My daughter did more sentences today. It was her second time coming up with her own sentences, and she did them a lot more independently than she did the other day! She had to read the model, then unscramble and combine a list of sentences to imitate the model, and then write her own model sentences. I won't bother posting the "unscrambled" ones here, I'll just post the original model sentence, and then her imitation sentence: MODEL 1: Because he was so small, Stuart was often hard to find around the house. MY DAUGHTER'S IMITATION 1: Because he was so good, he often got a treat in the kitchen. * MODEL 2: Outside, the lights of towns and villages flickered in the distance as the Polar Express raced northward. MY DAUGHTER'S IMITATION 2: Far off, the snowy tops of hills and mountains gleamed like crystals as the full moon hit them. (That one was my favorite. I loved that one! :D) * MODEL 3: The king gripped the arms of his chair, closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and sweated. MY DAUGHTER'S IMITATION 3: The cat scratched the arm of the couch, meowed out loud, jumped to the table, and stretched. * MODEL 4: From the earliest times, rats lived around the edges of human cities and farms, stowed away on men's ships, gnawed holes in their floors and stole their food. MY DAUGHTER'S IMITATION 4: In the treacherous seas, fish swam for their lives from sharks and birds, fed on green seaweed, ate pieces of bread and swam with other fish.

Uh huh. My daughter who turned 10 recently can DEFINITELY write better than that!

Honestly, yes, I think you are expecting too much of an 8 year old. That sounds like something I MIGHT consider doing with a kid in middle school/Jr. High/high school. But not with an 8 year old.

I never really thought about it! But restrictive might be a good word. I don't know, I've just always been comfortable in tees and jeans or tees and sweats. Maybe too many layers would feel confining or something. (I also hate wearing jewelry btw).

I don't know, but reading stuff like this gives me more confidence in my choice regarding homeschooling my kids lol.

Tee-shirts and jeans or sweats, pretty much! If I'm chilly I might put a sweatshirt on. I'm really not a sweaters and layers kind of person!

Aw, happy birthday to your daughter. The pictures are so sweet!

Thanks, everyone :) :)

:iagree:

In session over here, but we have a three plus week vacation coming up in February when we drive to Florida to visit a couple of different relatives.

I'm sorry you all are going through all of that, and sorry that he is, too! I think you are taking the right steps, and I hope that the psychiatrist is able to help him. :grouphug:

:grouphug: PMS sucks!

You guys are probably sick of my "personal" thread with the million pages of updates, or maybe the updates just get lost in the end pages, but I'm pretty psyched about today. I had my Week 20 weigh in (I can't believe I've stuck to Weight Watchers for 20 weeks already!)... And I lost 2 lbs this week, for a total of 28 1/2 lbs gone. (That's like an average two year old child- lost!) :D 20 Weeks ago, I was pretty dejected about weighing close to 240 lbs (237 1/2 to be exact). I've now gone from weighing 237 1/2 lbs to weighing 209 lbs. I'm out of the 230's, out of the 220's, and, as of today, out of the 210's, too! I'm well on my way to being out of these stupid 200's altogether! My BMI has gone from 37.2, to 32.7 so far. I feel a lot better, physically and emotionally, than I did five months ago. I'm just about halfway to my initial goal (I want to lose at least 60 lbs total) so wish me luck with getting rid of the rest of this weight. :)

Today was my Week 20 weigh in! Here's my Status Report: 8/26/10, Week "0" Weight: 237 1/2 lbs BMI: 37.2 Height: 5'7" 9/2/10, Week 1 Weight: 235 1/2 lbs BMI: 36.9 Weekly Change: -2 lbs Total Loss: 2 lbs 9/9/10, Week 2 Weight: 234 1/2 lbs BMI: 36.8 Weekly Change: -1 lb Total Loss: 3 lbs 9/16/10, Week 3 Weight: 231 3/4 lbs BMI: 36.3 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 5 3/4 lbs 9/23/10, Week 4 Weight: 229 1/2 lbs BMI: 35.9 Weekly Change: -2 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 8 lbs (I'm out of the 230's!!!) 9/30/10, Week 5 Weight: 226 3/4 lbs BMI: 35.5 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 10 3/4 lbs 10/7/10, Week 6 Weight: 226 1/4 lbs BMI: 35.5 Weekly Change: -1/2 lb Total Loss: 11 1/4 lbs 10/14/10, Week 7 Weight: 224 1/2 lbs BMI: 35.2 Weekly Change: -1 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 13 lbs 10/21/10, Week 8 Weight: 221 1/4 lbs BMI: 34.6 Weekly Change: -3 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 16 1/4 lbs 10/28/10, Week 9 Weight: 218 lbs BMI: 34.1 Weekly Change: -3 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 19 1/2 lbs (I'm out of the 220's!!!) 11/4/10, Week 10 Weight: 219 1/2 lbs BMI: 34.4 Weekly Change: +1 1/2 lbs Total Loss: 18 lbs 11/11/10, Week 11 Weight: 218 1/4 lbs BMI: 34.1 Weekly Change: -1 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 19 1/4 lbs 11/18/10, Week 12 Weight: 215 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.8 Weekly Change: -2 1/2 lbs Total Loss: 21 3/4 lbs 11/25/10, Week 13 Weight: 215 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.8 Weekly Change: +/- 0 Total Loss: 21 3/4 lbs 12/2/10, Week 14 Weight: 213 lbs BMI: 33.4 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 24 1/2 lbs 12/9/10, Week 15 Weight: 210 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.0 Weekly Change: -2 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 26 3/4 lbs 12/16/10, Week 16 Weight: 211 1/2 lbs BMI: 33.1 Weekly Change: +3/4 lb Total Loss: 26 lbs 12/23/10, Week 17 Weight: 212 lbs BMI: 33.2 Weekly Change: + 1/2 lb Total Loss: 25 1/2 lbs 12/30/10, Week 18 N/A 1/6/11, Week 19 Weight: 211 lbs BMI: 33.0 Weekly Change: -1 lb Total Loss: 26 1/2 lbs 1/13/11, Week 20 Weight: 209 lbs BMI: 32.7 Weekly Change: -2 lbs Total Loss: 28 1/2 lbs (I'm out of the 210's!!!) Summary: Goal- to lose 60 lbs. 28 1/2 lbs down, 31 1/2 lbs to go. --- Check out my fun weight loss picture updates here: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/139113.html And thanks again for your support and encouragement, and for letting me continue to be more "accountable." :)

