MommyThrice
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Posts posted by MommyThrice
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I've also had the boys start writing essays in response to the document based essay questions from old AP history exams. I give them the packet of documents and about a week to do any necessary research and writing. (So they aren't timed like they would be on an actual AP exam.) The documents and question give them a specific framework to work within, while the additional time gives them the opportunity to look up details they may have forgotten or that we didn't emphasize.
That is a great idea that I'm going to start using!
We're doing something similar for current events (which, of course, requires a knowledge of history to explain well) with topics from Extemp Central. I'm treating it as a timed essay or speech to be done in one hour.
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Does he plan to go to college? Are you concerned about admissions or scholarships? The SAT is pretty important for both. If you brought him home he could make the time to study for the SAT. Does he have the self-discipline to take lots and lots of practice tests? Another admissions option would be to spend more time on dual credit classes and transfer in as a sophomore. If he's college bound, my fear would be that he would spend too much time working in your business and school will slide. If he plans to take over the business someday, then maybe that is not so bad.
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Not a curriculum, but we love Clarence Carson's Basic History of the U.S. I use the set of 5 books as a spine and add literature.
We also use Economics in a Box.
Government just kind of came naturally with competing in debate and extemporaneous (current events) speaking, being involved in local politics, lobbying at our state capital and working on local campaigns. Ds also took Constitutional Law from HSLDA and now competes in moot court . If you don't want to get that involved, you might like Notgrass' Government. We also used Notgrass American History curriculum a few years back. It made a nice spine. I thought the literature was a little light and I added to it.
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Couldn't she just look at the answers in the back to refresh her memory for the first exercise or two? The answer key refers you back to certain sections of the AG to help you. It even points out specific comma rule numbers if you don't remember. At least she would be familiar with the way the curriculum works.
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Both of my older, liberal-arts minded kids took Apologia Biology in 8th. Both easily made A's. Ds 17 has taken only 3 more lab sciences and will put the biology on his high-school transcript. He's not having any trouble with colleges b/c of his test scores and course load. Ds 15 will take 3 or 4 more, not sure about him, yet. But my youngest that want to be a doctor took Conceptual Physics in 8th for a foundation. He will take biology, chemistry, high school physics and probably an AP Biology the last 4 years... all from a teacher other than me!
Apologia Biology isn't difficult. I would just say that for a STEM kid, 8th grade biology should be considered an intro and will need to be taken again on a high school level. For a literal-arts kid, I would prefer to leave more time in the high school years to let them focus on what they love. I think 8th grade science will only work on a high school transcript if the kid can show that they spent the extra time pursuing something else academically challenging, not just taking it easy.
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I'll agree that Henle is much easier than Wheelocks. I would say Henle covers more grammar, while Wheelocks covers more vocabulary (although I didn't go through Wheelocks, so I could be wrong). Henle was just more navigable. I enjoyed learning Latin with the kids, but we started at a middle-school level using Latina Christiana. I cannot imagine diving in at the high school level, even with a Spanish background. Latin is so much more grammar intensive! And there's the weird word order.
It wouldn't take 10-minutes for high schoolers to pick up on the fact that I was struggling to stay ahead. One wrong declension and my secret would be out.
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I was teaching Conceptual Physics at home this year. It looked great, but I just couldn't keep up with it and three teen boys. Over Christmas I moved my 15yo into a coop using Apologia Physics. Even though we had covered the same material, it was VERY different in the two books and he has struggled to make the adjustment. I believe he will be fine with all the new spring material. His teacher required that he complete half of Saxon Algebra II before moving into the Apologia class; I don't know how that translates to Lials.
I also have a 13yo that wants to be a doctor. He's continuing CP along with the Georgia Public Broadcasting videos at home. I let him drop the labs and some of the work, because this is not his real high-school physics. It is just an introduction for him. The 15yo is not science-minded; he just needed to get through physics.
If you've been teaching science at home all along, you will probably like CP. Science is not "my thing".
