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goldenecho

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Everything posted by goldenecho

  1. Just one more thing to add...if it's close to mothers day or fathers day, find something (or a few things) they could make for that. Just cause they're teens doesn't mean they don't need a gift for mom or dad, and frankly, I wish more homeschool co-ops would do that. Also, though it might be a little late for this year, you could do easter egg decorating, and then give the eggs out to the homeless (though you said that you lived in a rural town, so maybe homelessness not such a big problem?).
  2. OK, some other ideas.... I think teens might enjoy crafts that were either useful to them or for a cause. On the second note, here are some: https://craftbits.com/charity-craft-links/ http://www.sewcraftyonline.co.uk/10-charity-craft-projects/ https://www.pinterest.com/favecrafts/craft-charities/ As for art...I think just bringing supplies and letting them do whatever is great. Paint, clay, box full of stuff for collages and such. But if you wanted to do something specific, I have a couple pinterest boards with art and craft ideas for myself, many of which I think teens might like.... https://www.pinterest.com/galel/art-to-create/ https://www.pinterest.com/galel/craft-ideas/
  3. Some of that will come with finding out what the teens themselves are into. Like maybe have one week a month where a different teen (or they can work in partners) chooses the subject. I could see teens bringing in their lego mindstorms, teaching skateboarding, bringing in a game they love, teach a craft they know, etc. It could be more than once a month but maybe just monthly at first to give kids time to prepare and see how much interest there is in that. Something simple would be one activity, and one board game each week. Those who didn't want to do that activity could do the board game. I wouldn't have more than two things every week though.
  4. I'm still working this out, but.... For digital resources, I have an online filing system by subject, with sub-files for the more specific topic. I make a habit of searching my digital files before we tackle any new topic or skill. For history books, I have some plastic bins, organized Chronologically. That makes it easy to just search the next section. Science "future books" is harder because I don't know what order I am going to go in. I have a shelf and I just try to put things on similar topics together and search it. It's hardest though when I have one book with multiple topics. If I know I'm covering something in a year's curriculum though, I will put sticky notes in the book about resources to use with that chapter, and keep a notepad with links to online resources I plan to use (which I'll mention in the note to consult such and such notepad, kept in the file system I mentioned earlier). I'll also sometimes make a pinterest board to consult when we get there, if it's a broader topic like "Space." I'll also keep a library list for things I see at the library I want to use later, so I can just print it out and go. I often want to line up other topics with history (for instance, I wanted to teach about stars and planets when we were studying Greece and Rome, because those topics complimented each other), I will make a notepad of the history chapters and make notes under each chapter of what other subjects I want to teach then. Seasonal and holiday stuff goes in folders by month. So, St. Patrick's day stuff goes in March, and general Spring Stuff goes there too since it's the first month of Spring (I'll just move it to April if I don't use it in March, etc.). Stuff I'm using very soon (like within a month) goes in a folder by subject in order I plan to use it (not a file folder...but those folders with flaps (I also do have subject file folders where I put stuff to use much later that is printed out already, but honestly...this is the stuff I'm most likely to forget about).
  5. I am looking for some picture books that contain a lot of words with these letter combos (and pronunciations)...it can be a different book for each sound or a book that contains all. I'm looking for real books with real plots or interesting non-fiction books, not readers designed specifically to teach those sounds (I want to say "living books" but honestly, twaddle is fine...I just want it to be something fun). Things I might find at my library. Poems with these sounds dominating would be great too. ea = long e ai - long a ie = long i oa = long o
  6. If you did Vikings there is free a curriculum put out by the Royal Society of Chemists called Experimenting With the Vikings. It's excellent. It says grade school through 14 but I really think older teens would get a lot out of most of these too. http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resource/res00001940/experiment-with-the-vikings?cmpid=CMP00006331 If you like the idea of combining science with history, but choose a different era, here's a list of resources that combine those subjects, organized by era: http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2017/08/resources-combining-history-and-science.html There's so much with Greek or Roman history to cover, and with kids their age you can really look at how those societies affect how we live today. African history is a really overlooked topic and would be fun to delve into. It's harder to find resources apart from Egypt, but they are out there. There's a lot more to it than we're usually taught. There's a BBC video series called "Lost Kingdoms of Africa" which you can find free on youtube. Also on Youtube...there's History Buffs reviews of historical fiction movies (really detailed what was true/false about the history reviews). It would be fun to watch a few of the movies he reviews and then have the class pick another historical movie he hasn't reviewed and do the kind of in depth fact checking on it that he does, and make their own history movie review. Even if you do a particular era, this might be a fun idea (just pick another film or even an historical fiction book to fact check from that era). If this happens to