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GWTW93

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Everything posted by GWTW93

  1. Here are my plans and a question or two: History: Core 100 from Sonlight Science: Apologia Physical Science Math: Math*U*See pre-algebra Grammar: Analytical Grammar Bible: Sonlight Vocabulary: Wordly Wise Book 8 Logic: here is my question: What is the difference between Critical Thinking books one and two and Analogies 1? I can't decide which to use and don't want to overwhelm my son. We have struggled in the past with overwhelming subjects and had to scrap those subjects altogether. He is a bright boy, but could use a confidence boosting subject. Is Critical Thinking an intese book that should wait until later high school years? Any input you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
  2. Okay, so I was talking to my oldest the other day about what he wanted to do next year (4th grade) and he said health. Who knew? Maybe he'll be a doctor after all? :D Anyway, not planning on doing any health next year, I'm totally clueless as to what is even out there! Here is what I'm doing for next year: Bible, History, Reading, and Science - all Sonlight Handwriting - HWT Math - Saxon Spelling - Spelling Workout and Financial Peace Jr - only lasts about 6 weeks Any advice would be great. You all have such wonderful ideas! Thanks in advance, Tammy
  3. As a lefty myself, I really like HWT. My oldest is a righty and does great with the program; my youngest is a lefty and his writing is a little - well, bad. But I know it will click and he'll writing as neatly as my oldest in a few years. From the teaching perspective, I find it easy to do and my kids really enjoy the program. We used a different program at first with my oldest and it was terrible and caused many tears. So the title was what first caught my eye with this program! It really is hard to beat. Tammy
  4. My oldest has gone through book 8 and my youngest just finished book 4. We have used it as our main phonics for my youngest and spelling/phonics for my oldest. Both my kids are good readers, with my oldest being a very strong reader. I will say my oldest didn't like ETC but I made him do it anyway :001_smile: I noticed a difference right away in his spelling - which is the main reason I purchased the program for my oldest in the first place. I'm typically not a workbook person, but I can't argue with positive results. Tammy
  5. I always say Calvert is the Cadillac of homeschool curriculums. We used it the first two years with our oldest when we thought that more expensive meant the best. Don't get me wrong, we liked Calvert, but it was p-r-i-c-e-y! I agree with the others, I would hire an art teacher and a music teacher - and maybe a housekeeper. Mama's got to get something out of this dream too!
  6. I totally agree with Sarah - sometimes saving time (and gas, and frustration) is worth the money. I actually found my science kits on ebay and feel we got a great deal. It's kind of like buying the cores - sure I could find all those books on my own (or order them separately), but I don't have that kind of time!!
  7. Does R&S 4 English offer enough writing or would I need to find a supplemental writing program? My son currently hates with a capital "H" the thought of writing, but I'm hoping to spark his love of writing soon. Thanks for any thoughts you can provide.
  8. I just happened to run across this when I logged onto the forum today. THANK YOU for the great advice. Hubby and I just finished putting aside the $$ for our kitchen redo. Great advice! I'm so glad I stumbled across this!
  9. I use Destination Math with our Saxon 1 and 3. It does seem to do a good job correlating between the lessons. I also like using it because it gives my kids a different type of teaching perspective in regards to math. My first grader especially really likes it. My third grader I think really likes it but doesn't want to appear too excited (not cool, ya know ;-) I don't use Destination Math for each Saxon lesson. There are some lessons that aren't correlated to Destination Math, and sometimes I like to teach the math lesson myself just to make sure something isn't falling through the cracks. Overall, I think it was a great investment for us. I plan on using it again next year.
