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2007mama

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Everything posted by 2007mama

  1. Thanks also for these ideas! I did go ahead and start with math mammoth... I'm taking advantage of the lack of homework so far. He will do 2 pages for me without complaining. We tried MEP last year and didn't like it; it seems petty but I found it very lefty-unfriendly and DS got frustrated with it. Dream box looks really interesting but we don't have a computer set up for the kids. Probably in the future we will, so I'll keep it in mind. Thanks again for the ideas, I'll keep them in mind if we decide we need something different!
  2. I got Phonics Pathways from the library last year and worked through a page or two a day. My son did not enjoy it but I think it helped his reading speed a lot. We also used explode the code, which he liked quite a bit. In fact, I may go back and get the next book because I'm not convinced they do any kind of phonics instruction at this new school.
  3. Thanks for the advice! I hadn't looked at Math Mammoth before (probably because it looks like they don't have kindergarten math, which is all I was looking for last year) and it looks similar to SM but cheaper and simpler so I think I'm going to give it a try. I may do it in the morning; that is a good idea. Lately the boys have been up before the crack of dawn. :glare: He likes to work independently (last year was always telling me "Don't tell me what to DOOOO!"), so if I can print him a page and have him work on it independently I think he will like that.
  4. Hi all, My son just started first grade in a new school (we just moved to a small town in NY), and he seems to like it. The teacher has been teaching first grade for 20+ years and seems great, as opposed to last year when he had a new teacher and a new principal, and the school was constant chaos, and I ended up pulling him out halfway through the year. Anyway... Last year I was teaching him math at home all year. We did MUS in half the year and moved on to singapore math for the second half. I read a lot about math curricula and I was dismayed to see at back to school night that they are using TERC investigations. I have read uniformly bad things about it and I'm surprised that in such a good school they have chosen to use this curriculum. Supposedly the emphasis on explaining how you solve problems is great, but DS just brought back a paper where he explained his work as "I double checked.". Um, that is not really an explanation! But he got a "great job" comment, and I decided I will want to supplement his math education. My only concern is that he is TIRED at the end of the day, so I need something that will not take too long. Maybe 5-10 minutes is all he would be willing to sit and do after a full day at school. Can anyone recommend a curriculum to supplement ( or replace) Investigations? I have part of MUS Alpha left over (we did that when we finished Singapore) but given the spiral nature or school math (and hence standardized tests), I am thinking maybe something like Singapore is better, but I don't know much about other options. I would prefer not to buy more manipulatives (I have and like the MUS ones) or tons of books...something like workbooks would be ideal; the thought of buying a textbook, workbook, instructor's guide, test book, etc (and then double for 1A and 1B) seems a little much for an afterschool supplement. But if that is what's best I will get it. Any thoughts on what you have used to keep it short and sweet but cover all the bases would be really appreciated. Thanks!
  5. My DS also has a late summer birthday and we had been doing a little of 100 Ez lessons in the year before. I sent him to K this year and while I can't say I'm glad we did (not crazy about the school) I think he was ready. He would have been soooo bored if I'd waited a year. They spent the first half of the year learning what sounds each letter makes. If you are homeschooling I say go for it! We afterschool writing, math, science and reading and spend less than an hour a day. We used Math U See primer, and it was a great level for him. If you've started reading instruction, most K reading programs would be at the right level too...if you wait a year you might find them too easy for your DS. The K science we have is too easy for us, I'd say. I guess what I'm trying to say is you'd probably find the k level materials a good fit for a young 5 year old who is ready and enjoys doing lessons, and you can fit what you need to do into a pretty short amount of time (if your student is cooperative; we have slow days too!), leaving lots of time to run and play. :)
  6. After volunteering in his class yesterday and watching him spell fence "phens" I decided spelling is probably the way to go, haha! I ordered AAS level 1. It looks like it gets to a level that he can't do yet, even if the beginning is too easy. I'm also seriously, seriously thinking of pulling DS from the chaos that is his school to allow more time for lessons, and more time for other stuff too. Thanks to all who responded!
