[Right Start/Singapore math question]

 

The part of the discovery based description that still worries me is, while I may know how I want to teach a topic, I don't want to have to think about what to teach next. I'm hoping to basically go through miquon in order, using it as a list or spine of what to teach next. Does this sound reasonable? Are most of the things in the FGD in the miquon lab sheets? There's a lot of good ideas in FGD, but I know it's not meant to be used as a TM.

I used the FGD to get a sense of the overall approach, as you have done. The Lab Sheet Annotations functions more as a TM, providing ideas for introducing topics very similar to those used in FGD, as well as an explanation of each lab sheet. So I didn't find it scary when my dd jumped from one topic to another in the lab sheets -- for the most part I could just lead her using the approach from the FGD, but also had very specific activities and questions in the Annotations to draw on.

 

My one dd worked through the books almost in order; the other jumped around within books and even between books a bit. It worked fine either way.

[Help! Need new math curriculum]

I only used Saxon for a bit, but I think I understand how it could be causing frustration for your visual learner. I recommend taking a look at Beast Academy, starting at 3A. It's fun to look at, for one thing! It also approaches topics in a creative way, giving students a deep understanding of underlying concepts. Their presentation of multiplication really helped my eldest make that final push to cementing those facts. Beast is like Singapore in that they expect you'll drill facts as you need on the side, which I did for about 10 min a day using apps and a flash card method that Ruth (lewelma) introduced to me.

 

Singapore Standards has also worked very well for my visual dd. I use it as our spine because we are outpacing Beast at the moment. They have very complementary approaches.

 

I haven't used the ones you're contemplating so can't comment on them.

[Looking for writing suggestions]

(Thanks for the bump) :) yes, third - she's technically going into 2nd, but she's easily at a third grade LA level.

 

My two main contenders at the moment are CAP Writing and Rhetoric and MCT.

 

Here's what I'm debating: CAP lacks the instruction in revision/editing that I feel is important, but includes the reading analysis without any extra work on my part. 

MCT is probably more pieces than I really need (I am starting Latin next year, and I have found a free grammar program that I'm ok with) but it wraps poetry in really well which is something my daughter would just LOVE. 

 

I wish there was something like MEP for LA!

 

My eldest dd is also LA advanced, so maybe some of our experience will be useful.

 

For Gr. 2, we used WWE 2 and MCT together, and it was a good combination. I initially questioned my decision to use WWE 2 with her because of her very strong ability, but I am so glad I did -- it was gentle and built strong summary skills for her that have been incredibly valuable since then. She loved, loved, loved MCT: the grammar, the poetry, the vocabulary. That was a great year. 

 

In Gr. 3, I used half of WWE 2 and W&R Fable. I don't regret holding off on W&R until Gr. 3. She had more stories under her belt, had greater stamina for writing, and had the excellent MCT grammar foundation to carry her through Fable and Narrative I. We combined it with Killgallon "Sentence Composing for Elementary School" and Scholastic's "Paragraph Writing Made Easy".

 

I'm not terribly worried about formal revision and editing at this age, so I haven't seen that as a gap in W&R. I simply ask her to re-read some of her writing after she has left it for a day, and she immediately points out things she'd like to change. We make those changes together.

 

HTH!

[WWE 3 to CAP (where to start?)]

We went to Fable after finishing about half of WWE 3. Like others have said, you don't *need* to do Fable to enjoy Narrative, but Fable is a lot of fun!

 

There are different writing assignments, as Rose mentioned. A lot of pre-writing discussion and thinking goes into those, so that your student shouldn't be left staring at an empty page with noting to say! Most writing assignments are based on a specific text (i.e. rewrite a fable using different characters; summarize a narrative; add dialogue to a story; write a story from a different POV).

[Beast Academy doesn't have a TM?]

I agree with others -- a TM is not needed. And is also agree that the detailed solutions at the back are gold. After struggling with a problem, my dd and I enjoy the moment where we get to "see how the beasts did it." Sometimes multiple ways of solving a problem are presented, and as a result of this exposure I've noticed an increase in my dd's willingness to try different approaches. Beast is amazing!

[Kindergartener needing math switch]

If your friend is considering Singapore, there are placement tests that could help determine where to start. It does sound like the student you're describing is beyond the Singapore K level!

 

Another option is Miquon, which is inexpensive and allows the child to discover interesting math concepts at their own pace.

 

I see someone else has recommended MEP -- that's a great one, too. And free is awesome!

 

I agree with Kirsten that Beast Academy requires a maturity in approaching problems that isn't typical of most K children.

[Ignore this thread!]

Okay, I declare that everyone who quotes me in this thread gets 50 points!

 

Well, thank you! I *need* some points! I'm a Canadian who knows next to nothing about Texas, so I haven't been scoring points yet. I'm sure I'd love it Texas if I knew it better. For one thing, I'll bet there's no snow there right now, unlike here. Maybe I should move.

[Choosing math for 2nd grade]

Math Mammoth is excellent, but my girls couldn't stand it. We ended up using Singapore Standards, which has a similar approach to MM but different look and feel. The layout of the books was more appealing to them, and the leasons from the HIG made it feel more interactive than MM. Singapore's Challenging Word problems are great!

