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llifeon18wheels

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Posts posted by llifeon18wheels

  1. Math: Algebra II (possibly online Apologia)

    History/Literature/Bible: Omnibus IV Primary with Veritas Press

    Language Arts: Byline with Clear Water Press

    Foreign Language: 4th Form Latin with Memoria Press

    Science: Novare Chemistry or Apologia Chemistry (possibly online)

    Over the summer: Review of Algebra I with Memoria Press

    Physical Ed: Christian Soldiers Karate

    Geography: finish up BJU Press Geography

  2. Agreeing with previous posters.

     

    The majority of students (think the wide hill part of the "bell curve" of development) don't *start* to develop the abstract thinking and logic portions of the brain until age 12-14, so it's best to wait until 8th-10th grade to do  *formal* Logic program so you don't end up with a lot of frustration trying to do something that the student's brain just isn't ready for. (That's also why many students (aside from the gifted/advanced students) tend to do better waiting until 8th-9th grade to do Algebra 1.)

     

    Informal logic and critical thinking can be done from pre-K onward, and usually with fun things like puzzles and games.

     

    In case you're worried how your DD will do in an outsourced formal Logic class, you might consider having fun together going through some of these resources in the next month:

    - Perplexors -- logic grid puzzles

    - Logic Liftoff, followed by Orbiting With Logic

     

     

    As far as which online class to go with -- I can only give you a quick review of the programs each class is using; I'm linking sample pages to the name of each program so you can also skim and decide for yourself which would be a better fit for your DD:

     

    - Art of Argument = is more gentle/intro level and can be used with 7th-9th graders as a very first intro to formal Logic

    - Traditional Logic = is a high school level program -- definitely more "stout" and rigorous for starting with no previous logic exposure (student workbook level 1; level 2)

     

    Thank you for the ideas. I am going to go with the Perplexors books first and then I will re-look at this subject for a 9th grade online class.

  3. My daughter is heading into 8th grade and hasn't started any Logic study yet.

     

    I am looking at an online option for this because I think she would enjoy it more. My choices are Classical Academic Press Logic which uses the Art of Argument product. The other option is Memoria Press and they use the Traditional Logic product that they make. I know that I can do a DVD version of both of these options but I really want to do an online class for her.

     

    Any advice on these two options? Also, is 8th grade too late? I know that I can do whatever I like but I'd like to prepare her for high school and not be slack.

     

    Thanks! Michelle

  4. My list will be short and sweet.

     

    I am loving our Memoria Press online latin class. I actually sit and just listen to the teacher because she relaxes me.

     

    I really like our Math-U-See Pre-Algebra. We have far fewer tears.

     

    I picked up Notgrass "From Adam to Us" and I LOVE IT!!!

     

    I don't think we will continue with Analytical Grammar now that we are taking latin online.

     

    Science. - hhhmmm. We just finished Apologia A&P and have no clue what to do next. I think I'll be reading your comments to get some ideas.

     

  5. I'm curious to know what are your expectations of your students to complete each subject. Like a range of time. I understand that each student will have their own challenges and then also that each subject requires a different amount of time to invest in it. SO, with all of that in mind, what would you guess for the following subjects. I'd love to hear (read) what others have thought about and then possibly if your expectations were spot on or totally unrealistic. My daughter is at the end of 6th grade and almost 12 years old. So, my point is that she's average, not behind and not far ahead either. Here are my guesses or expectations.

     

    Math - 1 hour per lesson / 5 days a week

    Science - 45 minutes per lesson / 5 days a week

    Language Arts - 1 hour per lesson / 5 days a week

    History - 1 hour of reading / 5 days a week

    Art or Music - free time / at least 1 hour / 3 days a week

     

    Thanks!! Michelle

  6. So I've checked out the post that lists out all the math curriculum options for Algebra and beyond. I've checked out Horizons, Teaching Textbooks, and Jousting Armadillos. I don't know anything about Foresters (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) or Jacobs or Dolciani. Pleas give me some guidance on where to start next.

     

    My daughter started school with LifePac, then moved to Horizons in 3rd grade. Then we did Teaching Textbooks for the last 3 grades.She is 11.5 and finishing Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra at the end of the month. I wouldn't say that she's advanced but it seems that she is by her age. maybe just a little. She cried a lot before Pre-Algebra and that was troubling but this past year,she's been moving a a normal pace and it's encouraging.

     

    Has anyone moved away fro TT for Algebra because they thought it wouldn't prepare them for the high school subjects? If you moved away, did you go back? I can go to marvel's locally but they don't have the last three brands that I listed for me to look thru.

