Tanikit
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Everything posted by Tanikit
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I used a ruler under the line of print for quite a long time with my eldest child who bounced around so much when reading that she could not keep her place - she was a very early reader though. Since age 7 she has not needed anything. My youngest (just turned 5) definitely still needs a line under the text and needs to use her finger as well. I allow her to read online books for the simple reason that I can increase the font size as she is not yet ready for very small print, but can handle books with more text on a page if it is big enough. Six is still small - lots of development happens during these years and tracking can be taught to some extent.
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Geography where I live seems to be a mix between geography and earth science. My daughter in 3rd grade has been doing geography through Story of the World with a world map and also with a discussion of current world news. We are emigrating in a few weeks time so we have also been doing the differences between where we are now and where we are going, studying time zones and biomes. We do geography daily as it is part of life, but we also do about an hour of more formal work a week.
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I have also used Most wonderful writing lessons ever and it definitely helped my child. They have a chapter specifically on descriptive writing and how to handle it. Despite the chapter being about descriptive writing within a story, it can be used to teach general descriptive writing too.
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I would get a scrap piece of paper and keep it in whatever book my child was reading to me and break the words she was stuck on down for her. After enough examples she was able to do it herself without teaching directly about syllabification. I am now doing the same thing with my younger child. Both of my children read better when they enjoyed the book and wanted to read it than when I used words alone for practice.
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I found the same thing when my eldest moved from Horizons K to Horizons 1 and in the end we switched to Singapore (and MEP initially too) instead. I am now doing Horizons K with my younger child and will decide what to do further when she ends Horizons K. You could just test through the initial sections.
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3rd Grade Planning Thread 2016-2017
Tanikit replied to hands-on-mama's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
My DD8 started 3rd grade this January. My husband has emigrated and we are due to follow in the next few months and having been moving around/travelling a lot, so school is quite life-based for most subjects and workbook based for the basics just to make sure it will get done. Because of the lack of reading books (which are on a container now), we just use whatever we can get hold of and some online books too. History: SOTW4 Maths: Singapore 4a and various worksheets English - own spelling - writing using various textbooks, WWE3 when able to print - reading (as above) - Evan Moor for Daily language skills, grammar and punctuation (grade 3) Geography/Other social sciences - life and travels, maps and geography because she likes it Science - leaving this for now, except in comprehensions or reading for English Second language - via workbooks for now Physical Education - gymnastics (have found a club for now) and swimming, general health discussions When we migrate we also need to cover technology and the arts - still coming up for some plan for this. I am really glad we are homeschooling as it enables us to do this and keep moving with ease. -
Sleeping Teen Disrupts School Day
Tanikit replied to Chelli's topic in General Education Discussion Board
My first thought when I read this was that it sounds medical - I believe hormonal issues are medical even if natural though so take that with a pinch of salt. Firstly is she cycling and if so is she more tired and more grumpy the last few days before her period starts? She may genuinely need more sleep then and more space. Secondly have you had her thyroid checked (hypothyroidism is uncommon in such young children though but can happen)and is she hypoglycaemic in the morning hours - one needs a cortisol rush in the mornings to get going properly - if she suffers from stress and anxiety she can also battle to get up in the mornings and need more time to get going (in which case waking her earlier may help so she has time to start the day more slowly and still be ready on time) What is she doing all day - does she get enough exercise, is her diet healthy - vegetables, protein, fruit etc? Is she actually sleeping well and for the time you Think she is sleeping? Is she too busy and doing too many activities or too inactive? Does she do relaxing things? How much time does she spend alone and how much with friends and family? Is she drinking water rather than fizzy drinks and if so is she drinking more or less than normal or totally normally? If all this is normal, then I would definitely just look at reasonable expectations for a 12 year and just stick to them while working with your 8 year old as normal. -
Big Picture Goals for 2016 with your AL?
