Homeschool Chat

[Nicolepa]

Nicolepa~Don't you hate when they say stuff that is really rude, but comes out funny...it is sometimes hard not to laugh out loud!!! Have you tried a small reward for each step..maybe a couple of jelly beans, or m&ms or anything? Just for this stage..multiplication requires some bribing sometimes!!!

Well, I took it as a teaching moment. We had a chat about how if he worked hard all the time I could be fun, but since he's fighting me I can't give him the leeway. He seemed to get it. He did much better yesterday. Of course after the day before, spending 9 hours getting 1/3 of the day day it's not hard to improve.

I have big (weekly) rewards in place but not smaller ones. He usually doesn't go for those. He evaluates every reward to decide if it's worth it or not.

Any fun ideas for learning multiplication and division tables?

 

[Nicolepa]

I live in south Louisiana, and have been home schooling my 3 children for 15 years. I started when my oldest son was 2, he is finishing up his junior year now (and just scored a 25 on his first ACT!). Our public library offers an online service called Mango Languages. My kids have been using that program for about a year and a half. They love it and it's free!
Mango Languages can help you learn Spanish, French, Japanese, Brazilian, Portuguese, German, Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Italian, Russian and more. Check with your local public library, you may be able to take advantage of this free service too!

Thank you so much for this! My older daughter has been wanting to learn a language and I have been relcutant to get something. She is loving the Mango! If nothing else it will give her something to do this summer.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Well, I took it as a teaching moment. We had a chat about how if he worked hard all the time I could be fun, but since he's fighting me I can't give him the leeway. He seemed to get it. He did much better yesterday. Of course after the day before, spending 9 hours getting 1/3 of the day day it's not hard to improve.

I have big (weekly) rewards in place but not smaller ones. He usually doesn't go for those. He evaluates every reward to decide if it's worth it or not.

Any fun ideas for learning multiplication and division tables?

hhmmmm..my youngest will go to 2nd grade math next..and I am wondering that too..my boys just kinda got it with drills..but mercy...I am tired of that! I do use the counting bears and she loves those..so maybe it'll help....and dang, talking about all these rewards is making me want to go to the pantry and ferrett out some M&Ms for myself!!!
Anyone want to share if you have your summer reading wishlist ready yet? We are on book #3 of the Mysterious Benedict Society....planned to be finished in April, but I got a sinus thing really bad and my throat wouln't allow it! so...that's first (these are great books by the way!)
~The Hittite Warrior
~Rachel Yoder & Betsy Tacy for my dd at night time
~ Little Women?
Have lots running through my mind, but not definite...I have to make my ADRs for my next vacation on May 17 and after that I will focus on my reading list.....need to start planning next years curr also...got a few things nailed down...just gotta get organized!!
MATH QUESTION: For those of you with older kids...my ds finished Alg I this year and I am wondering what is next...we had Geo then Alg II in High School...do ya'll do this too or should we follow Alg I with Alg II then do Geometry? Can't remember why we did it in this order...we use Teaching Textbooks,so I know I could call them...just wanted some Mommy feedback!!! Thanks!

 

[Belle & Ariel]

hhmmmm..my youngest will go to 2nd grade math next..and I am wondering that too..my boys just kinda got it with drills..but mercy...I am tired of that! I do use the counting bears and she loves those..so maybe it'll help....and dang, talking about all these rewards is making me want to go to the pantry and ferrett out some M&Ms for myself!!!
Anyone want to share if you have your summer reading wishlist ready yet? We are on book #3 of the Mysterious Benedict Society....planned to be finished in April, but I got a sinus thing really bad and my throat wouln't allow it! so...that's first (these are great books by the way!)
~The Hittite Warrior
~Rachel Yoder & Betsy Tacy for my dd at night time
~ Little Women?
Have lots running through my mind, but not definite...I have to make my ADRs for my next vacation on May 17 and after that I will focus on my reading list.....need to start planning next years curr also...got a few things nailed down...just gotta get organized!!
MATH QUESTION: For those of you with older kids...my ds finished Alg I this year and I am wondering what is next...we had Geo then Alg II in High School...do ya'll do this too or should we follow Alg I with Alg II then do Geometry? Can't remember why we did it in this order...we use Teaching Textbooks,so I know I could call them...just wanted some Mommy feedback!!! Thanks!

