Our visiting teacher does an introductory Scratch tutorial. She walks the kids through the beginning lesson on Scratch. Then she says, "Do something surprising."

For us, evolution shows up everywhere in science. There is no one place from which we glean our information. ***We watch Nature and Nova on PBS. (We TIVO them to watch at our leisure. Cost of a TIVO: $200 DVR + $15/month). There are many references to evolution, but just as passing comments. The Nature shows are easier for dd6 to watch (Hey! It's animals!) but she gets a lot out of them. She also watches the Nova shows with us, and she still understands quite a bit. ***Bill Nye discusses evolution. Same as above. We get Bill Nye videos from the library. Sometimes they are shown on PBS, too. (Again, TIVOed because they are shown at odd times). These two books, recommended by Kiana above. Caveat: I've found them to be a little old for when dd was 5-early 6. ***Books by Hannah Bonner (scroll down). These are graphic novels/nonfiction that show natural history starting in the Cambrian Period. In spite of their "cartoon" form, they were a little old for dd when she was 5, but she is growing into them now, at age "almost 7." In truth, these books helped ME the most, because they filled in "evolutionary gaps" that I had never been specifically taught. Once these gaps were filled, I can direct discussions, teach my daughters, and comment in a non-vague manner when these evolutionary periods come up. ***Earth Timeline Poster. -- We got one through a special Dinosaur Kit I ordered from ZooBooks. Laminate it and hang it up. (Ours is in the hallway). We looked at our just yesterday to discuss the KT Boundary! There are many Earth Timeline Posters. Pick one you like. Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs Magic School Bus: Back in Time of the Dinosaurs (Kit) We haven't used this, but it looks fun! How Whales Walked into the Sea OOP, but can be purchased for less than $5 + shipping on Amazon. Walking with the Dinosaurs video series. Netflix has several of them. Don't forget ***Prehistoric Park*** (made by the same people). The scientists go back in time to collect actual specimens for a modern day Jurassic Park. Dd6 LOVED it! There is also Walking with Beasts (prehistoric animals) and Walking with Cavemen, but we have not seen them yet. ETA: We have started Walking with Beasts, and it is totally up to snuff! I have found all of these videos to be good summary after we have learned stuff. Other Videos: Anything with David Attenborough. Any of the Planet Earth videos. Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History has the prehistory of the earth (first cells through cavemen) for the first 100 pages or so. I wish we had read it last summer in concordance with and old Usborne Dinosaur curriculum I have and prior to starting Pandia's History Odyssey. I also have an old Dinosaur Curriculum (5 years old) that is OOP from Usborne. We are near the end of this 10 week curriculum, and we just had the lesson on human evolution. I will PM you about this curriculum.

We did not use candy. We made a simplified plant cell using a strawberry as the nucleus and green grapes as the chloroplasts. ETA: We also made a rice crispy cell with candy. :thumbup:

The best gift we got at that age was a divided plate for dd with a lid. Whenever we ate out or picnicked or at a friend's house, I took along dd's divided plate. Whatever she did not eat from our outing, I just put the lid on at the end of the visit and brought it home for a snack later for dd. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you want to be more generous, get a booster seat. Again, we didn't use it every week, but it came in mighty handy for visits to grandma's, the park, or a friend's house. We got our money's worth out of the one we had! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We used a LOT of baby leg warmers. They are warm, good for protecting little crawling knees, easy-peasy for diaper changes, and fabuloso for fashion statements. Favorite boy patterns are dinosaurs, fire engines, monsters, and rockets. They used to have ones with flames, and I would imagine little boys running so fast, they had flames coming off their little legs! Here are some more. Instructions for sewing your own Baby Leg Warmers.

I don't have a 10yo kid yet. (Our oldest is 6). But Daddy-O is getting the Trebuchet and Catapult pack from PItsco. If your budget is more modest than that, they have paper engineering books for less than $10.

What is the online course? I'm interested. :bigear:

No websites for learning chess, but this documentary aired on PBS a month or so ago. It's on instant-watch if you have Netflix. Brooklyn Castle It's an inner-city neighborhood Middle School that has a stunning Chess program. Last year (2012), they won the U.S. High School Chess Championship. That's like a high school football team winning the Rose Bowl.

