Jamberry77
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Posts posted by Jamberry77
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Easy Biology Lab:
All in one highschool DOT com
I like their biology lab. Easy to do at home, and I skip whatever anti-evolutionary parts I choose.
The site has tons of other subjects but I've never looked at them.
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Hello,
You asked about history and science for middle and high school. My son took several of Mrs. Stanley's middle school history classes last year (pre-recorded). Very engaging and not too hard. My son needs school work that is "just enough" and not too hard, or he shuts down. I learned a lot watching her classes. Occasionally there were glitches in the pre-recorded class but not too many. I have watched bits of the high school level history classes. Some teachers are more engaging than others. We'll be watching the most fun ones.
I've only watched bits of the biology course. For the one I watched, it seemed that the teacher just read her slides, and went very quickly. My son is taking biology this year, and I'll probably use her slides and do the explaining myself (bio major, but I'll need to read ahead.... if I get motivated, that is.) I've read many people's reviews of the chemistry class, saying it is awesome (and can be difficult). I like the variety of science courses offered.
My son has taken two of the writing courses with Mrs. Brown. I liked them and thought they were thorough and not too difficult (average level, not honors) and that's what my son needs.
I love the pre-recorded option because I can assign whatever I think my son ought to do for assignments and tests rather than something he would fail at. I like being able to drop a class and do something else with no extra cost. I like that you can cancel and rejoin at any time (like summers or a month off for Christmas, if you do that). I like that he can re-watch a portion several times and pause it to take notes from the screen. I like that it's being taught by someone other than me, and I'm not reading his text books aloud. I like that the basic structure of the notes are on the screen to make note-taking easier.
Since you can try one week for only one dollar, and the pre-recorded classes are $30 per month, you might want to see things for yourself. We'll be using it for four subjects this upcoming year.
I hope this helps.
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We will be using the Chakerian USB thing for geometry, which sells for $79.99, and using Kolbe Academy's plans (my son in enrolled).
Do we need to buy the text book as well? My son will be learning mostly from the computer (I assume).
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Something else for people to try: I posted earlier about Epsom salt, but that stopped working for me. So after trying several other things, I thought I'd try cheap vitamin E capsules. Surely something so easy and cheap couldn't work. But it is working so far! For four months I've been piercing a capsule with a safety pin and squeezing it onto the affected areas. I try to keep the toes oily all the time and to wear sandals around the house. I also wear moisture-wicking socks to bed and keep the feet uncovered by blankets. One big toe nail is one-third clear, the other is one-fourth clear.
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Just wanted to say that I just finished reading the library's copy of Scattered but Smart for Teens, all about executive functioning. You probably don't need to read it, however, because the advice given to you is very similar to what is in the book. Help, respectfully, as long as they need it, slowing drawing back how much you help.
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I prayed for your precious daughter this morning and will continue to do so. Have hope!
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Hello,
My ninth grader has significantly slow processing speed per a Woodcock-Johnson test. I approached the school system to see if he could get tested by an educational psychologist for free (in order to get a diagnosis so he could get extended time on ACT / SAT). They declined because they saw that he was doing well academically with the accommodations I have been providing him. He took the ACT as an 8th grader and scored a 20.
Our next step will be to see an educational psychologist. The woman who tested my son suggested it, and said our choices were either a professional or a grad student (supervised) at a state university. I read that the College Board and ACT like to see a list of accommodations.
How should I go about this?
Should I go back to the beginning of 8th grade or 9th grade and list by subject? how detailed should these be? Or can I only start right now to list accommodations? I read that they want at least four months' worth listed. Does anyone have an example to share?
For my son, the accommodations include extra time, helping him to study for tests, using video courses, taking breaks, reading aloud to him, helping him figure out what to write down as notes, and working out each math problem with him.
I'd appreciate any advice you have.
