zaichiki
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Posts posted by zaichiki
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PLEASE know ....
the timer for lunch thing has NOTHING to do with school. that developed over the summertime when DH and i realized that our kid will sit and just get wild and crazy during a meal if we don't tell them they need to eat. i got tired of telling them to eat. eat. eat. and then after 45 min they STILL had over half the food left on their plates and if we asked them to get up from the table b/c lunch or dinner was over, they pitched fits at us for taking their food away b/c they were still hungry. truly. the 20 min thing isn't a crazy heavyhanded thing. it just helps them understand that they don't need to be spending 45 min eating a pb sandwich and some carrots. that's absurd. and they were just acting silly and goofy the entire time. what we want for them is that they eat, and then GO OUTSIDE or upstairs to be silly and goofy where it's appropriate. the table is NOT a place to be silly and goofy IMHO. and it drives DH nuts.
We have days like this. Most of our meals take *at least* 30 minutes. But... on days when the kids are getting wild at the table, I've found a read aloud works wonders. If I am reading them a book (holding it so they can see the pictures), they seem to eat without noticing it and it takes them FAR less time. Their minds are busy, so they have no time to tease, argue, or kick each other under the table. Ha. That does happen some days. Sheesh! But, really, a good book does WONDERS for that (and for my sanity).
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Sears is our "go to place." Alternatively, Macy's, J.C. Penney's, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom's... though the last two are more pricey... I'd guess just about any mall would have a department store that carries dress clothes for boys.
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We keep the finished lapbooks in a magazine holder, like this one:
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/478707/Christopher-Lowell-Carriage-House-Magazine-Holder/
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I agree with Jennie in AZ. Sounds like you have a perfectionist on your hands. They have a fear of making mistakes. Welcome to the zany world of perfectionism. It can be a wild ride. Hold on. :)
(Oldest ds is the perfectionist in this family. Thankfully we have only one so far.)
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Lives of the Presidents (Fame, Shame and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull
National Geographic Our Country's Presidents by Ann Bausum
DK ultimate sticker book Presidents
The Presidents Sticker Book (with matching games)
If the Walls Could Talk Family Life at the White House by Jane O'Connor
Don't Know Much About the Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis (author of Don't Know Much About History)
My kids are using these to make a Presidents lapbook.
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Honestly, for most kids Core 6 at 9 would be too much. BUT there are some kids out there for whom it would be a fine fit. We have many of the books (piecemeal). Ds recently turned 10 and is a history nut. He has read many books with more mature themes on his own (we keep in touch about what he is reading). I would not hesitate to do Core 6 with him. I probably would have even considered doing it last year, when he was 9, if we were at that time point in history.
This year ds will be going to school for the first time. His 6th grade class will be studying ancient history. I'll sneak him the Core 6 books on the side. At home, with my 7 yr old, we'll be finishing up the 4 year cycle this year. Ds (10) will be reading books from this time period, too. So... he'll be doing SL Cores 4 and 6, but not exactly following the IG IYKWIM.
I think doing SL Core 6, the way you described in your very first post, would be perfect, actually. I wouldn't get Core 1. (I have Core 1, which we LOVED, but I really enjoyed beefing it up by adding SOTW and picture books/activities from the SOTW activity guide. If you had that, you could EASILY make Core 6 accessible to your little ones. You'd need to use different RAs with them, but that's easy to do. You don't need Core 1.)
No offense meant, but I'm sure the SL rep is happy to convince you to buy you TWO cores.
If you have the time (for getting/returning lib bks) and the library access, your first idea rocks, I think.
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I start either
a) when my children are writing well in lowercase print (that has been 6 years old for us so far)
or
b) when they ask.
Dd asked to learn cursive at 5, so I taught her. She had been writing in imaginary cursive (loops) for two years already. She had a lot of trouble with b/d reversals in print, but there was no problem with cursive. She picked it up quickly. In fact, her cursive is prettier than her print.
I don't think manuscript/print is necessarily a stepping stone to cursive. A Beka teaches cursive first, in K.
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Christina,
Many bilingual families start teaching reading in the dominant language. Then, when reading in that language is fluent (approx a 3rd grade level?), reading in the second language is started.
My kids used to be more balanced bilinguals. This is what we did at the time. Ds started to learn to read in Russian after he was fluently reading in English. Alas, we had some experiences in our lives which resulted in much of our Russian language (conversation, reading, writing) being left out for a long time. Ds no longer reads well in Russian. This is something we will pick up again.
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Thank you all for sharing your experiences. It sounds like VideoText might be just what I am looking for... but I might try what the last poster did. I've been hoping to get my hands on some NEM anyway.
Appreciate your replies! :)
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Ds is doing Singapore's PM 5A right now. I noticed that between that and Singapore's Wiggle Woods CD-rom, there is some "review" in Module A. Ds has never done a video "class" before, though, so this may be just right.
