yellowperch
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Posts posted by yellowperch
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FarrarWilliams, my second post was a reaction to your first, mainly because I felt a horror of being considered closed-minded or controlling. The truth is I am most decidedly in the read what you love camp. But your second comment made me think (your first did as well). Obviously my analogy is faulty, but what if there were more to it than you'd give credit for? What if steady doses of drecky writing really did undermine a child's intellectual development? What if time spent with mediocre thoughts and words stunted her much the way a steady diet of junk food can? Are we sure it doesn't? I'm not a food-nut, but I worry if my kids go on kicks where they eat a lot of sugary foods. What I worry about is not so much that they are eating sugar. Rather, I grow concerned about what they are NOT eating because they are so full of treacle they won't eat anything nutritious. Likewise with books.
But now I'm making both eating and reading--two of my greatest pleasures--sound like self-improvement chores. So I think you've hoped me get somewhere in my idle thinking.
The comments on this thread have all given me something to mull over. I read all the time, but I don't really discuss my reading with my children, or let them see how it engages me. That's something worth pursuing, too.
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I think what I am imagining sound a lot more draconian than I intended.
I'll try for an analogy. Say my house is stocked with a good variety of reasonably healthy food and lots of tasty fun junk food too. I'm noticing that my kids are eating a lot more of the junk food than I would like. I know that once they developed more sophisticated palates they would enjoy a wider variety, but I can't seem to get them to put down the potato chips and soda to try they most amazing and delightful mango. So I'm wondering what it would be like if from birth I had given them only mangos and homemade Greek yogurt and olives and blueberries and fresh from the garden snow peas. The house would be stocked with plenty of variety and all of it would be theirs to choose among but none of it would be Doritos (aka Captain Underpants or Junie B. Jones).
I'm just wondering what it would be like, and what the kids would be like. I'm not talking about mind control, just stocking the kitchen with fruit and milk.
And anyway, I could no more limit access to particular books than I could to Honey Nut Cheerios.
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This was my idle thought of the day (4 soccer practice on four fields in four parts of town today. I'm still feeling car sick...but I've had lots of time to think).
We are all compulsive readers here, and our tastes run from junk to great works. Sometimes, however, it seems the junk is more enjoyable than the magnificent works of literature I'd prefer to see my kids reading.
To put it another way: the Magic Treehouse series was a great bridge from readers to chapter books for my kindergarten and first graders. They have all been thrilled to read a chapter book in a day. They'd all reach for the next one without the blink of an eye. So it was a great bridge, but to where? My dd, for example, read the 25-plus volume Warrior series in about six weeks, but she hasn't been able to get into the Secret Garden or the Little Princess or Wrinkle in Time or Caddie Woodlawn. She's now reading a series about owls. She'll sometimes pick up something a little richer, and she'll readily do her assigned reading, but given half a chance she rushes into the arms of her series.
So I'm wondering what it would be like if they had been raised on the best literature, however you'd define it.
I really do think reading is such a deeply personal experience, and it largely belongs to the person doing it. I'm not sure how much I want to interfere with my children's reading beyond providing them with things that will delight and/or enlighten them and requiring them to read no small amount of good literature as part of their academic training. Probably not much. But still, I wonder what would have happened if I had read to them only the very best books, and then only stocked the shelves here with the best, from Aesop to Wind in the Willows.
Your thoughts?
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I could go on and on. This is a great thread idea. Just today:
I received used book that I ordered in the mail (DK Eyewitness Mammals) and the shipper had sent along a DK animal sicker book as well. I don't know why we were so lucky but I made my kids and me smile.
My almost 2 year old said "bless you, mommy," when I sneezed.
Two of my children who are using Daily Paragraph Editing found typos in things they were reading today. DS9 found blended together words in WWS (in the free, uncorrected sample) and DD7 spotted a missing period in a photo caption in a geography book.
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Just piping in to say I love you people...
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Dawn, I just wanted to thank you again for posting this. I'm preparing for next week we I finally launch ART!!!!! My daughter has asked when we will be starting art every day for the two weeks our little homeschool has been up and running. I had planned to introduce new subjects (those beyond the core language arts/math/history) one week at a time. But she can't wait, and neither can I. She and I love reading the Laurence Anholt and James Mayhew books but she is ready to sink her teeth into something heftier. Your guides are outstanding. Thank you.
