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tvaleri

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  1. Thanks for the links! Checking them out now.... Teresa
  2. With my current college freshman, I used SWI-B in 7th grade followed up with: 8th grade: SICC-B 9th grade SICC-C (covers essays) 10th grade: Windows on the World (co-op) 11th grade: Lost Tools of Writing (co-op) 12th grade: practiced college essay writing DD came to me after the first three weeks of CC English class and thanked me (!) for making her persevere through LTW, IEW and WW. She had to write several persuasive and literary analysis essays. In Community College English 111! Now the next student (9th grader) After a year with an awesome co-op teacher who used Theme Based Writing as a spine and added her own stuff, I followed with: 9th: IEW/TOG writing assignments (Ancient History) 10th: Lost Tools Writing (will incorporate Middle Ages history & Stand Your Ground!) 11th: Windows to the World 12th: Community College Lost Tools bridges a gap in critical thinking. Several acquaintances who teach online writing/lit courses, think this should be done instead of The Elegant Essay or at least before EE. You cannot go wrong with IEW. have you looked at any of the Theme Based Writing books? HTH! Teresa
  3. With my current college freshman, I used SWI-B in 7th grade followed up with: 8th grade: SICC-B 9th grade SICC-C (covers essays) 10th grade: Windows on the World (co-op) 11th grade: Lost Tools of Writing (co-op) 12th grade: practiced college essay writing DD came to me after the first three weeks of CC English class and thanked me (!) for making her persevere through LTW, IEW and WW. She had to write several persuasive and literary analysis essays. In Community College English 111! Now the next student (9th grader) After a year with an awesome co-op teacher who used Theme Based Writing as a spine and added her own stuff, I followed with: 9th: IEW/TOG writing assignments (Ancient History) 10th: Lost Tools Writing (will incorporate Middle Ages history & Stand Your Ground!) 11th: Windows to the World 12th: Community College Lost Tools bridges a gap in critical thinking. Several acquaintances who teach online writing/lit courses, think this should be done instead of The Elegant Essay or at least before EE. You cannot go wrong with IEW. have you looked at any of the Theme Based Writing books? HTH! Teresa
  4. We finish history, lit, geography in eight days. Dear sons get to work on math all through summer =D Furiously planning because I've scrapped all my curricula, Teresa
  5. Thanks, Julie, but I really want to go more in depth than MFW which sees overview from Middle Ages to Modern (from Julius Caesar to Animal Far =) Smiles, Teresa
  6. I looked at BF, but noticed a gap between the Fall of Rome and the Magna Carta. Contacted BF Books. Per Josh Berg, BF Medieval History guide is being updated to address this issue and will be ready late summer, early fall. Why oh why are all the curricula I like being revamped and unavailable for preview???? Argh, Teresa
  7. We were part of a co-op which met on Tuesdays. My D/R students need every bit of the five days. So, we were a week ahead of co-op. Our week began on Friday. My boys sometimes used weekends to read ahead or took advantage of the extra days to plan out a lighter week. HTH, Teresa
  8. Anyone familiar with this product? Comments? http://www.classicalhistorian.com/for-grades-6-12-dialectic-and-rhetoric-stage.html From their website: "Our materials teach young adults how to think independently and critically and how to express themselves academically and persuasively in speech and in writing. The Take a Stand! series teaches students how to be historians. They learn not what to think or memorize, but how to analyze the events of the past. This unique approach makes the student an active participation in the analysis of the past. This is the best of critical thinking, Socratic discussion, and analytical writing in history. The Take a Stand! series is not a set of textbooks, but rather thinking, reading, speaking, and writing guides. Take a Stand! shows the student how to be a historian. You will need to use history texts and documents to complete the Take a Stand! method. The Take a Stand! Teacher's Edition contains history book and primary source recommendations."
