Deniseibase
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Posts posted by Deniseibase
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Science Fusion (soon to be available through Saxon Homeschool), k-8, secular
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You are welcome! Have you looked at the Try Before You Buy samples on the Pandia Press website? You can look at several sample lessons and get a really good idea of how it all fits together. It really helped me when I was deciding what to use. We switched back to SOTW this year, but that was because my daughter really didn't care for any of the other spines for HO, so if you know your family prefers CHOTW, it should be a good fit!
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I don't see any reason why you couldn't. Each History Odyssey Lesson has readings listed in its Main Lesson, and most of the lessons list CHOTW readings along with SOTW lessons. You would occasionally have a lesson where you would not have a CHOTW reading listed, but you could just go with more additional readings from the lesson to fill in the gap. We used HO Level 1 Middle Ages last year, and I can tell you right now I really don't imagine they expect most early grade school students to really read *ALL* of the things they have listed for each lesson!! :) Just pick and choose the readings that work for you, I'd say as long as you are completing at least two or three things from the main lesson & at least one of those is a reading from one of the books, you should be fine. The assignments should still mostly make sense, there will probably be the odd detail that isn't covered in CHOTW if you used that as your only source, but I wouldn't stress about it.
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I have a dd age 11 who just finished LfCA, and a ds age 5 who just spent the year watching the LfC DVDs with his big sis and does the chants right along with her. Plus, he LOVES music, so I am getting Song School Latin for him in the fall, and figure we will probably use it for fun for a couple years. He will enjoy it and it will start getting him familiar with Latin, so where's the harm if he just stays with it and doesn't progress in Latin learning until third or fourth grade? Plus, I figure he'll keep watching the DVDs from LfCB, too ;)
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We're just finishing up this year, but funny you should ask since I just wrote up a sample schedule for my own thinking for next year. It looks like this -
dd - sixth grade
7AM - wake up, be dressed & ready for school by 8AM (from experience, I am guessing that she will actually be ready before then and start her free reading around 7:30 most days)
8AM - finish free reading if she started it already - she spends an hour a day reading a book of her choice, I must approve the book. 5th grade year she read a lot of fantasy and historical fiction, like The Hobbit, the Narnia books, the Royal Diaries series, the Girls of Many Lands series, I expect similar choices in sixth grade. if she hasn't already started her free reading by 8 we will do our read-aloud at this time. The read-aloud is to expose her to books that I think she should read that she wouldn't necessarily choose to read herself - in fifth grade we read titles like Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, By the Great Horn Spoon!, and The Phantom Tollbooth. After the read-aloud for the day she will narrate it briefly to me. (She struggles some with writing, so we will start the year reviewing narration and dictation and basic note-taking and pick up with Writing with Style as soon as it is released.)
8:30 - breakfast
9 - Math - I want to do AoPS Prealgebra but not sure if that will be ready by our early August start date, so we are starting the year with Dolciani Algebra & some math games
10 - Saxon Grammar 6 (we don't do the writing part)
10:30 - Holt Science and Technology Physical Science - most days we will read a section, answer three to six short questions at the end, and do a short lab or activity
11 - SOTW4 with short summaries, the review questions from the activity book, or the outlining exercise from the activity book every day. Also outside reading.
11:30 - lunch
12 - Chinese homework (& finish history reading, probably :) ). On Tuesdays she will use this time to work with her little brother or do chores while I clean up after lunch and do MY chores :)
1 - Tuesday we have Chinese class, Thursdays we have co-op. The rest of the week would would do either the free reading or the read aloud & narration that didn't get done earlier.
2 - Tuesday or Thursday - still at co-op or Chinese class. Rest of the week - do Latin for Children B and then go have a snack and play for the rest of the day :)
3:30 (ish) - only on Tuesday or Thursday - return home from co-op or Chinese, have a snack, then do Latin for Children B and the free reading or read-aloud that didn't get done earlier & then done for the day by 4:30-5PM.
