Peela
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Posts posted by Peela
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Low carb is just the fad of the decade. It will pass.
There are many ways to eat healthily. just look at traditional cultures...they all have a balanced diet, in their natural state, and none of those diets are the same. Some are vegetarian, some are virtually exclusively meat. Some are high fat, some are high carb. It is the diet and book industries, and weight loss industries, that get on a certain bandwagon. Its not true. None of it is true. Its all subjective. Many things work. Many things don't work. A diet that is a radical deviance from your normal diet, is bound to fail, because it is impossible to maintain. For Japanese people, their diet is part of their culture, its not something they try to maintain. If you were to suddenly start eating like the Japanese, it would probably fail because you wouldn't be able to maintain it in a western culture.
just my thoughts.
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I have a pin board on the wall in front of my desk, where I pin the paper bills. I pay all bills online. I keep track of our finances online.
When a bill is paid, I write paid across it and the date, and put it in a file.
Every now and then, I go through and work out all the outgoings and in comings and see if the incomings are a bit more than the outgoings (like last night. Barely, but yes).
It's pretty loose, but it works. Dh and I have regular discussions keeping each other up to date on all things financial (investment properties, talks with real estate agents, upcoming expenses etc) when we have spas in the morning and evening :001_smile: He makes the money, I pay the bills....we need to stay in touch, and we do, even though we have our own spending money.
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I am all for what keeps morale and engagement high. And also, easier books can make a good break from harder books.
What part of the history cycle are you in? My dd is year 9 (but would be year 8 in the U.S.) and we happen to also be in Ancients. So I am adding some of the WTM suggestions....some Classics...the Odyssey, some Plato, some Asian classics....to push her a bit, as well as some of the fun historical literature. Your books seems a mixture of different history eras...maybe that suits you, but I tend to revolve our literature around our history period and it gives some coherency to the whole year, as different books and history all feed into each other.
I also prefer to focus strongly on only one or two books at a time, and just leave the rest for free reading. Being able to tick off a list of books doesn't make an English program. Engaging and interacting with the books is more important, and sometimes less is more in that respect. Last year we did Lord of the Rings for the whole year, with a literature program...and "just read" everything else.
Have you got the WTM? It has many good ideas in it for grade 9.
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I despise the black and white/all or nothing thinking on this topic.
The fact that ADD/ADHD exists in some people does not mean that every suspected, diagnosed or treated "case" is legitimate.
The fact that it is over diagnosed for a variety of reasons does not mean every "case" is suspect and does not change the challenges and pain involved with families who struggle to meet this challenge.
The truth is there is some science behind some manifestations of ADD/ADHD. There is a list of observable, quantifiable symptoms. There is *also* a totality of symptoms that are also the characteristics of 2-13 year old boy. There is also lifestyle and parenting that creates a child that has similar attributes as other children diagnosed with ADD.
I do not believe that God's design is for us to have a significant percentage of our people, especially our boys, afflicted with a life changing, life challenging organic disorder. Therefore, I have to believe something else is going on.
I have met and dealt with for hours daily children I believe have ADD (or other diagnosable issue). And children who have the diagnosis, are treated but I believe the real issue to be institutional, parenting or environment. This is not meant to cause anyone grief or pain. I am not denying ADD/ADHD.
But I think it's a national tragedy that so many of our children (especially boys in number) are being labeled and diagnosed. I'm aghast that this doesn't shock, anger and challenge people to take a look at what's fueling the diagnosis.
:iagree:
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Sleep around 10, up between 5 and 6am.
Nap in the afternoon.
Love my sleep. Love getting up early.
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The fact that you say outlining one-topic-per-paragraph books made it easier for your kids to learn outlining makes me think that BECAUSE the ideas were in order, the kids could learn to extract the main points and subpoints more easily (because they are more easily seen). And at the same time, they are seeing the ideas laid out in a logical pattern. Then, when they get comfortable with this, and can recognize a logically laid out paragraph/essay, they can analyze a not-so-neatly-laid-out text and extract and rank the ideas. OH! OH! OH! Maybe THIS last thought is what I've been looking for! It just occurred to me....what do you think???? Am I putting it together in my mind correctly now? (why do I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel?? I'll probably find this idea expressed somehow in the WTM, LOL)
Hi Colleen, I know you have received a reply from Susan, but I just thought iI would respond anyway..I agree with what you have seen here. I started with something easy. Now my daughter outlines her Science text book, and she can outline long passages of non fiction of narrative- not that she likes that much. Text books are easier. But I think you do have to start at the beginning, and progress forward from there. You wouldnt start a kid with a complex essay and ask them to organise the author's ideas in a more coherent fashion. That would come later. Well, i would think so, anyway.
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I have just received two of these: Secondary 1, and Highschool.
