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lilbean05

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Everything posted by lilbean05

  1. My daughter has been in gymnastics since she was 3 and she now goes multiple times a week and is involved with their team. It IS expensive and it COULD take a toll on our family if carpool situations fall through, at which point we might reevaluate. My daughter can't seem to get enough of it, though, and she has turned down birthday parties and pool parties so that she could go to practice. As long as she is crazy excited about it, we will do our best to support her. The PP who mentioned ankle problems brings up the one concern I have, and this is injury as she progresses. But at age 5, rec gymnastics is great! It is a wonderful sport that is a precursor to success in many other sports, plus it is fun and gives the kids a good place to tumble around without too much worry for injury. :) Hope this helps!
  2. A book we came across in the library recently that we haven't seen come up on the boards or on reading lists is The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit. It is challenging enough without too mature of a topic and we adore it! Edith Nesbit also wrote Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare which is a bit more challenging but gives a wonderful introduction to the basic plots of popular Shakespeare plays. Here is a link to The Enchanted Castle---http://www.amazon.com/The-Enchanted-Castle-Puffin-Classics/dp/0140367438:thumbup:
  3. We love Horizons!! Then again, my kids would really be bored if they learned everything there is to know about telling time before they moved on to counting pennies. The little bits and pieces across the board, reviewed more indepth each time it comes up is a huge hit and has produced very good results in our house. The number lines, I thought, were really good at providing a visual of how large chunks were that were being added and subtracted..sort of like using rods or unit blocks, but drawn on the paper instead. I think if you stick with it you will see that everything is building on itself and while things seem sporadically introduced, it is just that--an introduction. Soon, larger concepts are given and it all comes together. Good luck!
  4. I had always envisioned that my kids would have a 7pm bedtime until middle school because, well, that is what both my husband and I had! Ha! But, my 6 year old is in team gymnastics and her team practice doesn't get her home until about 9:30pm 3 nights a week....which makes her bedtime around 9 on non gymnastics nights and around 9:45 on gymnastics nights. It isn't what I had planned, but it works well for us! And I have to add--if we weren't homeschooling, I am not sure if her being on team would fly. I just can't see having a little one stay up that late when they have to get up for school early the next morning. Another high five to homeschooling!!
  5. This zucchini recipe, hands down. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-zucchini-bread/ My kids are always sneaking zucchini into the cart at the market and then put on their best angel face and ask for more zucchini bread. Ha!
  6. I give them something to color or a pretend job with the play kitchen. I will even turn on a Super Why or Word World for a bit while I work with my older kids on their core subjects. Overtime, they end up wandering into the room and listening in on what we are doing, but rarely does it become a big distraction.
  7. We like to cook things that are from the same period/location of where what we are studying. We do a lot of Charlotte Mason type schooling for the liberal arts aspect of our school, so we do tons and tons of narrations in various styles, from coloring and giving a presentation to making a finger play. We use this game board to make it more fun--www.homeschoolassessment.com. We feel like this makes it a really well rounded curriculum.
  8. What fun! If I have extra stuff I want to do in addition to a "spine" (which is what your Exploring Science book seems like it will be) then we align topics. Looking at the same topic from a variety of angles has worked really well for us and the kids really get into it. We go to the library now and the kids run for the shelves and grab as many books as they can that are related to what we are doing in school. Too cool! Plus, how neat would it be to grow a plant, dig up a plant outside and see the roots, learn about specific plants both in nature and in books, learn about cell walls vs cell membranes with science experiments--super fun. :) Have fun!
  9. Pencil sharpener for sure--holy cow did that change my life! We got this kind, mounted it to the wall, and it rocks: http://www.amazon.com/X-Acto-Ranger-Wall-Mount-Heavy-Duty-Sharpener/dp/B00006IEI2/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1337217077&sr=8-11 All in one printer/copier/scanner. We have fax too, but I hardly use it. All three of the others come in handy big time. Access to a library is an essential part of our curriculum. We read tons and tons of books and we would be running short of cash if we didn't have the library. A subscription to Amazon Prime, ha! It helps when I run out of supplies and need something cheap and quickly! :) Okay, maybe that isn't a necessity....:tongue_smilie:
  10. Wow! That is great information! Thank you. I will be sure to pass that on to them today. Their son is 4 and hardly speaks a word, which causes him to get very frustrated and has led to a lot of behavior issues. It is overall a difficult situation. Thank you so much for the suggestion!!
