I, too, have a child who wants to be a chef...a pastry chef actually. I just found some great sites that someone may find helpful... http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/index.html If you look on the sidebar, there is a section called "Kids Cooking Lessons" that looks pretty interesting. There are also some great teaching videos on this site. http://www.spatulatta.com/ This has several videos of kids doing different things in the kitchen that budding chefs can learn from. Anyhow...I am excited to look through these with my little chef and I thought someone else would be too! :001_smile:

Thanks for the ideas! :001_smile: Does anyone have some simple paper/notebooking type ideas? Thanks!

What projects, besides the popular volcano eruption using vinegar and baking soda, can I do with my boys? I am looking for anything hands-on...make your own models, paper crafty, ect. I do have the Geology Rocks activity book as well as JVC Earth Science, but there isn't much in them. So...give me all ya got! :001_smile: Thanks!

My ds 9 (4th) and ds 7 (2nd) will be using the Early 19th Century Time Traveler cd this year. We're going to be adding in a lot of reading and a few other projects to stretch it out for the full year. We plan to dive into the Pioneers, Westward Expansion, Lewis & Clark, Native Americans, and CA State History (Gold Rush, Missions, etc.) pretty deeply. I don't think we'll get to the Civil War and beyond this year. We had a great year, last year, moving through Colonial Times through the Revolutionary War.

We've used the Colonial and the Rev. War and the boys have liked the activities so much we are going to be using the Early 19th Cent. this year. I am, however, only going to be using that and spreading it out over the whole year by adding in a TON of reading and state study (CA...fits in nicely with that time period!).

We've really enjoyed the Time Traveler CD-Roms from Homeschool in the Woods. Lots of hands on projects. I add in a bunch of reading though. Books by Jean Fritz and Betsy and Giulio Meastro are a favorite in our house.

If you have a Micheal's near it goes on sale often. Or use the 40% coupon they frequently have. I stock up when it is on sale. :001_smile:

I have a canon pixma and I go through ink like crazy! Bad part...apparently you can't refill canon cartridges (at least that is what Office Depot/Max told me. If anyone knows differently please tell me! :001_smile:) so it's not $10 for black ink for me. It's $27. :tongue_smilie: You may want to stay away from canon...unless someone can correct my understanding of the ink refilling! :001_smile:

Once the remodeling is over you'll be happy! The prices are a lot cheaper than Safeway! :001_smile:

For the completed materials the boys do, we use a 2 1/2 inch binder for ours, but I don't place the lapbooking booklets in a file folder. We glue them onto cardstock and just add them to the notebooking pages within the binder. We like having all of it together in one place so we need a larger binder. I also print out the text pages and the project pages and place them in a 1 1/2 inch binder for my use. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the updated information. I'll check it out! :001_smile:

Thanks for the information! :001_smile: It sounds similar to Times Tables the Fun Way.

Could you link this program for me, please? I tried googling it and came up with a bunch of stuff I don't think was it. Thanks!:001_smile:

We use cardstock to paste our booklets on. As much as I like having the file folders, I find it much easier to store and we like having the notebooking pages (narrations, pics, ect) combined with the booklets. One subject in one place. :001_smile:

The same thing happened for me! :001_smile: I, too, LOVE RS and sing it's praises, however, I got the MM Blue Series for practice and LOVE that too! We made it through RS levels A-C, but the subtraction just wasn't clicking. *I* was having a hard time figuring out how to teach it and that only frustrated all of us! My boys have learned so much with MM (including subtraction) that I think we'll just stick with it this coming year and keep RS D close by.

