ThoughtfulMama
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Posts posted by ThoughtfulMama
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I would just add that for a child who is still average in handwriting I would wait on spelling .
This brings up a good point that I had not considerd. I am a terrible oral speller myself, but have few problems when writing. Once the hand and brain get better connected, the spelling may just happen.
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Maybe essential was too strong :) What I meant to ask was if it is difficult going back to do grammar and spelling once a kid is reading at a very high level. Do they get bored or feel it is beneath them? He's so young that I don't know exactly how his personal educational mindset is going to develop.
Edit to add: he has not been tested, but I suspect he is probably EG, and PG would not surprise me.
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Thanks for the input! I'm in no hurry to do this. I was just curious if age or reading level is more a factor. He will hit middle school reading level shortly, and he speaks naturally in complex sentences, so I don't think there is any real need to teach him grammar right now. As for spelling, he hasn't shown any natural tendencies, and refuses to do inventive spelling, but I'm sure they can cover it in school when he gets to that point.
Maybe we will just start to cover some of it informally as he writes in his journal instead of getting any sort of a book.
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DS 5.5 will be starting K in the fall at a private school. He is currently reading very comfortably at least at a 4th grade level without any formal instruction. He is also one of those "wow! Teach me more!" kids. I'm currently deciding what home supplementation we are going to provide over the summer, keeping in mind that I have a very relaxed attitude to teaching him at this age. He has been working very hard this year on handwriting, where he is average, so we will continue with that.
At what point do you think I really need to teach grammar and spelling? It seems almost silly that he can read these complex books, but somebody is going to have to go back and teach him nouns and verbs. He also hasn't been taught very much phonics. I'm wondering if I'm leaving a big gap here, or if I should leave something for him to learn in school. I'm perfectly content to just keep up the book supply for the summer and work on his handwriting/drawing journal if these gaps can easily be filled in later.
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It sounds like you have made up your mind, but I also wanted to add support for getting him evaluated. Yes, as a homeschooler, you do have the ability to meet his needs, but maybe you could use some help deciding how to do that. And he's not going to be in school forever. Eventually he will need coping skills to navigate college, jobs, etc. and it's certainly easier to learn those skills as a child. Good luck! And remember that no diagnosis label changes your kid at all but can give you tools.
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I clearly remember my first aha moment with DS. We were at a park when he was around 20 months old and he was pointing at a sign and running his finger over the letters and asking me what each one was. So I figured maybe he wanted to learn the letters. I got out the 26 books of letters, which I thought my ILs had purchased way too young, and intended to do a letter of the week thing with him. My goal was just to keep it relaxed and informal. Instead the little stinker forced us to practice letters with him everyday and learned the whole alphabet in about 3 days. Looking back there were signs of differentness much earlier, but I didn't really know what average looked like.
I joke (though am serious) that I am completely against being a flashcard mom, but somehow I ended up with a flashcard kid.
Now little-sis is the same age and is teaching herself the letters and numbers. We already had the stuff around for her, so she didn't need to beg me. I'm still trying to be relaxed about it with both of them, but they are an intense couple of kids.
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Neither hot water nor an iron will probably change the magnetism of your magnet (as regentrude said), but you could make a larger data table and try both. It's a pretty complex question to fully handle in a home experiment.
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How old is he again?
A simple science notebook could be a question, a picture (or drawing) of the experiment, and a conclusion.
For a more complete notebook I'd have each experiment divided into sections:Purpose (or question)
Hypothesis (what EXACTLY are you testing? You could skip the prediction of results here if you want and just do a really specific question)
Test Procedure
Data Collected
Conclusion
For example:Question - Does heating a magnet make it lose the ability to stick?
Hypothesis - not necessary here, but you could include the Newton info here if you want
Test - Two magnets were stuck to the fridge. One magnet was then heated with an iron and then both magnets were stuck to the fridge again. (or do several trials with the same magnet - room temp, heated, room temp again)
Data - Draw a table of results (including the control magnet)
Conclusion - Heat does (or does not) prevent magnets from sticking to the fridge
I might suggest that instead of the iron (which might make things a bit unsafe) you might consider putting one magnet in a cup of hot water and another in a cup of cold water.
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No real advice since mine is only 5.5 and will be starting K in the fall, so we are not ahead of you enough to be a voice of experience ;)
Just for a little different perspective, I'm following what someone told me a more of a Montessori approach at this age. I'm keeping resources around (and spending lots of time researching and finding them) but completely following his lead on what he is interested in and chooses to do. That means lots of books at lots of levels (fiction and non-fiction from board books up to 4th grade), lots of games (love Quirkle too, Math Dice), abacus, number balance, impromptu science experiments at the breakfast table to answer his questions, and basically lots and lots of intelligent discussions on whatever topics he chooses. Right now he is fascinated with scales and conversions (Celcius/Farenheight, inches/centimeters for example), so we talk about that daily.
And lots of building and creative toys (Legos, Gears!, Snap Circuits, Mag Formers, puzzles, playdoh, etc.).
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Troubleshooting - as a lab scientist the majority of my time is spent either figuring out why an experiment isn't working or optimizing an experiment to best answer my question. The ability to come up with creative alternatives and the patience to repeatedly test _and fail_ are both key skills for the working scientist and will serve you in all areas of life.
