lotsofpumpkins
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Posts posted by lotsofpumpkins
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More than I have. :D
:iagree: I have 6, and it doesn't feel that large to me. But obviously most of the world thinks it is large, because we've been getting stares and comments since we only had 4.
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laundry used to be insane, and we hit upon something that works for us, and maybe it might be a help to ya'll:
Each bedroom has a basket and their day to have laundry done.
Mon-the littles (boys 4, 5 and 7) two loads boys sort, boys reboot to dryer and carry to room. They match socks and talk to mom as she folds and hands pile of shirts to go into drawer and pants to drawer. Underwear is stacked and put away.
Tues-Teen boys (14-16)
They each have a basket, and do their own, sometimes one or two loads.
Wed-Hubby's and mine
Usually two loads
Thurs-Twin girls (13) two loads, and they do their own
Fri-bedding first in first out! lol
Sat-towels and misc
Sun - not one load! ♥
The key to this is having enough socks and underwear to get thru a week! It really is a huge help and makes folding so much easier to fold in the room the clothes belong in!
Food: We do a cafeteria style, they hold plate, I slap food on and then they head to dining room! No thank you portions are always placed in small amounts to try.
What about clean up for meals? Do you rotate chores or keep them the same for a while?
Do you have an extra fridge or freezer? How often do you shop?
Thanks for the laundry tips! I don't know that I'd be real good about sticking to a schedule like that though. We do have a policy that once the dc reach 10 years old they do their own. So, I have 1 child doing her own laundry now! Next year my oldest ds will turn 10, so he'll get his own hamper at that point.
As for your other questions:
We rotate chores weekly. The "kitchen helper" helps me cook, set the table, clear the table, load the dishwasher, and clean the counters. The older the child, the more help they are, but everyone (except the toddler) has a turn. The other chores that rotate weekly are: clean up living room and hallway, clean up playroom and mudroom, wipe off bathroom counters, and sweep the kitchen and dining area. (I don't have the kitchen helper do the sweeping too because they've already had to do quite a bit!). Wiping the bathroom counters is the easiest job, so whoever has that one has to go help a sibling after the counters are clean. Basically, if they finish their chore and a sibling is still trying to get the playroom cleaned up, for example, they have to go help.
We have an upright deep freeze. We live in a rural area where there's lots of gardening and hunting. Dh is a pastor, so people bring us food pretty frequently.
We grocery shop once per week. We try to get everything we'll need for the whole week because it's 25 miles each way to the store; there is a small grocery store about 7 miles away but it's more expensive.
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We like R&S Phonics here too. My oldest two dc went through the 1st and 2nd grade books, my third dc is finishing up the 1st grade books, and my 4th child just started the 1st grade books. I've tried other programs and came back to R&S because I just like it better! (And it works; my dc are really good readers.)
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http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/106-days-creation-studies/
Is something like this what you are looking for?
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How many loads of laundry did you ladies do today? I did 5 today because I was catching up after camping, plus I wanted my sheets down. After bath for my two youngest I realize the master hamper was full again. That is two loads all by itself:lol:
Well, I haven't done any laundry yet today, but yesterday I did 3 or 4 loads. Once I kept track, and we do about 15 loads per week for 8 people.
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Is this true even if you were to just buy the guides and use the library or used book stores for the books? That is what I am partly doing this year. I still have a few of the science books to find used at a good price.. if I don't find them I will use our library.
My library is very small (we live in a very rural area, so visiting a larger library somewhere else isn't possible), so I haven't been able to find very many HOD books there. The classic storytime type books they've had, but they don't have the history/science books. As you get further up in HOD, there are so many more books that I know my library just doesn't have. I've looked for used books, but it seems like a lot of the HOD titles are almost as expensive as new, and by the time you factor in shipping and all the time spent searching for them, you save very little.
That being said, in a few years when I'm planning high school for my oldest, I have not ruled out HOD. Carrie is supposed to be writing high school guides, so I'll take a look at them then and see if finances will permit our using them.
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We've been homeschooling for 5 years, and have used quite a bit of R&S. I'm on my 4th child to use the 1st grade phonics and reading to learn to read, and plan to use it for the rest of them as well! The 2nd grade phonics is a very good too; sometimes I think it's almost too thorough!
