[Just finished reading the Ramona Quimby series aloud... Sad!]

Ah, Ramona!  Such a wonderful series.  I would suggest that you listen to the audio version in about 6 months. . .Stockard Channing is AMAZING as Ramona (and all the adults--oh how she made me think twice about my tone of voice--it's not what you say but how you say it. . .especially when you're exasperated!).  I think I've listened to them all several times.

 

My daughter loved the Anne of Green Gables series but we listened to it on audio.  That might be the way to go.  We also did that with Little Women and the sequels (which we both loved!).

 

The Penderwicks series is a lot of fun. My kids cannot wait until the next book is out (their first experience with a series where they have to wait for the author to finish writing the next one!).

 

Thanks for bringing back such great memories.

 

And FWIW, my kids never enjoyed the rest of Beverly Cleary's books after the Ramona series as much either. . .

 

Beverly Cleary did write two autobiographies which your older daughter might be interested in. . .

 

Little Britches is a fun series to follow too.

 

[Careless math errors, and a prealgebra book question]

Yes!  Definitely get her to check her work.  Also, how is she writing out her work? My 6th grader is doing AoPS after years of Singapore Math and I'm having him do all his work in a composition book with graph paper

 

In the early chapters I'm working side by side with him and not so much teaching the math but how to approach the math and how to organize his work.  Each problem has to be written out with the question (or equation) followed by his work in a neat, sequential fashion.  This way it is easy to see where he has gone wrong.  I have even pointed out, "Haven't we done a problem similar to this?" and have him go back and find it to see how he did it before, more so he can see that organizing his work and writing out each step has multiple purposes.  Each step of the problem is written out even if it's obvious.  I use the explanations in the book as an example.  I remind him that anyone should be able to pick up his comp book and be able to follow his reasoning.

 

By doing this he has found that sometimes it's his own handwriting that messes up the problem.  Sometimes it is indeed carelessness and best of all, by having to do each step he can easily find the point where he's confused.  And for him, he has found that doing each problem in an organized, thorough manner, he is able to find where he made the mistake(s) without having to redo the problem and possibly make other mistakes!

 

And I would not only have her check her answers but also have her correct each wrong answer step-by-step (not just say, "Oh, I understand where I made my mistake" and then move on).  With my children, this makes them more careful because they DON'T want to redo problems with careless mistakes because it takes longer in the end. . .

[Better sentence writing resources]

I agree with all the other posters that suggested Killgallon (in spite of your request for other suggestions!).  You said right in your original post what you wanted and Killgallon will deliver. . .and it's not a full blown program.

 

You might also consider reading Notes Toward a New Rhetoric:  9 Essays for Teachers by Frances Christensen.  Killgallon based his program on Christensen's work.  I like to understand how and why a curriculum came about, whether it is math, science, writing, etc.  Reading books/essays about the theory behind a curriculum really helps me embrace the curriculum and help my children get the most from it (or in some cases, reject the curriculum).

[Long division with zeros in the quotient]

My daughter had the same exact problem.  I didn't like teaching division the second way.  I think that doing it the first way makes so much more sense.  Bring down the number from the top--still to small to divide?  Then put a zero in the quotient. . .and bring the next number down.  Each time you bring a number down, a number must be placed in the quotient. . .

 

I finally had to tell my daughter (who was determined to use the second way) that sometimes we just have to change to a different method that will work better for us.  It was easy for me to sway her in this way because she rides ponies and often times what worked with one pony will not work with another.  When presented this way, she was much more amenable to the change.

 

Another option would be to consider looking at Education Unboxed videos using the rod but I personally found it cumbersome to use the rods for the bigger division problems. 

 

 

[Math Facts in 4th grade - stop and learn or keep going]

I don't think that you should drop math while she solidifies the math facts.  You could always move onto something other than arithmetic for a while AND practice the math facts.  Options would include measuring, geometrical figures, etc.  We use Singapore and if you're using that, you can just go onto the next section that isn't reinforcing multiplication for a while.

