MamaNurse
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Posts posted by MamaNurse
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Throughout my children's lives, I've been inspired by Waldorf through delaying academics, no tv, natural playthings, fairy tales, etc.
I even made the leap and purchased the Enki curriculum for K-1. However, I've never been able to wrap my head around it. It's so much information, I go into overload. I probably need to get rid of it since it's taking up lots of shelf space.
For academics, we follow CM principles. I've never really "done" Waldorf in the home, but in my ideal world, we would do Waldorf for the younger years, then transition to Charlotte Mason. I haven't figured out how to do that, because, like you, I can't figure out how to do main lessons. I will be checking out those links, though.
We also have a local, brand new Waldorf homeschool co-op, which is great for Waldorf social/community events. Over the summer, we participated a few times in a sweet little toddler/pre-k Waldorf playgroup. Nature walks, singing, making bread as a group. It was lovely.
Amy....mama to 3 precious boys. Boy #4 coming early Spring.
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I think it depends on your child and what Algebra program you plan to use. Most kids could easily go into MUS or TT Algebra after MM6b (or Singapore 6b), and some kids could probably go into some of the other common Alg programs, like Jacobs or Lial, but others would need another year of reinforcement. 8FilltheHeart has used MUS Algebra as a "prealgebra" after Horizons 6 and before Foerster's, and I plan to do the same between MM6 and Foerster's.
Jackie
That was really helpful. Thanks so much. :D
Amy
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Originally it was only good through yesterday, but she extended it through Dec. 1st.
Oh, sorry. I meant the lulu coupon.:tongue_smilie: Anyone know?
Amy
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If anyone is interested in the printed version of MM from Lulu.com,
Enter coupon code HOLIDAYVIP305 at checkout and receive $20 off your next order of $20 or more.
I bought 2 books and with shipping spent about $11 total.
Do you happen to know how long this coupon code is good for?
Thanks for sharing it!:001_smile:
Amy
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Can I sneak in here and ask: what level/program do students move-on to after 6A/6B? Pre-alg?
Thanks.
Amy
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Oh thanks for the reminder to mention that. They added the charge on check-out for me, too, but I wrote them a note in the checkout note box and w/in a few minutes, they had corrected the total. They sent me out a new invoice reflecting the update. I think their cart is auto-set to add shipping, so I'm sure they are aware of the issue.
Glad you found something there, too.
Yay!
Amy
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bump.
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I don't often get to post here, but I wanted to share with you an email I just got from RightStart. They are having a 1 day sale on gently used items. There are some great deals in there and I thought maybe someone would like to take advantage of them.
http://activitiesforlearning.com/cybermonday.aspx
I got the Math Card Games kit I've been wanting for years. :001_smile:
Blessed Holiday Season to you!
Amy...mama of 3 sweet boys + 1 boy on the way
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Does anyone else have any suggestions for related books that we can enjoy together? We follow Ambleside Online, so that's how we came across them. We love to read books from that time period together.
We're at the beginning of this homeschooling journey, so we aren't reading as much as some of you, but we (read: *I*) am having a horrendous time getting through The House at Pooh Corner. We've been at it for at least 3-4 weeks. The kids don't dislike it, so I'm trying to stay positive, for their sake. But sometimes I'll read a paragraph from one of those confused characters and I'm like - what in the world did I just read? My 3 & 5 year old keep asking for Pooh, though. We're almost finished. Should finish this week....Absolutely agreed. I don't like reading that series to my children, so I stopped. It's confusing and muddled.
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Oh my...we loved The Door in the Wall and Otto of the Silver Hand. SOOO much. I read them out loud to my son. He enjoyed one of them so much, he snuck and finished the story on his own one day, LOL. I need to go back and finish that last bit for myself.
