Love_to_Read
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Posts posted by Love_to_Read
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said that we had been "excepted" into the system as legal homeschoolers. my dh called, sure that they would want to know of their error. they were embarrassed, but blamed it on spell check.
if i were the superintendent of a school district, i wouldn't sign a letter that goes out to 200 families without personally proofreading it myself.
but maybe that's just me.
:lol:
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Yeah...I have never, ever heard of that becoming an acceptable alternative, and I used to study linguistics with a fairly open view toward languages shifting. There's no legitimate reason for that. The word "lite" as opposed to "light," now that has evolved to reflect a nuance in meaning, due to the sugar-free fat-free versions of foods that are supposed to taste just as rich and dense as the originals...lite denotes fewer calories, whereas light denotes brightness...but "insure"???? No, there is no subtle reason why that should mean ensure other than trying to spell phonetically with a dialect that doesn't clearly distinguish short e and i. Seeing as that's not acceptable with pin/pen or any number of other words, it's not okay for ensure/insure.
(You'd never know I was a grammar nerd based on all the typos, but really, in another life before the dawn of computers and motherhood-related sleep-deprivation...:tongue_smilie:)
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So glad I saw that hint!
I ended up getting 22 items...1 freebie, $10 coupon, and $11 more.
I tried really hard to limit myself to things we'll use--
Lift the Flap Timelines
Teaching Writing with Picture Books
Bilingual Pre-Writing Practice Pages
Follow the Directions...and Learn!
and a bunch of hands on history, learning centers for the younger ones...
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For some reason, it keeps telling me that the discount code isn't valid. I think I'm going to phone them and see what's up. It should be valid through today.
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I hope my tone comes across okay on this, but...I personally would never do A, B, and C in the same day. IME, that feels like busywork, and what are you going to do if the child needs more the following day? The pages are double-sided, so there's enough work to just do A front and back. If it's easy, move on to the test and next lesson. If it's hard, front and back are enough frustration for one day. More problems on the same day don't cement the material into the brain as well as seeing it half of it tomorrow. It's like cramming for a test versus studying 15min a day...the brain works better in smaller, frequent chunks....a lot will be lost if you do A, B, C in one day.
Sometimes, when I wanted to finish more than one lesson per day, I'd break it up between other subjects, lunch break, etc.
IMO, the best strategy for speed is only do what is necessary for mastery, eliminating excess pages...balanced by making sure (via test or review) that the child can still do the material a different day.
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BTDT with my 4th grader.
There is no set # of pages. Each lesson has pages A, B, C (full pages of today's new problems), and D, E, F (review pages including today's problems plus old problems), plus the test...and in Alpha there are fun pages, too (X for extra). You can do as many or as few as it takes to master each concept-lesson. You can also switch around the order...sometimes if dd was going to take a while, I would throw in a review page on the second or third day, for fear that she'd forget the previous lesson by the time we got to page D if we went in order. That is FINE, and even recommended by the author, that you keep reinforcing however often your student needs, that you decide your schedule based on your child's mastery and memory, that you do as FEW or as MANY pages as you need. You don't need to waste their time doing them all, only what they need. If you actually need more, you can generate some on their website.
I'd have to go back and look at our record-keeping to remember this accurately, but the gist of what we did was that if the concept was weak, I made her start with page A (full page of practice on that lesson). If she felt confident, but I didn't quite believe her, I let her start with page D (review page, so partly today and partly old problems). The next day, I gave her a choice between doing another page or taking the test. That way, she could move on if she knew it, or keep practicing to gain more confidence/mastery, and I knew that the concept had been retained overnight, that she wasn't doing well on the test simply by having watched the video moments beforehand.
I did make a few exceptions to my can't-test-same-day policy for lessons that were not addition/subtraction facts...like shapes and such...those I let her take the test immediately after watching the video because I knew she'd mastered them eons ago. If you had a really impatient/bored student, you could even skip the video and/or test for those lessons you were certain your child knew, but it was a confidence builder for mine to zip through the tests, and she likes the videos, and I figured we might as well watch them in case there were any extra tidbits we'd never heard before.
I know I have in my notes some days where she went through more than one lesson...maybe one or two quick tests like geometry, plus practice on a fact set. Other weeks, on harder facts (like 6, 7, 8), she might have needed three or four days to do practice A, B, D, then test. Or A, D, B, E, C, test...alternating new and review. The only time we actually used all six pages was the time when dd tried to stall the end of addition for fear of the next lesson being subtraction.
