How's Your School Year Going?

[Heathermomster]

Ours is going well. We are on day 70, and I can hardly believe it.

 

I quit scheduling, as in writing out all the assignments more than one day in advance. That is huge in this house.

 

He enjoys playing the trumpet and works with a tutor once per week.

 

We love grammar. Koopa works on grammar and vocab everyday. Thus far, I've combined EG6 and Winston Basic with no problems. He does one unit of Sadlier-Oxford The Vocabulary Workshop, per week. He also reviews English From the Roots Up cards weekly.

 

Epsilon MUS has been a total game changer for DS. I have no idea whether the concepts will stick long term, but math has been a huge improvement this year.

 

I scrapped the Bible curric we were using and turned to an OT/NT survey written by Starr Meade, and we love it.

 

Ancients with history this year has been awesome. DS uses a computer based timeline software and practices writing summaries and outlining. He watches docs and reads from Oxford University Ancients texts which is a vast improvement to the red KFH.

 

IEW w/OG tutor---Not in love with it, though we will stick with it until the end of the school year. DS can write a KWO no problem. He's learning to use a thesaurus, which is a plus.

 

Historical fiction thus far has been a bust. He's detested everything (Gilgamesh, Golden Goblet, Tales of Ancient Egypt). He's read 4 books from the Alex Rider series using his Kindle. We listened to The Odyssey in the car and will need to start reading mythology very soon.

 

Life Science has not been the love fest I was counting on. We are currently reviewing the human body unit. I expected the microscope to be a huge hit. He's not really interested in collecting data (like me), and paramecium were harder to observe than we expected. I've picked up several living books on physics and basic electricity to get started with next. Will have to dig out the snap circuits. I kinda want to do some star gazing too. We read aloud a chapter from the Story of Science weekly too.

 

Overall, school has been good. He's turning into a pimply teenager and has been sent to bed for a nap twice so far. He hasn't napped since he was 2.5 years old. I sometimes get nervous worrying whether we are covering enough material. We are both happy with the situation, and I just hope he receives a life long benefit.

 

How's everyone doing? I'd love to hear all about it.

 

Blessings,

Heather

[PeterPan]

We worked so hard for 9 weeks that come last week we were both ready for a BREAK! So last week about mid-week we finally gave up and just started sewing and pursuing our new papercrafting hobbies. We continued it on into this week. I think she may have gotten the rest of her school work checklist from last week done. We really don't get anything done without a checklist. It leaves her floundering, asking what's next and feeling unconfident.

 

Some of the things we were using aren't turning out to be worth the effort. The BJU lit 9 is just so-so. It's fine for what it is. It's just dd is SUCH a prolific reader and already sees the things they ask about. They think about the literature so narrowly, it's really pathetic. Take "Treasure Island." They have you read the first 5 chapters of the book, which should be really cool and engrossing. Then they have you watch the movie and compare using their worksheets. Well that's fine, and you think you're going to have this really cool experience, right? NOPE. The ONLY thing they draw out of all that reading is *character development*. Thanks. No history, no background, no love joy and affection, no themes, no creative application. Just read this book and think about the one thing we told you to think about and turn off the rest of your brain or die of boredom. And in similar fashion they manage to kill just about every other cool author they cite. I know it's hard to fathom someone NOT loving Willa Cather or Shirley Jackson after reading their stuff, but somehow the BJU lit manages it, lol. There was a little bit worthwhile in it, so I think we're just going to fiddle with it, milk what we want, and move on.

 

History isn't as romantically awesome and alive as I wish, but I really don't bring anything to the table to help with that. And no matter how hard I've tried, I've NEVER been able to be as awesome with history as she wants. She has this indefinable great NEED. Really she'd do better with someone who likes history mentoring her. She likes the text we're using at least.

