Julie Herbster
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Posts posted by Julie Herbster
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Interesting. It seems like Ashley and Beverly were also considered to be men's names in bygone eras.I had a great grandfather named Lois, yes, spelled like a woman's name.
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I was educated (K-12) in a very strict private Christian school with high academic standards. In elementary school we recited and memorized everything: phonics charts, long Scripture passages, math tables, important American speeches and documents, every English word list imaginable (I can still recite most of these things; they are so ingrained in my mind). We even learned Greek and Latin roots! A Beka was the curriculum used most.
I feel like I received a quality education in jr. high and high school. If the school was weak anywhere, it was probably in science. My biology class was a joke, but physics, anatomy and physiology, and chemistry were fine. I learned to write well and developed a broad range of interests (probably due more to my parents' encouragement than to the school). I participated in varsity sports, drama, and music (band, choir, vocal ensemble) and had opportunity to compete in several state and national contests.
Upon graduation, I attended Bob Jones University, where I was challenged academically. There, I honed my writing skills and developed interests in history and literature. I received my bachelor of science degree in elementary education, with a minor in music. I got married two weeks after graduation. Since I had already secured a job teaching, I did not go to grad school (no regrets there).
My own experiences have had a huge impact on how I educate my kids; I actually try to model what we do after how I was educated. I would never be comfortable "unschooling." The more I look back on my education, the more I realize that the process loosely followed the trivium, progressing from grammar (memorizing facts) to logic (junior high and HS math) to rhetoric (speech and writing courses). I wish history had been presented differently, but in general I have no complaints.
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My grandmothers: Olive Lois and Sarah Hazel
Their sisters and peers: Florence, Esther, Rebecca, Glenna
Great grandmothers and peers: Pearl, Lois, Mabel, Ada
Mom and peers: Gladys, Genette, Linda Joy, Debbie, Brenda, Sandy
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I was breastfed for six months, then put on cow milk. My mom said it was the way things were done then (1973).
I breastfed all five of my babies. My milk always dried up between six and seven months, sometimes as a result of pregnancy. My goal was to last for a year, but I never made it. I tried...:sad:
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We let each of ours go free (amidst wild cheers from five very excited children) a couple of days ago. I was surprised that nine out of ten made it. (One died in "larvancy," may he rest in peace.) We kept them as butterflies inside the habitat for a couple of days, and then we started feeling sorry for them. We haven't seen any of them since we let them go, but my kids are still hoping...
In answer to your question--no, there's nothing you have to do except follow the instructions. I was truly amazed that it went so well; I usually fail miserably at projects involving living specimens.
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Thank you for your input; this is what I'm looking for. Maybe some of you who checked a different option can explain.
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Wow. I can't believe how many people have already responded to the poll in just the few minutes it has been up. I'd love to hear explanations of your vote (unless, of course, you chose "I don't know" :D).
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Some have mentioned these, but...
Pride and Prejudice (I'm a sucker for the whole A&E series):001_wub:
The Scarlet Pimpernel (Egad!)--the one with Jane Seymour as Madame Blakeney
A Tale of Two Cities
The Great Escape (you'll hum the theme song for weeks after viewing!)
The Patriot (not so accurate, but fun)
The Sound of Music (does that count as "historical"? :tongue_smilie:)
Oh, I know there are more...but that's all I can think of right now.
Does anyone know of a good movie version of Les Miserables?
Can you tell my current fascination is with the French Revolution? I also enjoy WWII dramas.
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Heh. I'm one of those people I've always wondered about. The kind that takes the time to answer a survey only to say, "I don't know." :D
Hee-hee. Thanks for the input! ;)
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:hurray::cheers2::thumbup::thumbup1::laugh::party::tongue_smilie:
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I've been chatting on another board about this, and I thought it would be interesting to see what you all think.
Full disclosure: I'm a BJU alum, and I have my own opinion. But I'd like to hear your perspectives. I'm also interested to hear what you think the world at large thinks about BJ and this issue. (I know the world at large most likely thinks BJ is "weird" in a lot of ways, but I want to focus on this particular issue.)