  11. I have been a member of these boards for awhile and have really enjoyed all of the support and help you all have brought to me as I homeschool my 4 kids! Within the past year, I started incorporating a felt board in our homeschooling curriculum. We use it to look at shapes, make patterns, tell stories, count, sort, etc. We really love it! We recently found out that a member of our extended family is suffering from speech apraxia and we were able to see what a hardship it has both on the child who wishes to communicate as well as to the parent. Shortly after this happened, I was asked by a member of the Child Life community to help her in making a communication board for the children she works with in the hospital who aren't able to speak for a variety of reasons. She absolutely loves it and we are in the process of finding a way to share this communication board with more people who could benefit. I started an Etsy store and, while I know it is advised not to advertise on here, I do want to let you know about it so you can see other options for homeschooling your child as you work through some of the difficulties of adjusting to an alternate learning/teaching style. We love our felt board and I am happy to be able to share it with you. :) If you care to look, a link is available in my signature. If anyone wants to talk more about speech apraxia, diagnosis, speech therapy, etc, feel free to message me or we can chat about it here.
  12. My daughter is the same way. She can't stand doing the Burgess Bird Book or Parables from Nature. She eats up 50 Famous Stories, though, and ADORES Aesops Fables and Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare. She is actually digging the Blue Fairy Book too, though it is SO gruesome! I tried forcing our way through the books she doesn't like and instead, if I see she is daydreaming or not into it, we move on to the next thing and try again later.
  13. We attend Hills Gymnastics outside of Washington DC. My daughter is on preteam and she practices 6 hrs a week across 3 days. We pay $240 a month plus parent association dues. It is EXPENSIVE!!! I think price really is dependent on the cost of living in your area, though, so take that into consideration.
  14. We use ambleside online and it meets my 6 year old daughter's needs VERY well. She has been reading since she was 2 and now she is able to narrate parables from nature and other really really hard texts. We don't have a specific language arts program, but we do tons of reading with ambleside online and her comprehension and retention is amazing as a result of the exposure to various materials offered in AO.
  15. My daughter is 6 and is very similar. She is very active in her gymnastics team, so she gets "socializing" there, but there are plenty of times when we are at the park or at a friends and she is much happier on her own. I am like this too, though, and really enjoy my own company sometimes. I think it is okay that she wants a bit of downtime when she is around other people. :) Kids personalities are so varied--it is neat to see how they grow!
  16. We didn't use manipulatives as a regular part of the days lesson, but if someone was having a hard time understanding a concept, I would find a way to make some form of manipulative for them to use.
  17. The kids do a narration of sorts, either spoken that I type out or drawing a picture, and I put those into a notebook. It isn't nearly as extensive as some beautiful notebooks I have seen!
  18. We use Horizons and absolutely love it! My kids love the curriculum and I would recommend it to anyone. K does seem to start out pretty easy, but as the PP said, it does get down and dirty pretty quickly. Have fun looking around and deciding!
  19. We usually take breaks throughout the year that coincide with my husband's work schedule. We are taking a 2 week vacation in June, which will pretty much be our only summer vacation. We might have a few light weeks in July, but my current plan is to just keep on keeping on! We do Ambleside Online, so we just let the days run into each other with no real end or beginning. We love it!
  20. If I could pick just one book collection to take with me somewhere because I was limited on space, I would pick The World Treasury of Children's Literature. There are two volumes and they are OVERFLOWING with beautiful, amazing children's literature, from The Little House and Aesops Fables to A Kiss for Little Bear and Make Way for Ducklings. WONDERFUL!! If I could pick a SECOND book collection, I would get my hands on Collier's Junior Classics. There are ten volumes, all hardback, loaded with stories, rhymes, folktales, fair tales, myths...it is an amazing collection. They are currently out of print, but you can easily find them at a used book store or on paperbackswap. LOVE these books. I have more recommendations for third and forth and fifth..heheh..we love books! PM me if you want some more suggestions. :) Good luck!
  21. Thanks for the suggestions! I will look into all these and see what fits best for us. Thank you!
  22. I also vote Horizons, which as a previous poster mentioned is a spiral based program, but otherwise seems to fit what you are looking for. We have used it for 3 years and really enjoy it. Some days there is A LOT of work to do, so we just chug through it. I know others have cut back on some of those days and only assigned half the problems so it wasn't so much workbook work.
  23. We use homeschool skedtrack and while I haven't actually tried to do what you are doing, I think it is possible in a round about way (or maybe even a direct way, but I haven't tried.) There is a bit of a learning curve when using the program, but once you get the hang of it, it is really great. We have used it for several years and haven't had the desire to look anywhere else for a new program. Hope this helps!
  24. We have finished up our math book for the school year and instead of pressing on to the next level, I thought we might introduce some logic and logic puzzles. Any recommendations for 2nd-3rd grade logic books? Thanks!
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