The Summer Shopping List

I'm getting inundated with emails from people who are just finding out where the bar is and beginning for advice.   It's all in here somewhere starting about 5 years ago, but it's going to take about a year to catch up.  So I'll just tell you.  It's easier than how I found out, which is to drop my little marine off on a beach full of cannons.   I'll also answer related questions I got this week at the bottom.  If I missed any questions, please comment.  I'm being nagged right now (aka revenge) so I may have to finish tonight.

Thanks to the reader who asked about a 2 1/2 year old little brother.  I think this is my area of expertise and the reason I started this blog in the first place.

Almost everyone outside of Chicago and New York have to sit for both the ITBS or something similar and the COGAT.  In Chicago and NY, it's just the COGAT, because the majority of kids are way behind academically so we need to find out who has potential to succeed, not who is succeeding.

I think Building Thinking Skills is generally regarded as the starting point for the COGAT and other cognitive tests like NNAT, Raven, etc, because it's thick, and half of it has little to do with school.  I like Can You Find Me, sometimes Mind Benders.  I bought everything else, and it's mostly a waste of money.

Since you have standardized tests in the mix, I also recommend going up a year in math, on your own, in the summer.  You can go ahead 2 years if you want.  It just goes slower.  I like Every Day Math grade 2 (but not 1), Spectrum or Sylvan for 1st, Sylvan definitely for K, and then for 3 and 4
Go Math, and then CMP Math after that.

That leaves reading comprehension, which was the last article, and test prep, which can wait for later.  So, in short:
1.  Critical Thinking books, which personally I would concentrate on
2.  A math and a reading comp book and Vocabulary Workshop (grade level)
3.  A poster to keep track of progress (for the parent)
4.  Sticky notes for all of the vocab words

We spent way too much time on math, but caught up on reading later.  I'm not sure anyone has this luxury any more.

More Q & A
1.  What about English Language skills?
I've met lots of 1st graders who have parents who can barely speak English and have thick accents. Their children are in the 2,304 percentile of English on all tests and might as well run for President at age 6.  I always ask the parent "what the heck"?  The parent simply tells me that the child taught themselves to read (liars) and that they read all the time (totally true).  Only English is spoken at home, and the child has to go to school on the weekend to learn their parents' language.

2.  What about things on the verbal portion of the ITBS besides Reading Comprehension?
There are 2 things we forbid in this house: Memorizing math facts and studying grammar, spelling, sentence structure, or anything else like that outside of school.  Since writing is not going to work until grade 5 or so, we just ignore these things.  But we're also 2 years ahead.  I don't think you'll have enough room in the schedule, and these things tend to follow reading.  I'm going to say read an hour a day (30 minutes read to alternating each page and 30 minutes kid on their own reading any garbage they want).

3.  My child requires me to sit down with him the whole time he does anything.
Actually both of them do.  At one point, the younger one developed the habit of doing Building Thinking skills on his own, and the older one will do math on his own, but not properly unless we do it together.  Plus, the older one wouldn't do any studying on his own until 5th grade.  I recommend you get a book or something and "do it together" meaning "I'll sit here with you but I'm really ignoring you" if you can get away with it.  I've never met any kid who didn't need about 12 weeks of constant attention, and some kids are really social and won't do anything on their own.  My wife came up with "do the homework in the kitchen while I look like I'm paying attention but I'm really cooking".  You'll never get away with looking at a screen while your child slaves away at a workbook.

4.  Can I use websites for math?
No.  My kids loved the online version of Vocab Workbook that supplements the material, but we rarely did online math.  For a reason.  Math is about problem solving and thinking, and not about practice.  End of story.  Of course, with a really good problem, like those awesome books by you-know-who, you get lots of practice anyway.

5.  Can I reuse books?
With the thinking books, I forbid writing because they are so expensive.  Sometimes, with a practice test, I let my child fill in the bubble, but then I filled in all the bubbles and asked the next one to erase the correct answer, or filled in all the bubbles and erased all of them to make it impossible to cheat, or I just sat there asking for pointing.  All of my books ended up in the hands of various neighbors at one point or another.

6.  Piano Adventures?
Start with primary before the 1st grade.

7. Any tips on encouraging children to want to do their best rather than pressing them to learn etc?
Yes, this is the key to the whole endeavor.  Your child's success in life depends on you not blowing this.  Please see lots of my articles on this topic.  In short, spend a lot of time on the question, and don't worry about the answer.  Grade it secretly.

8.  Do I have a reading list?
I am not happy with any reading list ever, nor do I like any book ever recommend or lent to us by a friend.  It never works.  It's like breathing someone else's air.  On the other hand, I go down to the library, pick up a random stack of books, and every one is great.