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Thank you all! I have printed him some for some of your resources, and he loves them! Now to decide if he will blow through one of these books too quickly to make it worth the cost :)
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Actually, that's not exactly the proper application of the scientific method. The Hypothesis is not an opinion but a statement (question) that you either disprove or support. Often, for the statistics to work, you choose a hypothesis that is the opposite of what you believe might be true. And a scientist would never claim to "prove" anything but instead "supports" something.I disagree that there are no opinions in science - that is what a hypothesis is: I think that ... will happen ... (that is an opinion, a thought, a perceived idea. Then of course they must prove it which is where the experimentation comes in -
But regardless, and back to the topic, as a scientist one of the fields of study that helped me most was in-depth literature analysis. Organizing your thoughts and presenting them in a rational format was the single most important skill that I took from my English and Classics courses in college.
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Yes, thank you! I haven't tried anything yet. I'm just thinking back to the puzzles I did in GATE as a child and thought he would enjoy some. His total exposure so far has been on restaurant kid placemats :)
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Did the diagnosis open up any extra services to you at school (or outside of it)? I would look into that first. Being almost 6 and not reading is not a big deal, but with the amount of time it sounds like you've put in it must be frustrating to you (and him) to not have the reading readiness skills down pat.
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I'm looking for a set of printables or a book of fun, easy logic puzzles for DS (5). My google search didn't pull up the simplicity that I'm looking for (a single box with 3X3 or 4X4). Of course, I could create my own, but chances are time will get in the way.
Does anybody have a resource for me?
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I haven't taught phonics really to DS(5), who is a very fluent and advanced reader. I just don't think it's necessary for all kids, though we probably will do some when he eventually starts spelling. He knows the letter sounds from games and toys and did the BOB books for a short time, but let's face it, they are not very interesting. At 4, I'd be pretty willing to follow her lead on what she wants to do. If you allow screentime and have access to it, Starfall dot com has fun phonics, reading, and math that feel like games.
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A 2, my DS taught himself to read long before he learned how to climb on the couch.
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One more note about the DORA in regards to spelling, my DS(5) also scored in 12th for the word recognition subtest, and then the first spelling words given were so hard. We haven't done any spelling at all (or any formal HS at all), so I fully expected that score to be low. However, starting out with high school level words was frustrating for him. He, like a pp, would sound out a tough word, attempt to spell it, read what he wrote and know it was wrong, but submit because it really was beyond his level.
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I have compiled a nice list to work through. Bumping this for jillian.
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I just posted about this recently, so I'll bump up. People gave some great ideas to me for my 5 year-old! And I hadn't seen the Humphrey books, which look like something he would LOVE, so thank you!
Right now he is whizzing through The Littles, which I remember reading as a kid too. Unfortunately, lots of the series is out of print, but there are lots of used copies available too. -
Kudos to you for being on top of things and checking out the reading! I think homeschooling forums are likely to represent some extremes of parenting styles, but I will admit that I'm surprised that anybody thinks it's ok for a young child to be reading something so graphic. You would think that somebody putting together recommended reading would be a little more aware.
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My DS(5) is similar in some ways. I liked parts of The Highly Sensitive Child to just help me understand. I hate seeing him really trying and struggling to get control when little tears are still squeezing out of his eyes.
We do best on avoiding emotional meltdowns when we keep to a very structured schedule, sometimes even a written and posted one. Also, we use a Melissa and Doug magnet board to help him mentally organize his mind.
As far as decisions go, we have started to employ some randomness. A coin flip or Rock Paper Scissors makes him feel like the decision is out of his hands.
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He loves the Geronimo Stilton books, which are VERY colorful, have tons of pictures, and are real books- a great start on chapter books that keep kids engaged through the use of color, font, text, and pictures... My son also loved the National Geographic Readers- Tigers, The Titanic, Cheetahs, etc. They're leveled out so you can progresss through them, and because they're not fiction and include tons of great Nat Geo pics, they're good for a reader to stretch himself with. He also really enjoyed the Classic Starts versions of Tom Sawyer, The Swiss Family Robinson, and Around the World in 80 Days, although they are all pretty much just text. All these are easy to find at B&N or Amazon.
Geronimo Stilton is one of his favorites too! And he does like the National Geographic readers. A friend suggested that I get him more non-fiction since you can drastically increase the reading level without overloading on text, so I have started that too :)
I'm not familiar with the Classic Starts books. Are they abridged? That is something I hadn't considered yet, though I'd have to pre-read them them (no big deal).
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If he can't take heavy topics, you might want to leave off with the Harry Potter series as they get heavier and heavier starting in Book 4 (Goblet of Fire.)
We are only letting him read the first 2 (and watch the first 2 movies) so far. He is ok with scary stuff, but not good with injustice and emotion. He is very empathetic and internalizes things, which I love about him. Having a sweet boy is awesome :)
Good science magazine?
in Accelerated Learner Board
Posted
I put in a vote for Scientific American. It's real science, but directed for the general, educated public. An advanced 11 year-old will probably find interesting stuff in there often. And they often hit on topics that are in the news.