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hollyhock

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Everything posted by hollyhock

  1. I am getting a do-over, too, with my youngest starting K in fall. I am going to use with her what I used with all my boys: Math Mammoth. I love the 1st and 2nd grade books. It teaches math facts so solidly that we've never had to do flash cards until multiplication, there's good mental math, and it just works really well. It is a workbook, but it's only one book to juggle. All of my kids so far have done well with it.
  2. That's what we do, too, with three kids so far. Will be doing it again with my 4th next year.
  3. My kids find Apologia general and physical science to be experiment heavy, but they are also Christian. Those are for 7th and 8th grades.
  4. For the record, the book is very similar to posts Karen Glass has made on the AO forums about writing. So if you've read all her posts about her method, there might not be a ton new in the book, but it is more elaborate and the narration samples are helpful. But compared to the info on SCM, I find this way better.
  5. I skipped right to that chapter and read it first. I might not even bother reading the rest of the book. :) Overall, I find her process of transitioning from narration to formal writing the best, most helpful I have found. I have read all I can find about this topic at SCM, and there just isn't enough information. Know and Tell has actual STEPS to follow. Like "once they master this, move on to this" type of thing, with general guidelines on how long to spend on each step. There's a clear goal from the beginning to the end. But, that said, the process is supposed to be non-formulaic, at the child's pace, and kind of fluid, so there are really no hard and fast rules. Even so, it's the best thing I've found on the topic. Somehow I muddled through it with my oldest, and he is now at the point of being able to write an essay per week, which is her goal in high school, but this will definitely be helpful for my next ones coming up. I've already started my 8th grader on reaching narration fluency, as she says, which is the first step. I hope that all made sense.
  6. Thought I would add some thoughts because I am the OP and I have a bit more experience now with this. I am actually using GCSE with my 10th grader right now, and I would say it is comparable to the 10th grade integrated math here in Canada (at least in my province). There are a number of algebra 2 topics that are missing from GCSE but there is more coverage of trig and statistics and other things. If you wanted to use MEP for high school, I would start with year 9 and do all of GCSE, and plan on doing algebra 2 afterwards, or at least partially, in order to cover the topics missed. I don't think I would use GCSE above 10th grade unless your student is not college bound.
  7. She will find her way back. In the meantime, just help her out where she needs help. I've had two boys go through puberty and it seemed like they had good days and bad days. On a bad day, they couldn't remember how to narrate (!) or how to do long division, so then I just helped them through it. The next day, they might be fine and perfectly capable again. It gets better eventually.
  8. This exactly. I don't assign reading at young ages either. Just provide good books and let them read for fun!
  9. We pick passages on the fly. If we did science or history that day, I grab that lesson and pick something. If there's nothing good there, I pull out a Pathway reader or a Nature reader or any piece of literature the kid is currently reading, including read-alouds. Obviously, this way, we don't include the grammar suggestions in our passages, but we are usually on a slower grammar track than the book anyway.
  10. Exploring the World of Physics is part of a series by the same author. They are all really good, so if he enjoys that one, he might like the others. My oldest adored Exploring the History of Medicine.
  11. An all time favourite here is And the Word Came With Power. My kids also love Missionary Stories with the Millers.
  12. Yes, there are dictionary skills in R&S spelling later. I really like ETC and have used them with all my kids, but I haven't ever looked at R&S phonics so I can't really compare. ETC is a good option for kids being mostly independent, too, because the pages repeat and they know what to do after seeing it a few times.
  13. I use SOTW over again. They're so interesting and detailed; my older kids really enjoy them, too. We also mostly read and discuss, keep a wall timeline, and my older logic-stage kids sometimes use the material for writing assignments. Instead of map work, I have my younger ones look up locations on the globe.
  14. Depending which Master Books course you choose, you don't have to do them 5x a week. One of mine did the Medicine and Biology set and the worksheets were short enough that he could read the chapter and complete the worksheet at the same time. It cuts it down to 3x a week or so. Just thought I would throw that into the mix.
  15. I do bare minimum for K, but we'll see what she's interested in doing once fall comes. So far I have planned: Progressive phonics HWT K ETC 1 and maybe 2 if she's up to that Math made easy plus maybe some math games, and maybe starting MM 1 by the end of the year if she's ready Lots of art projects, Bible memory, listening in to history if she wants
  16. I want to use Easy Grammar Ultimate for this purpose next year for my 9th grade son. I thought it looked pretty quick and painless, but I haven't actually used it yet. Didn't see it on the list of suggestions so I thought I would add it in case you want to look at it.
  17. Explode the code LLATL TT SOTW R&S history books God's design science books Apologia science books Logic countdown and liftoff R&S spelling WWE and WTM writing in general
  18. Didn't see one of these, so I thought I would start it. I'll have my third 7th grader next year. Probably he will do... TT either 7 or pre-algebra (going to do placement tests at the end of this year) LLATL Green Pathway Reading 7 Narrations, outlines, rewrites across curriculum Apologia Zoology 1 for first semester, something else second semester (not sure what yet) SOTW 4 various logic puzzles (Perplexors, Analogy Challenges, etc.) Geography, Province to Province (Canadian) L'art de Lire 3 or 4 (if he wants to continue French) I think that's it. What do you have lined up so far? :D
  19. Mine would rather do anything than school! :D So far I have: TT 5 LLATL Purple Maybe R&S Spelling 5, if the spelling in Purple isn't enough for him Narrations and outlines across curriculum Pathway Reading 5 Interest-led science, possibly with notebook of drawings and narrations (probably an Apologia book) SOTW 4 Typing Club Logic Countdown Bible memory work and piano lessons ETA: Maybe cursive, because he still hasn't mastered it, but we're taking a break from it right now.
  20. Agreeing with everyone else. It is definitely a solid program, but it does look a lot different than what public school kids are doing. That, to me, is one reason why it's solid and works so well. If you are using it alongside FLL and SOTW then you don't need to do everything in all three, as others have said. Listening to the audio lecture or buying the instructor guide might be helpful for figuring that out. I think it's something like two narrations and two dictations or copywork selections per week, depending where in the program you are.
  21. No, I haven't. Thank you! I was sure there was a similar thread around somewhere, but I couldn't find it.
  22. What kind of out-of-the-box, unusual courses have you designed for your high schoolers? I want to think about course possibilities that don't follow the typical biology-chemistry-physics science sequence or the world history-american history-government-economics social studies sequence. I am open to anything else as well: literature courses with a specific or different focus, unusual electives, etc. What have your kids done that's not typical? I'm looking for some inspiration and ways to make high school individualized, and I know some of you here have done things like this. Thanks!
  23. Yeah, I'm having the same reservations about my boys both doing the same history. I may put them in separate time periods just because of this.
  24. 11th grade: Applied Math 30S (distance learning from our province) CM-style literature and composition Modern world history - finish Notgrass Abeka world geography Mr. Q Advanced Chemistry Old Testament Speech & Public Speaking (7Sisters) 9th grade: MUS Algebra 1 CM-style literature and composition, maybe also Easy Grammar 9 Not grass world history part 1 Biology (probably abeka) Computer Science 101 Possibly French if he wants to continue it I'll probably also give them each a 0.5 credit for phys ed.
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