April in CA
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Posts posted by April in CA
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Hi again, Kelly!
If your kiddlets haven't studied the ancients, you might want to start with yr 1. The ancients with TOG is really interesting. You might find yourself surprised at how much you enjoy them! Of course, year 3 is awesome as well. It starts at the beginning of the 19th c and assumes your students have covered the colonial period and Revolution recently. Good luck choosing!
Blessings,
April (looking forward to seeing you on the TOG forums, too!)
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My older ds, 17, just completed his junior year of high school here at home, and is spending 8 weeks of his summer doing a residential internship with NASA. Dropping him off on Sunday was so hard! It reminded me of sending him off to kindergarten - his K teacher finally had to tell my dh it was time for him to leave and that ds would be fine (and he was)! But here is the brag and happy homeschool mom moment - the students are spending the first two weeks doing some heavy-duty learning about flight, etc to prepare them to get the most out of their experience. Some of the students are exhausted by the pace, but not my son! He said that his workload at home had well-prepared him for what he is doing now. All that endurance training with his physics and precal is paying off!!!
I am so proud, but, boy, do I miss him! Although the intership is residential (mandatory for juniors), the hotel is only about 7 miles away from our house, so we can get him for Sundays and take him to church. We offered to take anyone else who would like to go to church with us, but liability rules prohibit the students from riding in a car with anyone other than their parents or the chaperone. I understand, but it still makes me sad for the kids who would like to go.
Only a couple more days to go til I get to see him! Man, this is good training for next year when he goes away for real to university...and he wants to go to Texas (we live in CA!)...
Thanks for putting up with my happy mom moment!
Blessings,
April
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Hello again, Susan!
I don't own HO, but I have briefly looked at a friend's copy, and I thought it looked pretty readable and interesting. Hopefully someone who has actually used it will chime in here to fully answer that for you. I have enjoyed the Foundations of Western Civ lectures from the Teaching Company. The professor is easy to listen to and covers the material well, in my opinion. The guy my boys and I really get a kick out is the prof that does the Middle Ages lectures - Philip Daileader, but you might not want to invest in a series that you would have to fly through. The dvd lectures are a blessing for me - I need something to look at while listening, or pretty soon listening stops and mind-wandering begins! You might want to check your library - many libraries carry at least the audio version of some TC courses.
Maybe someone else can help out here, but I seem to remember that Jean in Wisc. used HO and has a schedule for it somewhere. Maybe a forum search would find it, or someone more technologically inclined than myself can link it, if it still exists.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Maybe BJU? It is quite a good text and should prep your kids well for bio. Alternatively, you might want them to spend the summer boning up on basic chemistry ideas - there is a lot of chemistry in high school bio now. You could also just have fun with library books - reading about cell structure, chemical bonding, ecology (food chains and webs, etc) - there are tons of ways you could do this besides just a text book unless you want to the convenience of a single text. Usborne has a good series of sci books at the right level for preping for high school - lots of concepts, not much math.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Have you looked at Human Odyssey by Spielvogel? It is a popular text here, and this is the high school text rather that Western Civ, which is a college text. You could add some Western Civ dvd lectures from the Teaching Company (these are lectures - interesting and informative, but still lectures, not entertainment) or get some interesting documentaries from your library or Netflix for something a little different. Just for fun, you could have her read the Cartoon Guide to World History. I can't remember the author's name, or even the exact thitle of the book, but the same guy/guys did a Cartoon Guide to Chemistry that was fun to read and really quite informative. Be forewarned, however, that the tone is not always reverent. I have not read the Cartoon history books myself, so I can only offer them as a fun suggestion, not a full recommendation.
Of course, these suggestions would work with BJU World History as well. I agree with you that Streams is rather a snoozer! Maybe if your dd is a hands-on type of girl you could have her try some recipes from various times/places she reads about in history, or if she likes to draw or sew, she could incorporate those interests as well/instead.
Have fun and good luck!
Blessings,
April
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Hello Kelly!
