Ecclecticmum
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Posts posted by Ecclecticmum
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Ours (in australia) to have to be enrolled/registered, is the "school year" the child turns 6 (so our school year is 2012, as opposed to US version of August2012-June2013) I use when the child has to be registered to start "more formally" teaching them. But I still do whatever they are ready for, no matter their "age".
Atlas started her maths Program in K (year she turned 6, so 2011). Eve is starting that same program now, shes preschool (3.5) so is starting like 2 years earlier rofl, but we may end up going through the program quite slowly. Academically, she'll probably surpass Chaos (already does in fact, and shes showing signs of being very bright in certain areas). Atlas is just starting to be challenged now by her maths, where as before she just basically "knew" and after I said what to do, she would do it, correctly. I could of skipped straight to level 1, and forgot the pre-levels, but unfortunately, the preschool she went to was very vague on what they covered. Atlas is teaching the other children lots of things from preschool, even today, 2 years after she left pre-k lol. So the other kids learn their numbers, alphabet songs, stories, songs, dances etc off her. :tongue_smilie:
Chaos would "officially" start school next year (he missed the "cutoff" date by 4 months, if we jumped the state border we are near, he would of missed the cutoff date by 14 days :001_huh: :tongue_smilie: lol. I think US states vary a bit with cutoff dates as well.
Here we go, general cut-off dates (must turn 5 by) they also differ from school district to school district and the type of school too.
Alabama - September 1
Alaska - August 15
Arizona - September 1
Arkansas - September 15
California - December 2
Colorado - Local Option
Connecticut - January 1
Delaware - August 31
Florida - September 1
Georgia - September 1
Hawaii - August 1
Idaho - September 1
Illinois - September 1
Indiana - July 1
Iowa - September 15
Kansas - August 31
Kentucky - October 1
Louisiana - September 30
Maine - October 15
Maryland - September 1
Massachusetts - Local Option
Michigan - December 1
Minnesota - September 1
Mississippi - September 1
Missouri - August 1*
Montana - September 10
Nebraska - October 15
Nevada - September 30
New Hampshire - Local Option
New Jersey - Local Option
New Mexico - September 1
New York - Local Option
North Carolina - October 16
North Dakota - September 1
Ohio - September 30 **
Oklahoma - September 1
Oregon - September 1
Pennsylvania - Local Option
Rhode Island - September 1
South Carolina - September 1
South Dakota - September 1
Tennessee - September 30
Texas - September 1
Utah - September 2
Vermont - January 1
Virginia - September 30
Washington - August 31
West Virginia - September 1
Wisconsin - September 1
Wyoming - September 15
District of Columbia - December 31
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Be aware that Prufrock press is not "normal" pdf's. They require a download of Adobe Digital Editions (not adobe acrobat). I was not aware of this till after I purchased, and I probably would not of purchased it had I known.
Think of adobe DE like Ibooks for your itunes device. You cannot just download the "pdf" onto the idevice, you must have ibooks, then drag and drop into that app, it becomes a part of that app, does not exist without it. ADE is similar.
if you try to download the file without DE, you will get a 1kb file, a nothing file. You have to have DE, open it then download the "book", which means you can't organize the "book" with the rest of your pdfs.
To me this is not a PDF, but a "nothing" file that is attached to another program. its a Electronic Book that needs an app to use it.
And I was lucky that I had a desktop computer and that it saved the file in my account, as I used this netbook to download, which uses linux as its base, therefore cannot download this "Digital Editions" app.
A few files on Lulu are doing this as well. So just be wary of ones they advise are "pdfs" and check the fine print. I am not even sure how I can back up this book now, I obviously can't just move a copy of it onto the USB stick, because it doesn't exist without the DE program. :glare:
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Its what we're going to be doing. But I agree with the other reviewers.
Its a very hands on, project based program. If you don't want something "intense" then I would not suggest it. It would be very easy for any one to get overwhelmed.
The reason I changed over to it was because I was using a very lit-based/WTM approach, then trying to add on a whole heap of things, to make it more crafts based, thus making about 3 programs in one rofl.
My children learn best when doing a project/making that subject come to life.
Think of it like the Early childhood educator you see thats all perky and bubbly and has all these great ideas, and takes your child on a imaginative journey that makes them squeal with joy. The idea of it sounds fantastic, but not that many people can keep up with that bubbliness.
