mommy4ever
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Posts posted by mommy4ever
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OH whining, the older 3 are roughly the same ages as my older 3 too. They are masters of the whine. The only thing I have learned to do, that works, is add a consequence.
Here is what is going on here:
DD10 spends a lot of time being sent to her room. I tell her it is understandable to be frustrated, angry etc, but it is NOT ok to inflict her uncontrolled emotions on everyone else. IF she needs to cry out of frustration, she is to go in her room. If she is going to be disrespectful to those around her, she needs go to her room. If her 'headache' is so bad she needs to cry and carry on, she needs to go to her room. There is no audience in her room. There is no sympathy in her room. There is no maliciousness in her room either. There has been a time or two that I have told her if she doesn't go, she will have help going... she might be as tall as me, but I can still carry her. That usually makes her laugh, and problem solved as the attitude is gone. The poor poor me attitude is slowing down.
I made a comment on headaches, poor thing DOES get them. And what works the best IS for her to laydown. But she can be so stubborn and worked up, it escalates into a major splitting headache. We have talked and talked about it. She knows that if she takes a little time out in the dark and quiet, the headache becomes manageable or even goes away. But when the headache is there she won't, usually it needs her to have a fit, then she goes to her room, lays in the dark for 10 to 30 minutes and the headache has eased off. But there are many times I feel she is using headaches as an excuse to not do something. So time in the room, is boring when you are feeling fine, so it is short lived. She is doing it less and less. It is tiring, frustrating, and irritating. BUT, be consistent with any consequence being imposed. If she doesn't want to spend the day in her room.... then she had better get it together and be the charming, funny girl that she IS, not the brat she is acting out as.
MIL has noticed a change in her. She notices that dd10 doesn't give me a hard time at all, yes she will pout and have a little attitude, but not like it was. But if she thinks that i may tell her no... she asks dad first :lol:. For non school things, not a big issue to me, it isn't in defiance of me, it's trying to avoid being told no. Dad will often give in, big softy that he is. HOWEVER, when it comes to school, he knows that mom is the Head Mistress, and tells her to suck it up and get it done. I am learning that switching curriculum doesn't help her. I proved that by giving her grade 1 level work, she's in grade 5, and was still saying too hard! Translation... i don't want to. The stinker.....
Kids will be kids. If whining works, then they whine.
As a parent, i have learned to take a stand against whining. As a result, I get less and less resistance, but it takes time. Yes, I'm the 'mean mom'. I am the house with rules in the neighborhood. But I am also the mom that gets the phone calls from parents, instructors and teachers that is told what delightful, respectful, helpful children. We are the family, when we walk into a restaurant, people shake there heads and sigh expecting to deal with tantrums and ruin their dining experience, but then those same people stop by to tell us what wonderful well behaved children we have. Their worst behavior is at home. But with consistency, it lessens. Just be strong!
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I used Math mammoth with dd6. She loved it. There are many suggestions for games, websites. We used manipulatives although it isn't formally part of the program, although later in the book they do use some.
DD loves the card games that are in the book, even the older kids like to play with her. Not as hands on as MUS, but it has worked wonderful ;)
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I am partially there, only because some of what we have is 2 levels, and other things we didn't finish yet due to our late start.
What I need for fall:
French curriculum(undecided, still looking)(grade 2, 6 and 8)
Chemistry Prelevel 1
Recorder manual (dd6 wants me to teach music not paid lessons...which is fine)
Art - Looking at Atelier for dd6
Religion - have it selected, just can't remember the name..lol
Possibly later in the year, if we finish what we are working on, we may go to the next level. I'm not too worried about it, if we do we do, she is progressing well, we'll just go with the flow:
WWE2
MathMammoth 3
Physics
SOTW vol2
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Oh, there are a couple online prelevel 1 in there too...just scroll to the bottom of the screen.
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Real Science 4 kids is having them starting this fall for 2 of the Level 1 classes.
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I understand that anxiety well. I have been there the last 3 months.... :grouphug:
That she is wanting to learn, and anxious to learn is a huge kudos to you. It means she is enjoying learning, and that is important!
