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quietchapel

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Posts posted by quietchapel

    Trying to keep school simple- would you add/change anything ?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I am trying to keep things simple, but I'm afraid I'm missing something. I'd appreciate any thoughts/ suggestions. Science never happens.

     

    Together we do Creek Edge Press Recitation, art memorization, time line books, and read Alouds from Sonlight Core D. We honestly don 't get to all of it each day. Everybody does journaling and creative writing most weeks, too. I am really hoping to add in art/ form drawing and some handwork, but we 'll see.

     

    Dd grade 5- R&S math, R&S spelling, handwriting, R&S English, Latin, copywork/ dictation, vocab notebook, SL readers F. She 's also reading about electricity right now.

     

    Ds grade 4- R&S math, R &S spelling, R&S English, handwriting, SL readers 4/5. We're reading through RS4K biology.

     

    Ds grade 2- spelling, handwriting, finishing little angel readers, SL 2 readers, Burgess Bird Book, R&S math

     

     

    Thank you!!!!

    Nothing New/Mindful Spending Week 16

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Welcome!

     

    That sounds like an enormous challenge, having to get rid of and replace all fabric items in your home. Was this an illness or allergic problem, I'm guessing? If you have a Freecycle group and or a Buy Nothing Project near you, this might be a way you could fill in some gaps for needed things - or do the replacements have to be brand new to avoid whatever the problem was? Also, if possible, ther might be a homeschool group or church affiliation that could help you secure replacements. ((Hugs))). That sounds very difficult.

     

    I can tell you there are some very creative and frugal ladies who post in this thread.

    Thank you!!!

     

    Yes, things we buy ( fabric. ) need to be new or from well- known environments, unfortunately. The short version is that I have asthma, and we lived in ( unbeknownst to us) moldy homes, so it us an allergy issue. Since all of that, I have asthma that is difficult to control and I am sensitive to everything - even the fragrance in shampoo- so, we are just exceedingly careful now .

     

    I appreciate the hugs and empathy! It is sometimes hard for people to understand the whole ' I can 't breathe thing' .

     

    We are in a wonderful home now and I am so excited to make it beautiful in an environmentally and consumer responsible way. And, I am so thankful that I can breathe. There's little else that matters in comparison.

    • Like 2

    Nothing New/Mindful Spending Week 16

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I love this thread! I often feel so slone in my frugalness. I once told my sister that I made liquid hand soap. She looked at me like I had just told her I was aspiring to be an alpaca. We do all kinds of weird stuff, but it adds up to quite a yearly savings.

     

    All that said, we are in a position where we are basically replacing everything. We moved in the fall and had to get rid of anything made of fabric. We also had to destroy most of our furniture. I had no idea how much that was until we did it. So... We are replacing stuff , but slowly. We have to buy things, and it's hard!

     

    I went grocery shopping yesterday. I also bought 4 books that I am very excited about. Today, after exhausting all other options, I broke down and bought dd a desk for $30. We desperately need a dedicated school space, and dd does in particular. I bought lots of replacement cloth for 'family cloth', a dish drainer, and spice rack thingy. I am so excited to be able to find spices easily. I hadn't come up with a diy for that, either.

     

    I am trying to simplify school without buying anything g for this year and next, so that is the next challenge. I also need clothes. Badly. So do the kids, but I have one pair of jeans, so I just need to break down and get some more.

     

    Glad to hear everyone else's thoughts!

    • Like 3

    The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    My sister called awhile ago in a near panic about how my kids were going to be able to get into U of M or another ' good school '. My oldest was 11 at the time. My sister lives in an area where it is totally normal to spend thousands each year on math camp, Mandarin lessons, chemistry camp, etc... for a seven year old. All of that is seen as preparing them to succeed. She has worried endlessly over all the things she believes my kids are missing, and tried for awhile to encourage us to move to their area. However, we are a lower income family. It would be SO expensive for us to live where she does.

     

    By all appearances we have done everything 'right'. Both my husband and I have college degrees, and he has a Master's. He is a Crisis Therapist, and has ( until October) a second job with the court. We don't have debt other than student loans and the house (that we don 't live in.)

     

    The thing is , life happens. We just moved out of a house we still own. It's a very long story, but we had to move and get rid of anything fabric. Clothes, furniture, beds, lamp shades, toys... So much. We still haven't replaced most things, and my husband is now losing his court position due to funding being cut. We have one old car. We don't have a dryer, computer, tv, dishwasher, microwave, etc, but it doesn't matter. I can breathe where we live now. I'm not afraid to go to sleep at night since I'm no longer afraid I'll stop breathing. So, all the things we don't have don't matter. We talk with our kids a lot about living well under our means, not using credit cards( we don't use them), and avoiding student loan debt.

     

    We do the best we can. We have a different perspective after everything we've been through. That perspective makes us even more committed to living as frugally as possible, and definitely glad we live in a low COL area.

     

    I guess I wish others would share their struggles. Even though our situation didn't sound anything like the author's, it was still helpful to read his story.

    • Like 2

    Are Sonlight's IGs hard to navigate?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I find the IG easy to use, but it took some getting used to. It 's second- nature now. I had a few years of hating SL and trying EVERYTHING else, but wound up back w/ SL/BKSK. I love and appreciate the IG's as they keep me accountable. I also like all the notes, vocabulary, and discussion questions. We've used science, history, and LA. We had a really tight year financially where we used lots of donated materials, and it was a blessing- but so much less efficient.

    What got done this year?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Yes. At least for us, it helped a lot. It had seemed like ds was spending most of his time doing not much and wishing he were in public school (which he probably will be next year), but when I looked at what was done (and I am not done with a list yet), I got:

     

    literature-- focus on dystopian lit (this led me to decide to add on Brave New World before end of year), and focus on American lit (Uncle Tom's Cabin, 5 by Mark Twain, ... ), Science Fiction (including HG Wells which gets toward the lit side, rather than just popular).

     

    Great Courses: US History, Espionage, Your Deceptive Mind

     

    first two Norton history books by SWB on Audible (ancient to medieval)

     

    various readings in Life Sciences and in Technology and Brain science

     

    Duolingo--not a lot, but some progress this year

     

    KhanAcademy -- almost done with pre-algebra

     

    sports: ice skating from level 3 to freestyle--so 9 USfigure skating levels in the one year, and bike riding most days for exercise

     

    writing: weakest area, but at least some was done, including 2 publications in Stone Soup

     

    co-op: city planning, shelter building for the homeless and studies about homelessness, American History topics, Africa studies, acting, geometry, half of Our Whole Lives sex ed.

     

    music: ukulele lessons

     

    It actually seems like a lot now that it is written out. Maybe lying around seeming to do nothing a lot of the time actually makes sense as needed down time.

    Yes. This makes so much sense. When I make lists like these I realize how valuable our time together is. Despite my feelings of inadequacy, I do know that my dd would not be immersed in nearly as much 'brain food' if she were in our local p.s. Lists are good!!
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