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naturegirl

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Everything posted by naturegirl

  1. Thank you! I will check this writing program out. It helps to know it works for you kiddo with high functioning autism.
  2. This is actually really good to hear. Like I said, so many things have come late to him, that I've really not been pushing writing. But the last thing I want to do is hinder his chances in life due to inaction on my part. I do think I have a few years still to work on his writing. But I don't want to put it off too long.
  3. Your third grader is writing in a more coherent fashion than my seventh grader does. I do like your idea of finding what he is interested in and writing about that. I have tried that, but I think I give up to easily, because it's such a struggle. I've had him pick a historical figure to write about. I've had him do a report on cats, which are his favorite thing on the planet. Sometimes he can write about anything he wants. The thing is, I'm just not seeing much improvement. And I don't know how to help him.
  4. My son was an early reader and has always done well with math. He loves reading about and watching videos on science and history. Overall he is a bright kid who is interested in learning. The one area he has always been "behind" in is writing. I put behind in quotes because normally I'm not really concerned about ahead or behind, because I figure it will all even out in the end. Anything we don't cover while homeschooling that he needs to know if life, he can learn when it comes up. My goal, though I'm not always successful at it, is for us to enjoy learning together. But he is in seventh grade now and through a couple recent conversations I realize that he is behind where my fourth grade nephew is in writing. As the years pass and his writing isn't getting much better I'm starting to worry. His current goal for after he finishes high school is to go to college to study computer science or computer engineering. Right now he is not on track writing wise to succeed in college. I know it's still a ways off, but I want to get this turned around fairly soon so he isn't playing catch up when he gets to college. So far he has hated every writing program we tried. We have Brave Writer, Essentials in Writing, Writing with Skill, Institute for Excellence in Writing, and a few others I'm probably forgetting. On the one had I could just pick one and force him to do it. But with every other subject, he actually wants to learn it. He may have days where he doesn't want to do school work, but for the most part he enjoys what he is studying. Everything except writing. And I'm afraid if I just force him to do it I will kill any chance that he will ever enjoy writing. He finds all the curricula we have tried boring or tedious and just resists my every effort to get him to do them. My son is on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum and has ADHD. Writing has always been hard for him, so I let him type instead of write by hand a lot of the time. And I have found with a lot of skills, things that other kids did at a certain age, he just did later - he was late to talk and potty train. He didn't learn to tie his shoes until he was about 10. It's only within the last year or two that his drawings have evolved beyond stick figures. And honestly I had to learn awhile ago to just leave some things until later, because he would just learn them when he was ready. But he is in the seventh grade now and I would say his writing is about the level of a second or third grader. And I fear that if we don't get on this soon, it may impact what he wants to do in life. So, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I am happy to try a new curriculum if there is a better fit out there. I am willing to put together my own if people have some suggestions. I am actually thinking of hiring a writing tutor, though now is not the ideal time with the pandemic going on. He doesn't really like online classes. He does pretty well with grammar and his spelling is better than mine. It's really just the writing I need help with. Any ideas at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to anyone who read to the end and has suggestions to offer!
  5. What you are describing is what I want to do, which I know, will be a lot of work. Thankfully I am finding several really good books of math projects that I can order online. I have been gathering some games and books of story problems. We will see how it goes and how long I can make it doing all of that planning. I have looked at Right Start. I just their games a while back, so I will probably pull those out again so we can use them.
  6. I want to travel to New England plus New York state this fall and do an American history trip, specifically colonial America and the Revolutionary War. Has anyone done this or does anyone here live in those areas who would like to tell me some not-to-be missed places? I also plan to hit Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC in the spring.
  7. We like Perfectly Perilous Math as well, but the other book and the AIMs units are new to me so I will check those out. Thanks!
  8. I am reading one of the Mathematical Mindset books right now too! I am looking at the Mindset Mathematics: Visualizing and Investigating Big Ideas. They have them for third, fourth and fifth grade. I am hoping to use the projects in the books sort of like Brave Writer has the month-long projects. I will check out the Heinemann website as well. It looks promising.
  9. A couple people have mentioned both Right Start and the Charlotte Mason Business Math, so I am definitely going to read up on those. Thanks!
  10. Thanks, I will do some research into Living Math tomorrow when I am more alert. It sounds like it could be promising.
  11. Thanks for the suggestion. I opened the link so I can read through it tomorrow.
  12. You make a good point regarding having a strong background in bath. Maybe I'd better brush up on my skills for the rest of the summer so I am better prepared. My son is 10 and going into fifth grade.
  13. Thanks for the input. I think of Brave Writer as both an attitude and a routine. I am looking for math projects as well as fun games and interesting books and movies. Or any math resources really to liven things up but that still reinforce math concepts. My son is 10 and going into fifth grade. I would say he is probably right at grade level, not above or below.
  14. SCM Store Math looks great! You are actually the second person today to recommend that and I think I am going to use it this fall. And I definitely want to do math games one day a week. Thanks for the suggestions.
  15. Math is probably the subject my son hates the most. For some reason it popped into my head today that math taught in the style of Brave Writer may make it more interesting and accessible. Has anyone ever tried this or have any ideas on how this would look? I like the Brave Writer ideas of having a routine with different types of activities on different days (rather than just workbook every day) and I like the ideas in Brave Writer for month-long projects. I did manage to find a book that has some math-project ideas, but I'm starting from scratch here and would love some insight if anyone has any.
