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Smithie

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Everything posted by Smithie

  1. "So, let me ask you this: Is is respectful to teach the Jesus stories as revealed truth? Is it respectful to lead children in prayer to Jesus at the beginning and end of a literature class, prayer, perhaps, that Jesus would illumine all that is studied being as how He is the Light of the World? Maybe that is what leaders of groups with SOF's want to do." Yes, that's totally respectful, in a Christian co-op. Co-op is hardly the only place that my kids are exposed to that kind of thing. I don't know why I'd shoot us in the foot by eschewing all the benefits of co-op, only to have my kids encounter the same worldview at the zoo, on the playground, from the teachers in our public schools, etc. (Yes, I live in the South.) Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go off to my Christian co-op. :D
  2. "...but you are asking that others make major changes in their co-ops to accomodate you." Nope. I'm not asking for any changes at all. Which is why I'm so astounded to encounter groups that ask that question, get my answer, and STILL decide that that "no Jews allowed" is a morally tenable policy for their freakin' co-op. :confused:
  3. Sorry, I couldn't read all of the twelve pages intervening, but I wanted to address this: Parrothead wrote: "Yes, the Christian group has the right to exclude the Jewish family, but does that make it right? That is where people have problems with SOFs." And somebody else responded: But why does it make it wrong? Again, I'm not talking about being hostile to anyone. But if I want to start a group that does XYZ, why am I wrong to not include people who want to do LMNOP? If the purpose of my group is to accomplish ABC, why would I want people who's agenda is DEF? ... my experience with this has been that the objective/agenda/purpose of my super-duper-fundamentalist homeschool group is To Educate And Socialize The Children. Coincidentally, this is also my goal. I belong to a different religion, but that doesn't mean I have a different agenda for the co-op! Good grief! My son is learning secular 1st grade content and a lot of Jesus stories. When I substitute in his class, I read Torah stories or secular stories. My high school literature class is covering Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, and so far my only possibly-contentious insertion has been to assure them that there is not a massive Catholic conspiracy to take over the governments of the world - and that was more of a scholarly opinion than a Jewish opinion. :lol: Really, it's just. not. a. problem. for people of different religions to learn together, as long as everybody is respectful. Exclusionary (as opposed to informative) SOFs just boggle my mind. If I'm willing for my child to hear the Jesus stories, then I don't see how our presence is polluting. I've been involved with another co-op headed by a JW, and I wanted to give a shout-out in that direction: having been on the receiving end of discrimination and exclusion because of her faith, she did an AWESOME job of creating a co-op environment where the conduct and content was acceptable to conservative Protestants, but those of all faiths (and no faith) were able to participate fully.
  4. I'd start him with Ender's Shadow, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of The Hegemon. I don't think anything in any of the books is immoral or corrupting (one of the things I like best about Card is his deeply internalized sense of morality), but things happen in those books that are just plain upsetting. If your DS doesn't get overly upset with the Shadow series, then I'd let him move on to the original Ender sequels (Xenocide, etc.) and other Card novels. I'm a huge, huge Card fan, but 11 is young for all the heavy philosophical conflicts he dishes out. "Tea" ain't got nuthin' on gangs of starving children and their sociopathic leader.
  5. "If a group of Christian homeschoolers wants to meet with other Christian homeschoolers, they should be able to do that without anyone else taking offense. But what I prefer is a statement that clearly describes the group ("We are a Christian group; we pray at the beginning of our meetings; here is our statement of faith, which most of us will agree with..."), and then let non-Christians (or Christians who believe slightly differently) decide whether or not to participate. (I would also expect folks who don't agree completely with the group's beliefs to not come in and try to change things.)" :iagree: There are two Jewish homeschooling families in my area that I'm aware of, and we are one of them. No co-op potential there. There is a secular co-op that I belong to, but it's a nascent organization. If I couldn't belong to a Christian co-op, then there would be no structured, multi-subject co-ops available to my kids. I was overtly rejected by one and covertly discouraged by another and then a third one said, "sure, why not? Everybody's welcome here." This is NOT a theologically liberal group of people. They're just secure in their beliefs. They have a code of conduct, they are specific in their literature about being a Christian group, but nobody signs anything and we all just behave ourselves and go about our business!! So, my advice to the OP is: keep looking. Just because one group of non-Mormon Protestants wanted to keep you out doesn't mean that every other group will slam the door in your face.