I think you have made a great choice! Please be aware that year 2 is PACKED and moves at a very fast pace. If your daughter is going into 8th grade (and thus would have 5 years to cover all 4 years of TOG) you might want to consider doing units 1, 2, and 3 of year 2 next year. If she is going to be in 9th grade, you should cover the whole year, but don't expect her to do all the R level literature. Remember that most young children (and big ones, too) really like castles and knights and things - these are covered in the first two units of year 2, so plan ahead to do some projects with your little ones. Perhaps your older daughter could help her siblings.
I think it would be a great idea to order unit 1 soon to start getting ready. You and your kiddos should do a review of the end of the Roman Empire (in the west) to prepare, if you have not studied the ancients recently. Also, be sure to look for some of the D level books free on-line so you can get a feel for the text before you purchase a print copy. Books like Our Island Story and This Country of Ours can be found at The Baldwin Project - I think the website is mainlesson.com - I lost my bookmarks, so I am just going from memory here.
If you have any more questions, ask away! You can also ask questions on the Tapestry of Grace forum.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Don't be embarrassed, Tiff!
I am also college-educated, and I struggled with understanding grammar rules and identifying parts of speech, even though I was a competent writer. My high-school grammar class was very helpful, but I had an a-ha moment when my son was in 3rd grade (at public school, before we started homeschooling and I became a grammar queen (grin)). We were watching School House Rock, and I finally understood what the predicate of a sentence was when the cartoon guy sang "Mr. Morton is the subject of the sentence, and what the predicate says, he does!" Eureka! I got it! I think I was sick the day in MY 3rd grade year when the teacher (Mrs Loomis...she lives on in terrifying memory...) introduced the concept of predicate. I somehow thought the word "the" was the predicate for years. But, thankfully, School House Rock came to my rescue. Obviously, SHR will not teach you everything you need to know about grammar, but you and your two year old might enjoy watching it and learning about the parts of speech. It really is amazing what we can remember when information is set to music, isn't it? Now, after SHR and severaly years of Rod and Staff grammar with my boys (now in high school), I feel pretty snappy in the grammar department!
Blessings to you as you seek to educate yourself while education your little one!
April
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Hello, Sue!
I am a VERY happy owner of a microscope from Sonlight. I bought it several years ago when we first started homeschooling, and I can honestly say it was a great purchase. The price was very reasonable for the quality, and the quality is very satisfying and satisfactory for high school level work. I LOVE the mechanical stage and the pointer. Those features make using the scope a pleasure, especially with more than one student. The focus adjustment knobs are easy to use, as is the diaphragm. We have used it for biology twice and will use it for anatomy and phys next year. It continues to perform well, and I have never even had to change a bulb. It does not have any colored filters, but nothing we have done has called for them. We have also not done anything that required an oil-immersion lens. Those things sound really nifty, but are not likely to be necessary in a high school bio class (unless I am missing out on some cool experiments!). This year, I did bio labs with my son and two of his friends. I borrowed a non-Sonlight scope from a friend so that we would have two to work with, and all three boys said they liked my Sonlight scope better and that it was much easier to work with. So, assuming the scope hasn't changed over the past several years, I would go with the SL scope in a heartbeat! (how's that for an unbiased opinion! (grin!))
I will say that there are times I wish we had a stereoscope for looking at rocks and things, but that is beyond my budget right now for something I would consider a luxury item...
If you can swing two scopes, I would suggest that you also look at the Brock Magiscope. They are really cool and practically indestructible! The Brock doesn't plug in to an outlet; it used natural light pulled in through a glass rod. Thus, it makes a great field scope and is very good for looking at leaves and flower parts. etc. The standard eyepiece is 5x, so you have a different level of magnification (good for bigger items).
I really enjoy both our scopes and I hope you will find the perfect one (or more) for your family!
Blessings,
April
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Hello again! Curriculum choices really depend on what you need to cover. I love Rod and Staff, personally. If your daughter is proficient in grammar already, you might look at their grade 8 book - quite advanced! Really, any of their books from 6th and especially 7th grades on up are fully high school worthy. I definitely would not use the 9th and 10 grade books from Rod and Staff if you have not used them all along; they get into some pretty esoteric stuff that only people who REALLY love grammar would care about, inho.
I have never used it, but lots of people have used and recommend Analytical Grammar. This resource can be used any time in high school, if my understanding is correct, and unlike Rod and Staff, does not contain writing instruction - just grammar.