Now Robin Hood is challenging for me with the quaffed words. I delegated that one to dh, LOL. :)
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http://www.tenmarks.com/home.action
Homeschool Buyers Co-op is doing a discount for it and so I checked it out. I haven't heard of it and can only find 1 mention of it here when using the search box. This is my go-to place for curriculum reviews and there aren't any!
https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_hsbc_epp_order&Itemid=1498#orderform
Any experiences or thoughts good or bad?
Thanks! :)
Amy
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I love AO because it gives me the richness of a literature program, but still allows me to use all kinds of different curriculum. I love so many different programs that I couldn't satisfy myself with just one boxed approach. AO gives me structure (a "spine" so to speak) - gives me the philosophical approach - that my homeschool needs, yet the freedom to add-in what I want. I've been to SCM, but just didn't click with me. I've read different CM books by contemporary authors that were ok, but not what I wanted. AO was perfect. Just read tons of different approaches and you'll find that perfect place for you. :001_smile:
For us, AO is very relaxed (I have one boy in Year 1 and one in Year 0). We do our 3 R's and then read and read and read. I try to give my children reading that will help us all to experience all the different subjects. Then we also add in drawing lessons, music practice, science projects, karate, our Bible studies and memory work, and tons of lego play. :) Our days are full and fun.
I love our homeschool. :)
This is us exactly...even down to the Legos. :)
We've been using AO for 3 or 4 years, now. Some years, I'm looser. Some I'm stricter. I do not think it takes a lot of planning. I follow the schedule on their site and also use schedules from the yahoogroup dedicated specifically to that. There are also individual schedules in each individual year's yahoogroups. I'm not a big planner....don't like it. AO has been very navigable for me.
AO does not cost a lot of $$. It's virtually free. The first year, we read from online sources and listened to stories on librivox. I have now collected most of our books (for several years) from thrift stores, with a few used book and amazon purchases. :)
A big reason I love AO, is that I LOVE, LOVE the reading selections. I enjoy sitting and reading them to my boys. They have enriched my life and healed some of the lacking I felt from a bland ps education. History has come alive for me.
Amy....mama of 3 boys ages 4-11 and one precious boy on the way.
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Shock! Horror! My dearth of participation on this board, as evidenced by my stagnant post count, has me edging ever closer to Page 2. I must engage! Discuss! Debate! Alas, my life at this point revolves around one primary topic. The topic. The World Cup. Is there life beyond it? I think not.
I've been here a while, but am an infrequent poster.
I'm just sliding in here to say hello. When I saw your location, I immediately knew you must have been from the B'ham area. My hubby participated in the kayak portion of ski-to-sea 15-ish years ago...pre-kids...when we lived in Seattle.
We're now a little south of B'ham and several of my friends are dairy farmers (most are Dutch), as were my grandparents.
Hello! :D
Carry on.
Amy....homeschooling mama to 3 nature-loving boys
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Great question. :lurk5:
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I'm looking at reading Grammar Land to my ds and having him do these worksheets, or we might just do the exercises orally.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Amy
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I haven't used Simply Grammar yet, but I did buy it and have been looking it over. In the Introduction one of the questions is How many exercises should my child complete in one sitting? The answer summed up is only what they can accomplish in 10-15 minutes. Then stop and pick up there next time. Another question is How many lessons should I do a week? The answer summed up is one lesson a week or even one every two weeks. If you follow these guidelines the exercises should seem much less intimidating. :)
You're right...I read that before I started and felt really good about it. However, when we got into it, he couldn't stand making that many sentences.
Maybe it's just him and his difficulty writing (both physically and with putting thoughts onto paper). But...42 sentences is a mighty large sum and it does seem a bit repetitive. I don't know...I was hoping for something more dynamic.
Thanks for your thoughts. :)
Amy
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It feels like a big deal now, but really it isn't. I would just keep plugging away.