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Anyone have experience using this? I just picked up Module A and B, used, from another homeschooler. I'm looking for strengths and weaknesses, especially after using Singapore Math. I seem to remember more people using this several years ago, but rarely hear about it anymore.
Thanks!
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Anyone have experience using this? I just picked up Module A and B, used, from another homeschooler. I'm looking for strengths and weaknesses, especially after using Singapore Math. I seem to remember more people using this several years ago, but rarely hear about it anymore.
Thanks!
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Dd (7) also prefers the company of older kids. I think part of this is that she's always spent so much time with her older brother and his group of friends. She's always tried to play with older kids. She will play with younger kids, but she sort of "mothers" them. She tries that with 6 and 7 year olds all the time. Dd gravitates towards the 8-11 year old girls if given the choice. She's also very tall for her age, so she looks the part. Most 8-9 year olds just assume she's "one of the pack." As dd gets older, though, I think I'd prefer she socialize with kids her own age. There's so much more, socially, that teenage girls are involved with... I don't want her into that until she's older. But HOW would I encourage an "age correct?" I have no idea!
Ds (10) has a couple of friends who are 11 and 12, but he also does well with 9 and 10 year olds. He doesn't seem to feel that pull to be around older kids. In fact, although he's tall for his age (just shy of 5'), when he sees kids his height he *knows* they're older/out of his league. At the park, when I point out a group of kids his height, he'll tell me "No, mom, I can't just go play with that group. They're probably teenagers."
Ds (3) plays with other little kids, but he spends so much time around older kids, too. Of course, he *loves* being the "baby" of the group, so it's not that he tries to "fit in" with the older kids.
It's so interesting to me that my kids approach this socializing experiment so *differently*! :)
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And, for those of you who pointed out that testing and its results don't change the child....I get this. I've often told myself that it doesn't really matter. But, I believe that it can matter. Just like it can be beneficial to identify a learning disability so it can be addressed, I think giftedness needs to be addressed. I think that it can be painful for a child if their giftedness isn't recognized (not in an award way, but in an educational strategy way). I also think that if giftedness isn't "used," it can become like a wedding gift that never gets used....it sits in the back of a closet collecting dust. It's still there, but it (and it's potential) is forgotten. That, to me, is so sad (for the child and for our society).
I believe I also mentioned that the results don't change the child. I didn't intend to say that it doesn't *matter* but that you're probably *already* meeting your child's needs. A child really doesn't have to be identified as gifted to have their educational needs met at home. Here's an example.
We had ds tested with the WISC IV by a local psychologist when he was 7. Before he was 7, though, he was not "identified by a number." He learned to read pretty much on his own at 4. I did run him through Hooked on Phonics because I was sure there'd be gaps if I didn't, but each time we did a lesson he would just read/recite it all to me, rushing through to get it over with or he'd stare out the window. It was obvious to me at the time that he wasn't learning anything new. So... I made sure (library, book stores, Sonlight curriculum books) that he had books he could read that were more advanced -- at the level he wanted/needed. Ds was only 5, but we did SL's core 1 anyway, because he was *obsessed* with Ancient history. He was working on Singapore Primary Math's year 2 before the typical age. Because he was ready. I didn't need a score to meet his needs.
That said -- I'm glad I did the testing for *this* child. I found out that his being a strong visual learner was true. He has a nearly photographic visual memory. But his sequencing ability was only just barely in the normal range (very close to below normal score). And his working memory was also below average. I discovered that he was compensating BIG TIME and it gave me permission to be more patient in the areas I knew he was struggling (mental math and learning to sightread the way his cello teacher was trying to teach him by memorizing the notes in order and then reciting them *backwards* -- he really couldn't do that). So, for this child, testing was fabulous.
My second child was tested at 4, just as she was learning to read. I'm SO glad she was "identified" with a number because she ended up struggling more than I expected with learning to read. If I didn't *know* she was gifted, I probably would have just sighed and taken this as "proof" that she wasn't really gifted and it was just my imagination. Instead, I already had the number, so I knew something just didn't add up. Her number was nearly the same as her brother's (the kid who was reading chapter books at 5). So, I had the confidence to follow up on this until I found out that dd has dyslexia. I would probably never had known that if I didn't have the confidence, given to me by that number, to go further investigating her reading struggles. Of course, dd was compensating, too, so although she has struggled with dyslexia, she would probably have blended right into the average first or second grade classroom (in reading) when she was 6 and 7.
So, again, I think you can be sure that needs will be met without being identified. However, you can also be certain that in SOME cases (2E), that number can really help. Of course, if a child is in the schools, being identified is important to help needs be met.
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II really think my dd is gifted, but then I'm her mom. :) If I am right, I am overwhelmed about what that could mean given our educational choices (or lack of).
First of all, you're her mom, right? You know what she needs. You've been educating her so far. Whether you have a number or not, you're still meeting her needs. Those needs won't change if you get a number.
