Posted on 06/28/2006 4:20:41 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
Free Republic Homeschoolers’ Forum 2006-2007
A spot for homeschoolers on Free Republic to share information
First, a big, hearty CONGRATULATIONS to all those students who graduated this year! May you enjoy happiness and success in all of your endeavors.
For those of us still working toward that goal, this forum has been a wealth of information. News articles and legislative alerts keep us up-to-date here. Many thanks to Jim Robinson and Free Republic!
Last summer, we shared homeschooling advice with each other on this thread.
All of the books, curricula, and resources mentioned on that thread – as well as a few mentioned elsewhere on Free Republic - have been carried over to this one. (See the list in post #2).
Please feel free to post more information to help other homeschoolers and share more advice with each other right here on this new thread.
Best wishes for all of you and your families this year!
>>We bought laptops for each of the kids because I work part time and we wanted the kids to be able to do their lessons at Grammy's house on the days that I work.<<
If they are working SOS math on the computer, they have three tries to get the right answer. They can also mark them for you to look at if they can't get it.
Sometimes I have my older one work it on paper and feed the answers in to see if they are right. Numbers are easier to input!
I need a job too. I wish I had a Grandma around!
I'm checking into "My Father's World" curriculum. From what I've read on their website, it seems to be well-rounded and interesting. It does have to be supplemented with a separate math curriculum. I've been thinking of switching from Saxon (we did 1st grade last year and hated it) to either Singapore or Math-U-See.
The curriculum website is www.mfwbooks.com
I have not used MUS, but I have heard that it does not necessarily follow the scope and sequence that most states follow. So keep that in mind if you are in a state where you have to do standardized testing.
We use Miquon Math which is very similar to MUS and Singapore Math. I am astonished and amazed at the math that takes place in our home! We would never had the results I have seen if we had kept our son in the school he was in (which a private school) or in a pubic environment.
At first I was intimidated by Singapore Math, but we have come to really like it.
My homeschooled-from-birth son just finished his second year at GCC. It's a great school with great conservative profs who even flaunt their conservative views in calculus classes. My son wore his bright orange Club Gitmo shirt to school and got all kinds of praise from students and profs alike, lol!
I just love Saxon and have used it for about 14 years. My sixteen year old finished the Saxon Calculus book a few years ago and decided to take calculus at a local college last year. He didn't hit any new material until the very end of Calculus 2. I can't tell you how excited I was to hear that. I kept asking him if was learning anything new and he'd say, "Mom! I told you--Saxon covered two semesters of college calculus! Trust me!" I will be using this for the younger kids now for sure.
add the reading to it. There is some reading on the screen, but I have always required an hour per day reading from mine. Free choice of books at the library so they do mostly read Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Mary kate and ashley. Its all good every once and a while they surprise you. Check out your local library for programs ours has a summer program and also year round. Read the book come see the movie and have a discussion, two that I can remember are Charlottes Web and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Reading always build vocabulary and teaches more language skills than we realize
A tip when using laptops and SOS when you are installing the cirriculum chose the option that puts the entire disk on the hard drive. That way a cd failure will not put you out of the school bus. The laptop drives seem to be sensative and kids can be rough on disks.
THANKS!! I appreciate that -- it's what I had done and you confirmed my choice as correct. I was worried about the drives, as well as the discs -- I have 2 more kids coming up and I didn't want them to get scratches and stuff! :o)
Thanks for that too -- I am looking carefully at the reading.
That's good to know because my daughter actually basically put herself through Saxon Calc. She asked me for a little help and it did take some thinking and reading (it's been 18 years) but it came back. She'll be taking calc this fall in college.
She finished high school in three years and decided she wanted to go to public school for a year primarily for something to do. My son went because he wanted to do the sports thing. Since we now live in a VERY small town, we decided to give it a try. It's worked out well so far but they both told me the same thing about school. The only class they learned anything in for a long time was Spanish, which we never covered.
What's funny about Saxon Math, is that I've heard teachers criticize it but professionals, like engineers, can't say enough good about it. I looked at the public school textbook that this school uses and it covers all kinds of stuff that you would rarely use. My son told me that he found Saxon much more practical and he does have the grades to prove it. He was at the top of his class in math for the whole year (and bored out of his mind, to boot).
