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violingirl

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Everything posted by violingirl

  1. I don't assign homework as a separate thing, but if DS doesn't get through what he's supposed to because of dawdling then yes he has to finish it in the evening with his dad. DH is a great guy, but he doesn't have a lot of patience for laziness, so it has only happened a few times this year. Now I just have to remind DS that he can always finish his work with Daddy looking over his shoulder and that almost always gets him moving. If we don't get done because I set out to accomplish too much that day or because of outside issues then I let the work go and re-assign it to another day.
  2. Whenever my boys tell me their room is "clean" I ask if they're sure: "The whole floor is clean? There isn't even one thing on the floor? Your dresser is clean? Your toys are all put away? Did you put things in the closet that shouldn't be in there?" And then I remind them that anything left out will go in my box (the one where toys and things go and don't return until you practically forgot you even had them). That solves 90% of the extra stuff they didn't see the first time. Then I actually go check their room and stand in the doorway and point things out: "There's something under your bed. Check your trash can to see if it needs emptied, I see books under your blankets..." and etc.
  3. Core subjects take us about 2 hours and we school 5 days a week. That time includes LA, math, handwriting, science and history. We school for another hour that includes art and "project time" for whatever it is he's currently obsessed with.
  4. My now 6.5yo learned to finger knit last year and is learning to knit on straights in the last few weeks. I plan to teach him to sew simple things too in the next year or two- everyone should know how to sew a button back on or fix a hole in a pocket. Both of the boys cook with me and DH so they're learnin that too. And DS2 has really shown an interest in DH's model planes, so that might become something he can do when he's a bit older.
  5. See, we did talk about going to Europe too, but we only talked about it for about an hour last night. We've just scratched the surface of the possibilities here I think. I was just thinking we might get more bang for our buck by staying in the U.S. (though *love* your suggestion to hit Canada and Mexico too...) but you make a good point about it being easier for the kids to see the States any other time... So much thinking to do. See- this is why I asked. Our understanding is that they pay his regular salary during the sabbatical, and they pay for any travel and expenses having to do with the required service project, but not other costs toward what you choose to do with that time unless it's specifically related to the business. He's going to find out more this week and talk to some co-workers to see what they've done with their sabbatical time.
  6. DH's boss reminded him yesterday that he has a sabbatical coming up in a few years. We knew that was a benefit of this job when he got the job but after him being underemployed for soooo long I think we were both just so happy to have decent employment again that we forgot about this particular perk! Anyway the reminder was very kind- I guess a lot of people spend a few years planning their sabbatical before they actually take it. Basically he'll have 3ish months off to mostly do whatever he wants to do with himself as long as 2 weeks goes into a community service project. Our boys will be around 4th/5th grade by then and our daughter will be 4 or 5. We're hoping he'll be able to work on a project that the boys can be include in if not all of us. So we're thinking we want to take the summer and travel if we can start saving now. Right now we're thinking a tour of the U.S. and of course my homeschooling brain went to all the historical sites we could visit. But I know there are SO many possibilities! We will have access to a camper that can sleep our whole family comfortably and has a full kitchen, so that will probably be the most cost effective way to do our meals and sleeping arrangements, but we're not tied to that since we're starting so early to save. So what would you do and where would you go?
  7. We're planning to use the Elections 2012 Unit Study by Amanda Bennett. My son will be 7 then and there is so much offered in that unit study that I can make it into as much or as little as he's interested in.
  8. With my 6.5yo we've always read the unsanitized versions but my 4.5yo is much more sensitive so I've been a lot more choosy with him. It's frequently surprising to me which elements make a story too scary for him, so I usually give him a preview (that the story involves someone dying or something like that) and then let him decide if he wants to listen. He's pretty good about speaking up if something is too scary for him and he will sometimes decide mid-story that it's too much and will go do something else until I'm done reading to his brother.
  9. I don't remember learning to read, but I do remember feeling like the adults around me were holding back this great secret when it came to this "reading" thing. Apparently I begged to learn to read when I was 3 and my mom told me to go be a little kid and play. I started figuring it out for myself when I was 4 so my mom decided that if I was going to do it I might as well do it "right". So she started using the Victory Drill Book with me and says I was reading with fluency within about 6 weeks. I've used the same copy of the book I learned to read with with both of my boys. :) This was back in the mid-80s and my mom had planned to homeschool me anyway. We just started a bit earlier than she had intended.
  10. I technically schedule 36-40 weeks, but we school year round. The other 12ish weeks give us room to follow rabbit trails and also time off for appointments and traveling. We also host most of my family's events that happen through the year at our house so we take time off if I need to prep for a get together that evening or something.
