catholicmommy
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Everything posted by catholicmommy
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last year we tried mechanical, but they were running out of lead so fast.. and the lead broke all the time. And I couldn't find a place to buy replacement erasers. I finally gave up and decided it's not the pencils that are the problem :) -
Mine was HEAVY last year... i had to drag it around the house. That's one of the reasons I'm switching to two crates. I'm going to have the first semester in one crate and the second semester in a second. I decided on this instead of separate crates for everyone because then I only ever have one active box to work from... cuts down on clutter and chaos and keeps me more in control of the files. I don't really want the kids going through their files and messing it all up :)
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Decide on which week each lapbook will be for first of all... then I would put the pieces in ziplock baggies and file them their proper folder.
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Will timed lessons verses 3 pages of workbook help this child?
catholicmommy replied to KIN's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
:):):) mmmm...chocolate fixes everything :lol: -
I agree with many of the above posters. I was tired of starting the year with vigour and barely crawling across the finish line 2 months after i was supposed to... Completly burned out without joy. I am not the kind of person who remembers, or even wants to enter my week worth of lesson plans on sunday night. Even if i tried to do it that way, there would always be weeks where i didn't get around to it, and we would be slipping farther and farther behind. I plan because i hate having to quickly run and photocopy something in the middle of a lesson only to come back and find the kids have all disappeared. I plan, because it helps me concretly see where we are in the year in a whole package. A global view of how many real weeks of work we have done, and how many work weeks we have left... And i don't feel bad about taking days off.... Because if they are already planned for, then i can truly relax. I also plan because i'm an all-or-nothing kind of mom, and if i don't have everything i need for a lesson, i will wait and wait to do the lesson until it will be perfect. This causes more delays than you can imagine, as i kept not making it to the library in time, or we couldn't find the particular website, or the science lesson needed a balloon, and i didn't have time to get to the store u til the end of the week... Now, that being said... Because of the reasons you listed above, i don't tie my school weeks to real weeks on the calendar. Week 5 is not tied to october 3rd. I tired to love the pickup and go by the seat of your pants planning. I wanted to love it.... But i ended up unhappy in the spring every year, only 3/4 done.
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Exactly the same conclusion i came to about photocopying... If you aren't ripping apart your workbooks, make sure you have something to keep you on track. Remember, everytime you miss a day and then pick up where you left off just adds another day onto the end of your school year. It depends if you want to tie your weekly files to actual dates on the calendar. I have a rough guideline on paper, but i lable each week with a number, not a date. This allows me to be more flexible and not get out of sync when we need to take some time off or spread one folder over two weeks. For long weekends, i either had the kids double up on the work (while crossing out a bunch of problems on each page), or simply just do the missed day's work orally. For 182 days, I would probably have 37 weekly folders and the 37 th one have only two extra days in it, for a nice treat at the end of the school year. Nah, not a loser-homeschool mom. Just a mom and kids who were jeallous of all the super organized moms who post each may on these boards that they are done already :confused: As long as you set up a system being realistic about your own tendencies, it will last you through the year, and don't be too hard on yourself or too perfectionistic :)
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s/o filing thread: what are you doing with TM's etc?
