[Should a STEM kiddo even do Omnibus (AKA: Am I just questioning it all because it is...February??)]

I would first and foremost listen to your kid and let them decide what they want high school to look like. After that I would listen to Lori D 🙂

My STEM kid was able to knock out all his humanities through either AP (during high school) or CLEP (he figured out which ones he needed to graduate and self studied and took those tests at the univeristy). He enjoyed literature and history to an extent but did not want to waste his college dollars on those courses, he wanted to take more math.

We did interesting history and lit during high school of his choosing, but it did not take over his day and it was probably not rigorous. We left lots of room for the stuff he *did* want to focus on.

[Riverbend Press and a Book of Centuries Q?]

I don't know if this applies to this situation or not, but my wall timeline with beautifully illustrated cards is almost completely and totally for my enjoyment and satisfaction. The kids could care less lol! Maybe *you* could do the BOC? 😉 

[Best Ancient World History]

2 hours ago, Miss Tick said:

Intriguing! Just recently we did a family reading of Heaney's version of Philoctetes to bridge from The Iliad to The Odyssey. I hadn't thought to look for other works translated by him.

It's very accessible for people like me who are a little intimidated by reading Greek plays 😊

[I expect for my DIL(s) to be closer to their moms than me, do you?]

16 hours ago, katilac said:

Bolding by me: I know you're typing off the top of your head, but this veers a little close to 'women have to  carry the mental load' territory. The relationship between you and yours sons should be managed by you and your sons.

Yeah, that's not what I was getting at with my comment 🙂

But I do really truly appreciate the reminder that my relationship with my sons is my and their responsibility and that I will need to continue to work at it - it won't just happen. That gave me a lot of food for thought this morning, so thank you!

[I expect for my DIL(s) to be closer to their moms than me, do you?]

@Arcadia In that case they are the ones being selfish and childish. I'm sorry you have to deal with that.

[I expect for my DIL(s) to be closer to their moms than me, do you?]

I fully expect my future as yet hypothetical DILs to be closer to their own mothers than they are to me.

I also hope they fully realize that I love their husbands just as much as their own moms love them. I hope they realize that I desire to continue to be close to my sons and to them even though a marriage should definitely involve a shifting and realigning of those roles and relationships. I hope they realize that their children are just as much my son's as they are hers and just as much a joy to me as they are to her mom. I hope she realizes as she holds that precious child that someday he or she might get married and that she might get to be a MIL herself someday. I hope we both give each other the benefit of the doubt.

I have a great MIL. She's supportive and kind and doesn't try to make decisions or interfere in our marriage and when I was in the thick of it with 3 littles at home and was dying for adult conversation but my own mom was still working, we'd routinely chat on the phone for an hour at a time. I do call her Mom, by my choice, and I think it kinda surprised her but pleased her at the same time. She is not an overly demonstrative person but is warm. She raised 7 kids and she knows what a new mom needs. She often stayed at our house for a couple days with the older kids while I was still in the hospital with the baby, washed sheets, and put food in the freezer, and then quietly left while I was showering/napping after getting some newborn baby squeezes in.

My own Mom is also great but in a different way than my MIL. She can be needy, which sometimes rubs me the wrong way, but she takes care of everything when she's here visiting. It's like a vacation every time lol! When I had my first, I obviously had no idea what I was getting into and she offered to come help for a week and I turned her down thinking I'd be fine. But once DH went back to work I quickly realized I wasn't fine 😂 and I panicked and called her and frantically asked her to come and she dropped everything (including work) and did. She's stayed for approx a week every time I've had a baby.

Never in a million years would I have wanted anyone but my DH in the delivery room. When we were ready for visitors after a few hours together we called or texted and anyone who wanted to come was welcome.

I do detect a feeling from some of the comments here that I can't put a finger on exactly but that makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I do feel like a new mom and dad have the right to decide who is invited to their house and for how long and under what circumstances. Period. Same for the hospital and medical procedures of any kind. And I know not everyone is blessed by the same kind of Mom and MIL I have. But ... I don't know ... Some of the subtle antagonism against MILs who have a different expectation of how things might/could/should go feels a little selfish to me. I mean, if we as DILs want to have a real adult relationship with our MILs and not be treated as a kid or an interloper, then we need to not act like kids who always expect ro get everything our way. I mean, if I had a friend who only allowed me to be her friend if I followed certain rules I probably wouldn't be her friend for very long. I think true good relationships always involve giving and taking and adjusting expectations, and that goes for MIL relationships too. 

 

[History by civilization or continent/region]

I wish I had something to help because it sounds like a great approach! Maybe you should make one and then sell it 😉

[S/O memories thread-what did you think about homeschooling as a kid?]