Yes, they are light, and yes they are gentle, but I am very happy with them for what I want.
Dd13/14 will use hers for a creative writing course for the year. The highschool book has no grammar, it is basically a creative writing course, along with some copywork and dictations,art appreciations, and editing practice. Perfect, apparently, she is happy with the type of writing instruction in it. I will add in Analytical Grammar P2 for her,for 8weeks, as well as have her write for history, literature and science. She is an excellent writer. Most writing programs leave her cold.
For ds12, a reluctant writer, it is a gentle complete LA program. He still needs copywork, dictation,and regular grammar instruction, and this gives him all of this, plus art appreciation and creative writing,and poetry. Each lesson will take him about 15 minutes I think, I am not sure yet. Writing exercises can take him longer than it might take another child. He won't resist it because he can see it is a very reasonable amount of work. Next year (2009) he will continue with Analytical Grammar. I am waiting for some maturity, but he has done part one of AG. This year (08)he will also write for history and literature, and do freewrites, and we will work on editing.
We also cover grammar in Latin and French.
I wouldn't use these as complete LA programs all the way through, but because they are gentle they are easy to add to, while covering things like copywork and dictation and art appreciation and editing in a regular way. If doing a light and gentle LA program means we have time to get to Shakespeare, poetry, art, more reading, and lots of passionate play and free time, then it's a good trade for us, for this particular time. We have done heavy LA other years,(R&S, CW) and this year is a different season, and a happier one.
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I first came here when Colleen was pregnant with her youngest. Whenever that was. 4 years ago?
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When I get a nap in the afternoon, and when I have a walk along the river with just the dog. These things allow me to cope with all sorts of life's day to day disturbances. Sometimes productivity feels good, but just as often, a lazy day is good, too.
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Not sure what my mum expected, but I am sure I disappointed her for a while there...I left home at 16 (she kind of kicked me out actually, but I finished school anyway)....didn't see much of her for years....eventually in my 20s we reconnected and have had a good relationship since then....on opposite sides of the country. Actually, I respect her and love her a lot, and I am sure she feels the same toward me. We are different, but she herself is not "normal" so "different" is just fine, lots of tolerance there- she is fairly what you Americans call 'crunchy', I just happen to be much more so.
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Like some others I am heading more toward CM. Having just looked at HEO again, I am thinking of doing year 7 next year, because it would match our medievel year. I personally like the 4 year history cycle, and many of the books we are doing for this year's ancients are from the Ambleside year 6 list (as well as Sonlight).
Maths is the only long lesson we do, and we just take however long a lesson takes. This morning that was just a few minutes for my son, but its normally around 45 minutes for both kids, and has been known to take 2 hours occasionally.
Latin takes 10 minutes most days, French similar, Spelling's with an online program- 10 minutes.
I just bought Language Lessons for the Secondary/Highschool child for my two kids, and while the older will continue with Analytical Grammar for a part of the year, the younger will probably just do this program. This will cover copywork, dictation, creative writing, some art narrations, some grammar.
Both do a Science class, and only the older does Science at home as well...about 15 minutes a day. Nature Study is intermittant.
We do history reading together, and we are covering a Shakespeare play, poetry and memorisation, economics, spirituality, and anything else I feel like reading to them, together.
They do writing assignments. One of the reasons I am moving toward CM is because I have tried several writing programs, and my kids just cannot stand being told to write in that canned way....I was really hopeful for Wordsmith for them both this year and it was such a flunk...so I am going back to plain old narrations and then expanding on that. It just works. I will have my older write some essays, but she writes easily and well so if I left that for another year it wouldn't be a problem. I think this year is gong to be a year of nourishing her creative writing.
They do music lessons, gym, drama.
I am considering what we do more and more CM because I am covering many subjects and using mainly living books, they are getting a really broad education, we are finishing around 1pm, they get lots of leisure time, they have plenty of time to follow their passions (Scouts and art for dd, skateboarding at present for ds, gym for both). I wrote a term report for both a few days ago, and even though we took a week off to go to Bali, and have had Easter and two other long weekends, we have covered a lot in this 10 week term. Yet, it hasn't felt stressed or pushed.
The character building side of CM is ongoing and I guess I just consider that part of being a parent.
There are probably other essential parts of CM I haven't touched on....I dont consider myself completely CM at this stage but I seem to be heading in that direction.
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I gather books from various lists, including Sonlight in particular. I work out what I want to cover. We read our spine, they read other books related.
I then literally think up something for them to outline, either KHE, or another book, or sometimes I will even print off a page or two from the internet on a related topic, or that is another source of the same topic. And then the next day, I give them a choice of one of a couple of topics to do a research report on.
So Tuesdays, we read history together.
Wednesdays, they outline something- not necessarily what we read the day before.
