We're 17 lessons from the end of RightStart A. Becca was showing a little impatience with it today (it's a K level math) and I asked her if it was too easy. "Well, not too easy..." Uh huh. It's a little too easy but math sometimes freaks her out, so she likes it a little easy. I tried to gently talk to her and tell her that we were going to move on and it might get a little more challenging soon. She said she didn't want to go back to "that boring math that we used to do" (Singapore Math) and I reassured her that she'd still get to use the abacus, play card games, and have a lot of fun. She was so excited she wanted to do the remaining 17 lessons today! I guess she really hated Singapore - it moved quickly but wasn't fun enough or something. I liked it, but that was the parental perspective, and if she's not learning from it that's a moot point. She wanted to know if RightStart went up to Level Z and was worried to find out that it only went up to E and then Geometry. I assured her that they'd probably make more books as she advanced and it would probably take her to high school level math. High school seems far enough away for her to not be too worried about it. Maybe I'll try to pick up the pace for our last few RS lessons and go on into Level B. I'm just nervous about hitting a wall again like we did with Singapore.
She's also enjoying some fun math supplementation from MEP (Mathematics Enrichment Programme). This is adapted from some Hungarian model... something like that. Exotic countries have the best math, apparently. It's getting a lot of play on the WTM boards right now, so I've printed off the early sheets for Becca to play with since RS doesn't have many worksheets. Oh - MEP is free. Don't all stampede over there at once! She shows a real interest in these sheets - they help her thinking and logic skills too, and she gets to use colored pencils and draw pictures. Here's the link: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Today's activities and some old ones too
We're on to ancient China, which is fascinating... okay, all of it's fascinating to me. A product of US public education, I am encountering all of this for the first time. So today we opened up our Ancient China Treasure Chest and ground an ink stick to practice a little calligraphy. Sylvia wanted to try it out too, but I was surprised by it and didn't get her in the pics.
Grinding the ink
Calligraphy - she was determined to do them ALL!
Other highlights from today:
Sylvia marching around while singing along with the Latin songs. Why does this seem so out of reach for preschoolers? I think Song School Latin, at least the songs and vocabulary, would be completely doable with a small 4 year old class. Or maybe I just don't know 4 year olds very well. One of the songs says, "If you bump into a little man and make him spill his tea, say ignosce mihi." Becca said, "But what if he doesn't speak Latin?"
Right Start math - I just got Level B and after a brief period of mild panic, I think we can do this. We - Becca and I. I could do Singapore, maybe Becca just couldn't. So far our Right Start results are promising. Becca asks to do math first almost every day. She loves the card games and really seems to be getting it. Maybe it's because we went back and are re-doing things we already covered in our Singapore experiment, or maybe RS has a better touch. All I know is that Sylvia - SYLVIE, my 4 year old - is starting to remember number pairs that make ten. Yes, "Go to the Dump" really is that great.
Speaking of Sylvia, she took a ton of books off the shelf and just started to read them. She counted them and had in the neighborhood of 22. She's starting to truly take off in her reading and become a little more fluent, less halting.
I just love the little things in homeschooling. The silly, strange moments you'd never get with any other experience.
Becca tracing her digestive system - 4 and 6 year olds find the manufacture of poop to be endlessly amusing.
Sylvia posing with her outline
"Helpful Spit" from Head to Toe Science. It would have been helpful to have unexpired iodine, which I think might have affected the outcome of this experiment. I don't know if I was able to accurately convey to Becca the role saliva plays in our digestive system, but it's all about the experience when you're five - er, six. Right?
The Golden Apple, from our studies on ancient Greece (SOTW Ch. 23). The whole thing says "For the Most Beautiful." DH presented it to me. Smart man.
Olympus Family Tree, also SOTW Ch. 23. The book that more thoroughly explains this was perpetually checked out of the library, so we just got our hands on it. We tried to put the gods and goddesses in some sort of hierarchical order, but who knows. It's the experience that counts, it's the experience that counts...
Pharos lighthouse (SOTW Ch. 25). I just couldn't buy a whole roll of yellow plastic wrap, so we just put it in the window so the sun would shine through the windows. Becca was more fascinated by the library in Alexandria - girl after my own heart!
We're almost done with our Mommy-designed human body studies and I'm making preparations for a short unit on plants. Very short, as in, how can we get this stuff in before Mommy kills all our specimens? I just killed a batch of three seedlings we were growing "just for fun." *rolls eyes at self*
Grinding the ink
Calligraphy - she was determined to do them ALL!Other highlights from today:
Sylvia marching around while singing along with the Latin songs. Why does this seem so out of reach for preschoolers? I think Song School Latin, at least the songs and vocabulary, would be completely doable with a small 4 year old class. Or maybe I just don't know 4 year olds very well. One of the songs says, "If you bump into a little man and make him spill his tea, say ignosce mihi." Becca said, "But what if he doesn't speak Latin?"