I don't think many children at the end of grade 1 are reading chapter books, truth be told. That they are claiming they are, I wonder if maybe they are being read chapter books or if their chapter books is more of a reader? I know from my own journey to reading, and that of my 3 older children(all were in school, mind you), none of them read chapter books until grade 3, last half if I remember correctly. One not until 4th grade. DD6 was just assessed, and she is doing well according to the school board. She isn't anywhere ready to read a chapter book. She can spell decently within the scope of the spelling rules she learned, but spells phonetically for anything else(so cute).
See if you can't grab the Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading from the library. This is considered a 2 year program, and go through the lessons, you should find out where she is. It's a fun program with lots of silly sentences, some little stories, and some poems and tongue twisters mixed within the rules. DD6 loves this.
Math, just keep plugging a way. Play games with her, adding dice. Taking a deck of cards you can work on additions. 6's? Keep only cards 1-5, and play a version of go fish. Ask for the addends you need to make 6. Works up to 10. It won't seem like math, it's FUN. Also, if she is being slow, change up her counters to some yummy chocolate chips, smarties, skittles, etc. ...can't eat them until we do our work AND go over it to make sure we did a good job. Don't forget stickers! On great worksheets, spelling tests. Even make a chart for after completing lessons.
And mom, if you are finding you are falling behind... take a deep breath... it will even out. The more you do it, the more organized you will be the easier it will be for you. Look for a planner, and sit down one evening a week, and plan for the week. Plan for 4 days, and use day 5 to finish up what didn't happen.
Remember, especially in math, if your dd has mastered something, and it's just SOOO repetitive, just do a few from each exercise to make sure it's good, and move on to the next. I have learned this with Math Mammoth. It's a fantastic program with lots of practice. But sometimes, they don't need the extra practice, and it's ok to move forward.
She is learning.... so you are doing your job. You need to take a BIG breath. What other children are doing, doesnt' matter. That your child is making steady, solid progress is better than rushing her and not getting the concepts. This is why we homeschool.... to stop where we have to focus when needed. Schools won't do that for your child, only you can.
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I SO wish we could get some $$ from the state! That would help out so much!
I think this is an anomaly in Canada, but I can't say we are the only one, we are very fortunate. It is a relief that next year I won't need to decide between paying a bill or getting books. We registered late as my kids were in school until the end of March, so any purchases were out of pocket, and I don't believe in cheaping out on education, I don't feel I have the know how at this point to be able to work with a $0 budget. I bow to those that can make it work with admiration. We'd make it work either way as we no longer have the kids registration fees and bus fees to pay, that is a savings of $1200+/year, so we wouldn't have a $0 budget to work with. But this makes it SO much easier when it doesn't have to come from the family budget for a good portion of things.
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Here, it's fairly simple, but not as simple as handing in a NOI. How involved it is depends on how you plan to register.
You can register with any regular school boards as a homeschooler, as far as I know; but most families opt to register with a homeschool board. there is a Notice of intent that the homeschool board will send to the resident school board, and they are able to get any school records.
We have 3 options in how we register. Option 1 fully aligned. To most school boards it means teacher led, like online or correspondence with the parent home to assist. This program will meet the provincial guidelines. Option 2 - Blended. This is where some are teacher led, a minimum of 50% and the remainder the parent decides on. Option 3 - Traditional this gives the parent full control.
As a traditional homeschooler, you file your intent with the school board of choice, they deal with the gov't notifications. You put together your educational plan, if you want the facilitators are happy to assist. Then you meet 2 times a year, to show proof of learning - a portfolio, and may meet or talk by phone or email some where in between.
With the blended and fully aligned, there is more board involvement. More tasks met and done on time. A plan still needs to be made but is made for the most part by the school board,, and only partially by you, and there is alot of paperwork to send in.