     

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

     

    Michelle

  7. My DS has been working his way through A Child's History of Art: Architecture, doing 1-2 lessons a week. There are 54 lessons in all so he will finish it next year. We use it as an elective but it could easily be fleshed out to make a full blown history course. It is a Calvert course but we bought it at Christian Books. 

     

    http://www.christianbook.com/a-childs-history-of-art-architecture/v-m-hillyer/pd/228502?event=ESRCG

    This looks great. Could this be done on the side or would you use this for history by itself?

  8. So sorry that it's taken me this long to respond. I've had my planner for a good enough time to make an evaluation.

     

    First off, my planner and it's quality are awesome. Nothing wrong there. I did order extra stickers and the print was thinner than their preprinted stickers but no big deal. I do think the price for the stickers is high but I wouldn't be able to figure out printing them and I don't have access to a printer daily (we are truck drivers and barely home).

     

    Next issue is that I chose it for homeschooling not conventional school. I love that it is dateless and that I can start anywhere during the year and that drove me away from the Life Planner. It has 40 weeks of lesson planning (mine actually has 42 weeks, don't know why) and I just write in what week we are on. You write in the week number at the top and the dates down the left side of the left page. I do wish it had 7 days because we school they the week but I realize that's not normal for the majority.

     

    Here are the negatives. They end up all being me versus the planner. I started off writing what we accomplished each day outside of doing Sonlight. I use their schedule and had added so much stuff to their schedule (in the blank spaces) that it looked messy. I realized after a month that I was just journaling what we did each week, I wasn't actually PLANNING anything. Ok, so back to square one. I pulled out all the stuff (books and schedules) that I had for my daughter to do and actually planned the next 3 months out (we school year-round). That was SO MUCH BETTER.

     

    I have found that I've used those preprinted stickers to cover up my writing mistakes because I would plan something like CAP Fable to take 2 days a week but it only took her 1 day. Now, my planner looks like chaos. I even started using Washi tape and that just helps to streamline my pages by eliminating the blank spaces. Now it's filled with colorful chaos. I can see why a digital planner would work better for things like that but I don't want to get my computer out each day or even each week for that matter. Our lifestyle on the road just doesn't make it easy.

     

    Other parts are all the pages that I didn't think I'd use. I have used the 2-page notebook sheets behind each month in the calendar for notes on struggles with sleep, focus, foods, changes in behavior, new products we started and where she is progressing. I didn't track that anywhere before my planner. I do like that.

     

    The graphing pages, absentee pages and the grading pages are still mostly blank. I love the size of the teacher planner and wouldn't want those pages gone because then it would be a skinny thing. I just need to figure out what else I could put there. So, I'm not fully utilizing it but I wonder if it's because I only have one child or is it because I don't write stuff down as a habit. I don't know.

     

    In response to the Plum Paper Planner. My daughter doesn't use it but it is an 18 month planner and so I'll try to reintroduce it in October when our new school year starts. I thought it would help her with feeling more in control of her studies but she's just not needing that like I thought. We've worked on food sensitivities, more consistent sleep, more consistent vitamin intake and now introducing Essential Oils and those things are helping her far more than the planner idea.

     

    I hope somehow they my rambling that you. An determine whether you would want one. Are they expensive? Yes. Are they good quality? Yes, mine was but I've read more than once that people had issues, this thread included. Can hey handle daily life? Yes, and then some. That cover and coil (on mine) are fabulous and beyond able to handle my lifestyle. Does it fit my needs? Not really but I am willing to adapt. I wish they would come out with a larger Life Planner or a Homeschool Planner. Will I buy another one? Yes, because I need the strength of this one and I'm not ready to use one of the fabulous online or on computer ones. I can see when I'm home more and in a different job, a digital one may be in my future.

     

    Now, with all that said. They are very pretty and I want one for educating myself in Essential Oils and beyond. I plan on becoming a Massage Therapist and want to be the coolest strident I class with my pretty planner. :D

  9. I'm a Sonlight user and I want to mention that the IG does give you a suggested reading schedule but I've never fully run by it. I read multiple chapters I. A day because it just fits better. I mark off each thing we do and keep 4 weeks of the IG out at a time.

     

    I'm sure BookShark will be the same way. Taylor it to your needs. All the missionary titles are gone but it's secular so they pick great books to substitute with. I think it'd be a great choice for book loving families.

  10. When we went last year, we chose Old Town, Whale Watching (on the small Navy Seal sized boat, not the big ferry sized boat), the USS Midway Museum, sailing trip aboard the Californian at the San Diego Maritime Museum, and the San Diego Seal Tours. We did drive over to Check out Coronado Island and the Hotel del Coronado. That bridge scared the be-jeebies out of me.