  9. Checked Biblioplan's site. Looks great! However, Medieval history won't be available for high school until summer =( Do I really want to be waiting on the company to begin our school year? Frustrated, Teresa
  10. Can't recall where I found this..... Socrates was one of the greatest educators who taught by asking questions and thus drawing out answers from his pupils ('ex duco', means to 'lead out', which is the root of 'education'). Sadly, he martyred himself by drinking hemlock rather than compromise his principles. Bold, but not a good survival strategy. But then again, he lived very frugally and was known for his eccentricity. One of his pupils was Plato, who wrote up much what we know of him. Here are the six types of questions that Socrates asked his pupils. Probably often to their initial annoyance but more often to their ultimate delight. He was a man of remarkable integrity and his story makes for marvelous reading. The overall purpose of Socratic questioning, is to challenge accuracy and completeness of thinking in a way that acts to move people towards their ultimate goal. Conceptual clarification questions Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Prove the concepts behind their argument. Use basic 'tell me more' questions that get them to go deeper. . Why are you saying that? . What exactly does this mean? . How does this relate to what we have been talking about? . What is the nature of ...? . What do we already know about this? . Can you give me an example? . Are you saying ... or ... ? . Can you rephrase that, please? Probing assumptions Probing their assumptions makes them think about the presuppositions and unquestioned beliefs on which they are founding their argument. This is shaking the bedrock and should get them really going! . What else could we assume? . You seem to be assuming ... ? . How did you choose those assumptions? . Please explain why/how ... ? . How can you verify or disprove that assumption? . What would happen if ... ? . Do you agree or disagree with ... ? Probing rationale, reasons and evidence When they give a rationale for their arguments, dig into that reasoning rather than assuming it is a given. People often use un-thought-through or weakly-understood supports for their arguments. . Why is that happening? . How do you know this? . Show me ... ? . Can you give me an example of that? . What do you think causes ... ? . What is the nature of this? . Are these reasons good enough? . Would it stand up in court? . How might it be refuted? . How can I be sure of what you are saying? . Why is ... happening? . Why? (keep asking it -- you'll never get past a few times) . What evidence is there to support what you are saying? . On what authority are you basing your argument? Questioning viewpoints and perspectives Most arguments are given from a particular position. So attack the position. Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints. . Another way of looking at this is ..., does this seem reasonable? . What alternative ways of looking at this are there? . Why it is ... necessary? . Who benefits from this? . What is the difference between... and...? . Why is it better than ...? . What are the strengths and weaknesses of...? . How are ... and ... similar? . What would ... say about it? . What if you compared ... and ... ? . How could you look another way at this? Probe implications and consequences The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast. Do these make sense? Are they desirable? . Then what would happen? . What are the consequences of that assumption? . How could ... be used to ... ? . What are the implications of ... ? . How does ... affect ... ? . How does ... fit with what we learned before? . Why is ... important? . What is the best ... ? Why? Questions about the question And you can also get reflexive about the whole thing, turning the question in on itself. Use their attack against themselves. Bounce the ball back into their court, etc. . What was the point of asking that question? . Why do you think I asked this question? . Am I making sense? Why not? . What else might I ask? . What does that mean?
  11. We are finishing up TOG Y1. Don't want to proceed with Y2 for several reasons. Difficult, because I really like the discussions and depth of study. Two boys, rising 10th & 8th grade. Any recommendations for history which incorporates the Middle Ages? Would love a program with multiple subjects =) Anyone used Mystery of History with high school? TIA, Teresa
  12. We enjoy the show. My 15yo son now wants to be on an SWAT team :tongue_smilie: Smiles, Teresa
  13. Hello! We are in Charlotte. Actually, I'm a native =) Smiles, Teresa
  14. Thank you all for taking time out of your lives to reply. My reservations began when looking at D/R books. There are several concerning reviews about the Worldview books for these levels. Not doctrinal issues, just plain errors. For example: "the author said 'Jesus chose to begin by joining a new movement in the Judean wilderness led by a prophet name John.'" Further: Also it stated on page 7 Jesus 'feared that His cures would be misinterpreted, and that people would see him as just another magician..." Next on pp. 8-9 "Jesus knew that he had a unique role in God's plan of redemtion, be he feared the traditional titles for a messianic redeemer." Jesus was God's plan of redemption and Jesus didn't fear anything man could do. I want to be sure to get a balanced perspective on these resources before going further. Perhaps these issues have been addressed??? Grace and peace be multiplied to you, Teresa
