lotsofpumpkins
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Posts posted by lotsofpumpkins
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I like having the TM since it makes checking their work go really fast. Plus it gives you sentences you can read during the test to put the words in context for them.
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The Viking Quest books.
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College: (in a thick Hindi accent) "If, in the lab, you mix two substances and a white cloud forms.... Run away! Exceedingly quickly!"
:lol:
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CLE:
similar to Saxon but more doable for kids, daily fact drills through ALL levels, self-teaching from 400 on up, clear explanations, right pace, excellent higher math prep, advanced, easy to accelerate. This is the one of I had to move to a desert island I would be taking along.
:iagree:
We used to use a combination of R&S and Singapore, and CLE is the "best of both worlds" for me. My dc have been able to use it independently starting somewhere in the 200 level. I am available to help them, of course, plus I check all of their work right away and have them re-do any problems they missed. So, it is self-teaching, but I still stay very involved. We had their yearly evaluations a couple of weeks ago (4th, 3rd, and 1st graders) and the teacher was VERY impressed with everything they had learned in CLE math.
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I only see a regular doctor when I have a reason to. I get a general checkup at the OB/GYN. Not sure why I would need annual bloodwork.
I don't really worry about bloodwork on an annual basis, but it's nice to check once in a while to make sure cholesterol and other stuff is okay. When I had mine checked for the life insurance, it was a little high, but that's normal since I was breastfeeding. I would like to eventually see that it has gone back to normal since ds weaned. And like I said, I need to have my thyroid function checked. If I get bloodwork soon and everything is normal, I likely won't do it again for at least a couple of years.
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I go to the OB/GYN, my internist, and my dermatologist (mole check) yearly.
I do go to a dermatologist, not every year, but usually every 2 years. Having a high deductible is annoying, because we have to pay for 100% of the derm visits. Even with the insurance reducing the allowed amount, it's still expensive.
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Nope. Most of my last several paps have been in conjunction with pregnancy, haha.
Most of mine have been too. Same with the bloodwork. Being pregnant was a place of comfort for me; I knew that I was healthy. Now I'm in this weird place where I'm not automatically going for checkups all the time, so I have to decide when I need to go. I am also wondering if the fatigue I'm feeling is a symptom of a thyroid problem (very common in my family) or if I'm just getting older! My toddler sleeps through the night fine, so I get plenty of sleep, so I know it's not that.
Since I've already been to the gyn this year and I'm not sure the insurance will pay for another checkup, I'm thinking I might just go to the family practice place here in our tiny town and see the nurse practitioner and ask for some bloodwork. If anything comes back as abnormal, then I can figure out what to do from there. A visit with the nurse prac isn't too expensive, plus the children have seen her before and I really like her.
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I used to do both each year, way back before having children. I'd just get the pap smear at the gyn, and then I'd go to my primary care physician (internal medicine) for a physical with bloodwork. I spent the last decade having babies, so I stopped going to a "regular doctor" for checkups and just went to the ob/gyn/midwife. My youngest is 19 months, and we aren't planning on having anymore. I went to the gyn in January for my yearly checkup, but all they did was the pap smear. I had some bloodwork about 18 months ago for life insurance, and everything looked okay on that, but I do want to have my thyroid checked due to fatigue and family history. Should I have asked the gyn to run bloodwork? Or do I schedule an appointment with the family practice doctor to do that? Will insurance pay for both each year? I asked my insurance (Blue Cross) about this, and got a confusing answer. I've read through the contract a bunch of times, and can't figure out if it's really covered or not. With our plan, we get one well-visit per year, but I can't decipher whether well-woman care is considered separate or not. I know my Mom always does both each year, and like I said, I used to, but that was with insurance that just had a co-pay for the visit, so it wasn't a big deal. With my current insurance, the well visit is free, but I have to pay for other visits until the deductible is met.
Just wondering what is "normal" in this department. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to ask the gyn to do more tests, since they really aren't considered a primary care physician (plus they had signs up all over the place saying that if you had any complaints, they couldn't consider it a well visit and the insurance wouldn't pay for it. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, since I know doctors find stuff wrong with people all the time during "well visits". Isn't that what they are for? To find any problems?). I'm not going to ask the family doctor to do the pap smear; I want to continue having that done at the gyn. So, I don't see all this as really being combinable, meaning, I think the insurance should pay for two well visits per year. I might end up calling them sometime; the email correspondance didn't help.