  11. I sincerely believe that I'm a better and healthier mother for having time to pursue my interests. My husband and I work opposite shifts to be home with our kids, so our general rule during the day no matter who is home is to work hard during the day so that he and I can be "off the clock" once the kids are in bed. Of course we take care of something after that time if something comes up, but we try to be totally done with housework and kid stuff before then so that we can spend a bit of time together in the evening before he has to head to work or spend time on our own hobbies. What I don't want is to be in my mom's shoes. She was totally lost for about 2 years after my youngest sibling left home because she had spent her entire life pouring everything into her kids and had no idea what to do with herself after we were all off at college/married/etc. She's just now really getting her own groove going.
  12. Most of this I do while I'm in planning mode in May and June. What works for me is to be totally absorbed by picking materials and planning for a few weeks then to make extensive lists ready to be used later in the year. I don't have a ton of time to plan during the regular school year (I work full time during the school year) so I do as much as I can before our homeschool year begins in July. I organize everything, research and make our book lists for what will need ordered from the library and when, I put together a page for each quarter that includes all the links and extras I want to use (and I go ahead and print/file worksheets right when I find them so I don't have to hunt them down later). Everything is written out into quarterly plans. Then, about 2 weeks before the quarter begins I spend a few hours on a weekend dividing the quarter into weeks and divide out that quarter's work. Because I already have the booklists done I'm just dividing the material out into days. I work on this a little bit each day during our school time whenever DS is working independently. I spend about a half hour or so on the library website every 10 days or so to order upcoming books, but I don't have to research again because I'm working off my list from earlier in the year.
  13. We have a pretty specific schedule during the week because of our work schedules and homeschooling, and if I spend time on my computer that is meant to go to something else then something important is getting missed and I don't want that to happen. I do check work email on my phone through the day, but otherwise between 7:30 a.m. and bedtime for the kids I don't get on the computer unless it's work-related and a necessity.
  14. - I don't watch t.v. until after the kids are in bed, and if it is on I'm always working on something else too- school plans, knitting, answering work email, *something*. - I don't get distracted while organizing or cleaning. If I'm cleaning the bathroom and find something that belongs in my son's room I don't go put it away right away. I set the object in the hall and finish cleaning the bathroom before putting it away. - I don't "work" after the dinner-related chores are done. Cleaning and keeping things picked up is a family job and we all work at it through the day. After dinner we want to actually enjoy our time together so we choose to work really hard during the day at whatever needs done so that we truly have free time in the evenings. - I really try hard not to let any one thing pile up- dishes, laundry, a room in need of cleaning- whatever. The longer I let it go the more overwhelming it is to tackle, so I try to take care of things as they need done instead of waiting until it becomes a dire situation. - I don't do it all myself. My kids have a daily chore list of age-appropriate chores and my husband does quite a lot around the house too. We both work full time and each have daily things we take care of- for example I start laundry in the morning, move it to the dryer before I start working and he and the boys take care of all the folding and putting away once he is home in the afternoons. Our goal by Friday dinner is to not have any chores to carry into the weekend and I could never do that if it were just me handling every household chore along with my work schedule and homeschooling (with which DH also helps).
  15. As part of school I plan general music appreciation. I schedule 1 composer per term (we use four 3-month terms) and we read about that composer, look up youtube videos of performances of that composer's music and have "what do you think?" conversations. As part of that conversation we talk about elements of music that we notice in the composers work- if s/he wrote mostly solo music or works for ensembles, if the composer seemed to prefer tempo or dynamic style, or maybe a certain beat. I really encourage my kids to be honest about their opinion but also to give a reason why they do or don't like a certain style or piece. We usually spend 2 or 3 days at the beginning of the month doing the above activities, and then for the rest of the month I try to have that composer's music on in the background a few times per week. We try to go to 1 concert each term also, and sometimes I can get 2 in there. The symphony here runs 2 concerts a year specifically for school-aged kids and also has open rehearsals. We also sometimes go to the free recitals given by graduate students at local area colleges. I'm a private music teacher and my kids take lessons in my studio- 6.5yo studies the violin and my younger one is participating in one of my intro classes for prek/K students. He'll start piano in the fall after he turns 5. Because they study their instrument with me I won't include theory as part of school; it will be part of their lessons just as I'd do with any of my music students.
