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amyable
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 7:45am | IP Logged
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As you can see, I posted here about my 6yo daughter and her pining for workbooks.
I've spent so much time trying to get *away* from workbooks that I no longer know what is out there or how good, or Catholic/anti-CathIolic it is.
I do know the CHC books for K-2nd. I like them, but my dd would go through those in a week and want more, unless I went up to say, 3rd grade. Then it would take her two weeks, lol.  She's reading way above grade level and is pretty smart, good memory, etc, but is still a 6yo with a 6yo's maturity and exposure to the world. FWIW this all came to a head with her when my older dd was doing her Language of God workbook and 6yo was watching - so I promised I'd get her at least that one. 
I hate to say it, but I think I need something with more busywork for her!
I'm hoping by adding in handwriting and spelling workbooks to the math (MUS) we already use and the Language of God she wants, I can keep her satisfied. I think she'd like one for EVERY subject though. 
So for those of you who use workbooks to really teach and advance with your children (as opposed to just keeping a young one busy for a bit, for example), what do you like?
(I feel like I'm harboring a dirty secret - "Hi, this is my family and we are into Real Learning. Oh, that there is my middle daughter. She likes...shhhh...workbooks! No, we don't know what happened  of course I'm just being silly...I was just like her as a child...   )
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 12:34pm | IP Logged
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Maybe you could have her do a *workbook time*. There are many fun workbooks that will help her to learn extra material too. Not all workbooks are bad in my opinion. I was a child who LOVED, LOVED, LOVED workbooks. Many girls are like that too! My daughter does like them at times too. 
There are many workbooks at www.christianbooks.com Christian Book Distributors
They also have the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills workbooks too. You could just type (whatever subject) workbooks in the search engine to see what they have there.
Hope this helps some!
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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ALmom
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 5:28pm | IP Logged
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I don't know what you do for math, but there are plenty of math workbooks that lend themselves to just having around. A lot of folks use Miquon Math sheets to complement manipulatives that are available for their dc. These have many levels(but indicated by color so there is no grade level designation)so you can put the next one out when the first is done, etc. This would not require you to do a lot of formal math with dc, are larger print and manipulative based. They are very conducive for doing in various orders, etc. This would be especially good if your child is having fun with cuisenaire rods anyways. If you just want something very thick, then MCP has math workbooks. I thought they were a bit tedious and repetitive but nothing offensive. They also have plenty of levels of phonics workbooks as does Seton.
There are also workbooks with Singapore Math. I'm not sure I'd want to mess with these until you are doing some sort of formal math instruction, however.
LOG has several levels so you could certainly leave out the level beyond the one that is too easy. We make a point by calling them level A, B, C and D and not identifying them with a certain grade level. My one son even liked the CHC spellers (not my favorite way to do spelling but he had fun with it and spells better than the rest of mine at that age - probably because he is more of a visual learner)
Emmanuel books sells the Miquon Math, I believe.
My son went crazy over workbooks for one year - and it was great handwriting practice. He also learned to pay attention to directions , so there were skills beyond the skills in the workbook.
If I was totally resistant to working formally with the dc, then I picked up the cheapest book I could find at Wal-Mart and let them do what they wanted. I found some really inexpensive workbooks on Presidents, Geography, etc. and left them around. If dc don't use them, I don't care because I didn't invest a lot and we always use the pictures to make our own things - or hand them to the toddler to cut up!
One set of workbooks we really liked were put out by the Mennonites but are sold in CHC, I think. There were things like a strip of pond animals pulled through a picture of a pond as well as the typical workbook type stuff. It really went from the basic left to right awareness to older so might be too easy for your dc - great for some of ours that had trouble with directionality and staying left to right.
Another thing to do, is get a bunch of Cut and Create Books like "Cut and Create Bugs and other Creatures" or "Cut and Create Zoo Animals". These involve tracing shapes, cutting a pattern and then cutting various numbers of the patterns from different colored construction paper and gluing to make various animals.
It develops fine motor skills, paying attention to detail, following directions, plenty of cutting and tracing practice and it is loads and loads of fun and the end results are really neat!
I also cut out pattern block shapes from colored paper and have a bag full of it for the dc to use to copy whatever patterns or pictures they make with pattern blocks. I have a book of patterns to fill in that looks a bit like a workbook that they can use but they can also make up their own. It allows me to make them clean up the pattern blocks (they have a copy of their grand creation glued onto a piece of construction paper or poster board) and it too develops some important visual and fine motor skills while being loads of fun. Don't know if your dd would consider this a workbook?
Just some ideas. Hope this helps.
Another idea is Behold and See. It is a beautiful science curriculum - mostly experiments but with some typical questions and answers throughout. It is rather expensive so we wouldn't let our dc write in it - and used it as a structure for science through about 4th grade with my boys. It wasn't available yet when my girls were young so they are very, very science deprived.
Seton has plenty of workbooks to choose from and you can order the workbooks without signing up. They usually are more intense than CHC (grammar wise) but if you are just having them around and doing what you want and taking the time you need, there might be something there that would be fun for your dd. You might puruse their catelogue. If you lived here there are plenty of them that we would give away! Also some families might sell/give to you as they had older versions (less fancy covers) that they had planned to use child after child and had the child write on onion skin over the book so as to spare the workbook for subsequent dc. I'm sure you could find someone near you to at least look at their workbooks before buying. Seton has workbooks in about every subject in the younger grades.
Janet
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Leonie
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 6:47pm | IP Logged
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What about writing her own workbooks?
Jonathon ( son number 4 ) used to do this when he was 5 and 6 years old. It was his idea. I gave him a large scrapbook of his own and he'd draw pictures and write the phonice sound or the spelling - and leave gaps to fill in later!
He'd write out addition and subtraction sums for himself to work out, using Cuisenaire Rods or calculators to solve.
It helped that he had done a few workbooks and enjoyed the format - he even drew pictures to cut out, colour, stick in the book and write sentences to describe a story.
Might not be what your dd is looking for but thought I'd share.
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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BrendaPeter
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 7:35pm | IP Logged
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Hi Amy,
My favorite workbooks are from Seton. For your daughter's age, I would recommend Phonics, English & their Map Workbooks. My 7-year-old dd is really enjoying the Our Father's World geography workbook this year.
If you're planning on adding Latin to your curriculum at some point, you might consider Prima Latina.
That might keep her busy .
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Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Workbooks question
