Visitor from K-8 board: Anyone do mainly textbooks for middle/high school?

[HappyGrace]

I have a rising 5th grader, always done classical, thinking of our long-term plan. (Starting to panic a little when I look down the road.)

 

I've NEVER been a textbook fan, but I'm wondering if it would just make things easier for the long run? I don't really think I want to go through all the researching to pick individual components to use for all subjects, like I've always done in elementary.

 

Obviously with these being classical boards, people may be biased-I know I always have been! Just trying to think outside the box a little bit.

 

Care to share your experiences-positive or negative?

Edited November 5, 2009 by HappyGrace

[Moira in MA]

As my dds have progressed through the high school years, their interests have diverged and I have used text books for some subjects, primarily math and science.

 

The big *but* for science, and this year math, is they have usually been college texts and therefore *spendy*.

 

I think that, like most curriculum options, texts are good servants but bad masters.

 

hth

~Moira

[Rhonda in TX]

Especially for DS. He is just not a "learn on your own" kid, so I'm actually thinking of going the BJU DVD route with him. I do have concerns, but I will have concerns with no matter what we choose.

 

I'm thinking of giving it a trial run next year. We'll get BJU 8th grade and see how it goes. If it's a good fit, I'll have a plan for high school. If it's not, I'll have to tweak it through the year, but I already do that anyway. :tongue_smilie:

 

Another thing is that I'm not 100% positive we're going to home school for high school. If we don't, I think a year of textbooks will better prepare him for what to expect.

Edited November 6, 2009 by Rhonda in TX
another thing....

[brendafromtenn]

Some us do Textbooks when we get to the high school level. I think especially in those areas that we don't feel as comfortable with ....

and that would depend on YOUR skills. For me, I am much more COMFORTABLE teaching math and science from a textbook because those are MY two weakest areas.

 

Whereas, I might do something more "classical" or "charlotte mason" with lit or history. These are two things that I am more comfortable with. Make sense?

 

Also, it WILL depend on your specific child. When my oldest was in upper elementary, I thought that we would get ONE Algebra course or ONE Biology course and that would "fit the bill" for ALL of my students. LOL!!!!! :lol: Each child is different and you need to be flexible when buying curriculum.

 

Also, each YEAR is different and has a flavor of its own. For instance, the year my dad suddenly passed away, we needed something that would be easy to pick up and just DO. I needed time to heal. I needed curriculum that was completely laid out for me. Nothing I had to think too hard about. The same would hold true if you had a new baby in the family.

 

But yes, relax! You may use textbooks. That is o.k. And take one year at a time. Don't look too far ahead.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Blessings,

 

Brenda:001_smile:

[TravelingChris]

My 7th grader does mainly textbooks and workbooks. That is what kind of kid she is. SHe is doing BJU Life Science, LOF math, A text for history, workbooks for grammar and spelling, and only lit is with real books.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I've learned that having textbooks in the house GREATLY relieves stress and pressure when hard life situations happen.

 

Several years ago, during our 2nd cycle through history, we had several MAJOR upsetting situations in less than 9 months (major illness in family, that family member died, legal problems surrounding our house, dh lost his job, dh started consulting on his own, NO money, my illness, etc). At that time we were doing Veritas Press. We started the year going over the cards, doing the activity guide, adding living books, etc.) When all the problems hit, History completely STOPPED.

 

When that year was over, we quickly finished out Veritas Press with mainly reading the cards. (I"m still impressed how much my kids really retained during that time!) The next year, I got BJU textbooks. As we were able we read a few living books and did a few activities. We were still dealing with alot of the same issues and there were MANY days that I just could not 'teach'... but, the kids still picked up those textbooks and kept on reading!! My senior can still tell you a whole lot of what she read in BJU textbooks during her 6th and 7th grade years.

 

I've come to depend a little too much on the textbooks for assignments and testing. In the past few weeks I 've been pondering about adding more living books and documentaries (and papers and projects).

 

So a long post to say, YES... textbooks can be used as a spine. You can still follow the classical method or a Charlotte Mason method using the textbooks to springboard your school. And, they are a lifesaver when YOU can't be the "teacher" during a time of illness, or moving, or other difficult time of life.

[Carol in Cal.]

