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2GAboys

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Everything posted by 2GAboys

  1. Thanks for the replies. I'll look into the blue books and placement tests.
  2. Hi, I homeschooled my 10 year old son RightStart for grades k-3 and he went to private school for 4th and they used ABeka 4 which spoon fed him algorithms. He will be homeschooled for 5th grade. I have taught RightStart level D and did not love it though some of it was very good but I'd rather switch to a different program like Math Mammoth or Singapore Math that we can continue on with. Anyone have any advise?
  3. I am right there with you. I am sending my 9 year old whom I've homeschooled to public school next year. He is not his older brother who is the compliant, happy to be homeschooled kid. My 9 year old loved preschool and went to a 5 day young fives program at our church before being homeschool for 1st-3rd. He plays with 4 other same-age boys on our cul-de-sac and he wants to go to school with them. His behavior screamed at me this year that he hated school. I had to cajole him to get out of bed, he negotiated everything. He would keep putting me off when it was time to work one-on-one. He would get angry if I wanted to go over problems that he got wrong on the white board. It was absolutely miserable. He is strong-will, very independent, gregarious, and very intelligent. The worst is that he developed OCD and even though everything that I read says its genetic, not a result of parenting and etc, I can't help but think that he never would have gotten it had I not homeschooled him.
  4. Looking at Critical Thinking Company's Editor in Chief series. Any other ideas. This was their weakest area on the Stanford.
  5. Not a huge fan of RS after level D. I have never taught SM and definately will rely on the SE HIG for guidance. I was just wondering if anyone else who switched to SM after using RS could comment on the transition. I'd like to move right into 4A but I have not done any of their placement tests.
  6. $205 vs $99? Is this a good resource for research and learning? I need more educational resources to keep my kids interest while I'm working one on one with the other.
  7. My 12 year old son is taking this class. I am very hands off because they said it was an independent study and I want to see if he can cut it on his own. I signed on to check how he was doing and made him go back to review everything that he missed (i.e study the answer key, go to the index for further explanation of concepts, etc.). In the past I have come too quicky to his aid, and it is time for him to grow up and that means sitting and thinking about the problem. I have demonstrated how to get to the index to research a concept and how to post a question on the forum and when he finally gets stumped, that will be what he will have to do becasue that course is beyond me. I do not know if we will continue with Integers because he is only on 1/4 of the way through. If he does well and continues to like it, we'll probably do it. I just wish it had an intelligent design and adaptive component like ALEKS. I do not like that he can continue on to another exercise without getting all the questions right.
  8. Awesome suggestions. I will definately look into the timbre preference test.
  9. My 12 yr old homeschooled son has been taking piano lessons for 6 years (he's really good) and we will continue this. Our church offers lessons on most instruments and I was thinking of using this rescource and maybe setting him up to cycle through all the teachers to discuss and try out the instruments. He thinks he might want percussion but I think its in his best interests to evaluate all options. I know next to nothing as I never played an instrument so I wanted to ask someone in the "know" what is the ideal way to help a child pick a muscial instrument? Thanks.
  10. YES! And this is a Christian school to boot. When they assigned characters they gave limited details that the kids must stick too, nationality, religious preference, education, health, marital status, etc.
  11. great ideas! His time period is the 1870's. Thanks so much
  12. My 6th grader attends a UMS two days a week and they are doing an Ellis Island simulation next week and he is to dress in "character". Twenty percent of his grade is having a costume that shows evidence of thoughtfulness and creativity. His assigned character is a 25 year old doctor (atheist) immigrating from Sweden whose appearence at Ellis Island is "dissheveled" and "weak". I am not a creative person and I need ideas. We've looked in closets at home and at Papa's and can't even find a decent hat of the time period! Looking for suggestions.
  13. I bought the set from PHP and was glad I did due to the convenience. I taught two boys to read using this program and having the index cards for the games was VERY helpful.
  14. My 11 yr old son just finished 4 last night. He read it in 4 days (over 700 pps)! I went to the web site Common Sense Media to read specific reviews and age recommendations. I love this web site because it allows me to thoroughly investigate the appropriateness of a movie or book in a matter of minutes. There is details specific to sexuality, language, violence, positive role models, drug/alcohol use, etc. I was able to use this and foreworn my child that a teen character is murdered at the end of 4 which I thought might upset him so I wanted to prepare him.
