k12/Virtual Academy Winter 2009 - Page 2

[nathansmom]

Originally Posted by GinaRae

Will you share the others with us? I'm looking at options.

For phonics we are using:
Explode the Code
McGuffey Primer and First Eclectic Reader
McGuffey for spelling
Spectrum's Sight words workbook
Bob books

For Language arts:
Classic Curriculum Reading
Classic Curriculum Writing
library books on nouns, verbs, etc.
First Lang Lessons Well-Trained Mind


For art:
checking out arts and crafts books and just doing crafts for the holidays.

For music:
We are using the book The Story of the Orchestra and reading about one instrument at a time. After instruments we'll move on to composers. The book is by Robert Levine.


Not sure how all of its going to come together yet as we haven't received all the materials I ordered for non-k12 stuff. We, for sure, will not be doing everything all at one time and may pick and choose stuff to work on. I do plan on tracking everything we do on my blog. I'll share it if your interested. I've only recently started tracking stuff on there for school but your welcome to read it and come back as I update.

[SFMonique]

3rd Grade Novel Reading--Challenging?

anyone have a third grader doing K12 (we're CAVA) and at the "choose a novel" lesson for Literature? Is your child capable of reading most of these selections by themselves? Curious to get a feel for what's going on with others, as I found the choices long and some of them having quite sophisticated language. Not that they were too long, but that the daily reading requirements are heavy. Love to hear any feedback!! thanks kind moms!

[elanorh]

Hey all,

I am thinking I want to scrap the K12 music program completely. I just don't like it. Maybe it's partially my own lack of musical ability. The lesson we just did was about 'rhythm vs. beat,' and as far as I could tell the only difference between the two was the fact that they INSIST that there is a difference between them.

I would think that the 'beat' is the 3/4 or 4/4 that's on musical notation. And rhythm is more the flow of the melody. But then, I don't have formal musical training, just choir in junior high and an agonizing 1 1/2 years of piano lessons. I'll freely admit that while I love music, I can't carry a tune at all.

I think once Ina is able to read well (next year?) we could just get her in piano lessons and/or some other musical training and substitute that for her music lessons. But I do feel like I should cover the topics they're asking us to cover, this year, at least. I don't feel like I have the time to root through our CD collection to find songs to play that would cover the same information .... I wish there were a really easy and fun kindergarten music curriculum out there. I googled around tonight and didn't find anything that looked compelling.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by SFMonique

anyone have a third grader doing K12 (we're CAVA) and at the "choose a novel" lesson for Literature? Is your child capable of reading most of these selections by themselves? Curious to get a feel for what's going on with others, as I found the choices long and some of them having quite sophisticated language. Not that they were too long, but that the daily reading requirements are heavy. Love to hear any feedback!! thanks kind moms!

The ones near the top of the list are easier. My son has advanced reading skills, but we started with an easy fun one to work our way in and went with Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. It was very easy for him, and I think would still be easy for an average third grader. For a comparison, my first grader who is in 2nd grade LA read it recently and had no problem with it. If your son struggles with any of them, you can always do partial read aloud - he does some, you do some.

[eclipse]

elanorh, that's exactly why we abandoned music. It was impossible for me to teach. I could not identify in the music what I was supposed to be teaching.

[SFMonique]

thank you! Yes, we chose Little House on the Prarie; I didn't have all the titles available. Henry Huggins probably would have been very good; but this one is working out; however, that's exactly what we're doing--We take turns reading pages. I'll have to check out the Cleary one, maybe for leisure reading.

[eclipse]

There are four pick a novel units each year, so save Henry Huggins for the next one

[SFMonique]

are there really four times? well, that's a good thing--Thank you so MUCH for the tip that they get harder as the list goes on, I had no idea and was actually looking mostly at those; no wonder. I will definitely do H.H. next!

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by SFMonique

anyone have a third grader doing K12 (we're CAVA) and at the "choose a novel" lesson for Literature? Is your child capable of reading most of these selections by themselves? Curious to get a feel for what's going on with others, as I found the choices long and some of them having quite sophisticated language. Not that they were too long, but that the daily reading requirements are heavy. Love to hear any feedback!! thanks kind moms!

