weederberries
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Posts posted by weederberries
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I'd say we have about an even split. I borrow many books from the library, but we also buy plenty of books that I think we will read again, use long term or just want to own on our shelf.
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I also think you hit an especially hard time with regrouping during multi-digit addition and subtraction.
and even multi-digit multiplication with regrouping, as well as that pesky place holder zero.
My youngest understood place value pretty well up to hundreds but got very shaky in the thousands. This little cup trick is what pulled us through that.
http://mrstsfirstgradeclass-jill.blogspot.com/2012/03/alphabetical-order-cups.html This blog entry talks about all the ways she uses cups to teach...scroll down to the middle where she uses them to represent place value.
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I learned 10x10 in elementary and then moved to a district that had learned 12x12. I had to work hard in 5th or 6th grade to pick it up, since there was still some amount of drill occurring. I still only know up to 6x12 easily and count up by 12s after that until I reach 12x10. Our math curriculum only teaches 10x10s. I've taught the trick for 11, but we haven't done much with 12s until we stop struggling through the rest.
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To the OP,
I'd suggest having him place his finger on the first hu word. Then have him move to the next letter. If that's a struggle or involves a page change, offer those tiny little post-it flags and mark the place on the page where the second letter changes.
Other people have had good suggestions as well.
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Am I the only one who thinks that I might as well just teach them to use an online dictionary? I mean, I know alphabetical skills are important, but I have a hard time getting myself to *care* all that much about putting in the time (which seems to be fairly immense) to really learn them. I can't personally remember the last time I used a physical dictionary.
We were doing a test prep book with questions about phone books and almanacs. That was an interesting conversation!
I had to borrow a physical dictionary to do the dictionary skill lessons in FLL. :/ My kids caught on and then we repeated the lessons with an online dictionary, which is the only thing I ever use.
phone books? no way.
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It is my understanding that New York does not have a law that requires schools to allow participation. It is up to the individual school district. I find it unlikely that your child would be allowed to participate in the next district if you don't live within their borders.
Your best bet is to approach the district in which you live and ask them ever-so-politely if they are willing to allow your son to participate in sports.
Legal matters regarding individual states can be found at: hslda.org
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A more drastic approach, which we have employed (our kids are young), is to disable youtube in the settings and set a passcode for the settings.
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My kids are still quite young, but in our state (Texas) the local district must allow HS students to audition/try-out for all of those extra curriculars. If you have a student who wants to be in the band, you could have them try-out and participate. It seems like it would be a scheduling nightmare to get your child to the school for early marching practice and class period, but if it works for you, that'd be a great compromise.
I'm not sure if/how this applies for "events" like prom, though the child would be permitted as a date of a public school student. If he's participating in PS activities, he's likely to make a friend to ask. If he's enrolled in a class like band, I think prom would be fair game even without a date.
Graduation would be it's own ball of wax.
Check into your state regulations and see if there is a way for them to participate in group sports, plays, band, etc. You might find you have the perfect balance.
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Hank the Cowdog is great as an audio - not so great as a book. It's not high-brow, but kids usually love Hank's antics.
I always recommend these audio books. We listen to them as we go around town. They are hilarious and light hearted. Always good for a giggle to break up a long car ride.
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According to the publishers at the book fair last weekend, the difference in their levels is the sentences there in. The lessons (nouns, verbs, pronouns, diagramming, etc) are the same across all levels, but the sentences being analyzed are more complex. So, if your 4th grader is an excellent reader, she will probably succeed.
I'm beginning Junior Analytical grammar for my rising 5th graders, but I'm not trying to consolidate with an older student.
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It looks like this thread took a turn and I didn't read it closely enough to follow it. Anyway, here is my experience.
I have a student who gets math concepts quickly, needs minimal practice for mastery and he died a little inside the year we used a spiral curriculum (Horizons to be specific). All the blasted repetition before he could move on was too much. I was reducing each assignment so much and skipping so many lessons to avoid student-burnout that we were using less than 10% of the workbooks. We've moved to a more personalized blend of spiral and mastery (Math on the Level). Practice is available on any concepts necessary, but we move on to the next concept as soon as mastery is proven. Math is cumulative, so I don't worry about not using those mastered skills. You need single addition to do multi-digit addition, which you use in multiplication and so on.