  7. Thanks for the ideas! I have to admit I hadn't thought about FLL or AAS, thinking that both formal language arts and spelling were more first-grade level, but it's true that they just tell them to "write whatever" and try to get the beginning sound right...aaarrrrgh. I guess my biggest problem is I feel like they are pushing first-grade level work on kids who are too young. I was hoping by afterschooling to keep DS a little ahead of the game, but it's hard when they jump right in to very advanced stuff. DS is the youngest kid in his class and I debated even sending him or redshirting him... Right now we do a little of ETC (we are on book 3) every day. He loves it and I call it handwriting practice, since we finished HWT and he needs the handwriting practice. From that I would say he can spell short-vowel sound words pretty well...would AAS level 1 be too easy, or is it worth going through? We are doing Nancy Larson science, but we are almost done. I do like having a formal program. What can I say, I am (or rather, I was) a science teacher! We finished MUS Primer and have been doing Singapore Math, the Essential Math Kindergarten B, but I don't love it and honestly we don't do it every day. I just ordered MUS Alpha instead. (They also do EM at school and it makes me want to cry.Fortunately he is not there for math, since he does half-day.) Then we read through a little of Phonics pathways and he reads me a book. He also has school homework, so we don't do all the subjects every day. He's tired after lunch and protests if I push too much. I figure he needs downtime too, but we do this while his little brother naps, so we need to be doing something quiet anyway. We can usually do any 3 topics a day, more is too much. It's less than an hour total, I'd say. I'm going to look into both of these more, but I'm thinking he might enjoy the spelling the most. How long do the AAS lessons take? Maybe I should just be happy he can come up with a sentence on his own and leave the formal instruction till later....I wish there were more hours in the day!
  8. I picked up a copy of WWE with the thought of using it eventually. I've read through it and tend to agree with the philosophy of practicing copywork/narration to break down writing into the 2 steps of forming an idea into a sentence, and then putting the sentence on paper. I have been volunteering in DS's classroom and have been floored by the amount of writing they are expected to do. Yesterday the teacher gave each kid 3 pictures showing a sequence and they had to write a set of three sentences starting with "First/Next/Last". No kidding, there was a girl crying by the end of this, nothing on her paper. only about half the kids managed to write anything at all. Since they haven't taught the kids how to write ANYTHING as far as I can tell, this seems like putting the cart before the horse, to put it mildly. I was reading through the curriculum (Write's workshop) and they encourage the teacher to NOT HELP AT ALL and let the kids work it out even if it takes a long time. Obviously I don't love this curriculum. Fortunately, DS seemed to be able to do it, although with poor spelling (unsurprising). Anyway, I have been trying to keep the afterschooling light, but it gets harder and harder. We are doing math and science, because he misses those by not going in the afternoon. And we are doing phonics (ETC and phonics pathways) because they are not teaching that either. Now I'm thinking of starting WWE just to start developing good writing habits instead of the craziness they have at school. But is it too much? It will mean dropping back on the other subjects, because he will only do so much on any given day. He already had to write 4 sentences for homework, so I don't think we can add a lot more. Would you start this with a kindergartener?
  9. Thank you all for the replies! I think from what I'm hearing here, I will try to correct him gently. He just told me handwriting is his least favorite subject, so like the first reply said, I don't want to crush the desire to write out of him. I'm not super worried though; as much as he complains about it, he goes through a small forest's worth of paper, writing stories, mail, coupons, etc. :) And I like the HWOT method, because when I see him forming a letter strangely (like today it was a d, started at the top and looped around like a backwards 6), and I can just say, "don't forget, d is a magic c letter!" And he knows what it means and can do it correctly. He can actually make letters that look pretty good...it's just the process that needs work. We do have some little pencils but he still holds them in this crazy grip, pinched between thumb and middle finger with the pointer halfway up the pencil. So I ordered some grips and I hope that will help, and in the meantime maybe I will just make some worksheets from the HWOT page to focus on a few letters at a time. If I feel really crazy I may try the shaving cream letters someday. :) We are renting though, and my husband said NO SAND in the house. Writing on the iPad is usually about as messy as we get, poor kids!