 

We recently purchased the game Muggins as a way to reinforce math facts (we were looking for multiplication specifically).  Some on the board had suggested the games Muggins it in another thread and it's a lot of fun to play.  It's expensive but really helps to reinforce the math facts without going the flash cards route.  The company's website has some youtube videos that demonstrate how to play it.  Rainbow Resource had the best price ($10 cheaper than Amazon from what I remember. . .).  We haven't played Knockout! yet which is on the other side of the board but it looks like fun too. 

 

 

I like it because I don't get bored playing it.

[Do you have tips for scaffolding a reluctant reader into a strong reader during middle school?]

HappyGrace,

 

I didn't go back and read the links to the other suggested threads so this may be a repeat of that info.

 

But find out WHY your son doesn't like to read.  Why doesn't he want to progress to harder books? 

 

I was surprised to find out last year that my daughter wasn't progressing beyond a certain level because, while she could mechanically read well and her comprehension was excellent with read alouds and books-on-tape, she wasn't reading EVERY WORD on the page.  She would read a paragraph quickly and skip words or details and deduce the general idea of the passage/paragraph/chapter.  With more complex books, though, this strategy was a complete failure.  It lead to confusion and therefore a dislike for books beyond a certain level (simple chapter books).  Harder, more complex books were "uninteresting" or "confusing" to her because she missed important details.

 

I wouldn't have figured this out if I hadn't asked my daughter why she didn't like some of the books I had chosen for her for independent reading.  After she repeatedly said that the books were confusing, uninteresting, etc. even on subjects she really enjoyed (like horses) I knew that something else was going on.  Like I said earlier, mechanically she could read without any issues but she was lacking the ability to process the details because she was skipping words she didn't understand or skimming the pages to get the general idea but with more complex books, the details help to carry the book.  If reader doesn't understand the details then the book doesn't make sense.

 

 

I found WWE 3 &4 as well as SOTW with the comprehension questions in the activity books to be well suited to working on this issue.  The passages in WWE and the chapter sections in SOTW are short enough that I could easily say "Go back and read the passage" each time she got the answer wrong.  Over time this really helped her to become a more careful reader which in turn helped her to enjoy the harder, more complex books.  The questions helped tease out the details and she learned to look up words she didn't understand or figure out the definition by the context.  A year later she is really, really enjoying books she had previously avoided. 

 

I'm not saying that this is the issue your son is having but if you do a little detective work with him, you might find out why he has a lack of interest in harder books and then you can work on that issue.  Continuing to read aloud or listening to books on tape, while they have their place, would not have helped me to discover what was contributing to my daughter's lack of progression or interest.

 

[Metacognition Resources]

This is a great discussion!  Thanks for starting it.

 

I am off to check our library for some of these books.

 

In the mean time, I will mention one that should be of interest:  The Paradox of Choice:  When Less is More by Barry Schwartz.

 

Prof. Schwartz claims that more choices actually restricts us rather than making us more satisfied with our choices.  There's always a better curriculum out there, right?  This book is an easy read and very straight forward.  It should definitely be accessible to a middle schooler and should be a must-read for high schoolers (and college students!).

 

He has three short TED talks that you might enjoy watching.

 

 

 

 

 

[Looking for a FREE Birchbark Canoe Craft]

Try this tutorial to make a miniature birch bark canoe.  The kids can use an awl instead of a drill.   I would make the canoe bigger.  It would be an interesting project because the kids would need to figure out how to make a pattern.

 

When I was young (years and years ago), my brother did something similar to this only he used one of the cardboard egg cartons and painted it.  I wonder if you could do the same with a styrofoam egg carton.  I would soak either one in warm water first so it's flexible.  This type of material may be easier to work with than the birch bark. . .(if it does work).  Again, another interesting way for the kids to learn by trial and error.

 

[Where to start with Analytical Grammar]

I thought I was starting AG with my sixth grader this year who had done 1-4 FLL and after three lessons it was just too much.  I'm having him do JAG with my daughter.  Although they have had a pretty solid background in grammar, it was just too much of a jump--even if we did it really slow.  Even the first few exercises had the student identifying several different parts of speech--the sentences were meatier than he was used to in a grammar book and he was overwhelmed.  I think we can go through JAG pretty quickly and steadily.  I think you'd be O.K. to AG for eighth grade.

