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kaxy

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Everything posted by kaxy

  1. What drew me to TQ was the freedom to follow my own pacing, choose my own books from the curated list, and discussing them. My son is only a rising 2nd grader, so I'm good with narrations and general discussion at this stage. I'm wondering if it will move more smoothly for you if you prepare a procedure for how you want to do TQ. Have you seen this on Pam Barnhill's blog? I like it! http://edsnapshots.com/homeschool-procedures/ Maybe you could map out a general procedure and loop through activities, or just choose from what most makes sense.
  2. I'm not sure, myself. I'm planning on starting AHYS1 coming up, and I'm just going to jump in and get a feel for what works, and then work it into a plan somehow. I'm marking which books I already own, which ones I've heard of that I might want to read, and I'll get whatever else from the library to make quicker decisions. Ideally, I'll have a book for my son to read to himself and discuss with me later, and I'll have another book going as a read-aloud. If he's interested in a particular topic or wants to dig deeper, I want to allow room for that. If the commentary is plenty and we want to move on, so be it. I still need to sort out how often I want to read/discuss from history each week. I'll probably write it in as "read TQ book for X minutes" and see how that goes. So casual. I hope I can handle it.
  3. For drawing specifically, we have the Art Class DVD set put out by See The Light (I think that's their name?). Short lessons and a little cheesy at times, but doable drawing. I do lessons along with my kids, because I need all the help I can get.
  4. I think this list could be of help -- we found some great books for our home state, and I imagine there are others similarly on the list at Ed Snapshots: http://edsnapshots.com/us-geography/ List organized by state, in the order admitted into Union
  5. The book "All Through the Ages" is an extremely helpful booklist that might help you here (and for future history studies, too). Pulls sources from BF, Sonlight, and more and organizes them chronologically, and by type and age level. Fabulous resource!
  6. The co-op might be overkill, or it might be a really good thing. Make sure it will fill a need that you wouldn't be able to get any other way. Not sure if there will be homework or preparation for it each week? Once you find out the course offerings, perhaps you could eliminate something from their home workload (if you choose). I see your older 2 are also in scouts and piano. If you'd rather not add a weekly co-op commitment, there are usually informal homeschool groups they can join to still see and make new friends, do field trips and such.
  7. I haven't messed too much with the Excel spreadsheets with OneNote. I just know that you can embed or maybe link to it within OneNote, but clicking on it opens the Excel application. I think. Not sure if using Excel for grade calculation and embedding that file in OneNote just to have it all in one place would be too clunky. Shouldn't require inputting it twice, though. Looks like others have some good suggestions. I hope you can find a solution!
  8. We are doing the free trial of Mystery Science right now, and the projects are very doable so far. I think by adding library books on the topic and maybe a Bill Nye or other video, that helps round it out. Get your free trial to check it out.
  9. http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/ Go to her site and you can click on "store" and then the program of interest to read more description and to see samples
  10. My 5yo adored "Twig" by Elizabeth Orton Jones We read Milly-Molly-Mandy and she liked it, but it was just a little too precious for me to want to re-read. She also got a kick out of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
  11. No idea what this is, but I saw "Applecore" included in the Build Your Bundle subscriptions. Looks like it tracks grading and such. I use OneNote for my planning and record-keeping, but I am not at the point of needing grades. Can you have your gradebook within it so you don't have to input twice? Or is it a physical gradebook? Maybe snap a photo of it and upload it to your OneNote page? idk.
  12. Make sure he is still reading aloud to you to build fluency and those elocution skills. There's a placement test you can do to see if AAR4 would make sense, but it sounds like AAS will cover your bases. Welcome to homeschooling!
  13. Yes, these are digital files. Some options are online courses I guess (in a different section from the main bundles).
  14. I bought some Pilot disposable fountain pens on Amazon because I couldn't find them the last time I was out shopping, and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. You have to hold them at a certain position to allow the nub? I guess? To let the ink flow, but once you have it right, it flows without having to put a lot of pressure on the pen. It's nice! I like! Feels fancy and might be novel enough for my kids to try it out. Cheap enough, too. I ordered the LoE Rhythm of Handwriting Cursive for my 7yo. His print is ok, but I think he could do well to have cursive now vs. a little bit later. Might help with the spacing. Might help to have more practice now, than a year from now when he has a lot more to think about, academically speaking. I also plan to teach my rising kindergartner cursive first. Will that work, or will that flop only time will tell.
