Jonibee
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Posts posted by Jonibee
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My dd just finished Algebra 2. She will be in 10th grade next year.
Any opinions on doing Apologia Physics before biology? We just found out that she has the opportunity to use an excellent tutor that my older son and daughter took this class with.
As an aside, can someone tell me how to search using more than one word? I tried to search physics AND biology in the same post, but the search results show all posts with either word --- and that's a lot of posts!
thanks.
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Looking for a science course for 8th grade -- can Rainbow Science be completed in 1 year? -- spending maybe 6-7 hours per week on it?
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I am fairly certain these are "stand-alone" volumes -- not necessarily following each other.
I just had to butt in and say I felt a twinge of jealousy in your post -- a homeschool store!! Wow. I've never seen one but what a blessing that must be!
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Math facts, math facts, math facts!!
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Y'all are NOT giving me hope here - you mean to tell me that my rising 6th grader's complaints that ALL her friends do a LOT less than she does (and unfortunately, she's about 2/3 right) aren't going to end in a year or two, as soon as she gets that extra little bit of maturity I keep thinking she's going to develop any minute now? You mean homeschooled kids don't automatically become more forward-thinking and studious as soon as they hit high school?
Sigh. Y'all are ruining my day.
I hate to be the bubble burster, but no, I have not found that homeschooled kids "automatically" become anything without a parent encouraging them to rise higher than the easy way out that looks so appealing to us all. . . :tongue_smilie:
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My dd, grade 9, took a co-op class in chemistry. The college professor required the kids to buy the A Beka book, but then taught off the cuff and told the kids to find all their answers to his self-designed assignments on the internet. My dd covered chapters 1-4 before bailing out of this class. (Lesson learned here regarding co-ops, but this post is not about that!)
Then at home, I bought the Red Wagon tutorial for the Apologia text, which she finished through module 5. Then she just fried and cried and gave up.
I have on schedule for her to study biology next year (like her siblings before her did in grade 10). Can we redeem what she has done and call it Introductory Chemistry on her transcript? In addition to what she has covered, what topics do you think should be covered for an introductory course? She will study chemistry again, in grade 12, perhaps in a community college setting.
This is what she has covered:
A Beka:
Introduction to chemistry
Matter: the substance of chemistry
Stoichiometry: elements and compounds
Stoichoimetry: chemical reactions.
Apologia: (She wanted to start at the beginning):
Measurements and Units
Energy, Heat and Temperature
Atoms and Molecules
Classifying Matter and its Changes
Counting Molecules and Atoms in Chemical Equations
She got an A in all of her A Beka assignments by the college professor, and got A's and B's in the Apologia material. She says she remembers nothing. :glare:
I am totally unfamiliar with chemistry (let's not talk about my own education, haha).
Has my dd studied enough to call this an introductory class? If not, suggestions of resources to add missing parts?
Thank you very much for your response. I am lost with figuring this out.
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I've graduated 3 to college already. Child number 4, now at the end of 9th grade says, "I really don't think I want to go to college. I want to cut hair."
Yada, yada, yada. I told her, "Well, just because you may have decided your future, your high school program is not changing. I have watched your brother and 2 sisters change their mind many times before arriving at their final destination."
And it's that pouty stage -- mom is not listening to me -- I have life all figured out and mom is not on board with me.
Our only IRL homeshooling friends are at the extreme low end of doing nothing and calling it something, getting through elementary math and calling it good. They have cell phones to play with and Facebook accounts and Wii and X-box that suck up the extent of their day. Oh, and the mall.
It's not that she wants to quit homeschooling and do her dream now, she just doesn't think that school should be hard (involve real thinking, KWIM?). I am such an oddball compared to everyone we know -- I actually make my kids ummm, DO stuff! -- and today I am winning the bad mother of the year award for just not listening to the dream of a 15-year-old.
Been there? :glare:
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Of all the planning, buying, scheduling, THINKING about homeschooling!
That's the place I'm in. Sixteen years now, graduated 3, still have kids in grades 10, 8 and 3.
Tired, really just tired. I'm tired of living homeshool and it's really just not always fun anymore.
How to refresh? How do you just put all that stuff in a box (physically or mentally) and walk away for a vacation for awhile? I'm so tired of my summers taken over by school planning, so that we can all do another school year together. I also work full time all year round from home.
Advice? Help? When you need it, how do you find that fresh excitement to be dedicated to homeschooling all over again?
