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threedogfarm

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Everything posted by threedogfarm

  1. Our state does not have any requirements as far as attendance, hours, or minimum days homeschooling. I do agree with other posters--as long as we are progressing and putting in a year's worth of work, the amount of hours/days this takes is not a consideration for me. We work hard at school but we also spend a lot of time on field trips, etc. doing more fun things that public schoolers do not have the opportunity to do.
  2. :iagree: You said that very well--that was my pet peeve with the book along with most of the examples involved younger children (K'ers and younger) and craft oriented. I kept feeling that the author was holding back on fleshing out some of her concepts and when I got to the end of the book I found out that I was right when I read on one of the last pages: "Look for these forthcoming books: Project Based Homeschooling: Parent Handbook & Idea Book" . . . and "How to Start". Shouldn't this have all been one book? OK, enough on that rant. . .Also, thank you for the link on journaling--that is exactly what I have been looking for! Lori's book had a big influence on me in an area not even linked to academics. I originally read the book to get ideas on how to set up a unit study for my son about WWII. Obviously I realized that I really didn't want to set up a unit study (really, did he want a book list? How did I know whether he wanted to study planes vs. submarines, etc. I could put all this energy and time into it only to have him chose an entirely different aspect of the project. . .it was good advice. . .). Anyways, I applied her concepts when I was out working with my daughter and her pony. She had the basics for riding down but I still didn't allow her to ride by herself. So I always went out with her and gave her some instructions, "Heels down." "Sit up a little straighter." "Shorten your reins." Now I took a step back and let her figure out how to make the circle rounder or how to steady her pony when the ground sloped down. Sometimes things got worse before they got better. But I would comment to her about how it looked and whether she achieved what we were looking for. I let her, for the most part, figure out how to get her pony to do what she wanted. She did it by trial and error or even just lucking into it. You could almost see a little balloon above her head that says, "There, that's better. I need to remember to do ________" Every day we'd do this, with me occasionally remarking, "Did you feel how soft she got right there, how light she became?" or "Wow, I really thought she would slow down right there but you asked her to move forward before she had time to slow down--good job!" And so on. To me this is what project-based learning is about--not so much letting the child pick what interests them and go with it but giving the child the environment to explore the topic in his/her own terms as an open-ended process or experience. My son still loves WWII but he doesn't necessarily want to do a project on it or experience it beyond reading about it, talking about it, or seeing planes, tanks, battleships, etc. on field trips. He's immersing himself in the knowledge of it but not in the production end of things. However, he really loves his legos. He joined Lego League this year and that has been his source of stimulation for producing interesting things. How can I make my motor produce more torque? Gears! OK, now to make a better ship, etc. Nothing formal, no major influence from me (no books from the library yet--this is a process of trial and error for him right now--he likes thinking that he is the first to see these things) but a full experience nonetheless. For those wondering about how to put project time into use, I keep revisiting SWB's idea of "quiet time". Off to their rooms or project area to just be, just do. To have that down time to just think, stare into space or have ideas percolate in the back of their mind while doing something else. We do that more and more here. If I think of it as project time I will want to (or feel obligated) to be more involved. And how genius of SWB and her mom--it gives them downtime and (gasp!) you downtime! I reread WTM's section on this quiet time and watched the video on youtube and both of those screamed "project time" to me.
  3. Thank you! I have put off looking for something like this. . .the one I used to use was great for manuscript but didn't like the letters for cursive. This will make it very easy to post my children's spelling words and copywork.
  4. At our house we are really, really enjoying Art Lab for Kids. http://www.amazon.com/Art-Lab-Kids-Adventures-Printmaking/dp/1592537650/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349483401&sr=8-1&keywords=art+lab+for+kids There has 6 Units and one of them is drawing. I found it at our library first and then enjoyed using it so much that I bought my own copy (for me it was well worth the $15 investment). I'm not sure if you want really detailed instruction on drawing and if you do, this is probably not what you are looking for. The amazon listing does let you look inside the book so you can see for yourself. It's our art class for the year. We're finally doing art regularly (phew! and notice I said "we" because I join in too! I couldn't resist!). We don't just do the lab and move on. We actually work on the technique for a while. The labs are open ended enough that my children are exploring the technique and getting a feel for where they need to go with it. We're still on the Drawing Unit and as we progress through each lab my children find the need to go back to the techniques from previous labs to fine tune them. I am very surprised by depth with which we are exploring these techniques.
