LisaKinVA
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Posts posted by LisaKinVA
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Some people's definitions of "wonderful" or "excellent" may not turn out to be yours.
I've had 3 children at home, and one with a midwife in the local hospital. The midwife at the local hospital came highly reccomended. All four of my children have had different midwives (moved around a bit).
My midwife-hospital story was AWFUL.
Called them to see if I should go in (having regular contractions 10 min. apart for 5+ hours -- I wasn't in enough "pain.") When I told them at my last ch/up I was 4.5cm dialated they sighed, well I guess you could come in and we'll see.
Arrived at Hosp. hooked up to machines and told to rest for an hour. They said "I don't think you'll be here for long -- you aren't in any pain." An hour later I'm told, well you're definitely in labor, but it's goint to be awhile, because you aren't in enough pain.
Moved into a new room. Hooked up to an IV. Midwife comes in to check me. Water breaks. I take a nap. Nurse comes in to check me, gets the room ready -- I say, it won't be long now. Nurse says, "trust me, you've got plenty of time." 3 contractions later my son's head is past crowning (much to MY surprise -- as there is usually some sort of urge to push, etc.), panic button nurse, husband moves in to cradle baby's head now out to shoulders. Nurse yells, "stop pushing" (and I'm NOT). Baby emerges to husband & nurse. Others come rushing in... flabbergasted, flitting about attempting to get ready for my now-here son.
Midwife comes back 30 minutes afterward birth of my son to tell me we're moving to yet another room, and do her final check to make sure everything went fine.
Staff proclaims my delivery the "best" in the history of the hospital...
Originally, we were supposed to leave early Sunday, but the pediatrician wasn't available until much later.
FWIW, My local hospital has a much higher than national average induction and c-section rate. And they seem to be VERY short handed on the weekends. Did I mention the midwife I used in pre-natal wasn't the midwife who was available when I gave birth.
If I can avoid it, I will never have a baby in the hospital again.
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Right now, we use daily devotions in the morning -- but once we move into our new home (which affords us a table to sit around), and I no longer have to work the store at night -- we'll be adding family devotions after dinner using Character Sketches. I'm really excited about these. I loved them when I was a child.
We also will have our "Sunday's Finest" Dinner. Using our fine china, silver -- the works. Everyone has to "dress" for dinner -- and we will focus on using our best manners, learning proper etiquitte, etc. Something else I'm really excited about!!
I've also taken to really praying about my husband and myself as role models -- because this is more important than anything else we could do.
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It does sound like your daughter has an excessive amount of learning frustrations -- and it could be a learning-related disorder. If I were in your shoes, I would seek some sort of outside evaluation (like Sylvan, or something similar). They might be able to pinpoint a problem you may not be able to see. It is extremely important to find out what is going on -- if anything.
If nothing is going on, and your daughter is truly just not "wanting" do learn, I would find the simplest method of homeschooling her and stick with it. Use carrot/stick approach to everything. At the age of 11, your daughter should be able to do most of her schooling independently -- with just some minimal oversight & assistance.
I'd lean towards a curriculum that uses a LOT of work-book type assignments (a-la Abeka... but "light" -- not EVERY problem, only enough to show she knows, and if she doesn't know go over it until she does -- but a little each day) For most subjects, I'd require "fill in the blank" type of answers -- EXCEPT literature/english which should be complete sentences.
I'm all for making homeschool as "fun" as possible. But there are things my children "don't want to" as well, but they aren't negotiable. Yes, there are tears (occassionally) -- at times I want to pull my hair out and throw in the towel. That said, my battles aren't daily and aren't on every subject -- so not that comparable.
When my oldest DID have issues it was because the material went too slowly. When I sped it up and took out excessive busy work he was a lot more happy (meaning, we both were).
At 11, your daughter is also pre-pubescent which can bring its own issues -- and simply be a lot more trying. I'd also encourage you to find out what your daughter dreams of being when she grows up and have many talks with her about what she needs to do to accomplish those goals. Have her begin setting goals for herself and taking responsibility for meeting them.
I hope things get better. What you're going through sounds really rough.
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You know, I never really thought about my children being highly sensitive until I read this post (and the information included). I apparently have 3 out of 4 (perhaps the 4th, but she doesn't seem to be YET). They do come by it naturally, as I easilly fit into that category as a child too (still can't stand the bright light or loud noises... I still keep the tv to the lowest possible setting to hear the conversation -- and don't startle me or you may get your fright!
Guess I have a new book to purchase!
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We are happy K12 Independent users... in fact we were so happy with what we tried at first, we upped it to the full program and a 2 year commitment.
The science and history are awesome. Art is a lot of fun, and it coordinates well with history (although we wind up also using a 2nd art program, because my dd is just a huge artist).
I love, love, love the literature program. It is perfect for my not-lover-of-reading boy. Shorter stories with more focus on the comprehension and application. Plus the activities and additional reading time give plenty of room for a child to follow their interests (read about Louis Pasteur in lit... then it's on to star wars for free reading <ugh>).
Grammar -- jury is still out on that one. I really like Abeka grammar, and feel that a separate vocabulary program is overkill (but it's easy for him). The writing program is challenging, but well organized (challenging mostly because he's 1+ years accelerated, and writing is lumped with everything else in Language Arts.
