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patchfire

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Everything posted by patchfire

  1. How do you decide what to afterschool? I've been homeschooling for seven years. Xh decided to walk out in the autumn and while I (hopefully) have ~3 years before I have to seek fulltime employment, for a variety of reasons, my oldest is going to enter a classroom this fall. So...how do I decide what to afterschool? She's very mathematically gifted, so I know I'll want to enrich that area. Beyond that, I'm sort of at a loss. I know I can't do the full array of things I'd want to do. I have to turn over some of it to the school and let them do it! But how do I decide? Also, any tips on transitioning? She's been at home for her entire life and will be starting in middle school.
  2. Short answer: no, we don't. Longer answer: I will at times drink herbal tea that's reputed to help with certain things, but in general I view it as nutritional support, not an actual attempt to 'cure' anything. When we're sick, we don't reach for packaged herbal remedies OR OTC meds... we drink a lot of water, we sleep and nap, and we avoid going out in public as much as possible. It's amazing how many things are gone just as quickly that way. ;)
  3. I have a really mathy, likes science, advanced rising sixth grader, too, but mine's a girl. :) Here's what she's got on tap for next year: Math: AoPS Geometry + AoPS Alg 3 + maybe AoPS Mathcounts class or AoPS Number Theory (she's done Counting & PRobability) Science: Spectrum Chemistry + random supplements I've found English: LLfLOTR via onlineg3 + TIP King Arthur + W&M units + lots of different stuff for writing that I'm mostly pulling together myself (not a formal curriculum) + AAS 6 & 7 + Vocabulary Workshop A + Exercises in English G & Editor in Chief Social Sciences: Mapping the World with Art (she'll read library books about the current countries in a given geographic region to add some cultural geo to it) Foreign Language: German Sat. School + Rosetta Stone Logic: Art of Argument + The Snake and the Fox Fine Arts: piano + trumpet + world music appreciation + art history + drawing
  4. I've always used my own spreadsheets and documents, printed out, for the year, and then wrote out lesson plans for the week in a teacher book, a checklist, or a planner. A lot of typing, especially when it came to things like SOTW. I'm in the process of converting my planning materials completing to the iPad. SCARY. But I made my SOTW AG pdf into an ePub book, imported it into iBooks, and voila! I can add notes for extra books, highlight books we're going to use, and have everything RIGHT THERE without having to print, print, print. I'm working at using Bento for my middle guy (and the very limited things I might plan for my youngest), and I'm going to buy iStudiez and attempt to set it up for my oldest. Baring that working, I can use Bento for her. The problem I had with computer planning in the past was that I didn't really want to carry my laptop around for school every day, and our family desktop machine isn't in the schoolroom. I don't mind having my iPad with me for school though! So I think that this will work really well. Best of all, I can customize what I do in Bento.
  5. I'm working on setting up Bento to use... iStudiez looks good too. I use ToDo for most of my tasks.
  6. I've been at many different times. Twice at the end of January/beginning of February, and oh. As I posted to fb this last time, "February, I still love you best of all the months at WDW." I've only been in October once. We're probably going in October the next time we go, or early November. I like it then, too, but ime, it was a little more crowded in October. I hate May-August and late December. Hatehatehate. Don't do it.
  7. You Wouldn't Want... chronological listing. This was from two years ago; there have been a few new titles since that time, but not a huge number, from what I can tell.
  8. Just a more positive story... only my oldest & youngest have been blood-typed (I have the kit to type ds, I just keep forgetting to do it). Both of them are A pos, I'm O pos. They filled my head with Dire Predictions after the birth of my oldest, done of which came to fruition. Same with my youngest, except no one around to predict dire things. ;) Some jaundice is a variation of normal, so it may not be a pathology, despite the ABO incompatibility.
  9. We used LoF only for algebra. Dd used the Key to... books alongside Fractions and Decimals & Percents, but then went straight into Beginning Algebra. This was before the pre-algebra books were even out. She did well with Beginning Algebra. She also did some work from Real World Algebra after finishing BA, but it was more review than anything. Then she did Advanced Algebra at the beginning of this past (2010-2011) school year. When she was done, out of curiosity, I gave her the placement tests for various AoPS classes. This is my very mathy girl. Intuitively so, almost. She BOMBED those placement tests. Not because she hadn't covered the material, or didn't understand it. The standard algorithms were unfamiliar to her. Ouch. Wake-up call! I should add here that she wants to major in math. She's already talked about getting a doctorate in math. So she HAS to know the standard algorithms backwards and forwards. For a humanities-focused kid, I think LoF could be enough, with careful work to ensure that the standard algorithms, etc. were recognized. But I'm not sure.
  10. I'm slowly shaping Bento to my satisfaction. Between it and google docs, I'll have all my needs covered, and I can access Bento & google docs from my computer, iPad, or iPhone. I've tried a couple of online planners but they end up not being flexible enough for me, so I have never bothered to look closely at HST+
  11. I remember you! I was pretty much a lurker. Heck, sometimes I still am. But it's good to 'see' you here again. I, too, am so sorry for your loss. reading The Story of Stuff & 1434 actively. A whole lot more in the wings or sporadically.
  12. You might also like The Case Against Adolescence. One of the best books I've read in the past few years, and I read a lot. :) (And I just bought The End of Adolescence--can't wait to read it!)
  13. This is what I tried to do with my oldest, still using SOTW by really beefing up the American history part. I feel like we missed out on some of the world history, and the American history wasn't as thorough as I would have liked! THe only place it worked well was 1945+, as so much of American history & world history intertwine moreso than before that point.
  14. Another earlier-in-summer riser here. I do sometimes nap in the afternoons when the heat is at its worst. Generally we have to be out of the house earlier during the summer for camps and so forth, anyway, which often means I have to add packing lunches to our morning tasks.
  15. With my oldest, we started in first. For various reasons, I started my middle guy in it this past year, in kindergarten. He has really enjoyed it, those darn audio CDs finally got listened to (dd didn't enjoy them as much), and we'll have a year (3rd) to do US History while big sister is doing it too. I'll start my youngest with SOTW in K, too.
  16. I am working on using Bento... I don't have it all set up yet, but I think it will do precisely what i want, and then I can sync it with my iPad Bento app.
  17. Nirvana The Lacuna Disturbance of Fate The Story of Stuff (actually, that one's on my iPad) 1434
  18. Right there with you! I'm eyeing the refurbished iPad 1s for the kids.
  19. I wish it wasn't set up for a 36 week-5 days/week school year. I really want something else for writing for the kids extra and the scope & sequence is about what I'm looking for, but...
  20. :iagree: I went to one of her sessions on the last day of the Greenville convention and wished I'd known how interesting she'd be; I would've made time for more of hers.
  21. We were boring as teens, apparently! One time my best friend & I did decide to try to sneak out to her neighbor's house. Not for any nefarious reason; we wanted to see if we could sneak out and back in without being caught. LOL.
  22. I read Anne Frank in 7th grade. I think it's a perfectly appropriate choice and will probably have my children read it in 7th grade as well. Night I will save for high school.
  23. I will add that I only consider "PE" to be those things which aren't just active play--ie, actual education of rules or techniques, or building habits for life (because I know a lot of childhood activity won't necessarily be continued later in life!).
  24. ANything from the Cricket folks is great: Odyssey, Muse, Click, Dig, Cobblestone, Calliope...
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