Tracy
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Posts posted by Tracy
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@cintinativeI think that the House of Humane Letters looks like exactly what I am looking for. Can you tell me a bit more about it? Are they live lectures? How often are they done? Is there any kind of textbook or resource materials?
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Literature is my weakest subject, so I am hoping for some ideas from the hive.
A couple of years ago, I opted to put my oldest in an online lit class, thinking that was a better option than me trying to teach it. But it was a horrible experience. They met once a week for a discussion and were expected to read books like Dante's Inferno or Beowulf in their entirety by themselves in the intervening week. It was way too much reading for the level of reading they were doing and there was no support at all.
Now I have to find a literature class for my younger. I am considering two possibilities.
1. Find a more suitable online course.2. Piece together a curriculum. I think it would be great to be able to purchase a separate curriculum for each book we choose.
I am looking for suggestions for resources in either category, either online classes, or resources that would allow me to piece together the course of our choice.
Thank you!
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9 minutes ago, desertflower said:
I don't know if it is what you are looking for, but how about nanowrimo.org? It's a nonprofit organization and has a competition in november. I'm sure there's a forum there where others can talk about writing. Hth
We did this last year. He is hoping for something where he can actually share his work with other kids and get to know them. Something more social.
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My 13yo son is looking for a writing club. We don't have anything like this in our local area. Does anyone know of an online group?
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13 minutes ago, MamaSprout said:
Julia is not taking new students right now for Russian Language. I think she just doing Lit. She recommended Inga Gurevich gurn5274 @ gmail.com when I emailed her a few weeks ago. We didn’t pursue it because Dd doesn’t want to do one-on-one. The NISL-Y program spoiled her. She wants a group. HTH!
@MamaSprout Were you able to find another alternative? My dd definitely wants to try Russian again.
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2 minutes ago, Farrar said:
Yep. My son uses iTalki for his language tutor! We have found them very useful for finding tutors. I've also helped clients find tutors through there.
@FarrarDo you use a separate curriculum, or does the iTalki tutor just supplement your regular curriculum?
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Just now, cintinative said:
@Farrar are you currently using Italki? We are looking at using them and I know current users can get referral credit. LMK.
No, I have not heard of it.
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Just now, Farrar said:
Arabic Homeschool is set up almost exactly like Homeschool Spanish Academy where you buy the credits, they have a curriculum, and you schedule and do the lessons with a tutor and I've heard it's very good, so that would be a good resource.
BYU Independent has a lot of options. Mostly I think a tutor through iTalki or just taking a live class is usually the best option. A lot of the time, community college is the best choice for languages. There are often classes on Outschool for Japanese and Arabic beginners if she wants to dip a toe in and see how she feels about it.
Thank you very much for this. It was BYU that she had to withdraw from. The Russian class was just so poorly done. List of phrases to simply memorize without any grammar instruction at all. Requirements to do handwriting without any resources for how to do it. We won't do another HS level language program from BYU unless they change their approach.
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My dd15 is extremely interested in learning languages. I speak Spanish, and I am teaching both of my children using ULAT. But dd is wanting to start on another language. She signed up for Russian independent study course, and it was very poorly taught (required rote memorization of words and phrases with no support in learning the alphabet first) and she did not really have access to a teacher, so she withdrew. So I am looking for a better alternative.
She does not have her heart set on Russian. She chose it because it was interesting to her to learn a language with a non-Latin alphabet. But she would be happy with just about any language if the class were well taught and she had access to a teacher who was fluent. She has mentioned Polish, Arabic, Croatian as other possibilities, but she just wants a good class. She does not want to study another Romance language at the moment.
If anyone can help to point me in the right direction, I would be most grateful. 🙂
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My dd is 15yo. She has never had a standardized test before, something we were going to remedy a year ago just as the lockdowns started. While she is 98th percentile for IQ, she has some processing speed and working memory issues, so I am a little concerned about her taking the ACTs. However I now feel like we don't have a lot of time to pussyfoot around with any old test.
I am going to purchase an ACT prep book and have her take practice tests. She is asking me if it is possible to take a practice test in real life, meaning like a pre-ACT in the same environment and under the same conditions as the ACT would be given. Do they even do that? I seem to remember they did when I was in high school, but I never participated and it was 30 years ago now. And what are the current constraints with Covid?Any other advice for how to help her prepare. As smart as she is, she has really high testing anxiety, and her speed is really slow.
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1 hour ago, freesia said:
I thought it was well done. My ds was not a motivated learner, though, and I had to heavily supervise him at that time (14yo) or he’d get distracted by the computer. That was annoying. After that year we went with online teachers for foreign language. My dd, though, probably would have done fine with BJU French on her own.
Thank you very much for this input. My kids are both fairly independent, so not a lot of supervision needed for them. I am really excited about the Russian.
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28 minutes ago, freesia said:
I’ve used Spanish 1.
What was your experience? Did you feel it was well done? Would you use it again?
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Has anyone used BYU independent study courses for high school? I am considering the Biology and Russian for my 15dd.
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On 5/12/2020 at 1:40 PM, wendyroo said:
"visual-spatial learner" - check, ULAT is videos which use hand gestures to teach vocab and grammar
"immersion-style learning" - check, ULAT is entirely immersion
"significant executive skills weaknesses" - my kids with executive function weaknesses thrive on the ULAT's entertaining videos, structured exercises and constant review.
"Writing is very laborious for her" - ULAT focuses first on building strong speaking and listening skills, and then on reading. You would have to supplement writing.
"She is just not learning the conjugations by practicing them verbally" - The way the ULAT uses hand gestures for conjugations may really help.
"audio-sequential learner" - check
"but conversation is extremely difficult for him" - ULAT really emphasizes getting students speaking. It is also great to work though with multiple students because there are some assignments like interviewing a classmate.