  15. TOG seems VERY parent-intensive, and I agree with the others that it probably wouldn't be a good choice for a working mama in her first year of homeschooling. Open and go. Open and go. Open and throw it at the kid, read it to yourself and narrate it to me when I have a sec, kthx. :D Perhaps you could share more of what appeals to you about TOG and we can share some alternatives that are easier to implement and still retain some of those characteristics.
  16. Thanks for the mystery TOC. I might get it to round out my collection of offerings sold by Ellen McHenry :laugh: . Planning a build-5 with all of her offerings available, as I don't own any yet and I want them all. Part of me feels kinda guilty -- like what if I emailed her and offered her the full $25 instead of whatever fraction she'd get otherwise? Or is that just plain insulting. :mellow:
  17. Look at the samples for "Creating a Masterpiece" as it sounds like the "sip n' paint" sort of style. Some DVDs are available from Simply Charlotte Mason, but the Creating a Masterpiece people have shifted to an online streaming subscription business model. Alternatively, maybe the Art Projects dvds from See The Light http://www.seethelightshine.com/art-projects/ They have an Art Class dvd series as well, which is drawing.
  18. Perhaps you're in the wrong guide -- maybe retake the RS placement test and call the office for help, if you would like to stick with RightStart in some form. Maybe your child would place in D, or could with minimal time of fast-forwarding. Maybe use the games along with something else?
  19. Doh! Yes it makes sense now. I am ready for the weekend. :laugh: We've been using AAR1 this week. I want to give it a good effort and see how far we make it before my state's convention next month, in case I want to go another route. My son likes using the tiles but I think they distract him. I think I ought to have spelling be the last item of the school day so he can build crosswords puzzles or other words if he wants without me trying to keep it moving. I considered buying Natural Speller and using their word lists plus the phonics rules in ABCs and All Their Tricks to fill it out, and maybe some SpellingCity. Dunno yet. I want to give AAS a longer test run, or at least take it a few levels if I can.
  20. I thought you used LOE Essentials? :confused1: Maybe it doesn't seem parent-intensive?
  21. I started with HWT for my leftie, but a lot of the add-on components were expensive and unnecessary. I think the main thing is making sure the child can see the model text from above instead of his hand covering the model as he writes. After I finished the HWT K book, I moved on to Simply Charlotte Mason copy work (and their handwriting instruction level is friendly to lefties, as is the copy work pages). As far as font, I am having him do a block style. Some of HWT print looks funny to me.
  22. Can you pinpoint why AAS isn't getting done? Are the sessions running too long? Pulling out the tiles? The fact that it needs to flow through you to get done? What is stalling your momentum? I had some reservations about AAS, in that it just felt a bit teacher-intensive to me and I looked at more independent alternatives, but couldn't find anything I really liked. Earlier this week, my child started AAS1. WAY too soon to tell if it will be sustainable for the long-term or if I will move on to something else eventually. I have heard good things on this board about R&S Spelling. When I looked at the samples, it seemed a bit dull...but maybe dull and done is better than nothing at all? I have no idea!
  23. Yes, those. There is a video here demonstrating how they work: I agree that doing some of the RS math games would be an ideal way to reinforce those math facts without it being a drill/speedy test. Perhaps she could play them with another family member or do solitaire versions?
  24. Would she like the math wrap-ups? Not a computer thing of course, but something tactile and self-checking
  25. I bought the 3 grades of Memoria Press art cards thinking I'd combine and put them in order by artist and have a few prints for one artist to focus on for a time. There is a wide variety of artists represented, and so if there are multiple works of an artist, the most might be 3 prints? I can't remember. MAYBE there is an artist with 4 prints, but that's probably being generous. If you are wanting to spend a term (or at least a month?) with one artist and a few prints, then using something else would make more sense. Or, if you wanted to do a more broad art appreciation, a pack of MP cards is inexpensive. You could do that + a coordinating Mark Venezia book from the library. OR -- if you have any nearby art museums, you could plan a few visits and maybe even get prints of some of the museum's more famous works to study ahead of time and then be excited to see the original at the museum
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