Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

Nam2001

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    322

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Nam2001

    Cookbook recommendation

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I am looking for recommendations for a new cookbook or two. I really enjoy 100 days of real food. I’m looking for something similar to that. No processed foods, no sugar, etc…. But also not super restrictive. I like gluten, dairy, and natural sweeteners. 😂

    Any suggestions? 

    Excelsior Classes or Big River Academy?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    On 6/22/2021 at 8:38 AM, ByGrace3 said:

    This is very helpful, thank you! May I ask what you prefer of Excelsior over Big River Academy? The Excelsior Biology class was my preference but the time does not look like it will work. 

    I appreciate the feedback compared to Schole. My ds is taking logic there next year but the Biology text doesn't align with our worldview unfortunately. 

    To be quite honest, I’m not sure why I prefer excelsior, but it definitely felt a bit more professional and put together. Also many more offerings.  I also really like the director of excelsior. Every teacher was fantastic in class and out of class. The Big River class we took was really good. Excelsior was just a better experience overall. 
    Have you looked at the Biology class at True North? I wish I had known about it when my oldest did biology. A friend of mine has a daughter signed up for next year and I have heard fantastic things about the teacher. 

    Excelsior Classes or Big River Academy?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by Nam2001

    13 hours ago, ByGrace3 said:

    Anyone have any feedback on these? Which to choose and why? Specifically looking for high school biology and maybe a composition class. 

    Hi! So I know your kids have done classes at Schole Academy, so I will start by saying that the classes at both of these schools (Exc. and Big River) aren’t much like that. The kids don’t talk as much, they don’t dig as deeply (in my opinion) and most kids aren’t on camera using microphones. My daughter has only done Writing ER at Big River. It’s a very basic writing class that covers a variety of things. She was only in 9th grade when she took it but I think there were older kids in the class taking it more like the title suggests…an ER class. Catching up on what they’ve missed over the years. My daughter had a fantastic experience though and really solidified her writing a lot that year. The teacher is delightful.

    between two of my daughters this past year, we had 5 classes at Excelsior. I was pleased with all 5. One of my daughters took life science and if I am correct, the same woman is the biology teacher. She was great as well. I’ve also heard good things about Advanced Comp at Excelsior. 
    I personally like excelsior more. I’m attempting to not outsource as much anymore, but when I want a class where rich discussion needs to take place… like logic, history, literature, etc….. I choose Schole. Math and science - I lean towards Excelsior. Or if I need composition that’s separate from literature.

    I’m not sure if that helps, but I wanted to at least chime in and say that we felt really good about the Excelsior classes this year. 

    • Like 4

    English Class Recommendations

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    1 hour ago, KristenHeart said:

     

    I have used the Saxon Grammar and Writing language arts curriculum and have completed an academic writing course as well as an English Literature and Composition course from Aim Academy. I would like to become more confident in my writing skills and be able to write more easily and effectively as I often find the process of constructing essays to be extraordinarily difficult and time consuming. I am hoping to find a course that challenges me and helps me grow as a writer, but is not too overwhelming. 

    My daughter took this class in high school and grew a lot as a writer that year. She really loved the teacher. It covered a lot of basics and wasn’t too overwhelming. 
     

    https://www.bigriveracademy.com/course/writer-er/

    VP, TPS or BJU writing

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    21 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

    What is it you and she are wanting out of the class? When my dd was in writing classes, she realized she enjoyed the peer review component. Just thinking you might want to nail what you're trying to accomplish. If she's already a strong writer, both IEW and BJU are kind of redundant. 

    Is CAP doing any classes using their progym materials? Something using progym or else one of the G2 (is that it?) classes aimed at gifted kids might be much more interesting to her. 

    https://cty.jhu.edu/online/courses/arts_humanities/  She might be a little young but she might qualify.

    https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/online-language-arts-program-comparison/  Haha, it was G3, not G2. It shows up in the chart of suggested options here.

    And my apologies if I'm misreading what you're saying. I'm just taking you literally and suggesting there are more options if you want straight writing for a strong writer. I also wouldn't discount continuing to teach her yourself. In that case, you just need more interesting resources. It's a good time to be pursuing logic, the progymnasta, using materials like Don't Forget to Write, and keeping her exposure to quality language and literature up. Around that age my dd was beginning to read adult level materials in her areas of interest. Later I got her into reading magazines and essay collections, which she continued to do through high school. Your dd will write like what she's reading, so you can do a lot just by keeping her in excellent reading material. WTM suggests having them *outline* their reading material at this age, and it was good for us.

    Thanks for those suggestions. I will look into all of it. 
    The main reason for outsourcing writing next year is because I’m trying to have a really concentrated humanities year with my oldest and I needed to get something off of my plate for my youngest. But since she’s really motivated with writing, I wanted to give her something challenging and fun. And she does love the peer interaction. Honestly, she hasn’t done much formal writing. She’s working on the 3rd Writing and Rhetoric book and she’s done WWE and narrations. Schole Academy has tons of sections of W&R and long waiting lists. I tried to get her in a section that fit our schedule and she’s 19th on the list. So…..I’ve been looking elsewhere. She is taking Latin at Schole and they are my favorite online provider but apparently those writing classes are quite popular! 

