JenniferB
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Posts posted by JenniferB
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We like SOTW more, also. It may be CHOW one book vs: SOTW 4, that concerns her. K
Gotcha!
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Sonlight uses that book in Core 1/2. There is a reading schedule and teacher's notes, also timeline figures to go with it.
I thought SOTW was easier to understand. CHOTW seemed to be older English/writing style - OK for a read aloud, not for a child's reader in my opinion.
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Jennifer, have your 10 yo assemble those things for you. :)
It sounds like you've placed your ds correctly in level B. There is a placement page on RS's website, but it sounds like you did fine with Britta's advice. I did level B with my dd when she was 5. It's just not appropriate for an "average" dc or one who hasn't had any math background, kwim? I know some people like to skip A and go directly to B to save money, but I'm with you, open and go lessons that fit the kid are GOOD!
I hear you on the dangers of following the rabbit trails too much with trying to fit one dc. My dd is just a fuzz behind yours, sounds similar (though more visual than auditory), and I finally realized she was going to have her strengths and weaknesses no matter WHAT curriculum I used, that her struggling with something was not a sign that I had failed. So at some point you just pick reasonable things and do them. That's also why I bought WP this year, because I just got over the top with history planning, when I added a baby to the mix. I realized I want to TEACH, not write lesson plans. That's what curriculum is for!
Get your dd to prep those things for you and just jump in and teach that RS B. It's an AWESOME level, totally terrific, and you'll be glad you did. I really like the way RS C presents 4 digit subtraction. Beyond that, it's just your call as to how it fits, how long it stays practical. Level C is different from B, in that it has a worksheet for almost every lesson and review sheets weekly. This makes it easier to get into that "teach and hand them a worksheet" groove.
You're going to get there. Don't make this overhard. Your ds would probably do fine even WITHOUT the RS stuff that needs to be assembled, so teach it without and move on! You have the base 10 picture cards and the place value cards and an abacus, right? Everything else is bonus. Just teach it.
OK - you've convinced me! I'll assemble tomorrow and start back up on Monday. Thanks OhE.
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I used BJU with my dd when she was getting over her mom-induced math crises. It is open and go. It has built in review. I didn't use the teacher's guide with her for the 2nd grade book although I bought it. I focuses on one topic per chapter, but has review problems on most sheets and has chapter reviews. It covers all the mathy things. You can buy a book with paper punch out manipulatives if you want to - things like paper money and clocks and rulers and such.
I have RS A for my youngest but it isn't getting done so I got the BJU K - it gets done everyday while her sister is doing her math. In my perfect homeschool, we will be doing RS A, but until then she does BJU and if Singapore ever quits working for the older one we are back to BJU.
OK - I'm going to check out BJU - that's 2 for BJU.
Jennifer, Have you looked at Christian Light Education (CLE)? It seems to touch on everything that you are looking for:drill, other "math" topics include calendars, measurement, time & money, not teacher intensive, great TM's, pretty open & go.
There website is newly improved www.clp.org
The yahoo group has samples: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christianlightfamilies/ (click on photos for samples)
Good luck with your search!
I'm going to look at CLE too. There were a few that said CLE would fit my priorities.
Thanks Ladies for all your responses!
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For something a bit different than what was suggested, you could try Miquon. I have used it with three children so far in grades 1-3, and they have all enjoyed it. I haven't used it strictly as is suggested (where the teacher has a lot of interaction with the children). I have basically let my children pick which section they want to work on, and then they only come to me for help. Every so often I do use elements of other math programs to explain concepts to them to make sure they have understood everything.
Now Miquon is not scripted, but there are suggestions on how to teach the concepts in the teacher guide. Miquon is a discovery based program that presents concepts in an interesting and different way, so some may not feel comfortable with this approach.
I credit Miquon for giving my children confidence in math. They certainly don't view math as boring!
Oops, forgot to mention we did Miquon too! I didn't really get it well enough to implement it. So, I sold it. ;)
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Jennifer, you wanted to talk priorities, so hmm... Are you trying to use RS B with your 5 and 4 yo's???
Yes.
Or the 10 yo??? R&S 4th grade with her.
It's not age-appropriate for either of them, unless your 10 yo has learning disabilities. Also, RS now sells a package for like $5 that has all the photocopies already done. Good to know, but I already have most of the Appendix copied, I just need to cut some things and assemble - probably like an hour of my life! :tongue_smilie:LOL. You'd think I could get this done. The only thing left to assemble are the hundreds squares, and those are just some tape and an hour of your life. I'd make sure you're using the right level. If you take on level B with the average 5 yo, he's going to be totally swamped by lesson 40.