  6. "Could be that God didn't condone Hitler's extermination of 6 million Jews, but it was necessary to awaken the world and bring the nation of Israel back on the map, because Israel's part in the story isn't over, yet." Look, I don't know how to break this to you, but my people have no secret weapon that will allow 18,000 of us to defeat all the Arab armies, and meanhile, zoning regulations forbid us from rebuilding the Temple. ;) I'm kidding - kind of. I don't think that everybody on earth has to worship in the fashion of my people in order to receive God's love and grace, and I'm mystified that this idea has become so central in Protestant Christianity. I think that God reveals Himself in different ways to different people, and if Jesus is your path to God then that's great, but worrying about the rest of us is probably not a good use of your spiritual energy. Nor is worrying about your kids - they have their own, unique and wonderful, path to walk with God.
  7. I am a PJ Library administrator for my region. We get all kinds of requests from Christians (Mormons, prominently) telling us how much they revere our faith and would like to get our free books. And I'd happily send them, because I love to be loved - but every kid who's signed up costs the local sponsor org $40/year. We have limited funds. I hear through the grapevine that Jews (or grandchildren of Jews) living outside a PJ service area can often get the books anyhow, shipped to Grandma's house in the PJ-service region. Administrators who have extra budget will sign those kids up. I would do it myself if the $$ weren't so limited. I have never heard of a similar service for Christians, of any denomination :sad:
  8. "I agree with the others...read a lot of books aloud to him, work on motor skills for writing (salt box, chalk, cutting, etc.), and play math games. Throw in some ETC. Have fun!" :iagree: It's great that your state's laws aren't going to require you to futz around with recordkeeping etc. for the rest of this year - but I also agree with you that some experimentation now will help you both out come September. In your shoes, I'd not buy much of anything except a phonics program if you don't own one. I'd print out math worksheets from the internet, some writing worksheets if he's been doing them in K and they seem developmentally appropriate, and then hit the library for everything else. Read read read. A literate 1st grader is a joy to teach.
  9. My little group of moms who are homeschooling K and 1st graders this year decided to focus our co-op on science. This has worked out really well, for me at least, in that we have a forcing function that keeps science in our weekly rotation and not relegated to "we thumb through DK books." My kid has an extreme zoological bent and could probably prepare himself for high school biology just by spending the next 8 years free-reading on this beloved topic, but non-animal-related topics really might fall by the wayside if it weren't for co-op. This week, I prepared a lesson on the water cycle for the 1st graders. Left to myself, I probably would not have done that, and left to himself, DS would not have piped up with "hey Mom, I have a passionate desire to learn about transpiration!" So for me, very informal science is a good idea in the younger grades, but taking a look at the state standards and covering all those topics in a loose informal way throughout the year is also good. In the Internet age, one certainly does not need a textbook to accomplish this.
  10. Another mom of a 6.5 y.o. here, and I just go ahead and ask the questions in the SOTW study guide, and prompt until a coherent oral response emerges. I also have my DS compose and dictate a summary of the Usborne Encyclopedia spread for whatever topic we are studying that week in history. I write in down in a composition book and he illustrates it. Really, I'm liking memorization more than narration at this age. My DS clearly retains and comprehends the material I read to him, riffing on it in great detail in his imaginary play (Mario and Luigi stole The Luck of Troy about ten times yesterday, aided by Princess Peach of the Fair Cheeks). But dictation is not a lot of fun for him, so we do it consistently but only twice per week - while we memorize something new pretty much every day.
