[Book recs for 7 year old girl]

Baby island

[Would you buy this house?]

Yeah, I don't think I'd take it. I always say a sale isn't really a good deal if I don't want/need what is being offered. Being on the other side of all your activities is a big drain.

[Need Help - Non-sugary, easy breakfast ideas]

Here in England it's common to eat beans and sausages for breakfast. The beans are like baked beans. You could put the beans and sausages in the slow cooker at night.

[article/The Best Schools In The World Do This. Why Don't We?]

This stuff isn't actually true though. The ages and free lunch is, but the state doesn't check your home (many, but not all, schools offer a home visit - which you can refuse without any penalty/black mark - to help the teacher see the child in their normal environment) and the named person rubbish is Scotland, not England, and doesn't fully exist yet. I seem to remember there's currently a legal challenge to it. (Also, Scotland's school system is very different to England's.)

 

My child is starting reception this fall and we have no option out of the home visit. There is a legal challenge to the named person scheme, they have been given 40 days to amend it.

[article/The Best Schools In The World Do This. Why Don't We?]

My concern with the preschool stuff is that it is a slippery slope. I'm American but I live in England. Preschool is free here at 2 for low income, 3 for everyone else. Kindy starts at 4. Sure, in America there are people who don't provide an educational early childhood, but once the state starts doing it twice as many parents become hands-off. "It's not my problem anymore." And then the state provides free lunch for all kids until 2nd grade, then the state comes and checks out your home before you kids first day of class, then every single child in the country has a "named person" who is a government employee responsible for your child's wellbeing- making sure they attend dr. Visits and who is "there to listen" if the kid needs someone to talk to. Pretty much the parent is replaceable. I might sound paranoid but it is baffling to me how invasive the state is here and how no one seems to notice or mind. It is a slippery slope.

[Supplement to Miquon]

DD will be starting 3rd grade this fall. We have been using Miquon since we started 1st grade and love it. We also do flashcard drills for facts. I am looking at adding a word problem supplement. I am thinking either Singapore challenging word problems or Life of Fred. Any suggestions which would be better?

[Going to preschool then hs]

We are doing preschool this year for my 3yo ds. I am homeschooling 3rd and k/1st grade and it's just really hard with a happy, full-of-life 3 year old running around. I plan to use preschool for him for 2 years and then homeschool him. Our preschool is a lot of paining and playing. I don't anticipate any problems.

[Podcasts for Kids]

I'm not recommending it per se, as I've never listed to it, but I just saw a new one highlighted called Eleanor Amplified.

[Need Thanksgiving skit (I know it's summer!)]

I know it's still summer but I'm trying to plan ahead! We are Americans and we live in London. There are a few other American families here with dh's company and every year we all celebrate Thanksgiving together. This year I would like to put together a little skit or reading for the kids to perform. There will be about 8 kids ranging in age from 5 to 12. Any suggestions? A simple skit about the pilgrims would be good. Or some sort of reader theatre?

[3rd grade, still no music]

odd will be starting 3rd grade this fall and we have never done music lessons. At the moment both the cost and the one-more-thing-to-do just seems too much. Dh and I are not musical and I am inclined to just not do it. But it seems like everyone we know does put their kid in to some sort of music lesson. Would we be doing a major disservice if we don't (or even never!) do music lessons?

[Do I need anything else in my 3rd grade ELA plan?]

Here is what I have for sure,

 

- Apples and Pears spelling

- Finish up AAR 3. - dd is a strong reader, but 1/2 way through 2nd grade she went to PS so we never finished the AAR3 we were working on. I would like to finish it, but not go on to level 4. I think she is a strong e enough reader, plus I am starting AAR1 with ydd and it's too much of my time to do 2 levels of AAR at the same time.

- Writing strands

 

Do I need some grammar? Any suggestions? It should take us about 2 or 3 months to finish AAR 3. I plan to just have her read after that.

 

 

[Quick SOTW audio question]

Quick question,

With the audio version, about how long is each chapter?

[Any switch to PS and it was a disaster?]

Schools here are extremely over populated and you are not guaranteed a place in any of them. We applied for a school placement the first of January and didn't have an opening until April. So, if I pull her before the end of the year then we will lose our placement. This is fine if we end up homeschooling, but I am just worried that during the 6 weeks of summer break we might decide to keep her in but then have lost out placement. I don't think she is really having diagnosed panic attacks, just a lot of anxiety. I go back and forth on this too. Knowing if I should pull her now or not, but I am just not wanting to give up our place in the school.