Thursdays they do some sort of report.
And there are ongoing read alouds and independently read books following the year's theme, being read all the time.
I do vary it...a week ago I skipped the report and they did an art project instead. I might decide to skip the outlining and have them outline for literature or Science instead one week, or not at all, and have them do two reports, or a piece of significant copywork, or just skip it because it feels like time to focus on something else.
I get bored easily. I try to be basically consistent, and have them learn the skills, but I also like to vary things, to keep them interesting.
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I think you may be over thinking the whole thing.
To me, outlining is a way of organising notes. Notes are a way of distilling the essential information. Outlining can be done directly, or as a way of organising notes as a step before writing an essay. (It is also a good way to study for an exam, but I haven't used it for that yet with them. )
Outlining has more context and makes more sense when you use it to write an essay. Once you have an outline, an essay is a synch. That's the next step. So I took to teaching the skill of outlining with that bigger picture in mind. I also teach plain notetaking as a related skill.
I have found the newer KHE ok at times..my kids are logic stage and sometimes they will use it, particularly my older. My younger uses the Usborne book more frequently. However, I also find them both a terribly boring way to learn history, so we don't use them every week.
I taught them both outlining using books that were easier....books with clear paragraphs, with a single topic per paragraph. Now they have the hang of it, they do it here and there using various things, in various contexts.
Sometimes they note take, sometimes they outline, and sometimes they outline in order to then write a report/ essay.
For example today I asked ds12 to write a narration for me of a Greek myth- the Gorgon's head, which he had just read in Hawthorne's book. It was a long story and he freaked at all the details he remembered- he likes to keep things short!
So we sat down together and as he gave me an oral narration, we worked out a basic chronological outline of events and in this case I wrote it down for him (he was quite upset over the whole thing). Tomorrow, he will write his narration using the outline.
I must admit both kids have found outlining fairly easy to learn....even my reluctant writer is fine with it, probably because it involves distilling, rather than expanding.
I am not sure if that helps at all..it just seemed to me you were complicating it unecessarily, and maybe weren't seeing the bigger picture.
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My dd13/almost 4 is using Singapore's Biology Matters and doing really well with it. She is also attending a Science class, not related to the book, so it is not her only Science, but the class has no homework so I use the Singapore book. It is a little above her level but she is coping. She takes notes for one week, then the next week she does the workbook. We dont do any practical work with it.
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Awesome, thankyou, I appreciate all of your suggestions a lot.
Peela
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I don't actually think it is an actual thing...its a bunch of symptoms that have been given a label, ADHD. Like many psychiatric conditions, its not an actual disease, there is no blood test for it. It's a bunch of symptoms we give a name. Or, people with university degrees have given a name.
And yes, the bunch of symptoms called ADHD appears to be increasing, but our society has really deteriorated on so many levels.....diet, nutrition, environmental toxins, vaccinations, the way parents parent, the state of discipline in schools, expectations on teachers....I don't think there is any pat answer at all.
The city I live in in Australia has the highest diagnosis rate of ADHD in the whole world.
I am a bit cynical about it I must admit. I have a step dd, now 19, whose mother drugged her against her fathers wishes, all through her teens, and it didnt help at all, she completely flunked highschool...it just made the mother feel like she was doing something.
OK, disclaimer, there are many people who feel the drugs help their kids...I am dubious about 90% of them. I have been told by several learning difficulty specialists in the last few months that the number of true ADHD kids they see is very small- although real- most are kids who have learning difficulties and simply don't get the attention they need.
Anyway, I am not expert, thankk goodness (they've dont enough damage already), just an observer, although I have had several many ADHD kid clients as a naturopath, and I always felt the issue needed to be dealt with on so many different levels...and many parents don't have time. Which could be part of the issue in the first place. Plus the fact that many adults try to talk to their small children instead of using clear action to deal with discipline issues.
I don't mean to upset anybody, I am sure there are parents of kids diagnosed with ADHD on these boards....and most of them will be educating themselves, homeschooling, and doing everything they darn well can to deal with the issues.
The other aspect of it is, my dh would have been diagnosed ADHD if it has been around in his day.....and he is quite brilliant in many ways. Thats why he didnt want his daughter drugged....too many kids who are unique and think outside the box, and are bored by school, get the diagnosis, take the drugs.
I am sure I am mostly preaching to the converted, but its an awful issue. I believe we will look back on these decades of drugging our children with horror.
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I borrowed a cdrom called Asterix, Learn French, from the library the other day. Not sure if we will get around to looking at it, but could be a good supplement for someone.
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We are doing Ancients this year (only 1/4 through our year) and while I have a lovely variety of books, including Eastern literature, I realise I would like my dd13, who is probably only Logic stage in maturity but still but a good reader, to have a go at at least one or two of the books in the WTM literature list for grade 9, since we may not get to Ancients again. Here in Australia, she would be grade 9.
