[Handwriting Help for 5yo]

This is completely age-appropriate--I suspect your oldest was just really good at handwriting! Many if not most just-turned 5 year-olds are still working on individual letter formation (and some would still be working on that for the next year). There are many more letters to learn than numbers, and it does take longer. Instead of making lots of handwriting sheets and giving him words and sentences to copy or trace, I would do the following:

 

Have him work on one letter at a time--either one per day or one for the whole week. He should write that letter 3-5 times, focusing on forming the letter in the correct way. Let him put a star or sticker above the letter that he thinks he did the best. (Have him tell you why he thinks it's best. If you think another one is best, you could say, "That one is good! I also like the way you made a nice straight line on this one..." pointing to one that you like.) Getting him to slow down, make just a few letters, and identify the one he thinks was best will help him pay more careful attention to formation and will do much more for his writing ability at this stage than lots of copying/tracing.

 

Handwriting lines are not needed at this stage, and many kids are not ready for them. You may want to let him practice on a white board. Show him an example letter, and then let him try it. Focus on forming the letter correctly--round circles, straight lines, starting at the correct spot etc...

 

Incorporate kinesthetic practice, such as writing with a finger in sand, cornmeal, whipped cream, on carpet squares or sandpaper, in snow, etc... This will reinforce the neurological connections needed for handwriting, and will make the motions more memorable.

 

Limit tracing to just once or not at all for any letters he knows how to form. Tracing makes kids focus on the wrong things (such as relying on the visual image for seeing if their marks are correct, starting and stopping the letter many times to make corrections instead of writing a letter smoothly, etc...)

 

Make sure to incorporate lots of large-muscle play in his day--running, jumping, climbing, swinging...anything that strengthens core muscles and gross motor muscles. These are incredibly important to handwriting. (Many people think of handwriting as a fine motor activity, but it's the gross motors--the trunk muscles that hold the body up so kids don't lean on their arms as they write, the shoulder and arm muscles that control arm movements etc... that are really important).

 

Mazes, dot-to-dot, coloring, legos, playing with cars, cutting, pasting, painting etc... are good for reinforcing fine-motor skills needed.

 

Have fun and enjoy your 5 year-old! Handwriting will come in time!

This post was especially helpful. We dropped tracing, and I sit and work with him on one letter at a time, plus his name and maybe a short word or two. We circle the best ones. I'm already seeing so much improvement!

 

You're right, my older son was just really good at handwriting! Lol Every child is different, and I'm still learning how to vary my techniques when necessary ;)

[Handwriting Help for 5yo]

Thank you for all the replies and advice!

[Memoria Press?]

We, too, used and enjoyed their K enrichment guides as well as their K recitation. I'm planning on using the 1st grade enrichment and recitation when we're finished.

 

For the enrichment, we got the books at the library. We did purchase the poetry books and the art cards, though. I love that you can buy the recitation for $3! I think it's great.

[Handwriting Help for 5yo]

My just-turned 5 year old son is an amazing reader, doing well in math, and follows along with older brother in grammar, history, science, and Bible. What we really need to focus on is handwriting.

 

He's gone through Zaner-Bloser's K book. He knows how to hold the pencil correctly and how to correctly form uppercase and lowercase letters, and he traces really well when provided with dots or a light gray printed letter to follow, if that makes sense. I've been giving him pages I make on K paper that focus on writing one letter many times, then have words or a short sentence that contains several of that letter, all with dots for him to follow. When he doesn't have something to follow, his letters are not in the margins or middle lines at all, and the writing just looks messy (a lowercase n will look like an h for example.) I know he is young, but it's time-consuming to make all these pages and I want to help him master it. I know he's capable - after doing math this year his numbers are now very good! But letters are just not getting there as fast. My oldest is pretty good at handwriting and didn't need a lot of help so I'm not sure of the best course to take now.

 

So... What should I be doing? Keep giving him my dot pages and letting him practice until we get there? Buy Zaner-Bloser's K book and have him go through it a second time? Or try another handwriting book?

[Favorite Skin Care]

My Paula's Choice box of samples came today, and for the first time I'm super excited about washing my face and getting ready for bed! :)

 

Sent from my XT1049 using Tapatalk

[Help Plan Baby Girl's Registry]

I'm pregnant with my 4th child and ONLY girl :) After 3 boys, I'm having fun picking out things for a girly nursery with coral, peach and blush - I just can't take too much pink all at once (at least not yet ;)

 

At the same time, a lot of our baby items like car seats and bouncers really need to be replaced.

