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JMDRAD

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Everything posted by JMDRAD

  1. That's what my "gut" was telling me. I've tried to keep them all together but science is getting tricky. Thanks for the recommendations. I've never heard of either science program. I'll definitely check them out.
  2. I have three girls going into 1st, 4th, and 7th grades this year. Science has been one of those things that we've just struggled to get done. Now that my oldest will be in 7th grade, I'm getting worried about preparing her for high school science. She really doesn't have a very strong foundation in any science. This past year was probably our best year but we only managed to complete about 2/3 of the material. We did earth science and weather. The year before we spent the entire year dissecting animals and doing lap books on the animals we dissected. My 7th grader really wants to do chemistry this year (she likes experimenting with powders and fluids LOL). I'm considering doing NEOE Chemistry 3 with her. I don't think my two younger ones would do very well with Chem 3 though. They really want to do Botany (which we've never done). I've looked at Sassafras Kids for them. Am I crazy for doing two totally different sciences this year? Do I need to be worried about my 7th grader's lack of science? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
  3. Thank you, everybody, for your input. We do not use any of the writing assignments in the book; we use Writing With Skill. I'm not really in a hurry to push her through, I just wanted it to be challenging for her as grammar is definitely a strong point with her and she enjoys the challenge.
  4. My rising sixth grader breezed through the R&S grade six. Would it do any harm to skip book seven and dive into book 8 this fall? I've heard that the odd years tend to be light. I would not rush her through book 8, but I would let her work at her own pace. Would I miss anything in book 7 if we skipped it??
  5. Thank you very much for the recommendations. I'll be checking them out.
  6. My oldest is in fifth grade this year; this is the first successful year of science we've had. I ordered a dissection kit and we've been dissecting and making lapbooks. Before that we dabbled in Apologia Astronomy, Elemental Science Biology, Sonlight science...... We just aren't science people. This coming year I will be teaching three girls (6th, 3rd, K) and I'm not sure what to do with science. I noticed that Elemental Science has a new living books curriculum out that spans K-5th. I'm sure my 6th grader wouldn't mind doing it. Has anybody used it? What are your thoughts. We've done two years of Biology so far, would it be bad to do another? I thought about doing earth science and astronomy but the girls had zero interest in that. I would love your thoughts on this mess. I think we enjoy parts of science like the reading and looking (museums) but not the hands on experiments and projects.
  7. My fifth grader is going through WWS 1 and loving it. Writing comes naturally for her but unfortunately spelling does not. How you do you handle misspellings? I think she just enjoys writing so much that she doesn't want to take the time to pay attention to spelling. (We are doing AAS Level 5 right now and she is doing great in that book.) Just curious what others thought.
  8. They think that somehow I started miscarrying last month and it's taken a while. It hasn't been a normal miscarriage.
  9. I just got my results back. It was a miscarriage. I wasn't very far along. I didn't know I was pregnant in the first place. We had no intention of having anymore kids. But... I'm still a bit sad. Not exactly sure how to process it all but I'm so thankful for an answer. Thanks for the support. I just needed to get it out.
  10. I went to the doctor because I have having a period that lasted for three weeks. I figured it was most likely due to hormones since I recently weaned my baby. I had only had one period previous to this one. Anyways, they did several tests including a HCG test to check pregnancy hormone levels. I was certain that I was not pregnant. My husband was deployed March 1 and I had my first period March 10 since weaning my baby (2 weeks long, abnormal for me). My HCG levels came back at 118. Very low considering how far along a pregnancy should have been. I'm waiting on the results of another HCG test to confirm whether I have a viable pregnancy or I am experiencing a miscarriage. The wait though is killing me. If the results don't come back today I'll have to wait till Monday. We were not planning to have another baby. I feel overwhelmed enough as it is right now. But on the other hand... it's a baby. Part of me is grieving for this child but there's a spark of hope that every thing is ok and there's just weird stuff going on. But if we are having another baby, that's going to take some time to get used to also. LOL I got rid of a lot of my baby stuff already. I've never experienced such a wide arrange of emotions all at one time. The wait is driving me crazy.
  11. Thanks Ladies. I might just get the Grade 6 book. We homeschool year around with short breaks so she doesn't really need a lot of review. Thanks for the info!
  12. We are finishing up FLL Level 4 this year and planning to move to R&S grade 5 next year. Do you need the entire package with the tests and worksheets or can I get away with the teacher's book and the student text? I don't do testing and we avoid "busywork". I'm not sure though what the worksheets are or if they are a necessary part of the curriculum. Also, if R&S appropriate for using right after FLL level 4? My dd finds grammar to be extremely easy and enjoyable so I'd like to keep pushing her forward. If R&S grade 6 would work I wouldn't mind taking it slowly. I just don't want to miss anything in grade 5. TIA!!
