Jump to content

Menu

grace'smom

Members
  • Posts

    1,056
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by grace'smom

  1. Another vote for Telling God's Story. I also bought The Jesus Storybook Bible as an extra resource as it has pictures for my youngest. I have other plans to expand TGS but that not relevant to this thread.:tongue_smilie:

     

    :iagree::iagree: I love Telling God's Story as far as being a gentle introduction. They start with New Testament selections that emphasize God's love for us. I've always thought the stories about getting locked inside a whale or a cave with a lion were kind of scary introductions for kids. They're exciting, but I like talking about God's love first. When Grace was little she called the story about Jonah and the whale the "man who got the big time out" and she would always ask if that would happen to her. That wasn't really the point I was going for, KWIM?

  2. I think it's just so you can remember particular people who have posts you enjoy or are using a particular curriculum. I've got a couple friends that use Phonics Road. Someone friended me once after a post I made that they liked I guess... Other than that I don't know what they do. But now I bet everyone who responds to this is going to friend you just to be funny, LOL.

  3. Absolutely. If you have ever cared for a loved one or patient on chemo the difference regarding nausea from the treatments and having some ability to eat is life changing. For people with anxiety it is also far safer and less debilitating a treatment than paxil or some of the other anti anxiety meds. Coming off those is a nightmare.

     

    I didn't even think about it from this angle but it's a very good point. :iagree:

  4. I think it might help Mexico if we made it somewhat legal here. It might shut down some of the drug cartels. There are so many people dying in order to supply the U.S. On the other hand, more people might die if it became legal due to traffic fatalities.

     

    There's no easy answer. I wish people just wouldn't do it. Getting high makes one a little bit responsible for all the deaths that brought that weed (or whatever other drug) to your door.

     

    But you still have to wonder how many more people would die in car accidents related to driving while high if they made it legal.

     

    That's just my personal opinion though. I'm not trying to make anyone mad... It's just what I think.

  5. I know you were telling the OP this....but I also have MM and I'm not crazy about it. Probably one huge thing that I am not a fan of is the printing of all the worksheets (I know you can get them bound at LuLu). There's just something about MM that I am not thrilled about but I can't seem to put my finger on what it is. I know....that's weird.

     

     

     

    I'm not sure if Spy Car has ever used MIF. But, here is a review that compares MIF, Singapore, MM, and then farther down the page she adds in Saxon.

     

    Thanks for all the links!

  6. We've got it. I'm planning on using it starting this fall, but we did do a preview lesson or two this summer. I really like the way it's set up. It seems to stress God's love for us through the lessons, and that is what my daughter needs. She is very prone to deciding she is "bad" if she breaks a rule in an all or nothing sort of way. I like that she is learning the lessons about God's love for us first.

     

    I think the curriculum is very doable and easy to add into a busy homeschool schedule. It doesn't feel like something we'll have to ditch if we get behind in math, KWIM? And the way it goes over one story/scripture per week allows my daughter to digest the information better. She has her whole life to learn about the bible. I don't mind her taking her time to really absorb it.

  7. What level of Phonics Road would you be using? We're using Level One and I do not find that it takes an inordinate amount of time each day, although I do have to watch the DVDs on weekends (usually 20 minutes on Saturday). We always get the work done within one hour maximum, with 20 minutes being our average time (although we spread it between subjects because my dd is wiggly). We are only in level one though, so I am not sure if things get harder/longer as you go along.

     

    If you could commit to doing the Phonics Road with them could someone else help them out with the rest of it? Are they at an age where they can do some subjects more independently?

  8. That's funny, my son has had the opposite reaction when kids notice him writing in cursive (kids being in awe and a little jealous because it is a sign to some that the kid is in a higher grade).

     

    Right now I'm using HWT printing with my 6 year old. I wanted to do cursive with him, but he was resistant. So I've got one that prints and one that writes in cursive.

     

     

    :lol::lol: It's funny that two brothers have such different reactions to cursive.

  9. Teach her print, and use D'Nelian. I have StartWrite, and use their "Modern Print" which is very similar to cursive. She is driven to do this thing, so teach her how to do it right. There should only be a few letters that need some teaching. I do cursive first, and mine picked up print easily with just a few "start at the top/midline" kind of reminders.

     

    Keep up with the cursive though. I have my 8yo do some school work in print, some in cursive. It's all good.:001_smile:

     

    Thanks! We have Startwrite too so I will check out that font and let her take a go at it. It will be nice to do some handwriting she's actually excited about for a change, LOL!

