1Togo
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Posts posted by 1Togo
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We have been working with Mr. Zimmerman for two years, and it has been a wonderful experience. The materials, the tutoring, and the service have all been exceptional. We are finishing our last months of home schooling, and TC is on my top five favorite list.
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Just a bit of advice. The issue with writing instruction isn't curriculum. There are many, many free or inexpensive options for curriculum. For writing to improve, the student needs good feedback. If you can do that, then you don't need much in the way of curriculum. For example, we used Robinson Curriculum for years, and Dr. R never taught writing forms to his children. They wrote every day, and he provided feedback. Many of us can't do that, so we head down the curriculum path. I have only been able to help our children with their writing after I learned something about giving feedback. "The Lively Art of Writing" is an inexpensive guide to essay writing (about $9) if you don't need help with feedback.
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Not free, but very reasonable for the content. Look at Fortuigence full semester course which offers prompt & helpful feedback and clear lessons. Very good.
After Fortuigence, practice the essay types & add complexity.
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animal shelters
Dd fostered and rehabbed dogs and puppies. It was a great experience. The shelter gave us all the supplies. Dd fed, walked, and played with animals. Lots of hours. Lots of fun.
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Robinson curriculum with Saxon
a library card
Latin
ideas from WTM
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Since Bio isn't a math science, it's a read, study, etc. subject. We did not do Bio early because dd struggled with math, and I was worried she wouldn't be ready for the math in Chem. What we should have done was Bio and then Advanced Bio and then Marine Bio or another science if she wasn't ready for Chem. I would go ahead with high school Bio for a student headed into the sciences.
Fwiw, passion and interest should help through any rough patches.
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I would do Bio as soon as the student is ready. We waited and regret it.
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Spring Hill College - merit scholarship, placed in honors
University of Mobile - merit & music scholarships
University of South Alabama - merit scholarship
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Does anyone have advice for on-campus interviews and scholarship competitions? Dd has an on-campus scholarship competition at the end of the month. Five students will be awarded full tuition. She may also be interviewing this month for the honors program at another university. We don't know what to expect.
Thanks!
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Congratulations to your daughter and you!
I am there with you. Dd has acceptances and scholarships, but there are more scholarship competitions to go, and she found out Friday that she can't audition at one school until mid-March. I am so ready to knit, sew, work out regularly, de-junk the house... Wah!!!!
I have no wise advice. Dd is going to crunch when she can on the weekends to finish a batch of 1/2 credits for our cover, and we went shopping together at Fresh Market and Whole Foods last night. We haven't done that in months, and it's fun for us. Tea this morning, and we're back at it. Only about 14 weeks to go.
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J-rap,
And that is exactly why the Jesuit, liberal arts college is such a strong contender. In the end, the back up plan will probably be the career, and she doesn't want to regret her college choice and miss out on a great opportunity. Dd is not at the tippy top in terms of academics and is definitely a late bloomer. I think a liberal arts education would be perfect for her. I just wish they had music. We're going to meet soon with the priest who heads the theater dept.
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Umm...opera singing, blogging, neuropsychologist. Now that might work.
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Yes, she knows what she would like to be; i.e. a performer. However, the odds are against that, so she has to have a back up plan and double major. When she realized that she would never play in an orchestra, everything changed for her. She switched to theater which has been more rewarding. I wish she wanted to be something more...straightforward?easier?surer?
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Youngest ds tried to use this when we were using RC, but he didn't do well with it. I suspect it was his focus rather than the curriculum. Mechanical Universe does not teach calculus along with physics. Calculus first is Dr. R's suggestion. His children worked through all the Saxon books, then Mechanical Universe, then a chemistry book that is part of the curriculum, and a set of challenging, college-level physics problems. They passed many, many, many AP tests. The last three are working on doctorates in nuclear engineering.
Note: I hope this doesn't begin a RC kerfuffle. Just posting the facts as I know them.
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Dd was accepted to all target schools, and at this point, they are all about the same in terms of expense. She has an audition and two scholarship competitions still to go but is trying to think through her options. First of all, she is a musician and actor. She plays violin but has moved into vocal this year and has an exquisite voice. However, she also loves writing and history and languages and... She has many interests and hasn't decided on a major but will probably double major. So the three unis look like this:
Small, private Christian university with excellent performing arts. Many, many ensembles and lots of stage time. The rest of of the departments are good not great.
Small, Jesuit college with great ranking. 90% med school acceptance and feeder school for law school, graduate schools, etc. The college has theater but no music, so her only music option would be to continue private lessons and work with local groups.. She would go here for the liberal arts education. Already placed in their honors program and will be competing for full-ride later this month.
Large, state uni with med school. Not top ranked but has well-respected music dept. with strong vocal profs; i.e. former Met, etc. Strong business and engineering as well. Waiting to hear if she has made the cut for an honors scholarship competition. Music audition will be in February.
She loves, loves, loves theater and voice but knows career options are limited. She also wants to develop her writing and loves literature.
Thank you!!
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Thanks all. I realize that I wrote "right before Christmas," but it was the first week or so of December. Thirty days is January 1. Dd didn't even think to check her account for a scholarship offer because she was just accepted to the university the week prior.
We have read every piece of fine print and can't find anything that mentions accepting the scholarship means making a commitment to the school. I am going to advise her to accept, complete all components of the acceptance documentation, and then call on January 4 to clarify. I also thought May 1 was the deadline.
Thanks again.
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Hi Everyone,
I just told our daughter that whenever I have a high school/college issue I head to the WTM forum, so here is our latest question.