  16. I vote to do what your child is ready to do. Just like I'd say not to push a kid forward that isn't ready to move I wouldn't hold a kid back who is obviously ready to move on. I had the same problem with DS1- October birthday, but totally ready to start Kindergarten when he was almost 5. We decided to go ahead and went at his pace. We're doing first grade this year (technically ahead too) and we both know he'll have to do an "extra" year of school before he can go to a brick and mortar school if he does go someday. DS2 is a July birthday who technically makes the cut-off and would technically start Kindergarten this fall after he turns 5, but if I weren't homeschooling I wouldn't send him- he *totally* wouldn't be able to function in a classroom setting. But because we can go slow and take lots of breaks I'm going to start him "on time" but then see if later on we might need to hold or stretch a grade over two years or something.
  17. We each have a library card but we only use my husband's card to check out. I have a hard time keeping track of multiple cards and we've had way less fines since switching to using just 1 card as a family. We're allowed a limit of 200 books per card, and I've had on hold around 50 books- I've never hit a limit on holds that I know of. Right now I probably have 30 books on hold, but some of them have very long wait times or they haven't even been released yet and I'm just on the waiting list for it. On an average week I probably have around 100 books checked out- usually 1 or 2 for DH, 2-3 fiction books for me and a stack of non-fiction, then the rest is school-related for the kids or whatever they pick for free reading. Books are checked out for 30 days and allowed to be renewed up to twice for 30 days each as long as no one else has requested that book.
  18. My oldest really enjoyed The Story of Dr. Dolittle, Charlotte's Web and The Mouse and the Motorcycle last year when he was 5.
  19. Ours is a little weird because DH and I both work full time, but I school in the mornings 6 mornings a week for 3-4 hours and then DH schools with them 3-4 afternoons for about 2 hours.
  20. We usually go out together once or twice a month. We trade baby-sitting with family members and it usually works out for each couple to be able to go out about twice a month. We often do dinner and a movie or just a movie because we're movie dorks, but we also go hang out at the bookstore sometimes or go to the park in the summers. We try to do a weekend away for our anniversary each year too, and in years with less money we've done a kid-less weekend at home which is just as nice sometimes! Again- we trade babysitting like this with family so some other weekend we take their kid(s) so they can have a weekend to themselves too. What to talk about? We make it a rule not to talk about work for either of us, but otherwise we don't seem to run out of topics. We have a lot of common interests outside of work and kids so that helps. :)
  21. Socks. And pretty much anything else you would knit. We also can and freeze a lot of food over the summer/fall for use later in the year, so all our jams, applesauce, syrups, tomato products, pie filling and as much produce as we can freeze well. There are some things we make some of the time but not always, like butter and our own bread and tortillas. I make and freeze chicken stock every time I make a whole chicken, but we sometimes use storebought too.
  22. My 6yo goes to bed around 7:30-8:00 and he's allowed to stay up another half hour if he's reading. He falls asleep with his book about half of the time. He gets up between 7:30 and 8 also, unless his brother wakes him earlier. If he gets up much before 7:30 he's terribly cranky.
  23. Answering for my 6yo first grader: Science 2 History/Social Studies 4 Math 5-6 Phonics/Language Arts 5 Geography 1-2 Spelling none formally this year- we deal with spelling issues as they come up, and we'll start working formally on spelling rules next year. Critical Thinking/Logic none formally Handwriting 5 Music/PE Violin 7 days a week, PE- 1 day formally for whatever sport he's playing, but otherwise I try to make sure they are outside to run around for at least a little while every day that it's possible. Art formally 1 day, but my 4yo loves art and spends most of his free time drawing- he often sucks his brother into it. :)
  24. I don't do it at the same time, but do cover it within the year. We spent the first 2 terms on ancients and this term we're spending on an introduction to Colonial America. Next term we'll take a tour of the 50 states and spend a little time on our state history. My son totally gets the timeline idea and doesn't seem to have any problem jumping back and forth. If he did have issues with that I'd probably go chronological for a long while til he got the hang of knowing where to place people and events in the timeline.
  25. I think it sounds good. For Kindergarten my goal was always to establish that there are some requirements, but I made those requirements small so that their interest didn't wane. DS *had* to do 1 page of HWT every day, but he could always choose to do more and I never made him do more than 1. About half way through the book he started to do 2 pages every day or if he got to a spot that looked interesting to him he might do 3 or 4. I've built up those requirements little by little, so now half way through first grade we always do 2 pages of HWT every day, we always do at least 20 minutes in the math workbook, and he always has to read out loud to me for 5 pages of his reader or 10 minutes, up from 1 page when he first started reading.
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