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Laura Cook

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About Laura Cook

  • Birthday 04/01/1980

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    Female

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    Southwest Missouri

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  1. I’ll put my questions first: Did you do the literature sections? Did you condense the levels to get through them more quickly? How did you condense them? I am considering using this for DS14, almost 15. He went through the first half of WWS 1 in 6th grade but we dropped it because he was really struggling with it, at that time it was too much, too fast for him. Instead we dabbled in different things for the rest of middle school. He has matured a lot in the last two and a half years. I think he is capable of succeeding with it now. I think we will go back and do a quick review of the topoi he learned in the first half of the book and move forward from there if we decide to go with that. Thanks.
  2. We take ours off Sunday morning and put a clean set back on right away and then wash the dirties either the same day or the next day. We also alternate each week, so this weekend is our sheets and DD’s sheets, next weekend will be both DS’s sheets. We usually wash blankets, comforters, quilts, etc. once a month or so.
  3. Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond! We’ve had a busy week. Here’s what our experience has been: A couple of my kids hated the Arrows and Boomerangs. The copywork and dictation each week was fine, they just thought all the suggested things to discuss that were related to the passage was too random. And I felt like as the “teacher” I didn’t have enough experience or knowledge to pull it all together into a coherent learning experience. The writing projects were too loosely structured for me. They were often broken down into weeks but it still wasn’t specific enough for me. I also had a hard time seeing what it was they were supposed to be learning from some of the projects. Many of the projects were a complete mismatch for my boys who detest any sort of creative writing. I found it hard to facilitate 3 projects at the same time, even if they were working on the same type of project. I was managing okay until I started working part time last spring, then it all fell apart. I was doing a lot of planning behind the scenes and when I didn’t have as much time to put towards it, everything went kaput. At this point we need something that has lessons we can work through day by day, that doesn’t require additional planning on my part. I, actually the kids too, need to be able to see where we are headed and feel like we are working consistently and accomplishing something. This ended up kinda long, sorry!
  4. Where would you start with 6th, 7th and 8th grade age kids if you were jumping back into WTM style language arts after using BW for a couple of years? We liked aspects of BW but in the end it has turned out to be too loosely structured for us. I feel like the kids have made very little forward progress over the last couple of years. We stuck with it longer than we should have. Here’s what they have each done already that is more WTM-ish: DS 14: WWE 1-3, Treasured Conversations, WWS 1 (first 18 weeks), FLL 1-4, GWTM:Purple (first 6 weeks) DS 13: WWE 1-3, Treasured Conversations (all except last section), FLL 1-4 (only partway into 4) DD 11: WWE 1-3, FLL 1-3 Is picking up where we left off ok? I am assuming that we can probably condense some of it so we move through more quickly. Is WWS okay to do in high school? Thank you for any thoughts or ideas!
  5. I love seeing what others are creating! Right now I am focusing on trying to finish this quilt top so it can be quilted before Christmas. This was one of those projects I started without a clear idea in mind and so it’s far from perfect, but hopefully nobody will care once they are snuggling under it come December. I started teaching myself how to knit this summer. I’m working on a scarf but I’ve messed it up so now I’ve got to bring it to my mother, who actually knows what she’s doing, 😆 and see if she can help me fix it. No pics of that. I also need to go through all of my sewing and crafting stuff and reorganize it so that I can find and use it all. My daughter loves crafting so she is constantly rummaging through it and it’s a disaster. I might recruit her help this weekend to put it back in order!
  6. My oldest DS13 will be an 8th grader this next year. Does this look like a good line up for a kid who doesn’t hate school work but isn’t enthusiastic about it either? He is a great, responsible kid and will do whatever I require of him, but he’s not exactly jumping for joy. Math - Math Mammoth 6 (finish probably by Sep.) then go on to 7 Writing- Jump In Grammar - Easy Grammar Plus History - American using A History of US concise aligned with the tests from Hewitt and some of the maps from Map Trek’s American history set Science - Elemental Science Earth Science and Astronomy for Logic Stage OR Biology for Logic Stage (we haven’t decided on this yet) *he will be doing this with his siblings Literature - I’ll assign him a list and he’ll probably use lit guides or Boomerangs for several of them and I think we will read some short stories using Figuratively Speaking as a resource for discussion. Plus his own free reading, family read alouds and poetry teas Our main academic goals are to get him writing a lot more, to continue working on his math skills and to start discussing the books he is reading. Also trying to foster some independence in and ownership of his learning. I’d also like him to have an enjoyable year. Thanks!
