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romeacademy

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Everything posted by romeacademy

  1. You may not hear anything until next week. The author has a booth at the MN Catholic HS Conference, which starts tomorrow afternoon. That's the drawback - there is no schedule for a week. It's meant to be flexible, so what you get is information for 10 units (at least it's 10 for Vol 1). If it were scheduled out by the week it would literally be a God-send for me.
  2. Would love to know what you come up with. Even though we're using CWH it has it's shortcomings too. I've also be frustrated with adding in and taking out of programs. And I am planning-deficient, so it isn't pretty. :)
  3. We actually did this with our dd, who has an Aug birthday. She had started K in a parochial school at 5, but I always felt uncomfortable about it. In MN we don't have to report grades to the state, so the only time it matters is in signing up for some rec sports. A year and a half to two years ago, when we really started thinking about high school planning, and college, and what we wanted to get done, we started seriously considering resetting her grade level. Part of the reason for doing so is to have more time to get certain things covered and part of it is that I'm not sure how emotionally ready for college she will be at barely 18. I have 2 other friends who have done this with July/August birthdays. We've agreed that the "13th" year will be done primarily via dual-enrollment at community college. That way she has more autonomy, but still has the advantage of being home an extra year. The way I look at it, there is no shortage of things to learn, so why be in a rush? And earning those extra credit through dual enrollment will be a huge bonus. If you don't have to report the grade level, maybe you could agree to call it 7th/8th for a while? That way you have some flexibility to skip a grade or to fall back later.
  4. Just back from reading the Winter Promise thread referenced in the last post (sorry, I'm fairly new here and haven't figured out how to insert links yet). Anyway, I think it's always having to tweak curriculum to add a Catholic viewpoint that makes me really want CWH to work. Planning it is more work than I would ideally want, but I was forgetting how much work it was to add to SOTW. I have to admit that most of the time it just didn't get done. Good luck with your decision.
  5. I'm using it with a fair amount of success. We started after Christmas and will finish Vol 1 sometime this summer. I definitely feel that I'm learning as I go along, and I know I could be getting more out of it. Here are the pros and cons as I see them. Pros: I love the idea of being able to tie history to the Bible Timeline. Four or five years ago I did a Bible study in my home parish using the Jeff Cavins Great Adventure. I loved it, and really wanted my kids to be able to go through something simalar when they got older. It makes so much sense to me to place the Bible characters and events in their historical context. It includes lots of great literature suggestions for all ages. For me, it wasn't any more expensive than using SOTW, which is what we did the first time through the history cycle. I was able to find a large part of the suggested books at one of 2 local library systems and borrow most of the rest from a friend or buy them used. I bought a CD of blackline maps and a couple of the reference books on understaning the Bible, but all told I spent under $75 dollars. Some of the material (the maps) will be good for Vol 2, so I thought that was pretty reasonable. If you don't live close to a good library system though, you could easily spend more. Cons: Yes, it is "lumpy", as a PP mentioned. Some units don't have as much to them and can be covered in a shorter time, but that's not necessarily obvious up front. I would like to have lessons plans laid out more clearly. I am seriously planning challenged, and it has not been easy figure out how to plan a unit for 5 kids at 3 different levels. We often end up spending more time on a unit than I would like, primarily because I can't quite get my plan together. Still I struggled with that to a certain extent using SOTW too, so I know that it's not just the program. I would feel better if Vol 3 and 4 were already out, but am hopeful they will be done by the time I need them. Vol 3 was supposed to be out by now, but one of the authors had some difficulties in her personal life (a fire in their home) that set everything back. There's a Yahoo group for specific questions about the program that you might find helpful. It's connect_with_history. They're also at most of the Catholic HS conferences, so if you plan to go you might be able to talk to the author directly. Hope this helps!
