Just saw the post about the LIGHT going on -- WISH I could identify!!!! If you don't want to read a vent/rant, then just go on to the next post... We started back yesterday after the holidays, but so far my kids are present in body only! Yesterday I spent all day trying to get the first grader to understand that to spell the /kw/ sound, you have to use a q AND a u together. Today, I had him trace then write a bunch of "qu" words: quill, quit, quite, quiet, quick, etc., as well as some words where /k/ is spelled with c before a, o, and u, but with k before e or i. Then had him put boxes around all the qu's on the page. Asked him what two letters do we use to spell the /kw/ sound? Blank stares. Tried to review that /k/ at the end of a word has to have both c and k - like his name! Blank stares. Put a lot of words ending with 'ck' on the board, underlined them in bright colors, emphasized the /K/ sound at the end. Said now I want to spell "quick". What two letters do we use to spell the /kw/ sound at the beginning? Blank stares. Put the qu on the board and repeated for the milliionth time. Okay, now the /i/ sound - what letter do I write for that? Blank stares. So I wrote it -- what letter is that? I. Thank you. Now for the /k/ at the end -- what two letters do we have to put at the end to spell the /k/ sound? C. Not just a c, what other letter do we have to put with it? Blank stares. Don't you remember the letter names??? shakes head no. Then in math, he couldn't work out 5-4=1, or 3+0=3, or other things he was doing easily before Christmas. And in science, which our first lesson was today, he could no more relate my hand-written chart on the board to the printed one in his workbook than he could fly. The second grader took most of the day to do a language arts lesson - couldn't remember what a consonant digraph was, what a blend was, what a naming word was, or much of anything else, apparently. Kept telling me she couldn't understand the directions in LA, or tell what was wrong with a math problem that had been marked wrong. Kept telling me she couldn't tell who was speaking in this paragraph or couldn't understand that paragraph in reading. Never finished a math lesson, so it went home for homework. The fifth grader is a bright enough kid, but he has NO foundation knowledge to be able to comprehend what he's reading. If it pertains to video games or the latest goings-on he's hip, but has no general knowledge base, apparently, to understand a story in reading. (He says he goes to Sunday School and church, and he's fairly familiar with finding chapter and verse in the Bible, but he had NOT a clue what country Jesus lived and taught in.) I've tried 4th grade CLE, and 5th grade R&S, and neither one worked. I don't have 4th grade Pathways on hand. I'm going to have to go back to the one-page stories at fourth grade level in Spectrum Reading to try and get him up to speed, because I know his mom plans to go back to public next year, and for him test into the sixth grade over there. The eighth grader had a social studies problem: $15,000,000 was paid for the Louisiana Purchase, which was approximately 828,000 square miles. About how much was paid per square mile? Had NO idea how to figure that out!!! So I said, suppose we go to the mall, and spend $150 on 828 pairs of earrings -- how would you figure out how much each pair of earrings cost? [Relate the process to something the child cares about and can visualize, right?] (divide the number of pairs into the total cost? Yup, so go do that.) Do you think she thought to use a calculator???? Nooooooo~ fought it all out brute force on scratch paper. The only one who came back to class rip-roarin' and ready to learn was the special needs "6th" grader! He's gotten just about every assignment done yesterday and today, and what he couldn't get done wasn't because he was wasting time and daydreaming! I just didn't have time to get around to everything myself, and DH was not there for various legitimate reasons. (Oh, yeah, and my car wouldn't start this morning! ) I told myself yesterday that it was just the first day back, and that today would be better. It wasn't. :roll: AAAAaaaaarrrrrgh! [Thanks. I feel much better now.]
to kwote Dutch. " this was a long break...longer than just a weekend. We are going to have to take it reeeeaaaalllly slow." Hang in there. It is an epidemic.
I understand starting off slowly, taking time to get your head back in the game, but I cannot fathom that they've just actually LOST our whole first semester....
I'm there too Lindina! We spent nearly 2 1/2 hours on math yesterday! Aside from the wasted time, the majority of it was spent having to remind them/ reteach EVERYTHING on the workbook page that supposed to just be for review. Hoping the rest of your week is better!
I am sorry you are having a rough go at getting back on track but I have to admit that reading your post made me feel a little better. I have been homeschooling since November, for just one child and today he is thinking that being upside down in the kitchen chair counting ceiling tiles is good enough for math! I am so glad that my child is not the only one that has caught the Idontknowitis during the holiday break!:lol:
I'll admit that your post made me feel better, too! You just described the last 2 days at our house, and today is shaping up to be even worse. My 7yo has been sitting in his chair at the kitchen table, pouting, with his arms crossed, muttering "I hate school" for the last hour and a half, steadfastly refusing to do the (really really easy) work that would normally only take him 10-15 minutes to complete. I'm just grumpy enough today to make him sit there all darn day if that's what it takes *sigh*
Oh man. Your kids crack me up! :lol: We are still on vacation. He spent one week at space camp and so I had to "make up the difference" in more time off since that was really just like school. I am not looking forward to next Monday though.
Idontknowitis! LOL!!! What a great way of explaining of it! My daughter was the same way today with reading!
Don't feel bad!!! Seriously - she had 1 moment yesterday - LOL.... I just went over todays assignments....ummmm..... we won't go there... Jacob had an OPEN BOOK science test to finish out the quarter..... he got 13 out of 33 RIGHT yesterday and thought it was funny. I made him redo it today and at least he got 30 out of 33.... I mean come on - it's OPEN BOOK!!!! He is playing catch up today because he procrastinated big time over the past couple of days.... coming out and asking me what the plans are for today 3-4 times.....UGH!!! Just do the work! Now whining because he has extra work to do!!! It's a rough week with all the tests to finish out the quarter for him so I can be a LITTLE patient but not that much - especially with the little amount of sleep I'm getting...
Well, it's getting better, but very slowly. J did remember how to spell the /kw/ sound and how to spell /k/ at the end of a word (most of the time). But he only got an 81 on the unit test in reading - but L still hasn't started her Creative Writing assignment, although it's been on the assignment board all week, and took ALL day to do reading, LA, and math. It would help tremendously if DH's schedule would settle down and he could be at school with us all day every day -- health problems, car problems, necessary appointments, carting other people to appointments because they don't drive..... but he cooked supper tonight! :lol:
can totally understand! we started back monday and have been doing a reward system so any attitude she loses a point and gets points for good work and helping, each point is worth a penny and at the end of the week she gets her money, each day she starts a fresh! so monday was 14, tuesday was 15 and then it stops.... ds and dd2 both had bad tummys yesterday dh came home from work as caught a chill and weather is really bad! not to mention being pregnant! and now we have to get back into it again thank you for reading feel better for a rant hope everyone elses week is improving
Okay, so I'm not the only one. We did math and dd did two digit addition, except even though it said "+" and "add", she subtracted. So I had her redo it. So then she added one side of the two digits and subtracted the otherside. WHAT? Good grief... Sometimes this gets really tiresome.
I am so glad I am not the only one who has children that have been abducted by aliens, lol! Took my dd 2 hours to do 2 math problems. Was more interested in what everyone else was doing. They are bouncing off the walls. It doesn't help that we have had snow on the ground for the past week and the temps have barely been above 25 so they haven't been able to be outside much. I'm making them all stay in their rooms for the rest of the afternoon and I am taking a bubble bath!
When the kids go bananas, take notice of the weather. I notice Jeannie goes off when they are calling for something. Something in the change in barometric pressure affects them.
PTL I'm still in preschool......... I remember those days all tooooooo well! If you think it's bad now, wait til February, especially if you live in the north! ROFL!!!