  5. Here's the link: http://www.mybinding.com/.sc/ms/dd/ee/26712/Tamerica-TW3100-3-1-Pitch-Twin-Loop-Wire-Binding-Machine#cms_0 I did a lot of comparison shopping before I bought it to make sure I got the right machine and I am really, really happy with it. Price wise it was definitely an upgrade from the Proclick and it is not as easy to store (it weighs almost 40 pounds!) but it sits on my supply cabinet in the basement where it is out of the way, yet accessible if I need it. If I'm doing a lot of stuff I carry it upstairs and my binding work on the kitchen island. I know that I will be using it over the next 10 years so to me it was a wise investment.
  6. I bought a manual 3:1 pitch binding machine from mybinding.com and I am so happy that I did it. I don't think that I could do just a couple of pages at a time with the proclick and since my kids are in 3rd/4th grade I knew I would be using this for a long time and I wanted it to last. I am VERY fortunate about having an amazing library in our town (no need to buy books) I felt that I could splurge on the binding machine. Here are the reasons why I decided to spend the extra money: 1. ability to punch more pages at once with ease (15-20 pages at a time) 2. disengagable dies so there are no half holes punched 3. greater than 100 pages can be bound together (using spirals). 4. different types of binding methods could be used: a. spirals (coils) b. proclick c. twin loop wire 5. can punch through very thick paper (card stock) with ease 6. can adjust the depth of the holes on the paper so that when more pages are bound the pages can be turned easily to lay flat. For covers I use old folders. I have some cool looking folders that have been used with fun patterns on them. I just cut off the tab tops and have a great covers. Add a label to the center and it makes a great workbook. These folders are a little larger than the paper but it protects the paper well. I use my old photo cutter with a new blade and it works well to cut paper. I have really enjoyed having my SOTW activity book bound--I made a book out of the questions/literature selections and I made each of my children a book of the student maps. Because the student maps are bound we always pull out our map books when we read SOTW and it has been great (and easy) for reinforcing geography. Plus I don't mind taking my teacher section with me to the library b/c it is so much smaller.
  7. I really liked the book "No More I'm Done!" by Jennifer Jacobson. It was full of great ideas. Look at the amazon reviews to get more of an idea of what it's about. Your library may also carry it. It will also address your concerns about grammar (and spelling!) as well. If you're looking for ways to encourage her to continue on this path without you taking it over the book "Project Based Learning" by Lori McWilliams Pickertt is a good choice to read too. I bought the book mainly because as guidance in developing a "unit study" for WWII for my 9 y.o. son. Well, after reading the book I realized that in this case I didn't need to develop a "unit study" but to let him lead the way. I'm not sure if this is the kind of help you are looking for but since creative writing is such a personal thing maybe your daughter doesn't need instruction in producing the work but you can provide the grammar support outside of her writing time. For grammar and writing I really like FLL and WWE. Both working well at our house.
  8. I didn't think there was enough geography in SOTW for it to be considered a geography course. I don't think that SWB intended it to be that way. Here's how we incorporate more geography learning: 1. Bind together all the student maps into one book (one for each child). Trace the journey at the beginning of each chapter on the map or use a globe if necessary (we have a blow up globe--great visual). 2. Keep out the map book for the entire reading b/c sometimes there are more geographical references. We often pause and do them together. 3. Do mapping at end of chapter. My daughter then likes to decorate the map while my son does strategic battles (real or otherwise) on the maps. We don't do any other activities usually with SOTW. We've added Trail Guide to World Geography with the Student Pages. 1. We do the 4 questions for each section in 1-2 days (both children are learning how to find the answers themselves). 2. We do the mapping exercises the next day. Each day we spend no more than 10 minutes on this additional geography but they are learning a lot. We're going through Trail Guide in half the time so we'll do Trail Guide to US Geography in the next half of the year.
