Melis
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Posts posted by Melis
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Good Morning :)
My children just went back to public school after being home for four years. I could SO relate to this comment as it was the main reason for our decision...
I am little concerned for dd and twinB as they has pulled way ahead in certain subjects and this school my be a bit below their academic level. Having the twins together at home has been a bit difficult. There are comparison issues when one has learning challenges that the other does not. I really think separating them and giving each twin a chance to thrive in their own environment. All of my kids are very sociable, outgoing, and love to be with their peers. They all have very strong personalities and really will benefit from having more people in their lives.When I read this...
I am starting to feel a little bluesy :001_unsure: I am not really worried for the kiddos, just looking at all the stuff I have amassed over the years, and feeling a sense of loss.Ugghhh! :glare: Oh well, I am sure I will put it to use.
...I just had to write. This is EXACTLY how I am feeling! I wanted to check in with you and see how you YOU were doing!
Hope to keep in touch about this new adventure!
~Melissa :)
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...I wish I had known this before wasting the thousands of dollars that I did....ugh!
I know what you mean ;) Sometimes I feel this way too. If time wasn't a huge factor for me, I'd probably do my own thing for almost everything!
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Good Morning :)
Thanks everyone. I am feeling much better and honestly am relieved to find others sharing similar struggles. We will keep plodding along. He is doing well with the narrations and has made huge progress in that respect this year. I will continue to modify his dictations to work for us.Phew, I sure wish I would have come on here and posted this sooner. :D
I'm so glad you're feeling better about it! :grouphug:
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Have you seen the You Tube video of SWB doing a dictation with her son? There is a lot more than three times going on there.
I was thinking that same thing! LOL
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Hello :)
This is tough one. I almost always have to repeat dictation sentences... too many times to count. I just do it. Honestly, *I* can't even remember the sentences :O In fact, my memory is HORRIBLE with stuff like this...
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Are you using the SOTW Activity Guide? It has activities, mapping, coloring pages, extra books, and usborne encyclopedia pages to bring SOTW more alive. I really think SOTW is one of the best history curriculum's for this age. I am about to go back to it myself for my children. As far as time being an issue...I think SOTW is one of the easiest history curriculum's to get done. Compared to Sonlight that I am doing right now which is a ton of reading. Maybe you could get SOTW on cd's to free up some of your time.
Oh my goodness! I couldn't agree more! We use SOTW for World History and SL for American History I and... WOW! What a difference in time :O I am loving doing American History, but it's A LOT for one day...even if it does count as literature/history :glare:
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I think the confusion comes in because before the WWE program was written, there was only FLL and FLL does incorporate some of the same writing exercises (copywork, narration and dictation). Since you have been doing FLL1/2, I would begin in WWE2. You can start this year and just take your time, stretching it into next year or just wait until next year. It will compliment FLL3 nicely ;)
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It could depend on the year you have, but it was toward the front, Before the weeks, and it would have all topics covered during the week, it was about 5-6 pages.
As soon as I read this post, I ran and grabbed my IG and there it was! :tongue_smilie:
Thank you so much! :)
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ZooRho... Thank you for mentioning their forums... I've been meaning to get over there to see what others do! :)
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Good Morning :)
I really like Sonlight too, but I have to say, this is the biggest thing I struggle with. I find that they do not give enough guidance with respect to timeline and map work. We are doing American History I this year and I am behind in the timeline work and am not impressed with the maps at all. This part of the curriculum is NOT "pick up and go" at all. I know the solution is as simple as preparing ahead of time, but therein lies the problem... TIME! :O
For now, I put up the map on the whiteboard and try to outline what's going on. The map I got with the SL curriculum is blank, which I find to be both good and bad. I think I'd prefer to have the map filled out so that I can just circle places and draw arrows... we end up using our own maps along with the blank map. It's just a bit cumbersome... especially since I don't have a classroom.
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole... Thank you for sharing what you do!
I look forward to hearing other's replies!
:lurk5:
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Good Morning :)
First of all, :grouphug:I read this quote recently that has helped me tremendously:
"You can't force a bud open, but you can water it every day."
