Annie Laurie
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Posts posted by Annie Laurie
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Ooo, I like all these ideas! Good point that I can pick something and then do flavors of it (types of quiche, etc.) for variety on one tray.
Ok, I had totally forgotten about veges and dip. Definitely need to give that serious consideration. Yum, love spanakopita!
So here, would this be overkill?
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/sassy-tailgate-sandwiches-120156.aspx It's these small ham sandwiches you make on hawaiian rolls and spread and douse and bake. I have this horrible feeling I'm developing a NEED for them. Ok, I'm just susceptible to ads and they were on the page when I was looking at Ina Garten's chipotle nuts. :lol:
I don't think it would be overkill- they'd be small finger sandwiches, right? Gruyere is so delicious, I always make my veggie quiche with Gruyere because it's such a flavorful cheese.
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I did see a lot of improvement with both of my kids, but moreso after level 3. After only level 2, there were still so many words that they didn't know how to spell, that spelling was still too much to think through when they wrote. After 3, they have about 1000 words mastered, and it seemed to "tip the scales" so to speak for my kids. (I had kids who used to spell 75% of words or more in any given sentence incorrectly. After level 3, it tended to be 50% or less, and sometimes a note with no errors--and then as they progressed in the levels, they had fewer and fewer errors).
If you have to think about rules and patterns for almost every word--well, that WOULD be hard. When it becomes second nature for most words, and there's only an occasional bug-aboo, then it's easier to think about that rule. There's a rule from level 6 that I often think of that helps me remember a couple of words I tend to get confused. But 95% of the time or more, I'm not thinking about rules--so it's not really hard to need to access that one every once in awhile.
Also, rules are something that you might think of more during the editing process, rather than the writing process when the focus is getting ideas on paper, creativity, information, organization, and so on. Save the mechanics for the revision process.
Here's an article on helping kids to become more automatic in their spelling that you may find helpful. This is a gradual goal over a few years though, not something you'll necessarily see tomorrow. HTH some! Merry :-)
Thank you, Merry, that helps a lot! That's exactly what I meant- it seemed overwhelming to keep track of so many rules, but now I can see how it will eventually just be a tool for the occassional word he can't remember how to spell.
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Do you do the dictation sentences?
As my kid writes those words I often ask questions like, "why is that a ck?" "Is that one L or two?" and so on. I expect him to answer by repeating the rule to me. This gets him to think through how to spell as he is writing.
I don't understand your comment about "random rules." They are spelling rules. They are what they are. You either accept them or you don't. If you don't believe in spelling rules, then neither will your kid. I'm not saying that to be mean, I'm just saying that because if that's your approach then no spelling curriculum will work.
Yes, always. I do the same thing with the rules and asking him questions for the dictation. Because we're doing a spelling lesson, I remember to do that. It's real-life application that I'm struggling with.
I didn't articulate that well. It's not that I don't believe in spelling rules, it's that I'm trying to figure out how applying those rules work when going about life. Did any of you learn to spell with rules as kids, if so, do you still think about those rules as an adult when you get stuck on the spelling of a word? As I said, my brain just doesn't work that way. But, I just had a lightbulb moment while typing this out. As you use those rules more and more, the spelling becomes internalized, right? When going about our other school assignments, or even when he's just writing a little note or something along those lines, when he asks me how to spell something, I need to think about what rules apply, and then walk him through the rules with questions that will lead him to remembering the rule and applying it himself. Eventually, he'll need to ask me less and less, as he has more years of practice reading and writing and internalizes much of it. I had to think about math, and that made rules based spelling click a little for me now.
That probably seems obvious to you all, but I'm slow about some things, I guess!
I loved Apples and Pears spelling as it really carried over into other work and very few rules to memorize.
This probably would be a better fit for us. I want to try to make AAS work if I can though, since I already have 3 levels and all of the stuff it comes with, and we've spent a lot of time on it.
