:bigear:

We do a lot of beading (ds loves the beads and I live the fact that beading is good for developing fine motor skills). We spend a couple of hours about 2 times a week. When beading it is easy to talk about colours, density, shading, what matches, what doesn't; introduce the concepts of measuring, patterns, textures, etc. It is also great for bonding! ;)

This is a question for those who have used Getty-Dubay or similar programme. Have you tried using italic cursive from the beginning? Ds is having trouble leaving too much space between letters. Also, he tries to write from right to left and I want to emphasize the "left to right" movement and avoid letter reversal, etc. Italic cursive letters have a little "tail" which I think might help, but the book says the student has to have the basic italic down before starting italic cursive. As a newbie what I need is to hear from more experience users. Help? :confused:

We are moving soon so I am taking the opportunity to get rid of stuff behind my husband's back (and behind my kid's too). Today I am doing the lounge.

I don't even understand the rules. I guess I can't play... :confused:

"I've spent a lot of time reading over reviews and posts and happily decided on BFSU for our science curriculum. I thought I would take 3 years to cover the 41 lessons, spending 2-3 weeks on each lesson expanding with library books, etc. But I am stuck, stuck, stuck on this lesson sequence thing. And I'm so frustrated with myself because I KNEW it was set up like this. I've sat down several times over the past few days with the book intent on writing out a sequence and printing off schedules that others have put together. I give up, there are too many combinations and even though I know there is no RIGHT answer I can't seem to give up on trying to come up with it. So, for anyone who has used or is using BFSU do you think I can just schedule as we go? Can I say, just pick 4 lessons to do our first quarter and then do that for each quarter as we go? Or am I going to be missing some big picture, thread correlation something-or-other? Should I try to pick all 4 lessons from the same thread or try to pick 1 from each of the 4 threads or...?" You don't say if you need to show proof of meeting certain guidelines per year to your local authority (state requirements etc.). Part of the difficulty with BFSU is that it has a K-2 time line. It doesn't give you a guideline per "school year" or grade. I don't even know if this is possible.

I don't see anyone here mentioning the HIGs. I picked up the HIGs for 2A and 2b at the used curriculum sale and they looked, well, useful. Any comments?

:bigear:

We switch everything off at night. Otherwise the light from the surge protector keeps me awake.

I am trying the caveman diet. Basically it says to eat as closely as possible to what people ate in pre-agricultural times. Lean protein. No frying, or butter. Lots of salad and veggies. Snack on fruits and nuts. Lay off the bread and the sugar and the junk food. No dairy (which I avoid because milk and soft cheeses produce too much mucus and I have asthma). The only thing I really miss is the bread, but then again bread makes me bloat so I avoid it diet or no diet. Pretty much a hunter/gatherer lifestyle. Of course it also says you have to get off your derriere and "move it". Because I just started I can't report on progress yet. However I saw a friend today after a 2 week break and she remarked that I looked like I lost some weight. :001_smile:

Last: I honestly cannot remember. Current: Blackwood Farm (Ann Rice) Next: North and South (Elizabeth Gaskell)

I just wanted to say thank you for the link. I have never seen anything so pretty in my entire life. When my husband met me I was a reformed slob. Now I have slipped and the house is a pig sty. I need help. But I sure can't afford to hire anyone. I don't even dare hire a cleaner because I am too embarrassed. Last week I threw away an entire drawer full of hair products (I'm a hair product junkie).

This year I made a very basic plan of things to be done and I'm planning just 3 weeks in advance. I'm still figuring out ds' style of learning. He gets frustrated pretty quickly so I do short lessons a la Charlotte Mason. I have learned that trying to have a very strict home schedule set things in stone triggers the Murphy Law (well, it does in my house). We do the three R's every day if possible. Geography/History twice a week in the afernoon. Science same (not the same two days of Geo/Hist). Lots of read alouds. Also we do beading: ds loves it and it help him with his fine motor skills.

