guateangel
-
Posts
180 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by guateangel
-
-
I think as long as you're comfortable with the classical idea that we're just training their minds when they're young, and the expression and ability to reason is more for higher grade levels, than WWE is perfect.
I'm trying really hard to be comfortable with WWE, this report just through me off and made me question everything. Writing is relaxed at the school (in lower grades) so I need to relax and trust SWB's writing technique. Thanks for your comment. :)
WWE takes a little longer to get to essays than some other programs, so if you're using it, you just have to accept that your child isn't going to be doing 5-paragraph essays in 3rd grade, ya know? But in your situation, with the school using IEW, that is a bit tricky.FWIW, I used WWE1 and 2, and we were able to copy about 6 sentences in a sitting, but original writing of any kind was NOT happening. I switched to IEW this year (using SWI-A), and my son can now happily write a paragraph of 7-8 sentences. It's amazing how much the keyword outlines have helped him to organize his thoughts and give him a bridge from the mind to the paper. KWOs were pretty easy to learn as well. IEW is a great program for reluctant writers (I don't know about dysgraphia, though I expect you'd need to make accommodations for that no matter what you use?).
For the current assignment, I think I'd have her do a really long narration. :D In IEW, for a report from one source, they would pick out 3-4 keywords for each idea they want to present from that source. They'd pick 5-7 ideas to present. If they're doing multi-source, it's done similarly, but then you fuse the outline. I haven't learned how to do that yet, so I can't explain it. :tongue_smilie: My son just got out of the rewriting a paragraph line-by-line units, and now he's rewriting a story using 3 paragraphs: 1) characters/situation, 2) problem/conflict, 3) climax/conclusion/moral.
For this assignment, is it one page written or typed? That makes a difference. My son's one-paragraph rewrites were often one written page or maybe even just a tad over a page. Those were 7-8 sentences. So a 7-8 sentence oral narration could be handwritten to fit a page. ;) If it's typed, that's going to be a much longer paper. In that case, maybe find 3 topics within the main topic to narrate about, giving you 3 separate paragraphs? That would probably be a typed page, I'm guessing (not having done typed papers in a LONG time... we're not there yet!).
I've seen 3rd graders from the local PS and it's impressive to 'hear' about them writing 3-5 paragraph reports, but when I actually 'saw' these writings, it was beyond pitiful!!! Definitely not what I want my dd's writings to ever look like. I just have to trust this process. :)
I might need to bite the bullet and purchase SWI-A since that is what her school is using/teaching. Is it doable along side WWE or did you quit WWE once you started IEW? WWE is so simple and doesn't take much time, I'm thinking we could do both and slow down if needed. I really do not want to stop WWE.
They want the report written.
Thanks for your comments. :)
-
By writing a lot of it, do you mean filling in words for her, or physically doing the writing (many of us call this "scribing") to write down her words?
If you're filling in the writing for her, I'd back off a bit; if you're just scribing for her, I would think that is fine; that is a normal accommodation for a dysgraphic child. I would write down what she says, and then prompt/discuss with her changes and additions that you need to guide her toward (while still leaving it as "her" paper and not your paper! That part can be hard sometimes!) Be sure to let her come up with the ideas, even if you have to help nudge her towards them. ("Here you said 'the oysters' and later you said 'it,' . . . how many do you mean? Many or just one? So should you say 'the oyster' or something other than 'it'?" Those things need to match.")
As long as the writing is essentially HER words, you doing the physical writing of the draft and then her copying it for the final edition after the edits is just fine. I would tend to finish early enough so that she is only copying a few sentences per day.
She narrated and I scribed for her. This is where we struggle as she cannot narrate and put it on paper herself. So I write as she narrates, then I'll have her copy her narration from my writing. Hope that makes sense. Yes, there's LOTS of nudging. It's a slow process due to her SLOW writing, but we're getting there. Thanks for your help!
-
Thanks, Jen!
Everything you wrote was exactly what I needed to hear. I feel WWE is working for us but when I see other kids whipping up a report with 'ease', I question everything. I know I shouldn't compare!!! I'm working on that.
The rest of her class (11 students) use IEW, so I hear a lot about 'key-word outlining', so then I worry that we are missing something.
We worked on it a little today by answering the provided questions but I started doubting what we were doing since we have no outline. I ended up writing a lot of it, by using her narration and then will have her copy my draft. Is this ok?
I agree 2 pages is a bit much but we have 3 weeks to complete it.