This may be, I haven't made it to lesson 40 yet. So far, it's too easy. But that's probably because I'm only at around lesson 10. He finished MUS Primer last summer, and has worked through about 1/3 of MUS Foundations, and I've done some Montessori math with him too. I also spent several weeks on Ray's Arithmetic working with sums. Anyway, Level A seemed like all review, and reading on Morning Star's blog her suggestions seemed to say to start on Level B with what math we've already done, so that's why I started at B. My 4yo is just along for the ride. I just let her sit in on all of my 5yo's lessons, and sometimes I give her age appropriate questions/activities, but she keeps up pretty well anyway.
The first thing I thought of, when I read your list, was that it really didn't account for the differences in learning styles. True. I don't think much about learning styles. I kind of went on a learning style tangent with my oldest, now age 10, and she fell behind in her weaker areas, so now I'm "off" learning styles for the most part. I've actually gone in the opposite direction with her. Her weak areas are visual/perceptual, and therfore her writing suffers, and her spelling. We spend most of our time together working vigorously on strengthening these weaknesses. Her auditory strength doesn't need reinforcing, it advances naturally on it's own, so I dont' focus much on giving her more auditory help. For instance my visual learner, social bug dd LOVES the stories and extras of the BJU math. For another dc those might be distracting. But I understand having multiple dc means you're overloaded and need to be practical! Amen. So I suggest that you look for curriculum that spans the learning styles. For instance, BJU has the visual stuff to appeal to visual learners, hands-on stuff for those types, stories and teacher interaction for auditory learners, extra spiral review worksheets (now on cd in the new editions, very cool). A good curriculum like that is trying to appeal to all types of learners and can make it easier to span a variety of children, since that is of course what it was WRITTEN for. I'll check out BJU, sounds good.
The other thing to remember is that if you pick one thing and use it, you get faster at it. True, I got much faster with SWR after a few months of using it. And the reality is, math is going to take a chunk of your day. It might be that some other things have to give to make time for math. I guess it's just your call about how much time you want to give it. BJU hits a variety of learning styles but needs to be taught. I happen to really like a foundation of RS (that was one of the selling points for me too) and then moving on to BJU in later years, which is what we did. That's my plan for this new baby as a matter of fact. Sounds like a good plan. Since you own RS, you might as well stick with it and do that. Believe me, I want to stick with RS if I can just get those darn manipulatives made! My dcs really like it so far. You're going to LOVE the foundation it provides and the way it teaches your dc to think through math. Then you can put them, when they hit say 3rd gr, into BJU or Horizons or what have you and be fine. BJU was a good transition for us because it continues the conceptual teaching very similar to what RS had.
You've tried multiple programs that are very conceptual-based, I'm attracted to curriculum which resembles and pulls from the Montessori method, which is where my background in early childhood education comes from. But, I'm also so frustrated by this method, and often want to go in the opposite direction! It's a love-hate relationship. I love the "idea" of manipulatives and the look of them and the novelty of them, but I'm not really good at implementing the use of them. I'm really good at opening the book, teaching the scripted lesson, and assigning homework (worksheets). This is the method that actually gets done around here, though it's not the method that I love in my heart. Do you know what I mean? so I can't see you getting happy going to something totally the opposite. (just my philosophical observation, take it for what it's worth) You've got to know yourself. If it's that important to you and you're not going to be happy with Saxon/Horizons/Abeka, then you're going to have to spend the time of the more conceptual programs (BJU/RS/MUS). Also, don't make the mistake of thinking your one perfect math program has to have it all. If you like the conceptual program (RS, BJU, whatever) but want convenient, high doses of drill, add on a Flashmaster Yes, I use this with my 10yo. Great device!. It's easy to implement and works wonders.
Elizabeth, thank you for your thoughtful response. I will consider what you said in sticking with RS and transitioning to BJU around 3rd grade, or maybe after Level B. I do really like a lot of things about RS. It's just the prep that bothers me.
Thanks!
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:glare:Then who does your husband watch the show with?He doesn't watch it anymore. He used to watch it with me. Sometimes he watched it alone while I was preping for school or whatnot. He wrote the letter to tell the producers that it was too embarrassing to watch it with his wife.
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I use R&S with my 10yo dd (grade 4). I love it! But, since I'm starting all over from scratch with my 5yo I want to see what all my options are with those priorities. I think I will use R&S if that seems the best of all the choices.
