blondeviolin
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Posts posted by blondeviolin
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He is a good singer. And the choreography was fun. But I felt like the story was lacking. We saw it once and it was okay.
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We don't do timelines till 4-5 grades and up. In all honesty, my kids remember where the big things fall in relation to other pieces of the story. Nobody here is confusing the Black Death and Ancient Greece because they are in two different sections/time periods. Some of our projects are memorable and they hang the reference from those too.
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I'd do WWE and FLL from PDF. You don't even. We'd to print it, just have your child copy what you write when it comes to copywork. Lots of kindle reading.
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My kids use Spelling You See like this. And it has the added benefit of sort of improving their spelling.
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There was once a book called Large Family Logistics. I checked it out from the library years ago. But, in reality, a lot of our methods have evolved as we've added stuff in. Granted, I only have a moderately large family (six), but they are all close in age so maybe I have a few things that help? Or I can commiserate since it feels sort of like we're just stabbing at something resembling homeschooling and life. LOL
cleaning -
- I unload the dishwasher before breakfast and before dinner. (This makes it so we can fill it up as the day goes for breakfast and lunch and then again at dinner time.) I also make sure to rotate a load of laundry before breakfast, before lunch, and after dinner. I NEVER pull a load of laundry out of my dryer until the previous load is folded.
- I really try to have all of my chore list checked off. I don't create my own because that would take too long and I'd likely miss things. I use Motivated Moms, which is like $9 a year.
- Each morning, we do a quick morning meeting (where I read to my kids and randomly have them repeat and attempt to memorize junk I feel could be important), then I require them to complete chores: clear any breakfast items, vitamins, make their bed, brush teeth and hair, get dressed, put away their laundry and place dirty clothes in the hamper. We have this hokey-ish app that my kids use so I don't have to nag them about XYZ chore that they forgot. It's called Happy Kids Timer. It's free, but with an in-app purchase, I can add my own chores.
- In the evening, I require 15 minutes of crazy running around and cleaning the dirtiest room they can find.
- After dinner, the kids each have an assigned after-meal chore that they must complete if they eat with us. They are: sweep, clear and wipe the table, put away food, clear and wipe counters, set the table, load dishwasher
- These are the only chores that are required.
- However, if they want to watch TV, they must pick up their room.
- If they want to play a device, I assign the messiest room to clean and that is worth 30 minutes of screen time.
My house stays relatively picked up. It's not immaculate, but I'm okay with that.
meals - Why do kids have to eat so frequently?!
- Breakfast is a make-your-own affair here. I have on hand bread, eggs, oatmeal, English muffins, sausage patties, cereal, and often granola bars.
- For lunch this year, I purchased Bento-style containers (like these) and make my kids' lunch. They are fully capable of making their own, but this solution has been good. Firstly, they would make more mess making their lunch. Secondly, it's good portion control. Thirdly, it eliminates some kids who take FOREVER to decide what they're eating. I also have no qualms about them eating alone and me reading for pleasure while they eat. (I used to, but then I decided if they went to school we wouldn't be eating together anyway.)
- Dinner is a big meal that I typically make and we eat together. I have been thinking about having a night where each kid helps me cook. I haven't thought through what that would look like yet.
Schoolwork - This is where the bulk of my day is.
- I'm working really hard to get my 6th grader to be more independent. She's actually resisting it, but that's her personality.
- We all do it at the table so I can keep an eye on who is doing what. They are not allowed to sneak off upstairs or anywhere that I can't see unless they've checked with me. Otherwise they get distracted.
- I plan out the day down to five minutes so I make sure I can work with each kid with their teacher-directed subjects and the other kids are working on a bit more independent stuff. I place it prominently near the table so my kids can refer to the schedule. They try to beat the allotted time per subject so they can have extra breaks and play card games together.
- There is no playing with friends, watching TV, doing whatever, unless schoolwork is completed.
- My 4yo and 2yo are pretty good about self-entertaining. That does mean mess...
- I have a reminder set on my amazon echo to do "schoolwork" with my 2 and 4yo. Their activities take fifteen minutes, but I forget so easily while I'm surrounded by the rest of my craziness.
- We plan our afternoon snack around history or science. These are big family subject that everyone gathers together for at the end of our schoolday. This means we start our schoolday together (morning meeting) and end it together (history or science).
Time to myself and planning
- I get up and go for a few mile walk at 6 in the morning. I get the time to listen to an audiobook, plan the day in my head, and be kid-less. I sometimes use this time to listen to my kids' school books that I'm requiring them to read. I often use it to listen to audiobooks for fun (Mrs. Pollifax is my jam).
- I bullet journal in the morning while my kids are getting schoolwork started. It takes me fifteen minutes or so and I'm still around if someone needs me.
- We put the kids in bed at 8/8:30. They are not required to go to sleep, but they must be in bed. This is my time to have snacks, drink diet Coke, and watch TV or read.
