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goldenecho

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Everything posted by goldenecho

  1. When I was homeschooling full time we did very few outside activities. We did no outside activities (except church and park and the occasional museum day) our first year, our second and third year we did co-op and the occasional field trip, after we moved the next year and didn't find a good co-op we did museums pretty regularly and did a weekly Spanish class the first part of the year, and last half of the year did Parkour once a week. He went back to school after that. I homeschooled him one more year after covid hit, in 6th grade (my older kids did distance learning), and we did no outside activities, other than just going to the park to do PE or hiking or going to the beach (for obvious reasons...either things were closed or felt unsafe). None of my kids in public school did much for extra-curriculars either.
  2. So, all of my kids are now in school (and some of them always were) so school is one of those places, but apart from that: My middle child's best friend for years was a neighbor who lived three houses down from us. A couple of my youngest child's closest friends we meat at the park and I just got info and went from there. Another of my youngest's closest friends he met at co-op. All of my oldest's closest friends (who he is still in touch with even though he graduated), he met in school. Some of my youngest's best friends were from school too. My middle has had trouble making friends at school.
  3. (Sorry if any of this is covered by others...I didn't have time to read all the comments today) First, I want to say that you being that stressed is good enough reason to send them back. It is, even if school isn't the "best" for them, also, you being that stressed isn't be "best" for them either (and it certainly isn't sustainable.) That being said, there are other options that might help too, since it sounds like you really do want to homeschool. If your husband is making more money now, is it possible to hire a tutor to help out (maybe take your hardest subject off your hands)? Or a nanny could help your younger kids while you worked with your older kids, and would be less expensive per hour. Or, if your younger kids were in day care a couple days a week, would where you could just focus on your older kids ease your stress a little? It might be worth considering trying just that first, before sending everyone back (especially since it's mid year). Another option to look into is there are some partial week school programs, and it would be worth seeing if there is anything like that in your area. Where I lived in California, there were two charter schools that worked that way. One had a 2 day a week supplemental program. The other had two programs, one where you chose classes for your kids two days a week but you were responsible for the rest of their schooling. In the other program kids went to school three days a week, and that covered all the subjects but social studies and any arts/electives you chose to do (there was some homework expected the other days). Something like that might be really helpful to you but still allow you to continue some of their schooling at home.
  4. I'd love to hear the story behind your usernames and/or avatars. Here's mine. Goldenecho is from the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo." https://hopkinspoetry.com/poem/the-leaden-echo-and-the-golden-echo/ My avatar's story is just that I like art nouveau and thought it was pretty.
  5. First, I suggest you not give up on AAS yet. Words like baby that have a y at the end I believe are covered in level 2. I can't remember whether ai and oa are level 2 or three. It goes slower in some ways than some lists do, but those lists teach JUST those words, not the concepts behind those words, and those concepts can be applied to more words. But words with higher level concepts you haven't covered will be spelled as best as they can be with the knowledge she has...so they won't be spelled right until you actually reach those concepts. But if you do go for just "regular" word lists, I would cut the lists down to 5 new words per week (and maybe practice a few review words on top of that). She is showing you in the testing that that's how many words she can successfully learn by rote. As time goes by you might be able to grow that, but right now it seems like that's what she can handle.
  6. He should have just said it's not allowed. It's not plagiarism. Professional writers may have a magazine ASK them to do that with a piece. It may break the contract with whoever they've sold it to (if the agreement was that this was not to be duplicated in other places), but that's not plagiarism. And many places don't care if you resell your work (verbatim or changed). They may actually write it into the contract that you retain rights and have the rights to publish it other places as well. You can re-write your own work.
  7. This is vague and I appologize for that, but while I've met some homeschoolers with Dyslexia that did alright with 'The Good in the Beautiful" I've also known some who it wasn't helpful for, and I've heard that one of the reasons have to do with the order things are taught in (that's it's somewhat less systematic and has a somewhat less than logical progression of introducing phonemes . If it seems to be working, take that with as grain of salt, but if you think your son is having problems with it it might be worth looking into something different. All About Reading, Pinwheels, Logic of English, and of course Barton I've heard is good.
  8. I agree with others that if they are happy and want to do it its not a problem. Well, also if you are happy and not feeling like it's too much for you (because 3 hours a night with kids combined might be a lot for you to manage). If it does feel like it's too much, look for ways that you can cut down without giving up the activities altogether. For instance, could you cut down the daily minutes of piano and Chinese every night somewhat, or maybe alternate so you are doing Chinese and piano every other night, without getting rid of either altogether?
  9. If the question is regarding IEP or 504 rights, a lot of the parents in the learning challeges forum here have kids in public school (or have in the past) and can help answer that. I might be able to answer some things but because my child's IEP team has been pretty accommodating I really haven't had to fight over much, so I'm not as knowledgeable as some.
  10. I think you would love "The Ordinary Princess." She has 7 beautiful blond very typical princess sisters. A grumpy but kind fairy gives her the gift of being ordinary.
