@MabelenHow long did you foster them and where your kids okay with sending them on to their forever homes when it was time? I'm particularly worried about how attached my kids might become to the foster dog.

Especially give me all the negative stuff because I want to know the worst of it first. Also, tell me about Labs and Lab Mixes.

Yep, you lazy bum! Lazing around reading romance and munching bon-bons. That's gotta be all that you're doing during the day if you homeschool. You can't possibly be actively working at raising, teaching, grooming and molding your child(ren) into productive, well-adjusted adults. (You're not qualified after all). Only teachers can instill children with the skills to read and write and think, let alone guide them in how to combine those skills to perform research in order to find, evaluate, learn and synthesize facts from history, government, geography or any other field of knowledge. I mean kids need to be institutionalized under the supervision of random adults with other kids within 1 standard deviation of their own experiences and development in order to become adults. At home, you can't be doing anything worth while with them in your own home. It's impossible. You don't have a phD.

That poor kid must've missed the day that they ran "Active Knifeman Drills" . She should move to a tougher and rougher school district so that he'll have more exposure to random acts of violence so that he can really learn those critical survival skills before he's fatally stabbed during an otherwise routine mugging. I mean W...T...H. is wrong with people? How do these things escape "Stupidity Detection" once said? I'll admit that every now and then I'll think or say something that's just a bit dumb, but I catch on that what I just said or thought was dumb. What is WRONG with people?

"You shouldn't be allowed to homeschool kids these days because they won't know what to do when there is a real emergency--they won't know how to act during an active shooter situation and then all that homeschooling is going to get them killed." I didn't mean to but I laughed out loud at the absurdity of it.

Gil is pronounced exactly like the gill a fish breathes through.

My kid wants to know: If he does the Trig chapter from Intro to Geometry then can he do the Trig chapters from the Precalculus text, or is there material in the AoPS Algebra books that also covers trigonometry? or Can he just start the Trig related chapters from Precalculus, without reading anything from Intro to Geometry first? He's read the Table of Contents for Intermediate Algebra and was wondering if some of the lessons touch on or expounded upon the Trig material introduced in Intro to Geo?

I originally posted them here. but that thread has been inactive for years and I'm not sure what the policy is on reviving old threads so I'm reposting this here (in a slightly updated version) by request of @JumpyTheFrog

Two month update: Refocusing our energy on what we own, and remaining steadily diligent is paying dividends. I'm happy to report that things are going well. (Knock on wood). Vocabulary is still one of our biggest--if not our biggest--hurdle, but it's not stopped their reading from expanding. By quitting the library, we're not using nearly as many books, which means we're focused on and getting a lot more out of each book that we do read. By slowly and deeply reading all the anthologies we own, we're seeing many of the same stories in various levels of complexity/difficulty and each time they're learning more vocabulary and mastering more complex grammar. I went through and ordered the anthologies by approximate difficulty and we're reading them in that order. My hope and my goal is that by the time that we read the last anthology, they'll know OR comprehend the vocabulary and grasp each sentence reflexively. I personally feel and believe that reading comprehension is dependent upon 2 things: The ability to fluenty decode words and the ability to make connections between things you know and weave in the information that you're reading in real-time, as you read. So we're continuing the systematic, heavy duty, group-reading of non fiction as well. Sometimes (most times, I'm not going to lie) it feels like we're moving soooooo slowly, but I noticed that Buddys free reading Spanish materials closer to his English reading level these last few weeks. He's comfortably comprehending texts as he reads and he's no longer well-served by the Student dictionaries we own. Even though Pal has not shown the same drastic leap in ability, his Spanish reading is getting very close to his age-grade level. Pal is picking more kids chapter books and textually dense books for his free reading, which is significant because he lacks his brothers ambition and stays in his comfort zone, which means that his comfort zone has been expanded to include kids chapter books. Pal had the idea to skim the material before reading it and learn any vocabulary that jumps out at us as "words we don't know", which has been helping a lot. By pre-learning a lot of the new words ahead of reading it in the various articles/chapters/passages, they're both able to read with higher levels of comprehension the first time. Slow-reading combined with the copying and writing practice is really beefing up their grammar too. They don't the terminology, but they're adapting their speech and their writing to include broader, more complex patterns too, which is nice. Buddy writes stories in Spanish of his own volition. I had set them up with an online Spanish Typing program, but they've not been diligent with it. Eventually I'll require that they do something for typing in Spanish but for now I'm content to let them slack off. I'm going to keep them focused on and moving through our home library for a few more months, but I have a basic list of topics that I'd like to read over the next few years. I want them to read a comprehensive book (or series) on the history of the Spanish speaking world, so if anyone knows a good Spanish language book on that topic I'm all ears.

So there is a lot more variety in pens than I thought, but Jetpens.com is fantastic because they sale samplers. Thanks a lot for the suggestion.

