Avila
-
Posts
2,317 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Avila
-
-
Big second on History Odyssey. They also let you download a good portion as a free trial, so you can really look at the program and see if it will work for you.
For me, it really has made WTM doable. It does the scheduling for me, it includes map work, and it is teaching outlining and summarizing.
Good luck!
-
I love catalogs, but I don't do well basing a buying decision on them. The catalog is usually aimed at playing up the positives and convincing you to buy. I will say that the Sonlight catalog's 27 reasons not to buy is fabulous though.
I also love the forums, but my best use of them is narrowing down the field to one or two entries per category to check out at a homeschool conference or curriculum share. Another wonderful forum tool for me is finding out what other people with children like mine are using because different things work for different kids.
I really make better choices when I can see things in person. But no matter how careful I am, I still buy the occasional dud.
If you can, join a homeschool group now and try to make it to at least one convention this spring. It can be overwhelming, but if you come up with a list beforehand of things you know you want to look at and a definite budget, it can be a wonderful experience.
Good luck!
-
We had this done with my oldest DD, who was 19 months at the time. I was scared to death, but I have no doubt in my mind that we did the right thing for her. We had it done at a children's hospital, which made me feel better about it. She needed quite a bit of work though. Her enamel did not form correctly for some reason.
My second DD had a cavity at 2 and the same dentist was able to use laughing gas and fill it in the office. My third DD had no cavities until a very tiny one at 5.
It is a hard decision, but I do think that it is sometimes necessary and the right thing to do.
-
Sonlight. This is our first year, and I love it. I read the 27 reasons every year and went back and forth over it, and every year until now, I went with something else. I was finally able to find the IG I wanted used, and I figured $20 was worth it to give it a spin. I am hooked, and my two younger DDs love it.
I also really like History Odyssey, but it gets a mixed review from DD.
-
I really like this book, and history is my thing. But it is (at least right now) just a book, with no activity guide, tests, etc. That doesn't bother me, but I know that some people are looking for that. And unless you have a truly exceptional 7th grader, I think it would be best for the high school years.
Just another aside, I am not a huge fan of SOTW, but I love this one, and I am hoping she gets the whole series finished in time for me to use it for high school.
-
I am jealous too! I saw Billy in St. Louis last year, and he was wonderful. He is coming back here again too, but the tickets were too much. Have a great time for me at your concert!
-
I just bought Connecting with History, and I wish I loved it. I really wanted to love it, but I don't.
I haven't tried to line it up with SOTW. I have tried to line it up with various spines, and it just doesn't work well, IMO. It is designed for the bible to BE the spine, and nothing else is quite centered or paced the same way. I drove myself crazy for two weeks trying to MAKE this work, and I am not capable of it.
CWH is very choppy and uneven as is. Since it uses the bible as a spine, there are lots of units with a lot of bible but nothing else to really go with it. Then there are other units with HUGE amounts to cover for other things (like all of FMOG), and only the one unit to do it in. I felt like we would be alternating between too much and not enough, and I didn't get the feel of making the history come alive in the context of the bible, which was what I thought the whole point was. I like to try to spread what I am doing out more evenly over the time we have, and CWH felt like we would be hurrying through some really important things way too fast.
I am still using CWH as a resource. But I eventually decided on Sonlight Core 1 with my younger DDs and History Odyssey for my older DD, and I am successfully combining them to stay on the same topics at the same time. HO does use SOTW as its spine, so it you are wanting more structure for it, HO would do that quite well. If you are looking at CWH for adding in Catholic stuff, there just isn't a lot to add in for the ancients anyhow. The CWH spine is the Catholic Picture Bible, and you can break that up yourself just as well as they did and read it along with SOTW. The only things besides that scheduled by CWH for little ones are the activity books like Classical Kids. Those are also fairly easy to schedule in, but IMO, the SOTW activity book is a lot easier to use than all of them.
There is a CWH yahoo group that isn't very active, but you might be able to find some help there.
Maybe someone else can speak to this specifically in regard to SOTW.
Good luck!
-
Umm, yes.:001_huh:
Grammar: I have most of the old VIEs.
Literature: Yes, all the way to college.
Spelling: Spelling power
Writing: I have WWE but no workbooks, and CW Aesop but no workbooks, so I could make this work.
Math: a problem. I really need Saxon 65. I do have some math games and Miquon that might last a year in a pinch.
Science: I have a science encyclopedia and various books, plus the library.
