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cbhrbooth

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Everything posted by cbhrbooth

  1. First, thank you for sharing your research. Two years later and your posts are still helping others. :hurray: Second, did you end up combining LtoW into one year? If so, how did that work? I am considering this for my dd (11th). She's a strong writer, so my goal is to strengthen skills (especially clarity and organization) and broaden understanding of composition with LtoW. I'm also thinking about Great Courses Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft (24 lectures by Brooks Landon) as a weekly discussion. She's won state creative writing and essay contests, but wants to compete nationally.
  2. Thanks for your responses! You've helped a lot. I'm leaning, slightly, towards a do-it-yourself one, so I can cross it off the list. After I outlined the topics (Nutrition, Personal Hygiene, Lifestyle, Safety, Growth & Development) I saw how easily the class could be addressed without turning it into a full-meal-deal. :hurray: Once I work out a weekly schedule, I'll know for sure. Your time is much appreciated!
  3. Looking over my Texas high school recommended credit hours, I see that I've forgotten to plan for Health. When my older daughter went through high school, I counted Apologia Human Anatomy as her health credit. She also was a Red Cross certified swim instructor with many CPR classes (even some CPR classes she taught) under her belt, so I felt good about checking Health off our list. However, I'm not sure if this daughter (10th grade) will take Human Anatomy, and she has had only 2 CPR elementary courses. (She is also a Red Cross swim instructor, but has been less involved.) I don't want to wait until her senior year for her to take this credit. My question. . . do you teach a "health" course? Or Is it a credit you blow off? (It's not required for us, but I'd like to have a good answer for why it's not on the transcript if someone, who was so intensely bored with his life, ever asked. :laugh: ) Suggestions?
  4. Does anyone know where this stands in the Texas legislature now? I read that once the law passed the Senate it had about a month to go in the legislature - that was late April/early May, but I can't find any recent updates. I'm curious because my daughter has been asked (unofficially) to play with a local tennis team in the fall but we don't see how her participation is possible unless the law goes through.
  5. Thank you! Our experience with 4th edition has been pretty much the same - we felt the explanations were so much better than the previous editions. I'm not a math person, but have been very comfortable walking my daughter through Algebra I and (so far) Geometry, using the lessons and examples. I got tripped up when I read the reviews, and wondered if somehow Algebra II was really inferior to the other books in the series. That's a good suggestion to ask to preview the books (she is a local seller). I'll ask today if that's possible. :)
  6. I tend to be very "clingy" when it comes to curriculum, so I need your help before I make a purchase decision. My 9th grade daughter has used Saxon math for the past 2 years, and we have been very pleased. (Math 8/7; Algebra I (4th ed); now, Geometry) I anticipate using Saxon Algebra 2 (4th edition; newest one) next year when she is in 10th grade. However, I recently read 2 reviewers who complained that Saxon Algebra 2 was not up to the Saxon standards. One of the reviewers wrote a very thoughtful, well-researched review which I can't easily dismiss. So now I'm here and wondering if any of you have had a good experience with Saxon Algebra 2? (the newest edition, 4th) And, would you recommend it? Your input would be very helpful to me since I have an opportunity to purchase a good, used set of Saxon Algebra 2.
  7. I've never seen the digital version, but would imagine the print version is the same as the digital. (It would seem like a formatting nightmare to have two different copies.) My print copy isn't numbered consecutively but has about 40-60 pages per week. That would be 360 - 540 pages for the unit. And - yes - whatever works for you!!! :001_smile:
  8. All Quiet is an important work to read, but I believe it also requires a lot of outside-the-book discussion (about the author; nihilism; post-war patriotism, to name a few topics.) It a critical to see this piece of history unfolding, and lining up as a "perfect storm" for WWII, and AQOWF captures that anger and betrayal so well, but it can also be such a dark place to go with the author. (This is the fertile ground when Darwin's ideas of the survival of the fittest; socialism; communism; etc. were really starting to bud.) I honestly think it's an important book that is better grasped, and dealt with, by mature teens and young adults. Guess it depends on your kiddo's temperament.
