Thanks for adding to the conversation, hillfarm. I hope that is the way they see it! We rob them of this if we start drumming in the things to memorize that don't have a contextual place to fit into the child's understanding. I would too. As I have considered putting together a curriculum I am beginning to realize how difficult this would be. There is such a large amount of material that would have to be readily available (and mostly understood by the parent teacher) in order to skip around with your child's inquisitiveness. I feel somewhat comfortable with this because of my education, but how can a curriculum give this to a parent who doesn't have a strong science background? Goes back to the Stacia's comment on "science teacher included in the box." But really, what would it take? I hope that the book recommended by nmoira and others will do this - Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. My copy should be here Thursday :). One other obstacle, and this is true of many curricula, is that mental capacity varies from child to child. This is not only a function of learning style and age-related development, but experiences too. Creating a curriculum is sounding more and more daunting all the time. And I am sounding more and more like an unschooler all the time. :tongue_smilie:

we've got one for the 5 of us - though youngest dd is still in diapers. I wish we had another full bath, or at least a half. I will say though, we had a townhouse with 2 full and 2 half baths and I HATED cleaning all 4 bathrooms!!! I imagine that as long as the kids had a mirror or dressing table to get ready at, 2.5 for the 8 of you may work. I am sure it will also depend on the layout (like you were saying - it's harder to share a master bath).

with the wii - no! Maybe I would if I got Wii fit, but as it is we have Super Mario Galaxy and Zelda Twilight Princess. Maybe my wrists are more fit from all the shake and twisting :tongue_smilie: My SIL dislocated her shoulder doing boxing on wii sports. And DH (doctor in ER) says they get a lot of wii-itis (tendonitis, aka tennis elbow, from wii players). He actually had a really fit soldier come in (army) with a deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in leg) because he spent the weekend playing video games on the couch. So the health benefits of the wii run the gammut. We all love the game system, though. I'll have to check Wii Fit. Anyone use BigBrain Academy?

... do you have, like, and what ed purpose do they serve? (let's limit this to ages 5 and up). Feel free to include manipulatives (my kids consider these toys ;)). If you have a favorite brand or type please share that too. I am a big fan of kids learning through play. Of course they need direct instruction, too, but it's wonderful when they discover and learn on their own. We LOVE LOVE LOVE Legos - spatial awareness, math, creativity Knitting Noddy - fine motor development, art, counting Geoboard - (always a winner) geometry Sand and Water table - (I know this one is traditionally for toddlers, but olders still love them, and you learn a lot of scientific principles while playing with them) What are some more??? Thanks for Sharing!

This may be true, but there is more to the world of reading than phonics vs. whole language. And most children learn to read with more than one strategy. A resource recommended to me by my sister (who is an elementary teacher - and a darn good one at that - has a degree in reading instruction) is Words Their Way. I am just beginning to read this book (which is a philosophy/teacher manual for all grades) so I can't give my personal comment. It may be of interest to someone who is looking for something that uses phonics and an approach called Word Study to learn language (it also covers spelling, roots/prefixes/suffixes, vocab, and other parts of language). It isn't "whole language" - but it's more than say, Phonics Pathways.

get a Mac. :biggrinjester: On a serious not, I agree with the above post - it sounds like your cookies or your cache or both are set to be cleared (or, in the case of cookies, not accept them) every time you close the browser. It sounds like a browser, and not a computer issue. Have you updated your browser or changed setting recently? (or has anyone else who uses the computer)? Make sure your browser is accepting cookies, and that the cache is NOT clearing each time your close the browser. HTH, sounds like a real annoying occurrence.

We have 1200 SF for 5, and 400 of it is in the attic right under the eves and making it 150 SF of bedroom and 250 SQ of storage space. Our last place was 800 SF for 4. I would like a little more space, and much better layout. I would love to have a dedicated room for HSing and projects :drool5: but as it is we have 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, dining room, and a "one butt" kitchen. All three of the kids share a room (bunked beds and a crib), their toys and the school supplies are in the second bedroom (school's done in the living/dining area), and DH and I have the third. Our kids are getting bigger and we're beginning to feel a space pinch - the poor dog was even banished to the yard. What I think the solution for our family is (but I don't know if we'll achieve this or not) is 1) a reduction in stuff, 2) a bump-out in the attic, and 3) my abstract-random DH and kids to become concrete-sequentials like me :toetap05: (yeah this will never happen). The hardest thing for me in our living space is clutter/mess/stuff out/things not put away in the right place. You can seriously tell the current level of chaos in my house by my mood. I get sooooo irritable when the clutter becomes overwelming. I have neat boxes for the kids to put their toys away in, and places on the shelves for all the books, I have special way to stack the plates and cups in the cupboards so they will fit, and storage tubs with neat labels for off-season clothes.... you get the picture. The problem is, not only does no one else put things away (or if they do they almost make it to the right place) and I go around picking up and getting more neurotic by the minute, but they like to get everything out all at once and strew it around the house in the blink of an eye!! (even DH!). I digress. I think our family would do well with 1500-1800 SF, with a well thought-out floor plan and plenty of closets and cupboards, lots of windows, and less stuff to clutter it up with.

