sweetsouthern Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 ok. dd is 9.5 and doing 4th grade this year. she misses the school cut off by 2 weeks, so she should actually be in 3rd grade. she is also adhd, not focusing well and not retaining much of anything this year and very immature for her age. ive come to the conclussion she is obviously not going to start 5th in the fall... she is just so messed up in almost every subject except math . i just ordered a few things to try a more gentler approach. thoughts?? Math: teaching textbooks grade 4 (she loves this... is about 1/2 way through) spelling: a reason for spelling (this is new... and would cover some bible, and dictation for her too) copywork: queens bible copywork (also new) LA: (all new... editor in chief, mad libs, queens language arts for the very young 2) handwriting: (also new... queens cursive part a) logic: logic safari reading: judy moody series & remedial phonics that Elizabeth helped us with ;) How does this all sound?? too much? not enough? gentle enough?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
covingtonclan Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 Until now I didnt know about Queen Homeschool Supplies....( thank you for your post) I think we are also going to embark on a new journey by taking the "gentle approach". Im new to all of this, so I dont have any advice other than what I have experienced the last 6 months and I know with a shadow of a doubt that my 7 year old and my 11 year old need a change... I started reading WTM, and then came across SCM and I think I will combine both.... I agree with so much on both of these methods... I wish you noting but the best on your journey... I am enjoying this time with my children, only wish I had decided to do this sooner...:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 I am in a bit of a similar situation but a year behind you ... my ADHD son is turning 9 this summer and I'm going to have him "repeat" 3rd grade next year, at least somewhat. We will also be taking a gentler approach, but using Oak Meadow. What's hard for me is knowing when to back off and give something more time, and knowing when to dig in and do more intensive work because he needs to catch up. This school year we've worked intensively on reading and it has paid off, and next year we will focus on writing. I'm putting aside my heavy history and science programs and we're going to take it easy there, because I don't think that's the best use of my child's time. Frankly we only have 3-4 hours to work on school and after the heavy LA work is done I want to still have time for the fun stuff! What we do cover will be more useful and relevant. One thing I really like about Oak Meadow is that it ties in things like cooking, woodworking, even bookbinding so that not everything is "hard work." It sounds like you will be focusing on math and LA. I would look again at your reading - I'm sure you plan to have your dd read much more than Judy Moody, but it might be good to have a booklist to work from. Are you trying to stay around a 3rd-4th reading level? I just picked up some pamphlets from my library that have great lists. Books by Roald Dahl, Lynn Reid Banks (Indian in the Cupboard series), Beverly Cleary (Ramona), Marguerite Henry (Misty of Chincoteague), C.S. Lewis (Narnia) ... so many good books! My ds is doing Sonlight's 2 Intermediate readers now and improving daily, although sometimes I have had to trade off reading pages with him. I have been reading my son some of the Sonlight Core 1 & 2 Read-Alouds (some hits, some misses) and we are now working through the Classic Starts books. I find that all this reading (his and mine) is really awakening his love of learning. He's learning archetypes, idioms, and the cadence of well-written language. Our path may not be the most rigorous, but if our children love learning and retain what they've learned, then ours is a perfectly fine path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsouthern Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 Until now I didnt know about Queen Homeschool Supplies....( thank you for your post) I think we are also going to embark on a new journey by taking the "gentle approach". Im new to all of this, so I dont have any advice other than what I have experienced the last 6 months and I know with a shadow of a doubt that my 7 year old and my 11 year old need a change... I started reading WTM, and then came across SCM and I think I will combine both.... I agree with so much on both of these methods... I wish you noting but the best on your journey... I am enjoying this time with my children, only wish I had decided to do this sooner...:) :) good luck on your journey too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsouthern Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 I am in a bit of a similar situation but a year behind you ... my ADHD son is turning 9 this summer and I'm going to have him "repeat" 3rd grade next year, at least somewhat. We will also be taking a gentler approach, but using Oak Meadow. What's hard for me is knowing when to back off and give something more time, and knowing when to dig in and do more intensive work because he needs to catch up. This school year we've worked intensively on reading and it has paid off, and next year we will focus on writing. I'm putting aside my heavy history and science programs and we're going to take it easy there, because I don't think that's the best use of my child's time. Frankly we only have 3-4 hours to work on school and after the heavy LA work is done I want to still have time for the fun stuff! What we do cover will be more useful and relevant. One thing I really like about Oak Meadow is that it ties in things like cooking, woodworking, even bookbinding so that not everything is "hard work." It sounds like you will be focusing on math and LA. I would look again at your reading - I'm sure you plan to have your dd read much more than Judy Moody, but it might be good to have a booklist to work from. Are you trying to stay around a 3rd-4th reading level? I just picked up some pamphlets from my library that have great lists. Books by Roald Dahl, Lynn Reid Banks (Indian in the Cupboard series), Beverly Cleary (Ramona), Marguerite Henry (Misty of Chincoteague), C.S. Lewis (Narnia) ... so many good books! My ds is doing Sonlight's 2 Intermediate readers now and improving daily, although sometimes I have had to trade off reading pages with him. I have been reading my son some of the Sonlight Core 1 & 2 Read-Alouds (some hits, some misses) and we are now working through the Classic Starts books. I find that all this reading (his and mine) is really awakening his love of learning. He's learning archetypes, idioms, and the cadence of well-written language. Our path may not be the most rigorous, but if our children love learning and retain what they've learned, then ours is a perfectly fine path. i probably should have said i have a 5th grade 10 year old dd as well. lol! she is working totally different and much more intense. and i do have the narnia series and the ramina books saved from her, but my 9 yr old cant read through them well enough yet. she gets frustrated and then reading is done lol! we were doing junie b jones, only because it was intertaining her... and then i managed to find judy moodys which are a step up in level i think. she still struggles and gets frustrated, but not yet enough to quit, so im just sticking with it for now for lack of anything better and just trying to get her to read and enjoy it. but i would love more suggestions if anyone has some! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 You can use Scholastic's site to find books by reading level, or find similar books. I looked up similar books to Judy Moody, M.D. and this list came up: http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/bookAlikeSearch.do?Ntk=TBW_BookAlike7_SI&workId=1196890&gradeOffset=0 - I see a lot of Hank the Cowdog books which I've heard are good. BookAdventure is something we're going to start using - basically they have a giant database of books, and your child can take a short quiz on a book and earn points. They offer prizes or you can create a certificate of your own (such as a trip out for ice cream when she gets 300 points). You can say that you want books at a certain reading level and pick five types of books, and it will produce a giant list of books that fit your criteria. I actually bought The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and we have been reviewing phonics through that. Previously we'd done Explode the Code and All About Spelling. I give him as much help as he needs when reading aloud and try to keep it positive. I think successful reading is 20% phonics and 80% confidence - at least in my son's case. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsouthern Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 hank the cow dog was too hard! lol! i have 2 of them... now u have me laughing at how much she tries my patientce LOL! i'll let her finish this book shes on, she only has 20ish pages left and then try to bring out ramona or hank again ;) i will for sure look into the others thats an awesome site!! thanks for the info!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat in MI Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 Totally off the topic of this thread, but have you ever listened to Hank the Cow Dog on tape. They are so funny! Blessings, Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flmochamom Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 spelling: a reason for spelling (this is new... and would cover some bible, and dictation for her too) copywork: queens bible copywork (also new) LA: (all new... editor in chief, mad libs, queens language arts for the very young 2) handwriting: (also new... queens cursive part a) How does this all sound?? too much? not enough? gentle enough?? It seems to be a little bit overboard on the the LA. Copywork can function as both spelling and handwriting practice. You could also use your phonics program for spelling as well. Of course, you know what is best for your own child, but . . . Like others have mentioned, I would use Sonlight's book list as a source of reading material. I find that my children's retention is much better with higher quality (but on an appropriate reading level) books than with some other material. Have you used narration before to help with retention? Simply having the child tell back what happened in the story. Start with one paragraph at time, then increase to a page or two, until child can tell back significant portions of what was just read. In my family, this age (9) seems more challenging than other years. My dd is 9.75 (plus I have older and youngers, and she definitely requires the most attention). Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 ok. dd is 9.5 and doing 4th grade this year. she misses the school cut off by 2 weeks, so she should actually be in 3rd grade. she is also adhd, not focusing well and not retaining much of anything this year and very immature for her age. ive come to the conclussion she is obviously not going to start 5th in the fall... she is just so messed up in almost every subject except math . i just ordered a few things to try a more gentler approach. thoughts?? Math: teaching textbooks grade 4 (she loves this... is about 1/2 way through) spelling: a reason for spelling (this is new... and would cover some bible, and dictation for her too) copywork: queens bible copywork (also new) LA: (all new... editor in chief, mad libs, queens language arts for the very young 2) handwriting: (also new... queens cursive part a) logic: logic safari reading: judy moody series & remedial phonics that Elizabeth helped us with ;) How does this all sound?? too much? not enough? gentle enough?? It sounds like you have a good understanding of where your daughter is. With the things you've said about her reading, I would make that the priority - and it sounds like you are. I haven't used the specific Queens LA book you mention, but tried an earlier one with my dd and eventually felt like it either overlapped with other LA materials or didn't accomplish what I had hoped. I'm not saying that will be the case for you.... but .... look at is like this.... Maybe your spelling should be incorporated with your phonics - instead of another subject to check off. Maybe FLL would be gentle enough (I would consider going back to FLL 1 and 2 while you work on reading of FLL3 if you think she can handle it) and you wouldn't need to pull in madlibs, editor in chief, etc, etc. (I say this because for *myself* when I have too many options I begin to get overwhelmed and for *me* I do better when I pick one thing I have confidence in and do it.) Copywork is fine - and I would use it to reinforce phonics too. Have her read it to you, or mark phonograms or whatever. For comprehension I would definitely add in narration - you could start with Aesop Fables if you wanted. They are more easily retold because they are short stories and you won't be wondering where to break to ask for a narration like you might in a longer work. Or you could start with WWE 1 for narration and copywork. While she's certainly old enough to work on cursive, I wouldn't consider it as important as reading. Lastly I would read aloud some better books to her to whet her appetite for better books. If you used WWE, it's quite likely that some of the excerpts there would lead to some books she would like to hear more of. They would make great read alouds. I also wonder if it would be helpful to listen to a book on tape or cd while she follows along with the text? Where is Oh Elizabeth? - she is much better at making alternate suggestions than I am! Btw, if you've already hit the "order" button you can just smile and nod and say "thank you very much." LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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