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MariaT

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Everything posted by MariaT

  1. One semester we did geology-- I found a slim book at the library that had multiple projects to do at home. That turned out to be awesome prep for that summer when we drove out to Philmont, NM and stopped to look at the extinct volcanoes. For a coop class I put together a Mysteries of the Middle Ages, based on a book by Thomas Cahill with the same title, and the book 1215, about Magna Carta. I made a trivia game, with colored paper stepping stones taped to the floor, and the color was coded to a category of question. I wanted to make it so that when you stepped on a black paper you got the Black Death and had to go to the beginning, but I realized at the last minute I didn't have black construction paper, so I used brown paper, and the kids called it the Brown Death. The game was set up so that many students got the Brown Death. I was just learning to teach coop classes, so I put in tons of time into carefully crafted, deeply researched powerpoints, during which the students fidgeted while I lectured. I have since learned to shift the learning to the students and cut back on the powerpoints and lectures. I taught a Renaissance Coop class, using as a spine (for myself) A Very Short History of the Renaissance, with additional readings, online projects. It included a board game I made up called Scholastics vs Humanists, in which an up-and-coming new middle class Italian family, the Salamis, are trying to decide whether to send their children to the old monastery for a scholastic education, or try the new-fangled humanist approach. We had a unit on the Age of Exploration, where the kids made papier-mache world maps, painted them, then painted the different routes of European explorers. We also used a book, Galileo for Children, and used some of the science demos in there to recreate Galileo's experiments. I tied this with a separate coop class I taught on Renaissance art, where I introduced different artists and we did projects based on them. For Brunelleschi's dome they made sugar cube domes. For da Vinci's Last Supper we re-enacted the painting as a still life. I put together a game-- guess the Bible story -- and showed religious paintings by the masters, and the kids had to ID the story. Judith slaying Holofernes was a great favorite, and that semester Artemisia Gentileschi's painting of that scene was at the Art Institute Chicago, so we all took a field trip to look at it. I taught Homer's Odyssey at coop-- the kids read the book, learned some ancient Greek history, made dioramas of their favorite scenes. Then they worked together to create a 10-minute film version. The film part of the class took months-- they all kept arguing. But we met for 3 long days in the summer and they finished it. Oldest DS says it is now unwatchable, but they had a blast doing it, and made life-long friends.
  2. DS18 came home last Dec. 17, but still had finals to complete and send back to the school. His last final was in essay form, but the final itself wasn't released online until noon Eastern time on Dec. 18, with 36 hours to complete the exam. He finished all his finals in time for us all to see Star Wars on Saturday. He said the semester was pretty intense, and he is just starting to decompress. He thinks he will get mostly As with maybe 1 B. Still, Christmas this year will be rather dreary. First, I discovered that DD13 had neglected her 2 online classes for weeks. They are asynchronous, so she just has to do the work, BUT the workload is heavy and if you don't keep up it is easy to get buried. She will have to stay home from the family trip to our cabin to get it all done before the second semester of the courses start. And I will have to stay home with her. Which is sort of ok, because I don't really like going to the cabin-- no electricity or running water, and it is a 16-hour drive. And that means we don't have to send the cockatiel to my SIL, and the dogs will stay home with us, and we won't have to rent another car. And she will get more lesson time at the stables with the barn manager, and more practice time for orchestra. But still, not a break for either of us. I have to sit with her to make sure she does the work. I made her move her seat so I can see her laptop screen (no chance to watch Youtube) and I took away her phone-- she will get it back when the courses are over in May. THEN I discovered over the weekend that DS16 had completely ignored his one online class. Completely. ignored. As in, did not do ANY assignments!!! Did not even check the course website. Sigh. After a tense standoff, he told us what happened: This semester he did 2 CC courses, which he LOVED. And he kept putting off the online course to focus on the CC classes plus his calc study and Spanish. But in the online course, all the assignments built on each other. It was a programming class, and the instructions assumed you had a laptop, not a Mac. He has a Mac, and had to guess which keys to hit to do the programming. He very quickly became overwhelmed, but instead of yelling for help, he ignored it. Sigh. He was embarrassed. Anyway, he asked the online provider to let him withdraw from the course--it was an elective, not a core course.. They said yes, he can withdraw, and it won't be on his transcript. So that is OK. And, he is getting As in the CC classes... So Creekland, I know exactly what you are going through. I also kept my temper. What can you do? Just love them, I guess.
