Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

domestic_engineer

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,410

  • Joined

 Content Type 

Posts posted by domestic_engineer

    MCT Town purchasing question

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    A used set of Town level, classical edition just got listed on eBay here.  $170 + free shipping is the starting bid.

     

    Another alternative to possibly consider is RFWP is going to be offering them as iBooks.  The island level is already out, and I thought that they were going to get the Town level offered this year.  I hear that MCT actually reads his poems in the Poetry books!  Of course, resale value is $0 ...

    How to Accelerate Learning in Math (using RightStart? or something else?)

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    OP - What about option 7 (slow 'n' steady in math) but add in logic puzzles, creative problem solving activities, and computer programming? 

    Here's a nice thread on computer programming options.  

     

    I would be hesitant about combining TT & RS.  I've only watched the sample videos of TT, but it seemed to teach multi-digit subtraction with a different philosophy than RS.  But remember that I've never used TT ...

    Kiddie Beverage Ideas

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Thanks for all the ideas.  The kids (and I) love real lemonade ... but it does take some time, effort, and forethought.  

    I think the experimentation will be a great summer activity!

     

    (and sorry for the capitalization ... after trying so hard to craft the title of the post, I guess I had a brain lapse!)  :)

    Kiddie Beverage Ideas

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Do you have a beverage that you share with your young DC for a "special treat" or during Tea Time?  I don't like tea, and I don't think coffee is appropriate yet.  Hot chocolate is fine during the winter, but a bit too toasty for the summer.  Any ideas?

    Living Books Curriculum Digital sale 2/14-2/17

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I used the first half of the 1st grade level of LBC. Personally, I liked the lack of hand holding and the flexibility of weekly, rather than daily, lesson plans. 

     

    However,  I chose to part ways with LBC because I was tweaking it too much to justify the price ... I disregarded the LA part of the plan because DC was already reading and the lessons were focused on learning to read.  While we were faithful to reading the World History book, I found that the spine (Miller/Grueber's Story of the Ancient World) was not enjoyable for our family; the vocabulary was too advanced for DC.  This also happened with one of the American history read alouds.  So I was getting frustrated when it seemed like every single history book required me to interrupt with definitions ... and I think I was also hitting a section in the LA section where I didn't like the read alouds they had scheduled.  *shrug*  Math - you were left on your own anyways.  Science was a bit light for my tastes, but I could live with it since it was only 1st grade.  And art, well, just wasn't getting done at that stage of life.  (On the flip side, though, I did like their suggested resources for Bible, Composer, & Art Study.)

     

    I love the concept ... and I admit I was tempted with this digital sale ... but I was just modifying too much or was disgruntled with too much of the program to justify continuing with it.  Just my 2 cents ...

    Life of Fred on sale

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I agree that ztwist often has the best deal on LOF, but there's currently a President's Day Sale on Educents that makes it better than ztwist when buying a larger quantity of books.  Use PRES10 to get an additional 10% off the sale price (which is already 10% off the list/ztwist price).  The Educents deal requires a $5 flat rate shipping charge (compared to ztwist's free shipping); but if you buy alot of books from Educents then they will have the better deal.  And one "benefit" of ordering from Educents is that they have a rewards program that this deal would qualify for earning points; but you are correct in that shipping will be delayed until 3/1.

     

    Educents does have some decent deals.  They frequently have freebies.  Some of their sale items are the same ones you'll see on other sites (Magic School Bus Kits, Draw Write Now, etc.)  But they also have a lot of printable packs (sorta like what is offered on Teacherspayteachers.com).  And this is the only "flash" sale site that I've seen to offer LOF.  I've seen a lot more unique items/curriculum lately, and I'm wondering if they won't have more diversity as curriculum-buying season gets into full swing...

    Coding for Kids

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    So, to clarify - your children started their coding adventure with the coding lectures from Khan academy?    The proceeded to Codecademy?  And then picked up Scratch? 

     

    I was just wondering if I should start my child on Scratch ... or now, perhaps, javascript via Khan academy.

     

    Thanks for sharing the link and your thoughts!

    AAS 3 question

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    As stated before, be aware that the "Writing Station" is new & appears around Step 14; it caught me off guard.  Before that point, we would do the following:  

    Day 1:  Word Analysis, new teaching, & 10 words

    Day 2:  4 sentences from dictation & maybe a few of the "More Words" as a warm up

    Day 3:  4 sentences from Dictation & maybe a few of the "More Words" as a warm up

    Day 4:  4 sentences from Dictation & maybe a few of the "More Words" as a warm up

     

    Once we added the Writing Station, I increased the number of sentences to 5 each day.  Then on day 4, we'd have 2 dictation sentences & all of the Writing station.

     

    It doesn't take us long, either, but I have a natural speller.

     

    How long does it take to teach a RightStart lesson?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Another vote for 40 min - forever .... We've done levels A, B, and are currently in C .... and that doesn't include playing the games.  Warm ups take us 5-10 min.  The teaching portion might take 30 min on a really good day, but on a day when all cylinders aren't firing, it could take 40-60 min.  *sigh*  I, too, don't know how people get the lesson done in 20 min, even in A.

     

    Color laser printer recommendations?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    About a month ago I bought an HP 8600 pro and I love it!  I did a lot of research and found had the lowest cost per print out of all that I looked at.  It an do all that you are looking for.   When my husband went to pick it up from Officemax the guy raved about how awesome it was and that we would love it so much we would probably come back and tell him about it.  I must say it is pretty cool!

     

    The HP 8600 Pro is an inkjet, though, not a laser printer.

     

    I don't have any helpful advice though since I'm in the same boat as the OP ... researching printers with the same reqs.

    It's not child-led learning. It's not workboxes. What is it?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Thanks so much for the replies! They were all very helpful. I'll probably check out Calderwood's book; she has some free audio files available for the summer, too!

     

    Last year for a few weeks, I had each subject on a post-it note and then let my child decide the order of the school day, similar to what Alice described. It seemed to work OK and allowed the child to have a little bit of control over his school day.

     

    I agree that it may be difficult for a young child to break up a week's worth of assignments into good chunks; so I'm imagining having a week's lesson plan grid cut up and then letting the child rearrange it as he wishes.

×
×
  • Create New...