be a Christian co-op...the history of how Christianity developed starting with the birth of Jesus and going to now is an interesting topic. A good spine might be this... https://www.amazon.com/History-Lives-Box-Set-Chronicles/dp/1845508149/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520804903&sr=8-1&keywords=history+lives+withrow If you decided to do a topic through time in stead of an era, here are some ideas: Food (not just what people ate, but farming techniques, ways to store food before refrigeration (and how refrigeration changed things), how trade of food affected things, etc.) Education (how idea and methods of learning changed through time) Writing (this could be included under education, or studied all together. How did writing change things. How did it delelop. How literate were various societies from ancient times till now. Who controlled/had access to books and how did that effect power structures. Etc.) Slavery - Kinda dark subject but when you look at abolition, too, and how EARLY there were people speaking out against this, it's more hopeful than it sounds. And it's a subject that didn't start or end with American slavery. Also, with whatever period you choose, you could plan a "history day" lead by your students to share with the younger kids. You could have your students do research and come up with any combination of the following related to the time period... 1. Crafts to teach the younger students 2. A game kids played at the time to teach younger students 3. A drama...either a performance of something written then, or a drama they write about a historical event or person from the time. Alternatively you could have students pretend to be someone from the time period as they teach the games/crafts. You could also have them decorate the room this is presented in beforehand. If there's a LOT of kids in the co-op you could have them come in in small groups, or split it between several rooms (one for the drama, one for the craft)
  7. My child struggles with memory, and MUS did not work well for him. The fact that they use remembering addition to teach subtraction was especially problematic. I am liking Addition Facts that Stick/Subtraction Facts that Stick. It has a child work with a flat 10 frame (not in two rows) to understand the process, and to visualize the math problems, and then follows up with games to help with memory (but they are still encouraged to look at the 10 frame and try to figure out the problem using it, even in the games, if they get stuck). This worked really well with my son, who tends to learn better visually. I thought MUS would work with him because of the great manipulatives, and those worked incredibly for learning place value...but for addition and subtraction, it just did not work well at all. Before trying the resource I suggested above, we also had some success with adding action when memorizing (there's some brain science behind this...when you exercise it helps trigger memory. It's why people sometimes pace when they're thinking about a problem). So we combined jumping on the bed with math drills, which got us through doubles and and some of the other addition problems, but it lost effect after a while. People here have suggested Right Start Math to use after this, and I've already started incorporating it a little in our lessons. It uses an abacus and other manipulatives. I like it so far but we're just starting so I don't have a lot of experience with it yet.
  8. Byte Size Physics does not come with all the supplies, but they are all common household items, so it's not as hard to find them as some places, and it is very hands on, and I found the reading not to be dry. I used it with a 2nd grader and 6th grader and they both liked it a lot (briefly...I didn't finish it because I mainly got it for my 6th grader, and he went back to school for other reasons). We did not use the videos (which did seem a little dry). http://bitesizephysics.com/ We combined it with some physics experiments in Experimenting With the Vikings (which were very fun...but again, you had to find supplies). I just skipped anything in that which had supplies which were too hard to find. It's a free curriculum. http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resource/res00001940/experiment-with-the-vikings?cmpid=CMP00006331#!
  9. Are you doing anything for history? Are you planning to do world history? What I've been doing is pointing out all the places on the map we study in history--every chapter, whether they mention it or not, and asking my son what continent that is in. Sometimes we will watch videos about the modern places in those areas, but I've kind of been slacking on that. We also look at land form terminology as it comes up in history. For instance--river and delta got covered when studying Egypt. Peninsula was learned in when studying about Rome. There's also a free geography curriculum (link below) that I looked into that covers learning places on the map really well. I think it would be better a little later (4th or 5th grade). http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/Globalmania.html
  10. Taking a break from history and focusing on science might be a fun change. If you wanted to keep some of the history tied in though, there's a TV program called "How we Got To Now" that's amazing. It follows development in things like "Light, Clean (sanitation), Cold (refrigeration), starting with the earliest inventions to modern times, and show how those inventions affected culture, politics, etc. My kids loved it, and so did I. On that idea, you could really take any broad topic and look through all of history, now that they have an overview.... money through history, writing advancement through history, weapons through history...anything the kids were interested in. There's lots of books that cover those types of things, and here's some videos I suggest (in addition to the above)... Extra Credits has some great "summing up" videos.... How We Got Paper Money (a whole series) Writing And the Development of the Modern Alphabet OR, you could do a year of studying NOW. Focus on current news stories, new scientific discoveries, etc.
