TC5
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Posts posted by TC5
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I was going to do a year of U.S. history this year but changed my mind when I took a closer look at the I Love America and I Love the States materials. I will use it to supplement SOTW 3 and 4 instead.
We also have the Junior Book of Mormon Studies book. We used it last year in conjunction with our study of ancient history. It is designed to use over and over again, so I'm sure I will. I just remembered I have it! It is better suited to older children, I think, and needs some modification for the youngers I have. But it is doable. I think I'll work it into our daily devotionals.
These books are all about the love of learning, and they fit in well with TJEd, although I make them work with WTM.
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My boys enjoyed learning about the kingdoms in their bodies. We supplemented by making life-size posters of their body parts. For all of these books, we just added lots of library books are were fine, but I have since seen lots more experiment-based curriculums, etc.
I also have 2 of the Language Arts books. I started teaching my son to read with the first book, and it is a sweet, gentle start, but it doesn't go far enough, so I switched to OPG, which I love.
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Someone was looking for latin, and we are liking Lively Latin so far. It's secular, unless you count the Roman mythology.
We used some Kimber books (Center for Educational Restoration) last year and have some more we'll use in the next two years. It is LDS-based. The U.S. history stuff is totally disorganized, although it was going to be revised and may have been already. I've written lesson plans, though, if anyone needs them. I like How and Why Heavenly Father Uses Numbers (very interesting introduction to basic math). We used the junior science books last year (good seed, animals are my friends, and my body is a temple). They are not complete. Of the three, I would recommend only the human body one.
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I like Rod and Staff English, as well. I recently bought the Bible stories book for preschool but haven't read much yet. The Adam and Eve story needs a few changes, but I think most of the book will be fine.
I'm glad to hear someone say Apologia Exploring Creation through Astronomy is good, as I'm planning to get that for the second half of this year.
I also loved Mystery of History Vol. 1, with a little more added in to reach 400 A.D. per WTM. I switched to SOTW this year, though, to avoid all the missionary and church history and because the lessons are much longer in Vol. 2 than they were in Vol. 1.
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Since I started homeschooling, I also find myself wondering how much I can do at church and wondering whether it's OK to let homeschooling come first. Because it's my family, I think it is OK. But part of homeschooling for me is teaching my children the gospel, so that includes church and service and having the Spirit. Sorry for the rambling. My point, I think, is that everyone probably wants a breather once in a while, but we should always try to pray, read the scriptures, and take the sacrament if at all possible. Beyond that, it can be very difficult, especially with all the other challenges you've mentioned. But I think those basics can't hurt and probably will help. I hope things are going better for you now. :grouphug:
Teonei
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I was so sick last time that I couldn't cook or do anything else for my kids and my sister, thankfully, came to stay with us. So it's kind of weird for me to want to be sick. But I could use a break. I was released from nursery once when I was too sick to go to church anymore. Another time I was released from nursery when I was about to give birth. I don't think I'll be released from my calling this time, but at least I'll get a break that will make me appreciate being able to do anything, even if it is work. Does that make sense?
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I know this thread is a few months old, but I just found this group today. As I mentioned in my introduction, I am 6 weeks pregnant (I've told only two people at church so far, by the way) and getting sicker each day. For the past two weeks, I was only a little bit sick, and I actually wanted to be sicker so 1) I can accept that the baby is healthy, and 2) I can take a break, including not having to finish planning the next "enrichment" meeting (see my post in the callings thread about that).
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My oldest son, who will be 9 in 3.5 weeks, is in fourth grade. When he started public-school Kindergarten at age 4, my stepmother told me it was a mistake because he'd finish high school so long before his mission that he'd be more likely to find something else to do or get involved with his life too much to go on a mission. Starting college at age 15 or 16 and getting a real start on a career might hold an appeal for some young men. But I don't think that's an overriding reason to choose a course for education. If we are preparing our sons to go on missions, then they should be prepared no matter what their education, I would think. Am I being naive?
My bigger concern with my sons is whether they are emotionally and spiritually ready at a younger age to be thrown into a community college setting. Online or correspondence courses are more appealing to me for this reason.
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I don't know what my calling is called. Before the general Relief Society broadcast last Saturday, I was the Enrichment leader. But now that there is no Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment, am I the Relief Society meeting leader? Sounds kinda strange.
Anyway, even after more than a year, this calling is very difficult for me because I do not like to organize events (even birthday parties for my children) or talk to strangers. It is getting almost easy, but I like it no better than I did last year, sadly. I'm trying to love it, so I can move on to something else :lol:.
I also substitute in primary a lot, which is more my speed. And surprisingly, I loved teaching Relief Society, even though I had to get up in front of everyone and speak. And I loved working with the YW, even though I had to plan lots of activities. Go figure!
