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WTMindy

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Posts posted by WTMindy

    Where did you start your research on homeschooling middle school/high school?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I started where I have started every year...with WTM. :001_smile: I don't use all the curriculum suggestions, but I stay pretty true to the goals of WTM. It hasn't let me down so far. I have a scope and sequence spreadsheet that I made for my kids listing all of the subjects that I want to do and resources I THINK I'll be using at that time. I have sort of cross-referenced that with what colleges are looking at for admissions and we have all the basis covered there.

    Forgive me but...Another SOTW question.

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    First of all, EVERY history book has "inaccuracies" because history is subjective and so you will never get everyone to agree exactly on all the facts. The errors that I might find could be different than the errors someone else would find because of the bias I start with. Ultimately, that is a part of becoming a historian is reading different sources and putting it all together for yourself. My personal opinion is that Susan does a great job of presenting the story with as little bias as possible. (You have to figure that if Christians get upset that it isn't Christian enough and non-Christians get upset that it is too Christian you have probably struck a pretty good balance. :001_smile:)

     

    However, in my opinion, the goal of history at that age is not to become a historian, but to give the kids a LOVE of the story. I can honestly say in the nine years that I have been homeschooling, Story of the World (all 4 volumes) was the best thing we did. It gave my kids a love of history in the early years that gave them a great foundation and has carried over into the logic stage. We did lots of reading together and lots of projects from the activity guide. So, even if I did find a few errors along the way (which I didn't, by the way) I would just correct them with my kids, explain why different history books say different things and move on to another fun project.

    USPS messes up, who pays?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I have had mostly good luck with USPS. Only one time did a book get lost. I had a receipt that proved that I sent it. The buyer was very reasonable. Both of us were disappointed, but we agreed to split the loss. I felt very fortunate that she was reasonable (and she was glad that I was.) However, I think that I will start putting a disclaimor in all my sales that insurance is optional and I won't be responsible if something happens.

    SOTW 4

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    But I was also dissapointed with how much harder this book is. I think all of the SOTWs should have been written for 1-4th graders with very little increase in difficulty over the series, so that all grammar kids could do it together. Instead SOTW 4 seems to be written for logic kids with more difficult text, outlines, novel recomendations, harder projects, no coloring pages, ect.

    QUOTE]

     

    I guess I would disagree. I loved how the books slowly progressed to more difficult material. I do think that book 4 is a substantial jump up from book 3, but I really liked how it was handled. By the time my kids were in 4th grade they were ready to be moving away from the slightly younger tone of the first books. Plus, for us, it gently got them ready for some more difficult reading that they would be doing in the logic stage.

    I need the opinion of my calm, unaffected hive

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Honestly, I think it was rude of you to attack her when she is bringing the presents. Sure, it was a bit of a tease to show the kids and then not bring them, but she did eventually. I'm sure there is SO much more to the story and I'm sorry that you have a difficult relationship. As for the camera thing, it was her camera that she gave to you. I don't think it is that weird for her to ask for it back. If I knew my mom had given us an extra something and then hers broke, I would offer to give it back. Obviously, I don't have all the history on this relationship and it sounds like there are many painful events, but since you asked for calm, unaffected opinions, my gut reaction is that you are overreacting in these situations.

    Do you and/or dc make your beds every day?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Someone should post a new poll about when people brush their teeth. :tongue_smilie:

     

    I'm a before-breakfast-brusher, too. Gets all the nasty stuff out of your mouth; I prefer not to swallow it all the accumulated bacteria, but to each her own.

     

    Post-breakfast brushers think any lingering toothpaste might ruin your breakfast. It doesn't. ;)

     

    My husband and I have been debating this for 19 years now. :-) I'm a before breakfast brusher. He is an after breakfast brusher.

    TOG or MFW Adventures?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Well, if you know for sure that you want to use TOG when your kids get older, I would probably get it now and do the reading outloud (including SOTW) and spend lots of time doing some of the fun projects. If you are not sure, then I would go with MFW. Actually *I* would choose just SOTW. We loved all 4 years of SOTW.

    Is it okay to force Sonlight on a child?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I guess it depends on what you mean by "force." I would "force" (I would say "require") my kid to read history texts on their own, because I think that is an essential skill. However, I might not do it all at once. Perhaps we would start off reading it out loud together. Or, maybe I would assign short sections and check in to see how she was doing and discuss. I think learning to read non-fiction is one of the most important things a child can develop. I don't think they need to love it (or even really like it) but they have to do it. I think that if changing curriculum lets her off the hook for learning to read history on her own, then I would NOT change curriculum. If there is a different curriculum that teaches the same skills but that she enjoys more, I would change.

    MUS through highschool?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I will give you a math teacher's review. :) There are things I really like about MUS and things I really don't like. I think that Steve is a sound math teacher and I think he has done an amazing job making math accessible to homeschooling families who aren't strong in math. However, the program is just NOT very rigorous. I know that even as I say this there will be students who have done well in college math or placement tests, but as much as I WANT to love it, I can't get totally on board with it. I think there are a lot of topics that get left out of the book, and there are topics that he spends a whole lesson on that make NO sense to me. (For example, in Pre-Algebra, he spends TWO lessons on converting Farenheit to Celcius and Celcius to Farneheit. That is such a specific application that it seems crazy to me to spend 2 out of 30 lessons on this!) And, there are very few higher level thinking questions. And, the problems that he gives are usually ones that work out evenly. In a more rigorous Algebra 2 course you would be completing the square where the answers are sometimes messy fractions. In MUS, the problems are usually the easier versions.

     

    I do really like how the lessons are set up with both mastery and then the spiral review built in. I think this is an effective way to set it up.

     

    I don't mean to discourage anyone because I know that MUS is very easy to use and a life-saver for some. I even used it last year in a co-op class that I tought because it really lends itself to that. But, I am going to be switching to the new Holt book for my co-op next year because I just don't feel good about the level of rigor that I'm giving my students.

    Tell me how you teach using TOG....

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I assign the reading and the questions. This next year my goal is to get better at having a more formal discussion time. Both my kids will be doing dialectic next year, so it will be a little easier. I haven't done much lecturing, or even taken much advantage of the teacher's notes. But, honestly, I think that if you have bought and sold it 3 times, it probably isn't the program for you. :) I found that I just need to walk away from programs like that. (I did the same thing with Classical Writing. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't make it work for me.)

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