Meanwhile, I have a student who needs inordinate amounts of practice on addition and multiplication facts, but progresses through concepts and procedures just as quickly as the other one. Jumping around too much can be a problem, but we'd never get past memorizing the multiplication table if we waited for mastery.
Overall, we felt like the spiral curricula spent too long on each concept, well beyond what we needed for mastery, with the exception of memorizing multiplication facts. You may feel like a mastery curriculum doesn't provide enough practice, that mastery isn't achieved in the allotted lessons. It's probably best to be willing to adapt one of the two styles to fit each of your students or choose something completely customizable.
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I just bought Junior Analytical Grammar for next year. I'm nervous to be starting all over with a curriculum when we had something (FLL) tried and true for 4 years. The first few chapters will be reviews (what is a noun, verb, etc), but it is a change in format from teacher-led/scripted to notes and reading to learn. We'll use those chapters to really get our feet wet in the new style. I'm hopeful JAG will be a good fit and we can move seamlessly into AG, otherwise my back up is Rod and Staff.
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I feel like you can do a fair treatment of the foundations of the US without overwhelming a young child. Whenever we read about one of these topics, I just point out the issue and let the child come to a conclusion. "The king made these laws to protect his power. Did it protect the people in his country?" "Wow, that worked out really well for the settlers. How do you think it affected the native tribe?" "Do you think it is easy to trust someone after they break a promise like that?" "How would you feel if you were a settler? A native?" "Production increased a lot with a bunch of workers they didn't have to pay! I wonder if the slaves thought it was as good a deal?" Kids this age have a natural sense of fairness and these discrepancies won't slip by them. You don't have to go into much detail to let them see the injustice of certain eras. If they ask questions, you can fill in the blanks, but overall, they'll see that in real history, the "heroes" of the story aren't flawless.
When you study the time again, you'll be able to get into deeper discussions and analyze them.
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10-20 words are common.
I like to give a pre-test, then adapt the word list based on which ones they spelled correctly. Long becomes belonging. Under becomes understand, etc. That way we maximize the 15 words we study that week.
My favorite spelling/phonics program for young grades is Alphabet Island (level 2A and 2B). I feel like it gives a firm foundation in spelling patterns that carry over to further spelling programs nicely. It says 1st-9th grade, but I wasn't able to make the transition from levels 2A and 2B to the completely different style using the handbook.
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I wanted to open a line of communication with my daughter (9) and offered a very basic biological discussion because none of my kids had ever asked. We'd danced around all kinds of subjects that I thought would prompt the question, but as many said, they didn't ask because they weren't ready. "Why does the dog have to get spayed? She can't have puppies because she's not married!" I even volunteer with teen moms, but they don't ask about how the babies are made as much as why they aren't married.
Well, I read the book with her and it was too much for her. She accepted all of it except for the sex part. She asked "like a puzzle?" and then her face was clearly distraught. I had her tell me about some of the things she learned and she strategically left that part out. She wasn't ready for it, but I don't think we're any worse off, she's just kind of blocked that part. We've always been open to having discussions and we've offered more than they ask about, but I mainly, they don't ask what they don't want to know.
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Nope. I can't think of anything today that would drag me out of the house that early, thereby dragging me out of my bed that much earlier and out onto the roads with all the rush hour commuters. If they can't offer a schedule after 10am, then I'm not part of the population that needs that service.
I've made this sacrifice for my child's health before, but trust me when I say that those mornings were less than gracious in our house.
When I taught in public school (before children), I left the house before 6am. That was not pretty, but a necessity.
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I'm looking for fun ways to practice and improve spatial reasoning.