Teonei
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Thanks for the invitation to this group today, Polly! I had no idea there was a place like this.
Our first official day of homeschooling was July 1, 2008. My oldest completed 2nd grade in public school, and the others were too young for public school before we made the choice. I have used mostly a WTM approach from the start.
My husband and I live with our four sons (8, 6, 4, 2) in the Central Valley of California. We are expecting another child next year, and my morning sickness is getting to the point that I probably will soon be taking a break from this board and from homeschooling for a while. But this is our 10th week of school already this year, so we can relax a little!
I look forward to getting to know you all!
Teonei
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I shied away from Prima Latina for the same reasons you mentioned. Though we're Christians (LDS), we don't use set prayers. I chose Lively Latin, and my 8yo is enjoying it. He especially loves the history.
You can even choose between classical and ecclesiastical pronunciation. Both are included.
If you choose Lively Latin and look into it more, you'll know what I mean here: We started the year printing pages to fit into the various sections of the notebook, which meant I couldn't print a lot of pages 2-sided. After 2 chapters, I saw no need for this division and decided to put everything in order without the notebook divisions. Now I can print everything 2-sided except the flashcards (and a game in ch. 3).
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Thank you for the information!
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So you can use the history-based writing programs without first using TWSS? We've never used anything IEW before, and I am considering it for my almost 9-year-old son.
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Secrets of Droon
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check out this post and scroll to the bottom of the first post. Download the math file from there...the first several pages consist of a skills checklist/sequence for PK-3rd, but it's followed by loads of games, activities, and ideas.
Wow! Thanks for the link. That's a great resource.
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You can find my schedule here. If you click on the Scribd button, you can download it. It's a half-pace version of Wanda's primary beginner schedule in the back of SWR. I use it with my 5yo.
Thank you!
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If you are ever planning a trip to India - let me know! Us Telugu wives need to stick together!:seeya:
Sure thing! My husband's family is still in India, so we go occasionally, but I think his parents will be coming here again before our next venture there.
Hopefully you can get The Well-Trained Mind or other information about homeschooling/afterschooling. It's a wonderful way of life!
Take care!
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I have everything in a 15 qt clear rectangular bin with a lid, from Wal-Mart.
I've also laminated the rule/phonogram page. And I have a copy of it as a bookmark in OPG, which I'm still using with my 6yo even though we started SWR this year. It has been very helpful there.
I like the idea of spiral binding the WISE book. It is really annoying to use right now. I didn't realize there was more than one kind of spiral binding, though.
My phonogram cards, spelling rule cards, and Cursive First cards are all in a small ziploc freezer bag together. It's working for now.
I'm going to check out all these other links for tabs and things, though. Thanks for posting them. Where can I find the Dinsfamily's schedule someone mentioned?
Thanks!
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http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/
This site also has detailed concept lists for every subject and grade. Again, it is for public school but can serve as a guide.
Here's some very subjective but hopefully a little bit helpful anecdotal evidence: My husband is from India, and I am regularly surprised that he did not receive the same kind of education as I did in the United States. Not that his was inadequate, but it was definitely different, of course. He now has a master's degree, earned in the United States, but he had little to no education in the arts. He does speak 4 languages, but he doesn't seem to have learned about literature, drawing or other art forms, music, health, biology, earth science, astronomy, and so many more topics. He does have a strong background in math and some science (chemistry, physics, computers). He is an excellent problem-solver, so he must have learned a bit of logic somehow or was born that way. :) He is also familiar with Indian history and some British history, mostly as it affected India. When I met him, he knew little but the basics about any other nation and even then only modern history (not who was on which side in the world wars but maybe he'd know approximately when they took place). I don't know when this specialization took place or whether he just tuned out or forgot most subjects. Maybe education is more well-rounded in fourth grade. My husband has always been smart it seems, as he skipped first grade and did very well in school there with little studying. He is also fairly conversant in world geography, but that could easily be a result of his career that has required world travel for the past 11 years. (He was in Bangalore recently, by the way!)
I'm sure that's not a lot of help, but it may give you something to think about. Maybe the education your daughter is getting is good but not as well-rounded as you'd like. Reading good literature could actually help with a lot of the holes, I think. Discussing unfamiliar concepts, places, occupations, activities, etc., could give your daughter an excellent informal but deep education.
On another topic, if you don't mind -- what are you using to teach your children Telugu? If it's a class or tutor, I don't need to know. :) But if you've found any curriculum that works for native English speakers to learn Telugu, I'd love to hear about it. My husband's first language is Telugu, but he hasn't taught us much.
Good luck!
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We tried WS 3 last year for my 7yo son. He's a good writer, but he never produced any good writing using "the corny book", as he called it. He dreaded that book. I tried to make him do it anyway, altering assignments to make them more interesting for him, but that lasted only a few lessons.
