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marylandhsmom

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Posts posted by marylandhsmom

    What English program do you use for your 4/5th grader?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted · Edited by marylandhsmom

    See, I write "language arts" . :D  Because "language arts" means different things to different people. And you almost have to use different materials for different components of English, really: phonics, grammar, composition, spelling/vocabulary, reading/literature, penmanship

     

    Grammar: Easy Grammar (I'm not a fan of diagramming).

    Composition:Writing Strands.

    Grammar and composition in a single source: either Building With Diligence (4th) or Following the Plan (5th), depending on my dc's skills

    Spelling: if necessary, Spelling by Sound and Structure

    Vocabulary: Wordly Wise

    Reading/literature: nothing formal; reading lots of trade books.

     

     

    Thanks Ellie!

    Charlotte Mason LA for early elementary?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Hunter --

    Thanks for this!

    Do you happen to know what the title of Eli Hoenshel's 5th grade textbook is called?  

    I'm finding a lot of different names and reprints online...

    Thanks!!

     

    Charlotte Mason was not nearly as unique in her time as people think. Like Waldorf and Montessori, CM mostly just combined the ideas that she personally liked from among what was commonly and sometimes rarely already being done.

     

    This teacher manual provides a yearly typical scope and sequence for the first 4 grades and starts his textbook in grade 5. General grammar and composition instructions precede the scope and sequence listed in pages 11-19.

    Progressive Course in English: Teachers' Manual

    By Eli J. Hoenshel

    https://books.google.com/books?id=Zn8SAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

     

    Books like English for the Thoughtful Child were usually started in grade 3, but sometimes used as early as grade 2, or as late as grade 4, or stretched out over several years. Books like Harvey's Elementary were often started in grade 4 or 5. 

     

    Home geographies were often used in grade 3, and an elementary geography started in grade 4, and a history text first introduced in grade 5 or 6. Just to compare.

     

    When graded math texts came out, like Strayer-Upton, they often were started in Grade 3. Links to some free alternatives to Strayer-Upton and what was done before.

    http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/534083-free-strayer-upton-like-math-curriculum-complete-3-book-series-with-answers/

     

    Ambleside Online starts amping everything up in year 4. That is typical of CM's time. Different educators mostly just differed in what to amp up exactly when, as it is best to not amp up everything at exactly the same time. A common choice was to offer gentle transitional texts in grade 3 for many subjects and to first hit the new math textbook series the hardest, before hitting the other subjects hard.

     

    You will notice that after the first half of McGuffey's third reader, the lesson format suddenly switches to what is used in the fourth and fifth readers. And then the spelling book is introduced along with the 4th reader.

     

    Remember that "grades" did not always last a year and were sometimes tied to the readers before 1900. To further complicate this, the number and difficulty of the readers differed from publisher to publisher and sometimes even edition to edition.

     

    Volume 10 of Journey's Through Bookland provides a lot of instruction to parents on how to use the series to provide lessons very much like CM suggested.

    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24857

    Oral Lessons

    http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24857/24857-h/24857-h.htm#Oral_Lessons

     

    Revisiting phonics as a base for spelling

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    My 10 yr old daughter has very similar issues to yours and was diagnosed as a stealth dyslexic this summer.  She reads fine -- but she can't hear each phonogram, and she has very poor phonemic awareness even though she's at a 6th grade reading level.  Her visual memory was so strong that she compensated for her lack of phonemic awareness by memorizing her way through spelling and reading.  A lot of kids do that to compensate and what the parent doesn't realize is their child actually has dyslexia, that isn't presenting typically.  We are remediating with an online dyslexia program and also Spalding - spell to write and read.  

    • Like 1

    Help! 3rd grade girl grammar (speaking and writing) issues...? dyslexia

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I have heard good things about Dancing Bears, but haven't used it.  I'm surprised you got that diagnosis.  That is what we are dealing with too.  

     

    For what it is worth, interventions are great and important, AND so is accepting that a kid is who they are, and they will have to work a lot harder than others in some areas (and that difference may never go away).

     

    For us, phonological processing targeted interventions, as well as metronome type work, have helped quite a bit.  We continue to do copywork, and the Spelling You See program has been good for us as it uses coloring and looking at words and their parts (and is very positive/work-together kind of learning).

     

    It is hard to hear that our kids have obstacles and it doesn't feel "fair", but another "for what it is worth" - my child who has this struggle is SOO much better at pushing through difficult things than my other kids are.  It is great training for the hard things that life does throw at all of us, and since they are putting in the hard work of persevering and getting back up again from failures, they reap the reward of being able to do that more gracefully when they need to in other areas of life.

     

    ETA: It is interesting that you said that your daughter could read and sound out words without difficulty, but then in testing she had very poor decoding skills.  Why do you think there is this difference between what you have observed in life and what was observed in testing?

     

    Thanks for your response and sorry for the delay!  The dyslexia specialist who evaluated my daughter said that her visual memory of words was very strong and that was compensating for her lack of phonological awareness and ability to decode words.  I think she was nervous during the testing, and that made her "not do as well"... but again the hallmark of dyslexia is inconsistency... even if it is stressors that bring out the inconsistency...  And I'd love to know, what "Phonological processing targeted interventions" did you all do?  

    • Like 1

    Can you use FIAR for a 4th grader and 1st grader?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Or, you could use Beyond Five in a Row with your 4th grader, and then allow your 2nd grader to sit in and glean as much as he/she wants, but obviously tweak it down for dc.  I might do this for my upcoming 4th and 2nd grader!  I keep math and LA totally separate, though, with other resources.  My other option too, was MFW ECC.  With a toddler in the mix, I'm not so sure I want to even attempt it.... 

    Help! 3rd grade girl grammar (speaking and writing) issues...? dyslexia

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I don't think my 8 yr old DD is dyslexic -- she can usually spell just fine.  But, sometimes her thought processes aren't clear, and her sentences, or responses to questions, don't come out clearly, or are missing a few words (like a, or the).  Other times she speaks and writes just perfectly fine!  In the cases of her mistakes, she'll go back to reread her sentences and immediately find her error and correct it.  But I can't help but think that she shouldn't be doing this at the third grade level.  We had been using CLE English, and then moved on to BJU and then finally a more CM-ish approach with copywork... but I'm starting to think she needs more drill and practice with basic sentence structure.  AM I wrong in thinking this?  If not, what curriculum would you recommend?  If yes, do you think I should I get her tested for dyslexia?  Or some kind of auditory processing disorder??  Because she doesn't always make grammatical errors, I've hesitated to seek out professional evaluation.  Just trying to see if anyone else out there has had similar experiences?

     

    TIA!

    American history options

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We also have a 3rd and 1st grader studying American History, and we're using TruthQuest and BF books (many overlap).  MFW Adventures in US History is also a great choice.  If you wanted to wing it on your own, there's a slim booklist I highly recommend getting: "Turning Back the Pages of Time".  I has living books listed by time period and by age group.  Awesome little reference!

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