[Can you give me a breakdown of your 4th graders day?]

We haven't begun the school year yet but this is my plan for my 4th & 2nd grader.

 

I teach all subjects together except for Math & Wordly Wise Vocab w/ Spanish. Those two time periods are flip-flopped so I am only teaching Math to one child at a time.

 

We will be attending a co-op for the first time this year for one full school day per week so this is our schedule for the remaining 4 days.

 

We will also go on field trips at least monthly :)

 

8:30-9:00 Bible with cursive

 

9:00-9:45 Math

 

10:00-10:45 Wordly Wise Vocab & Spanish (both online, independent work)

 

11:00-11:45 LA using Logic of English

 

12:00-1:00 Lunch & Free time

 

1:00-1:30 CAP Writing program

 

1:30-2:30 Unit Studies (science, health, geography, etc...) 

 

2:30 until finished...Piano practice or lesson, Minecraft lesson, Independent Reading.

 

Both have sports activities in the afternoon once a week.

 

Reading aloud before bedtime.

 

I have no set weekly expectations for any subject---that has never served me well in the past, only created lots of unnecessary stress :)

 

Have a great school year!

[Paid worksheet and lesson plan sites?]

I have used the Teachers Pay Teachers site before and I really like it.

 

I use dads worksheets dot com for math fact review worksheets.

[SSSOOOOO - What's the name of your homeschool?]

We used our street name + Elementary. 

[Possible move to Chicago. If you live and homeschool there, what do you think?]

We live in the far NW suburbs (Crystal Lake) and while we love the community the actual commute is torturous.

My husband typically spends 3 hours a day commuting IF the train is running on time!!!

We would move closer if we could afford taking the loss on our house!

Winter can be challenging but not impossible or unbearable.

We have only been homeschooling for 2 years but so far it has been a wonderful experience and there are A LOT of homeschooling families in and around Chicago!

Best wishes on the job hunt!

 

 

I responded without reading everything :) I saw the list of cities your realtor recommended and I can say that Naperville is wonderful! We have many friends that live there.

[almost finished with singapore workbook, what to add? 1/2 grade]

We buy and use the Singapore HIG, Textbook, Workbook, and Extra Practice book in the Standards Edition. It has worked well for children :) 

Sometimes I print off timed worksheets at dadsworksheets.com when I want to drill them or fill a gap in the school day.

[Newbie ?? Can I let my kids go out alone during the day?]

We live in IL in a fairly large northwestern suburb of Chicago and I would not let my kids go places without me during regular public school hours.

They aren't old enough for that yet but I certainly do not want to put our family in the kind of sticky situation that could follow if they are called in as truant!

They do however play outside in our front yard and back yard on a daily basis while I am inside...I consider that recess of course :)

 

 

[Tonsillectomy Recovery Questions]

Sounds like she is doing just fine.

My son had the same surgery when he was 6 and it took a good month before he was back to normal.

His sound of his voice changed significantly for about 6 months (high pitched, forced) but eventually he was back to normal. 

I would def lay off the pain meds if she doesn't want them!

[Is anyone else especially tired and unmotivated this week?]

:grouphug:

[Who is planning their garden?]

We are very excited to start gardening this year :)

 

My kids and I are going to build 3 raised beds and grow as much as we can can!

 

I found this website that helps you plan your garden...it is seriously so cool and easy to use!!!

 

http://www.smartgardener.com/

 

Good luck with your gardening...

[Atelier Art coming to Homeschool Buyer's co-op]

My kids love Atelier so we will be purchasing it, too :)

I will be selling both completed levels 1 & 2 here soon...

[What health curriculum?]

I'm in IL and we do have to teach health. I don't worry so much about a formal curriculum though. I've used Abeka Health for first and second grade and they are an easy read. There are a few questions spattered throughout and that's about it. Short and simple. For this year though I just found some online resources and we are reading books that correspond with them. We've done experiments for teeth and some lessons on nutrition. I don't put too much emphasis on it because we basically talk about health all the time. I figure that my kids are probably getting more "health" than the kids in public school do.

 

 

^^^I am in IL and this also what we do.

 

For my young ones (7&6) or health education is very basic and about everyday life.

I can find whatever I need at the local library, online, or on Netflix & Hulu.

In a few years I hope to get some kind of online program like Discovery Health.

[Bible version for non-Christiain family]

I would suggest NIV or NLT versions and if you really want to hear the bible presented in modern day language you could use The Message for comparison reading.