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We're sticking with Saxon even though it isn't fashionable. Ds studied Alg 1, some of Jacob's Geometry, then Saxon Alg 2. At the local cc he tested out of college algebra and almost out of trig after finishing Alg 2 his sophomore year. He also made a 79 on PSAT math. I am NOT bragging on my son because he never made above a B in math! I just think the text prepared him well. He did a decent amount of studying for the PSAT, but none for the cc test.
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Yes, but why don't you just re-name your freshman American History? I'm calling mine Modern History, although we are focusing on US Hist and my kids are prepping for the APUSH. No AH course only studies happenings in America; you will also study European wars, literature, philosophy, trade, etc... Maybe you can use that freshman year to focus a bit more on our relations with the rest of the world and how we were influenced by that.
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I'm not familiar with the texts, although we've used both MP and Nance's Logic books (using Nance right now). We have used Rulebook for Arguments, but I didin't know about Workbook for Arguments. It looks pretty interesting.
Logic IS a little dry in isolation. My kids love debate and, obviously, use their logic skills there. Drawing on those skills for writing has been more difficult. What about going through those books and have them analyze other writings (newspaper editorials, speeches, ads, etc...) looking for examples BEFORE they try to use those ideas in their own writing? That might be easier and more interesting.
I can honestly say that my kids' greatest learning about argumentation & logic has taken place discussing the logic/arguments of debate rounds and daily life - including facebook rants - with me. We have no sacred cows. If someone from our preferred political party uses faulty logic, we point it out. No speakers or writers or topics are off limits in our house (not even mom or dad). We are always analyzing the validity of what is being said.
If you're worried about overlap, you could just go with one complete text, Socratic Logic. It was either James Nance or Martin Cothran that recommended it to me; I can't remember which. I also highly recommend The Lively Art of Writing for teaching argumentative essays. It has really good assignments in each chapter.
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What are you using for Arabic? (Just to had to hijack....)
He's using Alif-Baa and Al-Kitab The DVDs are a real pain, but there is a companion website that we have subscribed to that is much better. Ds is hoping to test into Arabic 2 at our local cc after this. He is using their syllabus and touches base with the instructor periodically.
BTW, the timed access to wifi is working beautifully. The kids have wifi for an hour in the morning, all evening after 4pm and weekends (within reason) so they are not complaining... AT ALL! I think at least one son knew he was having a problem.
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This is great. If you're router accepts IP addresses you can include the IP address of your wireless printer as well.
You're right. I meant it would limit wireless printing FROM the computers I am blocking from wifi access. Mine should still work.
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Unplugging the network is a low tech solution to limiting internet usage, but as MommyThrice mentioned it shuts everyone else down as well. Maybe that's ok for some. There are other ways to more selectively restrict access. For example our router has IP Filtering which allows only certain IP addresses access. It is very easy to set up a 'white list' in this case and turn it on and off within seconds. So when turned off all can access the internet and when turned on (filtering enabled) only mom and dad have access for example. Along with that we keep computers in open homeschool areas where they are easy to monitor which helps quite a bit. Ditto on the no facebook, twitter, etc... Though they are still young and I imagine over time we will loosen the reigns before they are out on their own and off to college, work, etc...
Thanks so much. I'm experimenting with this now. It looks like I can set-up certain times wifi is available for each computer. I think it will limit wireless printing outside of those times, but I can live with that. We'll see what it does to Rosetta Stone.
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Just to clarify... I am not opposed to using the computer to "type" a paper. But constantly stopping to use the internet to get ideas IS a problem. I would like ds to write his own outline from his own thoughts. Then have a list of things he needs to research, do that research (limited time period), then write the paper. There is a big difference between research and chasing rabbit trails. Maybe turning off the router is the answer (but it's gonna kill me! Online calendar, contacts, to-do list, etc... will need to be synced first)
Laura - great ideas. I do want them to have time to email & facebook, but not during school.
And Barbara, I'm reading about The Shallows this afternoon.
