Suzannah
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Posts posted by Suzannah
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We started with Aesop B last year (5th grade) for DS and we're finishing up Homer this year. I agree with the others, there's a bit of a learning curve. But we use the workbooks and honestly, it's very close to pick-up and go now that we have a feel for it. We still use Abeka grammar but haven't had any real trouble doing the grammar exercises (other than when the blanks for the definition of something don't match up precisely with the definition we learned...eh, no biggie.)
I have no idea how much time we spend on it, but it isn't really teacher intensive. We follow the daily lessons in the workbook. During the course of the week, I read the selection aloud to DS, dictate a sentence (which I often select on the spur of the moment), discuss some item or other about vocabulary, grammar or a new item being introduced, then the rest of my involvement is looking over the steps of his writing assignment (outline, rough draft, edits/final draft).
The core book is intimidating at first, but I found it more manageable to just figure out what a typical week would look like. The set everything into place and I'm extremely happy with it.
Someone mentioned that CW doesn't teach outlining. I noticed that as well as we finished Aesop and just spent three or four transitional weeks with Remedia's Outlining, recommended in WTM before we moved into Homer.
Oh, and if you've been doing narration since K or 1st, Aesop is very easy for the student. We probably should have either skipped Aesop or used CW for Older Beginners.
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We did SOTW with DS beginning in 1st grade. When we began the second history rotation, DD was 5. She has always wanted to be included in school work and was thrilled to be doing school with her big brother using a big kids' book. I didn't require much of her, but I did make a copy of the maps and coloring pages for her. If she did it, fine, if not, fine.
Good luck!
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You do need a schedule/plan/something to keep you on track. But don't become a slave to your schedule. It's a tool to make your life easier. I personally make a very detailed schedule at the beginning of the year to see how things would fit and how the day would flow (Do I want to do math first or save it for the end of the day? Is just before lunch a good time to tackle a problem area? Should we do this subject every day or is 3 days a week enough?) But after a few weeks I don't pay very close attention to the schedule anymore.
Keep it simple. If you really don't where to start and don't want more things to choose from, just go with the WTM recommendations. People here on the forum have their own reasons for tweaking here and there. They don't have to be your reasons. Susan and Jessie did all the legwork to find some of the best, most easily accessible texts for the best value available to homeschoolers. If after you get started you find a need to make a change then come back here for suggestions.
There are sample schedules in WTM. I happen to know that my son really needs to do math eary in the day. It's not his strongest subject and if it's saved until the afternoon, it's sort of like cold Brussels sprouts left on a five-year-old's plate after everyone else has finished dinner. Not only unappetising but causing resentment.
I also observed that if my children have the chance to leave the table after breakfast, it takes FOREVER to round them up again and get them back down to business.
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We've used Julie Shields' (Julie in GA from the boards here) copywork for about a year and a half now, both ancients and middle ages.
It is available in ZB or Italic, both print and cursive:
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Funny Donelda, I was going to say street names can be an interesting source of state and local history. :)
We did state history in the last 2 weeks or so of our fourth year history cycle, after we finished-up modern history. We live in Virginia, so like others, we have been visiting local sites and discussing local history all along. But I found it to be a nice re-cap of everything we had covered from beginning to end. I also think it's important to know about about where you live. In fact, we even included some limited state studies for Tennessee and Arkansas where we have family and visit often.
I couldn't tell you the name of the book I used as a spine. It was just some Virginia state book for kids I found from Rainbow Resources or a book sale or somewhere. But we used it as a jumping-off point and made lapbooks. We also read library books about things that seemed worth pursuing.
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Well I can't say it goes with it, but we used Apologia Astronomy in the Fall and now are using the WTM recommendations for Earth Science plus listening to Lyrical Earth Science CD. Probably not the answer you were hoping for.
I must say there is a lot of "billions of years" talk in the recommended text How the Earth Works but we have often discussed our family's view of Old Earth vs. New Earth and we don't dwell on it. I do think it's important for kids (my older one especially) to understand that there is disagreement within the scientific community about many things and that we do not require scientific backing for our faith. My own view is that the earth was created with age, as Adam and Eve were, so if you allowed it to evolve undirected it probably would take a hundred billion years.
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Movies are one really nice thing about modern history. Sure there are movies about ancient and medieval history...and they're good too. But watching old Depresion Era and WWII movies is so interesing (to me anyway) because people were watching those movies during the time period. Plus they are always full of little cultural references to what's going on. We love the Marx Bros., Shirley Temple and Frank Capra in this house.
