LynnS
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Posts posted by LynnS
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We have a huge magnetic whiteboard and it's awesome. No mess and erases beautifully. Plus, anything that's light enough to have a magnet glued/stuck to it can be a manipulative for any topic (for example, I used peel and stick magnet squares with two-color circular math counters so we could do ten frames and various other things). You can also buy sheets of magnet "paper" to print on with an inkjet and go crazy. We bought ours specifically for the AAR magnets, but we'll be using it for years to come. We mounted it to the wall with the Command adhesive Velcro picture hanging strips.
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Reading this thread has made me feel so much less alone. I had a solid 18 year career in a technical field (I'm an older mom), but I was pretty burned out on it due to stress, pager rotations, and lots of weekend/evening work. Once my son was born, staying home with him was appealing for multiple reasons. Being a SAHM when he was an infant/toddler/preschooler had the usual ups and downs, but I loved taking him to parks and museums, doing crafts, etc. Now that we're really homeschooling, I'm beginning to feel the total lack of validation. Maybe because SAHMs of small children aren't really expected to produce measurable results, but homeschool moms seem to have to justify that they're doing better than the public and private alternatives. I am trying extremely hard to avoid the pernicious trap of living vicariously through my child or allowing my self-esteem to ride on how smoothly "school" is going or how "advanced" he is. The whole point of homeschooling is NOT to pressure the child and kill their love of learning. When there's no paycheck, no glowing yearly review, no list of completed projects and happy customers, no praise from the boss, what the heck do you base your self-worth on?
Then there's the fact that I've been out of the workforce long enough that it would be a serious struggle to get back up to speed in a very fast-moving technical field. I was always one of the few women in the groups I worked in (often the only one), and I feel like leaving has just provided more evidence that women can't hack it, and made it harder for other women trying to move into that type of position. I really empathize with a previous poster who feels "stuck" homeschooling; one of the reasons we're homeschooling is because our local schools are truly awful. If did go back to work, I'd either be putting my son into very substandard educational situation, or we'd be scrambling to get him into a private school (extremely pricey in our area). I feel like this entire decision may have been an awful mistake, but I don't know what to do about it. Every year that goes by, I feel like I'm getting farther away from doing anything meaningful with my life, and as a bonus, I may be screwing up my kid in the process.
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We're reading "The Warm Place" by Nancy Farmer. It's about a baby giraffe trying to get back home to Africa (better than it sounds, promise).
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My DH tries to do "daddy school" once a week on a weekend day (which removes any slacker guilt if we skip schooly stuff for a day or two during the week). I'll usually brief him about what we're doing in math, reading, etc the night before/morning of. The curriculums we use (RIghtStart, AAR, BYL) are pretty easy to jump right into on any given day. I do most of the overall school planning and choosing, but we do discuss before any big purchases.
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My son, who just turned 6, is about to start AAR4. He's a natural reader, and for him AAR has been more about learning phonics rules and a smattering of LA concepts than learning to read (he always zips through the fluency sheets with no issues). He loves AAR (which is one of the big reasons we're using it), but I'm wondering what to do once we finish Level 4, probably over the summer, when we'd start his "1st grade" year.
MCT Level 1 is looking promising from a LA standpoint. My son spends extended periods reading independently, but still loves to be read to, so it seems like it would be a good fit unless the concepts would be over his head. I'm also wondering about a writing program and how much writing we should be doing. His reading is advanced, but as far as writing, we're doing light copywork and starting to compose sentences (somewhat reluctantly). His handwriting skills are a work in progress. We might do AAS for spelling (his lack of spelling knowledge may be part of his writing reluctance, since he has a perfectionist streak), but I'm thinking it might be good to find a way to encourage him to start writing things down (he enjoys telling stories and making drawings to illustrate them).
Any suggestions would be most appreciated!
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Math: Singapore 1B
Reading: AAR 4
Spelling: Still researching, but How to Teach Spelling is looking interesting.
Science: RSO Life
Handwriting: Copywork. My son loves Draw Write Now, will start there
Literature/History: BYL 1
Writing: Not sure yet. Looking at some Evan-Moor books to start with.
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Thanks, all, 1B it is. I'm looking forward to changing things up.
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Hi, this is my first post. :-) I've looked through the archives but haven't seen this question; apologies if this is one that's been beaten to death already.
I have a son in K, and having started school over the summer, we're most of the way through Right Start A. It has not lived up to our expectations. My son finds it really boring, including the games, and has been increasingly complain-y about math. Last year we did Singapore Kindergarten A as a sort of preschool math, and being a kid who doesn't mind workbooks, he loved it. (I'm kicking myself now for not sticking with it.) We're looking into switching back to Singapore, so I gave him the placement test for Singapore 1.He aced it: no errors. This is a kid who regularly claims he doesn't know simple addition facts like 3+4, so I was shocked.
I'd hate to push him into 1B if he's not solid on the concepts from 1A, but I don't want him to be bored and start really hating math, either. Have other folks found the placement tests to be pretty accurate? I guess it's possible he's more comfortable with written tests than answering math problems verbally, and he really does know the material. He's a strong reader but we haven't thought of him as a very mathy kid (maybe we're wrong!)
"Fun" word problems for early elementary
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
This past year I've been supplementing Right Start Math with Evan Moor's Daily Word Problems (Grade 1). The workbook has an animal theme, and the problems are interspersed with fun animal facts. My son has really enjoyed this format, and has never objected to doing a few problems a day. I took a look at the Grade 2 book, and it looks pretty boring by comparison. Is anyone aware of a "fun" word problem book series for the lower grades that has a similar engaging format?