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Elysian

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  1. "It will, doubtless, be objected that to encourage young persons at the Pert age to browbeat, correct, and argue with their elders will render them perfectly intolerable. My answer to that children of that age are intolerable anyhow; and that their natural argumentativeness may just as well be canalized to good purpose as allowed to run away into the sands. It may, indeed, be rather less obtrusive at home if it is disciplined in school; and anyhow, elders who have abandoned the wholesome principle that children should be seen and not heard have no one to blame but themselves." I think she's joking. Like the previous commenters said, it was originally a speech, so her tone of voice would probably have made it clearer at the time. My translation of her words: "Some people will complain that we shouldn't encourage kids to argue, because it's annoying. I reply that since kids are going to argue anyway, we might as well teach them how to do it properly. Unless you're going to insist that kids shut up altogether, you'll just have to put up with the annoyance."
  2. I sort my books much like a library does: fiction alphabetically by author, and non-fiction by subject. Haven't yet got obsessive enough to use the Dewey Decimal System :tongue_smilie: We used to separate children's fiction from adult, but now it's all mixed together. If you have a Mac, you could take the tedium out of cataloguing your library by using Delicious Library: http://www.delicious-monster.com/
  3. I second the recommendations of "The Phoenix and the Carpet" and "The Wee Free Men". You could always try something by Diana Wynne Jones. Perhaps "Howl's moving castle" or "Archer's Goon". Or "The Ogre Downstairs" is very much like a modern E Nesbit book :-)
  4. Ok, I think it sounds like he needs practice in two things: setting out work correctly, and checking it over carefully for mistakes. I suggest you pick one type of problem, either the fractions or decimals one and do the following: Day 1: 1) You show him an example (or do it in front of him) of EXACTLY how you want him to set his working out. 2) You ask him to do JUST ONE calculation PERFECTLY, setting out the working exactly as you did. 3) If there are any mistakes, ask him to correct them - show him how, if necessary. It's about quality, not quantity. When he has it perfect, cheer, praise him for working hard, and stop with maths for the day. Day 2: 1) You show him ONE calculation that you have done (the same kind as the previous day) with all the working set out perfectly, BUT you make a deliberate mathematical mistake somewhere. 2) His job is to find where Mom went wrong. This teaches the really important skill of checking work over. It's much easier to practice by trying to find Mom's mistakes than your own :001_smile: 3) When he has rewritten the whole answer correctly, cheer, praise him for working hard and stop maths for the day. Repeat the above on alternate days until he gets it. Then move on to the second kind of calculation. This might throw up some underlying problem that is causing him difficulties - like say if he is shaky on his multiplication tables. In that case, you can take some time to practice that skill for a while and come back to decimals/fractions afterwards. Hope that helps! Good luck.
  5. Is your student aiming to study science at a college level afterwards? Or are you looking at general-preparation-for-well-informed-adult-life?
  6. :confused: Just trying to understand the problem here. Cin, are you homeschooling your two daughters? What practical difference does the grade label make? I mean, do your state regulations mean you have to enter them for certain exams? Or does your church divide kids up by grade level rather than age? What social implications do you mean? Best wishes for whichever option you choose.
  7. Science classes at the local museum sound great. Speaking as someone with a science background, I think science for younger kids should be mostly about having fun, following up interests and learning cool stuff. There's no need to be systematic until later. In my experience, the most important requirements for success in science later in life are 1) enthusiasm for the subject and 2) maths. So put the extra time into maths now if you can :-) For supplementing maths, you could try the (free, online) Khan Academy. Also fun books of maths or logic puzzles - brain benders, that kind of thing - to stretch their brains a bit in a fun way.
  8. How about biographies of scientists, inventors or pioneers? e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stone-Girl-Bone-Story-Anning/dp/1845077008/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335456398&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amelia-Earhart-Biography-Tanya-Stone/dp/0756625521/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335456491&sr=1-15 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marie-Curie-Biography-Vicki-Cobb/dp/0756638313 Note I haven't actually read any of those, I just found them on amazon.
  9. Maybe things are just too easy for him? Can you skip to harder stuff within the curriculum you're already using, so he isn't so bored? A free alternative / supplement might be Khan Academy. It's self-paced, so once he's mastered a concept he can move on quickly.
  10. Lewelma - here are some possible types of history essay topics. I've given some examples based on my skim reading of the Wikipedia article on Samurai. As I'm unfamiliar with the subject, you can probably think of better topics to fit the generic patterns. Describe x. e.g. "What was the role of the monasteries in 16th century Japan?" Why did x happen? What were the causes of x? E.g. "What were the causes of the rise of the samurai?" "Why did the imperial side win the Boshin war?" What were the consequences of x? e.g. "What effect did the introduction of the arquebus have on the samurai?" Compare two things. e.g. "Compare the role of the samurai in the Ashikaga and Tokugawa shogunates." To what extent is x true? / "x" Discuss. Where x is some potentially controversial statement. e.g. "'Samurai were loyal and noble warriors' - Discuss.". How do we know about x and how reliable are those sources? e.g. "How do we know about the code of the samurai and how reliable are the sources?"
  11. http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/04/20/feedback-loop-fcat-not-blinding-them-with-science/ Some people say there are problems in the maths tests too.
  12. ...and the people who set the tests don't appear to care. I was pretty shocked by this. http://thehappyscientist.com/blog/problems-floridas-science-fcat-test
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