What is WPM?

WPM stands for Words per Minute in reading comprehension. How many words should a student read per minute? My understanding is that some students may start out at 100 WPM at the beginning of a school year (i.e., in third grade). Eventually after practice they will improve. Let’s just say the standard then becomes 150 WPM. As students graduate to a higher grade level, they should approach the 200 mark and then move above that goal reaching 250+.

Interesting fact

I discovered that homeschooled students in the United States are a noteworthy but under-studied segment of the education world. According to the most recent statistics, they make up 20 percent of the total privately-schooled population, approximately 1.1 million out of 5 million (“Homeschool Numbers”, 2005).

Retrieved on May 27, 2006, from
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/7005/

How do you handle scheduling for the day?

After reading a comment from the last post, I remember many days when I battled with scheduling.

How do you handle scheduling for the day?

I have loaded a sample chart that I worked up one day. Click on the chart to enlarge.

Keep in mind the following notations when reading the chart.

*This year I instructed two students one-on-one, and the older student used the DVD instructional program (I met with this student in the afternoons for feedback, grading of papers, mentoring, etc. when I finished with the younger two).
*The red font will be when I am in the room with the student for instruction.
* Remember that periodically a break time needs to be worked in after 1:30. Possibly we can go outside for a break or some form of physical exercise.

Did you know?

...a great way to calculate the time a student needs to spend on homework...

Based upon the student's grade, multiply by 10.
Example:
For a student in 3rd grade, multilply by 10.
This student should spend about 30 minutes for homework.

How-to

I will frequently post a question to spur a discussion. Actually many inquiries will appear from your comments. Homeschool moms, teachers, missionary kid (MK) instructors and MK education consultants, please give advice, share thoughts and make suggestions to our questions or struggles in the comment section. I trust that we will learn from one another and never feel alone in our teaching experience. It always helps to have someone around to listen and to bounce ideas around.

Question 1: What are some activities for a toddler when you are teaching two other students their math lessons?

My comment: One favorite activity that I always used to keep a toddler busy for a LONG time was playing with macaroni. This activity comes cheap, too. Grab an old spaghetti strainer and wooden spoon from the kitchen cabinet. Sit your toddler on a blanket with a bag of uncooked noodles and let him stir in the pot, dump them out and start all over again. The rule is, though, she must stay on the blanket. When it is clean up time, we gather the corners of the blanket and pour all the noodles back in a plastic sack for next time. Meanwhile, the other two finished the math lessons. And, oh, remind the toddler not to eat the uncooked noodles. ;0) Happy teaching!

Look forward to reading your post in the comment section. Everyone can click below to gain other activities.