yellowperch
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Posts posted by yellowperch
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Just bumping.
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The Scholastic Question and Answer Series has some gems. They are considerably more in-depth than Let's Read and Find Out. Here's one:
You might as well get the Periodic Table book Farrar suggested, at least form the library. You are going end up with it eventually. Even if the text is a little advanced for right now, the pictures are outstanding. YOU'LL like perusing this book with your child, and on your own. It's a great gift book.
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Does anyone do this with Levels 1 and 2? The lessons don't match up, so I foresee creating my usual cumbersome mess....I actually have both of them, so I see what they are about. We are about to start the Middle Ages. I had planned on SOTW, with Builders of the Old World and CHOW thrown in, and picking up Story of Science when we get to the Renaissance. But a friend passed the HO level 2 onto me, so I got the sample of 1 and now I'm tempted...
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I'm sure you'll get many great responses. My first thought: get as many of the Let's Read and Find Out series as you can afford or find at the library. Some are better than others, but these would be a great addition to any K-3 library. Usborne has many great titles for this age group as well, including lift the flap books that have great reader appeal and fairly sophisticated information. We love the brain book.
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My older kids love these books. I've just learned there is a series produced by the BBC. Does anyone know if there is a way to watch episodes online?
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Thanks, Farrar. Can you tell me more about the course? There are so many resources about teaching children to write good history, but I don't think there is anything for this level student specifically about science writing. WWS has had some helpful excerpts, but I think DS is primed for more. Writing is not a great love for him, so I want to take full advantage of his willingness to try to do more of it.
Goodall would be loved here. We don't get Discover, but I'll pick up a few copies at the library and see if he bites. In fact, I just realized we don't subscribe to any science magazines--Dh used to but his work became more specialized and the subscriptions were dropped--something it is time to fix. My kids love their history magazine and any other mail. I'll look into the other titles, too.
We have a reasonably good collection of natural history and animal science books, but they tend to the more encyclopedic. Also, the writing in many of them is not that thrilling, at least to me. The exception are the wonderful science biography picture books we've one across (Starry Messenger, Flower Hunter, George Mendell: The Friar Who Grew Peas, The Boy Who Drew Birds).
Also, DS loves the Horrible Science books. He'll pore through thick Audubon tomes, and fisheries guides.
But I need to find those gems of science/natural history writing--things like Sand County Almanac--or really fun popular since writing--the Disappearing Spoon but about Tanzanian Spray Toads. I'm not well-versed in this area at all so the hunt is on....
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I listened to bits of this carting kids about weekend. In true This American Life fashion the parts I heard were hilarious and true. I'm only at the very beginning of my life with middle schoolers, but I thought this might be of interest to many of you.
Middle School: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
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Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/user/benjamincrouzier#p/u/31/JF9RSccbG2Q
My older boys make just slightly less ambitious structures with these kinds of things using a mix of Kapla and citiblocs. It gets a little crazy. We have about 2,000 blocs, which fit in 2 bins that would fit under a typical train table.
I wrote this ode to Kapla blocks a while ago. Citiblocs are 99 percent as good (slightly lighter wood and more easily "dented") at half the price.
"Kapla blocks (these are the absolute favorite here. We have about 2000. The kids have made amazing things with them and so many other toys and playspaces can be made with them, from marble runs to train set ups to farms, doll houses, castles, tombs, pyramids, greek theaters, kid-sized chairs, and yes, I have even seen the odd and forbidden gun--fashioned with rubber bands, etc. I love them because the can been picked up and put away quickly and there are no small parts and no one gets upset because that one tiny window piece is missing because there are no window or blue or double pieces. All the pieces are the same size. And they can be used as math manipulatives and to stablize a wiggly table.)"
I will say that my older kids are more into these than the younger two. They have place of honor under the library table. They are aesthetically pleasing to me there.
Get a set of ping pong balls to go with them.
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I second magna tiles. I finally bought some (they are expensive) this week for My baby's second birthday. All the kids love them. I bought the 32-piece set but I'm thinking of getting the 100-piece set for Christmas. As my 11-year old said as I was wresting them away from him at bedtime last night. "These things are addictive." Dear baby can make surprisingly good stuff with them, which thrills him--and earns him genuine adulation from his siblings.
If you have room, I would also suggest a large set of citiblocs, the American-version of the much pricier European-import Kapla or Keva Blocs. All my kids love these, too, but the older guys hog them. Again, little kids can use them in lots of ways and have fun making simple structures.
Silks, too. And maybe 3-4 good puppets.
Last year the children received as a group gift from their generous aunt this set: http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/tech_machines_set/1449. It is great, and gets a lot of use. It's one of the top five things that are played with.
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DS9 is now fully on board with the idea that he has to learn to write bright, accurate prose if he is going to be a field biologist or herpetologist. For this I must thank a friend of DH's friend who is finishing her PhD and has a great job at a great zoo. She took the time while DS was traveling with DH to discuss her career with DS. DS is in heaven. Anyway, she told him she would read finished drafts of his science writing that he thought were his best. If she sees that he is working hard, learning a lot and liking it, she will put him in touch with local naturalist folks who might be able to use an eager set of hands in the spring. Love this woman, though I have never met her. A mentor, perhaps!
DS has been using WWS and its working well for him. He's beginning to see progress and likes that. He likes the readings a well. But I need to develop some resources to let him amp up his science writing. I's love to find accessible anthologies of nature and animal biology writing as well as more program-y materials. Suggestions? He needs challenges but he's right around grade level in terms of writing skills. Thank you!