Small and consistent steps. Every day. Don't quit. Keep on swimming. Don't expect anything yet. It can be hard, especially when we have external pressures. However, the more I am on this journey of parenting and schooling, the more I realize that children have their own timetable on when they do things or things just click for them. Our hsing job is to expose them to new learning experiences, and keep working on skills. Just keep at it. It will come.
Both of you may want to snuggle up and read "Leo the Late Bloomer" together.
:iagree: and big, big :grouphug: to you!
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I feel like a broken record! History and Science is not happening!
Oh, I understand! I couldn't fit it in for almost two years! :O
My dd9, ds6, and dd5 are enrolled in Foundations (Classical Conversations). I had this great idea that I would build on our history and science sentences using the resource list that my director gave me (we are doing American history this year). I have had dd9 reading a SOTW chapter that correlates with the history sentence, but she doesn't like it. For some reason she has never liked SOTW. She complains anytime I pull the book out or turn the audio on.
My kids dislike the audio too, which is a real bummer for me! I can't help but wonder if she doesn't like SOTW, maybe she's just not interested in history, which I think would be COMPLETELY normal! In that case, switching curriculum would be a waste of time and money. Honestly, I would just keep going with it. Do you try and make it interractive? I give the boys the coloring page (while *I* read from the book, which I'm not going to suggest you do since you have your hands full!) and after we've read the chapter, we discuss it and do the map activity. I try and remind myself that *I* was not interested in a lot of things "school related" when I was a kid. I got straight "A's" but oftentimes learned the material only long enough to test out on it and then it was forgotten. So as far as retention of the material, I try not to put too much stress on myself there... it's still hard ;)
I'm learning that I really like things planned out for me. I have very little time to pull it together on my own (mostly due to having a dd1 that is constantly climbing on tables or eating anything she can get her hands on). I'm very tempted to try a textbook approach. Living books sounds great, but it's not getting done.
I really appreciated scripted lessons. We use textbooks, but I still need to present the new information and concepts. Honestly, I find that with textbooks, I have to do MORE planning (as opposed to WTM curriculum or AAS) because there really aren't any lesson plans. I've learned through experience with DS10 (5th grade) that if I'm just handing him a textbook and not interracting, he's more inclined to speed through the work (get it done correctly), but not retain the information. To me this just becomes "going through the motions of doing school" or "busy work". I guess it would really have more to do with how *your* child would handle that type of schooling, you know?
I need some ideas for an independent history and science for a 9-year-old.
I would be leery about having my kids do these subjects independently (for the reasons described above), but again, your kids might be totally different :)
How do you guys have enough time in the day to teach 3+ children?
I only have 2 and I still struggle with time. Last night I was cleaning the kitchen until almost 9pm. It's not a time management issue either.
If I had my dd9 doing something independent for history and science it would take such a weight off.
I understand.
And then when I got to the good books it would be an added bonus. I just feel like I'm not doing enough with my 4th grader.
(((hugs)))
Thanks for listening! :001_smile:
Something that has helped us immensely was a simple suggestion from a friend. Do science and history first. Since I started doing that, it's getting done! We're still not getting to projects and experiments like I wanted to, but at least we're doing the other stuff! (I have to keep reminding myself of this) I spend about 20 minutes per day or less on these subjects. I read to them and then we discuss. DONE. They dont' *love* it, but I feel SO MUCH BETTER that information is being presented to them and it's being discussed. What they chose to do with it is not within my control. I oftentimes wish there was more they could do independently, but again, I get very leery about where that will lead for my children. I feel that the grammar stage is highly interractive and really needs to be. It's the memorization of facts and information and with my kids, I need to be involved or their work becomes "busy work" or just "going through the motions". If they were passionate about a subject, that would be different, but I honestly don't know a lot of children who are "passionate" about school ;) I do have a friend whose son LOVES, LOVES, LOVES history and cannot get enough of it. Gosh, I wish I had that! LOL THEN, I would be comfortable with independent work. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I feel that kids can't work independently, I just feel that you need to be cautious about this in the grammar years.
You are in a very busy phase of life based on the ages of your children and it looks like you are already out of the house for a full day doing CC. Maybe you could do two days of science for 20 minutes (first thing) and then two days of history for 20 minutes (first thing). Honestly, my boys are in 3rd and 5th and this was the FIRST year I could get these subjects done consistently. It's not easy.