Some of our favorites:
A Night At the Opera (Marx Bros.)
The Little Princess (Shirley Temple)
Captain January (Shirley Temple)
Frank Capra movies
You Can't Take It With You (1930s)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
It's a Wonderful Life (1920-40s)
American Madness (not as well-known as some of his later work but a great example of how a run on the bank gets started)
Meet John Doe
Oh, and don't forget Sgt. York (WWI)....
And there's a show from the PBS "House" series called "1940s House". A modern British family spends 3 months living as though it were the 1940s. We own the DVD but they might re-air it from time to time.
some other modern-era movies DH and I have enjoyed but may or may not be suitable for your students. Have lots of tissues ready for the first two black & whites:
Mrs. Minever
Since You Went Away
*Places in the Heart
Memphis Belle
*Saving Private Ryan
*Schindler's List
October Skies
Apollo 13
O.k., I really have to stop now. Maybe this will whet your appetite.
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I can't go too far out on a limb here since we're a couple of grades behind you. If she seems uncertain but does well on the tests, it may be that she doesn't fully understand the concept (or isn't completely sure that she understands the concept which is almost the same thing.) I struggled in math and and when tutors tried to help me with "problem areas" they were puzzled because I could do 20 targeted problems without any trouble. But once these kinds of problems were mixed with those types of problems on a unit test, I couldn't remember which way to solve the different types.
Perhaps a change of pace would help your daughter. If she's not on a definite schedule, you might back up several lessons. But I would also recommend something like Life of Fred. We're supplementing Saxon with LOF this year (Fractions last fall, Decimals and Percents this spring.) It is an entirely different approach and DS really enjoys the stories. He will work through several lessons cheerfully and I must say that NEVER happened with the other math programs or practice workbooks we've used before.
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What grades are you interested in? SWB is part-way through a high-school level history of the world. I think Middle Ages is supposed to be out soon.
But we are still using SOTW the second time around for middle school. I love the narrative flow of SOTW and I knew DS wouldn't actually remember it all after four years had passed. Plus DD is joining us this time. DS still enjoys history (as he always has) but of course I require more of him with Kingfisher, more in-depth library books, more writing and discussion, time-line, etc.
I did try to use Biblioplan at the beginning of 5th grade which incorporates SOTW with a beautifully laid-out plan different grade levels and additional readings. But I found that the flow and simplicity of SOTW was too much disrupted by reading parts of chapters and skipping around from chapter 9 to chapter 2. It probably would have been fine if I hadn't fallen in love with SOTW first.
Blessings!
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We began homeschooling with WTM before I'd heard of the Elementary Apologia series. I don't know for certain whether any of them had been published at that time, but we just did DS' first 4 years of science according to the WTM recommendations. FWIW, it went very well and DS thoroughly enjoyed science. But when he was in 5th grade, getting ready to start the cycle again, I had a K and an infant and I really wanted something a little more scripted. I went ahead with WTM's suggestions for Humans and Animals (which was not at all up to par due to a stellar lack of planning for the school year in addition to new baby and Ker). But Botany went so well that spring that I decided to try Astronomy the following year.
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We did Botany last year and Astronomy this year. I only took one semester for each one. I haven't decided for certain, but I might be using Zoology or...whatever the other one is next year just with DD since DS will be in a co-op class for Apologia General Science.
Last year with Botany I had DS in 5th and DD in K. This year for Astronomy DS was 6th and DD 1st. Now let me say that DD has always loved "doing school" with us. Ever since she was 2 she would ask for more worksheets (free ones I printed form LearningPage.com). She wanted to be included in the same things her brother was doing but even though I did tell her it was time for science and sometimes even give her an assignment (draw a flower and label the parts, etc.) I didn't really require anything from her in K. If she was there and seemed interested that was fine. If not, fine too.
This year she had a notebook using Jeannie Fullbright's notebook pages (which I printed at the beginning of the year) and with each lesson she was expected to do whatever the notebook page was. She also enjoyed the experiments and observations.
But both years I required more of DS. He was expected to do definitions and write short summaries in addition to reading corresponding selections from the Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia and library books.
All in all, this worked very well for us, in spite of the wide age difference. I only wish there were books on human anatomy and earth science too!
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Do you have older neighbors or relatives your children could interview?
