[Saxon question from a newbie]

What do you do with all those meeting strips? :001_huh: I mean, after you fill one out for each meeting... then what do you do with them? Throw them out, file them...?

[New here and trying ot figure out the curriculum for this year...]

Wow!! It probably wouldn't help too much for me to tell you what I plan to do with Becca since your DS has zipped way past that. :) Serious props to you in any event - I'm trying to figure out how I'll maintain my sanity hs'ing Becca with only one younger sibling!

[Dictionaries?]

What's your best recommendation for a children's dictionary? I want something that's more in-depth than most beginner dictionaries, but the explanations still need to be fairly simple. Thanks in advance!

[Do you typically buy the read-alouds that go along with your spines?]

We're big book people anyway, and live in a small town so the library isn't all that great. I'm starting to scour used bookstores and half.com, etc. for a lot of them, trying to save some money. We have bookshelves on 3/4 of the walls in our house!

[Good, inexpensive Bible curriculum for K/1?]

I'm looking for a light, fun, and easy Bible curriculum for Becca. Right now I'm planning most of her work to be done on a first grade level, but I want to keep her Bible work light. She's done a little bit, just simple verse memorization and such, since she's been to a Christian preschool. Any suggestions, please?

[dd -4 yo is already reading. Suggestions for Kindergarten please]

It sounds like your dc already has accomplished K requirements. Time to move on to 1st grade material.

 

 

 

I agree. That's where we are with Becca. She just turned 5 but is definitely ready for 1st grade work, especially in reading.

[benchmarks for grades K-6]

Thank you for this! I keep running into "teacher-speak" lists too and they're so intimidating. They make it sound like my 5 year old should be doing college level work! :001_huh:

[Ladies with fair skin, looking for foundation/powder recommendations]

I like the Bare Minerals as well. They have a nice powder called Mineral Veil that's good for just softening things up and keeping away the shine. I just recently bought the lightest shade of foundation they have and it looks the most natural of anything I've ever tried. I've never had good luck with liquid foundations.

[Kindergarten]

She is an eager learner and I often have to tell her firmly we've done enough of something just to keep her from getting sloppy when she is tired.

 

I just read back and saw this - you've described Becca perfectly! :001_smile:

[Kindergarten]

Becca will technically be in K this fall, but I'm planning to go with TWTM first grade plan. She's already working on HWT My Printing Book, SWO A, and ETC 1 1/2. I have Saxon Math 1 on the way. I'm planning on doing Ancients with Becca, but going with more activities and crafts so she can have fun with history right now. And we'll do the science as well.

 

I figure I can always back off and let her play around or wander off track a bit as we figure this out. She already reads and writes well, and she loves worksheets and reading. I need to err on the side of more just so I can keep up with her!

[Holy Cow]

Aww, congrats on your baby boy! He has a great birthday - that's Becca's birthday too!

 

I don't remember how much Becca's bill was, but due to complications I had with Sylvia, she cost us about $50K, not counting earlier prenatal visits!

[Teaching young ones]

I'm going to have to ask some really basic (i.e., dumb) questions for a while, so please bear with me. :001_huh:

 

I'm doing a small ocean unit study with my girls, leading up to an aquarium trip later this month. I have a great book with activities, teacher resources, games, projects, etc. I've prepared posters, cutouts, cards, you name it.

 

But how do I start? How do I begin teaching them? Do we work on an art project (say, making "barnacles") and talk about barnacles while we're making it? Or talk first, then projects? Sylvia's really around for the play - she needs to be involved somehow. Becca's a challenge on her own - she's very spirited as well and I'm searching for a way to "grab" her attention. She's extremely intelligent and loves to learn, but I have to get her in that receptive mode first, and that's the difficult part for me.

 

Thanks for any help!

[Hybrid K/1st learning?]

When I have to declare a grade to sign her up for outside programs, I mostly use her age-grade, but as far as academic work I just continue the programs we're using as she is ready to move up. This would probably be different if we lived in a state where we had to report a grade-level or keep track of our teaching days by subject. What we've done wouldn't work if we didn't do year-round schooling, either.

 

HTH!

 

 

We're going with an umbrella school/satellite school, so I do have to declare a grade for her. I planned to just say K and work with her at her own level regardless. Will this even out by high school? I'm also planning on a year-round approach - I think she'll forget everything if we have 3 months off all at once!

[Tennessee, anyone?]

I'm out in Dickson... anyone way out here?

[Hybrid K/1st learning?]

I'm new to HS with my Becca, who just turned 5. She's at a first grade reading and math level, with very good handwriting (probably a first grade level as well).

 

Right now, I'm planning to follow WTM with Saxon Math 1, probably not starting until July or August. Right now we're working up to it, loosely doing worksheets, writing, reading, and informal math. I'm also doing a mostly fun, short unit study on ocean life with both girls, working up to an aquarium visit in a few weeks.

 

I want to challenge Rebecca, but I don't want to overwhelm her to where she doesn't enjoy learning. So has anyone done kind of a hybrid K/1st grade? Regular K activities are too easy for her and she'd just glaze over - she's already bored in her part-time preschool even though she has a ton of fun there. But I don't want to overwhelm a new 5 year old with a super-focused first grade load. Or will she be up to it?

 

Does anyone have advice or suggestions for me? I'd appreciate anything, any insight. This is all completely new to me, and as Becca is my first child, I really don't have a concept of what a kindergartener or first grader does. Help please! :)

[Early Reader Question: Should I worry?]

Becca does the same thing and I know her little brain is just working faster than her mouth can move (which is quite a feat!!). If she's reading with me, I just have her go back over it, putting my finger on the word that she missed. If she's reading totally fun books, I let her be.

[What does decent Kindergarten handwriting look like?]

Here is Becca's recent HWT page - she would be going into PS K this year (if I was sending her ;) ).

 

 

Sorry for the sloppy scan!

[How did you determine ...]

When our dd was younger - age 3 and 4 - we had quite a few people simply refuse to believe that she could actually read.

 

 

I've had a lot of that sort of condescension with Becca's reading abilities. People think, "Oh of course she's 'reading' - she's sounding things out or she has the story memorized." Nobody seems to truly get it unless they see her first hand, whip out a book she's never seen before, and start reading it with no problem. She reads things that can't be sounded out. But even my mom (super proud grandma!) didn't really understand until we went to visit her.

[How did you determine ...]

Can I jump in here as my first post? :)

 

Becca only turned 5 last week, so we've never had her formally tested. She's always been extremely active and eager to learn, whether it's physical or mental skills. My goal was to have her reading before Kindergarten and she's picked up that skill and run with it. I almost feel that I didn't actually "teach" her to read at all, I just facilitated her learning. I gave her the K12 evaluation test back early Feb. and she was at a mid-first grade level for reading and even math. She's in a Mother's Day out preschool program (2 days a week, 4 hours a day) and her teacher has commented that she seems a bit bored and is far ahead of what a kid her age is usually doing. She's channeled that into being a little leader in her small class.

 

She is a constant surprise to us.

 

Sylvia just turned 3 last week (they're 2 years and 3 days apart), but she is very ready to follow in her big sister's footsteps. She's getting in computer skills, knows her numbers, letters and letter sounds, and is zipping through Hooked on Handwriting. She intently wants to know what each word on a page says and we're pretty sure she'll be reading before she's 5 as well. Sometimes she can even solve little verbal riddles before Becca does!