Is there anything from YOUR school days that you are implementing for your dc?

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Or maybe a version of something you did?

 

Care to share?

[Ester Maria]

Almost everything. :lol: I teach them largely the way I was educated, in fact I even tend to use the same metaphors via which I was explained things as a child. I kept the focus on the text, added more focus on discussion though.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Almost everything. :lol: I teach them largely the way I was educated, in fact I even tend to use the same metaphors via which I was explained things as a child. I kept the focus on the text, added more focus on discussion though.

 

 

That is awesome that you are able to do that!!!! Quick question, did you go to school in the US??

 

 

I had such a horrible education that I try to do the opposite of how I was taught. Sad but true!

[Crimson Wife]

Most of the techniques I've adopted from my school days are things also advocated in TWTM but that have fallen out of favor in PS. Stuff like dictation, sentence diagramming, outlining, memorization of poetry & speeches, reading the classics, mastery of math facts & algorithms to automaticity, etc.

 

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

[Mommy22alyns]

Absolutely nothing. There is nothing I had in school that I'd want to use with my children. History and science in particular make me want to run screaming from the thought.

 

 

Goodness, yes!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

 

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

 

 

Wow- I would love that list as well!!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Absolutely nothing. There is nothing I had in school that I'd want to use with my children. History and science in particular make me want to run screaming from the thought.

 

 

 

That is my experience also

[Raising Little Shoots]

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

 

oh, I would love a list like this too!

 

I use Peter & Jane books with my own DC. These were the books I used at school as a little girl.

[FairProspects]

Almost everything. :lol: I teach them largely the way I was educated, in fact I even tend to use the same metaphors via which I was explained things as a child. I kept the focus on the text, added more focus on discussion though.

 

Yup, this. I went to a private, classical school that looked very much like the WTM minus Latin (which I didn't take until college). My kids will definitely get Latin earlier though.

[kristinannie]

I was in an all gifted and talented class in 4th and 5th grade. We were all on individualized programs in every subject. This is exactly how I am running my homeschool. I will let my kids go as quickly as they want in each subject and do more research on anything that interests them. I won't let them go as slowly as they want though. :tongue_smilie:

 

We also did special unit studies as a part of that class. There was a topic (the 50's, pirates, etc). The teacher made different activities worth certain number of points. We got to choose what to do to get the number of points necessary. For example, for the 50's, we could write a story about the 50's and write it on a record (going sprial in circles). That was worth like 20 points. We could make a pinball machine that was worth 50 points. etc, etc It was really fun and I really remember what I learned. I am going to try similar type things with my kids when they get a little older and see how it works.

 

Those two years of school were the ONLY years of school in which I was passionate about learning and really tried my hardest. Once we moved to CO, I realized that I could just show up without studying and do fine. That was the beginning of the end for me... :banghead: The rest of my schooling experience felt like pure drudgery and I really didn't learn anything, at least not anything that I can recall now. I want to avoid that like the plague with my children! I have learned a lot of things that I don't want to do though!!!!!!! :thumbdown:

[PeacefulChaos]

Most of the techniques I've adopted from my school days are things also advocated in TWTM but that have fallen out of favor in PS. Stuff like dictation, sentence diagramming, outlining, memorization of poetry & speeches, reading the classics, mastery of math facts & algorithms to automaticity, etc.

 

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

 

That is awesome!!! I had a good education but I'm not sure yet exactly what I'll end up using - so far, not much :tongue_smilie:

[zenjenn]

Some of you had some great teachers.

 

Unfortunately I do not remember anything compelling from my elementary years. By the time I was in 3rd grade I spent most of my elementary years ignoring class work, completing assignments while the teacher was talking to get them out of the way, and then reading fiction the rest of the time.

 

The only thing I remember is our *music* teacher teaching us the "Fifty Nifty United States" song. That is how I learned all the states in alphabetical order. I use that. I also remember a once-a-quarter assembly called "Science on the Go" where a roving science enthusiast exposed the kids to all kinds of things, and thus I've learned the importance of exposure to real things and real experiences. If we learned anything else about science in elementary school, I have zero memory of it.