HISTORY:
all of the Greenleaf History books:
Famous Men of Greece
Famous Men of Rome
Famous Men of the Middle Ages
Famous Men of the Renaissance and Reformation
Kingfisher's History Encyclopedia
Our own FReeper LS's A Patriot's History of the United States
SPELLING & GRAMMAR:
Vocabulary from Classical Roots (fifth grade and up)
Shurley Grammar (grades 3-7)
FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
Power Glide courses in everything from Latin to Spanish, French, German, Russian -- for early elementary grades through High School level (with HS credit available)
THINKING SKILLS:
The Building Thinking Skills series of workbooks
Mind Benders workbooks
Logic, such as Trivium Pursuit's Fallacy Detective
LITERATURE:
100 Great Books list - excellent compilation
1000 Good Books list - lots of good reading material to replace the plethora of fluff out there these days.
I've found some of these resources in the local library, although not many. If you can wait months at a time, interlibrary loan is an option. Otherwise, we've found excellent bargains at places like www.half.com and eBay. I've never wanted for a book that I've not been able to find, eventually.
Thanks again for this resourceful thread!
http://www.mathfactcafe.com/view/view.aspx?t=F&g=2
This is a great one. You can do online "flashcards" which will automatically give your child the answer, or have it print out all different kinds of fact sheets.
Worksheet factory mentioned above is good, too.
It's worked out well so far but they both told me the same thing about school. The only class they learned anything in for a long time was Spanish, which we never covered.
My second son has taken many college classes and they seemed like a waste of time for quite a while because he'd covered so much of the material at home. He's finally getting new material taking junior year computer sciences classes. And he should hit new material in calc 3 and differential equations.
My son told me that he found Saxon much more practical and he does have the grades to prove it. He was at the top of his class in math for the whole year (and bored out of his mind, to boot).
Same thing here. As a matter of fact, the head of the math department at his college asked him to tutor calculus next year. That should be interesting if the kids find out he's still in high school.
Homeschooling is great for kids who are very motivated. It's not that it's not good for other kids, but those who really love to learn can go very far. I only have one like that (highly motivated), but the other kids are still learning a lot despite not being the "I-love-to-learn" type, lol.
"Acting Magic is a professional acting course designed to acquaint students with the beauty and magic of theater—to take them from beginning voice, stage movement, and role-playing excercises to a level of performance excellence and repertory disciplines. The majority of acting books are not written as texts for teachers to use in a classroom setting with children. Acting Magic is a complete teaching text while providing many self-help tips to nurture self-esteem, develop self-confidence, reinforce both oral language and reading skills, and inspire a real enthusiasm for literature—and the students have fun.
Based on Mrs. McClellan’s thirty three years of teaching drama to children and adults, Acting Magic breaks down the 'meat' of acting into small, simple, and engaging chunks that capture the interest and imagination of aspiring actors. Every component of the art of acting is laid out clearly and in a fun way so that the teacher can teach this material to all ages. Simplified explanations are provided where necessary so that even the youngest child can digest and successfully apply these 'golden keys' to acting on the stage. Through games, stories, and extensive exercises, the student is carefully guided to discover the magic of theater and the acting experience. p> In each of the individual unit studies, the fundamental skills build on one another and become increasingly more difficult. In the end all the complex nuances of the art of acting are conveyed in a disarmingly easy manner which never intimiates the student. Acting Magic proves that there is never a reason for a teacher to take a dry and too-serious approach to acting because it is an artistic discipline that is alive with joy.
The arts should be an expression of the noblest and purest of human sentiments, and a tribute to lives beautifully lived and fully given. As Constantin Stanislavski himself stated, art should lend beauty and nobility to life, and 'whatever is beautiful and noble has the power to attract.' That is the true magic of theater."
http://www.familyplayhouse.com/ActingMagic.html
These links were passed along through a homeschool group to which I belong. I've never used these resources, but they look interesting:
EDUCERE K-12
http://educere.net/
FREE COURSES FROM CARNEGIE MELLON
http://www.cmu.edu/oli/
And now for some HOMESCHOOL HUMOR:
http://www.geocities.com/tankgrrl360/hs_humour.htm
ROTFLOL!
Thanks for the homeschool humor. It's so true.
Catholic homeschoolers wanting to follow a Charlotte Mason education will find this sight very helpful!
http://www.materamabilis.org/
It's one of my favorites!
I'm something of a newcomer to this topic. By Saxon Math, do you mean math from the Anglo-Saxon era, or math materials by Saxon Publishing?
(please don't laugh if I seem clueless)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.