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Homeschoolmom3

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Posts posted by Homeschoolmom3

  1. My son took off after using Reading Eggs.  He wasn't interested in me "teaching" him out to read he wanted to do it on his own.  He was 3 at the time.  So between reading eggs and Bob books he figured out blending and now is working on special sounds.  When fall comes and he is 4 1/2 we will sit down and do some formal learning but for now these two have worked amazingly!

  2. My two older boys I read about 1 1/2 hrs. a day and we do this during our "morning time" we use the Bible, novels, character studies, poet/musicians/biographies, Shakespeare.  

     

    My 4 yr. old LOVES to read and so he has always wanted me to read to him for LONG periods of time even before he was 2.  So we read about 1 1/2-2 hrs. a day usually on average I know he would prefer more but then I would never get anything else done!  I will occasionally read a book here and there.  I incorporate reading throughout the day during breakfast, and lunch but our long stretches of reading happen right before "rest time"  in the afternoon and before bedtime with periods lasting from 20-40 minutes.  There have been occasions to lengthen to an hour but then I need a rest.  :)

     

    Quiet activities while reading:  I suggest eating if they have a hard time sitting still, puzzles, legos, magnets, coloring

     

    HTH

  3. My son is taking Pre-Calc this year with Derek Owens.  We have taken math through him the past two years and my son has done really well.  It works great and you can work at your own pace (love this).  The program is very hands off for us busy parents.... my son does everything on his own and I haven't had to do anything.  

  4. I look primarily on ebay, though I've also checked Amazon and the classifieds here and at Homeschool Classifieds.  I only buy used if I can save a minimum of 30% after shipping, and things like workbooks I just buy new because people often forget that they tore out page such-and-such or their kid doodled on certain pages or...  You get the idea.  If I'm looking at used, I'm looking at things that have pricey manuals new, and I'm assuming that the stuff is not as nice as the seller says (though I have been pleasantly surprised once or twice).

     

     

    I agree!  

  5. My son just turned 4 this past month (April), and we did MP Jr. K this year.  He loved it so even though I did not want to do anything too heavy for Pre-K and K   I am going to go ahead and follow the path he is on.  I am planning on implementing slowly and taking his lead if he doesn't feel like doing it that day I am not pushing him.  I don't plan on doing "school work" longer than 30-45 min. a day (not counting reading time).  I know I am overthinking everything it is hard to hold him back too much since he is already reading and he is very mathy too.  Huhhh...decisions.  I am all ears if anyone would like to send advice.  :)

     

    Tenative plan for Pre-K

     

    • MP Kindergarten
    • Lots of Read alouds, this kid LOVES to read (has been reading for long stretches of time talking 1-2 hrs. at a time since he was 2)  :) 
    • Nature time outside, continue our nature journal and science experiments with brothers
    • Will continue Song School Latin, (just listening to the songs and books on tape that are Latin and German)  Muzzy videos (German)
    • AWANA - did this last year and did awesome so we plan on continuing (he really enjoyed this)
    • Going to try to continue My First Piano Adventures Book

     

     

  6. Answers to your questions:

     

    1.  It depends on the day as to how long it takes and it varies.  It is meant to do daily.  To give you an idea the videos are @ 30 minutes, questions could take about 30 min. or so and reading days can vary from 30 min.- 1-1/2  hrs. 

     

    2.  Yes, I agree with Pronghorn....each year is meant to be 2 credits one for literature and one for history if you did what it states in the guide.  I believe it would be way too much to do two years in one granted some days are shorter than others and so I have doubled up some things to leave a day off here and there or to have more time working on his paper. 

     

    3.   I didn't see a need for a text, either but I do have my son put dates of author's studying or works in his timeline book and will have him look up maps, etc if needed.  I will also have him read from Spielvogel's Western Civilization and the Timetables of History as a reference sometimes as detailed in The Well Trained Mind book if I want to add more.   HTH

     

    My son also is taking a full credit Rhetoric class on top of this for Literature and I did have him do a little Biblical Archaeology as a bit of an add on because I wanted it to go together as we were reading the OT through and I wanted everything to link together.  As a family we also did some poetry study on the side and did 3 Shakespeare plays this year.  You could add other small things to it as well but it is not needed.

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  7. FWIW, my son did Vandiver's Iliad & Odyssey which he liked okay granted it is not from a Christian point of view and my son labeled it as public school learning.  Ha!  It worked well and I know he learned a lot but it wasn't complete and I had to come up with my own essay questions, tests and papers.  However, when I found out about RomansMedia and we tried it for the second half of the year (he did the Greeks Philosophy unit this past term) we were sold.  My son is really enjoying his lectures and even though he doesn't go quite in depth as Omnibus does with Veritas in regards to religious issues he does bring them up and discusses them were he sees fit.  I love the layout and how the tests, planning and papers are already done for you so there is no prep work.  yeah!!  For me I am spending the money on it next year as we do the Romans year and the price is right for this month at homeschoolbuyerscoop at 30-40% off!  HTH

    • Like 1
  8. :willy_nilly: Okay...my brain is spinning and I hope it doesn't fall off.  Not too familiar with a lot of curriculums that you all have mentioned.  Conceptual math, etc. I am not a math major and I need to teach my little one math for elementary.  We always did Saxon but it was SO time consuming.  Right Start, Beast, Math Mammoth....I am starting to think I live in a jungle world. :laugh:  Clear the light for me!  Who has used their favorite curriculum all the way through elementary and their kids are thriving in advanced math in HS or beyond and always scored well for standardized testing (we need it for our state)  Any takers!?  :)

  9. My sister who would love to homeschool however cannot is looking into private christian schools for her kids.  The school she is looking at uses BJU from K-12 I am only familiar with their upper level science.  I have not used anything else, can you please let me know a few things about it.

     

    1.  How does it compare in rigor?

    2.  Is their phonics similar to Abeka?

    3.  Is it a good college prep program?

    4.  How is their math?  What comparison is there to it?

     

    Any other comments would love to hear!

     

    Thank you all so MUCH!!!!

  10. Thanks everyone for your replies....so nervous coming out of being a long time user of Saxon.  But my youngest exceeds my older two and I feel will not be taking the same path as them.  Besides being very mathy he started reading 2 mths prior to his 4th birthday.  I really like Memoria Press in the early grades just trying to decide on what path to take.  I have heard good things about R&S and Singapore just want to make sure I give him solid background before Algebra.

     

    Liking the time factor of R&S...:)  Saxon always took up and hour or more in elementary which I always thought was a bit long!

     

     

    Silver Moon ~  when did you switch your older two and do you mind telling me what they used after?  I am really trying to stick to one program in elementary and not skipping around as to not miss anything.

     

     

    Any other thoughts?  Thanks again!

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