 

We haven't bought a lot of this baby stuff for a while, so... Help me plan my registry! What are your favorite baby items? What do I not want to forget? And what's great for a can't girl?

 

And also... Where should I register??

 

Thanks for your input!

 

(You can share your favorite baby girl names too ;) Our last name is Baddeley, and our boys are James, Connor, and Grady)

[Favorite Skin Care]

Okay Paula's Choice users, what are your favorite products? I'm a little overwhelmed with all the choices.

[Favorite Skin Care]

What are your favorite skin care products?

 

I'm 30 years old and want to keep my skin healthy and young-looking. I've noticed small wrinkles around my eyes and my pores are looking larger - normal, but I'd like to make sure I'm taking care of my skin. I have only occasional small breakouts, not like the acne I used to have. My skin is not very oily or dry, although I've used a lot of products that do dry it out, which cause it to be more oily as it compensates. I seem to do better with creamier cleansers, in my experience.

 

I've been using Burt's Bees Radiance face wash and day and night cream. What do you all love?

[Spanish curriculum that spans large age range?]

I second La Clase Divertida. We've been doing it lightly this year with my 1st and K'er but could be used with children much older as well.

[Memoria Press Enrichment Books]

Question for those who use these enrichments: do you buy just the Enrichment guide, or the lesson plans, or both? This was our first year using the K Enrichment, and I'm curious what you all use as I'll be buying the 1st grade Enrichment next year.

[Memoria Press Enrichment Books]

Thank you!

 

What about the music part? Do you just find the weekly selection on the internet? I did not see a CD for the music; maybe I overlooked it.

There's no CD. I just find them on the internet if we don't own a CD with that piece of music. I don't use Spotify, but I've seen it mentioned elsewhere on the forum that there is a Spotify station, or list, or whatever they call it... So you could look into that if that's easier for you. ;)

[What do you do after the poem is memorized? How much memory work?]

We use FLL for my 1st grader and K'er, and we love the poems. It has periodic review built in, and we don't review much beyond that. We also do MP K Enrichment a bit, but we usually ready the poems and then I let them pick other poems from the book and we read those. But we've never memorized them, and I'm okay with that ;)

[If anyone needs to feel better about their ability to homeschool today....]

Thank you for this thread. It is making me laugh out loud and restoring my sanity :)

[Science for 2nd & K (and Art)]

I definitely recommend Home Art Studio, we own all of them!

 

For science, we did Earth Science and Astronomy in 2nd grade and I put a free guide on my blog about what to read each week, projects to do, videos to watch and even some games. I haven't checked the links in a while but it will give you an idea of how easy it is to do it yourself! http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2012/01/earth-science-topics.html

 

Forgot to add the Astronomy links, I didn't do a guide for it but here is a link list: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2010/01/astronomy-links-index.html

Thank you! That will be a great resource, either on its own or as a supplement. :)

[Science for 2nd & K (and Art)]

You might look at some of the Guesthollow schedules. She schedules great books and fun hands on activities for you.

Good idea! I'll have to see what she has. Thanks!

[Science for 2nd & K (and Art)]

We enjoy Home Science Adventures by Stratton House. Everything comes in the kit and my kids enjoy the experiments.

I'll definitely look into this. Thanks!

[Science for 2nd & K (and Art)]

We just started Christian Kids Explore (Earth & Space). There are two lessons per week, one is a reading based lesson and the other is an experiment. You fill in with some library books as time allows (listed in the back of the manual). There is also coloring pages, memory work, and a few worksheets & quizzes. We are only a few weeks into it, but so far the experiments have been really easy. This week we boiled eggs, cracked them a bit and moved the egg shell around to see how the Earth's plates would move around. Last week we made models of the Earth's different layers (using either paper cutouts or playdough).

This sounds great! Off to look into it! ;)

[Science for 2nd & K (and Art)]

I need ideas for Science for next year, with my boys who are 2nd grade and K/1st grade.

 

We love reading books together, and I know they are learning. But it is way easier for me to teach math, grammar (FLL) and history (SOTW) than Science - it's not happening as often or as in-depth as we'd all like. I like structure in my curriculum, although I don't want to give up great reading. But my oldest is always begging to do experiments or projects! I know he would really benefit from doing this more often. We also have a 2 yr old and I'm pregnant, so I'd love some sort of kit I can purchase or something that doesn't require me to do a lot of thinking and planning :) (Although dh could help a bit if necessary.)

 

Any ideas of what I should take a look at? We've done anatomy and biology loosely this year. We're Christian, young earth if possible. I appreciate any recommendations :)

 

PS we have a similar situation with Art. I need some structure to help ensure we do it :) I'm looking at Home Art Studio or Artistic Pursuits. Cast your votes!! :D

[2nd Grade Planning Thread]

We're about to have a newborn join us, so we're going to "turn the page" as we go from 1st into 2nd.

