Homeschool Chat

[saremca]

We love Apologia Science. I use the books with my two younger ones together. It's nice to be able to do science together with them both at once.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

We love Apologia Science. I use the books with my two younger ones together. It's nice to be able to do science together with them both at once.

Yeah, I just checked out the website and couldn't believe that I could teach them all together. I do like the looks of the Abeka Science, but Apologia doesn't seem to be to different from what the Abeka teaches in it's lessons. I'm just so darn excited right now!!!!!!!!

I change my mind from 98% sure to 100% sure.

THANKS SO MUCH DISNEYMOMMY3

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Yeah, I just checked out the website and couldn't believe that I could teach them all together. I do like the looks of the Abeka Science, but Apologia doesn't seem to be to different from what the Abeka teaches in it's lessons. I'm just so darn excited right now!!!!!!!!

I change my mind from 98% sure to 100% sure.

THANKS SO MUCH DISNEYMOMMY3

You are most welcome!! I have used ABeka for Science and I just really like Apologia better. My kids love this Science. We have used the Astronomy, Botony, Animals of the 5th day, and my oldest is finishing the 7th grade Gen. Sci. We think they are very thorough & interesting--and have a Creation science view. ABeka does have a thorough Science, but Apologia holds their attention better. I think it comes across more as 'life' instead of facts to be drilled and tested over. Kids are smart--they pick up on that really early in our studies and have always learned more from books that aren't just drilling facts to be tested over later. I am so glad you are excited! You can also spread out the Apologia and do science 2 or 3 days a week instead of 5. depending on your school calendar. For the elem. level sciences anyway. I have to say I have learned so much from Apologia!!!!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Sorry, 1 more question about the Apologia Science. I see a few different books listed , do each one of those take you through 1 "schoolyear" or do they only provide a few months worth of work? Thanks!


OK, one more question, What do you all do for Health, i'm just wondering if I would be able to combine my girls with that too, they're 5 , 7 and 9. Right now I plan on using Abekas and combining my 5 and 7 yr old and having my 9 yr old do her own.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I wanted to share something with ya'll like we really enjoy. We switched halfway through the year to Rod & Staff and we are really happy with it. We have used various lang. curriculums and this is really a breath of fresh air. It has very simple/ straightforward lessons. They are usually short lessons with oral and class review. Then we just go over the oral part and do a worksheet. We have just sped through this with so much more being comprehended that ever before. It's not so short that its useless, or so long that they are bored and forgetting what they learned.

Another thing we like are the books from Yesterdays Classics. We got some of our Spine books for History from this site, and just some classic stories. I ordered Grammar-Land a few weeks ago and plan to read it after we finish our Rod & Staff. It's a story about Judge Grammar and his viceroys: the parts of speech-Mr. Noun for example. I have said before how much more you can learn from things being in story form and this little story is wonderful. I have only read the beginning of it --can't wait to read it to the kids!

For math if you have kids doing 4th grade math and up, I must recommend Teaching Textbooks! This has been a great blessing for us!!!

Well, just wanted to pass along a few things we enjoy, seeing as time for getting next years stuff is upon us!!!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Sorry, 1 more question about the Apologia Science. I see a few different books listed , do each one of those take you through 1 "schoolyear" or do they only provide a few months worth of work? Thanks!


OK, one more question, What do you all do for Health, i'm just wondering if I would be able to combine my girls with that too, they're 5 , 7 and 9. Right now I plan on using Abekas and combining my 5 and 7 yr old and having my 9 yr old do her own.

Apologia-if you do Science everyday, it'll take about a semester. If you only do Sci. 2 or 3 days a week you can do a school year.

We did ABeka Health--it's pretty good. We didn't use one this year.In the lower levels, Health is lots of hygiene teaching and basic body knowledge.These are discussed regularly around here, so we havent used a book for it this year.Some states may require it, so I think whatever curr. you choose will be fine!Or, any of those little body books geared towards girls/boys by age will probably serve the purpose just as well.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Ok, thanks, So I think I will do Science 3 days a week then to make it last the year. I'd rather do that than do it half the yr and have no Science the second half. My 9 yr old is very into Science, so she wouldn't be very happy if we were done halfway through. Her HOT items for Christmas were a Telescope and Microscope And I see that the first book on the list was Astronomy, so that sounds PERFECT!