Bean's reading Pippi Longstocking right now. He's loving it, but like eclipse's son he's an advanced reader. The novels are organized by Lexile; There should have been a paragraph or so before the list explaining the Lexiles and their grade equivalencies.

Originally Posted by elanorh

The lesson we just did was about 'rhythm vs. beat,' and as far as I could tell the only difference between the two was the fact that they INSIST that there is a difference between them.

I would think that the 'beat' is the 3/4 or 4/4 that's on musical notation. And rhythm is more the flow of the melody. But then, I don't have formal musical training, just choir in junior high and an agonizing 1 1/2 years of piano lessons. I'll freely admit that while I love music, I can't carry a tune at all.

I think once Ina is able to read well (next year?) we could just get her in piano lessons and/or some other musical training and substitute that for her music lessons. But I do feel like I should cover the topics they're asking us to cover, this year, at least. I don't feel like I have the time to root through our CD collection to find songs to play that would cover the same information .... I wish there were a really easy and fun kindergarten music curriculum out there. I googled around tonight and didn't find anything that looked compelling.

I'm one of three people I know who likes the music program, but I freely concede that I have no idea how anyone who isn't musically inclined is supposed to teach it. Indeed, the other two people I know of who like it are both musical (one even taught music for a number of years).

[SFMonique]

What is a lexile? I missed that notation. How advanced is little Bean? My son is almost 8 and an advanced reader too, supposedly reading at 4th grade, but I guess ability doesn't take into account laziness/resistance. He can read it easily, but the set amount is what he butts against, even though he's enjoying the book too. Not sure how to handle it. I think I'll baby him through this first time, but then the other readings--You're on your own buddy.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by SFMonique

What is a lexile? I missed that notation. How advanced is little Bean? My son is almost 8 and an advanced reader too, supposedly reading at 4th grade, but I guess ability doesn't take into account laziness/resistance. He can read it easily, but the set amount is what he butts against, even though he's enjoying the book too. Not sure how to handle it. I think I'll baby him through this first time, but then the other readings--You're on your own buddy.

Bean's profoundly globally gifted, and is advanced in all of his schoolwork. He's kind of a 'horse of a different color' most of the time.

If your son enjoys the books and doesn't have any trouble with the vocabulary, perhaps the issue is a physical/visual one. Has he had his eyes checked recently? If he already wears glasses, he might need a new prescription. Even something as simple as making sure that he has *ample* light to read by could make a difference. Vision problems are on my mind, as I've been having them lately. They certainly make reading difficult, exhausting, frustrating, etc.

[eclipse]

Lexile level is some sort of mathmatical evaluation of a text based on average word length and average sentance length (or something like that). Sometimes they can be way off, though. If you look at the list, you'll see that they have Ramona Quimby, Age 8 listed as a higher lexile level than The Fellowship of the Ring. Anyone who has read those two books would recognize that in no way is Tolkein an easier read than Cleary. There are much higher lexile books that are far easier to read than the LOTR books.

A few recommendations that my son loved (and were childhood favorites of mine) A Wrinkle in Time, The Secret of NIHM(book is way, way better than the movie, ftr), The Book of Three (the first in the series that includes The Black Cauldron), and of course The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. My son can easily read the L I Wilder books, but is not at all interested in them, which would probably make it difficult as a school choice.

[aslyn]

Hey all!

Well we are also with CAVA..and I have some up's and downs with the program. I have a K student and a 2nd grader with the program..my 2nd grader is by no means ready for the 2nd grade history or science. She is doing K LA & phonics due to a reading delay..which both the kids are bored to tears with. The weekly elluminate thing is a PITA I work 3rd shift and hubby works 2nd, 9am just doesnt cut it in our family. We dont even do school until after 3pm (though we do school 7 days a week) Our teacher is really nice, but with all the attendance demands and face to face meetings I dont think it's working for us. For my 2nd grader, we need a slower paced program focused. For my K student we need alot more worksheets and less fairy tale stories, he hates them..in fact he has not sat through any of them at all..it just doesn't keep his attention. I do like having everything supplied..I think we might pull them during the winter break...Oh and I hate the music and Art program, its way to structured for their ages.