    • Like 1

    VP, TPS or BJU writing

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    34 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

    The BJUPressHomeschool website will have the scope/sequence for the BJU subjects, which will let you see what writing tasks are covered in each grade level. You'll also see from the samples that they alternate (or at least used to) grammar and writing, which might make the emphasis more distracted from the writing than what you're wanting. It's also a very traditional school sequence, rather than a year focus on applied writing. They apply writing across the curriculum, so writing gets applied in the science, history, etc. If you want mainly writing, you might want to look for a course that does that. 

    Is VP using Shurley plus IEW? What is Potter's School using? If you don't need grammar, what about a Bravewriter course? 

    I used Shurley, some BJU, etc. but I don't really have any experience with those courses. VP probably will push the workload higher just because that's their gig. 

    Thanks for your response. 
    Yes, Veritas uses Shurley and IEW.  The Potter's School doesn't require you to purchase any resources for the class. The instructor provides what you need. 
    As far as grammar, I really don't mind the classes covering it.  I am just fine teaching it myself if I find a great writing class that doesn't include the grammar component.
    Bravewriter isn't for us but thanks for the suggestion.
    This particular child is a really strong writer for her age so a more demanding class isn't a bad things I suppose..............

     

    VP, TPS or BJU writing

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted · Edited by Nam2001

    Hi ladies!

    I’m trying to outsource writing for my rising 5th grader next year. Grammar included is fine but not necessary. I have narrowed it down to the Veritas Press Scholars Academy grammar and writing 5 class, the potters school writing fundamentals 5 class or BJU English 5 or 6 distance learning videos. Can anyone speak to any of these? 
    Thanks!

    Center for Lit Classes?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    At least one of my kids has taken a CFL class each year for the last 4 years. We absolutely adore the Andrews. But our experience has been that the classes are quite large and you can very easily be a “wall flower.” It’s also hard for my kids to stay alert and engaged for 2 hours. 
    We will continue to take classes here and there with them because I really love the way they teach and what they are depositing into my kids. 
    Aside from CFL, we’ve enjoyed Schole Academy and Excelsior Classes. 
     

    • Like 1

    Blue Tent Algebra II

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Joyful_Journey said:

    Yes, we did end up enrolling.  Lindsey has been wonderful with helping my daughter understand difficult concepts during her office hours outside of class.  This is something that has been lacking in other online math classes we've used in the past with my older children.  Having that accessibility via "face-to-face" (albeit online with cameras) makes it easier to have a dialogue with the teacher and understand concepts.  Her personality is also very friendly and approachable, so my daughter doesn't feel like she is being a bother (also helped by the fact that these are "office hours" so you do not feel as if you are imposing on the instructor).  My daughter struggles with math, and this is the first math class where she felt totally comfortable with the teacher.  Other online math classes we've experienced have either provided that extra help through email or you have to request a meeting with the instructor.  The first method has been inadequate and the second method makes her feel awkward for taking up the teacher's time.  Lindsey's office hours and her personality has made math feel "doable" for her.   Lindsey also gives opportunities to correct errors to earn back some points. My daughter absolutely loves her, and I only wish that she was teaching precalculus next year.

    Thanks so much! Great review and very helpful! 

    Blue Tent Algebra II

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    On 2/19/2020 at 10:52 PM, Joyful_Journey said:

    Has anyone taken Algebra II with Lindsey Thompson through Blue Tent?  We've been so pleased with Brigid Thompson's AP Language class that I'm taking a closer look at some other classes with Blue Tent.

    Thanks!

    I know this is an old post but I was curious if you ended up going with this class. I just started looking into it also.

    Apologia American Literature

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    39 minutes ago, Junie said:

    We are using this for the first time with dd16.  I paired it up with Notgrass American History and it seems to be working well.

    I have a degree in English education; up until now we have completely DIY'ed high school English.  I realized with my first two that my kids do not like discussing literature and they were not really happy with my writing assignments.  I didn't push hard and I kind of regret that.

    I saw the Apologia American Lit on sale at Christianbook (it's still on sale because I think it's discontinued).  For 75 percent off (!) I figured it was worth taking a look at.  If you go to Christianbook's site, you can see the Table of Contents and some excerpts.

    There are some whole works that are listed in the Table of Contents that are not included in the textbook.  There are discussion questions for these works in the notebook.  So, these few works will need to be purchased separately to use the full curriculum: Huck Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Old Man and the Sea, To Kill a Mockingbird, and A Raisin in the Sun.

    I really like it.  Dd16 doesn't like answering all of the questions, but that's exactly why I bought it -- to force to her think a little bit about what she's reading.

    Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer them. 🙂

     

    Thanks! I actually saw that at Christian Book! Here’s a question- is there an answer key for the student notebook? I only see the notebook and text and don’t see that there are answers in the back. 

    Can anyone compare Schole Academy to Wilson Hill Academy? (or another NCAA acr. Christian online school)

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    5 hours ago, RootAnn said:

    With Childress? My DD took Chem with her several years ago & recommends that class for people who are looking for a solid Chem class that isn't honors level & isn't a billion hours of work. She enjoyed Mrs. Childress.

    @ByGrace3I am no expert, but I don't think you need all your classes to be from NCAA-approved providers if you put yourself down as the teacher & the outside class teacher down as a ... can't remember the term ... consultant? Assistant? Something or another...

    Yes, Childress.

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...