imcl1084tx
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Posts posted by imcl1084tx
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I ordered LoE Foundations for my wiggly 5 YO. He has some hearing loss and i liked how they covered voice/unvoiced words, played with sounds, and started out w/compound words and segmenting. I was doing AAR Pre-Reading with him but he had this huge jump and needed the next level so i had to decide between AAR 1 and LoE. LoE also won because of all the movement activities. It was a hard choice but I am really liking the LoE for him. (I am glad i didn't have to decide between the new color version of AAR 1 and LoE. That would have made it even harder.) I have heard you can't go wrong with either of them. Also, LoE includes handwriting. We do the handwriting but we don't focus on it. He had some fine motor delays but it has really improved in the last year.
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My DS will be 5 in Oct and is obsessed w/letters. So i am taking advantage when he is in the mood.
We do AAR Pre Reading now. He loves Ziggy. If we get done with that and he is still interested we will probably do AAR 1 in the fall. I won't push him though.
MEP Reception maybe
MP Junior K Read Alouds and Book of Crafts for Junior K.
Lots of Board Games
Continue w/speech and feeding therapy if he needs it.
I will say he is my first and i am LOVING this age. It is a lot of fun!
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I know you've already made your decision about HWT, but I thought I'd chime in since I've used both that and AAR Pre (both of which I LOVE!)
The AAR Pre has SUCH super cute activities that we have loved! They are very manageable crafty ways to learn letters and letter sounds.
For HWT in PreK, we used the Wooden blocks to make letters and that is an incredibly valuable manipulative, imo. I used a sheet of construction paper with a smiley face in the starting corner as a guide.
We also used these sheets and they were such a hit: https://shopping.lwtears.com/product/LAM/products-by-type
So the wooden pieces plus those laminated capital letter pages were a great combo for three of my kiddos! They are pricey, but I found them used at our local homeschool store.
I didn't think to check my local homeschooling store. I will see what they have. Those activities are cute. THanks!
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I love AAR and I'm on my second round of Pre-level now with my youngest so I think it's a great program. Just go slow and let your child set the pace.
I bought HWOT for my oldest at 4 and did through 1st grade and I won't repeat it for my DD. I bought it because it was so highly recommended but I don't get why it's so popular. There's very little practice in the books, or per letter. The only thing it really emphasized was starting your letters at the top and using your helping hand, the non-dominant hand to hold the paper which I remind DD of. For both of them I think the Kumon books were better. They have a series of books to work on pre-handwriting skills and then work up to practicing letters and numbers. DD does love the HWOT stamper and blackboard I'd bought for DS. Both could be made on your own if you want though.
Oh i saw the kumon books on Amazon. I will take a closer look. Thanks!
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You might look at Lakeshore Learning Center. I was able to find a individual set that was like this: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C930%2C770&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1502641557251 for my son. I also got him some mats that are made for play dough to learn the shape of the letters. There are some other things as well.
We did HWOT with my older son and it was okay. I didn't get all of it. The order that you are to do things confused me. I have decided to just go straight to Zaner Bloser (what my older son uses) with my younger son. However I am doing lots of pre-writing activities. As I was told a few years ago, writing is a development milestone just like rolling over and so on. So forcing it too early will just frustrate you. After all you don't tell a baby that can't sit up, to run.
Thank you for the lakeshore learning link! i think those are awesome. Ya.. i was only considering the HWOT because the OT recommended it. Thank you for reminding me that writing is a developmental milestone. Some times i need that when everyone tells me he should be "writing", coloring, attempting to color, draw circles, etc. I needed that. I know he is behind in fine motor, but that's one of the reason's we go to OT and to help w/his sensory stuff. I will stick w/the pre-writing stuff, and continue to help strengthen his hands. I will get the pre-reading since that will help him learn his letters and sounds. Right now he is obsessed w/the letter "x" so he is showing interest. :)
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I have looked and looked at Handwriting without Tears for pre-k, but I just can't pull the trigger. My guy is 4.5, and he loved AAR Pre, and he's most of the way through AAR 1 and reading well. He's just now expressing a desire for handwriting but definitely needs to work on his fine motor skills and hand strength.
