rose
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Posts posted by rose
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I have a few children that really struggle to care about doing a good job on their school work. My 12 year old son in particular races through his work to move onto something more stimulating. His one and only goal is to get it done to a level that I will let him move on to something else. He acts like this with his chores too. I'm sure that this is normal for a lot of children but it seems to me that homeschooling makes this a little worse because a teacher's failing mark is worse than a mothers' and wondering if your peers will look down on you for a failing mark also discourages this.
This can be particularly obvious with his writing. This boy oozes creativity from every pore. He writes stories for fun although they're horribly written because he just has to get the story out without pausing to think about grammar or spelling. He has stuff to say but forcing him to slow down and create a logical train of thought and then actually write it out in an engaging manner is like torture. Lately I've just been having him write letters about our life to the grand parents because at least that has the hope of a reply attached to it. But still it comes out something like this:
QuoteDear Grandpa,
How are you. I am fine. Today some neighbours stopped by. They were annoying. I hope that they don't come tomorrow.
Baby Danny is sick. We were all sick last week. I don't like being sick. Do you? Hahaha!
Love x
His math suffers too but a little less so. At least with math it's a little easier to hold him accountable.
Any thought?
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18 hours ago, HomeAgain said:
It has been many years, but youngest ds used Archimedes' Roost. I'm not sure if it's still around even, but perhaps searching up other Montessori based apps might lead you in a direction you want.
Thanks!
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18 hours ago, macmacmoo said:
simplex spelling apps
That looks pretty good. Thanks.
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Hey everybody. 👋 I haven't been around here in awhile but I always end up back here when I have a question.
I have found myself more and more convinced that cutesy media is really not helpful for children. I hate trying to find early elementary resources that aren't sickeningly sweet or cutesy. I'm sure that some of it is the cheapness of producing digital animations that are cute vs. videos of actual people that are capable of giving an age appropriate presentation. Despite the great activities even Khan Academy Kids app annoys me (and my kids). The saccharine "KHAN ACADEMY KIDS!!!" in the introduction makes my hair rise. I feel like it belittles children and even sometimes humiliates them. I figured I might find some support here to find alternative resources.
What I'm looking for are apps that are useful learning resources that have minimal cutesiness but are still able to engage young children. A few that I have found for young children that meet my requirements are GCompris, Tux Paint, and Scratch Jr.
What do you use?
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Hey all! I haven't been here for awhile but I always come back here when I need to find a resource because you all are the most knowledgeable people on the topic of homeschooling anywhere that I've seen on the internet. 💖
I have a very delayed 9yo boy and a very energetic 5yo girl that I would like to find a book to look at with that has some math question prompts. MEP's reception book is basically what I'm looking for but I need more than that. Any ideas?
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Hey thanks! I actually just wanted a readable TOC anyways so this was perfect. I forgot about these. Perfect!
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My son loves listening to SOTW while he does chores. He would really like a TOC for all four volumes. For some reason only V1 has descriptive chapter titles for the mp3 files. Would it be a copyright violation for someone to share with me the TOC?
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Years ago I came upon a youtube channel that had a bunch of little old-school physics animations showing how forces, friction, etc. work. They were really simple line drawn animations made ages ago, maybe in the 60's. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or have a link for me?
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I've never considered shorthand. I personally think that many handicrafts are way under valued. I think that some areas of Europe still intentionally teach handwork. Even if the child never takes off with knitting or woodwork at least they learn how to control their hands. I've tried to teach a few adults to knit but they just couldn't get their hands to obey. I suspect the lack of cursive practice is only going to exacerbate this problem.
I was just looking into basket making with my children and came upon this old gem:
https://archive.org/details/handworkitsplace00plai/page/n13/mode/2up
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21 hours ago, maize said:
Do they eat the sweat potato greens? That's been found in some studies to significantly improve nutritional profiles for impoverished peoples.
Interesting, I'm not sure. They do eat the chayote greens, watercress and parsley so I know that they're not adverse to eating greens. I'll have to look into that.
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5 hours ago, bibiche said:
It’s Chamissoa altissima.
Thanks! That's been my main suspicion. I just don't like confirming plants by their leave with internet pictures.
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8 hours ago, ieta_cassiopeia said:
I've seen a book about permaculture from Timor-Leste called "The Tropical Permaculture Guide" but can't speak to how relevant it is to Haiti.
Thanks! It's on my to-read list.
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13 hours ago, Clarita said:
Also try Core Knowledge, CK-Sequence-Grades-K-8-WEB.pdf (coreknowledge.org). They give out entire scope and sequences of what they think children should know.
This is great! Bonus points for covering the other subjects too. 🙂
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18 hours ago, PeterPan said:
Yes!!