We also get funding available from the gov't. The traditional homeschool families have the least funding for both the board and the families. Blended the board gets by % of how much is teacher led and how much is parent led. They get the most for fully aligned. They don't hand over the $. You need to have approval for some things and others are on a pre-approved list. It's not alot, but it off sets the costs of curriculum and outside lessons. It assures that even the lowest income families can get some quality curriculum for their kids. A family layoff won't force the kids back to school, as long as one parent can be home, it doesn't matter, the kids will have their curriculum funds, so they aren't trying to work for a $0 budget or using grocery money for books. If a parent can't buy and submit receipts, there is the option of PO from various retailers. If well budgeted, it can go a long way, by using consignment and used book stores and ebay. Buying multilevel books, goes a long way too. Or build a living book library at home, and then just getting math curriculum and grammar....
You can opt out of funding if you chose, but you can't opt out of being registered with a school board, or dealing with a facilitator.
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What are the regulations in your state or province for homeschooling?
Here we must be registered with a school board, this can be with the school system itself or with a private homeschooling board. We also have to achieve the learning outcomes of 1 of the 2 paths. One is fully aligned with the provincial education guidelines or a more of general guideline.
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http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store there are several ebooks
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I am a big fan of their products :)
We have OPGTR in paper back - LOVE it. I had a none reader in April, she is now reading beyond her grade level! (which is 1..lol) Don't have the cards, we use index cards.
FLL have the pdf - love it. DD loves it. She walks around telling her older sibling the grammar rules they never learned. Doesn't she understand them in a practical way? No, but she'll piece that together in the next few years.
WWE - We have the pdf and LOVE it. DD6 loves the passages from various stories used. It is lengthening our literature list. The copy work is simple short and the outcome is wonderful printing. The result of using the WWE as double duty for penmanship, our facilitator was shocked at the quality of her printing :) Loves that there is punctuation that dd copies as well.
SOTW - have both the volume 1 and activity guide. We are thoroughly enjoying it. DD6 is curious and loves all the activities.
We don't have the audio, but have borrowed it from the library. We have the audio for FLL as a download, forgot about it, I will use it for the poems and aiding in memorization.
Other than math(or did you mention it?) and maybe some fun science experiments(we sprouted beans, put some celery in food coloring, planted seedlings in hanging planters, watching found tadpoles grow) and a spelling program you have everything!
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WOW interesting! A HS school board!
Our province has numerous homeschool boards. Some are extensions of the schools and offer online academy, or blended, so that kids can earn highschool credits to graduate with and obtain a formal transcript to apply to university with. Or traditional homeschooling, where you have a set of general outcomes that you do what you chose to in order to achieve them. Others are ONLY traditional, but if you ask, they have ways for your kids to earn highschool credits, or try with only a portfolio. Unfortunately that is very hard to do here.
Our province is very accepting of homeschoolers in comparison to other provinces or states, even though our universities are not. Change is coming, but it takes time.
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CONGRATS!! It sounds nerve wracking........
How old are your kids? And what fee is involved?
Capt_Uhura
Here we have to register with a school board. I registered with a homeschool board, they are not affiliated with any school what so ever. We also get funding for homeschooling, a portion that is allocated for the facilitators. Since I was late registering, meant the school board was receiving nothing from the government, meaning that we'd have to pay a fee to pay the facilitator. They waived the fee since I was willing to come into the office, so they didn't need to pay anyone, as I met with the superintendent instead(nerve racking..lol)
I'm happy that things went so well for you! My only question is this: Can you not pull your kids out of school in April and wait until the next school year to start??? Or, not do so much? What would have happened then?We have school until the end of June. When I pulled the kids out, I was already being threatened with truancy and being reported to the attendance board. It never happened, as I was indeed registered. Apparently I wasn't expected to do much..lol. But no one told me that :tongue_smilie:
That said, I let dd11 relax more than work, since she needed to unschool more...which in the school boards eyes was perfectly acceptable. She did math, reading, art and music. A little writing and history because SOTW was so much fun she felt left out.
However with dd6, she didn't need to unschool..lol. She fell right into it like a champ. We learned to read, we did math where she learned the concepts awesomely, we worked on penmanship, which the facilitator said she is extremely advanced... nicer printing than her sister(but her sister just doesn't try...lol), we did SOTW, WWE, FLL, OPGTR. AAS. RS4K. We did alot. No, it's not complete, I didn't expect it to be. But she is thriving.
