SnowWhite
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Posts posted by SnowWhite
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My ds will be a second grader.
We will be doing a math program, a language arts/English program, a history theme which includes art/crafts/Bible/literature, a science program and a music program.
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I second the WinterPromise recommendation.
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(((hugs))) and prayers for you and your dh coming your way. How sad.
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Some of this, I believe, is a cultural gap.
An ignorant server at Subway asked me if my sons were my grandsons. Yes, I suppose at age 37 there is a biological possibility (If I had a child at age 15, who then had a child at age 15) I could be my 7 yo son's grandmother. Perhaps in her family 15 is considered a usual age for the first child.
It still ticked me off, though!
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If you're comfortable with MUS, I'd stick with it. You can always supplement for the place value concept if needed. However, you are probably correct that her development will make it easier this time around.
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I also know that there are 3-week projects included with the High School programs. There are some pretty good samples up on the website, with more being added all the time (WP has a new tech firm working with them this year).
Here's a C&P from the Adventures in the Sea and Sky Older Learner Guide. It's only recommended up to grade 9 though (I was thinking it was good for older HS as well).
Three-Week Project Choices:HANDS ON: Create a Sailor’s Trunk
Details: Create a sailor’s trunk out of wood and leather, as needed. For the inside, create replicas of things a sailor might have carried: a game, letters from home, coins, extra clothing, souvenirs, maps, message in a bottle-type bottle, etc. Make all items appeared aged and/or weathered. Get creative about what might be included, and be prepared to share with your family or co-op details about the seafaring life. This is an important part of your assignment.
CREATIVE: Draw a Detailed Cross-Section of a Ship
Details: You’d be able to find a cross-section book at the library which could serve as your model. Plan to draw with detail a specific type of ship, and color with watercolor paints or colored pencils.
PEOPLE-RELATED: Meet with an Experienced Captain
Details: Track down a local captain and arrange to go aboard his boat so he can show you how the boat works, what factors he needs to be aware of at sea, how he keeps track of weather and other related issues, and the dangers of sea travel. Take pictures of him, his vessel, and other pertinent items. Create a scrapbook of the photos with information you learned interspersed. You may want to make two copies. One for you and one for your kind captain!
GEEKED UP: Create a Computer Model of Eratosthenes’ Method of Measuring the Earth Details: See “Planet Earth,†chapter 1 for information pertinent to this assignment. Then, create a computer program, website or simulation of how he accomplished his feat.
Writing Goals:
Captain’s Log Scribblings!
Each week this year you will write a one-page paper on your choice of a fictional account of a voyage, accomplishment, milestone or historic event related to your main studies, or a non-fiction summary of a topic related to development of sail, air or spacebtravel. You’ll be given topic suggestions, but you are always free to pursue a different topic with parental approval of your subject. File each report in your “Timelines in History.†We will refer to these assignments as your “Captain’s Log Scribblings.â€
Topic Choices This Week:
Essential Elements of a Sea-Going Vessel
The Science of Buoyancy: How Does a Boat Float?
Extra Reading or Resources
Ships: Look Inside Cross-Section by Jonathon Potter, ISBN# 1564585212
The Craft of Sail: A Primer of Sailing, ISBN# 0802772145
An easy introduction to sailing and the forces at work on a sailing vessel. Highly Recommended!
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More Than Moccasins activity book and the "If You Lived With the (Hopi, Sioux, etc)" series. WinterPromise uses them in their American Story 1 set for grades 1-3.
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If you're interested in using WP this year along with MOH2 (QMA)... I'd think about using Hideaways in History for the younger two. Otherwise, if you'd rather just stick with MOH... use WP's catalog to find lit to go along with MOH2.
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ITA "unschooling" preschool works well. I personally was 6.5 before attending school, at grade one. (I already knew how to read well, and was reading easy chapter books). All through my elem ed course in college I heard that preschool and K were very important for children from families who did not give their children the kinds of experiences my mother did... reading aloud, interactive play, nature exploration.
HOWEVER... since I am homeschooling my older ds, the younger one clamors for school. With that in mind, I will be using WinterPromise's I'm Ready to Learn which is a very "pre-reading, pre-educational" program. It has lots of games, songs, rhymes, fingerplays, crafts, etc.
For my older ds I just bought R&S ABC preschool books and About Three preschool workbooks and used them loosely as desired.
I don't plan to spend lots of time or stress over preschool ever.
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We will be doing:
Bob Jones Math 2
WinterPromise LA2
WinterPromise American Story 1
WinterPromise World Around Me Science
God Made Music 2
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I am going to do IRTL with my 4 yo this year. He'll be a really young immature 4 though.
The following year I will do AW with him and add the WP Basic K phonics. He'll be a young immature 5 then.
