Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

violamama

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    997

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by violamama

    Looking for a Children's Bible

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    FWIW, I find the ESV a bit hurky to read aloud. It's a great translation, but I like the HCSB much better for reading to a group. 

     

    We just got this:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1433603322/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    HCSB Illustrated Study Bible in blue "leather"

     

    I love the HCSB translation and it's a very nice looking Bible. Plenty of text-box things, maps, etc. 

    We bought this for my 8 year old because he's reading well and really wanted a non-childish Bible. He adores it. 

     

    And in case you're interested, we also got a NiRV (young reader's 3rd grade level Bible) for our 6 year old. It's a bit of a stretch for him in terms of reading level, but I think by summer it will be perfect. He likes a challenge and loves the layout.

     

    We picked this one:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310745292/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    It looks just like his big brother's blue pleather one. 

    Thoughts on going from Suzuki to Traditional...advice needed

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Thoughts re: path for very advanced youngsters question from wintermom.

    Being both musically and technically proficient enough to perform a piece can happen younger than you might think. In my opinion, both are a matter of great training in addition to certain innate proclivities. I also believe proclivities can be created by great (consistently on-task) practice habits and regular exposure to fantastic playing. 

     

    Some young musicians might struggle technically, others might not be as musically facile. Every once in a while a student is able to more easily bring together both sides of the coin in addition to quick learning of new works. (Those students were often prompted very early to mimic a teacher's phrasing in addition to the "ink on the page".  

     

    When a student struggles with musicality and depth of sound, personally I would assign a lot of very specific listening. We then play scales & arpeggios in different "styles". We explicitly discuss technical things like vibrato width/speed and bow variation, which we apply broadly to scales and etudes. We play mimic games, and we talk a lot about why I would choose to play a phrase a certain way. Only then would it be applied in the context of a piece, and usually we'd pick a few very brief excerpts in which to deploy those musical skills first before learning the whole work. In that way, more advanced musical playing can be "grafted in" to a new work without too much stress. Musical depth including variety of sound and beautiful phrasing are things that some young students would not necessarily see as being equally important to simply playing all the notes correctly. It sometimes takes a bit of gymnastics on the part of the teacher and the practice partner to point out the value in those skills as well. I have even been known to assign written reviews of disparate performances (a wild player vs a conservative one, or an "old school" performer vs somebody very recent). Listening analysis with leading questions is an easy way to awaken that part of a student's ear. 

     

    If possible, having the technically focused student observe the lesson (or masterclass) of other more musically facile players can be infinitely helpful. 

     

    Prodigies or very advanced younger musicians, when they reach college-age, often find the playing field is generally leveled. It's not necessarily a great advantage either way. Most music students don't become professional musicians, but kids who are encouraged to play throughout their childhood often continue to find music is a valuable means of expression into adulthood. Support your musical kiddo in the best way you know, and keep track with your teacher. Ask regularly how they think you're doing with practicing or if there are any areas the kid could do well to focus on more directly. Go to a lot of concerts. Buy multiple recordings of anything they are playing.

    Comparing your kid's path to another's can be frustrating, just like in any other skill-set or academic subject. I know you're just asking about different paths, but thought I'd throw my thoughts in there. 

    Who's going to tackle Tuesday with me?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Sorry, Jean! Thinking of you, hope you get some rest and feel better.

     

    I got my list done, except running. It got dark before I could tackle that and my parents don't have a treadmill.

     

    I decided to drive by one of the rural houses on my way to my parents' and it was Rural rural. Like a dirt road and helicopters flying over our car harvesting Christmas trees, add 30 minutes to any trip rural. Oh well, it was really pretty but not for us.

     

    .

    How Important Are Your Ethnic Ties?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I am somewhat interested but all my family grandparents were immigrants. It has more to do with learning about their specific histories than a group/area culture thing. Now that we are a mixed race family, we have a great and strong interest in China. We are only three months in, but we're already added triple new cultures: Chinese, Chinese-American and Adoptive International Bi-Racial Family. 

