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*Lakshmi

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Everything posted by *Lakshmi

  1. I homeschooled my older two children (23 & 19) very similarly. We're waldorfy/CM style and my eldest hadn't even set foot in a classroom OR used a textbook until her first CC course. She didn't think she'd go to college at all until her final year of homeschool high school. She didn't know what she wanted to major in until the end of her 1st year at CC. She did a another 18 mos at CC before transferring to a university. She just graduated with her Bachelors Degree in December: Summa Cum Laude, 4.0, Deans List, National Honor Society, and was accepted into a Masters Degree program in Library Science, which she starts next week. My 2nd child had also never taken a class nor used a textbook until CC. He's got a 4.0 at CC, and is doing exceedingly well. Both kids wanted CC precisely because they wanted to avoid the SAT and the requisite program of study leading up to the SAT. Instead, we studied along the lines of Waldorf, CM, as well as interest-led. They're doing absolutely fine. My 2nd child just finished his first term at CC and doesn't have a major and isn't sure what he'd like to do (it's very hard to know at 19!), so he's taking classes that will expose him to various types of studies to see what speaks to him. I'd far rather he take his time now. I know too many 25 year olds who took a 4 yr and/or graduate degree, took a job, then realized they hated it, and went back to school for a completely different major, accruing more school debt on top of the already accrued school debt. I'd rather they take their time now, and really get a feel for what they'd enjoy doing for the medium-long range. That's just us. It's not for everyone. However, I wanted to share that a living, free-spirited homeschooling program can do a great deal for a child to prepare him/her for the future. College-Prep Studies does not equal success. Likewise, a free-spirited education doesn't preclude success. Hope that helps? I've got one more still homeschooling (9th grade) and she's even more the free spirit, but she's written several novels (including one in print) and she acts in Shakespearean Theater and has begun studying Aromatherapy on her own.. so.... :-)
  2. I enjoy telling these stories... our eldest is 23 and was always-homeschooled. She didn't read until almost age 9. She couldn't write or often even hold the pencil until age 11. (I took dictation.) She couldn't do any Algebra until she was 18 - and did TT Algebra in her last year of homeschool high school. She began at Community College with Foundational Algebra (which is basically Algebra refresher), then went on to College Algebra and her other college math requirements (can't recall which ones) where she got 4.0s all around. She just graduated from a 4 year University this weekend with a Bachelors in LIbrary Science with a 4.0 gpa, Deans List every single term, and Summa Cum Laude. She's been accepted into Grad school and begins in January, and in a year should have her Masters Degree. She's been working and putting herself through school while living at home and being a huge help to me and her younger siblings through a lot of family health issues. I was glad I read the Moore's (Better Late than Early, etc.) early on in our homeschooling life (early 90's), because they helped me to recognize that she would and could learn when she was ready. I believe my daughter illustrates that scholastics can always be caught up -- if and when the child is motivated to do so. (That's the important part.) You can lead a horse to water kind of thing. By contrast, my second child taught himself to read at age 4 and is a naturally very clever. Things come easy for him, so he had a different set of lessons to learn about life and scholastics - particularly when he encountered something that didn't come easy (which is rare, I admit) or when it was something he didn't particularly want to do. Our third is a naturally diligent student. She's my last one. I like sharing this story and I hope it encourages any other parents of students who seem to fall into the "Better Late than Early" camp. The student can still go on to great success in university and even grad school.
  3. Mine also went straight to CC from homeschooling. They didn't want to take SAT! The placement test at our CC is wonderful, as there are "foundation" courses (lower than 100 courses) which a student can take as much as he or she needs until he or she can place into the 100 level courses. Those foundation courses don't count as credit toward graduation, but help to bring the student up to the level where he or she can take courses which will go as credit toward graduation. There are also a lot of tutoring and assistance offerings for students who need help. Our kids also work jobs, and so far we (parents and students contributing together) have been able to pay for all of CC, including books & gas. DD had to take some loans when she transferred to the 4 year, which is a local Uni but she is doing all online classes as they are only $3,000 per term, and she could pay for about half the total price of each semester from her job. So far, it's working well. Our goal was not to get them the University Experience. That just wasn't where we were focused, and - frankly - with our family financial issues, health issues, etc. it wasn't really going to happen. (No knocking the families who love and value the University Experience, it just wasn't something we wanted nor could manage.) We were going for a solid education with the least student debt possible while making the highest grades possible. Not all CCs are alike. We live in the city and our CC is quite good. Many of the professors teaching at CC have told my children that they (the professors) also teach the SAME course at several local 4 year universities for 5x the price. (We googled them to find this is often true. In our city a great number of professors teach at the CC as well as at local city Universities.) I can't speak for all CCs, but our experience has been - in general - surprisingly good.
  4. There are many compass prep tests online -- most of them at community colleges around the country. Here are a couple I have saved (my middle guy will be taking it next Spring) http://www.highlands.edu/site/academic-support-compass-math-practice http://www.testpreppractice.net/COMPASS/Free-Online-COMPASS-Practice-Tests.aspx
  5. Can anyone recommend some great novels for High School students set in the 1970's, 80's, and 90's? Some Living fiction that would give a real feel for the life and times? Thanks!
