mommy4ever
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Posts posted by mommy4ever
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I hate loose papers, so I use a comb binder. There is lots of left in it so easy to scan and print as needed.
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Here the cut off is Mar 1st. Meaning for grade 1 you must be 6 my March 1st to attend. Which means my oldest 3 were 6 entering grade 1, as their b'days were late March, April and June. My youngest was 5 when she started grade 1, as her birthday is November.
She is 7 now and classified as grade 2. Although she has crossed over into grade 3 curriculum in some areas now.
It's always interesting to see the differences in different areas of the country/continent.
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I had our school board conference yesterday. I'm totally on point with things.
I was talking to the facilitator, and commented that I don't spend alot of time of science, social, art, etc. Most of our day is LA and Math.
Then I started thinking about it. We do indeed spend at least 3/4 of our school time on these things. Our school day is 3 to 4 hours lately, as dd WANTS to do more things now. Math usually takes us 40 minutes. We'll do spelling for 30. Do 15-20 of FLL, 20 of WWE, then we have an assortment of workbooks she loves to work in. One is reading comprehension, there are 3, yes THREE others of various grammar workbooks. It puts the practical behind the FLL. I want her to see it, put it in use. But she loves them ;) So it's all good. We also have one for writing prompts, she's been begging to write stories... so we got her the tool. We are finishing OPGTR as well, she reads extremely well, and we are behind in the reading lessons vs where she stands in her reading, but I still want to do it all, to be sure she doesn't miss something. So we can do that for 20 minutes. She hasn't struggled with any steps for months now. Then she likes to read out loud. She will read to me, her dolls, the dogs, really anything ;) So that takes us up to nearly 3 hours. Then we'll work on a lapbook, poster, or something for the other subjects for an hour or so..lol.
Is any one else really heavy into the Math and LA?
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I just touched base with our facilitator, requirement of our province. I got all updated with her....
So, dd11, who was literally 3 months behind in December is now almost on target.... and not only has she been busy getting it done, she has been submitting real quality work. The facilitator is extremely pleased, especially after I had expressed my concerns in December. I really love that some assignments work for 2 areas. IE, dd had to make a presentation for Social, she opted to use power point, and as a result, it qualified as well for the power point presentation that was required for LA..lol. I'm starting to like this!
For dd7, I was worried as I am not using the boards curriculum for her work. I didn't know what to submit.... ends up that despite the impression that I had, that we were behind, she has completed her grade 2 math requirements. She has to have 2 samples more for her LA, plus a reading assessment(we will record her reading and submit it), and she is done her grade 2 LA. Science we have a couple lapbooks to complete. Social is the only one we aren't near done yet. But I suspect by mid-March we will be done. That will leave only the fun stuff, art, music, Health and bible study that we have to complete. I had no idea we were making such good progress in everything.
That said, we are progressing in Math and LA, despite having her grade 2 curriculum done, the facilitator will just mark off things for grade 3, so in the fall when we start, we will have already completed those things. Which means, we'll have a good headstart, and if we have struggles we'll have lots of time to address it, or if we don't, we'll start grade 4!
I had concerns about this path, but I'm really finding that I do like it! Having the resources for so cheap for dd11 is fantastic! Her curriculum was $120 for the year. We opted to add our own bible study and a french curriculum. So another $50. We chose this as it follows what she was doing before. It is more virtual school for her, but she is really thriving, so this is good!
For dd7, I put together my own items but that will meet the standards, and will do so again, it is more costly. This is fine though, as she is thriving and exploring things. We have alot more freedom this way.
For Jr. HIgh next year, dd11 has asked to do the same program, using the board provided curriculum, but to do their "home room" program. This means she can log into class seminars and conferences. DD13 has been doing that, and again, another successful learning. I didn't have to check in for that one, as she is easier to check, as I have a report card that i see completed as things are marked.
This is going from a semi-successful homeschool year to a very successful one now!:lol:
I'm very very pleased. And so proud of my girls for getting it together!
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I am looking for something for next year. By then dd7 will have completed FLL1 and most of 2 if not all. And WWE 1 and 2.