We use TT and did Alg I 9th grade and Alg II 10th grade--doing geometry next year. I have a friend who teaches h.s. math and she suggested that order. I see a possible negative is that DS took practice ACT and scored 24/24 on the algebra part but only got about 1/2 correct on geometry and trig questions.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

so do you wish you would have used Geom first coming from this point? I wondered about that..

 

[Nicolepa]

hhmmmm..my youngest will go to 2nd grade math next..and I am wondering that too..my boys just kinda got it with drills..but mercy...I am tired of that! I do use the counting bears and she loves those..so maybe it'll help....and dang, talking about all these rewards is making me want to go to the pantry and ferrett out some M&Ms for myself!!!

My son hate drills. He fusses and complains. We used Math Magician for awhile and then he said it was boring. So we switched to using the itouch. That was fabulous because I didn't have to sit with him and do them but i could still track his progress. Unfortunatly he has misplaced his itouch so we are back to me doing the one minute math sheets with him. I could let him use my phone or dd's touch but I am trying to teach him a lesson. Unfortunatly this one is hard on me too!

I think for the multiplication and division I may go back to math magician for awhile. I like that it seperates out the facts whereas the touch game doesn't.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

Hi gang!

We're planning to start homeschooling in the fall for our sons (going into 7th & 9th grade). It's all so scary! Currently we're leaning towards the A Beka Academy (I actually attended Pensacola Christian Academy for K4 & K5) for the DVD/Streaming classroom structure. In all honesty, I wish I could find something similar to this but secular. I guess some things we'll have to compromise on, tho. Also, we hope to attend the SETHSA convention in Houston in June which should give us more info & ideas.

I was just reading up on the Disney Homeschool Days and Y.E.S. Open Enrollment programs. Have any of you done these programs? What were your thoughts?

Any tips, advice, or even sympathies laughing are welcome & appreciated!

Thanks muchly!

We used Abeka exclusively until high school and were very pleased. We did not like their high school math and switched to Teaching Textbooks which are great. We used Apologia for chemistry and marine biology and were very pleased also.
We did not buy the packaged curriculums by grade. We had a great Abeka rep who suggested buying teacher editions and since you sit next to your child sharing them instead of buying a book for you and them.
Abeka gave our kids a great education--my oldest graduated summa cum laude with a double major and my youngest who just finished 10th grade got a 27 on his first ACT. I think once he takes geometry and chemistry he will bring it up to the low 30's.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

so do you wish you would have used Geom first coming from this point? I wondered about that..

I don't think so. He needs the ACT score now for dual enrollment and it is actually high enough that he can bypass 2 math courses--he is looking into engineering and it requires ALOT of math. Once he takes geometry, he can do ACT again for more scholarship money and hopefully bypass another math.
I really think Alg II is easier when it follows Alg I and not a break in between for geometry.
I think also that chemistry has alot of algebra type problems and he will get review of it while learning geometry and so will be fresh on both for the next ACT.
I am really not a teach to the test mom--I just want him to be able to have a good package from a good college and think the ACT best reflects the education he received as a homeschooler.

 

[robinsegg]

Multiplication games:
I put in a search engine: free online multiplication games
Here are some http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
http://www.gamequarium.com/multiplication.html
http://www.jumpstart.com/free-online-game.aspx?pid=googpd&cid=free%20online%20multiplication%20games&gclid=CJexvLHeu6ECFZLV5wodSh0l-Q
http://www.familylearning.org.uk/multiplication_games.html
http://www.freerice.com/index.php?&t=33022172930&s=Multiplication%20Table

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

B&A...thanks for the input!! I will need to decide before long...I am ready to order their math! DD is still in Rod & Staff...looooove their stuff.....