  11. No matter what question I ask about math, somebody always says "Math Mammoth!!!!" Maybe that's a sign I should heed :D
  12. My DS has a half a year left of first grade. We haven't been thrilled with Singapore. Honestly, I don't care what learns in math for the rest of the year - not that math isn't important, but there are so many awesome and wonderful facets of mathematics for him to explore, and he's already met our state's standards for 1st grade. I want him to LOVE math lessons, and he didn't love Singapore (didn't hate it either). The content covered is less important than an agaging curriculum that fosters enthusiasm for math. So... what do you love for "second grade" math? It could be computer-based or workbook-based, but please Lord not another program with 3 separate books like Singapore. It shouldn't be heavy on manipulatives - other than his abacus he does not care for them.
  13. I really hope I'm not the only one who saw this thread title and was shocked that the WTM ladies were telling dirty jokes :lol:
  14. Another Hooked on Phonics fan here. My son would quite literally cry when the OPGTR came out, but with the HOP kindy level it was all fun and games. (This was the year he was 4.) One of the first questions I ever asked on this forum was "Can I teach my child to read without using the OPGTR?" This thread really takes me back. :lol:
  15. I assume that the computers in the library are intended for the benefit of children who do not have access to computers at home. I am glad to have them and I am glad to pay for them with my tax dollars, and I am glad for my kids to use them while I am looking around for schoolbooks. But after 10 minutes or so, I am done and they either unplug and browse or unplug and leave.
  16. I am Jewish, and we belong to an evangelical co-op and I teach their high schoolers literature. It has been a great experience. I love these other mamas and they act like they love me. My son is getting wonderful socialization, and he's learning about the New Testament stories in a positive way, in addition to learning a bunch of other useful stuff. But this co-op you're looking at? They are stating right on the face of things that they are aggressive proponents of a unitary worldview. Evangelicals are a large and diverse subset of America's faithful. This co-op is a pushy wingnut sub-subset of this large group. I sympathize with your position. My area has several well-established Classical co-ops, and I'd love to be involved with them, but they all go beyond loving Jesus and into the realm of insisting that the earth is 6,000 years old. I can't in good conscience let such people be in positions of authority over my kids. I think that you are dealing with a similar group here.
  17. I had major worries about this aspect of SOTW, and my DH still grinds his teeth a bit when he flips through and sees JudeoChristian mythology presented as historical fact, but truly, my DS is never confused and looooooooves the mythology angle. The only on-the-fly editing I do is to introduce myths with "the Egyptian tradition tells us that" and "the West African tradition tells us that" and "our Jewish tradition tells us that..."' etc., just to make it very clear that we're straying into the territory of legend. I also skipped the chapter about Abram's journey to Canaan, because it's extensively covered in Hebrew school and I think that's where it SHOULD be covered. When we get to the Jesus chapter, we'll probably cover that as a language arts study with supplementary readings and some NT verses to memorize. But we won't be treating it as history.
  18. There is a poster on mothering.com who uses Agora and loves it AFAIK. She is a classically inclined homeschooler. You might want to look around a bit over there and see if you can find some old K12 threads, or just start a new thread in the "Learning at Home" forum and title it "Hey Rynna! Smithie said you could tell me about Agora!" :D
  19. I agree with everybody! :tongue_smilie: 1. There is stuff in the Bible that makes the Iliad seem like a Victorian tea party in comparison 2. There is no need to make that comparison, however, if you regard the Bible as literal truth and the Iliad as legend 3. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that you get to make the choice best suited for your own child! My current first grader is reading Black Ships Before Troy and loving it. The immorality does not phase him. But I can totally imagine that my daughter, at the same age, might not be ready for that content, and I won't hesitate to stick to the lighter stuff in the grammar stage if that's what she needs. Ultimately, I'm not sure that the degree of social conservatism practiced by a family is the defining criterion for when to teach the Iliad. To me, the more germane question is "is my child mature enough to maintain an appropriate emotional distance between his own morality and the very different morality of the ancient Greeks?"