By the way, have you ever seen this book?
It was our first foray into art appreciation and my children really loved it.
For people with younger kids, here are links to the series of books I mentioned. They are lively, gentle introductions to artists and their works.
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From time to time I have been drawn to various tenants of unschooling or child-led or experiential education. I know it works for some kids sometimes in some subject areas. It seems, in fact, we are unschooling science at the moment to no ill effect--my kids love science and know quite a bit about particular things and read non-fiction science material all the time. They spend time thinking somewhat scientifically -- which is to they ask lots of questions about the science of things that we encounter in the natural world. But this "unschooling" is only by default as I try to figure out an approach to life science that is fresh for them (enough with frog or butterfly life cycles, for example) and rigorous. And do-able.
Of course, what my kids are doing now vis-a-vis science is really just called being kids--reading, playing, thinking.
But for math? I wouldn't wait. Maybe the difference is that at this stage math is a skill and science and many other subjects are more content-based. Just as I wouldn't delay formal reading instruction for anything, I wouldn't delay formal math instruction.
YMMV. Just my two pennies.
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I'm watching the first clip, and I just had to pause it to say how marvelous this is--in the true sense of the word. Wow! I'm going to keep watching now. Thank you Janice. You are on to something here. I almost feel like waking up my little writer and letting him watch. Almost.
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My ds9 is using it as well. I won't have much to share here, though, because math is one thing I have outsourced. We live in a university town and my home schooled kids work with a grad school math guy. He finished 1.7 today. So far so good. I'm thinking now it would have been a good idea to have signed up for the course, but we've never done an online course, and I just didn't really get how it would work. The class that starts in October is on a swim team night so he probably won't be doing that.
Just thought I'd raise my hand and say hi. DS does math four days a week for 45 minutes with the tutor and 30 minutes on his own.
I'm trying to figure out Alcumus. Are there videos that go along with pre-algebra? I've only seen ones for the counting course. Do you have to sign up for the course for access to the videos.
Hoping to get up to speed...
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This is great thread. I will read every word in the morning. time to print out our plan for the day and get to bed. I feel like I am finally going to nail this science thing. The kids are getting impatient!
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to take a look. I hope it doesn't make your eyes bleed. Seriously, I'd love some wisdom. Wit would be good too.
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=309873
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Our experience with WWS so far....your thoughts welcome. I'd love to hear if you think he's at the right level. I suspect he is not.
DAY 1
Draft 1
The Pepin family wake up to find toads in there shoes. So the Pepins go to Mr. Bradshaw and find he has toads in his shoes, too. They go home but they couldn’t figure out the problem.
Half-hearted second attempt:
The Pepins wake up. There are toads in there shoes. Mr. Bradshaw has the same problem. Then they go home. But they don’t figure out their problem.
Day 2
Notes:
Sylvia is on a train.
The train gets stoped by wolves.
The wolves attack the man, and he stabs it.
First try:
Sylvia is on an unconfertable train. A man next to her offers her cakes but she refuses. Their train gets stoped by wolves who jump onto the windows. One of them breaks a window, and gets in. It pounces on the man next to her and she screams. The man wakes up then he stabs it with broken glass from the window and it dies.
Rewrite with my light edits:
Sylvia is uncomfortable on a train. A man next to her offers her cakes but she refuses. Their train gets stopped by wolves who jump onto the closed windows. A wolf breaks the glass and gets in. The wolf pounces on the man next to Sylvia, and she screams. The man wakes up and stabs the wolf with broken glass. The wolf dies.
Day 3
Notes:
Peter wanted a naval fleet
He also wanted a port
He decided to conqure Azov.
His army lost food while the enemy gained because of the port. Peter built warships. then he learnd how to use them and blocked the port.
Azov surrenddered.
First try:
Peter the Great wanted a naval port and fleet so he decided to conqure Azov. His armly lost food and ammo while the enemy gained it. They gained it because of the port. Peter soon decided to build a fleet of warships and barges, block the port from ships coming in or out and lay siege on Azov. Azov then surrenderred to him.