Not at all. (And been there, done that). I avoid threads that bash these people because reading some of the nasty judgments just really ticks me off. (I'm not referring to here specifically, I'm referring to any message board I've ever been a part of in general).

Would you have any interest in having those of us who can't be there write emails/letters on your behalf? Either directly to the library, or to you so you can print them and bring them to the library to leave off with them while you check out your books? ETA: I also meant to say I love your protest ideas! And good luck!

At 8 (I homeschooled her for the last few months of third grade), my daughter didn't do ANYTHING independently when it came to schoolwork. At 9, in fourth grade, she began doing SOME things independently. I went by what I knew she was comfortable with and good at. But if she felt she needed help/guidance or I felt she was going to struggle, I stayed with her. (So she'd have silent reading time, she'd do spelling review on her own and so forth, but writing assignments and math assignments would need hand-holding). Now, at 10, she's doing a few more things independently. (For instance, this year for the first time she's doing math pretty much on her own. She's beginning to be more independent with her writing assignments). But I still keep her company and/or "hold her hand" through other or harder things (or just things we enjoy doing together). I figure she will continue to get more independent each year. But I wouldn't have expected it at age 8. So, yes, I think you need to sit with him and help him more through his core assignments.

I just use one. I think some people figure they need to supplement various subjects because they want something more rigorous or they think (or fear) that there will be gaps in one. I consider myself a more relaxed/eclectic schooler rather than a particularly rigorous one so I'm not big on supplementing lol- I don't want a lot of busywork, I like that we can accomplish a good amount in a day without it taking all day. As for gaps- well... gaps in what? What they're learning in public school? Who cares what they're learning in public school (I say). Who remembers most of what they learned in public school anyway? And our public schools aren't exactly doing so well to begin with. So I'd rather do my own thing than worry overly much about following along with what the school district is doing. Gaps in what they might need to pursue whatever their higher education or career path is? That would be an understandable concern, I suppose. But I figure I don't need to use two math curricula (or language arts or any other subject) in elementary school, or even middle school, due to that concern. When the kids get older and know what they want to pursue in life and what its requirements will be, we'll deal with it then and do our best to meet those requirements. If in the end that means they need some sort of extra program or extra tutoring or whatever because the math program I used in third or sixth or eighth grade didn't cover it back then, we'll address it when we need to (and I'll hazard a guess that an older student motivated by something they want to do with their life will learn what they need to faster than that same student would have done years back when I was going "you need two maths just in case!" anyhow). Please note that I'm NOT trying to "knock" other peoples' choices, and I do apologize if it comes across that way. Sincerely! I'm just explaining my own mindset and why I don't feel it's necessary for me, or for new homeschoolers to start worrying about whether they are doing enough and whether they should be using yet another math curriculum or whatever... ...sometimes this board can make you question whether you're "doing enough" even if you were totally confident that you were before you got here. Heh. I love a lot of the people and topics on these boards, but I'm conscious of having to be careful of not allowing it to make me feel like I have to start piling more and more on to be doing "enough." It's like a domino effect around here lol. My kids are happy, learning, and having fun. My evaluator is happy with what we're doing each year, my district is accepting it, nobody is stressed, frustrated, miserable or hating school, so I figure we're doing something right. For us. Annnnnd with all that said (ready to hear me sound like a hypocrite? haha) I do plan to OFFER "Life of Fred Fractions" to my daughter on top of "Teaching Textbooks 6" next year. Not because I think she needs two math programs. But because I thought Life of Fred sounded fun and interesting and I loved the concept, so I figured based on that (and the fact that neither that nor TT are overly time consuming in and of themselves) that I'd buy it to check out and see if she liked it. If it holds her interest and she enjoys using it and it helps reinforce concepts, great! However, if it stresses her out, she dislikes it, we find it too time consuming to do both or anything along those lines, I would drop LoF and just continue with TT (which my daughter enjoys doing and which works for her). Every once in a while we do come across something here that sounds fun/good enough to try, and when that happens, I'll offer it. But I won't allow it to become too overwhelming or insist on it. We both enjoy our one main curriculum and that's what we stick with for the most part. Nance (who again apologizes if anything she said here came across as offensive or judgmental as she didn't mean for it to)

