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Homeschooling6

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Posts posted by Homeschooling6

  1. are most of you home 5 days a week? I really want a schedule but it seems like we never had a typical well. I dream of cutting everything out and just doing school all the time but I also LOVE the field trips, plays, scouts, co-ops, music, martial arts, swimming lessons, art lessons... We try to keep the activities to afternoons but that means the school day ends at noon often. Any insight from others struggling with schedule and outside activities?

     

    Yes, we stay home five days a week. Staying home keeps us on track. When we leave home (for doctor appt. or dentist) it really throws us off and we don't usually finish school that day.

  2. Thank you, OhElizabeth.

     

    Anyone else have advice with regards to R&S? Where would I place my children? My boys will have completed Shurley Eng. 3 and Annette, Season 1 & 2 of AG. I was hoping to combine them all in the same level, if I could what level or should I just keep the boys together and Annette on her own?

     

    Thank you,

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  3. Hi, Ladies,

     

    If we continue with HOD next year and add Annette, I'm trying to figure if I should switch from Shurley to R&S.

     

    We like Shurley and are doing fine with it. I'm just wondering if switching to R&S would make things easier with the schedule. If we stay with Shurley will we miss any writing?

     

    I'm having a hard time figuring out by the HOD samples if R&S has some writing assignments that should be done.

     

    FWIW I like Shurley:D.

     

    Appreciate any help,

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  4. Thank you everyone for your help. I know being able to homeschool is such a precious opertunity. I want all of us to look back on these days with great memoires. Not of me wanting to pull my hair out. :confused: I am going to figure out some kind of point system for comepleted work. I know our kids will love that. We have a schoolroom set up which is great. But having every writing untensil out for my 1 or 2 year old may not be the answer. We have a 2 story with all bedrooms upstairs and all living space downstairs. I can't really let the little ones go play on their own upstairs just yet.

    I know there is a way this will work I just need to figure it out.

     

    This was how the house we use to live in was set up, when Lance was crawling, Ethan was 2 and Brent was 3. We had a gameroom upstairs with all the bedrooms. My other three children were 4, 5 and 6. I know you have some older ones so this may not apply.

    What I did was turn our formal living and dining area to a school room. My desk, some bookshelves and the little desks for the kids. In the gameroom is where we housed all the non daily homeschooling stuff.

     

    My children were not allowed upstairs so I had some toys downstairs (not much though ;)). The little children were allowed to play in the garage (bikes and such) with the rolling garage door closed unless I was in the kitchen and could see them, then I would raise it 1/4 way up. I always wanted one of those nice gates that were extra long. It was safe otherwise I wouldn't have let them ride their toy bikes or play with their jumbo legos in there. The door from the kitchen to the garage was always open so I could see or hear them.

     

    I would train your youngest dc to not go upstairs unless they asked or had an older sibling with them.

     

    On days when we where all upstairs the little ones were not allowed out of the gameroom. Later I put a little gate in the upstairs hallway and they were allowed to play in thier room which reminds me, I used a gate for their room when I wanted them to stay in there but they could look out because the bedroom door was open.

     

    We had a sandbox in the yard. A kiddie pool too.

     

    I was a paranoid mama, so I always made sure the water was very low and gates were locked. I also opened up all the windows so I could see outside.

     

    I kept diapers up stairs and downstairs so I didn't have to go far to change them (I had three in diapers at one time).

     

    Just remember life gets crazy with toddlers. When I was exhausted and one of my dc flooded the toilet I remember saying to myself, I can laugh or cry, so I chose to laugh (not that it was always easy). When another dc wakes with no diaper and lets just say the room stinks really bad, again I had to choose to laugh.

     

    One time while teaching Josh and Annette, in the kitchen I had this feeling that I should check on Ethan. He was in the formal dining room, so I walked on over just in time. He had the chandalier and was ready to run across the table and swing. As you can see, never a dull moment :tongue_smilie:

  5. That doesn't make any sense. Season one of AG is roughly equivalent to Shurley 6. If he's not GETTING the AG lessons, then put him in Shurley 6.

     

    Have you thought about the new AG dvd? I haven't seen much, just the samples, but it might help.

     

    As far as the others, if you decide to do Shurley 6 with your oldest, then you could do Shurley 4 with the youngers. Then they'd skip 5 the following year and go right into 6, a nice progression.