The only homeschooled family I knew of growing up in the 80s was my mom's cousin who homeschooled her kids in Washington (state, not DC). We saw them once a year and they were very weird. But also smart. And kinda spoiled. The parents were hippies and they moved to New Zealand and renounced their citizenship when George W Bush became president, so they definitely were not right wing religious zealots 😉 But somehow I got it into my head that those were the only kind of people who would hs.

My dad was a teacher and then a principal, so he was always very against hs'ing, kind of as an affront to his profession. So as a result I always was too. When several of my sister in laws started hs'ing I said I would never shelter my kids like that.

Man plans, God laughs 😂

When I had my 5th, it was very overwhelming and we were a big family and very much outside the norm already. And my oldest was in middle school and the demands of school started taking over our lives more and more and I hated that our family life was taking the backseat. Hs'ing popped into my head one day and no matter how much I told myself it was a stupid idea I couldn't get it out of my head. So I started googling "reasons not to homeschool" and "why homeschooling is a bad idea" and instead of seeing lots of reasons why it was a bad idea I found that my stereotype of hs'ing in my head didn't match up to the reality of it.

We started that next school year and I've never looked back. And my dad has come around too 😊

[If you were in elementary school in the mid-1970s...]

We did Venn diagrams but no notation and it wasn't taught as part of math at all. We did some Venn diagrams in enrichment and I only ever thought it was a cool way to visually classify things.

I honestly didn't know it was considered part of "math" until I used Video Text with my kids 😬

[s/o School in the 1970's--the Letter People!]

I remember having the Letter People in K. When I was a teacher aide in 1997 the teacher I taught with was still using them. I love how they introduce the letters and sounds in a specific order so that you could make words with them right away!

[Jokes & memes]

2 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

But seriously why is America one of the only (or the only?) nation that doesn’t have children brush their teeth while at school?!

Because teachers can't keep track of which shoes and coat and boots and backpack belong to whom, let alone a toothbrush that you *really* don't want the wrong kid using. Maybe that's an American thing too, but no way I'd go for that as a teacher. You couldn't pay me enough to help 30 five year olds brush their teeth lol!

[The Human Odyssey - Worksheets, Book lists, etc.?]

I also have a long book list that they read from for 45 min/day for literature:

Pyramid

Ancient Egypt

Tales of Ancient Egypt

Casting the Gods Adrift

Greek Myths

Black Ships Before Troy

The Wanderings of Odysseus

Aeneid for Boys and Girls or In Search of a Homeland

Percy Jackson series

Famous Men of Greece

Hittite Warrior

Tales from Africa

A Glorious Age in Africa

Twenty Jataka Tales

Magical Monkey King

Herodotus and the Road to History

Archimedes and the Door to Science

Bronze Bow

Famous Men of Rome

Galen and the Gateway to Medicine

Tales of King Arthur and His Knights

Anna of Byzantium

1001 Arabian Nights

The Cat Who Went to Heaven

Single Shard

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Samurai's Tale

Heart of a Samurai

Dreamtime Aboriginal Stories

Call It Courage

Nordic Gods and Heroes

Norse Myths

Celtic Fairy Tales

Girl in a Cage

Castle

Crispin

Door in the Wall

Adam of the Road

If All the Swords in England

Robin Hood

The Magna Charta

Trumpeter of Krakow

Joan of Arc

Midnight Magic

Adventures of Don Quixote

Famous Men of the Middle Ages ch 1-30

[The Human Odyssey - Worksheets, Book lists, etc.?]

I don't have worksheets or anything like that, but I do have it broken up into 134 days of assignments along with the following written directions to my 5th grade student:

Each day of assigned reading:

·        Read the assigned sections, including all boxes and sidebars

·        Add relevant dates to your Book of Centuries timeline

·        Look up the relevant locations on the wall map and/or globe

·        Make a list of important facts in complete sentences for each section in your history notebook (not all the facts, not all the details, not what you find most interesting, just the important facts)

 

 

 Then every 1-2 weeks I include these directions:

Write an outline:

·        Pick a section you’ve read that interests you

·        Go through each paragraph in that section and ask, “What is the most important statement in this paragraph?”

·        Write it down in outline form as follows

Section Title

I.                 Statement from Paragraph 1

II.                Statement from Paragraph 2

III.              Statement from Paragraph 3 and so on

[dual enrollment classes taking much less time than anticipated]

If you're happy with his transcript and the number of credits, I wouldn't add more just to be doing more. Time is a precious commodity, esp for a high performing student. If they are able to get the required work done to a high level of quality in less time than expected, then I'd let them reap the benefits of that and use the time however they choose.

