hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jan 14, 2019 7:38:44 GMT -6
What do you use? Do you like it? Are you planning anything new for next year?
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jan 14, 2019 7:41:34 GMT -6
This is another thing I've kind of cobbled together on my own, but unlike science, I don't feel like it's good enough. DS1 struggles in understanding sentence structure, etc. (which is kind of funny because his verbal skills are well beyond his age), and he needs more "why" than the workbooks we've been using. Mostly we're just reading tons of stories and poems, and he writes letters to his penpals from our last base.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jan 14, 2019 9:30:17 GMT -6
We just started using Logic of English and so far I really like it. I hadn’t been doing much for DD1 because she was already reading, but her handwriting and spelling needs work. So I got the first level, foundations A (in cursive, heh) because DD2 is on the cusp of reading. She can blend but mixes up letter sounds sometimes. They LOVE the games, which is really nice because I’m not huge into table work. DD2 struggles with the handwriting because she’s only 4 (5 in a month). But there are work arounds. I have her do letters with play doh or salt trays. Obviously, the phonics part is easy for DD1, but the cursive is actually good for her even though she’s left handed. I think starting at the beginning was a good choice because she’ll learn all the rules from the beginning, so once we get to the spelling I’m *hoping* it will all just click.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jan 14, 2019 9:39:39 GMT -6
bunnyfungo, I'm weirdly nervous about DS2's lefthandedness. We worked on holding his pencil this morning, and he was having better control than his usual grip.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jan 14, 2019 9:46:06 GMT -6
bunnyfungo, I'm weirdly nervous about DS2's lefthandedness. We worked on holding his pencil this morning, and he was having better control than his usual grip. Are either you or your H left handed? DH is, so I asked him a few times about how he formed letters to make sure I wasn’t forcing something unnatural. Small things, like crossing letters (like “t”) from right to left, and making an “o” clockwise was all that came up. We’ll see how that works out the further we get into cursive because it’s more restrictive, but so far her handwriting is waaaay better with the cursive.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jan 14, 2019 10:00:36 GMT -6
bunnyfungo , I'm weirdly nervous about DS2's lefthandedness. We worked on holding his pencil this morning, and he was having better control than his usual grip. Are either you or your H left handed? DH is, so I asked him a few times about how he formed letters to make sure I wasn’t forcing something unnatural. Small things, like crossing letters (like “t”) from right to left, and making an “o” counter clockwise was all that came up. We’ll see how that works out the further we get into cursive because it’s more restrictive, but so far her handwriting is waaaay better with the cursive. No one in either side of the family is back to my (deceased) grandpa. I spent tons of time with him when I was little and learned a lot of fine motor skills with my left hand, but not writing. I've been youtubing videos of leftie writers to look at their pencil grips, lol.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jan 14, 2019 10:05:52 GMT -6
Are either you or your H left handed? DH is, so I asked him a few times about how he formed letters to make sure I wasn’t forcing something unnatural. Small things, like crossing letters (like “t”) from right to left, and making an “o” counter clockwise was all that came up. We’ll see how that works out the further we get into cursive because it’s more restrictive, but so far her handwriting is waaaay better with the cursive. No one in either side of the family is back to my (deceased) grandpa. I spent tons of time with him when I was little and learned a lot of fine motor skills with my left hand, but not writing. I've been youtubing videos of leftie writers to look at their pencil grips, lol. Haha. DD1 just holds her pencil the same way as I do but in the other hand. I never had to show it to her, she just did it. But my whole goal in life is to make sure she doesn’t do the hooked wrist thing.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Jan 14, 2019 10:14:32 GMT -6
Oh, I’ll also mention that we’re still doing a mix of Build Your Library and Torchlight for social studies/history. I tried really hard to stick to a schedule for that but I’m using it more as a book list at this point and letting DD follow her own rabbit trails and interests.