I have discovered she LOVES workbooks. I had picked up a few Evan Moores that are available locally, and the adores doing them.
I notice CLE is very much workbooks, this is good. now couple questions, I noticed the grade 3 has diagramming in it. It that when they start it? Or did it start in grade 2. Would it be best get a few booklets and introduce it to her there? Or will it be ok to just do 3. From what i've seen of FFL2, there is no diagramming yet.
Will she be ready for CLE grade 3 having done the 1 & 2 of FLL and WWE?
Am I seeing it right that each workbooklet is a mixture of all components of la? Grammar, spelling, writing, penmanship?
Just thinking ahead :bigear:
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I do it. While I am schooling the youngest, I provide quiet activities. I try to do high concentration things at naptime. The older girls use big head sets with their mp3's to block noise out if it's bothersome. DD11 prefers to work in her room, and dd13 it varies. She'll take the netbook to my scrapbook desk and work there.
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I don't have a school room. I have a book shelf in the main area where we work for reference books and such, the kids each have carts that store what they are working on. The 2 older girls carts fit under the computer table(houses 3 computers) and the little one's cart slides in beside shelf. I have books in a couple boxes under my scrapbook table elsewhere. I do wish we had a wall to put up charts and such.. i need to think on where...we haven't many walls on this level.
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That is fantastic! Hopefully it's a trend ;)
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Also I recently bought some cheap plastic magazine/file holder thing. I put their books for the day in it and they can take it and set it in front of them.
Can you tell me advantages of the drawer cart?
Thanks!
I like the cart as it can be moved to where she is working. At her little desk or the table, or by the couch. Everything she needs is there. It is also very easy for her to put things away. We do have a book shelf, but I always have issues pinpointing the item I need. Because it migrates if some one else uses it.
This way, she looks for the tag and puts it in that drawer. The downside to this particular cart is that it doesn't fit a binder. But as I said originally, we don't really like the binders anyway at this point. My older kids have a different cart that does fit binders and low enough to tuck under the computer desk for storage, but each drawer holds several items. They do have heavier text books, so it works better in those ones.
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How old is she? I have an older one that likes to do that preteen tantrum.
That is a whole new bag of worms. With her, it is a very rigid approach when her days are full of bad behavior. Her tears and crocodile tears and her way to bully me to getting away with things. When you're at home schooling, there is no time for that. I have taken a pretty rigid, stern approach with that child. I also have looked at self esteem. We have started her in karate and she stands taller, more confident and less and less tantrums. They do occur. And they do get ignored, and if it carries on, she loses privileges. She lost computer privilege other than school work. She lost her gaming. It didn't take long and attitude changed.
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Thank you! So far so good:thumbup1:
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I keep the days across the top. For both her and I. Then it forms a list as you fill it out.
I was having a lot of issues with tears, so i set up a reward system for her. The first one was 5 school days with no tears, she got to pick a Littlest Pet Shop($3 item). Now it's 8 days of no tears, then it'll be 12....16....20. I can't afford to do it forever...lol. But in the past after 4 or 5 rewards, it becomes habit.
If you would like I can send my planner page. I'd have to send it in pdf format, but you'd have it to recreate in word or software of choice.
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Her agenda is laid out as a daytimer. I just use it in terms of writing what she is to accomplish. I'd like to have her agenda be a weekly grid, and I can just put in what she is doing that day. I don't specify what order she has to work it. Somedays she is into LA first thing and gets it done, other days she'd rather have her art first. So I just want a space to create a checklist for her, but dated for every school day.
My lesson planner is simply laid out. One column for subject/workbook names and 5 columns for each day of the week, I'd want something similar for her. She likes to check off what she's completed. So I want to recreate that for her but as an agenda.
Clear as mud, huh?
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Ok, i did my tidy, took a little while, dd7 has a tummy bug, and life is still happening for the other 3.... So, anyway, I started posting here, but decided to do a new thread, as this one is daunting to most people as it is so long.
Here is the link:
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2383144#post2383144
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We are still a novice homeschooling family. I am approaching 1 full year soon. So we are still learning as we go.
I have struggled hard this year keeping on track. Getting sick for over 2 months didn't help. Then having difficult children on occasion also didn't help.