When we did modern history a few years ago I made a list of events to ask my grandmother. She was born in 1912 and blessedly has a wonderful memory and is more than happy to share her stories with us. The list was VERY long so I broke it into 3 or 4 sections and sent them to her every couple of months. My original plan was for her to just write a letter back to us, not so much answering specific questions as telling us her thoughts about various events or stories she was reminded of. She and my mom tried to do one with a video camera, and while that is something I really appreciated and treasure, it wasn't a very convenient format for us to use in school. But her letters were really fun to read and I made copies for DS' history notebook. She also gave us some V-mail she had received from a cousin who was killed at the Battle of the Bulge and thought she had an old ration book but wasn't able to locate it during our study.
If you don't have any older relatives you might ask around at church or ask friends if you can speak with their older friends and relatives. You can also reach out to nursing homes and senior centers. These men and women can be a wonderful source of stories and information.
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That sounds just about perfect, Peek-a-boo! :)
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For tomatoes I use one of the trellises I bought a few years ago...either wood or a fancy, scrolly, metal thingy. I'm not a big tomato person and usually start them too late for them to get very tall. But for my watermelons, canteloupes and (this year) pumpkins, we do Mel's recommendation of galvanized steel pipes and nylon netting. I have a large-ish trellis set-up now, but when I started it was just about 6' high x 3' wide(?). And it works beautifully. It has never fallen over (except a couple of weeks ago when I moved it and forgot that I hadn't pounded it back into the ground) or broken or needed any special attention in 4+ years of use. At some point I'll probably need to replace the netting but it's still fine for now. It was also easy to add another section to enlarge it, although I did need some WD-40 to loosen it up.
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First, let me say I LOVE Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts!
Secondly, you don't have to do every day camp and regional activity. DS never did the day camp as it conflicted with other activities and while I'm sure it would have been fun, there was no sigma or hurt feelings about it.
Thirdly, you don't miss anything by starting later or not doing Cub Scouts at all. Boy Scouts is similar in some ways, but has a whole different approach and there is only one badge you can earn as a Cub and wear as a Boy Scout (Arrow of Light).
Fourthly, the adult leaders guide the direction of the pack and will vary some so if you have more than one to choose from in your area, visit and talk with the leaders to get a feel for the kinds of activities they will plan to participate in.
My son began as a Bear in 3rd grade. I meant to have him join earlier but it slipped my mind one year, then the next they said he could only join if I would be a den leader (they try to keep the adult/kid ratio small) and I didn't want to take that on at that time. But as it turns out, I think it was the perfect time for DS to join. If he'd started earlier I'm afraid he might have burned-out. He loved his fellow scouts and den leader and I was very involved. The "new" just started to wear off sometime late in his Webelo I year (4th grade). But by then the whole new world of Boy Scouts was starting to open up and that gave him a boost.
Now he is a Tenderfoot Boy Scout (almost 2nd class) in a fantastic troop and hopes to make it all the way to Eagle. Good luck in your decision. Scouting can be a wonderful experience for the whole family.
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Hide the books better. :)
I agree with Dawn. When you come to the Assyrians and she says she already knows all about them, say "O.k., tell me about the Assyrians." Then ask questions as you go. If she can give you a good narrative account, then I'd say she knows the Assyrians. If not but, tell her there are a few more points you'd like to go over. Or, if she clearly doesn't remember anything about them, it's time to re-read. Just make sure you add them to your timeline so she can see where they belong if she read about them out of order.
But if it's something more, well, significant such as Ancient Rome or the founding of America, obviously you need to spend a bit more time on it even if she is able to summarize it.
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I believe TWTM addresses the idea that children aren't suited for a chronological approach to history. It says (paraphrasing here) that since history is a story it should begin at the beginning and go along to the end. What if we sat down to tell the story of Hansel and Gretel and decided that the part of the story most likely to appeal to children was the witch's gingerbread house so we would begin there? Then we might say something about the witch, then go on to the trail of breadcrumbs, but save the whole thing about the stepmother for the end because it's rather complicated emotionally and not very interesting to children anyway. That story wouldn't make any sense.
Furthermore, TWTM also says that beginning with the child's community, then U. S. history, then world history gives students a very self-centered view of the world. We didn't, as a nation, spring from the earth fully-formed. We have come to this point in history by "standing on the shoulders of giants."
We are now half-way through our second history rotation and DS and I have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting familiar stories and digging deeper into things.