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Post by lildiamondeyes on Jan 14, 2019 15:49:51 GMT -6
bunnyfungo & hawkward, Funny that you both have left-handers. My middle child is left handed. Makes for some fun cutting and coloring times.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Jan 21, 2019 9:42:02 GMT -6
Does anyone know about or use Brave Writer? I was looking at it this morning thinking it may appeal to DS1.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Feb 1, 2019 16:59:03 GMT -6
Does anyone know about or use Brave Writer? I was looking at it this morning thinking it may appeal to DS1. What are you looking at? I downloaded a sample of the Quiver of Arrows for Charlotte’s Web. I ended up not doing anything with it because it seemed kind of disjointed to me. Like it was mostly copywork with some random grammar thrown in once a week. I haven’t read The Writer’s Jungle though, so I might be missing key elements. It seems more like a way of life or philosophy rather than a curriculum.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Feb 6, 2019 6:54:34 GMT -6
Does anyone know about or use Brave Writer? I was looking at it this morning thinking it may appeal to DS1. What are you looking at? I downloaded a sample of the Quiver of Arrows for Charlotte’s Web. I ended up not doing anything with it because it seemed kind of disjointed to me. Like it was mostly copywork with some random grammar thrown in once a week. I haven’t read The Writer’s Jungle though, so I might be missing key elements. It seems more like a way of life or philosophy rather than a curriculum. I downloaded the Writer’s Jungle sample and didn’t like the feel of it, I think. It felt a bit... condescending toward moms (and only moms as written). So never mind. I like the concept of it but not the execution. DS1 does well with footwork but I think we’ll just KOKO with how we currently do it.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Mar 4, 2019 21:13:10 GMT -6
Just posting this here as a heads up: the Teach Your Monster to Read App is free to download until March 10th. We have it through Freetime Unlimited, but I went ahead and put it on my iPad since it’s free for right now.
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Post by oceanblue on Aug 22, 2019 8:18:12 GMT -6
bunnyfungo or anyone else whose done Logic of English - is the handwriting part necessary with the way the lessons are set up or could we easily do the rest and skip that part? I’m going to be starting Foundations A for kindergarten with DD1 but we’ve already been doing Handwriting Without Tears for a while. I’d rather stay on track with what she’s already been doing for handwriting so she doesn’t get confused.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Aug 22, 2019 8:51:34 GMT -6
bunnyfungo or anyone else whose done Logic of English - is the handwriting part necessary with the way the lessons are set up or could we easily do the rest and skip that part? I’m going to be starting Foundations A for kindergarten with DD1 but we’ve already been doing Handwriting Without Tears for a while. I’d rather stay on track with what she’s already been doing for handwriting so she doesn’t get confused. You can easily skip it. The lessons generally follow the same order of Phonemic Awareness and then introducing a new Phonogram, with handwriting last. So you can just skip it entirely. It’s under a separate heading.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Aug 30, 2019 23:37:19 GMT -6
What are you looking at? I downloaded a sample of the Quiver of Arrows for Charlotte’s Web. I ended up not doing anything with it because it seemed kind of disjointed to me. Like it was mostly copywork with some random grammar thrown in once a week. I haven’t read The Writer’s Jungle though, so I might be missing key elements. It seems more like a way of life or philosophy rather than a curriculum. I downloaded the Writer’s Jungle sample and didn’t like the feel of it, I think. It felt a bit... condescending toward moms (and only moms as written). So never mind. I like the concept of it but not the execution. DS1 does well with footwork but I think we’ll just KOKO with how we currently do it. Not that I’m stalking you, promise. But I noticed on IG that you have been reading this and I’m interested in your take. You seem happier with it and I’m just wondering if I need to get this. Because I feel like we are very similar homeschool style.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Aug 31, 2019 8:39:03 GMT -6
bunnyfungo, stalk away! I've read her book through twice now. Once when I bought it and once last week when I felt like I needed to chill a little. Ironically I still don't think Bravewriter is a good fit for us, but I like the overall lifestyle and philosophy. It's not a need on your shelf forever book, but it's a good quick read. I like the message that there are no educational emergencies or timeline that kids HAVE to know something by, and that it's okay to not have everything FEEL like a lesson even though they're probably going to tell everyone I don't make them do school anymore... Like I planned for ancient history this year but DS1 has fallen in love with early American history and we live in the perfect place for studying it right now, so we're going to do that instead even though it doesn't fit the four year Classical cycle that *I* wanted. And we blew off math this week because they were frustrated and grouchy but we listened to BrainsOn about emotions and then counted and sorted seashells and estimated wave heights and frequencies. They told the neighbors that we skipped math and went to the beach instead and I actually managed to stop myself from listing everything we learned that day (fortunately we have lovely supportive neighbors). TLDR So it's not like OMG LIFECHANGING that people claim it to be, but it's a good "chill out and have fun" message that I need to hear.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Aug 31, 2019 16:55:12 GMT -6