We've used the 1st and 2nd grade math so far. My oldest two started with R&S for math, and then we switched to CLE when they were in 1st and 2nd grade. I now use R&S 1 for my advanced 4yo, and R&S 2 for my 2nd grader because CLE was overwhelming him (he needs more time to cement the math facts, which R&S is VERY good for). My oldest two dc are still using CLE.
We've used English 2-4. This year we switched to Climbing to Good English (similar to R&S but workbooks) but we might go back to R&S next year. I just wanted a break from it. The English is very solid.
We've used Spelling 2-5; I know some say it's behind, and maybe the word lists themselves are, but the exercises they do with the words are very good. It's a great rule-based program that can be done mostly independently.
We did the 2nd and 3rd grade science one year, but have returned to combining all of the dc for content subjects. I actually liked R&S science, but my dd thought there was too much writing. But as someone else mentioned, you could just read the texts and not do the writing.
After 1st grade, I've had my dc read the readers without doing the Reading workbooks. Well, I tried to have them do the workbooks a few times in 2nd and 3rd grade, but it added a lot of work to their days, so I let them just read instead. I'm still debating Reading for my current 2nd grader (he's finishing up R&S 1st grade phonics/reading in a couple of weeks).
I think you asked how time-consuming R&S programs are. Well, regardless of what you use, you are going to spend a lot of time teaching your dc until they are reading fluently. In my house, 1st grade takes the most time. In 2nd, they gradually work more and more independently (with me nearby). In 3rd and up they are able to do a lot of their work on their own, and they bring it to me to grade when they are finished.
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R&S Math 1 is great for K. In fact, my advanced 4yo is already working on it. The Phonics and Reading are another story, however. You could probably do the first unit or so in K, but I think it might be too much after that for the average K'er.
I personally like to use the ETC Primers when they are ready for them, then ETC 1 for K. They also use the R&S ABC workbooks for PreK and K as desired. I keep K very laid-back. Once they hit 1st grade (or 6 years old, if they are on the old side for their grade) they start R&S 1st grade phonics/reading. The first unit is a review, but that's good since it gets them used to the new format.
Like someone else suggested, CLE Kindergarten II might be a good option, but be aware it might not take a full year. My sister is using it with her 4yo and it looks like it's only going to take her about 4 or 5 months to complete at the most. At that point she's going to start CLE Learning to Read with her (she'll be almost 5 at that point).
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HOD does get better and better; unfortunately, the price gets way to expensive for me the higher you go. That fact, along with a desire to keep everyone K-6 somewhat combined for content subjects, made dh and I decide to go in another direction this year. We did Beyond, Little Hands, and Preparing last year and loved just about all the books. We tried Little Hearts a couple of years ago and dropped it; we just couldn't ever get into it.
So, to answer your question, yes, it does stay that good. I just wish the pricetag didn't get so $$$$ later on. But I guess that's to be expected with literature-based programs!
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HOD has phonics programs they recommend, but they aren't scheduled in the guide (other than saying to do a lesson, or read the next section from the Emerging Readers set of books). I'm not familiar with the program you are using now, so I don't know where you should go from here. I'd be careful about combining LA; just make sure you aren't holding back your older or pushing the younger. At some point you will likely need to split them up, so be watching for signs that it needs to be done. But if they really can work on the same level for now, then that's great! We like R&S 1st grade phonics and reading; it's very thorough and I've taught 3 of my dc to read with it so far, and my 4th just started it. R&S English and Spelling are good too (those start in 2nd grade).
As for HOD and the content subjects, if there's a big difference in their attention spans, then you'd definitely want to go with the best program for your younger child, and then "beef it up" for your older. That's what HOD recommends. If you want to keep them combined, you'd have to figure out the "beefing up" yourself for a couple of years, but like I said, once they get to Bigger, there are extensions for your older.
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I tried, but it didn't work out so well. But if your dc are as close in ability as you said, maybe it could work for them. I'd probably go ahead and get Little Hearts for them; there's suggestions for extra reading in the appendix if you need it. I'd ignore the math box for your 2nd grader and stick with CLE. If you stick with HOD, once you get to Bigger Hearts you can add the extensions for your older child, if he/she seems to need more by then.