  9. I know there are quite a few horsey people on this forum and I was hoping someone might be able to help me out. I am looking for a good quality used vaulting surcingle that I can buy. I haven't had any luck searching online. . .if you have one or have seen one at a tack store that I can call please let me know. Thank you! And if anyone is curious about what a vaulting surcingle is. . .they are used on horses that are longed in a circle and allowing the rider to do all kinds of interesting acrobatics. Think of the circus and the women doing all kinds of tricks on horses cantering in a circle in the center ring. My daughter of course won't be doing all of those crazy things but she does enough acrobatic stuff in the saddle right now that I feel that we really should move up to using a vaulting surcingle.
  10. How are they doing in math? Do they need extra help? I turned to miquon last year when my daughter was in "2nd grade" and I found she was not getting her math skills down with Singapore. She was just going through the motions (and counting on her fingers!). Miquon got her beyond that point and she is doing so well I am going to keep her going with Miquon and re-introduce Singapore to reinforce what she has learned along the way so she won't freeze when she returns to "regular" math (which I know she would do if I don't keep "regular" math in the mix). My son breezes through Singapore so I don't see the need to have him use the higher level Miquon. In other words, if your children are struggling with math then Miquon may help them. If they are doing fine, then are you just trying to give them more exposure to math in a different way? Would that be overkill? If what you are using is working, go with it. But if they aren't progressing then maybe it is time for a change or time to use this in addition to what you are already using. Do not consider using Miquon just because you are worried about not exposing them to another way to do math. You can't do everything in all the different ways. Being able to see that my daughter wasn't really getting math was one of the happiest moments in my homeschooling so far because I know it would have slipped past even the most attentive teacher. I have the luxury of sitting by my children while they do math. I only have to review two sets of math problems. I have time to figure out what is going right and wrong--one of the best things about homeschooling. I could see how she was working out the problems--she wasn't just a slow worker--she wasn't getting it. So I absolutely love Miquon because it helped get her pass that. I would have loved to know about Miquon from the beginning for both my kids. But my son is doing fine with Singapore so I am leaving him there with that. Don't try to do too much or feel like you are missing out on something. Keep with what works and if it doesn't then switch. Don't just add something on because you feel like you should.
  11. Listen to SWB's lecture on literary analysis. She does a great job explaining literary analysis through the different stages.
  12. I am using just the workbook with both my kids and each of them uses a composition book that has the appropriate lined paper in it for them and there are 200 pages so that should be enough for the whole year. This way I am not tearing pages out of the book and making an extra copy AND then filing everything. However, I do not do every single exercise since I use narration in history and we also are using FLL. I do have the hardcover instructor's text as well and I liked being able to read it to get an overview of the way this system works and where we are headed with it but I don't think it's essential. I really liked SWB's lecture on literary analysis too and if money is an issue, just get the lecture. But like other people, I do refer back to the instructor's text occasionally and I do review the book at the start of each year just to make sure I was on track.
  13. I really like her books. I do not go by them exclusively but I do take ideas from each of them for our subjects. To me they are a very good resource. I was lucky and able to find them inexpensively used so I did get them all. I think the one that I will use the least is the math one. . .if you have any specific questions I can look up any info if you want.
  14. Look at http://www.donnayoung.org for ideas and details. She has a whole section on approaching planning with great ideas. She has all of the forms you could possibly need and a lot are easy to tweak to suit your own preferences. I feel organized this year and am staying on task with the kids based on her suggestions. Check her out--the site is great and access to all the forms are free.
  15. :iagree::iagree: These are great for my kids although they are starting to outgrow them. My son actually used them as his first "reading" books because he liked that they were chapter books with lots of pictures. When we listen to some of the unabridged versions on audio he goes back to the books to look ahead. In the WTM SWB and her mother promote the use of "simplified versions" of the classics as a gentle introduction to the classics so that by time the students are ready to read the original they are already familiar with the story line. I agree with them. My kids do not groan when I say let's read "_____". They know the story and they are happy to listen to the longer version. They sometimes ask about the language, the extra detail, etc. but that just makes it even more interesting to discuss.
  16. Thank you to everyone who posted about this! It has been on my mind to look into this for my son who loves, loves, loves his legos. These posts pushed me to google search (I put in "first lego league" and our hometown) for a team in our area (the middle school team wouldn't be an option because of all the reasons brought up by other posters). It turns out our local science museum has started a FLL team! Yay! I think that they just posted the sign up so there was actually still openings on the team (registration was only $35!) I signed my son up and I guess I'll have to look into the HSCB's sale so that my son can do some playing ahead of time. So thanks again for this timely post. . .you made me get into gear this morning and look into it. One more thing checked off my long term to-do list that I never get to. . .