  10. First of all, my homeschool co-op utilizes two separte church buildings for our classes and graduation. The church building we use for classes has suggested we purchase our own liability insurance and that's all we need to do to use the building. Our co-op board didn't feel that was an outlandish request, and having insurance is today's litigious (sp) society is a good thing. The second church has never asked us for anything to use their building for graduation except to clean up when we're done. No problem. Secondly, I agree with others who posted previously, you need to speak with your pastor. Base your actions on Matthew 18:15-16: "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." There are many out there who think we're "weird" for homeschooling, but that's okay, doing what God calls you to do sometimes makes you look "weird". As far as the classroom, what do the Lutherans have available? :lol:
  11. I was watching the individual competitions tonight and finally had to stop. The commentators pointed out four mistakes from one of the Chinese competitors and she ended up with the same score as one of our competitors, who made no mistakes. They were confused, and so am I. I also noticed the other night that one of the girls still had her baby teeth. It makes me angry to think about it; they're not playing fair. A 12-year-old is much more limber and agile than a 16-year-old. Yes, the 16yo has the experience, but her body is bigger and can't move as well as a 12yo. I had also heard the girls are taken around age 3. I also heard one of the gymnastics wanted to stop, but her parents said no because they have a much better life now that their child is involved in the gymnastics. It makes me more and more grateful that I live in the USA!
  12. I just noticed I have one square and don't know how it got there. I noticed y'all talking about using rep points. What are those? What does the square mean? Thanks for helping out a newbie. :D
  13. As I was reading this post I was wondering who no one would mention the ultimate best of all time - Duran Duran. So, thanks Crazy Coffee Chic. Almost every one you mentioned is a fave of mine. Also, did anyone hear the song "I Eat Cannibals"? During pom-pon camp one year we did a routine to that song and I loved it. I would have to add that to the list as well. Recently Duran Duran did a concert that was shown on VH1 and I loved it! I guess you never really grow up ... Thanks for starting this post - it's bringing back some great memories.
  14. We're using: Sonlight Core 3 SOTW 3 Saxon 3 Explode the Code 7&8 R&S English 3 Spelling Workout C Prima Latina God's Design for Chemistry Bowling team Co-op Art Piano various YMCA sports Sonlight Core 1 SOTW 1 Saxon 1 FLL first grade Spelling Workout A God's Design for Life My Printing Book (HWT) Bowling team Co-op Art Piano various YMCA sports I think that's it -- it certainly LOOKS like enough :laugh:
  15. Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I'll be checking these websites out!
  16. What have you used in the past for your children's copybooks? I have two boys heading into first and third grade. I have been looking at Memoria Press' Copy Books but I honestly don't know where else to look. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
  17. Loved the short. My DH practically rolled on the floor. My kids and hubby loved it. I actually thought the movie was OK. Can I say that here? :001_unsure: I guess I over analyzed the movie and didn't like the dominant theme of electronics taking over our lives and how everyone just sort of let it happen. I did like the animation (as always with Pixar) and liked how Wall-E forced others to see beyond their dull, mundane lives and think about others. If the fam wanted to go again, I would.
  18. My oldest also used Calvert for K and 1st and the best fit I found was Saxon for 2nd. He did not like Calvert at all and found it to be extremely boring. I switched to Saxon and while the first few lessons were review for him (which was great to get accustomed to the switch), he eventually got in step with Saxon and really likes it. I looked over MUS and thought it had more prep work than I was used to coming from Calvert. Saxon had some prep, but I personally felt MUS had a bit more.
  19. I also can't stand Twain's writing. I think it's because I live in Hannibal, Twain's boyhood home, and everything here is Mark Twain this and Mark Twain that. Drives me nuts! I don't think I could handle reading The Scarlet Letter one more time. I read it twice in school - once in sixth grade and then again in college. I hated in the first time and despised it the second time. I vowed I would never read it again.
