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Amy in CO

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Posts posted by Amy in CO

  1. We started this in the middle of the year. After my dd has read and responded in writing, she gets to choose areas to explore. I give her a unit to read, a number of papers she needs to do for that section. Then I allow her to pick what she is most interested in to research. She has made feasts based on old style recipes, she is carving a viking boat out of balsa wood from a pattern found online, she researched mosaics and made one, hand drawn maps of the areas studies...

     

    For each project, there is also a written aspect where she discusses what she has learned.

     

    I give her a deadline that the unit is due with all projects, reading, and writing. She is learning pacing and planning for larger projects, it has really helped her research skills, and has really gotten to dig into what she is interested in and learned to love history again. It has been a wonderful experience and we are planning to repeat it again next year with American history.

  2. I can completely relate. My oldest two are three years apart, they learned to read 6 months apart. My middle child is the kind that can learn in his sleep, although he is currently entering a ditzy phase. While my oldest has to hear and do things about 50 times for it to even sound familiar and like something she might have heard before.

     

    I spent a lot of time being frustrated with the older and expecting her to speed things up, but she just couldn't. It didn't do any good and actually harmed our relationship.

     

    Don't stop trying to teach her, but don't push her faster than she can go. She may do the work but there will be no retention. Not only could she grow to resent you, but she might also resent her younger brother. She may shut down and say what's the point in trying, I'll never get it anyways.

     

    On the bright side, as I am nearing the end of the journey with my older, just 2 years to go, she is now interested in things. She is taking charge of her education and picking what she wants to learn about. She does her work, without complaint for the most part. She has matured to the point that she doesn't daydream all day and have to work all night. She gets her tasks done in a timely matter. And except for math, which is still a struggle, she is catching up in all areas to where she should be.

  3. My dd would love to do a zoology science class next year for 11th grade. She has taken a basic biology, and human anatomy class. Has anyone tried this? I have been searching Amazon and found a couple of text books, but I wonder how dry they will be.

     

    I have thought of some experiments and hands on explorations. But I am trying to figure out how to tie it all together.

     

    I plan to have her do a scientist biography, an animal research paper, and follow the development of an idea, theory, or technology.

     

    She would love to just explore this field by reading everything the library has to offer. Would this cover it well enough to give a credit?

     

    Any ideas?

  4. My dd has used AG over the last year in a half. So about Dec of her 9th grade year, through this year, her 10th. She has finished the 3 seasons, but I decided to reinforce for the remainder of the year with the review book. I would say it is very doable in a year. It took her about 30 mins a day to do a lesson, we didn't do the paraphrasing as that was done in another curriculum we were using. Now, doing the reviews, it takes her about 15 mins, once a week.

     

    It has been a great program and well worth the money.

     

    Trying to do the entire program with the HS reinforcement too, in just one year seems a bit much. I agree with Sue, that doing it over the summer would be better. The HS book shouldn't take much time, and if done just 2x per week, it can be completed in the summer.

  5. My son didn't read until after he turned 8. A couple of months later it just clicked. At this time he was being tested for other issues and they found that he has serious short term memory issues. If it is something he is interested in, it goes straight to long term memory to never be forgotten. But if it is something he isn't as interested in, it has to be introduced repeatedly to get it from short term to long term. There is no magical number of times that it has to "learned" again, you just have to keep at it until it sticks. But now, one year later, he reads constantly. I tease him that he is making up for lost time.

  6. I will be combining my 7th and 4th grade boys next year. They both enjoy lapbooking and history pockets. They don't like to color them, but to have a scrapbook of what they learned.

     

    We will be using The Story of the USA books 1-4 and American History Encyclopedia as our spines. Then we will be using a variety of library books to flesh out the info before adding to our lapbooks and pockets. I also have Critical Thinking's American History series that I will be pulling from.

     

    Boys want to include projects for each time period, ie build a fort, cooking from the period, etc. So our aim will be a monthly project like that.

     

    We will be covering all of American history in a year.

  7. I usually have a rubric of some sort that helps me to grade essays. But in my mind I will think that is about a B paper, or a C paper, or whatever. But I still go through the rubric and use that. If both my thought and the rubric come up with the same grade, that is what they get. If they don't match I try to see if I was too strict in my thoughts or if the rubric wasn't grading what I wanted it too, is so I adjust it.