  17. Welcome to the boards! We just started school this week and we are using Trail Guide to World Geography. My children are 7 (soon to be 8) and 9. I looked at GTG sample pages and I thought my kids would think of it as busy work, too. I think that the TG will help stretch my kids a little and for me it's a great way to introducing how to do research. My kids are great about grabbing books and learning a ton about what interests them but answering the questions in the TG is much more specific. Great way to get them to use an index, glossary, maps, table of contents, different books, etc. daily. We have both the TG and the CD for the student notebook. I am so happy that I have the CD because it is saving me a ton of work! As for culture, you'll have more suggestions in the TG than the notebook. Not a ton more, but more in general. But the way the children's atlases are designed there is an introduction to the culture of the country and you can always go from there--it will just be more open ended. As for living books--the only book that is used is Around the World in 80 days and the author has designed for it to take 9 weeks. The core of the course is designed to take 26 weeks. If we stop there and do Around the World in 80 days at a later point that would be fine. I am going to see how our year progresses. Our living books are based around our history cycle so that wasn't a concern for me. I hope this helps! I would have to say that using the Trail Guide was a success here our first week. Geography can take as little as 5 minutes/day in our house or we can go down a rabbit hole and get lost. I am treating Geography more as a skills area this year rather than a content area--mapping, finding answers from different sources, vocabulary, and an overview of world cultures. So this course is a good fit for us.
  18. I set it up as suggested in this thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=368529&highlight=latin+print This worked for us very well and we were able to print double sided. I am not using a binder but am binding our books together in sections. If I didn't double side this would be enormous! I am doing this latin program with both my children and I didn't want three monster-sized books! The printing worked out great and now I have a schedule too!
  19. I chose to use Trail Guide to World Geography for my children (grades 3 and 4). I also got the student notebook pages (on CD) to make my life really easy. Today was our first day of school and so it was the first day we used it. So far so good. I think that I will keep it pretty basic for them--answering the questions and doing the map work. Occasionaly we might go a little deeper but we are doing a lot of other things this year. I just want them to get the basics. I am working towards having them use this on their own, as independent work. I'm thinking this might take 5-10 minutes at most a couple of times/week. I'm treating this more as a skills course rather than content-based (I want them to learn basic geography and how to look up things on a map and information in a book, terms, etc.) We also use SOTW for history and we do the map work there with Map Quest (the maps in the SOTW activity book were just not detailed enough for me--I wanted my children to see the bigger picture with the maps and Map Quest did a great job with that--plus I love the hard cover book that's easy to pull out). I also have the Ultimate Guide and CD which I was able to get used (I would not have been happy with it if I paid full price. Also I would have been disappointed if I bought it first--it would be A LOT of work to make this into a course). It is not necessary to have with the Trail Guides. I like the book and found some interesting information and ideas in it but it's not stuff I'm incorporating into our Trail Guide Geography lessons. Hope this helps with your decision. I wanted something that was almost open and go and my children could learn to do independently. This definitely fit the bill (WITH the student notebook CD--it would be A LOT more work without the student notebook).
  20. I "inherited" a set of Cuisenaire rods from my mom who is a retired 4th grade teacher. From what I can tell these wooden rods were made by the CofA in New Rochelle NH (or White Plains, not sure which). This set is called "Mathematics Made Meaninful with Cuisenaire Rods" by John Kunz. It came with the rods in a plastic tray, a poster-like pamphlet that tells the story of the rods as well as how the rods can be used per grade. Also included was the Mathematics Made Meaningful book by John Kunz and a stack of cards to use with the rods. Our rods are definitely older but in great shape. HOWEVER, the coloring is not uniform. Nowhere near as bad as in the Rainbow Resources photo (where the red appears to look like orange--is it really that bad) but there are shading differences. None of it affects their use. All these rods are uniform and with straight edges. I can see why they would be hard to use is the ends were curved. My daughter is making very good use of these and we are really enjoying Miquon Math with them. I just thought I would let everyone know that even in the older sets, made of wood, there is some color variation. Also, the one units are called white in the sorting tray diagram, but they are really natural (nowhere close to white!).
