Keeping things going in the summer

[chaknine]

This summer I will be helping B work on things for school. She needs to work on her math to keep it all in her brain. This year we started the year with no recall of math!!! I do not want to repeat that.
We will be working on hand writing also and key boarding.
My question is do you jump right in as soon as school is out or do you give them a little break before you start on it?
Also how often should we work on stuff? Daily or a couple of times a week?
Shelli

[Mayleng]

Shell, I would give her a week of rest.

Last summer, I did one hour a day (excluding weekends) in the morning with my son. I find that it is better if we keep to a routine and stick with it because then there is no surprise and less resistance.

I find morning the best because it leaves us the rest of the day to play, or go places and the meds is at the most effective then.

If you need sites for math where dd can "play and learn" ,to have more fun, try these sites.


www.coolmath.com
www.learningplanet.com/act/mayhem/index.asp
www.math.com/practice/EverydayMath.html
www.saxonpublishers.com/activities/index.jsp
www.kidsdomain.com/interstitials/jojo2.html?url=http%3A//www.kidsdomain.com/brain/computer/type.html

I think you have the Handwriting without Tears right?

[eaccae]

Shelli - I had to this last year (and of course will be doing it this year).

Mayleng is rignt - give her a week off to decompress and just have fun (we did two - we went out of town). I did a little bit each morning as well. We did between 2-6 pages of the Handwriting Without Tears workbook (depending on his mood), we had been given a math workbook from the school to work on and we did a unit or two from that a morning as well. I don't think they are going to be giving us a math workbook this year so I am going to get a bunch of different math games from Mindware Online. We just got MadMath and that is really fun (and short) and I am going to get Factor Frenzy and a couple of others. I bought some math workbooks once from the bookstore that looked great but DS would have none of it (he got a pizza party if he completed the school one - and it was from the school so he thought he HAD to do that one). I am trying to get more creative this year. There are also a couple of geography games I think I might get as well to start him off ahead of the game . . . maybe do math a couple of days, geography a couple of days, and Handwriting Without Tears EVERYDAY - also all I ask of him is to complete one typing lesson a day. they actually pick it up a lot quicker than you would think - maybe it is their age! I am still brainstorming on how to work with DS on actually WRITING a story or something this summer as we have a processing problem there. I just don't know where to start.

Mix it up a bit - and do maybe no more than 15 minutes per subject each day - with no more than an hour a morning. And Mayleng is so right - the routine is key! Maybe you could set up a chart and have a reward thing going on each day - for an ice cream sundae at the end of the week, or a movie, etc. Just remember - not too long and routine!

[Mayleng]

eaccae,

How about getting him to keep a diary of some sort, every morning, he writes what he did the day before. As long as there is a beginning, middle and ending he will get enough practice. Also if he is reading a book, after he finishes reading the book, you can have him write a book report or have him write the story of the book or movie in a News Reporter type report (it'll be funny and fun). Ie. Say he is into SpiderMan 2.

He can have the headlines as Spiderman Saves New York from Dr. Octopus.

It does not have to be long.

Make it fun makes it up a bit.

It can be writing about a movie he likes, a cartoon show he likes. It does not have to be from a book. He can create a superhero (if he is into it) and write about this superhero and his adventures.

The trick is to take what he likes and make him write about it.

Also it helps to have a graphic organizer to put the thoughts in order.

Here's a link to some graphic organizers:

library.thinkquest.org/J001156/writing%20process/sl_graphic_organizers.htm?tqskip1=1

www.inspiration.com/


Here's a link to ideas on how to teach creative writing etc:

www.writing-edu.com/newsletter/

[chaknine]

Thanks!!! We do have Handwriting with out tears, and we are going to be using that this summer. For math I am not sure what we are going to do. Thanks for the sites, they will help alot. I think I will have B do a joural also. One of the note books that came in the handwriting with out tears is a journal and has a place to draw a picture also.
I am picking up trinkets for her to pick out of a treasure box when she cooperates and tries hard. I am trying to have a good reward system in place.
The creativity and keeping it interesting will be hard!!
Maybe I will ask the school to get me a math work book and use the sites for fun!! I know just doing flash cards and ect.. will be part of it too.
Thanks Shelli

[kc4braves]

Thanks for the great ideas. I have tried to do something like this every summer without much success. I guess I get tired of the fight at some point. I'm hoping this year will be different. he will not have to do summer school this summer, I don't think, so maybe things will go better. THAT was a nightmare.

I guess the main thing if for me to be consistents. Come up with a plan and try to stick with that plan no matter what. I KNOW i have to get him writing. He has not been required to write really at all this year. No book reports or anything. In 2nd grade, 3 sentence reports caused him major melt downs sbo....I know we have to get back to it. Journals never worked. We had to threaten to take everything away to get 3-4 sentences and then they were 3-4 word sentences that meant nothing. Just so he could get done. I'm really hoping things will go better. I would love to hear more of your ideas about how to make writing fun or at least tolerable. I guess I need to think of some simple rewards.

As for math, I guess it will be multiply, multiply, multiply. What else does he need to know to start 4th grade?