 

So to finish off 1st, I hope to get through these sometime before the end of July (after taking a long break in March for the new baby):

 

FLL 1

WWE 1, not the workbook - which I combine with SOTW

Spelling Workout A

Treasures readers and Phonics Pathways

SOTW 1, but probably won't finish completely this year

Daily Geography 1

Human body unit based of off Guest Hollows Little Otter Anatomy

 

Then 2nd grade will be:

 

FLL 2

WWE 2, again in combination with SOTW

Finish SOTW 1, then 2

Daily Geography 2

Continue BFSU sequence, maybe with some review to bring in DD4, but I think materials/rocks is next

 

For reading/spelling, I really want to give Spalding another try. Everything we're doing now is "working", but I do feel that Spalding is a superior method. So we'll see.

 

I'd love to add Artistic Pursuits, Spanish, and more morning time stuff for relgion, but again, we'll see. Having a 4th is kinda scaring me. :)

Hah, we're in very similar situations! I'm pregnant with my 4th, due in May. And we're using a good amount of the same curriculum as you are for 1st, including WWE, SW, and GH Little Otter science. :)

 

Best of luck with schooling and No 4!

[First grade math--not sure what to try.]

It's so interesting for me to read all these posts! I have a 6yo (1st grade) and a 5 yo (Kindergarten). Both went through Singapore Early Bird Math for Kindergarten. My 1st grader moved on to SM 1a and has recently hit a wall. He has not liked their method for adding numbers like 13+6 where they want you to make the 13 a 10 and the 6 a 9, then add 10 and 9 to get 19. He's not comfortable doing all the steps on his own. We had been supplementing with Miquon but I shelved it the last few months to keep up with the SM wkbk, txbk, Intensive Practice and Extra Practice. I think all of that was just taking the fun out of it for him. We've been taking a break and doing Miquon the last few weeks, and he's in love! He absolutely loves working with the rods.

I'm considering using Miquon as our primary math, but I'm glad to have the reassurance from those of you who have used it as your primary math. I'm not as sure in my methods for teaching it, but I love his comprehension and enthusiasm.

My 5yo will be finishing Early Bird soon and I think he'll enjoy using Miquon at least until 1st grade if not beyond.

Keep sharing tips and advice for using Miquon please ;)

[10-hour flight and 5-hour time difference with kids]

All right, I'd appreciate some travel advice! Any tips or advice for a long flight and 5-hour time difference with 3 young boys? Ages 6, 4, and 2.

 

We're traveling from NC to Hawaii. It will be my boys, my parents, and me and dh so we can shuffle seats around on the flight. We have a horrible 6am flight :( We'll be there 2 weeks and are staying in a large house.

 

Any help is appreciated :)

[Let's Talk Thanksgiving Desserts]

What are your favorite dessert recipes with no dairy? My son is allergic to milk and nuts (except almond). We have a brand of almond milk and margarine we use without a problem.

 

I'd love an apple or pumpkin recipe. :)

[Simplest Learn to read book/program??]

We loved OPGTTR. My son was 4.5 when he began to read, and his younger brother learned at 3 because he listened to lessons and wanted to be included.

 

I mostly just use the list words, and to make it more interesting when he was younger I'd write the words on a white board for him to read or we'd spell them with bananagrams. Later on we used a notebook for trickier words. As we go through the lesson, I write down words that are a little trickier for them and they might need to review. I just keep a running list. At the beginning of each lesson, we read the words in the notebook and they can cross out the words they read correctly the first time. We also review a couple prior lessons from other spots in the book. This works really well for us!! (Sorry if TMI. Thought it might help to hear how we use OPGTTR. These ideas might work with other curriculum as well.)

[Lego's for 6yo and 4yo]

Thanks for all the ideas!

[Lego's for 6yo and 4yo]

My boys are ages 6 and 4. This year they have really gotten into playing with Lego's. Please help me figure out what Lego's they should get for Christmas, since that is the first thing they have been asking for.

 

They currently have all Star Wars sets that seemed simple enough for them to build, with some light help/supervision from Daddy. They do really well at following the instructions (especially the 4yo, for his age)! They typically follow these instructions the first time through, then just group the Lego's into baggies by color and they love to make their own creations with them (usually "Star Wars ships").

 

I feel like I'm entering a whole new world of toys for them. Where do we go from here in this new Lego world?

 

Thanks for your help.