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  1. Look into Derek Owens. Having videos to watch every day plus a notebook that guides the student how to take notes plus they grade homework within 24 hours...its been a hit here. My dd is now 1/4 through Pre Algebra and we plan to use it for both kids next year
  2. I had a friend that used it and loved it- yeah they all admitted the songs were silky but that was part of the fun. My kids absolutely hate it, and all other singing learning methods. They were on with singing bible verses until About age 10...now they don't even want to do that.
  3. Too much expectations of nearly perfect behavior - as a response to the extremely permissive parenting around me, I tried very hard to instill "first time obedience" in my kids without the proper context of understanding their moods, personalities, sensory issues, allergies, foods, needs etc. once I took all of that into consideration and relaxed everything improved. Another regret was expecting too high expectations of their friends. This caused me to completely back off a few friendships for them that now in retrospect would have been fine for them. And realizing there are different levels of friendships. Otherwise, my kids had a childhood just like what you are describing and I have almost no regrets as far as their childhood or education. Lots of free time, pretend play, read-aloud, time outdoors, not full of structures activities to busy their day up, lots of access to art supplies etc. One thing I do regret is trying out CM style language arts. Knowing my husband is dyslexic and seeing early on that both kids were a lot like him, I wish I had stuck with the built in review and consistency of Abeka or BJU. But hindsight is always 20/20. No homeschool mom can get it all perfect! Now they are 12.5 and 14. they love each other, they love me, they love books, they are interesting kids and full of great memories that we all share. it would NOT be the same If I had Shutttled them off to classes and sports all day, all year long. I'm all for kids finding an interest but I really really think free afternoons at least 3 days per week are necessary to discover and live out childhood.
  4. She hated them!!! Waaa!!! She said they seemed overwhelming, and would rather do Apologia General for Science.... I'll Have her look again later though...she's not a morning person
  5. I thought it was really thorough and easy to use. My son didn't mind it and actually even though it was a lot more daily work he preferred it over calvert's grammar and Easy Grammar, because he really KNEW The material and wasn't made to guess or constantly lose track. It is so thorough and it consistently reviews. They do expect rather small handwriting which wasn't a problem for my son but if your child writes large, you may consider using it down one grade. The Writing lessons are spelled out more in the TM, and there's not really enough room IN the book and not enough lessons IN the book to teach all the Writing Assignments. You can either buy the TM and follow that or just stop and teach whatever genre they are covering yourself for a few days, alongside the pages in the book. For Grammar, Abeka cannot be beat. For writing for Middle grades up to 6th grade, BJU is a thousand times better. Every single step gets an entire page devoted to it with plenty of room on the page, examples, checklists and so much more. Your student can almost completely teach themselves writing with BJU's WorkTexts. If you can afford it...I would even say use the Abeka for Grammar and the BJU for Writing! The cost of the two work-texts would be less than one worktext and one TM from each!
  6. My dd is not fully decided on this, so I need to make sure she has college prep coursework. (even if she thought she was fully decided, my goal is to get my kids ready for college) Also, in my state two years of Foreign Languages is required to graduate anyway. :o)
  7. I was JUST about to ask what grade you're looking at it for! I will say, that we haven't absolutely loved Progeny Press guides either. So much of it seemed like BusyWork. **However** the books were very inspiring, so I just used the guides, and circled the questions in the Progeny Guides that I thought were really worth doing! Many of the questions were truly thought-provoking and the ones that lended (leant?) themselves to discussion, I would put a star and say "Discuss with Mom," and my kids were always thrilled to do that because they love to discuss and it meant they didn't have to write out their answers. If you need something secular, then there are other guides very similar to Progeny, and you could start a new thread for that. (Since you won't get many more views on this one.) But since you really are asking about the Calvert guides, they are very thin, and they are not worksheets, but almost pure comprehension questions, the kind you see in a 5.00 workbook from Walmart...where it seems the only goal was to make sure the kid read the book. I recall a few "activities" being advertised and finding none that were interesting or thought provoking. And again, the books themselves were rather dry and uninspiring so that was a big factor as well. You could call Rainbow and see if they will scan you some more sample pages. They are great that way.