Then of course, read, read ,read. I guess I will let him read anything he wants and we will probably do the summer reading program at the library. They provide the rewards for that.

I want the kids to be as active as possible in the summer and I need to let him take a break from his meds, but we need to get some review and practice in. I'll be looking at all the links. THANKS.

kATHY

[CGBMom]

Hi
Could someone let me know where I can purchase Handwriting without Tears? I have never seen that in any store before.

Also, what age is it good for?

Cate

[Mayleng]

You can get Handwriting without tears online at:

hwtears.com

[brazos]

Thanks for all these links!!! I appreciate it!!!

[pattislp]

For math facts what about Math facts the fun way by City creek press? It has funny stories with cute graphics that the kids like and it helps them recall the math facts in a fun way. I also like some products from EPS that work on the language behind math word problems called It's Elementary.

[chaknine]

Thanks patti, I found the Funway kit online and may order it!! It looks great and more fun!!
shelli

[Gillian]

Lots of good ideas. Have to admit we have never had much luck with the 'summer work plan' so far. One year we were very successful with the local Library Summer Reading Program - read so many books and you get a prize. Problem was after battling through all the books my kids thought the 'prize' was rubbish. A few tokens for free ice cream or whatever and a book of their choosing. They were not impressed. That put an end to that. We always try to do something over the summer but with various degrees of success.

[brazos]

KC what you might consider is combining two things your child needs to know this summer.

I found that my oldest would write a lot on Science, so I taught him writing with Science as a subject. Like for instance Science in 4th grade is earth science so you could have him dig up a small amount and then write about what he finds in the dirt.

My oldest never knew he was doing writing, he was so excited about telling all about it, the writing link skipped his brain. By the fourth he was writing like a charm.

[kc4braves]

I looked up the Fun Way times table kit as well. It looks right up our alley. I think we will probably purchase the kit. My son likes to read ( don't tell him, though) so he may enjoy reading the manual and "explaining" it to me. lol He always remembers little stories from second grade that his teacher told them to help with borrowing in math and stories to help with silent 'e's, etc. I wish his teacher this year had had more stories to tell.

I don't think I can trick him into writing. Even as much as he likes science and social studies, I have never been able to convince him to write. My kindergartner is quickly catching him but that doesn't make him want to work, either. She is always writing in a notebook about...whatever. She wrote her daddy a "love note" the other day that we could actually read and understand. It was so sweet. Ty just doesn't write...and when he does, he is discouraged when we have to ask what it says. I guess I need to figure out something, though. Thanks for the ideas.

Kathy

[brazos]

Dang it KC he is just too smart! Maybe a computer report or a power point would do?

[kc4braves]

Now...any excuse to use MY computer would do it, I bet. I guess that would help with the thought processes, punctuation and capitalization. Handwriting is another issue altogether. I sometimes don't seperate them. That's not a bad idea. We tried journaling last summer. That was a nightmare. I thought it would be so simple just to write 2-3 sentences about what you did that day. NOT! lol

Thanks for the ideas.

Kathy

[kc4braves]

I thought of another idea re: getting my son to write this summer. Ya'll may have already thought of this, but I'm trying to line up some friends in other towns that he can write letters to and receive letters from. I guess they wouldn't have to be out of town, since all kids like to get mail. It just so happens that with us being military, most of our friends live other places now. I'm trying to get the other parents to get their kids on board before I mention it to mine. I know my kids would love it. Has anyone else tried this?

KAthy

[G]

Great ideas guys!! I just ordered the handwriting without tears. looking forward to getting it, my dd need a lot of help in that area. she is the ONLY lefty in the family(even my parents and siblings are righty) so I have a hard time helping her.

My dd has been penpalling with a girl whose mom i "met" on the Schwaab board, they both have attention issues. They don't write long letters to each other, but they really enjoy it. I bet your son would like it too.

love all those math links, THANKS!!!!!!!!
nat

[kc4braves]

How are you guys doing with working on school stuff this summer? We have gotten off to a slow start because of summer camp and a visit to the grandparents. We have started Handwriting Without tears and so far, I love the program. We have only done 4 letters but we have already caught one of his major problems. I told him that it's not his fault that no one showed him in school and he learned it wrong BUT now is the time to correct his bad habits. lol he is actually doing better than i had thought he might.

We are also working on multiplication at least 15 mins a day....so far anyway. Today he spent an hour playing a computer game we discovered. The game is called Timez Attack and is found at www.bigbrainz.com. He really enjoyed it. It adds slowly and builds on repetition. It becomes a little faster as the levels progress. We just played the free version.

So far I haven't been able to get him to write much of anything. No letters to anyone yet. Hope you are having better luck at that.

Good luck with your summer.

Kathy

[Mayleng]

My kids are still in school. Today is their last day. I hope to work on expressive writing with my 9 yr old this summer .

Goodluck with your summer too.

[ohmama]

Thanks for all the great ideas girls! We are doing about a half hour to an hour a day of math, spelling and writing. It's working fine first thing in the morning.