*** Homeschool List ***

[sha_lyn]

My husband got home. I said "Hey I think I may go to Disney with this lady from the dis boards" he said "ok honey" and kept going. My poor hubby

LOL...we took afamily trip in 2002 that included my mother,sister, nieceand my sister's then boyfriend. Mom thought I was nuts for scheduling one of our days around a huge dis meet at 'Ohana. We had a blast.
A few months prior my sister and I took the kids to US/IOA for a long weekend and we ended up spending much of that time with folks I've met here on the DIS.

 

[DawnM]

This is the link they gave me.

http://www.homeedmag.com/blogs/groupnews/?p=326

Don't know this woman though, so really don't know if I completely agree.

BUT, Arnold has come out with something that should calm people down....this is really causing mass hysteria!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/08/MNCHVG0SD.DTL

Dawn

Reminds me of the time DD and I were going down to Orlando 2 days prior to a TKD tournmant. I offered to take 2 girls with us that were coming down for the tournamant. In fact we were sharing a room with both girls and their mothers. DD and I had 1 week left on our Univeral Annual passes and wanted to spend 1 day in US/IOA. Each girl would only need money for 5 meals (dinner the night we went down, 3 the day at US/IOA and breakfast the day we were meeting their mothers), and their tickets which would have been about $50 each if I remember correctly. Nope neither mother said they could afford it. Then during the 4 days we were at the tournament I watched them each blow more than that on "adult" drinks, and one mother bought her and her DD matching sweatshirts at the tournament with lots of extra patches etc on them. The shirts ended up costing about $75 each.


DawnM...do you have link or anything for the article? I would love to forward it to a couple of groups, but know I will get torn apart without a link or other information

 

[DawnM]

Ok, I think I could go. DH kind of grunted an "uh-huh" when I said something.

Anyway, I would prefer weekdays, just because of crowd levels and such. Is there anything going on at Disney in May that would be large crowds? Any holidays? I think most schools don't do stuff that last month of the year.

Let me PM you for details.

Dawn

I can change it around to week days, if anything is available (one down side to DVC).

If we went mostly weekdays in May and there was availability at OKW I could get 2 rooms for the same points as the 1 room I have booked at VWL. Just a random thought However, as I said that depends on availability.

My husband got home. I said "Hey I think I may go to Disney with this lady from the dis boards" he said "ok honey" and kept going. My poor hubby!

Anyway I have 100 developer points to blow, er I mean use....

 

[teacups]

I am sorry to jump in the middle of something else, but need to ask a quick Q:

I will have a 1st and 4th grader next year. Thinking about Abeka for math. I'm heading to the curriculum shop monday so I can look thru everything else as well...

1. What curriculum do you like best?
2. What should I spend some time checking out?

Thanks!

 

[DawnM]

For math?

It is so varied really. We tried Math U See and my kids hated it.

We use Singapore and both kids are very happy with it. But others have said Singapore didn't work for them.

It really depends on your kids.

Dawn

I am sorry to jump in the middle of something else, but need to ask a quick Q:

I will have a 1st and 4th grader next year. Thinking about Abeka for math. I'm heading to the curriculum shop monday so I can look thru everything else as well...

1. What curriculum do you like best?
2. What should I spend some time checking out?

Thanks!

 

[stamper]

I am sorry to jump in the middle of something else, but need to ask a quick Q:

I will have a 1st and 4th grader next year. Thinking about Abeka for math. I'm heading to the curriculum shop monday so I can look thru everything else as well...

1. What curriculum do you like best?
2. What should I spend some time checking out?

Thanks!

Well, I have to say that we use and recommend Sonlight curriculum. This is our 3rd year HSing - all with Sonlight. We buy everything through them...I love one stop shopping! They do all the work of putting together the best books and have Instructors Guides that do all the lesson planning...including what questions I need to ask DS to be sure he is getting what he should out of his reading!

Sonlight has several choices for Math and we have chosen Horizon. DS is a visual learner and this curriculum works for him because it has pix and colors. For someone who would find it distracting, they offer Singapore Math. A friend of ours uses that one because her daughter can't handle anything on the page except the actual math problems.

Here's a link to Sonlighthttp://www.sonlight.com

 

[mykidsintow]

We also Sonlight! This is our 2nd yr of Sonlight. We tried Horizons Math first. Next we tried Singapore. My son is doing the best with Math U See. He is by no means in love, but he is *really really* struggling with math!

I have a 1st grader that is reading on 3rd grade level and struggles to add 2+3

 

[teacups]

Thanks! I'll check those out when I go...

 

[sha_lyn]

What curriculum do you like best?
What should I spend some time checking out

We love Singapore Math. Make certain you get the US edition instead of the Singapore edition.

I recently looked at Oak Meadow 7th grade math and really liked it. I thought OM was out of our price range, but now I've realized I had only looked at their accredited high school program for DS. Boxed ele & Middle school program runs about $400 a yr. High school subjects run $75-$125 per subject for book based. computer based is out of our price range at $400 per subject.
Right now I'm seriously looking at OM for 7-12 for DD in the future.