We're also doing the music program -- that's for fun, more than anything. We're doing that for all three of my children.
I really like that I can pay for one child and lump another one into a course (we'll be doing that a lot for my younger two who are only a grade apart -- at least until one or the other needs/wants to move more quickly through the material.
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Based upon what you've said, most of the Pre-K programs (especially math and reading-wise) will probably be way too easy (and boring) for what your dd already knows.
My 4yo is using Abeka K letters & sounds and Abeka K Math, and we're going through the K reading plan. We take it easy -- read aloud together, and he's making steady progress. He does art, music, history and science with his older sister (in K).
He has lots of coloring. He does some penmanship -- but all told, not more than 1hr of formal school total a day (and that not all at once).
For us, this provided the best academic balance -- without wearing the child out. I followed this same guideline for my K daughter in Pre-K, she's now breezing through the 1st grade materials (minus spelling, grammar, etc.) and having a good time.
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I required way too much "book work" for my oldest in K/1st (tests and all).
I would focus on reading and math... and do the SOTW history CDs, K12 art, music and science.
We've made major modifications for my K and PK children, and we are all much happier.
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I tried two others, but Abeka worked best for my oldest, and my 6yo and 4yo are coming right along without any hitches. We also have the LeapFrog videos which provided a fun baseline for phonics.
I thought about switching to OPGR, but have all of the Abeka stuff through 3rd grade -- hate to spend money when what we have seems to be working.
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This is an issue we are dealing with right now. Up until now, my son has been able to skate through math, but when we got to long division he was making way too many carless errors.
I pulled out the grid paper, and slowed him down, forced him to check every single problem despite the "but the instructions don't SAY I have to check..." protests.
After two days, his work has improved greatly. This is our first year out of a workbook program... where he actually has to copy down the problems. It's a huge transition, but one I'm very glad we made at this juncture (while he's still pretty young). I felt this issue would only grow as the math became more and more complicated.
Since the problems are more on precise work, maybe a carrot/stick approach would be fine (this is what I'm doing with my son).
I choose about 6 practice problems. If he gets 100% of those correct, he gets to move onto the next lesson. For each one he misses, he does the correction PLUS one extra. Since we instituted our carrot/stick, we get through math much easier -- and he is being much more careful with his work.
I'm using this to teach him that it is better to go through his work carefully and get it done correctly the first time, than to rush through and make careless mistakes. Maybe something like this will work for you?
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to chew his shirts! Whew! My oldest goes through different "tick-like" phases. I say "tick-like" -- because it's some sort of repetitive event he does without thinking.
Currently, he's blinking and making mouth-clicking noises. Drives me nuts, and he's oblivious. Like others here, we've known son was different from a very early age. He was "born old" -- and has reached every milestone well ahead of his peers. None of my others are exactly like him -- but all show very different "signs." Most frustrating effect... uninstalling Norton Internet Security -- even with the parental controls on & password protected. Not sure if he's destined for greatness or a CIA holding cell for hacking (joking a bit there).
6yoDaughter -- very artistic. Detailed, advanced drawings more than 3 years ahead of peers. Takes to math very quickly.
4yo son -- showed a keen sense of humor at a very young age. He's our prankster. He's also the one who takes everything apart, figured how to open the baby gate before his 2nd birthday. None of the safety devices stopped him. When he couldn't turn the doorknob because of the covers, he just took the covers off. Guess he's destined to be a huge problem solver?
1.5yo Daughter. Little Monkey. Has a great sense of language. Knew she was going to follow in her older siblings footsteps before her first birthday (told the children to put their shoes on so we could go, and she toddled off to grab a pair of flip flops and put them on... even my pediatrician was impressed that she could walk in them). She has an excellent understanding of language -- but is content to babble.
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I lurk around the boards... but have been gone (due to heavy work load) for a couple of months. Wow! a lot can happen in that time.
We have four children:
DS8/ 3rd grade. Works 1-2 years above grade level in core subjects, at grade level in non-core. Not self motivated, easilly distracted -- but when he wants to do school, MAN can he breeze through it. He is easilly my most frustrating student only because I know what he can do, and hate it when he won't apply himself. Currently using K12, Latin for Children, Vertias Bible, Piano Lessons
DD6/K. Working 1-2 years above grade level in math & reading. Is our little artist, and we are working to encourage that as much as possilbe. Abeka Reading, Abeka Penmanship, Abeka Math, Veritas Bible, Piano)
DS4/Pre-K. Working on K-level materials easilly, and will be grouped with older sister for the next few years on history/science/latin, etc. Abeka Reading, Penmanship & Math, Veritas Bible
DD1.5/Toddlerhood. She's all about vocabulary.
What do you consider the "core" subjects to be?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Like so many others... I view Reading (or Phonics), Grammar/Spelling/Writing (Penmanship), and Math to be "core." Especially in early grades. If we're having a particularly busy week we *only* focus on those subjects (in other words, art, music, history, science and Latin slide).
As my children mature, history, science and Latin will become more "core" art and music will always be extra subjects -- but always included (especially since we pay for lessons).