Tanikit replied to Gil's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
We are emigrating early in 2016 and staying in a number of places until we leave the country, so my 4 and 8 year old will learn a lot of geography and about different customs. We may do a unit study on survival too since we are now down to very limited possessions. With the 4 year old I will make sure she is ready for kindergarten (she would have been in preschool in our country, but due to start kindergarten in the other country and we do not know if she will be starting school there or if we will continue homeschooling - will depend on job availabilities). With the 8 year old I particularly want to concentrate on LA and in particular writing and oral presentations to make sure she is ready for grade 3 expectations in the new country. The rest of her academics is more than ahead of where the countries standards are so we will continue with the 3Rs mostly as set school work (there will be more than enough other learning with the moves.) Although she knows a lot about the country we are moving to, we will probably work a bit more specifically on its geography, flags and the way things work there (hopefully my husband will be able to educate me on this as he will be there before us). Books I give her to read will be mostly just fun ones and I will continue to read to her also from books that are slightly less academically challenging than we have done up to now. And then I imagine lots of emotional talks with both girls about leaving friends, making new ones, life's changes, the value of worldy possessions and the continual presence of God as and when the issues arise which will be a continuation of what they have been learning this past year. -
homeschool with retired parent in the house
Tanikit replied to rutheart's topic in General Education Discussion Board
We are about to have a few moves that involve staying first with one set of parents and then another while still homeschooling before emigrating. I am also wondering how it is going to work. I have a feeling 2016 will be quite chaotic so have already decided that reading, writing and math are the priorities and there will be more than enough learnt with all the travelling and new experiences to cope. Nonetheless I have spoken to both sets of parents and told them I will be homeschooling in the mornings. If I have problems I may ask them to teach my children since 3 out of the 4 were teachers. -
They said what? Good thing they're homeschooled!
Tanikit replied to zaichiki's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
A group of homeschoolers were swimming in our pool today. Here was the conversation between a 7 and 8 year old - I decided not to interfere and just listened. Though when I told the boy's mother later and we laughed together I did ask her what on earth she had been teaching her child. "We are going to fart a lot and it will help us swim rapidly across the pool." "Farts are flammable." "What is flammable?" "Farts are made of methane gas and when you light the gas, it goes ka-pow!" -
WWE question: skipping, or powering through.
Tanikit replied to momma2three's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
We do this: "Or do you prioritize doing each lesson in order, even if it means doing "Week 11, day 2" on Thursday and "Week 11, day 3" on the following Monday? " I started WWE2 late last year and finished it last week, but we had not done it at all for many weeks of this year. We did Day 1 and 2 together and Day 3 and 4 separately using 3 days per week of WWE. I have not decided yet what will happen when we do WWE3 next year. -
My eldest child is ending second grade now (she also runs Jan-Dec). She was reading at a high level by the end of grade 1 and I do send her away to read a chapter of an assigned book independently. However I do still work on reading with her - she always has to read a certain amount independently and some aloud to me regardless of the level at which she is reading. The same applies to my younger child even if the independent reading is just looking at pictures initially. My eldest child does not like to do anything independently - she calls me to watch her play outside, or watch TV with her, or watch her if she wants to make something in the kitchen. Occasionally she will play on the tablet by herself and she may take her younger sister and play certain games outside with her. The time when I know she will be apart from me happily is when her friends come over and she spends time with them. This child just wants permanent company - she is not shy and leaves me easily, but doesn't like to be alone. My youngest on the other hand will shut herself in her bedroom or another room in the house and look at books or watch TV or play with toys until I start to wonder where she has disappeared to so I am not convinced that independence is just an age issue - I think personality plays a role too. As far as school work goes my 2nd grader can do a lot of it independently as long as the teaching has been done beforehand. Spelling and dictation I must be there for as well as WWE - the rest of language arts she can do alone and then bring to me to check, science and history I do with her, Math she can mostly do alone depending what we are doing that day.
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Is a "reading" curriculum necessary?
Tanikit replied to UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
At the moment, I try to have my 2nd grader read a chapter of a novel and a piece of non-fiction for reading every day - often it is tied into other subjects. She also reads her own choice of books independently. The novels I leave her to read to herself assigning the book and then asking her for a brief summary orally afterwards and the non-fiction she must read aloud to me so that I can check her pronunciation and also her understanding of the piece - these pieces may come from encyclopaedias, journal articles, non-fiction books or any other source that is appropriate. Plot, characters, themes etc we are not covering right now unless they come up when I am reading to the children or in conversations where it makes sense to mention it. Occassionally I will use a reading system book for a couple of lessons that will mention and compare various readings and ask relevant questions, but if it happens a week or two each year then that is a lot. I will deal with poetry and literature analysis at a much later stage. Right now I want my daughter to enjoy reading. -
My DD turns 5 in February and would only be starting K where we live now in 2016, but since we are emigrating she needs to start K next year. We will however just continue at her pace. Reading: starting Sonlight Readers, continue OPGTR Math: Horizons K Math and LOF Apples - will move beyond this if ready probably to Singapore 1a and 1b Writing: own handwriting LA: will start spelling with her Bible: Have just finished Leading Little Ones to God so still making plans for what we will use next Science: BFSU1 at a slow pace History: Will do unit studies on the history of the country we are leaving and the one we are going to, expect to start SOTW1 the year after as my eldest will have finished her first rotation of history by then and I can combine them. Swimming, would like to find a place that does preschool gymnastics if possible. Many of our books may be on a container for some time next year and not available - will then switch to bare minimum book usage and use the internet more, have lots of field trips and learn about migration, relationships and the limited value of material possessions :)
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Do you force doing "school" for a Pre-k or K-er?