This year DD is in 8th grade, and we are mostly using textbooks except for literature and grammar. Why? It sort of evolved. We finished our history rotation and church history study, and it seemed like a great idea to get a breather by using Spielvogel for a quick overview of world history before she moves on into high school. I could have correlated her literature and some living books with that, but we are going too fast--it will probably take us about 1-1 1/2 years to get through this. My feeling is that it would be reasonable to spread this book out over 2-3 years if you're doing it in the classical fashion, but we don't have that much time.

 

Math has always been textbook, although I supplement a lot with personal instruction.

 

Writing -- this is the first time DD has used IEW, and I think of that as textbook. Before we were more eclectic and used several textbooks and lots of other resources--not a 'march through this text' type of process.

 

Science--last year we changed to Science Explorer. Wonder of wonders, science is actually happening consistently in our house now. DD finds those books quite interesting, and this year they are pretty much all we are doing. Again, I want solid preparation before high school so we have to finish up. OTOH, she is in a Nature Awareness class one day per week, and they mostly do living classroom type stuff--no texts, very organic.

 

Latin finally! We are using LCI, which is technically too easy for this age but we do own it so what the heck. Hope to finish it up soon and move on to LCII. Textbooks again, pretty much.

 

For literature, I just can't. Books are too fun and plays pop up too often to use textbooks for literature. Besides, I've been in a book group for over 15 years, and am very accustomed to discussing books. For grammar, I used to use Rod and Staff, and I gave it up this year in favor of applied grammar as part of writing and literature. I felt that it was great but too detailed, and DD was not seeing the forest for the trees. So I'm doing whole to parts as a big regroup this year, and she is learning from her IEW teacher as well. If I were a little braver I would probably tackle Analytical Grammar, but we only have one year and I want more content this year as next year she will probably go to a brick and mortar school. She occasionally does some Editor in Chief, but more often I'm requiring her to thoroughly proofread her own writing, which is more challenging and also more necessary.

 

So in summary, we have drifted into mostly using textbooks.

[Linda1951]

college is not workbooks,

so high school is textbooks

9th gr dd has textbook for math, science, grammar and history.

when she was in elementary school homeschooling she did workbooks., but now she likes textbooks.

she would not like it if she had to carry them around in high school at a public school. she is small for her age and everyone thinks she is 12 or 13 and she is almost 16.

[Chris in VA]

Not sure you can actually do math without a textbook. :D

 

The only place we did not use texts was in literature. I hate the "snippet" approach. We used Omnibus (which has a text AND real, whole books) for literature and history, adding in readings from Spielvogel West Civ. We used Apologia for Chem and Bio (textbooks), Astronomy Today and Runkle's Geog (textbooks), and an environmental science...wait for it...textbook.

 

The times I tried to teach French without a text were a wash.

 

Now, the way you USE a textbook has a lot to do with how "classical" the approach is. Simply assigning a chapter, answering the questions, and taking a test is not enough to qualify. One must wrestle with the ideas presented, formulate and then express one's own ideas in order to truly be joining in the Great Conversation, which is Rhetoric stage engagement.

[Caryl]

but usually on bits and pieces. For example, we use Omnibus, and sometimes I'll assign the Spielvogel reading (which so far everyone finds interesting to read), sometimes one from an Abeka text, and sometimes even few pages in Kingfisher or a visually stimulating DK book to cover the same history information. For science, we use a textbook as a spine (to keep me on track) and add in natural history readings, projects, labs, papers. I don't feel obligated to cover the whole text.

 

The other nice thing about a text is that when things fall apart, I can keep moving on by switching to "just read the chapter and answer the questions at the end of it" mode. It's not as much fun, but it won't kill them...and it keeps school happening when mom isn't happening :glare:

[AnitaMcC]

I have a rising 5th grader, always done classical, thinking of our long-term plan. (Starting to panic a little when I look down the road.)

 

I've NEVER been a textbook fan, but I'm wondering if it would just make things easier for the long run? I don't really think I want to go through all the researching to pick individual components to use for all subjects, like I've always done in elementary.

 

Obviously with these being classical boards, people may be biased-I know I always have been! Just trying to think outside the box a little bit.

 

Care to share your experiences-positive or negative?

