jenbrdsly
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Posts posted by jenbrdsly
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Plum Crazy, you're making me want to go and delete all my old email just in case! ;)
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I saw Michele Kane speak at the SENG conference in Seattle. She was good. Here's some of what she said at the conference, if that helps.
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Hey Mommy bloggers. I'm wondering how others deal with online privacy, your kids, and your blogs. Here's what I do. FYI, the online forum I mention was not Hive. Pm me if you want to know.
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I have lots of ideas on my blog. Check the reading and math pages.
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Dmmetler, on Crimson Wife's and my side of the US, the EXPLORE isn't offered nearby, or very often. My DS for example, would have to take it in Idaho (but we live in WA).
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James Webb... Hoagies gifted lady...
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I grew up in the San Diego Seminar program, which starts in 3rd grade. It was outstanding. But it sound like you'll be moving before then. :(
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Wow. Coincidentally, I also have two sharks swimming in my backseat, although both of them have the same paternity.
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Our school district teachers were in training for the Common Core standards this past weekend.
I've heard, (not sure if this is true?) that the standardized tests are going to have a lot more writing in them. Possibly related to this, I noticed that in Ko's Journey the assessment questions were all open ended writing prompts. But in the teacher's guide, it showed the assessment questions as being multiple choice. Ko's Journey is supposed to be based on the Common Core standards, so I'm wondering...
Did anyone else do Ko's Journey and notice this?
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Does anyone have any examples from the animal kingdom of siblings that fight so much that they actually eat each other? I think praying mantises do this (according to Click magazine), but am curious if there are other examples out there. Err...um... besides the two animals in the backseat of my car. ;)
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Good point Kai. It could be that now after two years of Hive the information wouldn't seem new to me either.
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I just wanted to add The Younger Mrs. Warde's blog: Sceleratus Classical Academy. She's at home recuperating from a difficult pregnancy and delivery right now. So be sure to pop onto her blog and say feel better soon!
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My blogs are in my Siggy. We are an Afterschooling family and I write a parenting column for our local paper.
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I'd second that. Don't worry about the teacher manual.
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There are a bunch of workshops to chose from, and all of the latest research is shared. I wrote up some of the things I learned from the Seattle Conference up on my blog:
I think there is an old thread about the Seattle SENG conference. I'll see if I can find it.
Edited to add: Here's the thread about Gifted Hoarders.
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My two cents. I think the kid's scores should be private. That's a horrible invasion of the child's personal business on the mom's part. Is it okay to post your child's report card on Facebook? NO! So why is okay to send out their SCAT scores?
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My then 4th grader (who started teaching himself algebra at 3 or 4 and could add/subtract huge strings of numbers in his head at that point) had two "research projects" the entire year. One was a tri-fold travel brochure for a country of his choice and one was the science fair. He was also required to do 5-6 math problems per day (things like 7+4 and 5-2).
I was told that my then 3rd grader (who entered this school doing Singapore 4B with ease, btw) was struggling to keep up with second grade work. There was a 504 meeting called (she has VERY minor tourette's and epilepsy) where I was told that she was severely disabled and needed a full-time aide in the classroom - fishy, as the lack of funding had caused them to lose their classroom aide the previous week.
My Kindergarten student did not have any issues to speak of, but he was doing roughly the same level work when we enrolled him in Montessori as he tests into now.
Given the situation, what do I need to do to get them back to where they were and continue on the path we were on? Which programs would you use with kids like this? I had planned to put the older two in everything but spelling together and use Saxon 5/4 to build all their basic skills back up, but now I am feeling like this is the wrong way to go about things. I chose Saxon to bring them back up to speed because of all the built-in review, but I am afraid it is going to move too slowly for them. At the same time, I am afraid to let them go too fast this time through because evidently they didn't retain as well as I thought they were (although, it may just be the effects of virtually no academic challenge for two years).