So instead of a program, I'm intentionally working with him (and his little sister, because why not) on both of those things. For hand strength, we are playing with play dough (especially encouraging rolling pins and extruders), picking up things with tweezers (pom poms, plastic animals, found objects outside, etc), squeezing things (glue, spray bottles, sponges, turkey basters), and lots of cutting and tearing.
For fine motor, I have some of the early learning Kumon books for mazes, I'm encouraging coloring (I keep crayons and colored pencils on hand for them to use while I'm finishing up dinner), and then we're working on letter formation by drawing with our fingers on ziplock bags filled with colored shaving cream, salt/sand/flour trays, and sand paper.
Random question... how do you color the shaving cream?? Is there something on pinterest for this?
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Thank you all so much for replying. I am not necessarily wanting writing, although we do need to strengthen his hands. I actually really liked AAR pre because it had none of the fine motor stuff and we are struggling with just getting him to color at this point. I actually got him to "color/write" on a white erase board with colored markers so that is a start. :) And i love how he is interested in all his toys and books.
I think i will hold off on the HWOT for now and keep with the playing w/play-dough. I really like the teasers and the pom pop ideas! Thank you for that idea and I will look at the lists that MerryatHope posted for the tactile letters and such.
I guess i was just really second guessing myself since his fine motor skills are already so behind and such that maybe we needed the HWOT. And then of course if he goes to public K the writing that is required here is nuts but luckily we still have 2 years before we have to decide on that. But i think i will put it off another year and stick with my AAR Pre plan since he will be 4 just in OCT. The other option was some iPad games but we don't really do apps in our house. Thank you all! I will just order the AAR pre for the fall.
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Hi... my LO is very interested in learning his letters and i was planning on getting him the All About Reading Pre-Reading for the fall. (He will be four in Oct and i figure he will like the puppet and such). He has some sensory issues (he's a seeker), speech, feeding, and fine motor skill delays and i was talking to his OT about it. She recommended for writing to get Handwriting w/out tears for pre-k due to the wood letters and such.
I am definitely of the approach that a little goes a long way and i don't want to overload him. He wants to learn his letters and such and since they are working on fine motor skills i wonder if it would be good to get the Handwriting w/out tears instead or both. Both are huge investments... thoughts? Does Handwriting w/out tears pre-k help w/fine motor skills? He has retained reflexes so that doesn't help.
We read aloud and play and play but since he was showing interest i thought i would get something more structured for him Also Handwriting w/out tears seems like a bigger investment then he all about reading... what do you really need?
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One common suggestion is to teach the basic sounds the letters make instead of their names. You don't need the names to read, but you do need to know what sounds they make!
There's no need at all for writing to teach reading. Though if you want to do tactile letters, filling a ziplock bag with pudding or shaving cream (use a big one if fine motor is an issue) and then he can write them really big on the outside of the bag with a finger. Squishy fun! Sandpaper letters where they trace the shape are okay too, but harder to make in your kitchen.
Working on rhyming is good. Lots of short nursery rhymes, then playing games with rhymes. ("I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with BAT. It starts with 'mmm'" Mat! "Yes, honey, that's right!")
Those are great ideas! Especially the ziplock bag ideas! Thanks!
Thank you for these resources! They are great and i love the booklists. i can start getting some of those at the library.
Thanks to all of you for the wonderful ideas.
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I taught my 2yo son how to read by making PowerPoint slides with giant letters on them and teaching him the sounds. He loved sitting on the lap and "doing the letters" and he was reading (simple text) before he was 3. We spent at most 5 minutes at a time on this, though he would sometimes ask to do it several times each day. He thought of it as play.
