PSA - Curriculum - resources for parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP thanks for the recommendation for the Core Knowledge series. I have been using them since you recommended it at the start of the pandemic. Seeing what is in that really underscores what is lacking in the MCPS ES curriculum

I am so glad it is helpful to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I'm curious, how many Discovery titles did your kid(s) read out of 150? I'm questioning the utility of ordering a whole set when I only have 1 kid. (But also wondering how many to order if not the set.)

My youngest is in college now. I am guessing that they read (or I read to them) all the magazines. When we started with Discovery, my eldest was in ES and this was a monthly subscription. (I also used the code after a poster shared it on this thread, to get the entire collection a few years ago for myself because over the years I had given away many of the magazines to family and friends.)

I read and reread the magazines to generally brush up on my general knowledge. These are well written magazines and the content skims on the most interesting and important facts of the subject covered. If you read them, you will realize that they contain interesting and important facts on the subject, many that we either do not know or have forgotten. Also, usually, I get free time in bits and pieces. I find that it is easy to read an article in 10 or 15 minutes at a time and not get immersed in it like I do with books.

My suggestion would be to buy a few titles in subjects that your kid is interested in first, if you do not want to commit to the whole set. Though in my personal opinion, the whole 150 titles would have been the kind of Christmas gift, I would have loved for my kids to get when they were little. With the coupons and with Christmas sales etc, you can really get the full set for a fraction of the price. So it is really well worth it.

Again, my personal opinion is that the value of these magazines is for all ages - from young kids to adults to elderly. My kids had finished them by the middle of MS, but they would flip through them even in HS when they were preparing for clubs (debate, quiz bowl, science bowl, history bowl etc), classes, assignments and projects. It made a profound impact on their ability to understand current events, be well informed, see patterns across disciplines and understand how to make compelling presentations and infographics etc.

The 150 titles can be easily covered in three years even if your kid reads only one magazine in a week or if you read to them a magazine a week. They will come back to these magazines again and again.

My four pillars of supplementing & enriching for my kids were -
- Core Education foundation resources and books. ED Hirsch's books especially "What your student needs to know" series.
- Textbooks. Use 2nd hand textbooks to supplement and enrich. It does not matter if the syllabus/curricullum does not completely align with the school district. You need to understand that MCPS has not added new content in what it teaches in years. In fact, less and less content is covered each year. All the old textbooks actually cover MORE AND BETTER than anything that the school teaches. The textbooks also teach in different ways for students who have different learning styles.
- Discovery magazines
- Great Courses website. (Can't recommend their Math courses enough).

There are other resources too. I am dated in that my kids are out of the school system, even if I keenly follow trends in education. You do not have to spend a lot of money or time in making sure that your kids are getting the best education supplementation and enrichment at home. Do not be under the illusion that private schools are better for education, even if they are excellent for classroom discipline and like ability cohort etc.

[Anonymous]

Newsela and CommonLit have great articles (the former) and literature (the latter), along with follow-up questions. If you don't think your child is being sufficiently challenged or engaged in science, social studies, or ELA, you can definitely turn here. I used these as a teacher and have shared some of the CommonLit stories with my own kids just for fun. It's not dumb stories or poems written for the sole purpose of testing kids, but literature by authors whose names you'd recognize that are digestible for kids.

NewsELA starts at 3rd grade level, I think; Commonlit more like 5th.

[Anonymous]

any tips for materials to support decoding of words? maybe phonics home learning materials?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:any tips for materials to support decoding of words? maybe phonics home learning materials?

I'd also love a recommendation here- I'd like to supplement the Benchmark/RGR combo at my kid's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are so sick of this too, and our kids are at risk for adhd and dyslexia.

Huh? What do you mean by "at risk" for developmental disabilities? You seem to be suggesting schools could cause them, which, to be is gently, simply isn't the case.

[Anonymous]

Someone posted this on another thread, which I thought might be helpful for this pinned post - re math enrichment resources:

I had a mathy kid and was constantly looking for ways to accommodate her interest in math. Generally speaking, I would encourage you to think in terms of enrichment rather than acceleration. Getting too far ahead of the class will create more problems. Moreover, math builds on itself. Even if he is generally advanced, holes in his foundation can be a major problem in the future. You need to make sure he is rock solid on the fundamentals.