     

    One of our best vacations. We had dogs and rented a beach house near Dog Beach and got to run the dogs each day. Fantastic!

  11. I'll jump in here with what I did. I only have one child and so I think that has directed a lot of what I've done. We chose to school year-round primarily due to our job (we are over-the-road truck drivers and our daughter is on the truck with us).

     

    We did not really do a Kindergarten grade but she was in a local church preschool. Next, 1st grade was from Sept-Dec 2010. She finished fast and I knew we wouldn't wait until the next school year. Then we started 2nd grade in Jan 2011 and went until Sept 2011. We had taken 2-wk vacations grouch out the year so I just kept going. We stated 3rd grade in Oct 2011 and finished end of Aug 2012. I chose to give her a longer break at this point. We started 4th grade in Oct 2012 and kept on until Sep 2013. I really liked our previous schedule so we did it again. Fifth grade started in Oct 2013 and we should finish history in August but all my other subjects are behind that because I changed everything up a few months ago.

     

    My goal will be to stay on an October to September schedule but always just moving to the next level in a subject even if it's in the middle of the year. So, it's an organized chaos.

     

    Michelle

     

    P.S. The lady in my profile picture is my mom but those other sweeties are all on the truck as we travel the country.

  12. We switched from Horizons 5 to TT Math 7 and my daughter is doing, well, average. She's getting concepts as they are introduced but makes silly mistakes over and over and over. Those are the ones that irk me the most. If she missed the concept, I'd get that.

     

    Well, I heard a pith the "Key to ....." Series and bought Fractions. She spent 6 weeks on the 4 books set and wow, it made a huge difference. I had her go back to TT and just take the test at the end of the fraction rest and she did great. We just finished a few more TT chapters and I want to go back to Key to Decimals and then Key to Percents. We have done the first 8 books of LOF and will continue till the end with that series and a component each year.

     

    I think the combination helps her to process math in multiple ways and I'm always open to tweaking as we move thru the future grades.

     

    Michelle

  13. I don't want to hijack your thread, but I have to ask llifeon18wheels: I am looking at CAP, and it says it is from a reformed perspective teaching Westminster's Catechism. I am not Reformed, and I wondered how much of the Reformed perspective you encountered, if much at all. From the samples, I don't think I will have an issue and could always alter a lesson or two and discuss what I believe, but I was just curious what your experience has been.

    I'm going to admit mybifnorance here but I don't know the difference between reformed Catechism and not. I didn't go to church as a child and it saved when I was 31 years old. I went straight into an evangelical church.

     

    What was important to me was that the student book explain the Word of God for what is is and the book does that very well. I didn't feel like there was additional explanation that can come in study bibles. Our daughter is 10 and has been raised on KJV (daddy's request, I like Amplified myself). When I read the teachers manual, I like the explanation and expansion of thought in it and I pick and choose what we discuss further.

     

    I asked my daughter the Catechism questions but am ignorant to their importance in a theological sense. I'm sorry for not helping with your question. My main goal was a child level teaching on the Word of God, historically told but also fully opening up he idea of faith and God's power.

     

    Michelle

  14. No matter what you do, limit the computer games and make sure he gets enough sleep and eats and hydrates properly, and gets outside and engages in movement.

     

    Whining is best addressed with chores and work, not academics and EC. Boys need to WORK and they need to be around men if at all possible.

     

    ECs are such a new thing really. They are not traditionally a big part of the life of children. Homeschoolers tend to use them to receate some of what parents fear children are missing by not attending PS. What did children do before ECs?

     

    ECs were not a part of my boys' lives even before they started homeschooling. I got very sick when they were in early elementary and when I got better, we never jumped back into ECs. They are expensive and disruptive to an orderly family schedule. ECs have replaced WORK in the lives of children, and I don't think with better results.

     

    I'm not addressing when a child loves a SPECIFIC activity. I'm just addressing the role of ECs in GENERAL in the lives of modern children.

    Almost every time I read one of your posts I say, "See, someone else thinks the exact same way but I've never put it into words."

     

    I too believe this. We have an only child that we took out on the road with us just before she was 6 years old. Some people mention socialization to me and I always get super defensive. 1. She's an only child. 2. She's homeschooled. 3. She's in the truck with her parents 24/7.

     

    Issue for us is that before we did this job, I didn't put her in any classes for dance, gymnastics, or whatever else there is. I am extremely social but I'm 10-15 years older than most women in our area that have children the same age. I found no common ground with other moms. I went back to school (when she was 3) at the age of 40 so I made no new friends at school. I've always felt like I was a mismatch and I know it may affect her. I'm just aware if it all the time.