catholicmommy replied to kwickimom's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
I didn't want to add too much extra work for myself, so I just kept the TMs in each individual child's box of supplies. example: grade 5 dd's box: -pencil case with everything she needs -sketch book -watercolor paper -current read alouds -nature journal -TM for math -TM for AAS -TM for Writing Tales -TM for JAG Grade 2 ds's box: -pencil case -sketch book -watercolor paper -poetry notebook -OPGTR book -TM math -TM AAS -FLL 1/2 -TM WWE There are always going to be things that just can't be filed, or that you don't want to.. and the personal box is where I keep all of these items. It's like their portable desk, so if they have that, as well as their weekly work from my files, they can do school anywhere, even without me being there (although of course that isn't ideal). I have toyed around with the idea of using the Desk Apprentice for this. -
There are so many options. The most popular are: Kindle: has come down in price so much since the iPad was released. Can only read books off the amazon store though. Many books from the library or Kobo's store or Barnse and Noble cannot be read on it. SonyReader: I have it. Loved it, until I got my iPad. Now I hardly touch it. It's really nice though, because you can read many different formats of ebooks on it from all sorts of different sources. I have the touch edition which comes with an mp3 player, and I can annotate pdfs on it as well. Kobo e-reader: looks nice! I haven't ever played with it, but it's the same as the sonyreader as far as the types of files you can read on it, but it's cheaper. The nook from B&N. It looks really nice as well, but with the color LCD screen the batteries won't last as long. Just remember that the ebook industry is always changing because it is still new, so there are various stores selling books that will only work on certain machines. The iPad and iPhone and iTouch are nice because you can read everything on them with the respective apps, but for the other readers out there, you can't just go to any store and buy an ebook. The amazon ebooks ONLY work on kindles (or on an iPad/phone with the kindle app). It's the same DRM thing that bogged down the music industry a few years ago. Mobileread.com has some GREAT forums for finding out about all the different types of readers out there. It's almost as fun going there as it is coming here. Aren't message boards so great for finding out what you didn't even know you needed to know? :D
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I'm not sure how others do it, but on my sony reader I would copy and paste the text into a file and then convert the file with Calibre into a format that my sonyreader could use. Of course it's easier on the iPad because you can read it right off the website... but then I'm not sure i want to give my iPad to my kids to read on.. i love it too much LOL.:D
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Here's mine.. I posted it on another thread already. It's a long post and I have more ideas in my head but didn't have time to get them all down :D I can be pretty chatty at times LOL. My Filing System
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:iagree::iagree::iagree: I have an iPad and a sony reader, so I will be using those. The readers are much cheaper now that the iPad is out, and you can find them for very reasonable prices on ebay and craigslist. The Kobo reader is really cheap too! Check out mobileread.com for forums on ebooks and readers.
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Great job! Doesn't it feel good to start taking control and making exactly what you need? It's not as hard as it seems to step out of the boat :)
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Will timed lessons verses 3 pages of workbook help this child?
catholicmommy replied to KIN's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
We go through phases like this a lot. It's frustrating, because if they dawdle through the worksheets, then you don't have enough time to get to the other subjects like history and science that you want them to be engaged for... more often than not, when we are in a phase like this and I dont' do anything about it, we end up skipping most of the rest of our subjects because we are both so burnt out after getting math done!! The way I have handled it in the past is so: I tell her that she will have x min for math (maybe 30-45 depending on the age) and that I am setting a timer. When the timer rings, we are moving on, and anything that is not finished yet will be saved for 'homework' later that day when all her siblings are playing and enjoying the afternoon she is stuck doing math. It is amazing how quickly this helps her to concentrate. It might take a few days, but when I am consistent with the plan (and it feels so mean in the moment) it pays off. Working for rewards is fine, but i want the kids to learn the natural consequences of being poor time managers. I hope that makes sense. This worked great for us, but I also had to make sure that the amount of math to do on each page wasn't overwhelming for her. Lots of math pages have too many problems for one kid to finish in a reasonable amount of time. So I often cross out half of them. I'm not familiar with math mammoth, so maybe that's not the problem. Also, at the grade 4-5 level, they need to have their math facts down solid because if not, it will take them FOREVER to do long division, reducing fractions, double digit multiplication etc... You might need to do some remedial work first. I hope that helps a bit. It probably won't work for every child, but it works in this family, as long as I have the courage to hold the line and let the natural consequences do the work of discipline for me :D -
The NEW First Language Lessons 1 and 2 are available!
catholicmommy replied to Renee in NC's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
I bought it as a pdf from peace hill press, and will read aloud from it to the kids at lunch time. It's cheaper than the paper book and can't get wrecked by my book destroying kids :D -
Still thinking about memory work. Right now, im in the process of setting up the cm box idea into files in Evermote on my ipad, but haven't finished thinking about the mechanics of it yet. In addition to my paper file folders, i have also set up 36 weeks of files in evernote to use on my iPad during the school dAy. It will have hyperlinks to web pages about our science lessons that week, links to library books maybe, and you tube videos. It will sAve me from havong to amke the kids wait while i google things, and my ipad is portable, so it will be with me at breakfast for memory work as well.