We find the same thing, and I decided that for us it was probably less due to the curriculum and more due to my daughter's learning. I also think we were moving too quickly through the book, and so it wasn't fully sinking in. Right now we're taking a break, and instead I'm making a list each week of all misspelled words (that she should know) through the week. We sit together at the start of the following week and go through each one, reviewing the applicable rules. She then practices those words daily in different ways (ideas here) and does a test on Friday. I'm noticing a few things:
1) she's being more careful in her work, since she sees that it results in a shorter list for the following week
2) I notice her more frequently going back to a word and saying "hm, that's not right," followed by "ohhh, now I remember" as she recalls the rule
3) she's scoring well on the tests and in the 4 weeks that she's done it, has only had 2 words be on the list for more than one week (she's had between 6-20 words each week).
Right now we're both enthusiastic about it. I think that we'll likely continue this activity even after we start on book 6, whenever we feel ready to do that.
Good luck!
That's encouraging, thank you!
I have a 9 yo who started AAS on the late side. He is also a terrible speller I have seen a great improvement in his spelling. However, I think expectations of what improvement should look like have to be managed. Ds does not spell many things correctly in his own writing that he does in freewrites or for written narrations or other schoolwork despite having learned them in AAS. There is a huge lag time between spelling it properly in AAS, when he's focused on that specific rule or reviewing spelling specifically with the dictations and when he's focused on whatever other school thing or pleasure writing thing he's focused on when he writes in other contexts. I see his spelling in those other contexts slowly, unevenly improving since we started AAS. However, it's not a magic wand and I have the expectation that he'll continue to need practice for a long time, in a lot of contexts before he really masters the material across the board. Learning the rule, getting it when you're not thinking about anything else during spelling time is just the first step.
That said, I'm sure it doesn't work for every kid. And I've heard that some kids who really didn't click with AAS did click with Apples and Pears, as mentioned above.
Thank you, your post is what I was getting at. The bolded makes sense.
Just a thought, are you using the review cards each day at the beginning of a lesson? If you are using a chunk of cards each day, that will really, really help with memorising each rule.
It does take time though, not just "well we learnt this last week, so we should know it"
. I also talk with DD9 during other writing times and question her whether or not it should have k or ck, for example. She remembers more rules than I do :) I remember that there is a rule regarding xyz, but dont remember what it is. So when I see her incorrectly spelling a word, I will ask what we learnt regarding this. Then she will often be able to tell me as we talk about it and fix her mistake. So for us, spelling rules dont just stay in our AAS lessons. I try to include them in most of our lessons that require spelling, when needed. Hope this helps :)
Yes, we use the review cards every single day and he has no problem memorizing them.
That does help, thanks!
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My 9 year old can read very well but can not spell. We had gone through 2 levels of AAS in the past and I didn't see any improvement in his spelling, but I got it out again recently because nothing else has helped either. We are now part way through level 2 and once again, I see no improvement, but we both find it hard to apply the spelling rules to his writing. He says he can memorize the rules, but then when he's writing, it's hard for him to remember what would apply to what situation. I have to admit that I am the same way- they just feel like random rules, and it's hard to remember to stop him when he can't remember how to spell something and think through those rules and apply them.
Any suggestions? Is this something that just takes time and practice? When he writes something, do I go over spelling rules when we're editing it or when would we do that? I can see reminding him when he asks me how to spell something, but for his spelling to really improve, this needs to become something he can apply himself. I'm really confused about this rules-based method as I am a visual speller and never had problems with spelling as a kid, so I don't know if my expectations are just off, or what.
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Did you look at their Time Travelers series?
I know it's American History, but it looks fun.
Maybe read some of the Genevieve Foster books to go with it for background and other world events. Columbus and Sons, World of John Smith, etc.
American history wasn't on my radar, so I hadn't looked at it. But, after thinking about it, I suppose it doesn't really matter what history he does next year, and he would LOVE it! I have all the History of US book he could read through with it. He has plenty of time to cover world history. Thanks for the idea! I'm going to take a closer look and see if he could do a lot of the projects on his own.
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Planning for next year...
My 4th grader loves Project Passport more than any history program we've ever done. We are about done with the Middle Ages unit and will start Renaissance and Reformation in a couple of weeks. We'll be done with that by summer and that's the last unit they'll have available.
