freelylearned
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Posts posted by freelylearned
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Geronimo Stilton
Time Warp Trio
Hank the Cowdog
My Weird School
I think there's a Magic School Bus chapter book series, too
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The notebooking journals have pretty good library book lists to go along with the lessons, beautiful coloring pages, a vocabulary activity, handwriting pages ,extra project ideas and a cut and paste activity per lesson. If I had to go back, I'd get my Kindergartener a Dover coloring book and a primary composition book for drawing a picture from the lesson and then letting her dictate a sentence to me until she gets older and skip the Jr Notebooking Journal. I'm on the fence on if I'd get the notebooking journal for my older son if I could go back. He'd probably be OK with a composition book for notebooking and a stack of library books for extra reading.
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There's no rule that you have to homeschool first thing after breakfast. Go for a walk or a bike ride after breakfast and then take a break and do school from 10-12. Instead of finishing at 10, you will have had a full morning and less hours to fill between lunch and dinner.
Scheduling an activity every afternoon is a good idea too and helps us break up the week. Monday is market day. Tuesday is library and library park day. Wednesday is at home and we do science and art in the afternoon. Thursday we try and visit my parents. Friday we clean the house and get ready for pizza and movie night with the whole family! The weeks flow better if we don't have wide open afternoons all week long!
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Hugs! I had a similar situation when I took my dysgraphic son out of public school. He was damaged from his PS experience and doing school at home didn't automatically fix the problem.
Some things that worked:
--taking a few months to decompress and let my son learn the ways he was happy learning: reading, discussing, computer work, documentaries, museums, music, science labs
--number flash cards to work out math problems with instead of paper and pencil
--switching from Saxon to Singapore math because it had way less problems per lesson but they were challenging and my son responded well to them
--math video games
--doing as much out loud as possible
--large square graph paper to line up math problems on
--accepting that fill in the blank worksheets are really a bane to my creative son (They are kind of boring and insulting to an intelligent kid if you think about it)
--giving him blank books, but not requiring him to do anything with them (eventually he asked to write a story with them and now he is a prolific writer!)
--ditching as many worksheets as possible. My son wouldn't do them, but he would do more challenging open ended assignments. So instead of a science review worksheet, I give him a piece of graph paper and her he writes out a few sentences about what he learns and draws a diagram, or makes a comic to go with his writing.
--short lessons (look up Charlotte Mason short lessons)
--anything Charlotte Mason inspired
I enjoyed this article about homeschooling to a child's strengths, and I think it's worth a read.
You can discreetly skip the rounding lesson and subsequent review problems for awhile and go back after a few months. My son did the same thing with number lines and I was like, "Really, number lines?" A half a year later the concept fell into place and I didn't even have to teach it.
Good luck! It's hard, but not impossible. It gets better. Pray for patience. It's OK to get behind in math. We got behind and now we are caught up finally! Just in time for pre-algebra!
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If he's a good speller who is struggling with vocabulary, it would be a better use of time to switch to a specialized vocabulary program and then use those words as his spelling list. It would be way more efficient than trying to add vocabulary content to a spelling program. Luckily, vocabulary workbooks aren't that big of an investment. You can also start collecting words that you see him misspelling and use those as a custom spelling list whenever you collect 10-15 words.
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I think it takes awhile for typing to be automatic. When I taught high school, kids were really, really slow (unless they were one of the ones with rich, liberal parents who had internet and let them IM at night) and they all had typing instruction in Jr High. You could probably start over with another typing program or add in a typing game like others mentioned above.
You could give him a break from the program and give him some projects that require typing and that he's interested in. My son did Mavis Beacon last year and averaged about 7-9 wpm throughout the series. Then I took him off the program for the second half of the year he started typing his writing assignments on Google Slides (he loved adding pictures) and he began Duolingo on the computer only.
This year he's doing typing.com on alternate days with typing assignments and is averaging 10-12 wpm. It's not a big jump, and I think it has as much to do with being a year older as anything else. He still isn't confident where letters are so he resorts looking at the keyboard. Having real projects where typing skills matter makes him realize that typing accurately and quickly is an important skill so he is working on his speed. Have you tried to find a family member or trusted friend to be an email pen pal? Another ideas is that he could type original stories and leave lots of white space to add illustrations later.
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By the way, we switched from Saxon 5/4 to Singapore 3a in 4th grade and are on track to finish 6B by the end of 6th grade.
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It is normal to place a grade level behind when moving to Singapore. It's not a bad thing, either because the Singapore way of working out problems is a different than the Saxon method. We switched from Saxon to Singapore and it was a great move for our family, but it does take awhile to get used to how Singapore presents each lesson. When we hit a topic that my son already knew, we would move quickly through the first few lessons of the unit and work through two or three a day by just doing every other problem to familiarize ourselves with the method and then slow down towards the end and focus on doing the last couple of sections and the word problems without skipping any problems.