 

Our first venture to homeschooling is with out twins 9th grade this year... we use pretty much only textbooks. But we are also making adjustments.

 

Mostly we use the text books as a guide. For math and foreign languages, the twins use the text, cd, study guide, etc as the author set them up from start to finish. For language arts, world history, health, consumer ed, and electives we use a text as guide but pick and choose from there.

 

Computers and sciences we use local community college. Ds is taking chemistry fundamentals and basic computer course this spring as a early enrolled student (he is 14). Dd isn't doing science at this time.

[Storm Bay]

Sure, we use textbooks for my dd, who is a freshman. This semester she has textbooks for Geometry, Chemistry & Traditional Logic. We have lectures to go with the latter two. In the spring, we're going to use a Rod & Staff text for the grammar portion of English, and we're going to use SWB's History of the Ancient World as a spine. I'm not sure of SWB's book is truly a textbook or not, but it leans more in that direction and will be our main history source for my math/science focused dd.

 

I also used textbooks for some middle school subjects, such as American History since a. I'm a dual citizen and didn't study a lot of it, b. my dc don't really want to study it (well, I have one who now enjoys it even though it's not ancient enough;),) some of our science, English. I even used a workbook with the middle school American History for my eldest for whom history ended up being a "just the facts" type course. I have learned that we can't do it all. DD is only planning to do Latin I & II in high school, to help her with science, and in no way plans to study any classics in Latin. I have neither the background to teach it to her myself nor the desire to make her do it some other way.

 

That said, we are doing extra things with our education that aren't covered with a school-at-home approach, such as lots of logic, studying extra aspects to subjects, etc. For eg, my dd, who is doing Geometry, is going to have to read a history of mathematics book this semester. My middle one is most likely to do the most classical history in high school at this point; my ds the most likely to do that approach with literature, even though he's more into science and math.

[Nan in Mass]

I think textbooks are fine for some things. If we find a subject uninteresting but required, we tend to use a textbook. Some things work fine with a textbook, like math, although you need to check to see if the student can apply what he is learning to thngs outside the textbook. (I had one who went all the way through a year of Saxon before I figured out that he couldn't put Saxon's convenient bite-sized math concepts back together again to apply it.) Textbooks make nice spines. We've done plenty of textbooks where we read the textbook, answered the questions (perhaps orally), and then looked around to see what else covered that topic, like a trip to the science museum or an article in National Geographic. Things tend to show up when we need them. If they don't, we just move on to the next topic. I don't spend time beforehand finding extras for each topic. I agree that high school would be daunting if it were done that way. I often use the textbook sort of flexibly.

 

Would an example help? This year (9th), my son does math with a textbook. Then we do a tiny bit of Latin, also with a textbook, but not one that we are trying to finish in a year. (This is one way to flex them - at the end of a few years, when we finish this textbook, I'll give him a credit for Latin 3 on his transcript.) Then we do French, also with textbooks. This time, though, I have flexed the texts a different way: he is using a 6th grade French child's French and history/geography books. The French book is like a 6th grade English book, with sections on homonyms and newspaper articles and dictionary use, and reading passages with vocab and comprehension questions. The history book covers ancients (conveniently) and is almost all quotes or photos of primary sources with questions. Very nice for a textbook! My son struggles to answer the questions, not because he doesn't understand the French (although those reading passages are a challenge) but because he isn't used to answering textbook questions and often doesn't know what sort of scope or aspect to give for an answer. I don't think it is a bad idea to learn this. He also is having to look at several photos and make educated guesses, something that is fairly easy for him but which he hates to do, being a literal sort of person. Next we do great books. We are just finishing up Gilgamesh. He read the section on Mesopotamia in an American Western Civ book (fairly high level), then we looked around for whatever else we had around and I found my parents' Time Life book on Meso., which had some great quotes from students studying to be scribes complaining about their teachers. We read part of the introduction to the book (which had an extensive explanation of how the translation was done). The we read Gilgamesh. Then we went through the questions in TWEM. Somewhere in all that, he came up with a question and he is now doing a bit more background reading (mostly on the internet). Then he'll write a short paper. So - another textbook used in an untextbooky fashion. Next he does his science. He's doing natural history using MODG's syllabus, which doesn't involve a textbook except for the drawing part. Then he does something we've labelled "technology", for lack of a better word. He has investigated how to make several of his ideas, abandonned them because they were too hard, and finally ran across a programming language he'd like to learn. So he's working on that. Slowly. No textbook here. I think at this point one might be rather welcome GRIN. He's making do with youtube videos and my bumbling help. And last he does piano. He decided to teach himself this year and is using youtube videos for this, also, to my dismay. Here is a place I wish he would use a textbook. At this rate, he will forget how to read music, something he only sort of memorized in the first place. He has a book of George Winston pieces that he adores, but... again... he uses it creatively: he listens to a CD, finds a passage that he loves, tries to play it by ear, goes to the book for help when he gets stuck, figures it out, and then uses it a base to improvise off of, expanding it into a long piece that varies every time he plays it. I love listening to him, but I wonder if he is going to get frustrated and hit a wall at some point.