Of course most of these times are approximate!! :) But I have found doing subjects in the same order every day makes a difference. I will also have a kindergartener this year, but his schedule is much less rigid and basically I will work with him when she is reading or writing something that she doesn't need my help with (Chinese, answering science questions, etc.) and the rest of the time he can play on his own or sit with us and do something at the table.
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(Crossposted from a thread on the logic stage board)
DD - Sixth Grade
Mostly, we are continuing with what has worked for her so far. She gets up at 7 and has to be ready to begin schoolwork by 8, but often gets started on her free reading before 8.
- Free reading one hour per day - she can pick the book, but I have to approve it
- Saxon Grammar & Writing 6 - we will definitely do the grammar portion, MAYBE the writing portion, but she wasn't very fond of the writing portion last year so I think I'm going to have her take a writing class at the local homeschool co-op. The grammar will take about 30 minutes per day, the writing I couldn't say since we'll be taking a class but I'm guessing about 30 minutes a day other than the day class meets, which will be one hour. If those both turn out to be a bust I may sign her up for an online writing class as I am OUT of ideas here!!!
- Read-aloud - I read-aloud to both kids for about half an hour a day. This is largely to introduce my daughter to books she would not read on her own, and for my son to get practice listening to longer books without pictures.
- Still trying to decide for math - AoPS Prealgebra is what I'm leaning towards, but since the book for it isn't out yet, I'm also readying Dolciani Algebra 1 as a backup plan. One hour per day.
- Holt Science and Technology Physical Science - 30 minutes a day
- Aristotle Leads the Way - co-op class, one hour once a week, with about an hour per week of outside homework.
- Story of the World 4, with some activities from the activity guide but mostly more reading of historical fiction from the time period being studied. - 30 minutes per day
- Latin for Children B - we will study this over two years, 2 weeks per chapter, about 15 minutes per day. We go slower on this because her REAL foreign language love, since she was three years old, is --
- Mandarin - with the same tutor we have had the last six years, she can now read short books and carry on simple conversation with relative ease, although she is still very shy about speaking with strangers - 45 minutes
Total - 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 hours most days, 7 1/2 hours on co-op day if we take both classes.
DS - Kindergarten
We actually have no 'next year' planned for him, because he is not showing any signs of stopping for THIS year, so we are happy to just keep rolling along through the summer with him as long as he wants to! Also, I don't make him spend specific amounts of time yet, or specific subjects each day - as long as SOMETHING is happening every day, and I'm seeing overall progress, I'm ok if we do nothing but math this week and nothing but reading and phonics next week. The heavy scheduling won't come out until he shows me that he won't make progress without a push from me!
- Saxon Phonics 1 - about halfway through this now, and starting to go through the material quickly as he WANTS two and three lessons a day, and is retaining it.
- Saxon Math 1 - just started this last month, about 20 lessons in.
- LOTS and LOTS of read-alouds, fiction and non-fiction - this is the one thing that happens EVERY day, at least the bedtime story Some of this is listening to the story that I'm reading to his older sister too.
- Science Fusion Grade 1 - I intend to snap this up as soon as it becomes available, we did the online sample from Scribd and he LOVED it. Probably will supplement this with lots of outside reading because we prefer a STEM-centered homeschooling style, and he has a LOT of questions!!
- Mandarin - with older daughter's tutor - 15 minutes per week in class, about 10 minutes a day of practice.
- Song School Latin - I probably won't buy this until the fall
- Dance class - he's my little Billy Elliot! He dances EVERYWHERE - in parking lots, through the kitchen, out in the yard, in the store, you name it, if he's there, he's dancing his way through it!
- I'm sure he'll do some co-op classes too, but at his age group those are more fun than academic.
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Funny you should ask - my husband, who designs security systems, is just starting this week to teach our daughter electronics. They are using the Make: Electronics book - http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740 He bought what he needed for it at Radio Shack, apparently Make has a kit that goes with it too, but he says you don't save any money by buying the kit.
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Assuming you mean homeschool schedules ;)
DD - Sixth Grade
Mostly, we are continuing with what has worked for her so far. She gets up at 7 and has to be ready to begin schoolwork by 8, but often gets started on her free reading before 8.
