Verity
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Posts posted by Verity
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We have had a similar situation with my 10 and 6 year old boys and neighbor 9 and 7 year old boys. In our case we've had the 9 year old over to spend the night and my 10 year old has spent the night over with him...IMHO 6-7 is too young to spend the night except with family. 8-9 years old is the youngest any of my boys would be up for that - maybe the other mom is in the same camp? If you would be okay with having dd 7 spend the night over maybe you should call the other mom and ask if dd7 could come too - mom may have never even thought of it. Never hurts to just be honest and ask. :)
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I agree with basically everything you all have said. I have always been introverted, though not shy! And most of the people in my life are extroverts and want to "fix" me. Dh is finally starting to get that I need my alone time just as much as he needs to get together with his friends at least once a week.
I love homeschooling because I don't have to interact with the outside world every day - no notes to teachers, no dropping off/picking up the kids conversations, nada!
I think introversion can be a strength, but like the op mentioned sometimes I get down and realize that I need a friend to talk with. The hard part is finding the right person. I push myself at times to get out and interact with others more than I would like to so that I can try to build relationships. Still, I don't feel as close to those ladies as I would like to be. :tongue_smilie:
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You can't take a shy person to a party. He'll have an anxiety attack.
You can't take an anti-social person to a party. She'll murder someone, or otherwise do something socially inappropriate.
You can take both an introvert and an extrovert to a party. The extrovert will gravitate to the center of activity, laughing and joking with large groups of people. When you take her home, she will be bouncing off the walls because she got so charged up from the interaction. Tomorrow, she'll say she had fun. The introvert will move to the edge and find one or two people to have a conversation with. There will be less joking, but probably a deep, animated conversation about a common interest. When you take him home, he'll go straight to sleep because it was draining to maintain interaction. Tomorrow, he'll say he had fun.
I'm an introvert with an extrovert father who was always pushing. It was exhausting and stressful.
My advice is to play to his strengths. Back off, but find some smaller groups or, even better, some meaningful one-on-one activities to "push." The chess suggestion of a pp was good, if he likes chess. When you look for classes, he'll probably like private lessons, or semi-private lessons, much more than lessons with 30 other kids.
DH is an introvert, too. We have lots of friends. We don't throw parties and invite them all over at once. That sounds horrifying. We do have them over one or two at a time for dinner (maybe one couple with their kids). We enjoy that very much, even though we crash when they leave.
:iagree:
I am a classic introvert, dh is a classic extrovert and it takes juggling for us both to get our needs met. Yesterday I sent dh to a movie with a friend and another friend took my extrovert son with her daughter to see a different film. I took my two introvert sons home for some downtime after church and before we hosted a Father's Day dinner with grandparents and the friends from the movie.
I make my introverts leave the house at least once or twice a week but being an introvert myself (though also I love performance singing and playing instruments - it's not shyness, per se) I just understand what they need.
Different strokes ;)
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Math U See - DVD teaches the first lesson, TM is fairly easy to understand + shows each problem worked through for you (if I can't understand the concept because it's different than how I learned I can usually follow the step by step for each problem).
It is spiral in nature - mixes word problems and simple algebra concepts as you go.
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Jane by Design (comes on after Switched at Birth, is a bit lighter and more comedy-ish)
Switched at Birth
Dance Academy (another Australian addition set at a dance school)
I also enjoyed Chloe King - a scifi type teen show but it was cancelled after ten episodes... :(
I have found that I often prefer some of the teen shows because I like the "lighter" content and not so much of the more extreme cultural stuff that is more work than I want for light entertainment. :D
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13DS with Asperger's -
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I was recently tested for low thyroid (been gaining weight and just knew that was it!) but the Dr said that all he found was Vit D and prescribed those 50,000 ui once weekly pills.
In addition to weight gain, I've also been extremely fatigued (along with additional achiness) for a few months. I also have fibromyalgia and struggle with anemia so I'm trying to hit all my bases. I've had blood work done through both my "specialists". At the same time as I started the Vit D I also started generic welbutrin and I've noticed an improvement in my fatigue though my achiness is about the same if not worse.
Just because you mentioned Lyme and Hashimoto's I wonder if you have been evaluated for Fibromyalgia?
