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hearts4homeschooling

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Posts posted by hearts4homeschooling

  1. We really enjoyed Cores 3 and 4 (D and E), doing each for a year. I can't imagine zipping through that much history in one year as a combined core. My children were 8 and 11 during Core D and 9 and 12 during Core E. They loved it.

     

    And we are likely back to Sonlight Core F this coming year for my now 11 y/o daughter!

  2. I have a quick question. I am going to be doing BP Ancients with my rising 6th grader who is a very good reader, loves to read and loves History. I really like to idea of combining BP with sonlight readers. I am not too familiar with Sonlight, but from the looks of the core packages I would choose core G. Do I just pick out the readers I want or is there a list somewhere on how and which books line up with the BP curriculum? I was planning on buying all the BP resources but I don't think it includes living books.

     

    Thanks!

     

    Yes, you would choose Core G, but remember that Sonlight Core G covers the time span that Biblioplan covers in Years 1 and 2, so you would slow it way down.

     

    HERE and HERE are lists of Sonlight books arranged by the WTM 4-year history cycle.

     

    You are correct; BP does not include books. It has things that Sonlight does not have, including worksheets, real maps, a comprehensive Companion, and hands-on activities, and does not tell you exactly what to read each day which is a relief for our family!

  3. The companion can be printed off of your computer OR you can buy the printed version that BP sells. It's not written to the student, but the sections are color coded for each grade level and those are the sections that you are to read to your student. A highschooler would read the complete companion.

     

    And if you are using it for levels other than high school (who will read the whole thing), I would recommend buying the hard copy rather than printing it yourself, even if you have a color printer. The color-coded sections do not appear distinguishable in black/white, and Year 1 Ancients Companion is 300 pages long, so it would not be cost effective at all to print it in color yourself.

  4. LOL

    I've always said" The first child is the experiment child, the 2nd child is the practice child, by the time you get #3, you get it all right!"

     

    Course #'s 4,5,6,and 7 killed THAT theory!

     

    It sure seems this way! I need a younger batch of kids now that I have experimented with so many things on the first one!

  5. I have had four Brother printer / copiers over the last seven years. I will not buy another one. They have programmed their printers so that a cartridge will only print X # of copies even if there is a lot of toner left in the cartridge. There are ways of overriding this, such as putting black electrical tape over the sensor hole and re-positioning the gear on the side of the cartridge, but these do not always work, and sometimes I throw away half-full cartridges because the printer will not accept it and will only take a new one.

     

    My friend who has an HP says hers does not do this, but I don't know if she has a newer model or not. The older Brother models did not do this either.

     

    I have thrown two away because over time (2+ years) they develop gray/black streaks down the page, and the local repairman said it was cheaper to buy new than repair.

     

    That said, I have two Brothers in my office right now:

     

    HL5250DN, which is not a copier but is just a printer (pay attention to this if you buy online!), but it prints duplex which I LOVE!

     

    DCP-7020 which is a copier, printer, scanner.

     

    For sure get a laser, unless you require color. They are so much cheaper to operate and print quickly with no dry time. You can buy toner and drums very reasonably priced on eBay. Look for high-yield cartridges.

     

    HTH!

  6. Do I let her choose or do I choose? What do you guys do? Do you say, "Latin it is. Love it or lump it." I'm afraid that I need to go with the interest but....what if she keeps changing? I'm also thinking I should just decide and hold her accountable to do her best for a certain period of time. Thoughts???

     

    We chose Spanish in our homeschool for two main reasons.

     

    1. I had three years in high school, so there was really no thought about doing another language because of my history. They learn so much more by using it. I talk to them in Spanish and expect responses in Spanish and make them think about it outside of lesson time.

     

    2. Spanish is so usable.

     

    Nothing wrong with taking a few years' break and pick up a foreign language later.

  7. I am looking for one that easily shifts everything forward a day, or just 1 item forward a day and skips holidays. Do any of these work that way? I'd love to find this. Thanks for this thread! I bought HSTplus and just haven't found it easy to use.

     

    Scholaric does this. The Scholaric Blog is where to look first for answers to your questions. I have found the developer is also very helpful with questions.

     

    It is very reasonably priced at $1 per month per student.

  8. We used cloth diapers for all three of our kids. I always did a final rinse with APPLE CIDER VINEGAR. It kills bacteria and balances the pH. They would break out if I didn't add this to the final rinse. I do not remember the quantity as the baby is now 11, but I am thinking it was a cup or so. I put it in the rinse dispenser opening.