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I don't make duplicates of anything i don't have to either, npbut insyead of making an extra file for joint work, i always file that stuff in my eldest's file each week, and know to look for it there.
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I agree with Woolybear :) I used one folder for each child. So, in my week one hanging folder i have three files. One for grade 5, one for grade2 and one for K. Some people are paperclipping each subject together, and others are paperclipping each day's work together within each file. I didn't bother with this step. I organized their weekly work into an 8 pocket folio (linked on my blog) every monday, until i got lazy and then i just made sure they didn't lose their weekly file folder. HTH
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The NEW First Language Lessons 1 and 2 are available!
catholicmommy replied to Renee in NC's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
I love pdfs too! Im using my iPad for lots of books next fall, including SOTW, HO, and WWE Thanks! -
I was asked to post the little files I made up for keeping our AAS and FLL in our weekly file system. I'm sure these can be improved on, but I thought I'd share the idea. I'm still trying to think exactly how to work AAS into the filing system, because we really slacked off on this program last year due to it not being in our weekly folders. I think this template will be a great visual reminder. Does anyone have any other ideas? With FLL, I just wanted to have a physical piece of paper that ds has to color in a square each time we finish a lesson. I will move this page from week to week as we go through the year. it is similar to the one that comes with AAS. FLL template AAS template
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I don't know if I would do it for a stand alone math program or not. In the first two books there are so few problems for them to do, so if they do need more repetition, i'm not sure what you would do. Also, there are a million topics that horizons covers that wouldn't be in LOF like measurement, metric, calendars, graphing etc... Those things are easy to pick up later, but I found that LoF fractions would not have been sufficient for stand alone program for a whole year... although maybe when I get to grade 8-9 I'll look back and wish we had done it the more simplistic way with LoF alone. Sorry I can't be of more help :confused:
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oh I see... file the pocket folio thingys in the hanging folders? hmmm... good idea. I like it!
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I'm no math expert, but we found horizons a little crazy for awhile near the end of grade 4... I think it was a few reasons: 1) my dd didn't have her math facts SOLID so all of the long division/fraction reducing etc.. took FOREVER because she still had to ask herself what 9x8 was, and 8/4. 2) There is just WAY too much work on the horizons lessons for her to do without burning out. SOOOooooo... realizing that horizons is a spiral approach to math, and that each topic will come back again and again, i only made her do a few problems on each page, (things i knew she needed practice in). I crossed out at least half of the questions, sometimes more. BUt the deal i had with her, was that she had to do at least one page of Life of Fred every other day, otherwise she would have to do all of horizons again. So I make her do bits and pieces of horizons, and ALL of the tests, and slowly work her way through Life of Fred. Life of Fred is great at showing where their gaps in understanding are, especially if you have been using a spiral curriculum... because when they get to the Bridge section, they have to demonstrate mastery. hth :)
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Pictures?? And tell me about what you did for AAS in the files. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to do this one. lots of ideas, but i haven't started yet.
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Fun! Crates for EVERYTHING!! :D How about a 36 week menu plan in the kitchen with all of breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks planned out with recipes filed along with pictures :) sigh... I will never be that organized. I like the idea of having folders for each subject for completed work. So would you have a different subject folder for each kid? And i LOVE the idea of having a few samples for each year bound. wonderful!
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Do you mean to file each week in a separate pocket folder, and so you would have 36 of these on your shelf? That is an interesting idea. I like the idea of it, but I think i'm too lazy to manage organizing all the folders. It's easier for me to just drop stuff into a file, and the files will last me over many years.. I can see the kids getting the pocket folder thingys all bent up and messy. Fun idea though! There are so many different ways to organize and gain control of the school year! I love this board :-)