Jump to content

Menu

Homeschoolmom3

Members
  • Posts

    935
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Homeschoolmom3

  1. You have a lot of good ideas other people have already mentioned so I'll add a few ideas to the mix. I have a 6 yr. old as well and since we are done with school by lunch this is what we do in the afternoons. 

     

    handicrafts (I teach in the beginning and then can do on own:  weaving, sewing, woodworking, housework, painting, sculpting, etc.)

    getting outside and playing exploring/ nature hunts, scavenger hunts, (give them their own nature notebook and let them draw, write, paint whatever)

    playing/practicing an instrument

    audio books in the afternoon (my son loves to listen to them and can do it while working puzzles, playing legos, k'nex etc.)

     

    Maybe your child thrives on routine and a sort of schedule like mine so I just tell him he will do such and such for the times in the afternoon even though most of the time he is doing things by himself or with me just by working on my own things.  :)

     

    HTH

     

  2. I am wondering if there is an add on motor out there that one could use regular Legos and make things that move like robotic?  Just curious we have this for K'nex and was curious if there is anything out there for Lego beside Mindstorms.  Thanks so much looking for an idea for Christmas.  :)

  3. How do you use streaming video content in your educational efforts? Do you watch videos about homeschooling, parenting, skill development, or education?

     

    We don't use any screens for our educational day and I personally don't watch any videos on education however I do listen to podcasts on educational topics and will occasionally use you tube for music I am streaming for our fine arts part of our day.

     

     

    Do you use videos with your children as part of your lessons (not counting full online classes such as Well-Trained Mind Academy)?  NO
     
    What are your favorite programs/channels/presenters for this type of content? Why?  Don't use any except for streaming some music
     
    How long, on average, are these videos?

    And:
    For this content, do you use paid services (Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, other [please describe]) or primarily free ones (YouTube, etc)?  You Tube, Amazon Prime usually are not longer than 5-10 minutes.

  4. Sounds like our boys would get along well.  :)  Here are my ideas that my son has loved and he is now 6. 

     

    Citiblocs

    If you are crafty - great idea to make (we are doing this for our 6 yr. old for Christmas- DIY wooden blocks

    Lego Crazy Contraptions (for your 6 yr. old)

    Thames & kosmos remote control machines (6 yr. old)

     

    There are so many different kits for k'nex we have quite a few of those which you can expand on for normal kits.

    • Like 1
  5. How old was he when he took the class? What level W&R did he take? What was the workload like?

    Rhetoric1 he took when he was in 9th grade but was a strong writer and had taken logic. Most take in 10th or 11th. HTH. It was not a W&R course this came afterwards.

  6. I used it in my early days of homeschooling and loved it! It’s perfect for those just starting out and/or likes checking the box. Similar to Memoria Press. I used for elementary ages from1st grade-5th. If you have any questions just ask. I’ve gone to CM but for those seeking neoclassical it’s great!

  7. The way the poll is set up, it's not possible to vote "no" without also choosing a scholarship amount, so that may skew the results if people who did not get scholarships have to check the "$500 & under" amount in order to submit.

     

    Thanks for letting me know, hopefully the edited version is better hard to tell how to fix that.  Let me know if I didn't fix it.  Thanks!

  8. Total failure of reading the fine print. Ds finally got the ACT score he needs to qualify for the next level merit scholarship, but the scores are locked at time of admission. His shiny new score will not be considered.  :crying:

     

    ETA: The priority scholarship deadline was Nov. 1, so he made sure he was in before that. 

     

    That's terrible!  We are dealing with our own blow....we were told (and they put out on a webinar by the college) that they could stack their scholarships but now stating they will not allow it to go past full tuition so all we are getting is full tuition which is great but now what to do with the other $10k for room and board... :-(  What a roller coaster ride!  I feel ya and big hugs....I have heard through most schools you have til May to up your scores to boost merit.  Maybe you should look at others.  So sorry!

  9. We just finished all of our applications in September yeah!  Now we are working on the scholarship angle.  He got accepted everywhere he applied but is mostly looking at what school will give him the most money.   ;)

     

    Acceptances:  University of Alabama (Huntsville)  (2nd choice if the merit doesn't pan out at LU at least tuition free)

                            Liberty University  (1st choice if gets merit/honors scholarship and close to a full ride...fingers crossed!)

