jenbrdsly
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Posts posted by jenbrdsly
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All of this makes me think of the doc "Race to Nowhere".
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Have you tried building anything? I'm curious if that would help. Here's a picture from my blog with sand and rocks, but you could also use play-dough. And yes, I'd say if phonics aren't sticking, try sight-words. Have you heard of Balanced Literacy Instruction? That might be a nice combo approach.
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This isn't a book exactly, but we've had a lot of success with token economies. (I'm making a Pinterest board about them here.) The trouble is that they only work for about one or two weeks, and then I need to find another solution.
When I went to the SENG conference in Seattle, I wrote up my notes about dealing with intense kids prone to meltdowns. That info is here.
Sigh... I wish I had more to offer!
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Your blog has some great ideas!!
Thanks. :)
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I have a blog about early childhood education. Here's my page about reading.
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Right Start C does have a lot of games. (Here's some more info from my blog.) A lot of people move over to Singapore after Level B. Personally, I like either program.
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Yes, I would. I'm speaking as a former K-3 teachers too. By second grade, as bright as your son is (way to go on the RS level C!) blending should be coming a bit easier for him. Some people will disagree with me and say hold off until third grade. But the way I see it, what if there was a problem that got unaddressed for a whole year?
But, no way should you have to pay out of pocket! You live in Alabama, right? Your child has the right to a free and appropriate education, homeschooled or not. So write a letter to your school district explaining your concerns, drop it off at the district office, have it time stamped in your presence, have them make a copy of that for your records, and then wait. Testing for a potential learning disability should be free. I have some more info on my blog in case that helps.
Good luck!
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The quill and ink thing was big around here a while ago. Friendly reminder to all moms: BE CAREFUL IF YOU HAVE WHITE CARPET! ;)
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This statement highlights what is wrong with our educational system. Until this country requires that elementary teachers are proficient in math, it is not going to matter what curriculum program is used. Teachers who actually understand basic math would not need a year's worth of training to teach a math curriculum geared towards 1st and 2nd graders.
If you've ever seen the type of tests teachers have to pass to get credentials, you would not make such a judgmental comment. Do you honestly think anybody could get through college not understanding first and second grade math?
Teacher training is different that educating a person about first and second grade math. New textbook programs come with a myriad of books, charts, worksheets and manipulatives that need to be coordinated and understood. It would take anybody a solid 40 hours just to read through a Teachers Edition. Then figuring out how to administer a new program's assessment schedule, is another headache teachers face.
Teacher training is never a bad thing. Everyone can use more education about how to best help kids learn, parents included. We are all learners!
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Here are some ideas for you from my blog.
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"Thanks for the suggestions. They strike me as programs that allow the child to select what they want to do rather than what they need to work on and improve. Am I correct in this observation? If so, is there something that allows the parent to decide what the child's drills are focused on?"
I let Dd immerse herself in Dreambox during a heat wave and one of the games she did not like and avoided. At some point, Dreambox either only offered her that option to proceed or an alternative game accomplished the same thing. She moved up grade levels despite her avoidance.
Yes. Dreambox won't let you pick what your child does, but it does make sure that your child hits those areas eventually. Choice makes a big difference. When kids choose what they are doing, they can be more motivated to learn, perform and master.
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Have you tried Dreambox learning? It would be a heck of a lot cheaper, and hopefully more fun.
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If Linda Silverman were speaking in my area, I'd definitely make every effort to go. She has been a tireless advocate for gifted children and understands the 2E experience better than most professionals out there. When my older son was 8yo we did a telephone consult with Bobbie Gilman of the GDC and it was the turning point in our understanding of him. (I will be forever grateful that the GDC offered that service and that they took the crazy mother (me) seriously when I told them that I thought that my son with the FSIQ of less than 100 was actually gifted.)
That said, she has been criticized for using the outdated SB-LM as well as for her ideas about "indigo children." Some people contend that the GDC is the place to go if you want to buy a high IQ score for your child. In addition there was an issue some years back that you can read about here and here.
ETA: I just realized that your area is my area!
Kai, I'll PM you. Thanks for the insight.
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If you think it might explode, why would you give it to Goodwill?
Good point.
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It WAS a horrendous mess. I was pregnant and hormonal at the time and I just sat and sobbed. We had to wait for the oven to cool to be able to clean it. My oven had exposed coils at the bottom and everything had baked on during the cooling process.
