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When do you start ramping up output requirements?


Dmmetler
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I'm wrestling with this. Right now, DD does most of her work orally with some worksheet/short answers. About the only thing she writes of any length is copywork or creative writing, and the latter is by choice (usually writing about her various characters and how they fight with their brothers and sisters.)

 

She's moving ahead quickly right now, and seems to both want and NEED more challenge-and the area that she really, really wants it in the most is language arts. She is thrilled and enthralled by grammar, syntax, and language. I think she'd LOVE an online class diving into these in more depth, especially since online classes generally have a discussion component, but I don't want to enroll her in something where she cannot meet the writing requirements.

 

So, do I start, for the rest of this year, to demand more writing of her and see how she does, with the idea that maybe, next year, she'll be ready for something like the G3 MCT Town class? Or is that just asking for frustration, since, ultimately, she's still 7?

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You don't have to demand it; you can present it as an option, with an expected payoff of the work she would enjoy (buy-in might make things more palatable, but I don't know your daughter). In PS, writing requirements really pick up in third to fourth grade, and despite the fact that homeschooling offers more flexibility, I'd try to roughly keep pace based on grade level, since that will make it easier for your daughter to take classes as desired.

 

I'm in the dark on the details for the classes you're eyeballing, so I don't know for instance whether she could submit typed work. Either way, I'd start work on typing skills now.

Edited by Iucounu
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She's working on typing (with Nessy Fingers, which she loves) and types her little stories-but it literally took her over 2 hours to write/type a story that was only about 600 words. She can give nice narrations and retellings with a lot of detail orally, but they get very terse and a lot less well organized when she has to write them down.

 

I haven't worried about it much, in part because she's obviously exceeding the writing that I see on the wall of our church school for 2nd graders (which is the class she'd be in were she still attending our church school)-but the classes that look like a good fit for her content-wise are more like 5th grade or higher, and even 5th grade only is likely to be a good fit if it's something designed for gifted thinkers.

 

If she didn't seem to desire the input and the chance to discuss and share with others so much I wouldn't worry about it-I don't have any trouble with trying to keep her writing age-appropriate at home, and ramping up when she's a little older (there's a LOT bigger difference between 1st and 5th grade than between 9th and the 1st year of college, as far as writing expectations go), but she really seems to need more than I can provide in this area.

 

Sigh...why couldn't she have been "Mathy"? It seems SO much easier to find resources for young mathy kids than young "languagy" ones!

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Instead of adding more writing requirements to her language arts work, what if you treat it as exercise -- longer copywork, more effort toward typng, etc. -- explaining that the more she does the easier it gets -- and then when you have a good handle on just how much she can do easily, and at what pace (and when that's more and faster than it is now), ramp up the language arts to include it.

 

Barring any disability (dysgraphia, fine motor control issues, etc.), my experience has been that lots of writing makes writing easier. But I would be hesitant to tie it to something she really enjoys... the physical challenge of writing isn't really all that entertaining in the way the creative challenge can be.

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If you have the budget for them, the CTY Critical Reading courses are good and don't require huge outputs (most of the responses are 150-200 words). My DD did the "Magical Life Lessons" one when she was 7 turning 8. I would love to have her do another one, but we haven't had the budget :(

 

:grouphug: I imagine you've thought of this, but can't help asking if you're eligible for, or have tried, their financial aid (bottom of that page)? .... and more :grouphug:

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If you have the budget for them, the CTY Critical Reading courses are good and don't require huge outputs (most of the responses are 150-200 words). My DD did the "Magical Life Lessons" one when she was 7 turning 8. I would love to have her do another one, but we haven't had the budget :(

 

That looks good-I may have to break down and have DD do the test for eligibility. Her preschool scores aren't on the right tests, and I didn't bother having her do the out of level tests last year after the SAT-10 since I didn't think it was likely she'd take the classes, but she'd love that one!

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I'm wrestling with this. Right now, DD does most of her work orally with some worksheet/short answers. About the only thing she writes of any length is copywork or creative writing, and the latter is by choice (usually writing about her various characters and how they fight with their brothers and sisters.)

 

She's moving ahead quickly right now, and seems to both want and NEED more challenge-and the area that she really, really wants it in the most is language arts. She is thrilled and enthralled by grammar, syntax, and language. I think she'd LOVE an online class diving into these in more depth, especially since online classes generally have a discussion component, but I don't want to enroll her in something where she cannot meet the writing requirements.

 

So, do I start, for the rest of this year, to demand more writing of her and see how she does, with the idea that maybe, next year, she'll be ready for something like the G3 MCT Town class? Or is that just asking for frustration, since, ultimately, she's still 7?

 

Asking to understand the situation better: does your DD write well when she's writing by choice? Haven't read all responses but one thought and forgive me if it has already been mentioned, is that if she CAN write, why not register for a one-level-below-target G3 (or A3) class in language arts anyway? Perhaps she will rise up to the challenge?

 

I'm suggesting this because although my son is not into language arts by anyone's standards, his interest in one of the G3 classes was deep enough at 7 that he surprised me by working at it, despite the executive function issues.