  11. ADORE... Treasures of the Snow (Patricia St. John) A Little Princess The Secret Garden Little House on the Prarie Lord of the Rings Bambi's Children (Bambi was not bad...but Bambi's Children I loved) The Ordinary Princess Huck Finn Fahrenheit 451 To Kill a Mockingbird Shakespeare (everything I've read) NOT A FAN OF Tom Sawyer (it's ok, but I didn't love it) Journey to the Center of the Earth (so much vocabulary, and the story is too slow building) The Yearling (meh...and one more book where the main character had to kill a pet) HATED Great Expectations Johnny Tremain (did not enjoy it at all in middle school...so dull) The Pearl by Steinbeck
  12. I would use AAR for a struggling reader, but include some real books on the side. Some I would suggest that tend to be easlier... Anything by Mo Willems (Cat the Cat, Piggie and Elphaant, The Pigeon books) Piggie and Elphant were the first books my struggling reader WANTED to read. I would read one character's part, he would read another. Dr. Suess - Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham, ...most of his shorter books. Go Dogs Go None of these are completely decodable so you will need to help with words you haven't covered the phonics concepts for.
  13. If not for the profanity, Ray Bradbury would be good (I'm afraid there's a few swear words). The Hunger Games has no sex or profanity, and it's excellent (has a lot of depth). Does have considerable violence though. I would consider it not too much for a 14 year old though. Space Case by Stewart Gibbs is fun (not as deep literature as the others). No sex, at least in the first book.
  14. If you get through Science in the Beginning quickly you can start on Science in the Ancient World (which starts in Ancient Greece), or, since it doesn't depend on the materials in the first book, you could just start incorporating some of those lessons when you get to that section of history, while still continuing to work through Science in the Beginning if you want to. Science in the Ancient World continues on into the middle ages. If you haven't gotten past the period that has chapters on Egypt, you might also like some of the Science of Ancient Egypt unit studies by Dr. Daves Science. I really liked their mummy one (we did it along with an egg mummy, which is an extra he sells but we just looked up the experiment online). The explanation of the science of how mummification works was really good and easy to read/understand. The units don't come with experiments, but I found that it wasn't hard to find ones to go with them (like for the Kilns and Metals one, I found several experiments on pennies that corresponded nicely to the science the units went over). https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dr-Daves-Science/Category/Ancient-Egypt-Science-18898 Here's more ways to integrate science and history, if you're interested, since it seems like that's something your kids respond well to. http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2017/08/resources-combining-history-and-science.html Also, if you do decide to just go forward with SOTW, but want to continue to add Biblical content, here's a Bible integration chart I made... http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2017/06/story-of-world-bible-integration-old.html If you want to continue to add Christian content after the Biblical time period is finished, I highly suggest the History Lives series by Mindy and Brandon Withrow. It has short passages relating Church history, followed by historical fiction short stories about some important Christians from those historical periods. It's very well written and engaging.
  15. (OOOPS...I did not realize I had already posted on this. But since I wrote all this and it's more detailed than my last, I thought I'd leave it). My kiddo has ADHD and dyslexia too. All About Reading is not as hard as it looks. Just remember you don't have to do a whole lesson every day. You can break it up in smaller parts. Eventually we stopped using the tiles much and just had him write everything (but I think we would have kept using them if we could have used the app...our ipad was too old for it). We also added nonsense words which I HIGHLY suggest. I think Toe by Toe/Pinwheels incorporates nonsense words and all the rest do not. But you can add them on the side just by making your own nonsense words based whatever phonics concepts you are going over. Nonsense words practice is important with later struggling readers because they may have learned a lot of the regular common words that are focused on in these programs by sight. But they still need the concepts to tackle syllables in longer words (things like "tas" in fantastic). Syllables Spell Success has a free list of nonsense words you can practice with (as sometimes making them yourself up can be tricky...you don't want to accidently use a rarer irregular real word, or something like that)... http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/Resources/Blend Phonics Nonsense Words.pdf You might be interested in their whole program. It wasn't something we tried as it seemed a little dull for the age level my child was at at the time, and just supplementing with nonsense words was helping a lot without having to change our regular reading program. But I think for an older kid, this might work well (and it's not babyish at all). http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/Resources/Blend Phonics Nonsense Words.pdf You can also use nonsense words to test whether a student needs work on a certain phonics concept. The CORE phonics survey is a good free test you can give your child that helps sort out which phonics concepts they need. It's a little easier to understand it AFTER you've taught a phonics program all the way through. But, if you know another homeschooler who used the same phonics curriculum you used, you can have them look over it and help you figure out what chapters you need to review and which you can skip (be careful though because, for instance, All About Reading/Spelling will cover multiple concepts in one chapter sometimes...for example they might cover some irregular words in the chapter mainly on another topic). So you will want to make sure to cover those things even if you are skipping the rest of the chapter. https://bridgettenygard.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/4/2/21421624/core_phonics_surveys_2.pdf
  16. This isn't a question so much as just an exciting thing I wanted to share. My son, who has dyslexia, has been back in school for several years. He's in 8th grade. And his science teacher this year has dyslexia! She explained to the class about it after making a funny spelling mistake. And now my son wants to get a book on dyslexia to read, or listen to on tape (up til now he's been sort of gradually asking questions and so forth). And on a "5 interesting things about me" slideshow assignment for another class that he wasn't sure whether was just for his teacher or for him to share with the whole class he put "I have dyslexia" as one of his five things. He said his teacher needed to know, and so did his classmates so it didn't matter if this was just for his teacher or not. Like, he's gradually gotten more comfortable with the idea that he has dyslexia but this is a whole new level. I am so excited for this year, and so grateful for this teacher's openness, and that he gets to have her class.