  11. Can you explain a little bit more what this system is? I've never heard of it? Why it SOUNDS like it wouldn't be for me.... Printing out everything that far ahead, to put in files, would be a waste for me, because often I end up deciding to use something different or not using it at all. I don't plan out that far exactly. I've found that a good system for me is a general "we're going to cover these topics this year plan" with a very vague months by month "try to cover this here" system, but since everything changes too much during the year, I only actually make more detailed plans a month or two out, and even these are not LESSON PLAN type of detailed. Lesson plans are a week or two out. And oh my word just trying to do that takes a long time. But, what hanging files do work for me is having a 12 month hanging file folder system. What goes in those are seasonal stuff I'm almost certain I will use, including things I thought I'd use last year but decided not to, but which I could use the next.
  12. I'm sort of in the same boat--so I'm glad you asked this. I'm moderate too, and the last church we went to, before we moved, was more "liberal" (in quotes, because a "liberal" Christian would still be pretty conservative to many). They also leaned sort of Catholic/Anglicanish (as far as I understand that, because I came from a much more traditionally Baptist church background...but they did things like observe lent, and follow a lectionary, and we studied Thomas Merton, a Catholic monk, in one of the small groups...things like that). So, for younger kids I'll add one more vote for the Storybook Bible and Godly Play (which was done at our church). If you like combining your history with your Bible teaching, for Ancient Times I find Story of the World was a nice balance. It is "secular" but it reads like a book that was trying to be useable by both secular homeschoolers and Christian homeschoolers, and leans a little bit on a Christian side (has Bible stories, and treats them more like fact than the other ancient stories and myths it includes). I have a guide on how I integrated old testament readings with it (covering not the whole Bible but most of the major stories). I'll be adding the New Testament soon. http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2017/06/story-of-world-bible-integration-old.html I used the StoryBook Bible with it, but also, for stories they didn't include, and sometimes just to give historical context, used the Children's Illustrated Bible by Selina Hastings (which is better for older children, and has illustrations and sidebars that go into the historical context).
  13. That's a tough one, cause really, it depends on love. Like, music (at least with instruments) I think is innately expensive (the instrument alone is often pricey, and if you don't already play lessons are pricey). But, for me, history is pricey, cause I can't resist buying tons of books online and at book sales and such. I mean, I could be spending a whole $10 on it if I just used the Story of the World book I bought used and free youtube videos and the library (library has saved me a lot, granted). But I can't resist buying history books, and even buying used it's added up. Plus real clay and other things I've bought for crafts. So, cause I love History, it costs me more.
  14. Lori D.'s suggestions were great. I'll add, get him a subscription to Lego magazine (it's free and filled with comic strips, and my kids love getting it in the mail). Also, all of the Horrible Histories books are great to leave out.
  15. Don't Forget to Write is pretty good for stuff like that...and while it's mixed ages it does have some lessons for early elmentary (the rest you could do later). Our co-op used that for a writing class.
  16. Thanks. I think this may work! I tried explaining it a couple ways but he just wasn't getting it.
  17. We're on lesson 5 of Level C, Part-Whole sets...which are confusing the heck out of my son. We did not do level B, but started at C...based on just skimming through I don't feel like we're at the wrong level. Overall, even looking ahead, a lot of this he's already covered. Anyways, I mention that because I don't know if this is a review of something they've already introduced or not. Does anyone know any good alternative ways to introduce part-whole circles? I think they go by another name than that, too...so if you can even tell me what else they are typically called I can look up stuff on Teachers Pay Teachers (though I'd still love suggestions of anything that worked well for your child.). Thanks!
  18. If I can afford to, after I'm done teaching my own children, I'd love to offer free classes to other homeschoolers, at least in the subjects I'm best at. Even though the schools near us aren't bad (not a good fit for my child who's homeschooling, but working well for my older two), I know in driving distance there's some places where the schools are much worse.
  19. Yeah. Someone suggested unschooled to me for my youngest...but he would not be motivated enough to do this without me requiring it. I mean, I give him a lot of flexibility. He can choose to do a worksheet or write out problems on a dry erase board or play a math game with me or do math drills while jumping on the bed, and he can choose what order to do school work, and sometimes we do take rabbit trails if he shows interest in something that wasn't on the schedule for the day. But if I just said "You can do whatever you want...whenever you're ready to do math and reading we'll do it"...he would never do it. My oldest, if he had homeschooled...he would have learned to read without me pushing. I mean, he sort of did. Before he went to school he was interested in letters and wanted to play games with them, and when I knew he could sound out words all I had to do was buy him a book that he wanted but tell him he that I would help him read it, but wouldn't read it to him....and he was reading. It took so much more to get my youngest reading, even at a very basic level. So, I don't doubt SOME kids can unschool completely and will learn as much as they need. But not all kids. I lot of the people I know who "unschool" though only unschool in part (i.e., the basics are required but everything else is interest led).
