Tidbits of Learning
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Posts posted by Tidbits of Learning
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Hits-
First Language Lessons 1/2
The Reading Lesson
Singapore Start Up Science
Singapore Math
Abeka Writing with Phonics 2 (older edition transitioning manuscript to cursive)
Misses-
R&S English 2
Heart of Dakota
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:lurk5:I may have to try this and see how my ds6.5 does with dictation compared to copywork. We have only tried copywork so far.
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Just looking at the fact that your son may have to go into public school next year, I would try to get something that is similar to the math that public school uses. Having had children in the public school system, it really is easier for them to jump into the public school math if they are using something similar or vice versa. We went with Singapore this year after public school for 3 years and well...I wish I would have went with something more traditional b/c they know they are doing last years work again and well they did know how to do it the public school way just not singapore's method so I wish I wouldn't have went with something so different.
Most public schools use Houghton Mifflin or Scott Foresman. Some use Harcourt...You can get Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley with a teacher's guide/key for fairly reasonable on Hewitt's site.
http://hewitthomeschooling.com/book/bsingle.asp?i=3289
http://hewitthomeschooling.com/book/bsingle.asp?i=3315
Anyway, if I knew that there was the possibility of public school in the very near future, then I would go with a more traditional approach and call the local public school and see what they use as well. Houghton Mifflin and Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley are so simliar in approach that if your school uses either one I would recommend getting this math from Hewitt.
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I liked AIP A for kindergarten and it was a lot of writing and it was very in-depth, but it taught well. The only probably I had with AIP B was the size of the primary lines the child was supposed to write in. My son did not have the fine motor skills to be able to write on the lines that they gave for 1st grade level. I haven't done AIP C b/c we sat AIP B to the side and used MCP Phonics A by itself instead. I had used MCP K with the koala bear alongside AIP and they worked well together. I liked MCP phonics A and it is very similar to AIP in a lot of the exercises and ways that the phonics is taught as well as having spelling sections included. If you want less writing but good phonics skills brush up then I would recommend MCP Phonics C.
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We are loving FLL also.
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Have you seen Mingoville-it is for english language learners.
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Open up Adobe reader and go to help and check for updates. You may just need a newer version.
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I have used MCP Phonics Level K with the plaid koala on the cover and Level A with the plaid pig on the cover. I liked it and didn't use a teacher's guide for it. To get the interaction instruction if I couldn't do it myself, I would use reading eggs or headsprout.
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Of course, I'm joking with the grandchildren thing..... okay, maybe half-joking. LOL
But do you on purpose photocopy some things, or have your dc write them in notebooks so you can resell books?
I tried this one time with one of my books and it got expensive. By the time I tore all the pages out, put them in sheet protectors in a gigantic 3-ring binder, and used tons of paper and ink...I could have just bought several copies for my younger kids and I am sure I didn't get back the money and effort I put into all of this when I sold it.
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If your child already knows manuscript, then all that changes is the size of the primary lines. You begin to write smaller in each book level. It introduces the letters again in 1 and you practice all the letters again in the 1 book. I haven't seen the 2M book, but we have the 2C book and the first part is a review of manuscript and then they introduce cursive. If I did the 2M book, then I would just go to 3 from there, b/c it teaches cursive and has a very short manuscript review. I think if your child has good fine motor skills and is ready for it then it would be fine.
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Wow! This is a really interesting perspective and a reason to get Netflix instant play.
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To OpenMinded--:grouphug:. I really understand where you're coming from. Thanks for sharing your point of view.
Thank you. All of my posts are just that my point of view. They aren't written in stone. I'm not claiming any facts. I am not claiming anything but my own feelings and point of view on my situation. It has gotten seriously misconstrued the more I try to clarify my original post as just my opinion on my situation. So I am writing it in black and white explicitly. All of my posts are about my individual situation and my personal opinions.
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Thank you.:D I was beginning to feel like a pariah.
I would like to respectfully disagree with this. I use HOD and like HOD, and still I feel that the boards are very biased. They are paying for the boards, and it is their product/business and their right to control the boards how they see fit. But, I like the feeling that I can come here and get an honest answer about a curriculum; I appreciate people giving their honest opinions about things including boards being biased.I also disagree with the idea that someone's opinion is going to ruin a curriculum for someone else.
