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Tigger

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  1. Great math opportunity for the kids - they're numbered, have them help get them back in order with you! :001_smile:
  2. I can understand that, as it is my DH's position and why he and I decided I wouldn't return to work since my job would require 80-100% travel all.the.time. Not only would I not like having to be away from DH and my kids, DH and the kids wouldn't like it either, so I get to be a SAHM now! Prior to our move here, DH did have to travel more often and I was okay with it, it was part of his job (as it was mine when I was working). I knew it going into our relationship and our marriage. His situation now is different, he travels rarely, and when he does, it's for conferences he needs to attend and the vast majority of the time we go with him (very easy to with homeschooling). But there are occasions when it just doesn't make sense to travel with him - like last year when I had the baby, one of the conferences he attends each year was four weeks after the baby was born....no way was I going to even try to go, but there was no reason for him not to go, my mom was here helping me with the baby, so I wasn't going to be alone with a new baby and DS. Recently his mom became very sick and again this year I've opted to not go with him, but stay here since if his parents need something, no other family is nearby. He's only going four days instead of a week and I'm totally okay with that - in fact, I think with all the stress with his mom now, he NEEDS the mental health break right now!
  3. Well, the first thing to consider is - is the PS achieving a better outcome by high school graduation with their approach versus how many homeschoolers (a la WTM) here approach writing? I have to agree with others who've noted that quantity does not equal quality. I've eased DS into writing and at this point, he can write a solid, grammatically correct sentence. He can bring together his thoughts and create an interesting, thought out paragraph too (although at this point, not required by me, that's on his own - he likes to create and illustrate stories - a new thing for him; before he'd draw all the pictures and just orally tell the story he laid out, now he wants to add text to it too....but I digress... My end goal for DS isn't reams and reams of random thoughts and words, it is to write well, so step-by-step he's learning to do that by learning grammar, spellings, and how to bring his thoughts together to be able to do that in longer and longer writing assignments. Without adequate lessons to teach grammar and spelling, and good examples of well written material, I can see it being a problem down the road if the child is allowed to make mistakes without correction and/or guidance about how to improve their work. This past Christmas I saw it first hand - how quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. DS is 7, his best friend is 8 and she's in public school, a grade ahead of DS, so she's in our PS 3rd grade. They do massive amounts of writing and her dad has commented about how much she writes and loves to write and has asked if I'm worried because DS doesn't write nearly as much or as often. Well, the two of them were having a play day together and decided they wanted to write to Santa for Christmas, so I gave them paper and pens and they went off to make their lists. When they were done, they gave them to me and asked me to send them off to Santa. I still have them.... DS wrote: Dear Santa (forgot comma) I hope you think I have been good this year. I wood (misspelled) really like and hope you will bring me: (correct use of the colon) Cars Legos Legos Airport Legos fire bote (misspelled) Helicopter Spy glasses Card board (compound word missed) rocket to color Dont (contraction error) pop the pig Angry Birds Remote spy car Tiger hat Thank you! From, DS Name His friend wrote: Deer santa, (misspelled, capitalization error) I hav (misspelled) ben (misspelled) very good this yeer (misspelled). Fore (misspelled) christmas (capitalization error) I wold like you to bring me: (correct use of colon) Gitar (misspelled) Hana (misspelled) montana doll (capitalization error) art siplys (misspelled) hare bowes (misspelled) Amerikan gurl doll (misspelled, correct capitalization) we games (misspelled, but wii is branded, so not troubling) pirfekshun (misspelled) monopolee (misspelled) stuft animule (misspelled) eez bak oven (misspelled) Her Name It took me a while to get the creative spelling of her list! But that's totally allowed - creative spelling - in her writing in school because she's writing. I don't know how she's expected to learn proper spelling? I was actually surprised by how almost everything she wrote was creative spelling - her dad brags that she reads at a sixth grade level.....yet she can't spell? From what DS's friend's dad has told me, they write daily in school, keep a journal of their writing and are encouraged to write, write, write all the time. I've seen her journal, there are no corrections within it, no second attempts to correct mistakes - she just writes and it's similar to the above - poor spelling and poor grammatical structure. With DS I'm just going to continue with WWE and encourage him to write more as he builds the skills to write WELL - on his own, since he's seen his friends journals, he's started one, but he mostly creates stories in pictures, orally tells them to me, then starts to add his text to the pictures later, once he really has his story set-up. I love that he's motivated to do this on his own, but at this point, I wouldn't make him or expect him to be doing this kind of writing, especially not on a daily basis. I think to write well, one needs to first learn the basics - grammar and spelling, as well as see and hear good writing as example for them to consider as they begin to write. That's why I really like WWE and the way it progresses, step-by-step.....and spelling is covered with AAS.