The last 2 weeks however, she hasn't wanted to work a bunch.
Know what the facilitator told me this:
Don't plan your family around your schooling, plan your education around your family. It is acceptable to have days where you just do nothing but bond or read a book, or play games together.
Now I'm really reconsider leaving this board for another..lol. I am really leaning toward another that has more to offer in terms of group activities, workshops etc. So the kids are more involved in the homeschool community.
Time to meditate and pray over it and see what happens.
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Today I had to meet with the school board, to show that I didn't pull the kids out in April for an extended vacation, typically, they come to the home, but since I was a late registration, they waived the fees if I was willing to come in. So I did.
She was impressed. The kids did way more than expected, and in a format she said takes families a few years to achieve what I had done. YAY! She loved their 'report cards' aka homeschooler meets scrapbooker..lol. The samples of work were great. And was very impressed with dd6 printing and spelling. She said her printing was quite advanced :lol: and her spelling above grade level. She was shocked to see 3 or 4 word dictation. She asked about writing, and I told her we were doing oral narrations, so she read a short passage to dd and dd narrated for her very well. She loved doing it for the facilitator.
We not only met the requirements we were above and beyond.
I am relieved.
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Thanks :) We're still so new to homeschooling, it was intimidating to bring her home, but the program she has chose will ease that some :)
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DD13 will be homeschooling next year! After lots of research, and finding a curriculum that we both will like, she has decided to leave the school system! YES! She will not need to be leaving the house at 7:15 am in -30ºC weather anymore! Dh is a little concerned that she will buck and fight me. I don't think we will. She is a responsible girl and takes school serious. Some classes have instructors(languages, drama, art) so she is accountable to them. And we are working on a schedule. She will be working with a laid out curriculum that is broken down into 4 day weeks, so we should be be ok as most weeks we have the 5th day to do the 'homework' of things that didn't get done. This helps for the weeks we have an activity in the morning, even if afternoons are able to work, I have found we don't do alot any afternoon :) It's reading time. :lol:
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I totally relate! I love the idea of freedom! However, in looking at SL, it wasn't the right fit for us because it is American History base, which is important to us in terms of studies, but we are Canadian, so that needs to be more the focus.
I looked into other things. Love Angelicum and Kolbe. Again, being in Canada, I had trouble seeing it work.
But in doing some creative searching, I found a couple different choices in Canada. So we are exploring those. I am registering the little one with one of them they will help me lay out the year using materials I have been using, and helping selecting where we may have some holes but still allowing for the Classical education we started this year, and I think the older 2 with the other, this is much like Angelicum and Kolbe. The costs are respectable ;) It is more formally laid out, but the girls were involved in the selection. We can substitute some curriculum if we chose to, which at this point we are not. For them, I can rent the curriculum, so it is really inexpensive! They supply online conferences for some topics.
I am looking forward to not being up til midnight each night getting things set up for the next day. I need quiet time, and by time my teenager gets to bed, it is nearly 10, that hour after his sisters go to bed is when he opens up and talks to me, no attitude, complete openess, so I hate to get rid of it. He's in school all day, soon to be working full time, so I cherish that time...but I am tired.. I'm new, inexperienced, and haven't managed be become fully organized yet, I'm sure time wise it will be less. But with the 'school' we have our planning done. The older 2 kids will be able to set up their next day in about 5 minutes. The little one will still take a little time, but it is ONE child, not 3.
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I had emailed. They are planning on continueing WWE, but not FLL.
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I just hole punch and into a binder :)
I start using fast draft. When it starts to break up, then I use fast normal, and when that starts to break up, then normal. When that starts to break up, best :)
I think it is nearly DRY when I am done with it. I can get over 1000 pages on one hp cartridge.
I also use only black and white for most of the Math mammoth. DD6 doesn't seem to notice. I notice in a few, but since I read her the directions, I tell her right or left if there is a referral to color. DD11 doesn't refer to color at all.