  7. I’m sorry and I understand! For DH and I the issue was a difference in our families of origin. DH’s family doesn’t really celebrate anything. My family celebrates everything. For about the first eight or so years we were married we were too tired and too broke to do much but once we got out of the fog of the little kid years things changed. I got upset because I was making an effort on DH’s birthday and Father’s Day to make sure he had a good day and he wasn’t reciprocating. I struggled with feeling like it was shallow of me to want some recognition on those days but eventually I decided that it was what I wanted/needed and that I wasn’t going to feel like a bad person for asking for it. So then I sat him down and told him exactly what I wanted. Which was for someone else to cook dinner and dessert that night, a few hours of alone time and for he and the kids to give me whatever the appropriate greetings were for the day. DH has stepped up. Maybe when the sadness and anger has passed you will be able to figure out what you want/need for that day and communicate that to your husband.
  8. I had them pick one subject to start using cursive for, then another week or two later we added another one and we kept doing that until they were doing all their work in cursive. I felt like slowly building their stamina would be less stressful for everyone instead of just jumping into doing cursive for all subjects right at once and it seems to have worked with my kids. Of course they still complained about it but now it’s not an issue.
  9. If I were moving I’d take it all down as soon as I could. Taking it down now would remove another thing from my to do list which would feel good! We are doing Christmas with DH’s family at our house this Saturday so we are leaving our tree up for that, but on Sunday it’s all getting packed away! I’m ready to get things back to normal.
  10. Critterfixer, congratulations on the literary agent, how exciting!
  11. I had planned on this being a productive week, despite the Nutcracker stuff and Christmas creeping closer. I should know better. The boys are sick. They seem to have the weird sore throat/cough/sinus crud that I’ve been trying to get over for the last three weeks. DD has avoided it so far. As long as I can keep her healthy through the weekend we’ll be good. Reading aloud and reading on their own is probably all that will be happening this week. Maybe some documentaries.
  12. Good morning! It is cold, frosty and foggy here this morning. We are having a very slow start to the day, so far only one kid is out of bed. We've reached that point in December where we all want to chuck school but I don't want to take 4 weeks completely off so instead we are starting to cut back a little. DD is in the Nutcracker again this year and this is production week so we've got to be at the theater most evenings. I need to start thinking a little more about Christmas, maybe I'll try to do that while I'm waiting at the theater. Something I just realized while I was typing this, I feel really relaxed about Christmas this year. I used to stress a lot over it. I finally learned that things always come together and if something doesn't, its because it wasn't really that important to any of us. Anyway, small side track there! Today: Math w/each Writing w/each Spelling for DS11 and DD10 Grammar for DS13 Free reading for all Read alouds and memory work Nutcracker rehearsal for DD10
  13. It’s down for me, but it’s been weird for a couple days too.
  14. Good morning! Snow here too! We've got almost 2 inches already and it rarely ever snows like this before Thanksgiving. Some years it doesn't snow this much before Christmas! We've already been out playing in it. Now we are back inside to warm up and I think we will do math and writing today. I'll read aloud and I'd also like to sit down and play a game with the kids. They will spend a little time reading too. Aiming for a productive but relaxed day. DD should have a ballet class this evening but I kind of hope it will be cancelled.
  15. Good morning! We are starting school in about five minutes but I wanted to hop on here quickly before I forget! We’ve slowly rolled into this school year and this is the week we bring it up to full speed. I think it’s going to go well. I hope! So here’s what we’ve got for today: Everyone: Morning Basket, Science DS12: math, reading, writing, spelling, grammar, typing, and history DS11: math, writing, reading, spelling, typing and history w/DD10 DD10: math, reading, writing, spelling, typing and history w/DS10. Ballet for DD10 this evening. It will be a full day but not completely stuffed.
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