  3. DS18 came home Thursday, but still had 2 finals to finish. The last final exam, essay form, was released online on Friday at noon Eastern time, and he had until Saturday at midnight Eastern time to email the essays back to the prof. So he came home, slept in, then walked to a nearby coffee shop to write, then moved to the library when the coffee shop closed. He finished his finals on Saturday in time for all of us to go to Star Wars. He has also cleaned up the kids' bathroom (I don't even look in that direction), done some laundry, eaten all the fruit, and talked to his brother alot. He is glad he came home to finish his exams, he thinks the essays are better for it. His college is far away, and we saw him only at Thanksgiving, but that visit was cut short because of a death in the family. By the end of the semester he said he really needed to come home and re-energize. After a trip to our cabin after Christmas, he will be updating his resume, uploading it to the college alumni site, then filling out forms for summer internships. And sleeping and eating.
  4. Yes, ABSOLUTELY!!! I have many lovely memories of days like that. Today, DD worked on an essay that compared Hamilton and Jefferson's views on government. As she analyzed excerpts from their speeches and writings, she would comment to me on the different documents. "That "inherent powers" thing was really important--it really made today's government really different from what Jefferson wanted," she said. She snickered over the Rhode Island legislature's response to Jefferson's "Kentucky Resolution" which discussed the concept of 'nullification." You could almost hear neurons snapping. I wish I could say all our days are like that, but in reality, we also discovered that she still has many assignments to do for 2 of her classes. Homeschooling gives her the time to work on those. It gives her the freedom to make mistakes in time management (BIG MISTAKES) but also the flexibility to recover from those mistakes, which really are quite normal for 13 yos. Yup, homeschooling is THE BEST! Maria
  5. We do and did a lot of what HomeAgain and Sebastian did. Early college visits helped them visualize long-term goals, but at freshman, sophomore year, it is easy for them to get distracted, lose track of time, lose track of what they are supposed to do. As a freshman or sophomore, college seems so far away. I often used these words: "Part of my job is to remind you of what you need to do, so I am just doing my job." That seemed to place the discussion in more of a job review situation and away from being a mother-son argument. "you are in charge of your education; it is your work that colleges will be evaluating, not mine." This reminded them that as homeschoolers we have enormous freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. It places the responsibility on them (although I am helping them along the way) I agree that freshman-sophomore year are the hardest, because they felt they were way too old for coop classes or being taught by "my friends," as they referred to other homeschool moms; they were only motivated in self-learning for their favorite subjects; they were getting tired of online classes, but they were too young for the local cc. Once they could take cc classes-- here you can start as a high school junior-- the self-motivation really kicked in. Hang in there. You are doing a good job by reminding him of what he needs to do. That is part of our job. :001_smile: Maria
  6. When my oldest DS was a freshman we tried to do mostly online. Boy, did we really learn that was a mistake! He also liked to load up with crazy schedules: AP Psychology NU-CTD online AP US History NU-CTD online Spanish 1 tutor and online Algebra I tutor and online Environmental Science online Filming Macbeth-- adapted the play into a 10-min film, filmed and directed younger students at coop performing it and edited it into a short. 20th C. Russian Literature-- coop class US Constitution -- coop class--1 semester Shakespeare -- read 3 plays and performed in Antony and Cleopatra-- 1 semester DS number 2: we learned better, but not by very much. Notice there was no math. We let him take a break after doing Geometry and Alg. II/Trig at the same time in 8th grade. That ended up being a HUGE mistake. AP Psych-- NU CTD AP English Comp -- coop class Chemistry online-- NU CTD Chemistry labs at Coop War and Peace -- coop, 1 semester Spanish III and a separate Spanish conversation class--2 different tutors Post-modern Art History -- Coop, 1 semester Art history ancient to Renaissance -- Coop, 1 semester Graphic design -- online -- 1 semester DD is in 8th grade. Have we learned anything? Will the third time be the charm? The plan so far: AP Psych -- NU CTD Pre-Calculus -- Teaching Textbooks Spanish III -- tutor Environmental Science -- NU CTD 19th C. Gothic Literature: Frankenstein and other monstrous literature (small coop, still under development) 19th C. history/social movements (packaged with the Frankenstein class, still under development) Bioethics (packaged with Frankenstein, may be seminar-style) Violin and orchestra Maria
  7. Nope, not at all, as Regentrude put it succinctly. I can say that some of the families in our local group who have children much younger than mine are very concerned about it, mostly because they plan on putting their kids back in school at some point. We knew when we started we were going to go all the way through high school with all three kids. I really believe our complete commitment gave us a sense of serenity in which our energy could be directed toward our children and our family.
