lauracolumbus
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Posts posted by lauracolumbus
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Willowcreek, your post was beautiful, touching, and inspiring. Thank you for sharing. You've made me want to include our few heirlooms into our homeschool room so that I, too, can remember and teach my children about my sources of inspiration.
Laura
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We've only gone as far as 6/5, but I'm happy w/the kids' test scores so far (3-5 grade levels above on the WJIII). There was a post about a week ago (at least I think it was on these boards) about the need for an edit to TWTM about how you should not skip 8/7 if your child is doing well--it's the Algebra 1/2 that is more appropriate for review (TWTM says the opposite). I know I'm not phrasing this right, and I hope someone else can help me out here.
Laura
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I know I received an email from local hs group about either Dollar General or Dollar Tree having great school supplies--I don't know have any first hand experience however. I get a lot of mine as stocking stuffers at Christmas.
Laura
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I agree w/the pp that b/c it's a girl, I would keep her in 2d. With boys, it seems to be a little different, but even then, I wouldn't 'redshirt' him. Everyone I've seen who has done it, it hasn't worked out to their advantage. My brother did it w/my nephew b/c he was 17 when he graduated and a late developer and thought it held him back in sports. His son did ok in sports, but started college late, ended up taking 5 years, so he graduated at 23, where as I graduated at 21 and got a jump on everything--including grad school.
I have 2 friends who have held their boys back and both have come to regret it. Their boys are exceptionally big for their class and for some reason they get bullied b/c of it. I have another friend whose son has sort of internalized that he wasn't smart enough to cut it w/his age group. My ds was the youngest boy in his class and I could see the difference in social maturity and it might hurt him in sports (his passion), but as his kindergarten teacher said it would have been a shame to hold him back. He's done very well academically.
Laura
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Can you get them from the library? I don't think my ds would use them more than a couple of times. He read several in one sitting. Of course, I'm passing them down, but still. We got them cheap at a Scholastic sale I think.
Laura
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Yes, my ds enjoyed them--maybe b/c we used them as 'off Saxon' days.
Laura
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We are doing LOF Fractions now. DD9 just finished Saxon 5/4 and DS 6/5. Then we'll move on to LOF Decimals (altho it might be too hard for dd).
Laura
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I agree w/Lori. Just go on to SOTW 2. It is a fun one for younger kids. We use the CDs and activity guides and that helps a lot.
I feel the same way--this was our 2d year hs'ing and I'm finally feeling comfortable w/what I'm doing. My biggest regret is not using this board earlier.
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We will be using Memoria Press' Famous Men of Greece and Rome as well as D'Aulaires and some of the retellings of Homer, Aeneid, etc. I haven't gone thru the Famous Men stuff yet to see what's missing, but am hoping to get more philosophy in.
Laura
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I have the same issues and am surprised that I don't see more posts about it. My dd5.5 listened during our SOTW studies and often got nightmares---eg mommy getting her head cut off. I just stopped letting her listen. Like the pp said I wouldn't let them hear such stuff from new fiction. It doesn't seem to bother the older 2. I'm reading much gentler stuff w/her, including trying to skip some of the Brothers Grimm stuff.
Laura
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We started 6 weeks before the end of the CC year. I was positively impressed w/how welcoming everyone was. Esp. the kids. I had planned to just check out the open house, but kids completely fell in love w/it (much moreso than I). For me, the two biggest drawbacks are the cost and the time out of our schedule. I had my kids prioritize and this was their #1 choice, so we'll have to drop other activities to accommodate CC. As for this being cheaper than preschool, I would gladly pay these prices if it meant I could drop my kids off like preschool and actually have a morning to myself instead of having to stay on site.
Laura
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Have you looked at Prima Latina? They now have a DVD for this program although we were fine w/just the CD. We used it towards the end of second grade and it worked well w/dd8. It was her first Latin program. I'm now ordering Song School Latin for my /k'er/first grader and will go to Prima Latina from there. We're using Minimus right now w/my older two as a 'fun' summer program. I'm not sure if it would have been a good stand alone. And it is expensive w/the TM.
Laura
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We tried it out for six weeks this past spring. It was super expensive for what we got, I thought. It also did not fit our curriculum that I already had in place. Plus, I didn't like that we lost nearly an entire day of school. Finally, I think the memorization stuff was a bit much for my youngest (5). Trying to teach her to memorize what the communicative law is was a bit of a stretch for even a bright young kid.
