Vintage81
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Posts posted by Vintage81
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The point of IEW is that you can just integrate it into what you are already doing. I use SOTW, simple fables I find online, simple children's books, traditional American tall tales, simple English Wikipedia, library books ...... Whatever other resources we are already using or are easy to get and use.
Do you go through all 9 units each year? After going through the TWSS, I think my goal will be to get through units 1-5 (maybe 6 and 7, if we can) for her 4th grade year.
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DD is currently in 3rd grade and we're working (slowly) through SWI-A; however, she doesn't enjoy the videos and quickly gets bored. I end up having to re-teach her the information from the video because she doesn't pay attention. (FWIW, I don't find the videos all that engaging either.) This is our second year doing IEW writing and I like the program, so I don't want to give up on it.
I was considering switching to a theme book instead, maybe All Things Fun and Fascinating, but I would really love to just incorporate writing in with science and/or history. If you've only used the TWSS....how do you plan your year out (how many units do you go through, how long do you spend on each unit). Also, where do you get your source material from?
If there are other threads out there with this information, just point me in that direction. Thanks!
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:hurray: I'm glad you're feeling better!
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I used the Texas version for 4th grade as a public school teacher. I found them to be well done. They were certainly more interesting than the textbook from 1993 that we had. The students seemed to enjoy them. Each newspaper focused on a major event with a few minor short articles about other things going on at the time. The front page story was generally a piece of historical fiction written from the point of view of a child at the time.
The inside story was then a more factual account of the event. Inside would also be a couple of short unrelated, but similar time frame articles. They would usually cover a biography, government topic, a landmark, and/or holiday. Some of the papers included advertisements for items common at that time.
The back was usually a crossword or other puzzle type activity followed by comprehension questions. They were a good mix of direct answers from the article and then some that required inferences and opinions.
I plan to use them when my kids are old enough for the topic.
This information is very helpful...thank you!
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I'm in "planning mode" right now, so I'll be purchasing things throughout the next few months.
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That does sound exhausting! At least it's over with now.
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No advice...I'm just really sorry this is happening to you!
We had ants in the pantry once and it turned out they were after a halfway closed peanut butter jar. That was nothing compared to what others have shared in this thread. I had no idea moths could get into the pantry! :eek:
I hope you're able to get rid of the moths soon.
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Our Land Publications state history for either Texas, California, Indiana, or Illinois?
http://www.ourlandpublications.com/catalog/index.php?osCsid=70efc1cb974120c42f61d6f615f55605
There's not a ton of information on their site, but it looks interesting. If you've used it, how did it go?
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We need a new mattress too. The one we have is really firm and it causes both DH and I to have back pain.
We both have Casper pillows and really like them, so we are considering the Casper mattress. Casper has started to sell their mattresses in West Elm stores, so if you have one near you, you can check it out. Here's a list of locations: https://casper.com/west-elm
Also, Casper seems to have a really good return policy. You have 100 days to try out your mattress, and if you end up not liking it, they'll come pick it up for free and give you a full refund.
I've also considered the Leesa mattress, but I haven't done enough research online yet for comparison.
Good luck!
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Math Mammoth is 50% off right now on Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. I was originally just going to get the Light Blue Series, but the "Everything Bundle" looks tempting. With the discount, it's $149.99 (the regular price for just the Light Blue Series is $175). Has anyone used other MM products besides the Light Blue/Blue Series? If so, what was your experience with it?
The "Everything Bundle" includes:
- Blue Series
- Light Blue Series
- Golden/Green Series
- Review workbooks bundle
- Make It Real Activity Library (Volume I and II)
- States by the Numbers bundle
- Blue Series
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I don't know if this is "off the beaten path," but I love Crazy, Stupid, Love. Pride & Prejudice is also one of my favorites.
Have fun at your girls night out!
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You could try Xtra Math. It's online and free. DD6 who is in 1st grade uses it. Before Xtra Math, she did not have any experience with using a keyboard, so it took a little time in the beginning for her to get used to it. Now, she does it daily and it takes about 10 minutes.
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nm - created separate post
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I have an HP color laser printer that works really well...we print a lot of stuff too.
It has a scanner, prints on cardstock, and prints duplex, which has saved on paper.
Laser printers and the toner cartridges are more expensive, so that's something to consider, but the original toner lasted us over a year. We replaced them with a generic brand and the new cartridges should last longer than the originals.
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That's awful! I'm so sorry. Hopefully everything gets taken care of soon.
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Why does DD fill a water bottle, not close the lid all the way, and then knock it over on the school room desk so that the water slowly leaks out overnight ruining several books (including a teacher manual)? :banghead:
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No words of wisdom. I would be upset, too. No one likes to see their kids being excluded.
I'm so sorry. Even if the birthday child had a strict limit on how many kids could attend her party, it still hurts to not make the cut. The worst part of this is that you will now view that girl and her mother differently, and you'll be worried that your dds will find out about the party.
:grouphug:
Edited to add -- This has nothing to do with you doing anything wrong in terms of socializing your kids. This could have happened to anyone, whether it was a homeschool family, a public school family, or a private school family. People are people, and some of them are going to disappoint us. Please don't blame yourself!