 

I do have a science teacher from middle school who I still recall various mnemonics to teach us things like biological classifications, the order of the planets, light spectrum, and so forth. I will be using those.

 

Really I consider most of my elementary school education a flop. We were taught to read and write and perform basic math operations, but nothing particularly inspired and with reading and writing, anyways, I was always ahead of what was being taught in school due to being an avid reader and writer on my own. I consider it an embarrassment *how little I knew* by the time I reached the teen years.

Edited July 31, 2011 by zenjenn

[Just Robyn]

Not much. I do tell them that the greater than/less than sign is like a crocodile that eats the bigger number (and draw a crocodile on/around it once or twice). I still know the 50 states song from middle school, and we sing that. There are a couple of books that were read to me in elementary school that I want my children to read (The Indian in the Cupboard and A Wrinkle in Time). That's it.

 

The education I received was pretty yucko, and that's a big part of the reason we homeschool. (We're living in the same city, and I've talked to recent graduates as well as the parents of current ps children. Nothing has improved. I would say it's probably gotten worse.)

[Gailmegan]

I went to a public school for K-5 and I can not think of anything I would want to do with my children (other than memorizing times tables and doing copywork and dictation). I went to an excellent private school for 6-12 and I saved most of my textbooks (we had to buy them). Now that my oldest is entering 5th grade I am going to be using my 6th grade math text with him. I plan to stick with all the math texts (although I may be needing some teacher's manuals for Calculus). We also read tons of classics for literature and I saved all those too. Like others I intend to teach sentence diagramming (saved my Warriner's) and outlining (which I admit I did learn in public school gifted program in 5th grade). I am definitely going to teach research papers the way I learned (using notecards - no tomatoes please ;) ). I'm sure there is more that I will remember once I get to that point, but for now, that's what stands out.

[Maverick_Mom]

My first grade teacher copied classic poems on the board and had us copy them for practice in handwriting and language. I remember that so vividly, and it gave me a love of poetry. I was so excited to learn later that that was a very Charlotte Masonesque thing to do. Of course, by the time I was homeschooling, there were already programs that used poetry as copywork in this way, so I didn't have to do the legwork.

[BlessedMom]

Nope......absolutely nothing.

[PeterPan]

oh, I would love a list like this too!

 

 

 

Well this isn't the list the other poster was using, but it would be a starting point. You could take the words and have your student define them in terms of "very."

 

http://www.momswhothink.com/reading/list-of-adjectives.html

[Hwin]

I taught him how to make his numbers using the rhymes I learned in kindergarten -- Just a line and then you're done! That's the way you make a one!

 

I'll have to see what else pops up. In 13 years of education, I'm sure that's not the only thing worth passing on. It can't be, right?!

[prairiegirl]

The only thing that I replicate from my school days is reading aloud. My

7th grade teacher used to read aloud to us every day after lunch. This was my highlight of the day. Mind you, he read us scary stories like The Lottery and The Monkey's Paw but they have stayed with me through the years.

[PeterPan]

The only thing that I replicate from my school days is reading aloud. My

7th grade teacher used to read aloud to us every day after lunch. This was my highlight of the day. Mind you, he read us scary stories like The Lottery and The Monkey's Paw but they have stayed with me through the years.

 

Ooo, this is a very good point! I'd love to get back into reading aloud with dd, but her reading is so good (and faster silently than what I read aloud) and I often fall asleep that the whole thing just fizzles. But scary books, there's an interesting idea. Nothing like emotion to make a memory! Scary with a mystery would be just perfect. She's downstairs watching a season of Murder She Wrote, hehe...

[eternalknot]

I had one teacher over a span of three years that was so influential to me, both as a student then and as a teacher now.

 

She used a multidisciplinary approach, which I've modeled our studies after.

She taught us to diagram, to use mind maps, and to use songs or acronyms to memorize things.

She had us read aloud and discuss together, rather than work mostly independently on papers.

She introduced us to the fine arts, and integrated them into our regular studies.

She planned hands-on experiences, field trips, special lecturers, and other interesting ways to learn.

She instilled in us a sense of personal responsibility for our educations; we weren't just passive recipients.

