[Navigating the classical writing approach (progymnasmata) vs. the traditional writing approach]

I've always combined different approaches. I feel like it gives us a different perspective on how to write. We've used CAP writing and rhetoric, WWS and IEW. IEW I've loved for the outlining and it does teach the 5 paragraph essay and WWS has given us practice with many different types of writing (scientific, narrations, poetry etc) that I feel IEW doesn't cover. I really loved writing and rhetoric but it wasn't enough instruction for my kids. I start off with goals of what I want my kids to learn rather than a specific program and use what we need to meet those goals. As far as classical vs traditional I don't feel that any of our educational methods are completely purely classical and in reality when you try and pin down what a pure classical approach would be it is really hard. I've had to let go of my ideals about a true classical education. 

[Reading above grade level. Now what?]

In our house my goal with reading in the younger age is to encourage them to love books and love reading quality books. We haven't put much emphasis on analyzing stories although we have talked about characters, settings etc during writing. I've never been a huge fan of abridged books (like the classic start series). I feel most of the beautiful language and skilled writing is lost in the abridged versions. If you help a child to love good books though when they are ready they will read them on there own. My 6th grader now reads books like Anne of Green Gables, The Odyssey, Treasure Island for fun at night. There are a ton of booklist out there so I've always scoured them and let my kids pick the books. Sometimes I ask them to narrate back to me what they've read. My rules for books were appropriate books and at their reading level or at least close to it. 

[Chromebook for online classes?]

We use blackboard through WTMA and the streaming works on our chromebook. I wonder if it's specific to the brand? We have lenovo? So far we've only used veritas press self paced, WTMA and streaming Roman Roads media but all of them have worked fine. 

[How much time daily for 7th grade?]

My 7th grader works for 6 hours a day. She takes piano, stem class and dances about 9 hours a week.

[Finishing books to fast?]

I have an extremely fast reader. Forcing her to slow down and analyze the books would have been a sure way to kill the joy.

There is no need for "formal" literature studies before high school, and even during high school I would tread lightly. We never used a "program" before my kids started taking college lit classes. Being a voracious reader goes a long way towards developing appreciation and understanding for literature.

 

I would carefully evaluate what skills the program is supposed to teach her and whether she actually needs this instruction.  I would not subject a strong reader to needless busywork just to adhere to a program. For example, if she understands what she reads, I would not make her do comprehension questions - they are a tool to force children to read who otherwise wouldn't. I would simply talk with her about the books.

And I would absolutely not hide books from a child who wants to read.

 

I was joking about hiding the books... But I do think I might just drop the program. It had great reviews but does seem a bit like busy work. She tends to pick good books so I don't really have much need of assigning good books to her. I just need to have them available and she'll read them. I guess what I was wondering more than anything is if there was a reason to slow her down or if going through a book slowly to dissect it would be of any benefit but Lori D's advice seemed to cover that. 

[Beast Academy 2A to be available in late summer]

They’ve stated that there isn’t a need for a traditional program before BA2. The only required skills are the ability to count to 100, some very basic skip counting, and some general familiarity with addition and subtraction within 20. It therefore makes sense that some are finding 2A too easy, as it is meant to be the first formal math book some kids might have. I assume that the books will fully cover addition and subtraction within the year, as BA3 assumes solid knowledge of that.

 

This makes sense. I was hesitant to start it with DS since my older DD used the upper level BA and it was challenging on grade level but so far it seems like the perfect amount of problems and challenge for him. I'm wondering if he'll hit a wall with it when we get to BA3 or if the next couple of books in BA2 will ramp up. He's enjoying it for now though. 

[Finishing books to fast?]

I decided to try lightening literature this year with my 6th grader since she's getting closer to high school and I thought it would be a great intro to analyzing literature. She loves to read though and hates to slowly read the books the way the program intends. She snuck Tom Sawyer in her room and finished it along with finding two other books she was scheduled to read and finished them also. Should I slow her down and have her read the way the program is set up? We tried memoria press a few years ago and had the same problem so I ended up dropping the program and just letting her read. Is there a reason to read books slowly and not just finish it in a few days? I was looking at some other middle school/high school programs and most of them schedule very few books a year so I am guessing to really analyze the book they should only read a chapter or so a day? Maybe I need to hide the books.... I should add I have asked her the comprehension questions and she always understands the books and can answer any questions I ask her about them. 

[What percentage of homeschoolers do you see not educating to a minimum standard?]