     

    As far as what I would grade this paper, if it was my daughter, I would probably give her a B-. But we would discuss it alot so that she would be clear as to what I expected next time. And the next time I would grade a little harsher, expecting her to applied what we discussed. Meaning that if she turned in a similar a second time, it would be a C or C+. I would continue to grade harsher if she didn't meet the expectations of the assignment.

  8. My dd is 10th, last year we went through these same questions. She had done Abeka for Math 4-7 and prealg. So the next logical step was alg 1. But by Nov of her 9th grade year she was failing. I took her back to pre-alg and had her redo it with another book. We worked through the summer to catch up. We started with Lial's algebra book this fall, and having the review and another year to mature, she has done great.

     

    Luckily in CO we don't have to do what the schools do for classes, and even if we did, it is only 3 years of math. But could you go back for a review or pre-alg for the remainder of this year and summer. Then do year round math until she graduates. There is no point in pushing forward when they don't understand what came before, it only leads to more confusion and the feeling that they know nothing and are stupid.

  9. My kids have done German 1-2, I assume it is similar for other programs. The core, or first lesson, for each unit is 40 mins. The other lessons are 5-15 mins. My kids choose to do the core in one sitting because it sticks with them better. And for the shorter lessons they just work through them 15-30 mins at a time. I know they have stopped part way through the shorter lessons before with no difficulty, but I don't know if they have stopped in the longer core.

  10. My dd, almost 16, has struggled with school from the very beginning. When I talked to her last night, I realized that she thinks in pictures, not words. She thinks she understands something because she can "see" it in her mind, but when asked to explain it, she can't convert the picture to words. It doesn't matter if she is trying to speak or write, the explanation just doesn't come out in an understandable way.

     

    I have shown her different ways to study in the hopes that we might get the words in her mind, but it isn't working. We both just end up frustrated.

     

    She has a poor vocabulary and a regular vocab program hasn't worked because she can't make the connection between the program and her other work. I do have her use a thesaurus when writing and substitute better words after her first draft. But none of those words stay with her after she writes them. In the very next writing assignment, she will return to the same, simplistic words again.

     

    Has anyone dealt with this or know of something that we might try? Is this a type of learning difficulty that I haven't heard about? Thanks for any suggestions.

  11. My dd has struggled in math. She is in 10th grade and we are just plugging away. She wasn't to the point of starting Pre-Algebra until 8th, had to repeat with a different program in 9th. Now we are into Algebra, and after a shaking start she is just starting to grasp the concepts. Next year we plan to do geometry which has me a little worried. If it takes her 2 years to be able to get through it, she won't get to Algebra 2.

     

    So many graduation requirements are for 3 years of math Algebra 1 and higher. Colleges require this higher math. In Colorado we set our own graduation requirements as homeschoolers, so technically we don't need to go through Algebra 2. Would you hold your child back for a 5th year of high school to do Algebra 2 or would you just graduate them.

     

    She is not headed to a top college, so that isn't an issue. But even the low and mid level colleges seem to have 3 maths as a requirement. Any BTDT advice?

  12. We belong to an enrichment program for homeschoolers attached to a school district. There is some leeway for the teachers to use different methods to teach their students. However, this year they had all the jr. high and high school teachers attend seminars in group learning. Now they are expected to incorporate group learning where ever possible and the administration wants this philosophy to trickle down to all the grades.

     

    I have noticed that little work is being done or knowledge aquired. Which ever child is more out-spoken gives their opinion, then the other children all say, "That's a great idea, let's do that." Then they talk or in other ways waste their time.

     

    So, while they are expected to come up with their own lesson plans based on state standards, they have to incoporate whatever ideology is popular at the moment.

  13. Last year, 5th grade, I had my son spend 10-15 mins on spelling a day. He was able to get through 2 Spelling Workout lessons a week.

     

    This year, 6th grade, he still spends 10-15 mins, but now we only do it 2 days a week, and he gets through 1 lesson a week.

     

    He is getting ready to transition to word study and I am not sure how we will handle that. But most likely he will make cards on Monday for the roots and affixes, which will take longer, probably 30-45 mins. Then just review them Tues and Wed, which depending on the number of cards would take 5-10 mins. Then on Thursday do the exercises for 10-15 mins.

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