I do suggest that before you try something like this that you learn how to teach a child to read (if you haven't done so already). I had already taught my older son to read so I could wing it like this with the younger one.
No. He is my first. So i have no experience. :) My friend recommended pinterest but i have to say that i am not a crafty pinterest mom. :) Any recommendations on books i can read that talks about teaching a child to read?
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HI all,
My 3 YO LOVES books. He memorizes the ones that we read the most and when we read a new one then after we are done he takes it and wants to read it to me. He asks me to help him "say something" for each page if he doesn't have it memorized to "read" back to me.
The other day he asked me to teach him how to read and say something. I am very much of the don't push it mentality and letting him play as much as possible. He loves to play but he again, has asked me to teach him to read.
He watches Leap Frog letter factory and knows about 5 letters and can point them out. He can sit still when he wants. He is a little speech delayed but he has had his hearing aid know for over a year and making huge progress.
So my DH and I were talking and he feels that we should "teach him to read" since he is asking and i'm like he doesn't know his alphabet yet! So i at least agreed to start teaching him his alphabet. If we start and he isn't interested i can put it away.
So my question is more of, what are good tools to teach the alphabet and pre-reading skills. I have started to buy rhyming books too and his new favorite book is "Rhyming Dust Bunnies." I figure we can sit and learn the alphabet together and go from there and if he still wants to "learn to read" after that we will cross that bridge later. He knows the alphabet song too. Also, i need ideas for teaching it w/out writing. His fine motor skills are not there yet. Thoughts?? TIA. I looked at All About Reading pre reading but its a little expensive.
We had also been doing Simply Classical A from MP and he had a huge leap. Now we just use the book list since he made that leap. I am just not sure he is ready for the fine motor skills in Simply Classical B and thinking i am not ready for a whole package yet either.
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You guys are so awesome! Thank you for the discussion and all the encouragement. I really appreciate it!
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Since you use MP already, read the article "Why Johnny Can't Add" from their website. It made so much sense to me after my experience, and I hope it helps you, too. We will be using Rod & Staff math, which is NOT just "kill and drill" as so many reviews through the years had led me to believe. The teacher manuals are goldmines for someone unsure about math. The materials are uncluttered. AND they actually promote the same famous idea as RightStart-that instead of counting, one should practice seeing sets of numbers. RightStart calls it subsidizing; Rod and Staff didn't call it anything, but I recognized it from the directions in the first few lessons. HTH
That is a really interesting article. Thank you for pointing me in that direction. I will look at Rod and Staff too. I like MP Simply Classical. It gives me so many ideas and my son LOVES the books!
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My kid are in public schools near Austin, TX. (Son is a rising 4th grader. My daughter enters K this year.) My sister has homeschooled her kids all the way through in the Bryan-College Station area, but been able to access some special services through the local school district. So even if homeschooling, you might want to talk to the local district and see what they have available.
The workbooks my son brings home for math every year are the Go Math! books (With pages torn out that were used. I've already seen many of these because they came home as homework). However, every year there are many pages left in the workbook, leaving me to believe that teachers use the part of the curriculum that is helpful to their lesson and what they are teaching, but do not even try to work EVERY Page. The pages used are scattered through both volumes, with pages left untouched in between (Maybe extra work for kids that need it?) They also use a separate program of math fluency and test where they do not progress to the next page until they have mastered the previous one. (They have many iterations practicing and testing each skill for each level. And each child works at their own pace. They have taught different methods of reaching answers. And expect the children to practice that method for that day's homework. But over all, my kids' teachers have allow each child to use the method that makes the most sense to them to do problems in general.
That's a good point about the special services. We are just transitioning from ECI to the school district. So my son is going to be tested for services in the fall. I didn't realize that he may be able to get services if we homeschool.