:iagree:

Nope. Waste of money IMO. BUT...I'd be willing to sell you mine if you wanna waste some of that money! ;)

Yes...I am thinking along the lines of "practice" work and not being expected to learn new skills (ie. math) on his own. Thanks for the examples. Very cute about "her little voice". I am sure that'll happen at our house as well. He is currently reading a book that he KNOWS I have already read and he is *still* running to me saying, "Mom, their whole village was flooded and they lost everything!" He very much wants to share with me. :001_smile:

This sounds like a great idea! Do you plan on telling him what pages to read on which day, or are you letting him work that out on his own? Is the narration written or oral? I am thinking about doing something like this with SOTW vol. 3. We are doing only US History again this year, but he has expressed interest in knowing what is going on in other countries during the same time so I am trying to come up with some sort of plan with him using SOTW on his own. Just not sure how to do it.

Thank you for replying. I had a "foreheading slapping duh moment" when I read the bolded. It's amazing how much time and energy we waste doing things for our kids that they are capable of doing but just do it out of habit I guess. This will be something I am going to institute the very beginning of our year. Thanks for sharing. As far as the book reading example I gave...bad example...ignore it please. :blush:

Ok...maybe that was a bad example. I wasn't meaning full blown literary analysis, but more of the plot, setting, what character do you relate to, what was you favorite part of the story, What were the consequences of xyz...that sort of thing. (And please don't tell me I should already be doing that. :blush:) I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of time management when I posted that example. Understanding that all kids are different, what can I expect out of a 9 yo. (How's that for a contradiction! ;)) What sort of things do your kids do independently...things they can cross off a list? Mindbenders, copywork, ect? ETA: Now that I think about it more, some of this anxiety stems from seeing what my friends' kids are doing in PS. I am usually very good about not comparing or even giving a rip, but for some reason I can't shake this. I *do* feel he is ready for more...more challenge, more independence, more responsibility. My dh and I have discussed it and feel that we are holding him back a bit. Guess I was just wanting to know what other homeschoolers who subscribe to a similar mind set have their kids doing...not in a comparing type way though. ;) More along the lines of ideas. :001_smile:

I've heard that 4th grade seems to be a year of transition. Students become more independent, more responsible, ect. More is expected of them. I have a rising 4th grader and I need to expect more from him. More independence and more responsibility. For example...I'd like to hand him a literature book at the beginning of the week and tell him we are going to discuss it at the end of the week. During that time, I'd like him to plan his time wisely, take notes, write down questions, ect. I understand there needs to be some teaching and instruction on how to do this at first, but I'd like for him to be able to do it on his own by the middle of the school year. So, what did you do during this transition period? How did your expectations change? What sort of things did your student start doing independently that you used to "hold their hand" through? How did you teach them time management? Thanks for you time!:001_smile: ETA: I posted this in a different post, but wanted to add it here in case people are not reading the whole thread... Ok...maybe that was a bad example. I wasn't meaning full blown literary analysis, but more of the plot, setting, what character do you relate to, what was you favorite part of the story, What were the consequences of xyz...that sort of thing. (And please don't tell me I should already be doing that. :blush:) I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of time management when I posted that example. Understanding that all kids are different, what can I expect out of a 9 yo. (How's that for a contradiction! ;)) What sort of things do your kids do independently...things they can cross off a list? Mindbenders, copywork, ect? Now that I think about it more, some of this anxiety stems from seeing what my friends' kids are doing in PS. I am usually very good about not comparing or even giving a rip, but for some reason I can't shake this. I *do* feel he is ready for more...more challenge, more independence, more responsibility. My dh and I have discussed it and feel that we are holding him back a bit. Guess I was just wanting to know what other homeschoolers who subscribe to a similar mind set have their kids doing...not in a comparing type way though. ;) More along the lines of ideas. :001_smile:

My oldest son is easily distracted and frustrated when he is trying to work on his own and I am working with my younger son so he'll listen to it with headphones. It seems to help. We also listen to it while we're doing projects.

Wow...just wow! Even though we have not hit the Jr.High years yet, I do have an upcoming 4th grader and I will be expecting more from him this year than in the past as far as him taking on more responsibility for completing his assignments on his own, scheduling, and writing, ect. This post came at a good time. I always appreciate hearing tid-bits of wisdom from Janice. Thank you for posting this over here. I would have missed it. :001_smile:

Love checking out this site daily.