I've found that there is a lot of really well-intended, but often meaningless pedagogical jargon in education classes. The idea of scaffolding and modeling are just obvious things that good teachers (at home or in a classroom) might occasionally do. For instance... before you hand your child a book that might be on the challenging side, you might glance at the pictures and the title and say things like "I wonder what this is going to be about...", or point out that "Hey, we read something about this topic last week" or "This is about dinosaurs, isn't it? Remember that museum we went to/TV show we saw/book we read?" The idea is just that it's easier to read and understand something that you already know a little bit about. I don't think you really need a curriculum to teach that.

I'd probably come!

You know... I had my daughter start reading To Kill a Mockingbird last year, at age 8. Like you, I would have thought it was much too young, but she was auditioning for the role of Scout in the play and I think it's important to know the character. She started reading the book and loved it. So we continued reading it together and talking about it and we later saw the movie and a few months after that, we ultimately saw the play (which she didn't get the role...). There are, for sure, some heavy issues that come up in the book. But the story is seen through the eyes a young child and is not inappropriate. My daughter is a deep-thinking, mature sort of girl, and she thought it was the most beautifully written book she'd ever read. If you haven't read it recently, you might want to take a look at it. I think a lot of 11 year olds, especially with a parent reading along with them, will be able to handle and appreciate the story and its underlying themes. Of course... if you have read it recently with your daughter in mind, then go with your gut and find an alternative.

For me, in a homeschooling setting, with an elementary aged child.... I'd say it's okay. The purpose of the assessment was long division... so if the long division is okay, then it's okay. With my perfectionistic daughter, I wouldn't point out the error at all. I feel the same way when teaching English or any other subject. For instance, if the focus of the lesson or the assessment is about organization of a paragraph, then I do my best to ignore mistakes in punctuation. Eventually you do have to put it together, but when first learning something, I think it's more helpful to just focus on one piece of it.

This. Exactly.

We're in the PNW too. Weirdly, we built our coop underneath a young (giant) redwood tree. We figured we wouldn't be able to grow anything there and the chickens would appreciate the trees. I'm not sure I'd recommend it though... the chicken run will get smaller by the year. It's already huge.

We don't have the workbooks. It's fine.

Of course, Galore Park Jr. Science or Singapore "My Pals are Here" would be good secular options too.

It didn't really change the way I taught math, but it helped me articulate a philosophy of math education which I already had a sense of. It allowed me to explain with more clarity to my daughters' math teachers why I was pulling my kids out and homeschooling math - and what I felt was missing in their math program (TERC Investigations).

In all honesty, the instruction is remarkably similar. I've watched a number of the lessons from both teachers (or at least read my book and periodically glanced up...). And it's just the generic stuff -- lift your chest up, pull in your abdomen, straighten your knees, don't sickle... The corrections at the larger studio are more hands on, but the positions and arm and head movements and ballet terms are all pretty much the same. And in my opinion, taking this other class has given my daughter a lot of confidence in her Ballet 1 class. She used to shrink to the back of the room or try to be last in line, now she marches to the front... I would have a hard time pulling her out of a class she loves. This situation reminds me of when I would get emails from my daughter's PS math teacher telling me not to teach her at home because she needed to be the one to introduce math (the TERC way). I felt kind of guilty then too...

Thank you! So it's pretty common? The older teacher is SAB trained and danced professionally with NYC Ballet, so I guess that's Balanchine. The other studio I think is new and trying to become an 'academy' type studio. The owner trained with the Royal Danish ballet, but I don't know how that's different.

Is it so wrong to enroll your child in more than one ballet studio? Here's the background: We live in a smallish town. My nearly 9 yr old daughter is serious about ballet and I think has pretty good potential (in terms of legs, feet, turnout, musicality, flexibility, etc...). She was a student of a well-known ballet teacher last year. When she cancelled her Ballet 1 class because of low enrollment, she suggested she either take her Ballet 2 class or we attend a larger new ballet studio in another town to take a Ballet 1 class. I figured the Ballet 2 would be too difficult, so we went with the new studio and she's really been enjoying it. But she wanted more classes. So, a few months ago, we enrolled her back with the first ballet teacher for that Ballet 2 class. The larger studio found out that we were with another teacher too and just sent me an email asking why we didn't tell them. They wrote that the different opinions of technique and methods make it a bad idea to continue with two teachers. The pickings are slim in our area, so I want to maintain a good relationship with everyone. The older teacher seemed pleased that she was taking multiple classes. Did I really do something wrong? Why would the larger studio care? The email made it sound kind of posessive... "We are training her"... Is this normal? Are they really concerned about different technique at this early level? Or is it about money? This is all new to me...

:001_smile:

I agree with what everyone else has said. We have 6 hens and they're pretty awesome. They are really good layers and we get about an egg a day -- enough eggs for us and for my dad and his wife (during cold weather, it was more like 4/day). The smell isn't noticeable unless you stick your head in the coop. I stir up the litter and toss a handfull or two of bedding in there once a week, but only clean it out ever few months or so. I add more feed every day or two and replace the water every three days. I also toss in kitchen scraps daily. Our coop is 4x4ft and their run is about 12x12ft (with a young giant redwood in the middle of it!). After our garden ends in the early fall, we let them free range. We had our chickens before our dog, so she learned from an early age that the chickens are bossy and not to mess with them. I don't think she'd feel the same way if she were an adult JRT. A secure run is totally necessary. We haven't eaten any of our chickens yet, but we plan to eventually.

That's actually a grammar book for non-native English speakers, so the exercises are probably not really very useful for most kids. Still -- a good find for ESL/EFL!

My 9 yr old is starting to get some pimples on her face. I had pretty bad acne as a teenager and I'm worried that she'll have the same. Are there any products out there that would be appropriate for a pre-teen girl's skin? I don't think she needs something as harsh as benzoyl peroxide just yet, maybe just a cleanser?

As soon as my daughter begins to be more independent, I want her to be able to call me. I imagine around age 11 or so, I'll probably let her walk to the library or shop and I want her to be able to reach me.

I use the "wish list" option on Amazon and sort the lists by topic and kid. You can set the lists to private and also print them alphabetically. I take the lists to the library with me (and sometimes buy books directly off the lists at amazon.

My daughter is a lot like this... and it's getting worse as she heads into puberty. She has cried during standardized tests... or even just on quizzes for TT math (which I've had to discontinue temporarily because of the weird bouts of crying when she didn't get 100% on a lesson). I found some really helpful suggestions when I posted about her perfectionism last year: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188376 Good luck!

Oops wrong thread.

Our pediatric dentist recommends it also. I use it in place of sugar... it's okay. I don't know for sure that it works, but we haven't had any cavities lately...

Thank you all for your suggestions! An entirely cat-filled amazon book order is on its way...

I think you're right about TT being a really good fit for him. It is very straightforward, auditory and non-conceptual. I think that last piece is a little troubling, but with some probing from you to see if he really understands -- some base 10 blocks or abacus or 100 chart or fraction rods and you'll be able to add that conceptual element in pretty simply.

I'm confused -- Does the "Pictures in Cursive" not link all of its letters? http://www.queenhomeschool.com/alphapage/alphaframe.html Look at the Pictures in cursive Book A preview for "Find two dogs"... are students supposed to not link them or is that a mistake because the textbook was written in a font that couldn't link between certain letters?

I know we shouldn't judge books by their covers... but it's a very attractive cover!