     

    R&S takes more effort to teach than Shurley and would be more similar to AG than Shurley. If he needs Shurley, then he needs Shurley.

     

    Thank you, this is what I needed to know, I was trying to find out where she would place after finishing Season 1 and Season 2 of AG :tongue_smilie:.

    She is using the dvds, they are a big help. I plan to have her finish Season 3 in 2013.

     

    I think I can handle another Shurley English session if it can be done partly indpendent.

     

    If we decide to go with R&S what level would she start there?

  6. When there are toddlers, school is hard (a good hard ;)). I know when I had little ones it was hard to get what I wanted to do in school done, let alone try to clean one of the rooms.

     

    I'm going to throw some ideas out there and maybe something will be helpful:D.

     

    I see you are using ECC, so here are my thoughts. Do ECC first thing. Get all the combined subjects done first with the younger children close by. This is what I use to do. Even if they are making a mess :tongue_smilie:(one can always have a 15 minute pick-up with the older kids helping a few times a day).

     

    Then get your two oldest working on their own and work with the 1st grader. Get your 1st grader started on a subject and if the little ones aren't napping at this time have some play time with them.

     

    I would also start a loose schedule or a block schedule. Have the little ones take a nap at the sametime each day.

     

    With your 7th grader, if you haven't already, I would get her a lesson planner and write her lessons for each subject, this way she can cross the subject off as she finishes.

    Same with the 5th grader. Write what pages from math, CLE LA and anything that your 5th grader can do on his/her own.

     

    For every subject that is done all the way, which means the books have to be put away too, I give a ticket. Once they reach 500 tickets, they can have an Amazon or CBD gift card for $30.00;).

     

    Some seasons in Homeschooling6;

     

    There were times when I would have some of my younger ones using Time4Learning because this was the only way some school would get done.

     

    I had to let a formal history and science go with my children 4th grade and under. I used audio books (SOTW, MOH, Diana Waring and lots of great literature via audio).

     

    So my two oldest were not always waiting for me we used textbooks. This was four years ago and my oldest two continue to use them. I am just now adding in HOD for history and science again.

     

    Knowing I can't sit there for every lesson thus using the computer for math or grammar (TT, MUS, Analytical Grammar with dvds etc.).

     

    Some of th changes above were not easy. I often felt like I was not doing a good job as a homeschooling mom. Two years ago I finally just started to relax. Not in the sense of hardly doing any academics but being able to let what 'I' thought homeschooling should look like. If we only did grammar a few times a week, then that was better than not doing it at all. I started seeing the things we were doing and not what we weren't doing.

     

    What I'm doing with HOD is rotating. Meaning one week I skip something but I'm not skipping the samething every week, this way we are fitting things in. I call this 'skip and rotate' maybe you can do something similiar with ECC.

     

    (((hugs)))

    Linda<><

  7. Here are a what our days look like. For a month I wrote everything we did throughout the day during school hours.

     

    Day 89

    Day 87

    Day 85

    Day 83

     

    I basically use a block schedule. It looks something like this:

     

    Latin~with Josh, Caleb, Annette, Brent

     

    Math or Grammar~with Josh. I rotate with him, one week math one week grammar. He does both daily, I just rotate the teaching.

     

    Preparing School~with Caleb and Brent (HOD)

     

    AAR~with Lance

     

    Beyond School~with Ethan and Lance

     

    AAS/R&S English~with Ethan

     

    Math~with Lance

     

    Lunch

     

    AAS/Shurley English with Caleb and Brent

     

    For the most part I keep it as is above but there are days when I need to squeeze someone else in. If there is no room to squeeze another lesson in, then I'll skip a grammar or AAS lesson with one of the children.

  8. I know you don't need anymore, but our vote here is Bibleman!

     

    We like Bibleman too :001_smile:.

     

    Okay, after spending our entire supper time discussing the deep philosophy of what makes a "good" super hero, here are the NEW IMPROVED VOTES:

     

    Dh: Green Lantern

    16yo dd: Green Arrow

    12yo dd: Keeps asking if she can choose characters like Pepper Pots or Beowulf. I'm starting to suspect she doesn't actually have a favorite.

    :lol:

  9. I know I am the worst kind of curriculum flip flopper, and truly believe I do have a problem, but..... I feel I have to get HOD out of my head, and need to give it a fair shot, once and for all!

