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kagmypts

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Posts posted by kagmypts

    CLE Math: Why do people switch programs in Middle School?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    There a couple of reasons that we will be switching after CLE 600.  First, I want pre-algebra to be a one year class, and CLE spreads it over two years.  Second, I find that the quality of instruction decreases significantly starting in level 600.  Rather than explaining the underlying concepts, CLE uses "tricks" to aid in retention. One example is CLE's approach to adding and subtracting negative numbers.

     

    I have really liked CLE for the elementary years, but my kids need something different for middle school.

    Worried about aggressive kindergarten teacher

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    This is what my parents keep telling me, to address it "if" a situation arises, I am worried I won't know a situation has raised until after.

    I could just see dd thinking she is in trouble, and not telling me

     

    I am not sure how old your kids are, but as a parent of three school aged children, it is very obvious if something is not right in the classroom.  You will see your daughter's behavior and disposition when she gets home from school.  Trust me when I say that you will know if she is not in a great environment.  You have been warned so keep your antenna up but be open-minded.  I do think that stories can get easily exaggerated, but on the flip side, great teachers rarely have negative rumors surrounding them.

     

    By way of background, my kids were all enrolled in private school because public school was not an option for us.  Neither was homeschooling.  Or so I thought.  The kids' private school became overwhelming awful, and we just could not ignore what was happening.  We pulled them out to homeschool, and it was one of the best decisions we have ever made.  If private school is your best option at the moment, make the most of it.  However, if it does begin to negatively affect your daughter, please consider that.  A bad schooling experience in a younger grade can stay with a child for years.

     

    ETA - After my daughter's experience in Kindergarten, I requested the other Kindergarten teacher for my son.  My daughter's Kindergarten teacher surely would have broken my son's spirit, and I felt strongly about that situation.  If he had been placed with DD's teacher, I would have pulled him from school before the year started.

    Worried about aggressive kindergarten teacher

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I am going to step back and take a slightly different approach.  You can only deal with the viable options.  For a number of reasons, you have decided to exclude your public school.  While there has been much focus on having a bad Kindergarten teacher, bad peers can be even worse.  You have also ruled our homeschooling.  Given that, I would make the best of the situation at hand.  Since the teacher has seemed to be nice and chatty to your mom, go in with an open mind.  If she starts to yell at kids, address it at that time.  I agree that yelling in Kindergarten is not an ideal situation, but you have to choose your best option.

     

    I don't know your reasons for eliminating homeschooling, but if you feel very uncomfortable with the private school situation take a few moments to reconsider.  Kindergarten is not very time-consuming, and it actually be really FUN!  My daughter was in private school, and her Kindergarten teacher sounds very much like the way others have described your daughter's potential teacher to you.  While my daughter did just fine (she was definitely the "favorite" - that concept drives me batty, but it was true), my BFF's daughter required years of therapy to undue her Kindergarten experience.  Just be vigilant and stay informed.  If you feel that the situation is detrimental to your daughter, please consider pulling her out.

    Scanner Recommendations?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Our old scanner just stopped working, and I am doing all of my planning for next year within the next week!  I need to purchase a new scanner within the next few days, but I would love to get a reliable one.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Thank you!

    Math Problem Help

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Thank you for the replies.  While the computation makes sense, I was wondering conceptually why the math didn't work.  As many of have pointed out, it's because the speed should be weighted by time and not distance.  

     

    Since the train spent 44% of the trip going 50 mph and 56% of the trip going 40 mph, the weighted average computation should look like this:

     

    X = .44(50) + .56(40)
    x = 22.2 + 22.2
    x = 44.4 mph
     
     

    Math Problem Help

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Here is a math problem from a post test for AoPS Prealgebra (http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Store/products/prealgebra/posttest.pdf):
     

    "A northbound train from Miami to Jacksonville made the 324-mile journey at an average
    speed of 50 miles per hour. On its southbound return trip, it made the journey at an average
    speed of 40 miles per hour. To the nearest tenth of a mile per hour, what was the train’s
    average speed for the 648-mile roundtrip journey?"
     
    The answer given is 44.4 miles per hour.
     
    Why is the average speed not 45 mph?  Since the journey is the same distance in both directions, why wouldn't a weighted average computation work?
     
    X = .5(50) + .5(40)
    x = 25 + 20
    x = 45 mph
     
    What am I missing?
     
    ETA - The computation should be weighted by time and not distance.
     

    Defiant, perfectionist, very bright and driving me crazy *vent*

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    Consequences are important, sure, but sometimes strong willed kids won't respond to consequences when they are intent on a power struggle. I have asked my son (when I notice things escalating) to consider his next actions and the results of those actions carefully. I refuse to to argue with with him and time basically "stops" (no privileges) until he has done what I have asked. I try to remain calm (I'm an old hand- he's actually easier now than he used to be:) I strongly believe that parental calm is key to keeping a situation from escalating.

     

    I could have written this about my youngest.  When people talk about children having a currency, my youngest's currency was control.  Seriously, he needed to control everything.  He would happily accept a consequence as long as it meant that he didn't have to do what was being asked.  It was exhausting.  However, as soon as we recognized his need for control, we took a few steps back and asked ourselves where we could reasonably give him control (choices).

     

    In the example of picking up the Rainbow Loom bands, I would have asked my son whether he wanted to pick up all of the bands first or if he wanted to read a book.  If he chose the book, we picked up the bands as soon as he was finished with the book.  It truly was amazing how giving him some power took away a lot of our struggles.  Having said that, there were times when he just had to do what we said when we asked it of him.  Although he has a higher need of control than our other kids, I will not tolerate disrespect or outright defiance.  I found that always being a few steps ahead of him and recognizing/knowing when he was about to put his foot down was a tremendous help.  As soon he decided that he wasn't going to do something, it was over.  There was no way to "win" against his determination.  He was stubborn and defiant like nobody else I have ever seen, and if he wasn't happy with the situation, he would sabotage it for everybody else.  There were many days where I just sobbed after putting him to bed.