Tanikit replied to Homeschoolmom3's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
My 4 year old has, since babyhood, been doing Math and reading related activities daily. Most of them would not have been seen as "school", but rather as a natural part of life. I tell and teach without expecting much back from the child. However both mine began reading at 3 and then I did step in with phonics. Because her older sister does school, my younger wants to do workbooks. My elder at 4 also did "school" however most of it was hands on and no reading was ever at a table with written phonics work. Most of it was just pointed out to her and we did a word list to teach a certain phonics concept where she would read me only 4 words at a time - which took almost no time at all. I do insist on read alouds daily and some Math and reading, but at 4 none of it is seatwork at a table unless the child wants it to be. -
I would teach such a child about root words, suffixes and prefixes to enable decoding of multi syllable words. And teach spelling in lists of words that look and sound the same which can also be used to teach decoding of unfamiliar words (see - you know "rough", "tough" is just like it. These children also need to learn to use context to decipher new words. I would not totally stop phonics though - your child will need some to spell even if he is picking it up by sight (something needed to spell well for even the most phonetically based spelling program.) Once your child knows the 1000 Fry's words you can use them to teach the phonics by grouping them according to sounds and then showing him words that are similar but that he has not learned by sight. Both my children began reading with sight words since they started recognising words as babies. My eldest learned the rest picking up on phonics very easily, but my youngest is like your son and does better with whole to parts. Both children have very fluent reading. Like your son, they have been through phonics - my eldest did well with OPGTR, but the younger preferred the C series of Ladybird Key words reading scheme which teaches the phonics based on the sight words they already know. She actually learnt the phonics by sight better than the eldest did - I could give her a card saying OW and she would say its sounds - the eldest only ever was interested in those sounds in the context of whole words with meaning. My eldest is kinaesthetic (then-auditory-visual) and my youngest is visual (then-kinaesthetic with very little auditory learning happening). I am not sure how much this has to do with the way they learned to read though.
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I am a Christian and use SOTW. We also have read many of the Sonlight books (a Christian curriculum) that cover things that require a great deal of discussion with my children as they show other views on the world. What I like about homeschooling is that nothing has to be taught without discussion - explaining my point of view, asking my children what they think. We start with a very Biblical base (they started Sunday school at 18 months of age and we read a lot of different Christian books and Bible Story books and devotionals) and then are free to cover the fact that this is what we believe is the truth but that other people think otherwise - why they might, how their belief systems help/hinder them and why we believe the Bible is the truth. And then we can check everything by how it agrees or disagrees with the Bible. I have been quite happy with SOTW - we are nearly finished with SOTW3 so have not dealt with SOTW4 yet.
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When do you start chapter book read alouds?
Tanikit replied to Southern Ivy's topic in General Education Discussion Board
My eldest started at about 3.5 years of age and my younger at 4 years of age. We started with easier chapter books (Johanna Hurwitz and easier Dick King Smith books as well as many early reader chapter books) and then moved on to Pippi Longstocking and from there to pretty much anything that was suitable for their age emotionally and their own sensitivities. Of course, at the same time, we were still reading numerous picture books. My youngest has been listening to chapter books with her sister since birth and listens in when I read SOTW3 to my eldest, but she shows more interest in books that I specifically pick for her - she has learnt and remembered much of what she hears but will not take in all of it. -
I definitely don't have planning sheets - I know which subjects I want to cover and have a general idea of how far we should get (we usually get further) and I know what materials and curriculum I have available and which I would start with. I find our lifestyle is so unpredictable - I work part time when called to do so and my husband may plan something - he likes that we homeschool so that we can fit things in around his schedule - that just having a general idea works well for us. I do keep fairly good records though of what we HAVE done rather than what we plan to do and I also write reports in a book twice a year for each child of what they have accomplished and aims for the next 6 months - then I do not look at it until I pull it out for the next report and usually we have mostly accomplished all the goals and more.