Anyhow...I think Alpha took us about 2 months. Maybe 3. We DID do math on Saturdays. Beta went faster and slower...less enthusiasm of begging me to fly through tests, but MUCH better than the old days of trying those operations without mastery of facts, kwim? In Alpha, I could routinely tell dd that I required her to start a new lesson after each test...so a typical week might have been:
Monday: Test 15, video 16, worksheet 16 D
Tuesday: Test 16, video 17, worksheet 17A,
Wednesday: 17D to keep those review items fresh, and maybe test 17 realizing that 17A was plenty for mastering the current concept. video 18 and worksheet 18A
By the time we hit Beta, dd really only wanted to do one piece of paper per day, whether it was the test or a worksheet, so at that point time doubled as new lessons had to wait for the day after the test.
Still, I think a semester of Gamma and a semester or so (spring plus summer?) of Delta is probably reasonable for an older child. I'm going to reinforce as much as I can...possibly with Dianne Craft, or Times Tables the Fun Way, or Sticker Multiplication, etc. It probably will be a little harder than addition. ;)
edit--for two students that you want to work together...I suppose you could have the speedier child do free reading until the slower one is ready for the next lesson, or the review pages. Or, you could let them work at different speeds since the DVD can do most of the teaching, it's not a huge drain the way it would be to separate history or such.
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I think I'm going to ditch HWT for my oldest and try Peterson Directed. I'm wondering whether I should keep the HWT stuff for my pre-K and K, or go with Peterson for them, too. I like the idea of manipulatives and music for HWT...wondering whether they'll be missing out with Peterson. But on the other hand, it looks like a really good program down the road...
My K is starting to ask me how to spell things (woo-hoo!!!) so I need to make a decision before he develops any letter-formation habits.:tongue_smilie:
(Oh, and yes...I own Writing Road to Reading, too, so I've been hemming and hawing over whether I like that approach to handwriting, too. This is only our 2nd year, and already I'm a curriculum junkie, lol.)
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I'd love something like this!
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How I Learned Geography byUri Shulevitz
Ack, forgive the formatting...cut and paste..but this was a good one about getting excited to start learning....setting in the Middle East, mentions war.
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:rotfl:
thank you...I needed that
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This. I grew up with that mom...as a teen/adult, we had conversations like, "Well can't you just show up..." "NO." "Can't they make an exception." "NO." "Who's going to enforce that anyway?" "They are. / I am." Now I just avoid telling her anything that might lead to those discussions, but back when I was kid subject to having my mom always looking to bend the rules that couldn't possibly apply to her...it was humiliating. Sure, there's value in trying to politely ask for a compromise if you can think of one that satisfies the spirit of the rule, but you have to be willing to hear no. That poor boy should have been given a chance to get over it in private at home, not paraded in front of the team by his mother under the impression that he was going to play. She should have weighed him, and called your dh privately if she wanted to ask whether therer were any further loopholes to try legitimately.They told her the deal last week and offered a refund. Perhaps, she thought she could just ignore that and bring him and the coach wouldn't say anything. -
If your SIL wanted to go with you on a school day, she could request an educational field trip...just call thte school secretary to get the form stating what she wants to miss school for, and turn it in to the principal. Usually they like to have it at least a week or two in advance, but it's not much different than requesting a day off work. Kids will have to make up what they missed.
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These two sound promising from the samples...more memorable than just the numbers in a monotone, ifykwim.
Multiplicaton Vacation
Rock-bots Multiplication
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If you have to, agree to go and call the doctor afterward.
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soaking for 2 days...tastes like soap
boil water in it a few times until it tastes normal
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Out of the box...
How about jobs that come with living quarters? Storage unit managers, apartment complex managers, campus resident assistants...
What happened to seminary? Dh still called to that, or no? If he is, I'd be looking frantically for churches as they *might* have a parsonage or be able to put you up in the basement or something, anything.
Trailer courts? Maybe if you found a really run down trailer court, they might have something cheap enough. Maybe out of town slightly?
I don't know you well, being relatively new to these boards myself, but I'm sorry you're going through this, esp. so close to labor. The contingency plan sounds reasonable, at least as good as it's going to get for living with mom.
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Was MIL's house an option, or was she back in the same part of TX?
Does dh get financial aid for his school? Can he go full time and take out enough loans/grants to pay for room and board? That would be upfront and bypass the credit check issue.
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Someone mentioned teaching. If he's working toward teacher certification, find out what your new state requires for substitute teachers AND substitute teacher's aides. Some states allow you to sub for teachers while still in college. If a degree is required for substitute teachers, sometimes the bar is lower for substitute aides.
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Yes!
