yellowperch
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Posts posted by yellowperch
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Love this thread.
I Must Go Down to the Sea by John Masefield would make a good addition.
The TV poem in Charlie in the Chocolate Factory is wonderful for tv-free kids. My children loved memorizing this one.
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I think there is a happy middle.
My children help themselves to fruit and the cut veggies I keep in the fridge. We don't have soda in the house and they need to ask for juice (because they will fill up on it before a meal if they are getting hungry just as dinner is about to be served, for example. Also, juice isn't that great for them. They are better off with a glass of milk and an apple than a large glass of apple juice.). But they can help themselves to milk, drinking yogurts, yogurts, cheese, etc. We usually have some baked cookies in the house, and they can help themselves to them after a meal. The older guys make sandwiches or boil an egg for a snack or quick fix before a practice or outing, etc.
We keep chips, juice boxes, granola bars, etc in the basement. They are for treats or trips to the beach, museum, zoo, etc.
Basically, we have a few easy, nutritious snacks that they can graze. Treats are treats and aren't a daily thing, but they aren't forbidden either.
I hope that helps. As I read this I realize I might sound a little controlling about food. I don't think I am--it's more a matter of having healthy things available for snacking and keeping snacky snack foods off the menu.
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Traveling there would be worth the effort if you were buying a serious piece of furniture or planning a kitchen renovation or somesuch.
We bought quite few Ikea things when we moved overseas. The kitchen we had installed was an Ikea kitchen and it was very, very, good but not perfect. I think to get perfect we (actually my husband's company) would have had to pay three times as much. Installation where we were was cheap, because labor is cheap, but it wouldn't be so cheap here.
You really want to strategize before you go there. I'd call and order a catalog and really plan out what you want to look at/ purchase. Otherwise it is so easy to be gobsmacked and end up buying $200 worth of cool, small items that you take home and wonder what in the world you were thinking (I speak from experience here). Get there early and don't go on a weekend!
We bought a couch that was indestructable, and stools that have proven very useful and fun. The bedding there is really funky and inexpensive. The comforters are wonderful.
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My DS learned to read in Russian before English. After a lot of hard work he's on track in reading in English but is still horribly behind in spelling. (Russian is a tough language to learn but reading and writing are purely phonic processes so learning to read is easier than it is in English.
He's was in an American public school this year for the first time, and had weekly spelling tests. He tended to get 100s and 90s. But when he writes--and luckily he likes to write--he'll misspell words such as when, are, anyplace, etc. He'll misspell about 50 percent of the words he uses.
I'm thinking of ordering AAS but I'm wondering what level to buy and how good this program might be in general for a child like mine. I'm also wondering if I really need the starter kit. I have lots of manipulatives--magnetic letter tiles (but not colored ones), felt letters, cards,etc. I'll buy them if I need them but I don't need another item I don't actually use.
Thank you for your help.
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I just wanted to explain how much it is to use "shopping lists" than just wish lists or your shopping cart.
First, there is a pull-down option to organize the lists by price, which helps in grouping orders so you take best advantage of the 4-for-3 deals.
Second, you can delete a large number of items at once.
Third, you don't have to put your cart items away for later if you want to make a smaller purchase.
To make a shopping list go to "manage your list" and look around for shopping lists.
Hope that helps someone.
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Swiss Family Robinson, Jim Weiss stories, Winnie the Pooh, etc., Mercy Watson, the Strange Tale of Edward Tulane, Charles Lamb's Shakespeare for Children, Five Children and it, Beatrix Potter, anything by Roald Dahl, SOTW, Beethoven Lives Upstairs and the rest of that series, Wizard of Oz, Treasure Island.
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I do that by creating shopping lists.
You'll want to keep an eye out for the 4 for the price of 3 books--there are many many many of them for the books in the $4-$10 range. I group them together by price so that if I buy three 9.95 books my fourth and free book isn't a $3.95 book.
I often find Amazon to be cheaper than other sources, and with the free books and free shipping it pays off to really look at how the orders are organized.
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how did you feel?
I think I'm there, and serious discussions with the major players have begun. Two are on board (one has been pleading to be homeschooled, one loves ps) and my soon-to-be-kindergarten student is "on the fence". My DH is ready for anything. I have support from my parents (who are ready to lend a hand) and homeschooling friends.
Now, suddenly, I am both elated and terrified. I'm terrified because I love time alone and I love peace and quiet and a reasonable amount of order. I rarely get it now, and don't see how I will ever get it in the future (my DH works either at home or abroad, each about 50 percent of the time; my parents live an 90minutes away and are in for a day a week, except when they can't...)
I'm elated because I think in this way my children will get the rich, enlivened education they crave and need. And I'm elated because I've been agonizing over this for ages and now feel some peace. I'm also elated because this will be exciting and FUN!
So how did you feel when you crossed the line?
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Waving hello from southern RI.
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I'm enjoying this thread too.
I fall at the other end of the spectrum. I find myself being very wishy-washy when it comes to discipline. And then very, very frustrated with the results.
I want to be a good example to my children. By that I mean I want to be fair, understanding, kind, resilient AND effective in the way I lead my family. They notice what I do and how I do it so much more than what I say.