  8. That's it!!! The Task Cards are perfect!! She's loves slightly open ended projects that aren't too long-term (a day or two) I'm so excited... Now to decide whether to add the recitation and Enrichment series...
  9. THanks for your answer!! My dd's absolute favorite time (and mine) was the 3 years we did FIAR. We absolutely Loved FIAR. We loved that it was gentle, included mostly everything, had us starting our day on the couch together, and had a lot of variety. My dd was not excited about Where the Brook and River Meet because she felt an entire year of Anne and her world was too much. We are big Anne fans, but she is not as big of a fan as I am. We've looked at SL but felt it was too full of drama, almost to the point of being maudlin. We looked at Living Books Curriculum but felt it was too heavy on history and too heavy altogether. We've looked at MFW and felt it was way to "young" and too heavy on history also. ...Moving Beyond the Page just seemed very expensive and scattered. I will check out the fun books you recommended!
  10. Some kind of inspiration, maybe ideas, maybe out of the box thinking,.... I REALLY don't want to do a stack of textbooks next year. My dd still loves to be read aloud to, and she still loves being with me, and she's social, and an extrovert. I definitely want the next two years to be something special before high school hits...I can't necessarily spend the entire day with her, but being involved and making learning special again would be great.
  11. The guide is very lame. There are a few activities, but not very inspiring. It's basically a reading comprehension guide with maybe ONE idea for an "activity." I can't see the ages of your dc, but for the younger crowd, you're better off with FIAR, for the older crowd you are better of with Progeny Press guides. Also, sadly, my dc thought the books were much more lame compared to what we normally read (FIAR, SL, HOD etc. etc.) or just choosing for themselves from the library.
  12. Hi, My own dd would be very upset if she finally WAS focusing and then suddenly something started to buzz at her!! That would seriously bother her. YMMV but I think the Time Timer works. It's huge- about 10 inches by 10 inches, and it sits right in front of them with the pie getting smaller and smaller, which happens slowly enough that there is no motivation to stare at it....but it works so that when they do want to check their pie, it's physically smaller.
  13. Ps after a year and a half with the Time Timer my dd transitioned to setting a regular kitchen timer for just a break after completing one page. That year and a half really taught her slightly longer term focus and goal setting and allowed her to learn to concentrate for the prize - now she used Derek Owens and manages not only her entire lesson but a syllabus with homework etc. the worst I can say is every page has a drawing on it! So, there is hope but some kids need more help to learn focusing strategies! Also, be sure that she gets some free time in the morning before math, and the room is as quiet as possible.
  14. One thing we used with my daughter at that age is the Time Timer. You set a goal and then you earn a break when it's done and usually we splurge math lesson in two. As a bonus she got extra time in her break equal to the time left before the timer went off. It's crucial to buy the real Time Timer. Seeing the little red pie grow smaller and smaller is HUGE for kids with attention issues!!! It's worth the 18 bucks. So for example my dd had to finish half of her horizons lesson in 20 minutes. If she finished in 20 minutes she got a ten minute break- and if she finished in 18 minutes she got ten minutes plus 2 minutes. (Of course the work has to be neat and all) The other crucial aspect is that they can do whatever they want in that break- go outside, trampoline, anything except the usual things that exacerbate ADD (screen time, artificial colors or foods etc)
  15. (And yes she has dug her heels in on this- she does NOT want to take Spanish...but she's also not a very mature kid even for her age and often doesn't think practically at all)
  16. Our families all speak Portuguese, German and Spanish. I took 5 years of Spanish and used to be able to understand Portuguese but 20 years away from my family has diminished that. I also heard enough German growing up that I feel it is easy to step in and help out and the pronunciation is not difficult. My dd has a year of Spanish with Rosetta Stone and did very well. She is dyslexic and also is absolutely terrible at pronouncing new languages. She now wants to take French. Her only reason is she may possibly pursue a culinary career, Would you listen to a 12 year old and assume that giving them freedom to choose their electives will really bolster their interest and Help in the long run even though it will be a real struggle? Or would you just say, "you're taking Spanish and that is that." Knowing that it'll be so much easier to help out with and also to practice on extended family?