  6. Some books I assign for silent reading, but some are of the sort I feel it's good to do a tandem read. Tale of Two Cities was one of these. I had a copy on my Kindle and DS had a copy from the library. We took turns reading aloud and finished the whole book in probably two weeks. Each day after our reading, we discussed the salient points of our reading as well as literary techniques and famous passages. The third week he wrote an essay and watched two different versions of the movie - so all total I believe our TOTC unit was 3 weeks long. It may have been 4 weeks, with 3 weeks for the readings - I can't recall for sure. We'll be doing something similar with Great Expectations later this year. Whenever there is a book I think my children should read, but I worry about their ability to get through it and understand all the nuances, I will do it as either read aloud or a tandem read. Even in High School. In fact, my college age daughter (a junior in college - always homeschooled) still listens in on many of our read alouds.
  7. Thank you for doing that searching! That's good to know. :-) Maybe I'll just forego checking on my phone, then. No problem. :-) Oh well...
  8. I have been trying to send a PM to "admin" for a few days, but it never shows up in my SENT box. So I assume it's not going through. I'd like to ask someone to alter my sign in name. I thought I chose a clever one (as plain ol Lakshmi was taken) but turns out there's no ~ option on my smartphone, so I can't sign in from my phone. I'd like someone to alter my sign-in name so I can use my phone - but I can't seem to PM admin successfully. Any suggestions? Thanks! PS - I posted on the technical board for several days, but no one seems to read it, so I was told to try here. PPS - I also tried PMing Moderator (who posts the stickies) but that does not show up in my sent folder, either.
  9. I just wanted to thank you for this idea, Katie! I just purchased a proclick with two sizes of proclick spirals from Office Depot, but didn't buy the cover because I *suspected* I could come up with something. You've done it for me! :hurray: I've had a home laminator for years, but I never thought about laminating scrapbook paper for lovely covers! Oh - this is going to be fun! In addition to Angela's clever idea of making smaller sized booklets (SartoriSmiles blog), I'm thinking about nature notebooks and poetry copywork books (both perhaps bound at the top), as well as notebooks for all our individual subjects. Super!!!
  10. I have been trying to send a PM to "admin" for a few days, but it never shows up in my SENT box. So I assume it's not going through. I'd like to ask someone to alter my sign in name. I thought I chose a clever one (as plain ol Lakshmi was taken) but turns out there's no ~ option on my smartphone, so I can't sign in from my phone. I'd like someone to alter my sign-in name so I can use my phone - but I can't seem to PM admin successfully. :confused: Any suggestions? Thanks! PS I googled the info for ~ and there really is no option other than finding it online and copying and pasting it in. And the phone only holds the previous sign in for a few days, so it's better to just take the ~ out of my name.
  11. We're in PA, too. I've always been insulted that my friends in other states are assumed to be good parents properly educating their children, and DH and I are assumed to be criminals until we prove otherwise. The hoops are really beyond the pale. Our eldest (always homeschooled) is a Junior in college but we still have two more to go. It's really annoying. I agree 100% with you! I'm very thankful for the free-net evaluations we now get, because I used to pay $50 per child for evaluations ($150 total!) which - in some leaner years - was more than I paid for all our homeschooling materials. :001_huh:
  12. We have State Farm and they always accepted my computer-generated homeschool grades transcript.
  13. Hi! I hope this is the right place to post this! Does anyone know of any notebooking pages geared for Joy Hakim's "History of US" series? Thank you in advance! :001_smile:
  14. My eldest (always homeschooled) did the Teaching Company Super Star Student dvd course in her final year of high school. We actually had to borrow a textbook from the library to use for the textbook-notetaking portion, as we didn't have any in the house to practice on. She went to our local community college and then to a 4 year university. She is now in her Junior year at university. The lecture notetaking techniques taught in the dvds are fabulous. She continued to use the techniques (with colored pens and the three-step process) all through college and is on the Deans List, National Honor Society, and has maintained a 4.0 - which she, personally, attributes to the study skills she learned in the dvds. All her friends at college use the notecard method, and my DD found her method was so much more succinct and easy to use (and to reference). Her professors regularly commented on her notebooks. (She is a first-row sitter.) We are very eclectic homeschoolers, and she often delved into delight-directed or even unschooling during her home education, as she was a very reluctant student who thought she didn't want to go to college. The DVDs gave her a lot of confidence. BTW - she will also be getting a master's degree, as her chosen field requires one. I just thought I'd share this possibility. The dvd set is frequently on sale, and I would only purchase it when it is at the $79 sale price. Also, if it's not on sale on the website, you can often call the Teaching Company customer service and they will give you the discount on the phone. (We've done this in the past.)
  15. This is my first post to this board, but I had to jump in here! Every time I start ITunes on my macbook it tells me I need to enter my password, and each time it is incorrect. I then spend 5 minutes creating a new password (with at least one capital letter and number, and more than 8 characters long). So then I make note of the new password (because all the obvious ones have been used within the last year, so it won't let me use them again). Then when I try to enter the new password next time, sorry! Get a new password. I've never had such trouble with any software or website! Just had to share in the group angst.
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