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If one googles "calligraphy" as images then one will see that what creates beauty in handwritten pages is NOT the script it is written in - the first few images give various calligraphy scripts and just show the alphabet written out from left to right and top to bottom not centred and without proper margins to the page. They do not look beautiful although the scripts are usually used as decorative writing that is meant to be beautiful. Further down the page will be more alphabet pages with more symmetry of the letters and these pages are more beautiful. Finally there are pages where a sentence has been written and other decorative techniques have been used and these pages (even the most simple of them) can truly be described as beautiful - it has to do with spacing, margins, symmetry - basically artistic flair. I think teaching handwriting should teach not just letter formation, but symmetry (even to the extent of individual letter symmetry) and spacing (in more detail than just use a finger space between words), relative sizing of headings, indenting, keeping straight vertical lines when indenting multiple lines, blank space and why it can be effective. That even on blank paper capitals are double the size of regular letters and that punctuation marks do look better when they are all of relative size. There needs to be consistency too. This of course sounds crazy and like it would take a great deal of time to teach, but actually it shouldn't. Personally I am looking for legible, neat, clear handwriting which can be done at speed from my children, but I also know that using correct symmetry speeds handwriting because of the more smooth hand movements required to write like that.
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My DD says, "I am homeschooled...." which she thinks explains everything. Of course many people who ask here know nothing about homeschooling and tend to get lost on that point without caring about the grade. If they continue to ask about the grade she will say "2nd grade but I am doing 5th grade maths."
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I think this question is impossible to answer. There are many other questions that could be asked about homeschooled children that would be equally difficult to answer: Are children from bigger families more likely to be homeschooled? Are children from families with stronger religious beliefs more likely to be homeschooled? Are children from poorer or richer families more likely to be homeschooled? Are children whose parents have a harder time letting go more likely to be homeschooled? Are children whose parents deem education more important than other parents more likely to homeschool? Are children who have chronic diseases or allergies more likely to be homeschooled? Are children whose families live far from cities more likely to be homeschooled? Are children from a particular country more likely to be homeschooled? Are immigrants more likely to homeschool their children? Are children with behaviour problems more likely to be homeschooled - or is it more likely that misdiagnosed behaviour problems lead to children more likely to be homeschooled? Are gifted children more likely to be homeschooled? Are children who just do not like a particular teacher one year more likely to be homeschooled? Or are more normal children who could cope perfectly well at school more likely to be homeschooled than....? Maybe it just depends what we are comparing? Are children with dyslexia more likely to be homeschooled than those without dyslexia? Or Of the children homeschooled already do more have dyslexia than do not - which is an entirely different set of statistics.
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The book: The Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever does address this issue and how to prevent it from happening (if you do want to teach it) in its chapter entitled Effective Dialogue. I have been using this book with my 2nd grader and it has definitely helped - I had no idea how to help her write better stories. Although it is fairly scripted it does lend itself to helping a child write their own stories without following too strict a formula and does also teach some of the exceptions in real novels/short stories and why this worked for that particular story. My child has fought writing lessons before, but with this one she does feel she has enough freedom to write what she wants to and still have her story sound good. I have only used half the book so far, so cannot review it in full.
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The concepts of less than and more than are difficult for young children as are the 7 + ? = 10. Rephrase these for your child and use story problems to explain it - you are collecting precious gems - you have 7 of them but you want to have 10 - how many more do you need. Then explain that that can be written as 7 + what you need = the 10 you want. I have also used cups with small counters in - you put the correct number of counters in the cup and then give them 7 counters and tell them when you uncover the cup and give them what is in it they will have 10 counters - how many counters do you think are in Mom's cup? Use a brother or sister to teach more than and less than. 1. Give two children a different amount of sweets - 4 for one child and 2 for the other. 2. The one with fewer will complain. 3. Ask: what is the matter? And usually the child will say either - he has more than me! or I need some more! 4. Then you can ask - how many more do you need to make this fair? and give the child the extra - adding 1 at a time and asking each time if it is fair now. 5. Then tell the child that she had 2 and you had to give her 2 more for it to be fair and now you both have 4. Eventually the idea does stick, but it has to be seen many times and explained in a way that makes sense to them and not only one way of verbalising it should be used - this is often a language issue and not a maths issue which is why using as many ways to say it as possible can help. MEP1 works with this concept quite a bit - I taught greater than and less than as a crocodile eating the larger number and then asking why does he want to eat that number - how much bigger/how many more did he get to eat than if he had eaten the other number. Don't try to get her away from manipulatives - that comes with time and a real understanding. I know children who can recite that 2 + 3 = 5 and write it down, but if asked to show what it means they have no idea.
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I use both with my DD - I do not try to line them up at all and it just means that she gets to practice certain concepts more frequently. My DD knows how to manipulate numbers in many ways and do a lot of mental math thanks to Singapore and she does use this when doing the exercises in LOF. For solving word problems she uses both a picture and bar method as in Singapore and also the use smaller numbers concept used in LOF. I do not find my child becomes confused by using both methods - it has worked very well for us (we are in Singapore 4a now and LOF Kidneys having used Singapore from 1a through and LOF beginning in Apples)