And I think we'll stick with Abeka's Health books then!!

 

[DisneyMom5]

Re: Apologia science - I just wanted to mention that the Lower levels of Apologia science can be used past 6 th grade, they might just take a quicker pace.
My just going into 7th grade son was NOT getting the Gen. science (I was having him do it with his older sister) so I borrowed the Apologia Swimming creatures. Well, he just ATE it up, and made the diorama and everthing.
Then, when he finished that, I borrowed the Botany book.
Now he has started in on the Gen. Sci, and is doing much better. I think the math type concepts in it were too advanced at the time he first tried.

So my almost done with 9th has just finished the Gen. Sci, and is doing Phys Sci, and my almost done with 7th has just started Gen. Sci.

I haven't done the lower levels with a group, but several friends are doing that and love it! I don't tend to like text books, but I do like these!

I don't really worry about testing and grades in elementary. I can usually tell if they are getting stuff or not. And I make them redo their math until they can get it, so mastery is my measuring stick.
When they get to high school level, I grade anything I can measure. : )

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Thanks for your opinion and advice Disneymom5. That is good to know!!!

 

[Denine]

We are testing this week. We did a review today and start the CAT tomorrow.
Hopefully it will go well.

 

[csk470]

Hello!
I'm Tracey and i am married to Mike, we are currently stationed at Fort Bliss El Paso Tx I am the mom to 4 two of which are adults but i have a boy 14 and a boy 8 at home. This is our first duty station and let me tell you its a far cry from small town ohio!! My boys were in ps back home and were in school here for 6 weeks, until my 8 yr old was being hurt by another child (finger marks on neck from being choked) and then being punched in the face a week later by yet another child for being "new" said he had to be taught to fit in WHAT THE HECK!? So first i pulled him and 2 days later my 14 yr old had issues with kids stealing and blaming him hes the new kid they dont know him....so i wasnt going to stand by and let these people change them, they are good boys and polite and i want them to stay that way... we started out using time4learning and then decided to start with a virtual academy as i like having the help from the teachers. We have made a wonderful choice for the boys, they are doing soooo much better now and it has been the one thing in the past year that is staying constant for them my husband just deployed for a year and here we sit in this awful place I have made some really good friends here and almost all of them have since pulled their kids from the same school and are now homeschooling their kids in one form or another all of us using what is good for your families!! We even have a SAHD his wife is the soldier and he is doing a great job!! we have been having our own homeschooling get togethers and have been finding others in our area and branching out!! At an outing today i was told that since the first of the year the school that i took my little one out of has lost 10% of their enrollment to homeschooling oops i started a revolt!!!!! there are alot of things i like about homeschooling the way we are doing it we have the VA but i teach as i want as its a progressive program and i have added other things i want to use such as a Bible study and spanish and keyboarding and now looking for some sort of music program maybe looking for an electric piano lesson not sure yet! anyway didnt mean to get long winded here but wanted to say hi and i look forward to getting to know you all! oh and i have been reading all the thread from the very first post its been 3 days lolol
Tracey

 

[3princesses+aprince]

We are testing this week. We did a review today and start the CAT tomorrow.
Hopefully it will go well.

Good luck with your tests!