However we really like most of what we are using now
Easy Grammar- love
Easy Writing-love

Singapore Math-love, but it only goes to 6th grade. That is what started the interest into OM

Great Science Adventures-Love
CyberEd Plato Science-love

SOTW- like...... It just seems to bog us down and take forever. Am planning on switching to History Odyssey level 1 Middle Ages in just a couple of weeks.


Spectrum workbooks for Reading comprehension, spelling and vocabulary.... Don't like these at all. We are finishing up the spelling, but haven't touched the reading or vocabulary in months.

 

[sha_lyn]

Just had a burden and $200 lifted from me....LOL

I finally took the plunge and purchased History Odyssey level II (yes went with II instead of I) along with The Story of Mankind (their level II spine) and their classical timeline. I really wanted to wait until we had 1 of the creidt cards paid off, but we really needed to have a planned out curriculum in hand. Winging it with the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and An Island Story just wasn't cutting it anymore. I really can't feel too bad on spending $200 since this covers History, geography, world literature and writing/composition.
I should have went with my gut feeling back in Dec and ordered it then instead of wrestling with the decision for so long.

 

[lori1043]

We used Abeka math up till 4th grade. My DD10 uses Saxon for 4th but Saxon 5/4 will probably be used for 2 years b/c we find it pretty tough. She MISSES the colors and more visual things like Abeka had . How horrible is it to try Horizons for next year instead of chugging on with Saxon? Or can we finish SDaxon 5/4 then switch to Horizons for 6th+? I hate wasting $$ but math is her challenging subject.
Just wanting her to enjoy it a little.

Thanks for any info you can give.

Lori

 

[sha_lyn]

I would make the switch. As I just said on another thread...the beautiful thing about Hs'ing is that when something doesn't work you can drop it.
We've done that with reading. I've wasted $$ on explode the code,Color Phonics, Leap Pad Phonics, various sight word and phonetic readers etc. What really worked for DD was a combination of Hooked on phonics and finding readers that she was interested in.

 

[mom2girlsn1boy]

I'm interested, we are going to homeschool my dd wil start Kindergarten this fall and we have been doing preschool too

 

[graygables]

OT- parenting dilemma, longish

I'm taking 11 & 9yo DDs to Great Wolf Lodge for the older one's 12th birthday. Hubby isn't going, long story. Hubby and I do not see eye to eye on some things. I don't see the harm in fantasy-type play and careful selection of fantasy media. We just watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and he was OK with that, but, say, Harry Potter is a BIG no, just to give you a sense/background.

The GWL we're going to has MagiQuest. For those who don't know, it's an amped up video game that starts with a "magic wand" (electronic device) that does various interactive things around the resort. I take it from the website there are "quests" and games. DDs, esp 11yo, are going to want to do this. BIG TIME. If hubby ever sees the website, he would flip. I don't see the harm in it. We have gotten to where we no longer are a united front on pretty much anything with DDs (another long story, involves gender differences and respect).

So, WWYD? Let the children play the game and deal with hubby later? (when they show him the wands and want to tell him about it) or...tell them they can't play and they will know that it's his influence, not mine (and, of course, deal with the crankiness that will ensue, but that's part of my Mom-Job, so I don't sweat that much).

 

[Ellester]

So, WWYD? Let the children play the game and deal with hubby later? (when they show him the wands and want to tell him about it) or...tell them they can't play and they will know that it's his influence, not mine (and, of course, deal with the crankiness that will ensue, but that's part of my Mom-Job, so I don't sweat that much).

Hmmm, that's a tough one. It's very difficult when parenting styles don't mesh well in a family. I looked at the magiquest website and it looks VERY cool. But, there is no getting around the "playing magic" issue. It sounds like that would create a big issue with your hubby. I guess you'll just have to weigh whether you'd rather have dd's upset with you or possibly have major issues with your hubby. Sorry I don't have better advice, it's not an easy situation.

As far as math curriculums, we use Math-U-See with great results. I also liked Miquon with my oldest, I may break it back out soon for the youngers. I did it along with Horizons with the oldest but then realized (or rather, dh realized) that dd was figuring out Horizons' patterns and filling out the worksheets based on that rather than actually learning the concept. (For example, she'd figure out that a set of problems were all carrying the ten and go fill out all the ten's place first then go back an fill in the one's place. It worked for those problems but wouldnt' work when you get beyond basic carrying.) Like several have said above, what works depends on your child and if something doesn't, one of the beauties of HS'ing is that you can switch!

 

[sha_lyn]

graygables...is his objection to magic/imaginative play religious or is it because of something else? IMHO it is usually harder to change someones opinion (or reach a compromise) if the opinion is religious in nature.
However if it is religious in nature, does you clergy hold the same beliefs? If not that might be a good place to start.

Wish I could be more help on how to deal with the issue at hand. I guess it all boils down to how big of a deal it wll be with your DH.
You could mention to your DD that there are other things she that the $$ could be spent on. Perhaps even something at home that your DH would participate in. If thats not a option, I would just be up front with him when you return instead of waiting to see if the kids pull out the wands in front of him.