I want to gift each of The Boys a small collection of quality writing and drawing instruments (and a nice storage case). I want the pens to last for several years, so I'm looking for well-made and that means I'm probably looking for pens that you refill vs dispose of. I'm thinking of getting them each a nice art kit that will last several years. They do a lot of writing and drawing so I think that they would appreciate having nice writing and drawing tools to use.

Thanks for the link, we've printed out a few sheets and are using paper protectors on them for now but I'll let them buy a few packs of paper when they get to Kanji if they really want to. @maize and @happysmileylady Do you recommend a particular pen for Kanji? Currently, they're using regular ink pens for the Kana, but we're due for new pens in a few months anyway.

The Boys are learning to read/write in Japanese. We think that they've got their kana now, in that they're able to reliably read both hiragana and katakana and can write them but their handwriting deteriorates on regular lined paper. If they use the paper with cells on their handwriting is "average" but they can't seem to write coherently on regular lined paper. They asked me to buy them "Japanese paper" for them to practice on, but we have some graph paper around here already. Will 1/2inch graph paper be sufficient to practice or should I invest in the special Japanese paper/composition notebooks while they're still in the stage of needing scaffolding and support to write legibly. What about when they move on to Kanji? They're starting Kanji this summer. Will they be able to write on 1/2inch graph paper, or should I go ahead and just begin stocking up on genuine Japanese writing paper now?

So, we're really intrigued by the idea of doing our own thing for high school, but just how much freedom is legally allowed? I'm not wondering or worried about what colleges expect, but what legal/state authorities require? From the Graduation Requirements for my state: I looked online and found the guidelines required in order to graduate from a public high-school in our state, but am I correct in thinking that since we're NOT A public high school we don't have to abide by these?

Sorry, I know that you wrote more, but I wanted to take a minute and respond to this directly, because the idea of this thread is not that anyone come and share a solution to a specific problem they have because that solution is The One solution to that problem, and right for everyone having that problem. I noticed that there were a slew of current/new planning threads which made me think that it might be helpful if various parents shared anecdotes from their own experiences where they found a "game changing" explanation or technique in a program/book/etc. Because 1) It might help someone take a fresh look at the curriculum that they already own or have access to. Or 2) They may or may not have been able to use that explanation/technique/idea to strengthen their teaching approach in general.

The Boys are required to learn how to sew. Past attempts at lessons were lack luster at best. This year, sewing must be done with more regularity and they have to progress in it. I need a book of SIMPLE Sewing projects. So, take the book of the easiest, most simplistic sewing projects that you know of, then find one that is 3x simpler. THAT is what I'm looking for. I found Sew School 1 and Sew School 2 and they look simple, but before I hit "order" I want to know if there is a book out there even simpler?

re: selecting this text. I haven't been able to find many Japanese textbooks to select from, but I want a series that gradually provides systematic coverage of Japanese grammar, builds up their (modern) vocabulary and builds their ability to read/write Japanese and to make sure that a solid foundation is laid. They will need a full text-book, not a For Dummies type guide. The layout of AIJ looks very inviting, the use of color and the formatting helps with readability, it seems to include a good amount of cultural notes and there is audio to accompany each lesson in the textbook and workbook to help with pronunciation and listening skills. Japanese is a course that I do not teach, so the textbook series must be as accessible and easy for them to use as possible and based on their Japanese background, the text we use must 1) include as much audio as possible 2) be clear and easy to follow 3) provide scaffolding within the examples and exercises 4) systematically cover grammar and develop vocabulary. 5) be self-contained (not need any supplementation) 6) be visually manageable, so needs to have a clean and attractive layout that's not too busy. 7) teach and practice kanji and it seems like Adventures in Japanese does all of those things. However, I will put in a plug for any of the books by EH Jorden (the woman who wrote Japanese: The Spoken Language) provided that you have the audio to accompany that book. The Boys use her Beginning Japanese series and it's been very good at getting them hearing and speaking Japanese. Beginning Japanese by EH Jorden is useless for reading/writing but it sets the golden standard in getting students speaking and getting them stringing together phrases and understanding complex sentences. BJ isn't designed to get people reading/writing in Japanese--the focus is on getting people speaking Japanese and it excels in that regard. In Jordens book she uses her own special system of using the Latin alphabet to write Japanese sounds, not the standard romanji used in most other series. Since learning romanji is not one of their goals, it hasn't mattered to them that they aren't learning standard romanji.

Make a deck of cards for the students out of index card and a sharpie marker. Put the division expression on one card and the quotient on another. Never put the whole equation on a single card. So you'll have one card that says: 27 / 3 = and another card that says 9 And flip the equation around so that you have some cards that say 3 = and corresponding card that says 27 / 9 Write some of the division expressions as fractions, some using the "division house" and some with the division sign so that the students get used to writing and reading all 3 forms as division. With these cards you can play memory/match where you turn 2 cards over and match division expressions to their corresponding quotient cards. If you make a match you get to pick up the cards, if you miss you turn the cards back over and the next person gets a turn. You can additionally split the decks of expressions and answers, between two people and they play war with the cards and decide if the greater or smaller number wins. So if you're doing lesser number wins, then 9 loses to 16/8 because the quotient of 16/8 =2, so you have 9 vs 2. You can use JUST the quotients and a 15 second timer. You hold up the quotient and the kids go back and forth trying to get the "last word" Who ever names the last (correct) division with that quotient wins the card. So if you hold up the quotient 4, the kids could say 36/9, 16/4, 20/5, 40/10, 100/25, etc.

Has anyone used Adventures in Japanese? Initially I was considering getting the 4th edition, but I just realied that they still sell the 3rd edition as well and comparing the samples of the 4th edition to samples of the 3rd edition I wonder if the 3rd edition is more comprehensive? Both editions have textbook, workbooks and audio for each volume but the The 3rd edition has 4 Volumes (16 lessons in each volume) Teaches the Kana in volume 1 Uses Kana throughout the rest of the series 16 lessons in each Teaches Kanji throughout the series Black and white illustrations The 4th edition has 3 Volumes (12 lessons in each) Teaches the Kana in volume 1 Uses Kana throughout the rest of the series 12 lessons in each Teaches more Kanji throughout the series Full color illustrations But I can't tell grammar structures are covered in each series. I mean...there are 28 lessons cut from the 4th edition, so either they trimmer a lot of the fluff and the fat from the series, or they botched the grammar sequence, right? Since the AIJ series would only be used as a foundation regardless of edition, does it matter?

Hey, since IEW offers a large range of products could you please specify which one(s) you felt were essential in helping you understand how to teach language arts? Just saying "IEW materials" doesn't get at what I intended to be the spirit of this thread, because one could easily buy and use the extensive IEW program for years with their kids, without ever really "getting" the program themselves. If individual parents/teachers don't get at the heart of a program/methodology, they don't become less dependent on subsequent programs fore that area. I know that I'm guilty of it, but I doubt that I'm the only one. Or at least I hope that I'm not the only one.

Why not? If you found a book that by carefully reading and studying it (or even just a specific part of it), you were less dependent on other books/workbooks/widgets for teaching that subject, then certainly share them. I don't think most of the parents on this forum would call themselves a natural born teacher. I'd like to generate discussion of useful resources that help parents grow to be less dependent upon a multi-year program in one area or another. My specific example: Handwriting. There are a lot of commercial handwriting programs, many of them with levels for K-6 and I've never used any of them. Chapter 1 of the Writing Road to Reading (which my library owns, I never spent a cent on handwriting), taught me how to teach The Boys to write. Because I studied and learned the method, I didn't need any particular product to teach The Boys fluent and legible handwriting. We used any paper and pencil we had at the time and that was it. The Boys quickly developed writing that is fluent, neat and legible in print and cursive, by default, without ever having used a multi-year handwriting program. I only pulled that off by carefully reading and studying the handwriting section of The Writing Road to Reading.

What was your big weakness as a teacher and what specific resource(s) helped you to strengthen that area of your teaching?

So I've decided that since it's my homeschool and my rules that if I give a diploma that distinguishes the kid for being fluently trilingual, then he will have to be trilingual. I've told Buddy that he will need achieve genuine fluency so that he can learn and live fully in either of those languages without extra accommodations or "gimmes". So no taking art and math in Japanese so that he can skirt the need to develop fluency in the language. Hopefully this won't come back to bite me.

@regentrude Lol, I know right. He does have a pretty decent idea about undergraduate and that's pretty much the first thing I told him and it's about all that I could tell him, but that's not at all satisfying to him. *shrug*. @4KookieKids Definitely. If he's going to meet someone, the point is for it to be a person who thinks and speaks of doctoral level work, and the grad-culture and experiences positively. @quark Thanks for the book and double thanks for the essays! We printed the article for him and it's already highlighted and getting dogeared. 🙂 And he's switched his memorizing assignment to Sir Michael Atiyahs essay. @xahm Thank you because that does help. It's something to keep in mind. @8FillTheHeart Thanks chiming in. What are REUS? Given that research is such an important part of a doctoral degree, then what happens if you gain a new interest, or lose your interest in your original focus and want to change your area? I've never been to grad school and only considered going for practical/job-related reasons. The program that I'm looking at is 100% online so will not provide any of the insightful experiences that a traditional on-campus program would. I'm considering a MS for economic/career reasons only. Frankly, I would never pursue a degree for "love of" a field, but I don't want them restrained by my limitations. I want him (and his brother) to be informed enough and confident and capable enough to build their own dreams and form their own decisions and make their own choices, even if it means taking actions that no one else has and doing stuff that people mock or discourage them from. They'll get a different result, by doing different things, living out different life choices than those who came before them and who are around them.

The books are fairly self-contained and titled/subtitled by their main theme so easy enough to figure out where you need to start a specific student. They're perfect for if you need to plug in gaps or provide additional scaffolding or support for students for specific skills, once you know which skills need to be supplemented.