kbernt
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Posts posted by kbernt
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After semi-retiring from 16 years of homeschooling, I have lots of treasures for sale. Check it out in the classifieds.
You people are great. I’ve soaked up so much advice from you all for many years as a lurker, but just this year was brave enough to start posting a little. You’re just all so smart and I sincerely appreciate how dedicated you all are to your children!
I’ve tried to price my books very fairly, but if you want to make a reasonable offer, please do.
I need to downsize my book storage to make room for grandbabies visiting! This will probably be the first/biggest batch of offerings, but there will be more since I’m plum tired out tonight, and also I will be doing more sorting/cleaning as time goes by. I’m saving some of my best ones for my 20yo daughter that wants to homeschool and for the rest of my “partial†homeschooling and also for homework help/reference. So anyway, take a look.
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I'm a little slow here, but just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.
... I can't make a hands-on, engaging math program "fun"--so I feel like a total failure on the math-front.
Hands-on isn't for everyone, some kids grasp the abstract just fine without the concrete.
...("what is 9-2?" Him: staring at all, rubbing eyes, "I don't know." He DOES know, but he somehow seems unable or unwilling
It seems like I read somewhere not to quiz, or not to ask what is 9-2, as it puts pressure on them to formulate the right answer, and some kids REALLY don’t like the risk of being wrong. It works better to let them recognize, find, or search for the right answer among a few options. This can build confidence, then later the “drill†can be presented.
You'll get it figured out!
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I agree with pretty much everyone here--go ahead with the next level, and the next, etc. since it's phonics.
Off the top of my head, the only thing I can forsee that might happen is that the successive books might not quite "fit" her as well since they're likely written at a higher interest level, even though they fit her at her academic level. But who knows, this may not be the case. If that situation does pop up, just find another program. It's been good for my girls to sometimes do a subject twice from two different authors/programs, since the content varies a little, and the scope can too, so it's a very enriched way to learn!
Good job! Many would like to be in your shoes :)
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We have a lot of grandparents' names used as middle names in our family.
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Wonderful! Thanks everyone.
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My dd used blue level/grade 5 for one year, mainly just for the vocabulary in context feature. I got both the student edition and teacher edition on Amazon. I also know Kolbe Academy sells them, but I believe you have to be registered with them to be able to purchase the teacher edition from them. I believe you can register for just one course with them--or at least you used to be able to as of a few years ago. We didn't use the tests.
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Need tried-and-true moist and chewy brownie recipe that uses cocoa powder, not baking chocolate, chocolate syrup, etc.
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Maybe audible.com??? It looks like they have 639 titles listed in the kids - nonfiction category. I saw a book on volcanoes, one on black holes, and one about "Adventures in Sound", for example.
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I have at least one very independent learner, so I know what you mean! I see some nice suggestions here so far.
Here's a second suggestion for Science (secular):
To keep it independent, you skip the "Inquiry" lessons, which, although they make up about 25%-ish of the total lesson count, they are mostly of a supplemental nature, and not the core concepts. There are also independent digital lessons to go along with the book lessons, but they essentially teach the same thing as the book.
Here's a third suggestion for Science:
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It's been 4 weeks today that both my two youngest (10 and 12) started public school for this year (12yo began in Feb. last year), and I'm still a wreck! I'm giving myself about 2 more weeks (I don't handle major changes well); by then I will probably have adjusted.
That's neat that you have a combined program and that your kids like it! I'd prefer combined, but there's not much available like that where we live (pretty rural/conventional).
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We hesitated to announce #5. With us, some of the comments were not just about how many kids we had, but how old we are going to be when #5 graduates (54 and 60). It's not that we started having babies that late (I was 22--that's not old!), but they were spread out a bit: 2 1/2 to 5 years between each one.
Oh, and Congratulations!
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Sliced raw purple cabbage!
Hahaha, I was just going to say raw plain cabbage. Someone often grabs a raw chunk when I'm cutting it to make cole slaw.
Also, 12yo has been eating raw green beans lately, although she gets that one from her dad who always eats a few when he's picking them in the garden.
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Just a suggestion, you could have more grades per course in the 9th and 10th and work towards less in 11th and 12th and that way she would be prepared for college. Use regular/questions/"homework" assignments as more grades in addition to the unit tests in Kolbe.
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It has been around 6 years since I had to deal with this, but it seems like yes, there is only one code for homeschoolers and it doesn't matter that it shows NY. Like Sebastian said, it's probably since that's their location. My memory could be wrong, but I'm just saying what I think I remember.
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IMO, unless she is headed to college in a field like science, math, or engineering, etc. field, the sequence of Alg. 1 - Geom. - Alg. 2 - any advanced math course is probably sufficient. That's what all the public 4 year colleges want in our state (Nebraska).
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???
If the exponents were evaluated first it should be (2+3)(2+3) +1. Then (5)(5) + 1 = 26. Exponents cannot be distributed.
I bet you are really good at math because it just seems natural to you that exponents cannot be distributed. My whole point was that in order for kids to initially learn the rule that exponents cannot be distributed, they can do what you did above, and do the addition inside the parentheses first (2+3=5), then take the answers of "5" times each other aka the powers/exponents second. You just naturally know to do parentheses first then powers, but for a child to whom this is a new concept they may not understand the rule that exponents can't be distributed, and by teaching them to always do everything inside of parentheses first (while ignoring everything outside) works.