  20. I really struggle with this issue. On the one hand, it makes total sense to me that Christians identify with the ancient Israelites - they regard themselves and the spiritual heirs of the ancient Israelites. I'm not offended by that at all. Nobody holding a seder in their home and recounting the Exodus is hurting the modern-day Jewish people. It's a shared story. However, when I see the liturgies published by the Jews for Jesus that take my prayers and rituals and toss in messianic references, I can't help but be very offended by that. It really is just like a person unrolling a prayer rug, facing Mecca, and busting out a Communion wafer and a glass of grape juice. It's tacky. I hate it. BTW, I disagree with Rivka's assessment that Judaism discourages conversion. It's more than we don't have a NEED to convert. We believe that all of the righteous have a share in the world to come, but if somebody comes along wanting to enter into the covenant God made with Abraham, it's a very tiny minority of modern Jewish congregations that don't roll out the welcome mat for them. So anybody who might be reading this thread thinking of exploring conversion - you can do it. It's just that nobody but your future mother-in-law is going to try to pressure you into it. :)
  21. I own about fifteen hijab caps: http://www.middleeasternmall.com/-c-36.html I shove them way back so that my front hair shows, and they are like a fancy, stays-on-better bandana.
  22. The Bird's Christmas Carol. Dated, but a really lovely read.
  23. I am moderately religious, but I have several completely nonreligious friends and family members who absolutely 100% believe that they have seen a ghost. I have never had such an experience myself.
  24. "I think that the boys should lose all priviledges and activities for 1 week per D." I think it's more feasible to have them lose a single, very valued privilege until the next marking period. You son who is working hard should NOT get a reward, because he is NOT doing anything that deserves one! He is simply meeting the standard of behavior in your household. The other two are not meeting that standard, and it's your job as parents to crack down in a serious, meaningful way until the standard is met. I agree with a PP that at-the-table time for everyone will be key to success. Getting your husband on board is also key. Let him choose whether he wants to be preparing/cleaning up dinner, or sitting at the table supervising homework. Homework should not be considered "done" until the assignment has been presented to you or dh and literally initialed (this avoids the "I left it at school" lie). And obviously, people with undone homework aren't watching TV, hanging outside with friends, using the computer, etc. For the time being, you are stuck checking those teacher websites. I'm sorry, I know it's a pain, but your sons need that from you now. Make up a list of assignments, and every night you or dh are at the table with that list, waiting patiently to be presented with completed work to review and initial. Unless there is another serious issue going on (terrible sickness, pending foreclosure), these Ds are your family's biggest problem right now and EVERYBODY needs to put this front and center and get it fixed. If your sons start getting that vibe from you and DH, then their own attitudes will shift. It will take time. You must stand firm. But they are young enough yet to change their mindset. To give you an idea of where this is coming from: My parents wouldn't or couldn't take a stand on the schoolwork issue. I was self-motivated and have a graduate degree and a great life. My brother slacked and lied, and he has spent the past year manning a machine gun on the top of a semi truck, shooting at scavenging Bedouins in Iraq. When he gets back, I hope he'll be ready to do his freaking homework. He says he will. But it never had to get this far and IMO, if my folks had drawn the line when he was 13 he would not have wound up in the Army instead of in college.
  25. We'll be needing a new math program, I think. When Singapore 1B got to multiplication and DS was nowhere near memorizing his addition and subtraction facts, I realized that the Singapore people and I just have different values on this issue. :D No doubt my teaching was part of the problem, so we're going for a program that's a better fit with Mommy's brain. I'm open to suggestions. Between now and January, I'm pretty sure that all our math time will be spent on memorizing the =/- facts to 20. I'm thinking of incorporating some money worksheets during this time as well. Other curriculum is going pretty well, but I do wish I didn't have so much out-of-the-house stuff. Next year, when the younger kids are out of preschool (big girl starts K5 at home, little girl will still be a toddler, and she's only been going because her big sister does), I really need to reevaluate our out-of-house activities - including shopping and whatever else I do that breaks up the rhythm of our schooldays. I may try to make changes starting in January - SIL will have a new baby, and I'd love to to a childcare trade with her so that we can both not drag all our kids on multiple errands, and the kids can have playtime together more regularly.
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