So, apart from the Bible and Homer, which ones do you think are accessible for a 13yo? Without totally killing her love of literature?
(We have done the Iliad together, and will do the Odyssey together later in the year).
I am thinking Plutarch, but every time I look at it, I kind of dry up. But I kind of feel like that about most of the books on the list, because I am ignorant.
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But be aware...art programs don't always "click" with all students...I have bought and sold 3 different Artistic Pursuits in the last 5 years....I have a very creative dd....and she simply strongly disliked AP.
We do art appreciation through Ambleside, or similar to Ambleside...sometimes finding a good book like Juan de Pareja....usually just spending 5 minutes a week looking at a picture, one artist a term..it all adds up.
For art, my dd does watercolour classes and draws in her spare time. She is self taught with drawing but is very good. I have found formal programs have stifled her. But she is strongly self directed. Ds has no interest in art and is extremely self critical, so formal lessons turn him into a monster of self loathing- however, I have had some luck with those guided drawing books with him- the ones that teach you how to draw a monster, a dinosaur, a house etc, step by step.
Anyway, after spending all that money on AP, I was disappointed each time- not with the program, but with my kids' responses...but they do have good resale value.
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I don't think I would touch them in case he started seeing them as "work" instead of pure expression.....I guess, if I couldn't help myself, I would perhaps show him a couple of mistakes, but I wouldn't make him rewrite it or anything.
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I seem to only knit self striping socks nowadays, but its an easy thing to take along to kids' classes when I am sitting chatting.
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1/2 to 1 page daily is more than my 12 yo can handle......
He does do well with freewrites too though.
He does a daily gratitude journal- he has to write 5 sentences of things he is grateful for, every day. They have to be complete sentences with a capital and full stop. Obviously it is a character issue thing, but it works as handwriting practice too, since he hates to write and I allow him to do longer assignments on the computer.
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Just getting one of my kids to focus is a major focus around here.
I try to keep it balanced, but this year so far (our year goes from Feb-Dec) we have had less language arts than any other year, but it has left room for other things.
We have always had a focus on history...in that our literature often relates to it as well.
We have always studied Latin straight after maths first thing in the morning, but it doesn't take up much time per day.
Maths seems to be getting more attention as the kids get older.
This year, I wanted to make sure I wasn't "pushing" my kids so hard...I want our days to be more relaxed, and they are, and we are all much happier for it. SO maybe the focus could be said to be lifestyle...this is our life, and we don't have to do it all in one year. I used to feel we had to do it all NOW, and I no longer feel that. This term we have not done a lot of LA, but next term we might do more...it can all balance out if I let go of the tight control and let different things become the focus at different times. Sounds a bit wishy washy I know, but it doesnt feel like it, it just feels good.
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here is another point of view...hope it doesn't sound snooty but I just thought I would share it....
I find plenty of free time is important for us, and for my 12yo son in particular, because he does not find his schoolwork enjoyable, mostly. It's not his thing! He does about 4 hours of schoolwork a day, plus an hour of reading in the afternoon. I don't count classes, because they are usually in school time anyway. He does lots of classes where he sees other kids at various times in the week...he has a full social life.
I used to push much harder, but I stopped around last November, and life became so much happier for us all. We do what we can do, and it seems like a lot. I do not keep up with the intense classical people on these boards.
My son gets up around 7am, does music practice around 7.30 and starts his schoolwork around 8am. We finish by 1, but that includes a lot of mucking around on his part, so he can finish by 12 and sometimes does.
He needs time to skateboard, to play with his friends on the street after school, and I personally feel it is essential for kids to have lots of free time to learn to deal with themselves, to be alone, to play, to just be kids. To me, 12 is too young to be putting on the thumbscrews regarding schoolwork. Well, with my non academic kid. My dd13 does at least an hour more.
I see far too many children with no free time nowadays, and adults seem to always be complaining about not enough time for themselves. I think there is a scourge of too much busyness in our society, and people don't know how to stop and just be. I love Charlotte Mason's ideas around this subject. Lots of time for nature, playing, just hanging out, plus doing non academic things..crafts etc.
Maybe my kids will end up bums because I didn't push them hard enough, but they will be bums who know how to enjoy themselves, can read poetry and classics and have a good conversation about lots of things, as well as play instruments and paint pictures...well rounded. That's my aim, anyway.
Follow up question. How do you expect your children to turn out?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
That they feel free to follow their inner calling, inner sense of direction, rather than any outer trappings of what society calls success. My hope is to give them a good enough education that they feel they can do anything they choose, and a good enough education that they have a broad vision of what is possible in their lives, even if they choose to live simple ones.