 

Science is a work in progress. The material is just really hard

 

Everything else is fine. WWS is not hard for her. Math is fine. She read everything by Tolkien this semester, and now she has gotten into fan fiction. She's been writing fan fiction and entered a contest. (That's only ironic if you knew how much she said she was NOT a writer before, lol.) We're excited about the cardmaking and papercrafting stuff we're getting into, and of course she has her sewing and cooking. She's making a dress from LotR to wear to the Hobbit opening. I'm having her make it in another fabric first (just to wear to church) before she does it with the velveteen. And with winter coming I may be able to send her down to Grandma's to knit, hehe. She'll sit down to knit when I knit, but I'm pathetically slow. I'm more of a crocheter, and she hasn't taken to crochet yet.

 

We're not doing anything wild this year or even particularly outside. We needed more of an introverted year where we just focused on our school work and having time for crafts and creativity after a really crunchy year last year with so many therapy trips and co-op. She has a friend we can get together with on occasion to papercraft, so that's fun.

[TippyCanoe]

nm

Edited November 21, 2012 by Doodler

[Heathermomster]

Doodler,

 

Tell your DD that I'll gladly tote her luggage if she'll take me to the UK with her..:D

 

I visited an uncle and aunt (by marriage) on Sat. I haven't seen them in a very long time. Anyho, ..aunt's 10yo grand daughter is Aspies and I told her how well your DD was doing. She loves horses ...Your DD's progress speaks for itself. It's awesome.

[rafiki]

nt

[rafiki]

nt

[FairProspects]

Ds - 2nd grade, 2E dyslexic/dysgraphic/SPD

 

Doing really well this year but confounding me on all levels. He went through 6 intense months with Lego Mindstorms and 2 programming/design manuals and then decided that was enough and he had done all he wanted with that medium. Has been working on teaching himself electronics and soldering, because he wants to move on to building real machines and robots rather than Lego versions. Has been working on 3D wood aeronautical models and rockets as well as wood Davinci projects. He is still frustrated by arithmetic and doesn't like it unless it is hands-on. I think he views math as something to be tolerated until it can do him some good in building. Not sure where to take him as far as building and science because he is getting far beyond my mechanical understanding but can't yet build the things he really wants to build on his own b/c he can't saw, solder, weld, etc. w/o parental supervision & help.

 

He is also stymied by his reading, we have been going through Rewards and the reading is improving, but the fluency is still not there and his reading level really hurts him b/c he can't access the instructions in the manuals he wants to read. He absolutely adores MCT and I've seen a dramatic increase in his grammar and writing skills as he "gets" it. I think we will move into true writing composition once we finish MCT materials, but I'm not sure what.

 

Reading fluency continues to be the biggest challenge along with arithmetic and finding something that will work for us other than just slogging through it quickly (I'm not sure that it exists). Another issue has been giving ds enough time to pursue his building projects and interests - his natural pace is slow, and it seems like skills work at his slow pace eats up so much of our time. Still striving for balance this year and the math placement still feels off to me, but otherwise we are doing great!

 

Ds 2 - K is doing great too, but he has no special needs that I'm aware of yet other than being a kid. He is still super active and reading has not yet clicked, so I am busy running between the two and reading everything aloud to everyone! Hoping for some reading improvement with him by the end of the year. He loves people and art and papercrafts, and has come up with some very creative projects so far.

[Mukmuk]

I love that website, Doodler! This is what we homeschoolers can do, yeah!

 

School for us has been fantastic. It wasn't always this way!! Almost every year, I would have changed curriculums many times over by now and still not have gotten very far. THis year though, except for writing, which is his most unfavorite part of the day, and science, which he moved from physical science to chemistry because he wants to work with me, everything is beautiful. AOPS especially. I'll be adding one more math segment when the books arrive.

 

Typically, we don't have a structure. We just have books that he wants to roll one day to the next. I keep this in a box so that we don't forget anything. If he doesn't take a book out for a long time, I'd remind him. If he dislikes it, we discuss why and if he really objects, I'd look for an alternative.

 

DS is a major Lego Mindstorms fan and has done many many projects. I actually wish he'd move on to non-Lego building and programming :tongue_smilie: more often now (he had this period making all sorts of things with playing cards and stuff from around the house last year, but that's over). It was from this book, which comes in 2 volumes. But this is what drives him, so I leave it be. Perhaps in a few years, there is something else.

