Maureen
-
Posts
90 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Maureen
-
-
Maybe I'm oversimplifying this, but why try to re-create a school home ec. class? As homeschoolers, we are perfectly set up to teach our kids the "economy of the home." I have two 8th grade daughters right now and one in 6th. They each have one night a week when they are in charge of dinner. They have to menu plan and get me a list of what they need. They can choose three different meals and rotate through these until they can make the dinner without any assistance from me. I'm having them make their own cookbook (binder) with copies of all of the recipes that they know how to make (dessert seems to be a bigger section :0) As you grocery shop, let them look at sale prices, talk about stocking up on staples, etc.
Understanding how much utilities cost each month by recording the bills on a spreadsheet could help get them to turn off lights when they leave a room or take a shorter shower (we can only hope!) Let them know the hidden costs of living, not just the costs of shopping for clothes and extras. I have a friend who has her girls help pay for their own clothes. At 8, they have to cover 1/4 of the clothing price; at 12, 1/2; 14, 3/4; and by 16, they have to pay for their own clothes. They take much better care of them because they had to earn a portion of the money to buy them.
If you don't know how to sew yourself, that is a great class to outsource. Find a good sewing machine shop in your area, buy a basic no frills sewing machine and have them take some classes. My sister and I made money in our teens doing buttons and hems for neighbors that had absolutely no sewing skills. Basic sewing is not difficult. All of my girls have made pajama pants, skirts, and a quilt.
House cleaning is a natural as they progress through various chores. My goal is that my girls will know how to run a home by the time they leave for college. I have a dear friend who, as the last child in a large family, never had chores around the house because by that time her mom had a housecleaner and did everything while she was at school. She had no idea how to clean a house, and unfortunately her house is a wreck. She has asked me for help several times about basic cleaning and scheduling. I feel sorry for her that she was never taught.
I'd jump at the opportunity to teach more home making skills if your daughter has expressed an interest. Good luck!
-
My girls have also done Latina Christiana I and II, First Form, Second Form, and part of Third Form. I switched them over to Glencoe's Latin for Americans. They completed Level 1 and are now halfway in Level 2. I like the format better than Third Form because they are reading a lot of Latin. It is a huge time commitment to jump the hurdle to actually be able to "read" Latin. If your daughter is interested in getting that far, maybe you could check out Latin for Americans. I have the 8th edition and it was readily available on Amazon. You'd definitely need a teacher's edition as well so she could check her work.
I'm still not clear if you are wanting this for her language credit or not.
-
I definitely agree with TammyS. I've taught Latin for the last four years and it is heavy on grammar. It needs to be if the eventual goal is reading original Latin. If you don't need the foreign language credit and really just want help on the SAT and with science vocab, I'd stick with root word studies and dump the Latin text. Just my two cents.
-
I, too, am making plans for high school with my 3 girls next fall. I am also wavering between the standard high school history sequence and repeating the four year cycle. I'd love to hear the pros and cons from those of you that are further down the road.
I like the flexibility of homeschooling to combine history and literature by reading bios and historical fiction about our historical time period. I also leave room to throw in a great classic or a more fun novel along the way. A lot of their writing is on the historical topics being covered so as to not muddy the waters with extra assignments. I haven't found a literature or writing program that I've been able to stick with faithfully because I haven't been able to stomach some of the (IMHO) frivilous or silly assignments. I do like some of the WTM recommendations for short write ups about books and plan to require more at the HS level. I also really like the format of Literary Summaries outlined in the Introduction to Literature sold by IEW. I've used many of her suggestions in the Int. to Lit. ebook and just apply them to my own list of books. Book discussions are great with my girls too as long as I make time to read the books as well.
After looking through several literature/writing programs, I think that whatever we read and do is going to be plenty. When my son was in PS for 9th, he only read one novel per semester. I can obviously do better than that. I am currently looking for a good list of short stories as well since they are so good for literary analysis.
Looking forward to more posts on this thread.
-
I have used LOF with MUS. I like LOF for summer review after they have finished another program. Also - IMHO - Algebra I is key, so I made all of my kiddos do at least 2 Algebra I programs in order to make sure they really understood the concepts rather than just being able to plug and chug their way through one program without truly getting the concepts. Some of my kids have definitely liked Fred better than others. It is great for concepts and review, but I do have a kid that needs to do lots a practice problems in order to really get a new concept and so Fred doesn't work as her first math program.