  17. Back when we lived in FL we were NOT in a good school district, or area full of amazing educated people that we have surrounding us now. So the decision was much easier. But even if we lived here when my kids were in elementary school I would still homeschool them, if i had to do it over again. They had an amazing, fun healthy early childhood FULL of pretend, play, and time outdoors. They have amazing sweet memories that I think most kids nowadays do not posess. The other kids didn't even get HOME till 4:00 pm, and then had homework. Playing outside at dusk means mosquito feeding, so the school kids generally stayed inside after dusk.
  18. 1. Time together 2. More conversation about things 3. Avoiding the liberal agenda 4. Safety for peanut allergy for one of my kiddos 5. Sharing faith (goes with 1 and 2) 6. More stability in case, as renters we need to move. When you are tied to the school either you are stuck finding a rental in the same area or your kids have to make new friends :( 7. More time to pursue their own interests - like hours and hours more ! Every day! 8. Individual learning tailored for them. I thought this would fade as we got closer to high school and the "typical required courses" but even next year one of my sons subjects is specially tailored having received approval to take an AP course out of order. 9. Time with siblings 10. Since we al get so much time together it doesn't bother me too much that nowadays so many teen activities are in the evening 11. Health- the typical kids here get 5 hours of sleep and we literally have one of the highest suicide rates in the country which they are saying is linked very closely to sleep deprivation. My son takes all the same courses but somehow gets 9-10 Horus of sleep every night 12. Health- when my kids are sick they do the unthinkable --- they REST! (And lest we think that's not the real world my dh works for the second largest company in the world and their policy is that sick people should stay home and rest.)
  19. SOrt of. I used DuoLingo to brush up on my Portuguese and my dd just started with Mango this week; she's trying out French. Neither one, to me, seems to be very good for an absolute beginner. Both move too quickly. Neither break down pronunciation enough. However, of the two I thought DuoLingo was better. My dd has only done a few lessons in French with Mango, but it starts with every day greetings and it moves WAY too quickly. The mic feature worked really well with Mango and my dd really enjoyed hearing her pronunciation recorded and then played back, a feature that DuoLingo doesn't have. Another feature I like better with Duolingo is that you can see your progress, and if you want, you can take slightly different paths. DuoLingo also forces you to review continuously. One thing that is better about Mango is that it doesn't include random, hard to translate phrases that are out of sequence. DuoLingo does that because it uses its users translations to actually translate stuff on the web...so once in a while you will get a phrase harder than you are ready for and for a kid that could perhaps be confusing. Mango was free through our library, so if your library has it, you could try both for free. IN the end however, I think Rosetta Stone, with all its faults, is better than both.
  20. We have two Chromebooks....and several ipads. IMO the Chromebook is indispensable for learning to type, using Google Docs, making spreadsheets and typing anything, and internet browsing for Netflix and Amazon Prime is fine on it too. The screen resolution is way better for videos on the ipad, of course. For what you need it for, the Chromebook will be perfect.
  21. We haven't done it but I was offered the position this week, for the fourth time, to tutor Challenge A. I have no Bachelor's. I have never studied Latin. I have never taught upper grade Science (my ds takes online classes for those)...I am intelligent and hard working...but...I was told I could learn all I needed from a 3 day seminar. I know the materials are chosen well, and the tutor is only a guide... but it always makes me wonder what kind of quality teaching you're really getting from the tutors in general. I think with some, you'll hit the jackpot. With others....probably not. Have you gone to observe? That's the most important thing you can do. If you can observe this year's class at least twice it;ll help you make decisions for next year.
  22. Hi, I was going to say something like Lori D but she has already said it better than I would have. I would personally just do the co-op and not CC but that's me. :)
  23. I used it for both my kids in Second grade and it worked and was Awesome
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