hsmamainva
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Posts posted by hsmamainva
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What about Geography? That could easily be considered a 1/2 credit course.
Or you might consider a semester of Economics?
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I'd second the recommendation for Sonlight's British Lit core...
Or...possibly an English class at the local community college. My oldest took College Composition I & II last year and really enjoyed it.
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Mine is in my signature line, too!
Except for art, which wouldn't fit! My 12th grader is using Visual Manna's Master Drawing, my 9th grader is using Cathy Johnson's Sketching and Drawing, my 4th grader is using How Great Thou Art's I Can Do All Things, and my 1st grader is using Abeka Art Projects 1.
For extra curricular, my 12th grader takes Tae Kwon Do, my 9th grader plays baseball and basketball for the county, my 4th grader also takes Tae Kwon Do, and my 1st grader takes gymnastics lessons.
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My oldest dd took the PSAT for practice in the 10th grade and then again in 11th grade (the 11th grade one is the only one where you can qualify for the national merit scholarships, should the score be high enough).
She took the SAT and the ACT in the spring of 11th grade and she'll be re-taking the SAT in November (12th grade) to try to improve her score.
My daughter thought the ACT was harder than the SAT. The SAT is in 3 sections: reading, math, and writing. The ACT is in 4 sections: reading, math, science, and English, with an optional writing section as well (that would make it 5 sections).
She used prep books for both exams, which you can find at any bookstore.
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Mine usually returned around 10 months after the birth (somewhere around there)... usually around the time the babies started to eat solid foods with some frequency.
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Teaching Textbooks.
Each concept is reviewed over several lessons, so they don't forget what they've learned, and every problem is solved on the computer for them, should they miss a problem.
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My oldest dd has a steady job during the school year, working at the church nursery. She puts those paychecks directly into the bank (usually it's around $100 a week - sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on how many activities are going on at the time).
If she earns any money babysitting 'on the side' (friends, relatives, etc.) then she spends that money on 'fun stuff'. Usually, this is only a few times a month...so it might end up being no more than $60 or $70 a month.
And this is of her own accord. She's trying to save money for college. We've told her that we'll pay for her tuition and room and board (and her grandmother has offered to pay for all of her books and supplies) but she is providing her own entertainment money. If she wants so much as a slice of pizza off campus, she's paying for it herself -- so that's motivated her to put away as much as she can now, while she's living at home.
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That's really good to know (about her college looking at her cc transcript) because ds will have about 25 cc credits when he goes to 4 yr college. He'll have to bust his little B-hind and get good grades!
Oh I know it!!
My dd will also have 25 cc credits by the end of her senior year.
What colleges is he considering?
My dd's 1st choice is James Madison. She's also applying to Radford and Mary Washington -- the latter is her last choice, as we pass by it at least once a week on our way to the mall. A little too close to home for her liking! :D
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I love the old classics for Mom & Daughter movie night with my 17 year old!
We watched "Gone With the Wind" this weekend!
We've also enjoyed "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Steel Magnolias", and "Casablanca".
She was rolling on the floor watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", but that's not exactly a "chick flick"! :D
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I have a Matthew (and a Jonathan).
We lean toward traditional names (as we have a very unusual last name).
If our youngest daughter had been a boy, she would've been a Benjamin. :)
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Thanks for posting her scores, Kelly. After reading the thread where people's scores were 1300's for just crit read and math, I feel better knowing someone else struggled. Not to compare, just to share.
And Liza, thanks for the reminder that we will be able to see where the kids did well and what they need to work on. That should be very, very helpful.
Chin up, yes?
I understand completely, Chris!!!!
And my daughter is not a good test taker -- she'll be the first one to admit that! But she has a 3.0 gpa at the community college with 12 credits under her belt at 17, so that's none too shabby!! Her 1st choice college said that they'd look at her cc transcript over her SAT scores, so she's still going to apply this fall and see if she can get in.
