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BetterthanIdeserve

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  1. http://www.ncfca.org/ is the site for information about the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association. The two homeschool groups in my area are both members of this I believe.
  2. Any recommendations for Physical Science with an 8th grader and advanced 5th grader? I would probably have them read separately, but do experiments as a family. My kids have been taking Apologia science at a homeschool enrichment center the last few years, but we will most likely be doing science at home this next year. I really don't want to do three different sciences, but I'm not sure how I want to combine the kids this coming year. My oldest is finishing up Apologia's General Science and will be ready for Apologia's Physical Science in 8th grade. My middle child is finishing Zoology 3: Land Animals and was going to take Chem/Physics next year for 5th grade. My youngest is taking Zoology 2: Swimming Creature and was going to take Astronomy next year for 3rd grade. I think my focus needs to be on my 8th grader and something related to Physical Science. The Apologia topics for Physical Science are some of what she is weakest in and make a good fit, I'm just not sold on Apologia (but my kids seem to enjoy it and never complain about it). She keeps talking about wanting to take Physics, but doesn't have the math to jump into it yet. The topics for Apologia Physical Science: Measurement and Units, The Earth, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Lithosphere, Weather, Introduction to Physics to understand the mechanics of motion, forces, and energy, Newton’s Laws and the Forces in Creation to understand friction, static and kinetic energy, gravity, electromagnetic forces, and electrical circuits, Solar System, Stars, and Galaxies. An Introduction to Chemistry for a basic introduction to atoms and molecules. It probably makes more sense to combine my advanced upcoming 5th grader with his older sister than with my upcoming 3rd grader. My middle child is currently in 4th grade and reading at a 9th or 10th grade level and retains most of what he reads in science and history. He may not be able to handle all the written work though, but that's easy to cut back on. He's working above level in History, but I've kept him at grade level in Science at our enrichment center. If I could have my youngest do a WTM recommended approach on these topics, it would keep us all together. Someone recommended MasterBooks Applied Engineering. It sounds interesting, but I'm a bit hesitant to not cover Physical Sciences in a tradtional way. Yet, I'd love to do something more delight led. Please send any recommendations my way!
  3. You might check out the Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool website. It's free! My kids have been learning a lot with very little input from me.
  4. This doesn't do the original poster any good, but in case someone else is interested... At the Dialectic level I have only taught Literature (my own kids are LG and UG, but I teach D Lit at a co-op). We are just finishing up unit 3, so I don't have anything to offer regarding unit 4 yet. -The first book of the year, Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier, was painful for most of my students to read. I have 48 7th-10th graders in four different D classes (the 10th graders are struggling readers/new to TOG). I can't say that any of them loved it, and only a few liked it. It took four weeks and was a poor start to the year (gave them a poor taste for literature). However, it did paint a great picture of what war in Europe/Russia was like at that time. If you are needing to ease into the school year, maybe consider skipping it or reading it aloud so it won't be so painful to your student. Or assign as summer reading? I'm not one to skip usually, but I would preview it before assigning it. -Frankenstein - While the recommended abridged version is almost too easy for advanced 8th-9th grade readers (but after Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier that is a nice change of pace), I think it gives a great taste of the original without taking too long. I think the original would be overwhelming (in time and reading level) for most 6th-8th graders. -David Copperfield - I think the abridged version is ok, but the richness of the original is missing. However, it is an appropriate introduction for most 6th-8th graders. I would guess that most students would need more time if you assigned the original. I believe this is one where the recommended version was helpful in completing the Student Activity Page. -The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - this was covered in two weeks and was a lot more reading that what students had been used to. I would try to spread it out over three weeks instead (maybe start reading the week before assigned). -Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass - this creeped me out as a kid, but I LOVED teaching it. I highly recommend using The Annotated Alice (or Spark Notes) to help you teach it. I borrowed a copy from the library, but I wasn't able to renew it. I indulged myself and bought my own copy. Can't recommend it enough! -Poetry: Emily Dickinson and William Wordsworth. Younger students would benefit from more hand holding through the poetry. They learned some literary analysis tools, but most really didn't get much out of the poetry if they read it all on their own. (Robert Browning is coming up in Unit 4.) -I can't think of anything else to caution or consider. I've really enjoyed the selection for the most part.