                            Louisiana Tech

                            Virginia Tech (still haven't heard on this one but not too worried) (3rd due to cost)

     

    Congrats to all others...isn't it great to know we made it!   :hurray:

     

    I am doing my happy dance now.... :w00t: :party:

     

    We just heard yesterday that my son got the merit scholarship at Liberty (his first choice) and with the other scholarships that stack he is almost at a full ride just about $1000 short.  (only awarded tuition free)  We are so ecstatic and praising God for giving him the ability for him to succeed as well as for providing his old Ma direction in guiding his education.  I couldn't have done it with out the Holy Spirit's direction and for the hive and the wonderful advice many of you ladies have shared through the years.  I am so grateful and now we are able to enjoy his senior year before my melt down of him leaving home.  :(   Ha! 

     

    For others who are waiting I am sending a group hug and sympathizing how stressful it can be!  Hang in there....for his other schools in the scholarships that were awarded automatic like Louisiana Tech and UAH, they sent a letter to us about 3-4 wks after we had received confirmation of acceptance so hopefully you all's will come soon.  LU first deadline was Nov. 1 and we were sweating bullets trying to get it in on time and so thankful we did..... they only offer 58 merit scholarships (and luckily they include commended-finalist in the same category) each year and so getting it in early I know helped. 

     

    Good luck to you all!!

     

    Update....they are now only going to give him full tuition not allowing him to stack the other scholarships as stated there is some type of "clause" that no one knows about but they only allow exceptions for athletes and being a national merit finalist.  :-(  We were so bummed so now trying to find scholarship for room and board or going to try to up scores and go to another school.  My son is so depressed what a roller coaster ride for sure....senior year is SO stressful!!!

     

     

    • Like 21
  10. So we are waiting to here about what scholarships my son will be getting.  His first choice is Liberty and honestly as grads from there we are rooting for it... :-P  but if scholarships don't pan out we are looking at University of Alabama in Huntsville.  I am asking to see if anyone has students who attend there and is willing to talk with me a few minutes about their experience so far.  I would greatly appreciate it!  PM me and I'll give you my info.

     

    Thanks so much for any help and insight in advance!!!

    • Like 2
  11. Classic book suggestions when my son was that age that we read over and over:

     

    Angus Lost – Flack *
    Curious George Books – Rey *
    Three Billy Goats Gruff **
    Lois Lenski books all of them!!!  Now its Fall, Now Its Winter, Cowboy Small, Policeman Small, etc..
    Tiki tiki Tembo **
    Guess How Much I Love You
    Peter Rabbit & others
     

    Ask Mr. Bear  Flack
     
    Blueberries for Sal & others McCloskey
     
    Poems and Prayers for the Very Young  Alexander  -favorite poem book  
     
    When We Were Very Young   & Now We are Six  A.A. Milne
     
    The Gingerbread Boy – Galdone **
     
    A Very First Book of Fairy Tales - Hoffman
     
     
    Sorry copy and pasted from my website.  :)  Not sure about songs though we just listened to hymns, regular, folk songs, and typical children's songs.
  12. We just finished all of our applications in September yeah!  Now we are working on the scholarship angle.  He got accepted everywhere he applied but is mostly looking at what school will give him the most money.   ;)

     

    Acceptances:  University of Alabama (Huntsville)  (2nd choice if the merit doesn't pan out at LU at least tuition free)

                            Liberty University  (1st choice if gets merit/honors scholarship and close to a full ride...fingers crossed!)

                            Louisiana Tech

                            Virginia Tech (still haven't heard on this one but not too worried) (3rd due to cost)

     

    Congrats to all others...isn't it great to know we made it!   :hurray: 

     

    • Like 17
  13. This is what we read our kindergarten year in regards to read alouds.  His favorites I'll star. :)

     

     

    • Flat Stanley
    ·         Little House in the Big Woods
    ·         Bears on Hemlock Mountain
    ·         Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Johnny Town Mouse
    ·         Boxcar Children #1 & 2 ****
          Ivy and Bean & others*****
          Betsy Tacy***
          Twig***
          B is for Betsy
          George and the Marvelous Medicine *******
          The Chocolate Touch******
          Velveteen Rabbit 
          Matilda
    ·         James and the Giant Peach
    ·         Lion Witch and the Wardrobe
    ·         Penderwicks- Spring ******
          Penderwicks- Garden Street*********
          Penderwicks - Pt. Mouette ********
          Little House and the Long Winter*******
          The Water Horse ********
          Five Little Peppers and How they Grew*********
          My Side of the Mountain**********
          Heidi
          Enormous Crocodile - Dahl  
          Fairy Tales - Anderson  
          Now We are Six - Milne
          When We Were Very Young - Milne
          Tales from Odyssey -(6 volumes) Osborne**********
          Along Came a Dog
    Homer Price
    Pippi Longstocking********
    George's Marvelous Medicine By Roald Dahl***********
    Fantastic Mr. Fox*********
    Five Children and It*******
    Charlotte's Web**********
    Mary Poppins
    My Friend Flicka ********
    Half Magic By Edward Eager
    Nate the Great and the Phony Clue
    Mcbroom's Wonderful One-acre Farm
     