 

Yesterday, DS announced he wants to learn more about DNA and genetics (he picked this up from some rudimentary books on DNA we have). We've done zero biology because this kid is so averse to blood. He's asking for a telescope for Christmas. So it's going to be a solid few weeks of research for me as these topics are completely new.

 

DS is also loving TKD and violin. For violin, he just started on Book 3 Suzuki yesterday and is super thrilled. He's humming the songs non stop because he believes this helps him play better. We even heard him humming in his sleep!

[Just Jane]

DS9 - He has CP and ADD (with some other symptoms that don't fit into either).

 

A big hit this year has been tracing copy work sheets that I make for him online. Curriculum wise - Apples and Pears, Developmental Math, Grammar songs all have been good fits too. His reading has really improved this year and he is reading independently! He struggles with comprehension but is enjoying reading now :party:. He still loves read-alouds, audio books, iPad Apps and various projects and experiments that he joins in on with my other dc. He does have his struggles and moments of frustration (so do I). I've learned to put away the school books on those days. Overall he is doing very well! :001_smile:

[TippyCanoe]

nm

[Heathermomster]

Some of the things we were using aren't turning out to be worth the effort. The BJU lit 9 is just so-so. It's fine for what it is. It's just dd is SUCH a prolific reader and already sees the things they ask about. They think about the literature so narrowly, it's really pathetic. Take "Treasure Island." They have you read the first 5 chapters of the book, which should be really cool and engrossing. Then they have you watch the movie and compare using their worksheets. Well that's fine, and you think you're going to have this really cool experience, right? NOPE. The ONLY thing they draw out of all that reading is *character development*. Thanks. No history, no background, no love joy and affection, no themes, no creative application. Just read this book and think about the one thing we told you to think about and turn off the rest of your brain or die of boredom. And in similar fashion they manage to kill just about every other cool author they cite. I know it's hard to fathom someone NOT loving Willa Cather or Shirley Jackson after reading their stuff, but somehow the BJU lit manages it, lol.

 

Everything else is fine. WWS is not hard for her. Math is fine. She read everything by Tolkien this semester, and now she has gotten into fan fiction. She's been writing fan fiction and entered a contest. (That's only ironic if you knew how much she said she was NOT a writer before, lol.) We're excited about the cardmaking and papercrafting stuff we're getting into, and of course she has her sewing and cooking. She's making a dress from LotR to wear to the Hobbit opening. I'm having her make it in another fabric first (just to wear to church) before she does it with the velveteen. And with winter coming I may be able to send her down to Grandma's to knit, hehe. She'll sit down to knit when I knit, but I'm pathetically slow. I'm more of a crocheter, and she hasn't taken to crochet

 

That is awesome that your DD is writing fanfic and crafting. I sew, knit, and make cards and my children work with me. I gave DS a hand crank sewing machine when he was in pre-k. He hasn't used it in a couple of years. I love Tolkien and go on Tolkien reading binges.

 

Your comments about BJU lit make me think of the resources produced by The Great Books Foundation.

 

I picked up the materials for Echoes from Mt. Olympus, which is really intended for small group discussion. Whatever the case, the literary focus shifts with each reading selection.

[Heathermomster]

I was bracing for these middle school/pre-teen years, but am finding them enjoyable.

 

7th with ADHD/Anxiety

DS reads for hours a day both fiction and non. The Keys To Math series has been a great fit for him. He worked on their Geometry for a few months, then wanted to switch gears and is doing the Algebra book now. He’ll soon complete the series, I’m not sure what similar options are after that. He’s writing regularly on his own. He’s still working on his Minecraft book which is ~ 40 pages now. He’s written to companies, designed business flyers, written proposals, takes notes, emails, etc. He also makes home videos. He’d like to get into writing product reviews. I have “I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar†in my cart as I think it would fit him. He’s been doing Complete a Sketch on his own. Both Complete a Sketch and the Keys to Geometry have really helped him with his drawing confidence. He now has a sketch book and draws for fun. It’s nice to see. He’s gotten out of the electronics and Make! phase and is now into computers, loving everything from the “for teens technology†series. He’s also a fan of Instructables and DIY.org. Both of those have really helped his executive functioning and attention. He loves Sid Meir’s Civilization and has the fifth one on his Christmas list. He enjoys watching history re-enactments. He used Mindstorms the first quarter for a robotics unit. Now he’s chosen to read Singapore’s Interactive text. He’s been doing repairs around the house with dh supervising. He’s replaced the bellow in our front loader, hooked up the water line to our ice maker, fixed a weed whacker, replaced the motor on our water heater, replaced our sump pump, hard wired a light fixture, did maintenance on our car, repaired our paver patio, all kinds of good stuff. He goes to karate 3-4 times a week, taking regular, special classes, attending seminars, and also is a volunteer assistant with the younger belt levels. He also runs regularly as part of his karate training.