I hope that made sense :001_huh: rofl. Basically, lit-based items that are non-picture books, do not work for my kids right now. I actually went and purchased 3 stuffed animals to go with the spine critters, ti give it an AAS-Ziggy feel, so they could sit and play with the animals whislt I read in a spectacular amount of goofy voices.
End opinion: My children are very crafty, I'm very crafty, I don't think it would work very well without skipping the hideaways for a non-crafty family.
If you're interested in doing history, either FIAR or SOTW would be good. If you think you're child wouldn't listen to SOTW, get the audio version, play it whilst he's colouring and get some nice books from the library for the era in question. Story of the World Activity Book, is sort of the same as the "On-the-Spot-History Book" of HiH.
We prefer a secular program (or a program thats easy to secularize) as we do bible separately (due to mixed beliefs). If I wanted a bible-inclusive program, I would of jumped towards My Father's World long ago. I hear so many great things, and each time I look at something new I might like, it also happens to be something in one of the MFW kits :tongue_smilie:
HTH xxxx
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Mine is now Up
Wordless Wednesday: Meanwhile.....in the land of Chaos
Chaos loves making cakes. :lol:
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Hi All,
My kids are varied learning styles, but we mostly now use hands-on crafts & projects, so not literature based.
I've been searching around blogs, wtm, and everywhere else but can't find much.
I'm after:
* Subject Plans (planning via individual subject, not week)
* How one "makes from scratch" a non-literature based plan (like ideas from pinterest, craft books, videos etc, and makes that into a curriculum, which is a lot harder than lit based (purchase spine, purchase extra books, divide spine, assign reading = done)
* Weekly Guides/Checklists: Either via subject or week. I don't want to daily plan anymore, I want just an overview of what needs to be completed for the "Week" not the "day".
* Natural Learning/Project Based Learning/Relaxed Homeschooling Plans/Checklists/Overviews.
If anybody has any links or pics or anything, I would love to see it! :001_smile:
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No help here. I have one, I barely use it :tongue_smilie:
I use lever arch files, and where I live (don't know if it's different in the US) they are 2 ring, so my trust little one gets a big workout (actually, I found out I have 2 2 hole punches :001_huh: lol)
I dislike ring binders (without the lever) I am forever getting pinched skin, or hurting myself on them.
Good luck with your search. Whatever one mine is (3 hole), it sounds similar to yours, barely takes any paper, takes up a lot of room, and requires "oomph" to punch it.
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Looks wonderful!
We'll be doing Nature Studies from next year onwards. This year, I'm just going to be using "Fifteen Minutes Outside" to get used to the daily walkarounds, and hopefully get them to be more understanding about when I say to come back inside :tongue_smilie:
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We are a very open, non-conservative family, they can talk to us about anything. But even I skipped a few pages, glossed over things, and literally cringed at some of the pictures (and my children were present at all of my births)
We have the first two books, and I really feel each book is meant for the latter age range (or a bit beyond)
I.e.
Book 1 - Says 3 to 5. I would say 5-7
Book 2 - says 5-8, i would say 8-11
Book 3 & 4 (I haven't read) could probably be done 12+.
THey are VERY graphic, even if its just pencil drawings. I don't want the kids to know at age 5 what DH & I do to the detail in our bedroom :001_huh:
The book I had when I was younger (and I was pretty sure I purchased,...will have to go looking) is Where did I come from? I can't remember the details of it, it may still be quite graphic, but its more cartoony/light looking, than the darker drawings of the God's Design Series.
It would be really nice to have a book that teachers the basics, but glossing over the whole s*x part, as I think I can objectively do that talk with my children when they are ready, which I don't (IMO) think is at age 5. :confused:
:bigear: Listening for more ideas
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I got a laugh as the first time I read this I thought Chaos was a concept, a force in the world, then I realized it was one of your children.
:tongue_smilie:
He is a force. A Natural Tornado/Whirlwind of utter mass destruction. He lives up to his nickname :glare: . Least he's got past the shriek/screaming as a language, now that time was utter fun, must of sounded like I was murdering children daily. :001_huh: He only does the screaming/shrieking/yelling when he's excited/overstimulated, which is now only 70% of the time :tongue_smilie:
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in a word .... BIG :lol:
Every single serving from every single place was enough to feed a family. The size of the pizza slice had me wondering how big the oven must be. THe "single" serve of lasagne was enough to drown a family. And gosh, even the mcdonalds stuff was BIG. Even hubby (notorious over-eater) couldn't eat a single serve of anything.