I hope this helps a little! :)
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Hello :)
Based on what you've written I would suggest trying FLL3 for all of them. FLL is really awesome and user-friendly. We've been using it all along and what I've found is that the parts-of-speach, capitalization and punctuation and all those other little grammar pieces (dictionary skills, letter writing, etc.) are presented and reviewed thoroughly through all of the levels. Diagramming is introduced in Level 3. Last I checked, FLL only went up to Level 4 so I think starting at Level 3 with all of them would be a great way to introduce the curriculum and review everything. My 3rd grader is still doing FFL2 (which is part of the first book FLL1/2) and it's fine. The lessons and suggested activites are very short (5-10 minutes tops). She even gives Enrichment Activities in FLL1/2. I was going to suggest it for your 3rd grader, but you said she is a natural so for time and ease, I'd start right in Level 3. I don't think think this will be too easy for the 5th grader. My 5th grader is in Level 4 and I don't see a huge difference between the two levels. I don't think that's a bad thing, I just think that she does such a great job of gently introducing all of the concepts earlier on in that it comes around again in each level. This presents a nice review. I find that both of my kids are retaining it quite well for that reason (repetition). I hope that helps! :)
Have a great day! :)
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Good Morning :)
That's awesome! It's such a good feeling when we select a curriculum that's "a hit"! :)
Have a great day!
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Good Morning :)
I think it looks wonderful! I hope you and the kids enjoy your new schedule!
Have a great weekend!
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Hello :)
I meant to touch base with you yesterday because I thought of you when I had to spell BILLFOLD. I didn't have enough L's so I had to use a blank tile from my bag 'o tiles! I wasn't even sure I had one, but there it was! I also wanted to recommend writing on it with a Vis-a-vis or whiteboard marker so that you can re-use it (rather than a Sharpie). I was missing a card so I e-mailed the company and I received a card within a few days!
StartingOver... Thank you for mentioning that they posted on FD that they will replace lost tiles free of charge... that's good to know! THANK YOU! :)
Have a great night everyone! :)
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Hello there :)
I'm thinking you must not be well to be posting this question? I hope you feel better (((hugs)))!
Honestly... I call it a day and let the kids do whatever they want (as long as they are quiet) and I do my best not to feel guilty about it.
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Hello there :)
WOW! You have your hands full! Something that has been very helpful for me is setting a time limit for each subject. What this does is allow me to work with them as they need me and then they can finish the assignment while I move onto the next one. The other thing I do is set a time expectation in terms of how much time during the day we will do work. If we don't get something done, I don't stress. We'll do it tomorrow. Before adopting this attitude, I would get totally stressed out and frustrated and we wouldn't do school at all because I need to figure out how to *fix* our problem. That never worked for me even though I tried it a million times. All it did was put us further behind where I wanted us to be. Someone suggested doing history and science FIRST and that ended up being a simple, brilliant idea! We do those subject together first. It's always light... maybe 20 minutes for each?... then we move onto our other work and I use the "work for such and such a time and if we don't finish, we pick up where we left off tomorrow rule" ;) As much as I cringe not doing it the way *I wanted*, it's working! :)
And by the time we are done... my brain is FRIED! :O
I hope that helps :) (((hugs)))
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Good Afternoon :)
OP, I know it's been about a week since you posted this topic, and I hope you are feeling better, but I wanted to chime in and give you a big (((hug))). I am feeling SO MUCH of what you posted. My home has gotten TOTALLY out of control (for me) and I just look around and feel paralyzed. It has effected my spirit so negatively and most days I just feel defeated. Like you, I often daydream about all the stuff being carried away by a garbage truck, but as you also said, a lot of what is EVERYWHERE is a monetary investment (big sigh). I am out straight with homeschooling and life and feel like I never have the time needed to get on top of this stuff. I sit and write schedule after schedule only to come up about 8 hours short of what it will take to put a dent in the disaster. The main issue is that there is nowhere to put half this stuff. I need to purchase organizational items but don't have the money... (big sigh)... oh I feel your pain.
On top of it all, I ***DO*** need to RE-train my children (for the one millionth time), but somewhere along the line, ran out of energy to go to the great lengths I needed to go to in order to keep it up. Another (((bigger sigh))). Every child is different, just as adults are different, so I don't think all children are as easy to train (and retain) as some. It's just not. I agree that training takes time and investment, but I don't believe we all get the same results.