  5. My10yo DD has been taking 1 1/2 hours (or more) to get her (Singapore) math done. Part of her problem is attentiveness; this year she seems to be getting distracted much more easily than normal. I think we're going to send her to DH's home office to do some work to help with that. I think we're also going to try getting her up before breakfast to get math done before anything else. She has been reading the MIF 5B lesson herself and then doing the workbook. She has always wanted me sit beside her while she does her math, but at the end of 4th grade we transitioned her to doing it on her own. Math has been harder for her this year, so I still am helping often. I waffle back and forth between thinking my expectations are too high for her to do most of it on her own (because she could six months ago) to thinking this is more on her end and she is flaking out on me. Okay, enough with that. How long does your 10yo/5th grader spend on math?
  6. Oops, my DD just finished 4B, not 5B. That's what comes from looking ahead to next year's curriculum late at night. :) I'll go edit the OP.
  7. I am looking for more review to do with Singapore style math. Any suggestions? Has anyone used Math Express or Math Sprints? My DD10 just finished MIF 5A/5B 4A/4B, but didn't score very well on the End of the Year Review/Test. We never moved past a chapter unless she scored 90% or more at the end of each chapter. She had to go back and do some review or extra practice for about half of the chapters before moving on. Unfortunately, she is not very detail oriented and that is often more of a problem than mastering the concepts. I think she would benefit from some daily review of a variety of concepts. I started off the year pulling together some review problems for her, but that didn't last very long. We need something already put together. I'd appreciate any suggestions!
  8. My 9yo is doing the Discover 4 Yourself Inductive Bible Study: How to Study the Bible. It was a bit much for her at first and she does need my help occasionally but she is doing better now that I have her work for just 15 minutes at a time rather than trying to complete a lesson in one setting (I'm not sure how long they're supposed to take, but some were just too long for her). There are about 20 different studies in this kids' series.
  9. I have to agree with this. I saw great progress in my daughter's reading after just one month of AAS1. I'm getting ready to start it with my 6yo DS.
  10. Thank you so much for the feedback! My 9yo DD is just wrapping up with WWE3 and usually needs 4-5 repetitions for dication. I am so glad to know that this is not unusual. I was struggling with my decision on what to do for 4th grade and this feedback really helps. Also, I hadn't quite decided what to do with my 6yo DS (I don't think he's quite ready to do WWE1 in one year), so we'll just spread it out and take it slow. Thanks again!
  11. I tend to agree that the best way for kids to learn to have a good work ethic is to see it modeled. Yet I don't believe that is enough for many people (perhaps because of personality and/or learning style). I think it's good to talk about it, share stories about good examples, and set goals/expectations for kids and increase those as they grow. It seems like the people with the best work ethic that I know had greater responsibilities as kids and often worked alongside their parents in some way (or else they left home at a very young age and had to work very hard to take care of themselves=greater responsibility). I think wealth, and how the family handles it, as a child can also have an impact. I see a very interesting pattern in my husband's large family. The older and younger kids (20 years difference between the oldest and youngest) have a strong work ethic. However, I don't see a strong work ethic in the middle kids (although as they get older, I am seeing more as they become responsible for their own families). The oldest kids and younger kids grew up with little extra money in the family and most of them worked (especially the older ones) at outside jobs when they were old enough. However the middle kids experienced life a bit differently during a period of time when the family had a great deal more money. I'm sure it was more than that, but my husband (one of the oldest) has commented on the difference he sees in his nine siblings more than once.
