Batsh1t Insane TeA-loving Classical Homeschooler

1. I am 32 and have been married for 11 years. 2. I started dating my DH in high school and we got married one month after my college graduation. 3. I LOVE to dance! I own a dance studio and teach 5 nights a week. 4. I have an MA in Theatre. 5. I have a dog - Sampson, and a cat - Victor. 6. I have lived in 3 cities - the one I was born in, college town 1, college town 2, and now we are back to where I was born. 7. I am a chocoholic! 8. I love to bake! That simply fact prevents me from getting back to prebaby weight! 9. I have one sister. DH has 6 siblings. We have 16 nieces and nephews. 10. Right now, I am so sore that I cannot walk! We are in the middle of competition choreography dance camp! Two days to go....I may need a wheelchair by Friday night!:tongue_smilie: Wow! That was kind of hard...I am a pretty boring person, I guess.

I voted the three Rs, because for kindergarten that is the only structured material I kept. We did science with experiments, we did an intense study of geography, we did history and lit. But his phonics and math work was the only thing I made sure we did everyday. Generally, the reading was on a science, history, or geography topic. After 100EL and the Bob Books, I did not use readers. We used topical books from the beginning readers section of the library. Even now, for first grade, we do math and reading everyday; but on a good day it is not the bulk of the material. BUT, I do think reading is the most important skill I can teach my children, as far as education goes.

I am having the same kind of problems. My 5 year old is in all second grade materials and he is working at about 99%. However, all material is new except spelling. Even with IP in Singapore 2a, he only gets frustrated with one or two problems each day. And that is just when he is being lazy and not really reading the problem. I need to accelerate him in spelling, but I want to be sure he has the method of the program down before we jump to words he actually needs to study. He gets frustrated with too much writing, but will do math all day if he can do it all in his head!

I remember hearing recently that they found another moon circling Pluto...so they were considering whether it should be considered a planet again.

What I do now...I teach dance and own my own studio. I love to dance, more than that...I love to help kids learn to love dance as well!

My husband started his own window cleaning business. It is low costs for start up...squeege, bucket and some towels. He now has all kinds of gadgets...scrapers, scrubbers, ladders, etc. He knocks doors and does bids. If he goes out for 2 hours, he generally comes back with one job set up. He can make a couple hundred dollars in a few hours. He did not do as well early on, he had to learn how to bid the jobs well, and up his work time. He gets on window cleaning forum...window cleaning resource...I think, they talk about pricing, etc. It is hard work, but immediate payoff. He collects a check as soon as he is done, goes to the bank. The same could be done with lawn mowing, gutter cleaning...You just have to keep track of income for taxes.

I worked in a daycare infant center (6 weeks to 2 years old). This solidified my resolve to NEVER put my kids in daycare! I was an good employee and caregiver, but the people I worked with....ugh! And the parents! I love babies, but I hated that job!

We are "last name" Classical Academy. I don't need one for my state, but I did need it to activate my Edu-Track program. I want something better, but I cannot come up with anything yet.

It's not in books I purchase new this year...new revisions...not on my new globe either.

I got a REALLY good deal on the 2A/B books on eBay. It was for the US editions. I got the HIG, but I only use it for the mental math in the back. Math is my favorite subject and DS picks it us really fast, so we don't do the extra games and things in the HIG.

We started using graphing calculators in 8th grade for Algebra. We had not been allowed to use any calculator before that. Every year, through calculus (including trig) we had portions of EVERY test for which calculators were not allowed. I took business calculus in college. We had the textbook from TI. We learned o program a calculator to do ALL problems! I left my calculator at home one weekend and had an 8 am test. I borrowed my roommates calculator, but did not have any programing in it. I just used it for computations with ling decimals. I was able to take the test and earn a passing grade, but I did not have the exact answer from the calculator, so I lost points. I was so mad! I KNEW more about the math that our TA that graded the tests!

Edu-track has a place to keep a running book list - date read, title, author, number of pages, etc. I don't fill in all of the information. I can then print a report of books read each month, year, throughout school... You could just make a list in excel. Make headings: date completed, title, author, pages, minutes (if you want to track reading time), grade level or lexile (get from Scholastic Wizard if you want to track this info), comments (let your child tell you if they liked it, something special about it...) You can then do date sorts in excel and set a print area on a small list if you just want to print a section.