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My 4th grader will be using:
Math: CLE 400
English: R&S 4
Spelling: R&S 4
Reading: CLE 400 plus "real books"
Spanish: Speedy Spanish
Science: God's Design Human Body then Apologia Zoology 2
History: FL Unit Study (we will dive deeper into various topics and make this last for the year, hopefully)
Piano
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I remember processes better than information. I can remember how to set up certain math problems and certain lab procedures but I don't remember all the content I had to memorize except the most general.
This is me right there!
I guess I've been kind of bummed about this lately because I've been hanging out with a science teacher (we are teaching a science track together at the church children's camp) and she mentions all this stuff that I know I learned but I don't really remember much about. And I'm embarrassed to admit that I was so nervous yesterday because I knew we were going to be using microscopes, and it's been so many years since I used one, and here I am, a microbiology major. It all came back though, and it was super easy to assist the children. I'm trying to remind myself that she has taught all of this stuff over and over and over again, so of course she remembers it!
It is kind of fun relearning everything; there's no pressure since I'm not in school. :001_smile:
And here's a confession: when I was in a purging mood during one of my pregnancies, I threw away ALL of my work from college, including lab notebooks and reports. Reading them was depressing, since I had forgotten so much of it. I think the most important things I learned in college were lab techniques, since I definitely used them in my job. I must say though, that getting my MRS degree was the highlight of college for me. :)
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I graduated from college 15 years ago. I majored in microbiology and minored in chemistry. Lately I've been kind of upset that I don't remember anything I learned in college. Or even some of the high school chemistry/biology stuff. I worked in an environmental lab for 5.5 years, but then quit to be a full-time SAHM. All of the labs in college really prepared me for that job; I feel like I really only retained the hands-on aspect of what I learned. I did fine on tests because I have a pretty good short-term memory. The problem is that I didn't get much of it into my long-term memory.
I'm currently re-educating myself in math (I forgot everything about calculus too) and chemistry. Fortunately, a lot of it comes right back once I review it.
Dh says I can blame all the pregnancies for this. :001_smile: Fortunately, my oldest is only 10, so I still have a while before I need to teach chemistry or calculus.
Anyone else feel like you've lost a lot of your previous knowledge over the years? PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one.
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OP, I'm with you. There's nothing wrong with "old fashioned". Teach the dc how to use their brains first, and the technology can come later. I agree with another poster that it wouldn't be wise to wait until college to teach calculator and computer skills, but it doesn't hurt to wait until middle school or high school. I never used a calculator for math class until high school, and the teacher taught us how to use it for graphing. That's not something that needed to be taught ahead of time; it's not like it's that hard to learn. Same thing with computers; dc pick up this stuff amazingly fast. And by the time they get to college, the techology would have changed anyway. I am letting my elementary dc learn how to type, because they want to. They did some typing for science projects this year. But for everything else, they are using old fashioned pencil and paper! We'll add in some more computer skills sometime in middle school, just so they have some familiarity.
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Has it been mentioned yet that Robinson came up with this method because he had to? He lost his wife quite suddenly, and did not have time for teacher-intensive curriculum for 6 children while still continuing to work. Most of us are not in that situation, and do have time to spend more time teaching. I do lead my dc to more independence in their schoolwork; I have a large family and I have to prioritize. My younger children will never learn to read if I'm spending all day long teaching my 4th and 5th graders! They are able to look at their checklist and do their 3R's without much help from me (though I am right there willing to help when needed). We are learning the content subjects all together as a family; I'm not ready to give up that time together reading good books aloud.
I did look at RC a while back and was intrigued, but ultimately decided that it's not for us. I want them to learn some independence, but I'm not turning them completely loose.
I agreed with Hunter- glean what you want from the method. Lots of people tweak it, just like any other program or method.
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That was interesting! Thanks for sharing that.
In our house, they just cover CVC words for phonics in Kindergarten, using ETC Book 1. Then, in 1st grade, they are required to work a lot harder and they are reading fluently by the end of the year. Unlike you, we do math in K; my current 5yo is using A Beka K math (he'll move on to CLE 100's after this). He was yelling out answers to his older brother's math, so I knew I needed to give him math of his own to keep him busy!
My 5yo will be official Kindergarten age this coming school year (he has an Oct birthday), but he's been doing K work since shortly after he turned 5. So, he'll be moving on to 1st grade work around the time he turns 6. I have a 3yo who will be 4 in Sept. She loves school so much, and is very bright, so I might go ahead and start K work with her when she's 4. She's already using R&S ABC/GHI workbooks, and will probably move on to ETC Book 1 after that.
