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anabelneri

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Posts posted by anabelneri

  1. It’s been a while since I was here, but I found the thread and 4th grade is what I’m working on. This is my 3rd & final 4th grader 🥰🥺. Like others, this isn’t finalized. 
     

    Math: Beast Academy online, Argoprep Math! grade 4 for portfolio. 
     

    English: Brave Writer Arrow online book club, at least for Aug, Sept, & Oct. We’ll reassess afterwards. Probably MCT, either Island or Town level. Cursive. 
     

    Spanish: classes through My Spanish Journey, Duolingo, reading, maybe volunteering at a local food pantry that works with a fair-sized Spanish speaking population. 
     

    History: We’re doing SOTW2 now, so we’ll continue doing Middle Ages things this year. We also will be doing California history; I’m eyeballing the Beautiful Feet curriculum but I’m not sold yet. 
     

    Science: Nature study, geology, etc., to go along with our California studies. Clearly this area needs work. I also need to find a workbook that we can use to turn in pages for the portfolio. 
     

    Klingon: Yeah, the kid has requested to learn Klingon. 🖖🏻 I’m making worksheets to practice the writing, and we’ll be using Duolingo. Qapla!

    PE: No idea. Maybe we’ll convince dh to teach Aikido sword forms, or maybe we’ll hike more regularly (and do science while we’re at it). 
     

    I’m also hoping we’ll do more art this year. My ADHD has been strong of late, unfortunately, which makes everything hard to actually accomplish unless there’s an outside check (that’s why I signed up for the Arrow book club). 
     

    Thanks!

    Anabel

    • Like 2
  2. Hey there! I was around the forum years ago, and I’m excited to be back. 
     

    I have an 8th grader who we’re pretty sure has PDA. We’re stateside, so it’s not an official diagnosis, but it’s the only thing in our years of searching that fits my kid. 
     

    So, I know the recommended thing for kiddos with PDA is to unschool them, but that’s hard. I’ve been trying to think outside the box, like maybe use talkbox.mom for foreign language because I’d be more in charge of using it with them. Or gameschooling, with “sweetening the deal” a la Brave Learner. 
     

    Does anyone else have ideas for undemanding ways to get an education in a PDAer’s general direction?

    Thanks!

  3. Hello! I'm hoping someone here will have a good suggestion for me. My fabulous 11yo is an interesting duck (pronouns they/them). Their ADHD (combined type) is winning a LOT right now. Their math is at the right level for them, but almost every day they struggle to actually apply their brain to the math. They just took a quiz that I KNOW they can do the math on, but only got 10% right. I know that being 11 can mess with ADHD (hormones 👾). But what should I do? I can't just stop math because the charter school requires it. I can't just stick them on Khan because they do the same thing there. If I try to be present with them every single time they do math, we'll kill each other (metaphorically). Has anyone dealt with this before? Should I switch them to an easier math for the time being? AAAAGH!

    (Thank you!)

  4. On 6/22/2018 at 6:20 AM, Michelle Conde said:

    Kits with everything included and sorted by lesson to accompany BFSU.  Seriously, that is the best elementary science I have encountered, but it is so dang hard to implement.  Science goes so much more smoothly and happens so much more consistently when I have pre-made kits like that for myself, but it takes so long!  I wish I could just throw some charter school funds at it and be done.

     

     I’ve considered the idea of making and selling kits myself (because honestly, it wouldn’t take that much more time and effort to make twenty kits than it does one, since most of it is locating and acquiring the different items), but would there be a problem with selling a product based off of someone else’s product?

     

    This. Definitely. And I'm loving the new abridged version of BFSU1 - I might actually get through the whole thing! 

    I would talk to Dr. Nebel. I think it's ok to sell stuff based on someone else's product, but I also think he'd be open to someone doing it if they asked. Would you put it on ebay or etsy? I've thought of the same thing several times, but my ADHD makes it exactly the wrong kind of project for me to do.

  5. On 6/22/2018 at 6:00 AM, perkybunch said:

    Mathusee didn't cut it for us.  Life of Fred was interesting but not helpful.  Singapore Math was a bit better.  We went back to the 1B book so many times because it covered what multiplication and division actually were, conceptually. 