  9. I don't have any experience with History Odyssey, but 5 years with TOG Rhetoric. I've tried to address your points below one-by-one. 1)Assignments are all laid out. TOG is extremely well organized. 2)Writing assignments (Writing Aids) are layered in each week so the assignments are not burdensome, but grow the skills each week. Essays are built off of history assignments which is a nice tie-in. 3)Evaluations are good, and can be manipulated to whatever level you need them to be. (Just multiple choice/just essay/combination of both) 4)TOG is straightforward BUT if you are describing a school day with your daughter doing all the reading without weekly discussions with you I think you and she will be disappointed. The discussions are the gold nuggets of TOG. I would be hesitant to expect a student to tackle the reading, absorb the material, without those discussions. The reading is not easy-peasy, but you can scale her assignments (in-depth or broad) to her abilities. Keeping it as light or heavy a requirement as you feel is necessary. 5)"She won't take initiative on her own." TOG has clear directions, questions, but as I mentioned in #4, the discussions are really where the learning is done. Getting a student to think through some of the open-ended questions is part of TOG, and would be a challenge for any student going it alone. 6) TOG's Christian focus comes through, but they are even-handed about exploring other religions, worldviews, and opinions. A friend (marginally atheist) used TOG b/c she liked the rigor of the curriculum, and even the fact that there was a cohesive message, and she never complained about the highly Christianized viewpoint. At the rhetoric level, TOG encourages students to think through their opinions, not to accept a viewpoint unchallenged. So, I think this may be less of an issue than you imagine. 7) TOG is a complete program. One reason we have enjoyed it is that we find the unity satisfying because it addresses a person's need for meaning in history. You didn't ask, but I'll volunteer this information: a) TOG taught me to be a better teacher: more organized, focused, and deliberate. However, it can be overwhelming. If you plan to spend some time explaining how to use the curriculum with your daughter, then she will be better served. Although she will be looking ONLY at one thread (History), it takes time to get adjusted to how the curriculum is laid out. b) Since you mentioned your time will be focused on younger children, I thought I'd include how much time I spend on Rhetoric History/Geography: Once a week, I spend time making copies of assignments, maps, and evaluations. (15-30 minutes a week) I schedule 1 - 1 1/2 hrs a week for our History discussions. Sometimes we are through in 30 minutes, sometimes we use every second. Just depends. I rarely read beyond the Teacher's notes and Teacher script. (What that means is that I don't try to read the student's assignments. Some moms do.) We do Geography (maps) (as part of her History credit) together, but it is very laid back. My student pulls out an atlas we look at it together and discuss the questions for 5-15 minutes, usually on a Monday. Then I let her use my Teacher's map to accurately draw her map. She brings her map to our History discussion (usually on Thursday) and we refer to the maps throughout so she gets a good idea of the places under discussion. I spend about 20-30 minutes a week creating Quizlet cards for Dates and People. I require my student to review those daily and then she tests on it through Quizlet. (I do not require a Timeline.) (Many of my TOG friends' ignore this part of the History program, without a loss to their students. It is just a habit with us.) The evaluations take 10-30 minutes to complete, and I grade them in 5-10 minutes. At the end of each Unit there is an exam. At the end of the year there is comprehensive exam (or you can offer a Unit 4 exam instead of a year exam). ++++++ I can't recommend TOG over History Odyssey but I hope I've given you some insight into TOG. It has been a worthwhile investment for our family. Good luck with your choice!:001_smile:
  10. We're in our 5th year of TOG. (All years, now in second cycle) We used it for UG, Dialectic, Rhetoric. We're very satisfied with the curriculum, and have felt that it prepared our daughter for competitive college class discussions. She, in fact, credits TOG for her confidence in literature and history class discussions and analysis. I also have seen that TOG has helped me develop as a teacher. I am better organized and more thoughtful about our schooling and what type of education we want to offer our children. Prior to TOG, I followed WTM as closely as I understood how, but failed to follow-through on many items because I didn't see the daily step-by-step to get us to the bigger picture. That said, I am reluctant to recommend TOG. :) It is expensive and can be time-consuming. In the first year, I used that expense as my "stick" to make sure we completed our work, but I know not everyone views things that way. The planning and high standards forced me to become quite serious about our homeschooling in areas which I glossed over before, but I know other moms have felt overwhelmed by these same expectations. As another poster wrote, I too tried to rely on the inter-library loan books to keep expenses down, but our small library was not adequate to meet our needs -and my planning and their timing were haphazard- so I learned to buy all the books for each unit/year. Again, more expense. Over the past 4 years, I have had four close friends who have used TOG (all levels LG,UG, D, R) and they each struggled with the energy and time commitment. All but 1 of those friends have left TOG. That one friend is in her 2nd cycle of TOG, but she does a laid-back, hands-off approach. *** Even with all that said, I wish I had used TOG from the earliest years. Not only for my children's benefit, but for my own. ***To be fair, those 3 families who discontinued TOG are not homeschooling either. One family returned to public school, one joined a hybrid homeschool/private school, and the other opted for a mix of public & private schools.
  11. :iagree: Yes, this is what I was going to recommend as well: SAT vocabulary books.