She advocated admin to teach in a very non-traditional format for a public school; we were a test class, and she was given loose reign after much lobbying.

 

I'm a better whole person for having had her. My childhood friend is now a public school teacher, and we were recently comparing how much we were each influenced by this particular teacher - and how evident it is in our teaching styles, philosophies, and practices :)

[dragons in the flower bed]

Oh, yes... nature study CM style, Drawing With Children, heavy emphasis on mythology, a good amount of time to daydream, arts & crafts supplies always available and no pressure to keep the dining room table clear from projects, always having a book going, always having a diary going, Oak Meadow science texts, Key to... math books, chronological history, living books history.

[Tracy]

Dh says, "Yes, we pick on them everyday. They have learn to live in the real world.":lol::lol::lol:

[Joyofsixreboot]

From my elementary education-yes. I'm old enough that I had phonics and spelling rules. I had wonderful teachers who brought people in to speak to us and took us places. I was taught grammar and poetry memorization. They did read alouds of good literature first thing in the morning or right after lunch recess to get us settled. I also read, read, read history and science fro books the teachers had. I think this happened because we were a small rural school and these teachers had been there a long time. They maybe graduated college in the late 1930's. My jr. high and high school though were horrible.

[elise1mds]

Yes! Yes, yes, yes!!

 

(By the way, before I get started, I also want to see that list of 'very' words.)

 

When DS started skip counting, I hunted down the same CD (well, it was a cassette when I went through, but it's on CD now) with skip-counting songs that I learned when I was in fourth grade. I figured if I could remember the songs well enough after all these years to hunt down the CD, it was worth it... and it has been! Both kids adore the songs and request the CD regularly.

 

I somehow always got really good history and teachers who believed in a lot of hands-on work. Creating realistic historical scenarios and scientific experiments have been a solid foundation for me. One of these days I'd love to round up a whole group of kids and put on our own Olympics! That was one of my sixth-grade teacher's ideas. She even borrowed a real discus for us to hold, though we used a Frisbee for the actual competition. My eighth grade science teacher insisted that we all learn about various scientists, and she'd read to us at the beginning of each class about different discoveries. Then we'd do experiments on the same sorts of things that the day's (or week's) scientist would have studied.

 

I read to the kids on a regular basis... I remember coming in from recess, putting our heads down on our desks, and listening to book after book.

 

When it comes to writing, the best teacher I ever had was my junior high school teacher. She was a little bit kooky (one day she showed up dressed as Emily Dickenson... and we *may* have called her Goody [Lastname] for quite a while after we studied "The Crucible," with vague references to seeing her with the Devil), but as tough as she was, she was amazingly effective. One of her achievements was getting us all to write what she called a "taco essay." Learning that style has been the foundation for any piece of research work that I have done since... and thanks to her and the AP teacher I had the following year, I skipped English I and II in college.

[sagira]

I haven't started yet, but beginning in the Fall I'm going to only speak Spanish to ds when we're doing Spanish lessons. I'm also going to put a bigger emphasis on grammar, both for English as for Spanish. Memorization and chanting of conjugations, times tables, more writing.

 

I don't remember much else, but I'm not replicating too much in terms of math or History in the elementary years!

[Raising Little Shoots]

Well this isn't the list the other poster was using, but it would be a starting point. You could take the words and have your student define them in terms of "very."

 

http://www.momswhothink.com/reading/list-of-adjectives.html

 

super, thanks!

[Aurelia]

I was fortunate to be in my school's gifted program for language arts and we did MANY projects as a way to learn, for example, in 4th grade a group of us adapted Alice in Wonderland to modern times as a play and performed it for several classes, held Tory/Whig debates when we studied the American Revolution and carved bars of soap into "ancient" figurines. In high school when we studied Ancient Greece, my history teacher divided the class into city-states which got points for behaving according to their location; we got extra points for wearing togas in class, Spartans were rewarded for stealing and laconic answers and so on. I want to do stuff like that with my daughter because that is where I learned to love learning. My "regular" classes did their best to kill it.