Right Start math - I just got Level B and after a brief period of mild panic, I think we can do this. We - Becca and I. I could do Singapore, maybe Becca just couldn't. So far our Right Start results are promising. Becca asks to do math first almost every day. She loves the card games and really seems to be getting it. Maybe it's because we went back and are re-doing things we already covered in our Singapore experiment, or maybe RS has a better touch. All I know is that Sylvia - SYLVIE, my 4 year old - is starting to remember number pairs that make ten. Yes, "Go to the Dump" really is that great.
Speaking of Sylvia, she took a ton of books off the shelf and just started to read them. She counted them and had in the neighborhood of 22. She's starting to truly take off in her reading and become a little more fluent, less halting.
I just love the little things in homeschooling. The silly, strange moments you'd never get with any other experience.
Becca tracing her digestive system - 4 and 6 year olds find the manufacture of poop to be endlessly amusing.
Sylvia posing with her outline
"Helpful Spit" from Head to Toe Science. It would have been helpful to have unexpired iodine, which I think might have affected the outcome of this experiment. I don't know if I was able to accurately convey to Becca the role saliva plays in our digestive system, but it's all about the experience when you're five - er, six. Right?
The Golden Apple, from our studies on ancient Greece (SOTW Ch. 23). The whole thing says "For the Most Beautiful." DH presented it to me. Smart man.
Olympus Family Tree, also SOTW Ch. 23. The book that more thoroughly explains this was perpetually checked out of the library, so we just got our hands on it. We tried to put the gods and goddesses in some sort of hierarchical order, but who knows. It's the experience that counts, it's the experience that counts...
Pharos lighthouse (SOTW Ch. 25). I just couldn't buy a whole roll of yellow plastic wrap, so we just put it in the window so the sun would shine through the windows. Becca was more fascinated by the library in Alexandria - girl after my own heart!We're almost done with our Mommy-designed human body studies and I'm making preparations for a short unit on plants. Very short, as in, how can we get this stuff in before Mommy kills all our specimens? I just killed a batch of three seedlings we were growing "just for fun." *rolls eyes at self*
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Re-writing the book
Oh, goodness... Becca, Becca, Becca. I have painstakingly evaluated texts and planned out a nice little first grade curriculum, and she's already throwing boomerangs at me. How fast does this child's mind work? How much review does a five year old of Becca's intelligence need? I'm teetering between expecting too much and underestimating her. Underestimating Becca = bad thing to do. Okay, maybe not underestimating so much, but just assuming that a quick review of things would be painless.
I chose the Saxon math course for her because it was widely regarded as solid, thorough, and easy for parents to use. I'd hate for her to have any "gaps." I looked at the kindergarten text and decided that would be way too easy, so I checked out the first grade materials. They begin at a level where I feel comfortable starting with Becca - she's familiar with the start of it, but there are things deeper in that will challenge her. They use what is called an incremental approach, so there is a lot of review and new concepts are introduced slowly.
Did I just make an expensive curriculum blunder????
Time for me to re-think things. I have a nice little script but I have to go off the beaten path! I have to color outside the lines!!! Oh, the HORROR!!!!
Stop laughing, dad!
I'm going to keep reading the Saxon teacher's manual and try to figure out how to condense some lessons or just skip them altogether until we get to a part that will hold Rebecca's interest. Don't bore the child!
On a side note, we found a quick little reading level test online - it doesn't measure comprehension or anything, just word decoding. Becca is at a fourth grade level. Wow.
I chose the Saxon math course for her because it was widely regarded as solid, thorough, and easy for parents to use. I'd hate for her to have any "gaps." I looked at the kindergarten text and decided that would be way too easy, so I checked out the first grade materials. They begin at a level where I feel comfortable starting with Becca - she's familiar with the start of it, but there are things deeper in that will challenge her. They use what is called an incremental approach, so there is a lot of review and new concepts are introduced slowly.
Did I just make an expensive curriculum blunder????
Time for me to re-think things. I have a nice little script but I have to go off the beaten path! I have to color outside the lines!!! Oh, the HORROR!!!!
Stop laughing, dad!
I'm going to keep reading the Saxon teacher's manual and try to figure out how to condense some lessons or just skip them altogether until we get to a part that will hold Rebecca's interest. Don't bore the child!
On a side note, we found a quick little reading level test online - it doesn't measure comprehension or anything, just word decoding. Becca is at a fourth grade level. Wow.
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