hawkward I might see if the library has it. I just hear it recommended so much but the samples I’ve seen didn’t really do anything for me. Without reading anything at all, I do like the idea of a poetry tea time. I think it could be a fun way to introduce poetry and make it less tedious or boring. I say because I do not enjoy poetry 😬 I also get the changing plans thing. We basically did nothing from April until now because of our move and I just kind of let DD1 decide what she wanted to read/learn about. I wish more people would reference unschooling as self-directed education. Because unschooling sounds like not doing anything. But I was in an unschooling group back in Nebraska because it was the only group that was progressive and not religious and most of the parents were doing so. much. work. facilitating their kids’ learning. It just looks different than worksheets and sit-down work. It involves lots of note-taking about their projects, trips to the library, strewing ideas to help them towards rabbit trails. It really opened my eyes to the kinds of learning we can do. That being said.....I think we’re going to give Torchlight another chance and do level 1 (ancients) and see how long before I give up again 😂
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Aug 31, 2019 20:11:52 GMT -6
bunnyfungo Yeah the LA program itself was definitely not for me, but The Brave Learner is more about how she came into her philosophy and ideas to make things engaging. Enchanted is how she puts it, and there are many things I like about it, like we do parties for random things and poetry tea time, and since we’re going to be fully into our school year Tuesday, I’m planning on hanging fairy lights in the dining room and making a special breakfast. I really like the way Cait Curley (My Little Poppies) approaches it. Her kids are doing some heavy stuff with fun spins like Beast Academy and a lot of games. I hear you on the unschool label. I’ve said that to H, like “OMG I THINK WE ARE UNSCHOOLERS NOW.” But we’re not crazy unschoolers, I just don’t like any boxed all in one curriculum we’ve found.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Apr 1, 2020 17:40:56 GMT -6
Does anyone have experience with Michael Clay Thompson? I’m trying to decide what to do with DD1. I had her tag along and do LOE with DD2 so that I could combine them. I had her do cursive so there was new stuff and there is definitely some grammar stuff that has helped. But she’s ready for something more robust. I think this might be a good fit. She’s end of second grade for reference. Any thoughts on this or anything else for that age range?
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Apr 4, 2020 6:53:55 GMT -6
Does anyone have experience with Michael Clay Thompson? I’m trying to decide what to do with DD1. I had her tag along and do LOE with DD2 so that I could combine them. I had her do cursive so there was new stuff and there is definitely some grammar stuff that has helped. But she’s ready for something more robust. I think this might be a good fit. She’s end of second grade for reference. Any thoughts on this or anything else for that age range? I don’t use it, but it’s really popular in my area. I think it may have been developed here? Anyway, LA is definitely DS1’s weak area so I think he’d be frustrated by it, but I thought it would be great for a kid who had a more intuitive grasp of English.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Apr 4, 2020 13:33:54 GMT -6
Does anyone have experience with Michael Clay Thompson? I’m trying to decide what to do with DD1. I had her tag along and do LOE with DD2 so that I could combine them. I had her do cursive so there was new stuff and there is definitely some grammar stuff that has helped. But she’s ready for something more robust. I think this might be a good fit. She’s end of second grade for reference. Any thoughts on this or anything else for that age range? I don’t use it, but it’s really popular in my area. I think it may have been developed here? Anyway, LA is definitely DS1’s weak area so I think he’d be frustrated by it, but I thought it would be great for a kid who had a more intuitive grasp of English. Thats definitely her strongest area. She’s naturally a really great speller, and a good writer just from reading so much. I sort of tend to focus more on math because she struggles a lot with it and put LA to the side because I know she’ll read or write on her own for fun. But I think she’s at an age where I want to start doing something more formal. I wish I could get my hands on a copy to look through before I spend so much money though.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Apr 4, 2020 19:48:28 GMT -6
I don’t use it, but it’s really popular in my area. I think it may have been developed here? Anyway, LA is definitely DS1’s weak area so I think he’d be frustrated by it, but I thought it would be great for a kid who had a more intuitive grasp of English. Thats definitely her strongest area. She’s naturally a really great speller, and a good writer just from reading so much. I sort of tend to focus more on math because she struggles a lot with it and put LA to the side because I know she’ll read or write on her own for fun. But I think she’s at an age where I want to start doing something more formal. I wish I could get my hands on a copy to look through before I spend so much money though. I just invited you to a FB group for a store near me that has used curricula. They may have MCT and they ship. They’re awesome about answering questions too if you PM them.