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:iagree: The HOD board is paid for by Carrie and Mike and it is really meant to discuss the good things about HOD. If you tried HOD and really hate it, then there is no much you can say on the board. Personally, I think the "big brother" feeling you have is because it is monitored. Carrie once pm'd me regarding something I had stated about skipping a manual. She explained to me, very kindly, why it was not a great idea to put that out there. She agreed that, in my situation, it was warranted - but in *most* it would really mess up the flow and the plan she has created. I greatly appreciate her bringing that to me in a pm and her being gracious and kind in her response. Once she explained her rationale, I wholeheartedly agreed. If you had poured your heart and soul into writing a book, for instance, would you want to pay for a website where people could tell you why your book was terrible for them? She uses her curriculum for her own children and I have never seen her ask for "suggestions" to improve HOD. Although, I have seen her many times recommend tweaking to benefit your family and also acknowledging that HOD is not for everyone. :)
:iagree:Yes, this is what I meant! It is very closely monitored and asking about using it differently doesn't get you any answers b/c the board is only meant for helping people to use HOD as written.
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I'm genuinely curious as to why some feel the math is "light". HOD schedules Singapore math which from what I understand is more advanced than other math programs. It seems to be one of the most popular choices on this board for math. I totally understand if you just don't like Singapore, but I'm confused as to why it's not enough for HOD users.
The math isn't light. I find Singapore to be challenging for my kids. I find the activities to be light or on the young side in the guides. I decided to get the home instructor's guides and no matter what we use after this we will be continuing with Singapore Math. Singapore 2a and 2b is not light definitely. I have 3a and 3b already and it looks solid.
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I plan to do a term of Accross America by Hewitt for our state study with my then 7, 8, and 9 yr old kids. After this year, I will begin the 4 yr. history cycle with History Odyssey and maybe Real Science or Noeo (however you spell it??) Science. I am not sure yet.
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Yeah, see if I had to test my kids on some public school standard, then I would likely keep them in public school. I am not being rude, just honest. I am definitely blessed to not have that issue.
I have a friend in a different state whose son is older than my youngest son and he went to ps Kindergarten last year. I did what I felt my son needed to learn and her son did the state mandated thing. I can tell you, hands down, that my almost 6 year old can read better, knows more math, and is much more well rounded in History and Science than her child who did ps is. That also varies by state. Saying that HOD is behind "california standards" is a lot different than saying it is behind "Tennessee standards." LOL
I don't take it as rude at all. I envy you. I wish I didn't have to think about testing. Maybe I should have put liberty instead of luxury in my earlier posts? However, I am grateful for the liberty to teach my kids at home even if I have to answer to the state on certain things like testing.
We are merely 2 adults discussing and debating our reasons for using a curriculum and what we like/dislike and we just happen to differ. That is the beauty of a forum like this. We can be honest if something doesn't work for us. We can read and find out reasons and if they apply to you then it helps if it doesn't take it with a grain of salt and move on.
Academics isn't the reason we left public school. Bullying was our issue. The academics were great. So I am looking for something to match the academics that they were receiving. HOD's LHFHG was working great for us for afterschooling ds during his kindergarten year. I chose to continue with it for first grade (we only used handwriting and reading and storytime for afterschooling) and buy the girl's level based on the few months that we afterschooled and only did portions of the guide. When we started full-time homeschool and using the whole guide, it didn't fit my needs or the needs of the children.
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I am not trying to be ungracious about the HOD board. I was merely trying to convey that I understood why the op chose to pursue this question on a different type and style of board. It is a curriculum board and I have found that all the curriculum specific boards are hard to write and find answers if it isn't working for you. I am not trying to be disagreeable either. I am coming at it from a different perspective and a different viewpoint. Most times what you write and then rewrite and then try to clarify then things doesn't come accross as what you intend. I intended to be clarifying that my first post was my own unique situation and that was why I felt that way about HOD. I am not trying to argue or disagree, but to say that each of us has our own unique situation and that is why I am on this board. I find it easier to hear from other parents that are using many different things and that may have tried something and it not worked and to hear the reasons behind it.
Does anyone change it up so much that you wonder if you are even following it anymore? Also, I feel like I'm just getting through the boxes and my kids are not absorbing the info?? I'm going to keep plugging along and give it a fair try. I'm just wondering if anyone else has started HOD and is not as happy with it as they hoped??
I feel that I was just answering the original posters question with my personal experience. I was not trying to make blanket statements about it being behind for everyone. I tried to clarify that with my 2nd post. If tests and standards don't apply to you take it with a grain of salt. I don't feel that I wrote anything wrong since this isn't the HOD board. If it were the HOD board, I would understand being upset with my comments.
This isn't the HOD board, this is an open forum to talk about curriculum. If what I wrote in one sentence out of several paragraphs was deemed inappropriate I would think that a moderator would have pointed it out to me and if they do I will apologize, but until then I don't see where I have posted anything out of the way.
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I can see where you are coming from, but I have to say that, as a homeschooler, I don't really care about "public school standards." I register through an umbrella school so that I don't have to use the state tests to test my kids (we don't really have to test at all if we don't want to). I don't think public school is the end all authority on what my kids should know and when.