HOWEVER, we will be returning in the fall b/c my 2 older kids absolutely love it. It is really nice for the socialization aspect. It's more than hanging out w/other kids. At the program we attended, it had just the right blend of competitiveness and friendliness that my kids really loved. They loved all the academic games played. My dd9 still begs me to quiz her on the history sentences and memorized an entire year's worth of material in the brief time we were there. It is amazing to watch how creating the pegs of history to hang their information on really does work. I can see how it would be a great spine, which is how a lot of ppl at our center use it. I will continue on w/what we're doing and try to align our history w/theirs to get the most out of it.
My kids especially love the eating lunch together and the gym part (I'm not sure if all groups do that), but it gave my kids just enough taste of school. Our group was 30 mins. away and I really dreaded the morning rush of getting out of the house, but it didn't phase my kids.
They are creationists. We are Catholic and I didn't see anything particular difficult to explain to my kids about how we're different. It might be differerent next year, but it will give a good opportunity to explain different beliefs.
Good luck. It's hard to spend that much $$ on an unknown. I think of all the $$ spent w/CC and all the other books I could be spending w/my $$ instead.
Laura
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Like a PP said, it depends on whether it's northern VA or the rest of the state. I lived in No. VA on 3 different occasions and the older I got the less I tolerated it. The congestion, the crime, the road rage, the transient nature just got to me. However, by that time, I had the luxury of enjoying everything the region has to offer and it has a ton. You're close to the beach, to DC, to Philly, NY is just a quick train ride away, most of the monuments and many events are FREE.
Southern and central VA are gorgeous--esp. in the fall and have a much more southern feel than the north does.
Laura
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I have a 5 y.o. too and will be starting her in 1st grade.
So far, this is the plan
SWO B
FLL 1/2
WWE 1
SOTW 1 (review w/older sibs-this will be our second time through)
MUS Beta and various worksheets
Memoria Press copybook. Possibly New American Cursive
Science--hodgepodge right now. Probably will focus on the solar system.
Music-Meet the Composers, Beethoven's Wig series.
Art--mostly coloring and crafts and art appreciation.
Lots of read alouds by both of us.
Lots of sports-soccer, basketball, baseball, fitness program at the Y, swim lessons. Possibly as swim/gym/art program at the Y.
And CC.
Laura
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Yikes, I forgot I needed to add in CC. That puts me in the stratosphere w/3 kids. I thought I was doing ok. I've always guilty about how much we spend, but if I excluded CC, we'd be in the normal range.
Laura
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Thanks LatinTeach, that helped me too.
Laura
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I'm 46. Wow, Joanna, looks like I'm double your age. And I have a 5 year old too.
It certainly is a different outlook being an older parent of younger kids. I was fine til about 43 when the aging bit started to kick in.
But, I wouldn't give up all the fun I had in my 20s and 30s.
Laura
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We've only tried the Memoria Press Famous Men. My 3d grade dd didn't care for them. 5th grade ds really did (he's a history buff). We used the study guides, which I really like.
Laura
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My dd9 has done GB Junior as part of a co-op. I really haven't been impressed. Now the real Great Books program for high schoolers/adults is another story. The original GB program started by Mortimer Adler was an attempt to be part of the 'great conversation' of Western civilization (history, literature, science, philosophy) etc. GB Junior seems (so far to us) to be an attempt at teaching folklore as literature to kids. DD does enjoy the stories, but it's not what I thought it would be.
Laura
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Heather,
Thanks for the help. It looks like a good program, but w/kids at different ages 5, 9,11, it looks like it can get really expensive w/2 levels going. If it were to make my life much easier it might be worth it.
Laura
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I know I read that the levels were designed to be coordinated, but does this mean that the experiments in the pre-level I and the level I chemistry are the same and that the explanation is just more detailed?
Thanks,
Laura
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I'm getting ready to buy this from Rainbow, and it looks like if you buy the whole pkg the dvd's are really "only" $50 more-not $75 b/c the pkg includes the extra verbal problems. Not sure if that makes that much of a difference in your decision making.
Laura
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I vaguely recall reading that Maria Montessori suggested that middle schoolers (I think 7th graders specifically) take the year off and work on the farm b/c it was impossible to teach them w/all their hormonal issues. I could be wrong though...
Laura
I just registered for the LSAT
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I was w/you until the TTC!
I went to law school when I turned 30. It was a lot easier than I expected. There was an ER surgeon in the class behind me who had a family and lived 2 hours away. He went home on weekends and worked in the ER. He graduated (I have no idea how well he did), but while your class ranking is fairly impt, some ppl find a way to work around it.
I think you'll be a lot more focused. However, having said that, I'm considering finishing a Ph.D. that I started b4 law school, but will wait til my kids are more independent. Hs'ing seems to consume me.
Laura