I started last year with the workbox idea. Great idea, not practical for me. This fall I found the filesystem thread and LOVED it! I went hard organizing our files. But in the end it didn't work for me either.
So taking what was great from the workbox, the file system and various other things I've read, we have a special blend of organization happening. And for us... it works. I hope that it can spark an idea to help some one who isn't quite comfortable with what they are doing.
What we are doing. This may be a little unsettled in terms of fluency, as I am just kinda blurting it out, putting it out there.
First of all, the workbox system. It has so many awesome qualities, but it was time consuming in the evenings for me. We are a really busy family, there are 4 kids, and each of them has 2 activities, as do dh and myself. We are busy, so trying to get all the corrections done, putting them away, then sorting for the next day was overwhelming. Perhaps I simply wasn't doing it right.... but regardless, it wasn't working.
The Filing system didn't work for us either.... the reason being is I'm a paper magnet. It over runs me! With everything initially filed it was BEAUTIFUL! Everything was ready to go. Then life happened, I ended up quite sick for 2 months. The pages where there, it was great! But getting things put away wasn't happening. Following the plan when i wasn't able to read to dd7 for some of her work was very hard and it fell apart. So I did tweak it, I really, really wanted this to work. But it didn't.
Now at this point dd11 was falling behind. I was so shocked at her. So out of necessity to get her on track, I pulled her agenda out, and layed out everything for her. I became a hard-@ss about it. I know bad mom. But she had been telling me she was doing it, when in actuality she stared at it then put it away. SO, we were behind. We are nearly on track after 6 weeks of mom being mean. I laid it out clearly. She can work ahead, but not fall behind. It was my fault, I wasn't holding her accountable, so she was able to fall behind. Lesson learned. Now I check several times a week to see exactly where she is.
The agenda was working SO well, that dd13 asked me to do the same for her. She isn't behind at all. She will finish in plenty of time, but she doesn't want to fall behind either. So I started going through her things....We have a ton of things that get printed, the girls are with an online academy, so the older girls lessons are all digitally delivered..ugh more paper. DD13's had yet to be completely printed from the website and I was faced with the nightmare of paper again. We haven't liked binders much, they are bulky; getting workbooks bound was great, but it adds up in a hurry. So what to do?
I decided to get a comb binder. This has been a Godsend for us. I use it for EVERYTHING.
So from the agendas, and binding a few things for dd13, a new system has slowly been evolving.
DD7's curriculum is my own blend of resources, with only a couple things from the school. It would be cheaper to just use the school stuff, but she is doing so well with what I am doing, why mess with it.
Here is what I have been doing for dd7.
I use a cart to store her current curriculum in, something I really did like from the Workboxes. I have a 10 drawer cart, and have labels put on that indicate what SUBJECT is in there. Everything is also easy to put away! Everything is ready for her to use. It's organized simply with the tags, which are pictures of Littlest Pet Shops..lol. So appealing to her.
I created my "lesson plan" much like had done for the filing system. How many lessons or pages divided by amount of days/weeks we have left to get it completed. I have created a book:
Here is the inside - it's pretty basic, it was a made quickly, and simply. Next year I'll make it a little prettier. you'll notice I check things off as we complete them. And everything is written in pencil in case I need to adjust things.
This is MY book of lesson plans, not something for dd.
She has an Agenda:
This I had done in the fall by Staples. I will likely make my own over summer instead. I like many things about it, but it is lacking in other areas. Dd loves that each week has her photo on it..lol. It was really cheap to have done though, it was $10. She likes being able to check things off as she completes them. Each day when she is done I go through her agenda, make sure everything was done, and check it off in my lesson plan. I tweak where needed, and write in the next days' work. Next year I'm thinking a grid, no times. Somethings are unexpectedly fast, and other things that should take 10 minutes can take an hour. So no times, just blocks, just a grid.
The comb binder is fantastic. I group everything by chapter for most subjects. It takes little space in her cart, and is easy for her to use.