I'm not really what the minimum standard is but I voted based on state minimum standard. Based on that I would say not very many homeschoolers I know are meeting it. Most homeschoolers here don't teach common core so when they test their children they don't meet the standard. I looked up the statistics a while back and our local school was mostly above standard. I'm in California where a lot of people enroll in a homeschooling charter. I looked at the homeschooling charter test results and most children were below standard. Again though that would mostly be due to people not teaching using common core material. If you just mean children that are not being taught any material or educationally neglected then I haven't met anyone. We also have a lot of unschoolers around here but they do educate just in a different way. I'm sure their children would not test well on the state test though. All of these kids tend to go on to college without incident so I don't really feel like those test have much relevance on anything. 

[Intermediate Logic. What in the world is a Truth Table?]

I was just watching the sample from Nance on truth tables. Here's the link if it helps https://romanroadsmedia.com/courses/intro-logic/ although I still didn't really understand it from the video. Click on preview the course and the second video is on truth tables. 

[Math used in Public Schools k-6]

Our district is using Go Math

[Beast Academy 2A to be available in late summer]

We love BA 2A. I'm using it with my kindergarten though. I don't know how I'd feel with a second grader. DS loves it and he really seems to get the math problems in it. We have been using MM2 which just has way to many problems per page for him and the amount of problems is great in BA.

[Needing advice on CC for 5th grader]

Not to discourage you even more but essentials is very light compared to challenge. We are with CC mostly due to all of my kids best friends being a part of the group. We supplement the foundations/essentials program quite a bit. My oldest just started challenge A and is doing fine but I know a lot of moms are struggling. I don't think the work load is heavy enough in the younger years and moms are used to being very relaxed and it's shocking when they get to challenge. Anyway... if our friends weren't all with this program I would drop it and I'm fairly confident our schooling would be better off without it. The money could easily be spent on online classes with actual teachers who know the material. Co-ops aren't necessary, if I were you I would look for park days for homeschoolers rather than cc. Don't feel stuck. As far as the grammar, in my experience the kids all get it by the end of essentials. A lot of times they understand even more than the moms. We've never done the editing exercises, Spelling or homophone/punctuation in the eel. Are you doing those? Maybe try skipping some parts?

[How do I reset the math button?]

Math was like that every single day for the past few years with DD. It was the most frustrating part of my day. This year I put her in an online math class and it's been amazing. Getting used to an online class has taken some getting used to but finally my daughter can do math on her own and actually understands it. Like a PP stated I don't think me teaching her math works. I don't know if it was just someone other than mom or the way the teacher explains it. I think from now on math will be outsourced.

[Can an extroverted middle schooler be happily homeschooled?]

I have 4 kids and a 12yo extrovert. I pick activities that multiple kids can do. My girls both dance, my boys both are in Bjj and all kids are in stem. My extrovert facetimes a lot. She has a phone but most of her friends just use and ipad to facetime. She also is always at someones house. She has a group of 4 close friends and they all rotate getting together at eachothers houses. The moms are all close friends of mine also so we are all comfortable with them going to eachothers houses.

[Vintage books and racism]

I had a lot of thoughts on this and haven't really been able to decide how to convey them. I guess I should have said that I was looking for books on history for my twins who are currently 5 but will be 6 in September. They are a bit young to have conversations about different world views. What I keep thinking is if my skin were a different color or my child's would I be comfortable reading these books to them? If my family had come out of slavery would I want to use these vintage books as our history books? I think for historical context they need to not be removed but to be used a child's history book I'm not so sure it's appropriate. At least that's the conclusion I've come to for my family. 

[Vintage books and racism]

I know the topic of racism in vintage history books has been brought up and I've read both sides of the argument - just read and discuss or don't read at all. Up until this point I didn't have a stance on either side of the argument. I've never considered using a vintage history book until now. Looking for US History reading books I found a book titled "Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans" . I downloaded the book and the first page really turned me off. It gave the impression, to me, that he was saying thank goodness the white people came to save those poor Indians. I had two thoughts, one was that a stance like that has of course been proven false and the other was maybe books like this is what caused people to see slavery as ok. If racism is subtly woven throughout all that you read or hear then you will grown up thinking it's ok. Even if the superior attitude is subtle it's still there. As far as discussions, are the children older that these books are normally read to? I've also heard people say you don't want to erase history and pretend like this wasn't a part of the past because it was. Just looking for more opinions and thoughts on this.

[choosing between outside activities/sports]

I try and cram all of our activities into 3 days a week. That way I have weekends and 2 school days free. Right now my kids are in a stem Class (younger dd wants to be an engineer), dance, karate and art. I basically let each kid pick an activity. I've found I need 2 school days where we stay home the entire day in order to stay on top of school so as long as the activities allow that I am fine with them.

[What do your summer days look like?]

I like to leave summer open. We just hang out with friends. We will have playdates, meet parks with splash pads, go to the beach, participate in the library programs. I'm also set on getting my twins swimming by the end of the summer. As far as school in July I will have my older kids do a short math sheet and I have them pick a book from the mensa list. I will also have them write a short book report for 6 books. We have a fair in Sept that give a ride ticket for each book report for up to 6 rides.