  12. My kids are 8, 5, and 3. I am up by 6, but my goal is 5:30. My husband has breakfast ready for the the two of us at 6. We eat together and I start my quiet time. My husband likes to have breakfast with me, but that doesn't mean he really feels like talking to me that early in the morning. :) Usually at least one of my kids is up between 6:30 and 7:00. They are welcome to come in for a hug and brief cuddle time at the table, and then I ask them to come back at 7:00 so that I can finish my Bible study without lots of interruptions. I start fixing the kids breakfast at 7:00 and wake the others up when it's ready. I have a morning routine chart that I ask them to work through on their own ( clear dishes from table, brush teeth, wash hands/face, get dressed, put away clothes, brush hair, and then hug me so that I know they are done - this helps for the mornings when we need to go somewhere). At 8:00 we do character training/family devotions. Last week I decided to get my 8yo started on some school subjects that she can do on her own at about 8:30 so I can get on the treadmill for about 30 minutes while the younger ones play. I usually start giving one-on-one attention with the 8yo or 5yo as soon as I come back upstairs and wait to shower later. I recently started a healthy snack break at 10:00 so that we can push lunch back until 1:00 and hopefully be done with school by then. We tend to fizzle out at lunch and have a hard time coming back to school work. This seems to be working well for us, but I have to admit our mornings seem to look different every few months.
  13. Not sure if this would be a good fit, but we are using Easy Peasy All-in-one-homeschool online for free. Just a note: it is mixed in with Physics so I went through and wrote down which lessons were Chemistry. We're about half way through the experiments from "Adventures with Atoms nd Molecules" and have enjoyed it.
  14. We do 2 weeks of a complete break, 3 weeks of 2-3 half days (mainly reading and math) and then 1 week off for the kids when I do a lot of my prep work for the year. I call that our 6 week summer break and we start back up when it gets really hot. I rarely do 5 days a week of school; most of our weeks are only 4 days of school and one week of the month is usually only two days or less. I really like flexibility to enjoy nice weather off and do school when it's hot (my kids do not like the heat). I feel like my kids do better/have better attitudes when we stay close to our routine. I like having a day each week that can be for errands/fun/catch up around the house. Also this schedule helps me not worry about trying to do school on the days that I have a migraine. I just make sure we have at least the same number of days as our local school district. Often we end up with just a few more days than our schools because I like to finish all our curriculum.
  15. I totally missed Easy Peasy Spanish! My 8yo is doing Chemistry and Computer work from there. I will have to check it out. I meet with a group of homeschool freshmen twice a week who are using Rosetta Stone. We practice conversation and work on grammar that may be hard to pick up because it is not explicitly explained. I had my daughter start using Rosetta Stone and she loves it. It's a bit pricey but I appreciate that it is pretty hands off for me (I sit down with her about once a week) and I just work on incorporating conversational Spanish here and there. Buying RS with a Groupon is usually the least expensive route to go for anyone who is thinking about it.
  16. This year I started checking math with my 8yo. I showed her how to use the answer key and how I wanted her to mark incorrect answers. After doing that for a few weeks, I started having her check her answers on her own. She is supposed to bring me her work after it has been checked and we go over wrong answers together. I did have to go back with her at one point and we did it together again for a few days. It's been going well, and I probably could have started her doing that earlier. I still grade her tests.
  17. Hello all! My 8DD is really struggling with the longer dictations in WWE3 this year. Last year was great with shorter sentences. The 12-15 word dictations were a challenge, but rarely can she do the 16-20 word dictations in WWE3 with just 3 repetitions of the sentence(s). I've only been doing these dictations about twice a week (rather than the assigned 3) and do dictation from All About Spelling 4 on a third day (I usually do 2 sentences together to get up to 12-16 words, but these are simpler words=easier). I kept thinking it would get easier for her as the year progressed, but I've seen very little improvement. It still takes dictating the sentence at least 4 times with sometimes a 5th dictation. Any suggestions? Anyone else experienced the same thing? I've really enjoyed WWE, but my DD has expressed so much frustration this year (she's also had more difficulty with narrations this year but was doing great last year). I'm trying to decide what to do next year, because she has expressed a desire to do more writing (and not narrations and dictations). On a positive note, she really likes FLL3 and is doing really well with it. I usually skip the narrations and dictations there because of of everything else we are doing. I just took a moment to look at WWE4 an found this description from Peace Hill Press: Writing With Ease, Level 4 is the challenge level! Many students will be read to go on to an expository writing program, such as our Writing With Skill curriculum, after finishing Writing With Ease, Level 3. But some need a little more practice, confidence, and maturity. That's where Level 4 comes in. Has anyone skipped WWE4 and gone straight to WWS? To be honest, I don't think she's ready for it based on the diagnostic tool, but I can't help but cringe a little at thought of doing WWE4 with DD. I'd love some feedback, or if nothing else, simple encouragement would help. :)
  18. Yowzers! After reading this thread, I decided to check the ranking of my local elementary school. It ranked the lowest of the 34 in my city and was in the 20% for the state. I wasn't expecting that...guess I won't be having 2nd thoughts!
