April in CA
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Posts posted by April in CA
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You are not the only one! We do more than 180 days of school, and there is something going in the summer as well - usually math. Hard work now will pay off later. Your children will more prepared than their peers and will perform better in college. My older son just finished his freshman year of college and says the rigors of our homeschool prepared him very well for the rigors of college work. Plus, he can educate himself from a textbook - a skill which comes in mighty handy! Keep it up! Don't grow weary in doing well, for we shall reap a harvest if we faint not! Wise words, and true!
Blessings,
April
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Hi! I can't comment on the dvds from Apologia or RedWagon Tutorials since I have not used them, but we did use and benefit from the DIVE Chemistry cd. Dr Schorrman (probably spelled that incorrectly - sorry!) is very knowledgeable and give lots of good info. His voice can be bit soft, but that was not a big issue for us. I think the lessons were originally designed to coordinate with the BJU text, so the Apologia texts will be read out of order. Again, this was not a big problem for us. The syllabus provided by DIVE was very helpful, and we used both Apologia texts - it was a very full year! I have lots of lab stuff, so we did many of the labs at home after watching the labs on the cd. good stuff!
Blessings,
April
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Hi! My son used Chang's Chemistry (9th edition) this year for AP Chem through ChemAdvantage. The class covered up through chapter 19 (electrochem) and also chapter 24 on organic chemistry. Excellent book, in my son's opinion. The class was great for both learning and AP exam prep. I have no idea how I would approach this book for a standard high school class. Have you thought of using the DIVE cd to give you a framework and then adjust the chapters to match? If you have time to do 2 years of chem, I would suggest a high school level text for the first year, and then use Chang for AP. Hope this helps a bit!
Blessings,
April
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Thank you for sharing this! It is a good encouragement to our students to fill out evaluations thoughtfully. Thanks you for caring about your students!
Blessings,
April
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Just heard him say " I might get enough bananas for another life." He is relaxing by playing Donkey Kong with younger ds who finished the last of his AP exams today. I am enjoying their enjoyment! Of course, younger ds is not done with school yet, but I felt he deserved a break today. I am treasuring these moments - the best Mother's day gift was having both the guys here! Just wanted to share with others who know the feeling!
Blessings,
April
:grouphug:
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Hi Elizabeth,
No profound words of wisdom here, but a suggestion. Since your ds is very physical (gymnastics, etc) and has great muscle memory for those things, have you tried making math a physical experience? Can he jump on a trampoline and review math facts or move around as he is working through the steps of an algebra problem? Can he talk to you as he is doing the problems, telling you what he needs to do next, etc? My mover and shaker always learned his Awana verses, etc, better and faster is he could pace while reviewing. Just a thought, hope it helps!
Blessings,
April
ETA: oops! I saw flashcards and thought math! But the moving and reviewing would work even better for history and biology, which rely so heavily on memorization!
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Hi Sue!
My older son used Thinkwell Calc during the second semester of his senior year before heading off to university to study mechanical engineering. (he got home yesterday after completing his freshman year! yay!) He found Thinkwell Calc to be a very good intro to calculus and he was well prepared for Calc 1 and 2 this yer at college. He worked his way diligently through Chalkdust Precalculus for three semesters before starting Thinkwell Calc. He felt very well prepared for Thinkwell Calc since the last couple of chapters of precalc were really intro to calc stuff. I have purchased a new subscription to Thinkwell Calc for my younger son to use when he gets there - probably 2nd semester of his senior year, so you can consider me a satisfied customer!
Blessings,
April
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Fascinating! Thanks for the link!
Blessings,
April
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Hi! My big guy will be finishing up the first week of May and will be home by Mother's Day! YAY! He is doing very well academically, although he is finding it challenging to stay focused as the semester is ending. I was surprised to find that he needs some help with figuring out how to use a planner to coordinate due dates etc, for a bunch of classes. DH will go over that with ds when he gets home. This ds was very schedule-oriented at home; maybe the change of environment befuddled him a bit! We are hoping for a 4.0 this semester (he achieved it his first semester), but I think he is on the bubble in a couple of classes. Ds will be working at a local (30 miles away or so) Christian camp as a counselor during June and July. He won't be making much money, and he won't be working in his major (engineering), but I expect he will be learning awesome leadership skills as he works with inner-city campers (some of whom have never been out of LA)! It really is hard to believe that his first year is almost over! The big challenge will be to keep my younger son working while big brother is home during May!
Blessings,
April
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Wow! Congratulations! The program sounds really cool!
Blessings,
April
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We got this letter as well. We are thinking Texas A&M, which ds is already very interested in, and maybe Stanford or CalTech for reach schools. Those two would require very serious scholarship money. Since I would think NMFs are pretty common on both campuses, I don't know if they would be likely to pony up enough cash for ds to be able to attend (even if he were able to get in) - but it is fun to consider possibilities!
Blessings,
April
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Dragon genetics!!! A big hit here!
Blessings,
April
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Thanks, Janice! I appreciate the tip!
Blessings,
April
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Thanks how about after the trial? Did you find thinkwell to be a good product?
Hello!
I have not used Thinkwell Biology, but my older son enjoyed and learned well from Thinkwell Econ and Thinkwell Calculus. He felt very well prepared for calculus when he went off to college last Fall. My younger son will be using Thinkwell Precalculus to study trig (and reinforce the algebra stuff as needed) before he starts Thinkwell Calc. I also plan for him to use Thinkwell Econ, either over the summer or next fall.