Easy Grammar would be a quick and easy way to keep her basic skills current. I haven't used this either, so I am not sure what the book covers or what depth. However, the format is certainly appealing and would probably be pretty painless. This is not to be sneezed at, considering how heavy high school requirements can be!
You might want to look at Grammar for High School Students and Sentence Composing for High School Students, both by Don Killgallon. You can look at them on Amazon. (I'm sorry, but I don't know how to link things!) Your daughter might enjoy them, especially if she enjoys writing, since they are focused on using grammar in the context of improving sentences in terms of structure and style in order to maximize communication.
Hope something here is helpful to you and your daughter!
Blessings,
April
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It is always good to review punctuation and capitalization, especially before standardized tests! I think grammar is important, even for good writers. When I was a senior in high school, I dropped out of my honors English 12 class (literature that I felt had no relevance to my life) in order to take a grammar, syntax, and usage class. I was a good writer, but I didn't know the rules of the game, and I wanted to learn. It was a great choice for me, and it helped me in college. I was able to intuit the rules before my grammar class because I was well-read, but I was really glad to know the rules behind what I did because "it just looked right." If your daughter really knows punctuation, etc, and how to find out what she needs to know but doesn't remember, you are probably fine without formal grammar. But, in my opinion, a quick run-through never hurts (again, especially before tests!). Hope that helps!
Blessings,
April
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Hello! As the mother of a rising senior, I can commiserate about getting vital things done in only one more year. We are using TOG for history, so that is no help for you. However, If I only had one year to do Am History, I would consider Bill Bennett's new program, called, America, the Last, Best Hope (or something to that effect). I looks like it comes with some cool teaching goodies (maps, project ideas, etc). If you like the looks of Notgrass, would it be possible to use both the Am Hist and Gov't in one year? We need to do a comprehensive overview of Am Gov't for my senior, so I may look at Notgrass. Another gov't possibility is from Great Source. I don't have the book myself, but I have seen it recommended by others on this board. I could certainly be done in a semester by a motivated student. The Civics core from SL looks totally awesome to me, and if we have indefinite amounts of time to complete this homeschool journey, I would really look hard at it. Unfortunately, my son just doesn't have time for that on top of TOG year 4.
Have you done econ? if so, what did you use? We need to do that this year as well. I am planning to get the econ lectures from the teaching Co (currently on sale, I hope...), but I am not sure what text I want to use.
If your student would like the challenge of AP courses and your wallet can take the hit, you might wan to look at some of the offerings from PA Homeschoolers. I don't have a link, but I am sure some wonderful person here could supply it for us (grin). They offer AP US Gov't and AP Comparative Gov't as well as AP US History. The comparative gov't class looks very cool - my younger son would probably enjoy that in another year.
Blessings as you get this all figured out!
April
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Hello!
I am a very happy TOG user, and the redesigned makes life much easier on busy moms like you who have a houseful of children. If you are looking at the DE version of TOG, you can print off copies of the Student Activity Pages (SAPs) and maps (if you get MapAids) and reading assignments and writing assignment pages etc for each student and put them is separate notebooks for each child. I put a colored piece of paper between each week if I don't have tab sets - it works just as well. I would suggest doing this by unit (quarter of the year) rather than doing it every week - that way it is done for the unit. Books can also be ordered by unit from Bookshelf Central, the affiliate online bookstore. Their prices are quite competitive on most books, and the people that own and run it are homeschoolers deeply involved with the TOG redesign curriculum. I would strongly encourage you to buy from them if you can (I am just a happy customer - not part of the family!) Depending on the year you are looking at using, you may be able to find lots of books at the library, especially for the younger kids. It is harder to substitute the R level books, especially literature.
You would need to read the teacher's notes each week (I would recommend reading the whole quarter quickly at the beginning, and then rereading each week's notes as you need them, just to get the flow of the material) and prepare and lead discussions. With younger students, your discussions can be quite informal. Even with your older students you may decide to pick and choose how much to discuss. You will find that not all the discussions will exactly follow the order of the questions the students were assigned to answer. That is on purpose - the goal is to lead your student to make connections and think about the big ideas of history, not just recite facts they have learned in their books. Sometimes you might need to help them make those connections, but the discussion outline will help you do that.