Hello!
I'm Tracey and i am married to Mike, we are currently stationed at Fort Bliss El Paso Tx I am the mom to 4 two of which are adults but i have a boy 14 and a boy 8 at home. This is our first duty station and let me tell you its a far cry from small town ohio!! My boys were in ps back home and were in school here for 6 weeks, until my 8 yr old was being hurt by another child (finger marks on neck from being choked) and then being punched in the face a week later by yet another child for being "new" said he had to be taught to fit in WHAT THE HECK!? So first i pulled him and 2 days later my 14 yr old had issues with kids stealing and blaming him hes the new kid they dont know him....so i wasnt going to stand by and let these people change them, they are good boys and polite and i want them to stay that way... we started out using time4learning and then decided to start with a virtual academy as i like having the help from the teachers. We have made a wonderful choice for the boys, they are doing soooo much better now and it has been the one thing in the past year that is staying constant for them my husband just deployed for a year and here we sit in this awful place I have made some really good friends here and almost all of them have since pulled their kids from the same school and are now homeschooling their kids in one form or another all of us using what is good for your families!! We even have a SAHD his wife is the soldier and he is doing a great job!! we have been having our own homeschooling get togethers and have been finding others in our area and branching out!! At an outing today i was told that since the first of the year the school that i took my little one out of has lost 10% of their enrollment to homeschooling oops i started a revolt!!!!! there are alot of things i like about homeschooling the way we are doing it we have the VA but i teach as i want as its a progressive program and i have added other things i want to use such as a Bible study and spanish and keyboarding and now looking for some sort of music program maybe looking for an electric piano lesson not sure yet! anyway didnt mean to get long winded here but wanted to say hi and i look forward to getting to know you all! oh and i have been reading all the thread from the very first post its been 3 days lolol
Tracey

Oh, wow, that is terrible. What kind of animals do they have out there? Your poor boys. Glad you are all happy now though! Thank God homeschooling is an option! And that is great that you have a group of homeschoolers going on there for your support.

 

[CantWaitToGo2007]

Go to www.wava.org. I can't comment on the cirriculum yet but we are planning on using it next year for our 7yo. They are doing a lot of infor session right now. Look for one and check them out.

Thank you so much! I bookmarked the site so I can go back and check it out later - I'm so tired at the moment I can barely type

thanks again

Nanette

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hi Tracey!! Welcome~
I am as far on the other side of Texas from you as I can be! I am in SE Texas-closer to La. I wanted to welcome you to Texas and say I was horrified to read of your traumatic experience. Kids can be so horrid! And these people that say things like, Oh, they are just kids. Or, They don't mean it--it's just the way kids are....They either don't have kids or they are in la-la land. I too was bullied as a kid, so I know how devastating it can be. I am truly sad for your boys-& we are supposed to be the friendly state for cryin' out loud! But, I guess kids are gonna be mean no matter where they are from.

I am glad you have a community that supports you and you have people to 'talk' with about it -especially since your dh is away right now. I too am married to a Mike, so I know your hubby is a great guy!! I have never done a virtual school, so I am glad to hear that it works for you. Hopefully your boys will be able to forgive the kids that acted this way and be better men for it! I am sure they are great little guys!

You mentioned getting a Bible study for them-have you checked into the one by Rod & Staff? We think theirs is the best Bible & Readers Program we have came across. check it out and see what you think!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I just wanted to post, because I am mad. Ok, I had a meeting with my dd9's teachers, principle and the school pyschologist(which I do not like) about 3 weeks ago. Dd9 is reading below grade level and is not up to speed with all of her spelling words. Well the school Psychologist was there because she felt she needed to be part of it because dd9 gets sick to her stomach every morning going into school. Nothing that keeps her home , she just says her stomach feels like she's nervous. Yes everyday, but most days now, she doesn't even say anything.
So the psychologist just called me and said ,we ( the teachers/staff) met up this morning and dd9 is now reading at grade level and has been doing much better with her spelling words. Ok.......So 3 weeks ago she was behind, now she's all caught up. She's been behind in reading since day 1, but now she's fine. What are they trying to pull? I don't get that one! And the pyschologist has wanted to have regular meetings with dd9, so she asked me at the last meeting if she could talk to her just once, to see what she would say to her. So I allowed her one visit, and she called me about a week and a half ago to tell me that dd9 has anxiety issues(NO KIDDING) and she was telling me things that dd9 was saying, and this Pysc. was asking her alot of questions about home. And I told her that dd9 doesn't really have anything to be anxious about at home, and she said..."welllllllll(just like that, ya know long and drawn out) Oh, my, I was steaming.!!!!!!!!! I am a wonderful mother and no School Pyschologist is going to BUG my child about her home life trying to put her school issues on that. NO WAY. I am so pissed off right now!
So the Pysch. just asked me on the phone a few minutes ago if I wanted her to start seeing her regulary. I was supposed to send in a note giving her the Ok. I told her right out. No, I will let you know if anything changes, but right now, No ( Really it will never happen) So then.....Here it comes... She says, Oh, well then can I at least have permission to talk to her today to tell her why I won't be seeing her anymore( The idiot only talked to her 1 time, she's acting like she's a family member i'm pulling away) She said, I don't want her to think I just abandoned her. I said, Ok, sure! Bye now, thanks for the call. Oh, man I AM SO MAD
Does anyone have anything to say on this stupid situation!!!!!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I don't know girl, but that sounds really weird to me. Do they know you are planning to hs next year?I wouldn't say anything at this point if you haven't already. i would be leary of what she is saying to her--why is she so desperate to talk with your kid now that the year is almost over?

