Peela
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Posts posted by Peela
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My 2 cents. I have looked at programs like TOG and I must admit, they do a lot more than we cover. They're very comprehensive. We love history and it is central to what we do, but I have found any one else's structure is more work than the simple reading and writing and discussion we do and enjoy.
So, even though packages may seem to simplify things, I think they also have the potential to be so thorough and comprehensive that if you use text books and packages for every subject, you would end up with a LOT of work to get through.
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As for the danger....we seriously considered that before we went to Bali. I guess you know about the bombings there. The Australian govt has a level 5 alert about going to Indonesia, including Bali. So, it wasnt something we just did lightly.
But, we are so glad we did it. It is a cheap holiday from where we live, for an o'seas trip. The Balinese people are wonderful, and they were so badly hurt by the bombings- economically, which for them means survival.
I feel its important people keep doing what they do, travel, everything, otherwise the terrorists win, fear wins. Of course, every situation needs weighing, but I don't want to be too afraid to travel, when the risks are actually pretty low.
Travel expands you, it takes you beyond your world and somehow stretches you, and I think that can only make you better. We are very lucky that we can. Most of the world- by far most- cannot ever leave their own country.
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Peela,
You could easily arrange for a WTM tour of the US through this board. I'm confident that there are many of us who would be thrilled to host you and your children.
Now wouldn't that be fun??
Jane
Oh, that would be fun!
I must admit I love Asia best because of its cultural contrast, but the nature in the U.S. is awesome, just like in Australia (except different, of course). I have seen the Grand Canyon...amazing.
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:drool:I like nachos, or a good curry. I guess its the spiciness (warms me) and the fat.
Other comfort foods we eat:
Cauliflower cheese
Peanut butter pumpkin soup
Taco soup
Balinese black Rice pudding
Indian kheer (rice pudding)
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Yoohoo, secular here too. There are many of us, and here I have always felt I could pretty much just be myself without having to be too concerned with holding back. Of course there are threads I avoid.
IN fact I find it more comfortable here than with some of the homeschool groups I mix with IRL. Many times I have been simply presumed to be Christian, wheras here I think there is a large enough mix of people, that people are generally pretty unpresumptive (if thats a word!).
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I would like to write a secular, down-to-earth Health curriculum, for all the way through school (K-12), with an "alternative" health slant.
Also, a classical type program/schedule for Australian homeschoolers.
And, historical fiction.
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I tend to buy. I look ahead, sometimes way ahead, and write a list, and keep a lookout 2nd hand- swap meet, ebay, out and about at op shops.
Worse than the library for me is reading off the computer. I just find reading it, or worse again, printing it, such a pain, but I am pretty good with 2nd hand stuff so things usually turn up cheap sooner or later.
if its a book a child is going to read in one hit, I don't mind the library. But if its something we will stretch out over a term, I will buy.
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We just read the Richest Man in Babylon and I am glad we did. Simple message, good for my early teens to hear now....and they did hear it.
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I spent far more in the past than I do now. I was a curriculum junkie. I was insecure. I was giving too much power up to curriculum, and not spending enough time just doing the work. I was stressing, and curriculum shopping seemed to be an answer to the difficulties inherent in being almost solely responsible for my kids' education.
The benefit was however that I am now familiar with a lot of curriculum and know what most of y'all are talking about most of the time!
I guess I know myself better, and I know what will work better for my kids, due to time and experience. I seem to be veering away from workbooks and textbooks more and more, and heading toward more CM reading and using the library a lot as a resource. If I ran out of money, I could homeschool with the internet, the library and a maths text. And I could make do with a maths text from the internet if I had to, too.
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I saw this a week or so ago, and it brought tears to my eyes. We underestimate the intelligence of animals (and overestimate our own) way too much.
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One of my dreams for my children was to take them overseas, because I was taken overseas 3 times as a kid.
First time, age 7, to the U.K, Iceland and the U.S. (I have an aunt, uncle and cousins in Philadelphia!).
2nd time,age 11, to New Zealand.
3rd time, my grandmother took me after my parent's separation, when I was 13, to Canada (Vancouver) and the west coast of the U.S.- including Disneyland. it wasnt such a happy time in my life though.
Since then, I have been to India three times, and Bali twice, as well as all over Australia.