I think mild disabilities are particularly misunderstood. If your child is miserably failing in a school setting but an earnest kid who tries hard, then you might get sympathy and a dx....maybe...probably only if your kid is severe enough to be obviously, physically, visably out of it. But if your kid looks normal and is not quite failing, just struggling, it's not really a disability. If your kid is getting frustrated, surly, or otherwise fed up with being overwhelmed, then it's an attitude problem, not really a learning disability. If you've always educated at home, then it's your teaching. Not a disability. If your child has any strengths to compensate, like a dyslexic with good guessing skills, then no disability...just an average kid who should be content to barely pass. Arrrrrrgh!!!!!!!
The beauty of homeschooling is that I can adapt whether people believe me or not...I can use programs for dyslexics that the schools didn't think we needed (if we can afford them...). I can allow oral narration instead of writing everything. I can do whatever I think best to work toward helping her be her best.
The only time I did respect someone telling me different was with a couple of dd's therapists who pointed out that dd had progressed, and that she could do better than I was asking. I *had* gotten used to her having trouble with certain things, and hadn't remembered to push a little. So, valuable lesson--don't get so caught up in awareness of the needs that you don't see areas of growth, that you forget to promote growth, forget to ask your child to keep trying. Sometimes we get all nurturing and forget that growth can be hard, might require pushing a tiny bit out of our child's comfort zone.
But yeah, 99% of the time, the other person has no clue, and you know your child best. Those mild needs are real, and it's not in your head nor a result of your parenting/teaching!
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Are there other girls in the class? Any of them old enough to cultivate a friendship?
If she enjoyed it last year, and only just started complaining after her friend expressed disinterest, then I'd try to cultivate another friendship for variety...help dd see that one friend's opinion isn't the most important thing in the world, that some people do like karate and it's okay if she does, too. Read some books and have some discussions about how it's okay to have different interests than your best friend. See if you can find any books with female karate students as characters, even, if she's gotten it into her head that karate is for boys. And help her cultivate a friendship in case part of her dislike is not having anyone to be social with.
That's if she liked it before her friend spoke up about not taking it.
If she was only lukewarm last year, and has progressed to really hating it...esp. if uncomfortable by certain classmates or certain aspects of the class (like if some of the boys are bigger, or if there's more sparring than before, etc.), then it might be time for her to drop it and take along some other kind of homework to do in the nursery, or take along a yoga video or zumba or something, that you two could do while you wait, if that wouldn't be offensive to the teacher who owns the place.
Oh! Probably too young for this to apply at 8yo, but just in case...if she's developing, you might want to double check whether she's uncomfortable about that during karate, like needs a sports bra or something, or another layer under her uniform. That can be solved.
I don't know for sure what to tell you...just that I do know with mine, it takes a little bit of extra detective work to figure out why she's not liking something. And from there, I can decide whether I need to push or problem solve or give her room to switch to something else. Whichever the case is, be sure to offer some empathy..."Gee, it's hard when your friend's criticize. Hmmm. But we can be strong enough to carry on...." OR, "Gee, that can get uncomfortable. It's important to stick up for our body boundaries. You have my permission to quit, but you need to chose an alternate activity."
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Well..I started out going overboard buying at the local used homeschool sale...my new strategy is to pretty much stick to teacher's manuals only. Beyond that, I'm only purchasing books that will get used for more than a month or so, because the library seems to frown on renewing interlibrary loans over and over. Even then, I'm mostly checking them out first to make sure I can't just substitute. Oh, and out of a list like Sonlight, there's about 3-4 that I can't get, so I buy them used online, particularly consumables like The Story of the USA or History Pockets.
I'm finding a lot of good books I didn't expect at our local library, too.
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fallen off the edge of the bed or night stand or dresser
3 strikes your out rule? PS bus deal
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
The bus was seriously a major factor in our decision to homeschool. Dd rode it while we public schooled for lack of other options, and hers was tame compared to most because it only went to an elementary school, no older kids. But still...if she were my youngest child, I might have considered volunteering to be a bus monitor. I really, strongly believe that buses need someone other than the driver. And maybe video. And definitely stronger consequences than ten misbehaviors.
I'm proud of you for listening to your instincts. If you feel that public school is best for your family this year, and you have the ability to take the city bus together, I think that is a wiser choice than sending your darling on the school bus alone. That level of sacrifice stinks, but I'm proud of you. If either of you can read without getting carsick, you might try that to kill time. Or audiobooks loaded onto m3p players, perhaps? I had friends who used to do homework on the bus, lol. The ones who lived an hour away at the end of the route rarely did any actually at home. Or on the other hand, maybe it will be a good time to chat about the day and reconnect, depending on how crowded it is.