Here are the remaining 5 chapters of her social studies:
The 6th book is a glossary for me, some Metis pronunciates etc. Something to refer too. I did her math mammoth the same way. Every chapter is a new booklet. It takes minimal place in her boxes, and when done I put it away the file box we had been using. But there is no mess, no loose papers.
Here is what I did with Writing with Ease:
Any worksheets that we need, I print ahead and create a booklet for her. She isn't overwhelmed by paper. It is tidy, and organized. I find her very motivated with math again, as each work book is 10-25 pages long. So she isn't feeling there is no end.
You can see most of my covers are bright colored cardstock, I didn't print on them, I just marked them in pencil what subject and chapter. I plan to reuse the card stock and combs as much as I can. Any subjects that have sticker charts, those became the cover page. Inside I hope to put adhesive envelopes to hold the stickers so I don't need to search everywhere for them.
Her spelling is with AAS, I have been creating sheets for her spelling like the one above for WWE. I divide it in 2 parts, we do 1/2 the words and 1/2 the phrases and sentences on one day, and the rest the next day. I NUMBER the page for her, so she KNOWS how much she is doing. I have found her reluctant to do her spelling tests if she doesn't know how much.
This works, it's just a little pre-planning for mom, but it does go a long long way.
So, now, I'm finding it takes me like 5 minutes to get dd7 set up for the next day. I have time to help her and her sisters, rather than be trying to put things together for them. Or sorting through files that are no longer working because they are ahead in one thing but not done elsewhere.
I haven't kept a lesson plan for the older girls, as it is in their agenda. I just check things. They let me know when things get sent it, I make note of it being sent. It's been working great!
I did make a couple of fun books for them. They are tracking their phys. ed hours and what they have been reading. So they all have a 10 page booklet with the month on each for them to write what they are reading, what activities they are doing. DD7 has a book report one as well. Just a spot for the title and a place to draw something she liked from the book. The last month we'll do a narration of what the book was about. Nothing deep.
I don't know how clear my description was, but I do hope for those having difficulty, it may trigger something to help you create your own system.
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LOL.. I will put together what I"m doing. It's a little scattered yet, but even with THAT it's better than the filing for me. I'm in the middle of cleaning our school area, so then I'll take time to map out what we're doing.
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Ok, we tried and failed with our filing system. It has it's benefits! I love, LOVE the concept of it, but unfortunately, it isn't for me.
TOO many loose papers. I have a paper dragon to start with and it was feeding the dragon way way too much.
I'm working on some thing new, nothing I've seen before, but positive it's been done. And it is way easier for me over all.
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Well, I thought I'd post again. We are into this unit now, about 3/4 done, and she seems to grasp it. I'm not hitting a lot of resistance, but I do sit with her and make sure she is dealing with it. She seems to think it is fun to do. Perhaps it is all about being ready and willing to do it. She loves to read the clocks. She is getting better and better at it. So she is grasping it.
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We are going to be doing this chapter in 1-2 weeks. I looked at it, it doesn't seem to be a huge stretch, but then she hasn't sat down with it to do it. If it's too frustrating, I'll push it back. No big deal.
A thought, Maria is great at responding to concerns, so I'd email her and see if she has any suggestions.
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We've been plodding along. We're not where we'd hope we'd be at this time of year, but all it means is a couple more weeks of school, providing the kids and I stay the course.
DD7 would love to play all day, but she is a trooper and will sit to work :) She still gets literally HOURS and HOURS of play. She is very much into imaginative play now, where a year ago it was nearly non existent.
DD13 has decided to return to school. She misses her friends. So in the fall she goes back.
DD11 is the one bucking the most, but she doesn't want to return to school, so I've had to take a real stern approach, and she's sucked it up, and really trucking through now.
Myself I've gone through various systems to try to keep on top of things.... and most have failed me..lol. I did invest in a comb binder punch, and started doing things in batches that way. DD7 thrives to complete a workbook. Even if it's a workbook and WWE copy work :) Just the act of completing it seems to make her stand taller.
So I have been binding our stuff up in manageable chunks. Mathmammoth is done up by chapter. Social studies by Unit. Health by Unit.
I've done this for dd13, and she likes it too. It also makes life so much easier for planning!
