with all his facts still in 4th grade at almost 10 likes the comics of BA, but working the problems with him was difficult. His arithmetic skills made it long and hard. He did like the geometry type problems and sections. I've found SM or MM (I think I'll do MM next printed in color) is best for getting him moving along in math. He reads LOF as we get them from ILL. He'd love LOF even more if the math was left out!
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As a math teacher, I would not recommend Life Of Fred as a spine for a child like yours. (My oldest is just like him.) Yes, it does cover the topics kids need to know and more, in an unusual order. The story is entertaining to some kids, though my math natural son found it annoying and wanted to get to the math. The things that's missing is explanation. It isn't going to break down the problems and explain it in different ways, and sometimes not at all. It will present the algorithm, but to me, no reasoning behind that. I add that in for my son.
My math-natural son is doing Beast Academy. My oldest is doing Singapore or MM. I get him LOF on ILL from the library.
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Thanks. I'll do the samples with him, and see what we think.
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Thanks! Another question, then, since I see you use R&S as well, does he need much grammar instruction to use W&R? He know the basics.
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My soon-to-be 10 year old son is on the downhill side of "fourth" grade. I'm looking to start more formal, organize LA with him. He is beginning to make progress in AAS with works and dictation, but other than that, he has had little formal grammar or writing. Lots of narration practice, though.
Is there a placement guide for CAP W&R or do all start with Book 1? I'm concerned Fables will be too boring for him. Does anyone have other recommendations for a bright kid who reads well, but dislikes school and is easily bored?
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I whole heartedly agree. Use the c-rods to get the picture placed in the child's mind. Keep moving. You do tons of it in 1B. Then in grade 2, you do all over again to the hundreds. Then in grade 3, all over again to the thousands. Then guess what! In grade 4, to beyond 1000's. In grade 5, to decimals. It's an important concept for a reason, but I don't think most 1st graders have it down this early without rods or numberline or 10s chart. Use 2 10's frames on a page and fill in with beans or whatever you have if you don't have rods or something.
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My oldest son had the same trouble with SM 1. I shelved it and tried lots of other things (RS, MUS, MEP, etc). He's a year or more behind in math now and still not found anything amazing for him. I think most kids have trouble at that point, and I've read many SM users say to move on. I wish I had. Looking back, the adding and subtracting gets used in the length, weight, graph, etc units. Then most of SM 1B is adding and subtracting. If he is doing 80% or more, I think I'd move on.
On a second note, I am a math teacher and teach a class to elementary pre-service teachers. My second son is natural with numbers. When doing SM or any other math, I don't force him to do it the book's way. Can your son add the numbers and get the correct answer in his own way? Not all kids will make 10's. Some add up, or count on, or add by place value left to right. The key is if he can come up with a reasonably quick method and get a correct solution. My first son is just now at 9 getting the 9 + trick of take one and make it 10. My second son could do it at 5 before we started doing math.
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You have gotten some great advice so far. Use games or cards or charts or whatever for 5 mins or so a day to work on facts and keep moving with math. If she is understanding Singapore, but just having trouble with the fact recall, I don't see a reason to change that. I just wanted to add about the "on time". My son is much like your daughter, which is very difficult for a math teacher! I started to look vertically at SM through 2-4 grades and up. There is very little change in the math, just something gets added. For example, grade 3 adds multiplying and dividing. So, children are reviewing add, subtract, money, time, place value, etc. Then in fourth fractions are a focus, everything else is reviewed and add on a bit. All of that to say, although SM isn't a spiral program, topics reappear and build. Also, I find my son does better in the B books because they include more applications like money, time, and geometry. Note that all those facts and operation skills learned in the A book are being practiced daily.
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Thanks that helps!
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kiwik, I'll look at those as well.
Lori D, thank you for all the many suggestions. I have used Miquon in the past with my oldest, but stopped because he is color blind and the rods were hard for him. We have taken to using them again, so maybe Miquon is worth a shot. I thought it was interesting that your DS#2 used MUS instead of Miquon, or did I misread that? Is there a reason you like MUS more for him?
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I'll look into that! Thanks.
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As a math teacher, I have been a fan of SM math. Now, teaching my two boys (will be 1st and 4th), I'm going crazy with math books. I hate how piecemeal they are; although, I understand why they are that way. However, my 1st grader is able to "get ahead" in math by exploring topics in his mind. My 4th grader (ADD, VSL) is behind in his operations, but can do conceptually harder work.
SO - I'm thinking I'd love to have something that is about adding and subtracting, something to explore multiplication, something to delve into fractions, etc. Then I can pick up from those things what they are ready to explore. I'm confident in my ability to explain the math, so I'm looking for something with good activities, problems, manipulatives, etc. I am drawn to BA, but I'm worried it will be too challenging for my oldest. He needs to see usefulness, so I'm thinking about SCM Your Business Math. We are in LOF Cats, and I'm not enjoying it, wanting to pay that much for all those more books, etc. Could we just skip ahead?
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Prairiewindmomma, I love how you laid out goals/objectives. I tend to skip that and get such clarity when I do it. This is great:
"I want this kid to create a few sentences that begin with capital letters, end in proper punctuation, and aren't too much for his dysgraphia."
You made such a good point about WWE 2. I really feel like on his on-days, my son can narrate very well. It's not great literature, but he gets the story across. I hadn't thought of WWE 2 being longer copywork, and that really wouldn't help him much. I'll look into IEW SWI A; I thought of it once because my son loves videos.
