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lulalu

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Posts posted by lulalu

    What is the longest plane flight you have been on?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

    I love all the tips everyone is giving.  The good airlines to fly that is really helpful.  

    It is making me think that doing a really long flight is doable.  I think for sure it is much easier once your kids or maybe 6 or 7.   Movies to keep them busy, they can handle the bathrooms on their own.  

    Turkish Air offers movies, video games for each seat. Kids get a bag of toys and sometimes an activity magazine. Food is great too. It is rated #1 worldwide for a reason !

     

    Math thoughts

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    The only thing that *might* need to be added to Miquon is something to teach basic arithmetic facts. Otherwise, it is complete. Many children are able to go into Saxon's Math 54 when they complete all six Miquon books (and that's two books per year).

     

    I cannot bear the thought of juggling multiple products and methods for one subject, so for me, there's going to be one.thing.for.math. :-) And knowing that, I'm going to choose those products which I know are comprehensive, rather than products which focus on one concept.

     

    No, it is possible that you don't actually need a formal "program." I have always found this article interesting (notice that there are three parts) and actually, it's kind of how it worked for us. My dc never finished any arithmetic/math until they were high school age and taking classes at the community college

    Wow! That article is so good. Now I just need to find the guts to be so counter cultural! 😃

    • Like 1

    Math thoughts

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Math has been my struggle to figure out. Ds will be in 1st next fall. My goal is to pick a program to use throughout elementary. I have to buy several years worth at a time unless I can get digital curriculum.

     

    This year we stuck with Miquon orange. I LOVE Miquon! We have RS games, and many other games that involve math. Ds has loved using games and has so many facts down through playing them. I also have Singapore CWP and IP for 1st that we are working through at a quick speed.

     

    I bought the addition lessons from Math Mammoth to try out the program. It is too easy for ds. I like the material, but I am not loving it. It is just so-so. Maybe because it is too easy?

     

    Anyways, I have felt like I need something to use with Miquon. Maybe because it is so different I don't feel it is enough. I don't know. I have looked at so many programs. As I look at the 1st grade levels it looks like he has covered and mastered most of the topics taught. So maybe Miquon and games is working better than I thought.

     

    Which leads me to my question, how do you decide if a program is enough by itself? How do you pick a program or decide to just cover early elementary on you own? Is a program really needed?

     

    For those that have used bits and pieces of programs what have you used and why? Has it worked out?

    How Important is a Homeschooling Community?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Do you have the book Third Culture Kids? It has a long section on education. It really is a good book to have covering many areas of expat kid life.

     

    We are homeschooling where there are no other hs. I know what you are thinking through.

    Here are some other things to consider:

     

    Shipping of curriculum for many years. For us it is cheaper to visit the states every other year. Seriously a plane ticket is cheaper. So consider if you have that budget to be able to do it.

     

    Selling used curriculum. I can't sell a thing here so I had to send stuff back with family that visited and then donated it all. So that is a big cost too.

     

    Enrichment classes (art, music, pe etc) cost us money.

     

    Basically it comes down to our choice to hs is much much more expensive here than in the states. We have decided it is worth it as we are not comfortable with the local schools as religion is taught.

     

    We have to compensate to make a peer group and that isn't the easiest.

    • Like 2

    What phonics workbook do I want?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We used Rod & Staff phonics workbooks (not the reading ones) grade 1 and LOVED them!!! They really helped cement reading, writing & spelling for my daughter.

    I never used ETC but they look fun. We also went rt into grade 2 R&S spelling and she didn’t love that at first..... but half way through she is really starting to like it. No dictionary yet, but that seems like you could easily add that in if you wanted too.

    Did you use just R&S for phonics?

     

    And is the TM needed?

    What phonics workbook do I want?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Ds loves workbooks and keeps asking for more. We also have a busy season ahead of us with several moves in a short period of time, so a workbook is easier for me to keep up with in all this transition.

     

    We are using Phonics Pathways, it working well and we will keep working through it.

     

    I want a workbook to supplement.

    I am looking at

     

    ETC- this looks nice and simple. I like the black and white and simple pictures. Ds would love the silly sentences. We would start at 1.

     

    R&S phonics (not the reading part)- this looks like it follows PP really well. It has the same sa, se, si, so, su stuff from what I can see. However, there looks like more on each page than ETC. My plan is to use R&S spelling in 2nd grade so maybe it will be best to stick with R&S, but then it might also be overkill from one publisher. I like how R&S teaches dictionary skills, does this show up in spelling later?

     

    Any other great workbooks?

     

    Basically I know ETC could be a great supplement. But R&S seems to follow PP better, but might be too much.

    First grade math help!

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I posted a while back about math, but I can't find it.

     

    Here is what we have done: MEP reception and some of 1, Miquon orange with Gattegno book 1 activities. I bought RightStart A but that was a no go jumped around too much and I don't like overly scripted. I need to see the big picture before I can teach something. I didn't like the lesson plans of MEP 1 just not clear enough for me and keeping everything printed off and together was too much for me to stay on top of. Although I loved reception.

     

    So I know I want to continue with Miquon ds and I both love it. But it isn't enough by itself for me. We also love RS games.

     

    Life is unpredictable in our house. We have to be flexible with school. So I know eventually I would like something somewhat independent in later elementary. But my ideal would be to do living math through games and rods and direct teaching from me. But I need to live in the here and now.

     

    This is what I am looking at give me your get it done advice.

    Rod and Staff- I like the simplicity and focus on basic skills. But I wonder if it may be too slow. And I don't know if memorizing is the most focus in R&S

     

    CLE- This looks like it eventually can be independent. Seems like a good balance between conceptual and traditional.

     

    Singapore- This seems to do a good job of conceptual learning and fit well with miquon.

     

    Kitchen Table Math- And just make my own curriculum off this

     

    I know whatever we use I can teach conceptually first with rods. So maybe I should stick with r&s to add fact practice and teach first with miquon.

     

    Would it be too much to use miquon to introduce material, r&s for fact practice, and singapore?

     

    For some reason singapore keeps pulling me, but I also want to get basic facts down. Or maybe I should just use games to focus on facts.

     

    Sorry for rambling, but I just have too many going through my head.

    If you don't have a library......

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I actually could not access my library's website while in Europe (tried a number of different times and different countries). Do sometimes libraries block their sites from being accessed out of the country?

    Yes library and public domains being free depend on country laws. Which means many of these are not available outside the US. Also things like netflix change also depending on laws.

    If you don't have a library......

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    When I say, "I spent X on 1st grade," I very likely didn't include the cost of extra reading books. I probably only counted actual curricula. Books are like socks around here; we're going to buy them anyway. #raisingbibliophiles

     

    Since we're talking about your oldest, you should pay close attention to which child in the family is this $100 first grader people are posting about. My current first grader is "the baby" of a bustling homeschool.

    That did not cross my mind to look at first kid in a family.

    It makes sense the first/only would cost more.

    • Like 3
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