[Foerster algebra vs videotext]

10 hours ago, Lovinglife123 said:

What level of math mammoth do you finish before video text?

We do MM 1-7 then directly into Video Text from there. There's a little bit of overlap between MM7 and the first module of Video Text, but I find MM to be such a great foundation that I don't want them to miss anything in it, and a little review from a different perspective is helpful.

[Apologia General Science 2nd Edition]

10 hours ago, Lovinglife123 said:

Will you still use the 2nd edition general science or do you now use atomic age instead ?

 I really like the looks of 2nd edition.  It doesn’t look nearly as dry as I thought.  I like the history included that I saw.  Human body is done for 4 units out of 16.  I think Atomic Age might be a step up in difficulty?

I haven't decided yet 🤪 I still have 2 more years til I have a 7th grader again!

[Help with Composition!!]

I agree with everyone else who says it's not necessary to use a "program" to teach good writing. It's totally not!

BUT I also can sympathize with the OP that sometimes from a teacher's perspective it really does *feel* necessary in order to feel confident that I'm helping my students in the best way possible.

OP, I don't think there's really a way to be "behind" in writing. There is room for improvement and maturity and practice - yes. But I think Hemingway would have said he had room for improvement and maturity and practice too. Your kid is not "behind". There is no standard or across the board way of determining what a certain grade level's writing looks like. If you both like the program you're using and you are happy with the skills he's learning in it, then don't worry about how fast he completes it.

[Preschool-2nd games]

Candyland and Sorry

[Foerster algebra vs videotext]

I think I answered most of those questions in our pm, but if you have any others let me know. Hope you get more responses! 🙂

[Apologia General Science 2nd Edition]

 

3 hours ago, Ema said:

I appreciate your insights. As someone who doesn’t get too wrapped up in the YE vs OE, I was hoping we could kind of just gloss over those areas. I looked through the samples online, granted the pages I saw didn’t get into the theories much. Do the YE views and the tone you speak of pervade too much for us to gloss over, or just discuss the different theories out there and let it be? Not that I am not concerned with Biblical teaching, it’s just that this just isn’t a hill I am going to choose to die on, ya know?

I appreciate your honesty! Thank you. This is all helpful. Did you use the videos at all that go with the course?

I did find it preachy, yes. Not everyone does, obviously.

We didn't use the videos but we do all the experiments/demonstrations. Dr Wile's Berean Builders series might be an option for you. We have found them to be good, solid, college prep science.

[Apologia General Science 2nd Edition]

I'm so glad there are options that fit everyone 😊 

I personally am not a fan of the tone of Apologia when it comes to people who do believe in evolution. I believe YEC is correct both scientifically and a biblically, but I dislike the feeling I get from Apologia that people who believe differently don't have adequate/correct faith. I don't feel that same tone from Dr Wile's books even though they are YE too. YMMV.

Dr Wile also has pointed out several scientific errors in some of Apologia's newer editions. I realize that he's selling a product too 😉 but after meeting him in person a couple of times at conventions and using his books for several years, I trust his judgement.

I am sincerely glad the Apologia books work for so many families! But I wanted to be honest in my answer as to why I'm not a fan. I hope I didn't step on any toes.

[Apologia General Science 2nd Edition]

8 hours ago, Ema said:

 

I was thinking of using this next year for my 8th grader, but ya’ll are saying it was best for a 7th grader. We’ve done general science-y things, you know, mammals, birds, trees, earth science, some biology and chemistry, but since it’s been awhile since we’ve done some of those, and I was hoping for a year of solid general science before starting high school level. Just curious—if this is better for 7th, what did you do in 8th?

I agree with Green Bean, it could be used in either grade. We used Apologia's 2nd edition Physical Science afterwards. I'm not a big fan of Apologia's current junior high and high school series, but the 2nd edition with Dr Jay Wile's name on them are great!

[Group/ family style subjects organization]

9 hours ago, Lovinglife123 said:

@Momto6inIN What do you use for hymns? I would love to do this as a group.  It’s scheduled separately in heart of Dakota and we never get to it!

We use a book called Hymns of Zion, which is the hymn book we sing from in our church denomination. We sing all the verses of 1 hymn each day 😊

[SOS improving writing tutor or ?]

Also - I'm sure you already know this, but you did *not* fail your kid. He's succeeding in a CC. He may not write like you want him to write, but he's not failing and neither are you 🙂

[homemade courses for High School Credits]

You're getting some good advice here 🙂

For Great Courses, we watch the video together and they take notes (early in high school they need lots of me telling them "write that part down" but by later high school they do it well themselves). We discuss the ideas we heard about. For output, once a week they write a summary or answer the questions in the guidebook from the lectures we watched that week.