Ali in OR
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Posts posted by Ali in OR
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From the opposite end of the spectrum, my 10 yo doesn't mind looking like a little girl. There are no other girls her age at church--either 4 years older or 3 years younger, so no peer pressure to dress a certain way. She'll do another year in Lands End knit dresses and either tights or knee highs. She likes footless tights too. Have to admit it doesn't get all that cold here, so no additional layers or wool needed!
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We finished 4 last year and just started 5. And there is a lot of review--I'm not sure when we will hit a topic that we haven't already learned. Sometimes it does go a little beyond what we already know, but I don't think it would be too difficult to just start the 5th grade book if you want to go that route.
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The only thing I can think of in LFC that is not purely secular is a quote chanted in the first couple of chapters of LFC A--In principio erat verbum--In the beginning was the Word. Other chapters have quotes from Cicero or other ancient Roman dudes. There is no religious discussion at all. You should have no problem with this curriculum.
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I know that the family go to two homeschooling groups in their city, which is 45mins-1hrs drive away from us.
Honestly, if they did not live in the same city, I would not want to try to establish any kind of relationship. Our lives are busy enough and it is hard to fit everything into a day. This would just be another complicating factor. And I would be uncomfortable dealing with the father instead of the mother for a family that we have no prior connection with. It would be natural for the dads to meet, or the moms, but I would feel very awkward with a split gender, out-of-town, cross-cultural, taking-time-out-of-our-day play date. But then we're not big into playdates anyway. My dds play with each other and like it that way.
I would just reply that it doesn't work for us at this time.
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WWE wasn't around for my oldest, but I used WWE 1 with my first grader last year and she is now using 2. I tried a few weeks of 3 with my older dd last year when the sample pages were up and pretty quickly decided that I wanted something different for her level. She used Writing Tales for 2 years (and is tired of that approach) and this year we are using MCT and whatever is in R&S (not a ton of writing in there). Doing so much dictation just didn't sit well with me for what I wanted out of a writing program. I'm not sure that I would be that good at dictation, but I think I developed good writing skills. My younger dd will transition to a different program after WWE 2. I guess I want more of learning how to write your own ideas rather than just narration and dictation. But I think WWE is an excellent beginning for years 1 & 2.
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We also use Biblioplan. It has a lot more U.S. History than SOTW alone. We spent a solid year on history (June-June) for year 3--there was just so much we wanted to cover. Biblioplan alternates units, so you might spend 6 weeks studying a period of American history, then the next 6 weeks studying world history during that time. Biblioplan itself is a 36 week schedule, but we spent a little longer on some things, like adding in some Time Travelers CDs from Home School in the Woods.
I've found myself thinking that another way to do it would be to do SOTW 3 during the summer, listening to it in the car for instance, and read some supplemental lit that goes with it, then spend the school year on American history. Still means spending a full year on history, but it's our favorite subject here so that wouldn't bother us.
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I don't think tests in the elementary years are all that helpful. I don't think they are necessary--I know what my kids know and am very satisfied with their learning. And like you, I think testing can have undesirable consequences for some kids--test anxiety, thinking they're stupid, etc. I don't think my perfectionist kid would handle any mistake well (we work on this in other arenas like piano--I don't need tests to work on this issue).
I do know that eventually tests are a part of life (I taught high school math), but I think they can come later. We'll add tests to the mix during the middle school years, especially 8th grade. We reviewed multiple choice testing skills before dd had to take state tests in 3rd grade (she did great). We still do spelling tests (which are seen as pretty fun in this house) and we do the quiz pages in LFC, but not as a graded test. But no math tests, history tests, etc. We learn for fun, not because we have to know it for the test.
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It sure would be nice to have a Great Homeschool Convention west of the Mississippi! The four "regional" locations listed all seem relatively close together. One on the west coast would be nice. I could drive to either WA or northern CA or Oregon itself would be great. But the given locations leave half of the country pretty much out of luck. I would not be able to fly to a homeschool convention.
