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Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
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loftmama

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Everything posted by loftmama

  1. loftmama
    Nan, I am glad to hear an update on your son. Good job to both of you! 😊 I returned to teaching in the local high school in 2014. I printed Nan’s advice and put it in a file. Every year when I clean out my desk, I come across that paper, read it and re-read it. It is crinkly and worn now, but I treasure it. As a 9th grade teacher with a high-stakes testing subject (English), it was just the advice I needed to console both my students and their parents. I also shared it with my coworkers. Now I teach upperclassmen (History & Government), and I am happy to see that Nan is still right - not just about her own kids and homeschool kids, but this advice is good for public school kids as well. My own son decided to try high school, stayed, graduated and did very well and is thriving in college. This is the son who didn’t read until he was 10, who I am certain would have been streamed into special programs and labeled when really he just was just a slow bloomer. Homeschooling didn’t just save him from the frustrations he would’ve experienced; it allowed him to blossom in his particular strengths - which he is now pursuing in college. My husband and I are forever grateful for the blessings of homeschooling.
  2. loftmama
    Just found this thread and spent the last hour trying to read it all but skimming a lot due to time. Great thread! I pulled up a few links - but not all yet - and so far I love the examples I see of Kilgallon. I've never even heard of that book but I really like it! Thanks for a great thread!
  3. loftmama
    Love this thread. Thanks! Now that I have an 8th grader, this is just right!
  4. loftmama
    Revisiting this excellent resource...
  5. loftmama
    Wow, that's a lot of work! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I look forward to researching!
  6. loftmama
    Subbing!
  7. loftmama
    This is awesome! Thank you! I'm clicking away already. :)
  8. loftmama
    Hey Ruth. Hey Crimson. It's good to see you again. I never thought a year ago, I'd have one in school and then return to teaching but I'm actually looking forward to it. I just don't want to neglect my 13yo's needs by taking on other kids. So I look forward to following you along. Btw, Ruth, your non-fiction reading skills have saved my science program this last year. That would definitely have been a dropped ball while I helped my 10yo transition to public school. I plan to use it again this next year while I teach. I'll check out the other forums to see where you are in the science area.
  9. loftmama
    Is this the forum for parents who do what I call "dual school?" That is, we have kids who are both at home being schooled and in a b & m school? Also, is this a place to hang out with moms who teach at school and then come home and teach at home as well? The first transition to putting one kid in school while keeping one at home was hard on me - emotionally mostly. I felt as if I'd lost my mooring. Now it's great and they are both thriving. However, I'm now considering an additional transition to teaching as well. I feel as if I'll be a little bit over my head: teaching at a public high school, helping the one at school, homeschooling the one at home and I also do after school with the one in school. My head's a little wobbly just trying to hold it all together and hoping I don't drop any balls!
  10. loftmama
    Thanks!
  11. loftmama
    Well, I guess the title pretty much says it all. Is there a forum here for moms who do what I call "dual school?" That is, we have kids who are both at home being schooled and in a b & m school? Also, is there a place here to hang out with moms who teach at school and then come home and teach at home as well? Thanks!
  12. loftmama
    Question #2. How do you do both homeschool and public school? Q3) How do you teach at home and teach at school? Phew! Q4) Oh and how do you adapt your high school recommendations for a public school while giving your own child the same instructions?
  13. loftmama
    If I may reply to LAmom We used Saxon for a couple years and my son, then aged 11 & 12, complained a lot, really drug his feet, and basically drove me nuts. So I downloaded sample lessons from all the other top math programs and bought some if I found them at a cheap, used price. Guess what? He begged me to go back to Saxon! :lol He learned that he really, really likes the very specific, very explicit, very thorough instructions. He is a perfectionist and works slowly and really likes the straightforward approach. Now he really doesn't care for the 30 lesson problems on top of mental math and lesson practice, but he feels like the explanations are the best. He can read them and understand them on his own without asking for help. Hope that helps!
  14. loftmama
    Wow! That's so awesome! It seems like just yesterday you were agonizing about scrapping his old project and starting all over again! Wow! Nice job! Congratulations to both of you! :hurray:
  15. loftmama
    We only do 4 days a week because we have music lessons 1 day a week in a town far, far away. (Or so it seems.) I have always felt guilty about this till I read in the most recent edition of TWTM that they also do 1 day out a week. That is still considered "school" but it's more like field trip day. Errands, library, maybe a museum, lessons that are outsourced, ex. So one day a week, that's exactly what we do: swim, hike, music, library, grocery store and misc errands. B/c it's so far, we are gone all day. It's a big treat for us. We stay at the library for 2-3 hours and always feel rushed when it's time to leave. My schedule is: M, T - school at home; W - "field day' Th, F, school at home. The day off in the middle of the week works great for my kids because we all need a break from the relentless pushing I tend to do.
  16. loftmama
    Mine love Saxon, too. I say "love" loosely; they don't love math and usually need some prodding. Because I get tired of prodding, I've tried Singapore, Math-U-See, and Art of Problem Solving. Each time he says he likes Saxon math because of how well the lesson explained. What a delight! :)
  17. loftmama
    Just off the top of my head, what about making a rubric? Are there some videos online of projects where he can be a pretend judge and fill out his rubric?
  18. loftmama
    Sagira, you are spot on! He found an old typewriter years ago and was obsessed with it. He tried to fix it but then we couldn't find a ribbon. He liked to keep it around and pretend type. He would've been about 10 at the time which is why I bought the computer typing programs that I did. Totally forgot about his request for a real typewriter. Hmmm, maybe I should be looking for old typing books instead of reading about which computer program to buy! Btw, my youngest is the opposite, too, and couldn't care less about the pencil! Thanks for the typewriter idea! :)
  19. loftmama
    We've used Mavis Beacon and Sponge Bob (just for fun!) My youngest (7 at the time) loved it but my oldest (10 at the time) didn't like either and still doesn't. However, my youngest is motivated by technology and my oldest couldn't care less. If you have a kid who isn't motivated by technology, what program would you recommend? He's 13 now and really prefers to interact with actual pen, paper, book, etc just isn't that into computers. But I still want him to learn how to type well!
  20. loftmama
    IrishMum, great list! Will you make another one for SOTW2? :thumbup: Because that's what we're doing this year, too. :D
  21. loftmama
    Cool, thanks!
  22. loftmama
    Not yet. I am not at all crafty but I'm working on it. I'm also slow. :001_rolleyes: But if I come up with anything that looks like it will work, I'll post pix. Expect simple. :)
  23. loftmama
    You know, the more I look at the History Odyssey Timeline, the less I want to make my own. Yeah, you know, it's even got a Prehistory Timeline - a gap in our education so far. I'm really liking this...
  24. loftmama
    Oh... :) I like the History Odyssey Timeline which includes all 4 timelines from SOTW. If I buy, this looks like the one I'd get. Thank you for all your research!! That does help! I'm going to first use your idea of making millennium pages, century pages, and decade pages and give that a go first before buying anything! I'm finally beginning to visualize what I want - just in time! :D Thank you!
  25. loftmama
    Wow, I think that's it! :hurray: I really, really like it. Now to decide if I want to try to make my own similar to that one :scared: or just buy it! For both kids... Thank you, thank you! :thumbup1:
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