-
We're actually headed there in two weeks! I've been to both places before and think that seeing both is the best way to go. It is great to see the progress from Plimouth to Williamsburg and to give your kids the chance to experience them both. We're totally excited. Our trip starts in Boston and Plimouth and then we will work our way down the coast and end up at Jamestown and Williamsburg.
-
I'd suggest you work on getting a tutor first. They may have good suggestions of a curriculum to supplement their teaching. There really isn't a better way to go than someone to talk to in learning a language.
-
Thanks so much for all of the replies.
It's funny you should mention theater, as that is his one activity that he loves. The director even told us that she thinks he should apply to be one of the captains next year. The theater group is about 34 6th-8th graders. 26 are girls. He claims all of them are his best friends and his one reservation about moving to a new town would be whether we'd let him stay in this theater group. It's obvious why he is so happy there as it's the only place he feels wanted by kids his own age.
I don't personally know any of the other parents or kids other than at planning meetings to do sets and costumes. The boy that stirred the pot at church about this campout has also informed our church leaders and his parents that he thinks all of the girls in my son's theater group are immoral. Obviously this is a stretch at the very least. There is a wonderful theater group in the town where we are planning to move and I know the director. I think I will have to see how strongly he feels about this in the fall and make a decision then. I personally would like to make a clean break for him.
He had his first therapy session earlier tonight and my realtor is taking me to look at 2 houses tomorrow. Hopefully things are looking up from here. The new church congregation we would go to has several old friends in it and one of the moms of a boy my son's age called me this morning to say that he would be welcomed into their scout group and the whole church would rally around us as they have a 15yo aspie kid already there. My faith has not wavered in this, as I know people are not perfect, but I think I can seek to forgive and yet not have to return to the scene of the crime!
By the way my dh leaves with him early in the morning to hike Half Dome.
-
My 13ds has been diagnosed with Aspergers. It was casually suggested to us several years ago, but is now a reality. He has always been very outgoing, energetic, and friendly, but very much an in your face kind of kid. This has reached a boiling point this past week as he has been completely shunned by his peer group at church and asked to not participate in a 3 day camping trip. A couple of boys told their parents they wouldn't go if he went. When told about this, we agreed to keep him home. It breaks my heart as my husband planned this trip and was going to attend as well. My son has been looking forward to it for months.
Can anyone suggest some books I might read?
I pulled him from school in 3rd grade when he was constantly getting into trouble for not being able to sit still in class. Unfortunately he has only sisters and desperately wants guy friends. Because of this desperation he has been very aggressive in trying to make the boys at church like him. It has been a train wreck. The harder he tries the further they move away. Needless to say, we are looking into moving to another nearby town to offer him a fresh start in a new church congregation with some counseling under his belt. He has always fought me about being homeschooled because he thinks he would have all of these friends if he were in school. I'm tempted to let him try it out this fall in a new school with the option to come home at any time. He will be in 8th grade and I figure that it is the last year I can really afford to play with before high school which will need to be recorded onto a transcript.
I would appreciate any thoughts or advice. I feel like Anne Shirley - well in body, but considerably rumpled in spirit!
-
I started using the Strong Fundamentals books with all four of my kids a month ago after listening to SWB's lecture. It finally clicked about Narration and Dictation for me. I combine them twice a week with each kids individually and it takes less than five minutes per kids. I plan to continue it over the summer. I bought the WWE4 Student book. Right now I'm working through all of the examples in the SF book. When we finish level 3 I'll start into WWE4. I pick one of the copywork sentences in levels 1 and 2 for Dictation and just make sure I've got the right length. I don't think you need to separate Narration and Dictation into separate days. That leaves you other days to work on outlining and writing up those outlines. I sure hope SWB hurries along with the middle grades writing program!
HTH
-
Snowflower and the Secret Fan
Ella Minnow Pea
The Cellist of Sarejevo
-
:bigear:
-
I am starting a book club for 7-11 year olds and their parents ala Deconstructing Penguins and am wondering if y'all know of any good sites for literary analysis and author bios that are free.