We had a camp this afternoon to learn choreography for our dance competition team. DS5 (6 in a month) dances on the team. I was working on choreography and music, so we did not get school done before we left at 1 PM. We came home around 6:30 PM. Around 7:30 DS comes crying into the living room.... "Mommy we did not get my school done! I want to do my school work!" ***We had the fastest and most cooperative school day ever! Less than an hour for: math (4 pgs - 2 from wkbk, 2 from IP), pretest for spelling list, 1 page handwriting, 1 oral grammar lesson, phonics flash cards and 1 page of phonics workbook, and 1 reading of SOTW with study of supplementary material, PLUS the he finished the last 2 chapters of The Magic Treehouse book he has been reading! He then said, "Wow, we finished fast!! I am going to work like that everyday! That way I have more time to play!"

There are several other threads with links to tests. You should search for reading levels. I use the scholastic book wizard (Google that and you will find the website). Take a book your child has recently read and understood, enter it in the search and it will tell you the reading level amd interest level. Then you can search for books at that level or slightly higher, to provide a challenge or further evaluation.

Hit the begining reader section of the library. Ours has a great set of books that are easy, with great pics and covers great educational topics. We read those. What worked best to increase ds abilities (decoding, comprehension, speed) was reading every other word. I read one, he read the next, and so on. I would then ask questions about the book. He loved it! It was like a game to him.

I have my whole year planned. I will print a few extra things as we go. I copied one workbook because it was more expensive to repurchase for the next child than I was to copy. I am using the others as constables because the cost in time, paper, and toner is more than the cost of a new workbook for the next kiddo. That is why I am able to be ready for the year. I have downloads saved to my computer and wil print what I need weekly.

This is the list for where my son would be in school. Not too bad, but still...9 boxes of crayons!?! We have had 1 large box for 2 years!! And my kids color a lot! KINDERGARTEN 4 boxes small Crayola crayons (8 ct) 5 boxes small Crayola crayons (24 ct) 2 Elmer’s glue stick (small) 4 bottles Elmer’s washable school glue (4 oz) 1 4-pack Play Doh 1 6-pack No. 2 pencils (regular size) 1 box Baby Wipes 1 large box Kleenex tissue 1 pkg paper plates (Names A-M) 1 pkg lunch sacks (Names N-Z) 1 sandwich size Ziplock bags (Names A-M) 1 gallon size Ziplock bags (Names N-Z) 1 pkg Dry Erase markers (Names A-M) 1 pkg Clorox Wipes (Names N-Z) 2 boxes Crayola markers (8 ct-not skinny) 1 Crayola watercolors 1 pair Headphones for Computer Lab (with name on them) 2 paper folders with brads

:drool5:

Like, Clueless! :001_smile:

Think of it as a writng course. Treat it that way. How did you teach your kids to write a paper. You taught them how to make a sentence, then a paragraph, then a page, run a whole paper. Start with a couple of meters in 4/4. They really need a piano or other instrument in class. Have the Ty different instruments too. It might even be best to do a week of percussion, just writing the rhythms. Then move to piano. Have them create a few short melodies each week until they are comfortable with transcribing. Move on to a short ABAB format. 4 measures of each part. Do a couple of those, ideally using some of their short melodies from the first few weeks. Then add a break. Then try a different formula altogether. At each step, try different meters. There are a lot of composition books for college levels. You should be able to find one with some practice exercises in it.

:iagree: We put up a few Christmas decorations, but I don't have the time or inclination to decorate for each season.

If you could find an older video of the Crucible, that might be good. Don't get the movie from the early 90s-not appropriate! The play itself would be great. There has to be a video production somewhere.

I bathe dd in hibaclense any time she gets a red bump or simple like bump! All cuts get cleaned, triple antibiotics and bandages for until I am sure there is no infection!

I love Excel, but not as a planner. I have Edu-Track, it was $60. I downloaded the plans for math and grammar and made a few adjustments. It took less than 20 minutes to enter any subject for the year. I can bump lessons if we get behind, move stuff up if we work ahead, and print weekly or daily lesson plans. I only print by the week. No reprinting if we reschedule. It tracks grades and everything. Spend the money for a program that is meant for HSing. It will make your life a lot easier!