I am using The Human Odyssey K12 with DD-11, 6th grade. I do have the student and teacher pages, but we do not use them. Instead, I have dd take notes on her reading one day. On the following day I have her write a summary from her notes. I do not have her take notes in outline form. We tried doing this, but she did not like it. I read over DD's notes and summary and read the chapter looking for missing information she should have included. I also have her working on a 3-D timeline. My purpose with this course is to teach reading, note taking, and summarizing. I am not interested in tackling synthesis essays for this course. We are in the beginning stages of working on synthesis in English. I do not add extra historical fiction or outside reading because I want to keep a "big picture" of history going. Extra reading stops this "big picture" flow; however, we do add geography. OUP World in Ancient Times looks interesting. Critical Thinking History Detective seems too dry for us.

Where I am, a diagnosis of dementia will place a person in memory care and not assisted living. The cost of memory care and assisted living is $$$$. Could you hire 24/7 live-in care for both of them? The cost may be less, the disruption may be less, and the outcome of better care might be worth it. I just placed my mother in memory care, but if she had been willing to move closer to her kids when she was able, I would not have placed her in a memory care facility. The care is OK, but the food is not great in memory care. I would rather have had her stay in her own home and bring care in so she could stay in familiar surroundings and eat better. The one plus of memory care is socialization. In my mom's case being around others has helped her function better.

:hurray:

My DD-11 works independently out of necessity. How I define independent: I go over lessons for the day in the AM, explaining and doing math or LA exercises which demonstrate the lesson for the day. History is reading, note taking and summarizing, plus working on a timeline as her project. Science is most hands-on. New this year to us, I use myHomework app so she can see and check off daily assignments.

I've owned a Miele and would not buy again. I own a Kirby- a solid machine that has long attachments, but I recently bought a Shark for work and it is a good, cheap, little machine. It has a canister. I am leary of all the plastic, but it works as well as the Kirby.

Great resource. I used this with my older DD when she was in upper middle school as preparation for timed writing.

I hope you are right. Read this excerpt from CIRAP-Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. link to full article "There has been a lot of on-line and published controversy about whether Ebola virus can be transmitted via aerosols. Most scientific and medical personnel, along with public health organizations, have been unequivocal in their statements that Ebola can be transmitted only by direct contact with virus-laden fluids2,3 and that the only modes of transmission we should be concerned with are those termed "droplet" and "contact." These statements are based on two lines of reasoning. The first is that no one located at a distance from an infected individual has contracted the disease, or the converse, every person infected has had (or must have had) "direct" contact with the body fluids of an infected person. This reflects an incorrect and outmoded understanding of infectious aerosols, which has been institutionalized in policies, language, culture, and approaches to infection control. We will address this below. Briefly, however, the important points are that virus-laden bodily fluids may be aerosolized and inhaled while a person is in proximity to an infectious person and that a wide range of particle sizes can be inhaled and deposited throughout the respiratory tract."

Did anyone realize that the 2nd nurse took a flight within the US one day before reporting symptoms? 132 people were on board that flight. This seems a lot like the game Plague.

In-home care could help a lot. Refusal of care might be forgetting if this person has dementia. In my state, this varies from state to state, I can get a medical power of attorney to make decisions on behalf of a parent. There is also a POLST-Physicians Order for Life Sustaining Treatment- form that a patient fills out with a Dr. which should be on hand at all times. I really sounds like someone needs to step in and help care for these elderly people not only on a daily basis, but overseeing their medical appointments--that means going into the doctor's office and being present at all consultations. An assisted living facility will most likely reject them because of dementia and would refer them to a memory care unit. A responsible person needs to advocate for these older folks who can no longer advocate for themselves. I've just slogged through six months of parenting a parent suffering from Lewy Body Dementia. If you want help, PM me. I'll be glad to help.

Humm.....Not sure. I thought she was skipping around on her own, but it may well have been the program. thanks :001_smile:

I've been playing around Khan Academy with DD(gr.6) for a few days. We are using Khan Academy as a supplement to Singapore Math because DD needs more practice. I do not think I would use Khan Academy as my one resource for math or even as a my primary resource for math. I sat with DD for a while, then let her work alone with the thought that she would progress systematically through the topics. What she did was skip around entering topics out of sequence. Not a good strategy for learning math. However, I do think the videos are valuable and their brevity perfect for bite-size instruction. I do not understand what the problem is with math drill. Personally, I think math drill is very useful and does not mean that kids do not understand the underlying concepts. Math drills cement math facts.

Dear-Loved-One came home last night to tell the family about a report he heard on the radio about decision fatigue. The topic has been around for a while; nonetheless, it is an interesting read. It helps explain why most go on autopilot at the end of the day, why supermarkets have sweets at the cash register, and why diets are so darn hard. Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? A bit more on the idea of establishing routine: 5 Daily Routines of History's Greatest Artists

I am using Writing Workshop with my 6th grader. I am using it in conjunction with writing assignments for history, literature, and science. Writing Workshop covers basic types of writing, and lessons are usable, bite-sized chunks of activity that a student can do in a single sitting. I am planning to do books B & C in one year. WWS1 was not a good fit for me to teach. We use the Maxwell google book too.