Dd has been accepted to her three target unis, but she hasn't made decision. At one of the unis, she has academic scholarship and is waiting to hear about acceptance to the music dept. and possible scholarship. There is no deadline for accepting the academic scholarship at this uni. At another, she has substantial academic scholarship and will be participating in a full-ride, on-campus competition in January. The deadline for accepting the academic scholarship at this uni is May 1. At the 3rd school, she was accepted and offered a good scholarship right before Christmas. This scholarship has 30-day deadline, so January 1. We would like to know if accepting the scholarship means she is committing to going to the uni. This univ is probably the best fit for her, but she doesn't want to go there if she does not get accepted to the music dept. for vocal performance with some scholarship. She will be auditioning on January 9, and we expect she will be accepted and offered some money. So, should can she accept the scholarship? Does this mean a commitment to attend? Since schools are on vacation until January 4, we don't have anyone to ask.
Any ideas?
As always, thanks and more thanks.
1togo
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Throughout the years I have tried all kinds of things to elevate the maturity of my children's writing, and it has really boiled down to this for us:
1. Read quality literature.
2. Write, receive feedback, and edit. For last dc, written feedback works well. Dc writes and puts the piece in an inbox. I make suggestions on the piece, and dc makes changes, asking questions if necessary. I use standard editing marks and more substantial commentary if needed. The daily schedule includes at least an hour every day for writing because dc may be starting a new piece and editing an old piece during composition time.
Fwiw, I have quite a few excellent books about writing, rhetoric, etc. on our shelves, and I've always planned for dc to read/study them, but in the end 1 to 1.5 hours per day is all she has for composition, and she needs all of it for writing. I teach her what I want her to learn through my feedback.
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Or...
Find a text/living book (narrative would be good) that your daughter will accept and do any of the following:
1. Read, annotate, and discuss with you.
2. Read and write a narration of the daily reading. (Improves writing skills.)
3. Read and outline the daily reading. (Improves writing/thinking skills.)
4. Read and take Cornell notes on the daily reading. (Develops a skill needed in college.)
We are doing #1 with several economics books, and it is working very well. Dd is learning lots, and I know that she learning because I am reading and annotating also.
Fwiw, I think requiring papers, projects, etc. on a subject that does not interest the student won't be any more appealing that working through a traditional course. Any of the above cover the material without a lot of fuss and bother, and some of the options build important skills. You know your child, so I would make the work as streamlined and painless as possible.
Or...
Turn this is class into college credits (6) by studying for CLEP U.S. History 1 and CLEP U.S. History 2. Sometimes the idea of earning college credits is motivating. U.S. History I & 2 are usually on the list of accepted CLEPs for colleges that accept CLEP. With this option, your daughter won't have to take U.S. History in college. Dd is prepping for U.S. History I CLEP now as follows: 1) Reading and taking Cornell notes on the REA CLEP guides, working with InstantCert flashcards, and watching/taking quizzes on the CLEP U.S. History 1 lectures from study.com.
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Got the scores. Down a point. Dd disappointed since she studied thoroughly and felt good about the test. On to October.
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Still waiting. We have a major health crisis in the family, so I forgot to check the dates for October registration. It looks like we need to register in the next few days and pay a late fee. Having the scores would help with the decision, so we are going to wait until Wed. to register. We're hoping dd's score will post in Wed. batch.
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Thanks so much. Dh started dd's FASA form, but I thought it was too early. We will file in January and keep the appeal on the back burner.
I knew I could ask here and get a quick answer. I appreciate the work that others have done investigating. We have a health crisis in the family, and I am barely keeping everything together.
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Dd will begin college August 2016. When should we file FASA for her? My husband began building her file, and the tax info is for 2014. Based on our 2014 income, she won't qualify for anything. However, my husband may be unemployed by the end of the month which means a huge drop in income. If we update her file after he files the 2015 tax return, is there any possibility she may qualify for grants for 2016 because our income change? Does any of that make sense?
Thanks.
1togo
It's time to write....Hunter, I'm lost!!
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted · Edited by 1Togo
You mentioned Robinson, and I wanted to say that we used this when we first began home schooling, and it was a life saver. We didn't have money for lots of materials, and our children were all over the map in terms of needs - one learning to read and two home from p.s. (8th & 11th) with weak core skills. We did the following:
Math - first subject of the day, Saxon, one lesson per day, 5 lessons per week, test on Saturday, year round
Reading - RC books, 30 minutes to start, 1 hour when ready, 2nd reading time with other books when ready
Composition - 1/2 page to 1 page of copy work, then reading journals (written form of narration) when copy work was good, then essay instruction when ready
Vocabulary - RC sets, definition + spelling + sentence, began with 3 words & added words each day until entire set completed
Grammar - RC
Handwriting - RC
All of this took until lunch time or after when we added a second reading time. We followed the above routine for many, many months. In the afternoons/evenings, we did household work, read the Bible, and did lots of reading aloud.
When everyone was working smoothly with the above, I taught the older children to take notes using Cornell method. They practiced by taking sermon notes. Since I was taking the same notes, it was easy for me to check their progress. When they were good at taking notes, we added Apologia science. When they were doing well with that, we added a foreign language. When they were doing well with that, we added a BJU textbook course, so they could get familiar with textbooks for college. We also added ACT prep. All of this took years, but it worked well. We did not follow this approach with youngest dc, and I regret it. Taking the time to master 3R skills and gradually learning discipline made independent work possible and successful.
I want to add that checking work is time consuming for Mom, so focusing on 3R basics was enough for me. I checked their copy work, sentences, math, grammar, and quizzed them on vocabulary. I wrote suggestions, and they corrected their work. Fwiw, I would definitely add oral narration to the mix, and I would do the written narrations a bit differently.
Also, while the older children were doing their work around the kitchen table, youngest dc worked on math flash cards and then reading with me. We also did lots of reading aloud.
P.S. Forgot to add that I taught the older children to outline about the same time as I taught them Cornell notes.