 

As you can see, we are finding textbooks very useful. We use them our own way. I don't do lots of planning, other than to decide how we are going to cover which subjects every year. TWTM taught us how to learn things our own way, using a mix of resources, and provides enough guidance that I don't have to spend lots of time pulling courses together.

 

I think your question was a really good one. I hope more people give you examples of how they are using textbooks, or not using them.

 

-Nan

[Ruth in NC]

We have textbooks in the house on most topics. For math we have always used textbooks but for literature, we never have.

 

My history-loving teen son read widely in history with textbooks as a minor resource but he preferred textbooks for the sciences.

 

My biology-loving daughter read widely in biology using textbooks mostly for the math related science topics. She preferred history textbooks.

 

Ruth in NC

[creekland]

I'm a textbook person (Teaching Textbooks, Apologia, Notgrass, Lightning Lit) for the main subjects with some BJU (Geography) and Abeka (Health) thrown in when needed. I've also added Gencoe to Bio (non-Christian perspective) and Teaching Company to Chemistry (nice supplement - especially now when it can be bought for $40 on the special sale).

 

We also supplement with a variety of other learning from traveling to educational TV and discussions plus 'other' reading. I don't regret a bit of it. Mine have started reaching the 'getting into college' stage (the senior and sophomore at least) and are having no difficulty getting really good scores on the SAT/ACT, getting accepted and getting merit scholarships.

 

I don't want to change a thing.

[HappyGrace]

Thank you so much for these examples and for sharing your experiences. It is very helpful to see what people are doing with textbooks. I like the idea of using them for maybe some subjects and not others. I'm still intimidated to see that even with textbooks, it helps to know how to delve into it and take it further and hash it out-that's a little scary! That's the kind of thing I hoped the textbooks would give me handholding on.

 

I look forward to hearing more-great discussion!

[Nan in Mass]

HappyGrace, I didn't always choose to use the textbook creatively LOL. Often, it just sort of happens by accident. I don't think there is an easy way out of high school, unless you outsource. If you use textbooks, you still need to keep track of what your child is doing, offer help, and link what is in the textbook to the outside world. High school is a lot of work. Because I don't remember much of my own education, I have to either farm things out completely or I have to do them with my children. Or I have to give up on them and let the child do them in a less-than-thorough or less-than-traditional way. Sometimes that last option has turned out to be the best. For us, anyway, there is no easy way. Everything we touch, we adapt and adopt, somehow, someway.

-Nan

[Storm Bay]

HappyGrace, I didn't always choose to use the textbook creatively LOL. Often, it just sort of happens by accident. I don't think there is an easy way out of high school, unless you outsource. If you use textbooks, you still need to keep track of what your child is doing, offer help, and link what is in the textbook to the outside world. High school is a lot of work. Because I don't remember much of my own education, I have to either farm things out completely or I have to do them with my children. Or I have to give up on them and let the child do them in a less-than-thorough or less-than-traditional way. Sometimes that last option has turned out to be the best. For us, anyway, there is no easy way. Everything we touch, we adapt and adopt, somehow, someway.