[Any switch to PS and it was a disaster?]

Thanks for the responses. School goes until the end of July. I think the plan is to try and finish this school year and then homeschool in the Fall. We are actually in a neighborhood with a lot of kids who play after school so I think she would still have access to friends and British culture. It is really helpful to have people outside the situation shake you a bit and say "Everything is fine, snap out of it." Homeschooling is SO uncommon here that I was starting to be convinced that I was doing them a disservice. But I think that I want to homeschool and that she would be happy to do so. The 5yo is happy either way, I'm not too worried about her.

[Any switch to PS and it was a disaster?]

My oldest dd is 7, in 2nd grade. We had been homeschooling since kindy. This past April we enrolled her and 5yo dd in public school, so it's been 2 months. I feel like it has been kind of a disaster! We moved from S.California to London, England last fall and also had a baby in February. With all that going on I just couldn't cope with the demands of homeschooling. Ydd is doing great, she likes school, has friends, and I can see real growth both educationally and socially. Odd, on the other hand, is struggling. I don't think it is a problem with the school, I think it is an internal thing. She is a summer birthday so she is young, plus here they start school at 4. So she is a bit "behind" and can't stand that. She hates that she only get 2 or 3 words correct on her spelling test. She is terrified of French class (she knows no French whereas the other kids have been learning for a few years). She has a hard time being corrected by teachers, she takes it very personally. She hates how loud the classroom is (30 kids plus a teacher and a few aides). Most of the time when I pick her up she is fine and happy, but later at bed time she cries that she doesn't want to go the next day. I am struggling to decide if my homschooling has sheltered her and given her thin skin and she needs to power through it, or if it is a wonderful thing that I am able to keep her from these overwhelming situations by going back to homeschooling. Today was French class and last night she was having a panic attack about going so I let her stay home today. We did schoolwork, but really all she wanted to do was play and make booby traps! Again, I can't decide how I feel about this. Is she just not wanting to work hard and catch up, or is it a great advantage of HS that we can get done faster and she can spend the afternoon in creative play. I really need someone to give me direction and tell me what to do!! I am willing to go back to homeschooling but I am afraid that I have made her unable to function in society.

[Anyone is a "good school" area?]

We started homeschooling while living in Southern California in a fairly bad school area. It was an easy choice to homeschool. We have since moved and live .3 miles from a pretty good school, academically speaking. I am having a harder time justifying all the work that homeschooling requires when a decent school is right around the corner. I still have issues with standardized testing and the secular influence of public school, but when academics are ok I feel like I am doing a TON of work for soemthing that the school is doing just as well.  Is anyone else homeschooling even through you live in a "good school" area?

[If you could have a HS lesson from a college student...]

DH is a college professor and his university holds an auction every year to raise $ for a ministry in Africa. The auction is mostly for services from students- house cleaning, preparing dinner, etc. However, you can also do a reverse auction where you say what you are looking for and they offer to do it for a certain price. So, I was thinking of asking for some homeschooling lessons for my dc's. The $ is for charity so what are some ideas for topics I could ask for? Like, 4 art classes or something. Also, we are Americans living in London so maybe something along the lines of British history or culture?

edited to add: my dc's are 7 and 5 years old.

[Interrupting play for schoolwork?]

Thanks for all the posts. It's helpful to see how different families operate. I am definitely talking creative play, not iPad. They like to make crafty stuff with old boxes, play with dolls, pretend school- which includes reading to their dolls. Generally I think much of their play is still "educational." Sometimes I think I put too much pressure on us.

[Interrupting play for schoolwork?]

How much do you stop happily playing sibling for the sake of schoolwork? My girls are 7 and 5, so still young. We do schoolwork first thing. 7 yo does reading, spelling, and we alternate handwriting and writing. She also does math daily, and we focus on either history or science for about a month at a time, I try to do 2 lessons a week and then we get library books and videos on that subject. So we are getting the basics in, usually before lunch. But, for instance right now, the girls are in their room playing something- probably dolls. I still wanted to do science today and I wanted to have my 5 yo do a few things and I am torn between telling them to come down to do the school work or just leaving them to play which I know if good for them and gives me a break. This is not a rare thing, it's pretty daily that they really just still want to play for a large chunk of the day. Would you just leave them? Or is it important to get some of the additional supplemental subjects in?

