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theguptas

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  1. Ditto. Complete Geography published by Carson Delarosa. Using it this year with my 2nd and 4th grade daughters. They have both enjoyed it.
  2. :iagree: In first grade, we had done a Grammar and Punctuation program so I felt she was ready for FLL2 but she resisted writing and her handwriting was atrocious. I didn't think she'd be ready for WWE2 so we started with 1. In the same vein, I tried to start my older daughter with FLL4 (successful!) and WWE4 (disaster!). We dropped back to WWE3 and the tears have stopped - from both of us! Trust your instincts. Good luck!
  3. On my blog, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote up a "Mid-Year Report Card." My blog is private or else I would just share a link. Below is the key information about what we are doing this year. I agree that I find it hard to have a conversation about academics and "rigor." Our girls went to school for awhile and most of our social circle started homeschooling from the beginning. I feel a divide or somewhat like an outsider as a result. The forums have helped in that regard, especially this forum. I like having an outlet; just wish it wasn't on the computer. Anyway, here is the skinny of what we are doing this year and I hope I hit the target of what this thread is supposed to be about: DD, age 10 Math in Focus, Grade 4 (3 times a week) I recently implemented a "No Help and 80% correct" rule on all tests. She has a tendency to write "Help" on problems which is fine except for on a test. She's not happy about this but I see laziness. When I ask her to try again on a "Help" problem, she can do it. She just hates taking the time and hates showing her work. I'm trying to teach her how to study but I need her to meet me halfway and put forth some effort!! Singapore Math/Evan-Moor Daily Word word problem practice (5 to 6 problems, once a week) Spelling Workout, Level D (test on Monday, exercises on Wednesday, final test on Friday as needed) First Language Lessons, Level 4 (3 times a week) Writing with Ease, Level 3 (4 times a week) Typing practice (goal starting this week will be 15 minutes of practice each day. She has her own email address now so I'm guessing this is going to become easier.) Maps and Geography (3 times a week) Logic (3 to 5 times a week) Flute (practice 5 to 7 times a week, she's also messing around on the piano almost every day) DD, age 7 Math in Focus, Grade 3 (3 times a week) Evan-Moor Daily Word/Daily Math practice (alternating between the two, once a week) Spelling Workout, Level C (test on Monday, exercises on Wednesday, final test on Friday as needed) First Language Lessons, Level 2 (3 times a week) Writing with Ease, Level 1 (4 times a week) Pictures in Cursive (practices every day, her cursive is looking WONDERFUL! All those worries about her handwriting went out the window this year.) Maps and Geography (3 times a week) Logic (3 to 5 times a week) Piano (practice 5 to 7 times a week) Activities done together: Story of the World history reading, Volume II (2 chapters a week, DH is starting to do more of this since it is mainly reading and discussing. It is easily done in the evenings.) Early American History (using an Intellego unit study as an outline, 2 times a week - working on Explorers now that Native Americans is complete.) Science (2 times a week - on a really, really, really good week but we started an Intro to Chemistry for which I spent a ton of time preparing and we are on a better track. DH is doing experiments on the weekends.) Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book 2 (1 to 2 lessons a week, 1 or 2 times a week depending on the lessons) A Word about Reading... Our girls LOVE to read. This has never been a problem. They can't fall asleep at night without reading. They frequently try to sneak away from the table to the bathroom, snatching a book along the way. You can often hear me yell, "DD1, are you reading in there?" DD2 recently responded with "She's totally reading in there." They read during breakfast. They read during lunch. They read during dinner. They read in the car. Get the general idea? DD2 loves fairies and princesses, Junie B. I've turned her onto Judy Blume and Fudge recently. She likes Beverly Cleary and Ramona. Hmmm....mischievous characters. No surprise there. DD10 loves mysteries and historical fiction. I've recently started introducing the concept of "assigned reading" and we are off to a slow start. * * * I prepare a document in Word each week. It's a table with everything mapped out, including our field trips. They have little boxes next to everything that they can mark things off when they are completed. I lay out several months at a time and am working on giving them goals. In addition to all of this academic work, we do chores, the girls help with cooking and baking, household cleaning, etc.
