Free Indeed
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Posts posted by Free Indeed
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I am not a science person, neither is my son. We are conservative Christians (young earth, creationist) and have used the Apologia elementary series. I thought we would just continue with Apologia. Well, he is doing General Science (2 weeks now) and he HATES it. I don't have a lot of money, so what are my options? I can't wait to hear about all the options because while I am knowledgeable in several areas on different curriculum, science is not one of them. :tongue_smilie:
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First of all, I really do not think you can go wrong with either choice. They are both good, solid programs. Second, it is not too late to start with the SWB way. See where she is and start her there, she will move more rapidly through the levels because she is older. HTH!
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This is just me, take it or leave it....my oldest outlined mostly from the white (OOP) Kingfisher, SOTW, or other sources. He's going into 10th. Not to get you to buy any one source ~ just to tell you who I am. (tho', yes, I would say the Usborne is too simple for outlining.)
Anyway ~ when you are outlining ala WTM, you are *not* JUST outlining. You are teaching expository (report) writing. So, my advice is try to find as many sources as you can that are *not* narrative. Now, some weeks I found that just wasn't possible, and we outlined narratives. But, ideally, you want to find sources that sound like the evening news. You want an authoritive voice. Because while he is outlining, your child is going to "catch" that voice and imitate it in his own writing. Hopefully, you'll be available to point out the various sentence structures and transitions that your child is learning in his English program and how they are used to hold the structure of the essay together, and he will see they have practical application and begin to imitate those structures as well.
But, back to the point - within the bank of sources that you choose to outline from - whether it's Kingfisher or SOTW or the Encyclopedia or library books or whatever - choose 3-5 paragraphs that focus only on one topic/event/person. Don't worry if the passage you are outlining doesn't cover everything that you have read about. Many, many things will get left out.
You *can* even use SOTW for logic-stage outlining if you look for those type of passages. It's harder to find the non-narrative passages, because it is meant to be a narrative history; and that's why I found having a history encyclopedia (& regular encyclopedias) here at the house so helpful. Non-fiction library books are also very helpful, if you have access & time to get them - but just pick and choose passages - don't read the whole thing!!!!
I would also think any high-school history textbook would have good passages for outlining. I have a couple here now that my oldest is in high school, and have considered using one for my younger ds next year. Again, I wouldn't do the whole textbook, but would pick and choose passages specifically for outlining. If I used the textbook, I would keep the Usborne or the red Kingfisher as the spine (and I would just read the spine, using it for the map and timeline and not worry about doing the "fact" sheet if I were doing an outline from a different source - there's just only so much time in a day, but to each his own).
Trust me, we are living proof that as long as you do a little bit every day, you can do WTM quite imperfectly and still get a very good result!!
ETA: Just noticed your kids are so close. If you have a white board, why not outline all together? The only drawback is that everyone needs to have a copy of the passage to be outlined. Do you have a copier? Anyway, read one paragraph out loud, then ask the questions in the new WTM; something like, "OK - what's the main idea of that paragraph?" and discuss. Decide together on how your topic sentence should be phrased and write it down beside a big Roman numeral. Leave room underneath to go in and fill in beside Capital A's and B's. (Sorry - we're fairly relaxed here, and the names of the levels of the outline escape me at the moment.) Anyway, fill in the Roman Numerals with both kiddos, and have the 6th grader copy it. At some point pretty soon, your 8th grader should be ready to start filling in those details. You'll probably need to help for a while, and then have him/her copy it. That's okay. Help until s/he asks you not to. And if you're still outlining in high school, don't sweat it. Really!
:Insert big sigh of relief here: Thank you for taking the time to write all this.
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I just listened to SWB middle grades writing cd. I found it very helpful, but I am hoping some of you ladies can help me out just a bit. We are on year 3, and I am looking for a history book they can both outline from. I have the Usborne internet linked world history encyclopedia, but it seems very simple. Is it too simple? Should we be outlining from encyclopdia type text, or more narrative forms like History of US that we are also using this year for history. I was also thinking of just getting The Children's Encyclopedia of American history to outline from. What do you think? I have no experience with this at all, unless we did it in school and I just do not remember it.
