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Homemama2

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Posts posted by Homemama2

  1. Well, after BEGGING for the Beanboozled ones...my boys ended up smelling most and throwing them away. They did trick dad into eating a "skunk spray" one...he spewed it across the yard. And they got their uncle to try a "moldy cheese" one. But nobody tried the vomit one (it smelled like the real thing) and after smelling that one we were kind of done. SO GROSS. Although the Bert's Every Flavor Bean ones don't sound quite so bad.

  2. MM would be great with RS. MM is great for independent work and would reinforce the mental math RS teaches. MM has enough problems for reinforcement but not enough to be considered dry busywork.

     

    :iagree: We use both and I love the combo. One ds uses them both on level, and the other ds used MM a semester behind (so he's just finishing 4B now and is moving into 5a by Christmas.)

  3. I've used RS all the way through for one ds and my other will finish it next year. There have been times that I wanted to bash my head in...but for the most part I could see the value of where they are going. My boys are night and day different as far as abilities and learning styles so one would need every single bit of review while the other one breezes through the lessons in about 10-15 min. each day and never needs to review. (We've never used any songs though and skip a lot of the scripting.) :)

     

    Ultimately, I think you need to find a prog. that works for you and your ds. Just b/c it is great for some does not mean it will be great for you. I tried MUS for a short time and it did NOT work for us (even though almost all of my hs friends use it and LOVE it.) I took one look at Saxon and knew that wouldn't work here, yet that is a very popular program. I would probably just move onto SM if that's a better fit.

  4. I'm thinking of trying Spelling Power next year b/c we've had the same issue where they know how to spell the words already. Spelling Power has you test into the level they need, and they only practice words they don't know.

     

    For latin, we like Getting Started w/ Latin for a gentle intro. We're looking at Visual Latin for next year. (But we are not hard-core latin people here. ;) I would be totally happy if they really just learned the roots.)

  5. Here are some books that our group has done over the last year and a half. You could look at doing a unit study and lapbook along with a book.

     

    The Trumpet of the Swan

    Because of Winn Dixie

    The Borrowers

    Abeka's version of Swiss Family Robinson

    Charlotte's Web

    The Cricket in Times Square

    The Tale of Despereaux

     

     

    Thanks a lot! I didn't think about the lapbook with it. I've done lapbooks w/ classes at co-op before, and they always seem to go over well. :001_smile:

  6. I imagine the mother and grandparents are spending a lot of hours in the NICU. When my ds was in the NICU, people brought me meals. You could do that.

     

    Gift cards to a coffee/sandwich shop in or near the hospital might be helpful to the mother.

     

    Does the mom have her own transportation to the hospital. I remember I was released from the hospital, but not cleared to drive myself so I needed rides to the hospital. Perhaps you could arrange to drop her off and pick her up later.

     

     

    Meals!!! My ds was in NICU for a month. This was the BEST thing b/c it meant I could be in the NICU all the time, yet my dh still had a hot meal when he got home from work. Since she lives with her parents, they might be up there as much as she is. (My parents and in-laws about lived at the NICU too.)

  7. I love the idea of TPR videos. We were involved in a TPR co-op spanish class and it was AWESOME (until the teacher moved. :001_unsure:)

     

    I like the idea of the homemade videos to keep the price down. I would rather my kids learn more vocab, and hear native speakers while they are young, than a program with a huge focus on worksheets, grammar, and cultural info (although all of that is important and has its place.)

  8. Thanks so much for this!

     

    I'm in the process of looking for history for next year. It's been so hard!

     

    SL-We would need core E and my kids have already read many of the books.

     

    TOG-Looks like too much for what we need right now

     

    MFW-I already have science purchased so I can't justify the price (less I can find it used...)

     

    Truthquest- using it this year but I want something more planned out for next year.

     

    BP-This sounds like it might be just what we're looking for!!