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Love
Singapore Math (6) "Just right" math for our family
Writing and Rhetoric (6) I love this curriculum
SOTW (6) My son is reading and narrating vol. 4 independently and he adores it
The Reading Lesson (K) Great fit for my daughter
Hate
Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (K) utilitarian and scripted. No soul. Yuck.
Saxon 1 (K) just because I can barely teach with scripted lessons
Love-Hate
Apologia Science (K&6) Surprised at how much I love the book...but not the notebooking journal. I just don't utilize it enough to justify the cost
Mystery of History (K&6) On the fence about this one. I really want to use this as a family curriculum, but I have to do a lot of work to make it work with my littlest learner.
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The Start Write program is good for the reasons mentioned above. The solid yellow/highlighter line option in Start Write really helps my son a lot.
The Getty Dubay handwriting program can be used through adulthood.
Exercises that strengthen hands and fingers like pull ups, push ups, crab walks, and monkey bars could be helpful.
Your boys are in the age range where dysgraphia often emerges, so you may want to look into the various types of dysgraphia.
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Excellent article! Thanks for sharing it!
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I'm 42 and have a BS in math and am a high school math teacher by trade... To this day I *still* cannot seem to memorize the answers to 6x7, 6x8, and 7x8. I always have to go back to answers I know (6x6 or 7x7) and then add up. It baffles me that this still happens, but I do the calculations so fast that no one ever has noticed.
Ditto. I've always been a straight A math student, too. I just worked out the problems a little slower than those who have their facts down cold.
It is possible that had math facts continued to be drilled beyond elementary school, I may have learned them all before high school. I may not have been developmentally ready to really learn math facts until I was 14 years old despite all of the drilling and flash cards in elementary school.
With my son, we will work on math facts a little every day until 12th grade if we have to, until he knows them all. He's making slow but steady progress on math facts, but otherwise he is doing great in math.
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I would give them the assignment. If they are confused, read them the sample completed assignment in the teacher's manual one time only and then stand back and let them see what they do on their own. (Trust me, they won't copy the TE sample, but it will help them see the direction the author wants them to take.) The only adjustment I would make to the assignment for three kids would be to let them choose their own animals (dog/frog, hawk/chipmunk, shark/fish) so their stories have their own flair.
Definitely do not watch them over their shoulder, just be available if they have a question or to bounce ideas off of. Editing their punctuation as you go will really frustrate them. Even professional writers know they don't need to worry about punctuation and correct spelling until the final draft. Doing both at the same time is like building a house and painting it as you go. It's way more efficient to build the house first, then paint it. The end result is better, too.
After all of your girls are done with a writing assignment, make a habit of having them read it aloud. They will naturally write better if they know they have an audience at the end.
Finally, this may be hard for you because it seems to go against common sense, but don't go through and correct their spelling and grammar right away. It's disheartening to kids. Give it at least a week. If they are resistant, let them get their proofreading practice with a program like Fix It Grammar or Easy Grammar. Eventually, the self-editing and creative writing will come together. What I did was let my son choose one story every four or five lessons and then we'd go back and polish it up, revise, proofread, and then write a final draft complete with illustrations. For what it's worth, each level of W&R adds more revision and proofreading guidance. Book 5 has a lot so far.
PS I wouldn't call rewriting the fable with different characters "copying" any more than I would call making a drawing of a bluebird by using a few reference photos or a live reference "copying." It is how artists and writers develop their skills. By using the original fable as a reference, your kids will include the characters, conflict, dialogue, resolution, and other story elements naturally. The final result will also be an interesting, complete story that is totally their own creation. It's a huge confidence booster for young writers. My son's version of the "Mouse and the Ant" turned out really well and he read it to anyone who would listen.
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All kids go to bed at 8ish. My 11 year old is allowed to read as long as he wants in his room after that time and he usually turns off his light by 9. He's up before 7 most days.
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Just some ideas:
Inexpensive paper crafts that relate to learning like lapbooks, minibooks, interactive journals and Evan-Moor History Pockets. There are some interesting interactive journal activities for every subject.
Cooking--She can research and make different historical or cultural meals
Botany through gardening
Lego or cardboard models of the 7 wonders of the world
Nature journals
Wood carving
You could get her a toolbox, some basic tools, and scrap lumber and then let her go to town
Mosaics
Survival skills: fire building, shelter making, trap setting
Sign her up for some crafting, sewing, or knitting classes
Buy her good student grade art materials and a mixed media sketch book and set aside time each day to create
Music lessons with a teacher who will teach her improvisation
Maybe a computer coding workbook?