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Well, it's not a link but we LOVE the book World War II for Kids. I loved it so much I bought Civil War for Kids but we didn't like it quite as much. There are some terrific websites for WWII about Pearl Harbor and D-Day in particular. I taught a miliary history class for our co-op a few years ago and the "modern" session was a huge hit.
There are so many discoveries, inventions and advancements in technology in the modern era to think about. And all those events that you studied in Ancients and Medieval times come together in the modern era in current political boundaries, alliances and governments.
I didn't notice whether you have boys or girls, but my DD is really enjoying the "American Girls" books, particularly Kit and Molly. She can't wait to really study these times in history even though we won't be there for another year.
Good luck!
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I always thought I wanted my kids to memorize lots of scripture, poetry and facts, but for such a long time it would just slip my mind or I would misplace that piece of paper the poem was written on, etc.
Then last spring I came across Kendra's site http://www.preschoolersandpeace.com. I was in planning mode so her description of a planning weekend caught my eye. I spread it out over most of the summer rather than just one weekend, but one of her many suggestions that has improved our school wonderfully was to create a memory notebook.
I went through the WTM memorization suggestions for history, science and literature and made a page for each one for the kids' notebooks. I also came up with a list of scriptures I want my kids to memorize and put those in there along with other things that have come up during the year (youth group memory work, Boy Scout oath and law, math facts). This sounds like a lot of work but it really wasn't. I did type up the Kings and Queens of England but mostly I was able to find lists, maps and charts online and just print them out. Bible verses were cut and pasted from BibleGateway.com.
Each morning during or immediately following breakfast we do memory work. DS does his on his own while I help DD. Periodically, say once every week or two, I'll have them repeat things to me. There's no reward, there's no punishment. It's just what we do. They now have the rulers of England from Egbert to James I, about a dozen or so scriptures (some of them quite long) layers of the earth, continents, tectonic plates, layers of the atmosphere and a few poems memorized. And there are several more things they're still working on that should be down by the end of the year: several more scriptures, types of clouds, beginning of the Prologue to Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare's Sonnet #18, and Puck's closing monologue.
It has been virtually painless for everone because it is simply a daily habit. And best of all, since i put in the work at the beginning of the year, and DS is mostly independent, I hardly have to give it any thought now.
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I only switched from paper to software planning this year, Homeschool Tracker. It has worked really well, but there have been one or two times when the lesson plans wouldn't print or the computer was unavailable for some reason that made it a little be inconvenient. However, the software is easier for multiple students, especially when I need to reschedule.
I do print out weekly lesson plans for DS. I was also printing them for DD at the beginning of the year but she isn't quite proficient enough to read them so it was just more paper to keep up with. I generally keep HST open during the day and when I have a minute to check e-mail or need to look up something I'll glance at it to see what's left and what I can check off.
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First Language Lessons is really great for first and second grade...especially boys. It's almost all oral and very easy to do, even if you only have a few minutes. I've been known to do grammar with DD while cooking or even driving (having glanced at the lesson beforehand.)
You may find that the repetition seems, well, repetitive. But remember this is how kids learn, and it's the first grader that's learning, not you. Having said that, however, I do sometimes decide after looking over the lesson that we have this or that concept down and just move on to the next one. I used FLL with DS who is now 6th grade and has always done very well with grammar. I'm currently using it for DD who is low-vision and I seriously doubt she would be as well-versed in grammar if she were using a workbook-type program.
Good luck and blessings!
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I think all cultures from all times have had games and passtimes. Many times they mimicked &/or trained for hunting or warfare. Native Americans had some sort of team sport (can't think what it was called) that amounted to warfare with people getting seriously injured and even killed. This is from way back in my memory but it might have been a precursor to Lacrosse? Maybe? And what is Jai Alai?
I happened to think also of the Scottish highland games which were a way of training for combat without appearing to do so.
And if your son were willing to consider dancing a sport (I realize this might be hard to swallow but you might give it a try) Native Americans, Polynesians, Africans...probably most cultures...used dance to tell stories about their heritage, religion and great battles. Also to prepare for battle. And...stretching even a bit more...there's Irish dancing with the arms held straight down and Scottish highland dancing with the arms held up in defiance to the English. It's late and I can't remember all the details now, but that's something else to go with if it interests you.
I'd love to hear how it all works out if you decide to persue it.
Blessings!