    ​Some other ideas:
     
    ​Farmer Boy******
    ​The Trumpet and the Swan*******
    ​Sarah Plain and Tall & her series*******
     
     
    HTH :)

    Sorry the coloring is off copied and paste off my blog to keep me straight on what my kids are reading and doing with school.  Welcome to browse my reading lists or what we did in Kindergarten see under my signature.  

    • Like 1
  14. I have an appointment set up for the end of December. I'm definitely not a CM purist. My other options are HOD and SCM with lots added. I guess I just wonder what types of things they suggest. Especially for language arts.

     

    They give you a list of books (no curriculum) and how to implement the books, page numbers, and how to go about it.  I'm not sure how much you know about CM but I would recommend listening to their podcasts on how to teach certain areas.  For "Language Arts" they will tell you what to use for grammar, how to go about teaching writing (mostly narrations at that age), copy work/ dictation and that is mostly what is consisted Language Arts.  Also will give you a list of books to read that coincide with what your time period studying and a bunch of other free family reads.  HTH

     

  15. Jumping in here. But I've read a lot on the CM soirée site and seen lots of lovely schedules when moms have one or two young school aged children, but not much from moms with older or more Kids. From your signature you have many and older kids. Are you able to stick to the schedule? I'm not pure Cm, but am taking lots of things from it.

     

    Yes, I am.  It has worked perfectly for us, granted I have cut all coops out of our day and so we only go to a nature day once a month and we usually shoot for a field trip once a month and sometimes they have friends over but the rest of their activities are on occasional nights as to not interrupt our day.  Best thing I have ever done, it makes the days so nice- no stress and able to complete all school work with time to breathe, unwind and to dive into other interests.

     

    • Like 3
  16. I feel for you and with so many options and many being great but just not exactly what you are looking for.  I have used both TOG and VP & Omnibus.  They are both great programs however I struggled with them for several reasons. 

     

    TOG- was in my opinion too hard to implement and it just seemed like too much information and hard to plan.  I wanted something more open and go and where I only needed to "pre-read" my kids work not plan it too.  This way I was on the same page with them and we were able to have such great discussions and connections.

     

    VP/Omnibus - was just too much to finish and I totally burnt my kids out by trying to do everything.  I also felt it just wasn't complete for an overall idea of the time period just bits and pieces even though I did enjoy most of the book choices.  I also didn't like the idea of the textbook telling them what they should have gotten out of the book and what to think I want them to figure it out for themselves or to glean what they can from where they are.

     

    I finally found a curriculum that was complete, not too overwhelming, very easy to implement and is laid out beautifully.  I also love that you study a time period and you can do it with all of your kids.  The books are different depending on their age but there are overlaps and we all get to have great discussions.  In case you want to check it out you can find it here...The Alveary  it is a CM curriculum but to me that is classical depending on how you define it.

     

    My preference is for us to be able to study the same topics, but at different levels according to their developmental level, which TOG does.

     

    I understand this and that is why the Alveary worked great for us.  (I am not associated with them I was just so excited when I found this because it was exactly what I had been looking for.)  :)

     

    Questions:

     

    1.  Does anyone have any insight on the lesson plans for TOG? Is TOG difficult to implement? Do they give specific instructions regarding the daily lessons? (Yes, I've looked at the samples, and that's why I'm concerned). I can see that they let you divide the weekly reading as you wish. I probably won't do that. I will just use their weekly sample layout. However, I don't want to have to flip to this page for this kid, another page for another kid...yikes! Also, do you have to read all the teacher notes and remember what it says for every kid for the whole week and comment as things arise? Do you all have any tips?

     

    I had bought this and was trying to make sense of it but it was just too much prep for me.  I don't find it very open and go of course it has been a few years since I have had it so it might have changed since then. ?