 

So, my recommendation (without knowing about Rod and Staff or the other programs) would be to JAG, daily.  I actually really like the tests that are peppered into the AG programs.  Our kids have never taken tests and this is a wonderful introduction for them.

 

We're doing Killgallon and (J)AG along with WWS for my son and WWE for my daughter.  I'm also trying Treasured Conversations for the intro to the paragraph and outlining as a supplement.  This may sound like a lot but we just plug away at it daily and it really doesn't take too long (then again, we haven't started WWS yet!  I hear that can be a bit of a bear!). 

[Kilgallon's Paragraphs for Middle School?]

Rose,

 

Thanks for mentioning the importance of writing the sentences out.  I was planning to do the series orally for the most part and I wasn't considering the value in writing out the sentences.  Now I'll be approaching it a little differently, thanks to your input.  We're starting the series in the next week or so when my books finally come in :toetap05:. 

 

 

[Could we start a read aloud thread for 6th graders? I'm on empty!]

Here's an "island" suggestion:  Anacaona, Golden Flower by Edwidge Dandicat.  Don't let your boys get turned off by the fact that it's in the Royal Diaries series.  It's about a beautiful story about life on Haiti before the Spanish arrived and then it touches on the aftermath.  There's enough action for the boys to be interested (descriptions of weapons, other warring tribes)and it is very interesting to see what life was like on the island. 

 

Nim's Island would be a very light read but fun read.  Another fun read would be Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm which takes place in the Florida Keys (close!) during the Great Depression.  The main character is a girl but she has to learn to interact with all her male cousins.  It's fun, it's fast and of course, there's buried treasure.  I learned enjoyed learning about the history of the Keys. 

 

We're currently reading The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke.  It's our first read aloud of the year (well, technically the second but the first was a bust).  It's about a boy who finds 12 old wooden soldiers that come to life.  The Bronte children were the soldiers' original owners and that plays into the plot. 

 

My kids are thoroughly enjoying it and the idea behind the story (the exploits of the soldiers were recorded by the Bronte children), who the Bronte's were, etc. has given us some really nice discussion points.  I have a feeling that my kids might be coming up with some interesting short story material from this book.

 

It's great hearing all the other suggestions too.  I feel like we have gone through the entire children's section of the library and it's time to branch out.  But, there are some hidden gems in there still (like The Return of the Twelves) and I'm just not sure where to start on the "older" stuff.

 

And two other books just came to mind that we enjoyed:  Watership Down (be prepared to commit to that one!) and the Little Britches series by Ralph Moody.  We really enjoyed the first four book.  I'm thinking of them like the Little House series with a boy main character. 

[Treasured Conversations, 8FilltheHeart's new writing program,......]

#151 this morning!

 

I'm very excited to use this curriculum. We've already started school this past week so it will be in the lineup on Monday (especially since I am still waiting for some grammar books to arrive--maybe some of those will go back????).

 

And, it works with Nitro, not just Adobe Reader(I don't have the full version, just the trial/read-only version).  And for those of you who use Adobe--I really prefer Nitro and it's much cheaper if you want to buy pro version.

 

Thanks 8 for all your hard work!

 

8--I do have a question that I can ask through the website but it is probably worth asking here too.  On the download page it says:  The download of this file expires in 1 year or 1 more download.   Does that mean it will expire on my computer (like library books do) or does it mean the download on my account on the website will expire?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[CNN Student News FYI]

 

We also have a subscription to Newsademic.  It comes every two weeks.  I print it out, bind it with the pro-click and give it to DS.  It has become his "morning newpaper." I find it to be a nice complement to CNN: (1) it is not American-centric (2) more science than CNN (3) the cover story is in depth.

 

Thanks for mentioning this subscription!  I was on the fence about trying it and I signed up for the free cover story option.

 

Today I got an email with a password to access both the entire newspaper AND the activities.  According to the email they are going to offer this to people when they sign up for the free cover story email.  This free subscription will be available through Sept 16th so I think that will be four issues total.  The email explained that they  will send a password each time a new issue is available. 

 

We started school this week so this morning the new issue of Newsademic will be added to our day.  I'm interested to see what my kids think of it.

 

Here's the website.

[Would you try to line up Human Odyssey and Story of Science?]