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Here's a couple of suggestions that ease into writing with little snippets of exercises versus full blown long writing assignments which can sometimes be pretty intimidating. In my opinion, these can possibly make writing fun for someone who doesn't particularly like writing.
Writing Fabulous Sentences & Paragraphs for grades 4-6
and
Expanding the Writing Process with Elaboration for grades 5 and up
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Your dc sounds so much like my 10yo was a year or two ago. I concentrated on "sight words" and then worked backwards--as in, she knew/had learned how to read a word, then we talked about how the sounds and syllables are spelled in this word, and how they are sometimes spelled differently in other words. Like in 'meat' the eeeee sound is spelled 'ea' and sometimes in other words the eeeee sound is spelled with two e's. This worked for her, and now she's doing ok with a spelling book that's almost a grade above her true reading level.
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Oh, and I wanted to add, all 5 of my dds had way different "reading humps" as I call them. I encouraged them, but didn't push, and dh and I read to them lots and lots, and they eventually all got over their hump and happily on their way to being above average readers...Except my youngest, but she's still "on the hump" but has probably passed the peak so it should all be downhill from here.
The neat thing about this, is that my oldest (my book worm) was a late reader (took a while to get over her hump) but went on to read tons of books, and even got a perfect 36 on the reading part of the ACT test and a very high score on the reading part of the SAT.
My point is, don't worry too much about it if dc is behind grade level a little or even a lot. If given a chance to take it at their own pace, which homeschooling is the perfect setting for, everyone will probably master reading.
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Not exactly what you're asking for, per se, but the way I checked a dd's level once was to note some of the books she was comfortable reading and look their Lexile level up at: https://lexile.com/ -- the "quick book search" up in the corner. Once you know approximate Lexile level she's reading, then use one of these two pages to see where she would fall:
for example, under "I don't know my Lexile measure" enter:
My Current Grade is: (1st)
I find the books I read for school are: (difficult, just right, or easy)
and these Lexile measures show up at the right : difficult for 1st - Beginning Reader to 280; just right for 1st - 280 to 580; easy for 1st - 580 to 870
or PAGE 2
Be sure to scroll down, as there are two parts, the typical readers by grade, or the typical texts used in the different grades at schools
Hope this helped.
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Oftentimes I will have doubles or even triples in subjects, like using Math Mammoth alongside Saxon for a 3rd grader. Then, after several weeks, when one works better, we just drop the other. That way no time was lost in the school year and the "winning" program gets used the whole school year.
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Both my kids for their letters differently, both from what I do, and from each other. Both can also write in cursive, and have decent handwriting. either has complained about strain, so I decided NOT to pursue it further. I've serreptitiously watched other adults out in the world, :leaving: and many have differing approaches to how they form letters.
Just my two cents!
I agree here. I've tried to encourage proper formation, but over the years, with 5 kids, some "incorrect" letter formations wouldn't change (kids too stubborn).
It's funny that we just had a conversation about this the other day on making print "o"s clockwise and from the bottom and cursive "o"s just the opposite. My 12yo and 17yo are perfectly fine with it and don't see it as a problem, so I "lost" the argument that my 10yo needs to change. Majority rules I guess. :huh:
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It held my kids' attentions. Each one of the five has used it at some point. My youngest (9yo then) was using it last year just as a supplement and it was her choice of what she watched. She just had to watch a BP video about 3 times a week to check it off on her chart. Sometimes she did the quizzes and sometimes not. I've also used it for science concepts as an assigned list of titles for maybe 8th grade. That worked well too. There has always been a lot of pausing to watch as you walk by the DC doing the viewing in this house, since everyone likes them.
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I also think that conceptual physics is too light for a senior who is planning an engineering major. I'll let someone else critique the other 3.
I have a BS in physics, and in my opinion, this is true; however, if you utilize all of the "Problem-Solving Practice" extra problems for each chapter in the appendix at the back of the book (about 30 pages of them, and approx. 10-25 problems for each chapter) then the course is more meaty and approaches the level of normal 11th-12th grade physics courses. I adore Hewitt's style of explaining things, and wish someone would have explained them to me that way years ago--I probably would have "gotten it" a little quicker on some topics.
Semi-retiring from 16 years of homeschooling, 3 clear through to college!
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
After semi-retiring from 16 years of homeschooling, I have lots of treasures for sale. Check it out in the classifieds.
You people are great. I’ve soaked up so much advice from you all for many years as a lurker, but just this year was brave enough to start posting a little. You’re just all so smart and I sincerely appreciate how dedicated you all are to your children!
I’ve tried to price my books very fairly, but if you want to make a reasonable offer, please do.
I need to downsize my book storage to make room for grandbabies visiting! This will probably be the first/biggest batch of offerings, but there will be more since I’m plum tired out tonight, and also I will be doing more sorting/cleaning as time goes by. I’m saving some of my best ones for my 20yo daughter that wants to homeschool and for the rest of my “partial†homeschooling and also for homework help/reference. So anyway, take a look.