Where do I begin?

[Guest librarianne]

I'm new to this board and to the term "afterschooling". I love the concept behind it and feel I have been "afterschooling" my kids all along in a less formal way. My two kids have always attended public school and I've been pleased.

However, I am now seeing a need to do something more with my DD. She is in 6th grade an falling behind in math. I want to start doing structured math lessons with her at home. I have a copy of the state curriculum standards and a supply of resources to use.

I guess I'd like to know from those of you with kids in school how you structure your afterschooling. Do you have a set time? Do you do it every day, once a week? For how long? Do you create lesson plans or just have an idea of what you are going to do?

My other issue is my DS. He is in 8th grade and is gifted. He is in accelerated classes, but I feel like he should be getting more. I'd like to do a structured enrichment class with him, but I'm not sure what is best. Should I accelerate what he is already learning or give him something completely different? What should that be?

Thank you for any help you can give me.

[OrganicAnn]

My DD is younger, but we do homework and then afterschooling next after school (actual play outside, homework then Afterschooling). If she has a lot of homework, then less afterschooling work. We also do work on Saturday morning. You can also use other activities to supplement. For example, you mentioned math. Playing cards and doing puzzles can help with math. Read alouds or books on tape can be connected to history lessons.

[LimitBreak]

I'm new to this board and to the term "afterschooling". I love the concept behind it and feel I have been "afterschooling" my kids all along in a less formal way. My two kids have always attended public school and I've been pleased.

However, I am now seeing a need to do something more with my DD. She is in 6th grade an falling behind in math. I want to start doing structured math lessons with her at home. I have a copy of the state curriculum standards and a supply of resources to use.

I guess I'd like to know from those of you with kids in school how you structure your afterschooling. Do you have a set time? Do you do it every day, once a week? For how long? Do you create lesson plans or just have an idea of what you are going to do?

My other issue is my DS. He is in 8th grade and is gifted. He is in accelerated classes, but I feel like he should be getting more. I'd like to do a structured enrichment class with him, but I'm not sure what is best. Should I accelerate what he is already learning or give him something completely different? What should that be?

Thank you for any help you can give me.

 

My son is also younger (1st grade). His schoolwork is pretty light because he already knows the basics.

 

We afterschool 5 or more days per week. We don't have a rigid set time because I also work full-time (odd hours). I haven't timed myself but I think for each day: 20min piano practice + 45min of math OR english. I don't create lesson plans. For grammar, I use First Language Lessons. For spelling, vocabulary and oral reading, I use McGuffey's Eclectic Reader. For math, I use Singapore and I'm starting to use some MEP worksheets. The main method I use is Singapore.

 

For ideas you can browse the curriculum board. In my opinion, you may want to identify which subjects what you'd like your daughter & son to focus on. I believe that it is extremely difficult to properly afterschool all subjects. (I work full time).

 

My son is only in 1st grade so I can't really give you an accurate picture of what you should do for him. BUT :D, if he were my son I would research something that is different and add it to his workload. By "different" I mean that it's gotta be something that is somewhat related to what he is learning but maybe one that caters to a different learning/teaching style....something to enhance what he is currently learning and maybe at a deeper level.

 

For your daughter, you may want to find out why she is falling behind in math. It could be the teacher's method of teaching or it could be the curriculum that is being used. She may respond better to a different method or may respond better to the way you teach.

[HistoryMom]

[sorry! This turned into a LOOOONG response. :)]

 

I'm in the same situation, reversed. My 9th grader is struggling in math and has some math anxiety, and my 1st grader is gifted.

 

For the 9th grader, I'm backing up and solidifying his understanding of math concepts. He's taking Algebra this year, but I have him working on fractions at home. We do one lesson per day, after school, before he starts his assigned schoolwork. We work toward understanding, not necessary correct finished answers. So, for example, if there's a question about converting a number of miles into a number of feet, our goal is to set up the problem and understand the "why," not necessarily work through the arithmetic. I also read the problem out loud to him, so it keeps him from getting too anxious. Then, after his assigned schoolwork, he reads independently from a nonfiction book of his choosing for 30 minutes.

 

For the 1st grader, my goal is to enhance her strengths and fill in some gaps. Her PS is good, but the teachers have a finite amount of time and too many students. She reads a book of her choosing and her school-assigned home reader while we wait in the car to pick up the 9th grader from school. When we get home, she does her assigned schoolwork, which never takes more than a few minutes. After that, we read aloud from a history book while she colors in a relevant printable (Story of the World or on-topic library book, with accompanying activity page), do her writing program (Writing With Ease text) using passages from the history book, and grammar (First Language Lessons). Finally, she does an on-line puzzle to help with critical thinking. I've also been discussing math with her teacher and have a meeting set with her next week to talk about the best approach. She's working on a 2nd grade level so I want to make sure she's really solid in it, without adding too much pressure. Her teacher has suggesed that we do a round-robin of on-line math games, manipulatives (which she'll provide to me and teach me how to use), math fact speed drills, and math games (like Sorry, but with flashcards to determine the number of spaces to move). We'll do that last, I think, since it's her favorite subject and she'll look forward to it.

 

We finish all of that by 5pm, when I go pick up the 4-year-old, who is in day-care. When he gets home, before dinner, we do a lesson from the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, read out loud a library book of his choosing, and then do his favorite, counting with Cheerios. He gets to eat his right answers. :)

 

On the weekend, we also do a science/art project from a book my mother got us. It has great experiments that use art projects to show various scientific principles.

 

We do it every day after school, one weekend day, and do a little more than usual on days off and early release days. I'm done with work by 230pm each day and work from home, so I can get things organized before they get home, and I work through a schedule each week to make sure I have all of the materials printed out ahead of time.

 

Hope that helps! My favorite thing about these boards is getting ideas based on how everyone else handles things. I'm still struggling with figuring out how to negotiate the afterschool work for both school-age kids at the same time. Sometimes we end up with chaos because they both need help at the same time.

[In The Great White North]

For the 8th grader, have you looked at Art of Problem Solving? It is certainly different and they have on-line classes, in "different" math topics like Number Theory. There are also Math Competitions - does youe school have a math team?

 

For the 6th grader, I would do speed drills of math facts, fractions, etc and games from

 

http://www.amazon.com/Hands-Deck-Games-using-Cards/dp/0968161332/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285339706&sr=1-5

 

and

 

http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Math-Card-Games-Grades/dp/0968759718/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285339706&sr=1-4

 

I have several friends who after-school (Chinese and more math) and they do it after dinner every day.

[Guest librarianne]

Thank you for the responses. I feel much better now that I have a plan. DD and I are going to work on math lessons each night after she finishes her homework. DS will work on foreign language lessons on his ipod.