:grouphug: Glad to "hear" you in such good spirits, and I will keep you in my thoughts regarding that lymph node!

Yep, this was the kind of thing I was thinking about when I posted earlier. I think it would be really sad for a group to refuse to allow families to join unless they had kids of compulsory school age. My homeschool group has several families who came with preschoolers or even toddlers saying that they knew they wanted to homeschool or they wanted to learn more about homeschooling and wanted to start getting information and support and meeting people who were already doing it. We've welcomed them all. Some have stayed, some haven't, but they've all had the same opportunity. Yes... see, I wouldn't do a preschool 'drop off' class to begin with. Pretty much all of our homeschool group's get togethers require parental participation, or at least parents staying to supervise their own children. But we don't do traditional "co-op classes" where one parent is teaching the kids for hours or anything like that. We do field trips, tours, craft days, playdates, some "fun" classes, holiday get togethers, have people come in to do presentations or non-standard classes (like when the Red Cross came to do a "disaster preparedness class" and so on). So I think the trick is to require parental participation, not to refuse them altogether.

Well, personally, it wouldn't bother me. If someone was interested enough to explore it with their pre-k'er or k'er rather than putting them in school that young, that's a good step. From there, well, either they're going to continue or they're not. Maybe being in your group and interacting with you all would make them want to continue and it would be that help and support they needed to do so. Maybe it won't, but then, so what? So be it. They have to make the decision for their family. It doesn't really affect you. I know that I started homeschooling my daughter (when I pulled her out of third grade public school) with no set plan in mind other than a "we will take this year by year and see how it goes." So far it's "going" just fine. So I don't think that "interviewing" them as to their plans is the answer. They may not know their plans. Or their plans may change. And they may change either way- they may decide to put kids in school after swearing they wouldn't because it just doesn't work for them. Or they may put kids in school and then decide it's not working and they want to pull them back out, and they'll have a place to go. I would see a homeschool group as a way to give and get support, information, socialization and so on but really the cards need to just fall where they may with each individual family, in the end.

You know, I just looked on the site I ordered from and it has "Sentence Composing for Elementary School" listed as being for Grades K-5 (but I do NOT believe this is in ANY way suitable for K or 1st!!). Personally I wouldn't try it any sooner than 3rd grade and that's with a particularly bright kid, otherwise I do believe that anywhere from 4th to 6th would be good for a program like this (you'll have to use your own discretion of course, you may think it's just fine for your younger elementary school student or whatever). And "Story Grammar for Elementary School" is listed as being for Grades 3-6 so based on that, I'm assuming that "Sentence Composing" is meant to be the "easier" one/the one to do first. Just an FYI!

Heh. I'm kinda happy that our only pets are all behind glass. (Turtles, a gecko, and fish). Easy to take care of and none of them ever puke.

:grouphug: I'm sorry, I know that's hard for you. But don't feel guilty, you don't have a choice for one, and he's got his dad, for another, he's not alone!

:grouphug: You poor thing! A few things. 1. It's normal for kids to get kind of "school sick" and miss school/their friends temporarily once you've pulled them out, and that's even for kids who AREN'T "reluctant" homeschoolers, as you've termed your daughter. She will eventually come to terms with it though. In the meanwhile: 2. Give her a little more time to "deschool" rather than jumping in right away like you are when she's already upset too (and forget about the hormones with those teenage girls, everything's even more dramatic than it is for the rest of the world lol). So just give her a little time to decompress and adjust. 3. Stop buying different curricula sight unseen right now. For one, it's a waste of money. for another, you don't know if she's going to love it or hate it. And for another, you don't know if she WOULD have liked it if you'd have waited a while instead of offering it up in her current miserable, resistant state during which she will probably hate everything. Right now maybe you can focus more on bonding with her and seeing what she's interested in and what you can do to help her explore that. Sort of go more unschoolish with her for a while. Find her some educational games to play, let her pick whatever she wants at the library, watch educational shows and movies and discuss them, play board games together, do field trips and tours to the extent you can and so on, while you try to figure out what she's interested in and what her learning style is. At some point maybe you can go to a used curriculum sale or a homeschool convention or something- together. Look at the different curricula available- together. Let her have a say in which one she wants to use. Let her feel like she has some choice and say in all of this. (Even if you can't do that in person, you can still do it online together). Anyway, hang in there, I hope things start looking up for you very soon!