We both love Rod and Staff English, though. My son appreciates the professionalism of the book, and he has written beautiful and creative sentences, paragraphs, and poems from R&S assignments.
We also started using Writing With Ease this year, mostly as a beginner program for my 6yo son. Last month, my now-8yo sped through Year 1, and now he's in Year 2. We'll continue with this along with Rod and Staff. I always worry that Rod and Staff isn't enough of a writing program, even though SWB says it is. Somehow I think I should encourage my son's natural talent with more writing instruction, but that's probably counterproductive thinking. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to try IEW! :tongue_smilie:
Back to Writing Strands:
I am holding on to my copy of WS3 so far in case one of my younger sons needs it. At the same time, I'm hoping they'll be happy with Rod and Staff!
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Last year we did science TuTh and history MWF in theory. But in reality, we did history 4-5 days many weeks because it was so much fun.
A friend of mine does three weeks of science, three weeks of history, then one week of child-led studies. I liked the idea of immersion into a subject for longer instead of jumping back and forth between history and science, but I didn't think we'd finish history with that schedule.
So this year, I am planning to do science MTu and history WThF, so we have small blocks together, at least.
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Karen,
I started using OPG with my now 6.5yo son last year. He is doing great with it. But I am doing better with it since I got SWR.
I suppose I have a mentor, as a friend across the country first told me about the program and explained it to me a few months ago. Then I read so much about how hard it would be that I looked into using AAS instead. The more I learned, though, the more I wanted to use SWR. I figured it would be my summer project to figure out how to use it. SWR is long, and I have fallen asleep reading it several times. But it all makes sense to me. It doesn't seem difficult to implement.
Someone here (OhElizabeth?) said to read just the first 13 steps or so and get started. Then read the other steps as I need them. So I did, and we have been doing prep work in those first steps. I started my log, am doing some fun preschool activities with my 3yo, gave diagnostic tests to my two oldest, and have started teaching them (and myself) the phonograms. My 23-month-old loves to learn the phonograms, by the way. He asks to go through the cards several times a day, pointing to them and saying /a/ /A/ /ah/. His favorite phonogram is /sh/.
Anyway, my 8yo son tested way higher than I'd planned to start him, so I need to read the entire SWR book and finish my learning log before I should really start him on the program. I haven't gotten back to the book yet, but I will in the next couple of days.
I'm using this time to work on cursive, as my 2nd could NOT handle Cursive First a year ago. (He is doing very well now on the chalkboard.) We quickly review the phonograms every day (my 6yo knows them the best), and we are continuing with OPG. I said OPG is easier for me now that I have SWR. That is because I keep a copy of the SWR phonograms list in the OPG book, and when my son or I have a question about something, the answer is right there. Phonics actually makes sense now! And OPG is a great program. It fits nicely with the SWR philosophy, IMO. It just isn't meant to be quite so exhaustive or succinct as that one phonogram page with spelling rules on the back.
I am planning to finish OPG with my son in a few months (he'll do Lesson 140 tomorrow), and we're using SWR primarily as a spelling program. My older son was in public school until a year ago, and I don't know what kinds of phonics background he got (he is a very good reader, but there are bound to be holes), so we'll do a fairly quick fill-in. I haven't decided whether I'll teach my two younger boys to read with OPG or SWR. I suspect both.
I agree with others that you can do as much or as little as you like with your son. --(I didn't see it answered anywhere, but yes, you could skip lessons in OPG. The first 26 are about the letters, and we skipped those and went quickly through the next 10 or so lessons, even though my son couldn't read at all. Your son would probably go very quickly through for a while.)
I hope this wasn't too repetitous of other posts and has something useful for you. Good luck, whatever you decide!
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I don't have time to write about it now, but check out Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR):
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I just calculated the cost of getting this Scotch Thermal Laminator (cheapest I've seen at around $24) and the 200 pack of Royal Sovereign pouches (just over $20). Including the laminator and the pouches, each 8.5x11 sheet costs about 22 cents to laminate. When I was using self-sealing pages, it was more than 68 cents per page.
I'm not sure how much it costs to laminate at stores, but my sister was recently telling me she found a place where she could get it done for 25 cents per page.
HTH
Curriculum
in LDS Beehive
Posted
Here is a link: http://www.kimbercurriculum.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=27&Itemid=29&vmcchk=1&Itemid=75
That site looks quite different from the last time I was there. More professional. The cart even works now. I had to call and talk to the author last year! This is not a new curriculum though. It has been around for at least 15 years, as I understand it. It is designed for a private-school setting but mostly works well for homeschool, too.
If you want more specifics on any of the books I've mentioned, let me know. I've also seen some of the others, as this curriculum came highly recommended to me last year. I don't recommend it as highly, but it is great as a supplement and may be enough for some people.