  15. Volume 4 is so meaty, unlike volumes 1 and 2 which can be done so much quicker. My 11 year old son is just finishing up volume 4. It has taken us well into the summer and we are only on chapter 38 out of 42. Blowing through this book would be a shame. There is way too much content. One section alone my child has learned about the effects of the six day war, Yom Kippur war, resulting OPEC embargo, the Camp David Accords. He's just finishing 5th. I think cramming all 4 in one year is a waste of time, especailly in the middle grade, and very little will be gained from doing this. I'd spread it over two, getting as far into volume III as possible by the end of the first year.
  16. I researched the psychology of paint color before I painted my classroom in my house (spare bedroom with north exposure). Pastels are best for learning environments. I chose a cool, mint green for three walls and my teaching wall, where my white board is, is a french country blue (blue is a recommended background color) We love it and we've had it for several years. It is a very happy room.
  17. In November I did a seach on the hive using ALEKS for my search word and I found a link to get a two-month free trial (this was cool because my son finished the curriculum for 5th grade before the trial period was up so I didn't spend a dime). I'd do a search for it or call them and tell them you are a homeschooler and maybe you can get it that way. It was well worth it.
  18. Thanks Boscopup, IEW sounds exactly what "I" need to use;I need that type of training and he wants to write and be allowed to do it more on his own. It doesn't matter how gentle or supportive I am, the fact that I stop him (during WWE)is the issue because he is his own little man and not intimidated and wants to go with it. The light bulb realization is, other than WWE and the handwriting (ZB) and spelling program (SW) he has had very little writing-there was nothing built in anywhere else in his second grade curriculum. He didn't have any literature guides that many kids write answers in; he wasn't answering questions in writing, etc. And this all shows compared to his public school friend. I will continue with WWE 3 because I have seen the fruits of this program with my older son however, this child needs more. Thank you.
  19. I can't thank you all enough for your time to give me feedback. I agree, I need to use caution while comparing my son's writing to others. I do believe, due to his intelligence and creativity that I do need to add something in where I am not hovering! My son does not like it when I supervise his writing because he does not like it when I gently stop him to correct his mistakes "immediately". This is what I think is stunting but this is what SWB and her mother espouse. Thank you for all the suggestions and I will start checking them out.
  20. My friend's public school child (he just finished 2nd) writes way better than my same age homeschooled child. He has no problem writing what he thinks and from what little I've witnessed on our Monday math and science days he is neat, remembers to capitalize and punctuate and spells almost everything right. He writes in complete sentences, too. He is awesome and appears way beyond my child. Of course he is writing creative papers in school as well. My son, on the other hand has done very little writing even though I used FLL and WWE (along with Zaner Bloser 2C). He did very well with WW2 however all this writing was either copywork or dicatation. He was being told what to write during dictation even if it was a sentence or two from his own narration. He had very little writing in his science curriculum and for History, I wrote all his narration for him from SOTW. Next year, in 3rd, he will have a lot more writing because he will be asked to answer the oral comprehension questions in SOTW because he is taking it from a UM school. I will still have him narrate each passage and shift more of the writing of it down to him now that he is going into 3rd. I just feel that he is behind in this area compared to my friend's son who goes to public school. I think he would love to do creative writing, he is very imaginative. What else can I add in that would not be overwhelming to get done? Do I need to add anything else?
  21. I agree to do Aleks over the summer. The beauty of it, due to its artificial intelligence and ability to assess what a child has or has not mastered, is that it only targets the child's grade level gaps. It does not teach or review anything that the child has mastered except it will every two or so weeks reassess all grade level standards and determine what needs to be retaught and reviewed. I use this at the end of every school year. Definately get the two month free trial and you may be surprised that she masters the grade level pie in the trial period like mine did and I didn't spend a dime until the next year end when I purchased it for just two months.
  22. A friend and I have tentative plans to go Saturday but gosh $30.00 to shop? Plus an extra 5 for parking. I better be getting free shipping on any texts I purchase plus a discount!
  23. Opinions please. Daily Chalkdust Math lessons via Professor Mosely on DVD or Abeka math taught two days a week in a real classroom by a live teacher? He completed RightStart B-E, LOF Fractions, Percents and Decimals and ALEKS level 5 math.
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