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Evergreen Academy

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  1. More wonderful input, thank you. Klmama, do you have a curriculum or materials you plan to use for the 10th grade year of World History and Lit 1600-present, or will you put this together yourself? Thank you all, I'm gaining confidence reading your responses.
  2. More wonderful input, thank you. Klmama, do you have a curriculum or materials you plan to use for the 10th grade year of World History and Lit 1600-present, or will you put this together yourself? Thank you all, I'm gaining confidence reading your responses.
  3. Thanks so much, Ellie and Candid. I really appreciate your replies. Ellie, in one of the links you posted, I found this under NYS requirements: For grades 9 through 12: English (four units); social studies (four units), which includes one unit of American history, one-half unit in participation in government, and one- half unit of economics; mathematics (two units); science (two units); art and/or music (one unit); health education (one-half unit); physical education (two units); and three units of electives. The units required herein are cumulative requirements for grades 9 through 12. So it looks like I may have a bit more leeway in terms of our history course choices. You know, I came very close this year to declaring him a 9th grader as you suggest, and am still discussing it with him. He's been quite firm in that he'd like to continue as he's going, without skipping forward - partly because he loves his rowing team and doesn't want a year less to row, partly because he has a tight-knit group of friends, and partly because he loves to learn, wants time to work on his music, and says, "what's the rush?" He's seen from his older siblings that plenty awaits and I think he's in no hurry to get there. So much to consider! Thanks again for your valuable input.
  4. Thanks so much, Ellie, and yes, that's what I thought about counting the credits, though someone recently told me otherwise. So, with where this boy is in the history cycle and academics, how might you think to meet those requirements and keep him on track with his history studies? Do we need to redo some world history even though we've just done ancients?
  5. Our oldest homeschooler will be starting high schol next year, and I am a bit perplexed about how to count credits. We've been doing four-year history rotations, and just finished Ancients again, during his 8th grade year. I plan to do the MA and R&R time period next year, followed by two years bringing us to the present, and the required govmt and economics courses. However, I am thinking he's supposed to have two years of world history and two of American, and I'm not sure how that will work out with what we've already done. In addition, he's taken high school level classes this year and I'm not sure how those might count - or not. He's declared an 8th grader, but this year is completing Algebra 2 and Apologia Biology (Physical Science and Algebra 1 completed in 7th grade). He completed a 9th grade LL course and had a reading load for history and lit worthy of HS. So my questions are, can any of these courses count? Is he required to complete two full years of world history in high school, and two years of American? I'd love to hear how people worked these things out as I try to make a comprehensive plan for the next four years (I'd thought I had one!). Thank you for any insight!
  6. I did hear there's a CD that helps, thank you. Chris, thanks for sharing your experience. Some of the essays in the sample are really long - are those all to be read in one day, and then the books on top of that? I'm just trying to get a feel for the workload. We have a fairly CM-style homeschool, heavy on reading and I'm not worried about lots of books but want to keep the schedule reasonable, challenging and yet still enjoyable. Why did you choose not to use the writing assignments? My guy is hoping to have something with writing scheduled in (he loves writing), I'd be interested in what you thought of what they assigned.
  7. I posted this on the high school board, but realized people on this board may have experience with Omnibus. I'm considering using Omnibus II for my upcoming 9th grader's study of the Middle Ages and R&R. I can't tell from the website, however, how it's scheduled. The sample chapter is pretty lengthy, with lots of questions, reading assignments and discussion items, and I'm wondering how long a student is given to complete this work. If anyone's used Omnibus and can speak to this, I'd appreciate the input - and I'd love to hear what you think of the course altogether. Thanks so much.
  8. I'm considering using Omnibus II for my upcoming 9th grader's study of the Middle Ages and R&R. I can't tell from the website, however, how it's scheduled. The sample chapter is pretty lengthy, with lots of questions, reading assignments and discussion items, and I'm wondering how long a student is given to complete this work. If anyone's used Omnibus and can speak to this, I'd appreciate the input - and I'd love to hear what you think of the course altogether. Thanks so much.