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WTM, and Teaching the Trivium are my 2 favorite homeschooling books ever!
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I was pondering getting the Key to series to use with LOF Fractions and Decimals and Percents. Then I saw that Math Mammoth had something very similar. Anyone have any experience with either one that could help me decide which one I want?
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This site is one of my favorites: http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/ :D
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I emailed Peace Hill Press and asked, and they said start with grade 5 with older children just beginning Rod and Staff.
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Could someone explain why Saxon Teacher is better than the Dive cd? I am considering going with Saxon Algebra, but was trying to decide which of these to invest in. I am still not sure that I will even be doing Saxon Algebra. Ughhh. Higher math is frustrating when trying ot decide on the best program. :tongue_smilie:
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Sonlight schedules core 100 which uses the History of US books in 1 year. We are about to start Biblioplan 3 which uses SOTW and US books.
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How about some Five in a Row lessons for a while (or forever)? It has great literature selections and would be great for all your kiddos. FIAR time is always my kids' favorite time of the day. You could just do all the work conversationally for a while. My ds loves conversational learning, he doesn't realize it is "school".
:iagree: All you would need to add to this is a math program (or living math) and a phonics program. For a great, easy, open and go phonics program we use Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt. It is amazing. I have used it for years, and have taught several children to read using it, even some that are not my own.
Your children are only young once, enjoy them. All the family will enjoy the wonderful books, and Jane (the author of Five in a Row) has a post on the website about how to do FIAR conversationally. We have used it for 8 years, and it truly has caused my children to love learning and love books. :D
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We have really enjoyed the Pearable stories. All my children really enjoy them. Volumes 2 and 3 have a Bible study after each story, but volume 1 did not, at least in my edition, they may have changed that. Some of them I find rabbit trail a bit into their own beliefs, not just what the Bible says, but that is easy enough for us to discuss. I have not used their other products yet, but would not hesitate to if they are as good as the Pearable stories.
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Off topic, but.....My new Sonlight catalog just came. I love their catalog. I love Sonlight because my children love the books. They get excited, which excites me. ;)
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I love her blog. She has so many great ideas to add to our homeschool. That said I have never used her curriculum, because I like for our family to be learning the same time period, and do as much family learning as we can. LOVE that site though.
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I have 1600- 1850 and 1850- ? And I don't see it in there.
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I am not sure about your question, I have not seen the new books. However, I did recently find this page that you may benefit from. Free challenging word problems to use with Singapore Math: http://www.homeschooling-paradise.com/math-problems.html
Also this website (lets play math) was very helpful: http://letsplaymath.net/tag/singapore-math/
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----> DH says "I trust your judgement when choosing proper curriculum for our dc. If I see something that doesnt look good I speak up"
Back to me.... :cursing::cursing::cursing:
Yep, exactly. Father of homeschoolers unite! :lol:
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This is the reason we do not go into the library much anymore. I search out good quality books at home, put them on hold, and pick them up at the front desk. Quality, free books to read. It does take time, and I would rather my kids have the joy of going to the library like I did, but when so much is just JUNK, it's easier this way.
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Glad so many are finding this as useful as I did.
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I found this a few days ago and have been reading through it. WOW! It is really good. I printed off the first month to start using with my kids. From the website: This series of studies is for families who want to do Bible lessons every day and gradually progress through the Bible in a year. At the end of a year, your child will have read something out of each book of the Bible. They are easily adaptable for group study, but can also be assigned to older children for independent study. Each study has a reading, questions for further study, memory verses, and journal prompts. I didn’t leave extra room or make extra lines for journaling because it would be a waste of ink and paper if you weren’t going to use it, not to mention that these files would be very big. The kids will need their own paper for answers, journaling or narrating.
I encourage you to be flexible with the use of these studies and see what fits best with your family.
If this sounds like something you might like to use you can find it here: http://peregrina1.wordpress.com/daily-bible-studies/ages-6/
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We use it as it is scheduled in Biblioplan.
Anybody used Understanding Writing by Susan Braderick?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Here is a thread I found with good discussion of it: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12429&highlight=%22understanding+writing%22