There was one year that my mom and I pre-prepped everything for Thanksgiving. 14 people were due to come to her house, and she was scheduled to work retail until 1pm. (No one was allowed to ask off. They cancel even vacation time that people submit months in advance. They do this every year). I came a day early to help prep. I told her that I could throw the turkey in the oven at the set time. We peeled/cut potatoes, and stored them in the fridge underwater. We cut a dozen ingredients for homemade stuffing. We planned frozen vegetables. We defrosted rolls. Etc, Etc. In truth, I had very little to do the day of Thanksgiving. Mom came home and we ate. --------------------------------------------------------- The best year was the year that it was just Mom, Dad, myself, and a non-descript boyfriend. (Sister lives out of state; brother was eating with his in-laws). Why make a 6-course meal for just 4 people??? I talked mom into having us eat out for Thanksgiving dinner. TIP WELL. THOSE SERVERS ARE GIVING UP THEIR THANKSGIVING TO SERVE YOU!!! We came home and offered open house all afternoon. Mom had coldcuts, cheese, and rolls for sandwiches available. She had olives and pickles and fresh fruit. There was pumpkin dessert, and Dad had made two pies. All afternoon, friends and family wandered in and out to share the holiday with us. Some came for just an hour. Some stayed for several hours. If people were hungry, they made a sandwich for themselves. Mom had time to sit and visit with people as they came in and out, and she had the most relaxed holiday I've ever seen her have.

We had spaghetti and meatballs.

We have never had ducts cleaned, but my brother had the ducts cleaned for his house as he moved in. He has periodic asthma/allergy issues. IF you choose to have your ducts cleaned, follow the workman around and make sure the work is done. The news ran a story a couple of years ago about a company that charged for cleaning ducts, but they didn't actually clean the ducts. They didn't actually do anything. Unlike most other work done on your house, this is something that may be difficult to assess if you do not view the work happening. It's not like when can see the new gutters on your house or know the water heater was replaced because you have hot water now. Most tradesmen are scrupulously honest, but, unfortunately, a few wreck it for everyone.

I don't have a website list of books by age, but we have used: Great Books for Girls and Great Books for Babies and Toddlers (There is also a Great Books for Boys). Books by this author are listed by age range, and we found copies at the library. ----------------------------------------------- Currently, we just read off of the Caldecott List (for best artwork), the Zolotow List (for best story), and the Goldfinch List (Iowa Children's Choice). A list of award winners can be printed off. I request the books from the public library, and check them off as we read them. As our daughters grow, we will transition to Newbery Award books at or after 5th grade, plus more independent reading and book reports. If we are still homeschooling in high school, we will move to the list of Cliffs Notes books, with (hopefully) two Shakespeare plays/year. Yes, some Cliffs Notes books are popular fiction: Catching Fire, Harry Potter, etc. But 1) I find Cliffs Notes to be all around the most central list of "Classics." 2) Cliffs Notes will give me one-stop-shopping as a non-literary parent to understanding author background, setting, symbolism, and literary devices. I am also open to other books my daughters may bring me in those years. Would they rather read something that won the Pulitzer Prize? Or an author that won the Nobel Prize for Literature? Or something on the NYT Bestseller list? Let's talk about it. Suppose they had come to me in 2011 and asked to read one of Barack Obama's books? I would counter that if they did that, they must also read and analyze one of Mitt Romney's books. It is all up for discussion. (Truly, I am a flaming liberal, but is she wants to use school time to read political stuff, she needs to know both sides of the story and develop the habit of Critical Thinking Rule #1: Get information from opposing sources.)

1) Bringing snacks is an ideal answer, and your daughter should be praised for finding a such a perfect solution. 2) Supposedly this cashier quizzes everyone about making change. Would you be as sensitive about this if your child was in public school, but struggling with this part of math? (You don't need to answer here. Just a little self reflection). 3) If possible, I would make a comment nonchalantly in front of the manager or owner that dd has started to pack her own snacks because of the regular math pop quizzes as a part of the price of a string cheese. (I'm just passive-aggressive that way.) Plus, the owner/manager may then put an ixnay on the quizzing by the cashier. All small businesses that I know fight for every nickel they earn. And indication of this is that your dance studio is selling snacks. Snacks have nothing to do with dancing; I've never seen such a thing...but it is a brilliant way to earn a little more cash for the small business. If a cashier is inadvertently driving away business of any sort -- big or small -- that cashier's behavior will have to change.

