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chelsmm

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Everything posted by chelsmm

  1. I just started listening to Rebecca today! I like it so much more now than when I read it in high school.
  2. We really have enjoyed "The Sentence Family" for a fun intro to the parts of speech and types of sentences.
  3. I wouldn't make him do it. But that's just me. I have one child who didn't mind WWE, and another who hated it. So we ended up dropping it.
  4. Math and language arts are the two things we do every day. We also do some kind of exercise every day. We do science, history, art, music, Spanish, geography, and typing when we want to and when we have time. But we also are surrounded by books and magazines on these topics. My kids have art supplies on hand, music they can put on whenever, a piano, etc. So they are getting much more than math and LA each day. But those are the two things I make a point to do each and every day. The rest just sort of happens.
  5. I voted inappropriate church member. I don't go to church, although I did in the past. I don't have any religous affiliations. I'm a 40 year old mom to two. I can't believe the church is ok with this behavior! And it's incredible that this man thinks it's ok to take minors on a 1am trip without parental consent. My son is a cub scout, and they have a strict rule that there must be two adults (non related) present at all times with a child, and there is NEVER to be texting, phone calls, or emails between a leader and a child without the parent being involved as well. So for texts and emails the parent is copied on the message, and for phone calls the parent is suppose to give consent at the time of the call and be right there listening. This is for cub scouts as well as boy scouts, so 13 year olds are included in this. I don't think it's too strict. It's for the safety of our kids. I would absolutely forbid him from contacting my kids without copying me. And I'd speak with someone at the church about the 1am trip. That's just crazy. Sorry, I'm just imagining this going on with my daughter, and I'd be furious.
  6. My family uses All About Spelling. I really like it. It gives the kids the tools to figure out how to spell words. It uses manipulatives, which is nice for younger kids, I think. And it's easy for me to open and teach.
  7. Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for. I know most of the rules from doing it with the kids, but it's helpful to be able to say, "hey, that word doesn't look right- is there a rule you are forgetting" and have them look at their list of rules.
  8. We have completed 1-3 over the past two years, and I was hoping to post the rules so my kids can refer to them when they forget. I gave away book 1, so I can't go through it. Before I look through 2 and 3, I thought I'd check here to see if anyone knew of a list of the rules. We have the FLOSS rule and the when to use CK vs K rule already. Thanks :) Chelsea
  9. Thanks for all the awesome ideas! I'm just getting back to this thread now, and I know my kids will love the ideas here. I put out blank index cards, googly eyes, markers, and crayons the other day, and they spent a while making artist trading cards. My dd asked to do a sculpture "like Calder" this week, so I'll set out some wire and clay and other supplies for that. I love the idea to make houses like the three little pigs and use the hair dryer. They will think that's hysterical. :) And the create your own Dr. Seuss character... :) love it!
  10. Hi, The other day I left a little project on table for kids. We had been reading about aliens in Ask magazine, and so I made an "alien creation station". I just put out some crayons, colored pencils, paper, etc, and I left instructions for them to create an alien. They were to think about the planet where the alien lived, the food they would eat, how they moved, etc. They both loved the project, worked hard on it, and were proud and excited to tell me all about their aliens. And then they asked if I could leave a project for them every day! But I need more ideas. I don't care what...just fun, creative ideas for my two kiddos. Art, science, whatever...I'd just like to start each day with a fun little project. Thanks. Chelsea
  11. This is awesome. I am SO using this with my kids the next time this kind of question comes up! I remember this question when I did this level with dd, and I think it's coming up soon with ds. LOVE this!
  12. Island of the Blue Dolphins has some really rough scenes too,though. There is the fight on the beach at the start where her father is killed, and then later in the book when her brother is killed. There is the killing of the otters, and the death of the wild dog who was her companion. I re read this book as an adult becaues I remembered loving it as a kid, and I decided to hold off on giving it to my dd until she's a little older. My dd is only 9, but she's not super sensitive. A sensitive older child might have a tough time with this.
  13. What a great thread! I can't wait to spend some time checking out all of these sites. One that I didn't see mentioned was Salsa Spanish. We use Elementary Spanish from Discovery Education, which is not free, but the kids love Salsa as a supplement. We also make use of our library system and the system a few towns over. Between the two they can get us just about anything. I'm waiting on SOTW2 audio right now :)
  14. For some reason this year we are so busy! We get to spelling, math, reading, and writing every day. We do read alouds every day. The kids read on their own each day as well. But I haven't even opened our science for this year, and the year is half over! I had planned on Mr Q's earth science. We do informal science- The kids love kitchen science type experiements and activities, and we do talk about the why when we do the activities. They also take a 3 hour once a week class at a local farm/ Audobon park. We read Ranger Rick and Rick Jr each month. We often get library books on various science topics. As for history, we also have hardly covered any of the American history that I had planned. We did up to the American Revolution last year, and it was really great. The kids loved it. Liberty's Kids kept me on track! This year we finished reading SOTW1 and will start 2, but we don't do the activities or maps. The kids don't like them. But they love the stories. I guess I'm just looking for people to tell me that this is ok! The kids really like their down time and use it to play lego, snap circuits, do art, read, play outside. We have daily activities that take us out of the house. And the kids do a sport three evenings a week. So they are so busy. I really don't see how I can add more in. I thought with winter here it would be easier, but it's not! :) Thanks, Chelsea.