I opened this thread with dread, thinking that maybe I should be lining up Human Odyssey and Story of Science (we're doing the ancients).

 

Then, I came to my senses and thought I'd give you the reason why I'm NOT lining them up:  Last year I made myself a promise that the benefit must outweigh the extra work that I have to put into something. 

 

I think lining up the books (at least for the Ancients) would be a tremendous amount of work with very little benefit.  While I would feel like a super teacher if I did it, I like thinking that challenging my kids to figure out where the science book is on our (imaginary) timeline and trying to come up with the historical context would be good review and it just might cement things more.  I also want to take a more "hand's off" approach to their schooling where I'm not manipulating the texts so that everything lines up.  Authors present the material in a way that they deem best--for better or worse!  Sometimes our best discussions come from a disjointed text or book and the collaboration of all of us putting it together in a way that makes better sense provides for an even deeper learning experience.

 

And to all those moms who do the work to line up the books--my hat goes off to you!  My explanation might simply be a thinly disguised attempt at convincing myself that I'm not acting too lazy.  :lol:

 

That said, I am going to start the Story of Science a little later in the year so that the science in the Story of Science book we're not discussing the nomads in history and the Greeks in science. 

[Does Peace Hill Press usually do a back to school sale?]

www.christianbooks.com is having a 40% SOTW sale right now.  I think the sale lasts for just one week.

[Help! I hate Trail Guide to W Geo!]

Over the past year and a half we did Trail Guide to World Geography and Trail Guide to US Geography.  We used the notebook pages with dd9 and ds10.

 

I agree with the OP that sometimes the answers just weren't available in our atlas or in two other atlases we consulted.  If you dig through her intro material she actually specifies which atlas she took her questions from.  Once you have THAT atlas the questions practically answer themselves.  I can distinctly remember trying to figure out which South American country produced the most coffee.  I was NOT pleased to find out that I should have bought a different atlas, especially since I bought each child their own atlas and then I had to buy another!

 

I also did not find that the maps in the notebook pages were large enough for the mapping exercise.  I ended up getting a mapping program to reprint maps when necessary. 

 

That being said, I am very, very happy we did this program because it was a great curriculum to send the kids off on their own to complete.

 

Day one was 1/2 that week's questions and the vocab words.  Day two was the rest of the weeks questions and mapping.  Day three was one of the "research" type activities.  I cherry picked the ones I thought would be interesting and straightforward.  Sometimes I made up my own notebook page or just skipped it altogether that week.  I put the printed notebook pages in a folder with two pockets--one side for the finished work and the other side for the work to be completed.  The vocab pages were kept in a portfolio binder.  Once everything was printed and selected it was very open and shut for me and geography was the subject that independent of me.  My object for this geography program was to increase exposure to mapping, to learn to use an atlas effectively, to introduce researching a topic to fill out a notebook page, and to work independently on a subject with just a schedule as a guideline as well as to learn more about geography in general.  I really feel this curriculum worked well in all those regards once I worked the bugs out.  I needed the recommended atlas (which wasn't truly recommended, it was more mentioned in passing) and I needed resources like a multi-volume encyclopedia on our bookshelf (which is now used constantly--one of my best homeschool purchases!  But buy one used--I couldn't imagine paying full price for it!).

 

So what did I use for resources?  The atlas (for World Geography I DEFINITELY recommend getting the one she based her questions on.  For the U.S. I didn't find it that critical).  We have a multi-volume encyclopedia--yes definitely a necessity.  It warmed my heart that the kids were using the INDEX to the encyclopedia to find out where they could find out more info on the Everglades b/c it wasn't listed under "E".  Yes, they really learned to look things up using this program! 

 

In summary, I do think the curriculum could have been presented in a less jumbled, more streamlined fashion.  She does seem all over the place at times however I found that I could make it work without much tweaking.  If you're looking to do a lot of tweaking, etc. I would just use the Ultimate Guide to Geography and skip the other books and student pages.  I didn't purchase the cookbook or the art book because neither appeared to be my style.  I also wanted to keep this as open-and-go as possible.

 

[How do you get it all done (trying again as last post won't show) - 6th grade]

I dump everything into a spreadsheet so I know what my pace is and can make some up front decisions about what we have time for each week.

