nutella08
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Posts posted by nutella08
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You can try books by Bonnie Risby, i.e. Logic Safari, Logic Countdown, Logic Liftoff, and Orbiting With Logic. They're available on amazon.com and mostly geared towards elementary school age.
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http://www.misscantillon.com/Preposition%20Song.htm
There are many on youtube.com if you search for 'preposition song'.
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My daughter loves it. Actually, rather addicted to it. However, I can't fully attest to how "helpful" it has been. She's been playing it for the last few days and is already around 60% complete with program. She understands the concepts but tends to be very careless. She's making lots of errors on the assessments at the end, generally getting 3/5 correct. The program just lets her continue and doesn't seem to tell her what she got wrong or make her rework them. HTH
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We just finished Grammar Town and never used the Student book either. I usually just covered up the answers in the TM when necessary. That did make snuggle time more comfortable. Well, there were maybe 1-2 pages where the answer (find the preposition?) was bolded in the TM, so that was hard to cover. But otherwise, the Student book seemed a waste.
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If you happen to have an iPad already, "Stack the States" and "Stack the Countries" are awesome, up to $3 total. Both kids managed to learn all the states & capitals in a week. Since August, they've got all the countries in Asia, Europe, and most of Central/South America (at least name, location, shape and a few tidbits). Now they're working on Africa. Mostly ON THEIR OWN! :lol: However, I do have a couple atlas for reference while they play. Definitely provides good pegs when we discuss news and watch documentaries.
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DD loves NaNoWriMo! We've been doing it for the last 2 years and supposedly she's got her story planned out for this year already. We usually do the workbook at the end of Oct. In Nov, she writes every day in place of any other formal writing/journaling/etc. I also tend to go easy on spelling & grammar too. Sometimes, if I see frequently misspelled words, I'll create a spelling list but I don't make corrections within the draft. She also enjoys illustrating and creating cover art. We haven't been very good about cleaning up the end result but this year I'm hoping to do some grammar/proofreading in Dec then make it a book for keepsake since she's going to type it instead of handwrite for the 1st time. This program has really ignited her love of writing and confidence in such a fun & relaxed way.
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Not a printable but the Scrambled States of America game cards are cute with shape, capital, and nicknames. Questions also help teach position and other facts. DS got it for his 6th birthday and learned everything in a couple weeks. Now we're moving onto countries of the world. :tongue_smilie:
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How about http://www.khanacademy.org/?
There's lots of practice exercises (earn points & badges to progress) and watch videos to learn. And it's all free. Definitely worth considering. :001_smile:
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DD learned to read by borrowing almost anything from the library that had "princess" as a keyword. We did the Cinderella around the world, Smartypants etc. It was a bittersweet moment when the princess-obsessed little girl woke up on her 7th birthday & declared "no more princesses". :001_huh:
Anyway, I found the Royal Diaries series of historical fiction as her interest was waning, so we only read a couple to coordinate with history/unit studies:
Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C.
Isabel: Jewel of Castilla, Spain, 1466
Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, 1544
Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, France, 1553
The Royal Diary: Catherine, the Great Journey Russia, 1743
Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France, 1769
Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia, England, 1829
Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914
Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan 1858
Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars, Korea, A.D. 595
Jahanara: Princess of Princesses, India, 1627
Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595
Lady Of Palenque : Flower of Bacal, Mesoamerica, A.D. 749
Not exactly princess-centered theme, but there's some cute royalty references in the Math Adventure series with Sir Cumference.
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Wow, that's a completely different question ...
IMHO, unless you have a child who is strongly motivated to learn Chinese and/or you have an environment rich in resources including access to native speakers, I wouldn't recommend Chinese as a 1st foreign language. Later, maybe. If you really want to engage the brain wrt to tones, you might get some similar benefits by learning a musical instrument. Learning to read/write all the characters may bring a WOW factor but could also be viewed, by the student, as jumping through lots of unnecessary hoops.