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My creative son really enjoys the W&R series. He despises busywork and doesn't complain a bit about W&R. Here's how each lesson looks:
Reading
Narration and discussion questions (we do these together)
Dig Deeper (usually vocabulary building and short written responses to the reading, done independently)
Writing Time exercises (grammar and creative writing is mixed into these short exercises, my son always comes to read these aloud to me)
A longer writing assignment is usually included at the end of the Writing Time exercises. (I usually help him with the brainstorming, then he writes independently, and finally he comes and reads what he wrote aloud to me)
Speak It(sometimes a poetry memorization and recitation, sometimes reading parts of a play, sometimes an impromptu speaking game, sometimes reading aloud the previous writing assignment with a focus on eloqution)
If you choose to try W&R, I agree with Targhee, to start with book 3 for a 12 year old.
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There are lots of allusions in literature. How do you try to ensure that your child is able to understand many common/popular allusions referred to in many great works? What do you read? Bible? Shakespeare? Fairy Tales? Any particulars?
Nursery Rhymes
Aesop's Fables
Bible Stories
Fairy Tales and Folktales from around the world
Greek, Roman, and Norse Mythology
American Tall Tales
There are many child-friendly versions available for The Odyssey, The Illiad, King Arthur's Tales, and Shakespeare
It's hard to be prepared for every allusion you come across in literature, but the above list should help.
Also, it isn't a bad idea to make sure that your kids familiar with the original tales that all of those Disney retellings are based on .
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Word spacing - I made ds use graph paper for a while. That really helped, as he had to leave a square between words.
It's good to know that helps. I just threw my hands up in frustration a while ago and implemented the same strategy.
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My son started reading the series to himself in 4th grade at the rate of a section per school day. Any younger than that and I would have used the series as a read aloud. He's currently reading volume 4 as a 6th grader. Reading his chapter of SOTW and reporting to me what he has learned is his favorite part of the school day.
So, I would say, at the younger end of the age range to use it as a read aloud and at the upper end of the age range, it can be assigned as a reader.
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From your signature, it looks like you are using Writing and Rhetoric, which I also use. W&R seems like a short program, but each book is supposed to be used for one semester and then it is also meant to be alternated weekly with a grammar program. So, a week of W&R then a week of grammar. Following that pattern, you should finish two books of W&R and at least one book of grammar each year and your child won't have to do both writing and grammar on the same day. The introduction to teachers in one of the books explains why they set up the program to alternate with a grammar program.
I think it's OK to schedule subjects so they end early. Then your schedule tapers off naturally at the end of the year when kids are losing steam, anyway.
I hope that helps. :thumbup1:
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Bookshark science is similar right down to the price, but I think you can buy the teacher's guide separate and get the books at the library to save money.
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So my 3rd grade daughter (8yrs old) has decided that school is boring, and throws a fit about everything except for our literature study and Grammar (unless I give her a writing assignment related to the lesson).
I can't get her to write neatly, and if I ask her to rewrite her work, it turns into an hour of sobbing hysterically while she labors at the writing, and in the end the handwriting is better but the spelling worse. She is not willing to try anymore with her math. She falls apart when I mention her spelling, enjoyed our science experiment but only read the necessary related reading under duress.
She wants to read or play all day.
I'm so frustrated! When I enforce school, even when I sit and do it with her, we have more tears than anything else. I don't know what to do :(
I don't know what curriculum you have, but your daughter may do well with something that is literature based and/or Charlotte Mason inspired. If you're curriculum is workbook based, she could be frustrated with that, even if they seem totally doable to you. A switch to a curriculum that requires more reading, oral narrations, and discussions may be a welcome change for her, in addition to being more challenging. Boring is sometimes code for too easy. This is a good article on focusing on your child's strengths.
As far as handwriting, It's OK at that age to expect neat handwriting on copywork and thank you notes to grandma, and then relax on the rest. Eventually that focused copywork practice will build muscle memory and the rest of her handwriting eventually follow. Check into dysgraphia, too. Some hand and core strengthening exercises may do wonders for her writing endurance.
Math just has it's hard sections. We have meltdowns with math, too. Our meltdowns always have something to do with division, so I sometimes skip ahead to the next topic, especially if it is something different like geometry, finish that unit and then go back and finish the unit that was giving us so much trouble. A little time off makes a difference. It's hard to learn when totally frustrated.
If she just wants to read and play, you can also schedule in breaks and time to read throughout her lessons. For example:
Grammar worksheet, 20 minutes reading on a science topic, 10 minute break
Math assignment, 20 minutes free reading, 10 minute break
Spelling lesson, 20 minutes reading from a history book, 10 minute break
and so on...
It might be reassuring to see on her schedule that once math is done, she gets 20 minutes of free reading.