 

[mykidsintow]

OT- parenting dilemma, longish

So, WWYD? Let the children play the game and deal with hubby later? (when they show him the wands and want to tell him about it) or...tell them they can't play and they will know that it's his influence, not mine (and, of course, deal with the crankiness that will ensue, but that's part of my Mom-Job, so I don't sweat that much).

Well what *I* would do is go let the girls have a ball and answer later. However, hubby and I have never really disagreed on such things. I just know typically we go on and do whatever we enjoy and tell him about it later. Nothing has really ever been against his beliefs that I know of.

HOWEVER, after reading and thinking it through... I can see what I would typically do would be wrong. It ends up putting the kids in the middle. Again, we have never had this problems before. They want to share what an awsome time they had and meanwhile his blood is boiling.... not good.

I think you and hubby need a nice big heart to heart. It sounds like before many decisions are made you guys need to work out your differences while there are no kids around or involved.

On a side note, I don't see much difference in this and Mr Magorium? So maybe it would be ok, if you discussed it?

 

[disneymom3]

(this is a forward from a national list)

At some point, and you may already have, you will probably receive an
e-mail asking you to sign a petition about the court case in
California. PLEASE do NOT sign it! What it really is about isn't
California but more scare tactics and part of a membership drive.

Homeschool is still very much alive and LEGAL in California. We do NOT
need hysteria fueled by HSLDA! The last time they did this we almost
lost our right to homeschool. Please don't feed into their hysteria.

If you have questions, then go to the HSC (Homeschool Association of
California) or CHN (California Homeschool Network). Leslie Buchanan is
Board President of HSC and has let us know that the legal teams of the
California homeschooling groups are meeting and will deal with this.
IF, let me repeat myself here, IF the legal teams feel that California
needs help, then HSC and CHN will send out a message asking for help.

The case will be easily overturned because his ruling effects public
schools! Further, *anyone* who has even a tiny bit of legal training
will tell you that his ruling is a mess and has no legal foundation
and is an appeal to overturn waiting to happen.

Just sign me, a California homeschooling mom who would like to get
back to homeschooling and spend less time putting out unnecessary
fires <g>

P.S. Please feel free to forward!

Dawn, thanks for posting this. I have heard quite a bit about it as people have been telling me they heard it on Dr Dobson. Been wondering because the last time CA got this crazy hair, it was going to affect private schools as well. And considering that the vast majority of substitute teachers in CA do not have a teaching degree but have simply passed the CBEST (which is not very hard) I wondered about that too. I am going to check out that CA homeschoolers website to see what it has to say.

 

[disneymom3]

Just had a burden and $200 lifted from me....LOL

I finally took the plunge and purchased History Odyssey level II (yes went with II instead of I) along with The Story of Mankind (their level II spine) and their classical timeline. I really wanted to wait until we had 1 of the creidt cards paid off, but we really needed to have a planned out curriculum in hand. Winging it with the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and An Island Story just wasn't cutting it anymore. I really can't feel too bad on spending $200 since this covers History, geography, world literature and writing/composition.
I should have went with my gut feeling back in Dec and ordered it then instead of wrestling with the decision for so long.

Ugh. I have this problem all the time. But then, I did go with my gut feeling last year and bought the whole dang $400 Winterpromise Curriculum and it was a total bust. Most expensive curriculum I have ever purchased. Bleah!

For math?

It is so varied really. We tried Math U See and my kids hated it.

We use Singapore and both kids are very happy with it. But others have said Singapore didn't work for them.

It really depends on your kids.

Dawn

It is varied! Even for the individual child. My oldest used Singapore and it was a great fit, but now with my middle one, it is NOT working. I am actually considering Math U See.

For beginning phonics I love Happy Phonics. I am convinced that DS 8 would still be saying C-A-T instead of cat, if we had not found Happy Phonics. It is basically a bunch of games that teach them what letters say, how to blend, about silent e and about unusual digraphs. It costs around $50 from Love to Learn.

As for History, we like Story of the World too. But I think she did a much better job with activities for the first two books than the third. We have not used the 4th year yet as we took a couple of years off to do US Geography. (Which is written by some women in our co-op and I am not liking.) I plan to beg borrow or steal someone's Adventures in my Father's World this summer and finish up the US before next fall. Which brings me to my next one, I like My Father's World too. Sort of like Sonlight but with more hands on projects which my boys like. A bit more textbooky too, which I don't care for as the books tend to be above my younger two.

How is that for a mixed review of history?

 

[lori1043]

Thanks for the math advice!!

On the 'telling the DH' subject about something he diagrees with... while it is a hard thing to have such a difference of opinions, I would tell you, if you were a good friend, that I think you need to talk to him b/fhand and tell him how imortant it is to you and the kids. Then I would tell you that I think you need to honor his opinion only b/c they are his kids too and you have to live with him even after they are grown and gone. I'd also stress to him that you are okay with it and actually excited about it but that you know how he feels about such things and value his opinion about his own kids. Sometimes if you give them more credit they feel more involved in the kids lives, too. I think it is a guy thing. Sometimes I think they feel left out, esp with homeschooling b/c you are with them all the time.

I do not know your marriage relationship and everyone is different, so please go with your gut instinct.

Good luck-Lori