  13. I need some recommendations for exercise videos that deal with strength training. I've never really done strength training. I can tell I keep getting weaker and weaker all over but my back/core is pathetically weak. We just had our last baby (hopefully) a year ago. I'm about 50 pounds overweight right now (my profile pic is old). I've got a Waters Tsunami Pro indoor cycle that I really love for cardio. I also enjoy walking. But I would really like some videos that would run me through a strength training program. I really need the interaction rather than just reading through exercises in magazines. So I'm looking for a video that would help with all over strength but really target the core. TIA!!!
  14. Yep, definitely do school on snow days. We take off the entire month of December and whenever my husband happens to have off. We like to travel in the off season too. We are year around homeschoolers and don't follow the local school systems schedule.
  15. http://www.childprotection.state.pa.us/Resources/press/2012-11-27%20Child%20Protection%20Report%20FINAL.pdf Is anybody aware of this? I am not from PA but I thought I'd pass along the info to you all. In a nutshell, anybody withdrawing their children from school will be required to have three home visits to prove they are not child abusers.
  16. I have WWE and FLL on my iPad opened in iBooks. I love how those books aren't taking up valuable space on my bookcase and I can simply print off the lessons that we are going to use for the week. I love the portability. I will say though, I think I'm getting my money's worth since I'll be using this curriculum with all four kids.
  17. I'm beginning to think so. My baby boy can scream like none other and he throws himself backwards, hard. This usually happens when somebody tries to take him from me. But he's started doing it if he just doesn't get his own way. This includes being strapped in a car seat, getting something he's not suppose to have taken away from him, simply telling him no, etc. It's exhausting. He screams every time I lay him down for a nap. I'll have fed him, changed him, made him comfy but he still screams. For. A. Long. Time. Like half an hour or more unless I stand there and hold his hand or something. I really don't know what to do. My girls never threw tantrums like this at this age. I will say, this got a lot worse when my husband got deployed. I'm not sure if that's somehow related. When my husband left, the baby was slowly starting to wean himself from nursing and was beginning to prefer being held by my husband. I'm not sure if he's missing his daddy and it's making him grumpy or if he's turning in to a little monster. :confused1:
  18. From what I understand, military personnel stationed overseas are not required to follow that country's schooling laws. It's very vague as to what guidelines they are required to follow. But missionaries do fall under the schooling laws of the country they are living in. Definitely check out HSLDA for more info.
  19. I have not read any of the other responses but here's my story. I have a first grader and a fourth grader. We attempted to do chemistry but it been really difficult. I had only expected my first grader to listen in and participate with the experiments. She really struggled and really had no interest. She's not really a science person and her attention span tends to be very short. We are going to finish out the year with chemistry. Next year I am planning to do biology with both girls. There is a grammar stage and a logic stage curriculum and Paige (the author) explains how to combine them so they are studying the same things. I'm hoping that since the girls will be studying the same thing but at their own level that this coming year will go much smoother.
  20. My husband is in the military and travels a lot. He has very little to do with school unless I specifically ask him to do a particular assignment. He's told me before that he is not a teacher. He's very supportive of whatever I choose to do, acts as my sounding board, and provides a way to purchase whatever I need and usually want for school. I like this arrangement.
  21. WWE is pretty much all we do. She loves to write stories and poems but I don't grade those. She does them on her own. We do very little writing in science. I definitely could step it up there. I've heard about Bravewriter but have always assumed it was just another program instead of doing WWE. I really like using WWE but I just wonder if it's enough. I'll check it out though.
  22. My oldest dd will be going into 5th grade this fall. She reads a lot but I've not had her write any summaries. We are doing WWE year 4 but other than that, we have not done any writing. Have I messed her up by not writing or is WWE enough for now? If I really should be requiring summaries outside of WWE, where do I start? I've thought about getting literature guides but I'm not sure that's the answer either. I'm sort of at a loss here...
  23. I like the program. Neither of my girls are very interesting in science stuff. They both would rather read than do projects. It was a pretty good fit for us. We floundered around this year because I had both girls doing chemistry. It was a bit much for my first grader. I really should have picked an easier area for them. Next year we are doing the Biology. My older girl will do the Logic stage and my younger will do the grammar stage. I think it will be a great fit for both of them.
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