"Although my kids have very different strengths and weaknesses, they are at about the same level" - My oldest, who is 11, is a strong intermediate speaker (able to read age-appropriate novels in Spanish with only minimal support), and I still feel he is getting a lot from ULAT even though I started him at the very beginning. ULAT introduces verbs and other vocab in a unique order, and then proceeds to actually use the language for interesting things. My kids love the lessons where Señor Nesbitt talks with his "brother" (it is actually just him on a split screen) and they tell stories, discuss their jobs, bicker about who is better at various things...and better looking 😀, etc.There are 15 free lessons on the website, and it is an incredibly cheap program overall at.
Wendy
Thank you so much. This really looks perfect for us, and really quite affordable. And it so happens that my dd has been secretly learning French, as well. Do you know if she will have access to both Spanish and French lessons?
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Is this even possible to find?
I have a 15yo dd who is 2e and is a visual-spatial learner who prefers immersion-style learning and who has some significant executive skills weaknesses. She has completed 2 years of the Michel Thomas curriculum (conversational Spanish). Writing is very laborious for her, and most things take twice as long as the average learner. But to improve in Spanish, I believe she needs some work in written translation, because she is just not learning the conjugations by practicing them verbally.
My 12yo ds is my audio-sequential learner who just finished the Spanish with Children series. He is gifted and can speed through any written work. He has a good grasp of basic grammar and a decent vocabulary, but conversation is extremely difficult for him. So he needs some conversational practice to improve.
I have a Spanish degree and am relatively fluent in Spanish. I had hoped to teach Spanish to my kids but have found that I really need a curriculum. Although my kids have very different strengths and weaknesses, they are at about the same level, and I would love to find a curriculum that I can use for both. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thank you!
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19 hours ago, ByGrace3 said:
We used Middlebury Interactive for middle school, and now in 8th are switching to Breaking the Barrier.
Middlebury looks really good. Can I ask why you decided to switch?
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I have a degree in Spanish. It has been many years since I have used it regularly, so I am not 100% fluent. But I have been using a lot in the last few months.
I want to find a Spanish curriculum for my son and supplement with Duolingo and Michel Thomas, which my daughter is using. He wants something that is sort of independent, that gives him the instruction in his book and that he can come and ask me about if he needs help.
Any recommendations?
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My 10yo has done 2 years of Latin and has been following his sister's conversational Spanish course. I am chronically ill and need something that is fairly independent. I speak Spanish and can provide explanations, but I need the core of the program to be independent, something he can start on his own and come to me with questions if he needs me.
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2 hours ago, Targhee said:
Agreeing Notgrass is very straight forward (do A, then B, then C). The materials are lovely and sturdy (physical layout and makeup). There’s only occasional writing prompts but not writing instruction. And my dd thought it was busy work (but she hates history so I don’t think I will ever win). What about Omnibus? ETA: Omnibus online would make it so you only had to help her with soft skills.
Thank you very much! I will look at both!
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On 4/14/2018 at 4:47 PM, happypamama said:
My very independent worker, now 13, really loved Pandia Press’s History Odyssey at 10. I never graded anything, just checked for completion. I wanted what he wrote to reflect HIS understanding of history and what was important. He ended up with beautiful notebooks of narrations and facts, and a very strong interest and understanding of history. One of the best educational choices I’ve ever made.
Notgrass is another option. Both Notgrass and History Odyssey incorporate literature.
Thank you! I will check out both of these.
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On 4/14/2018 at 4:02 PM, JHLWTM said:
What about going more Charlotte Mason and having Him produce weekly written narrations? My DD reads a section of history (currently SOTW4) and writes and illustrates a narration. It’s pretty incredible how creative she has become with the illustrations. She is learning to think visually as well as verbally. DD enjoys this. She says the written narrations help her to really remember the content.
This is exactly what I cannot do. CM requires too much from me. I need him to be able to open a book and see what he needs to do.
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On 4/13/2018 at 10:36 PM, PeterPan said:
She's at a lovely age to do Beautiful Feet for a year. I'm not saying it will be what you're used to, but it's written the student, engaging, and it gets some of their pro-active juices going. We did some the year my ds was born. My dd would have been a similar age (10-ish) at the time.
On the taking time to write, is she proficient with her typing? That's another thing she could do independently. I made a big push with my dd around that age. I flat out paid her, $1 per wpm achieved any month where she increased by at least 5 wpm.
Thank you for the suggestion. Yeah, I had her start learning to type at 6yo, so she is quite proficient now. I don' know how she would get any writing done otherwise.
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I have been using TOG and I love it. But I got sick, and I can't keep up with the prep time required. I need something more independent for him. He is is a bright kid with a strong history background. He is also a very good and prolific writer. He is now working on the last book in a trilogy, the first two books being about 50 typed pages. Is there something out there that is sufficiently challenging for him?
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In the past, I have been very fond of teacher-intensive curricula. But I have been sick for a while now, and I cannot do what I used to do. And as a result, not a lot is getting done. Dd13 is 2e. She really struggles with writing and time management generally. She needs programs that do not beat around the bush. And I need something that I don't have to schedule--that she can pick up and simply do the next thing. I have math, grammar and foreign language covered. I was using TOG for history/lit/writing, but I cannot gather all the materials that are necessary each week. Is there some other program that combines these three things? She has a very strong history background. She is also an excellent writer, but it takes her a lot of time to write. So I need something that is not too easy, but also does not have a lot of busy work.
High School Literature, need recommendations
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
@cintinativeThat sounds almost perfect. I would have liked to have a graded course. But I suppose that I can have him write a paper for each book. But I really really love the idea of going through each book very slowly.
Do they read the entire books, or are they only given excerpts to read?