Jamberry
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Hello,
The woman who did the Woodcock-Johnson test for my ninth grader last August said that he should have an educational psychologist diagnose him around October of his tenth grade year so that the time frame is correct for the ACT/SAT people to grant him an extended time accommodation. Have any of you heard that? Is the time frame correct? She's assuming he'd be taking the test in spring of junior year and fall of senior year.
Below is the link to his story.
He has been so stressed with school lately and it shows itself in serious digestive troubles. I am scaling back how much work I expect of him in an effort to make him a happy boy again. I thought I had scaled back, but it wasn't enough and I was showing my disappointment and declaring, "We are so far behind!" too much. Time for a serious attitude adjustment for me (and I thought I was doing better).
Jamberry77
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So sorry to hear that your son is sick. Somewhere on the internet (possible www.earthclinic.com) I read that coconut oil helps persons recover significantly faster. Either he could spread it on bread or mix it in instant oatmeal or put it in a cup of hot chocolate. Many use coconut oil for all sorts of physical problems -- antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, etc. I pray that he has a mild case of it.
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Thank you Heather, Storygirl, and Elizabeth. Wow. You answered my questions and gave me additional info. After reading your responses, and looking into the local public schools' websites and reviews, I think we're going to stick with homeschooling. Also, I called our curriculum provider and she told me that it's fine with them if he does more video learning than text reading, as long as he's writing about what he learns, as in "what is important about this."
Question for Heather: what are "immersion sw" and "inspiration sw"?
How does your son use Evernote - to take notes, or for other things?
The Smartpen sounds amazing.
Thank you all so much!
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Hello,
My son, a new ninth grader, recently completed his first ever Woodcock- Johnson test which showed him to have slow decision making and processing skills. This showed up in his fluency tests (any thing that was timed was so slow).
Grade equivalent for math fluency (speed) was 3rd grade; writing sentences was 6th grade. Everything academic was either grade level or higher. All the fluencies were elementary grade level.
At this point I'm contemplating putting him in public school so that he can get the extra time he needs, get a testing accommodation, and have real teachers for physics (the area I think he might go into).
I was told that we can go to an educational psychologist to get a testing accommodation (for ACT/SAT) for him.
We do use a curriculum provider which is extremely flexible in how we educate our kids.
My son has always hated school work and has had trouble with the process of reading, taking notes, and answering written questions (and math speed).
My older son told me that going to public school wouldn't hurt him, and that public schools aren't as bad as I think they are. (He's a new college freshman at a big public school.)
The ninth grade son does like being around people, and goes to two different youth groups at church and is in mountain bike races.
Two questions: what have you done in homeschooling to help your slow child, and how did you get enough work done to call it a high school subject? I'm worried we might not cover enough material.
Second: I'm looking for reassurance that keeping him home would be best, or assurance that public high school has really helped your slow child. I've sort of ruled out one local charter that has a reputation for lots of homework. My son already gets about 2 hours of free time a day, and we do the minimum for each subject to accomplish that. He could never cope with no free time. Also, one school has 90 minute classes. How will my son cope with that? At home he takes frequent activity breaks.
Please forgive my unorganized plea, and just tell me what comes to your mind.
Jamberry
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JanetC,
You ought to call the National Merit Corporation and ask if they will accept an ACT test as the confirming test, or do they prefer or require the SAT. The people who work there are friendly and helpful. Beyond that, look at what the possible college destinations prefer.
Our son scored high enough on the PSAT to be named a semi-finalist. We discussed him taking the ACT, but he said he'd rather spend the time prepping for the SAT, and that prep work paid off well (in a good score and scholarship money). When I called the NM corporation the morning I found out his SAT score, the man went over with me what would be the "confirming score" for the SAT test (what score is good enough to corroborate with the PSAT score (meaning the PSAT wasn't just a fluke), and we found out that his was high enough that he would not have to retake the SAT.
Congrats to your daughter on a great PSAT score.
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From what I can tell, different things work for different people.