  8. The kid is good, but now is tired, crabby and sleep-deprived. He survived pinkeye. Classes are great, but not what he loves. He is looking for a double major, and his current classes are not in that category. So for next semester he is loading up with lit classes, which he misses and loves. Joined rugby --"I need to do something that is not reading and writing and talking" and he loved that, which is hilarious to us because he was non-team-sports guy. He spends a lot of time talking to profs and seniors as they are more likely to 'get' him. He needs a B+ average to get into the film program in sophomore year, so he is meticulous about calculating his grades. He bombed the archaeology midterm, which really discouraged him, even after he sought out extra credit. Then he talked to the seniors in his class and found out no one did well on the midterm, the teacher is known for lectures and readings that do not cover what is on the quizzes and tests. THEN he talked to the prof, and found out that the midterm actually does not count for much, that he still has 50% of the grade to go, and it will all be papers and group projects, which is what he is really really good at. So he is feeling less crabby. He misses the dogs. It will be good for him to come home next week.
  9. I am in the planning stages now with the youngest. Because I thrive in structure, one thing that has helped me with each teen is to make a 5-year plan that shows academic courses, extra-curriculars, summer programs. contests, standardized tests and community service for each year from 8th to 12th. Putting it all in one document so we can both see the next 5 years on 1 or 2 pieces of paper can help the teen (and me) visualize what the next 5 years will look like. For my sons, this process was also a little stressful because they were not used to setting long-term goals, and it was a tiny bit overwhelming. However, it helped them take ownership of their own education, which is one of the things I stress. I will not be the one applying to colleges; they will be applying based on what they did with the opportunity to homeschool. In practice this Big Plan was used only during the first 2 years; by the end of sophomore year they had a firm foundation in their high school careers, and we didn't need to refer to the plan--we were living it. And as has been noted, flexibility is key. The 5-year-plan was just a plan--many times that plan changed drastically, which was OK. The main goal was to at least have A plan at the beginning. I also looked for a regional group or institution in each teen's area of deep interest where that teen could volunteer, participate in programs, meet other teens and adults who share their deep interest. Local groups were too small, and our homeschool status made my kids stick out in an unproductive way. But in a regional group, such as a well-known theater program, or museum teen groups, or teen councils for cultural institutions, everyone is from different towns and schools, so no one cares much if you are homeschooled. These groups can be a bonanza of additional open doors, adult mentors, and opportunities to which we otherwise would not have access. Lastly, I read almost every book I could get my hands on about the college admissions process. It was important to me that I take a professional attitude to my job as high school counselor--that any missed opportunities were not going to be due to my lack of preparation or knowledge. I owned that part of my job. This is an exciting time! It is thrilling to see your kids grow into young adults right before your eyes!! Maria
  10. I think his schedule has settled-- he's in something called a learning community course-- race, religion and memoir -- where he lives on the same floor with the other students in this particular course. All the students in the class have singles, I think because they spend so much class time together. He has a film course for his major, then something about death rituals of ancient Greeks and Egyptians, which he loves, then one other course which kept changing because of overlapping times. Not sure what that is. He had a film review published in the student paper and joined rugby, even though he doesn't know how to play, but he can keep up with the others, thanks to taking up running in the last year. I'm keeping my distance, but my younger son and husband are in regular contact, and said that he must be happy because he is talking alot. The first weekend was hard, waiting for things to start. He has been there 9 days..... Maria