I'm glad that you have the luxury of not having to test. I don't. I don't have the luxury of saying, oh well, they will cover this next year with HOD or 2 years down the road. My children have to take the state mandated test in 3rd grade. It is what it is. Every state is different. I know what is on the test and I know that they won't be prepared.
As for language arts, my kids have been writing papers and giving reports and presentations by 3rd grade in public school and they learn capitalization and punctuation in kindergarten. So they are far ahead of the R&S English 2 recommended. I truthfully found it hard to jump into HOD in 3rd or 4th grade if you hadn't been using their methods before that. The science and history that my child learned last year in 2nd grade was more intensive and truly explained science. I do think there is a lot of fun, neat things in HOD, but it doesn't truly explain science to the child. You are just doing neat things without fully understanding their purpose.
That is why I tried to clarify in my earlier post. We do have to test and so do many other parents in many states and I wish I would have been a little more prepared for how light HOD is in several areas we have to test. Those that don't have to test and compare it to the grade standards of public school can take where I am coming from when they read my post. I have to test and they have to be on level with their peers in public school when they test so I don't have the luxury of saying I don't care what public school does. I can teach it however I want and with whatever curriculum I want but at the end of the year they need to know more than what HOD will give them in several areas.
If they were to have to go back to public school for any reason they would have to test in and pass that grade level test to be put into that grade no matter what kind of records and "grades" I have for them.
I don't have a 2nd grader in LHFHG. I have 2 girls in BHFHG and my 3rd grader likes to sit in on LHFHG history and storytime. I referenced 2nd grade b/c the age range for LHFHG is 5-7 which could encompass k, 1st, and 2nd and LHFHG has a 2nd grade option for science as well. So it could be very misleading for someone just looking at the age ranges.
I know a lot of people don't take stock in public school standards and they have that luxury, but I don't and many other homeschool families don't and that is where my opinion comes from and may help those that do have to test.
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I feel the need to clarify some of my earlier post. I do feel that HOD's guides and the age ranges are a little deceiving. You can't look at it and say my child is in this age range 5-7 or 6-8 this will have 2nd grade work. My dd9 just finished 3rd grade ps and took the pre-test for the 4th grade test the state requires. It was heavy on history, mapping from memory of our state and landmarks and regions and topigraphical information. The science was very heavy and especially about knowing the different theories as well as the scientific method step by step. If she would have done Bigger only for her 3rd grade year she would not have done well on the state test. While you are using the scientific method in your experiments with bigger and the notebooking, it never explains it to the child. You never go through the steps of the process. The language arts and writing portions of this test is intensive as well and if we would have been doing HOD from the beginning she would only have had R&S 2 as a language arts reference. They don't use the real terms for things either. They say an asking sentence, a telling sentence...On the tests they have proper terms declaritive, interrogative...It would not have been enough for the state test. I think you have to look at your state and what they require and when and whether those things will be on the tests. My younger kids will have to test in 3rd grade which means at the end of this year in April or May my dd8 will be testing and I don't feel that HOD will have her prepared for it.
As for LHFHG, it really is a kindergarten level program. I can't sugarcoat it and say that it would pass 1st grade standards. If for any reason I went to a different curriculum even and not public school next term, ds would not be ready for 2nd grade work. I couldn't just buy a 2nd grade curriculum and expect him to be prepared for it. Our state homeschool rules state that you must teach an education equal to or better than the public school equivalent. Having had children finish through 3rd grade in the public school system here, I know that they need more than what HOD offers. For the grades my children are in, I don't think that HOD would prepare them for the test by the end of 3rd grade. And I did do the placement and this is where they placed by HOD's chart.
When I wrote my post, I was writing my experience and my opinion with my children. I think you have to take in to account your experience and your children. I know the public school system here and I know that HOD isn't on grade level with it at least for the LHFHG and BHFHG guides. That may not be the case where you are at. You may not be required to give state mandated tests at specific grades.
I just wanted to clarify why I feel it is behind and what I am comparing it to is public school standards.
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I did not want to post this question on the HOD board, because I think I'd get chastised so I'm hoping to get some answers here. We have started HOD Beyond and for the most part, I'm happy with it.
Does anyone change it up so much that you wonder if you are even following it anymore? Also, I feel like I'm just getting through the boxes and my kids are not absorbing the info?? I'm going to keep plugging along and give it a fair try. I'm just wondering if anyone else has started HOD and is not as happy with it as they hoped??
TIA
I started out with HOD this year my first time coming home to home school and I thought it was going to be perfect. I had went to the HOD board and asked questions and got placement advise and everybody on there was it is great. When I posted questions like you have here on the HOD board, I got HOD is great try this and this and it works perfect for us...You couldn't ask about changing any of it over there or talk about it if you did change things without being chastised. There was also a Big Brother feel to the board.