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Grew up in the Midwest (Kansas City, Missouri), but now live in the sunny South--and love it!
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I prefer forums (esp. well-populated ones)...Lots of interaction, can learn many different perspectives and get immediate feedback to questions.
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Hee-hee. Cute. Thanks for sharing.
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So, so very sorry. My ds saw this happen with a favorite cat a couple of years ago...so traumatic!:grouphug:
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We live in a rural area, 30 minutes from "town" and over an hour from the nearest "city." Church is an hour away.
The kids play rec league soccer (fall) and church league basketball (winter) each year. Spring is just too busy for baseball/softball, although we have done it before.
Our three older children all take piano and a string instrument. They walk to piano lessons, and we take the whole afternoon on Tuesday to travel to and from string lessons. I'm a stickler about daily practice.
Dd9 made it into the Carolina Youth Symphony, which rehearses Sun. afternoon in Greenville, SC., which is just 45 min. from our church. The rest of the family hangs out at church all afternoon (home is too far away) while dh or I take her to practice.
Since we live at a year-round camp and conference center (over 11,000 kids come here to summer camp each year), the 3 older kids have opportunities to sing in a children's chorus (and this summer, in a trio) for the junior camp services.
We really have it made! Rural, wooded setting, four waterfalls on the property, hiking trails, safe biking trails, lake for swimming and boating, fun activities galore, neighborhood like Mayberry...The kids don't know how good they have it.
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...all summer long, with breaks for camps, vacation, etc. I think of it like I do school: more relaxed, but maintenance is needed.
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There are just a few steps you go through to determine grade averages for, say, a quarter (which is generally around 9 weeks if you do a traditional, 2-semester school year).
First, you have to come up with a score (percentage correct) for each paper (whatever papers you want to grade...I've just done tests, quizzes, and projects, but you could do worksheets or whatever). If there are twenty items on a test, each item is worth five points...etc. It's really pretty simple. I have an "E-Z grader," which can be bought at any teacher supply store) to help me figure out what a grade should be if there are, say, 45 questions on a test and dc misses 3.
Once you have graded a paper, you will need to record the score. There are many ways to do this (products abound!), but I simply used a grid I made up on Excel with the subjects running down the left side and dates across the top. If you have different "kinds" of scores (tests, quizzes, projects), you will want to differentiate between them, since they should receive different "weights" when you average the grades at quarter's end.
When the grading period ends, you'll need to average the scores for each subject. If there are different kinds of scores (tests, quizzes, etc.) to consider, you'll want to decide how much each score will figure into the final grade. Tests should be worth more than quizzes, as they give more comprehensive pictures of the child's overall progress. As a classroom teacher, I generally averaged up all of a student's quiz scores and made that score count as one test grade in that subject. (Example: Susie got a 98, 96, 85, and 90...Add 'em up to get 369, then divide by 4 to get an average of 91. I would then record "91" as a "test" grade, to be averaged with the other test scores.) Multi-step projects such as book reports can either be graded section by section, with each step counting as a quiz grade...or you could just grade the final product and make it count for two test grades or something like that.
If you want to assign letter grades to reflect the scores, you can use a ten-point scale (A=90-100, B=80-89, etc.), or a stricter 7 or 8 point scale (my preference).
Like someone else who posted, we too "work until 100%," but the kids still receive the grade they got before corrections were done.
If this is as clear as mud to you, I'm sure you can find some great software out there that can figure all this out for you. I'm pretty old-school when it comes to this kind of thing. A calculator and a sheet of scores is enough for me. I think it would be more confusing for me to use an "easy" cpu program!
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I used Saxon 1 for my 5yo dd (kindergarten) this year. Way back when I started homeschooling, I read that someone (Saxon himself, maybe?) suggested that homeschoolers and Christian schools use the book level one grade ahead of the child. Does anyone else do this?
Here's my dilemma. Dd did pretty well with most of the program this year, although she did take a little longer to absorb some of the concepts. We basically did everything one-on-one, orally. I did not require her to do everything on every worksheet. What I am wondering is this: should I redo level 1 with her next year, or should I move on to level 2? Saxon "spirals" so much; I know that many of the same concepts will be covered again in level 2, but I also know that more ideas will be introduced, and not as much time will be devoted to learning the "old" concepts.
Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what did you do?
Interesting note: My 8yo ds is the only child so far who flew through level 1 in kindergarten. I chose to have older dd repeat level 1 just to make sure she was getting it. But I'm wondering whether or not I should do it differently this time around.
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My dd (9yo) did R&S English 4 mostly independently this year. We drilled certain things together (word lists, definitions, etc.), but I did not teach from the TM. I found there were sufficient explanations and examples in the student book. That said, whenever we did do a lesson together, I had the TM with me so that I didn't have to look over dd's shoulder. I also used it to check her work. I generally do buy the TM's that go with curriculum; it just feels better to have the whole set, if I can afford it.
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The grumpies hit our house as well. Lately it's been both of us, so we get silly. We started with a nature walk yesterday, that helped. Just being outside makes school seem less confining. We sing silly songs. I have been known to break into song during math, it was either that or run away screaming and pulling my hair out.
How about an educational movie?
I'm with you, elegantlion! When the kids are grouchy, it's usually because "mama ain't happy"...and we all know that "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" So, I try to take the initiative to reverse the trend...play silly pranks on a kid or two, hide a quarter and a sweet thank you note in a child's chore area, pay LOTS of compliments, refuse to say anything negative, ignore snarky comments and cover everyone with LUUUV! Sometimes it's really hard to do these things, because what I really feel like doing is ditching everything and everyone, hopping in the car and LEAVING until everyone is behaving themselves (sounds terrible, doesn't it?). But I usually find that the second random act of kindness isn't nearly as hard as the first one...and before I know it, peace, love and joy are flowing freely (groovy!). Something else that the little ones really like is for me to dress up like "Miss Methuselah," a terrifying old prim and proper lady who is shocked at wicked behavior. (Just the outfit gets them chuckling!)
HAVE FUN derailing the grumpy train! :tongue_smilie:
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I haven't thought this through entirely yet, but here's a start (my fifth grader is a girl):
Math: Saxon 6/5
History: Veritas Press Explorers-1815
Bible: Veritas Press Gospels along with BJU catechism and selected memory passages
English: Rod and Staff 5
Latin: Latina Christiana 2
Literature: Veritas Press suggested reading: Anne of Green Gables, Old Yeller, Johnny Tremain, Cricket in Times Square, The Secret Garden, as well as finishing up the Narnia series
Handwriting: no curriculum--just letter practice on notebook paper...maybe a copy book of poetry and Scripture
Science: undecided...probably an Apologia book (zoology?) along with a BJU textbook and/or library books
Spelling: Spelling Workout F...need to add a vocabulary program
Music: continued piano and violin study, children's chorus, youth symphony
Art: HELP!
O.K. Thanks a lot. We just finished up fourth grade with a nice, satisfied feeling, and now I'm overwhelmed about fifth grade!!! :glare:
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I don't like paying the extra money to get it styled in a way that I don't like...so, I just go home with wet hair. (I'm not as concerned about seeing people I know.)
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I love seeing others' workspaces! Here is ours. Don't know if the link will work, since it's a facebook album.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10358&id=512446101&op=6
ETA: I just tried the link, and you have to log in to see it...sorry.
neat freaks HELP!
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
This idea is working for us. Neither one of us is a neat freak, but dh is very concerned about how the house looks. After many frustrating talks about me needing to keep the house nicer, we finally hit on the problem: we have different ideas about what "clean" means. My "priority areas" are different than his. Once we figured this out, and I had him make a "priority list" detailing what a clean house meant to him, we made tremendous progress. I actually had to laugh when I saw his list...it was unbelievable! (Having a clutter-free office area--which no one sees--is more important than having the dining room table--visible from the front door--cleaned off?? And here I had been obsessing over scrubbing the floors weekly when he couldn't have cared less about shiny floors...and on and on!) No wonder he was so frustrated and thought I was just blowing him off, which I wasn't. We had just been talking past each other, mistakenly thinking we were getting through.