JeanM
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Posts posted by JeanM
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Does the link work? There should be a folder with three tests and a final for each of the two semesters....
Yes, it worked! Thanks so much. I'm saving these for next year.
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Congratulations! What an inspiring story!
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Make sure that your ds understands the importance of checking his answers in algebra. Ideally he should take the answer he gets and plug it into the original problem (not the problem that he copied onto his paper). This should help him to find his own errors.
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Google runs a science fair, but I think you have to be 13 years old to participate.
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We may be taking a trip next year to South Korea, and I was thinking about adding some Korean studies to the list for this year. Any suggestions for resources?
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I haven't tried it yet, but it looks interesting. Thanks!
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My kids got gmail accounts several years ago, and nobody ever asked their ages. Now you can't sign up until you are 13. My dc use their gmail accounts to communicate with their cousins and with a few friends.
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One thing I would strongly advise is to skip the word problems altogether at first. I have my kids/students only do say 4th grade level word problems once they are doing 6th grade level computation. There's almost no better vehicle out there in conventional math curricula for ruining kids for math than *word problems*! It's like riding a bike it's hard at first is because *pedaling* and *balancing* are enemies.
Maybe this depends on the kid, since my dc prefer word problems to straight computations. When my older ds was younger, he would make up story problems for the computation problems in the Singapore Primary Math books.
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I've the major breadwinner since DH's former job ended about 2.5 years ago. I still sometimes hope that he'll get another job since I think I enjoyed being the homeschooling parent more than he does.
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The comic books I haven't seen mentioned here are PS238. This is the first book:
http://www.amazon.com/PS238-With-Liberty-Recess-All/dp/1930964692/ref=pd_sim_b_1
To be honest, I haven't read them at all, but both my dc like them. I think they are about kids with superpowers. There is a related role playing game that my dc have too.
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Each member of our family has a Kleen Kanteen. We each have a different color, which makes it easy to grab the right one. We went through a lot of water bottles before these, but these have lasted MUCH longer.
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This is my long winded way of saying, do whatever works NOW.:001_smile: If you think she would enjoy SOTW, start it for that reason. If you think it would be better to wait, then wait. I could never have guessed when dd was 5, the changes my plan would undergo. I am now assuming that my plan will look completely different in another 3 years. That won't stop me from making a plan, but I will only make decisions based on where we are right now.
:iagree::iagree:
Keep in mind that if you start SOTW 1 when she turns 5, and you do about one book per year, you'll be starting SOTW 4 when she turns 8. SOTW 4 is significantly longer and has more "mature" topics. I know my dc wouldn't have been ready for that at age 8, but I'm sure some kids would be fine. There are ways around that, like skipping SOTW4 and going back to ancients, or taking longer on some of the earlier books.
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That sounds like a fun way to do study. Have you found any guidelines for what materials to cover, aside from the sample questions?
Do you know if there is a competition in your area? All the middle school teams that I could locate seem to be in the midwest.
So no one has done National Science Bowl?I've been trying to figure out how to help them study, if I manage to get a team together. I think the easiest and funnest way for all involved is to maybe have them do a continuous lap book. We can add different science subjects each time, and they can have their books to study as they prepare. And once we get some of their books made up, we can practice how to answer rapid-fire questions, too.
Does this sound crazy?
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Thanks Karen & Angela! Great info. I believe our state does not have regional competitions - everyone goes to the state competition. One of the benefits of a low-population state :001_smile:.
I'll warn my dc about the music. They love music, but they really hate loud pop music. I'm having trouble envisioning this as a sports-like event.
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There are a couple of other things to note that I haven't seen mentioned. In our state, the competition is LOUD. They had a DJ with pounding technopop blaring in a gymnasium throughout the competition, with 8 or so teams on the floor at a time. Luckily, our coach expected that and made a mix tape of loud music to play while the team practiced, just to get them used to working under those conditions. We switched to Science Olympiad for the last two years and the competition conditions are night and day. Also, be prepared to have little things to hand out to other teams at the competition. We had small frisbees from Oriental Trading that we put our team name on, other teams had things like Lego-shaped soaps stuck on cards with some sort of slogan, buttons with their team names on them, etc. It's important to include that in your budgeting for the year.
That is good to know - yet another expense to consider! I wonder if that is true for all states?
My dc still say they want to do this. Now we just need to figure out who else to add to the team. After reading the replies so far here, we're thinking about just working with one or two other families. With just two or three families, I think scheduling will be easier.
Thanks to everyone who has replied so far, and more info is always welcome!
