ThursdayNext
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Posts posted by ThursdayNext
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What writing resources do you all like, specifically for essays? What didn’t you like? Also, I’m looking for an English handbook for reference, that she can use now through high school and college.
We’re getting ready for high school and a dual enrollment program. My daughter will be in 8th grade, and up til now we’ve focused mainly on getting comfortable getting words on a page, and enjoying writing. She now likes writing not just for school, but in free time writes poetry and the beginnings of novels. We’ve put off formal writing for the most part, with no regrets.
I’m looking for resources/ curriculum on essay writing and other nonfiction writing. We don’t want to spend a whole year on this, just a crash course, since she’ll be doing a creative writing group and NaNoWriMo. -
On 7/10/2021 at 9:37 AM, PeterPan said:
How old is this dc? You have them doing Daily Grams, but the dc is 9, yes? So the answer is no you do not need to dissect and kill books. If she's as bright as all that, she'll probably apply basic instruction naturally. You merely need a slim workbook to go through the literary devices.
No, my daughter is 12, going into 7th grade.
If I have a signature, it’s really old!😆
But I like your suggestions.
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On 7/9/2021 at 5:19 PM, freesia said:
One idea is to read a book like Deconstructing Penguins to get an idea about how to have book discussions. I use ideas from that and the list of questions in Teaching the Classics on one book a month ( usually read over 2 weeks) The other book my dc read I ask fewer questions. My goal is to discuss books, think about character development, role if setting, theme, and plot development. I use a light touch. It’s worked so far.
This sounds great!
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Part of my problem is that we’re planning on outsourcing high school. She’ll go to class once a week and have homework + online communication with teachers and classmates.
There’s so little time to be her teacher. 😢 Only 2 years to do all the books we want to do together.
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I’d love suggestions on resources for how to teach literature, or discussion guides you liked, etc.
We’ve been using English Lessons Through Literature for years, but need to free up my daughter’s schedule for other things, so I’m trying to piece together English/Language Arts.
For grammar we will try Daily Grams level 7.
For writing, my daughter is taking a journalism class, we do a bit of Bravewriter ideas, some of Sarah Mackenzie’s Writers on Writing, and we will start doing history outlining and writing. My daughter will also give NaNoWriMo a try this year.For literature, we love books, and I have some great booklists for 7th, including some historical fiction.
What I don’t know is how much I should do with questions, discussions, teaching literary devices and themes, and so on. Personally, I hated going slowly through books in school, with all the historical and biographical background, picking apart the book with themes, vocabulary, plot devices and all of that.
I will forever hate Great Expectations after months of this. 😉 My argument was that you find out a lot about a cat by dissecting it, but in the end, the cat is dead.
I need some experienced advice on how to teach literature well, so we will still like the books at the end. Also, how many books should we do a deep dive into? Maybe 5?
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I have a 12, 9, and 7 year old. Literally everything takes so long, and the school day never ends.
From getting ready in the morning, to cursive practice, to writing a spelling sentence, this getting a pencil, everything takes longer than it should.
My 9 year old son (ASD) frequently spends an hour collapsed on the floor refusing to do whatever. Then when he decides to do it, does just fine.
The 7 year old got out of his chair after every single word in his spelling sentences. If I leave him alone with math he makes no progress.
Everyone in this family could sit at a page of schoolwork for an hour doing nothing, and ignoring the person telling them to just start.
Has anyone gone from this to getting things done? I need to know how.
Complicating the problem, my husband is stuck working from home and threatening to enroll them all in online public school unless we can change things very soon. (I think we’d just be stuck helping with homework til late, but nothing I can do about that.)
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I’m trying to decide between English Lessons through Literature or piecing together our English and grammar.
We’ve done ELTL for a while. It’s a Charlotte Mason style program, also compatible with classical education. All my kids have loved it, and I like it too. Currently my daughter is in 4th grade, and doing level 3. She’s just not retaining the grammar. I noticed this in previous years too. She is just lost in the diagrams, and some days can’t tell a noun from a verb. We supplement with the Grammar Pop app. I don’t know if a different program would make a difference with grammar. She is a prolific reader, but struggles with math, spelling, and reading music.
Option A is to keep going with ELTL. We like it, and maybe the memory work and practice will click eventually.
Option B is to switch to a workbook style grammar. We do dictation with spelling, I have an excellent reading list we can read through for literature, and we can add once a week poetry teatimes. We’re probably going to be doing a creative writing group with twice a month assignments.
