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bgtw

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Everything posted by bgtw

  1. I'm really tired right now, so I'm afraid I won't make a very good ambassador for poetry, but I'll try :) Here's my food analogy...I love to read Stephen King; reading Stephen King is like sitting down with a big bowl of buttered popcorn. To compare, poetry is like eating a piece of baklava...so sweet and rich that I take small bites and enjoy it slowly, rather than eating it by the handful. Here are a few poems that I love: "Song: How sweet I roam'd from field to field" by William Blake "homage to my hips" and "adam thinking" by Lucille Clifton "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" by Walt Whitman "Goodbye to James Garner" by Kim Dower "The Sound of a Tree Falling" by Hal Sirowitz "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams I can't say why these in particular. Something in each of them reaches into me and connects with me...surprises me or makes me laugh or cry or think of something in a new way. Instead of thinking of poetry as constraining, I think of it as wide open. You don't have to follow conventions of any sort (although you can). Poets can work outside the bounds of any writing conventions; or work within the constraints of a certain meter, rhyme scheme, etc if they want. Poetry is like distilled writing...the words, the imagery is (usually) so carefully selected that it can contain so much meaning. If you want to share poetry with your children, and enjoy it yourself, I would go broad...try lots of books of poetry from the library and just flip through and see what appeals to you. I love books of poetry curated for children (not necessarily poems written for children). One we're enjoying right now is The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems which we found at the library. Here is another we love so much we bought a copy, Lemonade: and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word. Also try listening to poems read aloud...I grew up listening to Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac and love the way he reads. And maybe try Bravewriter's Poetry Teatime.
  2. Yup, and without that they weren't going to get the necessary votes to pass it, let alone see if it would stand up in court.
  3. I could be way off base, but I took dauphin's question as what lobby enabled homeschoolers to be exempt from the bill, not what lobby enabled the entire bill.
  4. And if they don't go that far, perhaps fines for truancy as stated in the CA EC: EC Section 48293 ©: The court may also order that the person convicted of the violation of subdivision (a) immediately enroll or re-enroll the pupil in the appropriate school or educational program and provide proof of enrollment to the court. Willful violation of an order under this subdivision is punishable as civil contempt with a fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000). An order of contempt under this subdivision shall not include imprisonment.
  5. I'm assuming they would use the penal code to enforce it since in CA truancy is a crime. The CA penal code states that parents whose children are subject to compulsory education and are considered truant as defined by the Education Code "is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. " http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/tr/
  6. Congratulations on starting to homeschool! I love the activities you've come up with to go with BFSU. The charter my kids attend 2 days a week covers science, but I love to supplement at home. I'm going to incorporate some of these when they are working on classifying in class (they are doing Ancients/Biology this year). AnnaE, can you clarify what you mean by okay for 5.5 & 4.5 yr olds...do you mean too scary or just wondering if they will be able to comprehend/enjoy it yet? Or something else? My mom read parts of It by Stephen King to me when I was 5 or 6 (she was too scared to read it by herself) and read Of Mice and Men to me when I was about that age or a little older. I credit her with my love of reading :) and I'm okay with reading advanced stuff to my kids (although I was nervous with my first for a long time, until I remembered that I was reading Stephen King to myself by 8 or 9...) and I don't think the books (what we have read so far) are too scary. I also like that I am there with them to help them understand or just to snuggle up to during the tense parts! I know my son misses a lot of the nuance & probably misunderstands some other stuff as well. We let him play a lego video game version of Harry Potter which is when he got really interested and I decided to try reading it (he used to get really frustrated when I read chapter books, "oh, no, another book without pictures!?"). I think having played the game helps with his ability to understand the books. We also did a unit study (math, language arts and a bit of science) around the first book and I think that hooked him. Now my kids are ALWAYS playing Harry Potter and it is so much fun to see them be so engaged with the story. I think the fact that they are on the younger side means that they can enjoy it in a really active way now (I've actually watched them act out a Quidditch match in our front yard) and they later return to it and get more out of it. And I am really glad that I'm reading it to them at an age where they still enjoy read-alouds and are begging me to read more. :)