[kubiac]

My 7th grade English teacher made us memorize the Greek and Latin number words so we would always be able to figure what a hexagon is and instinctively understand that a triceratops (easy!) has etc. I'm planning to expand that study of common classical word roots with colors and other physical characteristics using material from Donald Borror's Dictionary Of Word Roots.

[joannqn]

IEW's banned words lists would be similar to the very words, at least in concept. Certain words are banned, and you lose points for using them in an assignment. There are lists of alternatives to choose from.

 

I can't think of anything in my school experience except for the easy access to same age peers that I would want for my kids.

[Alte Veste Academy]

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

 

I've got Banish Boring Words and it's fabulous for this! It's not exhaustive, of course, but I have found it a great starting point.

[RahRah]

My second grade music teacher taught us a song to teach us all the presidents in order - to this day I remember the song (through Nixon), so I've added to it to go through Obama and will teach it to DS since many of the parts of the song help in remembering who did what or who was who (ie. Mckinley was assisinated "William McKinley's luck spread thinly, shot by a madman's gun") and has the presidents in order.

 

He also taught us Fifty-Nifty United States....and again, to this day, I know the song and all the states in alphabetical order - DS learned it last year.

 

While not specifically learned in school - I use the Schoolhouse Rock DVD's too - since they also left an lasting memory of things included in elementary years!

 

There are other things, projects and activities, that I'll likely use too where I think DS will enjoy them and they'll add to his learning.

[2_girls_mommy]

Yes, lots. I went to a good, small school. We learned phonics, did lots of memorization, had full time gifted classes for several years in elem. We did do dictation.

 

So in particular things I do: I have her write a times table through the 12s each day to start the day. My 4th grader teacher did the same.

 

I use R&S english, and I LOVE it. I did not have this type of serious grammar and memorization until middle school, but I still remember the chants and songs that my teacher used to teach us the lists, etc. I use the same tunes w/dd. I plan to use the same songs that I sang in elem. later this year for some American history. Have already gotten C.Ds. and You tube videos ready.

 

I started foreign language study in grade 3. ( My mother did pay a teacher for this outside of school) I started dd in Prima Latina in grade 3.

 

I was taught world history in elementary school. Often times as I read SOTW to my children, I can actually go back to the actual lecture and picture the teacher who was telling me about it. I had an awesome history teacher throughout middle school too. (maybe I just loved history, but I can remember so much from school on these topics. As my understanding grows on a topic as an adult I remember what/when I was initially taught on the matter.)

 

To me, a lot of the things I like in WTM are things that fit with how I was taught. I was shocked as an adult to learn that I went to a really good school and that not all schools teach that way. WTM gives me a guideline to give my dds the education that they deserve, and will take it to the next level beyond what I had. But I had an awesome elem . and middle school education (I wouldn't say the same about the entire school experience. But minus the peer stuff, it was good.)

[lexi]

Most of the techniques I've adopted from my school days are things also advocated in TWTM but that have fallen out of favor in PS. Stuff like dictation, sentence diagramming, outlining, memorization of poetry & speeches, reading the classics, mastery of math facts & algorithms to automaticity, etc.

 

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

 

That list sounds very neat-I mean awesome! I would love a copy of that.

[9763653]

No.

[ScoutTN]

When we get to that stage, we will definitely do diagramming sentences.

 

And Latin. Maybe Greek.

[regentrude]

Yes. I orient my educational goals for the children on the excellent public school education I received as a child growing up in East Germany.

 

I use mostly materials available in the US, for practicality - but my ideas about content and age appropriate level of work are entirely determined by my own education.

[Holly]

We sometimes have milk breaks like I had in school. :D

 

I do catch myself quoting my HS Spanish teacher...she was hilarious!

[Ellesmere]

One of my elementary teachers taught us sign language and used a lot of poetry in our read-aloud time. We wrote tons of poems and stories in that class, too. That has definitely influenced what we do.

[johnandtinagilbert]

My 3rd grade math teacher was AWeSOME! I use his game....I call out numbers and they have to figure them out in their head. I keep track via my fingers behind my back and they get a chance to answer whenever I say I'm finished. It's fun!

