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alisha

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Everything posted by alisha

  1. I used Jacobs with my 8th grader. You can get the textbook used (older version with lizards on the front is fine and only $20 at thriftbook) and it has the answers to set 2 in the back. I loved Algebra in school, but I was learning some new things, or at least new ways to look at things going through Jacobs with my student. I highly recommend it for a step by step approach that is probably needed for someone who never understood from their school days.
  2. FamilyLearningOrganization.org has created some. They are under the "test prep" tab at the top.
  3. I used Thinking in Threes this past year with my 8th grader. It did not last a full year, but it was a wonderful book We really enjoyed it and it made the basics of writing manageable to teach to a beginner. I think it would work for any middle school age child-6-8th grade. It would probably even work for a 9th grader for a portion of their writing work. I have done research and have the Lively Art of Writing, but everything I've founds says it's an intense high school level course, so I've postponed it. (Though I can't find where I saw that information, probably the boards here somewhere). The other, I haven't used or heard of (I will be checking it out now--thanks!), so can't help there.
  4. homesciencetools.com has lots of science kits. Some are ones they have put together, some are individual ones from other brands, some are multiple themes. Lots of options there.
  5. Painless Grammar worked with my 8th grader. It's sort of like a self-help book-not a text book, not a work book, but there are periodic quizzes. I was able to give it to my 8th grader to do basically on his own, but I wouldn't do that with my 5th grader I'd sit down with him and read and make sure he understood as I went. It covers subject verb stuff, as well as common mixed up words. Most libraries have it.
  6. If you have a laminator-I just laminate cardstock. It's cheap enough you can replace them often if necessary, but I've been using the same ones for 5 years.
  7. Dorothy Sayers Margery Allingham Agatha Christie has a couple different series, maybe choose 1 from each: Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple These are all about the same era as the ones you chose, so not sure if you want to span further, or keep with "classics" or what.
  8. I'm going to go against the flow here and say that there's a point when doing the basic operations by hand becomes busy work just to get the problem done. So, I let my kids use calculators as long as I KNOW they know how to do what they're using the calculator for without it AND it has nothing to do with the skill being taught. So, for instance, if they're learning averaging and they KNOW how to add and divide, I think it's busywork to require them to do the problem without a calculator when what they really need to know is "add them all and divide by how many there are" not HOW to add and HOW to divide. As accountants, there's no way my husband or I would NOT use a calculator (or Excel) for the simple portions of complex, multi-step problems.
  9. I agree with most of the grading noted here. However, I would proceed differently. I would ONLY mark the problems right or wrong, then give them back to the student to see if they can figure out their errors. (Making a copy and noting the errors if I need to for my own memory). Then, if they still have some wrong, I would give them the answers (not how to get the answers), and see if they can figure out how those answers were derived. If they still can't figure them out, then I would give them the full solutions and have them figure out, then EXPLAIN/TEACH to me how to do the problem correctly. If they needed to go through all these steps, I would probably have them re-do the problems at a later time to make sure they now understand how to do them. If not, I'd probably post on WTM for suggestions of what to do next. 🙂
  10. https://www.progressivephonics.com/phonics-books/beginner-phonics-books
  11. I'm with you-my oldest is going to be a 9th grader next year so I've been planning and researching tons (and freaking out plenty)! From what I can tell, High School Language arts consists of 2 main parts: reading and writing. However, getting a little more detailed, it goes like this: Reading with literary analysis-books and movies--in reading is usually included vocabulary with knowing what words mean that you're reading; Writing the 4 types of papers-research, essay, poetry, short story--in writing is usually included grammar with the editing. Another good piece is public speaking, usually presenting your research paper in a visual and audible way to "teach" someone else. So, no, most high schoolers don't need a separate grammar course, but it depends on what you see from your student. And, to answer your question: if you can, I would do the Greek literature and composition rather than a general 9th grade English curriculum. It might be a little more work and planning for you, but she would get more out of it if she is interested in the subject. As to curriculum-I will let someone else point you in the right direction. My son also loves the ancients, but we're just doing it in history, and not tying in LA. One of my favorite resources is 7sistershomeschool.com. They have a few Greek book study guides (Antigone and maybe another 1 or 2) and I love them because they are short (not in time but in busywork), sweet and to the point. You might be able to use a couple as part of your larger curriculum. And if you have questions-contact them- they are amazing in the help they give.