When school work is not getting done as the original poster described, I look at myself first. I do much what Myra described. Positive, one-on-one, works at my house, but doing this means I need to reevaluate/rewrite my plans--lot of work sometimes.

Caffeine is not the only thing that can cause prostate issues. Sitting for long periods of time--office work or driving can cause irritation. Not irrigating the plumbing frequently can cause problems too. FYI--specialists sometimes require a GP referral.

"Doing enough" is subjective. I suppose that is where standards come from. Folks need a common language when discussing what a_____grade should know. The idea that those standards are national and do not vary from state to state and district to district is one way of ensuring all students are "Doing Enough" no matter where they live in the US. Should homeschooler adhere to these standards? Maybe, maybe not. The homeschooler vs the public schooler is a tired comparison. I do not think anything a homeschooling family does is necessarily better than what a public school does with its students. Are expectations too high? No. But just because a public school or a homeschooler has high expectations does not necessarily mean that they can always meet those expectations. Kids come to homeschool and public school with learning strengths and weaknesses. At least with homeschooling a parent has more of an opportunity to challenge a student's' strengths and and build up a student's weakness. Not all public schools are good at addressing student learning styles. Some public schools are asked to do a lot of extra social work in addition to academics. what my question was originally is if you believe the expectations for your local community are too high for hs'ers. Community wise, expectations are too low. Yikes, anything goes.

OneNote is a remarkable way to plan out an entire topic; however, it is not so easy to create a daily plan. For those struggling to pull together a daily plan, check out myHomework app. A free app where boxes can be checked and assignments easily moved to accommodate your schedule when life interferes with school. I cut and paste assignments planned in OneNote to myHomework. DD can read the assignment and check off work that is done for the day. I can easily keep track of what's been done, correct the work and reassign the work if it needs more time. Hope this helps someone out there in the Homeschool world.

It is a long road toward independent learning. I find when I send my now 11 year-old to do school alone, I do not get the kind of result I desire back. I still send her off to work on topics alone, but we go over all the mistakes thoroughly, which is the same as re-teaching and takes time. Learning how to find answers to questions, or review a math procedure takes time to learn and someone needs to teach it. A textbook won't teach these skills. I expect this road to independent learning to take all three years of middle school. I am hopeful that by freshman year of high school that I will take on the role of facilitator but not before.

It's a download with no trial that I am aware of....Hummmm...It isn't a cloud based application.

We lost a cat that way. The kids were devastated. :sad:

I put it on my MacBook for free. DD has started a timeline. So far it is the easiest online timeline for her to use on her own, and the timeline looks good.

Yikes!! 6-7 hours of seat time would make the butt hurt, plus it's unhealthy for kids and adults alike. Does 2 hour of surfing count as school time? Why compare? Seriously, it is never about quantity; it is always about quality, and of course how one defines quality. If one can watch movies for history, then one can surf for science and PE. Seeing a giant crab on the ocean floor and watching a surfer pal dive down to bring him/her up for a look is some awesome schooling, or checking out a sunfish in the water is amazing, or being out in a red tide--just what is that anyway? It's the kids job to figure it out and report back at the dinner table. My 6th grader does a solid 4 hours of school a day acquiring academic skills, but quality learning happens when we are in the car discussing books, history, current events, or math problems that stumped us earlier in the day. Goat herding is a time for daydreaming outside, but it isn't academic, yet daydreaming is essential to creativity. To the original poster: Look at your academic goals for the year. Are you meeting your goals or moving in the right direction? If so, relax. Be your own yardstick.

Quotes question-- If I quoted something in a post but attributed the quote to its source, not just a link, can those posts remain? Is it possible to delete all old posts? SWB, Sorry for all the hassle. What a pain.

I really like MinivanMom's approach. It makes sense to me. In addition to her comments, I think good writing comes from exposure to reading good writing and taking note of writing style across genre and time. We always have a stack of The New Yorker, The Atlantic, or Harper's laying around for the kids to read. I also think good writing comes from a firm grasp of grammar. First and foremost, kids should feel comfortable with expressing themselves in writing, then kids should become familiar with the many forms of writing be they a summary, a lab report, a speech, a monolog, a micro fiction story, a formal letter, or any kind of writing a person might encounter in life. Any type of writing can be creative, but all writing should be engaging and interesting to read. To be proficient writers, kids need to write all the time for a wide array of purposes. Is there a single program that teaches this? No. It takes research and commitment on the parent/teacher's part to cobble together resources for the student as they progress. Hence the beauty of homeschooling.