Homeschool Chat

[gerberdaisy1234]

I got a call from Youth Programs at Disney today. They will be offering 10 day Homeschool tickets for January. It will not be listed so she gave me the information on how to order the 10 day park hopper homeschool ticket. If you are interested in the information pm me.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

how much are they charging for them?

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

ten day park hopper $179.96

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

that is awesome. This year we can't use that many, but hopefully they offer the same next year!

 

[wvdislover]

That IS an awesome price! Wish they'd offered it during the September HS days Maybe another time. Can't go in January. I think we're going to go with 3D Travel on their Ultimate Field Trip next September.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

When the time comes for next Homeschool days- call! I called about two weeks ago to ask if you could upgrade the five day to a ten day when we got there. She said no but that they were in a meeting to discuss offering a ten day since there had been so many calls. I checked the next day and they said it was approved that they were waiting to get the pricing. I called last week and they said they would call me once they had the pricing because it was not going to be listed on the website. She called today. You have to order a different number of days ticket and then in the comment box (where you put the children's ages) you say that you want the 10 day park hopper ticket at $179.96. I have the name of the person and her number if anyone needs to confirm any information.

 

[disneymom3]

gerber, that is great news! Thanks for sharing your findings....of course, now it just makes me want to extend my trip!

Sl...I commend you for taking on this challenge! And I heartily encourage you to just go slow. That day you described sounds like the perfect homeschooling day. As you said, he is delayed so I would make sure I was planning things that were geared more for preschool learning. I have a son with several learning issues and what we do does not look at all like a typical school day either. But for me, that is the POINT. That is why I know this child would never thrive in a traditional classroom. As he gets older, I recommend avoiding the trap of thinking that learning takes place as one is sitting still also. That is a hard one for me, but with a sensory integration kid, there is no way he is sitting in a chair to do his work. My son is 9 and to do his math which is on the computer, he sits on a yoga ball. That is about it as far as chair to table. We do lots and lots of games. EVerything from throwing a ball back and forth in a rhythm as he spells his words, to crab walks from one room to the other to find the answer card to the questions I ask.

Just remember, you are not doing traditional/typical school because you don't believe it to be the best fit, so don't feel like you have to duplicate it at home.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Just wanted to post a few things that are really doing great for us this year. Rod & Staff---Math level 1----I wish I had known about this when my boys were both at this level!!! It is not as severe as other programs, but they still learn at a very good rate, and the repetition is just enough & not so much that you are marking out half a days work.My dd told me that math was her favorite thing to do!!!
Language Lessons for Little Ones (Queen Homeschool)----phonics/reading---can I just say I am delighted!!!!! We did use ETC books A,B,C, & 1. After that, we moved to this book---the lessons are short and sweet!! DD is really catching onto the concepts and when she reads she does stumble through a little, but not as much as my boys' did with ABeka. I think it's because it's so smooth and the lessons are so much shorter.She is much less frustrated--I plan to let her continue with this even while we are out over the holiday break. I will also do her lessons over the summer...she is just really grasping it all right now and I think tooooo long of a period without it will set her back. I know she will be amazed this time next year how much she will be reading.
Of course ...Teaching Textbooks always gets a BIG Can't tell ya'll enough how much we love this!!
I do still love my TQ history also!!! Ds10 is starting with ancients...so we went allll the way back to Creation..we just started this about 2 weeks ago--we are using a new book and we love it. I am totally drawing a blank on the title/author...but when we get it out later I will come back and let you know what it is.!!!! I was hoping Michelle would have her TQ Creation book by now...but it just hasn't happened, so I am using this instead---I will get back to TQ when he hits the Egyptian period!
Well...we are on the downhill for this semester! As many of you might remember---due to our extreme summers, we start school earlier than most people. Fourth of July is our last hoorahh before school starts back for us--we are on our 18th week already!!! So, we only have a few days left...then Thanksgiving! Then next week we are getting ready to head to Disney!!!!! We have a week back home before Christmas, then a week before New Years, and then it'll be back to I usually don't plan a looong week off during the winter,,, but we are considering a trip to Colorado to see some snow!! We say we are going to do it every year, but this year we may really do it! We have enough fly-er reward points,..so who knows!!! That will def. be our Geography lessons for a while!! Hope ya'll are all having a good school year and are prepared to enjoy some much needed time off!!!!!

 

[Nicolepa]

Does anyone have any tips on how to teach my 2nd grader to spell. His spelling is horrendious. He just doesn't care/understand that he has to learn the rules in order to get it. He literally guesses from day to day. We are with a Virtual Academy so I can't really switch out his spelling but I'd like something to supplement and help him learn the rules. I was searching the internet and found "All about spelling". Has anyone ever used or heard about this method?