Keep in mind that after you finish E that most people do a pre-algebra program then jump into Algebra. My oldest who is finishing up E as a 6th grader, will do Pre-Algebra next year for 7th with one day of RS Geometry, then finish Pre-Algebra with probably 2 days of RS Geometry for 8th and be right on track for doing Algebra in 9th. No she won't be advanced, but she is not a math person, so just owning the concepts to date is a great benefit.
If you finish earlier what will you do? Do you really need to skip ahead, and what if you accidentally skip essential material? I just don't see where skipping ahead is worth the risk, IMO.
Heather
Heather...Thanks for pointing out that he won't be that behind. I needed to see that spelled out. When I search old posts here, I see over and over about kids who are finishing E at super early ages and I don't know how to apply those situations to us since we're older. I'm glad to know that you are in a similar place. As I mentioned before, I specifically waited until about 1st or 2nd grade to start (just personal preferences re: early academics, even though ds could have done the work) and then quickly fell behind as ds's ADD struggles emerged. Luckily, he's always been strong at math...just slow. He hasn't met a concept that has confused him, but maybe that's just b/c Dr Cotter explains things so well...or maybe it's b/c he's geared toward math...or maybe both. He's a Visual-Spatial learner.
Your last paragraph of questions is important and exactly what I have asked myself time and time again for the past 2 yrs. I haven't got any good answers. ;)
What would I do if I skipped ahead? I would move to MM for specific topics and then LoF. After that, I guess I need to think about pre-alg and algebra and finding a program that suits my V-S learner. Sigh....I'm overwhelmed. MUS, VT, TT, Chalk-Dust.....??
Thank you all for your feedback. It's really helping!
Amy
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Fractions/decimals/percents are one of MM's greatest strengths, IMO. Those topics are taught very conceptually, and there is emphasis on the relationships between them (e.g. a fraction is really a division problem, a decimal is a fraction with a denominator of 10/100/1000/whatever, etc). It makes "translating" from one form to another very fluid & easy. She always explains the mathematical reasoning behind why a shortcut or "trick" works (e.g. moving the decimal when dividing by a decimal) rather than just saying "move the decimal" or "invert & multiply" or "two negatives make a positive" or whatever. I think the coverage of geometry (including area, perimeter, volume) and integers in MM5 are also extremely good, and are better than what I've seen in most pre-algebra programs.
Jackie
Excellent feedback, Jackie. Many thanks to you for your words.
Amy
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My oldest RS-er is in C, so I don't know how useful my advice will be, but maybe you could just skip all the non-central lessons and just do the division, and then switch to something else after he's learned the RS way of division. I have actually thought of doing that, too ... just hitting all the rest of the subtraction, multiplication, and division lessons in the next year or so, and then switching to MM in 3rd or 4th grade. I, too, really like the RS way of doing things, but I am starting to feel like a lot of time is spent on the non-main topics. I know that the geometry and time and money is important, and I would still hit those with the MM blue books, but I am not sure I need to use the entire RS program all the way through E to benefit from the RS way.
Tara
exactly, exactly! That's what I'm thinking, too: cherry-picking the important parts and leaving the rest. I just have a tough time figuring out what to skip. I want to jump to multi-digit multiplication and then to division. He'll also need to learn fractions, which I think we can learn from MM...hoping they cover it well. I honestly haven't done a lot of MM research on their efficacy from parents using it. I'm just hoping I can do it right (pun intended) and not leave gaping holes. After that, I'd like to try LoF.
I saw here on a different thread about a mom who skipped part of E and just hit the important topics and then moved on to LoF. I would love to bend her ear, but alas, I can't find the thread.
Sorry to the OP for hijacking. :auto:
Amy
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if you want to speed things up, how about do two sessions/day. let him work for say 35min in the AM and then finish up in the afternoon? Sometimes it's better to have a break and come back to it later. Also, some of the geometry lessons don't depend on prior knowledge so you can skip ahead and do geometry in the PM and the regular lesson in the AM.
We'll be going into MM 5 complete curriculum. I think this is roughly equivalent to SM 5. I think there is sufficient new material and practice w/ prior things to warrant it. It's easier than picking out topics.