 

For example, I compacted the two first chapters from CPO Earth Science so we have time for Science fair. I cut vocabulary and grammar completely this year b/c it is well covered in our Latin, and I want time for music practice. I dropped an online class and a history component b/c we just didn't need them after I looked over my spreadsheet. There is a version of what I use in my sig, along with a weekly assignment sheet I like.

 

I tweek as the year goes on, and stay flexible with bunny trails.

HTH

 

Could you explain how you put everything onto the spreadsheet?  Are the column headings the numbered days of school and the row headings are the subjects with each lesson/chapter/assignment going in the appropriate box?  In other words do you plan out the year and then start changing manipulating the schedule so that everything that is necessary is fit in?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Good article/post for those of us that get...]

I copied this off of the slowhomeschooling tumblr page:

 

"What children need is not new and better curricula but *access* to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out what they want to find out."

 John Holt, Teach Your Own, 1981, pp. 168-169

 

New materials/methods definitely won't do that!  

 

I think the beauty of homeschooling is that (at least in our state) we don't have to make every experience into a lesson or count towards a specific goal or subject nor do I have to count the hours or days that we're doing the schoolwork.  There isn't a box we have to check off or a description to be written to explain why we're counting those hours spent at the pond looking for crayfish as a learning experience. 

 

I am not an unschooler by any stretch of the imagination but I do think that some of our best learning experiences are captured by the unschooling philosophy and do not happen in our dedicated school time.  Thank goodness our school hours are short enough that there is plenty of time for this type of learning to occur.

 

 

[Suggestions for science encyclopedia for middle schooler?]

Wow.  We have a number of them, including Britannica, and I would have to say that none are quite good enough.  They're great for the younger set, but leave a lot to be desired for MS on up.

 

What we ended up doing was get top notch, previous editions of college texts.  Britannica makes for a good jumping off point, but for complete context, there's nothing like the real deal.  We have high school and college texts on biology, chemistry, anatomy, and physics, and some bargain bin astronomy and cosmology books.  You'd be surprised at how accessible freshman texts have become.

 

Could you suggest some of the college science texts that you find useful?  We are big on using the World Book encyclopedias here but since my oldest just finished 5th grade, we haven't needed anything more detailed YET.  I will say that he is beyond all the basic field guides, etc. and the "adult" ones are much more his speed.  So I know that soon the World Books will be just a jumping off point for certain subjects.  We are located in a college town so locating used texts won't be a problem. . .I would just love some suggestions.

[Science posts organized by topic]

Move along.... nothing to see here.

 

 

Well, of course I had to keep reading. . .(especially since YOU started this thread!).

 

Thanks for putting all this together (even if it was just for your own notes).  I'm happily benefiting from your need to be organized!

[directed nature study]

I would also recommend Nature Connection. 

 

With my children it has also been helpful to have local books on nature.  Naturally Curious by Mary Holland is perfect for northern New England.  It is essentially a nature journal packed with photos, etc of what is seen each month of the year. A local, independent book store should stock books like that.  I am hesitant to suggest going to the library to browse b/c you might not find what you're looking for, especially this time of year--everything might be checked out!

 

Naturally Curious was really inspirational to my children (grades 4 and 5 this past year) along with lots of other field guides.  I made my own nature study sheets based on the Nature Connection and assigned them approx 3x's per week.  It was a lot of fun and worked really well.  My kids are now going through lists of amphibians that they want to find in our area.  They've gone through most of the list so far and we want to track what we find and where on various hikes we go on.

 

Another suggestion would be to get local nature books for places that you vacation.  We love finding shells, etc. and identifying them when we go to the beach. 

 

[Suggestions for stuff to buy for next year]

This may not be the answer you were looking for but I have found that I always do better with less and wait until I feel that I need to purchase something rather than buy ahead (I didn't always do this but even though my children are getting older--I'm spending LESS). 

 

Figure out what it's going to cost to buy all the things you want.  Then buy only what you absolutely NEED and take the rest of the money and stash it away somewhere where's it's not accessible for you to put towards the other expenditures. 