Option C- you tell me.
Also, if we choose option B, is there anything I’m missing for 5th grade English/Language Arts? Any grammar workbooks you’d recommend? Thanks!
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On 7/30/2018 at 11:44 AM, PeterPan said:
How much are you using? That's amazing the improvements you got.
sorry for the late reply. We're using about .75 mg. He is asleep about 45 min after we give it to him.
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We have an ASD 7 year old who slept very little from 3 months to 2 1/2. That's when we started melatonin. After that, he learned to speak and stopped falling all the time. So melatonin is a miracle for us. We've tried going off, but he still needs it. The only alternative is 4 solid hours of active outdoor time.
D has trouble falling asleep, but once he is asleep, he is out cold. For us liquid melatonin works much better than gummies, tablets, or quick dissolve. We use this brand. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VPEE7M/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1
Perhaps for some a fast acting liquid and a timed release tablet would work.
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Thanks, everyone! I will keep an eye out for Prismacolor deals. Maybe also try Staedtler since it looks cheaper.
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You all have been so helpful with pencils and eraser caps.
What does the hive mind say about colored pencils? I’m not sure I want expensive ones. They will be used for SOTW maps, science sketches, literature illustrations, and just for fun. I want ones that lay down enough color, like... not the equivalent of off brand crayons.
What brands do you like?
(I don’t throw away useful things, so the colored pencils I had when I was a kid are still in use, although they are only 3” long. They were a Canadian brand, and better quality than the others I’ve used since.)
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The thought of switching is mostly because she hates math and takes so so long to do it. And I don't know if a different curriculum would make it easier learning math facts. I've resisted switching, telling myself that a shiny new curriculum won't make her fall in love with math. But I don't know...maybe something else could make math less painful.
It will be hard for me to have her working in 3rd grade books in 4th grade, especially since she's working a grade lower in spelling, and a number lower than her grade in ELTL. I know it shouldn't matter, but somehow it's a big deal to me.
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We've been doing Singapore math since K. I really like it. I did terribly in math when I was a kid, and never really understood how things worked or why. Singapore has helped me to think mathematically.
B is going into 4th grade. She has always been slow at math. It takes a while for her to grasp new concepts. It takes foreverrrrrrrr for her to do mental math and her workbook pages. We are way back at the beginning of 3b because math takes her so long. If she has a bad day and only gets 5 questions done, we can't double up the next day because she's not capable of doing that many questions. This is giving me flashbacks to my 4th grade year, when I was the slowest in the whole class at multiplication facts. Most often, she knows how to do the work, but the gears in her brain turn so slowly.
I'm posting her standardized test scores, but will take them down eventually. Would you all recommend switching, and what might be a good fit? (I am unwilling to teach Saxon after my experience with it as a child.)
Thank you in advance!
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Our home inspectors have been way more helpful and chatty. I think the realtor knew better and wanted to make the sale.
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Update: We are for sure going to do a full neuro eval. Don't know where yet. Hoping to get in sometime this summer.
I had already scheduled her first standarized test for the first week of May. I'm sure the evaluators will want to see test results and grades. Thank you all so much for your help!
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21 hours ago, PeterPan said:
The challenge with these gestalt language processors is that they're getting the whole and not breaking it down to the parts. So when you say grammar is not clicking, it literally might be that she doesn't really comprehend it. For instance, the example I read was the kid hears "Comesitatthetable" and that gets connected to table. If his brain doesn't break it down to the individual parts, if it can't get from whole to parts, they don't realize the parts and can't manipulate the parts. So it can be the grammatical parts, the spelling parts, etc., but that can be the issue with an extremely whole to parts language processor, someone who was memorizing language to get there rather than building from parts to whole.
A neuropsych will have the CELF, which is a really basic language screening tool. It can miss these kids, but it might show something. We just ran the TNL (test of narrative language) and the SPELT (structured photographic expressive language test) on my ds, and they were mind-boggling.
What test would I ask for?
As a 2 year old, she had excellent vocabulary and was as clear as a bell. She is able to infer the meaning of new words in context. Above average vocabulary for her age and good at picking up new words, just not pronouncing them when she hasn't heard them. I don't see major problems in her reading or listening comprehension, but it could still be there.
It's surprising what seems normal or goes unnoticed.
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This is the OP.