This website is a little young for your kids, but it is a jumping off point. It lays everything out in a very straightforward manner. There is no reason you couldn't zoom through the lessons for younger kids to bring your kids up to speed. http://oakdome.com/k5/

The reason your friends are so snarky is because they are not as good at coloring as you are. They are just jealous because you are better at it than they are. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

There is one version of several celebrities (including Taylor Swift) and all five living presidents repeating lines from it. Headline: Taylor Swift and All 5 Living Presidents Recite Gettysburg Address. Who writes these headlines???? :lol: Now I know why I get my news from NPR. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/11/taylor-swift-and-all-5-living-presidents-recite-gettysburg-address/

I read Usborne's Shakespeare to dd6 earlier this year. There are 6 plays in story form, but in the illustrations, actual text of the most memorable lines is wriiten. Dd6 was outright DEMANDING that we read a new story every morning and every night. There are also a few Usborne Quicklinks (online references) that give background of the life of Shakespeare, the Globe theater, and the time period in which he lived. Most of all, after reading these stories, dd6 actually understood what was going on. She got it. She understood the plot lines. She remembered the character's names. ------------------------------------------------------- Dd6 has also read some of this: Bravo, Mr. William Shakespeare! This one is by the same author, but we don't have it yet. I just put it on our wishlist. Tales from Shakespeare They are in a cartoon format, but I don't care as long as dd6 shows interest.

:iagree: When she is older (age 8-10+), look for the book: 365 Starry Nights by Chet Raymo You could read it yourself now to learn things to share with her. It is VERY easy. You don't need to start on January 1st for this book; you can just read the entry for tonight. I do advise, however, that sometimes the entries make the most sense if you read them a month at a time. (So, if you can't start on January 1st, start on November 1st to understand what is written on November 17th. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Other things I recommend: 1) We watch Stargazers on PBS. It is only 5 minutes long. We TIVO it. Apparently, you can also see weekly episodes here online. 2) We are lucky enough to live in a college town. We just discovered that there are FREE Planetarium shows (aimed for children) once a month through the local Astronomy Club. The grad students take turns doing a ~20-30 minute show on an astronomy subject. This month it was about the life cycle of stars. Last month we toured the Solar System. Starting a half-hour before show time, the Physics and Astronomy undergrad clubs pull out cool hands-on stuff for the kids to play with. They answer questions. This is good for everyone involved. The grad students get practice presenting astronomy concepts for the general public. Many undergrads will go into teaching of some sort or another, so they get practice explaining a concept over and over; plus they are challenged by random questions. The children get to play with the physics stuff "hands on," rather than just watch, and they are exposed to the college students as mentors. Oh, and there are also liquid nitrogen frozen marshmallows. :hurray: After the show, we are led to the roof for the telescopes and star viewing. We have seen Venus, the sun, the moon, and a friend who caught a later show saw a galaxy. (If anyone wishes their local university planetarium did this, contact me, and I will send you to our local folks. They may be willing to mentor a new group that wants to do this.) Oh, and FTR, the planetarium is tiny. It seats under 30 people. 3) When your dd is a little older, contact the local astronomy group. Google "Astronomy [your town]." Find out when the star-viewing is. Let them know that you have young children, and you do not want to attend the meeting. We have tried to attend with young children, and an hour business meeting, followed by an hour astronomy subject that is interesting to me, but not to anyone under the age of 12, is not fair to anyone else (adults or children) in the room. If the astronomy group is smart, they will welcome you under whatever terms you can attend. After all, kids learning this as a hobby is the future of the group. We just don't want to kill that enthusiasm by making them sit. 4) You'll need a star chart. Here is one, but there are several types. Search for "star chart" or "star wheel" and pick the one that works best for you. 5) Usborne 100 Things to Spot in the Night Sky is great. We've gotten a lot more use out of it than I thought we would. There are wonderful stories of the Constellations on each card. Even Grandpa was enthralled! 6) Usborne also has a Curriculum for Space. Disclaimer: We have not used any of the new Usborne Curriculum. We have not used the Space Curriculum. We HAVE, however, used a few of the Old Usborne Curriculum from 5 years ago. It was called 10 Terrific Weeks. We did Apple Tree Farm (lots of reading and cooking). We did Under the Sea (Lots of Usborne Quicklinks and science experiments and pirates). Currently we are in week 7 of Dinosaurs. I can't speak for the current programs for how good they are or for what age, but I know that the Usborne programs we do are consistently dd6's favorite subject. And she learns tons! Speak to your local Usborne representative if you want to see some of the supplies or find what level will work for your family. 7) Green Laser pointer. These are good for pointing out constellations. You can get any color, but green is best for the night sky. I've seen them in price from $10 to over $100, and this is a situation where you get what you pay for. (Ask me how I know). If you are not sure how much you will use this, then get the cheapest one you can find, and upgrade if it dies on you, and you can't live without it. WARNING: LASERS SHOULD NEVER BE POINTED INTO SOMEONE'S EYES. NOT PEOPLE EYES. NOT THE CAT'S EYES. NOT INTO NEIGHBOR'S WINDOWS. Yes, we discuss this warning with our children every time the laser pointer is brought out; and mom and dad are in charge of storage of the laser pointer. 8) Pitsco has a lot of fun engineering projects. They may good Christmas gifts for Dad. And Dad should share. Here are their choices for planes. Disclaimer: we have not used any of their plane kits. Many Pitsco projects are probably too old for your dd5. However, I would still order a catalog. It would behoove you to know that Pitsco exists and what they offer. Their paper engineering kits are very reasonable.

