Jump to content

Menu

BBG580

Members
  • Posts

    236
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by BBG580

  1. I am new and confused. As I type this I am printing out the History Pocket Life In Plymouth Colony. I have TT American Revolution coming that I bought used, though I suspect it is going to be meatier and aimed for older children. I also bought the lapbooks for both units of ToG that I am using and it appears I am supposed to be printing those out on colored paper? Why? Wouldn't it be more fun for the kids to color the pictures in? Any thoughts on these? My daughter and I are both hands on/crafty people and she likes to color so I'm not worried about that with the HP. I'm most unsure of the lapbooks since they appear to just be cut and paste.
  2. I have already got all the curriculum purchased and I am starting to compile it all into weekly file folders, which I think will (hopefully) be great for keeping me somewhat organized my first year. I am using PR1, ToG Year 2/Units 3 and 4 at half pace, McRuffy Color Math 1, and pulling together various resources for science and geography. Let's hope it goes well! PR1 is the most intimidating program to me at this point - just the thought of teaching my kid how to read is giving me hives. I've read Words Their Way and scoured this board for information so hopefully that will be enough to bolster my confidence. :) Thanks everyone!
  3. Just to clarify, I didn't necessarily mean choose a curriculum at age 5 and use it until they graduate! I was talking about the tendency I see on the boards to hop curriculums during a school year, which made me wonder why exactly this happens. Of course I can see if a kid or mom/dad is completely miserable then a change may be in order but it just looks really expensive and confusing to me to change around so much right in the middle of a school year. Then again my perception of this happening and the reality that it probably happens not very often are two different things! I probably zero in on those types of posts the most because I am a Newbie Nervous Nellie. :tongue_smilie: Thanks everyone for your thoughts!
  4. I think this is very astute. For example, I ended up deciding on McRuffy Color Math, not because I read overwhelmingly positive reviews or thought it would perfect for my child but because I read a few select reviews that made me believe *I* would be able to teach it and would personally find it enjoyable. Math isn't my thing, and I think at this point I am the key piece to the puzzle here and I need to be able to teach with the materials I have on hand. But, this is again a big "We'll See!" and I haven't actually used it yet. :lol:
  5. This will be my own downfall, I'm sure.
  6. I loved this post, thank you for sharing!
  7. Why do you think this happens? I see so many posts about changing curriculum and trying something new and I'm a little terrified. I feel like I've researched about as much as I can and have made the best choices I can based on what I think my kid will respond well to and what I can personally deal with as well. And there is a financial factor as well. I can't just toss something out because I don't love it, I can't afford to change course and get all new materials! Do you curriculum hop because something is just not working or because you are bored or what? I guess from where I sit (serious, serious newbie with ZERO homeschool experience, so take it for what it is worth), it seems that curriculum hopping could not be so great in the long run? That if you don't stick with a program longterm you will not see the fruits? That sometimes things can just stink and be hard and that is just how it has got to be until you get over the hump? Like I said, I am new, new, new - so I clearly know zero about this and I am not making a negative judgment about it necessarily. But I am also one of those people who sticks with things long past when I should give up. I just gave away some clothes to the Salvation Army this weekend that I've had since high school (!!!) and I seem to make the same 12 recipes over and over again. I like change but I am also happy to stick with what I know, if that makes sense. Anyway, why do you curriculum hop? Is there any way to avoid it? I am putting together file folders for next year currently and a large part of the reasoning behind that is not so I will be prepared <cough> but because if I am all planned out I think I'll be less likely to switch curriculum midstream, so to speak.
  8. This is great to read (and yes, Tina has been so helpful to me!). I am just starting out and all these curriculum decisions seem so enormous. I really do think that the investment of time and $ into ToG is worth it, though, and your comments really solidify that for me. Thanks!
  9. Nevermind, I went ahead and just got the DE. I can plan with it and it may force me to get with the times and actually not be so dependent on print. If not, I can always print the DE out myself. Thanks for the info!
  10. First, I knew I wanted to go half-pace because she is little and we've got a lot of other stuff planned for the year, so that means only 2 units for the entire year for us. Second, we are crafty/project people and I know we will want to do a good bit of that and she needs 100% help with most of it at this point b/c she is so young. So, it will be time-intensive for me. She's little and we live in Northern VA, my sis lives in Williamsburg. We can travel easily to a lot of the colonial sites and even head north to NY pretty easily. I want her first year of history to be fairly relatable to her own life via where we live, I want her to have very tactile, real life experiences via field trips and... I know that period of history the best so it is the least scary for me to start with! :tongue_smilie: We are going to be doing a year long geography study starting with our neighborhood, town, state, country (in general) and then moving on to Expedition Earth via Confessions of a Homeschooler. I think starting geography while simultaneously studying the same areas in our history study will help. What do I know, though? I'm a total newbie who is probably over-planning and over-thinking things - she is only going to be a 6 year old first grader! :chillpill: We will start a classical cycle in 2nd grade... I think.