I've had it for three years. Some things would work for a while then stop. Dissolving Epsom salt in hot water and soaking worked for two months then stopped. Currently I'm soaking in white vinegar and water for 30 minutes per day, every single day (I even bring my dish tub in the car on road trips). The orange-brown toenail is very slowly being lifted off the new nail which is growing in below. I can see white, clean tissue under the bottom of the nail (not by the tip). My set up is this: regular plastic dish tub with many towels rolled and placed strategically to hold up two "toe soakers" : in the kitchen department of Walmart I found silicone hand-sized pot holders. They are C-shaped and meant to hold a thumb in one and the fingers in the other. The whole thing is about 5 inches tall. I cut this in half and wedge the halves between some towels, put the liquid in there with a few drops of Tea Tree oil to prevent mildew, and I sit and soak while reading or doing school work. These can be run through the dishwasher occasionally. I change out the liquid about once a week, adding vinegar to bring the level up daily if needed. Hope this helps someone.
Edited because the font was tiny for some reason.
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Hello,
On one of my email lists, a mom posted about how she had trouble getting a job interview in her field (blood bank management) even though she had lots of experience prior to homeschooling. She learned that her resume was being rejected by programs designed to screen resumes for certain words (related to a particular position). I know nothing about this except what she wrote, and she has given permission to me to share it.
from her article:
The software compares your resume to the job description and calculates a percentage match. I read that you need about an 80% match to obtain an interview. These programs are called Applicant Tracking Systems, or ATS.
I found a site where you can have access to a program like the ones used in HR to test out your resume. You are allowed a certain number of scans for free. If you want access to more scans, there is a fee. So, I tried the scan for a job for which I was applying at the time. Although this was a job for which I met the listed requirements, I was shocked to see that I had a match of only 23%.
Thankfully, the site helps you to fine tune your resume by breaking down where you matched and where you did not. It turns out that the software looks for certain keywords (or possibly phrases) in your resume to match those listed in the job description. Now, I imagine that there is probably quite a bit of variability in how job descriptions are written with the huge variety of jobs that are out there. But, in my case this was a major road block.
and further in the article:
Eventually, I kept a master list of skills that I then adjusted for the particular position for which I was a applying. After not having received a single interview prior to that time, once I started to use these techniques I began getting called almost immediately.
Let me give you links to the sites that were most helpful to me. This first one is an excellent, thorough explanation of ATS systems and how to have them not work against you. It goes into even more detail than I have:
https://www.livecareer.com/quintessential/optimizing-resume-applicant-tracking-systems
This second one is the site where you can scan your resume and job description to see how well they match. It also gives many other evaluations and tips that are helpful:
Besides the use of ATS systems, there are some other things that I learned along the way that I’d like to share. The first is that social media has become much more important in job searching. It is best to have a current and complete page on LinkedIn if possible. Although this is a time consuming process, it truly is helpful. Recruiters can find you there (again, using key words), you can benefit from having established connections to previous supervisors and co-workers (it will tell you if you ever worked with or went to school with someone who currently works at a particular place), you can e-mail these same colleagues without knowing their personal e-mail addresses, and it shows that you are technologically up-to-date.
I have also read that other types of social media are being used by recruiters; one source said that Twitter is used even more than LinkedIn. (I still didn’t set up an account, though). And, I think we all know that public Facebook posts may also be examined by recruiters.
Another tip that I can share is in regard to the online personality tests that are frequently used now. I recently learned that some of the tests track more than I would have guessed. Some track how long you take to respond to each question, so make sure you don’t walk away from the computer in the middle of the test. They also can track any answers you marked even if you changed them before you submitted the test. One even stated that it only accepts the first answer, even if you change it!
