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give_me_a_latte

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Posts posted by give_me_a_latte

  1. My children love to listen to the classical kids, but I decided to go with an actual music curriculum for next year. My brother is a ps music school teacher and he agreed to look through some homeschool music curriculums for me. Based on what he could see online from samples, he suggested I go with: http://www.pfeifferhousemusic.com/curriculum.html.

     

    We're going to give it a try.

     

    This is what we bought. I spent forEVER looking for a "perfect" music program and never found it. The Pfeiffer House one is super affordable and looks to be pretty good. They also just started offering a secular version, if that interests you. I think they have samples on their website, but each lesson incorporates crafts and fun things. So it's really age appropriate. I don't think the Kinder level teaches instruments and composers though.

  2. HOP is not really a solid phonics program, IMO. Abeka focuses on each sound and why/when it makes that sound with lots of instruction and reinforcement with worksheets, readers, etc.; it is incredibly boring, but definitely does a thorough job with phonics. HOP is good for a kid who doesn't need a lot of phonics instruction and picks up on reading rather easily. It will "go over" sounds and show those sounds in words that are grouped together, but there is not a lot of instruction involved.

     

    I haven't used Abeka, but I totally agree on what creekmom said about HOP. My son was a very early reader and flew through HOP. But it was SO BORING. Granted, we have the newer set and it sounds like your mom found the older set....I hear the older set is more engaging. HOP gets the job done, but if I had a child who really needed phonics instruction I wouldn't rely just on HOP. For your purposes I don't see where it would hurt at all though, to use it through Spring/Summer. The early levels are so basic I would imagine they'd be in line with most phonics curric anyway. And then when you're ready just switch over to Abeka if you still want to.

  3. The social group ds7 is involved in uses Zones of Regulation. It has been wonderful for ds. I have read a good portion of the book while waiting for ds at social group. I did not find it hard to follow or understand. Are you familiar with the alert program? It is kind of like that only more for emotions... Our homework from social group usually involves one of the reproducible activites from the Zones and is well received one on one.

     

    No, I'm not familiar with the alert program. We're just starting to wade into all this. (Were in the process of getting an eval/expected Autism diagnosis). I'm basically looking for something that will help me help my son help himself. Ha! Hopefully you know what I mean.

  4. I saw this linked to in another post and I'm curious about it. For anyone who has used it....

     

    (Zones of Regulation)

     

    1. It seems to be targeted more for professionals. Did you find it easy to understand and use as a parent (assuming you're a non-professional in the SN world)?

     

    2. It also seems geared for groups. Did you find it easy to adapt and implement at home?

     

    3. What age children did you use it with?

     

    Thanks!

  5. We have the basic kit for Rightstart A and it's plenty. The other few manips aren't needed until the end, and I figure I'll have bought level B by then (which will have those few manips). One suggestion.....if you have an iPad, they have an abacus app (search for alabacus). It's only a few bucks and has come in very handy for the few times I've needed two abacuses.

     

    We've done several of the Wee Folk Art programs. They're super sweet and lots of fun!

  6. http://get.adobe.com/reader/

     

    This is the one that I use. The most current version. 10.1.2

     

    Completely uninstall Adobe, and reinstall at this link.

     

    Edit:

     

    http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/896/cpsid_89621.html

     

    This will show you the Page Handling area. They are instructing you to shrink, but you can see the "none" selection.

     

    I have the same version as you....but I don't get that Page Handling area when I click file...print. I'm at a loss. And frustrated. And ready for some chocolate.:tongue_smilie:

  7. When you go to print, in Adobe, go to file and print.

     

    On that page, under page handling is page scaling. It is set to tile large pages. Choose none.

    Hmm...I click file...print...and I get the print dialog box. Under page sizing and handling there are the size options of fit, actual size, and shrink oversized pages. Nothing else. Maybe we're using different versions of adobe?

  8. PDF, use Adobe X, get the latest version ...

     

     

    Check that the paper size is Letter 8.5x11in and not listed as some such other.

     

     

    Update the drivers too.

     

    Oh, in Adobe set page scaling to none too.

     

    I've done all that...except I'm not sure how to set the page scaling to none. Is that the same as selecting "Actual Size" instead of "Fit"?

  9. Unclick the fit to page ... try enabling and disabling the borderless print too.

     

    Both will change the scale of the page.

     

    I just tried borderless....that got it as close as I've been able to get it. Thanks for the suggestion.

     

    I had this issue when we used that one, but it wasn't a huge problem - it was off by so little that it didn't matter too much.

     

    Miner are off by at least half an inch each time. Kind of frustrating!

  10. thank you for all the quick replies. I wasn't sure if the bulk of the teaching was in the meeting book or teacher book, but it sounds like the teacher book is definitely worth it. "Sebastian" my goals are very similar to the ones you expressed. I just want him to start thinking about math concepts but not use anything that is workbookish. I'm hoping this will give us the ideas and tools to explore math.

