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kemilie

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Posts posted by kemilie

    Schooling 3 or more: how do you keep sanity?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    :iagree: When my fifth was three, my husband gave me some great advice that changed how I approached all of my duties at home. He said, "I think you need to consider yourself a small business and act accordingly." It forced me to rethink how I did things and to change up some things to become more efficient. It really helped me to focus on training my children to be obedient, helpful, and hard-working on a daily basis. It really makes all the difference in the tone of the home when everyone is cheerfully pitching in.

     

    Nancy, I love that analogy. :) Thanks for sharing!

    Schooling 3 or more: how do you keep sanity?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I feel your pain, as I've been trying to picture how smoothly school will run once #5 arrives sometime in the next 7 weeks at my home... :)

     

    My plan is to survive and have no expectations for at least 3 months. I specifically picked "easy" curriculum that can be completed without too much brain power on my part.

     

    Try to get the math and reading done, and tell yourself you will regroup in one month. And maybe institute a chore system if you don't have one already? (I just started one this summer and it's worked wonders... )!

     

    Apart from that, something I wrote down and try to remember - play to YOUR strengths as a mother and try to let go of the rest of your ideas of what you should be doing with them. Easier said than done. For example - I LOVE the IDEA of being a super crafty and fly by the seat of my pants always coming up with fun tangents type of Mom. But it's just not who I am. So I always end up feeling guilty because I'm not doing those things, or I end up feeling stressed out when I try to go against my nature and do them. But instead I can try to focus on what I do well. When I go with my nature it's easier to stay calm in the face of small children.

     

    All that being said to point out - do YOU like the type of schooling style you're doing right now? I know the kids like it, but if it's not working for you... it's going to be awfully hard to keep up. And your sanity counts for something!

     

    Good luck!

    We are having twins!!!

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I may be repeating some advice because I didn't read the WHOLE post... :)

     

    Congrats! Twins are tough. The first year will be a blur, get all the help you can. BUT... you'll make it through!

     

    My best advice would be to prepare everything you can early. I had my twins at 34 weeks (I was measuring 44!), I think my body just couldn't handle getting any bigger so it went into labor. :) Luckily after a short NICU stay I was able to bring them home. But whatever you can do ahead of time to ease the transition and lessen the workload for the newborn stage is definitely a good thing!

     

    And take lots of pictures. They are always so cute in pictures... and due to sleep deprivation you might need the pictures to prompt recall of the year. Ha!

     

    All kidding aside, I love my twins - they just turned 5 this summer - but I do think it is a lot more work than having 1 baby at a time. A blessing, yes. But one that requires some hard work. :)

     

    Kara

     

    (who will have 5 6 and under in the next two months!)

    Teaching Textbooks questions...

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I've just started using TT3 with my 6 1/2 year old this summer. I do think it's not "on par" grade level wise with Saxon, but that's okay with me. Just place your kid into the book *called* 3, who cares what the name is! :) I think there are more concerns (justified or not, I have no idea... !) that when you get to higher level math TT does not perhaps adequately cover complex topics or prepare your children for ACT/SAT type tests as well as Saxon might.

     

    BUT.

     

    For lower grade levels? After spending far too many hours researching this topic myself (I'm a compulsive researcher and curriculum junkie!)... I feel comfortable that TT will teach what I want it too. At least through Level 7, then I'll reevaluate. I do think it moves a bit slow so plan to accelerate and supplement the program a bit (but I LOVE math, it's an area I can never get enough of!). If you look at the table of contents for books 3/4/5/6/7 online, you will see there is quite a bit of repeat an overlap between them.

     

    There's my 2 cents, for what it's worth!

     

    BTW - TT does have a 30 day money back guarantee. So just order it and try it out right away when it shows up. If your child likes it and enjoys doing math that's more than half the battle, right?!

    Unsure of continuing RSD, using RS+BA or ??

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I have Beast Academy but haven't started it yet, plan to use it in the spring. 3c will be out in September, and 3d should be out end of Jan (but given delays with the first ones I'd say betting on end of Feb is safer). I think if you wanted to go with Beast Academy you'd be safe starting it in the fall.