  19. I mainly chose AAS because I was trying to avoid workbooks and I liked the multi-learning style approach along with the rules.I saw significant improvement in my daughter's reading ability in the first month of AAS1 - it really improved her understanding of phonics. I have waffled each year about continuing the curriculum because it so teacher intensive, but we're still using it at Level 4 and I just bought Level 5. Some days I have been known to have her read the lesson herself and copy the word list 2-3 times. I also don't do quite as much dictation as they suggest. We're also doing WWE and sometimes I'll just choose dictation from one of the programs rather than doing both. We do spelling three days a week with one day for review (I don't have all the word cards punched out-we focus on key cards, sound cards, and problem words), one day of new teaching (and 1-2 dictation sentences) and another day of 2-4 dictations sentences with 1-2 writing station sentences. I realize that she could probably be a better speller if I followed the curriculum completely as designed, but I thing we've reached a good balance for us.
  20. A local marathon has a kids marathon. The kids run/walk in whatever they increments they are comfortable with before race day - they are supposed to do 25 miles and have a chart to fill out. On race day they run 1 or 1.2 miles to finish their marathon. It took doing this and "training" with another family twice a week to get my daughter moving more.
  21. My 3yo was given a small dry erase board (black on one side, white on the other) for his birthday. It came with dry-erase crayons that out are washable I believe. I only pull it out when I am doing handwriting with his KG brother. Since we do most of our homeschooling at the kitchen table, I also let my 3yo play in the sink a lot. Sure he gets wet, and I sometimes have to have him dry off the floor with a towel, but he is so happy to play in the water. Duplo legos! Puzzles. Starfall.com. Monkeys in a barrel. Audio stories from the library. Counting bears (with strict instructions that they don't get carried off). When I have a few minutes, I sit down and we do "math" with the bears before I have him sort them and put them away. Let him play in a sheet fort in the room next to us. Bubbles outside. Sidewalk chalk on the back patio where I can watch from the kitchen door. His own notebook.
  22. After seeing this thread a few days ago, I jumped on the OneNote bandwagon (we already had it, but I've never used it). Two late nights and probably 12 hours later, I've included the curriculum I've used for each grade so far (fortunately we're only up to 3rd grade) with images and links. I've also noted what I will need to replace/purchase for the younger kids as they move up. Ahh, I do so enjoy organizing! My DH just kind of shook his head and told me I needed to stop staying up past midnight. :blushing:
  23. My 3rd grader just started the book "What the Bible is All About for Young Explorers" an adaption to "What the Bible is All About" by Dr. Henrietta Mears. My plan is for her to read 2 pages at a time and I'm helping her take notes. It introduces the different sections of the Bible and then gives an overview of each book. It includes simple illustrations as it covers the chapters. There are maps and timelines and a dictionary in the back. I got mine used for $8. I just looked on Amazon. There is a 2011 edition called "What the Bible is All About: Bible Handbook for Kids" for $13.44. It's advertised for children to young teens. I'm thinking she'll spend 15 minutes a day (reading on her own and note taking with me), 3-4 times a week. She's already doing so much other Bible-related learning that I didn't want something that would take too much time.You could cover more pages at a time, but for now I wanted to keep it fairly short.This seems like a great fit; I like the overview and the price is great!
  24. We finished our school year today! The next two weeks will be completely off school and then we do 4 weeks of light school work. Homeschool Lite for us will probably be 3 days a week of 30 minutes directed reading and 30-45 minutes of math (drill, review of difficult concepts, and then possibly starting slowly into the next level). This summer we we will aslo focus on cooking skills and drawing skills at least two times a week - I hope! I usually start our school year the first or second week of July - when it starts to get hot. Going to the pool in the late afternoon/evening is a great motivator for having a good attitude with school! I keep most of our school weeks to 4 days a week and we take some extra days off in the fall when the weather is nice.
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