Well, we're just plugging right along here. Luke is doing well with everything we have thrown at him (the latest being piano lessons), and is always hungry for more learning. I love it. James keeps him motivated too. Today we were driving and Luke read, "Restaurant" on a building. James said, "Did you sound that out?" and Luke was able to reply, "No". James then had to inform the rest of us, "Luke read 'Restaurant' and he didn't even have to sound it out!" He (J) was quite impressed!
As far as math goes, I've felt quite strongly that this year is for learning basic addition and subtraction facts. We've added in some money counting, skip counting and basic fractions, but have tried to focus on the basics. I just read an article today that confirmed what I already thought (due to my own struggles with math all my life). The author goes through her 3 areas to focus on, so that your child has a chance at math, and can actually succeed at it. She's taught math herself for 30 years, so here's what she has to say.
1) Neatness - This is partly because if you aren't neat, your numbers won't line up, but also because math is orderly and logical, both of which are necessary when becoming good at math. Insist on neatness.
2) Step by Step - Math is a ladder subject, and if you move ahead before previous skills are mastered, your child will fall further and further behind. I feel this is what happened to me. I never learned my math basics (and still don't know them as well as I should), thus struggling my whole life with math. I also failed to be neat, which probably led to my downfall in math.
3) Math Facts - If your child is always having to stop to recall math facts, they will struggle with any math problem because of having to stop and start so many times. The author recommended that addition, subtraction and multiplication tables/facts should be recalled as quickly as your child is able to say their name. And don't move ahead until they can do them all in any given order. She claims that you should be able to wake your child from a deep sleep and ask them what is 7 x 4 and they should be able to mumble 28. That is mastery! She says to spend 10-15 min per day working on these with flashcards and various other manipulatives and make it fun, not drudgery.
-paraphrased from Your Child Can Be Good at Math by Deborah Reed in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring 2011
The only way I even passed high school math was because my best friend was a math whiz (she's now an accountant) and the two students who sat behind and in front of me (we had the same kids in our class all through high school and sat alphabetically) were also both great at math and helped me along. (one is now an engineer and the other a teacher) I think my greatest failure was not learning my addition and subtraction good enough in the beginning. I did learn my multiplication tables well, but that was in 4th grade where I had that awesome teacher that I excelled for. I hope for better for my own kids, and try to daily show them how necessary math is in life. In my nursing career it was very necessary, as well as in Greg's machining career, and so many other fields out there in some way or another. Also in budgeting your money and balancing your checkbook. I can't tell you how many times my checkbook hasn't balanced and it's been because I was sloppy and calculated the wrong numbers, or put them in the wrong column. Dumb mistakes, but mistakes (and time consuming ones) none the less!
Another tidbit of advice from my cousin who is a veteran homeschooling mom: Never skip math. You can skip every other subject now and then, and then catch up, but math doesn't catch up. You need to practice it all the time.
As far as math goes, I've felt quite strongly that this year is for learning basic addition and subtraction facts. We've added in some money counting, skip counting and basic fractions, but have tried to focus on the basics. I just read an article today that confirmed what I already thought (due to my own struggles with math all my life). The author goes through her 3 areas to focus on, so that your child has a chance at math, and can actually succeed at it. She's taught math herself for 30 years, so here's what she has to say.
1) Neatness - This is partly because if you aren't neat, your numbers won't line up, but also because math is orderly and logical, both of which are necessary when becoming good at math. Insist on neatness.
2) Step by Step - Math is a ladder subject, and if you move ahead before previous skills are mastered, your child will fall further and further behind. I feel this is what happened to me. I never learned my math basics (and still don't know them as well as I should), thus struggling my whole life with math. I also failed to be neat, which probably led to my downfall in math.
3) Math Facts - If your child is always having to stop to recall math facts, they will struggle with any math problem because of having to stop and start so many times. The author recommended that addition, subtraction and multiplication tables/facts should be recalled as quickly as your child is able to say their name. And don't move ahead until they can do them all in any given order. She claims that you should be able to wake your child from a deep sleep and ask them what is 7 x 4 and they should be able to mumble 28. That is mastery! She says to spend 10-15 min per day working on these with flashcards and various other manipulatives and make it fun, not drudgery.
-paraphrased from Your Child Can Be Good at Math by Deborah Reed in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring 2011
The only way I even passed high school math was because my best friend was a math whiz (she's now an accountant) and the two students who sat behind and in front of me (we had the same kids in our class all through high school and sat alphabetically) were also both great at math and helped me along. (one is now an engineer and the other a teacher) I think my greatest failure was not learning my addition and subtraction good enough in the beginning. I did learn my multiplication tables well, but that was in 4th grade where I had that awesome teacher that I excelled for. I hope for better for my own kids, and try to daily show them how necessary math is in life. In my nursing career it was very necessary, as well as in Greg's machining career, and so many other fields out there in some way or another. Also in budgeting your money and balancing your checkbook. I can't tell you how many times my checkbook hasn't balanced and it's been because I was sloppy and calculated the wrong numbers, or put them in the wrong column. Dumb mistakes, but mistakes (and time consuming ones) none the less!
Another tidbit of advice from my cousin who is a veteran homeschooling mom: Never skip math. You can skip every other subject now and then, and then catch up, but math doesn't catch up. You need to practice it all the time.