So... (((deep breaths)))... I know what I need to do, but just can't seem to find the time to do it. I need to get this place in order and get back in "training mode", accepting that I just might stay in this mode until the day my little (male) birdies fly the coop.
Perhaps we could start a support thread for this and keep each updated on where we are in terms of getting back on the path to sanity (er... uh... a cleaner house)???
Thanks for letting me commiserate and rant and I'd love to hear where you are at with this!
Hope you are having a really great day! :)
~Melissa :)
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Good Morning :)
Aw! (((hugs))) I LOVE circle time. And I had such high hopes for it. Unfortunately, my boys were not circle time boys and had no appreciation for my enthusiastic efforts. They just wanted to get down to business. I suppose I should have just been grateful for that! LOL When it became evident to me that circle time was not the best way to use our time (and their attention), we just did the calendar. Now that they are 8 and 10, we don't even do that (sniff... sniff...). The good thing is, they learned the calendar skills they needed, which I guess was the whole point (rolls eyes)! LOL
Have a great day! :)
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Good Morning :)
SO many great thoughts here!
I taught my oldest cursive and plan to teach my youngest cursive as well. Once they are able to write cursive legibly and read it with ease, they may choose if they use printing or cursive for their assignments. I do ask that they sign their papers in cursive. It was important to me that they knew HOW. Without trying, they wouldn't know if they liked it. Also, I think it's important that they are able to read it. My oldest wrote beautifully in cursive, but chose to continue printing when he was done. He does enjoy signing his name in cursive though. He says it "looks more official" :) My youngest is just starting to print with ease so I think we'll do cursive next year.
I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer to this. Good luck with your decision :)
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Good Morning and WELCOME :)
I would love to try and assist you!
Hello, I am considering a switch the TWTM curriculum and am not quite sure where to start.I would begin right where they are in terms of readiness and skill. What I love about TWTM is that it is a very thorough, yet gentle, approach to learning.
I am using a Charlotte Mason style curriculum right now, and what I like about it is that I can pretty much keep my kids together for History and literature. My kids are in 4th and 5th grades and we are in the Middle Ages for History this year. I realize that according the Classical Method, my 5th grader would be in the logic stage either this year, or next. Is that correct? If that is the case, would I need to begin splitting them up in our readings? Is there a way to follow TWTM and still keep my kids together. They are 1 grade apart but close to 2 years in age. My son is 11 and daughter is 9. They will be 10 and 12 this summer.
I feel that the stages should be used as a guideline, but that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to *your* child. I look at the stages as a way of understanding where my child *may* be in terms of learning/observing the material, but I don't feel it's necessary to follow it to a "T". (I hope that made sense) But this is just my opinion ;) So with that in mind, I have no problem doing certain subjects together and keeping the assignments the same. We do Story of the World, Sonlight Science, Sonlight's American History I and Highlight's "Which Way USA" and "Top Secret" together. I find that most of these subjects are interactive in terms of learning. Not a whole lot of writing here and that's the way I want it ;) I'll share what we do for literature in your question below :)
I have the 1st edition of TWTM and see that there is new edition. What is new in this edition? Does the book lay out all of the books that I would be doing? Do we just jump in according to grade year? How does the catalog differ from the book in terms of the curriculum schedule given?
I hope that I was clear in my questioning.
I'm probably not the best one for giving guidance on this as I purchased TWTM (I think it's the second edition), took what I needed to get started and haven't really looked back! LOL I love TWTM... it was instrumental in getting me started, but it helped me SO MUCH that I haven't had the need to reference it up until this point. I DO have a 5th grader so it's on my list of things to review at some point this year ;) I believe one of the main differences in the revisions is the update of books choices. SB and her mom have come out with new books and have revised many old. Some of the curriculum they used to recommend as the first choice may have been moved to second choice, and some books may even be out of print.
I guess my 2 main questions are: How do I jump in when we haven't used TWTM in the past, I would look at where you are, where the book suggests you would be and pick somewhere in the middle. I might even begin in the grammar stage for BOTH...see how they do... and then make the necessary changes.
and is there a way to keep my kids together in History and Literature?
