happycc Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Things I learned about the grammar stage....for our particular family 1) Start homeschooling as soon as possible. Bypass regular school if you can. ;) 2) Use Key To Fractions, Decimals after introducing the materials verbally/discussing 3) Start with Singapore ASAP and do it together regularly 4) Don't be too rigid about WWE. It is ok to tweak. 5) Don;t be too rigid about WWE...it is ok to try something else when you are not getting anywhere. 6) Should have used Sopris West Rewards sooner with one child. 7)Used something instead of AAS with preschoolers and toddlers running around and with more than one set of cards. 8) Should have started Cursive sooner for all of the kids. It would have bypassed all the writing backwards drama. 9) Add other stuff to WWE for writing. 10) Should have used a literature based curriculum so could discuss the reading a bit more. 11) More read louds and books on tape!!!! 12) It is ok to use screen time with a large family with wide age ranges. What about you? What would you have done differently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamabear2three Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shmcath Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Thank you so much for your experience and insight. I am finishing my 1st year of homeschooling, and it has been quite a challenge. Motivation and cooperation are not as I would wish:-) I will be using your list. I have been concerned about my 2 1/2 viewing computer/tv/iphone programs, most educational, so much of the time. I guess it is not that bad:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 :lurk5: Still entrenched in the grammar stage so I'd love to listen to what you folks would do or change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieB Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Oh, My, Goodness. That cursive thing is brilliant. It was one of the things in the very beginning that kind of made me steer away from aBeka. They introduced cursive in K and I thought that seemed like it would be too hard. But, now, my 7yo makes a lot of her letters "wrong" so learning cursive this year has been a nightmare! Thanks for the list, I hope to see what other people think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I would've kept up with the nature notebook we were making, and started Positive Action for Kids bible earlier (but I did love the devotionals we did). I wish we had memorized more scripture and more poetry. I would not have started grammar in first grade. I miss those days--they fly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Buy more toys (worthwhile toys like Playmobil). Play more games. Do more puzzles. Get eye exams regularly with a developmental optometrist that you find through COVD and skip the regular optometrist. (need the dev. optom. to screen for school-related problems like tracking, convergence, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I would've kept up with the nature notebook we were making, and started Positive Action for Kids bible earlier (but I did love the devotionals we did). I wish we had memorized more scripture and more poetry. I would not have started grammar in first grade. I miss those days--they fly! Interesting! I've been looking at the K5 curriculum for my ds. I wasn't sure if I could get it to work for him. What are we talking about? We're Wonder Women who can get anything to work! :lol: Anyways, I wondered if it was worth doing. I've been looking at the high school studies for my dd and trying to decide if they're good or not. I hope I'll get to see them at the convention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverFamily Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 :lurk5: listening in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Love this discussion! :lurk5: Anyone else have wisdom to share? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 We are not technically out of grammar stage yet, but it is quickly coming to a close. Hindsight is creeping up in me. 1) Read alouds should include voices. Most especially when the students are old enough that they are embarrassed by them. 2) Dance parties and tea parties are actually important parts of the homeschooling day...sometimes more so than spelling. 3) Art is never something to leave out, nor is it a separate subject. We now do art in math, social studies, English, everywhere... 4) Don't get caught up in curriculum. The older Ds gets, the more we can talk to him about his ideas on curriculum, and I feel better letting the curriculum go in favor of LOTS of reading and discussion. I should have trusted myself more when he was younger and let go earlier. 5) Read aloud books you think are way over the kid's head. Don't underestimate the student. Read the hard stuff unabridged. Shakespeare is classic for the very reason that it appeals to all different ages differently. So are Beowulf, Tennyson, Dante, twain, Milton, Homer, and stacks of others. They will miss the sex stuff, learn great words, and begin to hear the rhythm of the language. 6) Twaddle can be great. Sometimes everyone needs a People magazine. Within the next six months we will squarely be in the Logic Stage. I can only hope to take these lessons with me and be better prepared. Goodness knows I was a total moron for most of the Grammar stage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I still have two girls following in DS' footsteps. DS just finished grammar stage and is now formally in logic stage. I am fairly happy with the way things turned out so far, but I'm sure I can think of more as the day progresses. Subbing :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Things I learned about the grammar stage....for our particular family 1) Start homeschooling as soon as possible. Bypass regular school if you can. ;) 2) Use Key To Fractions, Decimals after introducing the materials verbally/discussing 3) Start with Singapore ASAP and do it together regularly 4) Don't be too rigid about WWE. It is ok to tweak. 5) Don;t be too rigid about WWE...it is ok to try something else when you are not getting anywhere. 6) Should have used Sopris West Rewards sooner with one child. 7)Used something instead of AAS with preschoolers and toddlers running around and with more than one set of cards. 8) Should have started Cursive sooner for all of the kids. It would have bypassed all the writing backwards drama. 