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Everything posted by Mélie
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70-100 cm of snow expected in the next day or so... why did I move back to Canada?
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What are you using for 1st and 2nd grade LA?
Mélie replied to Mom28kds's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
We started the school year early, so we'll get through more than one level of some things this year in 1st. Writing With Ease 1 & 2 Winning With Writing 2 First Language Lessons 1 Growing With Grammar 2 All About Spelling 1 & 2 Assigned and free reading -
If you're afterschooling kindergarten...
Mélie replied to Mélie's topic in Parents' Forum Afterschooling Board
It's great to see that you're both getting so much done! Ds started school yesterday, and it looks like his only homework is going to be reading and preparing for weekly mini-presentations. No worksheets! I already love this teacher. :) -
How long is school for your 1st grader?
Mélie replied to JumpyTheFrog's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
One hour would probably be our minimum. The plan right now (we're changing things up a little starting Monday) is to spend about 45 minutes on math, 20 minutes on writing and 10 minutes on spelling on our busy days. On days that we have more time, we'll add 30 minutes of science and 30 minutes of French activities. He also reads for an hour or more every day and I read aloud most days. -
DH bought the dreaded PopTarts as a treat for the kiddos...
Mélie replied to Ewe Mama's topic in The Chat Board
Confession time: I'm afraid to take my 5-year-old grocery shopping because we just moved and I know he'll notice that they don't sell his favourite kind here. Yes, I've checked every grocery store in the city. My kid loves Pop-Tarts that much. That said, they're an afternoon snack in our house, not a breakfast food. -
This is pretty much what I've been doing. I staple each "lesson" (2-3 pages) together and leave the stack on as shelf. When ds finishes a lesson, he sticks it in his binder.
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A few testers wanted for short Canadian History eBook
Mélie replied to Jay3fer's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
Interested. :) -
Do we have a Kindergarten thread yet (for next year)?
Mélie replied to AimeeM's topic in General Education Discussion Board
My recommendations: Singapore Essential Math (ds2 used this and has had an easy transition to MM 1) Nancy Larson Science (if you're holding off on science until he's 5, start with grade 1) Handwriting Without Tears (ds2 started K at 4 with no issues) Lollipop Logic -
We all get dressed before we even go down for breakfast. Me, because I like to shower first thing. The boys, because they aren't allowed to leave their bedroom naked, which is how they've decided to sleep now that I've given up on buying them cool PJs.
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If you're afterschooling kindergarten...
Mélie replied to Mélie's topic in Parents' Forum Afterschooling Board
It does seem like it would be terrible for working parents, but apparently it's always been this way and is the same at every school in the area. I don't really get it, but it shouldn't matter too much for us. We're going to keep our "field trips" and any big projects to the weekends so dh can join in. I think we're going to keep going with what we've been doing in math, FLL and AAS 2-3 days per week, reading every day in French and English, and reading SOTW at night when we're not too tired. The only things we'll really be dropping are science and handwriting, which makes me feel like I'm trying to do a bit too much. He's not an eager student, but he doesn't hate anything we're using now. School is only two or three hours per day (three hour mornings vs. two hour afternoons), which includes recess, PE, music, trips to the school library, crafts, etc. -
I could have written #2 of your post a few months ago, but I've finally found a curriculum that teaches cursive (pretty close to) the way I learned it. It's called Canadian Handwriting, so I'm not sure if it'll be helpful to you, but if you're comfortable teaching cursive without a workbook, I would go for it!
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I just got my boys in bed at 11:30. We went to 8:00 mass, so I thought they'd be ready to go to sleep when we got home, but they had other plans. I'm sure they'll be up much earlier than I'd like to be!
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You're doing much better than us - our Christmas binge has already begun! In that vein, what is your favorite variety of apple? I haven't heard of some of these kinds, and I had to Google to find out the name, but I think it's fuji. I really had no idea there were so many kinds! How was your weekend? Absolutely crazy! We moved from Texas to Atlantic Canada this week. It seemed like the perfect idea, to be in our new home for Christmas, but it turned out to be a little overly ambitious. I'm glad I planned ahead as much as I did, but the little things I missed have me a bit frazzled. And today's totally random question: did you have a favorite lovey when you were little? Yes, I carried my "Toutou" everywhere for several years. My kids are much more creative when naming their loveys. :)
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Do you have many duplicate names in your extended family?