  6. I"m afraid I assign somewhat by the seat of the pants too, and also change things up depending on where 7th/8th grade falls in the history cycle. That said, here are a few my 12 yo ds has enjoyed and/or will be reading next year. Tom Saywer Treasure Island The Hobbitt Warrior Scarlet The Cat of Bubastes With Lee in Virginia
  7. 3 credits each of math and science. Math must include algebra, geometry, and statistics and science must include 1 biology. By the class of 2015, algebra I must be completed by the end of 8th grade and Algebra II must be 1 of the 3 credits. By the class of 2015, MN will require a biology credit and a chemistry or physics credit as part of the 3. I graduated in IA and remember needing only one science credit, which is how I avoided biology. :) Homeschoolers in MN aren't required to meet PS standards, thank goodness, because I'd never get eldest dd through a typical biology class with dissections.
  8. Thanks, I will definitely look into this for him. I have used Jacobs with great success for his older sister, but he is far more "mathy". I can't believe what the kid will calculate in his head for fun! Foerster does sound like a better fit.
  9. My 12 yo LegoDude has the same attitude about Singapore 6. I do often let him skip some problems, provided he gets everything right on the review sections. Another thing that annoys the man-child is dealing with the number of cakes Mrs. Smith is selling. Ask him to figure out the scale on a catapult, or how much jet fuel is consumed and he's all over it. :)
  10. I didn't know that. Thanks very much. Is there a particular edition that I should look for? I have read that for some books (I believe the thread concerned Dolciani's book) editions from the 60's or 70's do a better job of explaining the why behind the concept. That's one thing I have liked about both Jacob's and Singpore.
  11. Thanks, that's very helpful. While Dd doesn't struggle to grasp the concepts, she doesn't work quickly when it comes to math so planning to spread it over 2 years would be a relief . The information about the white space is helpful too. She's also mildly dyslexic and we briefly tried Singapore's NEM, but it was very text-dense and she just couldn't get past that.
  12. For 9th grade English we used IEW SICC-B. We combined that with a book discussion group using Teaching the Classics as a guide. The kids in the group read and discussed 6 books (fiction). We'll also be finishing one additional book and doing a more in-depth study of that on our own. My dd also did several sewing projects this year. I hadn't planned it, but she did enough work that I'm going to give her 1/2 credit for it. She made a lined wool skirt and a dress she wore to a homeschool formal. She learned how to use a serger, and for the formal dress had to do quite a bit of tailoring to get it to fit. I'm still not sure what I'll call it on the transcript though. When I was in school it was "Home Ec", but I'm sure they don't call it that anymore. LOL Maybe Clothing and Textiles?
  13. We used Jacobs for both Algebra and Geometry. My dd is pretty logical, but with a definite preference for art over science. She liked the layout of the book. A friend is using my copy, but I remember it starting out with a lot of review. Each lesson begins with a real world problem or illustration. There were plenty of worked examples. Each problem set includes 4 parts. Set 1 is review of previous material. Set 2 and 3 are nearly identical, so if dd did well on Set 2 we would skip set 3. Set 4 was one really challening problem or puzzle. I was able to get a copy of the book from a local library so dd used it for about 6 weeks before we decided to buy. I had a teacher's guide which included answers to all the problems, but no solutions, and a test booklet. Tegwin
  14. I’m looking at Algebra II programs for my rising 10th grade dd. She used Jacobs for both Algebra I (8th) and Geometry (9th) and they have gone well. She seems to “get†that approach and likes the style of the textbooks. I’ve heard Jacobs described as a more “liberal arts†feel to math, and I guess that describes it (and her) relatively well. If anyone has used Jacobs Algebra I and Geometry, what worked well for Algebra II? If it helps, we used Singapore 4-6 after Saxon 3. I have considered Saxon Algebra II, but dd didn’t like the incremental approach the first time and I’m not sure that it would be a better fit now. I'm also looking at Doliciani's and trying to find a copy at a library to evaluate, but any thoughts are welcome. Dd is not going the math/science route, but I'm still planning on 3-4 years of hs math. Thanks for your advice. Tegwin dd 15 ds 12 ds 9 dd 7 dd 7
  15. I'm new to this type of message board, and can't figure out how to get back to a thread to read the replies. There are so many posts, sometimes by the time I get back I have to go through pages to find the post I'm looking for. I figured out how to search, but I'm sure there's an easier way, if I could just figure it out....:) Thanks
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