[GinaRae]

Originally Posted by SFMonique

anyone have a third grader doing K12 (we're CAVA) and at the "choose a novel" lesson for Literature? Is your child capable of reading most of these selections by themselves? Curious to get a feel for what's going on with others, as I found the choices long and some of them having quite sophisticated language. Not that they were too long, but that the daily reading requirements are heavy. Love to hear any feedback!! thanks kind moms!

We did ours a bit early as he'd been reading a book on his own.. the one about the dog...gaaah what's the name... Stone Fox. It was a VERY easy book and didn't take long at all. Not sure which we'll do next.

Originally Posted by SFMonique

What is a lexile? I missed that notation. How advanced is little Bean? My son is almost 8 and an advanced reader too, supposedly reading at 4th grade, but I guess ability doesn't take into account laziness/resistance. He can read it easily, but the set amount is what he butts against, even though he's enjoying the book too. Not sure how to handle it. I think I'll baby him through this first time, but then the other readings--You're on your own buddy.

This is my son too -- great abilities but doesn't like being told what to do and when. I would go get several of the next level books after this one is done and put them on the middle of the table. See what he's attracted to. Let him get started in it and the momentum build on his own (if he will) and then do the next report early, at his pace, so there's no pressure to do it "on time".

Originally Posted by elanorh

I am thinking I want to scrap the K12 music program completely. I just don't like it. Maybe it's partially my own lack of musical ability. The lesson we just did was about 'rhythm vs. beat,' and as far as I could tell the only difference between the two was the fact that they INSIST that there is a difference between them.

That's just about the same lesson I called it quits. We're doing a free online piano toot from Piano Nanny and he's going to sing in a kids chorus instead.

[GinaRae]

Originally Posted by nathansmom

For phonics we are using:
Explode the Code
McGuffey Primer and First Eclectic Reader
McGuffey for spelling
Spectrum's Sight words workbook
Bob books

For Language arts:
Classic Curriculum Reading
Classic Curriculum Writing
library books on nouns, verbs, etc.
First Lang Lessons Well-Trained Mind


For art:
checking out arts and crafts books and just doing crafts for the holidays.

For music:
We are using the book The Story of the Orchestra and reading about one instrument at a time. After instruments we'll move on to composers. The book is by Robert Levine.


Not sure how all of its going to come together yet as we haven't received all the materials I ordered for non-k12 stuff. We, for sure, will not be doing everything all at one time and may pick and choose stuff to work on. I do plan on tracking everything we do on my blog. I'll share it if your interested. I've only recently started tracking stuff on there for school but your welcome to read it and come back as I update.

Anything you want to share is fine with me
And thank you!

[kittie313]

I want to throw k12 phonics out the window for Lydia right now. We are stuck STILL in the same unit for the last 3 weeks now I think? She's not going forward at all, and hates it too. I'm thinking that I may just skip the individual lessons and just teach to the weekly assessment instead for now with her, she knows all the stuff but isn't getting the sight words down (we'll really practice on those hard over Christmas break) and has a bit of trouble with blending sounds sometimes (which I really don't get because over the summer she was reading to me from one of our dozen bible storybooks just for fun, and it wasn't the one that we read from most often)

[EXOLAX]

Originally Posted by kittie313

I want to throw k12 phonics out the window for Lydia right now. We are stuck STILL in the same unit for the last 3 weeks now I think? She's not going forward at all, and hates it too. I'm thinking that I may just skip the individual lessons and just teach to the weekly assessment instead for now with her, she knows all the stuff but isn't getting the sight words down (we'll really practice on those hard over Christmas break) and has a bit of trouble with blending sounds sometimes (which I really don't get because over the summer she was reading to me from one of our dozen bible storybooks just for fun, and it wasn't the one that we read from most often)

What's the issue she's having with the phonics program? I must admit I don't really do it. Our teacher told us to assess out so we did and it got DD almost half way through phonics program. I slowed down there because of the dictation then started looking at the lessons. DD likes some of the worksheets, mainly the word addition ones and looking at a picture and answering questions. I pulled a bunch of those out of the book for her and keep them on her clipboard she keeps in the car for something to do then or if we're waiting somewhere.

FWIW DD had lots of sight words before we started focusing on phonics and then seemed to loose them all. I talked with her teacher about it and she explained it was perfectly normal. Our kid apparently went purely phonetic once she started to focus on phonics. The teacher asked if she had any issues sounding out more difficult words and since she doesn't she said it wasn't an issue at all, actually it was a good thing. We set a K goal for her to know the K sight words so basically I've been working on those.