 

Complete a Sketch looks good. Which book from the "for teens technology" would your DS recommend as a starter book?

 

DS uses 3-D rendering software that is free over at google. He loves 3-D imaging software and is pleased when users download his designs. He's also into airplane model making.

 

A couple years back, DH found a really nice tool box on Craig's list, filled it with tools, and gave it to DS for his birthday.

 

DS wants to study physics next, and I'm not quite sure how to approach it. I was thinking of teaching him how to calculate currents and voltages from series and parallel circuits and play with magnets. I picked up a book titled Teaching Physics with Toys. We need a stop watch.

[Heathermomster]

I know this must be frustrating and disappointing for you, but I am delighted to finally meet a child who isn't interested in historical fiction about the ancient world. Dd LOATHES it (although to be fair, she loathes anything and everything connected with the ancients). She called Gilgamesh the worst story she ever read. I gave up on historical fiction long ago.

 

However, there are signs that she is coming to enjoy certain carefully selected historical novels, when it isn't obviously a "life in that time period" type of story. For instance, she's currently interested in P.D. James's detective mystery which is set in Jane Austen's world, and features Mr. Darcy (though not much of Lizzy) in a prominent role. Time travel into the past is not only acceptable, but is eagerly welcomed. Plays that deal with the past in fictional/story form are acceptable.

 

Thanks for commenting on the London trip. Dd has quite a bit of anxiety in general, so overcoming the fear of flying and the fear of change -- two things that loom very large in her anxiety list -- is really a huge step for her, almost unbelievable. And only theater could have gotten her to do it.

 

He totally HATED Gilgamesh. OK, you've convinced me. I need to explore theatre options. During a Scholastic sale, I picked up a couple of Roman and Greek plays that we will read aloud together during our Ancient Greek and Roman phase. I need to revisit those plays. One was about Caesar...

 

I read the P.D. James book that you mentioned. I'm curious to hear your DD's reaction....Funny thing, DS loves Jane Austen movies. Poor kid never really had a choice, as DH and I watched them when he was very young and the only child.

 

Have a great weekend!,

[Heathermomster]

 

Yesterday, DS announced he wants to learn more about DNA and genetics (he picked this up from some rudimentary books on DNA we have). We've done zero biology because this kid is so averse to blood. He's asking for a telescope for Christmas. So it's going to be a solid few weeks of research for me as these topics are completely new.

 

 

 

3 words...ScienceWhiz DNA kit...

 

It's great that he is loving violin.

[PeterPan]

He totally HATED Gilgamesh. OK, you've convinced me.

 

I think the whole idea of classical and GB/WTM reading lists has people pushing their kids to read stuff they really aren't ready for yet. Not that you're pushy, but if it's JUST NOW interesting to us (and didn't ruin our lives that we hadn't read it before), is it any SHOCK that it's not interesting to our kids?! We have the occasional stray child who really gets into history and likes the GB, but there's a segment that either isn't ready to interact with that material or is never going to be interested in that material. And the shame is, it leaves them concluding they DON'T like something when they MIGHT have given about 20 more years of maturity and readiness.

 

I hate history. I'm more of a language/science/anything else person. Gilgamesh wouldn't have meant much to me as a junior higher, but it's actually fascinating to read now. But why? Because now I can do it the way that interests *me*. I get a whole bunch of versions and compare them as translations. :D

 

People have ways they relate to the material, and I totally reject this gender-neutral, core curriculum approach to education that says there are lists you need to cover no matter what. I think girls ought to have the chance to approach ancient literature via the prism of women's interests if they want, and geeky science boys ought to have the chance to look at it through the prism of science and totally skip the "must" lists.