A month ago, I got to live my dream for my kids, dh and I took them to Bali for a week. Dh is like the OP...happier at home, though he has done far more travelling than I have, before we were together. He did this trip for us, because he knew ho much it would mean for us all.
We had an absolutely wonderful time in Bali, and it will be a memorable holiday for the kids.
I love to travel, and I love to come home again, too. I am a homebody, but I doubt I have finished travelling at all. I feel very lucky.
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I avoid a lot of fluff by ordering all my library books online. I rarely browse in the library. I spend a lot of time online, and I pick up book recommendations, and I see if my library system has the book or can get it through ILL. Then I duck into the library on my way home from shopping, and park in the 15 minutes parking zone, and return books and pick up a new bunch. The librarians only see me coming now and scuttle to the reserved book shelf for my latest orders.
This system has the disadvantage that my children do not often browse the library. However, it has the advantage that I bring home to the poor,book starved waifs wonderful literature that has been through the mummy filter. Even at their ages. They haven't complained yet....of course, if they have requests, because of friends' recommendations or whatever, I usually comply.
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I don't think I want a job or career as such...I could go to uni and do literature and classics, just for fun, since homeschooling has whet my appetite for such things.
And I have a yearning to be a writer but I am too lazy, I think.
I just like being a kept woman, doin' what I'm doin'.
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This thread has been absolutely fascinating and highly educational for me, as well as helping me clarify some things.
I used CW for Aesop, and to the end of Homer workbook A. I burned out on it, although the kids were doing some good writing. However, one of my bugbears with the program (and I respect CW highly despite it) is that there wasn't enough time in our days to do it justice, and there certainly wasn't enough time in our days to also give the kids free scope for creative writing assignments, which one child in particular loves, and which gives her the joy of putting her whole energy into writing.
So this thread has helped me clarify that I didn't find CW efficient enough, for my needs, even though I already cut out a lot from the workbooks. I personally do find it contrived, however I find all writing programs like that and I have yet to find one that my kids enjoy, because of that (they inherited my free spirit, but probably my negative qualities too!). Although they liked CW best. I am now making up my own assignments for them and bungling along, wondering what to do next, and meanwhile they are producing some good creative writing in spite of my inadequacies. My goals are lower than many here! I would rather we do what we reasonably can, well, than reach too high and want to speak 4 languages and read Latin texts etc.....I am going for less than that, way less, and its still going to be better than what I received, and I went to a good school.
I am coming to the conclusion myself that I will not actually be satisfied with any particular writing curriculum, and although I am no expert writer or teacher, I will probably use ideas from the many I have to just make up my own as I go- or use parts of various programs. But it will be relevant to my kids , our subjects etc, rather than a one size fits all program with exercises than become terribly tedious after a while.
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I picked up Lives of the Noble Romans and Lives of the Noble Greeks from ebay pretty cheaply many months ago, not realising the edition makes such a difference with Plutarch. It is a selection edited by Edmund Fuller, translated by John Dryden, revised by Clough, published by Doubleday books.
After perusing other versions online, and digging into a page or so, I think its actually going to be ok, but I won't know until we have done a few weeks, which we are starting in a fortnight.
I would much prefer to have a book than read off the computer or print from the computer, so I will try and make this work.
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We use Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization by Andrew Pudewa.
This book makes the difference between poetry memorisation happening, and not happening, around here. I didnt buy the CD and I am glad, because my kids prefer my voice on most things anyway (SOTW CDs flunked here, they prefer me to read aloud). Also, when I listened to the sample, it sounded too slow to me....probably well enunciated and all, and slow for a reason, but it irritated me. Also, we didnt need the American accent.
With just the book, this is a pick up and go way to do poetry memorisation. We work on one poem, revise a few, and often read ahead a couple too, so that by the time we get to memorising them they are already familiar.
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My daughter is doing Cambridge year 3 online.I think you need to use the British versions but I have never heard that they are radically different for the U.S. ones.
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I like to joke we have backyard battery hens. But we did do an extension on their cage. And it is outside. Its not so bad anymore, they have quite a run. But for a long time we had a tiny rabbit hutch for them.
We let them out every couple of weeks for the day. They don't do too much destruction in a day.
We call chickens 'chooks' here in Australia. We have Kentucky Fried Chook, backyard chooks, BBQ chook.