9) Add other stuff to WWE for writing. 10) Should have used a literature based curriculum so could discuss the reading a bit more. 11) More read louds and books on tape!!!! 12) It is ok to use screen time with a large family with wide age ranges. What about you? What would you have done differently? I've never heard of keys to fractions. Is this it?http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1559531002?pc_redir=1396134838&robot_redir=1 Dd11 is halfway through Singapore 5b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Yes, that is Key to Fractions. I sometimes get annoyed when textbooks give a little bit of a topic in one year and stop and then another year a little more and so on and so forth. It drives me nuts. So for Fractions and Decimals...I want to know it all at one time. So I let the kids do Key To Fractions and Decimals and they know the stuff all (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing) by 5th grade or whenever you are done with the books. My kids were way ahead math wise for a bit because of it. We might review a few problems here or there each year but in general they have been introduced to the topics already. I would definitely teach the book. Don;t just hand the book to them and say go for it unless they have been introduced to the topics before. On the other hand, these are also great books to give to the kids after they have been exposed to those topics and still need some review or a full go over again or two. I might try this with 10yrs old and see how that method goes. I should mention that this set of kids went to school first and we missed out book 1 and 2 of Singapore. So they started homeschooling for fourth grade and I needed to backtrack on Singapore massively to Book 3 and plugged along slowly (as I was new with Mental Math and using the math rods to do word problems) and we really didn;t start Singapore until 5th grade as we did Teaching Textbooks 5 for fourth grade. Teaching Textbooks gave the girls the confidence they needed for that first year of homeschooling despite it being incredibly easy and boring to them. But to keep the girls somewhat grade level we did Key To Fractions and Decimals. Everyone's situation is a bit different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Yes, that is Key to Fractions. I sometimes get annoyed when textbooks give a little bit of a topic in one year and stop and then another year a little more and so on and so forth. It drives me nuts. So for Fractions and Decimals...I want to know it all at one time. So I let the kids do Key To Fractions and Decimals and they know the stuff all (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing) by 5th grade or whenever you are done with the books. My kids were way ahead math wise for a bit because of it. We might review a few problems here or there each year but in general they have been introduced to the topics already. I would definitely teach the book. Don;t just hand the book to them and say go for it unless they have been introduced to the topics before. On the other hand, these are also great books to give to the kids after they have been exposed to those topics and still need some review or a full go over again or two. I might try this with 10yrs old and see how that method goes. I should mention that this set of kids went to school first and we missed out book 1 and 2 of Singapore. So they started homeschooling for fourth grade and I needed to backtrack on Singapore massively to Book 3 and plugged along slowly (as I was new with Mental Math and using the math rods to do word problems) and we really didn;t start Singapore until 5th grade as we did Teaching Textbooks 5 for fourth grade. Teaching Textbooks gave the girls the confidence they needed for that first year of homeschooling despite it being incredibly easy and boring to them. But to keep the girls somewhat grade level we did Key To Fractions and Decimals. Everyone's situation is a bit different. Okay thanks - I'm going to look into these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamindy Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I just want to say thank you so much for sharing -those of you that have BTDT. I appreciate learning from your hindsight wisdom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamindy Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 We are not technically out of grammar stage yet, but it is quickly coming to a close. Hindsight is creeping up in me. 1) Read alouds should include voices. Most especially when the students are old enough that they are embarrassed by them. 2) Dance parties and tea parties are actually important parts of the homeschooling day...sometimes more so than spelling. 3) Art is never something to leave out, nor is it a separate subject. We now do art in math, social studies, English, everywhere... 4) Don't get caught up in curriculum. The older Ds gets, the more we can talk to him about his ideas on curriculum, and I feel better letting the curriculum go in favor of LOTS of reading and discussion. I should have trusted myself more when he was younger and let go earlier. 5) Read aloud books you think are way over the kid's head. Don't underestimate the student. Read the hard stuff unabridged. Shakespeare is classic for the very reason that it appeals to all different ages differently. So are Beowulf, Tennyson, Dante, twain, Milton, Homer, and stacks of others. They will miss the sex stuff, learn great words, and begin to hear the rhythm of the language. 6) Twaddle can be great. Sometimes everyone needs a People magazine. Within the next six months we will squarely be in the Logic Stage. I can only hope to take these lessons with me and be better prepared. Goodness knows I was a total moron for most of the Grammar stage! This (mostly the bolded) just made me smile. :) I am so glad that we do these. This is a much needed break for me, and it gives us all a chance to just relax and not take ourselves so seriously. It's especially fun when a dance party is initiated by daddy. (He's a pretty good dancer, too!) Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 This (mostly the bolded) just made me smile. :) I am so glad that we do these. This is a much needed break for me, and it gives us all a chance to just relax and not take ourselves so seriously. It's especially fun when a dance party is initiated by daddy. (He's a pretty good dancer, too!) Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Good stuff. As my son has gotten bigger, modesty is starting to kick in. My goofy, silly boy is beginning to feel the eyes of the rest of world. Dance parties, tea parties, car dancing, voices in read alouds, and epic lipsync competitions seem to remind him that being a person is way more important than being "cool." It has been able to keep the "cool" demons away from our homeschool. Though, they still sometimes show up at the skatepark or the library. It has also helped my marriage quite a bit too! Oddly enough, apparently Dad and I needed to lighten up a bit as well after almost a decade together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I wouldn't be so hung up on word-based, verbal education and I would embrace other visual modes earlier. This may be unique to my situation, but with dyslexics who think in pictures and visuals it was not in their best interest to be so auditory/verbal in their early instruction. Visual and kinesthetic methods of learning have made a huge difference here. I no longer think one method is superior to another - whatever gets the concept across is best whether diagrams, manipulatives, read-alouds/audiobook/text-to-speech, or print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 1. Stick with the same curricula in the 3Rs. Really, consistency matters more than anything else in this area. 2. Start a committed sport earlier (8ish) I think the push to have kids in sports at 3, is silky, but it results in your child being a big kid amongst much younger kids, when starting a sport later. My 12 year old is swimming with 8 year olds and he is fast surpassing them but it's definitely hard on him socially. Don't stress about curriculum - consistency matters way more. And as always, enjoy this time. Give hugs, take breaks, enjoy holidays and traditions and treats together. Do hands on projects especially art and baking for fun, and give tons of hugs and outdoor walks and time. I'll never get those years back and I'm sorry for the mistakes I've made but I certainly feel so glad for homeschooling and the wonderful bond, free time, and outdoors time that my kids had with me and together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoGal Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 - Have more fun and more outdoor time. (Make them like school/learning!) - More time just reading, not worrying about curriculum (I wouldn't do history in Kinder/2nd grade again - they forgot it all anyway) - Make *handwriting* a priority from the beginning - it is so difficult to fix now that it is ingrained - Start homeschooling from the beginning to preserve the love of learning (and be there to help with handwriting from the beginning!) - Start math at their actual level, not backing up just to be sure (especially not with multiple books - we went too slowly the first year) - Buy a van *without* a DVD player (so we could listen to audio books in the car instead). - Start read aloud chapter books earlier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 - More time just reading, not worrying about curriculum (I wouldn't do history in Kinder/2nd grade again - they forgot it all anyway) - Start homeschooling from the beginning to preserve the love of learning (and be there to help with handwriting from the beginning!) - Start math at their actual level, not backing up just to be sure (especially not with multiple books - we went too slowly the first year) - Start read aloud chapter books earlier :iagree: I actually regret letting my older kids start out in school (my daughter went for 1st and my son went for K). If I had to do it over again, I would just start homeschooling from the beginning. I sorta do get a second chance at the grammar stage, because I have older ones aged 12 and 11 and a younger set aged 9 and 6. Here's mine: 1. For K-3, I should've just had them all do phonics, handwriting, copy work, Miquon and read. And that's it. I made the older kids do way too much at that stage. 2. Quit worrying about curriculum, grade levels, what my kids are missing in their education, what the public school kids are doing, what people think about my kids' writing, how much further behind my kids must be from the ps kids, whether or not my kids can take a standardized test, etc. It's ridiculous. 3. Buy more reference materials, as opposed to curricula. Things like Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, CLE's English Handbook, good dictionaries, thesaurus, atlas, etc. The older ones were the guinea pigs. I'm sure I'll have regrets about their logic stage experience, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 2) Use Key To Fractions, Decimals after introducing the materials verbally/discussing My 12 yro (who loves math) made huge leaps in her math skills with that Key to Series around the 5th grade. I plan to start my 11 yro in them this fall (he decided to do a year of geometry this past year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Play games. Complete art projects, bake together. I love my dd's timelines. She and I really put an emphasis on it for two years. I wish it had been all four. We love to go back and look at them. Make sure the math facts are solid. I tutor and teach math to lots of kids in 6th grade who use their fingers, and it slows them down tremendously! Read quality books aloud. Best memories are reading aloud The Secret Garden, The a little Princess, The Jungle Book. Wish we had more free time for the youngest as I did with the oldest. He benefitted from lots of outdoors time at a nature park, or long bike rides. Enjoy them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumshadow Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Great advice! Its so nice to learn from other's hindsight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 I do wish I played more games and went out more with this set however we didn;t start out homeschooling. If we did, definitely more play time. This time goes by REALLY fast! It gets even faster middle and high school. Painfully fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 More: Books, read-alouds and audio Art Baking Handwork Unstructured Science Oral/mental math Less: History Grammar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRmommy Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 This is really helpful advice for those of us who still have young ones. Thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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