  20. So, just curious here....if you don't "sign the form" then they can just take the form somewhere else until they get someone who will sign it? Man, don't envy your position, because emotionally I could see where it would be heart-wrenching to "not sign the form" after years of working with a family. But I can see where the system really is flawed.
  21. It's not just unschoolers. If you have a child who's dealt with an extreme fear of failure, test taking anxiety, or anything like that...then you might be just as anti-standardized testing as a lot of unschoolers. I'm not against assessments though, as long as I'm given a choice of HOW my child is assessed. Portfolio/work samples, or having a meeting with a certified teacher who would assess my child by talking with him and watching him work....even if it was on multiple occasions, I'd prefer to having him sit through the 1-4 hour tests my kids in public school had to take. (They ace them...but still hate the experience...and my younger kiddo has issues they don't). Eventually I'm going to ease my kids into testing so they'll be prepared for things like SATs, but wholly molly if the requirement was suddenly thrust upon us? It could even undermine a lot of the hard work I've done to work through some of those issues with my kiddo.
  22. Your friend and I sound similar. I don't know if I've been educationally neglectful, but if you're looking for why it can take that long...here's my example. Age 5 (Public School) - child cried his way through public kindergarten and made no progress. I knew I could do better than that (and believe I have). . Age 6 of Homeschooling - repeated KG at home. Soon gave up on trying to "catch him up" as I was dealing with 20 minutes of crying just to get him to try sounding out words. Made "getting over fear of learning" a priority--cause it was clear that had to be dealt with before we could make any progress. We did about an hour a day, split up in 15 minute bits. After that, save for rare days of clarity, pushing longer had diminishing results (more stuggle and frustration for smaller amounts of actual retention the longer we'd go). Didn't do co-op because he was scared of anything school-like. Age 7 - Joined co-op. Changed curriculum and saw reading improve some, but slowly. It was only this year that we started "getting over the fear of learning." Yes, it took that long. And yes, up to that point, people had been telling me that "kids just learn at different rates...don't worry about it." And also, I had been looking up things like research on Waldorf schools and learning that kids in those school didn't even start lessons on reading until age 7, and later catch up, so I was feeling ok. Age 8 - By mid year, I'm really starting to wonder if there's something more going on with my child....because I don't think it's just fear of learning (which he's gotten past mostly) that's holding him back anymore. I start to talk to people in my co-op and people in forums. What resonates is when one mom says it's rare for one child to do that poorly when other kids in the household didn't (and both of my other kids learned to read BEFORE they started school, just with us practicing with them at home...even though I didn't think of that as homeschooling then). But I also learn that our local schools won't test for dyslexia (just reading level...and I frickin know his reading level), and that the test costs $800. Just as I start looking into where to get that done, my husband looses his job. When he gets a new one it's in another state and we spend the whole summer, and what money we have left, moving. Age 9 Years Old - On someone's suggestion, we check his eyesight. Turns out he needs reading glasses. I hold off on dyslexia testing until we have time to see how much that helps. A couple months later I still feel like he needs it. I'm in a state with "homeschool" charters now and start looking into if I could get testing and help through one of those. I can...but it's too late to start at any in my area. Meanwhile I start researching how to teach reading to dyslexic children and start using some methods I find (which does help my child make progress....but it is STILL SLOW). I found out I can have him tested at a local school, and am wondering whether it is worth it to do that now, this late in the year, when the charter will test him next year if I get in. Would my child have been diagnosed earlier if he had been in school? Big fat MAYBE. Would he have been better off? I really doubt it, because he loves learning now, even if he's behind...and I'm sure that wouldn't have been the case if we had kept him in. Have I been neglectful? I ask myself that all the time.
  23. Story of the World (but that's a lot me and my love of history, and now cause he asks for it) Addition Facts that Stick All About Spelling
  24. I would get him as many math manipulative as you can, even if you don't get the things that go with them. I'd go to your library and see what type of fun math books they have and read him everything you can get--especially any type of math puzzle. I agree with Addition Facts/Subtraction Facts That Stick (it's math games and visual math). Right Start Math might also be a good fit (the games and some of their manipulatives if nothing else). If you think he still needs any understanding of place value, I would look at the free sample video on place value and maybe try and use it with him. It's playful enough to be good with his age (https://mathusee.com/parents/why-math-u-see/demonstration-video/).
  25. My kiddo loves the Wings of Fire series. I loved the Dragonsong trilogy by Anne McCaffrey (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums). While all three of those are kid friendly, just a warning, Anne McCaffrey's other dragon books are not.
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