  4. Here is a very shocking article on how standardized tests are scored for the writing portions. http://www.citypages.com/2011-02-23/news/inside-the-multimillion-dollar-essay-scoring-business/
  5. Not sure if this would help: http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/percent/
  6. If you know he can narrate as you stated above, I wouldn't worry that he can't specifically do it for SOTW. If he enjoys what you do with SOTW, keep going. If you follow the WTM path, he'll be repeating SOTW again in a few years so he'll get the knowledge he needs. And, hopefully, remember that it was enjoyable to do with you.
  7. Yes, we finish FLL level 4 for my older daughter and have started looking into what to switch to next year. I'd love it if there was something else produced by SWB to continue with. Thanks.
  8. We have many co-ops around but have resisted joining. I have been organizing field trips for people we've met but I'm even backing off of that. Too much headache. I see too many examples of co-ops that are started by people because they have a vision of how it should be. If you join, you have to buy into their vision. If you want to influence the vision, you have to take the time to start one. And, they all seem to fall apart eventually when the leadership changes or as the kids age. I hear all too often people say they "handpick" people to participate in their groups. I'm not crazy over that but I think we'll just keep networking and join in what makes sense for us.
  9. Greek Mac and Cheese uses Gouda and it is good-a. har har. Otherwise, I like it just on crackers. Ingredients 1/2 half pound (generous two cups) dried spiral noodles (rotini), cooked. 2 tablespoons olive oil. 2 cloves garlic. 8 ounces chopped fresh baby spinach. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter. 2 tablespoons all purpose flour. 2 1/2 cups light cream or milk. 6 to 8 ounces coarsely grated Gouda cheese 1 1/4 cups crumbled feta cheese divided. 1/2 teaspoon salt. Large handful cherry tomatoes quartered. 1 1/2 cups Italian style croutons. 1/4 chopped fresh Italian parsley, for garnish. 1/2 chopped pitted olives, for garnish. How to do it Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13 x 9 inch baking dish or 2 1/2 quart casserole. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and sauté gently for several seconds, then stir in the spinach and two tablespoons of water. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat. Do not pour off excess liquid. Melt the butter in a large nonstick pan. Stir in the flour and cook over medium low heat for one minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in the light cream, in two batches, and cook, whisking often, until it thickens. Add the Gouda cheese, half at a time, whisking until it melts. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 3/4 of a cup of feta cheese and the salt. Pour the sauce over the noodles. Stir in the cooked spinach and the tomatoes. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and smooth the top. Partially crush the croutons in a plastic bag and sprinkle over the dish. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Serve hot, garnished with the remaining 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese, parsley and chopped olives.
  10. What is GWG and WWW? I'm using WWE3 and LL4 this year for my 4th grader. We tried to start off with WWE4 and it was a disaster. This is our first year for using both programs. Writing has been a struggle since we started homeschooling 3 years ago but we had been doing Grammar and Punctuation work all along.
  11. There is a homeschooling Mom in our gymnastics class that works as a nurse. She works odd shifts, depends on her in-laws whom I think live next door. She works on the weekends. I think her husband may work a different shift so that they are tag-teaming a lot with the in-laws there to help for a few hours when she needs them. Sorry I can't be of more help but they make it work. Good luck!!
  12. I am 4 months on the FB wagon. It has been a good thing. My house is cleaner. I left just before the timeline started to take effect. It's too big-brother-ish. Some days, I just need a distraction at the end of the day. I've recently starting using homeschool forums like this for that outlet. It is at least more useful overall.