-Nan

 

 

Good point. Also, for some things, we don't go beyond the textbook because our dd has absolutely no interest in the topic, is 14, strong willed and we choose our battles and our compromises. These are subjects that she does because they're required by law (that's not much of an exaggeration, either.) On the other hand, she really enjoys or semi-secretly enjoys certain subjects, so I'm adding things in the unlikely subjects I mentioned above, such as reading a history of math. This is not the place most people think of adding on history. I'm also planning to get her a book of fiction stories all about math I saw in the AMS catalog, etc.

[PeterPan]

Ok Karin, I'm looking all over the AMS bookstore on their website and haven't found any fiction, lol. Any tips? Is this a printed catalog? What section do I look in? Titles?

[Storm Bay]

Ok Karin, I'm looking all over the AMS bookstore on their website and haven't found any fiction, lol. Any tips? Is this a printed catalog? What section do I look in? Titles?

 

It's featured in the latest print catalogue, which I've been getting since ordering that Geometry course. Riot at the Calc Exam and Other Mathematically Bent Stories by Colin Adams. Order code MBK/62, price $32 for non members, $26 for members. It says "Readership: General mathematical audience interested in light mathematical reading."

 

ETA http://www.ams.org/bookstore?s3=Riot+at+the+Calc+Exam&pg1=&s1=&op1=AND&co1=AND&pg2=&s2=&op2=AND&co2=AND&op3=AND&co3=AND&pg3=ALLF&fn=100&d=BOOK&p=1&u=&r=0&l=100&f=S&subject=genint

Edited November 11, 2009 by Karin

[PeterPan]

Thanks Karin! It's a little over our heads right now, but it's something to save for later! :)

[SW in IL]

We're doing a combination of mostly textbooks and workbooks. We're doing a bit of catchup this year in what should be ds's freshman year of high school. We're using an interesting mix that seems to be working for us...

 

American Government using the GreatSource Coursebook and Teacher's Guide

History of Science using the Joy Hakim book along with a student quest guide and associated teacher's guide

Basic Math DVDs from The Teaching Company along with assorted workbooks for the early topics and then will be using Key To... series books when we get to fractions, decimals, etc.

IEW for writing using a workbook instead of (and, at times, in addition to) the SWI/TWSS syllabi and using IEW supplements as needed

Windows to the World for Literature and for writing later on

Introduction to Computers using a college level textbook (an older version of the textbook used for the class at our local community college)

Spelling Workout, Vocabulary from Classical Roots, and Exercises in English to help him catch up in spelling, vocabulary and grammar.

 

I think that's basically what we're doing this semester and will just keep going adding in what works for us, be it workbooks, textbooks, coursebooks, curriculum, etc.

 

HTH,

Sue

[Nan in Mass]

Thinking about this some more... There are times when I would love to find a textbook that worked just as it is written. Somehow, it never works like that. The book goes too fast or too slow or my children know part of it already or parts are over their head. Often I discover that if we do it as written, we will have to devote three hours a day to it and that won't work. Or my children take nicely explained assignments and totally misinterpret them. Or they utterly refuse to do them as written. I would insist except that when they explain why, I can see that they have a point and let them do their idea of an assignment instead. And then it turns out that their idea, cool as it is, doesn't actually reinforce the textbook the way the original assignment did, and we have to do something about that. Or not and be left with a nagging feeling that we what we studied as blank is not people's standard idea of it and that will come back and bite us some day. Very few things actually work as written without modification. In high school, the things that have come closest are TWEM great books, MODG's Natural History Syllabus (we supplimented with extra projects and reading but at least we managed to do the syllabus about as written), Artistic Pursuits, and NEM (doing the odds). I guess as a textbook, Conceptual Physics worked out, also, although we never did much in the way of labs. The other books we've wound up flexing out of necessity. It might just be us, though. You might be able to find things that work about as written for your family. Just make sure that you keep track of what your child is learning so you can discuss it with them. Discussing means linking it to the real world, finding out what they think about it, talkiing about your own experience with it, linking it to their own lives by asking what experiences they've had like that, asking where they might find it useful in the future, and getting them to ask questions about it. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to know about it already. They can explain it to you and then you can ask them questions. Just try to make your questions genuine, not fake. Teenagers find fake questions annoying. I find it works best to ask questions that I don't know the answer to.