     

    FWIW, if you feel a connection to and knowledge of your family is lacking, I recommend 23andme for genetic heritage testing. If you are interested in going beyond that to medical genetic information, another service called Promethease is very useful once you have the 23andme report. 

     

     

    Minecraft? Pokemon?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Ooh, one of those links gave me an idea. It's easy enough even I will actually execute it (instead of just getting excited about it and then wandering off to put in a load of laundry, never to return). 

     

    You could copy (we have a color copier) or print a Pokemon card onto a sheet of paper and have the kid write a description, their favorite things about it, when/where they got it, what a parent needs to know about it (my boys are at the age of LOVING to explain things to me), or if they're advanced then write a story. I could tell them to do that with a blank page, but they would be all excited about it if it had Giratina on it.

     

    I like the addition game one person did on that afterschooling blog. I might make it a multiplication game by finding images on the interwebs and printing a bunch: let's say 5 x a card with an HP of 120 and they have to multiply to get the answer. 

     

    My boys would love the pretend-buying game. I think I could make a "making 10's" thing out of it. Put 15 or so cards on a sheet and price them all single digit prices. Then tell them they have spend exactly $10. Name a card and they have to find the match to make 10. 

    Country homeschool: fantasy? reality?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    We just found another candidate. Closer to 10 acres but less stuff close to it. It's about ten minutes further out (so ~35 minutes round trip) from shops. My husband's commute would be an hour total per day and there's no public transport option. He works only 4 days per week and may go to more work from home if he decides to become a partner. Lots to consider!!!

    Minecraft? Pokemon?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I am following this. We just had a big family discussion about Pokemon and how it's devolved into just wanting to buy new cards all the time. We have decided that they need to create their own pokemon (design, color, decide reasonable powers, etc) for each pack they buy. We have also offered to make it more of a social thing by going to the local club one or two Saturdays a month. Sadly, it's been a huge object lesson (for me, not them) in consumerism and it has edged out the creative play of Legos. :-(

     

    They have agreed to do more battles with each other in order to use some of the math stuff and strategy involved. I would love some kind of game to help them play and figure out math stuff... I'll have to see if I'm creative and motivated enough to do something myself like EndOfOrdinary. Props for that, I don't know if I'm woman enough! 

     

    My older boy is interested in writing stories involving Pokemon, too. I'm thinking I need to allot some time to letting him dictate that for a while. Other than that, I'm tapped out and am leaning toward a strong resentment of those precious infernal cards.

    Country homeschool: fantasy? reality?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    It's not that I think my kids are totally unsafe unless locked inside in our neighborhood, it's that they don't have much to do. Our street is full of not-kids. Retirees, kidless working couples dominate. They buy a townhouse because it's easy living but they want it kept tidy. The other day my 6 yo drew a sidewalk chalk line (like a single line) along the bottom of the driveways. We have neighbors that will not appreciate that, so we then made a game of rinsing it off.

     

    At my parents' property, we do send them outside to play. They are told to run around the house three times between school subjects. They build things with hand saws and nails. That's the kind of thing I want.

     

    And I don't think it's laughable to consider it safer. I'm not worried about kidnapping or whatever, but being reported for wandering alone and getting hit by a car are two of my top concerns.

     

    Where we are the country dangers involve... I dunno, falling out of a tree or encountering a skunk or mean dog. It's not rugged or untamed in that sense.

    Who's going to tackle Sunday with me?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I did almost nothing on my list today but am totally okay with that. Except I do miss the running. Since our trip to China to bring home our daughter, I have only run once or twice and I really need to get back to it. 