He can not stand it when I read a non-fiction spine to him, or at least, A Child's History of the World made him cry. :huh: So, now he's not to open to the idea of Story of the World either. He loves projects. I like Project Passport, because while it's a ton of work to print out and set up, once I have that all done, it's very easy to use and does not take up a ton of our time. I have to really streamline things since I have several kids I'm hsing, and I have a 3 yr old, and an overview of history is fine with me right now, and is not our focus.
Any ideas on what we could use after Project Passport?
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I voted postpartum because my last baby never slept and I have had PPD with other babies. Breastfeeding doesn't usually bother me and I have been blessed that I haven't had problems, but I was so exhausted with last baby that bfing was something I didn't want to do but did anyway.
I wonder though if I should have voted pregnancy. Is labor and delivery a part of pregnancy? Because I have easy pregnancies and really long and awful labors/births. My last one was 22 hours at home and that's how I knew he was the last one.
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Have you considered BraveWriter or their online classes? That might be your DD's cup of tea if she already likes writing and big-picture instruction. Or SWB's Creative Writer?
Bravewriter would probably be a good choice for her.
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Yes, the TWSS is teacher-intensive. That's why they came out with the SWIs, to make using their approach possible in a non-teacher-intensive format. :laugh: I've heard your stylistic concerns from others who haven't used IEW. We used IEW for a year to prepare us for Writing With Skill and I didn't see those concerns come to fruition, but I was enough of a rebel that I didn't make my DS adhere strictly to ALL the rubric requirements by the end of the course. We limited it to the requirements that made sense to me. I wouldn't recommend IEW for several years in a row, perhaps, but a year of it didn't ruin my DS. :coolgleamA: You know your DD best, so if you don't think it would be good for her, then that's great! Good luck!
We have the SWI and were using it. I still think it's teacher intensive, even with the SWI, as I want to watch with my kids and be involved in the whole process, that's why I said I think that's personality dependent, because I feel like I need to do everything with my kids and I know she needs to start being more independent. If she had an open and go program that was faster for me to look over, I'd still feel in the loop but it woulnd't require as much of my time as IEW did, even with the SWI.
None of my comments were meant to address your personal choices, no judgment attached. I wouldn't assume you ruined your ds, or that anyone who uses IEW is. My concerns are probably due to my own weaknesses as a teacher.
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We couldn't make Writing Strands work here either - tried in in 4th grade. I really wanted to like it based on the S&S but the teeny, tiny incremental steps turned something that could have been good into drudgery. I liked the theory, but it didn't work with my real-life child.
Thanks for mentioning that, it would drive my dd nuts then. I liked WWE but she really, really disliked it. She's a global thinker and doesn't like slow, incremental programs.
I actually think she would enjoy Jump In but was a little put off that it's an Apologia product. But maybe I'm making it bigger than it is.
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Thank you so much for all of these great suggestions, I'm going to look into these further tonight when my kids are in bed.
IEW's Student Writing Intensive level B is for grades 6 - 8. It has video lessons on DVD and the writing assignment instructions are written to the student.
I hate to admit it but I own this, I've bought TWSS twice. Resold it once, tried it again years later. I find it hard to implement. Or something. I don't know what my problem is, but it doesn't click with me and it doesn't get done. My dd likes it, but I feel out of the loop if I don't follow along. I view this as a teacher intensive program, that is probably personality dependent. And my dd loves to write, so I'm concerned about some of the stylistic techniques changing her voice. I do like many things that Pudewa has to say in the TWSS and thought it would be a great way to teach myself to implement writing across the curriculum, but it hasn't worked out that way for me.
I used WriteShop with my 19 year old, along with online clases, and he is a strong writer, but my dd wants something self-directed and I'd rather wait on an online class for writing for her for now.
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I'm sorry. Acid reflux is no fun. I keep eating little bits of things I shouldn't eat, it's hard to give all that up. I hope you find that you can add some things back in.
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What options are there for this for a 6th grader besides Writing With Skill and Jump In?
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I just want to add a word of encouragement -- for those long, hard days when you wonder if it would be so much easier if they were in school: in my experience, anyway, the answer is no. We were just as exhausted with the drop-off, pick-up, homework, go get supplies, figure out lunch, must have clean laundry (well, we try to have clean laundry regardless, but if we stay in our jammies while the load of jeans finish drying, no harm no foul!) . . . it was, truly, equally exhausting. I am thankful that my girls attended traditional school for short periods of time, and realizing that parenting and educating is LONG HARD EXHAUSTING WORK whether homeschooling or traditional schooling was a blessing. It made "embracing the suck" easier.
