[Sharing some notebooking pages I made...]

Try this:

http://www.squidoo.com/make-notebooking-pages

for instructions. I haven't made a lot of pages - but that's how I make them. :)

[What happens to the boards once school starts for everyone?]

I'm pretty new to this board, and so far I love it. There are great ideas and reviews. But once everyone has their choices down for the coming school year, what happens here? Does it die? Or do we just move on to what we're doing next year? :) Just curious....

[Interesting article about "New Math"]

I think there is a need for both sides of the coin. Just memorizing the facts and the formulas is needed, but can't be all of it, otherwise there is no understanding. Introducing the 'new' ways can be useful, especially for those kids who are struggling with understanding. And if you want to teach the kid short cuts (like the 88x5 problem) then by all means, as long as they understand what it means and how to do 88x6 which doesn't have a shortcut.

 

To me, it seems more tiresome to memorize a bunch of 'short cuts' then one straight up formula for figuring out the answer. I will be sticking with 'old' math and supplementing if necessary or desired (we're a math family, so I won't be surprised if my kid wants to do xtra math work - I did as a kid).

[Ideas for Bible Instruction for K?]

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions! I have some books to look into that will (hopefully) help me narrow down where I want to go with Bible this year. I think that's my biggest problem is figuring out what our goal will be.... once that is narrowed down, I can figure out what book will best fit. :) Again, thanks!!

[Ideas for Bible Instruction for K?]

I'm not sure what approach I want to take with Bible for my ds. I'd like any and all suggestions. He's getting his own Bible (even though he can't read it yet) and I'd really like to start to him out of it. I'm not sure if I should do a daily devotion (I've never done devotions before) or what. I'd like to do more than just learning the stories... I'm just not sure what.

 

I think ideally I'd like to have a memory scripture every week, and have daily lessons/bible reading that went along with it. Does anything like this exist?

 

Thanks a bunch!!

[Do these math flash cards exist?]

We haven't gotten into using flash cards yet, probably sometime this next year. But what you described sounds like any addition flashcards, at least I thought. Do they really make them with the answer printed on both sides? I guess I'm just a little confused. It seems like you got the help you needed, I just need clarification for myself.

 

Thanks!

[Anyone else irrationally biased against lapbooks?]

What homeschooling style puts an emphasis on lapbooking? I've read a few general homeschooling books over the years and I don't remember any of them mentioning it.

 

There are many homeschoolers that use an eclectic or unit study method that do lapbooks. Also, literature based studies (such as Five In A Row and Homeschoolshare.com) suggest lapbooks.

 

It is really the crafty person's answer to the notebook. Notebooks and lapbooks are often put together in the same sentence. Or even the new term 'lap-n-note' to indicate either (a) a lapbook that has additional notebook pages added in or (b) a notebook that has cardstock containing minit books.

[Oregon!]

Anyone belong to the HIP Yahoo! Group? Or HGFE? We just recently moved to Portland and this where I've been looking for people to meet.. not specific to WTM, but HSers.

 

Msg me if you would like links - but you should be able to find it if you did a Yahoo! Group search.

 

Good to know I'm not alone!!

[Anyone else irrationally biased against lapbooks?]

I think I like the concept better than the actual project if you KWIM?

:iagree:

I think we'll do an occasional mini-book in our notebook, simply for fun or to emphasize a point. It makes more sense with a youngin' that doesn't write to do little books with some pre-printed information. But I really don't like the fact that it becomes a big craft project. I agree with those that said the craft takes more time than the actual learning.

[Any other Math Mammoth users? What do you think?]

Yay! I'm not the only looking at Math Mammoth! My ds is very good in math, and can already do probably 1/2 of the first book of the light blue 1st Grade series (if that makes sense) but I want to start him off with a good base. :-)

 

I'll be buying it as soon as we have the $$, probably next payday. So my opinions are based only what I've seen in the samples of it. I like it because it gives me a spine to work with and I can supplement with what ever manipulatives and games I would like. I toyed with not buying anything this year, but decided I wanted a curric just to keep me in line and remind me of things I might skip over.

 

:-) Hope that makes sense!

[How do you keep up with Latin if you are taking a break from it?]

I'm a newbie here -- so feel free to completely ignore me -- :)

 

But what about having him help teach/tutor his younger siblings in it?

[Handwriting for K?]

I took another look at HWOT and realized that it is fairly inexpensive. :-) It was overwhelming with all the extras, but I think we'll get the workbook(starting at PreK) and the teacher's manual. With the teacher's manual, I can come up with my own manipulatives if I think it's necessary.

 

I gave my child some lined paper today, and walked him through writing letters A-D. He did much better than I anticipated! I guess it helps to have lined paper to help guide him (we don't do that much). :001_smile: And when I explained how to properly make the letter, he didn't fight me and although he had to be reminded to start at the top line and go to the bottom, he did well.

 

Again, thanks for the suggestions. I don't want to push him (if he starts fighting HWOT I'll back off) but he was very proud of himself after writing so well.

[Handwriting for K?]

I have a (almost) 5 yr old that will be starting K this year. I've got phonics and math curriculums figured out, but I'm trying to decide what (if anything) I should use for handwriting. Is a handwriting curric really necessary?

 

He's not writing well at all, but is starting to try. But I'm not sure if just giving him lined paper and letting him keep practicing is all we need to do or if I should have something that lays out the 'correct' way to form letters.

 

Part of me is afraid that he'll learn how to write and then I'll try to introduce something to improve his handwriting and he'll have to re-learn how to write.

 

We also don't have a lot of money to spend, so if you can recommend a handwriting curric that isn't super expensive, that would be prefered. Thanks!