With my heavier edits
Peter the Great wanted a warm-water port, and he decided to conquer Azor, a Turkish port city. His army was failing, though, because the enemy was receiving food and ammunition through their port. Peter built and launched a naval fleeto to block the mouth of the port and lay siege to Azov. Soon the Turks surrendered.
Day 4
This is all he submitted. We were pressed for time and should have saved the lesson for another day:
The three brothers went into the forest. They met a man who asked for food. The first two refused and injured themselves. The third brother went in and gave the man food and found a golden goose, which he brought home. His three sisters touched it and stuck. So when he took it to town it made the princess laugh and he was made king.
I suspect he is not. This is the work of my DS9, a mid-year refugee from our our local ps and a charter school. He's gifted in math, broadly read. As a result of his ps experience his main priority is "Stuff that's on my level or a little bit hard". Even though he is most decidedly not gifted in writing, the pace in school was agonizing for him so I swooshed him into WWS. When I suggested to him we might drop back a level to bone up on some skills he said, " Oh no, I really like this. The readings are great. I'll just try harder. I like this stuff. I feel like I'm learning." My fear is that the pace is about to pick up quite a bit and we might be struggling more that we need to.
Your thoughts?
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Okay. Thank you for the responses. I think. Now I'm putting my visa in the freezer. I am done shopping. I think this will be a great resource for us; I just frittered away the evening watching a film about the Mona Lisa, and one about cell division. Fun.
PS--Thank you Angela. Your list was a great starting off point. We've always loved those Weston Woods videos. I never would have found those cartoon bios on my own. My older guys have watch quite a few horrible histories on youtube. The will be so psyched to see the whole set!
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I know some people here subscribe to this. I'm interested, but I can't seem to see how to subscribe for a family/homeschool. Can you advise? Also, is it worthwhile. What does the home version give you access to? Thanks.
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I am a new Apple user, and am trying to set up my schedules and checklists using Apple's Pages program. This is a tedious process since I really don't know how to do spreadsheets in any case.
Would anyone be willing to send me an empty template of a weekly hourly schedule--with days of weeks across the top and times down the side? Is this the best way to do this anyway?
I just need something simple that won't take to much time.
I'm also trying to figure out how to make a cheery-looking checklist template.
If anyone is willing I would be so grateful. We start in a week but I'm leaving town at dawn and will be away until Sunday so I'm feeling crunched.
Thank you.
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Thank you to all. These are great ideas. And I'd love to read more about what you are doing if you have a chance to post forty-two. Thanks again!
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Has anyone composed a list of pictures books that would fit in with geography study? Would you like to share it? Books like The Giraffe who Walked to Paris and How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World are what I have in mind, but more of them, and perhaps enough to cover the globe in a fun and gentle manner. Thank you.
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Whoops. Meant to post this on the K-8 forum. Heading over there. Sorry.
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What's wrong with Rex Barks?
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I'm in South Kingstown, RI with is not impossibly far from Groton--about an hour. How old are your children? What is bringing you to the neighborhood, Kinderhug?
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Oh great, Kristy.
Lisa, I'm about 90 minutes from the Boston Museum of Science. We do a few trips there a year, but I won't want to wait. I will, however, call them and see if I can talk to someone in the education department and see what they have. Great idea!
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:iagree:
Thank you, Lisa!
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Yes indeed. Is there any hope?
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After casting around for a while for a good approach to science, I realized what I want to start the year with is dissection. This will certainly start our life science year off with a bang. My kids love science. The older ones clean fish often. We've dissected frogs and a sheep eyeball in the past. I think they are up to it.
I want to prepare so that we can get the most out of the experiences, and make it intellectually meaningful as well as pizzaz-y. Do any of you know of any resource for doing dissection with younger kids? I'd love something with big bright diagram, colorful illustrations and clear instructions. The dissection manuals that came with the specimens we have put me to sleep.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
What has made you a better teacher?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I mean this in the limited and specific sense of actually discussing, presenting and helping your children engage with new academic material. Have you read, heard, watched, or experienced things that have made you better at the day-to-day task of teaching? If so, please share.