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In our experience, in our state (Ohio the past three years,) the judges were able to tell.
That's very encouraging. And kudos to all of the kids who are doing things themselves!
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We have done FLL for the last three years and this year is the first year we may not have a team. The local competition is great, lots of teams, kids doing the work (for the most part)... and most of the teams at the state competition are the same way... but not the teams that win. The teams that win have FAR more adult involvement. Our kids last year had spend a huge amount of time on their project and it was very well done. They came away frustrated because they were marked down because (and this is a written quote from a state level judge) their "project book was not word processed." This was in the younger division, not older. The kids had made up an organized book of their brainstorming notes, research, etc... and it was all handwritten, legible and age appropriate. They could not have word processed that and I have a hard time believing that any of the teams could have managed that unless it was done by a parent. The winning team had a word processed project book that was 700 (!) pages long. For real. AND they were 9-11 year olds. It had clearly been put together by an adult.
Another team who won for robot design was in the practice area of the competition. Three adult men were running the robot and making programming changes. Their team of mostly 9-10 yos were actually told by these "coaches" (and I heard this myself) "get back from the table and do NOT touch it. You can watch."
Our team left feeling that they had worked their butts off, but didn't realize til they got to the competition that they would be competing against adult engineers. They were frustrated and we adults were as well.
Wow, that is terrible. I wish there were a way for the judges to tell who had done the work.
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This looks really interesting. I'll bump again for you, hoping that someone has done this.
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Thanks! That's very helpful. I need to talk to my dc when they get back from camp and make a plan. It sounds like most people really have smaller teams than the maximum of 10, which sounds good to me. Ten kids is a lot to coordinate.
My dc have done a few years, and I am starting a team this coming year for younger ds and friends. My olders do VEX and FIRST Robotics, so we are heavily involved in robotics. :D It's excellent!Last year, the team was 5 kiddos. They spent 4-6 hours per week up until the last few weeks, then it was more. They worked hard on both the robotics aspect and the teamwork/presentation/research aspect. They continued practicing between their regional and state competition for several hours a week. The students did all of the building and programming, which takes time.
I think the ideal size is 5-6 students.
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It is fairly common for people to ask if my boys are both mine, if one is adopted, etc. My younger ds has taken to explaining that neither is adopted, and they really are brothers, right after they are introduced to someone.
Older ds: very tall, dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin tone
younger ds: short, light hair, blue eyes, pale skin tone
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Last year was our first year participating.
They met 2 hrs a week most of the season, and then the last couple weeks it was more like 5 hrs a week. We did not spend a huge amount of time on the project. The competition is in December so it is a one-semester commitment.
I have to say though, our team was very middle-of-the-road, and we had some of the youngest FLL students (mostly 4th graders), all first-time participants. Our regional competition was about 30-something teams and our team ranked 17th. Winning teams clearly invested a lot more time. But, our team had a ton of fun and learned in the process.
Thanks, that is very helpful. I'm glad to hear that it was a good experience.
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My dc have done some lego robotics through 4H, but have never done First Lego League. Can anyone give me an idea of how many hours per week your group meets? How much time do your dc spend on FLL outside of the group meetings?
Does your group spend as much time on the research project as on the robotics?
Oh, and if you have an opinion on the ideal group size, I'd love to know that too.
Thanks!
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My question was about the course. In my state it is $16 to participate, and I was wondering if I had to get a group together or just play with my kids. I am not looking to be real competitive. I wonder if the rules differ by state? I am just looking for experiences, good or bad.
I'm not sure I can help you there, because I think the rules are different in different states. Generally I'd say it was a positive experience, and I think my dc want to do it again in the fall. We pretty much ignored the competitive aspect and focused on trying to improve our portfolio. It does give you a very short-sighted view of the market. If you pick stocks that seem likely to perform well long-term, a short-term dip can really skew things.
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My dc have done some lego robotics through 4H, but have never done First Lego League. Can anyone give me an idea of how many hours per week your group meets? How much time do your dc spend on FLL outside of the group meetings?
Does your group spend as much time on the research project as on the robotics?
Oh, and if you have an opinion on the ideal group size, I'd love to know that too.
Thanks!
Is Davidson worth it for a high schooler?
in Accelerated Learner Board
Posted
I've been wondering the same thing. I thought the consultant might be helpful, and it would be wonderful for ds to connect with peers.
I've mostly been dragging my feet because ds's iq test was borderline and it was done eight years ago. When I asked, the Davidson people recommended that I submit a portfolio with it, but I really can't think of much to put in a portfolio.