  12. We really liked the bibleproject.com videos: https://bibleproject.com/explore/category/old-testament/. It's not a curriculum, but it definitely covers the overarching themes. They are called Old Testament Overview and New Testament Overview when you're looking in the video category section. It's about a 5-10 minute video on each book of the bible (longer ones, like Genesis divided into 2 videos). They have a new "animated" series that has come out since we finished the OT & NT ones, but we haven't watched them yet. They do have a section called Bible Studies which have some discussion questions, but I don't know anything about them. I'll let you explore on your own if you're even remotely interested.
  13. My 8th grader has been doing Alg 1 all year, and my initial goal was to go as slowly as he needed and finish it at the end of 9th grade-essentially taking 2 years to do it. However, I am realizing that he'll probably finish it mid-year in 9th grade, and am not sure how I would record that. Is it as simple as saying Alg 1 half a credit and Geometry half a credit for the 9th grade year (if that is how it pans out.)? (We are currently halfway through and have 2 months to go. Or, should I push as far as we can go in the book this year, and start Geometry at the start of the 9th grade year, whether or not we finished the Alg 1 book (Jacobs if that info is needed).? I have no problem leaving books unfinished in elementary, but not sure how I feel about it in the MS/HS years. Doing that would be easy to transcript, but not sure it's the best option. Is there another option or information I need to think about? Thanks!
  14. homesciencetools.com is my go-to for science stuff. Quality stuff, good prices and lots of help both on the website via articles and stuff, as well as their customer service is wonderful! They have stuff for all ages, and lots of dissection stuff.
  15. Similar to SilverMoon, my 8th grader is reading Hakim's concise History of US (10 chapters a week) and at the end of the week, writing from WTMbook suggestion--3-4 main people, 3-4 main events and 1-2 things you'd like to learn more about (though sometimes we do it orally).
  16. Wow, Thank you!! You all bring up such excellent points! All this information is SO helpful. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
  17. As I'm preparing for my oldest to enter 9th grade next year, I'm seeing all sorts of AP and Honors class questions on this board. So, now I'm confused. What is the benefit of turning a class into one of those? I always thought my kid was basically average, do I need to urge him to try extra? How do I know which track to send him down? We don't plan on doing much online schooling, so won't be choosing classes with or without that in the titles. From my personal schooling background, I thought only a small percentage of students took those types of classes, however from what I'm seeing here, it seems like 75% of homeschoolers or more take these more rigorous classes. Am I missing something? We aren't planning on heading toward any Ivy League colleges or anything. Thoughts? Thanks!
  18. I have a son entering high school next year, so I did some research and put together some information to help him choose. He has no idea what he wants to do with his life, and is not that interested in learning another language. Here's what I came up with from reading other posts on this forum, as well as doing lots of searches for help-keep in mind this was just a rough gathering of information that I thought would help MY son: How to Choose a Foreign Language: 1. What are your Career Goals? a. Spanish: widely spoken in US; Good for medicine or social work or others who want to assist people who can’t speak English. b. French: Parts of Canada speak French, as well as the UN and many international companies, so business c. German: Scientific and technology innovations, banking d. Latin: Helps you if you need to work with French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or Romanian in the future. e. Hebrew or Arabic or Greek: Bible related careers 2. Do any of my hobbies relate to a Foreign Language? a. Favorite type of food? b. Cooking in general-French or Italian c. Reading-If you study that in College, you could go with Spanish books, French books, or many others 3. Where do I want to travel in the future? 4. Which language SOUNDS nice? Search youtube for people talking in some languages 5. Do I know anyone who speaks any other language? Would I want to choose their language in order to practice it with them? 6. How similar do I want it to be to English? a. Not similar-Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Greek b. Sort of similar-Spanish, French, German c. Sort of similar but fewer spoken: Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Irish d. Very Similar-American Sign Language 7. Do I want lots of opportunities to speak this language? a. Yes: Spanish, ASL or French would be your best options b. No: one of the others 8. How much work are you willing to put in to it? a. Lots: Then possibly consider something with a different alphabet (Asian or Russian, Greek or Hebrew) b. Minimal: Then stick to the Roman alphabet (Spanish, French, German, Italian)
  19. He might enjoy Solitaire Chess game: https://www.amazon.com/ThinkFun-Solitaire-Chess-Version-Nominee/dp/B0032UKQFO Basically, you pick a puzzle, then move the pieces their standard move to capture another piece until only 1 piece is left. Kind of like a solitaire logic game, but using chess pieces and moves. (see video at the website to make more sense).
