if you subscribe to the overlearning philosophy

[razorbackmama]

How do you go about doing this? Do you just do it in a couple subject areas or all? I'm thinking that it'd be best (and easiest) to do in just math and language areas?:confused: What curriculums have you found helpful? Do you have to use multiple curriculums for the same subject?

[Mandy in TN]

Laurie4B and OhElizabeth have both posted about overteaching methods.

 

Here is a thread.

 

Mandy

[Farrar]

Huh. After reading the thread, while I don't know if I totally subscribe to it as a philosophy, I think there's some really positive qualities to that approach. But the name "over teaching" or "over learning" makes me sort of pull back. It doesn't sound positive at all on first hearing.

[razorbackmama]

Laurie4B and OhElizabeth have both posted about overteaching methods.

 

Here is a thread.

 

Mandy

 

Thanks for this! When I get a free minute this afternoon I plan to read through that thread.:001_smile:

[mcconnellboys]

When I was in school and my mother was still teaching, their mantra was that you teach everything 3 different ways to help cement learning. Approaching the same subject matter from different perspectives is something I still do with my younger son.

 

When we're doing chemistry, for instance, I will read about a particular topic. I might also assign a book for him to read about that same topic. Not in the same day or even the same week, but in close proximity to our initial reading. I'll assign written work on that topic so that he's writing about it. I'll assign experiments that cover that subject matter, etc. So he's getting the same info in different ways.

 

When we study history, I will read and he will read a variety of books by different authors about the same or similar topics. We'll be discussing any differences we see as we read, discussing topics of interest or questions we have as we read, etc. He will end up writing about one of these topics, too.

 

In our math study, while he is doing Algebra II level work this year with a tutor, with plenty of Algebra I level review thrown in, I am covering Russian Math 6 with him at home which is a pre-algebra level program that has thus far emphasized work with factoring, fractions, and decimals. These are all areas that teachers have told me time and again kids are weak in when they enter high school level higher maths, so I'm trying to give him a stronger base.

[angela in ohio]

This is a very traditional teaching method, so most good traditional curriculum materials will give plenty of work, review, problems, etc. to accomplish this. Just make sure to stick your fingers in your ears and go nah-nah-nah when other homeschoolers tell you to only do every other problem. ;)

[mcconnellboys]

And one thing that I never even thought about, but encountered quite a bit here, was that when people buy a curriculum like Spelling Workout, for instance, they don't really use it. They don't have their child do the exercises. I've seen folks say, well they can spell the words. Okay, but the exercises are about a lot more than that. I can't imagine paying money for a curriculum and then not using it (I don't mean if you don't like it; I mean having it on hand and "saying" you're using it, when you're really just skimming it). Then the same people may want to go out and buy a vocabulary curriculum to use - but they already have that built into something like Spelling Workout....

 

That's just one instance I've noticed over time of folks saying "we use xyz" when they really don't "use" it.....

[Kuovonne]

I'm a big believer in overlearning and spaced review. So far I just teach math and English, and yes, I incorporate overlearning and review in both.

 

For overlearning, I like mixed review of old and new concepts.

For my homeschool, the divisions between "learning," "practicing," and "reviewing" are very blury.

 

I tell my kids that they're not done learning something until they can do it without thinking.

 

For spaced review, I use the free computer program Anki. I love :001_wub: Anki.

[ElizabethB]

Yes.

 

Math and LA.

 

I use games and different curriculums to keep from driving myself crazy, especially with my remedial students where I am going over the same things about a billion times. But, you can just use the same stuff, the kids are fine with that and it works, too. When I first started tutoring and only had a few good phonics programs, I would do some work from the whiteboard or combine things or pick a few words from previous lessons to mix things up a bit. (Again, more for my benefit, they were fine doing the exact same thing over and over as long as they were learning things.)

 

One thing I did find that helped above and beyond repetition was nonsense words and spelling, the addition of those made the learning process faster than when I was not using those things.

Edited January 18, 2011 by ElizabethB

[Halcyon]

I overteach in language, particularly grammar, and mathematics. I suppose I also overteach Latin, although we are at the beginning stages.

[ElizabethB]

I overteach in language, particularly grammar, and mathematics. I suppose I also overteach Latin, although we are at the beginning stages.

:iagree:

 

Foreign languages require over-teaching, as well, I forgot about that. We also are in the beginning stages of Latin and Spanish.

[ChrissySC]

This is one of the reason that I am careful with what we use as a foundation. I am "overteaching" in math and language arts as well.

 

If following the WTM, we are already doing this with history and science, IMO. For history, we read STOW, narrate, complete mapwork, and extra activities. This cements a good foundation for further study in the middle grades.

 

I agree with many comments made in the linked post. Often, too many portions of a curriculum or text are skipped. We do everything in our Saxon math textbook, including the mental math and problem solving ... drill sheets too. I do not skip.

 

So ... not exactly multiple curriculums in our house, but using what we have as designed without skipping over anything just because dc can do it already and test well on it. This includes the 4-5 page reviews in R&S ... LOL We write it all out and diagram it all. If you think about R&S, it is taught three ways: read it, complete oral exercises, and complete written exercises - overteaching too.

 

Someone mentioned to me that you should be taught or teach three ways - see it, say it, and write it. This came from a teacher I spoke with about my oldest dc almost 15 years ago! I try and hold to this for everything.

[PeterPan]

When I was in school and my mother was still teaching, their mantra was that you teach everything 3 different ways to help cement learning. Approaching the same subject matter from different perspectives is something I still do with my younger son.

 

Kristen, it's not rocket science. If it takes 3 times through to learn it with NT kids, then do 100 times. You just don't expect that one time through will do it for kids. It's not true for NT kids, and it's ESPECIALLY not true for non-NT. And you keep going till it's solid. But like Regena said, it's lots of exposure, different ways, over time. Last year we did some pre-algebra stuff with HOE. This year we're doing some Dolciani pre-algebra alongside our MM (just very informally, whiteboard). And we'll probably do MORE pre-algebra. I don't expect one time through to cut it. I don't assume that it's there just because I covered it in the past.

[Kuovonne]

overteaching vs. overlearning

 

It seems like many of the posts on this thread are about overteaching -- teaching something over and over again in different ways until the student gets it. Usually this requires effort on the part of the teacher to come up with new ways of presenting the information. I'm too lazy to overteach.

 

I view overlearning as something different. For me, overlearning is the student practicing a new concept or skill over and over again until it is second nature. Once the student can self-correct, the teacher can simply monitor practice without being actively involved. Overlearning is my goal for my students.

[Hunter]

Math and classical languages are not reinforced in daily life, so need to be over learned if a student expects to be able to remember them, during the rare odd moments he attempts to use them.

 

If a students is spending large amounts of time over learning, then he or his parents need to question the necessity of knowing the material at all :-0

 

I do overlearn in my self-studies, and I did have my children overlearn, but it's a wakeup call, to look closely at what we are doing.