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erinallport

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Everything posted by erinallport

  1. Thank you so much for your kind and generous response Lori! I will definitely look into the programs you mentioned! :)
  2. Hi, My daughter just hates science...and math. She wants to be a writer and is fantastic at it. She reads everything she can get her hands on (well, except if it's math or science related maybe). I have never loved DOING science, but I do love reading about science topics. I want my kids to be able to enjoy learning about science, even if they hate having to do it. I'm hoping some people can give me some insight into the High School Biology/Physical Science/Chemistry in the Home programs for high school level. Are they really engaging? Are they enjoyable for the non-science-loving kid? Or will it just feel like a whole lot of work that they aren't interested in? Thanks for any insight! I'm looking at two other programs (Queens Discovering Nature Series, and Guest Hollow)...and will also post about each of these. Thanks so much!
  3. Hi, My daughter just hates science...and math. She wants to be a writer and is fantastic at it. She reads everything she can get her hands on (well, except if it's math or science related maybe). I have never loved DOING science, but I do love reading about science topics. I want my kids to be able to enjoy learning about science, even if they hate having to do it. I'm hoping some people can give me some insight into Queen's Discovering Nature Science programs for high school level. Are they really engaging? Are they enjoyable for the non-science-loving kid? Or will it just feel like a whole lot of work that they aren't interested in? Thanks for any insight! I feel like these might be the least aggravating to her... I'm looking at two other programs (Guest Hollow, and High School Biology/Physical Science/Chemistry in the Home)...and will also post about each of these. Thanks so much!
  4. Hi, My daughter just hates science...and math. She wants to be a writer and is fantastic at it. She reads everything she can get her hands on (well, except if it's math or science related maybe). I have never loved DOING science, but I do love reading about science topics. I want my kids to be able to enjoy learning about science, even if they hate having to do it. I'm hoping some people can give me some insight into Guest Hollow's Science programs for high school level. Are they really engaging? Are they enjoyable for the non-science-loving kid? Or will it just feel like a whole lot of work that they aren't interested in? Thanks for any insight! I'm looking at two other programs (Queens Discovering Nature Series, and High School Biology/Physical Science/Chemistry in the Home)...and will also post about each of these. Thanks so much!
  5. Has anyone ever seen or used this Cross-Wired Science curriculum? It's relatively new, I think it came out in 2014. It looks like an AMAZING Christian program that teaches science using lots of hands on experiments, videos, and other stuff. But I can't find any reviews on it. I am very interested in it, but after having bought Super Charged Science and been completely disappointed and overwhelmed with it, I don't want to spend a bunch of money on a program that I can't hear more about from people who have used it. Thanks!
  6. Did you ever try this out? I just discovered it the other day and can't find any reviews....but I'm highly interested....?
  7. OK Thanks! That's GREAT to know! My daughter is actually in 8th grade, LOVES writing - wants to be a writer, and we do own it LOL :) Just never seem to have time to fit this one into everything else I hope to have them do before high school. But we will definitely fit it in, and will not condense it then. Thanks!
  8. Anyone who has used the Cover Story middle school writing curriculum... Do you think it would be possible to do a focused 3 month block and complete the program? If we do the lessons every day? Other than the writing in the journal, is there anything else that happens outside of each daily lesson? Do lessons often spill over into multiple days? Thanks!
  9. I bought the Diamond program from Super Charged Science back in the fall, and we still haven't used any of it. I have NO IDEA how to get started?! I have 3 kids, ages 8, 9, and 12. We are doing other sciences right now, so I haven't worried about getting to it too much yet...but every time I try to figure out how to dive in, I get overwhelmed and give up. We are talking a lot about life science right now, but of course it's freezing outside and a lot of the life science stuff from Super Charged involves microscopes and plant/animal cells and such. I just need advice from someone who's doing this program. Where do I start? How do we do it all together? Or should we do it split up by ages? How do you make it work? Thanks!
  10. I bought the Diamond program from Super Charged Science back in the fall, and we still haven't used any of it. I have NO IDEA how to get started?! I have 3 kids, ages 8, 9, and 12. We are doing other sciences right now, so I haven't worried about getting to it too much yet...but every time I try to figure out how to dive in, I get overwhelmed and give up. We are talking a lot about life science right now, but of course it's freezing outside and a lot of the life science stuff from Super Charged involves microscopes and plant/animal cells and such. I just need advice from someone who's doing this program. Where do I start? How do we do it all together? Or should we do it split up by ages? How do you make it work? Thanks!
  11. Thanks everyone!!! I think I have decided to stick with Notgrass as our spine, and add extra literature for an american lit class. She is just a voracious reader and she does seem to enjoy the Notgrass readings. At least in the middle school world history books. I wish she were the kind of student that would run with History Revealed projects, but again, I think reading and writing are just her thing and she will be happiest with that. I did order the Socratic Discussions for History DVDs from Classical Historian and one Take a Stand book just to see if I could (or would want to) pull some of that into our discussions/writing. I have Teaching the Classics and Worldview Detective already and am going to spend the winter learning how to do socratic discussions :) Thanks again!!!
  12. I'm debating using Notgrass but adding about a dozen or so more literature books, historical fiction, to beef it up a bit. Do you think that would be good? As much as I am enticed for History Revealed, I just don't see her doing as much with it as I would hope she would...so I would probably feel like she wasn't doing good enough work. We would be using it for 9th grade (US History), and 10th for World...
  13. Thanks for sharing that about Classical Historian!!!! I did ask her about it today and she says she will do whichever I think is best...I like Notgrass for several reasons, but I wonder if it would be a good thing for her to really learn how to research and learn for herself...which I think History Revealed tries to steer them to. But I also love the literature in Notgrass. Ugh, There are just too many good choices lol!
  14. Please help! :) My daughter will be starting high school in the next few months, and I am just not sure about what to do for our World History program. I have narrowed it down to 4...after researching just about every program out there. If you have any experience with these programs, please let me know what you loved and what you didn't like about them. We are doing Notgrass for middle school World History and my daughter enjoys it more than some other things we tried. She LOVES reading and writing, and so this is what I keep coming back to for her high school. I love the literature included and that each week she is to write an essay. I also like that it's a simple, one year world history program, and won't take years to do. History Revealed seems like my Ultimate History Program. I love the foundation of it, how it encourages the child to dig deep and study what they are interested in. I love that it's got lots of project ideas and that it covers each topic pretty in depth. I worry though that my daughter isn't a really motivated learner. She loves to read and write, but if she's not engaged in it, she will hand me garbage just to be done. I don't know if she will dive deep or just remain on the surface and do bare minimum to get done. If she approaches it that way, will the whole benefit of this program be lost on her??? I don't yet have any experience with the Classical Historian, other than it sounds great. Cathy Duffy rates it very highly, in her top 102 picks (Notgrass and History Revealed didn't make the list). I love the idea of starting a unit with a question and having her read and research in order to write an essay that makes her really analyze her answer. I also love the idea of doing Socratic Discussions as a main part of her history program. I am in process of learning how to do the Socratic Dialogue and think it's a fabulous way to learn. We LOVED Winter Promise for elementary US history, and so it is always in the back of my mind to try. Their Middle/High school level American History Programs look very intriguing to me (American Crossing and American Culture). I think we learned more in that elementary history class than any other program we have done....but there were many more books in that program than the high school ones. I just can't decide! Please share your experiences!!!! Thanks!
  15. Good morning everyone! My daughter is in 7th grade, and is wanting to find a creative writing class and a book club to get into this year. I know about BraveWriter, but the writing classes are too expensive for us and the books this year aren't ones that she wants to read (or has read).... So, does anyone know of any online classes or book clubs? Thanks!!!!
  16. THAT sounds exactly like what he needs!!!!!! Do you remember the names of any of the Evan Moore books you used? I will go look for some now! Thanks!
  17. Those are some great ideas! He hasn't been evaluated for speech or for dysgraphia...he was evaluated for overall delays, which found him VERY delayed in fine motor skills. He functions great in every other aspect of life (maybe other than his nonstop talking lol). But he talks normally, just not when it needs to be more structured if that makes sense. Just carrying on a conversation he does very well and you'd never suspect that he has such challenges writing. Unless you ask him HOW to do something where you need it told in order. He jumbles it all up I think because he can't slow down enough. His brain goes a mile a minute. He can look at sentences and fragments and know which are sentences and which aren't. He understands the concept, but doesn't seem to be able to hold that in his head while trying to come up with a structured sentence for writing. And he CAN write, it's just very messy and hard to read. He writes for math every day, and it is slowly getting better I think....but he is great at math, so he doesn't have to think so hard about the WHAT to write for that.
  18. We have tried copywork and dictating all of his things to me for the last 2 years, but I'm seeing NO progress...and his organizational skills are just so strange. I can ask him questions about what we read, or about the topic to be written about, and he can answer them correctly (doesn't use a complete sentence). But when he is supposed to come up with complete sentences, he is all over the place. Of course, not when he's just carrying on a regular conversation - he is a GREAT talker. But he can't explain how to do things in a proper order...never ever ask him to explain complicated board games! LOL! He can play them better than anyone, but he could never explain how to do it in a way that you'd understand :) I may just try IEW with him and see.....I HATED it for my daughter though....but maybe it will help him. I am really interested in WriteShop for him...probably level B for him and D for my 9 1/2 year old who is much better at putting it all together. It seems like it might give him piece by piece a process for writing...but I don't know :( I am trying to get him to learn to type, but he still can't deal with the organizing of the information. In fact, today I tried a free voice-text app on the tablet, and that did help a lot...but he still needed tons of help putting sentences together. But of course it wasn't a very good app and so it didn't usually understand a lot of what he said, which led to tons of laughter and I couldn't keep him focused on it long enough to get complete sentences....but it did seem a little better for him. I'm thinking about getting that Dragon Naturally Speaking program for the computer so that he can just talk and it will type for him....
  19. I am searching high and low for a writing curriculum that I think would help my son. He is 8 1/2 and in 3rd grade, but his writing looks like a kindergarteners on a good day. And he really struggles with organizing thoughts to put into writing. He may be considered dysgraphic, though I have never had him evaluated for that. I am looking for a program that will really lay out all of the steps and build incrementally. I've tried the more open-ended approach with Brave Writer and free writing and giving writing prompts. We are working through BJU level 2 and Moving Beyond the Page language arts as well, but none of this is clicking with him and it seems to be making it worse. For example, today we read a short chapter from Story of the World and he was just supposed to write a few sentences about Alexander the Great. Now, if I ask him questions, he has NO problem answering them. Even if they are more open-ended kind of questions. He can verbalize easily...and I have spent the last 2 years letting him mostly dictate and I help guide his thinking. But when he tries to even write one sentence alone, it either isn't a complete sentence (not even close), or it is a complete sentence, but it has nothing to do with the assignment. He was supposed to write a couplet about weather the other day, picking a type of weather and choosing some rhyming words that went along with that type of weather. he was able to choose the kind of weather and even a list of rhyming words. But man....there was NO way to get him to understand that he was supposed to use THOSE rhyming words he came up with, to write a couplet about that kind of weather. He would either write a sentence fragment that didn't rhyme, or he would come up with a couplet that didn't have anything to do with weather, etc. Later that day, he read a couplet on a cereal box and came running to tell me that he found a couplet about weather! It was about snow (he was writing about rain)...so I ended up letting him copy it for his couplet. I am considering Essentials in Writing because it is DVD based and MAYBE having someone else trying to teach him would be better for him....? I'm also considering WriteShop Primary Level B. But I really don't want to be bogged down with crafty things, as he has a really hard time with fine motor and that wouldn't be helpful. I do NOT like IEW, so even though I have it, I don't want to use that one. Please help!
  20. Hey Everyone! I have 3 kids, two of which have ADHD. We are managing well at home, and they are super bright and not having trouble with the content of their assignments at all. However, I want to try and make our days more active. My son is only 6, and he skipped a grade so he's actually in 2nd grade doing well. I find it very easy to come up with activities where he can move around and still complete the work instead of just sitting and doing a workbook. For example, today I put the answers to his math work all on little index cards and laid them all out. I wrote each problem on the board and he and his 7 year old sister had to race to see who could figure out the answer and find the matching card first. BUT...what to do for my 5th grader. She's no longer in the phase where she's just learning to memorize content and fact, and such...she's in the processing content phase. I have her doing a lot of writing and responding to our lessons that way...but does anyone have any resources or ideas for how to get movement into her school day too? I don't know that it's as easy as writing answers down on cards and having her find the right one...how do you do that when her work requires her to actually think and process through information and then somehow respond to it? She simply HAS to move...if I try and keep her still it just makes it worse... I would so appreciate any ideas or direction! Thanks!a
  21. Hey Everyone! I have 3 kids, two of which have ADHD. We are managing well at home, and they are super bright and not having trouble with the content of their assignments at all. However, I want to try and make our days more active. My son is only 6, and he skipped a grade so he's actually in 2nd grade doing well. I find it very easy to come up with activities where he can move around and still complete the work instead of just sitting and doing a workbook. For example, today I put the answers to his math work all on little index cards and laid them all out. I wrote each problem on the board and he and his 7 year old sister had to race to see who could figure out the answer and find the matching card first. BUT...what to do for my 5th grader. She's no longer in the phase where she's just learning to memorize content and fact, and such...she's in the processing content phase. I have her doing a lot of writing and responding to our lessons that way...but does anyone have any resources or ideas for how to get movement into her school day too? I don't know that it's as easy as writing answers down on cards and having her find the right one...how do you do that when her work requires her to actually think and process through information and then somehow respond to it? She simply HAS to move...if I try and keep her still it just makes it worse... I would so appreciate any ideas or direction! Thanks!
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