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And as a former math teacher, I respectfully disagree with posters who say memorization isn't important. Working memory can only handle so much. For a student to do higher math that also has to process math facts or relationships between decimals/fractions/percents, s/he has to have a calculator. Can you imagine anyone saying understanding the sounds of the alphabet is sufficient for reading fluently? The student may have the concept of alphabet, but not the practice to automaticity--and math facts are the same way. Working memory must be free to process the higher math--either the person has to KNOW the computations quickly or use a calculator, or gets lost. That is my honest observation from seven years of teaching math to many children from 4th grade through 7th grade.
This is a good comparison. Is there something that combines the two? Conceptional and abstract w/memorization? I heard someone mention math mammoth. I want to make sure my son gets a good foundation.
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Common Core is neither amazing or evil. It's a set of basic standards for states to follow. The math is pretty closely aligned to what I remember in school (way back in the early 80's) though the language arts is seriously ramped up compared to my memory. Maybe that's because I was always more mathy?
I agree with looking at RightStart. It feels like the best of Common Core worlds - it's the way they've tought since they started in the 1990's, with some topics moved around from year to year to fit the requirements. We used levels A-C, and it worked with my very active, impatient kid (with some modification for her to cut out review she didn't need). RightStart is a blend of Asian math and Montessori and it is great. In general, the difference is that the traditional American math is about procedures (getting the right answers) and the traditional Asian math is about concepts (how and why to get to the correct answers). How and why take you a lot further.
You say that your child loves for you to read to him. If math is something you want to ease into, I highly suggest the MathStart books by Stuart J Murphy. Also look for great, user friendly math books at your library. If the use the Dewey Decimal system, they should be in the juvenile nonfiction section at call number 510.
Specific to one of your questions, yes, fact memorization is still a thing.
And to wrap up: if you homeschool because there's no other adequate option, you're not alone. My reasons are different, but there's no adequate option here. Homeschooling is a necessity. There are a lot of people for whom that is the case.
I loved the Dewey Decimal System in school! I will have to take a look at my local library and look for the books. Thank you for the suggestion.
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The Common Core standards for K math are here: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/K/introduction/
There are many different paths to get there, and you could very likely do so teaching the exact same way you learned math. My husband is from India and learned math the "Asian" way, and it's actually pretty intuitive. Correct me if I'm wrong, fellow homeschoolers who teach this way, but I think some of the confusion surrounding this way of teaching math comes from parents of public school kids who aren't actually seeing anything except homework-- they don't read the teacher's guides or learn the methodology along with their kids, which is a benefit of homeschooling! Learning to think about numbers in new ways can be really fun, especially if you already love math.
It's funny that you mention this. I was talking to my husband and i asked him how i was suppose to help our son with math homework when i don't even understand the way they are teaching. And he said, well we would have to figure it out! This is an excellent point. Thank you for this! I am going to look in to the math course that the other poster mentioned. I think it will help greatly and clarify things for me. Just because its different doesn't make it wrong. Its just unknown to me. :)
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Well, the author has a background in Montessori, and incorporates some of that philosophy and tools. It also incorporates some of the Asian philosophies of math education that have made programs like Singapore math so popular.
It uses a number of manipulatives which unfortunately means it's not cheap. But it works very well for many children, it's low on writing, and it does the drill through games, so that children tend to enjoy the practice.
It's also quite scripted, which if you're feeling nervous about teaching math can be reassuring.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Scripted may be the way to go at first until I get use to it and it sounds nice that it uses tons of manipulatives. That may help my wiggly child.
Welcome!
Just going to throw in there that Language Arts and Literature are my strong suits, and I am competent (but NOT a whiz) at math up through Pre-Algebra, was able to do Algebra 1 and Geometry pretty well by closely following along with DSs, but I did need some help after that. Interestingly, what helped me most and gave me confidence in teaching math at the beginning of our homeschool journey (started in grades 1 & 2), was that one DS had some learning issues with math, and I learned a TON about how math works by having to try out numerous math programs trying to find what best fit for this DS. Especially helpful for me in the early elementary years were Miquon Math and Singapore Primary. Math-U-See was very helpful for visualizing math concepts and making them concrete for our math struggler, and the weekly math video lessons were great for ALL of us, and we all made some great math connections and understanding of foundations through those videos. Math Mammoth and Right Start look like they would also have been helpful, but neither was out at the time DSs were in early elementary grades.