  11. These resources cover modern to post-modern art, both in the artists and the theory. It's important to understand where abstract art fits. Gompertz, Will: What Are You Looking At? The Surprising, Shocking and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art. Gompertz is the BBC arts editor, and gives a funny, irreverent look at all of modern art. This is a great book! Benjamin, Walter: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. This short essay is published in book form, and is an important touchstone where the literary critic Walter Benjamin tries to analyze the changed experience of art in modern society. Foster, Hal: Recodings: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics. Hard-core art and culture theory Hodge, Susie: How to Survive Modern Art . The many, different movements of modern art are given a two-page spread. Bird, Michael: 100 Ideas That Changed Art. another great overview, goes back to prehistory, so much more general. Stiles, Kristine: Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. primary sources on contemporary artists-- more than 300 artists speak for themselves on production and philosophy of contemporary art. Finger, Brad and Christiane Weidemann: 50 Contemporary Artists You Should Know That's all I have. Maria
  12. I used some elements of two of the citizenship merit badges-- Nation and Community-- as the basis for a US Constitution credit, but my boys also did a Const. class at their Coop. For instance, for Community, they interviewed the mayor and several town officials, and created a documentary about the town. I listed this in their course descriptions, along with the academic work they did for the coop class. None of those by themselves provided enough work hours or in-depth study to use on their own, so I combined them. I didn't consult the counselors or troop -- we were the only homeschoolers, and the other troop leaders really didn't know what to think of us in general. Under Illinois laws, I am the supervisor for my home school--considered a private school-- so I get final say. I think the MBs are great for providing a spine/framework/ or additional element for an academic class, but I would not use them alone, for reasons PPs have given. Teaching a merit badge is different -- how awesome! above and beyond the reqs of earning the badge. Maria
  13. I also wanted to add that you can travel AND do online classes, if you can arrange to travel in places where your DC can get online to do the work. Asynchronous classes work great for this. I have always thought that one of the secrets of homeschooling through high school is that there are many ways to have your cake and eat it, too. I also agree with PPs to not graduate a child from high school early, but to use the extra time to dive deeply into interests and passions. Your DC will really stand out in the college app department. Maria
  14. We homeschool 6 days a week when our coop is in session, which is 10 weeks in the fall and 10 weeks in the spring. The coop day is an all-day affair, and we learned pretty quickly that no schoolwork would get done on coop day, and that we were falling behind both in home-study courses and online courses. Over the years it has gotten to the point that even when coop ends, my kids use a weekend day to get schoolwork done. This is particularly true when my oldest started CC classes-- he was studying all weekend to prepare for classes the next week. It makes sense for us, not just for the logistics of keeping on track with their studies, but it also reinforces the idea that learning does not take place only during certain hours or days, and that we are all lifelong learners. Go for it! Maria
  15. It has been years since anyone in our group organized a general field trip, and I bet it was because of the no-shows. Which is really a shame. This is not just a problem with field trips, but even classes. A few years back I helped organize for 4 families weekly visits to a free local zoo to practice taking ethograms. It was all free, my friend organized free classes with zoo staff, got us to use the zoo's equipment -- all free. I would fight morning city traffic of more than an hour from the suburbs to pick up one friend's kids while she taught my teens-- and I was still the first one to the zoo. My other friend who lived within walking distance was always late. The third friend couldn't get her kid up in the morning and almost always missed it-- and then complained that it wasn't that great to begin with. We went to the zoo 22 weeks to study animal behavior, but she still found sour grapes. Unbelievable. Now when I teach a class and want to offer a field trip to supplement it, I say that a parent volunteer needs to organize it, or it won't happen. Last year a mom organized a trip for the class to see a play downtown. She collected money upfront. Firm deadline, no refunds. Everyone showed and was well-behaved. It was lovely. Make them pay. Otherwise they don't value the experience. Maria