  10. For those of you who have had handwriting struggles(maybe that's everyone?), I have a question. DS is 5 and we are working through HWOT. At first I really harped on holding the pencil correctly and forming the letters exactly the way they show, but it made him incredibly frustrated. For the lesson, he will make the letters correctly, but later on, I have watched him write and even though the letters look OK, he is writing them a different way. For example, he often starts letters at the bottom (i, N, M, for example). Does it matter which way he writes it? I want him to learn to do it well, but at the same time, if I try to correct him he gets very upset. I have held off on the lesson teaching the number 8, because he makes a nice, legible 8 by making two circles. Should I try to teach the other way? Also, he makes o and 0 backwards...but does it matter? He is a lefty, and I am thinking of getting him a pencil grip (I was watching a thread about this just recently); do pencil grips work ambidextrously? I hope this question makes sense! Thanks for any advice! :)
  11. Our neighbors went trick or treating all through high school, and I thought that was fine. They dressed up in great costumes and really got into it. But I couldn't stand the teen boys that came around in black hoodies, no costume at all, and don't even say "trick or treat". Still, it's pretty rude to tell someone they are too old for it. That stinks!
  12. I'm no expert (we are just starting out!), but we are also using MUS Primer right now. DS had days where those place value lessons seemed to click, and days when he was really confused. Since it's not mastery based, you could always just skip ahead to something else... I think we are on 14 and it is counting to 20. I thought it would be really boring for DS but it has been good practice writing numbers, which we are also doing in handwriting. Oh, and there was a lesson about addition, which were fun for him because we finally got to bust out the blocks. :)
  13. I voted for summer. Especially now that we are in Seattle, it's like the opposite of AZ. Summer is beautiful. Fall, winter and spring are rainy. I don't mind the rain much, but it's a bit of a headache getting the kids around in it, and we are becoming real homebodies.
  14. We have had a set of Hemnes also, for 7 years. They have moved with us twice and are still going strong. I really like them. Of course, DH and I are not as hard on furniture as the kids are. :) They did manage to break their (non-ikea) dresser.
  15. :iagree: I don't remember elementary school all that well, but I distinctly remember The Mysteries of Harris Burdick and several other books by Chris Van Allsburg. I have picked some up for my kids at the library, and except for maybe The Polar Express, I thought they were written for much older kids, so I'm setting them aside for now. But they are favorites from my childhood!
  16. Oh, definitely. Like I said in my thread, he is only there because he wanted to go to school. I think it's fun for him. The other day when I picked him up they were doing Simon Says. I love that he gets to do gym and art, which would be hard for me to do. So actually, I guess he does get something from it besides free childcare! But we are doing the 3R's at home. I'm surprised by how little they do at school. Our school has a large free/reduced lunch and ELL population though, so from what I can see the class is very mixed. I can see how the teacher really has to start at the beginning. But yes, I do some work from home, so it's nice that he's out of the way in the morning. Although I can really only work on the mornings that DS2 has preschool too...right now we are going to play a game, no work for me! :)
  17. We just moved cross country this summer. We went back and forth about driving vs. flying. DH and I were totally ready to do the drive, and stop along the way to see things. But our kids (were) 4 and 2, the little one freshly potty trained and peeing frequently. Plus we also have a dog, and in a lot of places, like the National Parks we wanted to stop and see, dogs aren't allowed out on the trails. So my parents graciously offered to fly the kids, and I drove the dog. (DH had to stay for work longer than the rest of us). I have to say, it worked out really well in the end. Even though I didn't get to stop and see much, it was like a vacation for me, and a 5 hour flight was much easier for the kids than a 6-7+ day drive. So, I don't know if it's possible for you to enlist a helper to fly with the kids... but it was something that worked well for us. So that was my crazy vote--a mix of driving the dog and flying the kids. Although we had to pay for it ourselves so cost was a big issue for us... the cost of transporting the car is substantial. It was a logistical nightmare but in the end it got done! Good luck, whichever way you choose!
