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Keeping an 8th grader accountable


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I could use suggestions for keeping my upcoming 8th grader accountable for his schoolwork. He is in 7th now, and although he has improved in this department, he still slacks quite a bit. I have put him in one outside class for science this year, and he has thrived. He really does well with someone else doing the teaching and grading. Unfortunately, there is only one class for him next year in our homeschool group and it's science again. I would really like for him to take an outside writing class if I can. (We are using Lost Tools of Writing this year and have not had great success.) He is a decent writer so I am sure he could handle the work. But I have a high schooler as well who will be taking a few expensive outside classes, so our budget for 8th is limited. Are there apps or other helpful tools for this? Or suggestions for online classes? He is using Thinkwell for prealgbra and tends to stay on top of that more than his other work.   We have used Homeschool Planet this year, so he has access to his schedule on there. But I may not use it next year. It was tedious for me to use and caused a lot of stress for me (constantly feeling like we are behind, difficulty accessing it, running slow on the computer, taking HOURS to enter our plans over the summer even though I bought several lesson plans, etc). I have 5 kids, so I really need for them to be self-motivated, or I need some easy to use tool to keep them on track. 

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I really like Acellus for accountability. Everything is online, so it doesn't work for writing, but for $10 a month, you can have the student watch the videos and do the online work in up to 6 subjects, and the parent can log in and check the student's progress (daily, if necessary), to see if all the goals for the day have been met. It's certainly not for everyone, though.

So Verbose has outsourced writing for $60 per quarter. That's the least expensive I've found so far.

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On 4/7/2018 at 4:01 PM, Momto5inIN said:

They have a written list of all the work for the week. If they don't get it done during the week, they do it on Saturday, which cuts into their screwing around time ;) so it hasn't happened very frequently

This is what we do, as well. I write their week’s work into their agenda. They check it off as they go. I go through everything on Friday afternoon. If it isn’t done, they spend the weekend doing it rather than other fun things they’d like to do. I also have the policy of 1 day grounded per assignment intentionally skipped. They tend to make sure everything is done before I put my hands on it Friday afternoon. 

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On 4/8/2018 at 8:06 PM, Aurelia said:

I really like Acellus for accountability. Everything is online, so it doesn't work for writing, but for $10 a month, you can have the student watch the videos and do the online work in up to 6 subjects, and the parent can log in and check the student's progress (daily, if necessary), to see if all the goals for the day have been met. It's certainly not for everyone, though.

Aurelia.....can you tell me a little more about your experience with Acellus? Are the videos interesting? What do assignments look like each day? On average, how many lessons to a unit? I have watched samples and looked over what's included, but would love to hear more from someone actually using it. And why the bolded part? Is there something specific that stands out that makes you say this? Thanks so much!

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47 minutes ago, atozmom said:

Aurelia.....can you tell me a little more about your experience with Acellus? Are the videos interesting? What do assignments look like each day? On average, how many lessons to a unit? I have watched samples and looked over what's included, but would love to hear more from someone actually using it. And why the bolded part? Is there something specific that stands out that makes you say this? Thanks so much!

Listening :-)!

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DD really likes the videos (as long as they have the right teacher - she hated the 8th grade ELA one, for example, but loves the 9th grade English teacher), so I guess I'll say they really depend on the teacher. The algebra teacher, for instance, is excellent. Assignments are mostly quiz-type assignments after viewing the video, with tests after each unit. There are extra assignments for certain classes that are done offline, but I haven't had DD do any of those. At the middle and high school levels, most units have between 15 and 20 lessons, depending on the subject. 

I felt like I needed to add the part about it not being for everyone, since some kids learn very poorly with videos, and parents expect a lot of written work. If that's the case, Acellus will not fit your family. For mine, because DD learns SO much better with videos, and we're still working our way up the writing ladder (it's her weakest skill, so next year will involve lots of it) - she can handle FAR more input than output, since she's not even really on "grade level" output-wise - it works for us. For the price, it is totally worth it here.

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17 minutes ago, Aurelia said:

DD really likes the videos (as long as they have the right teacher - she hated the 8th grade ELA one, for example, but loves the 9th grade English teacher), so I guess I'll say they really depend on the teacher. The algebra teacher, for instance, is excellent. Assignments are mostly quiz-type assignments after viewing the video, with tests after each unit. There are extra assignments for certain classes that are done offline, but I haven't had DD do any of those. At the middle and high school levels, most units have between 15 and 20 lessons, depending on the subject. 

I felt like I needed to add the part about it not being for everyone, since some kids learn very poorly with videos, and parents expect a lot of written work. If that's the case, Acellus will not fit your family. For mine, because DD learns SO much better with videos, and we're still working our way up the writing ladder (it's her weakest skill, so next year will involve lots of it) - she can handle FAR more input than output, since she's not even really on "grade level" output-wise - it works for us. For the price, it is totally worth it here.

Would the algebra be a good supplement for AOPS or some other text book algebra?  These would be a supplement for me and one of mine likes quizzes and tests :-).  Might try it for the price!

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I think so. The teacher explains some things in a different way than some texts. You could at least try it out and if it doesn't work out after a month, you've only spent $10.

Also, I think some of their other courses look neat. I'd like DD to take their Personal Finance and career planning courses, but I'm not sure we have the time or her interest.

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1 hour ago, Aurelia said:

DD really likes the videos (as long as they have the right teacher - she hated the 8th grade ELA one, for example, but loves the 9th grade English teacher), so I guess I'll say they really depend on the teacher. The algebra teacher, for instance, is excellent. Assignments are mostly quiz-type assignments after viewing the video, with tests after each unit. There are extra assignments for certain classes that are done offline, but I haven't had DD do any of those. At the middle and high school levels, most units have between 15 and 20 lessons, depending on the subject. 

I felt like I needed to add the part about it not being for everyone, since some kids learn very poorly with videos, and parents expect a lot of written work. If that's the case, Acellus will not fit your family. For mine, because DD learns SO much better with videos, and we're still working our way up the writing ladder (it's her weakest skill, so next year will involve lots of it) - she can handle FAR more input than output, since she's not even really on "grade level" output-wise - it works for us. For the price, it is totally worth it here.

Thank you so much for this review! 

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13 hours ago, Aurelia said:

I think so. The teacher explains some things in a different way than some texts. You could at least try it out and if it doesn't work out after a month, you've only spent $10.

Also, I think some of their other courses look neat. I'd like DD to take their Personal Finance and career planning courses, but I'm not sure we have the time or her interest.

Thanks so much!

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19 hours ago, katilac said:

 

I cannot imagine supplementing AOPS, lol. 

LOL!!!  Probably not AOPS, but I have one over-achieving, fast-working child.  If it is $99 for the year for up to 6 courses, he may want to dabble in algebra.  He takes after my DH who is a math whiz.

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