yes, that would have really upset me too.

 

[Denine]

I just wanted to post, because I am mad. Ok, I had a meeting with my dd9's teachers, principle and the school pyschologist(which I do not like) about 3 weeks ago. Dd9 is reading below grade level and is not up to speed with all of her spelling words. Well the school Psychologist was there because she felt she needed to be part of it because dd9 gets sick to her stomach every morning going into school. Nothing that keeps her home , she just says her stomach feels like she's nervous. Yes everyday, but most days now, she doesn't even say anything.
So the psychologist just called me and said ,we ( the teachers/staff) met up this morning and dd9 is now reading at grade level and has been doing much better with her spelling words. Ok.......So 3 weeks ago she was behind, now she's all caught up. She's been behind in reading since day 1, but now she's fine. What are they trying to pull? I don't get that one! And the pyschologist has wanted to have regular meetings with dd9, so she asked me at the last meeting if she could talk to her just once, to see what she would say to her. So I allowed her one visit, and she called me about a week and a half ago to tell me that dd9 has anxiety issues(NO KIDDING) and she was telling me things that dd9 was saying, and this Pysc. was asking her alot of questions about home. And I told her that dd9 doesn't really have anything to be anxious about at home, and she said..."welllllllll(just like that, ya know long and drawn out) Oh, my, I was steaming.!!!!!!!!! I am a wonderful mother and no School Pyschologist is going to BUG my child about her home life trying to put her school issues on that. NO WAY. I am so pissed off right now!
So the Pysch. just asked me on the phone a few minutes ago if I wanted her to start seeing her regulary. I was supposed to send in a note giving her the Ok. I told her right out. No, I will let you know if anything changes, but right now, No ( Really it will never happen) So then.....Here it comes... She says, Oh, well then can I at least have permission to talk to her today to tell her why I won't be seeing her anymore( The idiot only talked to her 1 time, she's acting like she's a family member i'm pulling away) She said, I don't want her to think I just abandoned her. I said, Ok, sure! Bye now, thanks for the call. Oh, man I AM SO MAD
Does anyone have anything to say on this stupid situation!!!!!!

Talk about being manipulative! How much longer do they have to be in this school?

 

[Denine]

First day of CAT testing is done. We will continue tomorrow. I am nervous as to how well she is doing. I know she got some answers wrong. What bugs me is that I can't go over them with DD and tell her why they are wrong since I have to send the test in for scoring.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yep, I have warning bells going off in my head after reading your post! My guess is that you already told them you were thinking of homeschooling (or she did) and they are going to try and convince her that she doesn't want to homeschool! It's CRAZY how manipulative they can be.

 

[graygables]

Is it too late for you to withdraw that permission??? I'd get down there NOW and put my body between her and DD if at all possible. She is definitely up to something and is violating your parental rights if she is talking about anything but school issues without your express permission (that's why she needed the note). If it were me, I'd pull DD out of school now, just to let them know that they aren't going to get away with that crap and are no longer going to manipulate my child, planting Lord knows what kinds of seeds in her head.