Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

mommy4ever

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    682

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by mommy4ever

    Usborne or Kingfisher for SOTW

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I have both. My older ones use them more, they are grade 6 and 8. Even ds, grade 11 will use them on occasion, he's doing his Grade 12 social. DD7 enjoys them, merely for browsing through mostly.

     

    I don't think we follow SOTW as it was intended, however this is what we do: We play the CD. We color the page. We might do an activity if mom planned ahead enough and the little people are cooperating. If it's something particularly appealing to her, we pull out UILE and explore it some more. Otherwise, it sits there.

     

    I do try to get library books, but they rarely come in time. If they are here we use them, if not, I cancel the hold and move on.

    How do you set your budget for homeschooling?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I'm assessing all we've spent and looking ahead to predict what we might need for next year. This was our first full year homeschooling. So there was extra spent, some trial and error. I now have a good sense of how it will go.

     

    I am fortunate, in the sense, that our provincial government allots each homeschool student with a certain amount of money, based on how we register. What ever we qualify for is our budget! We submit receipts for refunds. The monies start to become available in October. We have access to 1/2 then and 1/2 in January or so.

     

    I tried to work within this budget as much as I could this year. I did exceed it marginally, but only about $100 or so. So the cost of homeschooling 3 kids for the year, that was paid from our household budget was approx $100. I'd like to make that number $0. I wish we had a program like K12 here. It would be awesome for my older girls. I do like the freedom to chose my own curricula with funds provided.

     

    I've started setting aside $50/mo for next year. It won't amount to all that much, but it will create a working budget for me to use, so it doesn't sit on my credit card until I'm refunded. So come September I'll have $300 to work with for class registrations, consumables. In October I submit receipts, and continue building my school fund. Once November hits, I'll have gotten my refund, and added another $100 to the fund. So when January comes and I need to order items for the second semester, I'll have a good working fund again, approx $500. I intend to build this up as a $1000. Then I can leave it as a cushion. I think now, we're pretty much set and don't require much more for reference books. I have most of what I need for other curricula too. I have AAS to the 6th book(from older dd), so dd7 doesn't need anything more now. As well as Math Mammoth, we have all to grade 5 now. So only one more in a few years if we don't get it for dd12. So there is some wiggle room. The costs for her go down as we re-use some of the curricula we had for the older ones.

     

    NEEDED:

    DD14 - One Year Novel, Bible study

     

    DD12 - Bible Study, possibly next Math Mammoth,

     

    DD7 - McRuffy Science 3(I think)

    SOTW 2 activity guide(pdf)

     

    So we're in pretty good shape for the fall in terms of curricula and how much we'll have to spend. I will likely need to place an order to CLE to get the next grade reading and LA, since we are working on it now. Either way, I think within the restrictions of the budget, I should be able to get my girls involved in some pretty fun things!

    The more we use CLE, The more I love it!!

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Faithe, thank you!

     

    We are really enjoying AAS but it be overkill to do both?

     

     

     

    I have continued with AAS. It isn't over kill. Right now dd is able to do 2 lessons of AAS in a week. So I will be able to slow it down as we continue with CLE. AAS doesn't take that long, I love the program, so I won't stop it.

     

    I also do WWE too. First, dd loves the excerpts of the classic stories. She gets to hear a greater variety. That is all good :)

     

    CLE is complete, but I enhance with the other programs now.

    The more we use CLE, The more I love it!!

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We just started LA here :) And LOVE it. I'm looking at the reading and Bible. I'm very happy with our Math, so we'll leave that where it is.

     

    We're starting in the 200's. And after the first 5 lessons, it started creative writing. I was reluctant, after all, she's just turned 7. But it was so gentle.

     

    First day, it asked to help the child choose a topic. She was stumped, so I through ideas out there. She has a great imagination in play, so I suggested writing a story about her Littlest Pet Shops, or about her dogs, or her gecko, or about a trip. That sparked. She chose to write about camping. Then I had her jot down ideas she *might* want to write about camping. Point form, just words, or short phrases.

     

    Day 2. We looked at her ideas, and I asked her to put them in a logical order. She numbered them in a sequence she liked. Then wrote. She wrote approx 12 sentences! I didn't intervene, I just let her write. When she was done, I told her the next day, we'd go over it, look for spelling mistakes and use the dictionary. We'd look at how to build better sentences.