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April
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Hi Jennifer,
If your son likes to write, I would suggest Grammar for High School: A Sentence Composing Approach from your list. It will appeal to your son as a writer, and it may help him see the connection between grammar and writing clearly. Writer's Inc is a great handbook, as is Write for College. These two books are both published by Great Source. They may have workbooks available to go with the handbooks - not sure about that. The Editor In Chief books are really good for training the eye to look for important details like proper punctuation.
Good luck finding what you need!
Blessings,
April
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Im not sure how you could suggest that when I havent even said how we are doing it. Nor have I ever said it was a lost cause! He spells fine, for now, but I dont want him to be handicapped later(like on the sat) because of not being very comfortable with higher level words. I was justifying to others why were were still working on it. He can be done with where I want him to be by the end of summer(college level) and is not something he evens fusses(much) over. Quick and painless. However, I was concerned that lots of little things was adding up to being too overwhelming.
I do not like the "well there is spell check" or "they will spell if they can read/as well as they can read" excuses I hear from HS moms all the time. My children will not leave my house(or gradutate to high school LA) untill they can demonstrate a profficiency in spelling.
It is funny how threads take on a life of their own. Really I just wanted to know what to do with a boy who hates school and doesnt want to do any of it.
Hi Busymama! I certainly did not mean to cause offense - I was merely trying to clarify that spelling is important when taking the SAT, even though it is not tested, per se. I should have quoted the post directly above mine. Sorry about that! What are you using for spelling? A friend of mine has high schoolers who struggle with spelling, and is always interested in learning about new ideas to help them. I agree with you that proficiency in spelling is very important. Have you looked into Sequential Spelling? My guys inherited the good spelling gene from somewhere, but I think SS looks like something that would have helped me as a young student. Hope you find the answers you need!
Blessings,
April
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While spelling is not tested on the SAT as a separate sub-test, students need to be able to spell reasonably well to score well on the essay portion of the exam. I would not give spelling up as a lost cause, but I might suggest trying to accomplish it differently.
Blessings,
April
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Hello everyone! I was just looking around on Amazon and noticed that several GA Henty books are currently FREE for those of you with Kindles. Just thought you might like to know!
Blessings,
April (who does not have a Kindle - yet!):)
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Hi Jen,
I think the key here is to know yourself, and to be honest enough with yourself to know what you will and will not accomplish if you "wing it." I know myself very well in this regard, and TOG redesigned works beautifully for me (especially with an on-line co-op!). I need the structure and the challenging thinking questions. After having used TOG for several years at the R level, I know that it works for my family. In terms of worldview, I may be misunderstanding your definition of providential. TOG definitely points out the hand of God in human history, but definitely does not consider everything in American history to have been right and in keeping with godly standards. I am not sure what year you are studying right now, but years 3 and 4 especially keep bringing the student back to worldview issues and require the student to really think deeply about them.
You might be able to go it alone, but I don't think I could do it myself anywhere near as well as TOG does it for me! Like you, I learned right along with my kids! I hope you find what works well for you!
Blessings,
April
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Hi Michelle,
If you are planning to do AP Chem later, with the advance microchem kit, you will be totally fine without using the microchem kit as part of general chemistry. You now have permission to be fine with your decision! We survived general chem w/o the microchem kit just fine. And my son is enjoying and learning from the microchem labs with AP chem. For general chem, make sure he does the labs in Apologia or DIVE (some really cool labs there if you are using it) or Red Wagon. Enjoy!
Blessings,
April
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Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
April
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Hi Christine! As you know, TOG is really full. Especially when you combine it with other high-powered classes like AP Stats! To me, it sounds like you son is doing lots of wonderful work. I would have him continue to read and discuss with you and the family. Unit 4 is really interesting because you will be getting to stuff that you actually remember and can discuss from personal recall. As a recap, I would have him do the quarter exam from TOG, and I would let him do it open book. That way he can put it all together and you will have a written document. I would do this AFTER his AP exams!
My ds is doing TOG yr 1. We have previously done TOG at what I consider an honors level, but this year we are not - because of 3 AP classes. After the AP exams are over, I am planning on having him do all the TOG quarterly exams as a recap of the year. I will let him do them open note and possibly open book (for the essays). I think it is more than enough.
Your CS Lewis study sounds really fun!
Blessings,
April
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Hi Lisa,
I would include some poetry study with your literature, even if it is not super in-depth. the SAT II Lit exam covers poetry, as does the AP Lit. Learning to appreciate good poetry is valuable and surprisingly enjoyable. We have done this as part of a chronological study of literature. If you study ancient literature, including the Bible, you cannot help but study poetry, since many of the great epics are written in poetry rather than prose. Make sure you can identify sonnets -they tend to show up on tests. Much of poetry analysis involves close reading and looking for controlling images and metaphors. I find that poetry often benefits from being read aloud - that way you can really hear the beauty (or not!) of the poet's tone and diction. Just a few ideas from one who now appreciates poetry much more than I ever did before!
Blessings,
April
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Hello! Instead of relying on the formula (which is not particularly helpful in this case), just think about what the problem is asking you to do. Find the total surface area of the shape. Thus, you need to find the surface are of each side and then just add them up! The triangular prism will be a bit trickier than the rectangular prism, because it has slanted sides. So the height of each triangular side is the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by dropping an altitude from the peak to the center of the base. since you have the info to work with, you can figure out what you need to know. Take a deep breath and relax - you can do this!
Blessings,
April
to credit or not to credit????
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
I think your approach is very reasonable. If your son is working diligently at the speech program, I would consider writing that up as a speech class, but that isn't necessary if you are doing other things for English all four years. I think it is much better to list things that really are extra-curricular as exactly that and keep the serious academics for the transcript. But if he starts pursuing an extra-curricular with a passion and wants to turn it into a class, that is totally fine as well. Hope this helps!
Blessings,
April