-Nan

[LBS]

I hope this is not going to be a misplaced question, but textbooks are not so common in the homeschooling world. Please correct me, as I am new: I see many textbooks created by and for homeschooling folk. My question is sort of sideways. I have just discovered a wonderful world of textbooks intended for classrooms, middle school, high school and college level. For many reasons I'd like to explore a couple subjects thru this kind of textbooks. I found a website (no doubt there are many) where very good to like new condition textbooks seem to be $5-$15 with TEs for about the same. Many are recent enough editions that their publisher websites still sell the accompanying workbooks, study guides, etc. I have an account with the publisher, to buy components from them and there are amazing resources, free on the site, tied in perfectly with the textbooks. So, can the names of these kinds of publishers, be mentioned in a positive way on forums? I.E. "I recommend a particularly good middle school general science course from XYZ publisher, my dd loved it and we used it for two years," or "we used the US History by ABC as a spine for our high school, from DEF Publishers."

 

There may be huge threads out there already about this, and I see so much reference to Jackson Spielvogel's history textbooks, which we have selected and that led to the discovery of the amazing Glencoe website support for textbooks. This has a great attraction and merit for my homeschooled son, more reasons than this long post needs.

 

SO, can all give me recommendations for textbooks (any) but specifically for upper middle school and high school stuff? Or direct me to threads. I have looked but will do more, if it is out there.

 

Many thanks,

LBS

[Nan in Mass]

TWTM recommends some. You could look in that. And if you search for Cambell's biology or Henle's or Wheelock's Latin or Dolciani's math, you will find some more that have been discussed here.

[Jean in Wisc]

My children have all preferred textbooks in the high school years. I still put my own English together, but I usually pick and choose the titles and then find material to help me with it--Omnibus, Cliff's Notes, Sparknotes....

 

I think using the textbooks in science in junior high is important because they get a chance to read, study, and test, learning how to "get a grade" prior to having to do it in high school (I would never try to do science without a text in high school).

 

I read and choose texts carefully to find ones that are interesting. My kids find textbooks to give them the independence that they want in their upper years.

 

Jean

[TeaTotaler]

Completely off topic...Jean I love your new avatar. Hope all is well with you and your family. Is your dh still commuting some distance to work?

Take care.

 

 

My children have all preferred textbooks in the high school years. I still put my own English together, but I usually pick and choose the titles and then find material to help me with it--Omnibus, Cliff's Notes, Sparknotes....

 

I think using the textbooks in science in junior high is important because they get a chance to read, study, and test, learning how to "get a grade" prior to having to do it in high school (I would never try to do science without a text in high school).

 

I read and choose texts carefully to find ones that are interesting. My kids find textbooks to give them the independence that they want in their upper years.

 

Jean

[TeaTotaler]

My ds is still young so this is not from a BTDT perspective but my feeling is that if it takes a textbook to accomplish the goals I have for our hsing then so be it. I see myself moving toward textbooks for Math and Science. I am more comfortable using other books for things like History, Literature etc. We have been using R&S Grammar for some time and I don't see us dropping that any time soon. I hear you on the time it takes in picking components for subjects. I feel like these days I need to spend all the time I can get, on prepping to stay ahead of ds.

 

I have a rising 5th grader, always done classical, thinking of our long-term plan. (Starting to panic a little when I look down the road.)

 

I've NEVER been a textbook fan, but I'm wondering if it would just make things easier for the long run? I don't really think I want to go through all the researching to pick individual components to use for all subjects, like I've always done in elementary.

 

Obviously with these being classical boards, people may be biased-I know I always have been! Just trying to think outside the box a little bit.

 

Care to share your experiences-positive or negative?

[Jean in Wisc]

Completely off topic...Jean I love your new avatar. Hope all is well with you and your family. Is your dh still commuting some distance to work?

Take care.

 

Hi! :)

 

My oldest 2 are commuting to college--they drive back and forth together each day. It is working out well. Don't think dc#2 is going to have a 4.0 like dc#1, though. I think he just might get a B in math.

 

:lol: I was so worried that I had not prepared them for college!

 

Dh is working out of the home these days. He travels several days/week, but most nights he is home. This week he is gone 4 days, but that is rare. We are so glad those 4 to 5 days a week on the other side of the state are done!!!! Dh rented the crop ground out this year. It is SO NICE not to be trying to get the crops out of the field between the rain and the machinery breakdowns.