  7. Thank you so much for mentioning your love of WWE and FLL (which I keep accidentally shortening to FFL!) ever since I picked it I've come across so many mentions of people switching away from it because of repetition/boredom. We are doing a pretty minimal summer school 4 days a week, but I've started doing either WWE or FFL each day and so far it is really great. I think my daughter will thrive from having these conversations with me (even thought they are scripted from the books). Last year I supplemented what my daughter was learning about the Civil War with the original Addy series of American Girl Books...we loved it! That is an awesome idea for a spine! Have fun with it! We did All About Spelling L1 and part of L2 this past year. It is a great spelling program! My daughter was not into the tiles or flashcards but the rules based spelling approach is so amazing. We are switching to How to Spell this year because my daughter likes work sheets for spelling and I really want to stick with a rules based curriculum. Reading aloud is absolutely my favorite thing too! My DS5 was not interested in chapter books at all until we started the Harry Potter series. Now we are almost finished with the 3rd book (both of my kids almost cried last night when I had to stop reading before the end of the second to last chapter...it was just too late!). I've been collecting my favorite chapter books from childhood for years so we have shelves full of them that I can't wait to enjoy with my kids :) Thanks for sharing!
  8. I have a friend whose first language is Spanish (her husband's first language is English) and she is raising her children as bilingual speakers. Her son is in 2nd grade at a traditional public school and her daughter is just 3, so home. She told me today that she wants to teach her kids Spanish more formally (they can speak it really well) but she wants a curriculum that she can teach them to learn to read/write it properly. Just thought I would ask here in case there is a resource I could pass along a recommendation for. Thanks!
  9. We are going into our second year of homeschooling (3 days a week through a charter school...at home I'm responsible for LA and Math and any supplemental material I want to add). I read WTM this past spring and it has really influenced some changes I am making for the coming year. I am super excited and kind of can't wait for school to officially start again. I'm particularly excited about using WWE & FFL with my DD8. Also, I'm really looking forward to the Ancients (the charter is classical ed based) and so we've already begun some related read-alouds. I'm checking out a lot of stuff I think we might incorporated (like A Little History of the World). I'd love to hear what other people are excited about for the coming year.
  10. Whenever vaccination rates are cited for CA in reference to school attendance it is misleading. The numbers that are counted are the number of PBEs which are required if you are using a delayed schedule or are only skipping one vaccine. It is sloppy journalism to say # of PBEs = # unvaccinated kids.
  11. My kids attend an ISP charter 2 days a week and we've been told that they are still exempt. Have you heard otherwise from this second charter you mentioned? It is my understanding that the "classroom-based instruction" refers to the legal definition for how funds are allocated. There is a legal definition of "classroom-based instruction" that is used for apportioning funds to charter school independent study programs and we feel that will be the definition that is applied in this law (since there is no other legal definition). Based on that definition, classroom-based instruction occurs only when students are REQUIRED to spend at least 80 percent of their instructional time in a classroom being taught by the school's credentialed teachers. If the child's instruction does not meet these requirements it is nonclassroom-based instruction. Students enrolled in Independent Study Programs (public/charter) are also exempt from immunization requirements if they are not receiving classroom-based instruction meaning, as explained above, they are not required to receive more than 80 percent of their instruction onsite in a classroom being taught by the school's teachers. from: http://www.hsc.org/immunizations.html
  12. Actual vaccination rates are not counted. From your post I'm guessing 53% of students had PBEs on file? The vast majority of those students could be vaccinated for everything but one thing (perhaps parents decide to skip Hep B or Chickenpox). If you skip one vaccine (or even dose) you have to waive all vaccines and file a PBE. It is the number of PBEs that is counted, not vaccinated or unvaccinated children.