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Chalkdust is too expensive for us, and, after seeing the sample on the website, probably goes too fast for ds. I think we will work extra hard on bringing up his English score. Any resources for that? lol
Can someone just take the bloody test for him?
Ok, I know that's not allowed.
My oldest did well on the writing section (530) but so-so on the verbal section (470) and poorly on the math section (440).
She's using Barron's SAT book and reviewing her TT math books.
To help with her verbal score, she's using Jensen's Vocabulary (she found that her biggest problem on the verbal section was that she didn't understand what some of the words meant, nor did she remember enough of her Latin to remember the roots and their meanings -- Jensen's Vocabulary covers all of that)
It's divided into 3 sections (2 of Latin and 1 of Greek). There are 18 lessons in each section, with 4 pages for each section. She's doing 2 pages per day of that and hopes to finish the book by the time she takes her SAT again on November 1st.
And...btw...my daughter did worse on the ACT than she did on the SAT, for what that's worth! Her combined SAT score was a 1440. She scored a 14 on the ACT!! And she said it was much harder. (Even with a 910 on the first two sections of the SAT, she should've scored around a 19 or 20 on the ACT, so a 14 was a lot worse than we were anticipating!!)
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TT for the upper grades works differently.
The student can either watch the lesson on the CD or read the lesson in the text (which is what my son chose to do last year).
Then there are practice problems. I have him try to work them on paper, then watch the practice problems on the CD to see if he did them correctly.
Then he works the lesson problems on paper in a notebook. (So there isn't any way to put the answers on the computer for TT Prealgebra - or any of the upper level courses. Think of it as using a regular textbook, if that makes sense).
Then he only uses the CDs if he's missed a problem and he doesn't know where he went wrong. Then he puts the corresponding CD into the computer and watches as it's solved for him.
Hope this helps!
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My boys love their Wii!
Their favorite games are Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
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Me!!
My upcoming 9th grader has special needs (high functioning autism).
He's always homeschooled...and is looking forward to being a 'high school student'. :)
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My youngest also loves colorful workbooks for math!
We're using Abeka Math and she's very happy with it.
I have the workbook, the teacher's edition, and the tests & drills workbook. The lesson plans are more geared toward a classroom setting and, while they give some good ideas for teaching concepts, you can pretty much figure it out on your own.
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Hey HSMamainVA
I just wanted to say that you might want to have your child go thru, not only her math texts, but an SAT-specific review book, like Princeton Review or Rocket. There are some tricks on the test, and it might help.
Also, is your dc in Northern VA, going to NOVA? (pm me if you want to answer but maintain privacy). Ds took the Compass test for Eng placement and said it was tons easier than the SAT--perhaps the math placement test is easier, too (probably!).
Hi Chris!
No, she's at Germanna in Fredericksburg
She's using Barron's for her SAT review, in addition to the math study. She bombed the placement test! She needed a 45 to get into either Math for Liberal Arts or Precalculus and she scored a 23. So her best bet is to re-take her SAT's and try to get a 500 on the math portion (she scored a 440 when she took the SAT in March), because if she can get a 500 or better, she can skip the math placement test at the cc (should she not get into a 4 year college when she applies this fall/winter)
The English placement test was a breeze for my daughter. She scored a 98, if I remember correctly.
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My oldest is working through all of her previous math books as we speak because she plans on re-taking her SATs in November and, hopefully, either getting into college or at least scoring well enough to skip the math placement test at the community college. (She's currently reviewing her Algebra I text). She'll then use Teaching Textbooks PreCalculus from November through the rest of the school year.
She's also using Fraser's The Story of Britain for British History, Apologia Marine Biology for Science, The Learnables Fourth Year Spanish, and Visual Manna's Master Drawing for Art. (Those are her classes at home, which she studies 3 days a week, roughly).
At the community college, she'll be taking British Literature I and Psychology during the fall semester, and British Literature II and Principles of Public Speaking in the spring semester.