I've enjoyed everyone else's solutions and ideas. I bet, dryersheet, if you thought about, you do have some systems in place. What sort of advice would you give others? And what systems do you have that are failing you? How could you adjust them? Personally, I feel like having a few kids in school and a few at home could mean you feel like you're teaching someone all day long. That would be exhausting.
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You could do without by finding four letter words that use blends rather than r-controlled vowels or digraphs.
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My oldest is also going into seventh. Oh, my poor guinea pig...I have no clue what I'm doing. LOL
Math: Saxon 87
LA: WWS 2, GftWTM (hope they have book 2 out!), mom-made lit list OR LLfLOTR
Science: Rainbow Science? ACS Middle School Chemistry? I have no clue yet.
History: Early Modern History with K12 Human Odyssey, KHE, and whatever else I pull in
Logic: The Art of Argument?
Latin: Finish Latin Prep 2 and move into 3
Music: Piano lessons
PE: Not sure anything. She hates stuff like that.
Enrichment via non-academic Co-op
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This will be fourth kid to do 2nd grade with.
LA: Spelling You See C, mom-made lit list, WWE 2, FLL 2
Math: BA 3, I think. He will likely finish MM2 this year.
Latin: MAYBE GSWL with his sister. MAYBE Minimus. I'm in no rush here.
Science: Mystery Science? We might finish all of the adventures...and then I'm not sure...besides tag along with the bigger kids.
History: SOTW 3
Music: Piano
PE: Swimming
Enrichment via co-op
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I never understand the Saxon-is-death mentality. I am very mathy and I love the foundation it lays for my mathy and non-mathy children alike. I do feel free to teach the lessons the way I want, but a lot of the instruction is spot on. And, in all honesty, a good math teacher can take nearly any curriculum and make it conceptual.
FWIW, I also really like Beast Academy, but my older two did not retain a ton after a year of BA 3.
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I really like Latin Prep. There is also Latin Alive, the Form series, Lingua Latin, Henle, Wheelocks, Linney's Latin, Visual Latin, Cambridge Latin
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FWIW, it's all well and good that her son can do that. Awesome. But it doesn't mean you can't without the community. My first grader can spout off states and capitals, skip count by numbers up to 15, queens and kings of England, presidents of the US, a smattering of poetry, parts of speech... all without CC. Look for your resources outside of it. YouTube is an amazing one.
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The Eyeore I know can never be convinced to see the bright side. Everything she experiences is worse. Nobody has ever felt such woes. Your commiserating isn't welcome because XYZ. It's tiresome.
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My oldest was awake and heard my husband and I watching the last episode. I made sure to tell her in no uncertain terms would we be risking our lives to go back in for her pet fish. She told me that was heartless. Sorry? 🤷ðŸ¼â€â™€ï¸
I also felt like the episode was anticlimactic.
Re: Jack - I agree he's just doing the best with what he has. Rebecca, OTOH, I understand she was doing her best...but it feels/felt like she was concerned sometimes because of what others thought or felt about her family whereas Jack seemed to doing whatever he did out of love.
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Personally, I'd drop all of the review questions that you feel like he has down. Whittle his problem set down to just ten or so. I love Saxon and how it actually EXPLAINS the why of the procedure. But I don't require my kids to practice what they have mastered. And I know what they need work on because I'm correcting their stuff, KWIM?
So, if you really want to keep Saxon, compact it and let him move on.
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Could he work at a BSA camp for the summer?
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I'd like to teach my kids mindfulness to help with focus, anxiety, stress, etc. We are a praying family so we've talked about the benefit of prayers and songs, but I would love for mindfulness to be something in their toolbox.
I've not used much mindfulness myself except in labor. Are there any cool apps or exercises that will help? I'm especially interested in anything that appeals to my older kids (especially my 10yo active son) who might think it's "hokey."
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The one I have that does/did this was diagnosed CVS which has grown into migraines.
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Having a pile of kids, I understand your plight. I'm very much looking forward to the point when I can combine my kids in grammar because of the way this is outlined. My 4th grader is finishing up FLL 4, but I think he'll take 5th grade off because this program is a lot of work. Good stuff, but a lot of work.
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We've been using it this year during our morning meeting. I've got older kids and an advanced first grader so it only takes us 10-20 minutes depending on what we're working through. We don't do the comprehension questions since it's a supplement and my kids get it elsewhere. We do discuss the book and then do the enrichment stuff. They like that.
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Give your son Miquon and see if he can figure it out. Betcha he can.
I'd keep MM but cross out a LOT of problems and supplement with Miquon.
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A few thoughts on...
1. Eleven Year Old Girls: Three girls here (11, 11, 13), and perhaps some of the emotion is linked to the age? Seriously, there is something about being 11 (or so) and female that seems to create a wobbly-ness, even in areas that have previously been non-emotional. We get this here, too. My oldest has mostly worked through it, my twins are still in the thick of things. I think we'll work through the assignments, regardless, because somehow doing the work has contributed to their maturity.