 

[disneymom3]

hhmmmm..my youngest will go to 2nd grade math next..and I am wondering that too..my boys just kinda got it with drills..but mercy...I am tired of that! I do use the counting bears and she loves those..so maybe it'll help....and dang, talking about all these rewards is making me want to go to the pantry and ferrett out some M&Ms for myself!!!
Anyone want to share if you have your summer reading wishlist ready yet? We are on book #3 of the Mysterious Benedict Society....planned to be finished in April, but I got a sinus thing really bad and my throat wouln't allow it! so...that's first (these are great books by the way!)
~The Hittite Warrior
~Rachel Yoder & Betsy Tacy for my dd at night time
~ Little Women?
Have lots running through my mind, but not definite...I have to make my ADRs for my next vacation on May 17 and after that I will focus on my reading list.....need to start planning next years curr also...got a few things nailed down...just gotta get organized!!
MATH QUESTION: For those of you with older kids...my ds finished Alg I this year and I am wondering what is next...we had Geo then Alg II in High School...do ya'll do this too or should we follow Alg I with Alg II then do Geometry? Can't remember why we did it in this order...we use Teaching Textbooks,so I know I could call them...just wanted some Mommy feedback!!! Thanks!

I was talking to the TT guy at our state homeschool conference a few weeks ago. He was talking to someone about this very issue. What he said they suggest is to base it on the kid and when you plan to do testing. If your child is tired of algebra type stuff, go into geometry. If they are basically enjoying it, continue on to II. However, keep in mind that they will need basic geometry for the SAT and ACT.

 

[dis-happy]

I was talking to the TT guy at our state homeschool conference a few weeks ago. He was talking to someone about this very issue. What he said they suggest is to base it on the kid and when you plan to do testing. If your child is tired of algebra type stuff, go into geometry. If they are basically enjoying it, continue on to II. However, keep in mind that they will need basic geometry for the SAT and ACT.

I overlapped the courses a bit....finished Alg 1 in early May, then had my ds immediately start TT geometry and work on it over the summer. He continued with it while starting Alg. 2 in the fall.

 

[disneymom3]

Also www.bbc.co.uk/schools has some great games overall.

What I love is that they also have games for middle school students.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Also www.bbc.co.uk/schools

What I love is that they also have games for middle school students.

I'll have to check this out! When the kids are in elementary school, there are tons and tons of cool resources, but as they get older, there are fewer. I understand...but everyone likes to have some fun!

Along these lines, anyone tried Descartes Cove with their middle schooler? It's a math adventure program created by Johns Hopkins. Kinda reminds me of Myst. It's got a good balance of challenging material with fun.

 

[bellebud]

I wanted to share these sites (many of you probably already know of them), but someone asked where I bought my rosetta stone...

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/

I also like...

http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/



enjoy! they both have some great things to offer.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I was talking to the TT guy at our state homeschool conference a few weeks ago. He was talking to someone about this very issue. What he said they suggest is to base it on the kid and when you plan to do testing. If your child is tired of algebra type stuff, go into geometry. If they are basically enjoying it, continue on to II. However, keep in mind that they will need basic geometry for the SAT and ACT.

I overlapped the courses a bit....finished Alg 1 in early May, then had my ds immediately start TT geometry and work on it over the summer. He continued with it while starting Alg. 2 in the fall.

Thanks ladies! That makes total sense to me!

I wanted to share these sites (many of you probably already know of them), but someone asked where I bought my rosetta stone...

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/

I also like...

http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/



enjoy! they both have some great things to offer.

Thanks..my older one is asking to take Spanish and we are wanting RS...isn't there 2 types of Spanish offered? If so, what do YOU use for your kids?

 

[robinsegg]

Thanks ladies! That makes total sense to me!


Thanks..my older one is asking to take Spanish and we are wanting RS...isn't there 2 types of Spanish offered? If so, what do YOU use for your kids?

We use Latin American Spanish. It should be more in need in the US than Spanish Spanish.
R

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

We use Latin American Spanish. It should be more in need in the US than Spanish Spanish.
R

Ha!! Okay...I couldn't understand why they didn't label it different or make some kind of note on the cover which one US kids usually used....

 

[bellebud]

We use Latin American Spanish. It should be more in need in the US than Spanish Spanish.
R

same for us.

 

[robinsegg]

Ha!! Okay...I couldn't understand why they didn't label it different or make some kind of note on the cover which one US kids usually used....

The way I remember it is that Central American peoples are often called "Latino". Thus, "Latin American Spanish".