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Once research is done, I switch off the internet for any writing work. It's good for us all. At weekends, the internet goes on for an hour first thing, an hour at lunchtime and an hour in the evening. They aren't able to use it all that time (and they share a computer) but those are the times for Facebook, etc. Research time is extra, but it's policed.
Laura
Do you just unplug the wireless router?
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How do you get your teens to step away from the computer and think? Ds uses the computer to research for writing assignments & speeches. He uses the computer to write & edit his papers. He uses it for his online Arabic study. But somewhere in the midst of all this "academic work", he finds time for email, facebook, chat, etc... Even when I'm watching and I know he's sticking to school work, it seems to take much longer on a computer than it would with paper & pen. I know I'm old-fashioned (and maybe just plain OLD) but this constant screen time is driving me nuts. I can get him to hand write SAT prompt assignments, but only because it is practice for the real deal. Anything outside of that is cruel and unusual punishment. I would like to at least get him to THINK about what he is going to write before he runs to Wikipedia. Is it possible to ever go back to using paper, pen & books once this Genie is out of the bottle?
Your local Luddite.
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Mine don't make straight A's. My oldest has griped and moaned about the B's I have given him in math (which are pretty objective) and economics. He thinks I am too tough. Then he went and took trig at the local cc an ended up with a B. I feel that really justifies the grades I've been giving him, including the A's.
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At our local cc they have students take the CLEP to decide where to place them. If the student does CLEP out of Spanish 1, they will get credit for it on the transcript from the cc.
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Yes. My middle son was playing a cheap, electric bass, but he wanted a big upright bass. We looked and looked for a "good deal" and finally bought him one. He really learned to play it well. Then, he wanted to add banjo. I was lucky enough to find someone to loan him a banjo for several months while he took lessons to see if he would stick with it. He did. We bought him his own banjo for Christmas one year. I can say both instruments were worth every penny in our case because he continues to play them and has even made money playing in our band.
If at all possible, I would recommend borrowing or renting for the first several months to see if she is going to stay with it.
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Okay - I've never tagged. Can you explain it to me?
Me too. Been here a long time & just never paid any attention to it.
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For middle school years, we really liked Notgrass for our spine. You said you didn't like MFW, so I don't know if the problem was the Notgrass text or other parts (I haven't used at MFW). I felt the Notgrass world history text & source documents were significantly easier than American history, FWIW. Most of our literature came from TQ guides.
Now in high school I am really loving the Clarence Carson books - A Basic History of the United States - for our spine. I had trouble finding high school literature that I really liked from TQ, so I'm getting ideas from both Veritas Press' Omnibus and Jeff Baldwin's TheGreatBooks.com. Omnibus is expensive and cumbersome, but I like all the help it provides. I'm just using it for about half of our literature. TheGreatBooks.com is completely free online. He does have some strange lit. choices, which I ignore, but what I really like about it is that he lists lit. selections for longer works that we would not normally read all the way through (ie. Origin of Species or Livy's Histories of Rome) and his study guides (purchase each separately) are really, REALLY good! Omnibus discussion guides get into lots of detail, Baldwin's all focus on the big picture.
One last suggestion. You might want to leave some room in your schedule for government & economics.
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We're listening to them. I just printed the US History outline from NROC (Monterrey Institute) and I was surprise by how well the lectures lined-up with the course plan. I like the lectures because they focus on "the big picture." We get plenty of detail from our history reading, so I really appreciate this broad scope approach.
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Took a brief look today, will try to read more tonight. Number theory & statistics both look interesting, although a little expensive. How much time would you expect to spend on each of those two books? A semester each?
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I showed him the geometry and he thought it looked interesting, so we we'll go with that for now. The Algebra review is really too basic, so I need to find something to replace it. If he finishes Alg. 2 mid-way through 10th grade, I'll petition the local CC then to see if they'll let him take trigonometry. Thanks for the suggestions.
looking for program on greatest sermons and or speeches
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
The World's Famous Orations Speeches from ancient Greece to America 1905. I use it in print, but this appears to be a free, online version.