2. Writing with Skill: We half-pace it, and sometimes even then... well, we just break down assignments into reasonable chunks, do that, and then call it a day. On the other hand, there are times when I sense some dawdling, and then I simply say, "Keep working on it, Honey." ;) Oldest daughter still needs to work on increasing her speed on sections of assignments -- The Perfectionist. Could this be at play with your oldest, also? They do tend to be perfectionists, right? I tell her, "Just SLAM IT OUT this time, it doesn't need to be perfect. It's just NOTES!" Plodding through while increasing speed/output is a work in progress. I do think she'll become more proficient over time, and that, in itself, will help with the boredom. FWIW, we don't change the assignments or topics, but we do change the "Week/Day" part of it. That is to say, we go at the pace that works for each student, and I guess it's just up to me as the mom/teacher to decide when to push or when to call it enough. But, hey, we did get all the way through WWS 1 and well into WWS 2 (with oldest), so plodding through does work.
3. Reviewing Topoi: What we ended up doing was to type out (in a word processor) all the reference charts (time/sequence, space/distance, point of view, topoi, copia, etc.) in the appendices, and then put them in a folder and REVIEW. So my students have to pull out the relevant chart(s) and really review them before starting the assignment. It helps that we printed all the charts on different colors of paper, so the students know exactly which charts to pull. They've gotten used to starting with the charts, reviewing those, and then starting the assignment.
4. Scaffolding Assignments: This just basically means teaching the student to pull out for herself the assignment instructions the SWB has put into the text. We sometimes will read together the actual assignments, and highlight the main instructions. Then we re-write the assignments into a concise, bullet-point list, so the student can see at a glance the basic expectations. This is not a criticism of the course, but SWB's instructions can tend to get a bit wordy and overwhelming. I think the student benefits from help in learning to pull out the 1-2-3 "to do" list from the bulky instructions. Also, I might say, "Work up to the end of Step Two, then see me," even if the text doesn't tell her that. It's easy enough to check in, and then move the student along. Or, if she's exhausted from Steps One and Two, I'll call it enough for that day. Give yourself checkpoints, so you can assess where she's at before there's a meltdown.
5. Sustaining Composition Hugs: There is no other subject in our household that requires hugs more than composition. I don't believe this is a fault of WWS, but is rather the nature of the beast. Writing demands more independence from our students; it is really a product of what they can do on their own. It requires clear thinking, organizing ideas, finding a voice, using new tools, juggling multiple details, and it's just so challenging, even for "good writers." I consider all three of my girls "good writers," and yet they are stretched by WWS in ways that other subjects don't stretch them. Hugs help them to regain that sense of "all is well." At our house, hugs help.
HTH. Hang in there! :)
This is so helpful! I do think some of the near-tears is age/life.
I am working on scaffolding the assignments more. She can do some of them independently, but NOT the composition says. I also adjusted her schedule to give her a full hour of writing.
So you printed out all of the sheets they are supposed to copy/create rather than having th copy them down? I wonder... also, my OCD gets a twinge when she copies the charts. 😜
FWIW, she had absolutely NO PROBLEM constructing the science sequence about stars this week. At all. Six paragraphs, include descriptions, etc. Done. I could've never guessed it would have been that way.
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My kids listen to the books over and over, listen at bedtime, follow along with some of their harder literature, or even toggle back and forth between reading and listening. Totally worth it here.
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I have a 12 yo doing WWS 1 who strongly prefers writing fiction. One thing that has helped is to take a break from the more tedious lessons and do the parts on literary analysis and poetry. We have not found that doing them out of order is difficult or problematic at all.
Also, I do make sure she has free time to write stories and poems. She has entered some contests and that had been fun. Does your dc like Cricket magazine? Has she attempted NaNoWriMo?
I haven't looked at Cricket. And I've not don NaNoWriMo with her because she never finishes any story she starts. And I'd have to hold her hand through it all...
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I have chronic health issues. Tricare is pretty good at covering a lot. Unfortunately, military doctors aren't always up on research and the bureaucracy and red tape is unreal. I'm currently on prime and it pays for everything, but you have to learn to play the game. If I didn't have good specialists at my current clinic, I'd drop to tricare select (used to be standard) in a hot second. If I could enumerate the amount of stuff that has been messed up with mine or my kids' care in the last four years, the size of the tome would be that of Moby Dick, including unnecessary hospital stays due to negligent care. Getting a good doctor is key. If he joins and they marry, she can also ask around (most bases will have wives and facebook groups) for the best docs and care and help with dealing with the mess of tricare if she chooses to stay standard.
In short, it's good insurance. It just takes tweaking or being willing to pay minor copays.
The EFMP will exclude bases that wouldn't have specialists for her. And they CAN send her elsewhere. My pulmonologist is talking about me having a procedure that isn't offered where I am (bronchial thermoplasty). They would send me to a hospital and subsequent hotel in the lower 48 for months at a time for me to have it done. (I'm just not sure I want to do it.)
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S/o movie ticket prices
in The Chat Board
Posted
$12
We bought the movie pass from Costco and was definitely worth it!