[How do you pronounce pink?]

On the LOE Phonogram cards:

 

i has four sounds:

it ivy stadium onion

 

e has two sounds:

tent be

 

For all -ink words I hear the the same i that I hear in the word it

 

and I pronounce it the same way as bananaman on Forvo

[How do you pronounce pink?]

Never have I heard anyone use a long e sound in these words.

 

All a short i for me...born and raised in IL.

 

I am going to walk around saying peenk to myself all day :)

[Church Nursery Policy?]

I am frequently the only supervisor in our preschool room but our Nursery always has one supervisor and several additional young helpers.

Both rooms are connected so I can easily get help if needed. We have a system to silently alert parents during service if we need their assistance.

[Help! I'm just going to sit here, pull my hair out and cry!]

We use and love Singapore Math (US edition) I have one in K and one in 2nd.

We use the Textbook & Workbook and I purchased the HIG for 2A/2B but I haven't used it more than 2x's all year.

I sit with the kids and go over the lessons in the textbook. Then they do their workbook work independently.

SM textbooks are nice and colorful. The approach has been easy for me to teach and for them to learn.

Good Luck finding something that works for your little ones!

[What is your favorite math and why?]

We use Singapore Math (US edition) and the kids love it and are doing quite well with learning the SM methods.

I like it because it is very straight forward and has a lot of teacher instruction (if you need it)

The textbooks are colorful and well done, imo.

I think that my children are learning at a good pace and there is plenty of practice.

Also, I feel that all of the books are reasonably priced.

[Newmark Learning Readers]

I recently purchased some leveled readers from Newmark Learning and LOVE them!

The stories and illustrations are great and I find the reading, writing, and comprehension skill building on the back covers to be very helpful.

I also like knowing what level my children are reading at when compared to their ps peers...it just makes me feel better :)

Check them out!

[Mapping The World By Heart]

That looks fun :) My daughter would love the craftiness of it!

Both of my kids are really into Minecraft right now and they are constantly pulling out their maps in the game to find their way around.

I am hoping that we can use MTWBH to have fun over the summer in real life!

Thanks for the link, maybe next year...

[Mapping The World By Heart]

Hi all! I have been gearing up for a fun summer of learning. I have heard great things about Mapping The World By Heart and I just found a deal on it at the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. Right now it's only being offered at a 10% discount but it might get to a 25% discount if enough people are interested. Just thought I would pass along the info Here's a link straight to it if you'd like to check it out...

 

[Is Singapore H. Educator's Guide Necessary?]

I have the SM 2 HIG and never use it...the 2x's I have needed extra help myself, I have easily found it in the Extra Practice Workbook.

The SM 2 HIG has a lot of extra info in it and games, but the EP workbook has better explanations IMO. My child has done quite well with SM this year.

So, we primarily use the Textbook & the Workbook. I have the Extra Practice Workbook for review on transitional/traveling days only.

I won't be buying the HIG for SM 3...at least not until I need it :)

[Please compare for me: Noeo science, R.E.A.L Science, & Elemental Science]

We use Noeo and the kids really enjoy it! I purchased the whole BIO 1 kit and it came with a ton of books and some experiments.

I love the books and so do my children. We mostly just read, and read, and read :)

They create a notebook page weekly with a drawing and a very short narration about it.

We can do a weeks worth of reading in 3 or 5 days.

The experiments are just so-so and my kids would like to do more of them.

I plan on moving on to Noeo Physics 1 by the end of May and the summer will be filled with as many messy, hands on experiments as I can tolerate!

 

I have no experience with the other two programs but I can tell you that Apologia was a HUGE fail for us.

[Who has read TWTM and what did you think?]

I read it and loved it! I am very grateful to have stumbled upon TWTM when I did!

I am following the classical approach as closely as my children's learning styles will allow.

The detailed advice and well researched curriculum recommendations have been invaluable to our homeschooling journey :)

[The Passage by Justin Cronin (spoilers)]

Read the next book! It has been out for months!

Love these books :)

[What to do when ds and dh don't get along]

Just my opinion...and I will confess that my own family has challenges and we are not perfect!

I think your husband needs to step up and be a father to his son.

If he wants his son to be have in a respectful and calm manner than your husband must do the same.

Your husband also has to realize that he is the adult responsible for showing his son affection and teaching him how to forgive.

Your husband should apologize first and then try to have a heart to heart conversation with his son so that they can both move on and love one another.