     

    I love the problems in the book, and the comic book format of the teaching book, but I don't feel comfortable using it as a stand alone curriculum. Which is probably just because I'm a curriculum junkie and in the middle of evaluating 10 different math programs myself. :)

     

    I like Singapore and have seen a number of posts where people pair it up with Beast Academy, apparently they are a good match. We used Right Start A but didn't make it past there because I wasn't loving the program, so I can't speak as to what level of Singapore you might be able to start with.

     

    Good luck!

    What are you waiting for?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    re Beast Academy - I think I saw on Facebook that there was a printing mishap with 3c, so it will be another 3 weeks? When I had emailed them I was told that 3d will be out end of Jan. I'm waiting on those too!

     

    And ditto Song School Latin 2! We're just starting 1 but think it's not going to take us too long and we're going to want 2!

     

    On a separate but related though - LOF Physics - I just saw that it's coming out! Have you completed LOF Elementary the 1-10 series? I was wondering where to fit that into my schedule. :)

    Best price on Singapore?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered, maybe I am using the wrong search terms for the forum. Just wondering if anyone has any input on where I should buy my Singapore Standards edition books from to get the best price. I know you can find them used often but most of the used ones I'm seeing are for the US edition and I'd prefer the standards one.

     

    Thanks for any thoughts/experience on this topic!

    teaching textbooks - book content versus cd content lower grade levels

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Thanks for the info, Jenn. That's what I was starting to suspect (that the CD most explain a lot more).

     

    So as for the lecture portion of the CD - it's more than just a verbatim reading of the summary in the textbook? I know you mention it adds in animations/examples like that, but are there also additional words to better describe some of the concepts?

     

    I first saw Teaching Textbooks at a conference this past spring. I am normally very "hands on" with the math teaching (I use math on the level and teach all the concepts myself), but have a baby due in the fall so was looking for a "solution" that was more hands off that would get us through this late summer/fall and help us avoid falling off track! Right now it's mostly review/getting up to where he should be in the book, so the one page summary isn't a big deal, but thinking that if the content were trickier he would start to feel lost just reading the narration in the book. Off to ponder what to do... ! Suppose I might be back tracking and buying CDs now?! Live and learn.

    teaching textbooks - book content versus cd content lower grade levels

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Quick Question for those of you that use teaching textbooks with the lower grade levels (3/4/5/6....).

     

    I purchased just the textbooks, because they are cheap (!) and I figured that for lower level math I didn't really need the computer to grade it for me. Plus, my six year old is a quick study and I didn't want him to spend tons of time watching videos on basic topics that might bore him.

     

    BUT! We're on about lesson 10 of book 3, and I'm wondering - how does the written lesson in the book compare to the lecture available on the CD? Is there a LOT more content on the CD? Sometimes I read a sentence in the book and I am left thinking that it could use some more explanation for a young child. And I'm wondering if that extra *something* is offered in the CD or if it's a pretty close script to the book.

     

    Thanks for your input/thoughts on this!

    Question about reporting to the school district-- WWYD?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    If you don't provide what they need do they just ask for more info? I would try to leave it as something like the following:

     

    "Reading will be covered via daily study of classic literature, approximately 30 minutes a day. Student will be completing biweekly book reports in addition to providing daily oral reading comprehension reports."

     

    Do you even need to list specific books?

     

    I myself try to avoid specifics in school plans I provide, just because I know something always happens and my plans evolve... but not sure how specific you have to be. :)

    AAS ...is it worth it?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I think it's worth the price, spelling is important to me and the approach AAS uses ties in the phonics base we used for reading and makes sense! We're 1/2 way through Level 1 with my 6 1/2 year old who reads at a 4th grade level. It's simple for him and I plan to finish it within a month and move to Level 2, but I wanted to start with Level 1 (since I have 2 just turned 5 year olds who will be using it anyway, why not for just an extra $15?).

     

    I plan to use it through Level 3 which we should be at end of this year, and then re-eval. It is time intensive for the teacher and I don't love that, but the multi sensory approach I think is great so it's worth the time to me. I might switch to Phonics Zoo, if my son likes it, after Level 3 of AAS. Phonics Zoo isn't cheap either but it is more hands off.

     

    There's my two cents!

    Life of Fred Elementary - worth the price?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Lexi - I like the voices from the other side of the fence, it's good to get perspective! I decided to buy just one to start with instead of going hog wild and purchasing them all! I've had a few experiences with curriculum I know I WANT to love and feel like I should, from all the good press, but it just ends up not being a great fit!

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