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Post by bunnyfungo on Apr 4, 2020 19:49:49 GMT -6
Thats definitely her strongest area. She’s naturally a really great speller, and a good writer just from reading so much. I sort of tend to focus more on math because she struggles a lot with it and put LA to the side because I know she’ll read or write on her own for fun. But I think she’s at an age where I want to start doing something more formal. I wish I could get my hands on a copy to look through before I spend so much money though. I just invited you to a FB group for a store near me that has used curricula. They may have MCT and they ship. They’re awesome about answering questions too if you PM them. Awesome! Thanks!
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Post by bunnyfungo on Apr 4, 2020 19:56:25 GMT -6
They sound awesome hawkward. Let’s start our own homeschool consulting/sales store in rural NE/IA in a couple of years 🤣
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Apr 4, 2020 20:25:37 GMT -6
They sound awesome hawkward. Let’s start our own homeschool consulting/sales store in rural NE/IA in a couple of years 🤣 Wouldn’t that be so fun?? My mom and I were talking tonight about how we hope that all this brings some positive light to the homeschool community and how it doesn’t have to be so niche.
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Post by violajack on Apr 7, 2020 14:56:07 GMT -6
All the lefties in this group 😄 My dd is a lefty and my older son and I are righties. Then I married a lefty and we're still trying to figure out if Pip is right or left handed. My third seems to be a lefty, but he's 2, so we're a long way off for it mattering.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Apr 15, 2020 8:07:20 GMT -6
bunnyfungo I’m thinking about taking the plunge with LOE with our stimulus money. DS1 is 9 and a strong reader, but a weak speller. His spelling and grammar are completely out of synch with his reading level. If I got Foundations for DS2, do you think DS1 would be able to benefit from it too?
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Post by bunnyfungo on Apr 15, 2020 8:56:16 GMT -6
bunnyfungo I’m thinking about taking the plunge with LOE with our stimulus money. DS1 is 9 and a strong reader, but a weak speller. His spelling and grammar are completely out of synch with his reading level. If I got Foundations for DS2, do you think DS1 would be able to benefit from it too? I think it depends. Are you starting with A or B? I think if you start with A, your oldest will be bored out of his mind. You could do what I did and choose the cursive version so he has something new to learn. It has worked for DD1 to stay interested, but I’m struggling with DD2 to be able to write. I sort of gave up and let her write in print now and will probably circle back around to cursive in a year or two. I also ended up letting them go their own speed after A. So DD1 is almost done with B and DD2 is like 10 lessons in. Which means I didn’t save myself any time because I end up doing it separately lol. That being said, DD1 is learning a lot. Even though she’s a strong reader and a naturally good speller, she’s learning a lot about why we spell things a certain way and she’s learning the grammar stuff that builds a good foundation (heh). So I don’t think it would hurt. Especially if you’re buying it anyway to use for your younger one.
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hawkward
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Post by hawkward on Apr 15, 2020 9:21:23 GMT -6
bunnyfungo I’m thinking about taking the plunge with LOE with our stimulus money. DS1 is 9 and a strong reader, but a weak speller. His spelling and grammar are completely out of synch with his reading level. If I got Foundations for DS2, do you think DS1 would be able to benefit from it too? I think it depends. Are you starting with A or B? I think if you start with A, your oldest will be bored out of his mind. You could do what I did and choose the cursive version so he has something new to learn. It has worked for DD1 to stay interested, but I’m struggling with DD2 to be able to write. I sort of gave up and let her write in print now and will probably circle back around to cursive in a year or two. I also ended up letting them go their own speed after A. So DD1 is almost done with B and DD2 is like 10 lessons in. Which means I didn’t save myself any time because I end up doing it separately lol. That being said, DD1 is learning a lot. Even though she’s a strong reader and a naturally good speller, she’s learning a lot about why we spell things a certain way and she’s learning the grammar stuff that builds a good foundation (heh). So I don’t think it would hurt. Especially if you’re buying it anyway to use for your younger one. I was thinking of getting the whole thing at once (A-D) and then starting at the very beginning with DS2 but letting DS1 go at his own pace. DS1 is... immature isn’t quite the right word, but babyish stuff doesn’t bother him and I think he’d benefit from the confidence boost of younger material. He’s the typical asynchronous homeschool kid now- third grade chronologically, fifth grade in math, sixth in reading, first in language... And he could definitely use the handwriting. Thanks for talking it out with me. I think we’ll do it!
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