We are doing BHFHG and LHFHG and LHFHG isn't recognizable anymore. I do think that HOD will give you everything and your child will be on target for his peers at 8th grade, but only if you do it until 8th grade and go through all the guides. If you switch to something else, before then your kids are going to be behind especially in the first 3 guides.
Like LHFHG is supposed to be 1st grade and for ages 5-7. It is not really for kindergarten/1st/2nd like the ages it says. It is for kindergarten and maybe the first half of 1st. I have to add to it a lot to get what I consider 1st grade.
My kids aren't retaining a lot of what we are doing in the boxes and I do feel like I am just working through the boxes. The science notebooking in Bigger is probably the thing I most like about it. The science in LHFHG is nonexistant. I think it is similar in Beyond. I have to finish it b/c we can't afford anything else, but I don't plan to use it again. The spelling and the dictation aren't really grade appropriate. It is super easy and my kids finished through 3rd grade in public school so I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I did Bigger Hearts as 3rd or 4th grade that if for some unforeseen reason they had to go back to public school they would be behind and not ready for 4th grade. If my son went to public school 2nd grade after LHFHG he would be WAY behind.
I have definitely changed it up enough that I realize that it isn't for me and I would rather have more choices in certain areas...science, language arts, reading, art...
So I feel it isn't worth it to buy only parts of a "schedule" for recommended books. I wish that instead I would have bought some of the recommendations that I liked and scheduled it myself. I do feel like I bought a schedule and it is really something I could have done myself and gotten what I wanted for other subjects. I honestly am only using it as written for LHFHG for ...well for the storytime Thornton Burgess books at this point. The rest we are on our own schedule for even with the texts that we kept from the guide as well as I am adding FLL 1/2 and Singapore Science and we are only using History for Little Pilgrims for our history now.
I am doing Bigger Hearts and I have found that even when you do projects that go further with science like the tcells and such that it is geared for the more younger end of the guide. You cut out the cells and viruses and antivirus...and play a game with them but you don't really learn what they are and how they work even in simple terms. They don't really learn the concepts behind it that way. My dd9 often can't repeat back to me things I have just read. It just isn't working for us this way and I have no real options but to keep going forward.
We started the beginning of the summer so we are already 9 weeks in. If I continue at this pace, we will finish by February and then with tax money I am going to buy all of the kids more grade appropriate materials. I will do first grade with ds6, 3rd grade with dd8, and 4th grade with dd9. So that they won't be behind at the end of the year.
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We are using Singapore Earlybird US 2a/2b and I love it. There isn't a lot of writing in it. I don't know about the new standards edition. I went ahead and bought the US 1a/1b and 2a/2b earlybird for my youngest.
Singapore math has made math short, easy, and fun for us and he is retaining it and applying it in real life so I am happy.
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I think opting out was the best choice for us at this point. I think it may have become overwhelming our first year to try such a large co-op and I am a believer that things happen for a reason. We will still have field trips, parties, and get-togethers with the homeschool group. We just won't be in the co-op classes.
My husband confessed to me tonight that he was secretly glad that we won't be doing co-op this year. He thought that bringing the kids home and me tackling teaching was enough of an endeavor to take on this year without adding in the complexity of a co-op class situation. He didn't want to dampen my enthusiasm though about the thought of having other homeschool families and friends. Hopefully just being part of the homeschool group will help us to feel a part of the homeschool community.
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There is no choice but to take the art class that they offer and all kids have to be in all of the classes they offer. We aren't in a position to increase the monthly expense that we had anticipated for the co-op expenses. I emailed and tried to nicely tell them that we couldn't do any more than the anticipated cost from the application. I had carefully weighed whether we could swing the co-op fees before filling out the applications so I know we can't budget any more money for it. It is pretty much given they are going with the art teacher now.
Honestly, I had only met one family from the co-op and went to the co-op site and registered online. We were suppose to pay fees at the back to school party. So I haven't paid any money just filled out and turned in our applications with the intent to pay at the party.
We will still get to go to the back to school pool party b/c it is for the co-op as well as the local homeschool group (those that don't opt to do the co-op). I am pretty bummed about it and the kids are too, but I figure it is better to cut our losses now than try to invent money we don't have and embarass ourselves by not being able to make the monthly fees. I guess I just didn't realize how quickly a co-op could change it's mind about the class and increase fees and such. I figured they had it set in stone when they posted their fees for the upcoming year on site and wrote up applications with them.
I am wondering if it would have been a good thing for us to do anyway. It is our first year homeschooling. I just hope opting out of the co-op doesn't affect us being in the homeschool group which is made up of a lot of the co-op members as well. You have to be in the homeschool group to be in the co-op but not the other way around. I am a little bummed b/c I had already told the kids about it and they were looking forward to it, but we can only do what we can do and I am not going to overextend us to do it.
Harry Potter Vocabulary Book for those Potter Fan kids..
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Oh wow! This is a must buy for our house!