I tend to be rather practical. Learning Spanish would be much more rewarding, with a better chance of success. Gaining basic proficiency (not necessarily fluency) is not that difficult given its relationship to English and the readily available resources for reinforcement in native speakers, TV programs, signs/instructions everywhere, etc. I remember reading that knowing any 2nd language helps an individual to continue studying other languages. While Spanish pronunciation & reading/writing is easier, grammar is more complex. So you can still get sufficient brain exercise.*
My 2 cents.
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Looks like you got a great price for it, doesn't it?
ㄅㄆㄇ磁片 (the board with the yellow border) means bopomo magnetic board.
國文字卡（brown box with green frog and little flashcards with blue border) means traditional characters word cards. Looks like there should be 180 cards. The characters taught aren't necessarily the "easiest" or most common characters kids normally start learning, but they may be more interesting & practical in some cases.
It looks like there's 1 CD a teacher‘s manual and 24 instructional CDs with songs. The CD cover you posted looks like there's some review of bopomofo but I presume the others would focus more on the characters?
FYI, most Chinese programs spend a lot of time (maybe 1st year/pre-K or Kinder) learning mostly phonetic system (bopomofo/pinyin). Then they start learning characters using the phonetic system as an aid to correct pronunciation. You'll need to recognize a couple thousand characters to achieve basic literacy. HTH.
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"lit2go" under iTunesU has a wonderful selection of classics on audiobooks (http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/). You might need to change it to media type to "Music" so that it will sync properly to the iPod/iPad, if you encounter compatibility issues after you've downloaded them to iTune.
For videos, we've gotten DVDs from library, youtube search, and previously subscribed to Discovery Education and Learn360. They've come in handy but it's a messy "non-system".
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FWIW, I'm originally from Taiwan with traditional/bopomofo then later learned simplified/pinyin in college. I agree with Laura … if you're starting out fresh & have no political/historical ties, I wouldn't bother with teaching/learning bopomofo. Pinyin is much easier & more useful. At least, that's the route I'm choosing for my own kids.
Here's the title of the set if you need it in digital form 國文說唱童年
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=國文說唱童年&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
has links to others selling used versions of the set
Anyway, your set is definitely from Taiwan but the primary focus is supposedly to teach 160 characters to young children, not just bopomofo. Therefore, it can certainly be used as a supplement to whatever system you ultimately choose. I found other pictures of the complete set on the web and it looks like quite an extensive set! But on it's own, without help from a native speaker, it won't be very easy. There is enough overlap between simplified & traditional, so you can pick out character flashcards that match up with your learning.
Also the CDs should contain songs/chants to help learn the characters (although the picture you sent does spend time reciting bopomofo again). Since it's designed for native speaking kids, it may be difficult for new learners to follow. However, they may still provide some listening practice/exposure.
I guess, my gut recommendation (not that you asked) is to find another curriculum set. After studying Chinese for 1-2 years, pull this out and it'll be a fun challenge to figure out how much you can use. ;) Good luck!
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When I was little, the man who gave out a nickel to each kid was extremely popular.
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There's absolutely NO English? Are the magnet letters roman alphabet (i.e. abc) or bopomofo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo)? The latter is the phonetic system kids learn in Taiwan.
Pictures or anything else would definitely help.
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We just watched the videos on the Scholastic News site (bottom of page on link below) and read a couple articles. Seemed to cover key facts and gentle enough for young minds to absorb.
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Dear Jenny,
I don't think you need to worry too much, especially if your DD already reading well in English. Pinyin is pretty easy to "pick up". You just need to point out the funny consonants (q,x,c), do some practice example to get used to the vowels, and tones ... usually takes a few days, maybe a couple weeks? I've never followed a curriculum but earlier on, I found a little song that grouped all the consonants together sung to the tune of ABC/Twinkle. But the jingle wasn't necessary. The kids seem to consider pinyin rather intuitive, just needed extra practice to solidify the skill.