 

Another excellent resource is Zaccaro's Primary Challenge Math, a non-consumable book full of woes problems at all sorts of levels.

 

When she's older, Beast Academy might be interesting because of the graphic novel/story approach. My eldest has loved this (and she's a Fred fan, too!)

[Ignore this thread!]

You had me at "ignore."

[ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Glad to know about rage-clean...nice to have a name for it. My countertops always sparkle after an argument!

I was thinking the same thing! I'm so glad to now have an appropriate label for what I do: "rage-clean." These boards are just a wealth of information!

[Singapore Standards Intensive Practice?]

Did Singapore discontinue Standards Edition Intensive Practice?  I see an IP for US edition, but they don't correlate, do they?  

 

And the Singapore Standards Extra Practice is not as challenging as the IP, is it?  

 

I think that others have already answered this, but as far as I know, there only ever was a US edition IP. I've used it successfully so far as a complement to the Standards text/workbook, but I often lag it a bit (one or two topics to a full half-year behind). 

 

And you are absolutely correct: Extra Practice is much, much easier than anything else Singapore offers. I tried it out once, and I would judge it to be easier than the workbook level.

[Singapore, conceptual leaps?]

We've used Singapore here and so far (into 4B) haven't come across what I would consider a conceptual leap. Questions that made us think? Definitely. Times when we needed to slow down a bit? You bet. But nothing that ever made me feel that I didn't have the tools I needed within the program itself to adapt it for my child.

 

We tried Math Mammoth, but my daughters found the pages too busy *for them*. As far as they were concerned, Singapore was "cute" in the early levels and they begged for it.  :001_smile:

[Was it a dream or did PHP really start a Story of Science series?]

Maybe you're thinking of SWB's newest book: The Story of Science? I *think* it's stand-alone, not a series.

 

[LA questions / MCT & Bravewriter? Overkill?]

If you can figure out how to actually implement BW, then you're ahead of me.

 

 

Well, I feel a whole lot better reading that! I cannot get BW to work for us! I love the concept but can't implement it.

[What do you have your kids do for math over the summer?]

We only do "fun math". For my girls, this has meant math puzzles/games, Life of Fred, Zaccaro, and Beast Academy.

[Writing intensive for gr.4?]

 

 

Not the OP, but I wanted to thank Five More MInutes for the suggestion of Paragraph Writing Made easy. I've been using VIE with my 4th grader and have been pleased with his writing progress, but he could definitely use some focused work on paragraphing. I downloaded PWME from Scholastic and we started a few days ago -- I think it's going to be exactly what he needs. Thanks!

Hey, that's great! I'm pretty sure I owe that recommendation to boardie Crimson Wife. Glad to have been able to share!

[Beast Academy questions...because my questions will get lost in that other thread. ;)]

As an aside, can you tell me how you use the SM books, like which books on which days and frequency?  I have a dd that will begin 1A over the summer and I am trying to figure out which boos I want and how to schedule them.

 

I'll do my best to describe a typical week! This is more what I aimed for, but rarely did exactly as described because I wanted to stay flexible for my dd.

 

For Level 1, I used the Singapore (Standards) HIG, textbook, workbook. I used the schedule in the front of the HIG to give me a sense of how long different topics *might* take. Almost every day we used every book: She started with a bit of Mental Math from the HIG, after which I introduced a topic with manipulatives based on the HIG guidelines. Then we did the textbook orally, and she did the corresponding page(s) in the workbook. We used Miquon to mix things up more with this level. Toward the end of the year I added Process Skills Level 1, which were done mostly on the whiteboard together; she did about half of the problems for any given strategy.

 

For Level 2, I used all of the above, and added in the Intensive Practice books a half-year behind. So same weekly/daily schedule as above, but she also would do some IP each day. We also started CWP 2 partway through this year. I circled about half of the problems in the CWP and IP for my dd to do.

 

For Level 3, we were done with Miquon and added Beast in towards the end of the year. She started to do a lot more written work from the textbook (vs. doing it all orally with me). I didn't expect her to do more than half of the problems from the text, CWP, or IP unless there were signs that we needed to slow down. She does every problem in Beast.

 

For Level 4 (dd9's current level), I dropped the Singapore workbook. Our lessons were from the HIG, and then she just worked from the textbook. We retained CWP and IP, and Beast. Each week I give my dd the pages that I expect we'll cover in each book, and she gets to choose how she works through those. (I still do a short lesson with her based on the HIG almost daily.) Some weeks she does all of her CWP pages on one day, then all of the IP pages the next, and all of her Beast the next day. Other weeks she does a little bit in each book each day. As with previous levels, she rarely does all of the problems in each Singapore book; just enough to show she's mastered them. (I typically circle the hardest ones for her to work on!  :D ) She still does every problem from Beast.

 

Wow -- that looks confusing now that I've written it, and it sounds a lot more complicated and rigid than it actually felt. Hope it helps anyway!