     

    Day 3. Wellllll... revising was a challenge, but she wasn't feeling well. She wanted to use only pronouns,no names, to specifics..lol. She was very upset to hear that while it was a good sentence, it could be made better. So we put it away and went for a nap. We'll try again another day. As I said, she wasn't feeling well, and it was better left alone. She came to me after nap and wanted to work on making it "even BETTER". So, note to self, sometimes school just needs to wait.

     

    Day 4 is also a day for editing. Making sure grammar rules are being followed(at an age appropriate level), punctuation, capitalization, etc.

     

    Day 5, which could be a few days later, is presentation. Getting them to read their paper out loud. DD7 LOVES this! She does it for her sisters, brother and her daddy. We all make a big to do about it, as speaking out loud is hard. ***NOTE**** I speak to her siblings prior, they are not to correct her at all. That is NOT their place. They tend to be very critical. Her perfectionist streak can be paralyzing at times. So it's all about positive. As she gets older, we'll work through those issues gently.

    Any one stalking the mailman?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I'm back to stalking the mailman!!! Ordered Mcruffy science. I have been unhappy with everything else! Either it's all about writing and lapbooking, or about experiments with supplies I don't have or can't find! So this seems to fit the bill..... Just waiting on it now..lol

    I think dd13 just changed her mind!

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    My girls learned that really they weren't missing out on much by being homeschooled.

    Granted to do like their school they admit they like being homeschooled instead.

     

    Oh, I agree, it is fine that she returns to school, I have no issues with it, she'll do fine either way, but she didn't want to go back to the same school where her friends were.

     

    It is my opinion, that if a simple curriculum swayed her decision, then she really wasn't that keen on going back to school.

    I think dd13 just changed her mind!

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    My dd13 has been contemplating going back to school next year. This is fine, it is up to her. This was a trial year. HOWEVER, I mentioned we found a curriculum that she might be interested in. One Year Adventure Novel. She got so excited. However, if she's in school, I don't have funding for her curricula. And it isn't a cheap curriculum. So we sat down and had a discussion. IF she's in school, it'll be costly to get, on top of her school fees. She'll be really busy, and really won't have the time commitment to do the OYAN. While she wanted to back to school, she wasn't too keen on going back to her own school. This will be grade 9, so if she chooses a different school, it's for 1 year, and then we need to do all the paperwork again, and she won't have any long term friends again.

     

    So, after some thought, she is really wanting to try her hand at writing. She's been writing stories for a couple year, but struggles with various aspects of the creative process. If she stays home one more year, she'll have time to devote to the course! So she is leaning towards it.

     

    A couple months ago, she was wanting to go to school because she was lonely for her friends, but in the last 4 to 6 weeks, she has started making new friends within the homeschool community, and i think that need has now been met.

     

    So I may have my eldest girl home for next year too! WOOHOO!

     

    We'll see, she still has time to change her mind again, afterall, she is 13. But I'm getting excitement and spark here, and it's been lacking :)

    Started CLE, and loving it!

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Thank you for that! I'm thinking it'll be good.

     

    Since we started homeschooling, dd7 has asked alot of questions about God because we're doing a bible study. I use the scope and sequence from http://www.positiveaction.org I started her with the grade 1, and started at the beginning, in Genesis. I'm learning alot too! I have 12 years Catholic Schooling and we never touched on most of what we've looked at. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. There is so much more that I was ever taught!

     

    LOL...side track here... we were doing dishes and we were discussing the fact that the flood came and Noah was 600 years old, that boggles the mind. And that Abraham was 90 when he started fathering (more?) children. That led a whole other discussion, but it was lively and fun. All of us are learning and having fun. DS17 adds alot of 'interesting' facts to the discussion, gotta love teenage boys.

     

    Ok, back on topic...

     

    When we did the samples from the CLE LA, and there were a couple little stories that include God, she was hooked. I like the fact that there are character building, morals, and bible facts! It is fabulous, the curriculum is great and those other things are a true blessing!

    Started CLE, and loving it!

