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Rasa

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Posts posted by Rasa

  1. We have been using Rosetta Stone Spanish (the Spain version) with our 7-year-old and 4-year-old for over a year. They both like it. They don't do it independently, though. They sit on Daddy's lap (he is fluent in Castellano), and occasionally he helps them, especially with the pronunciation (one needs to speak very clearly into the microphone, with particular speed and intonation, otherwise the program will make you repeat the word/phrase/sentence over and over until frustration takes over...) This may or may not be a problem for your 4-year-old, depending on his or her articulation ability. I am especially annoyed by the lack of cultural context -- you may see a photo of men in traditional African garments representing "hombres", women in saris representing "mujeres", and a newspaper in Arabic as "un periodico." If Rosetta Stone weren't so grossly overpriced, I would say, go for it. If you put a lot of energy into it, it will work. I wish I would have an alternative to recommend. We are still looking.

  2. We are doing HWT and ETC series already, and are planning to add more formal math once we finalize the transition from Pre-K to K, so we have the three R's covered. I am looking for an open-and-go, secular, hands-on resource that would incorporate "general enrichment" activities in language, history, geography, math, science, art, music... I should add that she hates to color (unless it is her own picture :-), so a resource relying on coloring pages will not work. Thanks again!

  3. I had one child who learnt to read from OPGTR -- started at ~4.5, finished at ~5.5 and could read independently anything he wanted ever since. I tried OPGTR with my daughter at 4.5 -- it didn't work for her at all. But she just loves Explode the Code! So we shelved OPGTR for ETC. I think you should try OPGTR, but keep your options open.

  4. We are about 3/4 through FLL4. My son started with FLL1 in K. I would not skip FLL3 either. While it is true that the content of FLL3 and FLL4 overlaps, the depth of the discussion and the complexity of the diagrams grows dramatically in FLL4, and it is comforting to know the basics already. Also, FLL offers a variety of beautiful poems for memorization, where the vocabulary and the grammatical structures gradually increase in complexity. My son might not have been able to enjoy Ozymandias in FLL4 as much as he did without having built up the stamina with the poems in FLL3.

  5. "In two 1/2 days I will go to a farm, and the best part is that I get to go in an underground passege."

     

    This is a journal entry, which qualifies as writing for fun in our household, so I did not make any corrections. But I felt tempted to talk about the choice of words, although SWB recommends waiting for a child to develop his own individual style.

     

    What would you do? Thanks very much in advance.

  6. In my experience, MM presents many different ways to solve one problem. My son usually has a preferred method, but I ask him to use the recommended approach in at least several problems. Occasionally, the new method becomes his favorite, but if it does not, we move on, as long as he CAN solve the problems correctly and efficiently using his preferred way. (For full disclosure, we use MM Blue, not Light Blue, series.)

  7. Europe is quite diverse -- the climate in Scandinavia is very different from that of the Mediterranean region. I would look for guides focusing on specific regions / countries. (To give you an example, I happen to own a 158-page guide called "Medicinal Plants of Lithuania.") Good luck!

  8. My children are younger, so your needs may be a bit different. For us, it was all about a good story. We read aloud a beautifully illustrated edition, found at our local library,

    http://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618134700/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345806964&sr=1-1&keywords=The+annotated+hobbit

    stopping to explore the illustrations or interesting footnotes. My son chose sentences from The Hobbit for WWE dictation. He built a custom version of Lego Smaug. Thorin and company entered his fantasy life to join Luke Skywalker et al...

  9. I am looking for a reading game recommendation (a "real", not a computer game) for an early beginner -- something involving CVC, sight words... Extra bonus if the game is exciting enough that a competent reader might want to join in just for the fun of it. Many thanks in advance!

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