If I have time later, I'll take a closer look at level 5.
Thanks for your suggestions!
I've tried that, but somehow, I loose my initiative to push him in the afternoons. He has about zero self motivation to sit down an do the work, though he likes it when we work together.
For 2 years now, I've considered switching to something where he can be more independent because we're lagging. Part of blame is on me and being pulled different ways, so I can't blame his ADD entirely, but it is a huge factor.
I feel good that we have such a wonderful foundation....and am considering just switching him to MM or TT. I seriously struggle with this daily....all day. I don't want to be a math curr. hopper and would like to see us through to the end of E even if it means skipping some of the lessons. IOW, I'd like to know how to divide w/out wading through the intensive lessons to get there. I want him to learn the RS way of dividing because I'm sure it will result in a great understanding of that process.
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I am doing it again from the start. :) My ds6 has recently started the RS sequence with B.
I briefly switched programs once dd finished C, thinking I was done with RS, but have promptly switched back after a tryst with CLE and Singapore. The break was actually really good--CLE got the + and - math facts solidified and a good start on multiplication facts. Plus, we both needed dd to work more independently for a while. However, nothing teaches concepts like RS, so we're back to it, and I'm planning on sticking with it at least through E. Then we'll move into MM5 and 6. I've already bought MM and will use it as a supplement to RS for both my dc.
My ds is quite mathy, so I've toyed with the idea of making MM his spine but for now we're staying with RS until I feel like he needs a change. The way RS teaches place value in Level B is way too good to miss--even if I were planning on switching immediately after B.
I'm doing it again, too with my 6 yr old. I learned my lesson the first time around....we're skipping A. I regret slogging through that only to find the review in B. It put us behind in the whole sequence. I was planning to be a bit behind because we don't push early academics, but not that much.
And I will do it again in a couple yrs w/my now-4 yr old. :)
My questions are: After RS E, does one switch to MM 5th complete curriculum, MM 6th complete curriculum, or just fill in the gaps with the worktexts? If it's the latter, which gaps would those be?
My oldest is in 5th grade, but is still in D...about half-way through. He "gets" most of the concepts, and I'm thinking about skipping ahead to E and filling in the blanks with some MM. (This is the topic of another thread I need to start :tongue_smilie:). It's just taking us TOOOOO long to get through. He's got issues with focusing on his work, so the already long lessons drag on for hours, which is detrimental to our entire day (not to mention no fun for him). He still hasn't gotten to division...as a 5th grader! I'm sure he could figure it out fairly quickly as he picks up the concepts easily, but just can't focus on worksheets.
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We use "Graded Lessons in English" by Reed & Kellogg. They have an entire series for grammar, spelling and rhetoric. You can download the book for free on google.com/books. I couldn't find the answer key on google/books but I also throw in A2 (their yahoo group provides all of the answer keys). Good Luck
Hi rhettsmommy....what is A2?
Thanks!
Amy:)
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Just bumping in case anyone else wants to weigh in for the older kids. :auto:
Amy
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Thank you so much. :)
Funny enough...that's the text that's recommended on Ambleside Online, the guideline we use in our home. But I hadn't realized it until I googled that book.
I wasn't familiar with A2, but found it, too. Thanks!
In my search, I found an interesting website dedicated to 19th century school books. It's got 140 school books on it. I haven't had a chance to browse, but it looks promising. I saw a rhetoric book on there.
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/n/nietz/
There are so many older texts...it's hard to decide which one to use. I'd like it to be in line with Charlotte Mason's philosophies.
1st world, homeschooled teen problem-jawm.
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
That's a great problem to have.
I like the free classics in the public domain - so many to choose from.
Also...can you keep a stash of extras that you find for cheap at the thrift stores or yard sales? That's how we have amassed our immense book collection. :-)
Amy
long-time homeschooling mama to 4