Worried About Limited English

amother

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:17 pm

My son just started fifth grade. Last year, he had three hours of solid English education. This year, English was cut down about an hour and there is a very limited English schedule. I heard from other parents that it only gets worse from here on out. I heard that some kids who have gone through the older grades were totally unprepared for high school and had a challenging time even writing a paragraph...

AAAAH!

Any suggestions on how I can supplement English education for my son?

THANK YOU!!!

amother

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:25 pm

Different school is not going to happen...

I need to teach him math, like algebra and geometry...I was thinking maybe Algebra and Geometry for Dummies? I am not so skilled at these myself, so I need good resources.
I can get books, that's a good suggestion.

hodeez

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:28 pm

Will he have the time and will to actually study these topics out of school? It takes a driven personality and might not be so easy on top of his current yeshiva schedule.
IDK if he has access to YouTube but that's how I got through my computer science degree, so it should be very useful for basic math, history, science... I used Khan Academy tutorials when I was younger for math help.

mushkamothers

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:31 pm

Just let him read

Don't buy him books for dummies - expose him to puzzles that use shapes for geometry, algebra you can do verbal word problems with him. we all know that the higher order math we learned in school was useless. it's just a brain exercise. so expose him to these concepts in their organic natural forms. I'm sure there's a kids book series on this, for example (this should be way younger for his age but) Encylopedia Brown is a mystery series that uses different kind of principles to solve problems and it's very mathematic minded. Something like that. And he can read historical books like the "Who Was....." series

amother

Lotus

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:35 pm

amother OP wrote:

Algebra is 8th grade
Geometry 9th grade
Make sure his basic math skills are up to par especially understanding of fractions,
order of operations (more pre-algebra) before you start algebra.
Perhaps you can put together a group of 5-6 boys and hire a math teacher 2x a week for a 1-1.5 hr class.
SAT prep is important once you get to 9th grade.

amother

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:35 pm

mushkamothers wrote:

Thank you so much! Do you have any links to puzzles such as these? Or books? I would really appreciate any resources.
The for dummies books would be for me to figure out how to teach it lol

amother

Oldlace

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:47 pm

amother OP wrote:

As you can see these aren't skills needed in real life.
As long as he knows the basic math concepts including how to calculate percentages and fractions he should be fine.
Geometry is useless, did you ever wish you remembered how you figured out sine/cosine of an angle?

mushkamothers

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:53 pm

amother OP wrote:

Thank you so much! Do you have any links to puzzles such as these? Or books? I would really appreciate any resources.
The for dummies books would be for me to figure out how to teach it lol

Tangram puzzles - really any

Board games like: Rush Hour, rummikub, stratego, chess, checkers, othello, mastermind - these are all things that use your brain. Problem solving skills

Who was book series
https://www.amazon.com/Who-Was.....UKL4W

Encyclopedia Brown is apparently for ages 8-12

You might do well researching homeschool resources. Remember that actual algebra is not the goal but the skill of it. You don't need to know it yourself in order to teach it. What kind of math do you do in real life? Do it loud in front of him.

We do real life algebra all the time, like this:
"If 1 kugel feeds 10 people, and I need to feed 25 people, how many kugels should I make? If 1 kugel uses a 5lb bag of potatoes then how many bags should I buy?"

Do it on a paper with him.
Voila that is math.

gibberish

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:57 pm

Expressive writing is a separate skill from reading and often needs regular practice. I would get a tutor or find an online program. So many of our boys are lacking basic writing skills.

Edited to add: Outschool is a great resource for supplemental learning

Last edited by gibberish on Wed, Sep 14 2022, 10:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

mha3484

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 11:11 pm

I wonder if we send to the same yeshiva. My son was in 5th last year and they cut an hour of the day and I was not thrilled but this year in 6th they have an extra 45 min. If this sounds familiar feel free to PM me. My son is a huge reader and his yeshiva is trying to improve the afternoon so I am not so pessimistic.

zohar

Wed, Sep 14 2022, 11:55 pm

If your son is a reader, have interesting books in the house about history, science and other interesting topics. Biographies are great. For history, books about wars often interest boys.

Regarding skills, the math your son is getting is probably adequate. So unless he's showing interest in it, I don't think that's the place to focus. My bil, who is an employer of hundreds of employees from all background says that the only real issue when hiring those with a chassidish background, is writing skills. That is somewhere that I would put much more focus on.

amother

Aqua

Thu, Sep 15 2022, 12:06 am

I haven't looked at this site in years but KhanAcademy was awesome when I used to go on it.

Yup- still there. Looks very user friendly and has all age levels.

https://www.khanacademy.org/

amother

Eggplant

Thu, Sep 15 2022, 12:59 pm

For writing, I highly recommend the Hochman method. I don't know if they have a workbook for self learning, but you can look it up.
Not sure how you'll motivate him, though.

amother

Firethorn

Thu, Sep 15 2022, 1:13 pm

For math, if your son's schedule permits, Mathnasium could be a good option. They have locations all over the place. They will assess to determine where he is at, and he will work through their curriculum from there. No homework. All the work is done there. You can decide how many days per week or per month you want him to go and rates are based on that.