I find history is very easy to do together... mine are two years apart and it's been no problem. As for literature, I think it depends on your children's learning styles. Being a grade apart, it would seem easy to keep them together, but you mentioned they are two years apart and I notice one is a girl and one is boy. My boys are two years apart and they have different learning styles. They are very similar in that learning comes easy to them, but they are definitely not at the same level of "readiness". I find it's best to tailor my assignments to fit the latter.
Thanks so much for all of your help and suggestions.
Blessings,
Angela
As I was responding to your questions, I realized I may be using TWTM differently than you plan to. We are more textbook based in terms of written work. I used TWTM's FLL, WWE and SOTW. Pretty much all of their writing comes from WWE. Our history and literature consists of read-alouds, independent reading (they read the same books) and lots of discussion and interaction, which we do together.
I would say this is the beauty of homeschooling in action. That we can take all these great resources and tailor them to fit our individual needs. I don't feel like I've been as much help as I thought I could be, but I'll post this anyhow! I'm sure there are plenty of WTM'ers with CM backgrounds that can offer better guidance :)
Again, welcome and happy schooling!
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I thought AAS was going to be really time intensive too, but now that we have our groove, it really isn't that bad. We moved through Levels 1 and 2 at about a Step per day, but in hindsight, I probably would have slowed down once we started hitting rules, somewhere in the middle of Level 1. In Levels 1 and 2, I would set a time of limit of 20 minutes, begin a step and see how far we got (it was about a Step per day). Now that we are in Level 3, I still stick with 15 - 20 minutes, but I follow this outline for each of the steps:
DAY ONE ~ Begin a new Step
Review (if suggested and/or necessary)
New Teaching
Dictation of New Words
DAY TWO ~ continue working through Step
Review (if necessary)
Dictation of Sentences (I give him half...phrases are eliminated in Level 3)
DAY THREE ~ continue working through Step
Review (if necessary) ~
Dictation of Sentences (I have him do half)
DAY FOUR ~ Begin new Step
Review (if suggested and/or necessary)
New Teaching
Dictation of New Words
DAY FIVE ~ continue working through Step
Review (if necessary)
Dictation of Sentences (I give him half...phrases are eliminated in Level 3)
This is just a rough outline, but it affords me a lot of flexibility for whatever the day throws our way! If we don't get to it, we just pick up where we left off the next day. Today a Word Sort Activity was scheduled so we did that instead of the usual sentences. We'll do sentences tomorrow and the next day and then begin a new Step the day after that! It's really got a nice rhythm to it :)
I hope this helps!
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Good Morning and WELCOME! :)
Okay, so this all takes about 2 1/2 hours, 3 if we're lagging. We finish it before lunch, and I feel good . . . then feel like maybe I should be doing more? But I'm trying *so hard* not to push too fast, but to keep it pleasant and fun and end things when she really gets wiggy and impatient.
I think what you are doing so far sounds wonderful. The timing looks to be right on with what we do here. I have two boys and we can get through our core curriculum in about 2 hours. Science, history and geography (and one day art and creative projects... if I EVER get to it! LOL) will add in another 1-2 hours, depending on what I've got scheduled. I wouldn't worry about not doing enough unless your child is asking for more. I would schedule in those additional subjects and maybe some independent reading, but other than that, enjoy your free afternoons! You both earned it! ;)
what a bad title - it looks like I am looking for feedback only from new homeschoolers, doesn't it? I'm a total board virgin, it is taking me awhile to get the hang of this! I'd love feedback from anyone!!I knew what you meant! :)
Welcome to wonderful world of homeschooling!
Have a great day!
If your kids went from HS'ing to PS
in Parents' Forum Afterschooling Board
Posted
Hello there :)
We are in NH and I think it really depends on the state, or in some cases, the district. For us, it was a very smooth transition. My kids joined public school about 8 weeks ago. I was told that because we had been submitting our "end of year evaluations" all they needed to do was register! In DS10's case, he was "re-registering" after 4 years of HS'ing (he went to K and half of 1st) there. The registration process consisted of a birth certificate, proof of residency and an updated medical form. It took me a day to register them (I called ahead and then went straight to City Hall for my youngest's birth certificate and to the doctor's office for a printout of their medical forms). They started a few days later! :) VOILA!
I wish you and your family the best of luck and happiness in your new endeavors! :)
~Melissa :)