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I know when I was a teen I went through a lot of anger at my dad over the divorce and his following choices, but my mom insisted that I keep a relationship with him, so I did. Now, 30 years later, I'm glad she made me maintain our relationship. He's still a little difficult to deal with at times, but he loves me and I love him. I only talk to him every 4-5 months, and we email every 2-3 months, and that's just right for us. YMMV, of course.
This was my situation too. I was embittered at my father in my teens after my parents divorce, but in retrospect he wasnt that bad- he tried to do his duty, but his attention was elsewhere (another woman of course). I stayed in contact though, as hard as it was. I ended up with a better relationship with him than with my mum for a few years, but that's another story.
However, my dad didn't only call me for my birthday once a year! We had regular contact. I would say you ex is not a very involved father and I don't know if I would necessarily want to bother because the occasional phonecall is more or just a reminder of the relationship they don't have with him, which might be painful, rather than actually building a relationship. Unless he has tried or is trying to build a relationship.
I don't know how deep it runs with your kids or whether its worth it...its very personal, but I don't think you should feel guilty about whatever choice you make, and maybe you just need to stay open to changing your mind, too. You obviously care and are trying to be selfless about it...you can only be human.
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I 3rd Weight Watchers...the support is considerable, for some reason it just works for me.
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I read the Teenage Liberation Handbook over our summer holidays here and it changed my thinking a lot. However, although I have let go somewhat, there are so many things I want to share with my children yet. I think if my kids wanted to take the reins and direct their own learning, I would allow them much more than i do...but, they don't want to, yet. I am thinking in a couple of years my oldest may well take over her own education, particularly if she gets a sense of direction by then. I am not sure if my younger will ever want to write anything, ever ;)
However, I have cut back our hours so that they have more time for their own interests. And I have stopped going for the most absolutely rigorous programs, and am settled on good enough, so that we can get through our day with more ease.
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You could plant them, sure,
Or, you could put one in a jar with some water in the bottom and have a forest in your kitchen in no time! Sweet potatoes grow luxuriantly, a very pretty vine that can grow inches in a day...we would get up in the morning and measure how far it had grown overnight! You just have to have somewhere for it to grow.
Ours must have run out of nutrient because after a few weeks of incredible growth, and being the most beautiful green colour, it just started dying for no apparent reason. and that was the end of that.
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I don't think its a valid question really because everyone's personal circumstances are different. For me, I teach my kids French because I am Australian.....which is no where near France, but being of British background, it is part of our culture. However, I actually teach it because I learned it for 4 years at school so it just seems practical to teach the language I have the most background in.
Probably Chinese, Indonesian or Japanese would be very practical considering our proximity to those countries. And if I lived in the U.S. I would probably choose Spanish.
If I had to start form scratch I might choose Sanskrit or Hindi, because I love India and have been there several times. So just for the love of it, I could have chosen that.
But I chose French because its easiest for me to teach. Doesn't mean its right for anyone else.
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My sanity and peace depend on having some days at home. I probably literally only stay home on Thursdays, but on Tuesdays and Sundays, we dont have any homeschool or booked social activities. Wednesday is mostly home, but we have piano lesson and gym in the afternoon. I still get a nap though :)
Saturday I work, plus have band practice.
Monday and Friday we are out most of the days with homeschool classes.
I love Tuesdays and Thursdays and Sundays where we mostly can just be home.
i don't like being "busy",and I will cut back activities if I cant get enough time for just hanging out doing not much (i.e. time for computer, reading, housework, walks, painting, stuff that only gets done when theres time!).
Well, it finally happened...
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I understand completely where you are at, and I have been there for several months myself. I left the boards to stop getting stimulated and exposed to the next best thing, and settle and establish myself in my own natural groove. I really relaxed and am happy with where the kids are, and where I am at. I suddenly had the urge to stop buying curriculum for my challenging son, and go get him tested- lo and behold he has at least dyslexia- and I realised I had been pushing the poor kid literally beyond his capacity, and blaming both myself and him for his areas of weakness. And it just wasn't necessary.
Anyway, I had a taste of the memory of being a curriculum junkie again yesterday when I read the thread about progym versus modern writing programs, and I suddenly felt a hankering for using CW again, which I had dropped months ago due to burnout....and I have to calmly reassure myself that we are better off doing well what we can do well, and not trying to bite off more than we can chew easily, and digest well.
So enjoy the peace.