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Bula Mama

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  1. My 14 yo ds has been in a really great missy kid boarding school for the past year 1/2. We're going to be in New Zealand for the next year, however, and have decided to bring him along and homeschool him during that time. I want to approach this year as a time for him to read himself really good books on History, Science, and just otherwise, yet work hard with me on the areas that he's behind (Dyslexia, etc). I'm planning several All About Spelling levels (his spelling is terrible) as it's been good for him in the past for one but I'm not sure what to do about math. He can probably handle somewhere in the range of 7th grade math if he works hard. I need a program where concepts are clearly laid out in a step by step manner. Any ideas????? Thanks!
  2. We're doing it pretty much like you've mentioned. Yes, the videos are straightforward and helpful. My ds seems to be understanding them quite well!
  3. Here are ours: Children's Golden Bible- he'll read and narrate to me Intermediate Language Lessons Bravewriter 'The Arrow' (He'll read the books himself as readers) Spelling Wisdom Strayer-Upton Primary Arithmetic 1 (second 1/2), Some elementary Life of Fred. SOTW 1 with: Pharoah's of Ancient Egypt, Stories of the Ancient Greeks, Augustus Caesar’s World, Usborne, God King, Black Ships Before Troy, The Bronze Bow. Other read-alouds D'Aulaires' Greek Myths with MP guide Lively Latin Apologia Zoo. 2 and Marvels of Science Simply Charlotte Mason picture study, drawing one picture a week from literature and one from nature. Looks like a lot but the only every day lessons are Latin, Math and reading!
  4. I don't know, sorry! Here's a link to the Strayer-Upton so maybe you can compare??? http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=10&category=9224
  5. Beth, I don't know where you are/going to be but a GREAT way to get the actual books you want is at bookdepository.com in the UK. They ship for free to many countries. I don't use it in India because our mail doesn't get here 1/2 of the time (!) but I've had things shipped to New Zealand where dh is from with no problem.
  6. You're speaking my language about being able to travel! Here are some ideas: Math Mammoth (PDF) I actually chose these little books instead partly because they're small: http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=10&category=9224 One of the reasons I also like Primary Language Lessons and Inter. Lang. Less. (they're small!) FLL is on PDF and so is WWE Lively Latin (Downloaded off website) or Getting Started With Latin (Kindle) Geography- A Child's Geography of the World (PDF) http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/acg2.htm SOTW 1 is on Kindle there are other history options out there depending on what period you want to study. Other SOTW's are small books, though. Part of why I chose them! I add in some extra books as well but literally make some choices by how much the books weigh. Spelling Wisdom (PDF) Writing: Either Bravewriter PDF or online classes Simply Charlotte Mason has picture study PDF's: http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/picture-study-portfolios/ Science: http://www.amazon.com/Marvels-Science-Fascinating-5-Minute-Reads/dp/1563081598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338975435&sr=8-1 or Apologia Elementary books (slim!) Lots of good read-alouds are on Kindle! Readers are harder. I have to purchase these (no library) but fortunately they're pretty light. Maybe your library will be good for this. We're starting Bravewriter The Arrow, too. And then there's Ambleside Online with HEAPS of free, online choices.....
  7. My 4th grader's program that we're just starting is ILL with Grammarland sometime during the year and The Arrow from Bravewriter as well as other Bravewriter writing. Oh, and daily copywork/dictation from Spelling Wisdom if he's not getting it from somewhere else that day. I think PLL and ILL are great but I agree, a bit of supplementing could be a good thing.
  8. Just realized I did a Wordless Wednesday without thinking about it! :001_smile: Wed. was my 4th anniversary of leaving widowhood. Plus, a photo of the women we work with in India. I don't know how to do anything other than just put in link, sorry: http://sandhplus4.blogspot.in/2012/05/first-family-hug-my-favorite-photo-from.html
  9. You could add in something like Grammarland or The Sentence Family for part of the year if you felt like you wanted some easy, fun, earlier grammar exposure. I have those on the back burner for us but so far haven't felt it necessary!
  10. I resisted testing for a number of years because I didn't want to put my ds in a box or have him give up because of some diagnosis. It was one of the best decisions we finally made for him, however. it was really a relief for him to understand himself as well. Before he just considered himself 'dumb.' So often with obviously Dyslexic kids Dyslexia isn't the only issue. My ds had a couple that I had no idea where there even after I'd taught him myself his whole life. I'm so glad we didn't wait until high school to find out what those were because he's now getting more specific help in the meantime. I don't want to pressure him but I DO want him to have the best support possible. I now encourage my friends toward testing at around your dd's age if they can!
  11. Indian parents often start their kids in school at about 3. They are made to write letters and numbers, etc, but when my ds started the equivalent of 1st grade at age 6 here he was still reading better than a lot of his class. In schools where it's expected that if you are well educated you will go to school in English! I think those first few years may be mosty for language learning in reality.
