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KathyJo

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Everything posted by KathyJo

  1. I have five fonts for the LLTL Levels 1 and 2 workbooks: italic, cursive italic, HWT, ball and stick, and cursive. LLTL Level 3 workbook is in italic, though I have a cursive italic version that I need to add. And the phonogram workbook, which can be used with RLTL, is in both basic italic and Peterson style cursive. None of the workbooks are necessary, though. RLTL is especially easy to teach with just paper for practicing the phonograms and a comp book for the spelling lists.
  2. My 7yos doesn't do anything more than copywork, and I feel fine about it. :-) I believe that the problem with comparing what the PS is doing is that, in my opinion, what they're doing is detrimental. If I tried to keep my child on target for what schools teach, I would have to try to teach him developmentally inappropriate things instead of using slower, more gentle methods. Have you seen the Michael Clay Thompson poetry books? That would probably be awesome for her right now. Add some narrations, oral at first, and that covers writing, too.
  3. I like the Elson Readers. :-) The spelling lists are organized around the Ayres list and the words from the stories, so the child doesn't read words in the reader unless he's already learned the word or the base word. The open and go aspect seems to be working. My sister is using it, and she hasn't had to call me even once. :lol:
  4. LLTL and RLTL are separate programs. They can be used together, but they don't have to be. Have you seen the samples? http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/barefootmeandering?searchTerms=lessons Look at the samples on the PDFs. I still need to update one of the other samples. RLTL teaches reading through spelling. I designed it to be open and go, even if you're not already familiar with O-G type programs. Basically, you teach the phonograms, then begin dictating the spelling lists. The child practices reading by reading his spelling lists, then moves on to the Elson Readers when he's comfortable with the words. It sounds odd if you've never taught this way, but I consider it the easiest way to teach reading, even if you don't use MY program to do so. :-) The only prep time LLTL requires is reading a chapter from the literature. Their reading level isn't necessarily an issue. You can read the chapter of the lit to them, or listen on audio. It has more to do with their developmental readiness. Level 1 includes copywork and some memory work, Level 2 begins grammar instruction, and Level 3 introduces diagramming. If you have questions and I forget to check this thread, please feel free to PM or email me.
  5. I agree with you in theory, but I can see how this could quickly become a political battlefield. The line between ideological differences and child abuse is fuzzy for some people.
  6. In a situation that extreme, I have difficulty believing that everything else in their lives would look hunky-dory. However, if it did, I would not call. I would have to feel, in my own conscience, that it was bad enough to risk the trauma before I would call. One of the first articles I read about unschooling long ago, and probably the one that scared me away from the concept, was a woman explaining how her 16 year old son had finally learned to read, so she could breathe easy now. If such a woman was my sister or good friend, I'd ask her what the hell she was thinking. But I wouldn't think, "Oh, hey. I bet the government can fix that." I would advise anyone considering calling CPS to first do some research about the trauma involved, and about the amount of abuse that takes place within foster care. That's the risk on one side. What's the risk in the home? Is it worth the risk?
  7. It should be noted that a call to the school district will likely result in them calling CPS.
  8. If you have a procedure that feels comfortable to you already, I say stick with what's working. :-) You can use LLTL to simplify one area without feeling like it's necessary to do it exactly like I do. For us, we just read the books and do the exercises and copywork. They have other books that I have them narrate.
  9. A comment re: old scientific books, pointed out by my 17yos, who read lots of Jean Henri Fabre books when he was younger. He pointed out that while yes, many theories have changed since then, many of these books record the OBSERVATIONS of scientists of the time. However much the theories have changed, the observations still have value. I also believe that there's an additional value to adding some old books. They remind us not to get too caught up in the true and complete knowledge contained in any modern books. They'll be the crap no one wants to touch because of their antiquated ideas in a hundred years. ETA: I hate when I don't realize that a thread is old before I comment. :-)
  10. I would probably start them both in Level 1. My second grader is in Level 1, and my fourth grader is in Level 3, and I like the way this works for us. My sister had three kids all in Level 1 the first year she homeschooled, the oldest of whom was in 3rd grade. The third grader was definitely ready for more, but it was a good transition for them since my niece had never done anything like copywork. This year, she's in fourth grade. My sister skipped Level 2 with her and put her into Level 3 since it's a better fit and she's reading well enough now to do her own reading. I say this to remind you that if you start them together, skipping a level later on to get a better fit for the older child would not be a problem, IF you felt it was necessary. You can use audio books to deal with multiple levels, if you decide to go that route while they're still younger. HTH!
  11. You can start at any level. However, Level 1 teaches all 75 phonograms, so Levels 2 and 3 do assume that you already know all of the phonograms. Basically, my recommendation is to start at Level 1. The program is built on practice and repetition, and you'll get the most of that by starting at the beginning. However, if you've already been doing another program that includes phonograms and analyzing spelling words with markings, Level 2 might be a better fit. How long you spend in each level will depend on how many words you do each week, which will depend on your preferences and how old your child is. A seven year old second grader could complete all three levels, 1,720 words, in a year if he's doing 50 words per week. Level 1 has 480 words, which will take 32-48 weeks at 10-15 words per week. Does that clear everything up?