 

Good luck!

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I tried to up dd's output at the beginning of the year and she balked. I lowered the amount of writing and she was fine. Then I tried again in January and she's doing great! So, I'd suggest just trying it. The worst that can happen is that you discover it is too much and have to back off. I'm thinking that a typing course is needed at our house, too. We're pretty busy now but probably summer time will work for us.

 

As others have already pointed out, if she is really interested in a class she is more likely to put forth extra effort to write more than she normally would. But if she learns how to type well it probably wouldn't be a problem anyway.

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I tried to up dd's output at the beginning of the year and she balked. I lowered the amount of writing and she was fine. Then I tried again in January and she's doing great! So, I'd suggest just trying it. The worst that can happen is that you discover it is too much and have to back off. I'm thinking that a typing course is needed at our house, too. We're pretty busy now but probably summer time will work for us.

 

As others have already pointed out, if she is really interested in a class she is more likely to put forth extra effort to write more than she normally would. But if she learns how to type well it probably wouldn't be a problem anyway.

 

I found "Nessy Fingers" typing-it's a typing program from the UK where the goal is to help the Loch Ness monster. It's perfect for my dragon/mythology/fantasy crazed kid-and I think the infinitely patient British Accented narrator who walks through the lessons with her appeals, too (she's been fascinated by accents for years).

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:grouphug: I imagine you've thought of this, but can't help asking if you're eligible for, or have tried, their financial aid (bottom of that page)? .... and more :grouphug:

 

Unfortunately, we are in a position where DH has an okay income, but it's in a very unstable industry. So while we wouldn't qualify for CTY's financial aid right now, we need to be replenishing our rainy day fund from the last rocky patch.

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If you have the budget for them, the CTY Critical Reading courses are good and don't require huge outputs (most of the responses are 150-200 words). My DD did the "Magical Life Lessons" one when she was 7 turning 8. I would love to have her do another one, but we haven't had the budget :(

 

Oh man! That is quite a budget. I wish we had it too.

 

"your honor, I robbed that bank to pay for a CTY class for my son.":lol::lol::lol:

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Instead of adding more writing requirements to her language arts work, what if you treat it as exercise -- longer copywork, more effort toward typng, etc. -- explaining that the more she does the easier it gets -- and then when you have a good handle on just how much she can do easily, and at what pace (and when that's more and faster than it is now), ramp up the language arts to include it.

 

Barring any disability (dysgraphia, fine motor control issues, etc.), my experience has been that lots of writing makes writing easier. But I would be hesitant to tie it to something she really enjoys... the physical challenge of writing isn't really all that entertaining in the way the creative challenge can be.

 

I like this idea and will probably use it myself since I'm wrestling with the same question for my dd the same age.

 

Also, I am going to try the dragon dictation iPad app for her to use to write longer selections so I can see what she would come up with if the physical writing wasn't slowing her down. We've tested it a few times and the app has more trouble understanding her than me so I think it will take a little enunciation practice plus some after the fact editing work but she'll enjoy that.

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I found "Nessy Fingers" typing-it's a typing program from the UK where the goal is to help the Loch Ness monster. It's perfect for my dragon/mythology/fantasy crazed kid-and I think the infinitely patient British Accented narrator who walks through the lessons with her appeals, too (she's been fascinated by accents for years).

 

How did you buy that for the US? I only see a UK purchase option. Do you have a CD or a download?

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I started ramping up output when dd was capable of more output so it was a gradual thing but something we worked on increasing in fun ways rather than just waiting for it to happen.

 

When she was really young, 4-6yo or so, she preferred to type everything and would "write" much more if she was allowed to do it on computer. This had the added benefit of teaching her to type quickly. I would also allow her to record her creations on a mini digital recorder then type them out for her sometimes if she had more in her head than she was capable of getting out.

 

For math, most of the time I would write out her problems while she talked through them up until about 2 years ago when she started doing the writing herself.

 

Now she takes notes for her PLATO and writes her novel and literature work mostly on the computer. She is capable of writing by hand and will often do her rough draft by hand then type the final draft.

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How did you buy that for the US? I only see a UK purchase option. Do you have a CD or a download?

 

I did it as a download, using a credit card that handles international transactions. It really wasn't bad price-wise, since they credited off a lot of the taxes since it was digital, but it was one time that I was holding my breath a little until I saw the charge come through and was certain I'd figured the exchange rates correctly.

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I found "Nessy Fingers" typing-it's a typing program from the UK where the goal is to help the Loch Ness monster. It's perfect for my dragon/mythology/fantasy crazed kid-and I think the infinitely patient British Accented narrator who walks through the lessons with her appeals, too (she's been fascinated by accents for years).

 

That sounds like fun! DD would probably like it.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Nessy-Typing-fingers-touch-typing/dp/B005Y029CI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328545502&sr=8-1

 

Is this it? If so, that would be convenient. I buy most things from Amazon (or Rainbow Resource Center).

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