My 9 year old DD has pretty poor spatial reasoning. Two practical examples: She hates coloring. She wanders randomly within the bounds of the picture leaving large gaps of white space and "can't" cover all the areas. She's always hated coloring, though I've instructed her in skills. In Kindergarten, she would ask, "Do I have to color it?" Seriously, the first time she asked, I was surprised and didn't know how to answer. My initial thought was, "well, you're a little girl, so yeah." I always loved coloring, but admit I wasn't very good for a while. I still don't understand my children's disdain for coloring, though the boys are good at it. I decided long ago it wasn't a battle worth fighting, so we avoid assignments that require a lot of it.
It dawned on me today while we were doing chores that she vacuums the way she colors. Random swipes that leave large areas untouched. Again, I've given very specific instruction, even physically guided her with the vacuum cleaner, but she just doesn't see the room in a "grid" like I do. Vacuuming in one direction, all the way to the wall, slightly overlapping strokes, moving from one side to the other until the area is covered, etc.
I'm struggling to remember myself at that age. I know SR develops later in girls than in boys. I know my sister instructed me on coloring neatly, in all one direction. I remember it, so I must have been about the same age. Since we have such a disdain for coloring already, I'm trying to think of other activities we can use to practice such skills.
Thanks.
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We school year round, and are trying a new schedule this year. We have decided to do school in Oct/Nov, Jan/Feb, Apr/May, July/Aug. We take off December, March, June, and September. December we're off for Christmas, September is our family vacation time, and June will be for enjoying spring. March, well just because it fit into the rhythm of the other months off!
This is an interesting thought! It sounds a lot like the way ours naturally works out. Though, we're already in deep, oppressive summer heat by June. We need March and April off to enjoy the spring. We go through very productive spurts and end up very spotty one month at a time before we buckle down again. I'm not sure if planned breaks would work quite as well for us, but I like your idea.
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We are similar to others here. We like year-round schooling because it is so darn hot in the summer, we can't stand to be outside after 10am. We rearrange our summer schedule to school in the afternoons and be out in the mornings. The rest of the year, we get school out of the way first thing and enjoy the rest of our day.
We take time off when we need it. In the summer, when all of our friends are out of school and want to plan fun during the week, we accommodate that. We take a week or 2 off for vacation in the fall, when places are less crowded and cheaper. We take about about a month off between Thanksgiving and Christmas, though we usually do some kind of study related to those holidays.
We used to school only 4 days a week, leaving Fridays for relaxing, but taking 3 days off made Mondays difficult for us to refocus, so now we school 5 days a week. Sometimes we finish a curriculum well before the year is over and we just start the new one right away. Sometimes we just take a break from that subject, insert some other fun study and pick it up again in another month or two. Other times, we are finishing up the last few weeks of of a curriculum as our new school year starts.
Just go with the flow and feel free to take mental health days, vacations and play out side one beautiful days when they come up.
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I've read "6 Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl" and found it fantastic. Couple it with "8 Great Dates for Mom and Daugther" by the same author. We recently went to a live "conference" for tween girls promoted by the author. It was a lovely evening out together.
These books come from a Christian perspective. The research and thoughts in "6 Ways" apply whether you come from the same perspective or not. I don't think you'd enjoy 8 Great Dates if you don't find the Christian viewpoint helpful.
My daughter is only 9 and she's always struggled with volatile emotions. I'm terrified of the years to come. Books like these make me think we might survive.
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First, I want to applaud you for including Mom on the list of women's careers. I went through heavy, post-feminist career "education" in public schools and no one, even once, told me that being a mom and a kick-butt homemaker was an option. I "could be anything I wanted to be" as long as it required a degree and brought in a respectable income, if you know what I mean. Yet, here I am, having learned the hard way, where my heart is. I'm pretty far from kick-butt, but it's fulfilling and I don't make a dime.
I do think the short answer to your question is that your children will grow in this area as they get older.
Here's what we've told our kids so far: Your job as a child is to be a responsible and productive part of our family and to do your best on school work. This has two purposes. The former will prepare you to be a productive part of society. Discovering your talents and using them for the family, will help you discover your place in society later on. Doing your best on school work will not only help you discover your natural abilities and interests (key to choosing a career), but will give you options in career choices. What we're stressing with them now is that we want them to have options. We don't want them to neglect certain areas or do less than their best effort and realize later that they lack some knowledge, discipline or skill, to pursue the career they find interesting. Whether it's curing diseases or frying onion rings, we want them to have the opportunity to choose.
As they work through the typical school subjects, they'll discover interests and topics we can explore more. As those arise, we can explore careers in that area. Be sure to think outside the box while doing this too. For instance, if they express an interest in a particular subject or topic, have them ask the people they know how they (or others they work with in their field) use that in their career. Sometimes the answer may be "I don't." But, you can get some interesting takes on career paths this way. Asking a farmer how he uses science can lead to simple/obvious answers, but also very complex answers when you get someone talking about the industry at large. :-) If they learn something new by asking questions, they can follow that up with research.
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With FLL, would you recommend continuing with level 3 in the fall and skipping 2 altogether? Would MCT Island, FLL 2 or 3 & WWE 2 be complete? nothing lacking?
I am having trouble with the enriching vs. adding more because my son is sooooo workbook-y. He doesn't do well with discussions about things, or thinking through things to find the answer vs. being told the facts (for science/history) or told HOW to find the answer (for grammar/math). He wants things spelled out for him, and I'm working on teaching him the more critical thinking skills, but I'm having trouble actually doing that, lol. Eventually I am hoping that this "need" can be filled by his reading books, but his reading level isn't advanced enough yet. I have been mostly just reading aloud to him about whatever he wants (nonfiction-wise), and getting him easy readers whenever possible on science/history topics (as well as fun readers), but i still have to sit next to him helping him through even the easy readers. We're working on his confidence that he CAN read these books by himself, even though he totally can.
We completed FLL 1 and 2 in one year with my 5 year old first graders. Like you said, memorizing the poems was quick and easy. The lessons are repetitive in a good way. It was easy to get 2-3 lessons done in one day and we did it every day, so we breezed right through with good retention. We school year round and took a break from grammar before starting FLL 3 for second grade. I deliberately slowed down the work for that so we wouldn't find ourselves without resources in 3rd grade. I still don't know what we'll be doing now that we're finishing up FLL 4. I'm lost. My kids won't tolerate busy work and a lot of grammar programs look suspiciously like busy work.
As far as enriching, it sounds like you are doing exactly the right thing for his age. Presenting the facts for a 5 year old is perfectly acceptable. Read aloud a bunch of non-fiction books. Get those eyewitness books and let him point to the things he's interested in and read and understand the concepts there. He'll grow in confidence as the reading clicks. In order to enrich, consider craft books. There are several at our library and pick a few activities for what you are studying to flesh it out. This is the kind of book I'm thinking of. There are lots of science and history craft exploration books to enrich rather than heap more work on top.
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My son is successful in this book series. He's 6, but I don't see why it couldn't be used with a 3 year old. It doesn't require reading (lessons are highly teacher led), though my son does read the instructions himself and enjoys the words they put to the tunes. He has a natural talent, so he progresses through the books quickly.
Our instructor likes each student to be in a different series so there is no competition when one progresses before the other. So, we have two other series in use with our older students, too. I think this one is the most useful for a young child.
Do encourage this learning early. We were rejected by lots of piano teachers, though my youngest has a natural musical talent (like his daddy). Most teachers wouldn't even talk to us until age 7 or 8. We couldn't afford Suzuki, so we just waited and my husband worked with him informally. He'd play a tune and ask ds to find notes to play that sounded good with it (early harmony), then they'd play a ditty and ds would find a note or two to make it sound like an end to the song, etc. Now that he's receiving formal instruction, he's composing his own songs and embellishing the song that are on the page.
Does Anyone Print their Lapbooks on Regular Copy Paper?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Absolutely! I almost exclusively print on colored copy paper. They do get a little bent sometimes. I suppose if you were going to do a math review/reference lapbook that would be gone through daily, you might want to use sturdier paper.
I like the thinner paper because it lessens the overall weight of the lapbook and makes it possible for my younger kids to cut themselves. For some reason, they struggle cutting cardstock (or they did the last time we did a lapbook).
We don't flip through our lapbooks daily. They stay in a box and we look through when the urge strikes. They have held up well, though some minibooks do bend.