  9. We're considering Ambleside Online's Year 7 for this time period for our 9th grader next year. While it says Year 7, the material is quite advanced, and I'm told all of the offerings from the House of Education, from Year 7 on up, are suitable for high school. We've used Biblioplan in the past, and they are coming out with a new version that schedules some great offerings for high schoolers; that should be available soon, and the folks who run the company were kind enough to let me know what materials were scheduled for the high school middle ages guide.
  10. ...Just wanted to pop back in to say, we did try MFW one year, loving the idea of combining everyone. At the end of the year (after a year of moaning about the workload and the readings), the younger kids of that group (who were on the lower end of the suggested age range) said, "It was ok mom, but we don't remember anything." Yikes. I split them up the next year!
  11. I bought HOD's CTC this year for my two 11-year-olds, and had intended to use a different program for my fairly accelerated 14-year-old. We ended up not liking what I'd chosen for the older boy, and I combined him, using the enrichment materials, with the other boys' HOD program. It ended up being one of the best homeschooling years we've had yet. They loved the schedule, written mostly to them, that allowed them to work at their own pace and come to me with oral narrations, and we all really liked the book choices. I appreciated the short but meaty lessons that allowed a lot of learning and growth, and the fact that subjects I don't always get to, were regularly covered. While I love the idea of group learning and have presented history lessons orally for years, I found the learning increased dramatically when the kids were responsible for more of their own learning. We still did read-alouds together, as scheduled. I did change up some of the things - we used our own LA and math suggestions, and we didn't do the watercolor lessons scheduled with poetry - but we did much as written. I'm considering buying two programs for next year - one for the two who will be in 6th grade, while the high schooler moves into material a bit more advanced, and another for the 4th grader, who did his own thing this year. I realize we'd be doing different history studies, but I'm thinking this would work best, from what we've experienced here. Why? It seems the younger children often get shortchanged, if the materials are hard enough for the bigger kids, or it is the reverse situation. Here, it's often been the younger children sitting in being a bit bored, with material going above their heads. I'm thinking that the Bigger Hearts program would allow my youngest to have something tailored just for him, and we can still do poetry, picture study and composer study, as well as Bible time, together. It looks like you may have several age groups suitable for combining. I don't know if that helps, but that's where we've been and where we may be heading.
  12. We have used Biblioplan without their extras, and if you added in the new resources they sell, that might meet your needs. It was a great course, though if you try to do everything, the way we did, it can be a bit much. In considering it for future years, I would cull down the fast and furious reading and read-aloud schedule and stretch those over a longer time. We are just now finished Heart of Dakota's Creation to Christ course, with two 11-year-olds and a fairly advanced 14-year-old who used the course with the enrichment addition and of course his own math, science, etc. I worried that it wouldn't be enough for him, but it was really a fantastic year for all of them, and we all loved every single read-aloud. Because many of the books are older, the language was very rich, and it didn't feel too young for an older child. It was a very full schedule, but not as intense as some we've used; just right. There was some mapping - not a ton, and it included notebooking pages. My boys found the spaces provided in the notebooking pages too small for comfortable writing, and they ended up using looseleaf paper in page protectors in their binders, along with the pages. If I were to use this course again (and likely will a few years down the road with my youngest), I'd buy a hardbacked notebook I saw at Michaels, that had blank pages on the left and lined on the right, and use that for the history notebooking; I'd choose a timeline from Simply Charlotte Mason and have them record things in that when the guide directed them too. In any case, you might want to check out the course, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
  13. We used MFW's Ex-1850 several years ago. It was really not an American History course, if I remember correctly, but more of a world history course with an American emphasis. At the end of the year, two of my boys, then 9, told me, it was good, but we don't remember anything. It did skip around a lot, and I think that's what confused them. Another child, 12 at the time, retained a lot more, but we didn't love the book choices - I don't remember any of the wonderful begging for more we've had with other courses. This year we used HOD's CTC, with our own LA and math and other changes to make it fit our Charlotte Mason type philosophy, but we left the history portion alone. It was a great year and we loved the books, and while I don't love the choices for next year's history spine (RTR), I really like the looks of the one you are considering! That may well be coming to our house in two years. :-) You might also want to consider Biblioplan for Families - check out their webpage and see what they use for spines. It's a super inexpensive guide that schedules history three days a week in four year cycles, and schedules spines, read-alouds, option enrichment, writing prompts, and readers for three age groups. We really enjoyed the years we used Biblioplan, but we did find the read-aloud and reader schedule to be somewhat fast and furious. In considering it for next year, I'm keeping in mind that I'd trim down the selections and leave a bit more time for those. Sorry I can't tell you more! Blessings, Aimee
  14. Did any of you who've used A Child's Geography 1 like it - and did your kids like it? We learned some things from ACGII, but grew very weary of it by the end of the year, and I admit, haven't completely kept up with it. Please tell me something good about the one used for earth science?