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Well, tennis would fit into the Middle Ages. There were significant historic events related to tennis too...parliament meeting on a tennis court and the Dauphin sending tennis balls to Henry V. Fencing too. You might also consider including games. That way you work in chess. That's just off the top of my head. Then you can do as someone else mentioned and look at China. What time period do the Eastern martial arts (karate, judo, etc.) fit into?
Actually, if you start with the ancient olympics, then look at all of the sports ever included in the modern olympics (they add and subtract events regularly) you might find some material there.
Shooting sports could get you to the history of firearms and warfare.
Oh, and if you are a serious football fan, you might be able to draw parallels between particular football plays and Civil War battles. I don't know that there are any exactly, but when I look at maps showing the conduct of battle and the diagrams of football plays they look similar to me.
Great idea...you may be breaking new ground but it sounds like it could be fun. Good luck!
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DS will be in 7th grade next year. Before listing academic priorities, I want to pass on something from a HS friend with a 10th grader. I recently polled the moms of older students in our HS co-op what they wish they had done or done more of in the elementary and middle school years. I expected to hear something like more grammar or memorization. But the answer that struck me most was "I wish we had done more field trips." Once those kids get to high school they are not only working much harder and longer on more difficult subjects, SAT/ACT prep and college applications. They are involved in debate, sports, music...they babysit, go out with friends, take outside classes, work part time jobs. They only get more busy. If any part of your reason for homeschooling is to instill joy in learning, you might consider working in a few more field trips to spend time with your children before they move on.
But, having said that, here's what I'm planning:
*These must happen, no ifs, ands or buts. That doesn't mean though that we let the other subjects slide willingly, just that if these aren't done, school's not done.
Daily
*Math (finally giving up on Saxon--now LoF and Teaching Textbooks)
Writing (Classical Writing Poetry FOB and IEW U.S. History Vol. 1)
Reading (we used Omnibus II this year where it meshed with the WTM recommended reading for 6th and I plan to do the same next year)
Memory Work
2x/week
*Grammar (M-W--Abeka)
Spelling (T-Th--Spelling Workout)
Latin (beginning Henle next year so this may be daily-- not optional, but if we miss a day here and there it's no big deal at this stage after 4 years of it)
History--(M-W--SOTW & Kingfisher per WTM)
Science--Apologia General Science--co-op class
Other
French--My hopes of sitting around the table conversing in French flew out the window in 5th grade when we got bogged-down in time-consuming logic stage work (that kept us from getting around to French) and French spelling (which is totally confusing for a 10yo). So we chucked it until I came across Pimsleur. This is one of those things we get to when we get to it. I shoot for a minimum of once a week, but we usually manage more if you count practicing speaking to each other in the car, etc. We can listen to the CDs in the car, over lunch or when we just need a break from books.
Fine Arts
We have a fine arts time on our weekly schedule on Fridays when we do a picture study, drawing or listen to music. We don't always get it done, but over the lifetime of our homeschool I think we've done alright.
Streamlining
My first cut in an effort to streamline is to consider dropping Abeka. I'm generally happy with it, but there is just so much! We've never even tried to do all of the exercises. Part of my lesson planning is going through the book and circling which ones (or parts) DS is required to do. But we just really need to give more time to other things and I'm thinking of replacing this with Daily Grams and perhaps additional diagramming exercises. DS gets plenty of grammar in Latin and CW writing.
Secondly I have considered dropping spelling. I'm happy with Spelling Workout. DS tests well on the Stanford. But I'm not sure how much of that is from spelling and how much is from reading. He was a poor speller until 3rd grade when he jumped to above average. His reading skills skyrocketed in mid-2nd grade. I tend to think the two are related.
Oh, and I didn't mention Bible because while it's part of school time, it's not part of school exactly. We usually do something together (currently Drawing the Proverbs, Notgrass) and DS reads the Bible at bedtime. We also have daily memory work that includes scripture. If we miss one or all of these one day, which probably happens sometimes, it's more a habit than an assignment.
Do you ever study or plan on studying your state's history?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I didn't realize this thread continued so long after my last check. Making history come alive is the best reason to do state studies. You know those historic markers that you whiz by on the roads? Stop and read them some time. You'll learn all kinds of stuff you never knew.
There's a road near us called "Telegraph Rd." Wanna know why it's called that? The first telegraph line from DC to Richmond ran along that road. There's a marker along the Fairfax County Parkway about a Nike Missile site. Doesn't that just bring the Cold War back into focus for you!?
Historic Marker Database
http://www.hmdb.org/