The shops & streets were somewhere between sydney & england in look and feel. Kind of dark/grey/morose feeling for streets/outside, with the inside of the stores all "sterile" and open (just display, not much stock noticable)
In hawaii, the shops/mall looked and felt sterile (missing emotions) and the landscape was.....picture perfect, which made me realize picture perfect is not perfect after all (it too looked cold, everything in its uniform place)
I actually liked US for shopping, and just general looking
I loved Bali & Fiji (off the beaten track AND resorts, so all of it) it felt homey, very cultural, down to earth/nature-y. My mother went on that trip, she had major culture shock. Only thing I didn't like about that were the horses (nasty looking flea-bitten, stubborn un-horse looking things)
But these are the sort of views I am use to :D So people from US may get culture shock coming here too:
Kangaroo on Beach
Evil Emu's
Backyard of old House
Atlas Petting the Kangaroo
Chaos' Wombat Friend
:tongue_smilie:
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I know where your coming from. We tried Sonlight, and it was too jump, I tried using wtm recc's and "tweaking" and it was too jumpy (even with all the thought out schedules, extras my kids need etc)
Now I'm piecing the whole thing together properly myself, with no reccs. I will NOT make a 36 week schedule, as we end up dumping it all the time.
We'll use Winter Promise as our theme for the year, and work around that (WP suits my childrens styles, they'll have fun, and it takes care of one subject at least) everything else will be worked round it. I will not tweak WP at all (except secularising it), and will do it as is. Even the full program is less than what I would end up making myself with WTM + extras +supplements lol. Maths & LA will be worked on in some form or another daily. WP will be used 4 days a week and the 5th day shall be for the things WP doesn't cover (so this year, it would be science, next year will be Australian History) I will be keeping things easy, and simple, and will have overviews for each subject (showing what needs to be completed for the year for that subject, and will list "supplemental" items I have in case they need a change or need to work on a skill (i.e. SM for Maths, but we also have Pattern Blocks & Activity Books, Peggy Kaye book etc)
I need a record keeper, so am using a Natural Learners Journal. I write things down only after we have done them (with the exception of doctors appointments which we write in advance). I put post-it notes on the bottom (3 part ones) that show what school stuff needs to be done, what I need to do, and anything DH needs to do. It also has notes pages, reading log, and Chart for Atlas' Diabetes. I will be getting it edited to add the subject items.
Theres a lot more than that to it, and it sounds more complex than if I listed what I did before, but this way will work a lot better for us. Even though I am a super planner/organizer, and always want to schedule everything, its apparently not the best way we learn. I will HUG my winter Promise and lovingly stroke it if I need to look at a schedule :lol: (even thats loosely done, just shows deets for the one subject, and we'll just mark it off as we do a day)
Its hard to figure out what works for you, I probably won't fully figure it out until the end of this year...then the kids will probably change or something will happen and all my beautiful plans will be in the dust again :tongue_smilie:
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Well, I have a super fancy keep them in snack bags system.
I keep them in snack bags.
:lol: LOL. Thanks for that. its 3am, and I've just finished all my curriculum shopping. I needed a laugh.
*ahem* as you were :tongue_smilie:
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Don't mind me, just subscribing :bigear: :tongue_smilie:
I have it on my wishlist to purchase later (the PO box man is already going to have a flood of bookdepository stuff sent his way - I need to give him a break :tongue_smilie: )
Other stuff I got (in case it helps at all)
The Write Start
Writing Strands 1 (Pre-writers)
Tin Man Press
Prufrock Press
Other ones that may be of interest to you:
Story Starters
Bravewrite/Jot It Down/The Wand/The Arrow
Writing Tales
Write Shop
I mostly just pick out ideas that suit us and leave the rest ;) I have read quite a number of books where I wholly do not agree with the authors stance, but at the same time, have taken a number of good ideas away from the book.
I'm all ears to hear what others say about this book :)
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Granted, I'm in Aus, but I near fainted :scared:
I have 4 books in my cart (4x Preschooler Activity Books) so $80 total. And the shipping they want is $155! :001_huh: Is that....normal? :confused: Do they overcharge if they don't know, and then charge back, or is it just insane?