In the UK they teach a kind of joined up writing which looks like italic handwriting or simplified cursive. However, I don't see how it is an improvement on cursive. A friend of mine showed me some handwritten homework made by her children (she's got 5 kids of different ages). All the handwriting was pretty bad, regardless of age or sex. Somehow joined up writing did not end up looking "joined". We are starting school this week and I'm still undecided about this matter. I worry that if I teach ds cursive he will look out of place when we go back to the UK. This week we started with italic handwriting but ds doesn't like it. He says he wants to write like me (mummy). I was taught a kind of German cursive. Sorry I can't offer any help. Oh, well. I am bumping this because I too want to hear from experienced homeschoolers...

xxx

I just posted about this but I have made some changes: Reading: McGuffey Eccletic Primer and lots of readers from different sources. Handwriting: Penny Gardner's Beautiful Italics for Children Math: Singapore Essential Math K Geography/History: Geography Success Starter Book and read alouds. Science: Elemental Science mixed with Scholastic Curriculum Bank Science as a spine. Handbook of Nature, More Mudpies to Magnets, DK Children Encyclopedia and tons of other science books as backup resources (ds is keen on science, hence the long book list). The 3 r's daily. The rest twice a week. Art and music will be fitted in along the way as part of the above but no as separate subjects because I don't want to overwhelm ds (or me!).

I just dowloaded ES Intro (as an ebook). Pretty much was I was looking for! Thank you so much. I owe you one! ;)

As I start this new year I've just realised I made a fatal error. I confused Key Stage 1 with Year 1 which is where my ds is supposed to be starting. Key state 1 is meant to be for 5-7year olds. Year 1 is the US kindergarten (5-6 yo). I got some science book and lessons for Key Stage 1. However the plan lessons don't say where to start or the sequence to follow, you know, what follows after what. Here is where I got lost. I don't know what part of the book/workbooks is meant for Year 1 (kindergarten). The book was meant for two school years, not one! Ok, where can I find a science curriculum (asap) for kindy (year 1) which will show me the way in a clear way. Can you think of an open and go science curriculum. Pleeeaase?

We are. Ds will turn 5 in about 2 weeks. This is our first "official" year of hs and today is our first day of school! I am nearly frozen with firght but...oh, well. Here we go!

For my soon to be 5 yo: Math: Singapore Math and Math Mammoth as supplement Reading: Jolly Phonics, McGuffey Primer and Readers, English for the Thoughful Child, Kathryn Stout's Natural Speller. Handwriting: Penny Gardner's Italics for Children, G-D worksheets generated by Startwrite. Science: BFSU as a spine. Lots of science books to supplement Geography: Geography Success Oxford Press Spanish: Mum (me). History: Scholastic curriculum bank as a spine and resources from www.primaryteachingtools.co.uk Art and Music: Several resources. Most free from the internet ("classic for kids"). Art lessons for the busy teacher.

Would you share your templates with us? Or am I being really really cheeky? :blush:

WOW this Spencerian script is beautiful. I can't believe no one has seen this simpler script (the one I posted). it is cute and hardly any loops! Oh, dear... :nopity:

Hey, thank you for the :lurk5:

Hello. Among the resources I will be using next year I have McGuffey revised Ecclectic Primer. I noticed a lovely script alphabet at the back of the book.Anyone knows where I can find this font on the web? And, has anyone used it along with the book to teach their children to write?

Yeah, well. This is a send up from my rant thread where I complained I don't have to plan next school year (which starts this Sunday!). My ds jumps around me and all over me -literally- all day long. Then ds finally goes to bed and dh wants to go to bead early -which means I end up on the bathroom floor with the laptop, trying to schedule lesson plans, etc., etc., etc. We live in a tiny flat. Ds sleeps in the living room, dh has the bed. The only place I can go and plan in peace and have the lights on (which helps because the torch doesn't work anymore after ds dropped it in the loo) is the bathroom floor. See? I'm rambling again. Please, just ignore me.