And it does get better, I promise, as they get older.
Thanks!
I actually don't wish they could go to school, my eldest is 19 and was in public school until 4th grade, I took him out because PS wasn't working for us. I definitely know there's a lot of work involved with the PS side of things too!
When he was at this middle school age, my others were young enough to just need to be read to a lot and play some math games. I think it's so exhausting for me right now because I have 3 who are at an intense stage all at once. Of course, check back with me in a few years when I'm teaching my youngest to read while doing high school with the others!
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I am not sure that 'Hollywood' has any more addicts than anywhere else. I have dear friends who have struggled with addiction. I have friends whose beautiful children have fallen prey to heroin. I had one friend who had her well to do lifestyle shattered when she found out her husband was using heroin. She had zero clue he used drugs of any kind and trust me when I tell you that we were shocked beyond anything to find that out. Never, ever would have thought that of him. I think we hear about it more from the entertainment industry because they are high profile. But how many firefighters or doctors or teachers or insurance sales people, or mail carriers or librarians or taxi drivers or homeschoolers or financial planners or people who work in call centers or walmart employees are current or former addicts?
Who here hasn't had their life touched in some way by addiction. I don't mean themselves, but that is certainly the case for some of us here, but our families or circle of friends. I doubt there are many if any.
That blows my mind that someone could be using Heroin and it wouldn't be obvious. I wonder how someone on drugs can function and do their job?
I think addiction happens everywhere, not just in Hollywood. My neighbors down the street have a son who is very close with my son, (they are 19), who is a handsome, talented kid, but got involved with drugs and ended up serving time in jail. But, I also think that the lifestyle in Hollywood- being an idol, image being very important, and so on, seems to set people up for pain and emotional issues that make one more likely to seek out drugs or alcohol or other unhealthy coping mechanisms in the first place.
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Does your library have teen groups and events? My son met a lot of kids when he was around 16 at the library, participating in a Yugioh club, chess club, and a tabletop gaming club. He also went to local card shops and comic shops for Yugioh, Magic the Gathering, and Dungeons & Dragons groups and met people that way. Yugioh and Magic has also helped ds make connections at college, a lot of kids play those games. Once he had a job, he made a lot of friends there too. And then at community college classes also. So basically, I'm echoing some ideas the other ladies mentioned that worked for us also.
You can google for local comic shops and card shops. My younger kids have gone to Yugioh tournaments at comic/card shops, my dh went along to make sure all was appropriate and just hung out while the kids did their thing. He said that all the kids and young adults were polite and friendly, maybe a little bit of bad language, nothing over the top, but ymmv.
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I find Costco very worth it, but I don't do Paleo and can't remember what all you can eat. I get olive oil, flax meal, wild salmon, goat cheese, Tillamook cheeses, produce, plain Greek yogurt, oats, Lara bars, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla.
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He was brilliant. It's very sad how often this happens in Hollywood.
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I have some you can get super cheap! ;) Trying to tempt ya, I am, lol!!
So that means you tried it, and it didn't work for you?
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I want Supercharged Science Mastery K-12 because I've convinced myself that it's the rigorous, secular, science (with all materials included) unicorn that I've been chasing.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I bought Supercharged Science last year and we hardly used it. It was so overwhelming. But I bought an e-science subscription, if the one you're looking at is the super expensive one that comes with everything you need, that's probably easier to get done.
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I looked at Teacher File Box and at Evan-Moor and to be honest, I can't figure it out. What would I do with the TFB site? Is there a teachers manual that would walk me through using all of those things? I have no idea how to go about using tens of thousands of vaguely grouped worksheets. I guess that personally I am hoping for more hands-on and guidance for me.
I can teach math because there is a definite and concrete point at which the answer has been found and verified. I don't know how to do that with composition type stuff. The boys are capable but "meh" about writing. They don't love it and would probably get mad if I made them do a lot of it daily. I am hoping for something that helps us work on a small-to-medium amount of vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation every day throughout the week and guides us to write 1 composition a week. Each year/level increasing the weekly quota until they are writing 1 a day for middle school.