  12. If you don't get a chance to, I'll try in a bit. I have to go do dishes now. :tongue_smilie:
  13. I'm responding to a PM request to answer this. I thought I should do it here in the thread in case others are wondering. :-) Level 1 includes punctuation and capitalization, abbreviations, titles of respect, vowels, contractions, days of the week, the four seasons, and months of the year. Level 2 includes the types of sentences, address, phone numbers, and initials. HTH!
  14. I started a Yahoo group. If any of y'all are interested in having a weekly update, talking about programs, etc, please feel free to join us there, or join me on Facebook. You can also PM me here, or send me an email if you have questions specific to me. I'll be popping out again unless someone notifies me that there are questions specifically for me here. http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/barefootragamuffins/ God bless, and thanks!
  15. This. I've let go a lot of my control freak tendencies over the past two years, and it's made life so much easier. If one tries to stay a control freak in a half-finished, off-grid house, it will drive one insane. :lol: I've never been overly concerned with the exact formation of the letters, though. I'm shooting for neat and legible. With the Peterson method, my boys are learning from my handwritten samples, so it's probably closer to Don Potter's samples. I'm also giving them the option for beginning m, n, and y with a round top or a sharp top, etc. Five years ago, I would NEVER have considered teaching handwriting like this, but I like it.
  16. They are, but I posted them here, too. I need to get this information on my site for easy reference.
  17. The Elson Readers are included in RLTL. Level 1 Books: Beatrix Potter Stories Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling Pinocchio by C. Collodi The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (seven stories) The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney Level 2 Books: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (13 stories) Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne HTH!
  18. Thanks, Hunter! I'd rather have books than curricula for content areas, but where books aren't available, curricula can fill the gaps. I think my sister uses Mr. Q. It's the one place where she went rogue and did something different than me. :laugh: I grabbed the freebie. What's a Gateway subscription? :willy_nilly: Why have I never heard of this? And that's the problem with finding books. There's so little that the younger kids can understand about chemistry and physics, and while doing some experiments is great, I need books to feel like we've accomplished anything. :-)
  19. :lol: The thing I like about the Peterson method (and, therefore, why I chose that font) is that the child learns 4 strokes, and he can then write all of the lowercase letters. And I like the focus on rhythm in writing. Have you read any of their material? Review copies of their handwriting books are online for free, and there's a good sample up of their "Yes, You Can Teach Cursive" book. In the past, I focused on the cursive fonts instead of the method, and because of that, I never taught traditional cursive. I've recently become convinced that cursive first is best, and then I found a method instead of a font. My three middle boys are all doing very well with Peterson. That file is already so huge that I can't really add more fonts to it. Hunter, my children all learned italic, but none of them has ever slanted his letters! I like it because it's a continuous stroke, and even if my children don't slant, they still have a beautiful model to follow, as opposed to the continuous model in HWT which DID produce ugly handwriting by my boys. I know others have said that was not the case for them, but I saw immediate improvement when I switched them to italic.
  20. Man, I'm getting sucked back in. What ebooks do you have for science? I've got ebooks for upper grades. For lower grades, though, I just have a few, like the Burgess Bird and Animal books, and some others from MainLesson. For the middle grades, I have nothing. And do y'all do the WTM rotation for science? Again, with the lower and middle grades, it's hard to find enough books to make me feel like we're really getting science done when we're in years 3 and 4. I've got a FEW good books. They're really good, but there's just not enough.
  21. I think you can get just the student pages as a pdf. We use those, but not the AG itself.
  22. Popping back in for a moment. :seeya: Hey, Sarah. I think I get what you're asking here. You want to take the written lesson in LLTL, and basically do it while y'all are reading, when the actual sample sentences appear in the book, instead of reading the lesson from LLTL afterwards. Is that correct? Level 1 mostly points out punctuation and capitalization, so you definitely could with it. For Level 2, I think you could much of the time, maybe even most of the time, but not all of the time. I did not make any special effort to keep the sample text in LLTL in the same order that you'll find it in the book. Also, for some lessons, I was not able to find an example in that exact chapter of the book, so I got the example from a previous chapter. But I think you could much of the time. Levels 3 and up would have the same issues as Level 2. In addition, since 3 begins diagramming, I think that would be too much of an interruption to the reading. Re: RLTL, no, I don't believe it would be possible to use it, or really any phonogram based program, in that fashion. The focus is on analyzing the words, and like the diagramming, I think that would be too much of an interruption to the reading. In addition, the spelling lists in RLTL are padded with words from the Ayres list, so not all of the spelling words appear in the stories. I hope this helps. I'm popping back out now, so please PM me if you have further questions that perhaps I should attempt to answer.
  23. Everyone has a bias. Neutral is a lie. :-)
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