cintinative
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Posts posted by cintinative
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I might have missed this, but is there a reason you are doing both WWE and Bible Heroes with your 7 year old? It seems that you should do one or the other, not both. But maybe it's because I don't have a good grasp of what WWE entails. I am doing FLL 2 with my 6 and 8 year old, and it includes dictation, grammar, etc. It only takes 15-20 minutes a day. If you can find a way to consolidate the R&S grammar and WWE components, that could easily save you a half hour.
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Cheap and computerized?
My kids LOVE Reflex Math....well except for dd6 who can't take the pressure of being timed. It always ends up with her rage quitting. It's not pretty. So for her, Facts First is slightly better because it works with one fact family at a time, is very repetitive and builds on previous lessons. There are a few games at the end, but nothing near as fun as ReflexMath games. Facts First is part of Skills Tutor, which has other subjects like science and LA.
This is my exact problem with DS6. We spent a year almost doing Xtra Math and got absolutely nowhere. He was stuck at 38% all year. He HATES being timed. Are you saying that Facts First is not timed? I have been doing just regular flash cards but confess that even I can grow impatient with that. He takes awhile. It would be nice to have a computer thing to do that was not so stressful for him.
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I am curious if anyone has used any of these resources and which they really like and could recommend? I have liked the Scholastic Success with Maps Grade 2 and it's $1. I'm so bummed. I just bought three of these (grades 3-5) for $3.15 each the other week!!
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chelsmm you should be able to. I was able to download a file to my laptop and conceptually I should have been able to email it to my desktop. The trouble was that it was a huge file, so it was taking forever to add as an attachment. Can you put it on a memory stick and give that to her? That is what I ended up doing in the end (putting on memory stick, copying onto desktop). Otherwise, you could "zip" the file but if she isn't computer saavy, that might be worse than you walking her through the steps on the phone to order it.
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We are using Artistic Pursuits but my kids are in 1st and 2nd grade. What I like about it is it 1) is not crafts and 2) incorporates a little bit of art history. Pretty much every lesson is based on some historic work of art. We have only done book one so far (for grades 1-3). I am starting book 2 next week. That one has prints of various famous paintings as well. It is well laid out, written at their level, and the projects are easy to follow. The negative would be that I am not skilled in art so sometimes that aspect of how much do I direct versus leave to them can be difficult. I am a very hands off art teacher. If they say they are done, I might encourage them to put some more background color in, etc. but if they say no, we are done.
I have not done or heard of the videos the others mentioned--I am curious to know grade level for those. I plan to keep doing Artistic Pursuits through probably 6th grade but after that I am not sure.
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Edit: found it! Go to this link and click on "sample now" http://www.hmhco.com/shop/education-curriculum/math/math-in-focus-singapore-math
Can someone post a link to the teacher's manuals online for MIF? I didn't realize you could access them there. Thank you.
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I guess we should probably be keeping our in-text work but I don't worry about it. We write it on scrap paper and it gets recycled. I do use the workbooks. I have used the Extra Practice workbooks before. We used them as a sort of "summer bridge" for math.
I do have the teacher's guides (we are in 2A and 2B presently) but I very very rarely open them. Usually it is for a "Put on Your thinking cap" problem I can't figure out.
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At our co-op they are offering an "Animals and their habitats" class for grades 1-3. I don't think she is using a particular curriculum but they are making lapbooks.
I facilitate a Jr. First Lego League team during one of our co-op periods (ages 6-9, max 6 per team). One person is running a math games class--they just play all sorts of math games. There is a Science Fun class but that is totally up to the teacher what is covered. It is a mostly hands-on class. As mentioned by others, we do have Galloping the Globe as well.
We do have FIAR available for this age, also art, general music, and musical theater.
Next year I am thinking of teaching Bible Heroes (IEW product) which is for 2nd graders. We'll see!
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I've been using Bible Heroes, which is an IEW product, for my 1st and 2nd grader. I like it. It is very structured. If you are familiar with the IEW method of key word outlining,writing from the outline, using dress ups like strong verbs, adjectives, etc., it is just a junior version of that (slow introduction of concepts and easier source texts).
The product does assume that you can watch the Teaching Writing Structure and Style videos. I did find watching them helpful when we got to the story sequence. We are on track to finish this school year.
Since neither of mine are particularly fast at copying or dictation, what we usually do is I scribe first and they copy. The first day we read the text, develop an outline, and they copy it. We also go over vocabulary words (included) and any games (included). Day two we develop our first draft, make edits, and I scribe the final. Then for Day three and four (we only do four days a week for this) they copy the final and draw a picture to go with it.
I hope this information helps!
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Thank you for all the suggestions!
