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Homeschooling Again

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Posts posted by Homeschooling Again

  1. I think that's sweet! My son used to put dolls under his shirt when my friends were pregnant. Also, his first toy was a baby doll my mom bought. We still have it in the "keep" box in the basement. Your son clearly feels a strong bond with you and it's also obvious that he sees you as a wonderful role model. Keep it up mama!

     

    P.S. Don't pay any attention at all to morons on the Internet!

  2. When you are questioned by the court, explain that you are the primary caregiver for your child and that you have no one who can watch the child while you're away. Judges are very protective of jurors and I've seen them dismiss jurors because they had pre-planned hunting vacations, because their aged parents were ill and they were one of the caregivers, and because like you they had small children to care for. That's why the jury pool is as large as it is. I'd guess you'd be let go before even getting so far as the individual questioning. Also, the lawyers don't want you on their jury if they know you'll be worried about your child and (they think) blaming them for keeping you away. In Chicago, I would say our average length of jury trials is a week.

  3. Last: Robinson Crusoe

    Current: Augustine's Confessions, The Iliad, Acts, James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Colleges that Change Lives.

    Next: I'll probably concentrate on finishing Don Quixote, SWB's Acient History, and Utopia

    Read Aloud is the Three Musketeers (abridged), next will be The Jungle Book then Rikki Tikki Tavi

     

    I like to have a variety of books going so I can pick them up when the mood strikes.

  4. I'm interesting in how folks on this board found out about this model. I'll go first.

     

    In December, 2009 I decided to learn Latin, so went to my public library to browse. I found The Devil Knows Latin and came across "classical education." I looked around online and found WTM, bought it and was hooked. By the end of January I was starting SOTW 1 with ds 7 and went from there.

     

    Now you guys!!! :bigear:

  5. DS goes to PS PT and is homeschooled PT throughout the school year. He began summer vacation in early June. He's got 4 weeks of scheduled vacations with family (sans DH and me). I decided to continue schooling throughout the summer b/c we started classical schooling late (halfway through his 2d grade year, though he's now about 1/2 year away from being "caught up"). We also schooled last summer as well. I didn't start summer school until a few days after PS let out. We did about 1 to 1 1/2 hours/day -- grammar, Latin, history. He also has to read in order to earn time to play video games. He took the first vacation with my mom and during that time they read some history, he continued reading, and they did some multiplication and division flash cards. Really, they spent maybe 2 hours total over a week. Very low key.

     

    Since he's come back home I sort of fell out of our "routine" and he's not done much for a week. Today I decided to get us back on track and intended to do school for about 2 hours. Even though most of what we did involved me reading to him and helping him answer history questions, when we came to him copying a narration he broke down. He complained that none of his friends have to do school over the summer, etc. etc. (that's not entirely true -- at least two are being tutored). It also didn't help that a friend of his came over TWICE during the 1 1/2 hours we were working to see if he could play yet.

     

    I feel like an ogre. I didn't do school as a girl over summer break, neither did my husband or most people. It's important to me that he "catch up" and that he continue honing the skills he's learned. Also, I philosophically disagree with children doing nothing but playing with their friends and doing small chores over the summer. I love the idea of summertime freedom, but too much freedom isn't a good thing.

     

    Is 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day 5 days a week too much given he goes to school throughout the regular school year. Should I reprioritize and drop it down to 3 days a week or 45 minutes 5 days a week or something?????? What would you do?

  6. Buy the largest one you can afford. I chose the smaller globe (look about 9" in diameteer) and wish I would have purchased the full-sized one (the one you find in classrooms). I understand you can pick one up at Meijers or Kmart, Target, or that other place that shall not be named! :)

  7. We started this model when ds was halfway through 2d grade (he's finishing 3rd next week) and are nearly "caught up" based on the WTM guidelines (should be there by the end of summer or a little after).

     

    DS goes to PS half day and I HS him the other half. I've not yet noticed a real difference between what he knows and what his friends do. I'm sure some of what we do simply isn't on the radar (like the amount of memorization work he does or his grasp of history), but by and large I don't "see" that he's more "advanced" than his peers.

     

    This got me thinking, though, that at this stage the kids have only recently mastered the basics like reading, arithmetic, and writing. I'm guessing that in the next couple/three years the classical model begins to far outpace the typical PS model. I expect that, say, by 6th grade the difference will be much more apparent.

     

    Do you agree or has it been your experience to see a decided difference at an earlier age (I'm not just talking about a classically trained kid knowing who Cyrus the Great is or reciting the Eight Parts of Speech poem, but having a more profound mastery of basic academic skills). I know this isn't about comparison, but obviously we all believe the classical model is a better approach than anything else out there. I don't really care about academic competition, my query is more about expectations.

  8. Cutting underwear, to me, is very, very weird. I wouldn't let them play unsupervised -- no bedroom and no clubhouse. I'd talk to my dd about thongs and what they mean and try to get information about why two 9 year old girls are cutting underwear. Seriously, maybe I'm hyper sensitive, but 9 year olds cutting underwear into thongs creeps me out.

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