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I found them really helpful! Adding a visual presentation and the occasional fun/funny moments was a great motivator especially with Primer A. And...having multiples to teach I'm always glad to move one thing off my platter!
Goodl uck.
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My sister in law bought this and said that she thought I would enjoy it...
It was really interesting, the author's voice is the character with Asperger's. He is a math-smart teen dealing with his mother's disappearance. I couldn't put it down. One warning... the setting is England and there is a bit of language, some of it pretty bad by my standards, however it was used to set a scene and had a purpose so I forgive the book that.
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Thanks to both of you - very helpful responses! I've struggled with getting to science all three years that we've been homeschooling - experiments are hard to get done and are done sporadically - and it's a shame I went to engineering college and shouldn't be so intimidated by all this! LOL
I am strongly considering Aristotle with quest guides and Thames and Kosmos kit for next year, sounds like it would be interesting in that it ties to history which I love!
Thanks again!
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I was just reading up on The Story of Science and have a few more questions hopefully someone can answer...
We studied Aristotle already this year and I was wondering if I could start with the second book without having read the first one?
Also, how useful is the teacher's guide? Can I use this book with two student guides to teach my upcoming 5th and 8th graders if I'm reading aloud and then they would do the worksheets on their own, we would do labs together?
I"m considering piecing together a science curriculum for next year, I just can't find anything that really works well for us in our price range. :P
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Finishing up our third year of homeschooling, we have used many different things (especially that first year) but have stuck with:
SotW (sometimes used as a spine for another program)
MUS (primer thru zeta used so far)
Classical Academic Press: Latin for Children, SSL, Greek for Children, Logic
WWE/WWS/FLL
Still can't settle on a science or literature program and I've tried out quite a few. :)
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I'm in the exact same debate and would appreciate any feedback
I have three boys:
-rising 8th grader (strong vocab skills but weak writing skills and weak fine motor - Aspergers)
-rising 5th grader (average reader, weak writing/fine motor, dyslexia possible visual processing issues)
-and a rising 1st grader (developmentally delayed not reading much yet, ok on the fine motor stuff)
I'm looking for a history/literature program that includes mapping, read aloud commentary for the history, fiction book suggestions for all three reading levels, possibly work sheets, writing prompts...
I've tried ToG for one semester- it was too much everything - I couldn't keep it straight and felt overwhelmed.
I've tried Sonlight and felt over structured. Reading aloud five different books at one time wasn't good for us, the kids like to read one fiction book aloud at a time and can tolerate the history fact reading plus maybe one other thing - attention deficit is a major issue around here.
What has worked ok for us have been History Odyssey with Famous Men series books for my oldest... but my oldest son asked that we do less history because he just didn't find it that interesting (/sigh), and the writing/outlining was a pain.
This year I've mainly done SotW with the maps, none of the kids (including the youngest) like to color mainly due to fine motor, or maybe just personality.
I like Sonlights reading lists and questions....and I love history myself.
I am considering trying Biblioplan Bundle for the Family for Early Modern...we finished up Medieval around Christmas and I've been reading a chapter or two of SotW 3 every week but feel like we are getting no depth. I really want to focus on American History and general World History during that time frame for the next school year (or two if needed).
Cost is an issue - or else I would just order SL, BP and others then make my own from those.
Thoughts or suggestions? I'm trying to find that compromise of what our main focus should be, but regardless of my oldest's complaints I feel that understanding our history as a world, culture and as a nation is really key to understanding what is happening in our every day life.
Thanks!!
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We tried ToG here and it was much the same as the pp...just too intensive for me to have to do all the reading aloud for my (then) two SN kids on different grade levels.
I'm combining a mish-mash of stuff that allows me to feel that I'm exposing them to classic lit and history while still remediating where necessary. Each one has different needs and combining that with my limited time and energy those great sounding (would have been awesome for me as a kid) programs just didn't work.
YMMV.
:)
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My middle son is dyslexic as well - I guess you could say mildly but added to his hyperactivity and fine motor skills it's hard to tell. He is in fourth grade this year and using WWE 2 (almost finished). I know that he would struggle incredibly to use anything more intensive and I feel that he is learning good basic skills of summarizing, narrating and doing a leeeeettle bit of dictation. I feel it is building a solid foundation without expecting more than he can do successfully and I am seeing gains in his skills.