[What was the average age that your dc learned to read?]

A friend of mine just went to her daughters kindergarten assesment and was told most kids are already reading by the time they go into kinder. I was kind of surprised to hear that. I'm thinking maybe they meant Cvc words not biscuit books though.

[How many books do you read in one day?]

Our library gives us a sheet with 80 bubbles. Each bubble is 30min of reading. Once you complete a sheet you can get another one. You get a prizes just for checking in weekly but you will get more prizes if you hit certain goals (every 20 bubble so 10 hours). I require my older kids to read books from a preselected list daily. They have to read at least 20 pages from the book. They usually read their own fun books at night for another 1-2 hours. I don't use the library program as incentive, I use it as a way to get rewards for something that is already expected. Another library used to give rewards for basic things for under 5 but I always said they would only get a star for books we read. I don't mind changing the rules, I keep the checklist and have to check everything off so I get to say what receives a check and what doesn't.

[If you have elem and middle school ages]

I have 5yo twin (going into kinder), entering 6th and entering 7th graders. I start school with one twin at 6:30 he finishes around 7:30-8. Weekdays we do easy breakfast like instant oatmeal, cereal or bagels so everyone can feed themselves breakfast. My other kids wake up around 7:30 and eat. My two older girls read and do veritas press history online from 8-9am. I work with the other twin during this time. My boys get an hour a day of screen time which they use from 9-10. During this time I work with my older girls on writing and grammar. Then I work with one girl in math while the other goes and plays with the twins. After the first girl is done they switch and the other does math. Everyone has lunch and again it's pretty simple make your own meal. Sometimes my girls play restaurant during the others math time and makes lunch for everyone. They've made menus and little order sheets and wrap up the meal like take out. They came up with this game on their own but is such a help when they play it. After lunch I send the twins to the backyard or they play in their room while I do science, spelling and geography with my girls then we are done.

[Dh wants an overarching plan/watch me figure out K-8]

What is it your DH want to make sure is in the plan? Is the goal to learn everything that public school student learn? There's no way a child will learn all there is to know in the world in their 12 year education. If you want to make sure all that is being taught at the local school is covered you can usually find state standards online. The core knowledge site Hunter posted is based on the idea every child should learn certain things before college and if that is your goal then they have easy to follow guidelines. Public schools seem to change what they want students to learn every few years so following their guidelines is sometimes difficult. Right now you have common core standards if you state adopted them. There will always be holes and gaps in schooling. Since our education is based on utilitarian idea's and the goal is to create students that are useful in society we have to constantly guess what skills they will need. We know that jobs are changing and technology has a big impact on future jobs but the problem is that we don't know what jobs are going to disappear. We can follow certain trends but predicting what technology will be available to make certain jobs obsolete is hard. 

[Dh wants an overarching plan/watch me figure out K-8]

I have an excel sheet for my kids with a basic plan. It helps me feel like I am going to cover everything that I want to cover. It's unrealistic, I have changed it every single year but it give me a sense of security about where we are going with this even if my sense of security is based on a most likely fictional plan. I completely agree with the others that you have no way of knowing this early what is going to work for your 3yo. I have tried curriculum that gets rave reviews and some of them have not worked in my household for various reasons. My twins are using two different math programs. They are very different learners. Figuring out your education philosophy might be better right now rather than trying to create a plan. I agree with just handing him TWTM book. Or grab the book and jot down the plan that's in it and hand that to your dh. Just understand that it's an arbitrary plan. You can't possible make all of those choices so early without experience and even when you have the experience sometimes you start something only to realize you need to drop it and move to something else. 

[How are your preparing yourself this summer for next school year?]

I am going to lay on the beach...

 

 

 

 

Honestly I am going to try and relax but I always reassess our homeschool room and organize it however I see fit for the following year. I'm thinking of doing the 36 week file system. I need a way to streamline all 4 kids. I spend to much time pulling books and manipulative. I need to work on fractions with my oldest a little bit. We always do the reading program at the library. I write lesson plans for the year in the summer and I'm planning on creating a us history hand on study for my twins. I also want to move a little more towards minimalism. Go through each room and purge any unnecessary items. My kids are very social though so we will have to do this between beach days, play dates, and park days. 

[how much money]

We just went to a baseball team party for my 5yo twins team. It was $20 per person. I was a little annoyed. $40 (since I had two players) seemed really high. They got a book, that we already had. We now have three copies and unfortunately they wrote their names inside so I can't gift them to anyone. Oh well, they had fun. Personally I wouldn't have charged more than $10 but everything nowadays seems to be above and beyond what was the norm when I was a kid.