-
We're on our 3rd year of WWE and dd has been asked to write a 2 page essay on the Oto Indians (she attends a 2-day a week private, classical school). I'm embarassed to say I don't even know where to start with helping her since all we've ever done is narration, dictation, copywork and journal writing.
DD has dysgraphia so WWE has been wonderful and fairly painless for her; but coming up with her own writing is difficult. Her school uses IEW and encourages parent's to use but I've always thought it would be too much for dd and WWE is working (so I thought) so why change.
Have I messed up by using WWE as our only writing program?
Do I read her a book/passage on Oto Indians and have her narrate it back?
Help me understand how WWE prepares a child for writing. I don't want to add an additional writing program but if we need to...
ETA: Just re-read instructions. 1 page report, no more than 2 pages. Phew!
-
Don't be so hard on yourself. Allow time to grieve but do it without condemning yourself. Sorry about your granny. :grouphug:
Skipping a few things or throwing a few things out won't hurt, or finish up throughout the summer.
It's really ok. :)
-
After trying RS, MUS and MM with my dd, who has dyscacula and other LD's, TT has been a winner!
There were tears EVERYDAY and nothing I did seemed to help, it was heartbreaking watching her get so frustrated and dreading math time. TT has truely been our miracle in the homeschooling dept.
Do I believe TT is the best math curricula out there, no. However, it's the best for my dd who hated math and struggled day to day with math. If she wasn't a struggling math learner, we would have stuck with MM. I'm grateful to be getting math done at this point (it was seriously THAT bad!)
We continue to struggle with memorizing facts, but we're getting there. Flashmaster was a bust, as well as flashcards. This week we've started xtramath online and so far it's been wonderful.
It's also been helpful for dd to learn how to skip count (she's got 1 through 12 down!) - we play the 'Have Fun Teaching Counting Songs' throughout the day. Not too obnoxious compared to some. :)
Had TT not been a success, CLE was next on the list. Thankfully we've found what works.
-
Sometimes I think I just doubt the process. Because I have never seen the fruit of my labors (as I have just begun toiling) sometimes I get nervous we aren't doing "enough".
Boy do I get this! This is our 3rd year homeschooling and I'm just now seeing the fruit of my labor. DD has some learning disibilities so I've had to change the picture I had in my head when we began this journey 3 years ago. I've changed my expectations and relaxed, a ton! This is, by far, our BEST school year and we are both happy.
Hang in there, it does get easier and it's worth it!!!
:grouphug:
-
This is all past tense since dh has since changed jobs.
I think it's so individual so take this with a grain of salt. :)
1. How hard is it on your family? (I'm talking about being gone 4 days/nights a week.) It was HARD!!! Especially on the kids. They were devestated each time he left.
2. Under what circumstances would you consider this? It was part of his job, so we didn't have a choice. The extra income was nice, worth it? No!
3. Is the extra income and relief of acute financial stress, worth the sacrifice of him being gone? NO! We missed him terribly! DH's income has been cut in half now that he is local, but we are all happier knowing he will be home at 5pm every night.
4. What do you do to make it easier on you and the children? (i.e. skype etc.) We did phone calls, skyped and I have an amazing support system but even with this, it wasn't worth it. My bff's dh is gone a lot due to his job and the kid's are struggling and I see behavior problems arising. They miss their dad!
5. If you are a Christian, what are your thoughts. You will need to pray and seek God for direction. If it's God's will, the grace will be there. :)
6. Any other thoughts, warnings, advice, opinions? :bigear: Have support, pray, and enjoy your kids. Remember it's just as hard on them as it is on us.
So if there is genuine financial benefit for the family AND it isn't a permanent career situation, then I think it can be very positive. Especially if you have plenty of local support and have a solid marriage. Still hard, of course, but so much easier to endure.:iagree:
If it was temporary, this would have made it easier on us but it was part of his job at the time.
-
We did 2 full years of AAS and hit a wall. DD memorized rules but never applied those rules to her writing. It wasn't a good match for us (and that's ok.)
This year we are doing a mix of Apples and Pears (only on our 2nd week) http://www.prometheantrust.org/startspelling.htm
and spellcity for fun with games.
I understand the frustration, best of luck. :grouphug:
-
I'd take her out, unacceptable. You don't want her to fear the water. Kids eventually go under but not forcefully. Wait a year and give her lots of opportunities to freely play in the water. She'll get it. :)
Well, DD cried and called for me through the whole 30 minute lesson, and it took every ounce of my resistance not to go scoop her up and run.This is what concerns me...30 minutes? :( Not ok.