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This site has a pretty thorough history of the peace sign.
http://www.teachpeace.com/peacesymbolhistory.htm
[i found the site by searching "peace sign nero" because I remembered reading how the peace sign can be associated with Nero's persecution of Christians]
Anyway, although I do believe that most people wear the sign innocently, I personally do not allow my dc to wear it because of all the negatives it could potentially represent. I do think this is one of those areas: If you are convicted about it, then don't do it.
Dd has a friend at church who wears peace signs all the time, but we don't tell her that she shouldn't. That's between her and her parents.
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We made the light hut. We had bought a kit (the one that cbd.com carries), so it came with a flourescent light bulb. I don't remember the wattage on it. Anyway, we built the light hut, but then decided not to use it. Dh and I weren't comfortable leaving a lightbulb on inside a box 24/7, even if it was a cooler flourescent one. We have lots of sun year-round, so the light hut wasn't really necessary. But since we bought the kit, I kind of felt like I had to do all the activities to make it worth it.
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I'm a lefty, so I put on makeup with my left hand. But, I brush my teeth with my right hand. I'm thinking my right-handed parents probably taught me that way. I don't remember, but I'm thinking maybe one of them stood behind me looking in the mirror and held my hand to help me brush my teeth, so of course they'd use the right hand for that. By the time I started putting on makeup, I needed no such assistance. :001_smile:
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I second the scripture memory system from simplycharlottemason.com. You could use it for any kind of memory work. We are using it to memorize Bible verses, and I love how it keeps us organized.
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My 4th and 5th graders are using CTGE this year. I like that it is open-and-go, and mostly independent for them. I also like how they schedule compositions; one day dd will have to write notes and a rough draft, and then a few lessons later it will tell her to get it back out and proofread and write the final draft. So, all the scheduling is already built in. The grammar is solid, like R&S. My main motivation for buying CTGE was to not have to do any planning. With R&S I was looking over the lessons and deciding how much of the written work to assign. I also felt guilty for not going over the oral drills with my dc that often.
That being said, now that I've used CTGE for several weeks, I realize that although it's a workbook, they are still requiring a lot more writing than I expected. (For example, ds had sentences with unnecessary words, like "that there dog is running", and he had to cross off the unnecessary words. He also had to write the entire sentence correctly on the lines below. So, it's not just a fill-in-the-blank kind of workbook. They allow plenty of room to do lots of writing in the lessons. Longer compositions are written on separate paper.) I realize that I likely was not assigning enough writing in R&S. I could probably go back to R&S next year and have a better idea of how much work they should actually be doing. I do like that R&S is a nonconsumable text.
Anyway, CTGE was a great decision for us this year, since I was wanting a break from R&S.
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Thanks for that review. I might have to put that one on my wishlist; I've been letting my dc use a free typing program online but all of the ads are obnoxious.
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I use a different curricula every few years with the next kid in that age group, the older one is in the room so he gets the exposure too. ;) I also have the kids read some of the curricula as their independent reading. My DD may not remember our first grade history book that I read when she was 4, so I'm having her read it as her independent reading now.
Great ideas!
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Pretty! :001_smile:
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Without the context from the rest of your post, I would have answered this with R&S.
:iagree: We haven't gotten to the upper levels yet (oldest is in 5th grade) but R&S is very straight-forward and not too time-consuming, at least in our experience. Like she said, maybe drop back a level?
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I 2nd the recommendation to put them in Preparing together, using the extensions for your older if desired. I had 3rd and 4th graders in Preparing last year, and it was sometimes a stretch for the 3rd grader. I definitely would not put a 3rd grader in CTC. HOD has wonderful programs, but trying to combine dc outside of the recommended ages can require a LOT of tweaking.
Have you looked at My Father's World? It's set up for combining a larger age of ranges. (I have not personally used it though.)