  20. I agree with Terabith! We used Daily Geography for map skills, though we did a whole week in a day. And we used sheppardsoftware and/or seterra (also online) for online map quizzing. They do states, capitals, countries, major cities, rivers, that sort of thing. It's been great, and given my kids a great knowledge of geography!
  21. Well, I can chime in on vocabulary. We love looking through Marie's Words or Vocabulary Cartoons. We do it all orally-they explain to me why the picture fits with the word, use the word in a sentence, and get points for using the words in their everyday life. (usually an m&m). This isn't helping a lot yet, but just adding it to their brain, so when they see it in a book, it triggers a memory, and after awhile, it's just a part of life. My kids are not writers, so I'm hoping in the future it will have invaded their brain so much that it makes its way into their writing. But for now, it's just a seed plant. (8th & 5th grade this year).
  22. Bible: Apologia's Who is God series-wherever we leave off Math: Hands on Equations-Fractions, then Principles of Mathematics 1 (just did that as we ended slightly early with math) Writing: The Paragraph Book Series (probably, but not sure yet) Grammar: ?? (I have a few, but not sure what will work with this kid) Spelling: Megawords-wherever we left off on 1 or move to 2 if 1 gets done Not sure, he needs it, but hates it, so maybe mom made? Literature: Finish Mosdos or a mom-made book list of classic type books that I think he'll like Handwriting/Typing: not sure-this kid hates it, isn't good at it and isn't good at typing either. Maybe Hobbit Quotes in Cursive and Typer Island History: SOTW-read through all the books with questions-he started ancient midyear this year, so wherever he finishes off, we'll pick up Science: Exploration Education probably Geography: seterra/sheppard software plus a report on a country thrown in there Thinking/Logic: not sure-we've done fun critical thinking puzzles up until now that he's really good at, and will start formal logic later, so we'll see what this child WANTS to do with nothing being a valid option for this year. Latin: Getting Started With Latin
  23. I like the information contained, but have found that the Elementary level is for K-2, maybe 3, what's labeled as Middle school, was easily understood by my 5th grader, and my 3rd grader. The information was explained well, and at the Middle School level, went deep enough to satisfy their curiosity and answer any questions. When we did the elementary, there seemed to be not much depth and lots of questions were left unanswered. My kids are very average kids. It's great curriculum, just not graded properly in my opinion. I didn't like having to get all 3 books. The teacher's manual only tells you how to do the experiments, the lab notebook is for recording information about the experiment, the text teaches you. Hope this helps.
  24. Books on Science: Not sure how old your kids are, but the DK or Usborne Science Encyclopedias cover a lot of topics with lots of pictures and lots of information. There are some shorter ones on specific subjects, such as "My First Encyclopedia of Animals" for youngers/elementary or "Space encyclopedia" for older elementary or general ones like "Science Encyclopedia". Otherwise, just enter the topic (such as mars) or branch (astronomy or botany or zoology, etc.) of science into your library search engine and you'll have a plethora to choose from. You could also do a search here on the boards as sometimes people make lists of good books. What ages are your kiddos?
  25. That is exactly what I would do (and have done). When you finish one book, start the next right away, When summer vacation (or other break) occurs, just stop wherever you are and pick back up when it's over. However, I'm not familiar with Saxon, but they might be the type to have a lot of review at the beginning of the book for those who have had a summer vacation of 3 or so months between the last time they did Saxon to when they start the next book. IF you choose to just get started, you will probably want to go through and either do less review or none, depending on what you feel your child needs. So, keep in mind, you might be starting at Chapter 2 or 3 if this is the case.
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