 

For example, I am sure that WWE and FLL is a NEED (can't really substitute that.  BTW, I don't use the workbook pages with WWE--I prefer to have each child use a composition book--they have them with the 2nd grade writing paper in it. We were able to fit two years of WWE in one comp book.  It's nice b/c then there's no filing).  I'm sure you would also want to get SOTW II and the activity book (I liked it for the comprehension questions and the maps) but can you hold off on the audio?  Also, I'm not familiar with History Odyssey but do you need SOTW to use with it?  If not, skip SOTW, you can always do that next year (that would save quite a bit).

 

You can also put off purchasing the classic books and just get them from the library.  Yes, you want them in your home library for the future but they will still be available to purchase in the future if you find that you absolutely MUST have them.

 

Now for your question of what would be good to have that's not on your list.  Personally, the one thing that I love, love having in our home is a good encyclopedia.  It is used for everything from FLL (why was the poem for Edgar Allen Poe chosen?) to history (what did Palestine look like before it was partitioned and Israel was created) to geography (Tell me about Yellowstone National Park) to science (lives of the inventors, inventions, etc.).   We have the World Book which is great.  Another option would be the Childcraft series (really easy to get on Ebay for not a lot of money).  You can get World Book on Ebay, through library sales, etc. very reasonably priced.  I also second a globe and an atlas--get a really good one for reference, not just one of the ones aimed at kids.

 

 

[Horse people, esp. Hunter/Jumpers...what have we done??`]

Depending on what part of the country you are in, there are a lot of different options. 

 

To learn more about the hunter/jumper world, you should check out the forums at the Chronicle of the Horse:  www.chronofhorse.com  (on the top menu, go under VOICES and choose chronicle forums--this will lead you to the page that has all the different forums on it). There are forums of all the disciplines:  dressage, hunters, eventing, fox hunting, western, trails, etc.  There have been threads that address your very issue and should give you some good insight.

 

I would definitely talk to your son about what HE wants to do.  He might be really enjoying the atmosphere of the barn and have a rapport with the trainer.  It sounds like he is progressing quickly and truly enjoying himself.  If you abruptly change barns or go to a different discipline he might not be happy with that  BUT that doesn't mean you should feel pressured to half lease a pony.  I would definitely talk to your trainer and see what s/he has to say.  You can easily say that you just want to keep things as they are and not do any showing this year.  If the trainer pushes you on the lease and tries to convince you that there is no other way forward then you know you have to make some changes.

 

I'll throw out a recommendation that hasn't been mentioned (and one that is near and dear to my heart):  eventing and Pony Club.  If your son loves to gallop and is looking forward to jumping, then eventing  might be worth looking into.  If your area has a lot of Hunter barns, they probably also have event barns too.  Usually you need to have your own pony for Pony Club mounted activities but often the barn that hosts the Pony Club will have ponies that can be leased (at a much, much more reasonable rate than what you're looking at in the hunter world--you're in the most expensive discipline right now).  And just to be clear, you don't have to event to be in Pony Club and you don't have to be in Pony Club to event. 

 

One more thing--I really admire all of you moms (and dads) who are letting your children follow their heart's desire into the horse world.  My mom did and I am forever grateful to her for that.  And now I'm sharing that world with my daughter. 

[Encyclopedia Set]

I bought a 2011 set of World Books off of Ebay.  It was the best money I spent on homeschooling books. I do purchase the yearbook each year.  I would get one as "new" as possible, especially since your son is so young. Then you won't be looking to replace it as he gets older. 

 

We use the encyclopedia set for EVERYTHING.  I love it.  And it is wonderful to know that when we have "research" type questions in subjects like geography that it's OK that I didn't pick up some books at the library for that subject. . .they can find out enough info in the encyclopedia to satisfy them for the moment and then we can write down the topic in the Library Book to be picked up on the next visit. 

 

You might want to consider looking for the Child Craft set for right now.  Those are wonderful too and their dictionary is the best one I have seen for kids.  You should be able to pick up a complete set inexpensively on Ebay.

[This should keep us all busy for a few years, at least.]

Thank you for posting this!  It looks to be very interesting.  As I was looking at this I was thinking to myself--now if I was more computer literate (and had some time) I would make something like this for myself--like my own personal bookmark page.  And then I looked at the FAQ, and that is how this site came about. What a great resource!