  13. I want my kids to attend the college that has the right environment for them. Maybe it will be Ivy League, maybe it won't. Last summer, a friend contemplating homeschooling asked me about "competition." She wanted to know how my children would be able to compete against their peers if they were educated at home. I told her my goal wasn't "competition" as much as it is "ambition." I want them to have interests, passions, etc. and to pursue them vs. always being motivated to just do better than everyone around them (ahem, like I was). I think being motivated by your interests and passions will serve an individual throughout their lives more so than just always looking around to make sure you got the better grade than your neighbor. When you get out into the working world, being a team player and excited about what you do is going to make your quality of life better overall than just competing for the next promotion, raise, accolade. I worked in a company that had such a cut-throat environment because they hired all of the brightest coming out of the country's top MBA programs. There was no team atmosphere and that was how the CEO wanted but, wow, was it an unhealthy place to work. I want my kids to have a well-balanced life as adults. I want them to do something besides just work. So I'm not sure Ivy League is the right goal for my kids - unless they decide it is something they want. Very timely article from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/one-percent-education.html?_r=1&ref=edlife Some notable excerpts: The emphasis on personal achievement has done more than turn the admissions process into a race to rack up résumé points; more important, to the extent that elite colleges set the pace, it is turning the educational culture into one that stresses individual perfection instead of one that stresses social improvement. Because graduate schools and the best jobs often require extraordinary credentials, students must pour their energies into their own ambitions and accomplishments. And schools encourage it. Some may see this obsession with perfection as the culmination of a long trend; tiger moms have been pushing their children to be intellectual decathletes for generations. But it may actually be a reversal of an even longer trend. At the turn of the last century, the influential philosopher John Dewey saw education as a democratizing force not just in its social consequences but in its very process. Dewey believed that education and life were inextricably bound, that they informed each other. Education wasn’t just something you did in a classroom to earn grades. It was something you lived. There is a big difference between a culture that encourages engagement with the world and one that encourages developing one’s own superiority. The former promotes a sense of commitment; the latter has the danger of rewarding students for collecting as many experiences as they can without stopping to explore — like tourists who pride themselves on how many stickers they can slap on their luggage. Whatever this does to education, it also undermines the underpinnings of the social contract. The danger isn’t just that people who are born on third base wind up thinking they hit a triple; the danger is that everyone else thinks those folks hit triples. One percent education perpetuates a psychology of social imbalance that is the very antitheses of John Dewey’s dream.
  14. We went to Alaska in 2010 on a group tour. Absolutely LOVED it. Definitely Denali if you can make it up there. And definitely do the long tour (8 hours) into the park on the National Park Service bus. Reserve online in advance because these tours sell out. So much wildlife, the mountain is awesome. The buses are comfortable. They have screens where the drive will stop, use a camera to focus on the wildlife and display it on the screens so everyone gets a good look. Pack snacks and water because the meal they provide isn't much. Get onto a glacier. If you can go out on a boat to see the glaciers where they meet the ocean, it's amazing to see them calving. But, if you aren't sure if you or members of your family will get seasick, take Dramamine beforehand to be on the safe side. I thought I would be fine if I could be outside in the cool, fresh air but the seas were so rough they made us all go inside. Not good. Both of my daughters had never been on rough seas before so all three of us were hugging the barf bags....hubby was kind enough to not take pictures. We remember it well enough! Even though it is June, take warm clothes, layers, waterproof pants and coats, gloves, hats, etc. especially if you are going to do any sea voyages. We were unprepared and we went in August. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so cold and that we would get as wet as we did. The Sea Life Center in Seward is awesome. The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Girdwood is also worth a stop. Have a great time. It was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us but I would really love to go back.
  15. I started my 10 year old on WWE 4 in the fall and it was awful. I consider her to be an advanced reader but she was struggling to understand what she was reading, much less be able to summarize it. Since I needed the focus to be on the writing, we dropped back to level 3. Ahhhhhhh..... Now we are making progress with it. Both of us were dreading it when we were trying to work with level 4 but now we don't. Hope that helps.
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