momto2blessings
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Posts posted by momto2blessings
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I love Writing Tales for that age group. You spend 2 weeks on each fable or short classic narrative. The 10 days is spend doing a lesson ea. day of one of the following: reading the narrative, a copywork of a section of it, grammar lessons related to narrative, a voc. lesson of narrative, spelling lesson of narrative, story ordering, writing a rough draft (narrating the story), then on a different day you edit your draft. They give lots of tips to edit your work. I like how thorough it is, but doesn't take a ton of time. Just my .02:) Blessings, Gina
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I'm one who also tried CW Homer after Writing Tales and just couldn't do it anymore.....wonderful program though!!! After Writing Tales, I like either Write with the Best, or Jump In....both are good Jr. Hi. programs, I think. Blessings, Gina
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I second Educating the Wholehearted Child. I also love For the Children's Sake, and the Simply Charlotte Mason website. Blessings:) Gina
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We love Simply Charlotte Mason, too. Their handbooks for History/Geo./Bible are wonderful (and cheap!) I always scan AO's list for lit, devotional, etc. books to add on or substitute. But SCM gives me a great base to make sure I feel covered and I love having a plan laid out for me:) Blessings, Gina
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Simply Charlotte Mason guides for Bible......I'd said many days it's just reading the Bible and narrating back. Actually, I should qualify that that's all you'd need to do if you wanted....but they have other books to go along to add more depth if you want that. They have the Doctrine book I mentioned, plus others that focus on what you're studying if you'd like to add them...such as a Wisdom for Life book they can make entries in when studying Proverbs (7th-12th). HTH some:) Gina
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I love the Simply Charlotte Mason handbooks for Bible. http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/genesis-deuteronomy-ancient-egypt/ is the first one. I use them for history and geography, too...but would buy them just for Bible! You can check samples....it's laid out day by day so it's simple to just do Bible because each daily lesson is either Bible, history, OR geo. Each daily lesson has about 1 chapter to read. There are sometimes commentary readings to go along w/it...but you wouldn't have to do that if you wanted to stick to the Bible. Kids 7th and up can use their Discovering Doctrine book. When they read a truth about God, Jesus, Salvation, Heaven, etc. they can make a simple entry in their Doctrine book....they use this book from 7th-12th. There's an occasional quick activity to add depth like listing a character trait of Abraham, etc. All 6 guides will take you through the whole Bible in 6 yrs. If you did it daily and skipped the history/geo. you'd get through the guides more quickly. They do skip over some sections of the Bible. The e-books are only $11. Many days it's just reading the Bible and narrating back. I read it to both my kids and take turns asking kids to narrate (but they don't know who I'll ask beforehand:) Just what works for us! Blessings, Gina
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I used to use SL, but just couldn't keep up with the guide...and wanted to do things more Charlotte Mason style. You could just order the books and have the kids narrate to you (Charlotte Mason style would be orally until around age 10, then one written a week, gradually adding more written as they age). For Language Arts at that age I love Writing Tales for writing and grammar....pretty fun, classical, and my kids were pretty independent with it. And we use Spelling Wisdom (from Simply Charlotte Mason) for dicatation exercises. We also use Wordly Wise for Voc. Just what I'd do:) Blessings, Gina
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Hi Gals,
A computer-savvy friend of mine just started a free fieldtrip finder site. Looks awesome. Check it out:) Blessings, Gina
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Hi!
I wanted to let you know about a brand-new free site focused on ... FIELD TRIPS!
http://www.fieldtripfinder.comAs a homeschool mom I know how challenging it can be to find information and reviews about field trips in one place. My business partner, Angela, and I started this with an idea about 2 years ago. A lot has happened during that time, but we stuck the course and kept our vision in sight. We are so excited because we are ready to open our virtual door!
The site is a field trip finding search and online community. Indianapolis is our demo city with lots of information, reviews and events.