     

    I try not to tear myself up to much but the idea that EC's are required frustrated me. Sorry about high jacking the post. Ok, rant over.

     

    Michelle

     

    P. S. The lady in the profile picture is my mom. I really should change it to one of me but I just love that picture. :D

  15. We are over the road truck drivers and essentially I've done none of our schooling AT home. We are gone from home about 8-9 weeks at a time. I bring everything that is needed during that time on the truck with us. I realize that it's probably way different than traveling in a car and staying in hotels but I do have a few pointers. Just a few.

     

    1. Work on a weekly basis versus daily. I utilize all 7 days when I'm looking at the week.

     

    2. When activities are planned, workbooks are great for independent work. When I'm driving, I have my daughter do workbook subjects when I need to pay attention to traffic or in bad weather. Otherwise, she reads everything to me.

     

    3. Getting restless arms and kegs moving before work is required seems to help. I drive at night and my husband drives during the day. Between our shifts, we stop at rest areas and spend time outside in the sun with our daughter and our dogs. It's great to let her run and squeal before school starts.

     

    4. Sometimes school is still going until 01:00 AM and it's ok because we have am odd schedule. Yep, last night we were reading Story of the World at 00:30 AM and because I didn't really want her dreaming of wars and battles, I had her read bible scriptures to me for 30 minutes.

     

    I understand that our lifestyle is so far from normal but I'm sure some of you have just as much a "different" lifestyle as we do. I know it took me at least a full year before I relaxed my expectations of what school would look like for us.

     

    P.S. The lady in my profile picture is my

    Mom but all the others are in the truck with me. It's crowded but like I said, we spend some time outside each day.

     

    P.S.S. I drive from about 5:30PM to 4:00 AM.

  16. Are you homeschooling ONLY for academic reasons? If so, it's harder to get through days like this.

     

    Even if you STARTED for academic reasons, maybe you have noticed other benefits as you move along in your journey. Maybe make a list of those benefits for days like this?

    Loved this question. Our reasons for homeschooling are numerous but Academic Excellamce wasn't in our initial decision making process. We chose to homeschool based on freedom from spiritual and/or political views being forced on our child. We knew that homeschooling would be cheaper than Private School and that did have an impact initially. Once I began researching the curriculum products, I found that my daughter will have more opportunities to excel at what is interesting to her AND have more creative products to learn with.

     

    At this point, 4 years in, we've got the financial means to buy whatever we want (Thanks be to God for His provision) and the more I research - the more awesome products I find to try. Nowadays, we are even further away from what is acceptable to be taught in Public Schools, both spiritually and politically. I'm not willing to sacrifice my daughter's childhood inocense for, IN MY OPINION (take it or leave it), a progressively based agenda used to teach her. We want to be able to discuss what we want DURING the course of each subject. In our family's case, that would be God.

     

    So, does it get hard HECK YEAH! I want to quit weekly and I've hollered it a few times. I only teach one child but oh my goodness, she tests me. Academically, she's a little advanced but emotionally she's average. She throws tantrums over decimals and can't stand it if I have her re-read something because she speeds thru EVERYTHING.

     

    But in no way would I ever change it in our family. I have such strong feelings against quitting that it calms me down. I have to do this weekly. I won't say it gets easier but if you can find those reasons that help you to stand your ground, you'll get thru it.

     

    I realize some choose to change directions and I have hugs for you. I'm not criticizing anyone for choosing that route.

     

    Michelle

  17. I haven't used Biblioplan but I am using God's Great Covenant 1 right now. I just want to say I love this product and quickly bought book 2 for Old Testament and book 1 for New Testament. Book 2 comes out in June. The Teacher's Manual is awesome with the expanded information. We are evangelical Christians and it's perfect (for us).

  18. My husband and I drive truck across the country as a team. People always ask "do you drive the same truck or seperate ones?"

     

    Huh?

     

    BTW, the woman in my profile picture is my mom. But, our daughter AND those 2 dogs are all on the same truck at the same time. And yep, we are together 24/7 and lots of folks swear they couldn't do it.

  19. It depends on the child, obviously.

     

    It depends in the curriculum you are using, obviously.

     

    A huge, but often overlooked factor in student independent learning is the general environment the student is living in. Have they learned to WORK independently in areas other than academics? Are they healthy, hydrated, well-nourished, and eating a low sugar and low caffeine diet? Are they getting enough sleep? Are they getting enough exercise? Is the environment conducive to good mental health? Is media and twaddle limited? Tired and dehydrated students who have never learned to work just cannot problem-solve well enough to self-educate.

    Light bulb moment! Thank you!

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