Fourth grade was hard for us. My son was not doing well in public schools, so in fourth grade we decided to homeschool. It took a lot of tears and frustration and trail and error (Mostly error) for me to realize that what he needed to thrive was just a tiny bit grammar and spelling (he's a natural), a little history and science every day because he was really craving knowledge, free choices in what literature he read, a math program with a hands on component, a challenging writing program, and stacks of sketchbooks and composition books for him to draw and write stories.
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I am a new to homeschooling mom of DD7, we did a soft/tapered start for "grade 2" over the summer.
I'd like your insights as to what positive progress means to you and how you decide what weight learning experiences get compared to completing lessons.
2 weeks ago I started keeping a log at the end of the day, and it felt really nice as a reminder of all the learning type experiences we did thru the day. These tasks are spread throughout the day some done in the car and some at the boat/lake, much of it is done when DD feels like it or she chooses tasks, it is not a structured school day.
one very easy day's journal log reads something like this:
WWE, ETC full lesson, AAS phono review only, SingaporeMath - TB/WB and drill game, lots of nature time, 2 hrs swimming, examining fishes up close, practiced skip counting by 2s. Jason and the Golden Fleece RA. Matilda RA. Beatrix potter IR - 2 books.
This feels like a lot of progress, a lot of fun, a lot of authentic wonder type of experiences and it's just a relaxed summer day plus some school got done. Then I made a very useful spreadsheet with all of my curriculum lessons on it, with dates written in next to the lesson as it is completed. Does not include reading log or PE log or life skills or anything, just curriculum.....
Going back thru the above journal entry / log, I can put a checkmark (date) next to completion of just 3 subjects & lessons: WWE, ETC, and SM. yes, we did lots of reading but as of now that isn't on this same spreadsheet yet.
TL;DR:
much more of life seems to "count" in my mind when I do the journal. When I go to my new lovely checklist / master lesson tracker, I'm not gonna lie, I get a little discouraged!
Do you have any suggestions on how you have navigated this difference between these two versions of "progress," or whether you "count" learning experiences as well as completing a lesson, and how you accomplish this record keeping efficiently?
Thanks!
-GG
It's totally OK to have two different logs. You have your spreadsheet and that's a great tools to keep you on track in those skill subjects. In my experience, it's almost impossible to plan out the other subjects and stick perfectly to the plan. You can keep up your journal alongside of your checklist and keep a running log of other learning experiences or you could also divide the page up into subjects (literature, history, science, PE, art) and then fill in your books and experiences under those headings.
I don't use a spreadsheet, but I do get a homeschool planner with a weekly planning grid that is six rows by five columns. I use the top two rows to write out the skill subjects that we do every day for my two kids. For my son that includes his math lesson, writing lesson, and Spanish and for my daughter, that includes her reading program, a math activity, and a handwriting page right now. These are the subjects that I plan out so we stay on track.
I leave the next three rows blank, and as we work through history, science, read alouds, independent reading, life skills, and art, I write down what we actually accomplish on the day that we do it. A lot of my curriculum, I just move the bookmark and record later what we did. I also keep a record of my kid's independent reading and our read alouds on a separate notes column on the same page. When my son finishes a book, he lets me know and I write that down. When I read a chapter of a book aloud and my kids beg for the next chapter, I write it down. If we read three pages of our science text and do a lab, I write down the topic we studied and the lab we did in the science row. If we don't get to history, because science took too long, I don't have to erase anything or worry about rescheduling. My three blank rows get filled up pretty quickly.
The bottom row of my planner, I write in our scheduled classes, field trips, doctor appointments, and activities. I love my big fat paper planner because I can keep an accurate record of what we actually are doing during the week on a two page spread, and that makes me happy.
It's also OK to ditch that beautiful spreadsheet for something you like better. I ditched a lovely spreadsheet once. I was hard because I spent a long time making it, but it was stressing me out.
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Even though Beautiful Feet Books is a Christian company, it is worth looking at because some of their guides are secular friendly. I used the California History guide through my charter school, no problem. No biblical references at all. But other guides will have Bible verses sprinkled in and a focus on character education. The verses would be easy to skip as they aren't even included in the content of the discussions or assignments. But if you are looking for Charter School reimbursement, you would have to call and ask about individual guides and if they are charter school friendly or not.
I like the guides because each lesson includes a reading and then it is followed by a few good discussion questions based on the Socratic method. After that there is a short activity which is either a map activity, looking up a few definitions, looking up a website or YouTube video, or working on a short report (1-2 pages each, depending on the topic.) It isn't writing intensive at all.
I have HO level 2 right now. It would be difficult to adapt to a reluctant writer. It has a lot of outlining and summaries.
Build Your Library is another option that is secular (I think) but I don't have any experience with it.
Simple Drawing People Book
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Chris Hart's Figure It Out Series is pretty good and I think it is geared towards young (middle school and up) artists.