--Praise her for being a hard worker, rather than for being smart. "I can see how hard you're working!" or to Daddy: "[Dd6] worked hard today. She did w,x,y, AND z!!!!" --Make it clear that most people have about the same amount of intelligence. The difference is in how hard they work. Hard work beats talent any day of the week that talent doesn't work hard. --This discussion I had with my dd6 last week: "People who make a difference in the world are usually people who 'know lots of stuff."" They know A,B,C,D, and E, and they pull it all together to change the world. Often they know A,B,C, and D, and then they talk to someone else and learn E; they learn the last piece of the puzzle. I want YOU to know lots of stuff....so that's why we work so hard. Disclaimer: I do not plan for my girls to change the whole world, but I hope they develop the skills to change their part of the world if they need to. --What motivates her? A year ago, we used tv to motivate dd6 (5 at that time). She had to accomplish a certain amount of schoolwork before she earned 30 minutes of PBS kids. (We also have a TIVO to save all of her favorite shows). If she complained about not being able to watch tv, I told her that I wasn't the one to complain to. I was willing to do Math and Phonics. She was the one to talk to if it wasn't accomplished. After all, Daddy doesn't get paid if he doesn't do his work. Why should she? (And her job is schoolwork).

I've heard good things about Bible Heroes. An acquaintance through coop uses it with her 1st grader, and she really likes it. It does have religious content. (I don't know if that would be a plus or minus for OP.)

I have not used WWE. We have only used the writing portion of IEW's PAL (Primary Arts of Language Writing) because, like your daughter, my daughter was a pretty competent reader by the time we started "Writing." I like the philosophy of IEW's higher level programs for teaching writing, so I wanted to begin at the beginning because *I* do not feel competent to teach writing. How we used this to work for us: 1) We started on Section 1, Lesson 24, because that is where the Copywork starts. 2) As we moved through Section 2, I would have dd6 create her own sentences to add to the Copywork. As we talked about adjectives, her secondary sentence would have to have an adjective. As we learned about interesting verbs, her sentences would have interesting verbs. Example: Copywork: I can see a bed. plus Dd6's sentence: The warmed bed toppled over. I would write the secondary sentence under the original sentence, and dd6 would copy them both. She really hated these activities, but my goal was for her to learn the things she was supposed to learn. 3) We used MadLibs online to reinforce word types. 4) IEW's PAL Writing has a checklist poster of 4 things to check after one has done writing (punctuation, capitalization, spacing, and "does it make sense?") This was and is extremely helpful in ALL writing that dd6 does. 5) We kept a journal in a spiral notebook. I did the writing with dd6 dictated. Each day, I would have her read what the prior entry was. 6) IEW has one read stories daily, and the child tells the story back to you (or answers questions about the story's main characters and plotline). Rather than read the fairy tales they assigned, we would read and evaluate a Caldecott Award winner. We check off the books as we read them, for I hope that my children have a complete "children's literature" experience as a part of our homeschooling. I would do it again. I feel like we are in a good place to start IEW's next program.

