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I think Konos might be good, but since he's an only child how would that work? and are there other ideas? Thanks. He's 11. |
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Montessori materials. But you need to find the lessons for them. It is a little expensive, but well worth it. Cuisenaire math rods. The Cusenaire books are quite good. If you want ask me about them. Cuisenaire reading rods. Although they are for the lower elementary grades you can certainly use them for advanced grammar, sentence and paragraph building. You would need to buy more than one set of the advanced level. Go to Cusenaire and see how it works. Science kits of many types are great. Lego has an abundance of different kinds of programs. There is an education program where you can learn to computer program the thing you build to move in different ways, etc. ; they have robotic kits and many books you can look at at Barnes and Noble on robotic programming. They are mostly for teens and adults, but I remember seeing books where they started at a very basic level. Art: You can learn a lot from art. Perspective drawing, graphic drawing, drafting (off the computer), cartoon drawing or sketching for illustrating stories. Learning about history from art by copying the artists style and content. Graphic organizing on paper. Or computer. I think doing it on paper is more tactile. for English or a foreign language. Using 3D puzzles for logic, learning to plan, organize thinking etc. Geometry with manipulatives are great with math or for art design. Can't think of anything else at the moment.
I hope I gave you food for thought.
Elona |
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Those are all great ideas. thanks! |
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Great ideas, Elona! I've got a boy who'll be 5 in January and he's more of a hands on kid. I have the Konos book, but haven't started on it yet. I've heard that unit studies can work fine for the only child as well as bigger families - I'm just not too sure if it's worth all the extra work! LOL However, I think I may have fun doing these projects with him. Still researching different options/methods out there. We're unschooling/relaxed homeschooling for now. |
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I would do lapbooking. There are TONS on CurrClick.com. In the Hands of a Child is one. Here's a sample government one that The Old Schoolhouse magazine is giving away: http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/FF/TT-Aug2008.htm Amy Pak at Homeschool In the Woods has some great ones, too. http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/ http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/AP/ Anyway, sign up at CurrClick and you can get lots of freebies & sales. Oh, and Notebooking might be good for him, too. This is my favorite: http://www.notebookingpages.com/ |
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We like Konos. And you can pick whichever projects suit you, so you can certainly tailor it to an only child. |
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Here's another free lapbook to go with Island of the Blue Dolphins. http://notebookingnook.blogspot.com/2009/10/island-of-blue-dolphins-lapbook.html JC |
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I've found that my kinesthetic son loves to do hands on things he is interested in. So finding something he wants to learn about and then getting the books from the library to read is lots of fun. I used Five in a Row and it gives lots of suggestions for art and geography , even Bible if you get the Bible supplement. Then we found lapbooking and they are wonderful to do on any subject, We just finished Joseph. And are doing plants.There is also a group that does it that calls it file folders and another way is notebooking. One really cute one came up when I googled Bee- Attitudes, there is a blog called Just call me Jamin! and she has pictures of her lapbooks. We like the freebies at Currclick too! And for Math the Math U See worked good for us. WE also learned alot about other states by doing flat travelers. Depending on what age he is, I like these for K-3. filefolderfun.com christianpreschoolprintables.com homeschoolshare.com |
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We did Flat Travelers also. They are so much fun and we got them from all 7 continents - even Antarctica. Jamin does the Freebie Fridays for The Old Schoolhouse magazine. She always has great stuff each week. Joining TOS's Facebook page gets you lots of freebies, too, as well as other publishers on FB. I second HomeschoolShare, too. Last Edited on: 10/28/09 6:02 PM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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I think the lapbook idea is the way to go for now; and cuisenaire rods for math |
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If you like hands on things, Math U See is good for teaching Math. I like their blocks more than the Cuisenaire rods because the MUS ones are divided into unit sections so it is easier to see the number it represents by counting the blocks on the rod. This may be too visual to make sense, but each rod has little squares on it according to the number, 5, 7, 10, 100, etc. The cuisenaire rods I bought at the beginning of homeschooling are gathering dust somewhere.
The videos with Steve Demme are wonderful. My two boys catch the concepts very quickly with his teaching. |
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Another approach. Kids who like to move or need to move may do great if allowed to move & then do schoolwork later. I recall hearing a lecture by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, HS mom author of "For theChildren's Sake" say if a HS child can move & run outside x5 hours he'll sit perfectly still & listen to anything the parent will read aloud, high level material, as they are worn out. Also in a brand new book by Anthony Rao, "The Way of Boys" he says Americans are doing too much formal academics with fine motor skill use on too young kids & not letting them be active enough. If they can move & run & play enough they will then sit & do lessons that are more traditional after. This still doesn't make too much formal learning for 3 yeard old's okay due to boys brain development & fine motor skills developing slower & different timetable than girls. But even older boys (and some girls) need more movement than our current way of living is allowing. Instead of trying to infuse movement into all lessons or making all topics "fun and games" to learn how about doing a lot of outdoor gross motor activities first then doing HS lessons after. Dr. Rao says many boys are active & that's normal it's not always a sign of dysfunction or even a learning style issue must normal. Just an idea. |
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