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We use it just was vocabulary/root word study. We learn the Greek or Latin word, and it's English meaning. If the children know any derivitives, we talk about those too. I like it, a bit - not jumping up and down about it.
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ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do not watch this by yourself, with your husband, or with your children! I hate this show with a passion. There's this man who has a woman haunting him in his thoughts with sexual stuff, and it's quite graphic for my taste.
My husband is really upset that this show had such graphic sexuality, because he really likes SciFi, which is usually family friendly, but this one is not. He wrote the show a letter telling them that he cannot watch this with his wife because it's too sexually graphic. Aparantly one of his friends told him that they "cleaned up" the show, but I still wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft. pole.
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Hive mind, please help!
I have finally found a groove with language arts (SWR and R&S English - yeah!), now I need help with math!
Please help me think through my priorities and choose the right program. Cost is not a problem, because I'm going to sell some of my "failed" attempts, and I should have enough to buy something new or used with that money.
We've used Math-U-See, Singapore, Rod & Staff, and I just recently purchased RightStart.
I have the wonderful opportunity to start out afresh with my 5yo, 4yo, and upcoming 1yo. I want to give them a solid foundation in math. My priorities are:
Solid foundation in the basics
- Teaching the children to easily and quickly recall their math facts so they won't be a stumbling block for higher math
- Besides the 4 basic operations, also proficiency in the other "math" things like time, money, measurements, etc. etc.
- Something that will get done 5 days per week, without fail (within reason of course) - Not too teacher intensive, not too many teacher's manuals, not too many manipulatives
- Workbooky OK
- Fun - not necessary
- Games - not necessary
- Interesting pictures - not necessary
- Open & Go - A MUST! Scripted, preferred.
- Spiral approach, or something with a lot of review & drill!
- Workbooky OK
- Saxon's out, there's too many items involved and I get overwhelmed
- Math-U-See is out, I've been there, done that, I don't like the mastery approach
- Singapore is out, I'm not happy with the Home Instructor's Guide - too confusing for me to easily "open-go" implement. Too many manipulatives to make.
- RightStart - I'm considering selling this, as I've given it a trial run, and I'm already stuck on lesson 10 or so with having to "make" manipulatives and "assemble" games, and figure them out, etc. I've skipped math for 2 weeks now thinking I'll "put them together soon", but I haven't.
Does anyone have the "perfect" solution for me with all these things in mind? :D Please, please, please! Can you tell I really want your advice?
- Teaching the children to easily and quickly recall their math facts so they won't be a stumbling block for higher math
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If you want "proper" phonics instruction, run, do not walk to either Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri or its predecessor, The Writing Road to Reading by Spaulding. Both systems teach reading and spelling simultaneously based on Orton-Gillingham.
Research these two methods and find a fit for you. I, too, had to remediate my son at 8--and I chose SWR, mainly for spelling, funnily enugh, but boy did he learn to read!!
It is a multi-age program--it's even suitable for adults learning English as a Second Language, so it won't be babyish to your 10 year old. (Which is very important. In fact, if you use SWR as a splling program, he won't even realise he's re-learning to read!)
:iagree: My daughter, age 10, is doing great with SWR. I hate to admit this, but I was about to give up on teaching spelling becuase I thought she was hopeless (don't tell her I said this). There are ways of getting through life without good spelling skills, right? I thought I'd give it a really good try with SWR first though. Well, the results have been fabulous, and we are only a few months into it. We are sounding out words in her other assignments and using the spelling rules & phonics we have learned. I think it will help her reading too! I highly recommend this program.
Warning, though, it's not for the faint of heart! It takes a lot of work to learn it, and teach it. It's a struggle, but it's really worth the effort, IMO.
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My 10yo dd is reading through The Little House series. She REALLY loves them! She has 4 books to go in the Laura series.
He also read Ballet Shoes and is finishing Theater Shoes.
I just asked her what she wants to do for fun reading after Theater Shoes, since she'll be finished with that after today, and she said she wants to finish the Chronicles of Narnia series. She started it a couple of years ago, and didn't finish, so she wants to finish that next.
She said after she's done with The Little House series she wants to read through the Anne of Green Gables series.
My 5 & 4 yos aren't reading "real" books yet. I'm reading to them 50 Famous Stories, The Golden Children's Bible, Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans and A Child's Garden of Verses.
Family Time Bible in pictures and Golden Children's Books for my 1yo and my day care 2yo.