My oldest son is in 7th grade and completed WWE/FLL 4 last year (though he did struggle with those very long dictation selections), he started Writing With Skill this year and I feel is being fairly successful in them. For kids with learning differences taking this slower more solid path can really work well.
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Darnit - super bummed that I missed this!
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4.5 days, 3-5 hours M-Th, half day on Friday reserved just for quizzes and occasionally catching up.
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Hope it works out well for you. I am using Greek for Children A with my oldest this year and we are both getting alot out of it. I thought it would be too hard to do both Greek and Latin but using Classical Academic Press for both has made it easier (I think).
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I love Latin for Children! I'm wondering what exactly it is that you think they underplay and then test for later? I don't recall this. We are on LFC B right now. My one objection is that LFC throws a lot of vocabulary at the child but then there's no reinforcement or reading that really correlates to it, so the student doesn't get to practice the vocabulary in context. But I figure it is just an introduction and once we get into really being able to read it, that will all come? My simple advice when dealing with tests is to look at the test first so you know what they are looking for and then watch the DVD lesson and work through the workbook. We took two years or more to get through LFC A. You are homeschooling! You do not need to go at the recommended pace, you can go at the pace that suits your student and you! So spend 30 minutes on what it is you feel you can achieve. There's no race! You have to be flexible and think outside the box. It is hard to do self-study when something is new to you! You have to be adaptable.
Macrons are a pain but important. They are really confusing at first. Just be patient and don't let it get to you. The folks who do LfC are very friendly, you might e-mail them with your confusion. I have not noticed any typos with the macrons. But then, I might not have been paying close enough attention. Have you checked out their website to see if there is an errata sheet?
As for the saying you memorize that doesn't correspond to what you are learning, compartmentalize! Not everything is connected in that way. I think you have just change your expectations there. It didn't even occur to me that they needed to correlate! I thought it was more for vocabulary and familiarity than demonstrating a declension. I have just learned why e pluribus unum is written that way! I didn't know my superlative adjectives! I've been studying Latin (very, very slowly) for 5 years now! (my motto is from G. K.Chesterton: a thing worth doing is worth doing badly! It gets rid of all my perfectionist tendencies! LOL!) Anyway, I've grown to really enjoy Latin, though, along with raising children, it is about the hardest thing I've ever done!
Oh an the absolute best way to learn declensions and conjugations is to march around the room chanting them. Do this very often! I also write them on our whiteboard so that at any given moment we can pause and give ourselves a quick 30 second review. My kids can chant them at the drop of a hat!
Good luck to you. Don't despair. I think Latin for Children is a great program, but take it at your own pace. Latin is very hard to learn. Be gentle on yourself. Take it a step at a time.
Wanted to say we are on year 3 of Latin here, getting towards the end of LfC B with my oldest and LfC A with my middle son. I have been learning along with my older son and have really found it to be a success. Memorization is part of alot of basic learning and capitalizes on the inherent memorizing skills of the grammar stage. We have found the chants to be really helpful and I was gratified that my middle son already knew most of the chants when we started on LfC A with him last year becuase he had listened to older ds and I the previous year.
You didn't mention if you used the dvd's? I have found them to be invaluable - they reinforce everything in a way that makes alot of sense to me. I have been able to buy both sets used at about half the cost and it is definitely worth it!
My oldest ds liked LfC so much that he pestered me to start Greek for Children this year as well - so he and I are learning two classical languages together now. I really want those new dvd's as well but he doesn't feel we need them. We'll see! :P
Everyone has different learning styles, it wouldn't hurt to see if you could sample some of the other systems, I tried PL first and just didn't like alot of things about it even though I have gone the MP route on other subjects.
I would encourage you to look around, but don't give up on Latin. I really believe that it will be worth it in the long run - if only for understanding medical/legal terms and vocabulary roots.
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The first year or two of homeschooling my health and wellbeing dropped off the radar and then a health scare (severe anemia) made me realize that I had to prioritize myself.
Kids get school in the morning after we all eat a decent breakfast and I go for a walk by myself (or with the dogs) and listen to daily audio bible podcast - it keeps me sane.
We do school for probably less time than some would think acceptable - around three hours, sometimes longer for my oldest (aspie).