Thanks in advance!
-
Your situation sounds familiar. I pulled my son midway through 3rd grade. He is finishing 7th now. He begged to go to school all during 6th and into 7th and has blown off the standardized tests as well. I tried to remind him that he remembers only the good things about elementary school (RECESS) and not how angry he was everyday he came home - mostly because he was benched during recess for acting up in class. He would call friends during 6th grade, but they were swamped with an average of 3 hours of homework (the standard at our local JR High). Only in the last couple of months has he conceded that maybe he doesn't want to be in school. When I asked why, he said that some boys from church told him about some of the things that were going on and he thought maybe Jr High wasn't so magical after all. Believe me though, there are days I'm tempted to drop him off!!
I have worked really hard to find him opportunities to be with friends that I approve of though. He participates in an afterschool theater group that is for Jr High kids and he loves that.
Realize that kids this age are difficult at best. The hormones/identity issues etc. are tough going. I hope yours realizes in this next year like mine that maybe things aren't so bad at home.
-
I am guessing that you are talking about the Roberta Anding Nutrition lectures. I have listened to them all myself. They are very good, but I'm not sure how you would make a class out of them. I learned a lot from them, but they are not like a health course. I would look into the previous poster's info about the homeschool class materials/recipes. Maybe these lectures could serve as a supplement.
-
These Is My Words is a great book set in Arizona.
-
I pulled my kids out of school in Feb. four years ago. I spent the next year reading all about homeschooling (I didn't have any preparation before I pulled them). I also did a lot of reading aloud to them for the rest of that school year. With two boys on top, I'd recommend you just focus on reading with them and encouraging them to read on their own between now and next fall.
With regards to planning - I have had lots of trial and error over the 4 years, picking and choosing books and then rethinking things that don't seem to work. I will say that I mostly keep coming back to SWB's recommendations after I've been lured away by something I've heard about elsewhere.
I really wish SWB had written her WWE program a few years earlier so I could have used it all the way through. I think it is fabulous.
Good luck with your new adventure!
-
I've got 6th and 8th graders in the fall too. So I'm all ears!:bigear:
-
I think Life of Fred Fractions and Decimals and Percents are better as review books rather than first time exposure. Later on, the higher books seem to be OK on their own, but it might be frustrating to move through the concepts so quickly in the beginnning Freds. It also depends on your child's math savvy. I have one child that tends to read too quickly and misses bridge questions because he doesn't take his time going through the material to really absorb it.
All in all, we love Fred here.
-
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn is one of my all time favorites.
-
I have my kids memorize a scripture passage each week. I write the first letter of each word on the board and have them read it from there for a few days and then practice without looking. It seems to work really well, especially to remember to fit in all of the little words.
-
-
When I started Latin my kids were younger than yours. We did Prima Latina and then Latina Christiana I and II. We are now in First Form Latin. Prima Latina is beneath your kids' ages. You can look at Latina Christiana I or FFL. I personally think FFL is a better program, but LCI might be easier if you are truly beginners and want a little more hand holding. They are not expensive. Maybe you could buy one of each and compare. If you go with LCI and continue on, you'll probably wind up in FFL eventually.
-
Thanks for your replies!
I'd love to hear more.
Please help me though this block
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
I feel your pain! I'm facing 3 girls in 9th grade this fall. I have set aside this semster to figure things out and get ready. Right now I'm trying out Trisms format for history to see if that's what I want to use in high school. I've printed out the 1920s and 1930s outlines and we will do each decade over two weeks. At the end of the month I plan to sit the girls down and ask them what they liked/disliked and go from there. I'm also exploring science curriculum choices for Biology and plan to lay a few out for them and have them decide which one they want to use. By the end of this semester I hope to have fall figured out. Then we'll jump in, stick with the plan for a couple of months, and see if we need to tweek things for the second semester.
My hope is that I can also teach them how to make weekly goals and transfer those to daily plans. I have read everything on URthemom.com. I love her philosophy.
Ultimately, I hope to work myself out of a job by the time they are mid-10th grade. I want them to take charge of their own education and be prepared for college because I don't plan to move into their dorm room.
Good luck with your planning! I wholeheartedly endorse the new pens and chocolate. I'd also add a Diet Coke.