 

Sorry for the rant. :D

[Tiramisu]

He totally HATED Gilgamesh. OK, you've convinced me. I need to explore theatre options. During a Scholastic sale, I picked up a couple of Roman and Greek plays that we will read aloud together during our Ancient Greek and Roman phase. I need to revisit those plays. One was about Caesar...

 

I read the P.D. James book that you mentioned. I'm curious to hear your DD's reaction....Funny thing, DS loves Jane Austen movies. Poor kid never really had a choice, as DH and I watched them when he was very young and the only child.

 

Have a great weekend!,

 

I'm a P.D. James fan, though I haven't read her in ages. What's the name of that book? :tongue_smilie:

[PeterPan]

That is awesome that your DD is writing fanfic and crafting. I sew, knit, and make cards and my children work with me. I gave DS a hand crank sewing machine when he was in pre-k. He hasn't used it in a couple of years. I love Tolkien and go on Tolkien reading binges.

 

Your comments about BJU lit make me think of the resources produced by The Great Books Foundation.

 

I picked up the materials for Echoes from Mt. Olympus, which is really intended for small group discussion. Whatever the case, the literary focus shifts with each reading selection.

 

You know that's a good point that we could transition to more of a GB-style approach. If we finish out the BJU lit the way I'm thinking, we'll be done by Christmas. Maybe we'll go that way after that. I liked Doodle's suggestion of the Schmoop guides in another thread. I just hadn't really gotten further. My whole vision of the next two months has suddenly gotten very busy (my dad coming for almost 2 weeks, etc.), so I'm going into make a lot of lists and survive mode. :)

 

Your comment about your ds is so sweet. We just got a Big Shot not even sure what it's called. It has a crank and you run things through it with die cutters of various types. There are the old style ellison die cutters that can cut fabric, chipboard, paper, all sorts of stuff, and new thinner ones called framelits and sizzlets. You can also do texture folders, letterpress (adding texture and ink), etc. Pretty cool! So it gets kind of crazy, because people stamp and then cut, then they take the shapes and apply the geometry to glue the shapes together and create dimensional objects like ornaments. It's all really whitty. So I've been on overload with all the options for that and learning how to do it. MOST people make cards, and that's what I think my dd wants to do. I'm more of an object person. So we're just learning what it can do and letting it open up avenues for us. Oh, and my mechanical ds indeed DOES like to crank the machine to run the stuff through! I think it's sweet that he and I can have time together working, in a thing that's normally limited to dd. I got a bird die (cutter), and I thought he and I would crank out birds and decorate them with glitter, feathers, etc. to make ornaments. Should be up his alley. :)

[Heathermomster]

I'm a P.D. James fan, though I haven't read her in ages. What's the name of that book? :tongue_smilie:

Death Comes to Pemberley

[chepyl]

We are doing great!! We have completed 11 weeks. I wanted to be at 12 weeks by now, but Matthew made a late entrance into the world and threw off my plans! The kids are not as distracted by the baby as they were at first.

 

DD is starting to really read! After having her eyes checked, we took a few weeks off and did oral blending and said the alphabet for a while. This week we did letter flashcards and puzzles and yesterday she read the first two Bob Books!

 

DS loves everything we are doing! We have rough days, but mostly good ones.

[Heathermomster]

You know that's a good point that we could transition to more of a GB-style approach. If we finish out the BJU lit the way I'm thinking, we'll be done by Christmas. Maybe we'll go that way after that. I liked Doodle's suggestion of the Schmoop guides in another thread. I just hadn't really gotten further. My whole vision of the next two months has suddenly gotten very busy (my dad coming for almost 2 weeks, etc.), so I'm going into make a lot of lists and survive mode. :)

 