  15. Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought of the Yahoo group. I posted to the TOG Forums, though. Grace to you, Teresa
  16. Ok, we've been using TOG for 3 years. Began in Year 3, completed 4 and now finishing up 1. Looking ahead to Year 2, I have some reservations due to the Reformed worldview of the authors. Not looking to start a discussion on doctrine, just wondering if any of you who've worked through Year 2 and you are not Reformed, was the doctrine an issue? Don't mind discussing differences with my teens, but I don't want Reformed questions answered from Reformed books and an Reformed discussion to boot. Grace to you! Thanks in advance, Teresa in NC
  17. I know Year 1 is very different as it contains no Poetics & Frameworks. Instead, Leland Ryken's Words of Delight is used for rhetoric level literature. However, with the updates to Year 1, P & F will be incorporated. We used TOG Y3 & 4 and the info on the Loom was the same. HTH, Teresa
  18. Personally, I think this looks great. Not sure which IEW you are going to use, but the theme based books have vocab with them. IMO, if your student has completed other levels of Shurley, he has a great foundation. I would simply use Daily Grams, Fix-It!, Editor in Chief, etc. to keep skills fresh. We put Shurley 7 down a little over half way through. Some of those grammar lessons weren't useful to a 7th grader. Grace to you, Teresa in NC
  19. Praying for you and your family.:grouphug: Ambleside Online has lots of free resources. For free classics/reading materials: http://www.gutenberg.org/ http://www.mainlesson.com/ http://www.brightstorm.com amazon has free Kindle books which can be read from your desktop. Please post a list of what you need. I'd be happy to send you books if I have any which would be useful =) In Him, Teresa in NC
  20. With five kids, two of whom are computer geeks, it was difficult knowing what parameters to set regarding social networking. Add in some psycho extended family and security is a greater concern. Our rule is no FB until 13. Because kids can block parents only from seeing their posts/profiles, they have to let us check the account periodically. Recently, my wonderful (truly he is), 15 yo son was caught with a second FB account registered to an alias. Not sure of his intentions, but when he had to deceive and lie to cover it, he lost both of them. You know, Teen Iceberg Tales (they only state the obvious, the rest of the story lies beneath the surface =) Just this morning, a local news program discussed how companies have folks in the HR Dept who lurk on FB/Twitter to get an idea about perspective employees. Imagine! They want to know how social they are, how connected, interests, music preferences, married, children, and other things which cannot legally be asked on interviews. The anchors went on to warn young people about keeping their antics off the internet. JMHO, Teresa in NC
  21. We were in a TOG co-op for two years. Classes were offered for babies to senior high. Students were divided by level: Nursery, PK, LG, UG, D, and R. History, Writing, Science, and Literature were covered at the D/R levels. Youngers had history, science, logic, and IEW intro to writing. Met once a week from 8:30-3. Families who join agree to teach/lead one core class and assist in at least one other. A Lead Team administrated schedule, teaching assignments, curricula, etc. Interestingly, the co-op began six years ago with five families; today there are thirty with >100 students. Another friend began a history co-op. Use whatever curricula you want covering the same period of history. Meet weekly to have Socratic discussion on an assigned topic. Over the last year, they've incorporated science, apologetics, and are looking to add writing/lit. The last co-op I am aware of meets weekly. Moms must teach one core class and submit lesson plans by March for Leaders to determine classes to be offered in the fall. The classes run only one semester and change at the first of the year. Geared mainly toward high schoolers, but offer classes for younger sibs (American Girl, Dangerous Book for Boys, etc.). HTH, Teresa
  22. There are signficant differences in the implementation of classic vs. Redesigned. However, classic is usable. Matter of fact, TOG forum has a section just for those using classic TOG. Tapestry does have book updates which you can access should you not be able to locate a title used with an older copy of Redesigned. That said, I've never bought TOG new. Always been able to find a used copy at a reasonable price and someone to pass the set along to when we were finished. TOG has a great forum. You may want to lurk there. Please email if you have any questions =) HTH, Teresa in NC
  23. Hey there Jean- I've moved away from fish oil to krill oil. Smaller pills, more potent, wide variety of benefits, and no repeating. Note: there's only one company who currently collects krill oil, so brand doesn't matter. You may want to check vitacost dot com Smiles, Teresa in NC
  24. "older" Redesigned Y2 print version. I purchased one from the scratch and dent sale last month. Before I spend hours going through the entire year's curricula, I thought I'd ask. Smiles, Teresa
  25. Sadly my dh doesn't read anything other than his bible. Reading that is a chore due to a learning issue he refuses to do anything about at this stage of life. Hard to have family discussions about history/science/literature when dad is way out of the loop..... Teresa
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