:(
Thanks for all the help everyone!
For those of you who don't use Pyrex anymore, what do you use instead?
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I've been told you can tell the quality by the color--- I think the cloudy ones are the beter ones.
My grandma's pyrex in question is cloudy brown, from the 1980s.
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A while back I remember reading a thread about exploding Pyrex that really freaked me out. Now I've got a question... I just got some older, hand-me-down Pyrex from my grandma. Is older Pyrex better or worse than new Pyrex? Should I keep this, or give it to Goodwill?
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Thanks for the insight, Wapiti.
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Has anyone heard of Linda Silverman or The Gifted Development Center in Colorado? She might possibly be coming to speak in our area.
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My reason to wait was not to find out how competent the teacher is. My children are highly gifted, and telling a teacher that would very likely have me branded a mom who overestimates their special snowflake's abilities. I think teachers are swamped with moms who believe their offspring is oh-so-incredibly-smart.
They needed to have my DD in class for less than a week to find out themselves, because it was so obvious.Even the dumbest teacher would have noticed. (DS is a minimalist who managed to hide his gifts better, so it took a tad longer). Letting facts speak for themselves instead of creating an unfavorable first impression was the better choice.
And then, at 6 week conferences, I could approach the teachers and ask what we could to do make school a better experience for the kids - after the teachers had already noticed what was going on, seen my kids bored out of their mind and not challenged. Having treated the teacher as a professional whom I consider capable of understanding my child always created a good relationship- so that strategy worked well for us.
Our situations might be a bit different. My DS is in a public school gifted program, so the teachers are already used to intense parents and kids who can do weird things. ;)
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It is very difficult to come across as "concerned, helpful, involved mother" rather than "overly controlling, boastful, patronizing mother." At least it's something I worry about.
That's why I give very nice teacher presents at Christmas. ;) Hopefully I now have a reputation for that too!
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I do not think you need to explain anything about your kid. If the teacher is good, she will figure it out on her own. If the teacher is bad, no amount of telling is going to make a difference.
For us it has always worked well not to divulge any information up front, but to let the teachers encounter my kids with an open, unbiased mind. Usually by the 6 week parent teacher conferences, the teachers had a pretty good idea about my kids, just from observing them.
I see the point behind this Regentrude. That strategy lets you find out how competent the teacher is. But I usually go the opposite route. I write a gigantic, detailed, makes-me-sound-like-an-alien, description of my son's intellectual, social, and emotional capabilities, and turn it in the first week of school. I include Guided Reading Level, preferred strategies for solving math problems, and every last thing I can think of.
I know as a former teacher that it takes about four weeks for good teachers to figure out all of that information on their own through evaluation and testing. My reasoning is, why waste that month? I know that info already. This has been important because my DS is advanced in math. I don't want to spend a month waiting for the teacher to figure that out.
Winter, you are incredible articulate over the keyboard. So why not send and email to the teacher? Say that other things occurred to you while you were driving home and you wanted to make sure you shared.
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Thank you! He had a great first day and I just dropped him off for day 2.
Jen, that is a great list! The links on your "Afterschooling Plan" page are broken, just so you know :). We started school at home a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't taken anything off our plate yet since everything I have is pretty short and sweet. We don't have to leave for school until 9 am and since he wakes at 7, that gives him time to play, eat & dress, and we still have time to do a little bit of work. I plan to alternate SOTW 1 and SL Science K in the morning, plus Daily Science and LA 1 (each are just 1 page). After school we'll do some math, he'll read to me, we'll do a literacy activity, and I'll do a read-aloud. I haven't yet started AAS but that can fit into the afternoon.
Oh, man! I appreciate the heads up. I think it's fixed now. I switched over from Blog.com to Word Press this spring because Blog.com kept crashing on me. Now there're all of these tweaks to figure out and fix. Thanks Ondreeuh.
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I hope things continue to go well! Here's a list of Afterschooling things we did with my DS starting around Kindergarten.
Btw, the 100 days of Real Food blog is interesting. Thanks for sharing.
New grading scale in my area PS
in General Education Discussion Board
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We have this scale going here too. Even now that I'm used to it, it still confuses me. The teachers only give out a couple of 4s a year.