  17. Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St John, if you don't mind Christian books...the Swiss Alps are described VIVIDLY and the Children in the story are often out exploring nature. Beautiful story of redemption and forgiveness...note that it has two main characters (a girl and a boy) and starts from her perspective but a few chapters in switches to his (and then back and forth throughout the book) My Side of the Mountain is about a pre-teen boy who runs away (just for adventure and to get out of the city...no child abuse or anything) to live off the land in the forest.
  18. For your 7th grader, I would add in All About Spelling. I'm doing it with my dyslexic 8th grader (who is also finally reading at grade level). It's slow but really helping.
  19. A Little Princess and The Secret Garden are two other books I loved at that age. Especially A Little Princess. Both are in England in the 1800s. If you're ok with Christian books, Patricia St. John books are wonderful. I especially love Treasures of the Snow (a good one for around Christmastime). I can honestly say that story had more impact on my life than probably any other (themes of forgiveness and redemption and change...it follows two characters that start off hating each other, and changes perspective from one to the other, and is just such a beautiful story...but has adventure too). Oh, and one of the little girls in the book was homeschooled briefly (and it's presented positively), which is always a nice thing to find. It's another historical one set in the Swiss alps I think in the 1800s or early 1900s. Wonder is another great one. It has some heavy themes but handled well for kids and I think most 9 year olds would be ok with it. The story is great...another one where they change perspective a lot. Also, the child was homeschooled for a little while (though before the story starts). This one is set in modern times.
  20. AAR/AAS is scripted. I only used AAS though I'm familiar with AAR. I stopped using a lot of the moving parts after a certain age. We added one aspect though to our reading, based on suggestions from someone here actually, that made a huge difference. We added practice with nonsense words. That helped especially because my child had memorized a lot of the more common words, but then couldn't use the phonics principals when she came across an unknown word. It helped us figure out what she needed more practice with and gave us a way to practice it. I did not find All About Spelling babyish at all. We tried AAR later (level 3) but decided to just use it to supplement AAS occassionally, and we only used the lessons, not the books. (My son has ADHD and Dyslexia but not many of the other things you mentioned. His dyslexia is pretty clear but his ADHD is attentive type and fairly mild).
  21. Oh man...I just realized you were asking for Modern History (somehow I skipped that in the first read through). But anyways, just in case you plan on cycling back to ancient and middle ages history after this, here's some resources I have, since I already typed this out. I have a list on my blog of YouTube videos for ancient history. It's organized by civilization, not by SOTW chapter, but it wouldn't be hard to figure out what video goes in what chapter. This is aimed at Middle School (cause I organized it our second time round), but most of the videos would be fine for your younger kids too...and content issues are noted). http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2020/05/you-tube-through-ancient-history.html I started to make one for Middle Ages but never finished (which WAS organized by SOTW chapter). I put my notes in this https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EHRuh40M4ieLSzPWJnRG3igNEWBoa7gvGqy3mLqyTeM/edit I also made a video list for the best videos on Columbus and early Spanish colonization (a subject I've done extensive reading on). So, for that chapter, and also the chapters that talk about the Inca and Aztecs, I've got some video suggestions here... http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2021/09/best-columbus-videosthat-are-actually.html
  22. Possible learning disability? I was just saying that because my son who is dyslexic was sort of like that for a while. Sometimes when something is making academics harder than everything else it can come off as just "fighting it."
  23. I LOVE this one. Such a good one. I would add that Avatar the Last Airbender (the animated show, not the movie) has dragons in some episodes.
  24. The Dragonsinger Trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums) by Anne McCaffrey. There's a lot more dragon books by her, but that series is pretty kid friendly (perfect for middle school I'd say). The Dragonbreath series is great. It's for younger kids (I'd say 8-12 is best age). All the characters are reptiles (and a few dragons...which no one believes are actually fire breathing dragons, and Danny dragonbreath has trouble breathing fire on command so he can't prove it). And he gets into all these adventures involving other mythical creatures. The writing is hilarious. It would be great for a dragon class because it incorporates (and sometimes makes fun of) various dragon tropes along the way, so the more you know about dragon lore the more of the jokes you will get.
  25. Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John (Christian novel) Humorous ones.... The Ordinary Princess The Enormous Egg The Dragonbreath Series
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