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hollyhock

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Everything posted by hollyhock

  1. Yup, it's all I ever wanted and I told my mom so when I was about 15. I went to college and picked a career because I *had* to, not because I was really interested in anything. But then I got pregnant at 19 before we were married, so it all happened sooner than I thought it would.
  2. The public schools in my area only cover ONE book in their English classes. I feel like four is a good minimum, but yes, it totally depends on the student and the books.
  3. I have 5. We are not having more. We were done after 4 and 5 was a surprise, plus I began having fertility issues after she was born. My cut off age was 30, which seems young, but I had my oldest at 19 so that's 11 years of babies. Lucky for me, surprise #5 was born a few months before my 31st birthday. My advice would be to not plan too far ahead. You never know what will happen. For me, I had a lot of health issues after my 5th that I wasn't anticipating, and that totally changed my outlook on family size. Also, it's hard to anticipate how much work one more will be, or how overwhelmed you might feel - a lesson I had to learn. So just enjoy that newborn when it arrives and give yourself lots of time to think about it.
  4. I am no expert, so I am mostly bumping your post for more opinions, but I think your plans look good, as long as you are sure your son can handle so much math at once. That would be way too much for mine, but you know your kid. Also, I don't see a literature component. Is that included in TGaTB or HOD?
  5. I could be wrong about this, but doesn't Conceptual Academy add more/higher math to the Conceptual Physics course? Did she try using just the textbook by itself? Just another thought. I thought I read that somewhere, but I might be way off.
  6. For me, it's because I started with a philosophy and over time found what worked about it and what didn't. For example, my boys couldn't handle rigorous grammar like WTM advocates, so I went more CM with that. We've ended up using so many pieces of different philosophies, that we don't fit into just one or two anymore, and that's what I call "do what works". Some people call it eclectic.
  7. Yes, but I have changed. I started out sort of classical and sort of CM, but never adhered to a philosophy strictly. Now, in my 11th year, I have a "do what works for the kids and our family" philosophy. I've also realized that every philosophy is equally good - it's just that different things work for different people.
  8. We've done Purple through Grey and this year I'm also doing Orange. Grey and Green are the best, IMO.
  9. I would choose LLATL because I'm using it right now and I really like the upper levels. I don't know anything about TLP so obviously that's not very helpful. :)
  10. I am also one who believes in having lots of downtime so the kids can pursue their interests outside of school time. I don't try to make everything a part of school. We do the basics well, in a structured way, and then they have most of the afternoons to do their own thing. This also means not doing a lot of outside activities that we have to drive to. Even once a week commitments feel like they blow a whole afternoon. They just need non-school free time to explore. And sometimes that means they aren't pursuing anything educational at all, but that's ok, too. I'm pretty sure if I tried really hard to cultivate a "learning lifestyle", one of them would inevitably tell me he hates learning. 😠We also have a big home library.
  11. Thank you! These replies are really helpful. I would love to hear more opinions. And yes, just picking a writing program and going with that would be so much easier, but at this point my son can't deal with those.
  12. I am looking for some opinions about essays in order to figure out which direction I want to take with my 15yo son. He is not using a writing program and is writing across curriculum. He is doing ok, but I need a little clarity as to some basics about essays. Forgive my ignorance - I feel I should know these things already but I did not learn it in high school and this child is my guinea pig/oldest. 1. What is an essay, to you? It seems that different writing books have differing opinions on this. The Lively Art of Writing treats every essay like an opinion or persuasive piece. Wordsmith Craftsman has many different types of essays (narrative, descriptive, compare/contrast, etc.). Writing with a Thesis combines the two, saying that every essay is proving a point, but it can be done using the different styles or types. I know that WTM focuses on persuasive writing at the high school level. Are these actually different definitions or am I missing something that would tie it all together? How do you define an essay in your homeschool? 2. How often does your child write one? SWB says 1-2 a week. Many other programs only do a few per year. Which approach do you take? I suppose if one is using a writing curriculum, that would dictate what was written. How many do you think should be done? 3. If you require different types of essays, do you rotate through the different types? How often do you write each type? 4. Do you always require an outline (or other type of planning method), a rough draft and a final draft? 5. How much time do you give your student to complete the whole writing process? 6. What about timed essays? How often do you do those? 7. Does writing an essay usually mean the student is doing some kind of research to accumulate the knowledge required for the essay? Or do you only require essays about things the student knows a lot about? Some of both? 8. If you are not writing essays all the time (only 2 a month or a few per year), what other types of writing is your student doing? Ok, that was a lot of questions. I've read many books about writing but it seems that every book and curriculum has its own way of doing it. Or do I just need to pick my favourite book or method and go with that? :confused1:
  13. I think my goal is to trust my plans and not panic or start looking at other things when things get difficult. What I've planned for my son is what will work best for *him* so I need to just relax, watch his progress and not micro-manage.