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Red squirrel, that was my plan too. And still is. However, there is a huge gap--for obvious reasons--between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance. WE are in the Middle Ages now, and miss our SOS!
editing to add: I jumped to respond after only reading the title of the thread, which was cut off after "Hakim's Story". I thought this was about Story of Science, which I love, and which I would love to discuss with others who are using it. Sorry for crashing your party here.
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Outstanding piece. I let my subscription run out but I'm asking for one for Christmas.
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I'm not the first one to ask about Christmas! But I'm asking again because this post ended unloved on page 5 in less than 3 hours.
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I hate to do this even before Halloween, but I need Xmas help. My problem: DS11.
I have a few sports-related gear-y ideas, and books are always on the list as are a few clothing things. (In fact, I think DS actually has a preference here: lately he has been hinting that he wants brand-name sneakers. I will resist, I think, because I can't start down that road just yet. But i think it is kind of cute.)
And while zoo memberships and fancy things like snow boarding lessons or trip to water parts are great, they don't quite have the "wow lets open this up and play" effect that makes Christmas vacation so much fun. What I am trying to find for my 11.5 year old is a great, non-electronic TOY, or other gift that will just be fun and a surprise and just what he never knew he wanted. We have enough Legos for DS11 (though a LEgo store would never be enough for DS9). WE have science kits, too. So what is the best toy ever for a science-loving young guy who loves to read, play sports, read comic books and just goof around?
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I'm just bumping this to see if anyone else has words of wisdom for me.
Interesting thoughts, tristangrace. DD was more of a "100 percent right girl" in school, and now most of her work is heavy on process and lighter on answering questions that would fit into a "teacher asks question, children raise hands, one provides an answer, verbal head pat from teacher, and move on" format.
The combination of harder work and less opportunities to just give an easy answer, combined with a developmental stage where she cares very much about being right might be a perfect storm.
What do you do with that, though?
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I agree with Farrar that the article is describing a real problem. And I know personally that kids can go from Capt. Underpants to Diary of a Wimpy Kid to 39 Clues to the Lightening Thief to Harry Potter to Narnia and beyond. And the route and destination do not matter as much as the journey--the book and the reader and whatever intimate experience the reader is having in his/her imagination.
I also appreciate Valerie Tripp for the American Girl series. My daughter has loved those books, and will read them again I am sure. I do sometimes bristle at the weird intense "give me" reaction even I get from the whole American Girl industry. Whenever I look at a catalog I want to buy everything. So I've spent a little time thinking about that strange acquisitive and commercial side of the AG Empire, and come away feeling cranky about it.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I still think books written to fit a narrow agenda and very specific formula smell a little phony. That said, a history series with boys as the main characters just might do for American history what Percy Jackson has done for Greek mythology, at least in my house.
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The books sound a little canned and tedious. Fiction with an agenda (or a formula) is a very risky enterprise, and usually does not work. Give my sons, daughter, and me a good story and we will read.
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I'm confounded. If you had asked me three months ago to describe the kind of girl my daughter (who is 7.5) is I would have said she was fearless, smart, quiet, fun-loving and bossy. Now she seems so tentative about school, and I am worried.
On a daily basis she says things like, "I can't do it. It's too hard..." and "Do I have to? Help me! I can't.."
Last year she was in public school. The work itself wasn't challenging but DD was always there with her hand up, ready to participate and ready to do her best. (I spent considerable time in the classroom and saw this first hand. This is also what her teacher described as her general demeanor when I was not there.)
The work she is doing now she is quite capable of, and often enjoys it when we get through the "I cants".
I suspect two things are going on here. First, she's adjusting to being home schooled by moi, and so is testing the waters. Second, and this is a much bigger concern, she's going through a crisis of confidence.
Any other thoughts? How do I help her through this? I think it is time to round up some books for me to read about raising confident girls. What are your favorites?
I will add that the is new for me. My older boys thrive on competition. Except for learning things such as how to tie their shoes or load the dishwasher they never said, "I can't" or "it's too hard". Maybe this is why I am starting to perceive this as a gender issue, though I'm not really sure it is. Your thoughts?
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I like that idea, too. I think I should use the fifth day to go over grammar points and others, and let DS chose a piece to polish every third week or so. That sounds fair and effective, with student input thrown in for good measure.
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By the end of the fourth assignment, my son is often fried. We usually just go over it, and talk about the glaring errors. Mostly, the pieces are fairly good and he gets cheerful feedback. But I do feel like there are learning opportunities lost. Ideally,the fifth day could be for polishing, but our weeks don't really lend themselves to a solid fifth day.
How do you handle the longer pieces? What is your process if the piece meets the standards laid out in the rubric but aren't really the best your child could create?
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Peter Pan, again. Brilliant book.
Picked up Dracula tonight because I thought I could prevail upon DH to read it to the older boys. Thought it would be good, given the season. I think Frankenstein, which they had planned to read this summer but never got to, might be a better choice.
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I am purposefully leaving this a little vague and open-ended. I just want to brainstorm ideas for creating a lively, happy, productive and rigorous homeschool environment. What are your best ideas and practices for this? What have you thought of but haven't tried yet? What do you do (short-term, long-term, spur of the moment?) when you feel spirits are sinking and the learning is suffering? I know every day can't be a field trip to the candy factory, but we've had one or two too many dispiriting moments of late....
1st day of homeschooling
in K-8 Curriculum Board
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Have a great day!