Need Help with Review

[Amanda]

This week we have been reviewing what we have learned so far this school year. Sadly, both children forgot about 75% of what they learned. I am heart broken. Can anyone give me some advice on how to deal with this.

[Dianna]

This week we have been reviewing what we have learned so far this school year. Sadly, both children forgot about 75% of what they learned. I am heart broken. Can anyone give me some advice on how to deal with this.

Amanda, can you tell us what materials you're using and what homeschooling style you have (structured, textbooks, relaxed, hands-on, or whatever)? That would help me give you advice.

Warmly,
Dianna

[Cindy Lou]

When my daughter was in elementary school and middle school we did alot of hands on crafts to help her remember her math skills. We constructed a house to resemble the division rules when she was in the fourth grade. She would place a number on the inside of the house, that was the number that lived there, then there was the one on the outside of the house that was knocking, that was the divisor, then there was one on the roof, and ofcourse there were some in the basement. This helped her tackle the division problem. In reading we would make up stories for phonics. I had used the Hooked on Phonics and have since handed it down to my grand children. If I still had it I would graciously lend it out to those in need. Anyway, my adivce is to let your creativity flow along with the lesson plans. This helped my precious daughter whom was in shut down mode from the public school system. She has since blown my mind but we have to be very careful as she still focuses on her failures. Hope this helps. I will dig through my box of memories to see if I have anymore helps up my sleeve.

In His Hands,
Cindy Lou

[Amanda]

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to reply, I've been out of town.

I do a little of everything. Hands on, text book, worksheets, VHS Tapes, cassette tapes, and CD's. I think one of my problems (and I hate to admit it) is, I'm going to fast. I'm trying to push to much stuff in there head I think. I thought I was doing a good thing by doing that but I guess I was wrong. For example, my 10 yr old would learn something new in LA every day. Then at the end of the week we would review what we had done that week. My 8 yr old would learn something in math and do it all week. Then we would move on. So after thinking about the first half of school, I think my problem is, I went to fast. So how do I straighten my mess out? If you need me to get in detail about what I use for each subject and child, I will..

[Dianna]

It does sound like they're learning more by rote (memorization), which is easily forgotten, rather than by learning concepts. I don't know which programs you're using, but for math, I would recommend a program that has built-in review. For Language Arts, I highly recommend Rod & Staff English. It's a traditional Mennonite text, not colorful, but a very thorough program with built-in review. Although I'm not really a textbook type of person, it's the best grammar/English program I've seen.

For the other subjects, just slow down and let them learn a subject in-depth. If your children are learning about the civil war, for example, use whatever resources you have to explain the time period, but also let them watch a documentary about it, and read historical fiction to immerse themselves in the time period, do hands-on projects, etc. Don't focus on dates, just events and concepts.

I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Dianna

[Amanda]

Hi, Thanks for your quick reply. I think I have gone about this all wrong. Now I feel like I have wasted a half of year of their time. So, I guess I need to step back a take a different look at what I'm doing. This is kind of depressing. I'm going to go a little further in detail about what I'm doing. So please bare with me as this may get long. I will start off with my 5th grader.

5th Grade

He catches on really quick but has forgot a lot of stuff. I think this goes back to the memory thing you was talking about Diana. I have put both children on the same History level since my 5th Grader forgot what he had learned in public school. Was I wrong for doing that? I started him and my third grader on the Ice Age and then went through the Mayas, Aztecs, and so on. Now we are study Christopher Columbus.

LA - I use a public school text book for this because I really like the way it is layed out. There is one page that explains something (Pronouns for example) Then it has a test for like 5 lessons. Then it has many practice pages and extra work pages. I really enjoy this book.

Math - I go by the "Everything your 5th Grader Should Know" book. It gives a couple of pages to tell you what they should learn on each thing. Then I go to enchanted learning or somewhere and get worksheets. I had this thing called Mastering Math that I bought from a yard sale stored in the corner. I decided to pull it out last week and look through it. I enjoyed it so much. I wish I had used it all year.

Science - I also use the "Everything your 5th Grader Should Know" book. I see what he needs to learn next and get worksheets and stuff from the internet to study and learn.

History - I use a US History Book. It has a few pages telling about something, we read that and then I go to the computer for more information on that topic.

Spelling - We use a spelling text book. He has no trouble in spelling.

3rd Grader

My 3rd Grader struggles a lot. He can't remember nothing from one week to the next, which is a big problem. So I need to go about the way he learns another way.

History is the same for him as it is my 5th grader.

LA - I started him out on 3rd grade level but he could barely read so I took him back to second grade level. Now he is doing the 2nd grade Hooked on Phonics LA workbook.

Math & Science - I use the "Everything your 3rd Grader Should Know" book. I tae the same approach that I do for my 5th Grader.

Spelling - I pull words that he should know but doesn't. He usually does ABC Order, two times each and a word search on them.

I'm sorry this is so long. Thanks in advance for anymore advice.

