southmetromom Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Dear Friends, My 10 yo ds will be going into 5th grade. He is smart, but we have struggled greatly with some emotional problems over the past 3 years. By God's mercy, our family has grown tremendously and experienced great healing. We are getting along well, now! Now I am ready to focus more on academics. Will you please give me your opinions and advice concerning "where we are": *Mid-way through SOTW IV (at grade level, I'd say). He is a history maniac and has read tons of books on topics that interest him. He doesn't have many dates memorized, but does have a wonderful "big picture" of world history, and knows some aspects of it in great detail. He wants to study American history this next year rather than returning to the ancients, so I am planning to do that (Truth Quest or something similar) -- and let him read, read, read. He does not write fluently, so I take his narrations for him, still. (Occasionally have him re-write them as copywork). *Language arts - Spelling - he had trouble spelling, now is just starting AAS 4, so I guess you could say he spells at 3rd grade level. It is an effort for him. Grammar (at grade level) - Finished FLL1 and 2, and about 3/4 of FLL3. He understands grammar very well, I think. Am hoping Latin will suffice and I don't plan to add more grammar. Handwriting (at or slightly below grade level) - HWT all the way. He prefers printing to cursive, though he finished the cursive book. I have had him do copywork and I let him just print it. Should I require cursive now? Composition (at grade 1 or 2, I think!) - Because of spelling difficulties, we have not done a formal writing program. I have had him do copywork (not enough probably -- perhaps 2 paragraphs per week, and then we do those as dicatation. The past few weeks of the school year this seemed suddenly easy for him). We are starting CW Aesop this fall. I think/hope he will catch on quickly and progress quickly with it. *Science - we have done it "on the fly" -- it has not been a regular part of the curriculum. I'd like to do more, and he enjoys it, but I seem to run out of time for it... (it "falls of the list") *Music - piano. Strong. *Arithmetic (at grade level) - MUS just finishing Delta. He understands it, and grinds through it. He will literally sit for 2 hours with his math, unless he is motivated by "Finish that and then we're going to go see our friends." Any ideas on how to help him with his self-discipline? *Latin - we have made it through Lively Latin Lesson 8. I need to buckle down and learn it so I can stay ahead of him. He does well with this, but doesn't particularly like it. I need to pick up the pace. *Literature - he read at junior-high or high school or above level. He reads incredibly fast. He mostly has read books of interest (every baseball book in the library, for example) -- I need to assign more literature. He isn't as inclined to read any fiction, but if I find the right books (more his age level) he will (e.g. baseball fiction, LOL). *Faith - we study the Bible and our (Catholic) faith in an eclectic way, but it is a frequent component of the school day. I must say, I feel that I could do a much better job of keeping him and dd(7) organized and motivated. We waste a lot of time -- through distractions, etc. -- goofing around. I am looking at the workbox system to help with this, and with creating one or two "distraction free" places for him to do his schoolwork. I vascillate between REALLY wanting a rigorous classical education (I love to read about this) and LIVING the reality of the effort we have made to just get along with each other, and not being sure if I can maintain the harmony while kicking it up a notch academically. (I am thankful for the miracle of just getting along together each day!) Any feedback or ideas are welcome. Thanks for taking time to read this. It is helpful just to jot things down, of course, too! Sandy in CO southmetromom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I was recently looking through boxes of old homeschool stuff, and was struck by how horrible both sons were at writing through at least 6th grade. They wrote in complete sentences, but the spelling was a particular nightmare. I never used a writing program, but started earnestly assigning narrations in 6th and 7th grades, and somehow, through my patience, their rewriting to correct mistakes, and the gift of being able to type their work, their writing blossomed. They followed narrations with short research assignments, and by 9th grade were starting to write persuasive essays. I never insisted on them writing in cursive -- they are both more comfortable with print and I encouraged them to learn to type early on and to do most of their written work on the computer. Dawdling just happens. Any trick will work -- he can mark off problems in colorful markers or get a small snack with each group of problems completed. I also didn't do all the MUS pages -- if they were getting a concept, we moved to the next lesson. I think it is possible to be relaxed yet rigorous. Cut out a chunk of the day for school, have a weekly checklist -- not just for the kids but for your own sake of reminding yourself of what you had planned to get done! But always be sure to enjoy yourselves by going to see plays or visiting museums. If you want to expose your kids to good literature, read it aloud, or listen together to audio books. If he loves history then he must be reading some good books! Tie in baseball to history and math. Read about Jackie