     

    I have had my dc use Beyond-but we only did a few weeks of it, because I ended up finding a free TM of MFW Adv., and couldn't resist it. Then, I had every intention of doing Bigger, and had the whole pkg, but ended up doing something else. (I don't even remember what) Now, I am determined to give it a shot, especially because I have a Preparing manual here that I am drooling over, and would love to use next year! I wanted my dc to really get some of the Ancients in, but felt they wouldn't be able to handle Preparing this year, which is why we did SOTW 1 & MOH. I want to actually try doing Bigger w/out tweaking too much, which is one of my downfalls. I am going to continue with FLL instead of R&S, but try to do everything else by the book.

     

    I know has been an overload of HOD threads lately, but for anyone who wants to answer, who has finally taken the plunge & been happy with it?

     

    I figure I have to try it either way, and I will either love it, or finally get it out of my system, so that I can move on.:001_smile:

     

    I have finally taken the plunge recently and am enjoying it very much. I started Beyond with my 7.5 and 9.1 year old boys.

     

    Preparing with my 10 and 11 year old boys. My 10yr. old has had a few meltdowns with the workload but oh well, he'll get use to it.

     

    I purchased three HOD guides about three or four years ago and was all gung ho about starting, but it never happened. I sold my guides and went another route. I thought I'd never use HOD but here I am, using two guides and possibly three next school yearConfused_3.gif.

     

    To not overwhelm myself or the children I did drop WWE, Simply Spelling (which is studied dictation), and MCP Plaid Phonics for language arts. I'm keeping our current math programs and continuing AAS along with HOD's spelling/studied dictation.

     

    I hope to continue with HOD for future years but we'll see.

     

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  10. My two boys 3rd and 4th grade are using Shruley English level 3 this year (we are half way through:)). My 6th grade dd has completed Season One of AG and will hopefully finish Season Two by Sept. of this year.

     

    Next year with my then 4th, 5th and 7th grade children, I would like to combine them all (if possible) in grammar using the same level. If we continue with Shurley, would level 5 be a good place? I woul skip level 4 and am wondering if there is anything my boys would miss if I did that.

     

    Next year my boys will use HOD CtC and Annette will use Res. to Ref. so I'm also considering switching to Rod and Staff English (not sure but thinking about it). If I did, would there be a level that I can combine all three as well? If so, what level?

     

    My dd does well with independent work, if for some reason there is no way to combine using R&S can the upper level (around level 5) be used pretty independently or is it pretty teacher intensive still? If she completes AG Season 2 where would that place her?

     

    Thank you,

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  11. I recommend using the high school series in about 6th grade. :blush: I have never seen the elementary stuff.

     

    Wow, I can't imagine using MFW High School programs with a 6th grader:w00t:.

     

    I also don't think MFW programs as basic. They always looked pretty meaty to me.

     

    Blessings,

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  12. Since the assignments in HoD are scheduled in boxes, as opposed to a linear form, it is easy to do the subjects in whatever order you wish. So if you have two students doing one program, they could schedule their days so that they are doing different subjects at different times. There should be enough independent work to allow them to do this. If you want them to move through the subjects together, then it would be easier for them to each have their own set of books.

     

    Another idea would be to buy just a second guide so they can each have their own.

     

    It sounds to me like CTC may be a bit over your 9yo's head work-wise. Bigger or Preparing may be a better fit. CTC would also be hard for your 7yo to glean from; however if you did Bigger or Preparing with your other student he could probably enjoy those readings.

     

    This is what I plan to do when we get to CtC. If I happen to see a book at Half Price then I'll have a book for each child. I really would like to purchase two sets of books but I think for us it would be too expensive right now (maybe another year).

  13. Well we are a family of 6 living in a 2bd 1bath 1,000 sq house and I have two white boards.:lol: Yes my dining room is our school area and it looks like that all of the time.;)

     

    This is us as well, except a family of 8 in a 3bd 1bath 1,200 sq ft. Our kitchen (which is very small) looks like a school area.

     

    I didn't have a whiteboard for the longest time (when living in our 2bd 1bath 900sq ft house) I use to tape then tacked the legal or is it letter (the longer one :tongue_smilie:) on the wall and use that. When I started tacking the paper I would put a few more under and just pull the top paper off.

     

    When living in a small house it's hard for it not to look like a school-house.

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