Your comment about your ds is so sweet. We just got a Big Shot not even sure what it's called. It has a crank and you run things through it with die cutters of various types. There are the old style ellison die cutters that can cut fabric, chipboard, paper, all sorts of stuff, and new thinner ones called framelits and sizzlets. You can also do texture folders, letterpress (adding texture and ink), etc. Pretty cool! So it gets kind of crazy, because people stamp and then cut, then they take the shapes and apply the geometry to glue the shapes together and create dimensional objects like ornaments. It's all really whitty. So I've been on overload with all the options for that and learning how to do it. MOST people make cards, and that's what I think my dd wants to do. I'm more of an object person. So we're just learning what it can do and letting it open up avenues for us. Oh, and my mechanical ds indeed DOES like to crank the machine to run the stuff through! I think it's sweet that he and I can have time together working, in a thing that's normally limited to dd. I got a bird die (cutter), and I thought he and I would crank out birds and decorate them with glitter, feathers, etc. to make ornaments. Should be up his alley. :)

 

I'll have to look into the Schmoop guides.

 

Decorating birds and feathers for decorations would be awesome. I don't have any special die cutters, and we are out of space. My kids get into the paper crafting stuff and then it's everywhere. I like stamping, while the girl and man child prefer punches. They'll start gluing for the sake of gluing...It takes a bit of patience sometimes.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Heathermomster

[Tiramisu]

The highlights:

 

First of all, this year much is interest led but some is also to prepare her life, i.e., consumer math. :001_smile:

 

MUS Pre-calc is going much, much better than TT pre-calc went last year. Little bites are better. I hope it continues...

 

MUS Stewardship is getting done. Dd REALLY needs to know practical things that this book covers. It should be easy, but it's not. Believe it or not messing around with sins and cosines was easier for her than figuring out how much money someone brought in if they worked overtime. :confused:

 

Music History: Discovering Music. I can't comment on this yet. Dd doesn't seem to be as engaged as I'd hoped. On the other hand, she just started the 6 part Teaching Company/Great Courses series in music history by Prof. Greenberg and she's thrilled about it. She loves early music, so we had to make sure we got part 1 from interlibrary loan since someone stole that one from our library. :glare:

 

Music Theory: some workbook series (Master Theory?) and the Fundamentals for Aspiring Musicians. She loved going through Understanding the Fundamentals of Music by Professor Greenberg.

 

Literature and Theology are coop classes. She's doing all the reading but has missed class time because she's been feeling sick.

 

Busy preparing for auditions.

 

Second round SAT scores increased A LOT. She's in a very good position for scholarships. All applications submitted. We're just waiting for the people who are writing letters of recommendation to do their part.

[PeterPan]

My kids get into the paper crafting stuff and then it's everywhere. I like stamping, while the girl and man child prefer punches. They'll start gluing for the sake of gluing...It takes a bit of patience sometimes.

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: That's too funny!! And you're right, I totally find myself entranced by punches. I love the smooth swoosh as it guillotines the paper. Good sensory! And yes, glue is next on my hit list. I just "had" to buy a new glue gun, and now I'm wanting to try this Scotch Quick Dry that has a narrow applicator. I hadn't even thought about the potential messes when ds gets a hold of it. :D

 

Dd did a LOT of papercrafting when she was a kid, but it was all on her own or with dh. This is my adventure into the realm. I'm not quite so intuitive. My goal is to buy her the stuff and get out of the way. :)

[Heathermomster]

We are doing great!! We have completed 11 weeks. I wanted to be at 12 weeks by now, but Matthew made a late entrance into the world and threw off my plans! The kids are not as distracted by the baby as they were at first.

 

DD is starting to really read! After having her eyes checked, we took a few weeks off and did oral blending and said the alphabet for a while. This week we did letter flashcards and puzzles and yesterday she read the first two Bob Books!

 

DS loves everything we are doing! We have rough days, but mostly good ones.

 

This is great and a new baby!

 

I finally dug out the pre-AAR with the Ziggy puppet and the younger enjoys it.