And, if that is not workable or feasible for you, lots of math programs are scripted, have video lessons, or can even be outsourced from an early age. There are oodles of free online video tutorials on math topics of every kind.
JMO: it's not so much that Common Core is good or bad (it's just the most recent set of national standards) -- it's really all about the quality of teachers in ALL the subject areas at the school your student attends, and if the school understands how to support their teachers in implementing Common Core standards, or if the school is really it is making a hash of implementation which in turn completely wrecks their teachers' classroom abilities, and forces the focus entirely on box-checking and test-prep / test-taking.
BEST of luck as you think through all your options! Warmest regards, Lori D.
That makes since about the district. I am slowly learning more about my school district and it seems like a mixed bag. Every one is loving the classical charters that are popping up but since they are really good schools they are starting to get huge wait lists and its now a lottery. Thank you for the ideas! Everyone is so helpful!!
My daughter uses Saxon at home, used Montessori number work in prek-k, Envision starting in K, plus Life of Fred and probably some other things I've forgotten. Ironically of those that you mentioned, Math in Focus is my favorite. Envision has a similar approach but just isn't as well done imo... but I didn't want to do MIF at home if she did Envision in public school.
Others may have a different take on this, but in our local public K, math was incredibly low-key... they did Envision K. It was the WRITING (the crazy amounts of output for kids, some of whom who could barely read!) that really stuck out to me.
The writing is a concern that is a great point. I didn't realize that kids were expected to write so much in K. I never did. In fact i was looking at my husbands report card from K, (My MIL kept it) and it has things like learning letters and writing letters and learning to share. Nothing about sentences but i was reading the district website and they are expected to read and write sentences. I am amazed.
Well, obviously I think you should homeschool! And to prepare you, perhaps you should consider taking the brand new course through WTM Academy this fall by Kate Snow, entitled Math That Makes Sense. Here's a link:
http://www.wtmacademy.com/courses-for-adults/
Kate is a wonderful math educator, turned homeschool mom and author. I learned a lot through her mini-course Addition Facts that Stick. If I weren't on my last child (and pretty much an elementary math guru myself after homeschooling 4 kids!), I'd take the course in a heartbeat. In fact, I sincerely wish something like this were available back in 2003 when I needed it as my first was entering kindergarten.
As to Common Core vs. not-CC: it is a political hot-button issue that has very little to do with how well-taught math is in any individual classroom. There are much bigger, more important issues to consider. Yes, memorizing facts is a 'thing', but as you'll see if you take Kate's class, you don't need to drill flash cards if your child understands the concepts and can easily derive the facts. Developing a strong number sense and rock-solid understanding of place value is at least as important, if not more so than knowing facts.
Some great elementary math programs that work well in a homeschool setting are Right Start, Singapore, and Math Mammoth. Kate's class will be using Singapore, but that doesn't mean you have to stick with that program after taking the class. The foundational skills will be applicable to math teaching in general. Here's her website: http://kateshomeschoolmath.com. I know I sound like a commercial for her, but I'm just a random home educating parent who happens to find her math wisdom both enlightening and reassuring.
Welcome to the WTM forums and good luck with your decision!
Thank you for this! This is a great idea and may go a long way to making me a little more comfortable. I will look it up. Doesn't she have a book about preschool math too? I thought i saw it.
Thank you all for the ideas. It gives me more to research but its good to know there are a lot of options and help out there!
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Hi, welcome! I'm not in the US so my understanding of Common Core is sketchy, but the impression I have is that the actual Common Core standards for math are actually quite good. The problem comes in the implementation.