  12. My Dyslexic ds also has Dyspraxia (trouble with writing). While it will never go away there are exercises to help him improve that we've spent time focusing on. At 11 that was much more important for him than very much writing. He pretty much only did AAS and math with a pencil in his hand. I thought his trouble with writing was just with the spelling until we had him checked out. It was really good to get the whole picture and see how to help him!!! Working on typing is a GREAT idea! Also getting you dc to narrate to you and do other things orally. My ds' expressive and reasoning ability has always been way more advanced than what his hand can handle. Great link to your blog, Merry!
  13. I've used both and definitely prefer Spelling Wisdom. I like the selections of passages better that you can use with whatever notebook you want. I didn't really like the layout of the Queen book (have used several). It was hard to encourage good handwriting in the kind of cramped lines that were provided for writing on. Queen is probably a tiny bit more open and go, however.
  14. Sonlight! (even though I'm not using it now) AAS for my Dyslexic ds
  15. I've used different things, too. I think the best combination was Phonics Pathways with adding in Explode the Code along the way and then Pathway Raders. Reading Reflex was a lifesaver with my dyslexic dc!
  16. My thoughts exactly! If it's good literature we'll still read it but will mix in a bunch other good stuff as well---guilt free! We'll still do SOTW and things like that that we love. Someone else mentioned boxed curriculum. I would be VERY lost now if I hadn't used boxed curriculum for years! It taught me a lot so now I feel able to plan more on my own. Very grateful for it and think that you could still do some curriculums in the CIRCE type mode as a mindset. I still love WTM, LCC, and CM all of which heavily influence the content of what I use. I think CIRCE is another source to draw from now as well and so far that's from a philosophical standpoint in that that through this thread is affecting my heart. What a rich era we get to homeschool in with soooo much at our disposal!
  17. I think the other one was locked because it was nearly 50 pages long! I didn't see it as devisive at all. SWB herself showed up at one point and welcomed Andrew who didn't show up himself until well into the thread. The thread was pure philosophy not based around any curriculum or promoting any product at all. I saw it as thinking about the mindset in how we teach our children in whatever curriculum we chose. It really reignited the 'spark' in my heart about why I want to teach my children. There was no mocking of anyone going on over there. I had never heard of Andrew Kern before the thread but I respect him now as the philosopher he is in that he does not claim to have the whole handle on truth himself but is on a journey (He's made people think which I think is the goal). And that he only spoke very respectfully of other forms of thought as well. Note: I now see that THE thread is not locked, sorry! Must be another one I didn't know about!!!
  18. I've read most of it (I was sick or wouldn't have had the time!) and am glad that I did. It's all very encouraging and left me feeling more focused and inspired about teaching in general. Helped me reorganize priorities a bit, too. If you made it through the first 15-20 pages even you'd get the gist of if, however!
  19. Whew! I got to the end of the thread. Good thing I was in bed sick or I would have never found the time. So glad I did even though I haven't listened to any of the talks yet. The cost of my up and coming 'to get' list has dropped since I've added in more classics---that happened to be free on Kindle! Love, love the booklists linked in here! Still have a couple of historical fiction in there but only because they're 'good books' that just happen to fit our next history era. This is something I'd been struggling with inside already since my list of 'want to read' books was way too long to even think about with historical fiction in there as well. Thanks for freeing me! :001_smile: I really appreciate what Andrew said about not wanting to say too much about curriculum so we can teach to our particular children's needs. My kids' needs are quite different at times! Recently we read Jean Fritz's Homesick and was amazed at the things my own child who's been raised overseas resonated with. Now we're reading The Secret Garden and he instantly identified with Mary since the book started out in India (it was also an interesting look into the country under the British Empire because my ds's experience is quite different!) and how she moved to a different culture. Seeing kids connect with what they're learning..........ahhhhhhh. And watching my youngest loving to read for the first time is even better. Thanks so much for this thread!
  20. This thread has some great suggestions and some go up to that grade level: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=357116&highlight=three+books+for+literature
  21. We've used both and personally I like PLL better. I would look online at samples of both, however, and see what you think is best for your family!
  22. I would second Sonlight. The lack of available books is exactly why I've used them in the past. Next year I've created my own plan revolving around STOW and have used as many Kindle books as I can or things that can be downloaded otherwise. I'm not sure if they would ship to where you're going or not but bookdepository.com is great because of free shipping! Homeschooling overseas is definitely doable but you do have to plan ahead! :001_smile:
  23. Why don't you add something like Grammar-Land with these worksheets: http://dontneednoeducation.blogspot.com/search?q=Grammar-Land+Worksheets&x=0&y=0 or The Sentence Family if you're concerned? I don't know where you are for your kids to be tested and what the requirements might be, but I didn't get taught ANY formal grammar until 6th grade in public school.
  24. Same story here. I can easily spend $400 for one kid all up. When I was homeschooling 3 I would probably average about $800/year (before shipping) because of things that I did with all of them. That was pre-Kindle, though!
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