  9. This is what we're doing for third:

     

    Reading outloud to me: McGuffey 3rd reader (finishing) and starting 4

    Writing: Using Paragraph Books 1 and 2 for the first semester, then moving back into WWE 3 or possibly working with brother in CW Aesop B

    Grammar: Rod and Staff 3

    Spelling: All About Spelling 3 (finishing) and AAS 4

    Vocabulary: No formal prog. We have lots of new vocab with AO book choices and we learn it in context with the reading.

    Literature: Ambleside Online yr. 3

    Handwriting: HWT cursive and printed copywork

     

    We use Rightstart and MathMammoth and he is just learning multiplication (started by learning skip counting). Right now he knows his 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's and 10's. None of the "hard" ones. :001_smile:

  10. My kids would not have done well with either of those at 6yrs. I started SOTW 1 when my kids were in 3rd and 1st. My 1st grader didn't really get anything out of it. I used Apologia Astronomy when they were in 2nd (7yrs) and 4th. That was a better fit for us. I love both programs, but for some kids it's too much info. I found sticking to easier picture books (let's read and find out science, magic school bus etc.) worked better for my kids at that age.

  11. Have you looked at Biblioplan? It is a cross between TOG and SL to me... BP offers lots of options like TOG but it is all on one weekly grid like SL so you can pick and choose, make it fit your wants and needs without a lot of planning. It is super easy to combine as well.

     

     

    I had considered BP for this year and ended up with Truthquest. I didn't realize (or had forgotten) that they use the weekly grid... Truthquest has great book choices but I really want that grid format to save my sanity for next year. Thanks for reminding me about it!

  12. Have you looked at Veritas Press? It might be a good compromise between the 2.

     

     

    Actually, I've looked at it a lot and that is another choice I've been thinking about. I don't know anyone IRL that uses it, so if you could give me an opinion on it, that'd be great! Do they do a lot of worksheets? For some reason I got that impression, but I might be totally off base.

     

    I've looked at Omnibus for 7th grade, but not sure if it would move too fast for my oldest (it seems like they squeeze an awful lot of tough books into one year between the primary and secondary ones.)

  13. My oldest two (11 and 9) are doing Core E together this year; both boys have a high reading/comprehension level. The book choices have been very good for both of them--I do take some of the read-aloud choices (which are usually at a higher reading level than the readers) and turn them into readers for the boys to do themselves. Especially since you are coming from AO, I think you will enjoy the mix of books in SL.

     

    I can't speak to the level of the Language Arts in SL; I prefer to use something else for grammar/writing (WTM picks suit us better). No matter what revision of SL's LA I've seen, it always seems too scatterbrained to me.

     

     

    Ahh....good to know. I already have WWS, so maybe I could just use that and keep going with Rod and Staff and then I wouldn't need to worry about the LA for the 6th grader at all....

     

    It's so hard to decide b/c I think they both look great! I guess I still have some time to think about it. ;)

  14. I use TOG and plan the whole year out in the summer. It does take a bit of time (can't remember how much), but I do all the print-outs, plan all the activities that look doable - we do an activity every other week - and put all the books we plan to do on a 36 week schedule. I also buy all the supplies for the activities during the summer also. This way, all I have to do is find the craft supplies for that week, write the books to read in ds's schedule, and put the print outs (map and literature response sheets) in ds's folder. It becomes very open and go for me during the year and takes about 5 minutes a week of planning.

     

    I also do this for my 12 year old, although he is doing a TOG online class. He has a workbook with all the questions he needs to answer along with his maps and timeline figures for the week. He has to write his own schedule so his workbook is all the planning I do for him.

     

    I literally don't have to plan during the year. I did appreciate Sonlight for that open and go factor so I created open and go myself. I like TOG better than Sonlight because I didn't want to do the two core thing. It has a better "tweakable" level for me because it has more than enough to choose from. We don't do everything, but I find I can tweak it differently for each child and still have plenty more to choose from.

     

    Beth

     

     

    Thanks! I think I'll look into this further. It's good to know you can get all the planning during the summer. I don't mind that, I just won't be able to do it every week like I am now. :001_smile:

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