So, we can keep up with spelling and narrating across the curriculum. (I"m all about that!) I'll look into IEW and Writing Tales for when his skills need another bump. Start some creative projects: Minecraft writing prompts, an All About Me lapbook, non-reports like you suggested (writing brochures, comics, diary entries from a character's perspective) and from Mrs. Renz 4th grade book projects. If we get an ipad, I'm sure we will find Siri and other apps he will love.
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Thanks for the notes about W&R. I was wondering if it would be "too hard", and also, the readings are short. He loves stories, and I initally thought those in Fables were a bit longer. I think Writing Tales will work better if we go with a curriculum after WWE 2. I like the all-in-compassing nature of Writing Tales. I think it will give him some context for learning.
When he wants to be creative, it's with his own ideas, kwim? Like we used the Home Studio Art DVD last year. He watched the project, and then did something similar but different. I'll just let him make up his own stories when he wants.
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Riverside has a vocabulary program that uses picture cards. Marie's Words
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Thanks for the suggestions for the book report and history book suggestions. I will look into those.
I try to have him narrate, at least informally, everyday. He loves computers and Mine craft, so he does some projects on there for history .mostly. I had not thought of PowerPoint. Would the Kidsperation mapping app be useful?
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Working on memory processing is a good option. We started C8 Science (I think that's what it's called). He did well on all the parts, but his processing speed was very low. After several weeks, it just didn't improve.
The only time he doesn't use complete sentences is in answering specific questions about a passage, like "What did John do first?" He might say, "ate lunch." If I just ask, "What happened in the story?" He'll answer in complete sentences. Sometimes 1, sometimes a paragraph or two worth. I write it for him and have him read it back. We narrate with history, science, literature. After rereading WTM a month or ago, I've started having him draw if he wants to go with it. Also, when he finishes a book, he's started drawing from the story or dectating a narration.
The 5 words thing was just to show his dislike of writing. My husband said the physical act of writing was hard for him as well.
We do memorize songs, poems, Bible verses, but we could do more. We started that late as well.
I'll look at the IEW books you mentioned. Thanks!
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Thanks! I'm off to look up capd.
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I came across a thread from March on writing goals for 2E 9 year old and found awesome help. Can you help me make a couple of connections?
I am trying to up our language arts a bit for my 9 year old son who hates to write, has a hard time writing, has ADD, and bores easily. We are making progress with these:
- copywork of short 5-8 sentences from WWE 1
- beginning grammar with worksheets (He has listened to Grammarland.)
- spelling and dictation from AAS 2
- oral narrations - He is generally good at them. With WWE 1, he's working on answering in complete sentences.
- He reads well and often.
1. We are picking and choosing from WWE and will finish in about 6 weeks. Is doing WWE 2 at his age/level next? I've though of switching to Writing Tales 1 or CAP WR or Partnership Writing. What skills are in WWE 2? I think he could do written narrations with horrible grammar if he would write more than 5 words without passing out. I'm seeing some hints that he'd like some creative or story element added.
2. We tried the voice recognition on our computer with Word, and even I couldn't get it to type anything near what I said. Will DragonSpeak or Siri on Ipad be better?
3. Suggestions to just break-out and get the skills to him in an interesting way? He drags his feet and fusses about lessons longer than it takes him to do the lessons (once focused). I thought of BW Partnership Writing since he could adapt projects to his interests. Other ideas?Thanks!
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Yes, probably so. My husband is very similar, even though he doesn't like to admit it.
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Great points! I don't think he hears me because he is focusing on something else. I just need to get to the physical level and accept that that's the way to get his attention. (by that I mean be where he can see me or I can touch his shoulder)
I do think the auditory memory is a gift. It could also be that he is focusing on something, the movie or legos, while he is listening. Or that he listens to audio books when he wakes at night. But, I will milk it. I'm being more intentional about keeping audiobooks and music cds and learning videos in our library basket. Thank goodness for public libraries!
I appreciate your thoughts!
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OhElizabeth, do you mean that your ADHD child does not "not hear you when you call her" or doesn't make the other connections like I mentioned?
geodob, thanks for the info. I talked also to my ADHD sister this morning. She said she does the same thing and explained that her psychologist had told her what you said about attention. She never could find her shoes when it was time for school, but she could remember all the movies we watched.
I think it so interesting how people are different.
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My oldest son (9, undiagnosed) does not respond when you call him from across the room or when he is engaged. I think this is part of ADD. His dad has it; my little sister has it. I grew up trying to get her to "hear" me.
BUT, he can do this:
Watch a movie a few times over a couple of years, then later hear the soundtrack and tell you where the song was in the movie
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listen to audiobooks out of order and put the story together
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after copying a line from Charlotte's Web in WWE 1, tell me what was said next (He has listened to the audio book 2-3 times since he was 5.)
Why? What? Does this mean that audio learning is an option? When I read CHOW to him, he seemed to retain nothing. He listened to SOTW 1 audio and could reference what he heard later in our history study. You know, "oh, that story was on that CD. So and so did . ."
Any teaching strategies you can give me? Thanks!!
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I have students in each class that use laptops or ipads for note-taking. In this day and age, most teachers would be willing to let him use a laptop, even without disability services. However, if he meets someone who doesn't like it, disability services can insure he has the right to it.
I'd also recommend late classes and sticking to 12 hours. Maybe he can take one class each summer session to help make up for less hours in the long semester. But only one!Good luck!
9 & 7yo go straight to Song School Latin level 2???
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Just wanted to add that I waited to do Latin, and we are using SSL 1 with my 6 yr old first grader and 9 yr old 4th grader. They both love it and remember it more than most things we do. We've already ordered SSL 2. SSL 1 is mostly vocabulary, I think. (My husband teaches it.) Maybe you could just go faster if you find it too easy.