 

I've only my youngest now that is homeschooling. He is a sophomore and is quite self-driven. I don't spend a lot of time doing school anymore, but life is busy. I joined Civil Air Patrol (to help with the cadet paperwork), take my ds to debate each week, visit my mom and in-laws weekly, cook meals for 1 to 6 people (dd is engaged, so future sil is here as often as he can get here :D ), do the paper shuffle for our astronomy club (I'm president), drag my telescope outside as often as the sky is clear and I'm awake enough to brave the cold weather, and am trying to learn how to take raw digital photos...I think I need a new (bigger) computer. I get up early each morning so that I can chat with the kids before they leave for the day and stay up late so that I can chat with the kids before they go to bed.

 

I wish I had a cleaner house.

 

:D Thanks for asking.

 

And how are you doing? I've lost contact with most of the folks on this board. I drop by to see if anyone is hailing me and search to see if there are any astronomy threads going, but otherwise, I don't stop in too much anymore. I figure I should give back a little of what others have given me--I would not have made homeschooling work as well if I had not had these boards!

 

:) Take care,

Jean

Edited November 12, 2009 by Jean in Wisc

[TeaTotaler]

Wow, Jean. Your kids have grown so fast. You have done a great job. Kudos to you!! Glad to hear that dh is able to work from home more. Yes, getting the crops out of the field this year would've been awful. We have lots of friends back in MN who farm and things have been awful there. Thankfully the weather here in IN hasn't been too bad. Dh is not a farmer but does research on soybeans so he keeps a farmer's schedule ;) The poor guy broke his foot 3 weeks ago and has been hobbling with a plastic bag over a "boot" in the fields. Has made for a very interesting and challenging harvest season.

 

Ds and I are trying to hang in there with dh's difficult job situation which is long story so I will spare you. Chronic health issues continue to plague me but I have a lot to be thankful for so I try to focus on those to help me get through some tough days.

 

I haven't posted on the boards a lot either. After our move last Sep I had to go into survival mode. It has actually been fun to hang out a bit on the High School board and see some of the old timers still here.

 

Are you still in touch with Miz Booshay and Kim in ON? Once in a blue moon I will check their blogs.

 

I actually thought about you the other day. I still have an old post of yours re: the electronic dictionary. Last week when ds and I read Beowulf retold by Ian Serraillier I was thinking that it would've come in handy. I may just have to put that on my wishlist.

 

Well, it was fun chatting with you.

 

Take care,

VH

P.S. Sorry to the OP for the thread tangent.

 

 

Hi! :)

 

My oldest 2 are commuting to college--they drive back and forth together each day. It is working out well. Don't think dc#2 is going to have a 4.0 like dc#1, thought. I think he just might get a B in math.

 

:lol: I was so worried that I had not prepared them for college!

 

Dh is working out of the home these days. He travels several days/week, but most nights he is home. This week he is gone 4 days, but that is rare. We are so glad those 4 to 5 days a week on the other side of the state are done!!!! Dh rented the crop ground out this year. It is SO NICE not to be trying to get the crops out of the field between the rain and the machinery breakdowns.

 

I've only my youngest now that is homeschooling. He is a sophomore and is quite self-driven. I don't spend a lot of time doing school anymore, but life is busy. I joined Civil Air Patrol (to help with the cadet paperwork), take my ds to debate each week, visit my mom and in-laws weekly, cook meals for 1 to 6 people (dd is engaged, so future sil is here as often as he can get here :D ), do the paper shuffle for our astronomy club (I'm president), drag my telescope outside as often as the sky is clear and I'm awake enough to brave the cold weather, and am trying to learn how to take raw digital photos...I think I need a new (bigger) computer. I get up early each morning so that I can chat with the kids before they leave for the day and stay up late so that I can chat with the kids before they go to bed.

 

I wish I had a cleaner house.

 

:D Thanks for asking.

 

And how are you doing? I've lost contact with most of the folks on this board. I drop by to see if anyone is hailing me and search to see if there are any astronomy threads going, but otherwise, I don't stop in too much anymore. I figure I should give back a little of what others have given me--I would not have made homeschooling work as well if I had not had these boards!

 

:) Take care,

Jean