Robinson and discuss civil rights, read about early baseball and what society was like. Watch Ken Burn's documentary series on the history of baseball. Learn about cricket!! There are books on math and baseball and statistics and even probably on the physics of baseball. I know our newspaper one year had a free curriculum for incorporating baseball into school. And, for what it is worth, we did not do science formally until high school, but instead watched lots of science programs on television and did many kits and projects over the years. We also kept nature journals, identified back yard birds. In this way they had a large body of general science knowledge and weren't burned out by the time high school science rolled along. Hope some of these ramblings help. I think you sound like you are on the right track, and having had some rough years with my own kids, I know how valuable harmony is within the family. I bet you can nurture that AND still give your kids a fine education -- just trust yourself:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southmetromom Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Thank you so much! Your words have helped me to RELAX (again). I appreciate your perspective as I set goals and plan for the fall. Oh, and -- we do LOTS of field trips -- I forgot to mention that in my original post. That's partly why the list goes out the window from time to time. Again, thanks for your reassuring words. Hugs, Sandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 You might drop that latin. Not everything that he hates has to be kept, and not everything promoted as valuable or character-building is necessary to a particular child. Considering you've had problems already (as in baggage you're working to overcome) and are trying to get math done more expediently, I'd put your time into the most important things (like that math) and drop things that are unessential that he truly HATES. I'm dealing with that with my dd, same age, the realization that my ideas and her reality don't match up. And if I were guessing, he might love some real science added in there with the displacement of that latin. Latin could come back any time, in a lot of ways. A year of latin in high school would get you to the same place as slugging through multiple years of it now. If he truly HATES it, are you likely to continue it and turn it into reading the classics in the original, doing competitions, etc.? No. So I say consider dropping the latin. On the flipside, our dawdling improves when we: -have more to do (ironically enough) -do the dawdling subject early in the day, before she's tired -have something positive following (which you've already learned) There are tons of threads on dawdling with math, so you could even search the boards here to get more ideas. But truly, on the more subjects thing, it's kind of funny how sometimes having dd do more work gets more done than if we try to do less. Or maybe that's logical? Hehe. It's like she'll dawdle and fill the space, whether we're doing 12 things in 2 hours or 2. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kisa in CA Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 I have a 10 year old son and I think it is fabulous that you have progressed through emotional issues. This is victory worth celebrating! Good job! You are focusing on what really matters. You sound very balanced and your son sounds wonderful. I wish he could meet mine! Mine also loves history and also geography and science. We use My Father's World and it has been a huge hit and made life easy on ME. One thought about writing. My son is also a poor writer, so I can relate. He has begun typing almost everything. For whatever reason, he finds it much easier and since I think typing is essential these days, I'm happy too! We have also taken several classes from www.home2teach.com His motivation to perform has shocked me. He even asked his teacher today if he could write 2 paragraphs instead of one. Um, was that MY kid? So you might check into something online. Most of all, just stick to your convictions. Kids that get along and are strong and stable make for a close knit family which is so precious. Keep on doing the great job you are doing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southmetromom Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 You might drop that latin. ...the realization that my ideas and her reality don't match up. ... Really thought provoking! I thought about this all weekend as I shopped at our local homeschool conference. Thanks so much! Sandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southmetromom Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 I have a 10 year old son and I think it is fabulous that you have progressed through emotional issues. This is victory worth celebrating! Good job! You are focusing on what really matters. You sound very balanced and your son sounds wonderful. I wish he could meet mine! Mine also loves history and also geography and science. We use My Father's World and it has been a huge hit and made life easy on ME. ...Most of all, just stick to your convictions. Kids that get along and are strong and stable make for a close knit family which is so precious. Keep on doing the great job you are doing.... Kisa, thanks for your warm words and encouragement -- also the tip about online classes. I really appreciate your taking time to answer. Wish our sons could meet, too! Hugs, Sandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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