    But honestly, something that started from way high concept -- I honestly think like my college class Abstract/Modern Algebra and working backwards would be great.  This is our number system, this is how it is grouped, these are operations, they can do all these different things.  Seriously.  My big picture thinker would have been great at the high concepts.  Arithmetic for the first 6 years of school like to killed us both.  

    We do like Mathusee for high school.  But really, a completely backwards scope and sequence of K-12 math would have been better.

     

     

    I'm curious, did you try CSMP? I know it's crazy, but I've heard good things about it from VSL folks. I've only tried the K level with my Ker and he loves it, but I can't say they've done all that much yet.

    • Like 1
  6. We've been using the Archangel ones, because we like David Tennant and he's in a bunch of them.

    The other thing we've done, that has been a HUGE hit, is to take a video version that we like and to make an audio file from it that we can listen to. All three of my kids adore Much Ado About Nothing and quote it regularly. Our favorite version is from Digital Theatre, with David Tennant as Benedick. ?

    :)

    Anabel

    • Like 1
  7. 6 hours ago, ExcitedMama said:

    Sorry I haven’t used either. I clicked because of your heading since we are in a virtual charter. Does your charter have a list of approved vendors? I love that ours has a searchable website and use it all the time. It’s also great to know what’s forbidden, like mine won’t pay for anything from VP or MP, even if the material is seemingly secular like Latin. 

    Have you used AAR? That would be great for K and it’s secular so your school might cover it. If you want to add a writing component I really like Core Skills Phonics K and 1 workbooks. 

     

    I finally found the list of approved vendors, and you're so right, it's really helpful. This school is interesting to me because they've said some Life of Fred books are Ok to buy through the school, but others are Ok. My old school found out that there was religion in some LoF, and all purchases were cancelled and all previously bought copies were locked away. 

    I used AAS when my oldest was in 1st grade. I'll look at AAR; thank you! I think it was just coming out right after my 2nd child learned to read, so I never really looked at it.

    :)

    Anabel

  8. Hello all! Our family moved north a bit, and now we're in a new home-based charter school, which has different opinions than our old one did about curriculum. I'm not sure yet (haven't talked to our teacher-person yet) but I think this one is pickier. I was looking through their suggestions and came across two that intrigued me that I haven't really encountered before. They're the Bravewriter Language Arts program and the IEW packages "Primary Arts of Reading" / "...Writing". I know of both of those companies from their writing programs, but I haven't encountered them much for (almost) full language arts. I'm having a hard time searching up information here on the forum, probably because they've both been around for so, so long.

    Does anyone have experience with these? Or does anyone have a link to discussion about them?

    Thanks!

    Anabel (my sig. is out of date, sorry!)

  9. Ok, so I emailed her a link to the thread. She is interested in knowing more about the experiences we've had. Here is her response:

     

    Yes, I am actually interested in possibly improving the geometry lessons. Could you explain to me from your personal experience if your daughter learned anything at all... 

    For example, did she learn how to measure angles?

    Or to tell if a triangle is acute/obtuse/right?

    Was there any type of exercise that she struggled with the most?

    Were there too many exercises in your opinion? If so, did you tell her to NOT do them all?

    Etc. any feedback would be helpful. 

     

    I'm thinking we could all answer the questions by email... the subject of the email is Re: Contact form: Question, and the email address to use is mathmammothsupport@gmail.com. These questions are directed towards my child, who was doing the 4th grade level, so just switch up the questions as needed.

     

    :)

    Anabel

  10. It's been fun to read the responses. I would add that giftedness also adds extra layers to the experience of parenting a child beyond what would be considered normal. Our culture often boils down giftedness into an academic or achievement issue while ignoring the day-to-day challenges of life with all that extra brainpower. When the parenting books don't describe the child in front of you, when the educational guidelines don't make sense for this child, that might be giftedness or 2E. When they can't sleep at night because they can't stop learning or thinking, or when you can't sleep at night because you need to plan for how you're going to stay one step ahead of them for at least one more day, that might be giftedness. It's certainly worth looking into, because, if nothing else, it might help you find different resources (like the Hoagie's board) that are helpful for you in parenting this child.

    • Like 3
  11. I don;t think MBtP would be called open and go from what I have seen of it. What subjects are you looking for?