  13. Oh, and I recently got Math Minutes for review as well. It has super simple, clean pages and is relatively inexpensive and is very "open and go". I don't do them as timed pages though.
  14. I am a newbie (completed one year of homeschool with my 8 & 5 yr olds) and am not familiar with the curriculum you listed. That being said, have you looked into WWE? I really like the philosophy behind it and we are switching to it for this coming year. I was convinced after reading the sample on the Peace Hill Press website. We've done a few lessons already as part of our minimal summer school. My daughter (who sounds pretty similar to your son) loves having the conversations with me and the lessons are pretty short. I've realized that for LA her lessons should be about 15 minutes max (so individually, writing - 15 min or less, grammar - 15 min or less, etc). If you haven't seen this (the part I'm talking about starts at 6:45) by Susan Wise Brown it revolutionized my expectations of my daughter and her resistance to school has lessened greatly (and her retention has improved)! Good luck!
  15. We are on year 3 of listening to the Ramona series (on continuous repeat) as it's my kids' (DD8, DS5) favorite audiobook. Best single credit ever spent. Now I want the Wizard of Oz series; hopefully they'll take a break from Ramona to try it out!
  16. We are switching to MM from SM this year, so I have no experience with it yet. I am switching because my daughter (8 yr old) didn't like the textbook (she actually said, "I don't want the colored pages, I just like the black and white ones so I can do it and get it done.") I homeschool through a charter in CA and the curriculum coordinator said that without the textbook there isn't enough review for mastery with SM. I think my daughter had mild retention issues with it because we so often skipped a lot of the textbook. Don't know if your experience was similar? I was always creating my own reviews for her, as well. I know some people supplement with the SM extra practice and/or word problems books, but honestly, I didn't want more books. I've looked at the MM book and, while it looks a little busier on the page, I love that it's all one text (lesson and problems) and it isn't necessarily recommended that you have your child do all the problems if they can achieve mastery by doing fewer. I actually really like the CC standards for math (at least for the younger grades; I have a 5 yr old going into K and an 8 yr old going into 3rd) as compared to the prior CA standards. I think SM is pretty aligned as well, and I've heard a lot that MM and SM are pretty similar in that regard. Good luck!
  17. My first thought was "everything!". Really though, I wish I would have been taught phonics rules (I don't remember learning any, but I was an early reader) and that spelling lessons would have included them. I have learned so much from All About Spelling this past year while teaching my daughter. I have no trouble reading or spelling but all the rules make so much sense that I wish I had learned them (and been able to use them with my daughter) sooner.
  18. I've been looking at Marcia William's books on Amazon and I want every single one! Thanks again :)
  19. Thanks, Kiwik! Those are available through our library, too. I think my son will enjoy the Marcia Williams books in particular!
  20. Thank you, ScoutTN! Those look perfect and they're all available through our local library :)
  21. We will be doing Ancients this year and I'm looking for more great adaptations for our read-alouds. I have a son going into K and a daughter going into 3rd. I've begun collecting things from from the WTM list and anything I can find from our local library. We just read through the 3 book Gilgamesh series by Ludmilla Zeman and my kids loved it. We are also going to read Geraldine McCaughrean's longer adaptation. Any incredible picture book adaptations of the Iliad, Aeneid and the Odyssey? What are your favorites? Least-favorites? Thanks!
  22. I think that's what I'll do, thanks! I've gone ahead and ordered FFL3 through our charter school and am going through FFL1/2 for the grammar topics I want to cover prior to starting it in the fall. We are starting our summer school tomorrow and I'll introduce FFL and see how goes! Thanks!
  23. Is it just certain letters or number? My daughter (just finished second) was still switching b and d fairly often (p and q less often) and I put a picture of a bed on our wall with "bed" above it in big letters. She stopped reversing those soon after. I recently put up a picture of a cat saying, "meow" for my son as he often switches "m" and "w" (he just finished TK and uses mostly capital letters still). Maybe you could do something similar with the particular ones he reverses often?
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