  11. So, just the DE or DE + print is on sale? I see DE is $45, but I really want a print edition too! I guess I could print it myself, but I don't think with the cost of paper and ink it is going to come out cheaper than if I just buy print from them. Help!
  12. Planning for the '11/'12 school year, we will begin in July. We are doing Year 2, Units 3 and 4 with my 6 year old first grader!
  13. My (just turned) three year old has managed to figure out upper and lower case letters in the last six months and he seems to be interested in learning letter sounds. I have largely done nothing "academic" with him, he has picked it up on his own. I thought it might be nice to have work boxes for him ready to go this July when I start hsing his big sis so he has something structured to do if he chooses and wondered if this series might be fun for him? Is it too much for a 3 year old? We are planning on loosely using I'm Ready To Learn by WP, but a lot of the letter games in that curriculum will be a review. Thanks for any advice.
  14. My kiddo is going to be a first grader so we are definitely stretching two units out over the course of one year. We are specifically using Year 2/3&4 which are so packed with historical content that it is going to be overwhelming enough as it is. I've already started planning the first half of our year (we start July 11 this year) via file folders and I am planning on doing two of the large unit projects, one focused on the colonists and one focused on Native Americans. Because that one unit will be with us for 16 weeks we'll have time. We are also super hands on, crafty kind of people and she will enjoy that along with the Plymouth Colony History Pocket and the ToG lapbook. We will be doing a lot of reading aloud, of course, but stretching it out over the course of the day and she'll probably hear some of the fiction books on audio during her rest time in her room. We are not doing the Writing Aids, she will be doing PR1 and some basic copywork of vocab words and short Bible verses and that is plenty of writing for a 6 year old. We are also skipping Evaluations this year, just don't think they are necessary for us yet but will probably start the following year. So, I guess we may be skipping a lot of what ToG has to offer and I am definitely just choosing what I like and leaving the rest. I bought ToG for the excellent teacher notes and support via the website and its longterm usability. Frankly, I have no idea how anyone can do four full units in a one year based on what I've read and planned for Unit 3, though I do hear that Year 2 is the busiest content-wise of the four years.
  15. By What Authority by Mark Shea On Being Catholic by Thomas Howard anything by Peter Kreeft Theology For Beginners by Francis Sheed He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterston ETA: Not sure how anyone could read these books and not convert! *wink*
  16. Is there a way to marry the two? I have to admit that I've got PR1 but have only watched about 45 minutes of the first DVD b/c I'm waiting to start with it this summer when we begin hsing. So, this may be one of those obvious answer type things I've just not gotten far enough in the instructor training to have found the answer. I know she will be practicing letter formation a good deal in the beginning of PR1, which she needs. The mechanics of holding a pencil easily and forming letters easily is still very challenging for her. I would like to add a list of vocabulary words from our geography/history/science each week for her to copy, not for spelling purposes but just for added repetition of hearing and seeing the words (ie. street, town, country, continent, earth, ocean for geography or weather, flower, seed, for science and so on). I realize we can do both (and I don't need permission, I can just choose to do it!) but at the same time I don't want her little fingers falling off from overdoing it too early. I'd rather her have a good relationship with reading and writing but then again I think copywork and narration are good habits to get into early on.
  17. Yes, this is true for us as well. I spent a lot of time making fun of him yesterday when he went outside with our kids and a neighborhood child and took apart their snow fort they had been working on for a couple hours with one of those snow brick makers. He determined that the right angles of the corners were off and if he reassembled it, it would be more structurally sound. :lol: I think we may have an ice fort that could double as a legitimate igloo out in our yard and it probably won't be able to fully melt until March! The kids thought it was great that he got so into it, though! This is just one example in a long line of many. I am more of a process/experience person and to him, the end result and its quality is the biggest priority.
  18. I am an ENFP and have been since I first took the test in high school. Every time I take it, without fail, I'm labeled as such, so it must be true! My husband is an ISTJ, we are opposites but I think we complement each others strengths in parenting.
×
×
  • Create New...