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Have you looked into CLEP testing? This is a way you can test out of a particular class that you already have knowledge in. My husband is going through a major career change right now (going from business owner of a print shop to airline pilot). Most airlines require or highly recommend a bachelor's degree. We figured out a way to save a ton of money by CLEP testing out of several or nearly all of the "AA" type courses. My husband is knowledgeable in many subject areas just by listening to audio books in his spare time or during long print jobs. He did some practice tests, and passed them EASILY. The pass requirements are fairly low, like above 50% or something to pass the test. I don't remember all the particulars because we looked into this about 1 year ago, but they have a lot of information online, if you google CLEP testing. Also, you could find out through your local CC if they offer the testing, and you can find out from the college you want to graduate from if they accept CLEP testing. The college my husband is working with is Embry Riddle University (top of the line for airline pilots), and they accept CLEP testing, and they have an advisor as well who specializes in helping the student get the most out of the testing. This college also offers many of their courses online, which you might want to look into with the college you choose to work with. ;)
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Thank you for posting this. I just added my oldest daughter to my local Bible Bee's roster.
This sounds like great fun, right up our ally!
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I used Sonlight LA for 1st and 2nd, and the things I didn't like about it were the spelling and the creative writing. Rules & phonics needed to be looked up in various confusing appendices, which I would have rather had right there on the same page as the spelling words. So, I often skipped the spelling words because I didn't know how to teach them. The result was that we didn't do spelling for grades 1 & 2, and dd fell behind. I didn't like the creative writing, because the topic was usually too abstract for my dd's mind. So, it was a frustrating experience for both of us, and ended up getting skipped or done poorly. I would prefer the writing topics in the grammar stage to be on a subject that the child has knowledge about, not something imaginary, a recent topic studied would be perfect for writing in the grammar stage. Also, some kind of writing prompts, like questions or something to get them started would be good.
I liked the grammar in the old Sonlight LA 1 & 2, which took sentences out of the student's readers, and there was a worksheet which asked various grammar based questions. This was really great, and we always got those assignments done without too much confusion on my part and frustration on my daughter's part.
I also liked the readers in the Sonlight LA.
This year we are doing separate books for each subject:
Grammar is R&S, Spelling is SWR, Dictation is done from a book called "Granny's Wonderful Chair", Readers are literature selections mostly from Ambleside Online, and we're not doing copywork, because she has enough writing with R&S and SWR.
I actually like this pieced together LA program, and it seems to be helping progress this area of dd's schooling.
Hope this helps you.
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I posted $100 pp/month conservative estimate. Last week the average was $70 pp/month. I contribute our savings to shopping at Costco, and we hardly eat any fresh fruit, and most of our veggies are bought bulk & frozen & cooked. Whenever I have fresh fruit in the house, it costs a bundle and a week's worth is gone in 2-3 days. So, I buy frozen and make fruit/keifer shakes, and homemade blueberry or strawberry sauce for our pancakes, so we get some fruit there.
Last week our dinner menu was:
Mon - Soup (my choice - pinto bean soup - Lebanese style)
Tue - Steak (hubby's choice - serloin steaks w/ mashed red potatoes & salad)
Wed - Italian sausage & pene pasta
Thu - Meatball soup, mexican style, "Albondigas" on allrecipes.com
Fri - Philly cheese steak sandwiches
Sat - Hamburgers
Sun - Costco pizza
The week before our dinner menu was:
Sun - Leftovers from the previous week
Mon - Simple Hamburger Stroganoff allrecipes.com
Tue - Chicken Enchiladas I allrecipes.com
Wed - Chicken Florentine Casserole allrecipes.com
Thu - Barbeque Beef Casserole allrecipes.com
Fri - Tuna Noodle Casserole II allrecipes.com
Sat - Garbanzo bean soup (my own recipe Lebanese style)
Anyway, here are some ideas. If you go to allrecipes.com you can enter in an ingredient, like a meat you have on hand, and get a huge list of recipes with that ingredient. If I didn't make a plan, that's what I use to figure out what to make. The last few weeks I've made a dinner plan, and it has saved me some time and money in the end.
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Probably about $100 conservative estimate. We don't usually spend $800 per month on groceries, but that's how much it can get up to on weeks when we have lots of "extras". We have 8 in our family, 4 adults and 4 children, + 1 day care child, not included in the 8. :)
Hope this helps you.
BTW - we shop at Costco, and we try to have 1 vegetarian night (dinner under $5), and 1 left over night (when we eat leftovers &/or scrounge), this cuts down on our dinner budget. For breakfast we usually eat a Costco muffin, or homemade pancakes, lunch is a simple sandwich, and dinner is simple home made dishes.