  4. Reading is an always done subject - 365 days, unless DS is sick, he reads aloud at this point; he's just starting to be assigned some independent reading too, which will ramp up over the summer as we reduce reading aloud. The 3R's are year-round, just a lighter load in the summer for time per day, but he'll always do some reading, writing and math all summer. Content subjects are significantly reduced in the summer - but he also attends very focused content camps, like a week in science camp; electives usually take up more time over the summer, like art camp, swim team, etc. Since I have to maintain a log of hours, this helps us focus on core subjects in the usual school months with fewer hours toward electives since they're much higher in the summer months. We do take breaks (except reading) throughout the year, July 1 - June 30, as needed, or as DH has time off - so it's not a set pattern of time off and some breaks can be long (in October we went away for two weeks) or short (over President's weekend we'll have four days with just reading to do, nothing else). Right now MIL is ill, so we've had to modify to just 3R's, and will continue with that until things normalize again - then we'll pick up where we left off for science, history and other things we've set aside for now.
  5. :iagree: We'll finish the series this year (all the single numbered books) and then over the summer I'll have DS review doing the 1/2 books just to be sure there are no gaps (we'll do 3 1/2 to 6 1/2, then 7 and 8 again if needed). I can't imagine extending the series into fourth grade unless their is an issue with reading level.
  6. DS loves the Nora Gaydo's readers and now the Read-Write-Draw books. Depending on where your child is with phonics, Starfall is also good, the HOP books are okay, the A Beka Readers are really good, and the I See Sam books are pretty good too!
  7. Our school year is July 1 to June 30; we finish up for hours weeks before the school year technically ends though.
  8. Me too! The wording of the correct is semantically the wrong answer; if gov't tax = spending, that does not translate to tax per person being equal.
  9. I do because so many outside activities have grade tied to enrollment, things like scouts are grade dependent. Just because DS is declared second grade doesn't mean he has to work only with second grade material - he's all over the place, some first, some second, and some third-fifth - I just have him work at his level since for HS, it really doesn't matter; what matters is that he works at his level, not what his grade designation is!
  10. Three words - heavy whipping cream! That's right....go out, buy yourself a small container of heavy cream, bring it home, whip it up and add a touch of splenda to sweeten.....now you have something sweet! If you can find it, Justin's Chocolate Almond Butter is a great add-in - take that small container (1-cup) of heavy cream, add two tablespoons of the nut butter and whip it up. Divide into four servings. One serving is 4g carbs. ONLY have one serving in a day. It's delish! Don't use another brand for the nut butter unless it's less than 8g net carbs (Justin's is 11g total, 3g fiber) since most others have way too much sugar in them, like Nutella, for your purposes right now.
  11. With the prevalence of blended families, that line may not be enough - kids are known to yell that at step-parents! We've taught DS to scream, top of his lungs, "this person is not my dad (or mom), help me!" and just repeat, while kicking, screaming, scratching, poking - whatever - to get out of their grasp.....then run like all heck and continue screaming until you find someone to help you!
  12. I'm near-sighted, so without my glasses on, I can read just fine still (45), even in dim lighting situations. However, if I'm wearing my contacts (vast majority of the time), my arms just aren't long enough for tiny print, like nutrition label ingredient lists - other things, like magazines and newspapers are still fine with my contacts, but the tiny print, no way! I picked up 1.00 reading glasses and just carry them in my purse for when I'm shopping and want to read labels. I decided long ago not to have the Lasix since it would mean reading glasses, so I didn't see the point, I already need glasses, so the surgery was going to only change one to another.
  13. Let's see... Phonics - ETC 3.5 to 6.5 books as review, then 7 + 8 again Grammar - FLL2 Writing - WWE2 Spelling - AAS 4 + 5 Handwriting - begin Cursive (looking at options now) Reading Comprehension - looking at options Math - Singapore Math 4A, 4B History - American History (looking at options now) Geography - US States, capitals, landforms, landmarks, mapping, etc. Science - Singapore My Pals Are Here 3/4 Art - outside art classes Music - piano lessons PE - swim team, tennis, jujitsu Foreign Language - French (looking at options now) Religion - CCD
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