Another problem that I encountered was losing the formatting on my carefully formatted resume when it was uploaded to the employment site. It’s ideal if they allow you to attach your resume. But, if they do not, you’ll be forced to cut and paste it into a little box. First of all, this will automatically remove things such as bold, underline, and size of letters. Secondly, it may also change your spacing. There is nothing more frustrating than having spent a lot of time formatting to show that you are attentive to details, then to have it changed to look like a mess. (I found some info about saving your resume in text mode to help with the first issue, but it did not help with spacing.) Upon Julia’s suggestion, I tried changing the font that I had been using for my resume. The one I used was quite plain, but I thought it was slightly more appealing than, say Arial or Times New Roman. This made all the difference! Once I tried changing it to one of the most common fonts I had no problem with it keeping my spacing.
Finally, I also found that some sites did not allow me a way to upload a cover letter. I really felt that I needed to state why my job history was a fit for the position. For these, I made the cover letter the first page in my resume document. I really don’t know if this helped or hindered my chances (since I suppose it’s possible they could think that I was being pushy), but I felt it was worth the risk to have a chance to speak for myself.
Back to me: I have the complete file on my computer. Let me know if you want me to send it to you via email.
Jamberry
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My 8th grader finds it difficult to read a section of a chapter of a science book and take notes. He's an audible learner. Typically I read the section to him, one paragraph at a time, and tell him what to actually write as notes or say, "that sounds important, doesn't it?"
I'm envisioning his high school years where I will read all his science to him. Good thing he'll be my only student as of June.
He does have good reading comprehension and he remembers what I read aloud to him, but if I ask him to read and take notes, he feels that the process is impossible and unbearable (and it ends up taking hours).
Should we just keep using what is working, even though the process is slow? We are using Holt Earth Science (Kolbe Academy).
Kelly
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Jennifer,
My son had done Latina Christiana I and II, then he tried the Kolbe plans for Henle. For him, it moved too fast. Instead, he used the Mother of Divine Grace syllabus which covers half of the first year book. Later he did the MODG second half of the book, then third year, MODG "Latin III" syllabus which is Henle book 2.
This year he is doing a combo of Henle 3 and 4 using Kolbe plans (an advisor created a joined plan). My son is enrolled with Kolbe and we've been well -pleased with the other subjects and with the advisors for the past four years.
One idea to go with Henle one: here is a study guide for Henle 1 (Magistra Jones).
Look at the samples and see what you think. I ordered this for my younger son.
http://magistrajones.blogspot.com
http://magistrajones.blogspot.com/p/henle-latin-study-guidescompanions.html
Congratulations on your new babies!
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My question is what classes my son should take at a community college next year as a senior in our homeschool. He is enrolled with Kolbe Academy and wants to continue with their history and literature courses. So far he has done three years of Latin (MODG plans), physical science and biology using Kolbe plans, chemistry (Apologia, locally), and Life of Fred math through Trig.
Options:
1. take Life of Fred Calculus at home, take physics with a lab at home.
2. take pre-calculus one semester at CC, calculus or other math second semester;
Take physics one semester at CC, and a second science elective second semester
3. take classes only in the first semester of CC, none the second
4. take only one class per semester at the CC next year.
Factors to consider:
The PSAT score was 227 which may enable him to be a NMSF/NMF. His talents lie in the verbal areas rather than in math or science. He has taken no AP classes, and from what he can tell from sample questions, he’s not prepared to take any AP exams. He would like to attend U of Dallas, Christendom, or Belmont Abbey College. I think he would benefit from a writing course, perhaps the second semester. He has 3 1/2 credits of math as of the end of this school year so he needs 1/2 more in senior year.
Reasons to take classes at the CC include a chance to sharpen his ability to meet deadlines/experience of a classroom and to get a teacher recommendation (the local chemistry class only covers the lab). I do not intend for him to get credit at a university for any classes taken at a CC. The CC is free except for fees and books, and the campus is nearby.
I would appreciate your ideas on what to do. Please ask if you need more info.
*Edited to add he'd rather skip calculus altogether unless he must take it.
What it feels like to have a learning disability
in The Learning Challenges Board
Posted
Excellent video; thanks for recommending it.