Latin: Maybe we would finally finish LC1.
Social Studies: I bought early and started early, and we will go through next year with what I have. To be completely honest, I have all sorts of other stuff too, and can go to high school without blinking.
Should this be more embarrassing? I swear I make the rounds of the used curriculum circuit and library book sales, so I don't have quite the monetary investment that this looks like on paper.
-
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons also takes this approach. This is my third child, but it is the first time I have used this book, and it is going pretty well. She seems to be picking up the letter names pretty naturally.
-
A exercise ball (to sit on during school) and a mini trampoline for my 7 yo DD to help her concentrate
First Language Lessons 1 and 2
Seton English for pure grammar
Sonlight, which is great for combining my kids
History Odyssey for 5-8th grade
Dorothy Mills' ancient world history books
It is always neat to read what everyone else is posting on these thread!
-
Prayers for all of you! :grouphug:
-
I think that starting with DPNs helps you really understand the what you are doing.
Side note: I love the KnitPicks harmony or plain bamboo DPNs. Not a big fan of metal! And you can usually find the cheapest nice sock yarn online too.
Have fun! I love knitting socks!
-
I really needed the replies. This is our third year homeschooling, and the third bad February, so you would think I would see this coming. But I don't! It is always a surprise.
-
Ask her if it hurts or burns when she goes and look for the color of the urine. Dark urine or pink is bad (infection). Also check for fever or pain in the middle back. If you have a nurse line through your insurance or local hospital, it wouldn't hurt to talk to them too.
Besides a UTI, another common thing is general irritation in that area because of not wiping well or soap not being rinsed off. Has she had any bubble baths recently? If the area looks irritated, have her take a cool bath then you can also put hydrocortisone cream on it, and sometimes that fixes the problem too.
My DD uses this as her excuse to not go to bed or not have to do what she doesn't want to. No infections, just her version of delay tactics. I did talk to her doctor about it, and since I have had many UTIs myself and know what to look for, she told me that as long as there was no fever, I could take a wait and see approach until morning and not have to do the ER or anything drastic. I have never had to do that, and the "events" have never lasted until morning.
Prayers that all is fine!
-
I don't know why this is, but I seem to dread Februarys. This one is no different.
I have just barely gotten over my annual ditch the curriculum crisis. My 7yo DD is having speech problems again (prayers please!) and we are finally getting an independent diagnosis over the next few weeks. My best friend (and mom to my kids' best friends) just announced that they probably won't be homeschooling next year. My house is a disaster. And I am probably going to have to have my gall bladder removed.
I am just feeling kind of lousy.
-
First off, I have to say that I would not do something I hated. But if they really want to try it, and you have no serious reasons to dislike it, I would definitely incorporate some of it into what you are doing.
Some kids really like workbooks, and they definitely have a time and place for usefulness. Could you compromise and use them for English and math and still do AO for science and social studies work?
As far as A Beka goes, I like their math in the lower grades especially. The have some decent books, so, like with everything else, use what you think will work for you and for them, and save the arguments for the stuff that you really feel strongly about. It certainly doesn't have to be all or nothing here.
Good luck!
-
I don't have a problem with this at all. I see a big difference between openly raising money for a charity and IMO bribing someone to do a job they are already being paid for. (Lest anyone think I just hate all of these, I have to say I always put money in the jar for the local animal shelter that is out at a local restaurant and I am currently saving change in a baby bottle for a local crisis pregancy center.) As long as people know what it is for and who the money is going to, I think this is great.
Kudos for training for a worthy cause!
-
I find the whole thing awkward. I mean, for waiters in a sit down restaurant, of course I expect to tip. But if I am at Starbucks, didn't I just pay the person to get me a coffee? What is the difference between good and poor service there? If the coffee isn't cold, I should tip? If they didn't spit in it?
I have never seen this at a tire place either. I don't want to be mean or try to cheat anyone, but if the price of having tires put on is more than what I just paid, then change the price and I will know that ahead of time. The service thing, to me, has always earned my future loyalty to that business -- meaning that I am not tipping them, but the next time I need tires, I will go back and I will tell anyone else who needs tires that this is a great place to go.
Am I supposed to tip the cashier at Wal-Mart for checking me out or the person in the drive thru at McDonalds for getting my order right? I just don't know anymore. At what point did doing your job adequately always require a tip? I mean, if they do a terrible job, I can always complain, but I guess there isn't a great way to reward someone in a service industry job for really going above and beyond, is there?