  18. Ronan sounds great, I think! Abe is nice also. FWIW, I know several Finns born in the last year. It's a nice name but I think you're exactly right that it's the Aiden of this year, and it would end up being way more common than any of the others. Good luck! I had a hard time coming up with just 2 boy names. :)
  19. Wow, I am pretty impressed with what your schools are doing! DS doesn't tell me much, and his class schedule (posted on the door) keeps changing. It goes something like this: Morning Meeting Math Recess Snack Gym/art (alternating days) Literacy Then I pick him up at lunchtime while his classmates continue with Rest, Science, and Writer's workshop. His teacher told me they are doing math in the afternoon now, though, so I have very little idea what they do on a daily basis. From what I've seen, they do a lot of tracing letters and letter recognition. So far, no lists of sight words. DS has not told me anything about reading... so really I don't know what they do! He loves gym and art so I hear a lot about those. I'm glad he gets to do those, and then we afterschool pretty much everything else. It works.
  20. Thanks for the ideas; that was quick! I had thought that if we did full time homeschool we could do museums a lot, but as it is we're kind of time limited by school every morning and little brother's naps in the afternoon. Doing lessons at home (during naptime) is kind of a must for now. We live right by the zoo, so we go there a lot on weekends, but now that it's getting colder maybe I should look into a pass to the PSC. I'll check out the workbooks next time I'm out and about... he really needs the handwriting practice! So for science I probably won't shell out the bucks for another curriculum; I think it's a good suggestion to focus on reading. They are doing reading at school but it's pretty basic, I think. But for math is there any reason not to continue on to Alpha? He's doing really well with the Math-U-See, and I like it a lot too. It's tough, you know; on the one hand, I don't want him to get bored in first grade if we get ahead this year, but on the other I don't want him to get bored this year if he already gets what we're doing!
  21. Hi all! I have been stalking for a while but now I have a question that I'm hoping you all can help with. We just moved to Seattle, and DS started kindergarten in September. I was planning to homeschool, since we are only here for a year, but he really wanted to GO TO school, so I hesitantly enrolled him in the local PS, where the principal (who is new) told me the class size would be 33 for K this year. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this principal managed to convince someone that they NEEDED another teacher, and now he's in a class of 22. I'm very happy with the school, and he likes to go, but we are doing half day (after a week of full day, he broke down sobbing that he thought it was too much. He is the youngest kid in the class, so I think half day is fine for him.). All the other kids go full day, so I am trying to "fill in the gaps" at home. In the morning he does gym/art, recess, and literacy, and he misses math, science, and "writer's workshop" in the afternoon. So I looked around and bought Handwriting Without Tears, Math-U-See Primer, and Nancy Larson science (kindergarten). We are saving $300/mo by not doing full day, so I figure they pay for themselves. :) Kind of long, sorry... my question is, we are going to finish the HWT in about another 2 weeks, and the math and science I expect will last till Christmas. What should we do next? Say, "Hey, you finished kindergarten, you can play and read stories the rest of the year!" Would it be worth moving on to the next level of math? In school, they are not learning much so I'd say he's getting ahead already just with Primer. (They have Everyday Math and it looks terrible.) His handwriting is not so good; he's a lefty and really struggles with it. Do I keep pushing it? Get the next HWT book for more practice? I was thinking about getting Writing with Ease and some lined paper and just have him practice copying. I bought the materials thinking they would be a full year of kindergarten, but if he wants to do math and science every day, which he does, they won't last long at all. Just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience, and what you did! (We are only doing about an hour a day, BTW, maybe less because he spends a lot of that time coloring his writing/math pages. We do 2 pages of each per day and 1 science lesson; he still gets 2 more hours of free time than his classmates, so I am not a crazy taskmaster or anything!) Thanks for any advice!
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