I loved Sonlight when my guys were in elementary school, and I know people who have used it quite successfully in high school as well, so I am sure your students would thrive with it if you choose to go that parth, but I would vote for TOG, if you are willing to put in the effort to make it work for you.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Tiny handcuffs!!! that made me laugh out loud right here in my kitchen!
How did the froggy dissection go? We dissected frogs last week (little pigs tomorrow, and then we are done with bio labs!) and one of the guys found the most amazing stuff in his frog's stomach! When he cut open his frog, I was wondering "what in the world is that?!" We were wondering if his frog had a tumor of some kind, but when we could not find a normal stomach, we considered that the strange form might actually be the frog's stomach. He cut it open and the walls of the stomach were paper thin and peeled back easily. Inside, we found matted gray fun. Exploring further, we discovered what seemed to be the remains of a mouse's skull, complete with dark spots where eyes would have been and the working remains of tiny jaws... That was certainly the most interesting frog dissection I have ever done or overseen! Hope yours was just as fun!
Blessings,
April
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Hello!
Are you thinking of having your son do both Apologia Chem and Adv Chem in one year? It would be doable for a motivated student with plenty of time. At that pace, you would be covering one module per week with very little time to cover quarterly tests. If I were doing that, I would start chemistry in the summer to allow extra weeks in the school year to accommodate tests. The critical factor here, assuming your student is motivated to work through both books, is math readiness. By the time your student is working through Adv Chem, he will need to be comfortable with logs and other advanced algebra concepts. If that is an issue, your son can get extra practice with logs (and pretty good explanations of them) from purplemath.com. My older son did both Apologia chem books (in two years, though, not one) and studied a SAT 2 test prep book before taking the chem SAT 2 test last June - he did very well.
If you decide to go this route, I would seriously consider lightening up some of his other subjects to make time for chemistry. It is time consuming, even at a normal, one book per year, pace. I would also get the MicroChem kit and consider cutting out some of the labs in the book if you need to cut back on the time.
One other thing you might consider is the DIVE cd for chemistry. I have not used this, myself, but I was interestedly reading about it in another thread on this board recently. I may use that with my younger son. It was apparently designed to be used along with BJU chemistry, but the author has syllabi for other chem books popular with homeschoolers, including Apologia (he used both chem and adv chem, but offers websites for those who don't have both books). This looks very intriguing to me, and might work for your engineer- to-be son also.
Blessings to you as you hunt for science curricula!
April
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Tapestry of Grace is my favorite high school history curriculum. My guys are thriving and learning so much. At least one of my two sons is most likely going to be an engineer, and it comforts me to know that he will have a good knowledge of the flow of history even if he doesn't take much history in college. I also appreciate the way literature is integrated into the flow of history - we have been studying authors and their works in historical context.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Are you looking for a one year course to cover all of World History, or are you willing to try something like TOG that integrates world and American history, etc, over a 4 year cycle? I have heard that the Streams books are pretty boring, but if you added projects and geography and other interesting things, you could probably make it work. We use TOG and are part of a virtual discussion co-op. I love it! Good luck finding something that will work for your group!
Blessings,
April
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Hello!
Just a couple of thought about physical science before high school biology. You don't absolutely have to have it. However, a nice intro to chemistry is very helpful, given how much chemistry is covered in HS bio now. If your son has not covered the basics of chemistry, just slow down during the biochem portions of your biology text. We did Apologia Physical Science in Jr High before doing PH Biology: Exploring Life in 9th grade (younger son) and appreciated the background that Phys Sci had given him. Alternatively, you could have your son read up on basic chem ideas over the summer in order to be prepared for bio in the fall. There are some who suggest starting the HS science sequence with chem or physics before covering biology. That is another option, but it depends on math readiness.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Hi!
We are using TOG for High School, as well. My sons are finishing up 11th and 9th grades with TOG yr 3 Redesigned. Nest year we will complete the cycle with Year 4 DE. One thing that has been great for us this year has been our on-line virtual co-op - it really helps keep us on schedule, since we have to be ready to discuss with a group. We moms take turns leading history and lit discussions, so I have really learned a lot this year as well.