     

    Having said all of that, he is a completely different child today.  Giving him a perceived sense of control has made all of the difference in the world.  For example in the situation about where your child does his work, give him the choice if you truly don't care where he does the work.  Before putting out any book ask him, "Where would you like to do your work?"  If I ask my child to work at his desk I expect him to do that.  However, on the days when I could care less, I give him the choice.  Because he has that choice on most days, he doesn't put up a fight when I do need him working at his desk.  In the example of statue, you could have asked him if he wanted to write about the statue that he saw two days ago or if he wanted to write about one that you could find on the internet.  I just know that for my son as soon as I dug in my heals that he dug even deeper, and for as stubborn as I am, I was never going to "win" that battle.

     

    It was a long road to get here, and there were many times that I wondered if there would ever be light at the end of the tunnel.  It was not an easy or quick process, but it was very worthwhile.  It really changed the way that I parent (he is my third) and made me question where I absolutely need to draw a line in the sand.  As soon as my son saw me getting upset or angry, he realized he controlled the situation.  He had the power.  In his mind, that was victory; it didn't matter the surrounding chaos that ensued or any other consequences that followed.  As long as he had the control, he was content.  He would purposely push my buttons in order to elicit a response.  It really was a huge leap of faith for me to give him more control in his daily life, but by letting him control most of the little things, he stopped fighting the big things.  It has made our family life far more sane.

     

    Good luck!

    Nancy Larson Science - Reviews Please

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I ended up buying it.  I really hope that we like and that it works for our family because I am almost choked on the price.  Science did not get done last year, and I had grand plans about pulling together tons of hands-on stuff for this year.  Our school year begins in less than 2 weeks, and I had not yet started the planning.  I am excited for our box to arrive!

    Would CLE Math Work as an Independent Spiral Review?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Thank you for the thoughtful responses. I guess the samples for CLE make each lesson look fairly short which they must not actually be.....

     

    If I use it as review I think I would do something like take one page and circle 5-10 assorted problems for the review portion of math for that day. Then circle another 5-10 problems on another day, etc. I don't think I would have him do one whole lesson a day in addition to Math in Focus. That does sound like overkill.

     

    The other program I heard about (from these forums actually)  that may work and is a page of a few problems a day (supposed to take just a few minutes and I believe it's spiral) is this one called Simple Solutions:

     

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934210129/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A306DJFWZLJ2OZ

     

    And then there is the "Key To" series as some posters have suggested. Decisions, decisions as time winds down.......

     

    I wanted to echo what the other posters have already said.  We like CLE, but it works much better as the primary program rather than a supplement.

     

    If you plan to only do 5 or 10 problems per lesson, I would not use CLE.  Since it is a spiral program, I think that you would really be removing the meat of the program by creating a subset of work.  Each CLE lesson contains a variety of review problems and covers many different topics.  However, there are enough problems that the review section actually reinforces previous lessons.  I would question the benefit of only doing one problem per section.

    CLE Math and teacher manuals

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    The TM are cheaper than the answer keys for grades 1-3, and you do need them for grade 1. The word problems, dictation, how much money to put in the money cup... all of that is in the TM, and you'd be missing a lot of the program without it. Second grade doesn't have much reliance on the TM, but again, it's cheaper than the answer keys at that level.

     

    This is what I was going to say.  We use the TMs for grades 1-3, but after that, I switch over to the answer keys.

    How does one homeschool an older when there's a baby sibling? How do you do it all (school/housework/etc) WELL?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I am going to be honest and say that I don't do it all well.  For me, there's just not enough time in the day (3 kids aged 10, 8, & 6), and I am definitely type A.  Having said that, my top priority during the school is my kids' academics, and I think that we do that exceptionally well.  Among my 3 kids we have at least one extra-curricular activity a day, and my kids don't miss those commitments unless they are sick.  I am not a big fan of eating out so I cook dinner every night.  With respect to housework, our house is presentable, but it's not as clean as I would like.  My kids always have clean clothes, and the toilets are cleaned frequently.  The clutter removal doesn't happen as often as I would like.  However, given my list of priorities, I am okay with that.  I just can't say that I do everything well.  I am only one person.

     

    ETA -  During the summer, I finish about 95% of my prep work for the upcoming school year.  I have all of our copies made, organized by subject, and arranged by the date in which they will be used.  My kids are responsible for putting away all of their books during the day.  I also grade as we move through our day so when the kids are done, I am finished as well.  I spend about 30 minutes each Sunday night creating and printing out a weekly schedule for each child.  While I have a list of assignments for each child for the entire year, I am not sure exactly the timing of those.  I just take the next five lessons and format them so that my kids can be accountable for finishing their work for the week.  They also like to highlight assignments as they complete them.

     

     

     

    If you use K12's Human Odyssey (Volume 1)....

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Here, I put up pictures of the student and teacher pages from a random lesson:  

    http://holdingstuff.blogspot.com/2014/07/k12-ho-v1-student-and-teacher-pages.html

     

    One thing to note is that the student/teacher pages divides the book into 180 lessons (20 of which are "Your choice" - work on projects or whatever).  After some pondering, I decided to follow their schedule but with only 4 lessons a week.  This means we will go through the 2 books over the course of 2.5 years, and then spend the 2nd semester of 8th grade on US government and civics, I think.  

     

    Thank you so much!!  I plan to go through the 2 books over the course of 3 years so that schedule would work well for us.

     

    I have one last question.  Does the TM have the questions from the Student Pages?  It looks as if only the answers are included.  Is that correct?

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