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Marty

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Everything posted by Marty

  1. :confused: I want to start a blog, but I've seen different ones. Homeschoolblogger, blogspot, and others. I want to know which one is best? aaaaaaaahhh! You can't answer that! So, I will ask: Which one are you using, and what features do you like? What features do you not like? I started one on homeschoolblogger. And this is what I know. 1. There are 35 templates to choose from. The entries are on one side, vertically, in order of date, and the other side has information -- profile, etc, stuff to click on. I looked at a few - I suppose they are all similar. I think some may have 3 columns? (or is that on another site...) 2. You can set it to not show your real or whole name. **3. You have to let it be viewed by Everyone in order for personal friends and family who are not homeschool bloggers to be able to view it. 4. "Friends" are fellow homeschoolbloggers who somehow are now on your list of friends, (I think). 5. You can take off the Email Me feature, which I did. (My personal friends and family already know my email address.) 6. You can change your template if you are willing to save/back up everything and re-enter it. Because you might have to, especially downloaded pics? 7. You can choose idividual posts for Only Me, Friends, Registered Users, or Everyone I haven't posted my blog on here yet, because I have to ask some family members if it's ok to name their kids first names on there. So, what blogs are you using? Is it the same as this? Are there differences? What features do you like? What features do you not like? :bigear: I'm all ears! Thanks for any help! First-time blogger, Marty :tongue_smilie:
  2. :sad: Oh no! Dd13 is not feeling well. She, of all my kids, really wanted to go tomorrow. Any prayers would be greatly appreciated. I know she will try to go if at all possible. I just hope when we get there, she will be able to have a good time. Maybe she'll be okay... Marty
  3. I have a short 2-door cabinet that my dh put wheels on. Heavy duty wheels. Books weigh a lot! I keep it in my laundry room, and when we do lessons or I'm doing lesson planning, I roll it into the dining room beside the table. This is my favorite thing in this post! :D In the laundry room, we also have a 2 door cabinet from Lowes that has all the stuff I don't currently need, but will need for the next kid, or later in the year. And all the supplies in various boxes/small bins/baskets, etc. My kids keep their school books/notebooks in there too, in the little book holder things. I think they're for magazines? About 6 inches wide, or so. At Staples or Wal-Mart. Then they carry it to the table and their little bookcase sits there w/ their books in it as they need them. A friend of mine has a 4-drawer filing cabinet. Each kid has a drawer for all his/her books and supplies. They call them their lockers. ;)
  4. It's tomorrow! Woo-hoo! :driving: I went and bought all our picnic stuff last night. The kids are excited. They get to spend the day with their cousins. :party: And my dd's and their cousin are into writing mysteries. The latest is based on Civil War history. :hurray: They are reading books and looking stuff up online. I took dd13 and her cousin to the library yesterday and cousin (I can't say 'dc'. hmmmmm fc? - female cousin; gc?) got Civil War books for her essay. My dd had to choose something diff, as it was the assignment. She will get to the Civil War in unit 6. Can't wait for tomorrow! :p
  5. How old are your kids? I bought Mavis Beacon several years ago, but it was too hard for my kids. Cathy Duffy recommends these: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/electives/typing-instructor.htm My kids are a little older now, dd13, dd11, and I use Typing Quick and Easy. There are a few games, also. It keeps track of your level and automatically advances you. You can re-do lessons, tho, if you need to. I have to make up lessons for my ds11 (dyslexic). The ones on TQ&E were too long, he said. He could do them, but didn't enjoy them. When I get the money, I'm thinking about getting the Deluxe v. 17 that Cathy Duffy recommended. They do typing every day. Ds 11 does about 6 - 8 lines, based on his Sequential Spelling words. Girls do a couple lessons. They're not long. 5 min each? Then they can play a couple of games. They all type other stuff, too. We do SOS. My oldest types her reports. And they chat online w/ their Grandma!:001_smile:
  6. :blushing:I don't have any suggestions to add, sorry, but wow, this is great. My ds 11 is also mildly dyslexic, but I think he's further behind than the op's ds. I'm ready to go the library right now! :tongue_smilie: These sound good. Thanks!