- Free reading one hour per day - she can pick the book, but I have to approve it
- Saxon Grammar & Writing 6 - we will definitely do the grammar portion, MAYBE the writing portion, but she wasn't very fond of the writing portion last year so I think I'm going to have her take a writing class at the local homeschool co-op. The grammar will take about 30 minutes per day, the writing I couldn't say since we'll be taking a class but I'm guessing about 30 minutes a day other than the day class meets, which will be one hour. If those both turn out to be a bust I may sign her up for an online writing class as I am OUT of ideas here!!! :D
- Read-aloud - I read-aloud to both kids for about half an hour a day. This is largely to introduce my daughter to books she would not read on her own, and for my son to get practice listening to longer books without pictures.
- Still trying to decide for math - AoPS Prealgebra is what I'm leaning towards, but since the book for it isn't out yet, I'm also readying Dolciani Algebra 1 as a backup plan. One hour per day.
- Holt Science and Technology Physical Science - 30 minutes a day
- Aristotle Leads the Way - co-op class, one hour once a week, with about an hour per week of outside homework.
- Story of the World 4, with some activities from the activity guide but mostly more reading of historical fiction from the time period being studied. - 30 minutes per day
- Latin for Children B - we will study this over two years, 2 weeks per chapter, about 15 minutes per day. We go slower on this because her REAL foreign language love, since she was three years old, is --
- Mandarin - with the same tutor we have had the last six years, she can now read short books and carry on simple conversation with relative ease, although she is still very shy about speaking with strangers - 45 minutes
Total - 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 hours most days, 7 1/2 hours on co-op day if we take both classes.
DS - Kindergarten
We actually have no 'next year' planned for him, because he is not showing any signs of stopping for THIS year, so we are happy to just keep rolling along through the summer with him as long as he wants to! :) Also, I don't make him spend specific amounts of time yet, or specific subjects each day - as long as SOMETHING is happening every day, and I'm seeing overall progress, I'm ok if we do nothing but math this week and nothing but reading and phonics next week. The heavy scheduling won't come out until he shows me that he won't make progress without a push from me!
- Saxon Phonics 1 - about halfway through this now, and starting to go through the material quickly as he WANTS two and three lessons a day, and is retaining it.
- Saxon Math 1 - just started this last month, about 20 lessons in.
- LOTS and LOTS of read-alouds, fiction and non-fiction - this is the one thing that happens EVERY day, at least the bedtime story :) Some of this is listening to the story that I'm reading to his older sister too.
- Science Fusion Grade 1 - I intend to snap this up as soon as it becomes available, we did the online sample from Scribd and he LOVED it. Probably will supplement this with lots of outside reading because we prefer a STEM-centered homeschooling style, and he has a LOT of questions!! :)
- Mandarin - with older daughter's tutor - 15 minutes per week in class, about 10 minutes a day of practice.
- Song School Latin - I probably won't buy this until the fall
- Dance class - he's my little Billy Elliot! :001_smile: He dances EVERYWHERE - in parking lots, through the kitchen, out in the yard, in the store, you name it, if he's there, he's dancing his way through it!
- I'm sure he'll do some co-op classes too, but at his age group those are more fun than academic.
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Sorry so slow to answer, haven't QUITE figured out all the ins and out of this forum yet and missed that there was a new reply! :(
Her comprehension level seems good - I will ask her, how did you get that answer and she will explain, sometimes she will point out two or three ways to get the answer, so the conceptual understanding seems to be strong. I have to say 'seems to be', tho, because I don't always understand her explanations!! :) This however seems to be more due to a general issue with articulating ANYTHING, writing is her most HATED subject and whenever I ask her to narrate anything for ANY subject, she gets frustrated very quickly. So I think she really understands math, but her problems with articulation get in the way. She's not in Intermediate Algebra, tho, she's just finished Prealgebra. We actually worked a couple lessons in Saxon Algebra II (middle of the book somewhere), and she solved most of the problems with no problem after a little explanation from me, but I did feel that was more mechanical and she didn't seem to have a REAL comprehension.