I'm amazed at how many locations we've found in Indianapolis for field trips- I thought I knew all the spots! We've actually loaded over 24,000 locations all over the country, including Alaska and Hawaii. We'll start adding to Canada and Europe soon. Armed with laptops, atlases and compasses we covered the entire country. However, we need our community users to help add information, events and reviews to those locations. Indy truly is the starting point with robust information for locations - until the site takes off and site users start adding favorite spots and information to other parts of the country.
We created this site for homeschoolers, parents, grandparents, youth group leaders (like scouts and church groups), and teachers. I hope you'll take a look at the site and play around a little. It certainly isn't perfect, but it's time to launch. Look around; you may find your next great field trip. If you login, you'll be able to add locations, submit reviews and earn badges.
At this point we are trying to get the word out about this free service, so please pass this along to friends and family, school groups, coops - anyone that might like to find fun and unique field trips for kids. Since we are launching nationally, please feel free to send it out to friend and family in other parts of the country. We've tried to cover all the avenues ... follow us on our blog and repin us on Pinterest, like us on Facebook and take a look around.
I'd love for you to take a look around. Look for your favorite field trip location. If you don't see it, add it in. Find a new place to take the kids over spring break or start planning your summer stay-cation spots. The goal is to have site users sign up and add in their favorite places to take kids for field trips. Working on Indianapolis with my partner, I have already found some great spots that I didn't know about. The reviews that she has entered have been great. The reviews are my favorite part of the site - it's where I get to see what other parents think about a location. You can't get candid info like that from the location's own website!
Thanks so much for trying out the site. I'd love to get feedback, so let me know what you think. Lynn
To find a fun field trip and see what we’re up to, visit:
http://www.fieldtripfinder.com
http://www.facebook.com/fieldtripfinder
PS. I'll be transitioning over to lynn@fieldtripfinder.com soon.
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Yep, 2 yr. gap is no problem. We've had no trouble w/a 3 yr. gap. The only thing we'll run into is my eldest will finish AOR in 12th and it's meaty so that's a great fit for her. My youngest will only be in 9th when we finish AOR, but he's very astute and often notices things the eldest doesn't so I think we'll be fine. Then we'll just go back to ancients, etc. for his last 3 years, maybe adding some AOR highlight his last year...not sure yet! But totally doable since books are rec. for all ages. And I love our family being on the same history cycle. :)Gina
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I second Simply Charlotte Mason. Their history/geo/Bible handbooks really simplify life in those subjects. Their "Planning Your CM Education" book is also very helpful to make sure all CM bases are covered. I also love their picture study portfolios...much more likely to get done in my house if somebody has done a lot of the work for me:) And their forum is full of helpful, experienced CM ladies whenevery you have a question! Blessings, Gina
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We used to use AO, but I prefer for my kids to be on the same history cycle. And honestly, the upper AO years of history scared me a bit:) We're using SCM history now and I love their family handbooks. We do similar to Holly, above. The handbook has a family spine reading we do together. Sometimes my older child has her own additional reading. I have them take turns narrating the family reading. We also do the SCM Bible and geography readings. Once a week we take a few min. to add events to our timeline book (the handbook lists dates/people). It's not too heavy, so I also jot in Truthquest's Biblical commentary and movie suggestions at the appropriate times. Easy peasy and all planned out for me:) Gina
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There are some neat kits here: http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/category/ChildrensCrafts. My son has also enjoyed the Lowe's free classes for kids on Sat. mornings. They also sell the kits individually to do at home. HTH some:) Gina
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Another vote for Writing Tales:)
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Thanks, ladies, for all the input!!! I think I'm sold and will likely start this in January. I appreciate all the thoughts:) Blessings, Gina
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I was, but now seems to be up and running:)
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Anybody like Wordly Wise? I was just getting ready to purchase, but noticed it mentioned a few times on the 'worst homeschool purchases' thread:) I'm looking for something for DD13 and DS10. DS tends to pick up voc. pretty well just from reading (enjoys reading challenging books). DD13 is not as much a reader, and the type to just want to get through her work (but obeys and is diligent:) I don't think her voc. level is what it should be for a 7th grader.