[Teaching reading at home, What works best?? What is your opinion about this program please?]

nm

[Teacher Absenteeism]

My dh works in the PS system and often has no say in the classes he has to miss for mandatory meetings, training, or conferences. His experience is that if parents raise it as a concern with the administration, it is more likely to be addressed than if they raise it with the teacher.

[Does WWE replace narration pages in other subjects]

WTM does recommend writing across the curriculum, but I didn't get the impression that SWB was setting the bar at every content subject every day. I noticed that my dd's skills improved faster when we applied them in at least one other subject apart from WWE on a semi-regular basis. 

 

As for the literature narration ... I tried. I stopped when it was killing my girls and me. We talk about books they've read, we write down the title and rate the book, and we move on.

[Need advice/curriculum suggestions - writing and grammar]

Thank you for all the suggestions/input so far. For those who use/say to just use copy work, where do you get it from? Do you just make sentences up yourself or do you have a book of it?

 

Also, what kind of paper did/does your child use in third grade? The writing lines provided in the WWE1 workbook were way too big for her. She uses a Mead Primary Composition book for spelling and history definitions. It says grades K-2 on it and the lines in it are really a bit big for her too. The writing lines are 0.5" high. However, she still needs (or thinks she needs) the mid-line. I found another thread about 3/8" paper so I'm going to try to find some of that. But are most kids just writing on regular wide ruled paper in third grade? I feel like we're so behind. :-(

 

When I had my dd doing extra copywork outside of WWE, I just used whatever book we happened to be reading to supply the original. I also tried some Bravewriter units which had copywork in them, if I recall correctly.

 

Your complaint about the line spacing in WWE is a familiar one. It drove me nuts -- waaaaay too big for my kids. I had to have them work on paper with different line spacing suited to their levels.

 

If your student is still using the mid-line in Gr. 3, no biggie. Mine has sort of transitioned away from it through the year, mostly because I ran out of the specialty paper and was too lazy to print more! If the mid-line helps your daughter with her writing, then I think it's great to keep giving her that support.

[Does WWE replace narration pages in other subjects]

I assume you're using WWE2?

 

I don't try to write across every subject, because it would overwhelm my kid. I just aim to do a narration in at least one other subject besides WWE each day. Right now my Gr. 2 dd is transitioning to doing independent narrations in history, and at the moment she just writes one sentence on her own and I write the others as she dictates them. By the end of this year / early Gr. 3, I expect she'll be doing her own narrations independently.

[Teaching reading at home, What works best?? What is your opinion about this program please?]

Thank you for your comment Five More Minutes,

 

By several week I meant 12! I noticed that the program will be finished in 12 weeks. Of course I don't believe that it is possible to teach a child to read in just "a few" weeks.

 

Thanks for the links as well. I mentioned that link in my post #2 because they had testimonials/success stories at their website and at the channel. 

 

Five More Minutes, Why some of these programs are really expensive when compared to what I mentioned? Just because they are physical products or because they are really effective? 

 

Thanks

 

:001_smile:  I didn't watch the video to check how many weeks were claimed; I'm just personally suspicious of *any* claims to have a child reading in a set time. It just varies so much -- my own two children demonstrated that for me.

 

As for the price of programs, I can't comment on the reasons for the cost. (OPGTR is pretty inexpensive, though!) I actually didn't use any of the ones I linked to! AAR wasn't available at the time; I didn't know about LOE or OPGTR, but learned about them after I had taught my own children to read with a comparatively expensive program. I wished I had known about these different options, and knew that if I were doing it over, I would have done what you are doing now, and researched the options more carefully.

 

It may be that in the video clip you shared you've found a reputable program that will meet your teaching style and your kids' learning styles, in which case, great!

[Need advice/curriculum suggestions - writing and grammar]

I found WWE2 to be the best in the series for us. It does such a good job of building students' skills in identifying main ideas, summarizing, and creating complete sentences. I like WWE in general because it is easy on kids who don't have the mechanics down yet and gives them lots of practice for that. I can see how it seems it will never get you to writing a paragraph, but I think it's working on these more fundamental skills that can get overlooked.

 

For W&R, like Steven, I would expect to give a lot of support for each lesson. We discuss the writing question and brainstorm ideas. I ask questions to make sure she understands the assignment. If I felt she were unsure, I would sit with her or nearby for the entire assignment. 

 

As for grammar, I agree with Jess and would probably just leave doing a formal grammar program for now. 

 

 

[Teaching reading at home, What works best?? What is your opinion about this program please?]

 

 

He says that your child will be able to read after several weeks (by working with him/her 10 minutes a day).

 

I would be pretty cautious of any claims to have a child reading in a few weeks. That may very well be the case (one of mine did), but the timing is very dependent on the child's developmental stage and capacity as well as instructional approaches. My one daughter took a *lot*  longer to be comfortable reading.

 

There are a number of reading programs recommended here. Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading is one. There are also the programs All About Reading and Logic of English .

 

I successfully used Jolly Phonics and All About Spelling to teach my girls to read, and the best piece of advice I have from that experience is to just do a little bit every day and keep at it.

 

(Editing to add: for young children, I spent about 5 minutes a day on reading; we gradually increased the length of reading time to 10 or 15 minutes.)