Total aside, but I find myself doing a workbook series with ds this year specifically for the vocabulary. His visualization and science thinking skills are impressive, but they're of little use if you can't actually *talk* about what you know. He has ASD2, so we might get out all kinds of generalities like "that thing" instead of actual terms. A little bit goes a long way with him and I'm hoping will open more doors. But I'm with you that in general it can be overkill for most kids. It's just interesting to teach a totally different child and realize I have to meet him right where he is.
Ooo, marvelous!!! I used the table of contents for a science catalog (Tobin's Lab, does that date me?) years ago with my dd to guide our topic choices. Have you thought about snagging some old BJU elementary science books and just throwing them out to read? Might create some daily structure which you bridge with weekly topical studies/narrations. I just find the older I get, the more structure I want, lol. I get less idealistic and more realistic, sigh. So maybe split the middle to keep yourself sane and keep your guilt down.
https://www.creativeteaching.com/collections/digital-learning-ebooks?constraint=science I'm using a whole bunch of science workbooks from the Power Practice series at Creative Teaching Press. They hit, over the levels, all the major topics, with some overlap. Since I'm trying to bring his ability to read and talk about the science up to speed, I'm literally using them all (gr 3-4, gr 5-8 workbooks). I collated the topics so he'll work on say biomes and work from lower up to high grade levels then repeat with chemistry, etc. It might give you some *structure* and topics which you could then have them rabbit for weekly narrations using those online library books.
https://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/p/180-days-of-science-for-fourth-grade/51410/ I've also used and like this 180 Days of Science series. Since it has grade leveled workbooks, it would be handy for being able to assign more tightly to each student's level. Again, you could flesh out with weekly or biweekly narrations using the online library books, periodicals, whatever.
https://www.evan-moor.com/daily-science-grade-3-teachers-edition-e-book Evan Moor also has a daily science we've used and liked *quite a bit*. We found it made for great conversations. And there's enough parallel you could keep people possibly on the same topics or use it as your structure for fleshing out.
When I get books by topic, I tend to use the lexile hub finder. That would just take a lot of energy for me to do that all the time as my main thing. If you enjoy that, go for it.
18 hours ago, PeterPan said:Not to be too obvious, but have you printed out a list of Magic School Bus and Let's Read and Find Out books to see what of those you can get online? You wouldn't even need topic lists for the youngest if you just encourage them to read through those series.
Thanks for these suggestions. I'm going to look into each one.
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12 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:
There must be local herbs or something? Maybe that knowledge has been lost or fell out of fashion for some reason.
I've seen wild thyme and I bought a green called "Lyann Panye" which I've had quite a bit of difficulty identifying because I haven't yet seen it flower. It's tasty though. I planted some.
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1 hour ago, Rosie_0801 said:
Sounds dreadful.
I've read about several regenerative farmers who've given up ploughing, which also ruins mycelium networks, so perhaps there are better ways for your area too. There's probably something useful to do with rocks too, once you've extracted enough. Could they be used to build retaining walls for terraces?
Could this guy's vids about swales help? https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeedyGarden They've been on my 'to watch' list, and you've just inspired me to get around to watching them. 😄
I know nothing about the mountains of Haiti but making use of what you've got is always cheaper than whatever you have to buy in. It just takes longer.
Other than corn, which you've mentioned, what are the standard crops?
Thanks for the video suggestion. I'll have to watch that.
Other than corn--beans, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, pigeon peas and chayotes are the primary crops. There are few other insignificant thing that they add here and there but that's about it. The lack of variety really surprised me because I had spent some time in rural Mexico before and they had tons of variety.
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1 minute ago, Frances said:
But are there not a variety different organizations there now helping them? Peace Corps, international NGOs, various mission groups, etc.? I’ve certainly read about lots of different aid organizations working in Haiti.
There were but most have pulled out because of the recent instability in the country. A lot of the organizations that are there or who were there had set up at sea level in the cities. The mountain people are really without even gov't help. I'm not even sure the police would come if there was a murder in some of the mountains. Where we are set we are the only white people for a long ways. The children run out when they spot us and laugh and yell, "Blan!" It's very cute.
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29 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:
The "proper" fertilisers disrupt the mycelium networks and kill off the subterranean life.
I seriously doubt that there is much subterranean life left in some of their "fields". There's approximately no organic material left. They plough up (well actually pick up) 45 degree hillsides that are half rocks. They don't plough because they have too many rocks. it's really bad.
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2 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:
I've never read anything that focused on the tropics, since I am a temperate zoned person, but the principles are going to be the same. Have you read anything on regenerative agriculture? In my part of the world, getting water to soak in tends to be the first priority. If you're on a mountain, keeping soil from washing down the hill is probably the top priority? Could terracing work? Are they eating native foods? I'd be thinking on how to make agriculture work with their free range animals because changing that is likely to be too hard and it might well be helping limit the amount of disease.