Since this is your first year with TOG, I would also suggest taking two weeks to do week 1 if you plan to do all the geography. My older son was in 9th grade when we did Year 1, and I skipped the Mesopotamian poetry with him (as well as some of the Egyptian) with no ill effects. We also all read the D version of Gilgamesh and really enjoyed it. Feel free to sub in some of the D lit as needed. Life is much more convenient if you have the Norton Anthology for R literature - having all the lit match up with TOG made spending the money worth it - you may even be able to find the anthology used since that edition is a couple of years old now. If you are feeling wild and crazy and have the extra money, the Teaching Co lectures on Ancient Greece by McInery (I'm sure I spelled that incorrectly) are very good. Also, check your local library for interesting videos on Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Ours had several good documentaries on a number of ancient cultures that really helped us visualize what life was like. We also found interesting videos on archaeological digs in Troy, Pompeii, etc. Enjoy year 1 - be sure to integrate the Bible portion - it is quite foundational to the year plan. Have fun!
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Thank you, LoriD, for linking all these resources! They will be a practical blessing for many.
Blessings,
April
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Congratulations, Jann! I found the Chalkdust Pre-Calc set used at our homeschool convention last year - the saving paid for most of our hotel cost! It is good to find a bargain, isn't it?
Blessings,
April
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Hi Val,
My 9th grade son using Biology: Exploring Life is learning bio mostly on his own this year. He reads the chapter, does the on-line activities, and used the end-of-chapter reviews as tests. We have added a number of videos to present other points of view about the theory of evolution. I am doing labs with him and two of his friends. Our friends are doing Apologia Bio this year, so I have rearranged the chapters of both books as needed to mesh schedules. The labs require instruction, in my opinion, along with adaptation to do them in a home setting. The labs we have done from Bio: Ex Life have been interesting. For the sake of time here at the tail-end of the school year, I am going to do some of the demonstration and observation labs from Apologia for the plant chapters and then jump into dissections.
So, to answer your question, Bio: Ex Life can be done independently by a motivated student, but you will need to be actively involved in scheduling labs and getting the supplies for them.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Penrod, or Penrod and Sam, by Booth Tarkington - laugh-out-loud funny, especially if you read aloud with appropriate accents. I found this gem at a library sale for a quarter - one of the best quarters I have every spent!
If you want something else fun, but by a Brit (but one who loved America, so it could work with a little stretching...), try PG Wodehouse. Any of his Jeeves and Wooster stories are hysterically funny. If you enjoy Wodehouse, look for the Jeeves and Wooster DVDs staring Stephen Frye and Hugh Laurie. Some of the stories are set in New York, so if humor is your main goal, I would count them and Am Lit!
Blessings,
April
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We are using Biology: Exploring Life this year for 9th grade, and we really enjoy it. Be sure to get the CD of on-line activities or get access to them from PH. They are not just fluff, but instead are an integral part of the program. There are lots of great labs to go with this course, but be advised that you will have to modify many of them for home use and some are not doable at home due to expense of materials, etc.
My son did Apologia Physical Science in 7th grade - it gave him a good background for understanding the chemistry in Biology. There is lots more chem in bio now than when I was in high school!
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Hi Chelsea,
If you get the catalogs from the Teaching Co, be looking for one to arrive with a customer appreciation coupon good for $30 off any order over $150. I got the catalog in the mail today, and I am SO glad I did not place my order yesterday like I was planning to do! I am going to spring for the Econ DVDs along with the Human Anatomy and Phys set for my soon-to-be senior. There are lots more that I would like to justify...
Blessings,
April
May I Brag About My Son for a Moment?
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
Thank you, everyone for your kind replies! We saw ds yesterday (Sunday), which was also, younger ds's 15th birthday. A good time was had by all (we went to see Up and then out for cheeseburgers. Older ds is doing well and enjoying his opportunity. It was a little easier to leave him at the hotel last night! Younger ds left for a youth-group camping trip this morning. I am finishing up my reporting to turn in to our umbrella school. Taking a break to poke around here is more fun! Now I'm back to work!
Blessings,
April