I'm really upset, I purchased the Preschooler needs to know from RR with the intention of getting the Activity Books to go with it. I didn't realize the only place to get the books from was either the CK bookstore or from some stranger charging 3x the price who may not send it. :(
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Right Start Games (Manipulatives)
Kitchen Table Math (Resource Book/Real Life Maths)
Math Games - Peggy Kaye (Games/Resource Book)
Math on the Level (Living Maths/Real Life Maths)
Pattern Blocks & books (Manipulatives)
Singapore (with Manipulatives reccommended) (Curriculum & Manipulatives)
Miquon (Workbooks, C-Rod/Manipulative Based)
Math Lessons for a Living Education (Queen Homeschool) (Living/Story Maths)
Living Maths Website (Living/Story Maths)
Kumon Maths (Workbook)
Family Maths Book Series (Games/Resource Book)
Verbal Math Lessons (Oral Lessons)
Mathstart Books (Living/Story Books)
Sir Cumference Series (Living/Story Books)
Learning Links (Games/Manipulatives)
Tangrams (Games/Manipulatives)
Pentomino (Games/Manipulatives)
Attribute Blocks (Games/Manipulatives)
Cuinsenaire Rod Activity Books (Games/Manipulatives)
Mathtacular and/or Kit (DVD/Manipulatives)
Hot Dots Math (Electronic Pen/Game)
Math Analogies (Workbook)
Tin Man Press (Workbook/Outside the Box thinking)
Prufrock Press (Gifted/Workbook)
Critical Thinking Company (Logic/Workbook)
Koplow Games (Games)
Math Bingo (Games)
Reader Rabbit Maths (CD-Rom)
IXL (Website)
Professor B (Software)
Tops Science Math (Real Life Maths/Manipulatives)
Math Song CD & Workbook (CD/Workbook)
Thats about all I can think of right now. I know theres others, but brain did done broken :tongue_smilie:
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Just butting in with my big ears :bigear:
I'm purchasing Book 1 of KTM (as well as Kaye's Games for Learning, MUS, and still umming and ahhing over Mathtacular Manip Kit) for Chaos. I'm probably just going to be running behind him yelling out facts anyway :lol: He basically needs stuff where he can move, fidget, destory, and grab things :tongue_smilie: SM he scribbled all over about 2 months go, he'll be 5 in 2 weeks. Yet Eve, just did about 3 whole lessons in one sitting and wanted to do more. I need Justin (Mathtacular) to come to my house, and just jump and dance around with all his manipulatives, now that, would be a perfect curriculum...and I can just sit here with WTM :D
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Its not starting for another day or so (I get confused about the time differences and whether they put up at midnight or beginning of BH)
I'm just trying to find out if the HSBC one would be international? I'm trying to purchase stuff today for everything I need, and Atelier is on that list.
Obviously, if it doesn't offer international shipping, there is no point waiting for it, and I'll go purchase from Rainbow Resource.
Does anyone know if this is a US/Canada only thing? (most "send" items seem to be, I'm in Australia)
Thanks
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I don't think I would do a day in the life :tongue_smilie:
Although its bound to be a good form of birth control if I did :lol:
Lucky for the kids, this past week has been quite easy going, just concentrating on the basics. We've mostly been doing school of an evening (maths & phonics) and other subjects interspersed randomly. Today they are playing with magnets, so I was teaching them about Repulsion & attraction. Chaos is counting the magnetic putty as playdoh, and was strengthening his hand skills. :tongue_smilie:
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Hi Everyone,
I will be using Winter Promise HIH, and I think it lists an old encyclopedia I can't get anymore anyway, so was looking at these two.
You can see the ages of my kids below (preschool (smart, happy, fits most learning styles), pre-k(poss. ASD/SPD, audio/visual, limited vocab) & Grade 1 (Visual, Project-based learner, naturally very curious), they are very VISUAL children. I have gotten multiple encyclopedias from the library, and they prefer ones with snippets of information and lots of pictures (they're only young, very fidgity etc)
Right now all we have is an Usborne Pocket Encyclopedia of World History, which although contains snippets, misses out on many things it seems.
We are looking at these two:
Usborne First Enyclopedia of History
Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
ETA: Also Found The Little Book of History
We are just after something for this year, so am not bothered by "longetivity" of the enyclopedia. I just want something they can all look at and take something away from, so something visual with simple information.