  21. :iagree: I am printing out three sets at a time (one for me and one for each of my children) and it really does take just a couple of minutes a chapter! Here's a hint (and of course it took me one chapter of printing to think of it!): when there are multiple page numbers that are not in sequence (like the history of chapter 1: pp 9,15,16,21,23,24) you can type it in like that and the printer wil automatically print all the pages together double sided. I, of course, was printing the combinations separately (9, then 15-16, then 21, then 23-24.) and it made it very tedious not to mention wasteful (there were often single sided sheets). Most of you probably thought of that right from the beginning but unfortunately I was a little slow in coming to this realization so I thought I would mention it in case there's anyone else like me out there! Thanks again to Jen for putting this together! Please, please post book 2 when it's ready! You are saving a lot of trees by doing this (not to mention a lot of time for homeschooling moms)!
  22. I bought the reams last year and I did not use them (unfortunately since they were expensive once shipping was included!). The paper is very thin and I found that they always tore when I put them in three ring binders. Maybe they are better just as practice paper? You can make your own handwriting paper for free using the site http://www.donnayoung.org I love her website and she has so many varieties to choose from. I keep about 20 sheets of story paper and vertical paper on hand so it's always available when we need it. For dictation, copywork, and spelling (we use FLL, WWE and HTTS) I just use a composition book for each child. We use: http://www.pacon.com/edu_aids/ruled_paper/CompBooksBlueBooks.php Shop around--you should be able to get them for under $2.00 each. They are nice quality and each have 200 pages (100 sheets) total so one book will last us a year. AND I do not have to hole punch paper and file in a three ring binder!
  23. I am only homeschooling two kids so it is probably different for me than it is for you. Both my children are doing school at the same time. We homeschool in the living room and the kitchen--depending on the season. I could have a separate school room and have thought about it a lot but the kids are most comfortable either in the kitchen at the table (no separate dining room here) or in the living room (no TV in there--we only use netflix once in a while). I had an old kitchen table that was 42 x 44" and we cut down the legs to make it a coffee table (came out nice--everyone thinks it's a coffee table and they love the size). That's our school table in the living room. In the kitchen it is obviously at the kitchen table. In the living room I also have a table by the window that can be used as a desk as well. It is an old library table so it has a shelf below and two very deep big drawers at the front that can hold school stuff. A pretty but small oak bureau is under another window that holds school supplies. We of course have a couple of book shelves as well. So in the end you can make your space not jump out and say "We homeschool here!". Just be creative. I do put everything away at the end of school, more because it would get scattered all over the house if I didn't. If you don't want a ton of toys in the living room then have a small trunk or basket in there that the young ones can use for toys that only get played with during school time. That will make them special. You can also rotate new ones in. When our children were younger I was very big on not having tons of toys all over the house. We of course were training a puppy at the time so that probably had A LOT to do with but it also made cleaning so much easier! The kids would have a few things that they took out at a time to play with unless they were in their rooms.
  24. We haven't studied molecules yet, but. . .I have heard of people on this forum using legos to make molecules. Here's a link: http://howtosmile.org/record/5478 I will be using this when we do molecules in science. If you look at the teacher's guide it talks about having a "Legos Atom and Molecule Kit" but it describes the kit as containing "24 white1x2, 4 grey 2x4, 12 black 2x4, 8 yellow 2x4, 8 green 2x4, 36 red 2x4, 32 blue 2x4." If you have legos at home you should be able to come up with this kit quite easily!
  25. I bought these for my children: http://www.pacon.com/edu_aids/ruled_paper/CompBooksBlueBooks.php #2426 is the one with the 1/2" rule and room for drawing on top with the rule for 3rd graders. I ordered mine from Bison Office Supplies but they have doubled in price since I ordered them 2 weeks ago. You should be able to shop around online and find somewhere charging about $2.00 a piece for them. There are 100 sheets which equals 200 pages. I saw the 24 page books at Staples (might not be the same ones). They were about $1.00 but felt really cheap and I wanted one that could last a long time too. The Pacon ones I bought without being able to see them firsthand and I'm glad I did--they are nicely sewn together. They also come without the room to draw on top. I bought those for our spelling books and copywork.
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