Math question

[Bramble]

Is calendar covered w/ HOD math activities and Singapore? Or is that something we should do on our own?

[Carrie]

Bramble,

Yes, the calendar is covered within Singapore and our math activities.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Heidi in AK]

So, we don't need to do this, then? "All my friends" insist you start with a calendar time, in which you review the days of the week, month and date, etc. I did do that, and we are charting the weather, in addition. Is that unnecessary? We are doing LHFHG...with Earlybird Math 2A/2B. I didn't see it in there?

[my3sons]

Unit 29, Day 2 to Unit 30, Day 5 covers the days of the weeks, weather, seasons, and months. While you can certainly do calendar/weather activities daily if you enjoy it, it is one of many skills to be learned within in the year and need not have that level of time spent upon it unless you should so desire. Our school district used to do daily calendar activities (counting money, weather, time, etc.) and dropped them due to deciding it was receiving too much focus and was out of balance with the rest of the math standards dc are required to learn. However, if it's fun, and you are enjoying it, why not do it every day? If it's not, both of our dc learned those skills from doing LHFHG. We especially loved the Fingerplay "Spread the News" in Unit 17, and still sing that for the days of the week for fun (especially to help Emmett, who is currently doing LHTH, but will soon be enjoying LHFHG next). HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Heidi in AK]

Julie, you guys have thought of everything. Thank you. I agree; calendar time is an expectation on a daily basis, but it is out of balance. If you cover it, I can drop it out of my daily schedule! Hallelujah!

[Heidi in AK]

Yes, Julie, it's a scheduling issue for me. I have to make a conscious effort to remember it, and yesterday I had to catch up on a week and a half because I forgot. We are tracking the weather and will graph it at some point, mostly because I noticed that even at the K level the state wants the kids to be able to understand and interpret, at least basically, a graph. I am a former math teacher.

But I'll drop the calendar part, otherwise! YEA!

[MelInKansas]

Yes, it was there in LHFHG, but covering it for just a couple of weeks certainly didn't reinforce it to the level that my DD actually remembers the names of the months and seasons for example. We have a calendar down low on the wall and my DD looks at it, and because she asks questions she now knows days of the week and what we typically do on those days. She's really clear on the months in which each member of our family has birthdays. It's all about what's important!

But there are ways it is covered later too, I am noticing. We also started telling time in LHFHG but again, I don't think my DDs retention of that is very good right now (and we only have 1 analog clock in our house and we don't look at it very often).

I don't know if I would cover it every day but if you want your child to really know it right now, you might need to do a little more than just what's in the guide, I don't know. I guess I kind of think it's fine, they will learn it as they grow, learning months of the year for example might just be memorization at this point whereas when they are a little older it makes more sense.

[Heidi in AK]

I suppose the way it is leaves it up to the individual family to reinforce as needed, which is nice. It just seems to be such an expectation of our culture, but I almost think that it is that way because it's a "nice" way to start school in the brick and mortar structure. Thankfully, there are ways to reinforce it by doing it daily to help retention. For us, it's nice that it's covered in the guide because we don't lengthen our day by doing it every day. We have just enough to consider to get both sides of LHFHG done.

[raceNzanesmom]

We do it daily, sort of. He changes the days of the week and writes today's date on the dry erase calendar while I pull everything out. Then the date is there in front of him as needed. It's also a way to count down days- the weekend, a birthday, or other special event. We talk about it the most at the beginning and end of each month. In between it's mostly there for it's usefullness, not to study.

[MomtoJGJE]

I used to do calendar stuff... but then Evie got to be a toddler and was ripping our calendar down. So I haven't done it in over a year. But we do talk about what day it is and how many days until whatever happens, how many months until birthdays, how many weeks until we go to Grandma's house, etc. We have calendars hanging up, but we don't talk about them really. They learn to tell time on digital clocks and when they want to learn on the analog clocks it's easy for them because they already know how to count by 5s. Money, yeah, they don't get it until probably 2nd grade, but then again, we don't use cash so they don't see it. But on that same note, my little ones aren't going to be going to the store alone, so they get help.

I guess in my mind, those are things that when they need to know it, they'll figure it out. I don't really see any need for little ones, especially homeschooled little ones, to be actively taught calendar, clocks, and money. They'll get it.... they are not going to NEED to know it while they are young because they aren't going to be away from us and in a situation that they MUST know that information.

But I do lean toward an unschool bent in some areas, and that's probably where this is coming from. We do not skip it when it comes up, I just don't stress over them getting it. I'm the same way with handwriting and phonics too though.

[Daph]

My girls love calendar time! I put a monthly calendar in a binder for each of my girls, and we go over it each day together. I also put a sheet for the days we've been in school (for my sake more than there's) and a weather chart, just for fun. I also laminated my Bigger book and each week, my older dd has her lesson, poem, and dictation for the day in her own binder. That way we both only have to worry about one day at a time. It's been a great thing for days that we do school out of the home. All I have to grab is their binders and whatever books we need for the day.