If you have any other suggestions, I am all ears. I am hoping to purchase this tommorrow (very late at night here) so will check back in the morning :D
Thank you :grouphug:
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I've heard of a couple of people that use the SOTW audios every year (all 4 volumes a year) and the retention seems to be quite high. They get a constant chronological view in the car every year, so yes, I would say it becomes memorized.
We've moved away from SOTW to WinterPromise, but I plan to purchase the other two volumes of SOTW (3&4), and play them in the car. We'll have the MP3 versions, so hubby is just going to put them into the mp3 player, and have it so each time we hop in as a family I can just press play and it will resume from wherever it left off. It would be even better to have a song version....my kids seem to learn everything from songs :lol: So since it will be on the MP3 player it also won't affect his radio/CD playing. We just have to re-hook up the speakers to the back of the car.
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For those who have printed and bound their own whole planners, what type paper did you use?
Thanks!
For my new natural learners journal (not blogged about yet) I just used normal copy paper (so I think its something like 80gsm? :confused: ) But I was literally in a rush (had to print it out and get it to the office place to be bound straight away) I'm doing up another one soon, and I will probably go get the next gsm up (100? 120? ) because its just that *little* itsy bit too see-through. Just enough that it irks me LOL. But thats my OCD coming into play.
I used the board/card type paper at the front and back, then they added a vinyl type backing and a clear cover. The two bits of card inside just helped make it still flexible, but not too floppy, so I will probably do the same with the next lot.
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We don't do journals as such, but we do Oral Creative Writing (storytelling)
She narrates, and I scribe. I don't correct any grammar, or fix up what she says at all (unless she's in the middle of talking, and goes "no wait" and backtracks, then obviously I do the same.
Once she's actually writing, I will have her do the same thing. Story telling/Creative writing about whatever she wants, and no corrections will be made.
But I live under the assumption, that there should be a time just for the child to freely write and not feel like he/she is making mistakes. Just somewhere to get her thoughts out, bring their self-esteem up, and provide an outlet.
Sometimes we do an alternative editor game.I'll be both the scribe and the editor, so if she has true "writer's block" I will provide some ideas/keywords to get her going again, then after its been scribed, I become the editor, and correct it for publication ;)
Even as she gets older, I think I will keep in a journal/book/time when she can just write, not worrying about usage or spelling errors.
Is there any way to "befriend" a possibly autistic 3-year-old?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
What about something visual? Like Walking with Dinosaurs? (well maybe not that, but something educational and interesting about dino's) What about a mini fossil dig?
It really depends on the type of child he is, sensory wise. Does he like to be dirty? Get into things? Then something like the dig could be fun. If he's quite and prefer stuffed animals and cleanliness, obviously thats not the way to go. Basically you don't want to provide a sensory experience he'll hate.
Trash-o-saurus (Homeschool dens blog) is a big undertaking, but would be fun, to splatter, and help paint etc.
I have a sensory seeker, so its hard to think of things for cleanliness/quietness (although mine does tend to be inconsistent with the dirty/clean part, he's afraid of new sensory stuff like "goop" and its 50/50 whether it will be a win/lose situation.
What about Kumon books? Activity Bags?
Some children prefer no talk and more action. If he doesn't want to talk, maybe try going through the activity approach, just play around with something (like activity bags etc) till he catches on and see if he joins in.
Dino puzzles, have you tried those? Either the 3d balsa wood skeletons or the normal jogsaw puzzles.
My son was enamoured with the polymer croc we got. You put in in a tub of water and over the next few days, he grows. He was excited to keep coming back an realizing it had gotten bigger. There are hatching dino versions as well.
Something I saw that was pretty cool was a helium balloon dino. You can order it, then go to the shop to get him filled up. He has a weight/leash, so he can become your pet dino, and you can walk around with him. Remote Control stuff is another thing my son likes.
Chaos (DS) is currently on a Disney Cars obsession, hes had this fascination for about 3 years? I'm guessing, now. He'd probably be bored with just books as well. He has electronic Mcqueens, Mcqueen story pillows, stuffed soft mcqueens, a million and two diecast cars, clothing etc. We walked past McQueen Boxer Shorts and he even got excited over those (although ended up coming out of the store with a loop the loop chuggington & train set, his first non-cars purchase in ages lol. He likes chuggington too, just not as much as Cars and his "Queen".