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I'm on child 4 with these books, having used Spelling Workout for hmmm, 10 years? Why? It's simple, direct, easy. Like the previous poster, my kids don't stress over spelling. They think it's easy and why should I look for hard? I've been tempted to skip it altogether at times, but my kids have always enjoyed that they feel smart because it's so easy.
I don't remember how SWB says to do it. My kids do 2 pages Monday, 2 pages Tuesday, spelling test on Wednesday. We skip all the reviews, so it's just 30 lessons per year. It's always the first book of the year to get finished -- signifying that summer is really near. Routine is good.
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Of course, I follow general guidelines as to what courses we cover each year, making sure that by graduation, my student will have finished standard college prep courses required.
However, like one of the previous posters, each year has a focus per student -- maybe an area slacked off in this year for whatever reason, or something difficult to master. I pick two courses for an extra "focus" meaning diligent effort on their part and diligent follow-up checking on my part! For example this year:
My 10th grader's focus is AP language and Biology. She slacked off in science this year and so I want Biology to be thorough.
My 8th grader's focus will be essay writing and Japanese.
I find that when each year has a focus (at least to me -- they may not necessarily know that I have chosen this), the extra effort in that subject carries over for years afterward. When my kids spent a year writing 2 essays per week, the focus carried them through the rest of high school.
It helps me, too, to realize that not everything is equally important all the time.
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In our homeschool co-op, I taught essay writing. I work with words for a living. My kids are well-grounded at home in Saxon Math at 1-2 levels above their grade. We use Sonlight for lit and history. So those areas are covered.
We are quickly losing ground in science. No one wanted to teach general science to the 7th graders. One of the moms did it and she hated science. I did not know that until the end of the year. About 3/4 of the way through, I realized that there were no tests, and the kids were watching her do the experiments instead of doing them by themselves (with no lab write-up). So it's just general science, so what, right? But I find now -- because this lady was so glum about everything -- that now MY son hates science, too. Thinks it's boring. He says he never told me before because he wanted to stay in the class with his friends. I'm just sick about it.
The chemistry class was taught by a college professor who wanted to talk about his job all day rather than actually do anything with a text book. He made up his own assignments using internet research, which was probably fine for the kids who were getting it, but my daughter only lasted about 6 or 7 weeks of not being able to find any answers to her textbook, because he told them to research it on the internet (without providing websites). She was so frustrated by it and dropped out. Life happened and she never did any other science this year except for a chemistry kit from Home Science Tools and bacteria/petri dish experiments. She had the same woman I talked about earlier for Physical Science last year and NOW she tells that she was the same then, and my dd thinks she'll never like science.
Sigh. Let this be a warning to you if you're considering a homeschool co-op! You just sort of expect that the teachers will be good at what they teach. Lesson learned.
We're behind now. Well, my 8th grader isn't really, and he can do physical science at home and do all of the experiments. But I looked over the Apologia book and yes, well, many of the experiments look really lame to me. Is physical science really necessary anyway?
Then my to-be 10th grader. She's behind now! She did not do biology, because I let myself be swayed by friends over the awesomeness of the college instructor, and I let her take chemistry first which she just bombed.
I have the apologia biology text and the BJU biology text and the DIVE CD. She is taking an AP English class with PA Homeschoolers for 10th grade and she is 2 years ahead on math. And I want her to take an AP science class for 11th or 12th grade. Way to go, mom, with the overachiever mode, I know!
Decisions made: No more science courses at co-op. AT ALL. It's just not worth it -- doing "labs" in a group is highly overrated.
Thank you for reading this far. Any advice? I really just feel sick over how this has happened at this stage for me. I have graduated 3 already -- you'd think I would have known better.
Am I mad to think that my dd can do MORE than "just" biology next year? Can she finish up this chemistry credit? Should I make her work through the summer and if so, with what?
Should I combine my 2 kids with the DIVE biology together? Should I make my son drag through that Apologia physical science book alone? Should I get him the DIVE physical science? I've looked at it and think it looks great -- but it is beyond the Apologia book -- do my kids really need this level of physical science? I just don't know if I can pull off 2 complete science courses here at home. Combining seems like an easier choice. I am just tearing my hair out trying to figure out what to do!
If anyone has advice, I'd love to hear it!
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Considering I really want the end product but don't want to put all that much time into figuring it out? :tongue_smilie:
Is it worth it?
How much time is it likely to take me?
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What?!! They're supposed to be doing projects?!! :lol:
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If my dd finishes Saxon Advanced math this year, understanding it well, is it likely that she would be able to be successful in the AP Calculus class with PA Homeschoolers?