I've taught pinyin to my 2 kids and also several other kids in our playgroup. We usually start at about where you are: after the kids are already comfortable reading English (around K-1, solid phonics through Montessori/HOP), reasonably fluent in spoken English & Mandarin, and recognize quite a number of basic characters (between 100-200 so they understand characters are the goal, pinyin is an aid). Well, I can speak both languages & know pinyin also.
All along our character learning, we use flashcards with Chinese characters on the front & pinyin on the back. I've been using Anki for the last month. That makes flashcards so much easier. Good luck!
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:grouphug:
I would NOT give up Papiamento. I think being able to learn another language in childhood is a gift you are giving your kids. But I agree with the posters above that you might consider getting an evaluation if you're concerned.
I grew up in a bilingual household and am trying my best to raise my kids bilingual. For DD, it was a breeze; she excels at language and picks up vocabulary/grammar effortlessly. For DS, I struggled with similar issues as you (possibly more severe). He started speaking quite late and still doesn't quite use language with the same "sophistication" as other kids his age. He underwent some speech therapy. The professional recommendation was that he's neurologically fine but may experience faster progress if we stuck with only English.
My reasoning for staying bilingual ...
As you've noted, outside the US, being multi-lingual is often a non-issue. My own father is a professional translator who speaks 7 languages (some better than others). He's been speaking half of them since childhood and learned the rest effortless because he was already a polyglot. Most of my cousins who grew up overseas all have very similar, multi-lingual backgrounds. As adults, these people are all full functioning citizens today, none with any noticeable handicaps with being overburdened by too many languages.
Although I'm no longer in the field, the only thing that stuck from many years of Linguistics study is that there's a window of opportunity in childhood where it's most easily acquired. So, while it may be a burden/handicap now, but I believe being bilingual will have long-term benefits. Good luck!
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Our experience with online math...
We used Aleks last year. It filled in gaps between other curriculum we had used but wasn't always very engaging for learning "new" material. It was DD's first exposure to self-learning, so it was a nice intro. We may eventually reconsider it for higher math.
We use Khan Academy as a supplement for extra practice problems & videos. DD poked around and picked up some "pre-algebra" concepts. She was motivated by the points & badges. It's free and very nicely done, so definitely worth checking out.
For the last month, we've been using Stanford's EPGY through open enrollment. It seems to cover some topics not taught it traditional textbooks. So far so good. But it only goes up to Algebra.
Even with online math curriculum, I use do a few minutes from the Singapore Math textbook each day to make sure the concepts are really sticking. Good luck!
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Definitely interested! I'm relatively new here, so can't really comment whether subforum would be for a greater good or not. But personally, I only learned about 2E on this forum and realized it seems to describe DS perfectly. For that I am grateful and could certainly benefit from the wealth of experience here.
BTW, what is VSL? Thanks!
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http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/writing/handwriting.html
There's several different options to customize your own PDF file. They've got lots other neat worksheets of all kinds of things.
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Thanks! Sorry, should have done a better search first.
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I saw SOTW1 for Kindle. Are any of the other volumes (particularly SOTW2) available in electronic format, i.e. Kindle, iPad, pdf? We already have the audio CDs. We're going to be on the road and want to travel "light". Thanks!
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Thanks for the very helpful insights Jill & aly9712! I've been very tempted by the rave reviews for MCT as well but DD seems more "efficient" at learning mechanics online.
Any Chinese/English dual lingual homeschooling families here?
in Bilingual Education Board
Posted
http://www.tienwei.com.tw/product/goods_detail.php?goods_id=538
We ordered it from the publisher in Taiwan. It's rather bulky but not too heavy: 30 CDs + 10 books. If your kids' listening comprehension is still developing, I would highly recommend listening to a sample before ordering.
http://www.tienwei.com.tw/GoodPic/ACHN--reading2.mp3
The series is wonderful but the non-colloquial language can challenging for overseas kids. FYI, the books are just brief discussions of CDs containing full stories, not complete audiobook versions like SOTW.