Thanks!

 

[wvdislover]

Does anyone have any tips on how to teach my 2nd grader to spell. His spelling is horrendious. He just doesn't care/understand that he has to learn the rules in order to get it. He literally guesses from day to day. We are with a Virtual Academy so I can't really switch out his spelling but I'd like something to supplement and help him learn the rules. I was searching the internet and found "All about spelling". Has anyone ever used or heard about this method?

Thanks!

Haven't used that, but my girls both used Saxon Phonics in PS, and both are good spellers. It teaches the letter patterns of how words are put together. It's basically a reading program, I think, but it has helped my DD's be good spellers, too, since they understand what letters are to go together to make the various sounds.

 

[robinsegg]

How does your son learn? If he's an audial learner, you might go the "schoolhouse rock" route and have songs that explain how to spell different things. If he's a visual learner, start writing out the words in different colors (the letter combo you're working on the same color in each word, with the rest of the word in black or blue), so he can see the rule in action. If he's a kinesthetic learner, get some index cards and make up the words using the letter combinations you're working on, letting him make the word (kind of like a puzzle). Also for kinesthetics, you can write the alphabet in sidewalk chalk (outside or in a basement?) and have him jump to the next letter.
IHTH!

 

[Nicolepa]

How does your son learn? If he's an audial learner, you might go the "schoolhouse rock" route and have songs that explain how to spell different things. If he's a visual learner, start writing out the words in different colors (the letter combo you're working on the same color in each word, with the rest of the word in black or blue), so he can see the rule in action. If he's a kinesthetic learner, get some index cards and make up the words using the letter combinations you're working on, letting him make the word (kind of like a puzzle). Also for kinesthetics, you can write the alphabet in sidewalk chalk (outside or in a basement?) and have him jump to the next letter.
IHTH!

He's very tactile. Loves using manipulatives and moving around. He likes books on tape but not really music. I've never thought about writing the words in different colors. That's an interesting thought.

Do I maybe need to go back and do phonics with him? I thought that was more for learning to read and he's actually a really good reader. He just doesn't know things like ed can make a t sound, i before e except after c. etc. When we go over these things they just go in and right out. I have to sit with him on every word and say, and how do we get the long e sound (or whatever). I have spent literally months on some words and he just doesn't get them. Or he will spell them right 3 x and on the 4th day start spelling it totally different. (He has to spell the words 4x to "graduate" them.)

 

[NHWX]

I went through spelling heck with my younger child about second grade when he was still in a brick and mortar school. I would make a funny story for him to read but with only some of his spelling words misspelled. (Some were spelled correctly.) The fun of the hunt helped him sharpen those visual discrimination skills.

Also, I made individual letter cards from cut up 3x5 cards and had him place the letters in the correct order to form the spelling words. This was something that a Montessori teacher suggested and it really helped him learn the words. We also would spell the word out with the letter cards, placing each card down in front of him as he said the letter. He seemed to really need the motion to help him learn it.

But he's not a 100% speller now in ninth grade. He is significantly better than many of the men in our family who I think just somehow slid through school.

I hope some of these ideas help!

NHWX

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Just wanted to say that the History book I started for my ds10 is by Christine Miller...It's the Story of the Ancient World...or pretty close to it, can't remember word for word. Awesome book!!!

 

[robinsegg]

He's very tactile. Loves using manipulatives and moving around. He likes books on tape but not really music. I've never thought about writing the words in different colors. That's an interesting thought.

Do I maybe need to go back and do phonics with him?

If it were me, I would *not* go back and do phonics. Ds just doesn't learn that way
Get refrigerator letters to spell things out, spell them out in shaving cream, get bendaroos or wikistix for him to make letters/words out of, have him make the words with playdough. Do you have a chalkboard? If so, have him write his words on it (large motor vs. small motor).
What will this do? It will use his kinesthetic learning style to help him "solidify" the letter sequences.
Once he has the letters formed in the right way, have him copy them to his paper, if necessary.

 

[Nicolepa]

If it were me, I would *not* go back and do phonics. Ds just doesn't learn that way
Get refrigerator letters to spell things out, spell them out in shaving cream, get bendaroos or wikistix for him to make letters/words out of, have him make the words with playdough. Do you have a chalkboard? If so, have him write his words on it (large motor vs. small motor).
What will this do? It will use his kinesthetic learning style to help him "solidify" the letter sequences.
Once he has the letters formed in the right way, have him copy them to his paper, if necessary.