What is your secret to making it all work?

Hey, I think we live in the same town - that one not too far from the shores of the Puget Sound with the really big Fair? ;) Maybe - what a small world. Anyway, I really like how you have divided your studies up by good times to do these studies out of doors. Well thought-out! I wanted to recommend a resource to help develop observation and thinking skills for science. It's called "The Private Eye" , and it actually can be used across the curriculum. The book in itself is a resource, not really lesson plans or anything, to using a 10x magnification jeweler's loupe to examine things more closely, make inferences based on your observations, and use these in art, literature, and other ways. I really like it - and I love what it can do for nature study. Have fun!

To begin with I have my student chunk the word - I cover up all but the first syllable, and then uncover each syllable in turn (just use my finger as we're going along). We haven't come to this section of our reading program yet - but two and three syllable words are unavoidable in good lit for kids. HTH

We like SET Gobblet UNO Safari Rush Hour And I've had recommended to me Blokus Qwirkle Sequence Apples to Apples I bet Scrabble would be a good one (mine are too young). And of course, I love Trivial Pursuit ;)

(Where's the sheepish smiley?) I was mistakenly commenting about Hands on Thinking Skills, and not Building Thinking Skills. I feel like such a dolt - disregard my comments about Building Thinking Skills, please. :banghead: Sorry

No - that's where Mind Benders would come in. Building Thinking Skills is very task-oriented (finish this pattern, build and manipulate this, etc.). Mind Benders is only deductive reasoning using a graphic organizer.

we haven't used them yet so maybe I am not the best reviewer. But the thing I like about Building Thinking Skills is that there is more than one type of problem. Mind Benders are all one type (solve with a chart) of problem. Buildling Thinking Skills is a much thicker book (more activities), and more expensive, especially when you tack on the manipulatives that go with the book. I bought MindBenders for DD who is a thinker, and Building Thinking Skills for DS who is a doer (con gusto!).

To better help you find the curriculum, can I ask what you mean by "does not have a lot of hands on stuff"? Does this mean no labs, or no field trips, or only simple things with "real" household items? Is this because of price, logistics, or some other reason? Or is it something you just don't feel is necessary?

I ordered Dr. Nebel's book, but I don't expect it until the end of the week. Right now I am knee deep in literature reviews about science teaching and developmental psychology. I am one of those nerdy people who never seems to gather enough information to help in my decision making process :D I am glad you guys bumped the thread back up because it has been most insightful (and therapeutic) in helping me make some decisions about science curriculum, and about my educational philosophy in general. :grouphug: I am glad that Plaid Dad mentioned he was looking for something that covered a variety of science topics each year (as opposed to focusing on Biology, or Chemistry, etc.). The problem with a single discipline approach covered over a year for the grammar stage is that it either a) contains content too removed from the child's experiences or too abstract in nature, or b) it is terribly redundant or (at best) simplistic. For example, in RS4K pre-level 1 biology the first chapter introduces concepts like taxonomy and the kingdoms Monera and Protista. Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy is covering things like sun spots and light as a wave (including refratction of light when it hits the atmosphere). What 7 year old (those who were like me as a 7-year old excluded :cool:) will feel a conection to Monera or sun spots? Some of the things I have read recently (these are professional journals) suggest that when you mismatch content with cognitive capacity (and most grammar stage students are able to realistically abstract ideas like light as a wave) the students are left a) not able to extend, apply, or interpret deeper meanings of the content, and b) with diminishing interest/positive attitude. Their inability to do "a" (above) can even result in learning the material incorrectly. Now, take these same concepts and introduce them later, after they are developmentally ready to learn, questions, abstract, and organize this information into a contextual framework and you will have students who "know" the content just as well as those who were "taught" it once before (possibly better because there isn't misinformation to correct). Not only that, they may even still like science! So, back to Plaid Dad's requirement. When you spread content over several science disciplines you are able to choose what is developmentally appropriate, as well as experientially relevant to the students. (I'm getting more anxious now to read Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding). And you use this content not only to "fill the mind" with science, the body of knowledge, but to train the mind to do science, the process. On the topic of religious vs. secular, I am wondering how many of you who would choose secular (or at least old-earth, with an objective presentation of various religious cosmologies) curriculum are also those who believe and teach your children in creation? Why do you choose the approach you do? (this isn't meant to be confrontational at all - I am just curious). I appreciate science as a means of understanding and utilizing the world around us and I also believe in God (the creator). At the same time I don't need scientific evidence to buttress my faith - my faith stands independent or in spite of whatever science says (really, to me using science - not just things we observe - to try and prove God is antithetical to the faith He asks us to show). I also don't believe in scientific absolutism (and I think most professional scientists don't either - they realize nothing in science is truly known for certain). So I am quite comfortable presenting science from a secular standpoint, and not having it conflict with my faith.

I think DD would balk at Saxon - "I already did this!" is a common complaint I hear from her (about many things). What prompted my question here was that I was reading an article about Singapore math in a public school and they mentioned a speed drill that was "an important part of Singapore" math - which got me thinking about instruction and use of the materials. If we could have a simple (their speed drill was one minute) activity or two each day to reinforce and practice I think that would be enough. So I wanted to know if information about these kinds of activities or other teaching methods were in the instructor's guide. The reason Singaporean students always score so high in math tests isn't due solely to a textbook. It has to do with they way math is taught, the emphasis it gets, and the cultural support. Thanks for all the input. I think I may get the first home IG and then decided if I will get anymore. :001_smile:

Maybe it isn't phonics and decoding skills - could it be he likes the content in those books better (more relevant to his age), or that his peers read them and this way he can have something in common with them? I would say read aloud to him. You may already be doing this, but as I understand it many children stop progressing in reading when they stop being read to. Another idea too boost vocab - you could do latin/greek roots/prefixes/sufixes.

For geography/maps I recommend Me On the Map, The Once Upon a Map Book, and letting your child have access to all sorts of maps (driving, mall map, make a treasure map, etc.). Does your city have any celebrations? a county fair? etc. - these would be great leads into study of place.

what? :confused:

Do you/did you use the home educator's or other teacher's guide? I am pretty competent with math, but I am wondering if the teacher's guides addressed drills, activities for reinforcement, etc. or if you just get the supplementary problems books? We're testing out 1A this summer along with Miquon Orange - so far DD is cruising through it, but knowing that this isn't a spiral program I am worried if we go too fast it will diminish retention. We go over the unit in the text, doing the examples and discussing, then she completes the exercises in the workbook. Simple enough. She gets the answers right. Do I do anything else??

I think we (as a culture) have become too eager to offer our children the best education and too naive by thinking that means beginning pedagogy as early as possible. Providing an environment for learning is what they need early on. Some kids will truly be ready to start lessons/seat work/etc. earlier than others. But on the whole, if you aren't sure your child is ready, wait - IMO

stapled to every month in the calendar :willy_nilly: But seriously, I would have a record of my HS budget in there somewhere, maybe in the form of a materials list. I guess this is more important if you are on a budget for materials, buy things throughout the year (have a plan for future purchases), have things you want to resell, or (like me) have materials that belong to the umbrella school as well as materials that are ours. A Goal/Intended Learning Outcome/Objectve/whatever-you-call-it sheet for each student broken down by subject (with a nice check box and comment section). Are you thinking of developing one, or just drumming up ideas for a personal use one?

If it were only history, yes. But it's more than that. If you are looking at package prices they reflect a lot of books which you could sub from the library. Still, it is a lot of money for the curriculum guides. And to be honest, ToG is TOO organized for me. I haven't ever used it, but I went through the sample unit online. I like more control to improvise or use resources I like better. I know you can do that with these programs, but what you are paying for is someone who already reviewed the resources and put them together (which is what I like to do).

My folks got one for my kids, too. We like it, We also get Nat. Geog. Little Kids magazine, which I like even more because there is no advertising and the feature articles don't focus on upcoming movies or cartoons like I have seen often in "Kids". Both magazines come with little wildlife cards my kids collect and love to look at. Ranger Rick/Your Big Backyard are also a great publications (done by National Wildlife Federation).