I think I have been too focused on getting the reading done and need to just set a time frame and let him be done. I don't want to reward his delay tactics (food, drink, etc.) so I will have to be more diligent to be clear on my expectations (don't steal my drink, etc. LOL!). Honestly I don't want him to read 30 minutes a day but sometimes it stretches into that, so I just need to set a timer or something and let him know I do expect focus in that timeframe.
Like several have mentioned, I do need to keep him moving through the day because he has a lot of energy. And, yes, sugar intake probably needs to be curtailed also!
Although he is only 6, he is able to read at a second grade level. So I think I am also kind of struggling with challenging him without burning him out. I don't want him to hate reading because of our reading times. Thank you for all your input!
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I wouldn't say he is struggling to read. Depending on the day he is more distracted or less, but today he was distracted from page one. So it literally took ten or fifteen minutes to read a paragraph or two because he kept stopping to get a snack, a drink, pick his toes, play with the blanket, etc. LOL. He does okay with our regular math--MIF--but Xtra Math is a drill program. He hates it. He sort of likes Math Bingo because it isn't timed. I don't know anything about KONOS. What is that?
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I'll be the first to admit--my six year old (just turned six in June) and I are wired very differently. He is more of a free spirit, creative, outgoing, people-oriented, and bright. However, it is sooo hard to get him to focus. Sometimes reading is painful. It's not that he can't--but he skips words because he is distracted. He reads one line and then he is picking his toes or trying to eat a snack. By the end of four or five pages sometimes I am struggling to not be angry about it. I know in part it is his age, but what is reasonable for this age? We have the same issue when we try to do Xtra Math. He hates it and literally cannot stay focused for the whole three to four minutes. I have tried everything I know. I need some suggestions. Some days I feel like he might need "medication" but I really don't want to go there. I homeschool so we should be able to be flexible and help him cope with this, right? If he can spend thirty minutes drawing, he can spend thirty minutes reading, right? Thank you in advance for your input. I know my attitude is kind of stinky!
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Also on the subject of where to send the notification--our particular district makes us send it to the county. So don't assume you are sending it to the school district. Verify with whoever you need to, and not to be paranoid, but I wouldn't be leaving my phone number with tons of people. Do you really want them randomly calling you? Probably not. I always leave my phone number off the notification form. It is not required.
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I never include anything like that. I write down each subject and what we're using. I make sure I put something down for each subject legally required, so it is apparent we have a plan. This is only for informational purposes, not for them to approve. I have NEVER ever ever sat there writing down all the components of math or something, mercy. Talk with other homeschoolers in your area, but certainly don't do more than necessary. In area it's not.
I notified last year and did just what OHElizabeth mentioned. We were directed in our local homeschool orientation training (by the Christian Home Educators of Cincinnati) group not to be very specific. I did not have a problem. I just had a table that said "Math" and the column next to it had the name of the curriculum I was using. For things like health or first aid, I just put "various library and internet resources."
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We use a free online program called Xtra Math. I recommend it if your kids like drill and competition. It's worth a shot at least. My almost six year old hates it but my 7.5 year old loves it. I am going to look for something different for my youngest--I'm off to read the other posts here. Thanks for this question--I'm sure there is some good information in this thread!!
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I am not sure I answered all your questions now that I look back at them.
Yes, you will need to supplement with history. Either individual history topics with books or with a curriculum (SOTW, MOH, etc.)
Yes, you will need a separate math curriculum.
Yes, you will need a separate science curriculum or to supplement what they do each week--they only cover about 15 minutes of science a week in CC. You will need to build something off of that or use a curriculum.
Yes, you will need something for grammar, reading, and writing.
Yes, they do give you a book list to supplement everything. It just depends if you like doing that versus having everything laid out for you (e.g. a science text versus 20 different books from the library)
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This past year was our first in CC, and we are not returning in the fall due to money. I have two boys, one who is age 5 (turning 6 in one month) and one who turned 7 last September. They were in different classes. My personal opinion is that CC is a great program but it depends on your child if they will like it or not. It is very academic versus social. My oldest complained it was like "school" (we pulled him out of PS after a year in KG there).
I was in my youngest's Abecedarians class almost every week. What they covered was pretty different (in terms of scope and difficulty) than the other older classes. For example, we might mark up a map using dry erase markers in Abecedarians, and in the Apprentice class (my 7 year old's) they would be practicing tracing maps. We did a lot of songs for things in the Abecedarians and there was less of a focus on understanding some of the facts over just memorizing them (for example, the layers of the atmosphere).
I was given a breakdown of the CC day at some point and I found that oftentimes our day did not quite match up with that. As you know when you teach seven or eight 5 and 6 year olds, things do not always go as planned. Case in point: my five year old spilled plaster all over himself when we were doing an art lesson. =) So, take those schedules with a grain of salt. My oldest's tutor did a great job covering everything because she kept everything very fast paced. She was also an experienced tutor. I do think there is a difference in who you get as a tutor in how well they present the material and what tools they use, so I want to echo the other poster's recommendation to sit in on some classes. It also helps to get a feel for how the director runs the campus.