-
We finally found a math curricula (TT4) that doesn't leave us both in tears. My question is what can I do to help her stop counting on her fingers? She had 2 years of RS using the abacus.
We do Flashmaster 3 days a week and have been for over 1 year with little to no success. She continues to rely on her fingers.
She's 9.5 and has NLD with moderate dyscalcula, so at this point i'm just thankful we are getting math done! But...
Do I leave it alone and let it be or do we address the 'issue' and how?
-
We tried RS, MUS and MM. It wasn't until we tried TT that my daughter finally 'got' math. No more tears and best of all, I am not the teacher! :)
Best of luck to you, I understand the frustration.
-
She is not a natural speller, at all! She misses practically every word UNLESS she sounds-it-out (and even then, it's sketchy.) We are on level 3, step 11 (suffixes)....not been fun.
We follow AAS to a T and move extremely slow. Each lesson may take up to 3 weeks or more. We do spelling 3x a wk and I began adding spellingcity to our routine for added help (not seeing improvement so I might drop it.)
I'm wondering if we need to move to a different spelling program or stick it out since AAS is great for those who are not natural spellers.
It's not clicking and we are both frustrated.
I recently read a comment "you can fly through 1-3 if your child is a reader". My understanding is that reading and spelling are completely different? DD is an excellent reader and reading is her strength.
Looking for advice (from those without natural spellers.) What worked for your child? Do I stick it out?
I'm posting here (instead of K-8) because not many kids over there have 'trouble' with much of anything. I mean that in a nice way. :) Do I know if dd has a SN? No, but she might because nothing comes easy to her. Just not sure what the SN might be. She was diagnosed with NLD when she was 5 but I'm not convinced. Now back to spelling... :)
Help!
-
If you find that it's too heavy a work load, I would suggest doing AAS 4 times a week, FLL 3 times a week, and 2 days (instead of 3) for history. We're using WWE2 (4 times a week) and FLL3 (3 times a week) and don't find them redundant, though I have been known to skip some of FLL if we've already covered it. HTH.
This is our exact schedule, except we only do AAS 3 days a week.
-
DD sets timer for 30 minutes of alone-time reading, daily. Reading is her strength but there's no 'devouring' of books going on around here. It's part of school and I'm crossing my fingers one day she will enjoy it without being prompted.
I don't keep track of the books she reads, maybe I will this year. One day I hope to be as organized as you ladies. :)
-
Too much of the same or is it doable?
Not sure why I attended an IEW workshop today because now I want it but love, love, love WWE!
We would be doing WWE2 and IEW A for my 3rd grader.
Thoughts?
-
Yep! It's amazing what the littles pick up. DS3 knows the entire list of prepositions and the definition of a verb, noun, pronoun and most grammar rules. So cute!
-
Maps, lapbooks, memory cards, dd's art work, photos, file folder games, etc.....to name a few things.
I especially like it for those art projects that have messy sparkles.
-
DD attends a classical, CM inspired school 3 days per week and narration/copywork/dictation is regularly done.
Obviously (and sadly, given she's a teacher at a CM inspired school) your friend hasn't educated herself on CM and her philosophies/methods to teaching. :confused:
It doesn't sound like it's an actual CM, classical scool?
-
DD averages 2-3 Magic Tree House books a week.
-
I'll be the minority on this one but we stick with our local PS schedule since we have several friends we like to plan our days off with that attend PS. We continue math and reading throughout the summer.
Just realized you'll be schooling year round. NM. :)
-
Seems everything is learned earlier nowadays :glare:. Multiplication wasn't introduced to me until I was in 4th.
-
I can't say I've lost friends but the dynamics of our relationships have changed significantly.
What's most important is what is right for YOUR family. No sense in trying to convince someone of your decision.
It does get easier. :)
-
FLL 1 covers much of what you mentioned. We ended up doing FLL 1 but sometimes would do 3-4 lessons a day since they are short and simple. We're almost done with FLL 2. So, it's doable to finish both FLL 1 and 2 in 1 school year. IMO, you'd be fine skipping 1 and going straight to 2. I don't regret going ahead with FLL 1 this year though.
ETA: You only need the book.
kids who don't finish books
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
This sounds like my dd with some of her books. When I asked her what was going on, she said "I read the last chapter, so now I know how it ends." HAHA!
It's like waiting to open a present, she wants to peek. :)
Other books, she said are just plain boring. If they are assigned reading (we use SL), then she has to finish. But if it's a 'free reading' book, I don't care. Who wants to read a boring book?
I encourage her to finish but I don't want it to cause issues with her love of reading (not much love there but...), so I don't push it much.