Thank you - I really appreciate your kind words.
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I'm sorry -- that would bother me too! I could never understand how other parents could be so dense about stuff like that. (I mean, it's okay if you're not going to invite my kids, or if your kids are going to a party that my kids weren't invited to, but at least have the decency to not talk about it with us! :))
Perhaps in the future, if you want to cultivate those friendships, you could invite those two girls over to your house some afternoon after co-op, or to a park, or something like that. I know it might not be your style to do that, but sometimes it's just little gestures like that that get friendships going. Most likely, your girls think of those girls as good friends because they don't have any other friends, whereas those girls -- even though they may really enjoy your girls a lot at co-op -- don't see it that way simply because up til now, they have only been their "co-op friends." I would suspect that those two girls are friends outside of co-op too.
This exactly. It's happened to my girls, it's happened to me. almost never in a mean "We can't stand her, let's exclude her" way, just that we're seen as more casual activity friends, but it seems like more to us because those casual activity friends are al, we have.
Also, how old are your girls? Especially if they're older (high school) they may have actually been invited to the party but declined the invitation. My girls have declined invitations I never knew they got because the kids do the inviting. Reasons have varied from "I knew I had rehearsal/a show and couldn't go" to "I know their parties are unsupervised and aren't what I want to be involved in."
Both of you are correct - the only friends DDs (who are 6 and 8 years old) have are the "casual activity friends," so I agree that they see these girls as closer friends since that's all they have.
They know these two girls the best though. Because I run the co-op with the other 2 moms, we have spent more time with them than any other kids. Over the past year and a half we've been to each others houses several times (for meetings to discuss the co-op), we know the other girls' siblings, I've met both Mom 1 and Mom 2's husbands, they know each other's pets, etc. OTOH, we've never had a "play date" with either and we don't participate in as many other activities as Mom 1 and Mom 2's daughters (park days, field trips, Girl Scouts).
I think because they know these 2 girls the best, that's why they'd be hurt at not being invited.
Many people only allow their kids to invite 1 non-family friend to a party. Unless you are sure that many similarly-situated kids were invited and yours were specifically excluded, then I would just assume the family doesn't do big birthday parties, rather than take it personally.
If you want to get together at a birthday or other party, I think it's on you to hold an event and invite all of those children. Meanwhile, keep nurturing the relationships that have developed. :)
Mom 1 does not have any family in the state, so I assume the party was just for friends. She did not mention what/where the party was, so there may have been a limit to the amount of kids they could have.
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1. I think it depends on the layout. If there is a natural border, then you could do two different floorings. Otherwise, I'd do the same throughout.
2. I'd pick something that has variations of both lighter and darker tones. That way it contrasts the cabinets, but the lighter tones still go with the cabinets.
3. Our bathrooms have tile, bedrooms (and all of upstairs) have carpet.
4. We did laminate on the stairs in our old house. It looked nice, but it was slippery and expensive to install.
5. Not sure, but probably.
6. I'm not that adventurous when it comes to something so permanent, so I'd stick with a more traditional design. That's just me though.
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My girls and I have participated in a co-op for the past 3 years. A year and a half ago I volunteered to help run the co-op with two other moms (for the purposes of this post, I'll call them Mom 1 and Mom 2). My DDs are VERY shy and it's difficult for them to engage with other kids and make friends. (I'm pretty shy myself when I'm around people I don't know, so I'm not the best example.) Mom 1 and Mom 2 both have daughters similar in age to mine, so I thought it would be good for us to get to know them all better.
Fast forward to now, and while participating in the co-op has helped us get to know other families better, I wouldn't call anyone close friends, not even Mom 1 and Mom 2. (We don't hang out with any other moms/kids outside of co-op/other homeschool group activities.) My DDs, though, would consider the daughters of Mom 1 and Mom 2 to be their really good friends.
The other day, I was talking with Mom 1 and she mentioned (I think accidentally) that Mom 2's daughter couldn't come to her daughter's birthday party this weekend because she was sick. Well, my daughters weren't invited to the party, which is why I think she accidentally mentioned it. My heart just kind of sank when she said it because if my daughters found out that they weren't invited, they'd be heartbroken.
I didn't say anything. I'm fully aware that nobody is obligated to invite DDs to parties. It still bothers me, though. I want DDs to make friends, and I want them to know that other kids want to be their friends. But, to hear that they weren't invited to this girl's party, a girl they would consider a close friend, just sucks. I don't know how I'd explain it to them if they ever found out.
This all came at the end of a really frustrating week. Just one of those weeks where I question if I'm doing a good job teaching them. Then this happens, and it makes me question if I'm doing right by them when it comes to socializing.
I wish I was thicker-skinned. In the grand scheme of things, I know this is a very small bump in the road, but I'm still bummed. Any words of wisdom out there?
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Mystery Science for PreK thru 5th grades. I'm not sure what the cost is for a co-op setting, but it's worth checking out.
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We're currently using Xtra Math. It took a little time for DDs to get used to it because they had little experience using a keyboard, but now they have no trouble.
IEW users - does anyone use only the TWSS?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
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Thanks for the info on the Christmas promotion!