[Heathermomster]

:lol: :lol: :lol: That's too funny!! And you're right, I totally find myself entranced by punches. I love the smooth swoosh as it guillotines the paper. Good sensory! And yes, glue is next on my hit list. I just "had" to buy a new glue gun, and now I'm wanting to try this Scotch Quick Dry that has a narrow applicator. I hadn't even thought about the potential messes when ds gets a hold of it. :D

 

Dd did a LOT of papercrafting when she was a kid, but it was all on her own or with dh. This is my adventure into the realm. I'm not quite so intuitive. My goal is to buy her the stuff and get out of the way. :)

 

Corner rounders are my thing. Truly, it's a sickness...and I wore out my paper cutter...Glue and feathers could be interesting. I need to search for coupons.

[Heathermomster]

The highlights:

 

First of all, this year much is interest led but some is also to prepare her life, i.e., consumer math. :001_smile:

 

MUS Pre-calc is going much, much better than TT pre-calc went last year. Little bites are better. I hope it continues...

 

MUS Stewardship is getting done. Dd REALLY needs to know practical things that this book covers. It should be easy, but it's not. Believe it or not messing around with sins and cosines was easier for her than figuring out how much money someone brought in if they worked overtime. :confused:

 

Music History: Discovering Music. I can't comment on this yet. Dd doesn't seem to be as engaged as I'd hoped. On the other hand, she just started the 6 part Teaching Company/Great Courses series in music history by Prof. Greenberg and she's thrilled about it. She loves early music, so we had to make sure we got part 1 from interlibrary loan since someone stole that one from our library. :glare:

 

Music Theory: some workbook series (Master Theory?) and the Fundamentals for Aspiring Musicians. She loved going through Understanding the Fundamentals of Music by Professor Greenberg.

 

Literature and Theology are coop classes. She's doing all the reading but has missed class time because she's been feeling sick.

 

Busy preparing for auditions.

 

Second round SAT scores increased A LOT. She's in a very good position for scholarships. All applications submitted. We're just waiting for the people who are writing letters of recommendation to do their part.

 

I'm so pleased with MUS right now..

 

For college, will your DD be far away or nearby? What does she want to study? I'm assuming music..

[TippyCanoe]

nm

[PeterPan]

Corner rounders are my thing. Truly, it's a sickness...and I wore out my paper cutter...Glue and feathers could be interesting. I need to search for coupons.

 

Hobby Lobby makes it easy now. You pull up their coupon on your phone. No more cutting. :D

[FairProspects]

3 words...ScienceWhiz DNA kit...

 

Thanks for this. Ds has been begging to make a DNA model for a few weeks now, and this looks perfect to get him started.

[FairProspects]

I don't think dd wasn't "ready." I read this to the sixth-graders in a co-op and the rest of them liked it fine. They liked all the activities we did, which left dd unimpressed. You're more onto the point when you say "in the way that interests her." Now if someone turned Gilgamesh into a play... she'd go if I bought tickets. She recently saw a one-man show in which the actor recited and acted out chunks of The Iliad. However, even theater-loving dd wouldn't go PAY to go see anything based on ancient literature. She simply is not interested. She says, "Nothing interesting happened before the Tudors" LOL. So just as some kids gravitate toward ancient history and love it, but are very light or deficient in current events or modern history, dd will be the other way around. I don't think it's an issue at all.

 

I think she may be on to something...those Tudors certainly do spice things up. :D However, I suspect we have just lost a lot of info on the ancient equivalents!

[Heathermomster]

Thanks for this. Ds has been begging to make a DNA model for a few weeks now, and this looks perfect to get him started.

They sell these at Hobby Lobby...The model and booklet that came with it is great. DS actually enjoyed this.

[FairProspects]

They sell these at Hobby Lobby...The model and booklet that came with it is great. DS actually enjoyed this.

 

I don't even think we have Hobby Lobby in our state, but Amazon is here. :lol:

[PeterPan]

I don't even think we have Hobby Lobby in our state, but Amazon is here. :lol:

 

I didn't understand why people were so excited about Hobby Lobby till we got one. But you're right, at least there's amazon! :D

[TGHEALTHYMOM]

DS 15 who slept so much from 12-14...lost his papaw at 13....struggles with math, clings to bad boys in Youth group...needs a mentor!

 

My wild card is Xbox and pc time...

 

He's not a wild child by far, but some of the boys he has spent time with in Youth have dropped out of PS and he now is ocd on dropping out of HS to take his GED.