  10. I picked my DD up from science camp today and she had written all her papers in manuscript (when we taught cursive). She doesn't really know manuscript very well, so she still writes in all caps and some of the letters aren't quite right. We taught her using cursive but she has continuously requested to do manuscript. When we let her write in manuscript she used to write all her words backwards and leave huge spaces in between the letters, so we taught cursive to avoid that, but that was not the case today. I asked her about why she used manuscript and she said she's embarrassed to write in cursive when none of the other children do, and she just refuses to budge on the issue.

     

    Should I just teach her manuscript and let her do it as she likes until second or third grade? I could do D'nelian so it would be similar in style, just unconnected. I guess I just think if she's going to do it I should teach her to do it right? Sadly, I'm a bit worried that people might think I'm not teaching her, LOL. I know that's my issue and not hers but it's still there. :blush:

     

    I have to take her to swim lessons now so I won't be back until 1:30, but I'd love to hear from someone who may have been there and done that and can either tell me it's OK or talk me down from the ledge.

     

    Thanks!

    Hailey

  11. Usborne Art Treasury is much the same as Discovering Great Artists but it is in color. We've really enjoyed this book and the projects turned out great. In fact, my kids have asked to do many of them several times over.

     

    :iagree: We love that one here! It's very doable and the projects turn out beautifully. Here's a post where you can see one of the projects we did...

    http://givingourbest.blogspot.com/2011/06/art-pictures.html

  12. abrightmom- so glad you mentioned that about the Socratic method. we're doing BFSU and i have definitely realized that i am NOT good at that type of instruction. my daughter really doesn't like it either. we are still going to use BFSU because even just using it as a spine and getting library books to supplement works well for that, but i would not want to have that issue in our language arts program!

     

    i'm pretty set on phonics road but every once in a while i panic and worry that it's not the right thing. it's a little harder because i'm very visual, so i have to just take it on faith that all the information i need is in those DVDs. i can't flip through a manual to remind myself that it's all there, LOL.

  13. I think at this age the focus should be on getting the kids to be kind to each other, and then branch it out into the larger society. For example, sometimes if kids live in a highly sheltered world where people don't talk about things like homelessness, the kids won't know enough to think of it. I told my daughter so many times that she's lucky, that there are people out there with no homes, etc., but it wasn't real to her. However, in the past year we've gone back to attending our old church in the city. Now she sees me handing granola bars out the car window to the homeless on our way home from church. She sees the homeless standing in line for sandwiches and drinks on our way into the church building. Now she knows about it in a way she really understands. She thinks about them and wonders where they take a bath when she's in her nice warm tub. She wonders where they are sleeping when she gets in her bed at night. She makes bagged lunches to hand out. She draws pictures and writes encouraging notes to put in the bags for them. She is very giving in that way. HOWEVER- if you ask her to share her toys you've got a whole different ball game going on. Making sandwiches is a wonderful step toward awareness, and it's definitely altruistic, but she's not giving the shirt off her back. When she's got to share her favorite princess dress up with the kid from next door she's got her real challenge and it's very intense for her. But I know that helping her learn to share that dress is also helping her become a better person, KWIM? The dress is the real key to future altruism. This is why I think you have to start small and build up. I'm not trying to diminish what my daughter does for the homeless, but right now she does it with our money and her endless free time. I want her to keep building on it so that when it's her money and her very precious, rare free time she will still want to do it.

     

    I'm not sure any of that really made sense... I guess I'm saying that if you can get your kids to be kind to each other you've laid the foundation for the rest of it.

  14. My DD really enjoys Rightstart because it's so hands on... I guess it depends on what your child is drawn to, because they are both great programs (from what I hear). I have been really happy with the progress my child made in RS Level A. Her comprehension of place value is very good and that was my goal for kindergarten. We're just starting B and I'm pretty excited about it so far, but I hear a lot of people leave Rightstart after this level. That is something to take into consideration as well.

  15. I took about a week and went through the CC history sentence list and recommended books with a fine tooth comb. I made my own list for each week of all the age appropriate books from the list that are available at our library. I also came up with a book corresponding to each science topic from our library. You can usually look up the book descriptions on Amazon and see if you think it will work, then do a quick view of the ones that are questionable at the library. My library also had a bunch of books that were not on the list but looked great to help my DD understand the weekly topics. We'll do copywork that ties into the science or history topics for that week to reinforce the learning. So- as long as I do my book requests on time I should have what I need.... It's a lot of work, but I'm going into this year with peace of mind that our time will be well spent. Last year we didn't tie it in and retaining the information was a big issue. It takes up a whole day of our week, so it can't be just an extra for us.

     

    So, besides that, I got the Elemental History package for a spine, craft ideas, etc. We're also doing Phonics Road and Rightstart Math, and a little BFSU on the side. We've got flashcards and Scrambled States of America boardgame for learning the geography, as well as a capitals song to learn. I think that's it...

×
×
  • Create New...