Okay. That said, I *did* get my kids tested (WPPSI and WISC IV) when they were younger. The biggest reason was so that I could stop doubting myself. I thought they were pretty quick learners, but "I was their mom" and they were probably just typical and I was probably just kidding myself that they were anything else. Ummm... yeah. I *did* learn a whole lot about my kids strengths and weaknesses, actually. I had suspected that ds was a strong visual learner and dd was a strong auditory learner, but now I know why. I have a lot more information from those subtests. And... it was good to get an overview of my children's strengths and weaknesses from a more objective "third party."
As it ended up, I didn't change any of the curricula or techniques I used to teach the kids. I AM a whole lot more confident, though, that I DO know my children and that I CAN handle this.
Not sure if that helps?
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There aren't any online IQ tests that are worth anything. In order to get a score that is meaningful the test needs to be done in a certain manner. Online isn't it.
What she said!
And in addition to that... those on-line IQ tests meant for adults aren't anywhere near accurate either. A friend sent dh and I a couple of links for kicks. One night we had nothing to do... and so we thought we'd try them and see what was up. Entertainment purposes only! Talk about an overestimate! Ha! Yeah... that's us... the smartest people on the planet!
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Some areas in more rural Eastern CT would be about 45 min to an hour away. What sort of commute are you looking for? Did you want to stay in RI? How about MA?
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We got dd some REALLY inexpensive skirts with cotton shorts attached at Old Navy. I *think* they're called skorts, but maybe not. Do skorts look like shorts in the back? These are skirts all around and fall about an inch above her knee. I don't think I'd like anything much shorter than that. These skirts are actually longer than most shorts kids wear around here. Dd loves them and I never have to worry that she's showing the neighborhood her underwear! (They work well with a t-shirt, but they're also easy to "dress up" a little bit if we need to run out somewhere. I'd let her wear them to church, too.)
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First, if this were a "socialist" problem you'd expect to see that restriction in other "socialist" countries. Do you?
I don't know much about France, I admit. I also admit to not knowing how most socialist countries today react to children in the schools wearing religious symbols.
I DO know that in communist Russia (USSR), this would have been a problem. The children were taught, in the public schools, that there is no God. They were told stories of the HERO boy who tattled on his parents: they were praying at home. The parents were sent to prison and the boy was a hero of the state. I have a very strong feeling that Russian children didn't wear ANY religious symbols (headscarves, crosses, stars of David, or otherwise) at school. I can ask dh, who was raised there during that time. If I hear otherwise, I'll let you know.
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I always did feel bad for W though. He is dyslexic and no one ever seemed to cut him any slack.
He has dyslexia? Really??? I never knew that. I honestly just thought he was a few watts short in some areas. Or maybe easily flustered? Dyslexia huh? Good to know.
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You almost have to laugh, don't you, when such a little one says things like that... BUT... WHAT do you say when your 3 year old tells you he doesn't want you in his life right now??!!! It's like borderline cute/ yet disrespectful at the same time. (I'd be so confused; I don't think I'd know what to say and I probably would have to leave the room immediately to giggle.)
Our 3.5 year old asked his father to play a pretend game with him this morning: "Pretend we're the strong British regulars and they're the weak Minutemen."
When I pointed out to him that those "weak" Minutemen did eventually come out as the "winners" because they won their freedom, he had a new twist to the game: "Yes, but after the revolution war, we'll BECOME the Minutemen."
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I have watched Henry Gates on PBS shows for YEARS! I've always admired him as an intelligent and well-spoken man. After reading those police reports, I must admit that I am VERY disappointed in Henry Gates' behavior. It's SO sad. Maybe he was drunk or something? I sure hope so! I'd hate to think that kind of behavior was Henry Gates in full control of his faculties. Sigh.
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So what if he was belligerent and making comments regarding the officer's "mamma" (Mr. Gates did deny that, but I certainly wasn't there)? Is that really an arrestable offense? Really? Everytime someone says something offensive and/or ugly to you, are your going to have them arrested? I think a previous poster had it right on when she stated that the cop was power tripping.
You don't verbally attack a police officer who is following protocol. You don't verbally attack a police officer period. You can get arrested for that. You don't verbally attack a judge, either. They can hold you in contempt of court.
Heck. I guess you CAN verbally attack them, but you should be ready for the consequences.
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On all the others she had so much variability that a single score couldn't quantify what she could do.
That's it in a nutshell. When the subtest scatter is all-over-the-place (our experience with oldest), the tester/psychologist cannot give you that "single score." For an IQ test like the WISC, there would be no full scale IQ score given. Instead, they CAN give the GAI (general ability index). It's their way of saying "Hey, this IQ test isn't really valid 'cause there's too many inconsistencies. Basically, we have here a pretty smart kiddo with seriously intense issues in some areas."
Travel question: distance PA to NY?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Oh, yeah... definitely stay at a hotel at the airport the night before your flight. Imagine how much easier your morning will be!