I've read a reasonable amount about permaculture and I've read some about using green manure cover crops. The local people did respond well to us when we brought up our concerns about the animals. Not everyone does this (some continue to stake animals on the grazing land) but it's enough to hurt. They want us there so they said that they would work to keep the animals reigned in better. I suspect that this issue discourages the proactive people from planting anything other than the standard crops. Any reforestation efforts are just munched down by stray cows and donkeys. Maybe we can start something. We'll see. We might succumb to fencing but that's not our first choice.
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4 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:
You guessed incorrectly.
I'm a traumatised person who has been reading a lot on regenerative agriculture, is all.OK, I'm sorry. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what might be better. Ultimately I think that reforestation would be ideal but that's a long term goal. We're slowly planting a food forest but the free ranging animals blindsided us this year after the harvest and ate all our efforts. It was very sad.
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8 minutes ago, JumpyTheFrog said:
Did you get the impression that even if someone offered the information about improving farming practices the people would be offended at outsiders trying to educate them?
7 minutes ago, JumpyTheFrog said:It probably is, but it seems fair to assume that they can't afford fertilizer either. I would also guess that letting the land go fallow isn't practiced either.
I think that if it's handled delicately they might accept the help. We're trying to restore the property that we bought in order to show them what can be done rather than just coming in and ramming our plans down their throats.
We're hoping to let some land go fallow help them see it without the cost. We're also thinking of asking if we can collect their bean plants after harvest before they burn them to add to some plot of land as a demonstration.
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4 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:
Would they? That sounds like a lot more work.
They are NOT doing well right now. Their land is practically infertile and the animals are sickly. The grazing land is stubble. They need to change or they will die off. It's very plain. I'm guessing you're probably hinting at what may seem like an imperialist mindset but I've been there. Corn should grow taller than 3 feet. Children should not have to suffer malnutrition. Something has to change. I'm looking to known ways of improving soil conditions and growing more food. It's not wrong to try to help a broken way of doing things. It's complicated and I may not know all of the ins and outs of their society and why they do things they way they do but something has to change. They need help from outside because they're suffering now.
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33 minutes ago, daijobu said:
I'm curious about this if you don't mind, since I'm not very familiar with Haiti or with subsistence farming. But I was under the vague impression that knowledge about farming at this level was not something one learned how to do in school, but rather was passed down through the generations. Children worked on the farm with their parents and learned on the job. It seems like even uneducated subsistence farmers would know how to fertilize their soil with manure because that's been a practice for thousands of years. What am I missing?
I suppose that they may actually know that manure is good for the soil but they don't utilize this at all. Their animals are staked on communal grazing land during the growing season and then roughly allowed to wander wherever when the crops are harvested. They would do so much better to grow a small portion of their land for fodder, pen the animals and save the manure.
One thing about Haiti to consider is that the population is made entirely of the descendants of a massive slave revolt. The education from parent to child may have been severely disrupted by the years of slavery.
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2 hours ago, lulalu said:
I have spent years living among people groups with very limited education and literacy levels. Many of my observations are similar to yours. Farming and hygiene are areas that suffer the most. Lack of access to knowledge and the know how of how to apply new knowledge are what I have seen as hindering growth. I have been dumbfounded by a lack of knowledge on how to fertilize the ground.
From my observations of life, I really think education must be top down. Wisdom of the elders has to be passed down. The older people become the (hopefully) wiser they become. A child doesn't have the capacity to understand what skills and knowledge will be vital as an adult. Without someone passing down wisdom how will a child know what to learn? But I also can see how an educated family and environment can have a child raised to he educated. Without the right environment my experience has shown that an uneducated person will not be able to become educated on their own. I am sure that history and the world have shown exceptions to this, but it isn't the norm.
For us we have pushed through learning things my son hasn't chosen on his own or seen the value, but dh and I have seen the value.
These are interesting observations. The children that I met did learn things but only the narrow range of materials that were passed on by their parents, what was on the radio and a little that they got from their poor schools. Unfortunately it is just too little or just plain wrong. I think that you're absolutely right that I child doesn't have the capacity to know what they need to learn. It also seems intuitive to believe that an early lack of direction will shape their ability to learn later. We shouldn't conclude that we need to be teaching algebra to toddlers but our example of engaging with research, for example, will shape our children's desire to learn to do this as well.
How can I encourage an attiutude of seeking excellence in work?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
That's some good food for thought. I'll run the ezine idea by him. I'll have to think about how I might help him find some internal motivation. Writing seems so difficult because as a homeschooler he knows full well that he could communicate any information with me verbally much more easily than through writing. I'm imagine we'll figure this out. Thank you fellow "mother of many!"