Riley's School Conference
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 by Amy
A post from Tuesday that is really old, so I'm letting it go...
I had Riley's conference today. She's obviously doing well. Nothing that I didn't really know, except what Rae was saying (coupled with reading my first-ever parenting book "Raising Your Spirited Child") made me realize just how similar Riley and I are. Perhaps that's why we butt heads so much. Not really a surprise, is it?
She is well into the first grade curriculum for reading, closer to second grade. She really can read everything and anything. She is finally using context clues to figure out words she doesn't know. The only problem she has is not picking books that are challenging enough. She gets too comfortable.
Riley's math is interesting. She has my issues. Our long-term memory is detailed and infinite, but short-term memory is lacking. I have never been able to memorize things. I still don't know what 8 x 7 is without really thinking about it. I have to do (8 x 3) + (8 x 4) even today! How lame is that? Rae said that she appears so used to absorbing information without effort, that the memorization involved in math is not easy for her. This is my same issue. I enjoy math, and I am even marginally good at it, but if I don't understand it, I will never get it. I do algebra and geometry often in everyday life, but it's concrete for me. Calculus? Most college professors (and I should know, I had FOUR college calculus professors!!) can't adequately explain those ideas, so I have no hope of permanently learning them. None!
We've renewed our pursuit of Singapore math. I had to buy the second grade curriculum because the first grade wasn't difficult enough. I can't even express how much it helps that Riley can now read the directions for the activities herself! We are still going through the first grade curriculum, just for continuity, but she's doing 10-15 activities at a sitting and stops only after I make her. It's also totally freaking awesome that I can buy the Singapore math stuff at Borders, with a coupon. Not like it's expensive in the first place, but every little thing helps, right? Singapore math is actually quite similar to Montessori math, so it's not foreign to Riley at all.
I had Riley's conference today. She's obviously doing well. Nothing that I didn't really know, except what Rae was saying (coupled with reading my first-ever parenting book "Raising Your Spirited Child") made me realize just how similar Riley and I are. Perhaps that's why we butt heads so much. Not really a surprise, is it?
She is well into the first grade curriculum for reading, closer to second grade. She really can read everything and anything. She is finally using context clues to figure out words she doesn't know. The only problem she has is not picking books that are challenging enough. She gets too comfortable.
Riley's math is interesting. She has my issues. Our long-term memory is detailed and infinite, but short-term memory is lacking. I have never been able to memorize things. I still don't know what 8 x 7 is without really thinking about it. I have to do (8 x 3) + (8 x 4) even today! How lame is that? Rae said that she appears so used to absorbing information without effort, that the memorization involved in math is not easy for her. This is my same issue. I enjoy math, and I am even marginally good at it, but if I don't understand it, I will never get it. I do algebra and geometry often in everyday life, but it's concrete for me. Calculus? Most college professors (and I should know, I had FOUR college calculus professors!!) can't adequately explain those ideas, so I have no hope of permanently learning them. None!
We've renewed our pursuit of Singapore math. I had to buy the second grade curriculum because the first grade wasn't difficult enough. I can't even express how much it helps that Riley can now read the directions for the activities herself! We are still going through the first grade curriculum, just for continuity, but she's doing 10-15 activities at a sitting and stops only after I make her. It's also totally freaking awesome that I can buy the Singapore math stuff at Borders, with a coupon. Not like it's expensive in the first place, but every little thing helps, right? Singapore math is actually quite similar to Montessori math, so it's not foreign to Riley at all.