  15. We found the books to be extremely biased, with no apparent attempt at objectivity - quite revisionist. We didn't want to continue reading them for that reason - several opinion-based errors made us question the validity of the rest of the history, and since I don't have the knowledge to recognize all errors, I didn't feel I could trust the series.
  16. Thanks for weighing in about the science! I really like some of the books they've chosen - my kids particularly enjoyed Tiner's Exploring the History of Medicine (love that book!) in CTC's science, along with the science biographies, and I love the idea of continuing science that way.
  17. Thank you both for your responses, that's good to hear. My guys perused MOH and one of them said it was fine, and the other, who has really blossomed this year with CTC's living books, didn't like it at all - said it wasn't a "story," and was harder to remember. Truthfully, I have that reaction to it also. But I do hear other people love it! And I do love that schedule and everything planned, even if I tweak it a lot.... I'd love to hear more about the science as well; did you use it as written, or substitute? Was it enough for a 6th grader? Thanks!
  18. We used HOD's CTC this year, and it was truly a great year. I can be organizationally challenged, and the schedule was great, even though we tweaked things to make it more to our liking, used our own writing program and math, and took out some crafty things. The kids really enjoyed it, and I saw lots of growth in many areas, and was looking forward to continuing with RTR for my two ds who will be in 7th grade next year. However, we borrowed the books from a friend, and I really don't like several of the books, including MOH III, which doesn't read as much like a "living book" story as the books they read this year - which were intense and full of rich language, but told in story form. So here are my questions. Has anyone really liked HOD for one year, and not at all for another? Have you found the quality of the program is consistent? Has anyone used RTR and really liked it? Thanks!
  19. We used it for about a year, and while it initially seemed to help my son get over some math-related roadblocks, it eventually seemed to cause him to stall completely. We switched to CLE with great results - it seems to help him that it includes review of many different concepts in one day as it progresses, giving him the practice he needs in order to remember these things.
  20. We've used PLL and ILL for years now, with one boy completing both, another two on their second year of ILL, and Littlest in PLL. With ds 14, who completed both, I once tried to use a writing program alongside, thinking, like another poster, that if MFW recommended it, we should try it that way. It truly was overkill, and we ended up ditching the secondary writing program and sticking with ILL. It's a strong program, with poetry, dictation, narration, etc, and lots of writing. I did supplement with some traditional grammar, however, so ds would know the terms. We love ILL. What we're doing now with two ds11 is a bit different, but it's also working. We're using HOD's CTC program, and using ILL in place of the writing program they recommend. So we do R&S grammar a few days a week, as scheduled, and use ILL as a writing program the remaining days. We skip the ILL grammar lessons that are redundant, and actually use it mostly AS a writing program. In addition, both boys complete weekly written narrations of their history studies, and daily copywork. IMO, it is plenty.
  21. I'm in the process of setting up evaluations to have ds8 tested for CAPD and other learning disabilities, and while we wait, I'm hoping to find some recommendations for things we can do here at home to help him move forward in his learning. He was evaluated by a neuropsychologist a bit over a year ago, and was found to have difficulty in the areas of nonverbal reasoning, and attention span. At the time, the doctor recommended doing just what we were doing - short lessons, focused short readings with narration, as much hands-on as possible. This did work well, but we've reached the point where I feel like he's hitting a wall in many areas, and that I need more tools to help him. He continues to have an extremely short attention span, and difficulty retaining information after reading or listening to it, not to mention until the next lesson. He has deficits in both expressive and receptive vocabulary and I can see these increasing as he gets older, and the gap widens; it's particularly notable as I'm asking him to read books that are appropriate for his age and reading level, but that he can't comprehend because there are so many words he still hasn't assimilated into his vocabulary. As background, he joined our family at 3, with little speech in any language. While he made great strides in speech therapy and tested out after two years, I noticed, from the beginning, differences in the way he aquired and assimilated language as compared to two of our other children who joined our family as non-English speakers. He was also born 9 weeks early, and this may be part of the picture. What I'm hoping for now, as we await further testing, are suggestions as to materials folks have found helpful in working with kids with processing issues - ways to help increase his vocabulary and comprehension, and make learning meaningful for him. He loves science, and I'd appreciate suggestions here as well. We use mostly living books, but because of his issues with vocabulary, there is SO much he isn't getting. I'd be grateful for anything folks would like to share.