  16. Thanks everyone for responding. It seems obvious as I read this, but I hadn't actually put it together that this isn't a math problem. That completely changes how I look at this. I appreciate any and all suggestions that people have. You all have given me a lot to think about.
  17. My son would be in fourth grade if he were in school. However, none of our math curriculum is fourth grade math. We used Miquon math up through second grade, then switched over to Beast Academy about half way through his third grade year. At the beginning of his third grade year I also bought Singapore Challenging Word Problems, to do occasionally, to make sure he understood how to use numbers in real world examples. However, I thought the third grade book was too hard, so I bought second grade. At times we can move through math slowly, because I will stop our regular curriculum occasionally and teach him about binary numbers or the Fibonacci sequence. Just to show him that not all math is just arithmetic. There is a whole world awaiting him once he learns his basic math facts. We also stop sometimes just to play games to reinforce fractions or multiplication facts. Anyway, because of the way we've been moving through math, we just recently started the third grade Singapore Challenging Word Problems and we are still in third grade Beast Academy. For the past several months he has been calling himself stupid and thinks he's terrible at math because he is so "behind." I feel terrible because part of the reason we are "behind" is because we stop here and there to do other things and because we have moved twice during the summer/fall and school just didn't always happen as often as it should have. I don't feel behind at all, because I see him progressing and learning all the time. I think he's doing great. However, in an effort to build his self confidence, I decided to get him Teaching Textbooks, because I had heard they were usually a year or two behind other math programs. I looked through the grade levels and picked out sixth grade. I looked through the whole book and he already knows how to do everything in the book. Not all of it is necessarily easy, but he can do everything in there. I thought about going to a lower level, but I don't want his math to be all busy work. At first the plan seemed to be going well. Teaching Textbooks was super easy for him and he seemed to be gaining confidence. But the last several lessons have been causing stress again. Not because he's getting very many things wrong. He always gets a 95 or a 100 percent. But he's doing it on the computer and I hear screaming coming from the computer every day as he get's upset if he misses something (it gives you two tries on every problem). He rarely needs two tries, but when it does happen he becomes irrationally upset. Sometimes he will even storm out of the computer room and into his bedroom, slamming the door and talking about how stupid he is. So now I am at a loss. I personally prefer Singapore Math because it is a challenging program that really makes you think. I think in the end, after completing it, he will be able to approach problems more creatively than if he didn't do the program. I only switched because I don't want him to hate math. He is really very smart and I hate to hear him get down on himself. So what does everyone think? I hate to jump around from program to program too much. But I want him to regain his confidence and at least not hate math.
  18. I think because all of my friends are moms as well and don't always have the time/freedom/desire to leave their kids at home and hike my choices are to A. Not hike B. Hike by myself or C. Joined a hiking group. I haven't had much luck with hiking groups. I've done a bit of hiking with a couple groups but so often the timing doesn't work out or I'm not fast enough to keep up. So I'm left with either not hiking or hiking alone. Not hiking is not acceptable to me, so I hike alone. I'm not afraid of being attacked by another person. It seems very unlikely. As some pointed out earlier, I'm more likely to get in a car accident on the way there. I do worry a bit about injury or an attack from a wild animal. So I am sure to only hike in areas with other hikers. I may not be able to see them while I'm hiking, but I see enough people pass me while I'm taking a break or heading the other way that I know they are there. My husband always knows what trail I will be on and I always have my cell phone, thought the service is spotty in the mountains.
  19. Dear MIL - I have never had a close relationship with you and have been really irritated by a number of things you have done over the years. But I just finished reading through a forum about complaints people have with their relatives and I realize that you are amazing. We may never be close, and that is okay. But thank you so much for how much you love us all and how great you are with your grandson. He loves you so much and I can tell the feeling is mutual.
  20. I'm so glad you started this topic. This is actually something I've been really thinking about a lot during this past year or so. I dislike the idea that new habits need to start in the new year, and am always trying to implement new ideas. Reading back through what I've written, I realize I have probably written way more than the OP actually intended, but it did help me organize my thoughts a bit, so thanks! Okay, I've obviously written a novel here and am sorry to bore all of you with this diatribe of mine. The topic of goals and plans for the future is on my mind a lot. I think because I battle with mild depression, focusing on things I want to do in the future helps pull me through those times when I can't find much to get me through the day.
  21. Yes, I have and will continue to do so. When I was 15 and my sister was 12, my mom took us on a driving trip around the perimeter of the country last lasted seven weeks. My grandfather was sure that we would all be murdered in our sleep, but we are all still alive and well. Sometimes taking off just you and the kids is the only way to make sure traveling happens.
  22. I am not an expert, but I don't mind giving you my opinion. I would try to keep it on one page if you can. The only reason I would go over a page is if you have some amazing skills pertaining to a certain job you are trying to land. I think you could cut your cashier experience. I also don't think you need to include where you went to high school. I'm not actually sure what this sentence from your resume means: Performs merchandising and display activities in retail accounts as requested or directed. Do you mean you perform merchandising and display activities for retail accounts? Also, I don't think you need to keep that part of that sentence that says "as requested or directed." It makes if sound as if you can't work on your own and need lots of direction and/or supervision. If there is room under your bachelor's degree, I might explain a little bit about what skills you gained from your degree. I'm not exactly certain what a degree in consumer and family science entails. I hope that was at least a little bit helpful. Good luck in your job hunt.
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