     

    Church

    Look at house for sale? 
    Buy Thanksgiving ham

    Get out boys' Christmas decor

    Print new cello & piano hundreds chart

    Get new running plan in calendar

    Practice

    Run

    S/o Making guests comfortable at the holidays

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Strongly seconding the knowing what to expect thing... But I guess as a guest the number one thing I usually want is some flexibility. Example - once we arrived at mil's hungry. Can we eat? There will be pizza ordered in three hours. Do you have anything else for us? Pizza, three hours. Could it maybe be a little earlier since it's a hang out meal? Pizza, three hours. I had to go buy us a separate meal because the kids were melting down and I had a migraine coming. A ton of the pizza went to waste. :( Just, a little flexibility would have prevented that, putting out the salad right away, getting the pizza a little early, letting us eat from their ready-for-the-apocalypse stores of food in one of their three pantries...

     

    My MIL does this as well, and she hand-makes weird pizza with three kinds of meat in the sauce. I don't eat meat. I will pick meat (discretely!) off of things and eat them but I just can't do the meat sauce. This is always after an 11 hour drive to their house. If I were reading somebody else's post about this I would be thinking right now that my MIL doesn't want us to visit, but I swear it's not true!

     

    It's totally bizarre, as she is usually very accommodating and flexible. I've started bringing a lot of granola bars. 

    Country homeschool: fantasy? reality?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Loving this, thank you all. 

    We're looking at rural but near the city. My career (unless I were to quit classical music) means we can't ever go truly off the map. Due to some weirdness with the Urban Growth Boundaries, the area we're considering is actually as close in driving minutes to my husband's work as our current place.

     

    I've been thinking pretty much along the lines of what many of you have said. It's nice to have the ideas fleshed out and more food for thought. 

     

    We may wait another 6 months or year until our budget can get us a few more of our wishlist items. One would be walk/run/bike access, another would be slightly more (preferably wooded) acreage. The current best potential place has just 2 acres (fenced, some trees, not much in terms of maintenance) and seems it will almost always require a car. 

     

    Country homeschool: fantasy? reality?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    We don't have friends in our vicinity. Our townhouse has 80 units and only two others have kids. 

     

    The running thing is a big consideration for me, too. The current front-runner house is on a long driveway, but the main road is pretty busy and doesn't have much of a shoulder. Bicycle herds use it a lot, but I haven't tried going for a walk to test it out. It might be a deal breaker. 

    Country homeschool: fantasy? reality?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I have always wanted a bit of space outside a traditional neighborhood (like 1-5 acres). Lately that desire has become even stronger because I have the idea that our homeschool will be better for it. It would certainly be easier than having to pack up school in order to eat dinner in our current townhouse. I imagine keeping a few chickens, planting all sorts of things, building a fort shoulder to shoulder with the kids, sending them outside to play...

     

    Country homeschoolers:

    Is it worth the additional work, driving distance & expense?

    What do you like best about having a bit of acreage?

    What are other downsides? 

    S/o Making guests comfortable at the holidays

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I think discussing schedule expectations is really helpful. Some people want to sit around chatting, others are all about activities and getting out to see the area or do traditional things. The kids' schedules can be helpful to explain, too. If you have different expectations it's easier to meet in the middle and be accommodating with a quick chat at the beginning of the stay.

     

    Keeping tea, coffee and fruit around is always cozy. If it's a stay of more than a couple of days, I like to be sure to accept offers to help set the table or whatever so they feel connected and useful.

    What do your kids do to keep themselves busy after they are finished with their schoolwork???

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Mine like:

    paper mess creations: cutting paper to leave tiny shreds everywhere, using whole rolls of tape

    pokemon cards

    books

    ipod music listening time

    hand sewing

    making stuff like "God's eyes" out of sticks/yarn

     

    Yours might like finger weaving, crocheting, knitting

     

    Honestly, mine really value their free time. If they get in my hair or each others' too much in our afternoon "quiet time" then I start asking them to do chores. 

    Very rarely (twice a month?) I give them free iPad game time or put in a movie. 

×
×
  • Create New...