I created, for the remainder of this year, a planner. It is a weekly planner. I am working on one for each. I have plotted everything for the remainder. I know life happens(does it ever!) and it will likely not stay exact. But I check things off as they are completed. But they all have agendas that I write in daily. Stuff that doesn't get completed gets carried over. It works great for the older 2 to not goof off. Illness is one thing, I'd just push it all back and gradually catch it up, but not simply because they don't want to. This is how dd11 has fallen behind. Every night, I transfer their days work to their agendas. If I do more than that there is the.. oh that is a light day, so I can not do somethings today and just catch up then....
I have been getting some real whinyness from dd7, so I am dealing with it. She likes rewards. She'll earn it, for good attitude over a number of days. With each subsequent reward to earn, it is a longer and longer time between, eventually weaned off. It has worked for many other areas. So we'll try it hear too. There are little rewards, today it was a lollipop for getting it all done. Those are standard little things. A hot chocolate for a good unit assessment. etc.
This is a little scattered, I'm a little scattered, we're off to karate!
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There was a post, which I can not find now, about some one who started a book club with both homeschool and ps friends for their child. I'd love to try this out.
But not sure how to go about it, and haven't found the orginal post either.
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We did so great in September, then I got sick. The older girls kept going, some, they are not where I'd hoped to be. And the little one has barely done anything work wise.
I'm having a hard time getting back on schedule. I'm not so concerned about being 'behind', but we just aren't getting back to it. I'm *STILL* sick, coughing, so it's hard with so much out loud with dd6.
I can't get the girls to focus for really any length of time. I'm starting to stress here.
DD11 is bucking long and hard. She fights tooth and nail about doing anything at all. She has a really poor attitude and tries to cry her way out of any consequence. And when that works, it's a full blown tantrum. I told dh we are not to cave, as it's gotten ridiculous.
If I don't sit next to dd6 the whole time she's working, she disappears. Then it's a battle to get her to sit down unless I put my 'mean mommy' hat on.
DD13 is doing ok.. but she would rather not be working... she will though. She's lost momentum by quite a bit.
How do I get us back on track?
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Tobin's has them, so does Amazon.
I'll probably do the butterfly in the spring with her, for the novelty of it. Those I get locally from a lady who raises them for weddings.
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It was released today :) And I got it. DD6 loves to color. After seeing the samples on the Yahoo Group, I was excited.
So today, it was purchased and printed! I decided we'd take what we'd done from the e-book and put it into the lapbook. We aren't too far into it, so it isn't too major. Now we are nearly done the first 2 weeks, dd did a little coloring, and she has a visual for her learning! Plus something to show to dad, who is always asking her.
I hope there are lapbooks for the other topics for next year! I think it is a great way to do it. LOVE it. And it is simple to use. Otherwise, I think I'll trudge forward and create my own.
We have a tadpole kit coming, that I'm going to have her create a lapbook for. :lol: That should be great fun!
Funny thing about lapbooks though, dd11 HATES them, dd13 thinks they are 'cute' but not overly interested, but likes mini offices.
Can't wait to see what else comes out! WTG ES!
I'm almost afraid to ask....or to admit (about virtual schools; Connections & WIVA)
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
You are looking out for the best interest of your family. Using the Virtual school that is free while going through a bankruptcy, makes sense to me! Rather than not have resources, now you do.
I am not in the US, but in Canada, and my kids are enrolled with a virtual school. DD13 is fully aligned with the province using the school curriculum, dd11 uses our choice of math and bible study but is fully aligned. DD7 is fully aligned and uses mostly handpicked curriculum. I get funding for all of them. If I use the school curriculum it leaves a lot of funding to put them in other lessons. They have taken art classes, swimming lessons, wall climbing clinic. They have gone to a ballet, orchestra. All with the funding provided by the gov't.
I spend more on dd7 curricula, as she is all over the board grade wise, advanced reading and math, but grade level for spelling, writing, social, science curricula. So I like hand picking. It is all covered by our funding, it just means a little less of extra things.
That said, the older 2 were in school until recently, so they adapted better to the school board curricula, dd6 had just started grade 1 and is now home. So she has adapted to what I am doing a lot more!