Since you are wanting something your ds can share, I think you could do AW. Be prepared to use the Animal Encyclopedia and One Small Square books as "picture study" type activity instead of read and understand type learning (for the little one). You'll want to have her dictate or draw answers for the Make Your Own Animal notebook (or you could make a printed sheet of answers for her to cut and paste).
The fun part about AW for the early K age is the Alphabet Art activity book! I can't wait to use that with our Andrew. You will have one paper plate craft per week to introduce the letters, and an animal craft to go with it.
If you don't get the combined package (so your son will have the higher level materials), I'd highly recommend the Animal Behavior series and the Animal Habitats activity book. They were our favorite parts of the study. They're made for an older kid to read independently, but work wonderfully as a read-aloud for younger ones.
The nice part about combining AW and Core C (and I don't think you're nuts if you make sure not to tie yourself to the weekly schedule... give yourself plenty of time) is that since AW is set up in 5 week habitat units, you can complete a unit and then take a rest if you like before starting the next unit.
I'd also give myself permission to put a book back on the shelf if you feel it's not fitting. I did that with the Alphabet Art for my advanced first grader. It was just too easy. We're also only using a few of the At the Zoo crafts, because we just like the Animal Habitat ones better. We'll use those younger crafts next time through when Andrew is old enough to appreciate them.
Sorry about writing such a long *book*. WP is a subject that gets me going!
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WinterPromise LA1. My ds was half way through Pathway Readers first grade reading/LA program and LA1 has been a great fit. I think it is a little advanced for first grade.
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Here's a link to a blog from someone who's doing QAW with a wide age span.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HarmonyAcademy
She has children ages 11, 9, 6 and 4.
I can't say for sure about lists of books for younger dc, except that I believe MOH itself includes something like that. Since QAW includes MOH, you'd get that by default. Here's a quote from the MOH website regarding that:
**Don’t be surprised when your student starts to fall in love with history! For those who do, there is a fabulous list of our favorite supplemental materials for you. These books and movies are NOT necessary since The Mystery of History is a complete history curriculum all on its own; however, they may make history even more memorable! -
If you're ready for formal phonics, use WinterPromise's Basic Phonics PreK-K LA. It's one letter per week. For that study, I plan to use the PreK-1st version of Animals and Their Worlds for our theme, after we complete IRTL. That's because there is a book called Alphabet Art in AW that coordinates with the phonics study.
IRTL's "Wow! I'm Reading" book is more about "phonemic awareness", a very light hearted approach to letters, letter-sound relationship, early literacy stuff. "Pre-reading," YK?
I am doing the PreK-2nd and up Combined set with my almost 7 yo right now and I am THRILLED that I get to use it again with my littler guy in a couple years. Since I will be doing another WP theme with the older boy that time around (AS2), I won't use a couple of the older resources with the young fella.
If Joshua wants to visit animals again that year (for science), I will add in a couple things WP has added for older kids since my theme was published. I might add a human body study for the older boy that year too just for variety.
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Thanks Jennifer, I think I will take the plunge if someone else has not snagged it. I have been reading their forum and joined the yahoo group as well. I bet we will be seeing more of each other.
What has been your favorite pre k- k WP program? My daughter just turned 5 and she would just prefer to play dolls or run around outside all day rather than any form of schooling. Maybe WP can reel her in.
Julie
For that stage I'd say I'm Ready to Learn preschool, because it's so active and full of fun. If she does decide to settle down, then maybe Journey in Imagination. . .
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I won't be telling you any reasons not to buy it!!!
I am a WinterPromise fan, through and through. We're 3/4 finished with Animals and Their Worlds and LA1. I have a closet full of American Story 1, World Around Me Science, and I'm Ready to Learn preschool.
My biggest love about WP programs are their broad appeal. My ds is artistic, visual, techy... they have that and more. I'm a book lover... they have great books.
What's not to like?
The only possible slight objection I've ever heard about S&S (and I avidly read their forum and yahoo group daily) is that a few of the readers can be a bit mature or graphic for younger fourth graders. Every single review I've read has been a rave, except for that one tidbit.
Karen Brooks, co-owner of WP recently gave it a great plug which made me re-think my future plans in favor of doing S&S earlier in my ds's hs sequence. She said it's a great overview of world history from the perspective of technology... which gets at the "whys" of lots of historical periods, like why the colonization of the Americas happened when it did. She said it's a wonderful lead-in to a sequence of Ancient History, then Middle Ages and so on.
So now I will likely be doing S&S as soon as we finish Amer Story 1 and 2.
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I second the WinterPromise recommendation. They have great history and science themes.
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Yay! We love it too. Enjoy!:iagree:
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I used mine cracked for a couple of years. When it finally broke in two my MIL suggested I use my large "boiler" pot lid (since it's a large crock pot), and that works just fine.