Mélie replied to Ottakee's topic in The Chat Board
My father's family has a lot of Marcs, a few Jean-Marcs, a Marc-André and a Marc-Édouard. Martin and Jean are also pretty common. My older son has the same name as two cousins, one older and one younger. -
Beast Academy 3D - is it coming out this month?
Mélie replied to mathnerd's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
I didn't think we'd catch up to the publishing schedule nearly this quickly, but now I'm really glad we started MM as well. Thanks for the update, I haven't been keeping up to date with things on facebook. -
Getting motivated for next semester
Mélie replied to Halcyon's topic in General Education Discussion Board
We're in the middle of a move right now, and my younger son is going to be starting public school after Christmas break, so we're in for some big changes! Our focus for "afterschooling" will be on continuing AAS, which he loves and math, which he tolerates. I've spoken to his teacher already, and I'm sure he'll get lots of art, music, handwriting and science (class butterflies, along with units on penguins, space and the ocean) at school. I'm going to move SOTW to bedtime so that he can keep doing it with us. For my homeschooler, we'll keep the focus on math and spend more time on science. We're going to focus on physics for the rest of the year, with a little Earth science thrown in. Everything else will stay the same, just moving up a level in a few things. Our schedule will be a little crazier, with school drop-offs and pick-ups, but I think it will be a good change for everyone. :) -
Are you going to talk to your kids about the shooting today?
Mélie replied to happyhomemaker25's topic in The Chat Board
I don't plan to bring it up, but if they see newspapers or magazine covers about it (we'll be in airports twice next week) I'll just give the very basics, but answer all their questions. I think that's all we can do at their age. -
It's starting to make me a little nervous, but I can already see my older son doing a little of what some of you have described. When I taught him basic multiplication, I showed him the finger trick for multiplying by 9. A few weeks ago, he figured out that he could use it for for factors larger than 10, but that it didn't work for multiplying by 11, 21, 22, 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, etc. He realized that this is because the digits of those products add up to 18 instead of 9, but that's where he got stuck and turned his attention to making up finger tricks for the multiples of 3 and 6. I don't know if he ever got anywhere with that... We're a few years away from most of what's been mentioned, but I'm taking notes!
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This is our first year, so we've had to try some different things to see what works, but right now using several different programs works really well for my older son. I've basically just bought what I've read about on the forum, and somehow my son has enjoyed all of them. We're using Math Mammoth, Beast Academy, CWP, Primary Grade Challenge Math and LOF. We also have Teaching Textbooks and some math games that he uses during his computer time (30 minutes per day). Every school day, we spend 20 or 30 minutes on one of his main programs - either BA or MM. For a while, we were just using BA for this, but I want to stretch 3C out until we get 3D, and we'll be moving to MM after that anyway. He picks which one he wants to do, and I don't try to line anything up. If we get to something that we've already covered well, we just skip to the word problems. In the afternoon, if he wants to, we pick up either CWP or PGCM for 20 minutes or so. I've tried some math games, but he really just prefers to do lots of word problems, so we're going with that for now. He does LOF with his dad while they're waiting for dinner. It looks like a lot to write out five math programs, but it doesn't feel like a lot when we're doing it.
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My youngest just turned 5, and I'm thinking the same thing...
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I've given up on planning math as well. I just let my son pick which book he wants to do and we work on it for 30 minutes or so. I agree that using a placement test, or maybe a final review sheet, might help you find the right spot more quickly.
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I would go with Math Mammoth and add in MEP if you need some variety. We haven't started it yet, but Miquon is also a lot less expensive than Singapore and seems to get great reviews around here.
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They said what? Good thing they're homeschooled!
Mélie replied to zaichiki's topic in Accelerated Learner Board
Ds's new joke: How do you spell Istanbul? C-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-i-n-o-p-l-e. He felt pretty smart when his big brother tried to steal the joke and messed up the spelling. :p