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I wouldn't assume 1A is too easy--it appears easier than it is I think. It is teaching a way of thinking. Before you toss it aside, read through it to see if your child has internalized this approach to mental arithmetic (you build on it as time goes on):
For 8+6, can your dc illustrate how to solve it by making a 10? Or has he just memorized 14? 1A will teach how to make the 8 a 10 by taking 2 from the 6. Dc knows number bonds well enough to immediately see that 4 is left from the six. The whole purpose of making a 10 is that it is easy to add 10 to anything, so as soon as you can visualize the 4, you know the answer is 14. This skill helps in solving problems like 28+6 or 58+26. Knowing a strategy is so much more powerful than simply memorizing "8+6=14". Everyone blanks on a math fact at some point (and I always use 8+6 as an example because it is one I remember blanking on), but if you have a strategy, you can solve it just as fast as if the answer was in your memory banks.
I would go through the book with your dc quickly as others suggested. Make sure he knows his number bonds up to and including 10 with instant recall. Talk strategy--especially making a 10.
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WWE is perfect for 1st grade--I can't see why you would need more. It gets them used to writing sentences by copying well-composed models. And they get good exposure to narration too. Quite honestly I will likely jump to something different for 3rd grade (and I use something different for my older girl since she started before there was WWE), but for 1st and 2nd grade I really like WWE.
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We've been doing Latin and Spanish for two years. My kids have never been confused; on the contrary we find it very interesting to learn Latin words and see how they were changed (or not) in Spanish and English. I would think you would have a similar experience with Latin and French. The only difficulty is finding enough time for language study--we'd like to add Greek this year, but don't know if we'll be able to fit in much more than learning the alphabet.
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Ours was a few weeks ago and we love entering things. My 7 yo looked at how many ribbons (and $$) her 10 yo sister got and first complained that she entered too many things, then started plotting what she could enter next year. My 10 yo decided on her own to enter some of her poetry (and won 2nds) and I made her enter her Time Travelers Civil War lapbook which won 1st. It's cool when you can just take things they did during the year and enter them! So now I'm supposed to teach them to knit and sew for next year...
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I'd make sure her math skills are top-notch. Since we use Singapore, I would probably accelerate to finish the series before she entered school. I'm just assuming that a science, technology, and math school will probably have higher expectations for math skills. I might get dd's computer skills up to speed too. So far she hasn't had to use it much. We're working on typing this year and then I hope to look at some basic programs like Word and Excel. And schools around here push Power Point presentations, so I'd probably teach her that one too (or have dh do it since it is a prominent part of his work life). My dd has not showed a particular bent toward math/science/technology, but even so I'm toying with the idea of trying Lego robotics with her. If she actually came out and told me she wanted to go to this school in 6th grade, she would be getting the Lego Mindstorm robot kit for Christmas!
I think we're fine for science, but if you haven't been taking it seriously, you could address that in advance too. And targeting writing skills also sounds like a good idea.
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Enjoy the stage of life that your kids are in now. It is easy to go on spontaneous walks or hikes, they're close enough in age to do things together, you can go to all of their sporting activities with ease. You can play board games in the evening, go bowling, go to the movies. You all have your health and your dh can provide for you. No matter what age you are or how many children you have, all of us at some point have to get used to the idea that child bearing is over. Go on and enjoy child rearing.
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In theory this sounds great, but we don't have any high schoolers and we live in Oregon. But if you want to take the show on the road in 4 or 5 years...
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You need the Ben and Jerry's recipe book!
Several years ago, our newspaper ran an article about how if the ice cream recipe has eggs in it, you need to heat it to 165 degrees to kill off any salmonella (kind of timely with the recent egg recall). That step isn't in Ben and Jerry's, but I add it and um, I've been making quite a lot of ice cream this summer and can rattle off the wonderful French vanilla off the top of my head. With the heating step added, here goes:
1. Beat 2 large eggs for 1-2 minutes.
2. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar and beat another minute.
3. Add 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream.
4. Heat in microwave, stirring occasionally, until it is 165 degrees. For my microwave, I do two 2-minute cycles, stirring after each, and then a 1-minute cycle usually has it pretty close to 165. Do another 30 seconds if needed.
5. Add 1 cup of cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours and then process.
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We have all had flu shots for 10 years now and will get them again this year. My seizure kid landed in the hospital with a seizure we couldn't stop when she was 2--fever from the flu made it worse than what we usually deal with. We all started getting shots the next fall and none of us have had the flu since getting the shots.