I've read several of the books here. My problem is internalizing the approaches.
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I am sorely tempted, but I do think we'd have a better chance if they had a nice long break before we settled in to work. I have plenty of homeschooling material, in fact, and a houseful of wonderful books that we spend lots of time with.
We do a lot of learning stuff as a matter of course. My kids are very good Russian speakers (we lived in Moscow from 2004 until 2008) and they work with a Russian tutor three days a week. The also study piano. I've been thinking that those activities, plus their normal reading and keep a journal would be enough for a summer.
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I am close to deciding to homeschool my children in the fall, but I continually coming up against several stumbling blocks. My children are 9,7,5 and almost 3. I'm expecting in October :)
1. Discipline. I've posted about this once and I'll link to my original post for anyone willing to read it.
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95717
The short version is that my good-hearted, smart kids aren't the best disciplined around. This would be okay, I suppose, if I were laid back and relaxed. But I am not. It drives me crazy. But still, I remain largely ineffective through my own fault, of course. I worry that I will not be effective at teaching them if I have to spend so much time trying to get them to work in the first place. This is a very real, very serious concern for me.
2. My oldest son really enjoys school and did not enjoy the year I homeschooled him (for first grade) when we lived abroad. He seems to leanrn better being a child among children. He's a good student, and a welcome and productive member of his class.
I do see certain benefits in children having an identity outside the family. At school, my son can be his own person, not my son, or the oldest or the spacey guy who never listens to his parents. At school is the math whiz, the kickball player, the guy who loves science. I worry sometimes that home--the demands on him here, the challenges a new baby will bring, always having littler kids underfoot--is a tiny bit oppressive for him. I imagine few here will relate to this, but it is one of the three major things holding me back.
I grew up in a happy, big family that was also very chaotic. School was a sanctuary for me. I loved the order, the books, the calm, and having my own desk where my pencils remained lined up and sharp! My home now is much more orderly but I do wonder if their aren't things about school that are healthy for my kids, and especially my oldest.
(FWIW My second son is quite gifted, especially in math. In October, he tested at the sixth grade level in math. The school arranged for him to do math with the second graders, but the poor guy still found school less interesting than home and asked several times to be homeschooled.
My dd is thrilled at the thought of kindergarten.)
3. I find running a house, making meals and managing my kids activities takes a lot of effort. With a new baby coming, I wonder how adding more to my plate would work. I love order and can't function that well when life is chaotic, so getting things to run smoothly would be key to making this homeschooling a success for me.
4. DH works abroad a more than 1/3 of the time, often for long stretches.
Having said all this, I am deeply distressed with the mediocrity at our "good" public schools. I have read more, and thought more about homeschooling than just about any non-homeschooling parent around, I think. I love history, math, reading, literature and my children still do. But for how much longer? The faculty at the school have been lovely to us, and very willing to try, but they are faced with so many challenges and so many needy kids. They also simply can't even imagine how to deliver the kind of rich, elevated education I want for my kids.
So there it is. I'd love to hear from anyone who has insight, advice, suggestions, or a challenging thought for me. I have been torn about this for ages and I feel like I have to commit one way or the other, and soon.
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I'm new here. I'm expecting #5 in October, just a few months shy of my 43rd birthday. I was very tired until I reached week 12. Now I feel great!
My will be 9,7,5, and 3 when this baby comes. They are thrilled beyond reason.
I'm on the fence about homeschooling this fall. I have homeschooled in the past, but I only have my 5 and 2 home now. I find the thought of homeschooling with a newborn daunting, but for a million reasons I feel like it is the right thing to do.
So for now, I'm reading, thinking, planning, dreaming.
Good luck to all you!
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Here are my top two easy, easy salads:
bagged baby spinach, dried cranberries, walnuts, and a dressing (usually just honey, olive oil, and mustard.)
bagged spring salad mix, pears peeled and sliced, gorgonzola cheese and raisins or dried cranberries or pinenuts or cashews and a citrus or honey dressing (see above).
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These are terrific suggestions. Thank you all so much. I can't wait to see what M thinks.
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I'm asking this here for a friend whose daughter, M, is 11 and is reading Jane Austen and Henry James. In terms of speed, comprehension, and ability to interpret and discuss literary themes she is reading at a college level.
My friend and I were discussing other directions her reading might take that would be interesting and also more fun and age appropriate (although M does think Henry James is fun). I thought of those dense Edwardian novels of childhood (Five Children and It, Little Lord Fauntleroy, etc.) or European children's literature in translation (Pinnochio, for example). I also thought of narratives that take on subjects like mathematics (the Number Devil, the Man who Counted), history and science (especially physics, which she is especially interested in from a hard science perspective) but few sepcific titles came to mind.
I thought some of you here might have better suggestions, since my ideas were fairly limited.
Her family is secular in orientation. M is quite innocent and young socially, FWIW.
Many thanks
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Thanks for these quick responses. Just to clarify--this is really a question on behalf of my oldest child, who is nine.
We do read quite a bit, both as a group and individually. We've been keeping a family "dictionary" for a couple of years now--essentially an alphabetized list of interesting words we come across and their definitions. That's been a fun and often amusing project.