[Dianna]

Amanda, you didn't waste time - it takes a while for all new homeschoolers to get into their stride. And even oldtimers change their stride from time to time.

Regarding history - letting both of your children learn the same history topic is absolutely fine. A lot of homeschoolers combine in this way and just assign higher level reading or more involved projects to the older children.

The way to really help in the retention of history is to let your children immerse themselves in the time period. If they're studying pioneers, let them read good fiction and non-fiction set in the pioneer days. Don't worry about memorizing dates at this age, just let them soak up the time period, encourage them to imagine what it would've been like to live during that period. As they get older, they'll start putting events in perspective and know that the Revolutionary War happened before the Civil War, and the Civil War happened before WWI, etc.

If you'd like to teach history chronologically, you may want to look into the Story of the World series (your 5th grader could read it himself, your 3rd grader may need you to read aloud to him). See my resources and links History area for a link to it: http://www.carolinahomeschooler.com/links5.htm

I have the same advice for science - instead of reading bits of facts to them and then finding worksheets to go with it, let your children immerse themselves in it. Decide on a topic, then let them loose in the library to choose books about it. They won't remember all the details this young, but they'll gain a wealth of conceptual knowledge. (I would personally stay away from the worksheets - science is just too interesting for worksheets.) We also subscribe to a lot of science magazines that my children read from cover to cover. See my Science links for some recommendations and links: http://www.carolinahomeschooler.com/links3.htm

For math, I'd definitely try to find a math program to use, one that has built-in review. Some favorites are listed under Math Curriculum in my math links area: http://www.carolinahomeschooler.com/links2.htm

You said that you like the LA book. Is it working for your children? If not, I could make some other recommendations for that.

Regarding spelling, I don't teach it at all, but I know others who do. I just keep an eye on their writing, and if I notice they keep misspelling a word, I'll make them aware of it and ask them to learn the correct spelling. My children (3 so far) have all been visual spellers, though (they can tell if a word is spelled correctly by just looking at it). If they weren't, I'd probably teach spelling as a separate subject.

Just remember at this age that it's better to focus on concepts and broad knowledge - not details. (Unless it's math or grammar - those topics build on the details.) If they can remember broad concepts from the time periods and science topics they learned about during the year, then that's great.

I hope this makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions or need more suggestions.

Dianna

[Amanda]

Thanks Diana.. You have helped a lot. I am fixing to look at the links you provided. Regarding the LA book for the 5th grader, yes, I think it would work if I would slow down. I can't expect him to leard something new everyday. He needs to work on one thing for a little while and then move on. So I understand that now. I have changed my lesson plans a lot, so maybe I'll see a change. Thank you again for your help.

[Marywood]

Dianna,
I loved your comments about teaching history and science--you just took a major load off of my mind on this!!:biggrin2: My son (4th grade) seems to enjoy the topics we cover, just like you said, but has no interest whatsoever in memorizing dates and regurgitating them. And he does enjoy reading fiction (especially Magic Tree house books) about the various eras.

At what point have you found that it becomes necessary to start stressing the details (dates, etc.) for science and history?

Amanda, please accept my apologies for horning in on this thread but this is a topic that I've been stewing about for some time now and seeing Dianna's comments was a huge relief!!
Mary Ann

[Amanda]

Oh, please don't appologize. :smile2: Diana is a big help..

[Dianna]

At what point have you found that it becomes necessary to start stressing the details (dates, etc.) for science and history?

Mary Ann,

As the years go by, they'll probably start getting a sense of timelines - maybe not exact dates/years, but that one event happened before another event. That in itself is priceless. Once they reach upper middle and high school, I start asking questions about what happened first (this event or that event) and ask if they can recall the year(s) a major event occurred. If they can't, I'll tell them. I'll wait awhile and have the discussion again and see if they can remember the year.

I don't worry at all about specific days, I just want them to have knowledge of the general timeframe in years. If they ever need to know the exact date of something, they can look it up. I think it was Einstein who said not to waste brain space by memorizing something that can be looked up. Save your brain for creating, experimenting, thinking, exploring, problem-solving, etc.

My goal is to build a broad base of knowledge, not make them regurgitate details that are easily looked up, if needed. That's something that the schools (public and private) waste too much time on, in my opinion.

Dianna

[Marywood]

Dianna,
Thanks so much for your reply--you really addressed my concern :smile2: Several books that I've seen talk about using a timeline even as early as kindergarten, which would not have worked for us, but I still felt guilty for not doing it.
I love that quote from Einstein about not filling up your brain with info. that is easily accessible, especially in this day and age. I also couldn't agree more with your goal of "building a broad base of knowledge", especially at this age (4th grade). My goal for my son is just to create some familiarity with names and events so that when they come up again in later years and in more detail, he'll at least be able to say, "Oh, yeah. I remember something about that."
Thanks for the reassurance!
Mary Ann

[Dianna]

Dianna,
Thanks for the reassurance!
Mary Ann

You're welcome, Mary Ann. :smile2: (I thought I had answered your message before, but I hadn't.)

Warmly,
Dianna