I use the phonics program as a guide just to make sure she knows the blends they are introducing. She had done 100 EZ lessons, modified though and ran through the last 40 or so lessons on her own in the car. Mostly we would get easy readers from the library and she would read those, as well as the phonics story books that came with k12. We've also done some Explode the Code.

I was concerned about her penmanship though which is why I stopped at the dictation. DD knows how to write all the letters but they aren't 'proper'. Her teacher said as well to not let that hold us back on the phonics as long as she is spelling the words correctly.

I don't think our teacher cares one bit about what we do actually, as long as DD is making progress.

[kittie313]

What I'm not liking about it with her is that she just doesn't seem to thrive on the k12 phonics like Melissa is. Melissa is really excelling with it (of course she was dropped down a level and is flying through the review stuff easily) and having almost no trouble with the sight words and all the little things, but Lydia doesn't learn through things like finger stretching and writing the sight words. She is motor delayed, and I'm modifying EVERYTHING for her to accomodate. She knows all the letter sounds (somehow managed to forget that Nn exists though lol) and can put words together, but just isn't working at it the way k12 phonics wants her to. She can't do sight words for some reason, we are having the hardest time with getting them to stick. She doesn't do that great with sounding out words either, I've tried the 100EZ lessons method of saying it slow then fast, finger stretching, and a few other methods I know (remember, I have a dyslexic child with auditory processing problems just a grade above my motor delayed girl) and I just haven't hit the right method for it to really click yet. I want to just put it off until about January or February, and not do any phonics with her at all during that time, but I doubt our teacher would go for that. Melissa didn't start clicking with blending until January of her K year, so I figure that around then is when it will likely click for Lydia too. That is where my problem lies, we're in the holding pattern where she can put words together sometimes but she isn't really consistent with it yet because its not QUITE there for her developmentally. I know she just needs a few more weeks to just relax and not worry, but am not sure how to handle it with her. I was figuring that if I just relax and play some blending games with her and mark a lesson done every few days, I may be able to buy her that time until it just clicks and she starts to take off with it.

[elanorh]

I think each state and each set of teachers is different, Cat, but - our teacher told us to take a couple weeks 'off' phonics with Ina, while she was struggling so. And told us to ease back into it with starfall and not rely so much on the k12 except for assessments/to guide what we are learning via starfall.

We're back to using k12 as a text again (but still noodling with starfall) at this point.

Do you think your teacher would understand your perspective/want, and work with you?

[kittie313]

My teacher has been, we took a couple weeks off and just played some blending games and such with Lydia, and haven't had an issue. We've spent 4 weeks now at unit 9 of phonics K, and I'm just ready to move on but am hesitant to because she's having this stumbling place with blending. She is literally THHHIIIIIISSSSSSSS close to it clicking, I'm tempted to just spend until Thanksgiving again playing blending games and having fun with it, and encouraging her to try and read words to us on occassion. I have a session scheduled on the 30th with their teacher, and I'm going to see if I can get daddy to work with her more on blending. I have a feeling that having a change of parent working with her may also help out (like it did with Melissa and her issues in math during his week vacation, he spent the week doing math with her and she came back to me last week fully recharged from the change and is much more willing to do math now)

But on a positive note, Melissa is going to start unit 21 tomorrow in phonics K. lol I think we finally hit her spot.

Anyone with a child doing history 1, how did you enjoy the various religions introduced in the program? We're learning about Judiasm right now (we're doing the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors now, Melissa LOVES all the Old Testament stories so this part has really got her excited) and its been kind of fun for us I think. Melissa has just been lit up the last few lessons in hostory, she's like me as far as her desire to learn about other faiths. It has opened up a lot of discussion lately about why some people think there are many gods instead of just one, why not everyone loves Jesus like we do, and a bunch of other stuff. It has dh squirming a lot because he doesn't share our beliefs, but it has me thrilled to pull all the knowledge I have of other faiths from when I was 18-20 and spent a lot of time deeply researching different faiths. It also is making my pastor friend think, she's been having me type questions to him for her about different things and she's just loving the answers that she's getting from him.