Last year we tried writing down words and def. together and using in sentences. I don't think the words really stuck for long term. The goal was to try and use throughout the week in regular life, but that didn't happen. This year I've been having them write words/def./a sentence for 2 words/day from their readings. I mean to go over the words w/them once a week...but haven't. I'd really prefer them to be independent in this, hence interest in Wordly Wise. But foremost I want what's best! I like the idea of words coming naturally from daily readings, but in reading classic books it seems like a lot of words she chooses are not every day words nowadays. Help, please!!! Blessings, Gina
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It's feasible to complete 3 guides in one year. I spent a full year on AHYS I...meandering along and then feeling rushed at the end of the year. Decided I wanted to complete II and III the following year and it was no trouble (made a plan that year:) There's not a whole lot of commentary, but I enjoy having it to make points I wouldn't think of. Right now we're using the free booklist from Simply Charlotte Mason to help narrow our choices...or I get overwhelmed w/all the possibilities:) Blessings, Gina
P.S. My kids were older than yours.....8/9 and 11/12. But I think you'd be fine as long as you kept your book selection narrow enough.
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My 9 yo loved the Hobbit and insisted on reading LOTR aftewards. I balked a bit, feeling he was too young, it was too dark, etc. But theology major hubby who has read the series 4-5 times said it was fine so ds (now 10) is on book 3 and loving it:)
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My kids are older, but my general rule has been as long as 3 subjects are done I can call it a day. We don't this too often, but if kids are sick, etc. I try to at least do this to get a day in. At 7 years old, I would definitely count what you mentioned as a full school day, as long as overall I was completing what I felt I needed to for the year. Just my .02:) Gina
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oops...double post.
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I'm not sure this is what you're looking for, but will share what we do:) I keep their checklist vague, such as 2pg's math, look up 2 voc. words from daily readings, read lit. for 30 min., read science, one page spelling, devotion, morning chores listed, etc. I type up 5 lists...one for ea. day of the week (some things aren't done daily). I put each page in a page protector, in a binder, and he uses a dry erase marker to check off as he goes. Behind these daily pages, he has one page that has his literature books listed in the order I want him to read them. This can vary if he requests another quality book, and if I approve of it he will simply read that book instead during lit. time.
I do this at the beg. of the year and it stays pretty much the same all year. Occasionally I may need to adjust something and will just handwrite the change until I get around to printing a new sheet. So, basically, the daily sheets pretty much stay the same, but if the books change you could just change the list that has those readings. Oh, and writing assignments are something I do with him...so he just has writing on his schedule, but the assignments are given by me, generally. Clear as mud? :)Gina
Oh...just saw you said you don't like dry erase! You could just print out a bunch of copies, if you had a schedule you were comfortable w/keeping for a while.
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We use: http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/spelling-wisdom/. You certainly can use passages you find on your own, but I like having all these great quotes ready to grab, and it takes into account including a variety of words. I also use Spelling Workout, because we have for years and I like the phonics review, but don't do all of it...we do each program 2 days/week and it only takes maybe 10 min. or so.
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We've used MUS from the start...about the only curriculum we've stuck with:) What works for us is we watch the video together. Then I work w/them on a few problems of A. They finish A and B by themselves. Next day is C and D, next day is E and F, next day is test. Just me, but I do this all the way through Delta to give them practice w/their facts by doing all the pages. After Delta, I often let them skip B and C if they get 95% or better on A. I do like them to do all the review pages, but if a kid really has the concepts I could see maybe skipping one of them (I don't because sometimes my kids struggle w/story problems and I want them to have the practice).
MUS doesn't take long to do each day, so unless they are really struggling w/a concept (which has been rare) doing 2 pages a day hasn't been burdensome. Just what we do:) Blessings, Gina
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I've heard good things about Steve Spangler kits. Here's one: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/just-add-water-test-tubes-in-a-rack. And I think you can just buy empty beakers pretty reasonably, too. HTH some:) Gina
What to do with completed workbooks?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I keep one large Rubbermaid tub for each kid. I just throw them all in there when completed:) We're a CM family, so there aren't tons of workbooks.