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What an inviting space to learn in! I would love to create a space like that! Hmmmm..... wondering...wondering.....
Nope don't think we can pull it off.
It's beautiful!
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After thought, discussion, reading and prayer, I decided to enroll dd11 into a homeschool academy :) DD6 will enroll as well, but as a traditional homeschooler. She will follow the classical path that is working well for her. DD11 will do more academy classes, which will align her with the provincial curriculum.
As a result, dd13 is coming home too ;) She is also enrolling in the academy :) I am very happy. They have some great programs. It is Catholic, which I have been battling, and I have been in touch with the nun that is teaching, she is fabulous!
I have been reading about the programs, and am pleased. This is the best of both worlds, I will still be doing the teaching, they are doing the research to be sure the curriculum is aligned with the province, they will get all the credit they need to graduate. They will also be able to progress at the pace they need to be going. Accelerated where they are thriving, slower where it's more challenging.
What is really, really cool, is I think my favorite English teacher, is AT THIS ACADEMY! He was fabulous!
DD11 likes homeschooling, but we have had lots of challenges getting the right curriculum. So this is the happy medium for next year. It will follow what she has been doing at school. I'd love to follow WTM for her, but she is very resistant to change. She once cried for a week because I changed the photos on the wall. So, that she is working well at home is fantastic, but the change in approach was overwhelming :). We can always change the path the next year if we have to.
It will free up my time obsessing over curriculum and focus on teaching her, and getting her to thrive. Same with dd13. She was unsure about going home. The style changes, the loss of her peers during the day, was overwhelming, plus the thought of not having credit for university application. We are still behind in Canada, it is harder without a diploma. So she is coming home in the fall. She is an excellent student and will do well. Now she doesn't have the drama of the school bus, the classroom. Did I mention there was a sexual assault at her school recently? A stabbing at another school?
Now her grandparents will relax knowing their grand kids can get a diploma.
And I can educate the littlest with a Classical Education, and watch her continue to thrive!
I feel it's a bit of a cop out.
But I also think we can expand from there. Going from no homeschoolers to a grade 1 and 5 3 months ago, to a grade 8, 5, and 2 in the fall, is overwhelming to start with.
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I started using StartWrite to make copy writing work sheets for dd6. A girlfriend who teaches 4th grade was over yesterday and she was reviewing the portfolios I made for the girls with me. I was showing her 3 sheets. She looked at the first 2 and said this is a decent improvement. Looked at the 3rd and said it belongs in dd11 folder. I told her no, this was dd6 most recent worksheet. She was shocked. She said it is beautiful. Leaps and bounds more advanced than her 4th graders :) The improvement between April and now is huge.
I love StartWrite, I use the Italics and Italic cursive for the older. I make the copy writing worksheets, have dd11 do literature worksheets that I input. It has helped her writing because it makes her slowdown and form the letters. I also use it to make blank linked sheets for any other writing we do. Spelling, history, etc. You can adjust the font, midlines, etc. They respond well to worksheets I create on it. DD6 printing has come a LONG way in just 2 months she's been home.
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I use OPGTR, and my daughter has progressed really well. We use it along side AAS, which does have some phonics in it too, but works well with the spelling, they are laid out similar, imo that they compliment each other well.
MY Fathers World or Story of the World???
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I did SOTW with 2 this spring. Grade 1 and 5. it worked well. For the little one it means being read to from SOTW, look a picture books and read them. Map, coloring sheet, participated in the AG projects. And she answered a few questions orally.
For dd11 it meant the read out loud, read more on her own, read some picture books to her sister. She did outlines, timelines, and map work. As well as narrated what she'd read with prompts. She got the coloring sheet, and sometimes colored it,sometimes not. And participated in the AG project, which she loved.
DD13 was in school, but she'd rush in to see if we did history, and look at what we did, then sneak SOTW and read it herself :lol: Sometimes she asks to do the map or made an outline on her own, as she 'gets' that it is practice for building an essay.
DS15 comes in from school, looks at what his littlest sisters did and complained to me that I was doing history WRONG. It wasn't supposed to be FUN :tongue_smilie: