hsmamainva
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Posts posted by hsmamainva
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This is just my own "pet theory", but I think it comes down to not giving kids a sense that they deserve to have everything they want or need. The "I'm entitled to it" mindset drives alot of it. Also...we can't start chores when our kids are 5 and expect them to enjoy it. We need to start when they're babies.
My children started doing chores when they were old enough to walk -- of course, waiting while one of our kids took all the spoons out of the dishwasher basket at 15 months and handing them to you one at a time was like watching paint dry, but they learned at an early age to work and, at that age, they want to please you.
And, when they're older, give them real work to do. My son was around 5 or 6 years old when he overheard my SIL say that she had just had a cord of wood dropped in her driveway and she was commenting that she and her husband were going to have to stack it when he came home from work that night. My son begged and pleaded to go over to her house and stack the firewood. So my SIL patted him on his proverbial head and let him come over and join them, thinking he'd work for 10 minutes and then come inside and watch TV. He helped them stack an entire cord of firewood. She said that he must have worked with them, side by side, for 3 hours straight. They were flabbergasted.
Another case in point are the nephews of some good friends of ours. Their father had died and they helped their mom around the house. We had to move out of our home and to a neighboring state, at very short notice, and we desperately needed someone to come over and help us move. Our friend volunteered his nephews, who were 12 and 13 at the time.
Let me tell you, they were at our house at 6am and they worked until 8pm at night. They hauled and they lifted and they carried and they answered "Yes, Ma'am" and "No, Ma'am" -- even though I told them they could just call me by my first name. We paid them $100 each that evening and they stared at the money...and I heard from their uncle that they went home and took their picture with it...before giving half it to their mom to help pay the rent.
We moved an entire house - in one weekend - with the help of six children under the age of 14.
Can work ethic be taught at a later age? I don't know! But I would find real work for your kids to do, not just "simple chores" -- have them tackle something big, like hauling firewood, or mowing the lawn, or vacuuming every room in the house, or scrubbing all of the tubs and showers -- and don't make it paid work. They live in the house, too, and it's part of contributing to the family. (No one pays me to cook dinner or do the laundry....I do it because I'm the mom and it's my "job")
And it's done right or it's done over -- the same can be said for schoolwork.
*climbs down from her soapbox* ;)
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I can tell you what is working, and has worked in the past, for my Aspie. (He's 14, and finishing the 8th grade, and has been homeschooled all his life)
Phonics / Reading -- he learned to read with Alpha Phonics, which uses a word ladder approach to reading vs "true phonics". Color distracted him terribly and he enjoyed the Pathway Reader series for 1st and half of 2nd grade. Once he got the hang of reading, he enjoyed the easy-to-read chapter books. I remember that he liked Frog and Toad and The Magic Treehouse and he *loved* Amelia Bedelia when he 8 or so!! He likes to read science fiction and fantasy, or real stories (biographies, action stories, etc.), and he loves to read science and nature books. Finding something he enjoys reading has made him into a reader, if that makes sense. We use alot of Sonlight in our homeschool, which has been wonderful for him!
Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears -- he used the entire series, from Kindergarten through 5th grade.
Spelling -- Natural Speller -- I love this book! He struggled with spelling for years and I tried many curriculums until I realized that the trouble he had with spelling was the same trouble he had when he was learning how to read - he can't hear all of the phonetic sounds. Natural Speller is one book with short spelling lists, organized by grade level, and phonetic or spelling rule. He began with the 2nd grade list and worked his way up to the 5th and 6th grade lists this year (this coming fall, he'll tackle the 7th and 8th grade lists, which is the end of the Natural Speller book)
Writing and Grammar -- Rod & Staff!!! Oh, what a difference this has made!! He loves the black and white pages, as they're not distracting, and the drill has been invaluable for him. We started late (with the 2nd grade book in 5th grade) and he's doing so well with it! He'll be using the 6th grade text this year in 9th
History -- He loved the Story of the World series, along with the maps and coloring pages, and he loves Sonlight
Science -- anything hands-on was great when he was younger. We used the Considering God's Creation, The Scientist's Apprentice, The Backyard Scientist, and the Janice Van Cleave books. He's now using Apologia science.
Math -- Math-U-See -- we used this from Kindergarten through 7th grade, and then we switched to Teaching Textbooks for PreAlgebra in 8th. He loved both programs. He loves the TT book because he can teach himself math and the built-in review has been very good for him -- again, no distracting color -- just black and white pages and the CDs are great if he is stuck on a problem he can't figure out
Art -- How Great Thou Art -- he *loves* art and we've used almost all of the books in this series! He also loves the "how - to - draw" type of books.
I think that's everything!
Hope this helps!
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An hour sounds sufficient for Core 6.
What I often do is all of the read-alouds, history, Bible, etc., I put into my schedule, and the readers are saved and given to the student at the end of the homeschool day and then they're free to read at a relaxing pace (they often read ahead, if they're really enjoying the book!)
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We have two dogs: Buddy and Spunky
We have one cat: Chloe
We have one fish: Blue
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My oldest shares the same name as my mother and my husband's grandmother.
My second is named for my uncle (my father's only brother), and his middle name is my father-in-law's first name
My third's first name is all his own, but his middle name is the same as another uncle (on my mother's side)
My fourth is named after my mother-in-law's sister. Her middle name is all her own.
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Mac -- the wirehaired dachshund I had when I was a kid! I got him for my 13th birthday and he died when I was 24 -- less than 2 months after I moved away from home :(
Jake -- our shepherd / lab mix! We picked him up at the shelter when he was 6 weeks old. My oldest was a year old and they grew up together. We had to put him down 2 years ago, due to old age. He was the smartest dog!! We still miss him. When we were putting up our Christmas tree last year, we found his stocking and put it up with the others and the kids all cried. :(
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We didn't circ our boys and, being homeschooled, they've never had to deal with locker rooms or anything like that.
To them, it's natural and I can't imagine that it would 'freak their wife out'.
I saw no reason to hurt a newborn baby just so he'd "fit in" or because he might "need to be circ'ed in the future". To me, that would be the equivalent of removing a baby girl's breasts because she might get breast cancer one day.
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My daughter used years 1 through 3 and really enjoyed them.
She's deciding between switching to Rosetta Stone or using year 4 right now (she wants to see both at our area's homeschool convention next week)
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I'm excited that my 14 year old son will be officially a high school homeschooler!!!
If everyone will indulge me in a small brag moment -- my son has high functioning autism and we were told, when he was diagnosed at age 5, that there was no way I could homeschool him. We should consider sending him away to a special school, and he would come home on weekends and holidays. He would never learn to read, do math, go to college, drive a car, etc., etc., etc.
He's doing beautifully!! He's ready to start Algebra I, Introduction to Literature, Biology, Beginning Spanish, etc., etc. -- all of those subjects that I never DREAMED he would be able to do...and he scored in the 98th percentile on his 8th grade CAT test this year!!! :D
So much for the "experts" opinion...
So I am VERY excited about teaching HIGH SCHOOL with my boy!! :)
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Each child is different! I would look at the curriculum (if possible) and then decide.
I used MUS for my older two, from Kindergarten until PreAlgebra, when we switched to Teaching Textbooks, and they loved it!!
My 3rd child used MUS for Kindergarten, but switched to BJU in 1st because he wanted something with color.
I started my youngest in MUS with the Primer book this year for Kindergarten and she didn't like it at all. She wanted a book with lots of color and she's very good at math - her best subject by far - so we switched to Abeka Kindergarten math and she just loves it.
So I would ask several questions -- how important is color for my kids? How visual do they need math to be? (My youngest wants to see 1+1= 2 -- not 1 block next to 1 block equals 2 blocks)
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Here's a rough idea of our schedule
My oldest (upcoming 12th grader) takes classes at the community college, and works completely on her own during the day -- she knows her assignments and turns them in at the end of the day, so she isn't included in this schedule, save for meal times and Tae Kwon Do
My boys (upcoming 9th and 4th graders) work independently, unless they run into problems. I read-aloud to my 4th grader, using Sonlight, but I often do that in the late afternoon or even at bedtime
My youngest (upcoming 1st grader) has special needs, so I work with her 1-on-1 most of the time, although it doesn't take her an hour for each subject! So I give her a break in between each one and she can play or color or use the computer, etc.
7:30 - 8:00 - breakfast
8:00 - 9:00 - math
9:00 - 10:00 - English
10:00 - 11:00 - history
11:00 - 12:00 - science
12:00 - 12:30 - lunch
12:30 - 1:30 - art
1:30 - 2:30 - Spanish (9th grader only)
2:30 - 5:30 - free time
5:30 - 6:00 - dinner
6:00 - 9:00 - tae kwon do lessons (Mon, Wed, Fri)
6:00 - 9:00 - free time (Tues, Thurs)
9:00 - bedtime
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My response varies!
My 17 year old has a computer in her room and a TV and a phone (but it's the house phone -- if her friends want her, they usually dial her cell phone)
My 14 year old has a playstation in his room
My 8 year old doesn't have any electronics in his room
My 6 year old has a TV with a DVD player, but there's no access to television on it -- it just plays her children's DVDs (Dora the Explorer and the like)
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We're finishing up Core 3 now. I used SOTW Volume 3 (simply because we had used SOTW Volumes 1 and 2 the two previous years) in place of the Landmark history text, and we'll do the same thing this coming year with Core 4 (w/ SOTW Volume 4)
I used all the other history books that are in the IG -- I just skipped the Landmark readings.
And, because SOTW has more chapters to it than SL Core 3 has weeks, we just would do an extra chapter here and there, especially the short ones, or we'd do one over Thanksgiving and Christmas break -- they enjoy SOTW, so they never complained!
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My kids LOVE Finding Nemo!!
"I suffer from short term memory loss. It runs in my family. At least...I think it does... Hmm... Where ARE they?"
"Why don't we just chop him up now and serve him with chips?"
"Not much fun for little Harpo."
"I speak whale!"
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I can tell you what has worked well for my oldest so far!
Winners:
Sonlight (Core 100) - she used it in 8th, but some may choose to use it in 9th
Smarr's Literature Guides - she really enjoyed this program -- we used the Introduction to Literature (9th) and World Literature (10th) programs -- she moved on to taking College Composition I & II at the community college in 11th and received A's on every essay she wrote
Spielvogel's Western Civilization for 10th - she really enjoyed this text! She started 11th with Bailey's The American Pageant, which she enjoyed, but then she decided to take US History at the community college, so she never made it past the first few chapters
The Learnables Spanish - Year 1 (9th), 2 (10th), and 3 (11th) -- I had reservations about this curriculum, but it's worked out beautifully for her
Apologia Science - Biology (9th), Chemistry (10th), Physics (11th) - she really enjoys them
.............
I don't have any 'losers'!
She didn't care for BJU Geography (9th), but she wouldn't call it a 'loser'
And she's satisfied with Teaching Textbooks, now that she's using it the 2nd time around ;)
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail quotes rule at our house!!! -- Hey, watching it over and over, repeatedly, was the highlight of our study of the Middle Ages! :D
"What makes you think she's a witch?"
"Well, she turned me into a newt!"
"A newt?"
"I got better."
"It's only a flesh wound."
"What are you gonna do, bleed on me?"
"I'm getting better!"
"No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment."
"I don't want to go in the cart!"
"Oh, don't be such a baby."
"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?"
"Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony."
"Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
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Wow, Tap!! Thanks!
Exactly right! She's always been very gifted in English and History...
She has basic math down (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing...she has decimals down pat)...she's tricky with fractions, although that's coming back to her -- one thing that tripped her up with the placement test at the cc, is that as soon as she missed 4 problems in a row, it turned off and she was done. She'd been working on Geometry and then starting Algebra 2 last year -- and, during the placement test, she completely forgot how to multiply fractions! Or how to figure out what 5/8 of 72 is -- and, of course, the placement test started with basic math!
And, she'll be the first to admit that, before this point, she did her math only when forced to do so. She now has something to strive for and she's working harder on math now than she ever has before -- and making better grades, too!
She's halfway through PreAlgebra TT (she just completed lesson 60 of I think 120). I love your idea of skipping the first 20-25 lessons of each TT book!
She's completing 3 lessons of TT each day (except for the weekends) and she's averaging 95-100% accuracy. Our plan is to get her through TT Algebra 2, and have her re-take the placement test at the cc in February / March, so she can register for a Biology and Math class at the cc in April for next fall. And, yes, it will delay her entrance into a 4-year school for another year...but...in the grand scheme of things, it's not that bad (she gains the experience of a few more cc classes before she hits a university with 18,000 students!)
Thanks again for your great response! I'm printing it out to share with my dd!
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We have three weeks left of Sonlight to finish, and my 3rd grader is still working through Wordly Wise C.
They all working through their art curriculums, because that was pushed to the wayside during the school year.
My older two will still be working on math over the summer and my youngest will continue working on her beginning phonics so she's ready for 1st grade reading in the fall.
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I love Sonlight! I've used Cores K through 100 (Kindergarten through 9th grade) and intend to continue for many years to come!
I love the literature-base! My children *love* to read and I believe that Sonlight has a lot to do with that.
I'm not an 'arts-and-crafts' person, so a unit study was never my thing (that's another reason that I prefer Sonlight over Winter Promise or My Father's World, for example)
I also appreciate the fact that all of the books are included and it's ready to go. We live in a rural area, and our library is VERY small. It's also an independent library, meaning the only books available are the ones there -- no interlibrary loan is available. That would make it nearly impossible to try to put together my own literature-based study, unless I wanted to spend a great deal of money on it!
I LOVE the fact that, other than a few optional workbooks, every core is ready to use with the next child. That makes it very affordable, if you're planning to hand each core down to the next sibling. Books aren't updated and they hardly ever go out of style.
So...that's the long and the short of why I love Sonlight! :D
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I picked up a biology coloring book at a teaching store and the one thing it was helpful with were the dissection notes (for instance, Apologia biology doesn't have in-depth pages for the frog dissection. They tell you to find them either online or from another source).
Other than for the dissection models, I didn't use it.
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I read "The Hobbit" in the 7th grade and it is STILL one of my all-time favorite books ... can't wait for the movie to come out!!! :D
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They teach a literal 7-day creation period, so a young - earth philosophy.
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I voted eclectic!
I love TWTM, but I don't follow it completely. I love dictation, copywork, and the chronological teaching of history, logic, rhetoric.....but I just can't get my boys to do Latin!!
My oldest daughter studied Latin from 3rd through 8th grades, before she switched to Spanish, but my boys...ugh..they'd rather do yard work than study Latin!
Sonlight is my most influencial homeschooling curriculum, however! I love the book selections...I love the Christian - missionary mindset, without the "we're better than the heathens who don't believe in God" mindset that I found so prevalent in other Christian curriculums...I love the fact that my children have learned to *love*, seriously *love*, to read by using this curriculum.
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Here's ours!
English - Rod & Staff English 4 / Natural Speller / Cursive Success
Math - Teaching Textbooks Math 5
History - Sonlight Core 4 w/ SOTW Volume 4
Science - Apologia Zoology 1
Art - How Great Thou Art I Can Do All Things
Tae Kwon Do lessons 3 days a week
Natural Speller - Do you give a "list" each week?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
My children do two lists per week.
For instance, list 1 would be given Monday and they are to look up the definition in the dictionary, if it's an unfamiliar word, write it down, and use it in a sentence (the more often you write a word, the more likely you are to remember it).
Then on Tuesday, they have a spelling quiz on list 1.
Wednesday, they are given list 2, with the same things done for each word , and they have a quiz on that list on Thursday.
On Fridays, they go over any words they missed on their spelling quizzes from Tuesdays and Thursdays.
And so on and so forth. :)