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We ordered the full set for dd7. It is going good. It's almost right where she is, so this is good. She was in a french school, so she hadn't any english LA instruction until I brought her home. So we've made good progress! She loves it! She is so sweet when it comes to the stories, which include God in them. She adores this curriculum. I'm happy as she enjoys doing it. It introduces many things. We are still doing AAS with it though, I'll never give it up!

     

    I'm very curious about the reading program. Anyone know it?

    Can any one recommend a Bible Study for mom?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I did a search for the community Bible Study, and there are none in my area.

     

    Thank you for the recommendations, I'm still considering everything. There is a BSF nearby. I'm going to contact the coordinator to learn more about it.

     

    I've found a few sites that I'm intrigued, some from the shared links, thank you!

     

    I found one that I loved. They do an online study for free. It is designed for it to be in groups, but it started already, so I'll go independently and join a group next round.

     

    So there is a good start :) I really like all the video clips, the blog. So I am going to go with that a little and explore and grow my faith! I'm looking forward to it.

     

    You know when I started homeschooling last year. I was going for secular, but some where along the road, the path I followed has led me closer and closer to God, wanting to learn more, be more. It started out simply by finding something to help me be sure my kids learned about God and the Bible, and now I hunger for it personally. It started by having to find a way to explain a some verses here. A concept there. Seeing a great video clip, or a Christian song that reached out to me. A book that had me in tears. A chapter in the Bible that spoke to me, like it was written to me. A conference that is being held literally 5 minutes away.

     

    He's speaking to me.

     

    I didn't expect that, but that need has grown, and grown. So I'm embracing it.

    I need help. or a kick in the rear

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    :grouphug: Amanda

     

    I totally get where you are! I'm new to homeschooling too. And I felt like I was doing a lousy job. But it does take the cooperation of the kids.

     

    Sometimes it's a matter of having a family meeting with them. Give it to them straight. This is what will be expect, list the x, y, z that you need. Create a reward system of some form, a great week can get them to say the $ store with $2 for treats. But have a penalty system in place. For each time you say, "please sit and get your work done...." they lose a nickel. Or something to that effect. For my younger one, she gets a littlest Pet Shop($3). But it takes x amount of days, and for each day she gives me a hard time, it's one day longer until she gets her 'prize'. As she gets better, ironically, the longer stretch in between. We started at 3 days, then 8 days, now we're at 12 days. I'll peak somewhere around 15. I can't keep buying toys, but a little reward of some kind makes a difference. When it warms up, it'll be a walk to the slurpie store ;).

     

    You have a couple really little ones there. Look at their schedules, and try to school around that. Do they sleep in? Get the big guys up earlier to start their day. Nap time? That is one on one for mom.

     

    If you get some solid hours in when the littlest ones are sleeping, the older ones with thrive. Have independent work ready for when the littles are up.

     

    I don't have little ones like you, but I have a home daycare, so I have 3 under 3 as well as the 3 I school. So it can be done! I had to move dd11 to work in her room as everything bothers her. She fought hard, then realized that she works very well in her room. I check in frequently and make sure it's getting done. But we went from no work to nearly done the year :)

    Child who wont sleep

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Melatonin is safe for kids. My girlfriend has a son that uses it at the recommendation of their dr. It's not needed long term. Sometimes, for whatever reason, their rhythm gets thrown off, and their brains don't let them settle. They aren't getting their natural sleep signals. This will help get them on track.

     

    I use it with 2 of mine on occasion. My 7yo and 11 yo are the same way. It is in spurts. I need to start the 11yo on it again, she has been up late with the 'mom, i can't sleep' syndrome, keeping me up. It DOES work.

    Any one stalking the mailman?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    My CLE LA came today... or rather dd7 CLE..lol.

     

    And it is perfect! It starts right where we are now. We did good in picking it out :) She is at a movie with her daddy and sister right now. Dh has the day off, so they went to see the Justin Beiber, I'm sure dh is so thrilled :tongue_smilie:

     

    My French came today, and the Magic School Bus came yesterday. As well as the replacement cd's I've been waiting for for nearly 4months. I'm not pleased, I know I'll not be ordering from that place anytime soon.

     

    So all my packages are here, I can quit stalking for awhile..lol

×
×
  • Create New...