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I said I was getting off of here, but I had to add a couple of comments to this post:
Like you, my jury is still out on what to believe. I know that I am shaping my kids' worldviews by everything I do (or don't!) say, but I am not comfortable advocating in one direction. And as it has been pointed out before, this is not a salvation issue. But it could be! Like I said before, if we tell our dc that Genesis is not true, then why should they believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation?
Instead, I have tried my best to explain that we really don't know for sure, because God is God, and we are not. We weren't there, and there is no way to prove what happened. We've talked about Genesis 1 and the fact that, because He is God, there's no reason to think that the world couldn't have been created in six days (24 hour days). But because that chapter is poetry, it may have been symbolic and pointing out that there is a Creator, and He created absolutely everything. We've also discussed the references in other parts of the Bible that suggest that God's "day" is not necessarily a 24-hour period, so maybe he created it in that way, but not in 144 hours. I approach it as a wonderful and fascinating mystery, because that's what the act of Creation was. Why do people only use this argument when talking about Genesis 1? The Bible says it's a day, the same word used for day elsewhere. Do people argue that Joshua actually marched around Jericho for 7000 years? Of course not! Then why the insistence to say that a day is not really a day in Genesis 1?
As for evolution (the "man descending from the apes" parts, not the observable fluctuations in populations part), we've discussed that God created man, but we don't know how he did it. The Bible is quite clear that God intentionally created man to be set apart from the animals and to bear His image, so I'm unrelenting on that point, but how is a different question. I do have a devoutly Catholic friend who is comfortable with the fact that, no matter at what point God placed His image in/upon man, it was at that point that man became man. Whether that was while his monkey cousins were swinging in trees or as a totally new and different created being in the Garden, bearing the Image of God is what sets men apart from the animals. I am becoming increasingly drawn to that position.The Bible actually does say how God created man- that He took dust from the earth and breathed life into him.
We as Christians need to stop trying to force the Bible to agree with the evolutionary "evidence". The Bible already tells us how it happened! AIG is a great resource for explaining the scientific evidence in light of the Bible. (Which is how we should do it. Don't try to explain the Bible in light of the scientific evidence. Science can make mistakes. The Bible is infallible and inerrant.)
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Would scientists consider YEC even remotely plausible? The answer is No.
There are plenty of YEC scientists out there.
This is why these conversations are so frustrating and saddening. There are so many comments about how "real science" works and how faith and science can't be mixed, etc. To me, faith and science have everything to do with each other.
OP: The reason why so many people think YEC is impossible is because they are looking at the evidence through the wrong glasses. Look at the evidence through glasses of faith in God and belief that His Word is 100% true.
And to the poster with the comment about a dinosaur being used for work- why does that seem so ridiculous? Just because the Bible doesn't specifically mention dinosaurs being used for work doesn't mean it couldn't happen. I don't know if it did or not, but I do believe that man and dinosaurs existed at the same time.
Time to get off the computer and supervise some room cleaning...
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I do too. But if the OP is struggling to reconcile her own beliefs about the age of the earth, she can certainly skip over this with a 5 year old and come back to it later. It really isn't necessary to cover now just because MFW has it scheduled.
Susan
I still recommend that she reads everything she can at the AIG site. That will help her with her own beliefs. Reading the dinosaur book herself before reading it to her child would be a good idea too. (And of course I hope she will decide that YEC is the correct view and teach that to her child, but I do realize that it's not a very popular view these days. :( )
OP: I'm sure you are aware that there's a lot of pressure on this board to NOT be YEC. There are a lot of complicated arguments, but really, it comes down to faith. Decide what you are going to believe, and believe it.
Making your own laundry detergent
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I've tried both liquid and powdered versions of homemade laundry detergent, and it just doesn't work that well here. We have hard well water, and I even increased the borax in the recipe. But I noticed that the clothes still smelled after being washed. Even a not-really-sweat-in shirt of dh's still smelled very strongly of his deodorant after being washed.
I went back to using Purex, but switched to the natural elements version because one of my dc was getting rashes on his back when he got sweaty; we aren't sure if the regular purex was bothering him or not. Anyway, the NE Purex seems to be getting the clothes clean so we are sticking with it for now. I hate spending that much $ on detergent (even though it is one of the cheaper ones) but I don't want to deal with stinky clothes either!