I've actually been pondering "content subjects" for these 2 children for next year. I will likely just let them tag along and listen in on what the older children are doing. I do want to schedule more read-aloud time for the youngers though.
So, do you do any "fun stuff" for Kindergarten, like crafts or hands-on activities (like playing with math manipulatives or building things together), or do you let them do that stuff on their own? I'm torn between wanting to schedule the fun stuff (to make sure it gets done) and just focusing on the 3R's and then letting them go play. My 3yo is always asking for more school, so sometimes I feel like I need to have an actual plan in place.
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I've tried the free internet route before, but I really prefer something planned and printed for me. When printing my own freebies, I ended up with a lot of waste because we didn't end up using everything. Plus, it took a lot of time and I never felt like it was organized enough. If I had to use freebies, I could make it work, but I much prefer ordering real books and using those.
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My 8-year-old did fine with Preparing. I didn't require him to write all of the written narrations; we just discussed the history instead.
If you go with Preparing, I highly recommend getting the Storytime and Independent History books in addition to those used in the basic package. We've really enjoyed all those books!
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At that age, I say go with what will be fun! I'd use the K option so you can definitely combine them, and just keep their math/LA at the appropriate level for each. I think it is easier to "beef up" a program than it is to simplify it. Plus, even though your dd is doing 1st grade level work, she is still a 5yo, and will likely enjoy the K program better. You said it's light on science; go to the library and add books on each topic if you want. But at 5yo, I don't worry about science being light. I concentrate on the 3R's and then keep the rest of it fun.
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I heartily suggest CLE Math as an alternate to all the choices you listed. Advanced, spiral (like Saxon but not so quick), EXCELLENT algebra prep.
My dc are all thriving with CLE. I use Singapore's CWP as a supplement to challenge my mathy child.
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The costs go up a lot in the higher guides as well. I would really look at the cost of the latest guide to get a better idea on how you would fair with cost. HOD is definitely getting pricier with each guide.
:iagree:
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I love CLE for math. I prefer R&S for grammar. We'll also use CLE reading this year.
This is us exactly.
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We used HOD this year. I started off combining 1st, 3rd, and 4th graders in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory, which is meant for 1st and 2nd graders. So, I had to "beef up" the program for my oldest 2. Starting with the next program, Bigger Hearts, they have extensions, so if we were staying with HOD, those 3 children would be combinable for the long-haul. Well, after a few months of combining them, I really felt like my oldest two weren't getting enough, so I bumped them up to the program for 3rd and 4th graders (Preparing Hearts). That was a much better fit and they learned a lot. We didn't actually finish the guide, but we are ready to stop for the summer! Although my children were all properly placed in HOD guides and learned a lot, I decided that I want to go back to keeping them combined for content subjects. They were listening in on each other's history anyway. So, our school days were long because instead of working on something independent while I read to another child, they were listening in! I also started adding up how much it would cost to continue with HOD next year, and it was much more money than we want to spend. Now that I've used HOD, I feel like I've learned how to give appropriate assignments to each child regardless of which program we use. I can add narrations, vocabulary, etc to any book we read.
So, that's our story. I have 6 children and just don't have time for running multiple programs. I know that HOD does get more and more independent, but I really like learning right along with them.
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My kids solve them on a white board.
Mine do too. My 3rd and 4th graders are working through CWP together. They each do the problem on a small whiteboard and then reveal their answers to each other.
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All of my dc love it too. On Sunday afternoons they like to watch long, old movies. In addition to Ben-Hur, they like the Sound of Music and Robin Hood (I don't remember which version; it's an old one though).
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I'm not planning on having my dc check their own work. It only takes me a few minutes to check it each day, and it keeps me up-to-date on their progress. It helps to check it as soon as I can, rather than letting everyone's work stack up. So, throughout the day I'm checking work, a little at a time. This allows the children to immediately re-work anything they missed.
I know a family where they check their own work, and the children have been caught copying the answers. (Writing down "answers may vary" gave them away, lol!) Some of the children have ended up quite behind in some subjects, and I have to wonder if there's too much independence. That's just my speculation looking in from the outside though.
What are some historical fiction books (any era) your 10-12 yo dd couldn't put down?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
The Viking Quest books I mentioned are good for that age.