  7. BUMP for all you good mamas who got school finished before getting on here this afternoon. LOL :D
  8. The same thing happened to my nephew. He was only about 2 or 3 years old then, and had opened the bottom drawer of his dresser and was reaching for something on top. He had quite a large lump on his forehead! But he turned out ok. He's 11 now. :001_smile:
  9. Only my dd's do the SOS spelling that comes with Language Arts, and all 3 kids do Sequential Spelling, as the dd's need to pay more attention to individual word parts. :001_smile:
  10. Oh, VaKim, I'm so sorry. Yeah, that sounds like it would be perfect for you. My dd's and their cousin are into writing mysteries, and have done a couple. They want to do one based on Civil War history, so they are excited about this. Momof7, I'm sorry for you, too. wow, 7 kids. Awesome Mom! (my SIL has 6) :party:
  11. Yay, Lizzie! woo-hoo! :party: That site is awesome! Um, I just went back to the site to actually check out some of the links, but when I click on them, nothing happens. May be a dumb question, but I'm guessing I need to do something else first. What might that be? :confused:
  12. (Well, since another poster posted the original FREE STUFF thread on this thread, they're sorta in one place.... guess I'll keep posting to this thread.) :tongue_smilie: Super Teacher Worksheets Easy site to navigate, worksheets for Language Arts (including handwriting), Math, Spelling and more. (and answer keys! wow.) There are even some worksheets that are games. http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/ Grammar Videos School House Rock and others for each part of speech. Watch/hear songs. http://www.sqooltools.com/edvideos/grammarvideos/index.html'>http://www.sqooltools.com/edvideos/grammarvideos/index.html For lyrics to SHR songs: http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/ SquoolTube K-8th videos (where I found the grammar ones) http://www.sqooltools.com/edvideos/
  13. Saxon is spiral/incremental -- it doesn't stay on a subject for long at a time, but it will come back to it. My kids need mastery, because they need longer to learn it before they go on. We use BJU Math, and we use the review books that are available. They have cumulative reviews in them, as well.
  14. I see people have looked, but not posted. (well, what would they say anyway? This is just informational!) So, BUMP, for others who might like to see this post. :tongue_smilie:
  15. For those of you who live in the North Carolina/Virginia areas, there is a Civil War re-enactment this weekend, October 4-5, 2008. My family went last year, and the kids are excited to go again. There are many activities, tents to go in and things to buy in the tents. Civil War Battles (my kids loved this) My hubby said there was one in the day and one at night. (time___?) Buggy Rides Tea Parties "1800" Fashion Shows Church Service Sunday @ 9:AM Living History - hands on events Candle Light Tour- Saturday Night Only! Meet the Generals of the Civil War - Lee, Stuart & Jackson for pictures and talks Sculptors, Authors & Speakers Black Rose Memorial Service - Saturday/Sunday String Music & Bagpipers Civil War Sutlers Hundreds of Re-enactors Saturday Night Ball Food Vendors and Much More!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's the link: http://jebstuart.org/events.cfm?ID=71 There is a map, if you click on Visiting Hours on the right, and there is a cost -- I think $8 or $10, but kids under 12 are free. There is a phone number for more information. I couldn't find anything about when the events started.
  16. oops! :blushing: Thanks, MMomInMidwest. I did a search; guess I didn't do it right/look far enough. Soooo, there are 2 freebie threads... (at least) Maybe the administrator will put them together...