In terms of enrichment:
Hoagies is a website that offers links for all subjects and ages to websites for enrichment.
https://www.hoagiesgifted.../links.htm

The website for the National Math Festival also has links:
https://www.nationalmathf...-resources

Secret codes are great for math kids. The Third-Grade Detective series of books features kids using various secret codes to solve mysteries.
https://www.amazon.com/s?...doa-p_1_14

Cyberchase is a PBS show that is great about introducing kids to math concepts. While their focus has changed, you can find the earlier math seasons here:
https://pbskids.org/cyber...90cfb1689a

The Sir Cumference books by Cindy Neuschwander are great for introducing geometry concepts.
https://www.amazon.com/dp...sb_pc_tpbk

Logic puzzles are great:
Louis Sachar wrote a book of math puzzles called Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School which is a companion to his Wayside school series. The series is entertaining and I highly recommend it for reading enjoyment. Sideways Arithmetic, however, may not be for everyone. While I don't remember the actual math being that hard, the puzzles require you to look at them from unconventional perspectives.

He might enjoy Sudoku or Magic Squares. Here is a very basic book introducing Magic Squares. The reading level will be below his, but it’s still nice background.
https://www.amazon.com/Fr...819&sr=8-1

Rush hour is another logic puzzle. This is a physical version, but I think there are a lot of online versions and apps available as well.
https://www.thinkfun.com/...=rush+hour

Games of all kinds are great for math. While some use it explicitly (ex. Monopoly), they all basically use it in some form, whether in scorekeeping, probability, geometric/logical strategy, etc.

Buzz is a verbal math game that you can adapt to any level. You establish a pattern and start counting, substituting the word Buzz for any numbers that fit the pattern.

Ex. Even numbers and numbers with a three: 1, buzz, buzz, buzz, 5, buzz, 7, . . ., 11, buzz, buzz, buzz, 15, . . ., 29, buzz, buzz, buzz. . . (All 30s are buzzed), buzz, 41, . . .

You can buzz odd/evens, specific numbers, multiples, primes, squares, fibonacci, etc. You can combine rules as in the example above. It can be as simple or complex as you want. Good for those waiting times (long lines, restaurants, car trips, etc.)

If he knows the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) and the fundamental order of operations, he can play 24. I used to have a link to a website with an online solitaire version, but the link stopped working. You can probably find another or an app. Here's a basic description of it in it's original card game version:
https://en.m.wikipedia.or...24_(puzzle)
(for some reason, I’m having trouble with the link. If Wikipedia asks if you mean 24 (puzzle)?, just select that option.)

Set is a game that focuses on patterns. While there is a card based version, the creators also have a daily puzzle online.
https://www.setgame.com/s...set/puzzle

Here’s an easy way to multiply any number by 11:
https://math.hmc.edu/funf...20between.

You might explore numbering systems that aren’t base 10. Especially if he’s interested in computers, you could teach him counting in binary. You could also cover Roman numerals, metric prefixes, etc.

Cooking is also a great way to enrich math. It’s great for fractions. If he’s multiplying and dividing, you can double or halve recipes. There are all sorts of conversions you can do too (cups to tablespoons to teaspoons, etc.)

Crafts are another great way to enrich math. Depending on the craft, he may need to measure, calculate perimeter/area/volume, determine smount of materials he needs, talk to you about budgeting for supplies, etc. He may need to learn geometry, etc, for some of these. Origami (Japanese paper folding) is also great for geometry. You could even use string art to explore modular arithmetic.

Problems of the Week:
Saint Ann's School (Does provide answers)
https://sites.google.com/...-the-week/
Princeton Friends School (Does not come with answers)
https://www.princetonfrie...e-week.cfm
National Math Festival Weekly Puzzle Newsletter (Does provide answers)
https://globalmathproject...Q4NjkxOTM.

He might like the book Math Curse by Jon Scieszka

For exposure to some unusual math topics, Theoni Pappas books are good. She is especially known for the ones with Penrose the Cat.

There are multiple picture books about doubling grains of rice.

There are actually a lot of great books for kids about math. Here’s a link to a math reading list or you could sinoky recommend your son browse the math shelves in non-fiction.
https://www.hoagiesgifted...matics.htm

The Mathemagician Arthur Benjamin is amazing and has lots of videos on YouTube.
https://m.youtube.com/res...hemagician

He might like the Zoombinis game. While not strictly about arithmetic, it involves a lot of logic and patterns. My kids played the original desktop version, but I think there are apps now.
https://en.m.wikipedia.or.../Zoombinis

As you run across holes in his arithmetic, you might find the book Quick Arithmetic by Robert Carman helpful. It’s written for adults who are trying to self-study arithmetic (it doesn’t address geometry, stats, etc.). It is surprisingly readable and the explanations are very clear.
https://www.amazon.com/Qu...0471384941

AVOID CALCULATORS - This hopefully won’t be an issue for you, but when my kids were in school they were being actively encouraged by their teachers (even in third grade) to use calculators. My rule was that the kids should follow instructions in class, but on their homework they had to get specific permission from me before using calculators (which wasn’t given in third grade).