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Amy Jo

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About Amy Jo

  • Birthday 08/30/1980

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  • Website URL
    http://crossingthebrandywine.com
  • Location
    Northwest Montana

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    Female
  • Location
    Montana

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  1. I think the most independent is Hey Andrew Teach Me Some Greek. You could do level 2, or maybe 3 (if they know the alphabet) and see if their interest holds. Sent from my XT1526 using Tapatalk
  2. We read and narrate. For the little ones, just learning, we read smaller sections, or sometimes I would (randomly) narrate. If I thought a word was beyond them I would insert a synonym after it. Oh and for my dyslexic/late reader we used audio books. I had to be more careful with him. For a while I would preread, and choose 2-5 words he might not know, we would discuss those before he read/listened. (I couldn't do more than 5, he just couldn't handle more.) Remember we can pick up a lot of words by context. Also keep in mind that our passive vocabulary is larger than our active vocabulary. Sent from my XT1526 using Tapatalk
  3. Now I'll have to add the Greek 101 course to my wishlist. Is it bad to just buy it off of Amazon? I like your Greek letter of the day plus root words approach!
  4. For something different and fun you could try Paper Sloyd. :) You'll have to browse through projects as some aren't very useful anymore, but I found it helped my little wild man slow down and pay attention. Plus it's free with stuff you probably have around the house - this post links to a helpful OOP book on Sloyd: http://rarefied.weebly.com/captain-idea-log/paper-sloyd-envelope
  5. I haven't used it for a long while, but what I liked was assignments automatically rolling over and the ability to control the order of subjects/classes. What I didn't like was its rigid marriage to hours and the difficulty of schedule adjusting if something took longer than planned. It was also more difficult if I missed a day which I did often. The price was nice though!
  6. There are similarities between AO & MP - some of the books are the same, and some authors are the same for both. So you probably aren't as far off as you think you are. :) I just thought I'd point to this fairly extensive blog series about CM-style narration, since people were wondering. http://thecommonroomblog.com/2015/06/charlotte-mason-grammar-and-composition-grades-7-9.html (At the bottom of this post several others are linked.)
  7. I considered it but decided not to jump in. I did have the same concerns about where the higher levels were going - especially when I couldn't even see the middle/end of level 2. But the main reason is my kids just don't "one size fits all". My eldest is dyslexic, so while he could handle the grammar in level 2 (probably easily) he could not manage the spelling. And my next is very quick in the language areas - it was just too easy for him (at least judging by the sample -- and really, I could just tell him to mark the parts of speech in his copywork, he wouldn't need a program for that). Perhaps it would work for my third child, but he is a hyperactive late reading pencil phobe so ... :lol:
  8. All schoolbooks are on one shelf. And I've simplified back to ONE notebook for most things - math notes, written narrations, assignment list, writing their answers for Spanish, etc. - rather bullet journal-esq..
  9. To be comfortable putting things on paper, to not freeze up and to just get his thoughts out. (He is dyslexic and language in general is difficult for him.) I'm not sure how far we'll get, I have a few resources and ideas, but will only plan term by term. I'm also going to go by time instead of lessons, so if in half an hour he works through 2 lessons or a fourth of a lesson that is fine. I do not want to overwhelm him.
  10. (1) Number of kids: Two for me as well. I realize I have four, but what is working really well is having the big boys do independent work first while I work with the younger two (DS9, then a couple things with DD5, then finish with DS9). The the littles can do independent things (or just play) while I work with the older boys (one at a time). (2) Combining: Actually combining doesn't work well for me, the older two are opposites academically, the middle two are opposites personality-wise, and the last two are too far apart. Really the middle two just don't combine well in any direction. But with the above focuses, I'm only bouncing between two kids at a time, so I don't feel frazzled.
  11. Exactly. I love how we all sit here, thinking that our *modern* books have no bias. AFAIK the PNEU programs that CM wrote were not free. AO is. It is run by busy people who have lives to attend to. You can not seriously expect them to update the curriculum to new books every year when they make no money, can you?? You seem to be against narrating every book every time (or perhaps I misread)? CM actually included the importance of narration (telling back) in her 20 principles: AO's Facebook page is very specific as to its purpose: it is for discussing AO. I've been on other lists/groups that also limited themselves, and I don't have a problem with that. If it is their group, and they only feel they can handle certain issues, that is fine. I appreciate when such groups are upfront about their restrictions. There are more general CM Facebook groups as well, if that would suit you better. :) Oh, and I hand(ed) TCOO to my kids to read. We talk when they narrate. I want them to know that what is popular can be dead wrong. I'm not arrogant enough to assume our generation has all the answers, I want them to think. And when I hand them a book, I am NOT saying "here, swallow this hook, line, and sinker; please, don't think about it". NO! I'll ask them "what do you think of X" or "should they have done Y". Perhaps that is a fundamental difference between us. I'm not in the "children are boxes to hold information" camp. If you think you have to fill a child with information, then yes, I guess you should be very careful what you shove into the box. If I wanted to sub TCOO by the way, I'd consider the Guerber books. :) Memoria Press uses a shortened version, and I believe Milestones Academy does as well, so I imagine the books are good quality. AO uses Guerber's books on Greece and Rome.
  12. We did a COVD eye exam first, because insurance covered it. DS did not have eye issues, but the doctor pointed us in the right direction: visualization skills. So we did Visualizing and Verbalizing, then floundered a while until DS could finally blend, then started Dancing Bears. So we did one evaluation/test, I did a LOT of reading, and we used a doesn't-break-the-bank program for fluency, which was what DS needed at that point. Oh, we did the Barton pre-screening too, I'm not sure if that counts as a "test". :)
  13. AO's science has been working (there is mostly nature observation in years 1-4,years 6-8 (atm) have more science with year 5 more transitionary). Anyway, my eldest is finishing year 7 science. Some of the books I read out loud, but several he is able to buddy read. Life of the Spider has audio on librivox, although we are now buddy reading it. The books are interesting, but I think the big thing for him is the science notebook. It's a free-form notebook (his is a bound sketchbook) that he basically narrates into. BUT he doesn't have to write, he prefers to draw and label. I think that is so much better than ME writing for him, or him just orally discussing. It really picks up his strengths (he is good at sketching) and gives him confidence. Plus, there really isn't a wrong way to do it, as long as it is accurate. Oh, sometimes he is drawing from the book (Life of the Spider) and others from his own observations (Adventures with a Microscope). So I guess I'll agree with others here - it is the hands on component that is good for him. I completely agree on who frustrating it is when he can read a large portion of the text BUT he cannot read them solo because the more specialized vocabulary trip him up. I've tried to preread and cover vocabulary in advance, but if I have more than 3-4 words (which I always do) I can see his eyes glaze over. :( Someone else I know mentioned Apologia as having audio available for their books.
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