  17. I've seen here and there people mention online links where the product is free. So I've started a thread for specifically that. :001_smile: Please give a brief description and the link. Thanks! Marty Timez Attack A multiplication game that covers all facts. There is an upgrade, but it only adds additional environments. This has the best graphics/animation of any free game I've ever seen. http://bigbrainz.com/ Free Rice Reviews art, chemistry, English, geography, language learning, or multiplication, with multiple choice answers. Correct answers "fill" a bowl with rice. Each correct answer donates 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger. http://www.freerice.com/index.php Homeschool Freebie of the Day After subscribing, you may visit this site each weekday to get a freebie. Sometimes it is a written story, or an audio, or parental help, which you may download and save. Some are old-fashioned, some are more modern. There are usually 1 or 2 I really like each week. You may choose to get a Monday email telling you of the week's freebies. http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/ Old Fashioned Education This site has many online downloadable books and curriculums for free. They are now copyright free. You can choose Full Curriculum and choose the grade, or browse through individual subjects listed on the side. Each individual subject is not necessarily listed under Full Curriculum. http://oldfashionededucation.com/
  18. Dorothy, We use Easy Grammar. (mastery) It starts out w/ prepositions. They need to memorize the prep. first, and the first few pages are only about prep. Then they learn prep. phrases. They cross them out of the sentence. Why? Then when they try to find S/V, the prep. phrase is out of the way. The preposition is covered for about 25 pages, but each page is not the same. After a few pages, they include subjects and verbs with the prepositions. Compound S, compound V, compound S/V, and some other stuff. The last 8 or so pages (of the 25) are review. It spends a while on each new part of speech, and it helps them retain. I got EG at the recommendation of a lady at our local homeschool bookstore. She said EG was her favorite book in the whole store. My kids are also using a regular Language Arts curr, so we are only doing 1 page a day. Yeah, it's gonna take a while, but that's ok. Maybe it will 'stick' this time! I didn't want to get too detailed unless you are interested. If you'd like, I could describe some pages for you.
  19. This is from Old Fashioned Education. In addition to the reading list (scroll down), lots of this stuff is free. http://oldfashionededucation.com/4thgrade.htm For others, go to http://oldfashionededucation.com/ Click on Full Curriculum on the left, then click on the grade.
  20. I don't know your kid or his age, but my ds 11 is dyslexic. Anything that is frustrating, yeah, we come back to at a later time. My dd's, they can plow through a few extra days of instruction/learning, and they will get it. Maybe. But usually, they'll need to review a few times at later dates to retain. But I'd suggest telling him you are going to skip that lesson(s) for now since it is frustrating him. He will probably be relieved. I mean, there are things that we adults don't get the first time around either. :tongue_smilie: HTH
  21. My oldest dd started when she was almost four. Yes, they do have trouble holding their fingers right. Our piano teacher taught her 'finger exercises' to begin with. Playing 1-2-3-4-5, then 5-4-3-2-1. With each hand. We even put numbered masking tape on the keys when needed. You can teach different combinations of finger exercises. They are easy to 'learn' while actually learning techniques: We're proud to be able to learn music, so we sit up straight. (this is a hard one to remember at the same time as doing lessons) Also, she was to sit more to the edge of the bench, not back too far. And not sit right up against the piano. So the bench was scooted back a little. Later, they will need to be sitting back from the piano (to have better manuverability in reaching keys far to the right or left), rear on the edge of the bench, feet on the floor. So teach good habits now. ;) Teach him to pretend there is an apple/egg/ball under his hand, to show him how to curve. And we pretended that the edge of the piano was hot, so she shouldn't want to rest her hand on it. Also, she was told to play with her fingertip and her fingernail. That way she wasn't flattening the end of her fingers. We'd say "hot-apple-fingernails" to remember. You'll think of more little things like this as you go... :001_smile:
  22. Timez Attack (free online game - best free game I've ever seen) Times Tales (trigger memory system)
  23. Love Another Lynn's answer about parenting. (p.4) Great answer! :iagree:
  24. "I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce!" :lol: Just Kidding! There are a LOT of great ideas on here. I usually treat it as though they were truly interested. I can get really enthused on the topic of homeschooling. They either listen interestedly, or :leaving:they are mumbling a response and trying to change the subject. Either way, I'm showing my enthusiasm and confidence. ;)
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