  15. I'm so excited that I found this thread! My son is definitely a reluctant reader, but since finding The Boxcar Children and Geronimo Stilton in graphic novel form, he's a little more excited about reading. I just reserved a bunch from the library from the suggestions above. I'm most excited about Squish though. My ds really loves anything to do with science.
  16. We get several of the Cricket magazines (Ask, Spider, Click, Cricket) and love them all. We also really like Ranger Rick and Zoobooks. I buy them through Magazines.com and save a ton. :)
  17. I haven't read through the whole thread yet, but I will tell you what we have been doing. My kids are younger, but it would work for older kids too. There is a series of DVDs (fairly short- about 30 min each or so) called "Families of......" by Schlessinger media. Our library has them. So the kids take turns picking a country from the movies and then we just grab a bunch of library books as well on the country. If possible we throw in a simple art project (so for Japan, we did origami) and a meal, either out or at home. We spend about a week on each country. We have done China, Japan, India, Thailand, Guatamala, and are going to do Korea this week. The movies are nice because each one follows a child or sometimes two through their daily life. I choose one nonfiction book about the country, but we don't always read it cover to cover. My kids are little, and they don't need to know the economy or detailed history of each place. However, with Japan the kids were super interested in the history (since it involved samauri and ninja!), so we went even deeper with that. We also learned a few words for fun, watched some sumo, etc. Then I try to choose a few fiction books, including myths from that country if possible. We youtube music and counting. And, of course, we find it on the globe. It's been very fun for all of us. Of course, they don't have all of the countries, but they do have a lot, and you could certainly use it for an intro to the world.
  18. I was going to suggest "This is the Stable". I love the pictures. We also really like "Room for a Little One". The pictures are beautiful, and it's a sweet story.
  19. Haha, I actually meant to write that we have NOW had a neuro psych eval, not that we have NOT had one. Sorry for the confusion. The neuro psych doctor was the one who gave the diagnoses. We don't have the written report yet, but that's what she told us. She explained a lot more about what it all meant, but I really need the report to remember it all.
  20. Just an update- we have not had a neuro psych eval. DS was diagnosed with NVLD and ADHD. I don't have the written report yet, but the diagnoses seem to fit him well.
  21. Thanks. Great points. I really, really don't want to send him to school. I'm ok with sending him for reading help, if he needs it and I can't provide it, although I'd rather find a way for me to provide it. He is very fidgety! He would have a very hard time in a traditional school setting, and even one that understands ADD would likely be hard for him. He gets very down on himself if he thinks he's "not good" (his words). I can redirect or change the plan when he needs it, and I only have one other student to worry about. At a school he would be one of many. thanks for replying. Chelsea
  22. Hi, I've been lurking on this board for a little while, but I've been waiting to post until I had the results from my son's neuro psych eval. Today we met with the doctor and she said that my 7 year old son has NVLD and ADHD. She didn't talk much about the ADHD part, and that's fine. I've read a bunch about what that means lately because I'm pretty sure I am ADD too, so I've got a handle on that. The NVLD part doesn't surprise me one bit. The part that scared me was that she said she was "very concerned about his reading and writing". She used the word dysgraphia. She said he has verbal to motor issues. She suggested a reading tutor and OT twice a week. For starters, that's going to cost us a fortune. We have done private OT for years, once a week, for 30 visits a year (covered by insurance), but now at 2 times a week, it will cost a ton. She wants that for writing. Not just fine motor. But like how he can't copy a word or sentence without missing several letters or a word or two. And some other stuff. And the reading tutor- I called the school system, and they might provide reading assistance if he qualifies. I'm not sure he will. I was surprised that he did so poorly on the reading part. She said he couldn't read simple sentences and that his spelling was very poor. So when we got home today, I had him read from a book. He read the following with only one mistake- It was Christmas Eve. Sam's Wild West Show was almost home. Everyone was dashing through the snow in sleighs pulled by horses. Everyone but Sam. Sam flew in his hot-air balloon. He didn't know sleigh. But that's no surprise because we didn't get to that yet in spelling/reading. "eigh" saying "ay". He also, in the testing, couldn't count pictures of coins, but I just gave him a pile of coins and he counted out $1.65 in random coins no problem once I told him he could keep it. ;) So I think some of the testing was off a bit because he was super stressed out by it. And the doctor did agree on that. But she and my husband now think he needs a tutor for reading and OT twice a week. I'm a little freaked out and am wondering if I can continue to teach him at home. We have a pretty relaxed style of doing math, spelling, and reading each day. Tons of read alouds. And lots of free time, field trips, art, music, and movement. We do AAS, Singapore, and Beast Academy. We don't do formal reading. Should I start with AAR maybe? The doctor suggested a Wilson or O-G approach. I'm not sure what I'm asking here. I suppose lots of people get these diagnoses for their kids and come here freaked out, right? So what next? Thanks. Chelsea.
  23. Advocatus Diaboli- I just used your link. Did you get to the 4? Once you reach it, if anyone else signs up- please use my link so I can get the extra downloads. thanks! http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/bf-freebies/?c23644Le
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