     

    I had the impression that the 9-11 level was directed towards the student, which would make it somewhat open-and-go for me, right? But it has multiple subjects all built in, I think, which will help.

     

    I'm looking for science, social studies, writing, and literature. If grammar is built in too, I'll cope with that.

     

    MM looks fabulous, thank you! I still have to look at CLE.

     

    Thanks!

  12. Hello! I'm just finishing up planning for the fall for my 9th grader, and my attention is turning to my 4th grader. Given how much time my 9th grader is going to take, I'm looking for open-and-go for my 4th grader. A friend is using MBtP, which I'm looking at now, but I'd love other pointers.

     

    The downside of going with MBtP is that I thought I was going to do FLL4 this year with her, but I'm not sure about doing that and MBtP.

     

    Thanks!

    Anabel

  13. Since LTW is designed to teach persuasive writing, it would be useful if you had a science topic with persuasive element. I think that's less likely in science than in other topics. It would be useful for history - Should X have done Y? Lots of science writing (particularly k-8) would be to inform, to explain a process, to classify, to compare or contrast, etc. Jmho.

     

    That's a good point, thank you. 

     

    I think there is some persuasion needed in science, but as a non-scientist I'm not totally sure what that looks like.

     

    If anyone else has ideas, that'd be awesome! I'm off to check on the LToW Yahoo group and to ask my question of a scientist.

     

    :)

    Thanks!

    Anabel

  14. Hello all!

     

    I'm just starting to use the Lost Tools of Writing with my 8th grader, and I really like it. But I could use a hand figuring out how to assign non-literature writing topics, especially science. I was trying to dream up some topics using the "Five Common Topics of Invention," and I have an idea of how it'll work but dd can't - she is having a hard time separating the tools from the literary examples given.

     

    So, can anyone share science essays written with LToW? And I'm also wondering how much extra research your kids had to do to write a science essay, beyond the information they already had from their science curriculum/class?

     

    Thanks so much!

    Anabel

  15. Hello! I have ADHD, so chances are good that at least one of my kids does too. DH does not have it, but on the adult assessment questionnaires he is usually only a point away from having it.

     

    We thought our eldest had ADHD when she was younger. Our plan was to wait until puberty to get a diagnoses and maybe start meds then, but when she was about 9yo she sort of "grew into" her brain. She became much more self-sufficient and stopped having focusing issues, and it's been fabulous ever since. Our middle child is currently 8yo, and seems to have ADHD, but again we're waiting until puberty before having it assessed. FWIW we know our kids are gifted.

     

    Here's our list of what we do to try and manage the ADHDish symptoms without meds, since it's pretty tough to teach them without something helping.

    1) Regular bedtime & wake up time

    2) Go for a walk or run right after we get up

    3) Breakfast with an emphasis on protein, served with green tea. I'd try to keep the breads/sugars low if I could. Generally we end up eating breakfast burritos since we all like them.

     

    We start in on our academic work immediately after breakfast, usually math first.

     

    I wouldn't worry about the manipulatives thing either. My eldest hated them with a passion; she couldn't be bothered with them. Only if she was really struggling with a concept would they help, but generally she learned the concepts by reading or hearing us explain. She didn't need the extra stuff.

     

    One technique for teaching that I've found useful is to let them have something to fiddle with. Coloring, drawing, legos, dollhouse/Little People, clay, etc.

     

    Books: I found Dr. Amen's book "Healing ADD" really helpful; it helps you figure out what type of ADD you're working with, and has info on supplements, etc. I also really really liked Dr. Hallowell's "Superparenting for ADD".

     

    Good luck! Just know that you're not alone in the trenches. A bunch of us are right there with you.

    :)

    Anabel

     

     

    • Like 2
  16. Question about the 100 blocks:  Are they from a base ten set?  Is there a 100 in Numbers that I've not yet seen?

     

    I really like your tackle box method for sorting your rods.  Do you use Gattegno or Miquon?  If so, has the color change interfered much?

     

    The 100 blocks are random blocks I have around, not from a set.  They don't have them in Numbers, but they happen to live in the box.

     

    I love the tackle box too.  I do wish they could be in order, but it works out fine.

     

    Miquon didn't work for me, though Gattegno looks compelling.  My two older kids are beyond that level of math, while my youngest isn't quite there yet.  I have some time to figure out a plan :)

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