Many people told me they used CC as their spine and then built everything off of that. I did that with geography, and tried to do it with science. I used my own math curriculum, grammar/writing/reading curriculum, and SOTW. You can match up SOTW with CC but CC is geographic versus time-oriented so when I looked at the match ups (CC will give you the breakdown of what SOTW goes with which week, what pages, etc.) I found that it wasn't something I wanted to do. So, we did memorize the timeline and history sentences but I didn't worry about crafting our history curriculum around them. I just started the kids in SOTW 1 and sometimes things matched up and sometimes they didn't. Eventually we got to things we had covered earlier in CC, etc. I had no problem with that.
Personally, I did not enjoy trying to use CC as my spine for science. We jumped around in topics a lot from life science to earth science and back again and I guess it just felt disjointed to me. I found myself longing for a more fluid science plan. So this year we are not doing CC on campus and I am not planning on doing science around the statements. We may cover some of them as they come up in the curriculum I chose, but otherwise they will be extra. I see the value in memorizing the science statements separate from the science curriculum. However, I know of other moms that have no issue with basing their science on the CC statements.
If you choose to build a curriculum around the CC foundations guide, let me recommend the Half a Hundred Acre Wood website mentioned previously. Also do some searches on Pinterest--there are tons of boards with ideas pinned for CC stuff. Good luck!
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You definitely want the new timeline song so you need the newer version of the CDs.
We did CC on a campus this past year but this coming year we are doing it from home. I am not 100% how I am going to do this either. We are not doing the science experiments or art, and I think we are going to skip some of the science memory and just stick to the grammar, Latin, geography, history sentences and timeline.
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In reference to what Heigh Ho is saying, I guess it depends on the school. My son was in public school for K last year and they required d'nealian and I was aware that by the end of grade 1/early grade 2 there were significant marks off if you missed tails, etc. They said they were using d'nealian to transition kids better to cursive. The irony of it is at the end of his K year his teacher said they are no longer teaching cursive therefore they would no longer require d'nealian. By this point he had already "re-learned" to write d'nealian style so I wasn't going to go back to ball and stick. Anyway. All that to say do what you feel is best, because who knows what the school will do? LOL.
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i use the d'nealian workbooks by Scott Forseman. They sell them at CBD and Rainbow Resource Center. When we completed those, I generated d'nealian worksheets online.
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Also check out some of the free sample pages from here: http://harmonyfinearts.org/sample-pages/
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I like Artistic Pursuits but my kids are younger.
Have you seen this (below)? I have liked it for the art appreciation piece. It was free when I downloaded it. I used the code from here: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/11/free-adventures-in-art-ecurriculum-75-value.html
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I have yet to go, and I live in Cincinnati, so I am curious too. I have heard there are a couple exhibits in the Creation Museum that might be disturbing to young children. So, you might want to ask if you have little ones. Some friends with preschoolers said the petting zoo is fun.
BTW, plug for Cincinnati--the zoo is great here. It's worth seeing! The Museum Center (as someone mentioned) is great too. And, if you are up for a long weekend--the National Museum of the United States Air Force (about 1.5 hours north) is totally free and an awesome museum--you could spend days there. Lots of great history exhibits in addition to the aircraft you can see up close.
P.S. If you come to Cincinnati, get some ice cream at Graeter's. =)
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It's my first year homeschooling, and in CC, and I can tell you I LOVE the timeline song. It has helped my boys learn the timeline so much. Plus it really has helped to gel so many other things. When we are studying SOTW and we get to the part about the Visigoths I can have them sing the part about "Visigoths sack Rome" and it starts to just make sense. Plus when we are studying our Bible and it references leaders there is a common point. I will admit I spent the whole year in CC without owning the cards. I do own the cards now, but I didn't get them until our year was almost over. So, you can totally teach the timeline without the cards, but I am sure it really helps. But definitely buy the audio for the song!
Also--FYI--this is the first year for this timeline song. In the past with the Veritas cards there was an emphasis on learning a movement/sign language for each card, but this year the song made a lot of that unnecessary (though they did try to teach the movements). Everyone I know who has been in CC for a long time said the song really helped their kids memorize the timeline better. Our campus had the most Memory Masters we've ever had, and the director credited it to the timeline song.
Need recommendation for lengthy book
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Hmm. .. . well, we read Swiss Family Robinson (full, unabridged 388 page version) and I thought that was really long. I am impressed.
Perhaps have your son read through the whole Chronicles of Narnia? It may be close to 1000 pages with all five books.