I went ahead and got AoPS Intro to Algebra, and after working through the first chapter on my own, I don't think it will work for her for this year. I think she could UNDERSTAND a lot of it, but she still doesn't want to do anything that seems like WORK :( And the Algebra book IS a lot of work. I'm going to get the Pre-Algebra when it comes out and see if we can work with it VERY slowly, so as to not overwhelm her with the writing part. If that doesn't seem feasible after getting the book, I think we will switch to Dolciani Algebra. We had a talk this week about why she likes Saxon and she flat out said she likes it because she already knows it and doesn't have to think!!! I explained to her that doesn't help her AT ALL to just work on material she already knows. We talked about what the math options are that I'm considering for next year, and asked her to think about what she wants and told her I would be more than happy to let her choose what she wants to study and she flat out said she doesn't want to choose. When I asked why, she just shrugged - again with the inarticulate child!! Still not sure what to do - just keep feeling our way through. I think if she could just tell me what is going on in her head we would make a lot more progress!
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I can't believe no one has suggested Jim Kjelgaard!! He wrote Big Red and a bunch of other dog books, mostly stories of boys and their adventures with their dogs. They are mostly out of print now, try your library - I went through a dog phase as a child and read EVERY one of his books, loved them all!
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Thanks!! There are also some samples on Scribd that I found - been working through the Grade 1 material with my son, he LOVES it, can't wait for these to become available! :)
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It really seems to depend on the kid. My daughter, if given a choice, would do NOTHING but play video games all day long for months at a time - unfortunately, this is not an exaggeration, I am divorced and when she goes to visit her dad that is all they do, including the one time that she spent all summer there. I came to homeschooling from an interest in unschooling, and I thought when she was small if I limited screen time and filled the house with interesting books, games, toys, etc, left lots of time for museum trips, park days, that there would be plenty of opportunity for learning without coercion. Fat chance - even at the age of four and five she never wanted to do anything except screen time, not even go outside and play with friends, let ALONE any kind of learning. I am personally coming to the belief that screens are flat-out addictive for some people and my daughter seems to be one of them. Her dad, my ex-, is 50 years old and lives in his mom's basement so he doesn't have to get a job that would take away from his video games time (hence the reason why he is my ex! ;) ), and I think he also has the same addiction problems. I know no way to counter this except provide enough structure for my daughter that she gets an education, and at the same time do my best to convince her that as she grows up, she will need to make choices that counter what she WANTS to do on a day-to-day basis in order to have a decent life. She still groans when I say it is time for homeschooling, but she is learning, and there are plenty of times where she has been very reluctant to start an assignment but ended up being excited about it after an initial period of 'pulling teeth' to get her going. A firm schedule cuts down on the whining because it becomes habit.
My son on the other hand is COMPLETELY different and I can see us getting away from WTM schedules in order to allow him to pursue his own ideas. He enjoys his screen time, and whines when it is off - for a few minutes!! Then he gets busy coloring, looking at books, playing with the dog, digging a hole, etc., and so on! So far our homeschool has been completely unscheduled - he asks me most days to 'do homeschool' and usually suggests what subjects he wants to learn. Right now he is really excited about learning reading and nature study - last month it was math. Summer vacation is about to start, but I don't think he's going to stop asking so we are going to keep following his lead. This is SUCH a contrast from my daughter at the same age, I can't even begin to tell you. It's kind of reassuring because I was thinking I must be TERRIBLE at this mom thing if I can't even get a kid off of video games!!! But now I'm coming to realize that some kids have more problems with motivation than others and there is only so much you can do about it - if you have provided a rich, interesting environment & the kids still want to do nothing but whine all day, it may be that they are just wired to need more structure.
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You are welcome!! :) Yes, I do WW & I love that she includes the points! She does the points for the new program now tho, so FYI if you are doing the old one - but, she gives the nutritional info, too, so it's easy to figure out either way.
Didn't know about the sale, that's a good price, and she doesn't have sales very often!