     

    We hit a wall with RightStart Level A and switched to Saxon K. It was a BLAST! Every lesson felt just like playtime....but it was definitely building math awareness. We finished it and have gone back to RightStart and are moving right along. It was a perfect first math for us. But as others said, you definitely need the Teacher's Manual. I stopped using the Meeting book after a month or so because I found it tedious. It's just a calendar...you could use any old calendar, really. But definitely get the Teacher's Manual!

  11. We had this happen one year. It was soo gross. I feel you. We ended up throwing the tree outside. The farm where we got it refunded our money, but we were out a tree for Christmas. The bugs won't hurt you.....but they sure are gross. From what I remember, as the tree dries out the bugs die (they live off the sap). But yeah. No fun at all. And why I'll never have another real tree in my house again :-(

  12. We started RS-A about a year ago, when my son was just turning 4. It went really well for a little bit, but then we hit major walls. I ended up switching to Saxon K and we LOVED it. We actually just finished the last lesson yesterday, and we've had so much fun. It's truly a play-math curric. I brought out RS-A again yesterday (since we'll return to it next week) and now I feel like it will go much better. The concepts he was struggling with last year he now knows, and I really think he just wasn't developmentally ready for it a year ago.

     

    As for your specific questions.....Saxon K required no writing. RS-A only had them writing tally marks (at least as far as we got last year, that was all). I wouldn't exactly call Saxon K challenging...well, I guess that depends on each individual child. But it really was a fun preschool level math program. RS was super challenging for us last year...but looking at it now I don't think it will be. (So, it really depends on the readiness level of your child, I'd say). Saxon doesn't use an abacus. RS-A does, obviously....and gets them using it pretty quickly too.

     

    Hope that helps!

  13. How do you use these, specifically? They're definitely interesting.

    We just started....but I brought them all out on Monday and we read through them. Then I asked my son to pick one to work on that week. I posted that card on our weekly calendar, and I made sure to "catch him" doing that virtue all week. At the end of the week I brought all the cards out again and we read through them. It seemed to go really well. He was definitely aware of the virtue he chose, and seemed to grasp the meaning.

  14. I ordered the flash cards from We Choose Virtues (there were a bunch of threads about them awhile back). They have a secular version, which is what we ordered. They're super cute, and so far so good! My son chose to work on kindness this week and he really has been making an effort! {At the risk of sounding spammy, if you use code "Tiffany" you can get $8 off the cards}

  15. We recently finished the HOP program, and I'd say...go with OPGTR. HOP does the job, in that it gets them reading. But I wasn't impressed at all with how it does that job. I'll keep the readers to use for my DD, but I plan to buy OPGTR when she's ready to learn. So, if I were in your shoes...I'd use OPGTR and supplement with the HOP readers when they seem to match up.

  16. When I read it first, I did a class presentation in which I compared DQ with the life of a person of faith-- what we see vs what we believe and the difference between them and how we choose to act. (I got an A+ so it must have been good!) :)

     

    Now, as a mother, I see more the pathos in DQ-- him living in a dream world-- while my children will eventually leave childhood and fairytales behind, and that is necessary and right, although sad, but DQ tried to stay in that world... that world which is beautiful but also deceiving and you have to realize at some point that you are no longer a child.

    My point is, DQ has been percolating through my mind all these years (20) so it must be a classic!

     

    Beautiful! Thank you for sharing this. Sometimes I get caught up in the length and plowing through....but you're right...there really is such a great theme here. Thank you for reminding me of it.

  17. I've been reading it since JANUARY!!!! (And I usually fly through books). I just have to take breaks with this one. I can only take so much, then I have to set it aside for awhile. Overall I'm enjoying it (maybe because of the breaks!) and I find myself laughing out loud. But yes...it definitely gets tedious at times. I know I'll always be annoyed if I don't finish it...so I'll plug away. I'm really really really hoping to be through with it by the end of the year. Having that goal in mind makes it a little easier to get through the slow parts, for me.

  18. So glad you asked this! We've been stuck in the same place (vowels) for a few weeks. My son started groaning when I'd pull out the cards. I went ahead and moved on to Step 2 so I didn't completely lose him (and I'm glad to see confirmation that that was an okay decision! Ha!)!!!!

  19. We finished our Phonics program awhile ago. A friend gave me a set of readers from a different phonics program, so I've had my son read aloud from those to help with fluency. We also started AAS a week or so ago. I'm going super slow...we spent over a week on Step 1 alone. I make sure to provide books on a variety of reading levels to help build his speed/fluency and still challenge him. I asked a similar question awhile back, and the overwhelming consensus was to start a spelling program!

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