Or is there another level she should be looking at completing first before the AP Calculus? She likes math and is willing to put in the time, it's just the skill level I am asking about.
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My dd used Sonlight Core 100 this year for 1 English credit and 1 history credit. I'd say her average was 2 to 2-1/2 hours per day for both subjects.
In addition to reading, she wrote 2 essays per week and the Analogies book and Wordly Wise vocab.
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We also start our day with Bible reading. Our longest held routine (several years and running) is to choose a verse to copy and then for youngers, they look up one word in a dictionary and write the definition. The olders look up at least one Scripture reference and write that instead of vocab. Then everyone usually gets started with math.
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We've used Sonlight Cores 100-400 all the way through, now on student #4.
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And the benefit of a score of 5 on even one AP test cannot be understated. With even one AP score of 5, and admissions officer can "assume" the level of the rest of the homeschool classes. Without such an indicator (or a great SAT II test score), all classes would be suspect as to the rigor of the class.
If a family wants to avoid tests like these and hinge their hopes on their student being a great asset to the school by the extracurriculars, the student essay and the parent essay, that is a huge burden also -- just in a different aspect.
It seems easier for me to have my kids reach for 2 or 3 AP tests than to think that their admittance to college relies on me producing the paperwork (and car transport and $$) to provide stellar extracurricular activity, and then so much on my essay describing the value of my child's education. That seems far more stressful to me. I would rather leave more stress on the student to study for a hard class. Then it remains their burden, not mine.
I also agree with a previous poster, that for my kids an AP class is where they need to be for the challenge and to avoid boredom. The nearest college for us is 1 hour away, which is just not practical for attending.
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If I want to add cut-out papers to a prebound book and have the paper completely and permanently adhere, what is the best adhesive?
Archival quality is not necessary, but kid-friendly would be nice.
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If you want a rigorous, full program for students who have not identified a specific interest yet (except they like math) does the load equally cover these subjects:
Math
Science
English (literature) with SAT prep
History
Foreign Language
Plus Bible, physical activity, etc. in all their spare time.
OR is time to get lopsided now? As in:
Math
Science
Some literature with SAT prep (as opposed to FULL course)
Some or even very minimal History/Social Studies
Foreign Language to fulfill the requirement (as opposed to a FULL course)
Plus Bible (devotional only), physical activity, hobbies, etc.
I won't tell you what I do with my kids, but my friends are calling me an overachiever again.
So if the student is willing, are the courses still full in high school, or is it time now to just focus on the Math/Science/SAT and let the rest take a much smaller focus now?
What do YOU focus on in the high school years?
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Suggestions in being more stress free?
What are your plans?
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I taught all 6 of my kids to read with 100 EZ Lessons. The thing I liked best about it was that it moves fast and they are really reading by about lesson 70 or so. My kids all loved it and all say they will use it with their kids.
I know lots of people said it didn't work for them, so I wanted to provide the other side. Since you're only struggling today, I would suggest to keep on going, little by little, bit by bit. One of my kids really liked some flash cards of the words when there were only about 10 of them so far: me, read, see, etc.
Yes, the "thee" sound is awkward -- I always told my kids that's how they talk in the that part of the country. Maybe not true, but you're not going to find books that say cah and good mohnin' and pizzer and soder, either. haha.
So just explain it away and keep going. My kids were always good sports about it and soon enough the book was done and they were reading.
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Well, we read the Bible together and he seems to be a good reader. Reading on his own, I think he is a slow understander. I think maybe he says the words out loud in his head, although he says he does not. What makes a slow reader?
He has vision issues that cannot be corrected -- 20/20 in one eye and 20/90 in the other. So he has to focus harder to make his eyes work together. But as I said, he seems to read out loud just as fast as the rest of us.
He is very determined, though, and always wants to finish "a day's work in a day." He thinks he is too old for Mom reading aloud, so he reads the history, read-aloud and reader to himself. Most days, this is a LOT of reading.
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I am really, really trying to be done with Sonlight. It's a love/hate relationship. It's good for readers, but my to-be 8th grader has vision issues and seems to be reading 3-4 hours a day to get through one day of Sonlight core 6!
Next year, I would like to say, you will read x minutes per day. And then just let him get as far as he gets.
Does anyone just do this? Like, just read, no curriculum necessary? (Novel idea, I know)
What do you say is a good amount of minutes per day for 8th grade?
Help me think through another friendship issue
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I would send a card again this year. Your friend may feel bad every time she thinks of you, for the neglect of the friendship that she has allowed to happen for whatever reason. In that case, she might be thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to you again.
She can respond or ignore your card at her choice.