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I dunno if this is quite what you are looking for, but I use a menu planning service called Menu-Mailer - http://www.savingdinner.com I use it because I just don't have TIME to THINK about fixing anything healthy & if I have to plan everything myself, we usually end up going out to eat or eating fish sticks three nights a week :( They send me three weekly menus to choose from, plus shopping lists, every Tuesday. All I have to do it print out the shopping list, go through and cross out the things I already have on hand, and add on the things I know we need for lunch and breakfast (pretty easy since we tend to eat the same things for those meals all the time). Sometimes she has recipes that are too expensive, but we either skip those or sub in a cheaper ingredient. We are not very picky and have liked most of the recipes pretty well. Most of them are pretty easy to cook, too, very rarely does she give a recipe that requires more prep than my 11 year old daughter, who is just starting to cook, can not handle on her own with just a little explanation from me.
I think this helps my kids with nutrition because it helps me set a good example. Honestly, no health curriculum in the WORLD will be able to overcome unhealthy habits learned in childhood unless we as parents help our children UNlearn the bad habits BEFORE they grow up, and that to me means we have to put healthy food on the table.
The menu-mailer meals are pretty standard, but healthy versions - she uses brown rice, low fat dairy, lots of veg, etc. You can sub out for your family - she makes dishes with guinoa sometimes, for example, but we just use rice instead because we all HATE quinoa. This week's meals for example are Skillet Lemon Chicken (suggested side dishes: steamed red potatoes and green beans), Beef Fried Rice (with steamed broccoli), Turkey Burritos (with corn on the cob), Pork Paprikash (over egg noodles, we had this last night and it was REALLY good!), shrimp and asparagus stir-fry (with couscous and baby carrots), and Slow Cooker Lasagna (she always includes one slow cooker recipe). We have been members for two years and are really happy with it. If you want to try it before you subscribe, she has several books that collect the menus, her name is Leanne Ely and your library probably has at least one of her books.
Hope this helps! I know there are a lot of ways to be busy and get healthy food on the table, this is what works for us, but you could also look into OAMC or other freezer cooking, too. Good luck!
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Life of Pi?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time?
Blindness (by Jose Saramago)?
The Name of the Rose? (a little older)
Oryx & Crake? (definitely preview first)
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I have not used it, this is passing along from another mom I know who did. She used it as a supplement to solidify the math skills of her 'wanting to be an engineer' son when he was a sophomore. They used the Giancoli book as their main textbook. I think she said he spent about three hours a day on physics that year, but it seems to have paid off as he is now at Rose-Hulman studying communications engineering. You might talk to the school and see if they are using anything else with it?
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Anyone know of anything online for a 5th grader who is interested in electronics? Nothing REALLY technical please, something designed for kids would be ideal - thanks if you can help!!
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What worked for dd -
Saxon/Hake Grammar & Writing 5, the grammar portion only - can NOT sing the praises high enough! We've had grammar EVERY year & tried a dozen programs - the Saxon spiral method seems to be the only thing that works for her, because this is the first year she's finally been able to identify parts of speech, subject & predicate, etc.
Holt Science and Technology Earth Science - switched to this after becoming frustrated with Real Science Odyssey, and not really finding anything else out there that I liked at all. I won't say it has been a favorite, but it's solid science and the retention has been high.
Girls of Many Lands series - discovered these through our SOTW3 studies and have read the whole series through, she really enjoys them.
Sustained silent reading time - she's gone up at least two grade levels in reading ability this year, and her standardized test scores reflect it. Beginning of the year she was reading books like the Warriors series, now she is reading the Eragon books. We don't 'study' reading formally, we just read, so all the improvement in her scores is due to this.
What worked for ds -
Saxon Phonics K - he loves this, often asks for it, and is reading short, phonetically regular words with ease now.
Science Fusion - we did the online sampler for Grade 1 that I found on Scribd for this upcoming science program, and he LOVED it. I cannot WAIT until it is available, a definite must for next year.
letting him set the schedule and pace - sometimes we don't do preschool for days on end and he plays outside or draws or plays with toys, sometimes he asks to sit down and 'do homeschool' and we'll go through a week's worth of phonics or math in an hour. He's retained it all, so it works for me.
