Hobbes
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Posts posted by Hobbes
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Oh, yes. And some libraries have access to them. And with multiple kids, you might could subscribe to their streaming service and use that, which is only about the cost of one course at full price for a year.
And Audible has a lot of the Great Courses for one credit each, which means they would be about $15 apiece.
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We did the My Body Book (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1557342113/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497812748&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=my+body+book) models this year with 2nd & 3rd and it was a huge hit. It was simple and at their level. I added library books for each organ/system (Seymour Simon is great) and we read the corresponding pages in the DK Human Body Encyclopedia (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0756609976/ref=pd_aw_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0D4FZ1J61Y7HH1BJRXH4&dpPl=1&dpID=51ifDmNKfxL) and a anatomy colouring book (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0486468216/ref=pd_aw_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VXTGX9C4N65VRE4QR6YR&dpPl=1&dpID=91QPDM4b%2B6L). It was relaxed and they learned quite a bit.
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We are always memorising a poem as part of our morning time. It's just a thing we do, so it doesn't seem to have occurred to them to complain about it (yet!), and they have a good level of pride in accomplishment once they've finished one. We are always working on a new one and then review one old one each day. It's so quick. They remember poems from four years ago, as do I, which is lovely.
I like keeping the poems fresh because I don't like losing what we've learned. I also like giving them a deeply rooted stock of rich language. And I personally love having poems in my mind to stay and want to provide that for my kids. So we review for years, which is painless when done regularly. Some of the old ones are only repeated every couple of months, but they are in there solidly now.
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The Jesus Storybook Bible has all of its characters in non-white tones.
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Paddington is wonderful for that age. It's a perennial favourite here. I second the Winnie the Pooh suggestion as well!
The Henry Huggins collection. Little House in the Big Woods. Farmer Boy. Pippi Longstocking.
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No one has particular favourites? I know they all look good... :)
Is it worth trying to choose based on making a mix of grammar concepts, or just prioritize based on books we like?
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Absolutely Bruce Coville. His Midsummer is breathtaking.
A third for Bruce Coville. We just finished SOTW2 and I borrowed a ton of Coville books from the library for the Shakepeare portion. They have become favourites. We like A Winter's Tale the best because of the gorgeous artwork. I will be looking to buy some of them soon...
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- Downloaded several IEW seminars to listen to on walks/runs. Will likely download more.
- Reading/rereading parts: How to Read a Book, TWJ, some Ruth Beechick, TWTM, For the Children's Sake. Would like to read Teaching the Classics, but $$$.
- Planning, spreadsheeting - I love that stuff.
- Dealing with book organization. Somehow. We are in great need. My original system was great, but we are out of shelves, there are stacks everywhere, and I'm forgetting what we have.
- Trying to reach myself to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I have a feeling this would revolutionize the next school year... 🙄
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My newer reader LOVES tandem reading with me. We take turns, page by page, in a chapter book. She likes the together time and it's less exhausting than always tackling a book on her own. That's a nice way to keep having them read aloud to you without it being a chore.
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I haven't done enough of them yet to have favorites, but wanted to say that we actually prefer doing them on books we've already read and enjoyed, so long as it is recent (or memorable) enough for us to still discuss it. She loves seeing the quotes for copywork and remembering the story that they trigger in her memory! Even when we do them on a book that is new for us, I choose not to start the Arrow until we've read the entire book.
That is great to hear, thanks for sharing! I was hoping that would work. There are several books among last year's arrows which we've read already.
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Choosing 5 from the HSBC back issues... are there any in particular you have loved? I'd like to primarily get the newer ones.
Also, have you ever done Arrows for books you've read in the past? There are a few Arrows I'd like to do because of the grammar/literary focus, and because we loved those books, but does it matter if we've read them a while ago? I probably don't want to read aloud those chapter books again.
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I used RSO Chemistry a few years ago. I'd say Units 1-3 are definitely worth the time. They explain atomic structure and the logic behind the periodic table in a clear, kid-friendly manner. (I taught high school chemistry ages ago and the info in those units pretty much mirrored what I taught my 10th and 11th graders.) Unit 4 is easily skippable. It has nice-to-know info but it's not necessary for understanding chemistry. It certainly helps deepen understanding but it's not necessary.
I admit that I only got through part of Unit 4 because we started chemistry mid-way through the school year for some reason. Or maybe we went back & forth with other curricula. In any case, I didn't get through Units 5-7 but here are my thoughts on them:
Unit 6 (on matter) is probably the most basic and universally applicable of the 3 units. Unit 7 is where you'll experience the bulk of nifty reactions. It also covers the most advanced topics. Unit 5 would certainly help kids understand why water is written as H2O or carbon dioxide as CO2.
If you're looking to truncate the program, I'd go with Units 1-3 then 6. That's roughly half the program. If you wanted to add in more chemistry, I'd go with either Unit 5 or 7 next (7 has more experiments where stuff "does something"). Unit 4 is nice to do but not necessary.
Of course, take my recommendation with a big grain o' salt since I didn't actually get through the entire program! But I will say that I ran the program with my kiddo and her friends (they were 4th & 5th graders) and they really enjoyed it.
Have fun teaching this program!
Carol
That is helpful, thank you! I appreciate the perspective on what to prioritize. I had wondered about just skipping unit 4... that would give us 8 weeks for a brief botany unit (like maybe the plants section of RSO Life ðŸ˜... they are on sale!).
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I'm on my phone so I can't see how old your kids are, so this may or may not be helpful...
We don't school in the summer, but our overall home routine doesn't change. Breakfast is a bit later. Then we do a trimmed down version of morning time - Bible reading, prayer, hymn, very brief memory review of work during the year (Bible and poetry). Maybe a math puzzle book. Then read-alouds. Free play and projects all morning.
Everyone still has chores and a bare bones piano worksheet to practice at some point in the day (usually after quiet time). Afternoon always includes a quiet time (olders) and naptime (youngers).
We have a couple of set activities too - one morning a week with a friends group, one afternoon evening with grandparents. Planning this year to have a library morning and a field trip morning.
The rest of the days are free play or out on adventures. It works well.
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Unit 1 covers what chemistry is and unit 2 overs atoms. You could probably go through those faster.
Unit 3 covers the chemist's alphabet...so period table, atomic numbers, and all of that stuff.
Unit 4 starts looking at some elements in depth and unit 5 covers molecules and their rules (bonds, electrons etc)
Unit 6 introduces matter and unit 7 deals with various reactions.
Your doing 2 labs per week at full schedule. It really is a year curriculum but if you want to just do a gentle Chem intro you could focus on atoms, molecules, and a few elements and then do the reaction labs. I think it really builds on itself though so doing it all your student might get more out of it.
It is a really neat curriculum! You could always do a shorter botany unit and cut out some of RSO. Chem 75% and Botany 25% might be more do-able.
I know it is hard to decide with science. It is my favorite subject so I always bite off more than I can chew :)
This is exactly the kind of input I was looking for, thank you so much! I agree about making botany the shorter of the two - I'm just planning to tie it in with gardening, do some bean sprout experiments, indoor plants, cut them apart and draw/label them, etc.
RSO just looks so good and both 9yo and 7yo are eager for experiments, so I figured I'd better get at it. :)
Several of the labs were things we had already done as part of physics or earth science - like floating and sinking, air takes up space, making rock candy crystals, water expanding when it freezes. We'd also already talked about the parts of an atom and the states of matter. A few other labs are cooking projects that you might have already discussed in day-to-day life - like why popcorn pops, why oil floats on water (or vinegar), and that meringues are full of air. Another lab is about capillary action, demonstrated by food coloring making its way up a celery stalk. That one could easily be saved for your botany unit. Overall, my 7yos and 10yo have enjoyed it this year. If it still seems like too much after cutting out whatever projects you've already done, I agree that the big section on the first 18 elements of the periodic table could be pared down. Instead of doing all the hands-on activities and the notebooking project, you could just read and enjoy the pictures in The Elements (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Visual-Exploration-Every-Universe/dp/1579128955)
This is a good point, thank you. I will buy the e-book on the sale, I think, and instead of chopping a whole unit, I'll just remove a few things from some of the units (especially the elements chunk) and go from there, making it a few shorter weeks. Thanks for sharing, that's a great way to trim it down a bit.
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Sorting out science for next year - my 9yo (4th) has asked for chemistry and botany and she hopes for experiments and read-alouds. I've looked around at as many chem samples as I could find and the most appealing to me/most likely to fit with our approach seems to be RSO Chem Level 1. However, it's a full year's worth of lessons and I'd really like to only do chem for 1/2-3/4 the year as an elementary intro and then switch into a simple exploration of botany as we begin planning and preparing for our garden next spring.