We practice his words every day on a dry erase board. When he writes the words he puts down some letters and then fills in the rest. It's pretty wierd actually. For example straight. He will write stragt then go back and guess the rest of the letters. It truely is a guessing game for him.

It's frustrating (for all of us). This is the only part of his language that he even blinks an eye at. If it weren't for spelling I could move him faster and give him some more challenging stuff (which he wants).

 

[robinsegg]

We practice his words every day on a dry erase board. When he writes the words he puts down some letters and then fills in the rest. It's pretty wierd actually. For example straight. He will write stragt then go back and guess the rest of the letters. It truely is a guessing game for him.

It's frustrating (for all of us). This is the only part of his language that he even blinks an eye at. If it weren't for spelling I could move him faster and give him some more challenging stuff (which he wants).

Ok, I don't know much about the curriculum you're using. Is is more like an umbrella school, where you have to turn his papers in to be graded and such? If not, is there a *really good* reason for him to *have* to write his spelling words? Could you put down letter cards on the floor for him to step on in the right order? Could you have him spell it to you orally while jumping rope (one letter per jump)? If this is school on computer, maybe you could type it in when he gives you the letters? Don't *fix* it for him (unless he does it himself), of course . . . but that may be an option?

 

[Nicolepa]

Ok, I don't know much about the curriculum you're using. Is is more like an umbrella school, where you have to turn his papers in to be graded and such? If not, is there a *really good* reason for him to *have* to write his spelling words? Could you put down letter cards on the floor for him to step on in the right order? Could you have him spell it to you orally while jumping rope (one letter per jump)? If this is school on computer, maybe you could type it in when he gives you the letters? Don't *fix* it for him (unless he does it himself), of course . . . but that may be an option?

I only have to turn assigments in 2x a year usually just a writing sample (I think). He doesn't HAVE to do anything but part of me fears if I ever put him back in school they will want to see that he's been doing work. The other part is that he has no clue he's spelled it wrong until he sees it written down. He usually knows it's wrong but has no clue how to fix it. The few times I've asked him to spell it to me he's gotten frustrated. I don't know if it's because he likes to see it written down or if it's because it's different from what he normally does. Maybe if I have him say it to me he will learn it VS guessing and swapping out letters on the whiteboard.

Neither my husband or I are good spellers, but he makes us look like spelling champions! My daughter on the other hand can spell most of the words on the national spelling bee.

I'm going to have to try all these good suggestions in the next few weeks!

 

[robinsegg]

I only have to turn assigments in 2x a year usually just a writing sample (I think). He doesn't HAVE to do anything but part of me fears if I ever put him back in school they will want to see that he's been doing work. The other part is that he has no clue he's spelled it wrong until he sees it written down. He usually knows it's wrong but has no clue how to fix it. The few times I've asked him to spell it to me he's gotten frustrated. I don't know if it's because he likes to see it written down or if it's because it's different from what he normally does. Maybe if I have him say it to me he will learn it VS guessing and swapping out letters on the whiteboard.

Neither my husband or I are good spellers, but he makes us look like spelling champions! My daughter on the other hand can spell most of the words on the national spelling bee.

I'm going to have to try all these good suggestions in the next few weeks!

1 other thing to try: find a passage in a book (or write a story) with the spelling words spelled correctly. As he reads this, ask him to underline the spelling words. Have him copy them down into a notebook or onto the whiteboard. If you notice he's having trouble with a specific sequence (like aight), have him write that sequence in a different color, have him look at your whiteboard (with the correct spellings) and spell the words while he jumpropes (or some other physical activity), or teach him how to use ASL fingerspelling (signs for each letter) to help him remember the sequence.

 

[disneymom3]

We practice his words every day on a dry erase board. When he writes the words he puts down some letters and then fills in the rest. It's pretty wierd actually. For example straight. He will write stragt then go back and guess the rest of the letters. It truely is a guessing game for him.

It's frustrating (for all of us). This is the only part of his language that he even blinks an eye at. If it weren't for spelling I could move him faster and give him some more challenging stuff (which he wants).

My son is very kinesthetic and also has a learning disability that makes writing very hard for him. We use Scrabble tiles and he picks them up with chopsticks. At the beginning, he has cards that have the word spelled on them. Then I will hold hte cards and tell him the word adn he finds the letters that way too. We also have him sit on a yoga ball and give me a letter for each bounce. I have NO idea why that works, but his OT suggested it and it does!