     

    I had a top-load washer then, and this may make a difference versus a front loader because front loaders use so much less water and may not clean the diapers as effectively as a top loader ... ?

  9. I have Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer and would not purchase them again for this reason: one of them leaves brown streaks on clothes. I have not been able to determine which one is leaving the streaks because it is extremely difficult to examine each and every piece of laundry x many loads per week. The streaks do not come out by washing them again. The machines have ruined hundreds of dollars worth of clothes, and 80% of the ruined clothes are mine because I wear mostly light and medium colors.

     

    This is not a problem affecting only my machine; this is a well documented problem for the Whirlpool Duet series in online forums about these washers/dryers. I have been unable to find a solution. Some of these forums say to use powdered detergent, but this did not take care of the problem in my machines. Some say to wipe down the inside regularly; this does not help either. I am going to try the machine cleaner next.

     

    My temporary solution, until I have saved enough to trade them in to the company where I bought them, is to turn everything I care about, if it is light- or medium-colored, inside out. This is a real drag because then I have to turn it back right-side out! Turning things inside out doesn't always solve the problem either; the brown streaks can show through to the outside on white shirts.

  10. PLEASE tell me there is a good spelling program on CD rom.

     

    Yes, The Phonetic Zoo by Excellence in Spelling. It is very independent (even reads the correct spelling to the student) and good for grades 5 and up. You can read about it on the Excellence in Writing website.

     

    Teaching Textbooks for math? It has an automatic gradebook through Algebra 1 level with the higher levels being re-done with the automatic gradebook over the next few years.

     

    Switched on Schoolhouse? We tried this one year but found the answers had to be pretty exact to be counted as correct, and this could be frustrating for a child with learning disabilities, but if their bend is computers, this might be a good fit.

     

    BJU DVDs? You'd still be reviewing some work. The teachers do go over and correct some of the workbook pages with the student during the DVD lesson. Having used BJU DVDs for two years exclusively (every subject on DVD), I warn you about student burnout with watching so many classes. It begins to feel like PS. Also, BJU English is tough and would likely require your help even with the DVD teacher.

     

    Science at that age can be an Animal Encyclopedia and book basket approach with nonfiction animal or other science books from the library.

     

    History could be audio CDs of The Story of the World or Mystery of History along with audio or book biographies from the library.

     

    You are tired. Are you getting enough vitamin D?

  11. Well...I flaked (a bit) this year for history. Not really...but I feel as if I did. If my kids were still in public school, one would not be learning anything in history and the other would be learning state history. So...I did, what turned into two trimesters of state history. All went well and my kids learned a lot. Now, I have to come up with something new (since our school year starts in June). I *really* want to do a full year of US history but I am not sure where to start. My kids tend to do very well (and please no flames for this learning style) with more of a spiral curriculum and worksheets. They tend to retain the most if they write out questions and answers that re enforce their reading. I've considered buying a US history book like "The story of US" and then filling in with library books, but then I'm short worksheets, reviews and activities. Are there any programs out there that would allow a full year of US history in this style? Thanks:)

     

    How old are your kids? Notgrass America the Beautiful has worksheets.

  12. You could look at Consumer Reports on printers and the cost to run different models. If I remember correctly, they estimate the cost to be 1/2 penny per page for B/W. In my experience, lasers are much cheaper to run after many years with inkjet and six years with laser. I buy cartridges and drums on eBay and rarely buy the name-brand cartridge unless it is the cheapest. They sell on eBay for 1/3 of the price in Office Depot.

     

    All printers get expensive, however, when the manufacturer programs the printer to allow a cartridge to run a set number of pages even when there is lots of toner left. I currently have Brother laser printers (one a double-sided printer for printing books, one a copy/scanner), and the cartridges will not print after X number of copies.

     

    Online I have found ways to make the printers print past the set #. I use black electrical tape over the clear view ports on the end of the toner cartridge so the light shining through thinks the cartridge is still full. I have also learned to reset the gear on the side of the toner cartridge so the printer thinks it is a new cartridge.

     

    I have also had problems with my three Brother machines with lines and gray shading and do not plan to purchase another printer of this brand and am hoping to find a company that is not wasteful and allows a toner cartridge to be used until truly empty.

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