     

    2.  I can see that the reading lists are very different with regard to reading original texts (VP) and I'm not sure, maybe books about the person (TOG). It seems, after reading previous threads, that people feel pretty good about the content and knowledge their kids gain with TOG. I guess I just don't have experience with this age or material yet to have a good opinion. Has anyone gone through either of these programs that can weigh in? I will say, it looks impressive to have read the books on the VP list, but it's not about that-I certainly know! 

     

    The book list in Omnibus is good and we liked the books but it was just so overwhelming and not much time to process them before moving on.  I can tell you that my kids don't remember much of the books they read those couple years of doing Omnibus whereas when we picked fewer books and really poured over them for a longer amount of time they have really stuck with them.  Therefore we read very broad and even though we could be reading about 15 different books at one time we read them throughout the year and therefore will remember them longer.  That is what worked best for my kiddos.  I would rather have good conversations and where the books really form their character and move their soul and become part of them then just checking the box to get them done. 

     

    3.  If we use TOG, I do not intend to use the writing portion. We've used IEW for a few years now, and I do like this program. Is it a big deal if we don't use the writing part? I certainly don't mind assigning writing work based on the reading material on occasion, but I want to be able to use the IEW format of my choice. Thoughts?

     

    I think you could use IEW with any program without much trouble.

     

    4.  Is there any data on graduates of each program?

     

    I don't think you can go wrong with either program I would focus more on how to learn and let the books speak for themselves.  They will be fine.  :)

     

    5.  My kids are REALLY missing their friends from CC, and I know it's important for dialectic and rhetoric levels to have discussion. Can I even do this with just our family discussions? Have you tried the online classes? Is there any peer discussion? 

     

    I haven't tried TOG online but we did do VP online and just felt it to be too much there is some discussion but I felt that it just wasn't worth the time and the money.  We have discussions among our family and that I feel is sufficient.  You can always get the kids to start up a club to discuss books they are reading if they really want to talk with other kids their own age...lots of other ideas then a class.

     

    Hope this has helped you some.  Let me know if you have any other specific questions or if you would like to chat PM me and I can go into more detail of about the different curricula that we have used.

  17. Yes, I have and it went really well.  They basically made up a complete curriculum for you with books and how often to read them and a simple schedule of how to cover it all.  They had many books I had never heard of and will work with you on what is best for your family.  They also are very good about answering questions later on and trying to help you implement along the way.  It is a great resource!  Let me know if you have any specific questions.  :)

  18. I have a few questions.

     

    I know it's October but I'm thinking of switching. Is there an option for a January start?

     

    Do they just use the Science program from Nicole at A Sabbath Mood in form 2 and up? I love her work.

     

    How does the community respond to people who swap things out? I don't mean make significant changes. More like "we've read that free read (or history bio or whatever) 100 times" kind of swaps? Are they ok with changes related to doctrine? For example, we are Jewish, we aren't going to use J. Paterson Smyth, we'd use something appropriate to our tradition.

     

    What are the free read lists like? In years 1 and 2 my older daughter did read the whole AO free read lists. My younger daughter though really isn't getting into some of them though.

     

    Thanks for the input.

     

    You can start anytime but you only have availability of the lesson plans until the end of June I believe.  July starts the new year with lessons I believe.

     

    Yes, they are using Nicole's science program for forms 2 & 3.  Yes, I enjoyed using those last year but am not currently... (Form 4-6 - don't have you using them since she hasn't completed them all and that in the upper years she focuses on the three subjects one per term where as in the Alveary you do all streams of science each week so in essence we are doing Botany/Biology (2 days), Chemistry (1 day) and Physics (1 day and then 1 day of a lab in 9th grade) each week with one day focusing on a lab and lab work of Biology in the afternoon.  I am really liking this because the kids will not forget those subjects when we just focus on one at a time.  In the end I can still on their transcript put one year of each but we will be just stretching them out for three years and then the final year we plan on doing dual enrollment).

     

    There is no problem in swapping things out it is just used as a tool for you and you are not enslaved to it.  I know that at AO they are many "purists" and it just isn't that way at the Alveary.  HTH  There is no problem in using something that is closer to your tradition however many of the reads are more tilted closer to a more Christian doctrine.  You should check out the book lists to see if that will work for your family.

     

    Free reads list are quite extensive for each form there is a good page-2 pages.  Focusing on historical reads and biographies that need to be read.

     

    HTH, let me know if there is any other questions I can help with.  :)

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...