We do 'official' science max twice a week with 7yo and 9yo together and for about an hour each time.
Has anyone condensed or only used part of RSO Chem? Are there sections that are obvious possibilities to cut? Is it worth it to use RSO if I do that? There is currently a 30% off sale...
ETA: clarity
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I (and my poor bookshelves) feel your pain.
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We've done journals since K-ish ages. We've done a lot of what BraveWriter would call "jotting it down." They would draw a picture and then narrate to me what they wanted to say. We also did a fair amount of them copying from what I wrote down as they spoke. Sometimes they wrote for themselves and in that case, at that age, I only corrected spelling if they asked for it.
I've wanted creativity and a desire to write to be the primary goal of the journals, along with a beautiful record of their growth. Over time, we've added variety to their "memory" entries with picture study (they glue in a print and then narrate it), copywork (often by their request, from their memory work), literature/science/history narrations ("tell me about the book we just finished/what you've been learning"), nature journaling, etc.
I try to follow their lead. If they want me to write so that they can easily express their idea, I do. If they want to copy my writing after they tell me their thoughts, we do that. I find they will ask for copywork if they aren't feeling inspired that day and that is totally fine with me.
So far, so good... they love journaling and I love the various streams of growth running through the journals. I'd say to let her be creative and love the process.
ETA: You can work on spelling at a different time. My 3rd grader is a pretty bad speller and if I used journal time to address spelling, it would be such a discouraging thing. I point out things occasionally, if the time seems right, but otherwise... not.
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Ours has a little first aid kit with Band-Aids, which make the kids feel very capable when they hurt themselves and can get a Band-Aid and move on on their own. (ETA: Of course I'm not talking about serious injuries! I'm always available. 😊 But the little cuts on the fingers and knees... they love to deal with those themselves.)
We also have a little bag of bird seed for hikes, especially since in our area the chickadees on a lot of trails will land on our hands!
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Now if a person asked me to LIE to DH, that's a different story. Nope. Not lying.
Agree 100%.
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I think there is a difference between my own secrets and the privacy of someone else. If a friend confides in me about something private, I do not​ need to share those details with my husband.
If it's affecting me and my thoughts/behaviour (or if it is something that has an impact on our interactions with that person/family), I'm likely to tell him that "(friend) is struggling in (area) and I'm concerned about that," but it doesn't mean he needs all the gory details. He would do the same.
Keeping my own secrets from him, though... I avoid that.
I know not everyone operates this way, however, which is why I don't confide deep things in friends about whose husbands I am not comfortable.
ETA: my default is to share everything with my husband - it is an unusual scenario for us to keep info quiet. (and eta grammar!)
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Isn't FLL designed for 3 days a week? We did 4 days a week and are finishing a month before we finish anything else.
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What worked:
- weekly checklists kept us all on track and we got so much done
- Math Mammoth with MUS blocks
- using journals to incorporate personal writing, picture study, read aloud narrations, copywork, drawing, and other stuff
- FLL3
- My Body Book. They loved this. We added read alouds and other things and it was a good anatomy unit
Didn't work:
- ETC. We loved it up to this year, but it just wasn't clicking.
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I'm a one cup a day person (occasionally two) and that didn't change in pregnancy.
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Thanks to this thread (and the ensuing rabbit trail I followed!) I am now the proud owner of a My Bookhouse set, acquired yesterday. 😠My oldest is 3/4 of the way through the first volume and is tickled pink...
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Veteran Moms - how do you maintain an atmosphere of spiritual formation and discipleship?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I love this question. It articulates very well some of the things that have been rolling around in my brain as I plan for next year.
I'm no veteran, but I was raised by a veteran. 😉 I grew up in a family that did spiritual formation well and I've benefited so much from that. We read and discussed the Bible daily (twice), memorised, and consistently attended and served at church together. A lot of what you mentioned.
About serving, one thing that I think greatly impacted all of us was my parents' hospitality. They had so many people over and it required us to serve in many ways - helping with food, amusing kids, showing interest in others, cleaning up, sacrificing our bedrooms, etc. It was so good for us and as my husband and I do this with our kids, I already see an impact on our children. Just a thought related to the serving opportunities question.