If you get a good curriculum, or a good teacher, there's no problem.
Another curriculum you might consider if you homeschool is RightStart Math.
Is memorising still a thing? Yes. But there is now the idea that having a strong conceptual understanding is important. And once you have that, memorising allows you to get quicker. So you build the understanding first, and then memorise after.
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Thank you so much for replying. So if it depends on the implementation and teacher then all the more reason to homeschool. :)
I see you use RightStart and I will research it. What do you like about it? I have not looked at that one.
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HI All. I am new here but I lurk from time to time. I have an almost 3 year old and my husband and i are starting to research homeschool vs charter vs public vs private schools in Texas. Over the years we have heard about a ton of changes to math and how it was taught when we were in school.
I am concerned because I hear that "K" is the new 1st grade and i think our greatest concern is math. I was good at math in school but for some reason it scares me to teach it. What's funny is i am not scared of possibly teaching him to read but our world is so math oriented know that i want to make sure he gets a good foundation. Right now my almost 3 year old is just learning to count and know his shapes and colors. We are also using Memoria Press's Simply Classical A very loosly because it its perfect for him, helps us build a library for him, and gives us great books to read. He LOVES for me to read to him. He loves our book time and that is working great. We also play play and play. He is a very energetic and curious toddler with hearing loss and speech delays and we have been told in no uncertain terms that a energetic toddler that could turn into an energetic k'er is not always a good "fit" for public school. We are also getting ready to switch to our local school district for services so that is also prompting some of this research.
So that is a little background.
Anyways, one of the private schools uses Saxon (I think in K they said they would use grade 1 of Saxon), another one uses Abeka, the charter school uses Math in Focus, and the public schools use Pearson Envision Texas 2.0. And i think if we homeschool we would have our choice since it appears that Texas is very open homeschooling and does not have many requirements. I was doing some reading a d found out that Texas switched to new TEKS standards and when we started looking at them even though TEKS is not common core it is pretty close and might as well be common core but that common core is illegal in Texas. We found a 1st grade math in focus student book on amazon used for 6.00 so i purchased it and realized that the way it is taught is NOTHING like i learned in school. Is MIF common core? What exactly is common core and just because it has a bad rap does it mean its actually bad? I was amazed at what the kids learn in K these days and it seems to be a lot. If we did homeschool, being that i am not familiar with it at all would i even be able to teach it and is math with memorization of facts even still a thing? I realize we have a few years to figure this out but some of the schools we were looking at has long waiting lists so we are starting our research now. Would any of those programs lay a good foundation? My brother is in high school currently and was not given a great foundation in public elementary and as a result is struggling. Also, i realize that even the word common core can cause a debate and i am not wanting to start one. I just want to learn and find out what it actually is. TIA. Sorry this is so long and sorry for all the questions!
Question about Math Games/Workbooks that go with MIF/Singapore Math
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Good morning all,
I have a quick question I am hoping you experienced mom's can help with. For kinder we decided to have my 6 YO go to a charter instead of homeschooling. (It has to do with heath insurance reasons). I loved their curriculum because they use Spalding and Math in Focus for Language arts and math and my son enjoys science and they have it every day. Well the school is shut down for a while and my son was doing really well in math and I was wondering if there are any good math workbooks/games that we could do while he is out. I am not looking for online learning and that is what I am seeing on Facebook. It's not that I am completely against it, it's just he already gets SO MUCH screen time. I have the teachers manuals for math in focus K but none of the workbooks and honestly they look complex since they are meant for school. For reading we will continue with basic phonics and just a bunch of reading. (I have Logic of English A and B so we might do some of that.) I purchased that before we got into the charter. But I have no idea about math. I don't want him to loose what he is learned. To give you some ideas where they are he has learned about shapes, just started recognizing numbers to 100, basic single digit addition (number stories), and counting by 10. Any good resources?
TIA! I really appreciate it!