  20. My yougest DS was/is a mover and a shaker :tongue_smilie: He is constant motion, but loved many of the same things your boy loves. He loved lift-a-flap books (I guess since they involved some motion). He also liked Bob the Builder books. You can't go wrong with Dr. Suess. We found some board books that were a shorter version of the originals. Same pictures and everything, just shorter stories. Dr. Suess' style of writing is just words in motion. He also loved the Usbourne book That's Not My Dinosaur. It's a touchy-feely book that he begged for each night. Basically, anything that allowed motion (lift-a-flap), touch, or wasn't terribly long (usually shorter than what I normally read to my older son at that age) seemed to work. He's 6 now and while he is a strong reader for his age, he still doesn't like to sit down and do it. It also amazed me how much he actually listened while I read to his older brother. He would be playing nearby and even if he didn't see the words, he picked up on the cadence of language. He was a hard one to get to read to each night, so we would compromise and read every other night or whenever the urge hit him. Basically if he brought me a book during the day, it was read ASAP. You might also try taking him to the library and just letting him browse the books with you. He really liked the How Do Dinosaurs ... (Say Good-Night, etc). I believe the author's last name is Yolen.
  21. For two years now my oldest (8) has said he wants to go to Mexico and tell people about Jesus. He also wants to be a major league baseball star. My youngest (6) wanted to be Batman. Now he wants to be Flash. He runs so fast now that I think he's on his way with that one.
  22. I live in Hannibal, MO, so I get the chance to see the Mississippi River every day. I was also here for the flood of '93 (my first year living here) and have learned a lot about rivers over the last 15 years. Here in Hannibal, we have a large bluff that overlooks the River, so that's the prime real estate here. It is so high up that there is no way a flood would reach it, unless your name is Noah ;) The snow melt does have a lot to do with flooding but this year, at least for our area, it's the intensity and amount of rain. If the rainfall Iowa had seen had happened gradually, say over a couple of months, this would not have happened. Because Iowa received literally buckets of rain and over a great number of days, you see the rivers swell. There are also a great many tributaries that run into the Mississippi. Those smaller rivers also flooded well over their banks this year, adding to the catastrophic flooding that we're seeing right now. Many of the towns along the Mississippi have levees, either earthen or manmade, or flood gates. Hannibal is fortunate enough to have an earthen levee that surrounds the downtown area. In those areas where the earthen levee was removed to add streets, we have flood gates. So, when the River is projected to reach a certain crest (I think it's 20 feet here), the flood gates are put in place. The flood gates were just installed in 1992, one year before the Flood of '93. We also have another smaller creek called Bear Creek that is wreaking havoc on some homes on the south side of town. Those homes are built near the Mississippi but aren't prime real estate. Because of the way Bear Creek runs through Hannibal, the city was unable to install flood gates for that side of town. Unfortuately, many of those homes are flooded right now. Hannibal has tourist attractions downtown. Our riverboat is not normally affected by floods, but this one is so intense that barge and riverboat traffic has been halted for some time now due to flow of the river. Many of the other tourist attractions are on the side of the flood wall that allows them to stay open for business even during times of flooding.
  23. I personally loved KBC with Exploring Creation with Astronomy. However, I ended up doing most of the work. My children are not crafty ones, so they tended to let me cut and paste and they would simply fill it all in. I would definitely use it again, though.
  24. I used Calvert for two years, one without testing and one with. I really liked Calvert - however my son did not. He felt it was monotonous. We ended up supplementing the Calvert curriculum. I would highly suggest Calvert to anyone who needs a prepackaged curriculum. Everything you need arrives in the box - including the pencils and paper. It truly is an all inclusive program. For us, it boiled down to price. We got to a point where we simply couldn't afford it. However, I still suggest Calvert to first-time homeschoolers or those, much like your situation, who need to have the planning done for them. It truly is a time saver. Their education counselors are wonderful too. They are available to help at any time and have some really good ideas. Tammy in MO
  25. We are using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy for this year. My oldest son is in second grade and loves this book. After recently studying Pluto, my son had a small debate with his PS friends about whether or not Pluto was indeed a planet. His retention really amazed me. For next year I am looking into Answers in Genesis science curriculum. They have a chemistry series, physics series, a life series, and a heaven and earth series. If a Christian based program is something you would be interested in, their web site is www.godsdesignscience.com Up until this point, I have been very disappointed with the chemistry and physics options for young children. Let's face it, there's not much out there. The above mentioned program is very new, but what I've seen so far has piqued my interest enough to order it for next year. Tammy in MO
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