The main thing I have given up on is co-op or socializing for the kids - it's just too much to find time and energy. Oldest hates social stuff, middle son is so hyper and youngest very oppositional - it just takes energy that I don't have most of the time.
For now I'm happy that they are each learning at their own level, I get daily exercise, we eat home cooked food for the most part and we get to church every week.
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Please give me some feedback about History Odyssey's Level 2 Early Modern History. I would use it with a 7th grader (and 4th grade tag-along.) I would also integrate SOTW 3 by using the following schedule:
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1965306&postcount=1
Finally, I would tie all of this up by watching A History of US on dvd.... hoping this will make history come to life for my kids and for me!:D
I've read many posts about HO... some like it; others don't. It plans out logic stage history but can be dry and boring. More posts are about ancients and middle ages.
What about Early Modern??? The most obvious con for me is that we've read 4 of the books listed in the TOC. There is an appendix that suggests substitute books... hoping I can find something there to replace the books we've read.
Please tell me what you like/don't like about this history. What did you do to make it work for you?
Perhaps not much help but this is exactly what I'm planning/doing this year with my 7th grader and 4th grader tag along. My boys don't find history that exciting (unlike me) and just want an assignment that (in the case of my older son) he can do mostly independently and "get it over with". :eyeroll:
I like that I can combine HO and SotW with some work - thanks for posting that table! What a time saver that is going to be for me!
I find HO to be pretty thorough in their presentation, I like that everything is chronological, it helps me to understand history better. Including the historical fiction I think brings the time to life, I have my older son read the assigned books and I find additional ones that I use as read alouds for all the kids.
I hope this works out well for you, I'm excited to move into this time period!
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I don't *think* so - I bought the version done by Memoria Press that comes with a Teacher Guide to eliminate one item that I would have to read and learn every bit of. :)
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Just looking for an update: Amazon says the book will be available in print January 2012; however, I would really like to buy it before then. PDF is fine.
My middle schooler has finished week 6 in the sample and it's really been a hit here, the first writing program where he could do it independently and is producing decent writing! WWS is a hit! :001_smile:
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This is the first year of feeling like my oldest is doing his work (semi)independently. I'm right there in the room 95% of the time but this year (7th) he is doing Writing With Skill, History Odyssey, & MUS independently - only occasionally do I have to make him refocus and do the next thing - it's rare for me to have to explain an assignment unless he's just being difficult.
Science we do as a family, he and I are learning Latin and Greek together (he corrects my pronunciation sometimes!) and we are doing Logic together - I need to know this stuff so I can fight back when he tries to logic me out of something.
This is a big change from even last year, when he relied on me to assist in almost every subject, I was his "secretary" much of the time both because of his attention issues and fine motor problems. Even with Asperger's I feel like he's really a middle schooler now.
Moving into highschool I'm hopeful that he will be able to do science independently (he and my middle son are at such different levels) along with more independence on his music study and languages.
It's hard to know when to let him move forward on his own and when I need to be learning alongside getting my classical education. With two younger sons following along I feel like I'm still forging the path for the whole family to move up the ladder in terms of education. :001_smile:
Talk to me about living in Orlando?! :)
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted · Edited by Verity
DH has a final interview Friday with a *very* prominent, international company that has one base in Orlando, Fl. We are driving down Thursday night and being put up in one of their hotels, his interview is Friday. He has an old boss that he really got along with well working their who is trying to recruit him away from his current position in NE Fla. Unless dh steps on a landmine with the VP who is interviewing he is pretty much a shoe-in for the job.
Dilemma: moving 2.5+ hours drive away from dh's family, our church family...dh has never lived anywhere other than our hometown so this is a tough call.
Pros: We haven't had real insurance in over 5 years while dh has been a contractor in IT. We could really use insurance and I've heard that this company has the best.
In his current position he is *supposed* to be hired on as a regular employee by December. We would then have health benefits. Pay is probably going to be roughly equal. However, dh has been strung along for over 5 years in another department about being hired on and I've lost faith with this company.
Any tips on living in or around Orlando? What neighborhoods/counties to avoid? I would love to find a coop that meets weekly for my younger boys (elementary age) and maybe something my older son can do for science/PE.
Any input appreciated!!