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I have 1 extra boy right now, age 2. My own kids are 10, 5, 4, and 1 - he fits right inbetween there. I'm in 4th grade with my 10 yo, and doing SWR and Rightstart with my 5 & 4yos. I let the 2yo boy and my 1yo boy run around and do what they want. They are on the same nap schedule to make things easier.
It is difficult, and M-F I feel like I'm "going to work", even though it's only 1 extra boy I'm watching. But, like another poster stated, the differing parenting philosophies makes it most difficult, and that he's not my boy, so I don't have the same affection for him. He also doesn't like to listen to stories or do phonics or any of the other things that even my 1 yo likes to do. That makes it difficult. He often just plays alone and snacks a lot.
I am able to still do a rigorous school with my 10yo, and a pretty good amount with my 5 & 4yos, so I'm happy about that. I'm also happy about contributing to the family debt reduction plan.
Another thing I do to earn money in the home is host international college students from our local community college. We currently have 2 students in our home, who take up 2 bedrooms and eat meals with us. We get $550 per month per student, and they usually only take up about 1/5 th of that in food & shared living expense. I use this money for debt reduction too.
With these responsibilities, I don't have any outside home activities, except church on Sunday. It would be impossible to be outside the home and do everything I want to do here to contribute.
I hope you find the solution your family needs, and still stay in the home.
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I don't even know when the game is, or who's playing. I've watched part of a game, once in my life when we first got our big screen TV, and we had a "superbowl" party. It was actually a "show off your big TV" party. Because dh and I didn't even know how to follow the game. I think maybe we faked it though. :D
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1. The God of the Bible
2. The Husband of my youth
3. The Children of my husband
4. The people of the Church in my local community
5. Self
These are the priorities of my heart and my hand by God's grace, and to the best of my ability.
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I've been using SWR with my 10yo dd for a few months now, and it's really good.
I would recommend pulling it out again, but don't get really bogged down in doing the program "perfectly" from the start, just do the placement test and start working through the lists, adding the enrichments and the other things as you get more comfortable.
My daughter tested into list M, so after 2 months or so of figuring out how to do the program and starting my own learning log, and trying to do everything perfectly, I just finally started working through the lists. We are on list M-3 this week. This is how I do SWR with her:
Monday - Introduce/"teach" the first 10 words. When I say "teach" that means that this is not a quiz or a test. We talk about the phonograms used, and the syllables, we clap it out, and finger spell it, then after I'm sure she knows how to spell the word, without just spelling it out for her letter by letter, but I'm sure she has the knowledge to spell the word thinking it out herself, then she writes it in her log book. Then we mark the word, then move onto the next word. This takes about 20-30 mins. for 10 words. (It took a week or 2 to get the groove of 20-30 mins, at first it took about 45 mins.)
Tuesday - the same procedure as above with words 11-20.
Wednesday - Quiz words 1-10. For each word missed I dictate a sentence, and she writes these in a separate "practice" book.
Thursday - Same procedure as Wed. with words 11-20.
Friday - Test all 20 words. I mark in my book what words she missed, and I underline the trouble letter/phonogram. Then we work on them again during the next week.
Something else we do is we say the words "funny" to pronounce all the sounds in the word. I often say words "funny" in regular life too to emphasize the spelling of them.
I do not recommend Sequential Spelling for anyone but a natural speller. We've tried everything, and nothing has helped thus far except SWR. I can hear my daughter now sounding out words and figuring out spelling on her own! It's really remarkable. I also recommend getting further help from the yahoo group website. They are really helpful.
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I know this won't cure the underlying attitude/heart issue, but maybe in some cases, such as math, he could correct his own work, and rework it independently??
You could let him know that you're working with him and care about his frustrations, and if he does a good job correcting and reworking his own work, you'll give him that opportunity for 1 week, then reevaluate after that. :confused:
My children are young yet, so I'm not sure if this is good advice or not.
Is a Costco membership cost effective or not?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
We love Costco, but we have a somewhat large family (4 adults, 4 children + 1 daycare child). It really works for us to buy large things of pickles, condiments, bread, meat, frozen items, and spaghetti sauce. I buy pasta, a few canned items, and some fresh produce at Fred Meyer. When we were a smaller family, the membership didn't benefit us, because we wasted a lot of the bulk things, throwing them out when they went bad, or when we were just plain sick of them. Now, we use up everything easily, and it's a big savings. But, we don't buy everything there.
We spend about $125-$150 per week at Costco with an additonal $20-$40 per week at one other store for a few other items.
We go through 8 gallons of milk per week, just to give you an idea of how much we have to buy.