One more thing...my kids have never been IQ tested, but have always learned 99% of whatever they needed or wanted to with little effort. They have always been intense kids who somehow just know things they were never taught. I have been told by long-time "gifted" educators that they have no doubt. All this makes me wonder, though. If they are really gifted, would they lose ground like this? Does this happen to truly gifted kids?
I can't figure out how to multi-quote anymore, so I condensed the things I thought thoughts about. What a nightmare for you!!! Big hugs!
In retrospect, the school could have been doing a lot of things for your 4th grader in math. They could have sent him up to 5th grade for math, signed him up for Stanford EPGY (although cost would have been the issue), signed him up for Dreambox, hooked him up with Descartes' Cove. Now he's lost a whole year of school.
I would not do Saxon. If your son was at one point able to manipulate big numbers in his head, then he'll be able to do that again. Saxon is more about memorization and algorithms. So I'd think sticking with Singapore and than moving to AOPS Algebra would be the way to go. I have some more info on Constructivist math on my blog that you might find helpful.
Now for your third grader. A 504 is by definition not a Special Education plan. 504's are for things that don't qualify for special ed funding. So why were they saying your daughter needed an aide? At that point, it should have technically moved to an IEP. That's all really weird. However, if she really does qualify for special ed, then she'll still qualify no matter what, even if she's homeschooled. So document EVERYTHING, and don't be afraid to advocate for your child.
Good luck!
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I'm so excited! I just saw that the SENG conference is going to be in San Jose next year. My husband and I went to the SENG conference in Seattle a few years ago and it was amazing.
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Descartes' Cove came in the mail today. Wow! I'm not sure it's worth full price, but I think it's totally worth the 40% off price. The first 3 discs are for grades 6-8. Then the next three take you through Algebra, Geometry, Reasoning and Proof. So we're going to get several summers out of this purchase. I also like it a lot better than Ko's journey (so far). DS has played about an hour so far, and I was watching over he shoulder almost the whole time.
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I have an agent myself, so I'm speaking from a tiny bit of experience here, but it's a super long road to getting a book traditionally published. Even when your agent sells your manuscript to a publisher, it can still be about three years to print.
A couple of revisions is usually not enough to get a manuscript ready to sell. 10-20 complete revisions is more like it. She'll also need "beta readers". Those are people who read early drafts and give you feedback. The more beta readers the better.
When everything is perfect, she'll need to write a query letter and submit to a literary agency. Many (but not all) agents will also ask for the first 10 pages. So the first ten pages have to be compelling. 99% of the time, those are the only ten pages an agent will ever see.
You might like to check out the blog KidLit by Mary Kole. She has a lot of good advice up there.
Good luck to your daughter!
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FYI: I hope we didn't scare you off from Hive HeatherL! This is a safe place to express concern about school choices and how the heck to deal with gifted kids. Feel free to share your angst. :)
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I'd still go for it. Some teachers get extremely nervous at Back to School Night, but that doesn't mean they aren't good with kids.
Also, regarding the math manipulatives. Just because you saw dinosaur counters doesn't mean that this teacher doesn't have anything to offer your child. Correct me if I'm wrong Hivers, but my understanding is that Saxon Math is a traditional math program that emphasizes algorithms and memorization over Constructivism. So it could be the teacher is prepared to offer you child a different learning experience; one that emphasizes open ended problems, big ideas, exploration and critical thinking.
Dmmetler is right. Any gifted program is a good sign. Many people aren't so lucky, so it's worth it to give it a chance. (imo) :)
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We have the SOTW 3 Activity guide book and are listening to SOTW 3 in the car. I'm going to start blogging about the activity guide soon.
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I want to go to Denali! I bet the Kenai Fjord was great too.
We did a Tracy Arm Fjord cruise this summer which was wonderful. I have some pictures on my blog.
Two great school days and my house is a pit
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I hear you! I wrote something about this last year, but I like to think of Afterschooling, parenting, and house cleaning in terms of The Brady Bunch. I can be Carol Brady or Alice, but I can't be both women at the same time!