My oldest was flipping through a friend's vocabulary workbook--I don't know what it was called--and liked it. The book itself didn't seem quite right but I thought he would like some kind of systematic vocabulary building program he can work on on his own. I have Latin from the Roots Up but we've never given that a go. I don't think it's what he has in mind but it's worth a try.
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What would you suggest for children grades k-5 for vocabulary? TIA
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Thank you all for reading and responding.
I have a confession to make. Lately--I think since I've been pregnant and DH has been abroad--I have been shouting at my kids if not once day then almost that often. It's dreadful. I do have a temper by nature, but have trained myself out of indulging it. I fully realize that shouting at children that it is counterproductive, a terrible example, horribly scary and otherwise a very poor idea. However, I also know that in the short term (this is a new "habit") it makes them stop and take notice (even as it makes the youngest one cry.)
I put this out there only as a way of stressing that as much as I realize a certain amount of forgetfulness and/or lack of cooperation is normal, our situation has become untenable. It's not good for me, and not for my kids.
So please keep the advice coming. I'd love more examples of ACTION. FWIW I'd read a few of the mainstream discipline books--how to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk, positive discipline, etc. Where I fall down is internalizing and following through on techniques and strategies.
So I'll stop posting now, and read and learn. And thanks Drangons in the Flower Bed, for reminding me not to compare myself to others and to not let a simple comment in a conversation send me into a tailspin.
I do think my kids are great kids, but I also think we all deserve a more peaceful and cooperative home. I think we can get there.
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I'm new here, but I've been a reader off and on for a while. My dcs are 9,7,5, almost 3 and due to arrive this summer.
I would like to homeschool. I really would. I've read extensively about it. I have friends who do it. I have kept my dcs home until first grade and taught three of them to read (a process I love).
Here's my problem: I'm a discipline disaster. (And FWIW, my DH works long hours an is often abroad for weeks and sometimes months at a time, so I am on my own much of the time. When is is home, things are somewhat better but not the way I'd like them to be.)
My children are very good kids--kind at heart, generally good to each other, fun playmates for other children. They are smart, funny, lovely. Other adults like them, and they are welcome in social and sports settings.
However, they don't listen to me. (FWIW, I know the situation is of my own making. The good news in this is that it can be of my own un-making). I'll give some examples.
I want them to pick up their pajamas after they are dressed in the morning and put them into the laundry basket. I repeat this two or three times before they do it. They have never once done it without my nagging. They are not defiant about not doing it; they are simply oblivious until I raise my voice or take them by the hand and show them what needs to be done.
I tell the two oldest to do their homework after giving them a nice snack and chatting with them about whatnot. They ask if the neighbor boy can come over. I say sure, if their homework is done before 4. I get a phone call, or need to help my 2 yo or go upstairs to change the laundry from the washer and the dryer. I come down and the neighbor is in the yard, the homework is half done. I bring the boys inside, kindly send the neighbor home and nag them until homework is done. (FWIW they are great students--the homework is in no way difficult. There is no way it will take more than fifteen minutes.)
Dinner is over, the two oldest are expected to clear the table, load the dishwasher, and bring the trash out. They've been shown several times how to do this, and coached through it, too. They CAN do it beautifully. I'll go bath the two little ones and find a monopoly game underway, and nothing done. "Oh, sorry mom. We forgot. Can we finish the game?"
I don't know if these examples give enough clues for any of you to help me. Let's just say I'm wishy-washy when I want to be authoritative. I give in to whining. I don't follow through on threats. I'm so insanely busy and distracted I just take the most expedient route possible in the short term.
What does this have to do with homeschooling? In my heart of hearts I know my kids deserve a better education than the one they are getting at our local public school. I love teaching them and working with them one on one. But my fear is that this disasterous discipline situation will lead to hmeschooling failure. I need my home to run well to homeschool well, and that can't happen when my kids run roughshod over me.
A homeschooling friend was visiting the other day. She said, more or less in passing, "Oh, I expect first time obedience and I get it." She's a warm, gentle woman, and she runs a home where the expectations are very clear. I love that.
My question is how do I get from where I am to where she is? (Although I prefer to call it "first-time, cheerful cooperation.") I'm can't really bring myself to ask her how she arrived there. But I do expect it has to do with her world view (she's a conservative Christian; I'm a liberal agonistic.) and with the fact that she has been rasing her two children like this since birth.
I've already spoiled my kids so how do I turn the tide?
Anyone who made it this far deserves my eternal gratitude. Does anyone have advice, strategies, books to refer me to?
Many thanks.
Life of Fred: How do YOU use it?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
My two older boys are math lovers (my daughter is too, actually, but not ready for LOF). This winter we started LOF fractions, but the boys seemed to need a little too much hand-holding to tackle it, and so we set it aside.
We're ready to start again, so I am looking for insight into how people actually use the book. Do you read a chapter together and set them loose on the problems? Do you pre-teach or pre-explore the skills needed for the next set of problems, etc.?
Any advice?
FWIW, my guys know multiplication, division, and basic fractions (and operations with them) all fairly thoroughly, so I do think they are ready now.