  14. I could have used this thread a month ago! Thank you for the ideas for the list of theorems or note cards. My 15yo really would have benefited from such, but I didn't think of it at the time. I will keep this in mind for the next kid. Thanks for posting!
  15. I think that sounds like a good plan. LAOW will only take about 15 weeks or so (if I recall correctly), if you do a chapter a week, but you can easily apply the skills learned to other writing assignments once the book is finished. Or you could draw it out longer, too. There is also a free workbook for LAOW if you search the boards. It's around here somewhere.
  16. We actually haven't started it yet. I'm using it alongside some other things so we haven't gotten to it yet. What kind of critical analysis are you looking for? Do you have any examples?
  17. Have you looked at the Thought Questions or research ideas at the end of each chapter? There might be an idea or two in there. In SWB's high school writing lecture, there are some generic history writing ideas, including: - question the motives of historical characters - argue that place or weather affect the outcome of an event - argue that something was caused by earlier events - prove that something or someone was worse or better off after an event - show a connection between two people or events - speculate how history might be different if an event had not happened Hope that helps. We're doing that R&S book this year, too. :)
  18. We're using Survey of Astronomy this year. Yes, it is very much like you say - just read and do a worksheet. But I'm also using this course to teach DS some study skills and how to follow a syllabus, since there is a nice schedule to follow in the front of the book. I don't really have suggestions of what to add, other than using the material for writing assignments (we're doing some of that, too). I am also waiting to get further into the course, where it looks like the worksheets get better and there are more things to discuss. I will say, though, that this week DS found something in the text really interesting and ended up writing an essay about it and also discussing it with Dad later on, so that was promising. That may not have been any help, but we're in the same boat. :)
  19. Yes, I have. Of course, my oldest students are only in 10th and 8th grade, so I can't say I've graduated them and they've been wildly successful at writing in college. But, for what it's worth, my kids begin writing narrations in 5th grade and through middle grades/junior high, I encourage them to begin writing multi-paragraph narrations, paying attention to topic sentences and such. To me, the outlines and rewrites are kind of secondary. They help with learning structure, but the written narrations are still the focus, to me. That is actually one way I deviate from the WTM recommendations. I think SWB says you can quit the narrations after 6th grade, but I have found it essential to keep doing them, making them longer and more focused as time goes on. Last year, in 7th grade, my son was writing 3-4 paragraph narrations by the end of the year. This year, in 8th, he's begun to add short introductions and conclusions to his compositions. I gave him a lesson in essay structure on scrap paper that took about 5 minutes. He is still mostly writing them after reading something in history or science, but we have also started to do some off the top of his head - simple things like "what 3 things are you looking forward to about winter". As he matures, the topics will obviously mature. I should also include that this son also likes to take notes before writing his narrations. My oldest now writes a 1-2 page essay every time he writes a narration. I'm trying to vary the topics and the types, and I give tips every time they write one. Sometimes we do little mini lessons about what an intro could include, or being more clear and specific, etc. I do find it helpful to have some kind of guide book, so that I know what I'm doing, and I know what to look for. For me, The Lively Art of Writing was really helpful and also Writing to the Point by Kerrigan.
  20. If it were me, I would do your SOTW 3-4 plan and not worry too much about the younger ones. If they want to listen sometimes, good, but if not, oh well. I don't require history until 3rd grade, and it's easiest to combine (at least for me).
  21. Mine do WTM writing across curriculum, so narrations and outlines and rewriting outlines. By 8th or 9th grade, the narrations have turned into essays.
  22. Thanks for posting these. It's helpful for me to see examples. :)
  23. Take a look at Math U See. There is a video component (but it's only once per week), there are full solutions, and as far as I remember, there were no problems in the exercises that were "surprises" (my kid just finished it). There are lots of worksheets to do for every lesson and lots of built in review. It's not necessarily cheap, but I think it's under $100 at CBD.
  24. I sort of feel like I fit here. My high school is very relaxed, so much so, that I don't really want to post on this board. The only daily subjects my 15yo has are math, science and reading from his literature list. He is doing a very CM approach to literature and composition because he is just wired that way. Seriously, if I handed him a writing or lit. curriculum, it just wouldn't work (tried that). He is done school by noon every day because he is efficient and pretty focused. :leaving: We are following his interests, getting the basics done plus electives that I feel are essential, he is a year ahead in math compared to what the public school kids around here are doing, and he has every afternoon to farm with Dad. (I feel that I must caveat all of that with the fact that he is likely not headed to university, and will probably end up in the trades; however, he will still have all the requirements to get into the university or college program of his choice because I am not in the US and our college requirements are different. Plus, he is my oldest, so who knows, maybe I am just royally screwing him up.)
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