What am I doing wrong.... be honost

Discuss unschooling, eclectic, the unit study approach, or any other "unusual" homeschooling method.

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ontheprairie
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What am I doing wrong.... be honost

Postby ontheprairie » Thu Nov 27, 2008 8:51 am

We started homeschool in Sept so we are fairly new at it. We choose A Beka. We have a 5th grader, 4th grader and kindergarten student. Right away I noticed that math would be too difficult so I moved down a grade for math (ie. 4th, and 3rd).
Problem: my kids don't want to 'learn' from me. My daughter is having difficulty GETTING division and each time I explain it to her she gets frustrated and tunes out. We have been doing division for over a month and she still doesn't get it : I have been very patient with her .. I sit there and watch and when she makes the wrong desision I correct her hoping she will learn to make the right moves on her own.
Our son depends on me for english. He is learning about subjects, adverbs and adjectives. He doesn't do a question without me... when I leave the table he just waits... if I ask him to continue he says he doesn't understand that one.
Both of them are doing well on Math tests but were blowing the tests on all the other subjects (science, english, social studies). So, since ABeka is advanced and were getting used to things I decided to see if I could encourage them with some good grades. I started writing study questions out (very similar to the test questions) for them so they could study them for a few days before the test. It works.... they are both getting 90-100 percent. But, isn't that cheating ?

What am I doing wrong? Are they depending on ME intead of their textbooks for learning? Is that okay ... since it is the beginning of our homeschool career?

I am finding that my kindergartener is doing it too. I sit there with her during her learning (A Beka seems to be designed that way) and go through counting numbers ... then have her write them and do a page in the book. I go through her ABCs and her phonic sounds, ladders, etc with her then have her write them and do a page in her book. I know she can do them without my help (she's a smart cookie) but she depends on me to help her because she is afraid of making a mistake.

PLEASE HELP. Be honost... I hope I have painted an accurate picture so that you are able to give me sound advice.

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Postby Minniewannabe » Thu Nov 27, 2008 9:40 am

Sounds like you're doing everything just right.

First, there's the "that's not the way Mrs. Jones did it!" that you have to go through with your kiddos that first year of homeschooling. All of us endure it.

Second, you chose A Beka and if your kiddos weren't already in that program, then many need to go back one grade. You have already done that so congrats!

Long division starts soon into the 3rd grade so if your DC are struggling there, I'd get that workbook, have them do a few of the beginning division pages and then go back to 4th grade. Fourth grade expects a solid knowledge of division because it covers mostly fractions and decimals. Nonetheless, there are about 3 division problems on every page in 4th so that the concepts are not forgotten.

Finally, it's not cheating for your kiddos to study for tests even if from study sheets you made. I even go over material right before a test most times. Part of learning is learning how to study. By 5th grade you may want your kiddos to start learning to highlight important sentences to help with studying.

You will always have ups and downs homeschooling but nothing like what you endured when your DC were in the other school. I read your other post and shrieked!

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Re: What am I doing wrong.... be honost

Postby Lily » Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:06 pm

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."
- M. Montessori
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Postby ontheprairie » Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:30 pm


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Postby elliemaejune » Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:44 pm

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Postby rhi » Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:05 am


Jill
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Re: What am I doing wrong.... be honost

Postby Jill » Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:56 am

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. It takes awhile for kids to learn to think for themselves (especially when they are coming out of a school setting) and you are on the right track to teach them how to do that.
I had always heard homeschoolers brag about how much work their kids did on their own. Cool! I thought it just happened...well, it doesn't. We started in 2004 and they are now finally getting to that point in many subjects, but still rely on me on others...and that's ok.
You said if you leave and ask your son to do the next English question, he says he doesn't understand that one...maybe ask him to skip down and find one he does understand, and do that one, to build his confidence. I have also made my kids "think out loud" when they don't understand something. This helps me determine if they really don't understand, or just don't want to do something. If they say nothing, I may ask leading questions (like in your english example where they have to ID a noun, verb, adj...)
Read the sentence.
What are you looking for in this sentence? (If they say they don't know, have them read the directions and underline key words.)
OK, so you're looking for a noun.
What is a noun. (If they say they don't know, find the page that defines a noun and have them read it out loud and underline the key words.)
Now you know what a noun is, can you find anything in the sentence that fits the definition?
Ask them to read the def of a noun again. Ask if the word fills the definition. If they say yes, ask how (I don't know isn't an answer here.) If they say no, start over. At first, you may have to finally intervene and help, but they will have put in alot of effort to get to that point.

You'll notice that I don't give the answer flat out. Yes, this is very time consuming (especially at first), but it has been effective for us. I have found if they just want me to give them the answer, they don't continue this very long, because it's a whole lot of work for them if they do really understand and just don't want to put forth the effort. I guess they figure they might as well engage their brain, because mom isn't making it easy.

If they really don't understand, this is usually helpful to them and it's worth the extra time it takes for me to sit with them and talk them through it.

Hopefully, this wasn't too confusing (it was hard to "type out a conversation") and helps you some.
Best wishes.
Jill

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Postby ontheprairie » Tue Dec 02, 2008 12:23 pm

No Jill it wasn't too confusing... I much appreciate all your helpful advice. Thankyou rhi and elliemaejune also. Elliem ... we started off in the ABeka Academy but switched over to the books. I have all the testing books and the reason I choose to give tests is because I want our kids to be used to testing so that it is not to huge a leap for them if they choose to enter collage or university on day. You are right ... the first year is an adjustment and we will continue to do that. And, you are also right ... I need to spend more time building the relationships rather than worrying about grades. Thanks so much.

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Postby tigersgrowl1093 » Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:23 pm


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Postby elliemaejune » Thu Apr 08, 2010 9:11 pm

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Postby sartasd » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:49 am

My son is just beginning division. We used various objects for multiplication such as seashells, buttons, pennies, counters, and etc.
we group them into groups of a number (fact family) such as 5's.
As he laid them out in groups of 5, He learned skip counting, by 5, and then caught on that the 5 times tables was skip counting by 5's and he learned them faster.

As for division, He is working backwards. If he had 25 and needed to divide them by 5, he would take the 25 and group them into groups of 5 and then count the number of groups, that 5 so, 25 divided by 5 is 5,

this can be done for any division problem. Seeing it visually and doing it with his hands helps alot.

another way is to show how division is backwards multipication.

for example, He knows that 5x5 = 25 /5 =5

same can be done for addition and subtraction 5+5=10-5=5
or 1+2=3-2=1

It will take practice to learn this tech.

My sister uses Abeka and I found that Abeka wasn't for my kids. It is too accelerated for my kids. Abeka is a good curriculum, just not for us.

We use Christian light for the 3 R's and living books and text books for the other subjects.
Sharon


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