Math is not just problems. Two phrases in our home: 1) Math is all about Patterns. Whether you are seeing the pattern that when you add 1, you get the next number in the sequence, or whether you are graphing y=mx+b, math is about patterns. We see the pattern in area equations: Area (of a circle) = pi * r * r . We see it in Calculus when we take derivatives. Math is all about patterns. 2) Math is the Language of Science. We use these patterns to predict what will happen in our natural world. How long will it take for an object to fall from a tower? Using the rate the bacteria reproduce, at what point will you have a colony of 1 Billion? How much force was in the bomb blast? How much load can the building hold? How much medicine do I need to heal this sick person? How likely are twins to be alike in their likes and dislikes and habits? How old is this bone? And the standard: Two trains are on the same track, traveling towards each other...... We can predict these all because of Math. Oh, I love math!!!!!!

Loverboy read an article in ?Science? magazine 5-6 years ago. (It was one of the prominent science journals). The question was, "How do we teach math to low-income households, in a non-complicated way?" The answer: GAMES. Examples given: Chutes and Ladders teaches counting order to 100. Monopoly teaches doubling (when you get a monopoly), and counting money.

My First Piano Adventures (A, B, C) The Lesson Book and the Writing Book dovetail nicely together. There is also a book of Christmas songs for each level.

My dd6 will be 7 by Christmas. At this age, your dd may just need more guidance. I haven't asked dd6 to do retelling on her own, but we do work on Comprehension and Discussion. 1) IEW PAL Writing has a handy little chart of questions to guide a youngster through retelling a story. They ask about the setting, what is the challenge or surprise, and how it is resolved. I don't know if the higher level IEW programs have a similar chart, but others on this board can answer that question. I'm sure that IEW's customer service would be happy to help you out, too. 2) Whenever we read aloud (chapter books), at the end of each chapter, I ask, "What are two things that happened in that chapter?"

Start writing percents and letter grades at the top of all of her worksheets. Caveat: only do this for the A's and B's. I have started to do this with dd6's math and ETC worksheets. Some I write nothing at the top of it. They are NOT TESTS, and if she needs help to understand the problem, or if we need to do it together, I'm not stressed about it. However, I have started to write: 100% A+ at the top of pages that deserve it; or 96% A at the top of others. This will remind her that 95% is still an A. What letter grade does she want better than that? If I know she foolishly forgot some (skipped around while answering questions rather than going through, then forgot to answer many questions), then I will mark the lower grade she earned to remind her to double-check that she did not forget to do any. ------------------------------------------- Other things we talk about: --Don't let Perfect be the enemy of the Good. --I will ALWAYS be proud of you, as long as I know that you tried your hardest. The time WILL come in life that you will try your hardest, and you still may fail, and I will still be proud of you. You will know that you did everything you could. However, if you only earn a 96%, and you know you were foolish, or careless, or wasteful (of time), then I will be disappointed that you did not try your hardest. --What is the Rule One of a Crisis? (This could apply to a hurricane, or the cat throwing up on the couch). Answer: DON'T PANIC. In either of those situations (a hurricane, or the cat), running around shrieking in panic would not be helping. Sitting in the corner and doing nothing would be better than panicking. Stay calm, and solve the problem. Your crisis is getting something wrong. You are panicking, and it is not helping. Stop panicking, and let's talk calmly about this. --It is good to try new things. It may be a disaster, but it is good to try new things. --------------------------------------------------- Also, as a parent, I recommend reading about Sara Blakely. She is the youngest female self-made billionaire in the world. She developed the Spanx product (which I know nothing about). I read an essay about her in Newsweek a few years ago. I can't find that now, but here is the important part from Entrepreneur.com: Life lesson learned as a child: My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail. Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219367#ixzz2ibZKAkMF Blakely talked about coming home and telling her dad about something she had tried out for, and cry about how horrible the whole experience was. Her dad would high-five her for trying, no matter how horrible it was. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, this essay from Ted Talks. Your ds10 is old enough to watch it and discuss it with you. In a nutshell, you can learn anything pretty well in 20 hours, but the tough part is the first few hours because you're awful at it -- and you KNOW you're awful at it. Trust, and commit to the 20 hours.