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marylandhsmom

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Posts posted by marylandhsmom

    People who do notebooking....how do you do it?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I think I'm looking for pointers, tips, how-tos.  Which subjects?  How do you determine the output, or what your child puts on that blank page?  Do you use pre-printed pages from that mega note booking site?  Do you give your kid a blank journal and do "interactive notebooks"?  Would anyone kindly point a newbie to websites or share pictures of what YOUR notebooks look like?  :D

    Thank you! The person who suggested compiling

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    all of the various worksheets, copywork, etc. together and binding  it  is a GENIUS. 

     

    I suspect it will save me oodles of  time and frustration.

     

    So, for the past couple of days I've been pulling everything together.

    Later this morning my piles looked like this:

     

    planning_zpsb97641db.jpg

     

    I put notes on how many copies, for whom, double or single sided, etc.  I added assignment sheets with each subject and check boxes, but lots of blank space for the older girls to write in what exactly they did.  (Teaching a little more independence / accountability to my 9yo and 11yo.)

    I packed it all up and it looked like this:

     

    pile_zps6f293f5c.jpg

     

    Then off I went.  I copied, I sorted, I had piles of papers all around me. :)  It was long.  I'm tired.  But when I left I had three of these done and I am just a tiny short while from two more being COMPLETE!

     

    binders2_zps4f26003f.jpg

     

    So much better!

    Now, I think this is actually a solution, not just a band-aid!

     

    Thank you again!

     

     

    Bumping this awesome thread.  I'm wondering how this has worked out for you, BlsdMama, and everyone else who's done something like this!  :-)

    BJU or CLE for grammar/writing?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We've used both CLE LA and and BJU English for grade 2 (just switched over to BJU English, and the isolated, single concept per page is a much better fit for my DD).  CLE LA spiraled too much on each page and it made her frustrated.  The writing instruction in BJU is much better, in my opinion.  We also use WWE.  

     

    CLE math is gentle but thorough, and working for us, so we're sticking with it as well.

    BW advice: the Wand + WWE2 for writing instruction for second?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Well, I'm super biased. I would jump ship. I find the WTM style narrations as presented in SOTW's AG and WWE to be really canned and dull. I get their purpose, but I'm not sure that I believe it's developmentally appropriate. Summarizing is hard. And I know that SWB knows that and that the summaries are meant to be best examples to aim for, but I think developing memory and working on retelling is more in line with how young children think. I think pushing, pushing all the time for key points like that is robbing kids of the ability to reflect and think about what they're learning. I think the summary skill is really a synthesizing of information logic stage skill and trying to get seven and eight year olds to do it is really pushing it.

     

     

    I just really resonate with BW's sense of joy in language and words and imparting a "language rich" environment to kids. And while I worry about whether my kids are on track and all those sorts of things that I think most of us worry about, I really like hearing the message that it's okay to go a little slower and focus on that love of language.

     

     

    Ahhh, what you wrote is music to my ears!!  I agree with pretty much everything you said, especially about the summary skill being a logic stage skill.  I mean, I know some elementary kids can summarize with ease, but in my DD's case she's just not there yet...  I'm sure she would eventually get better at it, with more intensive practice, but at what cost?  

     

    And can I just say how much I hate our current education system??  It's just too much, too fast.  And why, oh why, do I feel compelled to stay on track with them??  I need blinders!!  I grew up in Montgomery County in the 80s and turned out just fine without knowing how to diagram sentences in third grade.  Ugh!

    BW advice: the Wand + WWE2 for writing instruction for second?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I'm so glad you responded, Farrar!!  I was hoping you would.  

     

    Question for you.  In your opinion, if DD struggles hard with summarizing passages in clear, coherent sentences, should I just keep working at it, plodding along with WWE, or should I just jump ship and use BW for a more gentle LA experience?  She's not entirely balking at the summarizing aspect but she definitely struggles with it, being super right-brained and creative.   (She's the type who gets tongue-tied when emotional and her sentences make no sense.  I've wondered if there's some sort of learning disorder, but she's able to write and spell clearly 80% of the time.)  What would you do??

     

    Yes, I was going to suggest the Quiver of Arrows. It will just be dictation passages, one a week, from each of the books. You do one book a month. However, if you're going to continue with WWE, yes, it would be redundant IMO.

     

    BW does use the copywork/dictation/narration model for learning writing. However, Julie Bogart sees writing so, so differently from SWB. WWE teaches writing like it's a foreign language to be learned. BW emphasizes using your spoken voice to develop a written voice. WTM/WWE style narration is summary based. BW narration is more Charlotte Mason influenced and more focused on retelling. It's also a less formal thing. The dictation passages in WWE are from lots of different sources, but in BW you're supposed to draw from a single source - the book you're reading aloud - to give it context. WWE dictation is supposed to be more cold. BW dictation is studied - you discuss the passage pretty extensively beforehand.

     

    Also, maybe most importantly, the WTM/WWE approach has those pieces along with a study of grammar as all you do for writing. BW goes lighter on all those pieces and suggests leaving grammar alone except through teaching mechanics in dictation for most of elementary school. Instead, BW additionally has kids playing around with words, freewriting, and doing writing projects such as retelling their own fairy tales or writing to each other in secret codes or making their own lapbooks. I think BW is sort of a hybrid approach between classical/CM sorts of methods and more modern play with your writing sorts of methods.

     

    The writing instruction in BW is not explicit. There is some explicit but gentle instruction in the Wand and Arrows about mechanics and grammar. But mostly BW is just not a step by step explicit writing program. Some people use some of the BW ideas like poetry teas and freewrites alongside WWE's more formal instruction. Jot It Down is the BW product that has laid out writing projects for younger students.

     

    BW advice: the Wand + WWE2 for writing instruction for second?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    I posted on the writing boards accidentally, and Chrysalis Academy kindly pointed me back here.  

     

    My second grader DD is doing "ok" with the end of WWE1 (we got waaay behind because of a cross-country move and baby #3), but now I'm starting to think about methodologies in teaching writing.  If you don't fall in the WWE/copywork/dictation/narration camp, what other methods are there to teach writing?  

     

    I know BW is gentle in K-2, and I'm wondering how explicit the writing instruction is??  For anyone who has used the Wand, I'd love some input!  I'm toying with the idea of combining WWE2 with the Wand for variety and creative writing instruction.  BUT if they are both full of narration/copywork, would it be redundant??

     

    (Or maybe should I consider another program?  Is TC too advanced for a second grader?)

     

    Thanks so much in advance - for any input or advice!

    Learning how to write in elementary years: question on methods

    in K-8 Writing Workshop

    Posted

    Hello all,

     

    My DD is in second grade, and I'm only now (late!) starting to think about teaching writing skills in lower elementary.  Specifically, I'm sorting through teaching methods of expository writing (vs. creative writing).  If you don't fall in the SWB WWE camp, or the CM narration/dictation/copywork camp, what other methods or ways are there to teach?  And which curriculum would help towards that end?  Do most folks here use either WWE or some form of narration/dictation/copywork to teach writing?  

     

    And then what about creative writing?  Is there a place for it in the lower grades?  If so, what ought the goals be?

     

    I so appreciate your time!!

     

     

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