Either way, my guess is that in this economy, you will start seeing more and more of those jars. And I really don't mean to offend anybody who does tip in these places, but I am just really perplexed about this and the idea that I have to pay extra to get what I just paid for or I am a bad person really makes me wonder about things.
-
I wouldn't, primarily because I think that the value I add as their mother and as someone who knows them is worth something, but even if I wanted to, there is no way I could afford to work and pay someone to homeschool for me.
I think if she really wants to do this, her best bet is private tutoring, which could apply to kids universally, and offering specific classes in her area of expertise or teaching at a co-op and doing the same thing.
In my area, the things people seem willing to pay for are music and the arts, writing, lab sciences and math tutoring.
-
For my 5th grader next year:
Voyages in English 6 (old version)
Classical Writing Aesop B and maybe Poetry for Beginners A
Wordly Wise 3000 Book 6
Spelling Power
Saxon 65
Apologia YE Zoology 1
Faith and Life 5/bible history/Baltimore catechism
History Odyssey Ancients Level 2 plus Dorothy Mills' books, Famous Men or Greece and Rome, D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and Augustus Caesar's World
Latina Christiana 1
Seton Art 5
I think that is it, but you never know what I am going to change by the time fall comes around.
-
I agree with what Sue said (and took her advice not to buy all the supplementals, thank you!). We just started history Odyssey Ancients Level 2 two weeks ago.
Having said that, History Odyssey is my best chance at really doing WTM for history. I happen to have quite a few ancient history DK-type books that I have picked up at library book sales, so I add those in for visual interest. My library also has many of the same titles (Kingfisher Guide to the Ancient World, Everday Life in the Ancient World, Science in Ancient Egypt, Usborne Ancient World, Virginia Schomp books, etc.) I did switch out Story of Mankind for Gombrich's Little History of the World, and I am adding in Dorothy Mills' series on the ancient world and a Catholic history book called Old World and America.
I also have some historical fiction that I add in that I got from the Mother of Divine Grace list from Emmanuel books. They have a syllabus to do their program, but I found it really dry to do. MODG is Catholic, but you could definitely used the book list to choose some great historical fiction anyhow because the books are chosen from all different perspectives. You could also look at the Core 6 and Core 7 Sonlight readers or WP QAW to add interest. And Hillside Education puts out some great Literature Study Guides that go with the MODG books, if that would help with discussion.
Even so, there is definitely a learning curve for my DD. She is struggling to get used to the outlining and writing summaries, but I personally feel like she needs to be building those skills during middle school. We had already started a timeline, so we are adding to that, and HO mapwork is REALLY convenient for me, since it is all included. I just think HO provides a really nice outline and starting point to branch out from for us.
Hope this helps.
-
Well, curriculum junkie that I am, I think I could manage for a year or two with no pinch even. I guess that is cheating, though, huh?
My big problems would be math and grammar. I think I could maybe even pull grammar off, but I would have to find money somewhere to buy the math books!
I have been thinking about this more and more, in this economy. I have been looking at more free stuff and the library and trying to concientiously look at nonconsumables and swapping with friends. Even most of my "build up" has been purchased at used curriculum sales, which we are lucky enough to have in this area several times a year.
Really interesting thread!
-
I usually put in 1-2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten, depending on the size of the loaf, in also. My loaves seem to rise better that way.
-
No, I personally wouldn't.
But I am seeing this from the side of the person doing the child care. I taught preschool and did in home daycare, and I can tell you that from that end, it is a difficult thing to manage what you want for your own kids, and what your standards are, with what someone else is expecting sometimes, and that is without the school issue coming up. I know I didn't understand this side of it when I had to send my oldest DD to a babysitter when she was little.
I definitely wouldn't take this on lightly, and I would expect more than the going rate for daycare, especially if I had to follow someone else's schedule and/or curriculum choices. This is a huge thing to turn over to someone else and to expect it to be done well.
I wish you the very best, and I will be praying for you as you make this very difficult choice.
Is it worth it to buy cheap laundry detergent?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
My kids have issues with eczema, so I use All Free and Clear, and I really like it. For really tough stains, I dab on some Clorox 2. It is cheaper than Tide, but probably not as cheap as some of the other things mentioned. I almost never have stain issues, though, and my middle DD is pretty messy.
I do have the stuff to make my own laundry detergent, but I am chicken to try it because I don't want to go through the itching if it doesn't work! Maybe some of the posts here will convince me to finally do it.