  12. We went through this decision making process when our 18DD went to college and gained 30lbs over 4-6 months. I was concerned for a number of reasons, health being my top priority. Initially we decided to ignore it and let her figure things out. We knew she was unhappy with her weight gain. During her Christmas break, I could see how her eating habits had spiraled out-of-control and she wasn't making the connection, so I had a heart-to-heart with her because I was concerned for her health. (I would have done the exact same thing if she had lost 30 lbs.) She returned to college and halfway tried to make changes but then she had some embarrassing experiences (was made aware that her weight was an issue for joining an athletic intramural team & had a young man offer her his bus seat b/c he believed her to be pregnant.) (Her quick weight gain was unevenly distributed over her body, much like a slender pregnant woman) I think these unpleasant negative social situations, coupled with our discussions made her realize her situation and she began to diet seriously. She has now lost 27 pds. She will tell you that losing the weight has been one of the hardest things she has ever done, and she is very proud of herself for doing it. (She considers her stretch marks as her reminders of what she went through.) My concerns were for her health and for enjoyment of life as a teen/young adult. There are things she couldn't do with 30 extra pounds and she avoided social functions and was unhappy and self-conscious much of the time. I guess I was more alert to what could happen because my sister gained about 25-35 pds her freshman year in college and we avoided speaking about it. (Weight was a touchy subject in our household.) My sister continued to gain over the years, and by the time she was 25 years old, she had a very serious weight problem. I regret now that we weren't more transparent about our genuine concern. So, I agree with you that you should wait for your daughter to come to you, especially since she is not overweight but only that her appearance is different from what you are used to seeing. However I would also suggest you be prepared for a loving conversation if you believe she is losing control of her weight or believe her health is at risk.
  13. Fiction - Daily work: I use 750words.com daily to get blood flowing then start work on current WIP. Overall project usually follows this routine: I do outline first, then fast draft, then many, many revisions. Beta reader. Revisions, revisions, Then crit groups. Revisions, revisions, revisions. Last read. Then submit. Start over with new project. Non-fiction (for me, this is freelance work, not NF book) - daily work is completely assignment driven. Overall routine: Outline sketch, research, outline sketch, research, 1st draft, research, 2nd draft, 3rd draft. Reader. 4th-100th drafts. Proofreader. Make corrections. Let sit min. 24 hrs. Submit. I'm fascinated with a writer's process (and her workspace!) but I've learned each writer does things differently. Elizabeth George has a good process book called Write Away in which she goes into detail about her highly organized writing process. If you are looking for a temporary template then that's a good start. However, don't be discouraged if you can't follow her process. My experience was to try on a few dozen "routines" before I had the confidence to build my own, using bits and pieces from these other templates. (Especially with fiction.) As long as you're writing, then you're making process. :)
  14. This *is* controversial around our home b/c we go to the Sonic a lot and want to be fair, but resent having to tip for such minimal service. However, here's our dilemma. . . we use the drive-thru to avoid the tipping issue BUT if there is a line the carhops bring the order to you. I then feel an obligation to tip. I'd prefer they just let me wait in the line. lol! It's *almost* enough to send me to McDonald's. :auto:
  15. I saw the "official" Saxon Teacher CD/DVD for Geometry today and wondered if anyone had used it before. I found two very negative reviews of it here: http://www.christianbook.com/saxon-geometry-homeschool-teacher-first-edition/pd/542563#customer_reviews but thought I'd ask here before dropping the idea.
  16. Used Rosetta Stone Spanish for 2 years and it worked. There were headaches with the software and testing at times, but overall, we felt good about it. Younger daughter will start using software in the fall. I've considered supplementing Rosetta Stone with casual classes offered in homeschool community, but kind of wondering if it would be worth it. Daughter has little interest in foreign languages, at this point. Meh.
  17. Best hit: One Year Adventure Novel -- my daughter loved this creative writing series, and we plan to repeat it next year just so she can write a second manuscript. Fabulous resource. Solid, reliable favorites: Tapestry of Grace Year 1 (Literature, History, Government, Bible) Rod & Staff Grammar Saxon Algebra 1 4th edition Apologia Biology
  18. Very true. The folks who score these tests are required to ignore content errors - even if it is ridiculously off-base - and score the essay only on expression/organization/unity, usage/mechanics, etc. If the examples are illogical then that may count against the student (arguing one side, but proving the other) but that's unusual.
  19. I run with Adele, all of her music makes the time go by faster.
  20. Best curriculum I wish I had found earlier. . . Tapestry of Grace. We've cycled through all four years and will start our second loop in the fall.
  21. Found this review at Rainbow Resource Center: The 4th Editions of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 are intended primarily for students who plan on taking Saxon Geometry and are wanting Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 courses with reduced geometry content. The sequence for incorporating these courses would be: Algebra 1, Geometry, then Algebra 2. The main difference between the 3rd and 4th editions is that much of the previously-integrated geometry content has been removed. You may find this a positive or a negative, depending on your student’s need to review geometry concepts, especially in Algebra 2 (or pre-ACT!). Other differences in the editions are that there are no Saxon Teacher CD-ROMs for the 4th Edition programs and no step-by-step solutions for test problems. At this point, Saxon is not recommending that most homeschoolers switch to the 4th editions. Homeschool Kits for the 4th Ed. courses include hardcover texts, homeschool test books (with answer key) and solutions manuals. 120 lessons. **all bolding mine I haven't considered the ramifications of the lack of geometry review prior to the ACT, nor did I know that Saxon wasn't recommending the 4th edition switch for homeschoolers. Just points to consider.
  22. Will BJU Spanish be a co-op or group class? If so, lucky you! If not, you might want to consider Rosetta Stone. Just my .02 cents. My daughter will be 9th grade next year too. My last one . . .:D
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