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My first grader is doing the following (he's an advanced first grader):
Bible: 15 minutes daily
WinterPromise LA (includes spelling, phonics, grammar, handwriting, reading, narration)- 30 minutes daily (a bit less on Fridays)
Math- 30 minutes daily
WinterPromise Animals and Their Worlds (includes science, literature, arts/crafts, notebooking)- 1.5 hours daily (a bit less on Fridays)
Music- 30 minutes every Friday
I Can Do All Things Art- 30 minutes a couple times a month
Weekly Enrichment Class- 4 hours one day per week (we skip Animals and Their Worlds that day, it hasn't been every week this year)
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This is interesting. I thought of another question. For those that don't believe in cutting their hair, is it a matter of not cutting it at all (like in trimming) or just keeping it long?
I have this conviction (we're a nondenominational Christian church, not UPC), and for me it is no cutting at all. Same scripture quoted above, I believe. (I'll go read it in a bit to make sure). We believe our hair is given us "for a covering", not to be covered by a covering as the Amish and Mennonites believe. The verse (if it's the same one) goes on to talk about it being a shame for a woman's hair to be shorn or shaven... It's clear as crystal to me, but that's because I grew up believing this way.
We don't have legalistic ideas about how to wear it, just to keep it long.
ETA: the verses that talk about being shorn and shaven are just before the one about hair being given for a covering, not after.
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I'd use WinterPromise. Naturally, I use WinterPromise and I have a yucky library, so *no* library is just a small adjustment.
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Are they interactive where we do our own square and it tells us how to observe it? If so, then we should probably not worry about the Rain Forest and Arctic Tundra books, huh!?
Or, do they simply tell you about those different "squares" by showing illustrations throughout different times of the year?
Here, Rainbow Resource has a stingy ONE page scan per book, but it will give you a flavor of the series.
http://www.rainbowresource.com/search.php?sid=1205091419-172955
At the back of the book are a couple of pages where the child can find various species within the square (like a where's Waldo activity). Ds likes that, and I ask him to read a caption on each page, which helps hold his attention some days.
We are using WinterPromise's Animals and Their Worlds theme study this year for grade 1, and it uses this series as a spine. We read two pages per day, stretching the book out to cover a 5 week span.
I would say the series is more like your second idea "showing illustrations throughout different times of the year", but it does refer to your "square" as if you could actually visit it. The Woods book was more interactive like that. The other volumes often say "if you ever actually visit this square...". The book includes little activities, which are great for keeping my ds interested. We used Crisco for "blubber" sandwiched between two baggies and wrapped around my ds's hand to illustrate the way polar bears and seals are insulated for swimming in icy water.
I like the series, but I like it *more* within the context of WP's program, which includes stories, drawing, crafts, notebooking, etc. I like the Charlotte Mason method of taking these books a "bite" at a time, allowing time for the child to digest it. I believe we've learned much more that way than if we tried to read the book in one sitting or in one week.
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While you're researching, take a look at Bob Jones University Press Math. I will be using that next year after trying out Modern Curriculum Press, Singapore, and Christian Light.
What draws me to BJU:
Colorful workbook
Concept development and mental math
Problem solving instruction
Helpful teacher's manual, with activities to choose from (but not necessarily do every time)
Use of manipulatives
"Mastery" style organization- this means you have a chapter for each concept rather than spiralling through topics, addressing several topics each day.
Anyone use MCP math for all/most of elementary yrs?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
In case anybody is reading this thread who wonders if there's any down side to MCP... I don't want to "rain on any parades" and I don't mean to be a "downer", but MCP has disappointed me quite a bit this year and I'd like to prevent other families from having the same disappointment.
We used MCP for K, and it was really nice. There were hands-on activities in the teacher's manual, visual examples all through.. I was pleased. I came back to MCP for grade 1 after sampling a couple of other programs (one incremental or spiral, which I didn't like, one Singapore, which I wasn't sold on).
What I found is that the first grade level (and subsequent levels, since a good friend switched her older children to MCP following my lead) doesn't continue with much hands-on practice or many activities. The mental math problems are there, but there's not much in the way of instruction offered. I also found the series lacking in real-life story problems and problem solving strategies. There was no real strategy instruction for remembering or learning facts, just practice. I even needed to supplement for fact memorization.
I just found *I* needed more for my math program than MCP offered. I am going to try Bob Jones Math for grade 2 and from what I can tell looking over my materials, I am happy to spend the extra money. It is mastery style like MCP, but with additional hands on and activities and more problem solving and strategies taught.
It doesn't surprise me that the ladies responding in favor of MCP are talented for math or sound like they are well-prepared to offer their own manipulatives activities. This is a program for teachers who can teach creatively without a lot of suggestions from their curriculum, in my experience.