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Ad astra

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Everything posted by Ad astra

  1. I googled "Alphy's Road to Reading" but nothing came up. Is it the right name? If you don't mind, could you provide me with the link to their website? It does sound like a wonderful program and I'm eager to learn more about it (regional availability, ages, fees, etc.). :)
  2. Oh, I'm just thinking in the long run and about how to work things out if I choose to homeschool. My 4yo is social and wants to talk to everyone he sees, so I'm not worried now. I had no problem making friends, either, but struggled with public speaking in a professional setting, not just in university but also during the business meetings and conferences with a group of audiences, so it is something I'd like to help my children practice in advance while they are growing up like you said. I didn't know where to find those opportunities for them in the U.S. I did have some chances for public speaking such as participating in student council or other extracurricular clubs in public school, but I didn't care too much back then and that is my biggest regret. Thank you for telling me about CC. My SIL who homeschools her 4 children once recommended CC to me and I looked it up online but it seems very Christian to me so I didn't consider it further. However, what you described actually sounds like wonderful opportunities for my kids. We are a military family who move around a lot so it might not easy to build relationship with certain homeschooling support groups, but I'll keep searching if there's any CC around where we live. :)
  3. That sounds nice. May I ask what is Primary? Sorry, I'm new to this board.
  4. Arcadia, maybe I should consider sending my dc to kindergarten for public speaking opportunities. They may like K for non-academic reasons. I'll look into what our local K offers. I'll also check out Toastmasters. Thanks for your advice! shanvan, thanks a lot! I got good ideas from your story. :)
  5. Thanks for your input, Ellie! The public schools I attended in my home country (I have zero experience with American schools.) didn't really help me, either. I just remember what I struggled most with in college and grad school was participating in class debates and articulating my thoughts clearly in front of the other students. The final projects were usually oral presentations and I was terrified every time! I know my kids are still little but I hope I can prepare them better for life and, especially in the U.S., I think communication and public speech skills are very important for success, so I was wondering how other hsing moms work on those.
  6. If you are introvert, not much talkative or chatty, or a non-native speaker, what do you homeschooling moms do to help your DC develop adequate communication and public speech skills besides reading aloud to them? Do you assign them presentation projects at home or have them participate in local debate clubs?
  7. Ad astra

    nm

    Oh, the shipment takes 1-2 months... bummer!
  8. Ad astra

    nm

    If you've been waiting for a good deal of a binding machine, ProClick P50 is $61.16 on Amazon Prime now. I am not sure if it's the best deal of the year, but I've been waiting too long for this one (the price has been around $80-100 on Amazon) so I just bought it today. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00006IAS3/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new ---------------------- Price has changed again... back to $75. Glad I made an order!
  9. I honestly do not understand why it is so controversial in America to the extent that a large portion of history and scientific facts have to be omitted in educational texts. Christianity is HUGE in South Korea but Korean kids all learn the big bang theory, dinosaurs, fossils and Darwin's theory of evolution at school and they appear in standardized tests. As a former engineer, I think religion should leave science alone.
  10. Why "Neutral" Science is Not Neutral article http://nationalallianceofsecularhomeschoolers.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/why-neutral-science-isnt-neutral/
  11. Hope it's ok to bring this old thread back. Just got done planning for this summer and next year. I'm going to use the upcoming pre-K year as a trial period before making a decision on schooling for my extrovert and sweet DS who just turned 4 last month, whether public kindergarten/afterschooling or full-time homeschooling. My objective is to do school with him for an hour or less a day (when he begs) and keep learning gentle and fun. Most of all, I'll focus on helping DS improve his verbal skills, both in English and Korean. He seems advanced in reading, writing and math compared to his peers so I'm not worried about those, hoping adding Singapore supplements and various workbooks will slow him down. DS is currently half way through Hooked on Phonics 1st Grade and almost done with Singapore Earlybird B and HWT K workbook. Next in line for this summer are HOP 2nd, BOB Books Set 5, Singapore 1A. HWT 1st and Kumon writing practice books. We're also going to try LOF Apples and see how it goes. From this fall, we plan to work on HOP Master Reader, FLL1, AAS1-2, WWE1, Spectrum LA K, Spectrum Sight Words K, Evan-Moor TFB, Singapore 1B+IP1A/B+CWP1 and Korean phonics. For social studies and science, we will just continue to read aloud the books available at our local public library. DS will keep playing soccer and swimming, and I hope to get him started with piano lessons next year. DS doesn't like coloring or anything related to art & crafts and neither do I so... we'll substitute art with field trips to the art museum. We'll also make most out of our memberships to children museum, science museum, zoo and aquarium. For my introvert and strong-willed DD2.5, we'll continue to keep it unstructured. Both of my kids are late talkers and my DD is receiving speech therapy. She somehow taught herself all letter sounds and numbers up to 20, to my surprise, but seems not ready to sit at desk and do school with me for another year or two and I won't push her. To come up with creative activities for her is my most challenging daily task thesedays.
  12. Think I spent about $200/month in average on children books and educational toys when we were in Korea and my kids were under 3yo. The library there only allowed me to borrow 5 books for 2 weeks so I didn't utilize it much. I bought some advanced books in Korean as well so that I can use them to teach my kids the language in the U.S. Soon after I came to the U.S. last year, I bought the readers of BFIAR and Sonlight 3/4 but found them quite expensive for paperbooks. And I realized most of those classic picture books were available at our local library. Since then, I've spent zero on literature. Our library allows me to check out up to 50 books for 3 weeks, and I can renew them for 10 times. How awesome!! There are always 50 library books everywhere in my house. I still spend some on buying board games, jigsaw puzzles, dvds, legos, play doh and magnet pieces for board ($50/month?) since I want to keep them or can't rent those. Oh, and of course, a bulk of money is starting to go towards curriculums, textbooks and workbooks.
  13. I feel you. My dh is supportive but we are a military family so we don't have any support system around us and moving from state to state (sometimes overseas) almost every year is exhausting. We'll be moving twice with 4yo & 3yo kids next year! To make the matter worse, I'm an introvert and foreigner who's not fluent in English. I know I'm capable of teaching my dc and homeschooling might be ideal, especially for my bright ds, but this lack of support system makes me hesitate because I don't want to continue to be burnt out or isolated like now because I have to deal with kids 24/7. But even thinking about sending them to ps for my own sanity makes me feel like a selfish mom after lurking around this forum and seeing so many moms hs'ing with multiple kids successfully... ;(
  14. Yes, "Homeschool Curriculum Marketplace" and "Homeschool Curriculum Exchange/ Yard Sale" are the FB groups I recently joined.
  15. I have both of Singapore Math (K & 1A) and Critical Thinking Company's Mathematical Reasoning A books. One thing to consider about MR is it's very pricey (Each book costs $39~42 at Rainbow Resource Center now) and there is not much teaching in it. It's a workbook, IMO, more challenging than SM Primary and easier than SM Intensive Practice or Challenging Word Problems. If you're looking for an all-in-one text, Math Mammoth would be a much more economic choice, but less challeging than MR, IP or CWP. I'm using SM as a spine and MR as a supplement now but I'll drop MR and use IP and/or CWP as supplements next year. MR is fine but I just can't justify its price.
  16. IMO, developing foreign language fluency (to the level that you don't have much trouble having daily talks with native speakers and understanding tv drama without subtitles) and maintaining it without immersion and continuous exposure to the language is almost impossible, whether you start early or not. It depends on which level you want them to achieve but it'd be extremely difficuly to reach and keep a useful level of fluency without consistent meaningful interactions with native speakers. Watching dvds and reading books alone won't be enough. Learning foreign language is definitely a daunting and never-ending task; I started to learn English from ABC in middle school and have never stopped studying it in every way you can possibly imagine since then. I have lived with my American husband for last 8 years and even took GRE last year, but I am still not very confident in my English and even writing this short reply takes a long time for me. I'm no expert on language learning but from what I experienced it's mostly memorization, and you'll forget it quickly once you stop using it on a daily basis. I learned German as a second foreign language in high school for two years (using textbooks and check-the-box tests with a non-native teacher) and even won an academic award on that subject but forgot 99% of what I learned upon graduation simply because I have never had an opportunity either to live in Germany or meet Germans. In my early 20s, I had studied Japanese for a few years in Korea and developed enough fluency to pass the N2 level of the official Japanese Language Proficiency Test but life got in the way and as I haven't done anything to do with Japanese for another decade, I forgot most of it again. I guess I don't see a point of putting much time and effort in order to maintain it when I live in the U.S. and have more reasons to work on my imperfect English. I know very well how hard it is to build strong fluency skills in foreign language, so I won't push my dc to learn any of them besides my native language unless they find a strong interest and reasons to learn it. If one is not highly motivated to seek opportunities nor in a situation that forces to use it everyday, chances are it will be no useful, which seems to be a more important factor to consider than the timing.
  17. I don't have any advice but just wanted to say I feel you. My family was in the same situation when we were in Korea. My ds' Korean was much stronger than his English and my monolingual American dh often felt left out and lost when I talk with my ds in Korean. I had to translate our conversation to English for dh every time so it was very hard to stick to OPOL. Dh read books in English to dc at bedtime but the exposure wasn't enough due to his busy work schedule. Both of my kids ended up being late talkers. Now we are in the U.S. and I totally gave up OPOL... started to speak both languages to dc. Their English has improved at the same quick speed as they have forgotten Korean. Dh is happy he can communicate with them much better. I realize OPOL is not for us so I plan to speak and teach Korean to dc when dh is not around. Things might be easier when my dc become fluent in both languages and able to switch from one to another according to whom they are talking to... but for now, I don't have the answer, either.
  18. "Crazy Rich Asians" by Kevin Kwan "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn "Defending Jacob" by William Landay "Me before You" by Jojo Moyes "Inferno" by Dan Brown "The Husband's Secret" by Liane Moriarty "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
  19. Rebecca Rupp's "Home Learning Year by Year" has comprehensive, specific and thorough lists of what to cover each year and been one of the most valuable references for me. I just skipped the outdated resource suggestions.
  20. I enjoyed listening to the beautiful music your ds composed and played. Very impressive! I haven't decided on schooling for my dc yet, but our circumstances as a military family requiring us to relocate almost every year (we have to move twice next year!) and my ds4's ability to read and do math well make me consider homeschooling more seriously everyday. Thanks for posting your inspirational story!
  21. Every kid is different. If your ds shows interest in learning to read and you can make it pleasant and enjoyable for him, why not? I'm in a quite similar situation with you. I haven't decided on schooling for my ds who just turned 4 and reads 1st grade level, just keeping all options open. I've been using the HOP program and had a great success with him. It only takes 10 to 20 mins a day while my dd2.5 takes a nap. He finds it like a fun game feeling proud of his own achievements and enjoys my full attention. For the rest of the day (12+ hours), he is free to do imaginative activities, field trips and outdoor play with friends. I continue to read aloud to him at bed time. FWIW, reading fluently at 4yo is not really uncommon where I am from. Most families have tons of children books at home and reading is the center of early education.
  22. I took GRE last year and got 156V(70%)/164Q(89%)/4.0W. I studied 6-7 hours a day for about 6 weeks. English is not my first language and I took the test before I came to America. I think 12 weeks are plenty of time if you can focus on prep during that period. It's all about getting yourself familiar with the test format and content, like other standardized tests. The Official Guide book and PowerPrep program are critical. Before I tackled with them, I went through various Kaplan, Barren's, Princeton Review and Manhattan 5 lb. New Gre prep books, mostly verbal and writing sections. Memorizing words were soooo painful and endless... Barren's Essential Voca iphone app was helpful, too. I grew up in East Asia and have a BS in engineering, so GRE math was not a problem for me at all but somehow I made a few mistakes. :( On the test day, I didn't do as well as I expected due to long travel to the test center and lack of sleep but I just did not want to go through the hell of prep again, so I didn't retake it. I had to take TOEFL as well anyway. So make sure you get enough practice with New GRE (not the old version) prep books, OG and PP. And try to get enough sleep the night before the test day. Good luck! :)
  23. If you don't mind TV, there are tons of Korean historical fiction drama with English subtitle available at hulu.com. (There is a whole section devoted to Korean dramas under Genre tap.) I am watching Empress Ki with my American husband on Hulu+ & Apple TV thesedays. :D My other favorite recent ones are The Moon Embracing the Sun, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Tree with Deep Roots and Chuno. There are also several movies about Korean history you can find on Neflix and Hulu. If you have a Netflix account, I recommend you to check out these movies: Masquerade (2012) Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) Regarding books, I'm not familiar with fictional works about Korean history that are translated in English and published in America although I know many nonfiction books. I'm a Korean, so I can only talk about the Korean stuff, lol.
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