  22. My three oldest homeschoolers do their history reading independently, taking turns with the same book, and give me their narrations privately - we move away from the others who haven't read the book yet, so they don't overhear. This really gives me a chance to see how each child is attending and whether they've gotten the main ideas. Our read-alouds, on the other hand, are done together, and I usually start narration with the youngest, as another poster said, or with the child who is least likely to have absorbed much information. I have to stop frequently to make sure one particular little one is attending, and this helps keep him tuned in. I'll then ask the other children, in turn, to add what they remember. For dictation, sometimes the two 11-year-olds will be assigned a passage from their history reading, which they'll study and prepare, and both work at the same time when I "test" them on it. Other times, I'll choose passages from their literature books, which are not usually the same. Ds 14 uses Spelling Wisdom, and ds8 uses this free online resource: http://books.google.com/books?id=-vIAAAAAYAAJ&dq=modern%20speller&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false Copywork passages are chosen from their Bible readings, literature and history books, and I often let the child choose the part they'd like to copy, or that which was most meaningful to them (this does require oversight so they don't choose the easiest possible passage). Even if the passages they choose are the same, the children are working independently, so it wouldn't matter.
  23. Thanks so much for the responses, you've been very helpful. I love the Enchanted Learning book - it won't let me print even a page, though, without being a member. I think I may have to join! Reading your responses is also reminding me that when some other kiddos were stuck on money, I'd make a breakfast menu, complete with prices, and we had a "coin can" where they'd need to choose the appropriate change to pay for their meal they'd "ordered." They loved that game, and I think it might help Littlest right about now. Plus, he'd love it. :001_smile:
  24. Does anyone have a good source for free, online worksheets that can be used to review money concepts? I'm thinking very basic, as in identifying the different types of coins, the amounts they represent, and then simple math problems using the coins. I'd also be interested in an online game that might reinforce this concept. Thanks so much for any input; any resources I've found require some sort of membership that I'm not interested in at this time.
  25. We're using CTC with two ds11 and CTC with extensions for ds14. Lots of tweaking but it works for us. Here's what we do: History: we do the history as written for all, but I read aloud a chapter of CHOW or Oxford First Ancient History from time to time, as I feel is appropriate. Reading: we're using a mixture of their storytime and independent reading suggestions, along with Sonlight and Ambleside Online recs, so it is rather eclectic and working nicely that way. No DITHOR for me, wouldn't work with my philosophy of ed. LA: we're using R&S for the ds11s, along with Intermediate Language Lessons subbing in for their writing program. I don't love the Apologia book, and we studied the same topic indepth a few years ago, so we've subbed in AO's Storybook of Science with oral narrations for the first few months of the school year, and we'll pick up with HOD's suggestions when they're done scheduling the Apologia book. DS14 has his own science program (Apologia Biology). Math: each boy has their own math program, with the youngers using CLE and the older doing Saxon Algebra II. Poetry: they all do the poetry memorization, copywork and study, but we skip the watercolor lessons. Projects: we do the ones that seem non-twaddly and have some value as a handicraft, and skip others. Geography and Independent Bible: as written. Beechick book: not loving it, sometimes skip it. We add in: weekly picture study, weekly poet-teas, weekly co-op classes. Doing it this way has really freed me to teach them the way I feel is best, yet is giving us all the structure of a schedule. I am finally able to remember that the guide is a tool, and I am in charge - it works so much better that way! The kids are really enjoying it and I pray they continue to, as the year progresses.
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