[momma aimee]

thanks for all the ideas

[zoo_keeper]

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

 

I think the name for these words is "extreme adjectives." If you google the term, you could build your own list, e.g.,

Adjectives Extreme Adjectives

angry furious, livid

bad awful

big huge, enormous, massive

beautiful gorgeous

clean spotless

cold freezing

crowded packed

dirty filthy

frightened terrified, petrified

funny hilarious

good wonderful

happy delighted, overjoyed

hot boiling, scorching

hungry starving, famished, ravenous

interesting fascinating

sad devastated

scary terrifying

small tiny

surprising amazing, astounding, astonishing

thirsty parched

tired exhausted

[momma aimee]

I taught him how to make his numbers using the rhymes I learned in kindergarten -- Just a line and then you're done! That's the way you make a one!

 

I'll have to see what else pops up. In 13 years of education, I'm sure that's not the only thing worth passing on. It can't be, right?!

 

I want that rhyme!!!

[momma aimee]

we had book catipillers -- each child had a head and one body part to start the year (1st and 3rd, same teacher). each book you read (and did a page "fill in the blank report" on) got you a body part for your catipiller. LOOOOVED it. (had to be a book at or above your reading level in class, little brother's books didn't cut it).

 

I have other great memories, but they do not translate into 2 little boys in a kitchen. LOL

 

DEAR TIME at random times.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I want that rhyme!!!

 

I found it here, with a veritable treasure of other math resources.

 

NUMBER SONG

 

0. Make a circle, be a hero that's the way to make a zero!

 

1. Just a line and then you're done that's the way to make a one!

 

2. Around and over, then you're through that's the way to make a two!

 

3. Around the tree, around the tree that's the way to make a three!

 

4. Down and over and down some more that's the way to make a four!

 

5. Down, around, put a hat on top!

 

6. Around and around until it sticks that's the way to make a six!

 

7. Across the sky and down from heaven that's the way to make a seven!

 

8. Make an S and close the gate that's the way to make an eight!

 

9. First a circle, then a line that's the way to make a nine!

[kpnick in nc]

My 6th grade Geography teacher had everyone keep a current events log. He would write the day's headlines on the board; we were to come in, sit down, copy the headlines into a comp book. He would always go over them first thing, give brief context if necessary, track hurricanes on his weather map, etc.

 

It's a little thing, but I remember many of those events even now. I haven't started on a daily basis yet, but if something 'big' comes up, I try to talk about it with DS using that teacher as a model. I haven't decided how I will do this yet, but I like the idea of documenting what happened in the world during your school years in a way that sticks.

[Crimson Wife]

My 5th grade English teacher had us memorize a list of what he called "the very words". I really wish I could get a hold of that list because it was fantastic. They were things like "massive = very big", "lethargic = very tired", and so on. He told us that he didn't want to ever see the word "very" in our writing, and any time we wanted to use it, we should consult the "very words" list to come up with a stronger adjective.

 

I just found my old 5th grade English teacher on Facebook! :party:

 

Assuming that he accepts my "friend" request, I'm going to ask him if he still has a copy of the "very words" list. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!!

[Julie Smith]

I remember we had a big scrap book and every week we had to cut out a article from the newspaper and write about it.

 

I remember two articles in detail. One was about frogs. I drew (as I remember) really nice pictures of frogs.

 

The other was about Princess Di.

 

I bought the boys a big scrap book and will be adding articles from the paper that are good. I wish I had it ready earlier.

 

I got the idea to start doing this because one day we meet a man at the big store. He was getting lots of stuff done to his bike. He was about to fly to Northern Canada and start a 2 year long bike trip to Mexico. He was going to be raising awareness about something. He also talked about how he was doing the trip on a limited budget.

 

There was a long article about it in the paper the next day.

 

Sadly I lost the paper. But I'm sure we will have interesting articles in the future.

[momma aimee]

i know this is an old thread, but there are so many great ideas i have to bring it up again

[mo2]

I just found my old 5th grade English teacher on Facebook! :party:

 

Assuming that he accepts my "friend" request, I'm going to ask him if he still has a copy of the "very words" list. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!!

 

 

 

Well? Did you get the list? :bigear: