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Penny

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Posts posted by Penny

  1. We have done R&S 1-7. I'm extremely happy we did. We are now doing CLE 7. CLE 7 still has much review over R&S 7, but it does cover things R&S 7 does not. My dc are in 7th grade, and we did math over the summers to finish R&S 7 in 6th grade.

     

    I'm happy we did not do CLE earlier, because it is more advanced in the earlier grades...more than need be in my opinion. I'm very happy with the progression we did. Next year????

  2. Here is a debate of this issue posted on the Christian Research's website:

     

    http://www.equip.org/articles/the-divine-sovereignty-human-responsibility-debate

     

    I am not reformed. It seems to me to make a mockery of most of the Bible where God calls men to himself.

     

    In Matthew 23:37, Jesus says:

     

    "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling...."

     

    I believe Jesus meant what he said here. I don't see how a Calvinist could read this scripture and interprete it, but would like to know!

     

    Also, without true free choice, in the Calvinists view, our Lord becomes the author of evil. This cannot be.

     

    However, this not a salvation issue. This is an argument among Christians.

  3. Bumping this....

     

    My dc are doing LP3 this year. I don't think they'll be ready for translating the Aeneid after finishing.

     

    I don't think LP 1-3 equals finishing Wheelock's, for example. In fact, after finishing LP 1 and 2, dc are not considered to be half way through Wheelocks. (I'm only saying this after investigaing an online class using Wheelocks. Although they've done well in LP 1 and 2, and scored gold on the National Latin 1 exam, they still would need to begin over again with Wheelocks and the class would be mostly review until Spring. The class moves very quickly.) As far as the Nat. Latin Exam goes, I think dc should finish LP 2 before taking exam 1. However, I'm anxious to here what others think too.

     

    AS far as using LP for a 9 year old, I would be cautious and move very slowly. It's definately not an elementary program.

     

    Looking forward to hearing what others think!

     

    One more thing.....LP is a grammar method and not so much reading. I think before going into the heavy translations, one probably must get used to just READING Latin. It has to go beyond the parsing of words into their correct English order/part of speech into just naturally reading and understanding. LP won't get you there. It is necessary to go through the grammar first, but I think another reading type program is needed to go further. ....Would love to hear others comment on this.

  4. Math is the only subject that I can see forcing it upon my dc knowing that someday it *will* have relevance (baking, shopping, etc.). There are a few other skills that seem important and relevant to teach, but those are the things dc really struggle and fight about: Writing, Typing, Math.

     

     

    Do we want to limit our children to the limitations we have put on ourself? For example, because I don't know enough about history and science to be able to contribute to relavent issues, do I want my children to be so limited? Because I don't know science in a meaningful way, do I want that for my children? If all I use math for is baking and shopping, does that mean my children only need to go through arithmetic? I personally feel very cheated with regards to my own education, yet I'm only a stay at home mom who does the cooking and the laundry. My ps education more than adequately prepared me for that!

     

    If we know exactly what are children are going to do with their lives, exactly what they want as hobbies, exactly what reading level/vocabulary they will need to read what they want/need, exactly how deeply they will investigate spirituality (many diciplines are needed here including history, science, high level reading/vocabulary), then we could limit their education without future regrets. There are homeschooled children who are very angry with their parents for not educating them and limiting their options. My children do like certain subjects and gravitate towards those. However, even with these, and in all the other subjects, when it comes down to hard work, they don't want to do it. I make them because I believe if they do not do the work, they will regret it later. How many people have you met who wished they had not been so well educated?

  5. Well, we love Pimsleur around here. It is audio only, but one really gets the feel for how the language is spoken. Also, we do it only in the car, so it makes good use of time. We'll go on to more formal Spanish later, but since we do Latin, we understand all of the grammar.

     

    With Pimsleur, one holds a conversation with the CD, and then hears the correct response/pronunciation.

  6.  

    FWIW, I have a nonmathy DS and CD Prealgebra was not a good fit here.

     

    Jackie

     

    Jackie,

     

    Why did CD not work? What program had you been using? Did you feel your ds was adequately prepared? What does it take to be prepared for CD pre-algebra? Thanks for posting. I'm also interested in this.

  7. I like Anki. It is a free computer program. The link is in my sig. I cut and paste whatever I want my kid to memorize and add it. No handwriting. No cards to shuffle around. It takes time to setup at first, but is super simple from day to day, and it is easy to add new stuff as you go.

     

    Uh, you really should listen to this. I know it's not the cute, memory box, page protector stuff, but it will last where the memory box will get stuffed with too much info than is possible for a mortal to deal with. I'm talking about vocab, latin, spanish, poems, scriptures, dates, science info...

     

    ANKI is a scheduling system, based on the student's ability to recall. New info reviewed more often of course, but scheduled based on how easy the information was to recall. For instance, if you enter a new word, and it is very easy to recall, it might be scheduled for review in 5 days. Next time, if very easy, maybe scheduled in 2 weeks. Next time, 2 months. Next time, 5 months...and on and on. You can get items scheduled for review over 1 year from now.

     

    This is necessary because it becomes physicallly impossible to do all the reviewing necessary unless more familiar items are moved out.

     

    Thanks so much to the person on this board who got us started on ANKI. It is one of the best finds in the last 5 years or so.

  8. 5. Pudewa's politics and his personal agenda are definitely questionable. He shows moderate restraint and considerable craftiness in disguising his personal politics. He allows a glimmer of them to shine through so those who want it will buy more readily, IMO. IOW, he is a consummate salesperson, who uses his discreetly cloaked religion and simmering under the surface right wing agenda to attract the same while carefully excluding it from most stuff in order to also serve people like me who wouldnt buy from him otherwise.

     

     

    I have listened to many Pudewa talks, and I have been shocked about how OPEN he is with his political and religious beliefs! In fact, as he was speaking I was astounded by the fact that he did not fear for his livelihood as he addressed the politics and cultural climate of the day. Mr. Pudewa is a man of character, if you believe character means standing up for what one believes is right, although such actions may cost dearly.

  9. We debase our language if we call one man (and staff) a "society" or an "organization" and then really render words meaningless if we calling the money-making venture they are involved in an "Institute."

     

    It is no such thing.

     

    Bill

     

    Main Entry: 2institute

    Function: noun

    Date: 1546

    : something that is instituted: as a (1) : an elementary principle recognized as authoritative (2) plural : a collection of such principles and precepts; especially : a legal compendium b : an organization for the promotion of a cause : association <a research institute> <an institute for the blind> c : an educational institution and especially one devoted to technical fields d : a usually brief intensive course of instruction on selected topics relating to a particular field <an urban studies institute>

     

    Please Bill, would you give examples as to institutes you feel are valid? Must they be non-profit or charitable? What exactly are the requirements necessary to be considered a valid institute?

     

    Thank you.

  10. R&S math 7 & 8 are so VERY similar! CLE math 7 is superior; go with CLE!

     

     

    If I had a child half way good at math, I probably would. I think ds may need another year of review. But I do like the way R&S approaches algebra, geometry, inverse proportions, and other topics. I do wish it included algebraic concepts earlier and continued to review them, however. If I do R&s 8, I'll have to supplement some pre-algebra concepts with the Key to series, I think.

     

    BTW, I love the CLE reading you recommended. We're doing CLE 6, and then will keep it up. Thanks!

  11. We use WW, but I find it to be not enough. That's OK, because it doesn't take much time (dc do not answer the questions after the reading assignments at the end) and we enjoy the reading assignment at the end of the lesson. The words tend to be somewhat easy and dc know most of them already, however sometimes I'm surprised when dc don't know what I thought they did.

     

    Simply reading is not enough because even when dc or I (for read alouds) look up the words, we are likely to forget them. So, when I find a word they don't know, I add it to ANKI (a dynamic memory system) and to espindle (online spelling program). I also add WW words to both of those.

     

    espindle is also fantastic because it has a spelling catagory for SAT words. While learning to spell, dc also learn the meaning. Then the word goes into ANKI for permanent storage (both in the brain and on the computer).

     

    Sometimes I'll add the word of the day (Merriam Webster) to both programs, or start on the SAT common words list.

     

    Blessings!

     

    Oh, we also do Latin. SWB keeps up both vocab and Latin so I guess I assume we have to also!

  12. We are close to finishing R&S 7 with my oldest who is very math inclined. Next year we are going to start him in KB Algebra I. Thought about continuing with R&S 8 but I really think he is ready for Algebra.

     

    I think this would be way too much of a leap for most students. R&S 7 barely covers quite a few topics that pre-algebra covers in depth (such as negative numbers, scientific notation, exponents, and even order of operations). The last chapter of the book just touches on some of these.

     

    R&S is about a year behind most of the other homeschool maths out there. We will finish R&S 7 this year, and I am agonizing over whether to use R&S 8, or CLE 7. Note that we will have to go back a year if we choose CLE (which seems to be a very good pre-algebra program). I haven't altogether ruled out Chalk Dust pre-algebra, but I've read many dislikes about it along with some who do like it.

     

    I love R&S because it doesn't rush math at younger ages. But, I also don't quite know where to go next.

  13. We used it for my oldest son in 7th grade who had never been exposed to world history. My first impression was that CHOW and the Usborne encyclopedia were young in comparison to the reading levels of the literature. However, my son loved all of it. It was an expensive year since I ended up buying him the 4 volumes of Story of the World, the workbook for the first volume, all of the remaining literature from Core 6, and a few extra books from Core 7. It remains one of the most magical years we have had in homeschooling. One of the LA assignments was for the child to write their own mystery while they were reading The Roman Ransom. My son had a blast with that one. The literature selections are very good, imo.

     

    Do you have specific questions about the materials?

     

    MAGICAL I can't resist that. I'm sold.

     

    Thank you so much for your replies. I feel better about it now.

     

    Penny

  14. Where did we come from?

     

    What happens to us after death?

     

    What is right and what is wrong?

     

    What is true and what is false?

     

    What is my responsibility to others?

     

    What is my responsibility to the earth?

     

    I agree with these, but would add "and why?"

     

    Most people (even those with completely different world views) agree about the basics of right and wrong (for example). But the WHY is extremely important. Is right right because it is the way you believe? Is everyone entitled to their own definition of right and wrong? Or is right defined by God or a god?

     

    Another might be:

     

    Is man created in the image of God or is he a product of random chemical reactions? Or maybe a more basic, less leading version "What is the origin of man?"

  15. Well, for my non mathy dc, spiral approaches are disastrous, because the child never feels like he has anything down pat. Mastering many concepts at one time is very frustrating and mind blowing for some. That is why Saxon is either loved or hated. The kids who can't handle the 'little bits' approach despise it.

     

    R&S is fantastic for the kids that don't get math. And, it does contain lots of review. I keep wondering why folks think that it just teaches a subject and drops it. Every lesson has review. The topics learned most recently get the most review, then periodically afterwards. This is actually how our memory works. The things that are new to us need to be reviewed more often, while the older memories just need to be refreshed. However, I admit that I keep a list and review some topics more often just to be sure. (However my dc is very anti-math.)

     

    CLE is a great program, but I would use it for a child who is at least pretty good in math. It is about a year ahead of R&S. (Some topic levels are the same, but CLE has more advanced topics.)

     

    BTW, I love those fraction overlays. Just use them to teach while using R&S. The problems and the progression of the problems is what makes it a great curriculum.

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