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Misses this year -
Latin for Children A Activity Book - I must have the only child in the world who would rather do a regular worksheet than a crossword puzzle...Latin for Children is working FINE, just the activity book, which I loved, she hated!
SOTW3 Activity Book - most of the ideas were just too young for my 5th grader. We did some of the outside reading but skipped most of the activities. I'm keeping it tho for my younger kid.
Saxon/Hake Grammar and Writing 5, the writing portion only - this, like EVERY OTHER writing program we have ever tried, made dd cry. I WILL say she can write a coherent, if simplistic, paragraph now if required! But she still hates it.
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Oh good grief - yeah, if that's all the reason he has, taking away his phone and making him repay the money sounds like the right approach. Maybe you should also make him buy one of those bed shaking alarm clocks (with his own money of course) and if he needs more sleep, he can take it out of the other end of the night and go to bed at 8PM?
I am ALL for letting kids make their own rational decisions, but sometimes they are just being impossible teenagers!! :D Best of luck!
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If she can articulate serious, well reasoned ideas for wanting to go, then consider it. But honestly, if her only reason is that she will be 'messed up', I would not let her make that decision.
In the interest of full disclosure - I have a 28 yo stepdaughter who I raised from age 12 to adulthood. When she was 14 was when we first heard of homeschooling, and we offered her the option to homeschool. She told us very plainly that she wanted to continue in public school for social reasons, and we let her.
And here's why - when she came to live with us, she had gone to 9 different schools in six years. I promised her when she moved in with us that we would not move out of that school district, and so, after two years, she was finally started to trust that promise, and finally trying to make friends for the first time in her life & trusting that she would not be yanked away from them. So, in her case, and considering that her friends were all very nice kids, we felt keeping our earlier promise to her and allowing her to have the social life she wanted were the right choices for her. We also explained to her that she still needed to keep her grades up, and when she complained about school, we always reminded her that unlike most kids, she had another option and it was her choice to stay - did she want to rethink her choice? After considering and reconsidering her choice several times throughout high school, she did continue in public school, graduated, and went on to college to get her bachelors in accounting.
I definitely feel that, even for reasons like 'I want a social life', there can be times when that is a good reason to try public school. But the child needs to be able to articulate what they hope to get from the experience clearly - an ill-defined goal is no goal at all!
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Why does he not want to go?
Honestly, if someone is resistant to going to a leadership training class like Teen Pact, I doubt they would get very much out of the presentation even if they did go. You can lead a horse to water, and all. It may work better to have a serious talk with him about why you want him to go, why he does not want to go, and see if you can come up with an alternate path for achieving the goals in mind. At 17 he should certainly be able to intelligently present his side of the matter - he may not CHOOSE to, in the way of teenagers, but he is ABLE to if he so chooses! :)
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Is fantasy ok? There's a big, warm, loving family in The Dark Is Rising (minor squabbles between the children), but strong fantasy themes. There's also a loving family in the Tiffany Aching series (starts with The Wee Free Men), a certain amount of 'my dad and I don't understand each other, and baby brother is annoying', but her dad defies village tradition to defend Tiffany, and she risks life and limb to save her brother from the faery queen, and then later almost dies trying to save him in a magical blizzard.
Shirley Jackson's Life Among the Savages and the follow up book, Raising Demons, are not only about an intact, loving family, but also have some of the most hilarious stories ever - try sections of these for read-alouds, if you don't have everyone in the family rolling on the floor laughing when Sally tries to use magic to unstick the refrigerator I will eat my hat!
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Let me know what the magic age is - dear husband is 43 and I still have to get him out of bed, point him to the coffee, and remind him of where he needs to be and what he needs to be doing every darn day :D
Can you recommend a brand of menstrual cup? (Clearly, female content, LOL)
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I have used a Keeper for about 15 years, very happy with it. That said, I don't know anyone who has tried either the Keeper or the Diva and then STOPPED using it, so I'd have to say whatever you go with will be fine.