Does that exist?
I go to the Evan-Moor website and click on the language arts category and look at the options, when I find something I want to try, I look up the EMC number by zooming in on the cover of the book and I type EMC and whatever number it is into the TFB search window and it will pull them all up. Then I use the look inside feature on the Evan-Moor website to see the table of contents, and that helps me figure out what order to print them in. There are instructions included with the material.
You can always just buy the Evan-Moor books you want in ebook format and print them off, bypassing the TFB option. It just gets more expensive that way.
CLE language arts (www.clp.org) has language arts workbooks that are really good for workbooks and relatively inexpensive. They have a litle bit of grammar, spelling, penmanship, vocab, etc, in each workbook and are open and go. You can purchase a teacher's manual. They have samples on the website. There are small writing assignments, but it's not really a complete writing program. But if your kids are younger, it might be enough for your purposes. And if it doesn't feel liek enough, adding some copywork and dictation would be enough writing for younger kids.
Writing With Ease is open and go if you purchase the student workbooks, but it focuses on copywork, narration, and dictation in the younger years, not writing compositions.
Something like Serl's Primary Language Lessons might have a nice mix of things that you would like, all in one book.
Writing Strands is another option, I have never used it so can't comment on it.
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My GERD got so bad that I was having horribly painful episodes where I'd end up throwing up repeatedly and it would take hours for the pain to go away. I take PPIs every day right now but am trying to reduce my dosage.
Unfortunately, I did have to modify my diet. Alcohol is a big trigger for me, which has been a bummer, dh and I like to have a glass of wine with dinner or a beer. But every time I try to have even half a beer, I have pain again. I also just eat very small meals, chew my food for a long time, and drink tons of water. I don't eat or drink much dairy at all, maybe a small piece of cheese every now and then. I eat the same thing most days, which is hard since we're foodies and we like trying new things. But oatmeal for breakfast, an apple or salad for lunch, and whatever I make for dinner in small portions is what worked for me in stopping the painful episodes I was experiencing.
I lost 15 lbs in a few months because of just eating smaller portions, not eating if bedtime was 3 hours away or closer, and not drinking beer. But I do hope I can get it under control and indulge now and then again.
ETA: I'm a big tea drinker, I drink hot unsweetened tea all day in the winter, but I found that black tea was a trigger for me, so no more Chai or English Breakfast. I drink herbal teas and a lot of ginger tea now. Peppermint is another trigger for me that I've had to avoid. I just ate a clementine and feel fine though, so triggers may vary from person to person. I guess it's hard to know what to avoid though if your reflux is silent.
My wonderful grandfather died of esophogeal cancer a few years ago, and he suffered from GERD most of his life, so I take it seriously.
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I started mine in FLL4. I looked at the samples for both, and the level 3 seemed really simplistic for my child. The examples were going over the parts of a book, and what a noun was, multiple times.
DD has had some formal grammar, though. (Not that she retained much, but I felt 4 would be a better fit for her based on what she does know.) It might be best to check out the samples and see for yourself.
Thank you!
I did compare the samples earlier, but I still couldn't decide. The beginning of FLL 3 does look simple, but then it picks up, and I couldn't tell if level 4 would move too fast.
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Would you start a 4th grader who has not had much in the way of formal grammar in FLL 3 or 4?
Brave Writer, Brave Writer - oh what do I do??
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Can he tell you his stories while you type them out? Then he can draw, or scribble, a picture to go with it. My kids used to love that and we did that a lot age until about 8- we'd get those blank white books from Rainbow Resource or wherever, and I'd type out their story, we'd cut and paste it in there, and they'd draw pictures. Or we'd use the blank shape forms from Evan-Moor's How to Make Books With Children Series. They loved that!
Do you really need Bravewriter for that? It sounds like it just clutters things and overcomplicates things for you right now. The longer I homeschool, the more often I remind myself to keep it simple.
ETA: At age 5, their stories were often one sentence to a page that I'd write down and they'd illustrate, and that was just fine. It doesn't have to be anything involved.