 

I am making progress, little by little.

 

Teaching Textbooks is working well for ADHD DS10!

EAROBICS 2 is helping DD 8 and TT!

We are struggling to read enough Science (Astronomy)

and Biology.

 

DH brought 5 Chickens and a Rooster home yesterday!

Not a dull moment!

We have gotten behind on writing and entered NANOWRIMO!

I think Monday we will commit the first 30 min. of the day to it.

 

Large family logistics are challenging.

:lol: A Chicken just laid an egg!!!

[Tiramisu]

Death Comes to Pemberley

 

Thanks!

[Heathermomster]

DS 15 who slept so much from 12-14...lost his papaw at 13....struggles with math, clings to bad boys in Youth group...needs a mentor!

 

My wild card is Xbox and pc time...

 

He's not a wild child by far, but some of the boys he has spent time with in Youth have dropped out of PS and he now is ocd on dropping out of HS to take his GED.

 

I am making progress, little by little.

 

Teaching Textbooks is working well for ADHD DS10!

EAROBICS 2 is helping DD 8 and TT!

We are struggling to read enough Science (Astronomy)

and Biology.

 

DH brought 5 Chickens and a Rooster home yesterday!

Not a dull moment!

We have gotten behind on writing and entered NANOWRIMO!

I think Monday we will commit the first 30 min. of the day to it.

 

Large family logistics are challenging.

:lol: A Chicken just laid an egg!!!

 

 

I've never tried them, but I hear free range chickens are good.

[Tiramisu]

I'm so pleased with MUS right now..

 

For college, will your DD be far away or nearby? What does she want to study? I'm assuming music..

 

She wants to study music therapy. She loves music and wants to use it to help people, as she feels it's helped her. :)

 

The hardest thing to about deciding on schools is her nausea. Until I see her feeling better, it's hard to imagine her going far away. We do have choices that are can be done in a reasonable drive, but none so close that she could live at home without a nightmare commute. She also wants to live somewhere quiet, so that eliminates two otherwise good, local options.

[Tiramisu]

My junior high dd with SPD and writing issues is doing a very traditional year with a mix of coop classes and things are getting done and she seems happy enough. Highlights:

 

History and science are coop classes...She types... She'll even type out the test answers and email them to her teacher. She's enjoying Apologia General Science and wants to be a scientist. Apologia has been great fit for her over the years.

 

The online Latin class is taking away her love of Latin. She's doing well and knows her stuff, according to the resident Latin teacher, dh. However, she isn't always doing well on the online quizzes, and she thinks it's because she's getting nervous. Dh wanted to see what the problem was so he sat with her while she took a quiz. At some point, he decided to type for her, and guess what? She got an A. This is exactly her issue with math, why I scribe, and why I got the dysgraphia evaluation. When she really has to think hard, the writing overloads her. Typing has helped with her writing, but now we're seeing that even typing doesn't completely eliminate the problem in Latin.

 

CLE Math. She's in her fourth year of it, and I am so thankful for this program, though I'm still having to scribe a good part of the time. She'll finish the 700 level this winter so I have to decide if I want to continue with the 800 level or move on to algebra. I have Foerster's, but continual review seems better for her. Saxon or TT? I don't want to spend the money on TT, but I think it will get the job done less painfully than Saxon. The new TT algebra could also be done on the computer so it would save me scribing...but also leave me out of the loop. (FWIW, I don't think my older dd's math SAT scores would have been any better if she used something other than TT for geometry and algebra 2. Dreamy Sal Khan's SAT prep made a big impact and I look forward to using that in the future. ;))

 

She's using Jump In with a coop class I'm teaching and is really motivated. Writing appears to have become painless. Big change! I would have liked to continue WWS2, and we're supposed to be beta testing, but it's not getting done. She's only typing. I can really recommend Jump In.

 

Practicing piano dilligently. :)

Geography and grammar only getting done in spurts. :(

[Mukmuk]

Tks so much for the rec. I just saw the youtube video and it looks perfect!

 

 

3 words...ScienceWhiz DNA kit...

 

It's great that he is loving violin.