[Help with cell model]

Dd is in 2nd grade and her science book is having us make a model cell using jello. I live in England and don't have access to jello, and other ideas for what I should use? It is pretty basic, mostly just showing the difference between plant and animal cells- plant is square and gets chloroplasts, animal is round. Both get nucleus. I was thinking pudding? Any other suggestion?

[Still homeschool? Just moved to London.]

Thanks for the comments. We are not sure how long we will be here. We moved for dh's work and there is no end term on his new employment. So we will be here as long as we want to be here. I am just having such a hard time thinking of letting them go :( I can't imagine them being away 7 hours a day 5 days a week...

[Still homeschool? Just moved to London.]

I have a 7yo, 5yo, 2 yo, and baby due in February. Our family has recently moved from Southern California to London. I posted a few months ago about not knowing if we would continue homeschooling, but now we are here and I have visited the school and have a more solid grasp of the pros and cons. There are many pros and cons but there is really 1 main area that is the biggest hang up for me. On the pro homeschooling side, we are Christians and I believe that it is my responsibility to shepherd and train my children, especially according to what we believe. Also, I love reading good literature with the children, love going on daytime walks, appreciate teaching them so much more than academics (cooking, laundry, etc.),and while I don't love it I do appreciate the ability to correct bad behaviour during the day that would otherwise go unnoticed. This morning I toured the school that I would send them to. It was a very nice school. More integrated than I was expecting, subject matters are woven in to free play very well- for instance in the 1st grade class they were painting Christmas plates, but the teacher explained that they were really practicing writing and spelling. Also, they didn't have individual desks, they had tables with 5 or so kids at each one and more of an "activity centre" type of approach than strictly teaching. It was a lovely school. The main con that I saw from the tour was that in the 3rd grade classroom they were working on reading time and the children were all reading printouts with comprehension questions. I hate that kind of thing. I so much more prefer real literature. So, I would just keep homeschooling, but here is my biggest reason for sending them- I feel like they will miss out on so much of the British experience if they are just home with me all day and not actually out in their community. Part of the reason we accepted this position in London was to provide a learning experience for the kids. But if they are just home with me all day, life if not much different than California. I want to be part of the community and I want them to be immersed as well. To sum it up I guess I would say: is it worth giving up the flexible wholistic lifestyle of homeschooling (along with good literature curriculum) for the sake of really diving in to British culture and lifestyle?

 

As a side note, I am having baby #4 in February so it would be both an added pro and con to the situation. Pro to be able to send the kids to school and just rest during the day. Con that they wouldn't be able to spend much time with their new baby sister and learn baby care.

Thoughts?

[Please tell me everything will be ok]

Thank you all for the support. I know my 4yo isn't even aged for kindy, but she wanted to do school work at the beginning of the year, and then I didn't want to stop because she was doing really well. I am the type that always puts too much pressure on myself. Plus, I'm thinking that once we get there it will be the holiday time and after that we are having a baby so I was trying to get as much done now knowing that we will likely have several months off. But maybe it's time to stop and try to get us moved out in a more peaceful manner :)

[Please tell me everything will be ok]

I have a 2nd grade dd and a 4 yo with a November birthday who is doing kindy work. I also have a 2 yo and a baby due in February. We currently live in S. California and next month we are moving to London. Our lives are chaos at the moment. We are trying to get our shipping freight ready to  go out next week. We are trying to get the house ready to sell. We are trying to sell our belongings that we are not taking with us. Needless to say, I am stressed about the amount of schoolwork we are doing! With the 2nd grader I usually do reading, writing, spelling, and math everyday. With the 4 yo we do 100 ez lessons and singapore earlybird everyday. We have very little history, no structured science, no art (although they craft constantly.) Dh does Bible regularly, and Latin about 2x week. Please tell me that they will learn so much from moving to London that it will be worth the amount they are missing the next couple of months! Save me from full on panic!!

[Are any of you ISTJ/ ESTJ moms with ENFP kids?]

I don't really have any advice for you, but I am enfp. I have always been rather flighty! I am naturally smart, but only gave 50% effort at school. I did graduate from college though! I quit projects often. It's a miracle that I have a stable life, I have 4 kids and I am a classical homeschooler. I am a Christian and I believe the Lord keeps me faithful in my daily duties. I just wanted to encourage you that enfp's can still be responsible. I know I was a strong willed teen (and still am!) So good luck and hang in there!