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In the Rain

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    IEW -- tell me this gets better

    in Logic Stage & Middle Grade Challenges

    Posted

    IEW is drill. It ingrains stylistic techniques into the kids' brains so that they eventually come out naturally.

     

    I always alternate IEW with another writing program. That way we do one assignment with the checklist and the next assignment without one.

     

    IEW has made my kids much better writers, but I did not see it immediately. My eldest child is a natural writer and is doing his fourth year of IEW. I am grateful and extremely satisfied with the results. All of posters on this thread so far seem to be people who tried IEW only for only a short time and quickly gave it up. Perhaps the yahoo group would give you insight from people who have persevered with the program.

     

    I agree with this. I alternate IEW with W&R, or MCT writing assignments. I notice that my kids independently apply some of the skills they've learned in IEW. The IEW framework has been very helpful for better organizing the ideas of my oldest dd, who is a natural writer with a strong voice.

     

     

    It is much more difficult for my younger dd, but I am seeing progress. 

    When do kids become more independent learners?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    My oldest showed no signs of working independently until 6th grade. She went from wanting to be by my side all of the time, to working quite independently. It was a drastic change that occurred rapidly.

     

    My youngest has always been independent in all aspects of life. She worked independently in 2nd grade, which wasn't always desirable. She'd just keep going and going, even if it was all wrong. Grr. Even now, she shoots ahead in her piano book because she is always trying new, hard things.

    What age for the Princess and the Goblin

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    My youngest was 5 or 6 when we read it the first time. She was already used to long chapter books, and enjoyed it immensely. We listened to it on CD, and loved the way the British narrator pronounce "princess". 

     

    It is interesting that a pp found it creepier than the Narnia books. For my girls, the opposite was true. Dh read the Narnia books to them several years after TPATG, and my oldest was pretty traumatized by it. The younger one was fine with it though. 

    changing words when reading- vision issue?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I'm not sure what to make of the emotional outburst over The Indian in the Cupboard, but I think the other reading issues sound normal. I've noticed most fluent readers substitute small words when reading aloud (the/a/that). Are those the kind of substitutions you are talking about? I've talked to my kids about times exact word choice is important- reading aloud for a running record, poetry, quoting, etc. It doesn't bother me in casual reading situations though. I think sometimes the brain fills in those small words while the eyes are looking ahead. Being able to scan ahead while reading out loud seems to help fluency.

    Book suggestions for lit analysis co op class for middle schoolers?

    in Logic Stage & Middle Grade Challenges

    Posted

    I'm not Texasmama, but I do lead a book club if you'd like to hear from others. I read through Deconstructing Penguins and also went through Teaching the Classics. TTC probably helped me the most because he takes actual works (poems and short stories) and discusses aspects of them in the presentation. I think seeing it in action helped me. 

     

    I've headed up a book club for 3 years now. The first year I wasn't comfortable with it, so I only asked 2 friends to have their children join me and ds. We read books at home, got together and discussed the books and then watched movies of the books. We went to see Arriety in the theaters after reading The Borrowers. 

     

    I tried to teach them a couple of literary elements when we discussed each book, adding new ones each time and still discussing the ones we had learned. I also taught some figurative language with each book, depending on the examples I could find in the book.  For example, I think I discussed setting and plot structure/conflict for the first book, point of view and characters the next, and themes in the book next class.  We read 4 books that year. 

     

    The next year I opened it up to our homeschool group and we still discussed the books and watched a movie of the book afterwards. I found some children wanted to answer every question and some would never answer in front of the whole group (we had about 15 the next year). I discovered most of them would discuss more openly if I put them in groups of 2-3. I would take different discussion questions and pass them out to each group. The groups would share the question and their thoughts to the group as a whole (choosing a spokesperson). I always discussed the basic literary elements together as a group, though. We read 6 books during that year. I made this graphic organizer for them to fill out as they read the books at home.  I taught them some figurative language terms and we did this exercise to practice writing with figurative language. We ended the year with the kids writing a "figurative language cafe" menu with titles and descriptions of the items using figurative language. They also picked one of their food items to bring for our end of year party. 

     

    This year, we read 6 books and began with a book fair. Set up sort of like a science fair, the kids made displays about a book they read over the summer and gave a short talk about it. I spent that lesson reviewing over the basics of literary analysis we had learned last year and helped them put together a notebook as a reference. I added new literary elements each time we met (author's purpose, mood vs. tone, etc.). Instead of movies, we decided to have a unit study day and do art, games, and projects that went along with the books. I had about 30 kids come this year(3rd through 9th grades), so we again broke up into groups to allow varying discussions at the level of the kids. We always had some discussion together. I have LOVED leading a book club. I have a math degree and never imagined myself as a literature teacher, but literary analysis made literature into a puzzle to figure out, a problem to solve, which helped me appreciate it all the more. 

     

    I hope this helps a little!

    Wow, Amy! That helps a lot! Thank you for sharing. Your information was helpful and your worksheets are excellent!

     

    I have TTC, and the first book of Ready Readers. We were in a coop this year that worked through a dozen or so picture books using TTC story charts, so my kids are familiar with that process and the basic terminology of analysis and figurative language.

     

    I listened to one of Adam Andrews' talks a few nights ago. My dd commented that the analysis we had been doing wasn't as complex as what Andrew was mining out of the books. . I think I need to find a way to go deeper with my kids next year, especially the oldest.

     

    Do you mind sharing the list of books you read that also had movies available? My other dd would love to watch a movie for every book. 

    Book suggestions for lit analysis co op class for middle schoolers?

    in Logic Stage & Middle Grade Challenges

    Posted

    Texasmama, if you have time, could you describe how you adapted Deconstructing Penguins to make it into analysis for middle schoolers? I read the book a couple of years ago, and couldn't really see how to make it work. My middle schooler is begging me to start up a book club for her, and I'm floundering.

     

    EndofOrdinary and Lori D, thank you for the short story lists!

    My one day decluttering bedroom makeover for dd's allergies

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I know it is a lot of work. A few years ago, we had to do the kind of major overhaul you are talking about- in 3 bedrooms! It really worked though. Even with curtains and carpet in all of the bedrooms, all three of us were able to reduce our medications and have fewer symptoms. It really is worth the effort.

     

    As a heads up, any time we do some serious cleaning my allergies flare up for a while before settling back down. So it may be worse for a bit before it gets better.

    Hang in there!

     

    This is an excellent point. We use a saline rinse and take a shower after cleaning and it makes a huge difference.

     

     

    Erin Condren Teacher Planners are ON SALE. !!!!

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I had never heard of Erin Condren planners, so I did a google search. Wow! I can't believe how many very long youtube videos there are featuring this planner. And now I've learned about washi tape too. LOL. Washi tape, and Martha Stewart teardrop stickers, seem like mandatory accessories. Let us know when you upload your video. I think I spent two hours watching those videos last night, while supervising a sleep over. :lol:

    School-at-home, offensive term?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I think homeschoolers using that term against other homeschoolers mean it in a negative way. Personally, I wouldn't be offended by the term since nobody knows exactly what we are doing at home or how I am presenting new information. I would not want to be part of a group that was regularly judging and insulting my methods though. It is a rude thing to do.

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