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GrammarGirl

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Everything posted by GrammarGirl

  1. I think it's important to express our wishes but to also tell those who will care for our children that, ultimately, we trust them to make the right decisions as the children's needs warrant. I had a student whose mother made her husband promise he would keep homeschooling after she passed away from cancer. He kept the promise for a while but homeschooling was not working with his job. The boy was falling behind. The dad decided to enroll the son in our UMS school, a compromise with the mom's dying wish as the boy would work at home two days a week but have the needed oversight of teachers. For a few years, the boy was really depressed. I believe he really needed to be in school where loving teachers could help his dad. It frightens me to think of him staying at home all the time. He was not the kind of boy to seek friendship. He was eventually put on meds to help him with the depression, and he really changed for the better. Ultimately, I think the most important thing we can do is entrust our children to those who will make decisions most like ours because what we really want is what's truly best for our children as they grow, change, and possibly face struggle.
  2. Find a different text or censor SOTW4. Don't skip modern. Yes, there's a lot of human depravity evident in modern history, but you would also be skipping a lot of triumphs and marvels that can be very inspiring.
  3. 97.3 percent. The town pays for students to attend a private academy, so it's not a public school exactly. However, the state rate is over 87 percent.
  4. Your teachers are also to blame for not exposing you to more works. A textbook should be a tool, not the authority.
  5. If he's a good speller, I'm not convinced teaching him rules at this age is worth it. I would maybe address the rules governing any errors he makes but not make him completely change gears.
  6. This isn't what I'd recommend in an ideal situation, but I'd buy used A Beka for math and language arts and Christian Liberty for the content subjects. I feel like ABB and CLP are pretty similar, but CLP is cheaper.
  7. Many classroom teachers will tell you it took three years to really get the hang of the job (That was my experience.) Maybe the same would be true for hs'ers. For me, I have been hs'ing three years, but I never felt like a newbie because I already had a well-developed philosophy and methodology. Homeschooling is different from teaching in schools, sure, but I taught in very good Christian schools, so there is a lot of carry-over for me. Ultimately, every parent brings different experiences to the table, and I wouldn't write someone off just because they haven't done it long. (Though, I don't prefer books and blogs and conferences presented by moms with only young kids, unless they have proven expertice from other educational experiences. Yuck, too many people setting themselves up as experts these days. Really, really irks me to see sweeping generalizations made on the basis of one's own three kids, especially when they contradict the experience of those who've taught 1000 unrelated kids.)
  8. I think family discussions about the doctrinal difference are a wonderful opportunity for your children.I would suggest showing your children the specific Scriptures that support your viewpoint. This way, they see the evidence behind your beliefs rather than a "mere opinion."
  9. I much prefer CLE. FLL went too slowly for us, and I really appreciate that CLE is more broad, covering topics such as syllabification, roots, suffixes, prefixes, etc.
  10. Congrats! I have twins toddlers. We have found CLE to meet our needs for rigor and streamlining.
  11. If you know the catalogue numbers, you can enter them with the quick-order option. When I ordered R&S items, they didn't appear in my cart but they were added into the cost. It was weird not being able to check that they'd been properly added, but everything arrived.
  12. Yes, this exactly. As a classroom English teacher, I, too, am concerned about usage. Usage can be effectively taught only when there is a solid grammatical foundation. I'm not sure that Latin grammar correlates well enough. I have heard Andrew Pudewa make negative comments about direct, intensive grammar instruction and read some of Martin Cothran's statements against English grammar. My feeling is that they've had limited exposure to English grammar taught well.
  13. But the term "sexism" connotes prejudice, discrimination, and devaluation. Your original post makes it clear that you see CLE's sexism as negative. Those of us who hold similar views to the Mennonites regarding the gender roles see your use of the term "sexism" just as negatively as you view CLE's differentiation of the genders.
  14. I think it's unfair to label the writers of CLE as sexist. It is obvious in their readers that they value both men and women, boys and girls. They believe each sex has different roles. That's called complementarianism, not sexism. If you don't like their views, fine, just stop using it; but don't get offended by a religious publisher's religious views. It's your responsibility to investigate the perspective of a curriculum before you use it.
  15. We love Home Art Studio. We've used K for a first grader and 4 y.o. this year, and it's been perfect.
  16. In general, anything that teaches LA from a philosophy different from the one I spent years developing as an English teacher. Never again am I buying for my own kids what I'd never use to teach someone else's, no matter how many other moms rave about it. Specifically, AAS and FLL were too slow. MP lit guides, too tedious? Just not my style. WWE. Level 1 was holding my DD back. I've started letting her physically write her own narrations.
  17. Thank you. I had such a good relationship with the doc who saw me through the m/c and the twins that I think I am just really nervous about seeing another provider.
  18. I'm going for my first OB appointment today for Baby #5. We just moved to this rural area which has only 2 OB practices. Unlike my previous practitioners, neither of these practices does a routine 8-week u/s. I plan to ask for one because I have a set of frat twins already and am at a higher "risk" for another set (this practice does not handle twins) and because I previously had a missed miscarriage with no obvious symptoms. I feel these are legit reasons for insisting on an u/s, but what do I say if the midwife refuses. Do I threaten to go to the other practice?
  19. I'm a pastor's wife and don't see these beasts as Satanic. I think the dragon is cute! Rainbow Resource is pretty careful about what they offer, yet they sell BA. However, if the OP is uncomfortable with the books, she needs to use something else because "whatever is not of faith is sin."
  20. How old is your daughter? As an English teacher (high school and college), I do think a solid understanding of phrases and clauses is necessary, but it's a tricky, thing for some kids. I've found moving on to something else and coming back to it helps if students get frustrated.
  21. When I found out I was pregnant with my twins, we told people at church right away because I needed the emotional support. It really eased my anxiety, which was off the charts; and I would have needed the comfort our church friends would have offered if I'd lost the twins. But now I just feel so morose, I don't think I could handle sharing the news, especially since my husband just became pastor of a church last month. It's a totally different dynamic being the pastor's wife, and I feel really vulnerable sharing something so personal.
  22. Thank you all for the cyber hugs and encouragement. It helps a great deal to know others have felt the same way. Ultimately, I know I just have to trust God!
  23. I want to be happy about another baby coming, but having had two miscarriages before I conceived my twins, who are now 2, I am feeling a bit numb and unable to even really hope that I will actually give birth in 7 1/2 months. My second pregnancy loss was a missed miscarriage: I continued to have all my pregnancy symptoms for weeks after the heartbeat stopped. So, even though I'm feeling exhausted and nauseated, I find it hard to say that I'm "pregnant." I feel more as if I have a "condition" that's causing these symptoms. The fact that I had a successful pregnancy after my miscarriages should be making me feel better, but instead I feel as though there's no way I will "beat the odds" again. Is what I'm feeling normal? How am I supposed to approach the next several weeks (e.g., what kind of conversation am I supposed to have with myself about my fears?) It's hard to tell anyone IRL about this. I always tell my mom about my pregnancies right away, and I did this time, but I almost wish I hadn't because I don't know how to handle other people's optimism.
  24. We'll definitely continue with A Beka math, but I'm at a complete loss as to the rest. I'd started planning earlier this week but found out yesterday that I'm expecting baby #5, who, Lord willing, will be born in Oct. I'm having tortured visions of a workbook-heavy year when I really wanted lots of living books.
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