  16. Uhhhhh, whaddya mean preparations? DS18 is still wrapping up end-of-year projects, but will be done at the end of this week. Still kind of in hazy, end-of-school, start-of-summer mode. He doesn't want a grad party, so it will just be a nice dinner out with the grandparents, with scrapbooks and his diploma. Well, let's see.... getting his own checking account, I hadn't thought of that, that sounds like a good idea. This morning I ordered CC transcript. His home transcript will go out next week. Most of the action doesn't start until July-- housing and medical forms due July 1. Actual registration happens on campus in September. He wants to get his driver's license. He has a short-term job that is ending soon, so he wants to find a second job. He is going too far away for us to do parents' weekend, and the younger kids have their own projects, classes they need to do. His dropoff day is 2 days before annual family reunion in Michigan, which no one else wants to miss. I am avoiding thinking about those logistics. Good to think about, though. Thanks for shaking me awake! Maria
  17. A friend of mine worked for a test prep company for several years and helps my kids practice for the ACT. Her Rule One on the science section -- skip the reading and go straight to the questions. Honest. The Science section is the last section of the test, when the students are tired and their minds nearly fried. Just go to the questions to find out what they want then go to the charts and tables and if needed scan the reading for the answers. Doing the reading slows you down so you don't finish. Go straight to the questions. Use process of elimination if needed. Really learn to read the charts and graphs. Maria
  18. It depends on how best your dc learns-- reading the book helps reinforce the audio-visual of the lesson, and vice-versa. I remember reading on an old TT thread here a warning from a veteran TT user to NOT use the new CDs exclusively, particularly for the daily lesson problems, because sometimes the kid gets int0 the habit of going through and clicking on answers without working it out on paper. You get one or two chances to make a correct choice, which tempts a kid to race through and guess more. Then, when it came time to take the test, because the student hadn't practiced working out the problems, the kid bombed the tests. So my DD watches the video with the book open, then does the lesson problems in the book on her own, writing down her answers in a notebook. When she is done she checks the answers with me holding the answer key. She only goes to the CDs if she got an answer wrong and can't figure out how to do it on her own. It all depends on the way your DC takes in and processes new info. Maria
  19. OK. Turns out that he says he IS prepared, or at least he is prepared as he felt a year ago before the AP Psych. He's doing some light review tonight and then going to bed early. Whew. We are going to an Indian restaurant afterwards to celebrate. Maria
  20. Gahhh. I discovered DS16 the Wise Fool was not actually outlining APWH questions as much as just looking at them. He groaned that the essays were harder than he thought they would be. Not sure if this is due to lack of prep in the course or his personal lack of commitment. The test is TOMORROW! I set the kitchen timer and am sitting in the kitchen while he works through the practice essays. Lots of dramatic sighing and sad looks on his side of the room. Silent gnashing of teeth and perky "you can do it" tones on my side. We are both so too old for this. World history is not his favorite class-- the plan was to do this online class and self-study for AP Art History together, then take the tests. But he bailed early on the Art History-- he's bipolar and in the fall he began declining into a depression. His therapist suggested cutting back on the APs, so we cut the Art History as that was home study. Christmas break saw him in a depression, but then he climbed out of it. He got a B on the APWH class at the semester, and this semester he has been getting 100 percents on all his assignments. But right now he seems in a fog. Is it the bipolarism? Or just being a 16 yo boy on a sunny day in May? Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. Maria
  21. Tomorrow DS16 is taking APWH, and I worry. He is very low key about all his studies, which has its good and bad sides. Last week he discovered he had 10 more assignments to do for the online class, through NU-CTD. Ten is ALOT-- one assignment includes defining terms plus 3-4 essay questions. He groaned, sagged in his chair, "It's so much work," he said. Then he figured out if he did 2 a day he would finish by the Tuesday before the test. Which gives him one day-- today for test prep. He had done one MC practice test and got to a 3 with the MC, so we figure he can push it up with the essays. Today he is outlining a bunch of essays from a prep book so he is in practice for fast thinking and. He said the APWH is set up just like the AP Psych test, on which he got a 5 last year. So I am crossing my fingers. Of course right now he is outside taking a walk in the beautiful weather. I bought him '5" gum, trail mix and his favorite snacks to get him through the day. This will be his last AP test and his last online class. He has been taking online classes since he was 10 (not exclusively, just in the mix) and he is so so tired of online learning. Also tired of our coop, which is mostly younger kids. So at lunch we looked at the CC courses for next year. Really, really hoping everything will work out. Maria