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I choose the grade level first (I didn't discover Natural Speller until my 14 year old was in the 5th grade and he was a terrible speller, so we started with Grade 2 and he did one spelling list each day - Monday through Thursday - with a quiz on Friday for any words he missed on the other four days. We were able to move quickly because the words were fairly easy for him)
So he worked through Grades 2 and 3 in 5th grade, Grades 4 and 5 in 6th grade, and Grades 6 and 7 in 7th grade. This year, he's working through the last set, Grade 8, in 9th grade.
For my second son, who's working at his grade level, he has a new spelling list on Mondays and Wednesdays, with Tuesdays and Thursdays being review. He usually doesn't need a quiz on Fridays, but it's open as an option if he continues to miss any words from Monday / Tuesday or Wednesday / Thursday. I aim to work through his grade level lists by the end of the school year.
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My daughter took College Composition & US History her first year at the cc (11th grade).
This coming year (12th grade), she'll be taking British Literature, Psychology and Principles of Public Speaking (she can't wait for this last class, as she's shy by nature, and she's hoping it will help her by teaching her how to speak in front of a group!)
As far as cutting down on the work from home, my daughter goes to the cc 2 days a week and homeschools 3 days a week, pretty much year round. She hasn't had a problem in keeping up with either the cc classes or at home.
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This is exactly what we've done for the past two years, and so far, so good!
Same here!!
He does most of the work in the textbook orally, fills out the worksheet (if there is one) and he does all of the writing assignments on paper (if it's a writing assignment lesson)
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I'll have a 1st grader this year -- and for the fourth time!
With my first 1st grader, I used all Abeka (I was fairly new to homeschooling and didn't yet feel confident to try to mix and match curriculum). She had a very good year and learned a great deal, but by 3rd grade, she was burned out on workbooks! That was the same year that I read TWTM and felt confident to stretch my wings beyond one publisher!
My second 1st grader has high functioning autism and that was quite a year because he struggled with learning how to read. I remember stumbling our way through numerous phonics programs before I tried a word ladder approach in 2nd grade that helped him tremendously (AlphaPhonics). We did discover Math-U-See in 1st grade and he loved it!
For my third 1st grader, we used Sonlight for everything except math (we used BJU) and he had a terrific year! He loved to read, and was reading very well by the end of that school year -- but I wouldn't have chosen it if he hadn't because their phonics program is more of a 'natural approach' vs drill -- if that makes sense. (If you have a child who struggles and needs to move slowly, it wouldn't be my first choice).
Now I'm up to my youngest -- and last 1st grader! She'll be using Sing, Spell Read and Write (she's also on the autism spectrum and I'm hoping the musical jingle approach to reading instruction will be a hit with her, but I'm not doing the writing portions of this program. We'll be using Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book for that because she has some fine motor delays). We'll be using for Abeka for math (math is her best subject and she loves colorful workbooks!). I've also chosen Abeka for art because they're simple cut-and-paste activities and will help her with her fine motor skills. She'll also be listening to Sonlight Core 1, although I'm not sure how many of the readers she'll be able to do -- we'll have to see how that goes! I'm also using BJU for science, which has a very simple approach to science for young children.
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I have a Jonathan and a Matthew -- just to toss two more Biblical names in your direction!! :D
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I would go with SOTW 1 for all of your school age children.
To make SOTW 1 "meatier" for your 12 year old, you could purchase the activity guide and choose some of the additional literature and historical fiction titles suggested in the activity guide as additional reading for your 12 year old *or* you could use the Sonlight Core 6 readers for him (you could use the list in the catalog as a guide and find the books at your local library).
Rod and Staff
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I love their English program!!
The grammar and writing instruction is excellent!! (*I* had to start going over the books myself before I could teach it -- starting with the 5th grade book!)
I also love the fact that, other than spelling and reading / literature, everything else they need for English instruction is in one re-usable text.
I purchase mine from Anabaptist Books. He has a website and sells both Rod & Staff and Christian Light textbooks.
(Otherwise, you can call Rod & Staff directly and order by phone or request their catalog to order through the mail).