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We did 3 years of gymnastics before switching to ballet. I wish we had made the switch earlier. My dds enjoyed gymnastics but had no interest (and probably not enough talent) to pursue competitive gymnastics. Although close to our house,the gym is not near anything else and it was difficult to get my wheelchair kid into the building...it just wasn't a convenient place to be. And gymnastics was more expensive. When my dh was worried about layoffs, that was one monthly expense I wanted to reduce. There was a lot of staff turnover at the gym (relying on college kids), and while instruction was decent, it was better some years than others.
The ballet studio is downtown, walking distance to the library and other places. I can easily get my wheelchair kid in the door, and if she's not happy there, I can easily take her out for a walk or go somewhere else. The studio is excellent with wonderful instructors who really do a better job controlling the classes than the gym did. It is cheaper than gymnastics and they provide a sibling discount which the gym didn't. And I think it is fun to have a yearly recital and put on a show. If you aren't on the gymnastics team, you don't really have an opportunity to do any performance.
My dds enjoy ballet and are happy with it. You have time to stay with gymnastics awhile and then switch if you like. Many of the skills will transfer. We switched when my oldest was 9; if we had been a year earlier, she would have been in the same ballet classes as the other 8 year olds who started dance at an early age. Now she is one of the oldest in her classes, but I think she can still be in upper level classes eventually if that is her passion. Younger dd switched at almost 7 and if ballet turns out to be her thing she will be at the higher levels at an earlier age. And this is a conservative studio with ballet only--from what I've seen of what the older kids do, I have no problem with my kids aspiring to be at that level. I don't think I would say that if it were a more modern dance kind of place.
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Agreeing that he needed to bracket the denominator if delta T was supposed to be in the denominator. As he wrote it, you would divide q/m and then multiply by delta T. And his comment was pretty snotty, not to mention just wrong.
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You know you get free shipping if you can get to $150.
Their books are usually cheaper than Amazon. They carry many programs you might be interested in anyway (handwriting, math, Latin). Their art supplies are great. Lots of ways to get to $150!
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For working on this type of problem solving, I think I have pretty much decided to join Drexel University's Math Forum for their Problem of the Week program. I have seen PoWs implemented in a top-notch PS middle school, and they are great for learning how to approach problems, try different methods, and learn how to communicate your answer. This problem looks like a PoW problem to me more than an assessment problem.
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So, Ali, what are you specifically using for writing for your oldest?
Thanks.
I am using Paragraph Town for writing instruction. I hope to have dd complete a short writing assignment 4-5 days each week. This will include Paragraph Town, WTM-style history outline once a week, Biblioplan writing prompts periodically, occasional book reports, math problem of the week, whatever writing assignments are in R&S grammar which we will also do, etc. Most will be short assignments; my goal is frequent writing that is executed well, but my guess is that the length of most will be a page (8x10.5 wide rule paper) or less. We'll also be working on typing this year so that next year we can focus on essays and longer writings.
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Dare I say it?
MCT.
We did Grammar Town last spring and took a brief look at Building Poems and Caesar's English. I know that those will be great, but I'm really looking forward to Paragraph Town. I really want to focus on writing this year and I think this will help us write well, rather than just writing mechanically.
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We also use both programs, a lot like Dinsfamily. Singapore is our primary program and we supplement with Horizons. I like the Horizons for constant review and its breadth of problems, but I really prefer the teaching in Singapore.
I also cross out a lot of the Horizons. There are some concepts that I think they push too early and a bit inadequately. There is a lot of algebra with variables starting in maybe 3rd grade which I don't think is necessary at this age. It's much easier to teach that when kids are in the logic stage. It's easy for me to just cross it out and wait to teach the concepts at a time that I think is more appropriate. In a co-op you won't have that choice. It may not be a big deal for your dc, and in general I don't think it is a big problem to be doing both math programs. I would not want to drop the Singapore, as I think it builds a better understanding than Horizons.
Need some ideas for using all these fresh tomatoes.
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Angel hair pasta with fresh tomato sauce--goes something like this:
Chop up some tomatoes (6-8 Roma size?); place in large bowl.
Add some minced garlic (2-3 cloves??)
And fresh chopped basil (handful)
A little sea salt and ground pepper to taste
8 oz grated mozzerella
About 1/4 cup olive oil.
Let this mixture sit on your counter for a couple of hours. Then cook up some angel hair pasta and toss it in! You can only eat this dish 1-2 months a year when you have the fresh 'maters.