  22. Woohoo for your DD! This happened to us, as well. I love Teaching Textbooks. DD is mathy, and worked through Jacobs' Algebra, but the lack of explanation for answers made her nutty. This year we switched to TT and it is night and day-- she is no longer aggravated when she doesn't understand something: all she has to do is look up the explanation-- which she rarely needed to do. DD has her last Algebra II test tomorrow. A few weeks ago she suggested starting Geometry over the summer-- so after tomorrow's test she will take the rest of the week off math-wise, then start Geometry next week-- all her idea. She took the ACT as part of a talent search and jumped 7 points in math,almost making the cutoff the CC requires for taking Calculus. She loves math-- she said doing math relaxes her. Such a difference from last year. Congrats to your DD! Maria
  23. When my kids started online classes, we had them start with classes in which they had an intrinsic interest, so that they actually wanted to learn the material and do the assignments. That helped when they got bogged down with course minutiae and drudgery. Once they figured out how to do an online course, we worked in non-favorite core classes. There is a learning curve with each program-- the student (and you) have to figure out how the class is set up, where to find assignments, how to do them, how to turn them in, how to check that the instructor actually received the courses. How to study for tests, how to do tests. Making sure they were following the syllabus and getting assignments in on time. In some cases the syllabus was created several years ago and the courses had evolved since then, so some assignments did not line up with the syllabus. Then you and your DC have to figure out what actually has to get done. I have ended up being more of a supervisor, checking in with them sometimes every day or a few times during the week to make sure they were on track, and helping them figure out what to do when assignments fall through the cracks (they forgot to do something 9 weeks ago, or they did it but didn't send it, or the instructor lost it.) Every time I think they had it under control and I didn't check in with them, some assignment or three would go astray. On the plus side it does give them a taste of autonomy and a low-risk way to practice their organization skills in the comfort of their own home. Maria
  24. Thanks so much-- I ordered a printable copy of the curriculum for DD for next year. I love how you start with chocolate! Maria
  25. I think you are smart to choose a subject he would like, and in which he would be successful. How does your CC handle registering for future semesters? At our CC, before the DE student can register for the next semester, he/she has to get a recommendation/approval by the current instructor to continue with classes--every semester. Another CC near here requires DE students to go through the entire registration process every semester. So it makes sense to make sure your DS is going to be successful in each class, because continuing in DE may depend upon it.. My DS is a hard-core humanities student. He took Intro to Philosophy as his first DE class, and loved it. We looked at ratemyprofessor.com to make sure he had a good instructor. It was HARD-- he spent a lot of time with Plato's Republic, the text, before the class started, reading and looking up terms he did not know so that he understood as much as he could before he walked into the classroom. The teacher was phenomenal: he incorporated Socratic circles, shared inquiry and other techniques to get everyone asking questions and discussing everything. He took the time to make sure students understood the material. We found out he has a reputation at the CC as one of their best teachers. I was telling DS about this discussion, and he recommended Intro to Phil because he said it helps the student think about ideas on a higher level, and gives the student a framework for thinking and discussing larger, more complicated concepts. He said the discipline of thinking this way made his paper-writing easier and better. But I would add, make sure the teacher is outstanding! The comments on ratemyprofessor were very helpful, especially the ones that warned that the instructor would ramble on about their own opinions. Also, none of his DE credits will transfer, but he was taking these classes for learning's sake. This is an exciting time! He will get exposed to more and exciting ideas! Good luck!
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