So, I've been thinking, stressing, getting teary, reading all your responses, talking with my husband. Then I reread an article I've looked at before, about stealth dyslexia in girls. Then on to inattentive ADHD in girls. Both these articles sounded so much like my girl.
i haven't let myself go here before, because I needed her to be the "normal" child. All the testing, therapy etc for our ASD middle child has been so much for us, mentally, emotionally, financially. And we love our boy and his quirks, but I can't say that living with him hasn't caused a huge amount of stress for all of us.
Also, it really sucks to have people judge you as the crazy mom who wants something to be wrong with her kids. It's so hard for me to push for information, when people think I'm just making this stuff up. So many friends, school teacher friends, people who have taught my kid, and even the pediatrician and professional speech therapists and learning disability professionals thought I was imagining problems. I hate hate hate being treated like I'm stupid and crazy. And I know my daughter is sweet and smart, tries hard, and doesn't look at all like the boys we know with ADHD and dyslexia.
Evaluations to try: dyslexia, particularly "stealth" dyslexia, ADD, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. What I read about CAPD didn't really sound like my girl.
What other evals do you all recommend?
How can I find somebody who has experience with girls?!! I don't want to get a false negative.
I'm in Georgia, so if any of you are in GA and have recommendations, PM me!
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I feel bad shortchanging the third child. By that point I’ll be tired of most of the stories and not want to read them aloud. Except Five Children and It. We’ve read that aloud 3 times in our family and I still love it.
And I won’t read Peter Pan aloud even once. Not a fan.
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I could do librivox for the books, and just pick my own longer read alouds to do all together. I've sometimes had the kids read the poem aloud to get that practice in. Maybe I should do that every time. I'd have them read the Aesop's fable aloud, but there are too many ... ahem... Roosters if you know what I mean.
I have thought about using ELTL for literature and copywork, but switching to something more workbook style for grammar. My oldest doesn't have an easy time of it, and I wonder if a workbook would be more her style.
I'd still love to hear from any who use ELTL about how you do it.
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My kids love ELTL, so we don't want to switch.
But how do you do it with multiple ages? It seems like a big chunk of time with each student. I'd love to hear how parents with more than one kid in ELTL are making it work. In 2019, I'd be doing 3 different levels if we stick with it.
Can anyone give me a very detailed description of the ELTL part of your day?
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I like one serving of good fruitcake a year, and no one else likes it, so I've never made it. There's something about the old foods that have been made for generations though. It gives me a feeling of connection to the past that the cute new Pinterest recipes don't do for me.
I've never had Plum Pudding/Christmas Pudding before. But I've read about it in British literature so often, that this year I am going to try it. It seems like it will be rather like a fruitcake.
http://breadandoysters.com/eliza-actons-christmas-pudding/
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I have a Honda Odyssey I want to sell for $1000. Will need a brake job soon, but runs good. Too bad I'm not in Florida. 😠Maybe you need to look further afield. There might be a town you can go to on the weekend with more options. We have had to drive an hour to an hour and a half away for the rare cheap and reliable car. And it's paid off. My husband's $2000 Volvo is still going, and we've had it for 8 years. We're hoping to get 2 more years out of it, til we can save for a used truck. DH would â¤ï¸ a truck.
We are a cheap car family, and I pray about it before we buy. We were nearly broke, and needed a minivan to fit 3 car seats. God brought this minivan to us for only $3000. We had it for 5 years with no major repairs! Just replaced it for a $5000 odyssey.
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Help! I need a new shower curtain for the kids' bathroom. (Little boy with scissors)
I'd planned on getting a world map curtain, since I've seen them before. But now that I go to buy one, every curtain I look at has bad reviews.
Either it's a vintage map with the USSR and East Germany, or it's got major typos, like missing Hawaii, or misspellings right and left. For sure my 6 year old is going to sit on the toilet and memorize this thing, so I want to get it right.
Help me, hive mind! You're my only hope!
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Yes. I remember hearing full names are not great for little kid’s gear because someone could pretend to know them by calling their name.
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I did mention that before putting my kids' names on their backpacks. My husband was like, "So, no one can ever call them by name in public?"
I decided it was not a valid fear.
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Looking for Documentaries/YouTube for SOTW4
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
There used to be a blog with a list of YouTube videos to go with chapters of Story of the World, but I can’t find it anymore.
Does anyone have a list of videos for SOTW, or for a different Modern History curriculum?
With my 8th grader, 6th grader, and dyslexic 4th grader, we try to read several books when we can to go along with the chapters. I’ve got the activity book and pick some of my own favorites too.
But there’s only so many hours in the day, and only so much I can read aloud to my youngest. History videos would be a great add-on for us.