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At_His_Feet
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| Posted: Nov 06 2009 at 1:20am | IP Logged
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Here in Australia we are winding down our school year which ends in a few weeks, or for some of us I think it has already ended  .
In the previous four years I have laboured over the *perfect* programme. I have finally learnt my lesson and I am somewhat reluctantly learning to keep it simple. A previous thread here, with Erin's list of blog posts has been SOOO helpful. I'm also in the middle of a season of burn out. I've almost totally lost the joy of home education. Having almost stopped for the year to smell the roses and relax is helping. I know that I DO NOT want to get back to the place where I was a month or 2 ago when I asked my dh to find a school.
There are two things which I am trying to decide on for next year. I would really appreciate some of your wisdom with my concerns.
I have my heart set on buying Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 1, and leaving Wednesdays free for faith and science only, with a little nature study thrown in using Wonderland of Nature (Aussie text I think). But there is a part of me that is holding back from buying the programme and I am listening to this voice. I don't want it to be another thing that we don't get around to, but from what I have read it doesn't seem too onerous.
We have done precious little formal science in the past. In fact none, except for this year when we read through Apologia Astronomy. Do you think a formal science programme is essential in primary school? My eldest will be 12 next March, grade 6 next school year. If you have used RS4K is it easy and fun?
My other concern is writing. I have decided not to do a formal english programme with my eldest due to the pain it causes both of us! He will be continuing with his spelling programme and reading. I would also like to simply have him do some copy work from Spelling Wisdom. Is this enough? A little voice tells me that I will be failing him if this is all we do for English. I am drawn to the idea of requesting a piece of writing (in place of copywork)each day, but I wonder if this will be as difficult as a formal programme. It seems that this would be more appealing to kids who enjoy writing, rather than those who run from it.
With thanks,
Tricia.
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Tricia
Mum to 3 boys 17, 15, and 10.
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anitamarie
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| Posted: Nov 06 2009 at 8:53am | IP Logged
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We are using Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry this year. (Both Level I and Pre-Level I). They are very easy to use and fun. My kids look forward to the experiments we do. I would say that the program is a great starting point, but not terribly deep. It's a great jumping off point and even if you only do what's in the books, you've still got a good base of knowledge IMO.
We supplement each chapter with additional reading and experiments. My 6th grader then writes a report, based on his reading and the experiments. There are only 10 chapters in each book and 1 experiment per chapter. We have been taking on average 3 weeks to a month to delve into each chapter. (We do science twice per week.)
God Bless,
Anita
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Erin
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| Posted: Nov 06 2009 at 2:55pm | IP Logged
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Tricia
 I'm glad you found the list helpful. I so understand burnout as that's where I have been myself for the last few months. Actually I've been gathering posts together on how to overcome/prevent burnout, I'll share if you like when I've finished. The hardest thing to deal with is the loss of joy, its hard.
Regards Science, I have the Wonderland of Nature really its just a living book, very gentle. I would classify it more as Nature Study. If your boys are looking more for a science experiment orientated route then this is not it. Anita makes the RS4K sound gentle.
I have a suggestion, why don't for the next five weeks you pull out a science experiment book, DK is great with the step by step pictures, if you don't have one grab one from the library. And aim to do an experiment on Mondays, as you are feeling so burnout, just hand it to the boys and let them take charge. See if this is a good fit before you buy the other program. If the boys are enthusiastic then buy the program.
As for English well we have only done spelling, dictation and copywork consistently over the years. I'll be honest and admit that I wish we had been more consistent with writing. Not necessarily a set program, just consistent with something. Remember "there is more than one way to skin a cat  "
Currently I'm expecting my children to write a letter a week, a lost art, and proving a challenge, they are also working novels. Just pick something that they are not hugely resistant too (you don't need battles if you are burnout) and be consistent in expecting at least one piece of some sort of writing per week.
For inspiration try here and here
BTW did you see my Philosphy Thoughts post? It may cheer you up too.
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ALmom
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| Posted: Nov 06 2009 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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I don't think you need formal science in younger grades - but it would have helped my science resistent folks some to have been required to do something that involved becoming conversant with the vocabulary. Science reading and a science program has helped those when we finally did get around to it - but some of the worst science avoiders managed to flounder until high school. It would have been a bit less stressful if we'd just tackled this at a simpler level in elementary and 4 real would have been as good as anything else out there for that topic. I also might have had one child develop a bit more interest early enough to go further if we'd been more consistent earlier and I'd just realized that I wasn't a good science teacher and we just needed to do something - but it is never too late. By the time this child finishes high school, she will have had very good high school science - physical science, chemistry, Biology and Anatomy and enough competence that she plans on studying some on her own once school is over. If she suddently decided that science was her newest love, she could go into a science field and not have any roadblocks in her way. She'd have to work hard in her first year science courses, but nothing wrong with that - and she wouldn't be clepping out of any science courses if that is her field (unlikely though it may be). This was something she just wouldn't touch until I put my foot down a bit. Now she is developing an interest enough that she will persue learning on her own.
My science fans - all I really needed was to set them free with materials and resources (I had everything from science kits, experiment books, field guides, and everyone's discarded science textbooks from early level on to college level) and lots of junk parts to play with and an occassional science person (dh for the electrical and acoustical and physics; a friend to do a presentation in geology area;) and that pretty much was it. He taught himself - and even got experiments to work that I had never been able to get to work.
I think the same is true of writing. I have some who like to write and doing a lot of formal stuff didn't matter as much. They were writing stories for each other since early on - and just needed a bit of grammar to apply and polish this up. These folks wrote naturally and I only signed them up for Kolbe because I think that continuing to write only improves matters and I couldn't give them much feedback. Plus, because they like to write, it is an easy and efficient way for us to communicate about what they are reading and learning. It is an effective means for them to engage subject matter.
Now, my writing resistant folks needed help over the hump. For starters, writing in an area of passion is likely to produce better results than having to write in something they either don't understand or don't care about. These writing resistant folks, however, would never write until there was some solid accountability and a requirement. Now that they have done it - and it has been a gentle approach to getting them going, they are liking it better or at least not totally resistant.
I have come to the conclusion after all my years of homeschooling that what you use doesn't make a hill of beans of difference. It is all about how you do it. I can use Saxon, or Singapore or .... and any of the children will still learn. I can use Kolbe, or Writing Intensive Co-op or the Sadlier workbooks and the children are fine. How I use these same tools differs from child to child depending on how they learn, what they need help with most and so forth. I don't stay exclusively to one thing or another, but when there is a difficulty in the house, I look first to what I already have on hand (admittably this is way more than any one person truely needs since I spent my first 20 years of homeschooling trying to find that perfect program that was going to make our homeschool fun and easy. I decided that fun and easy aren't the goal - efficient and effective are. When the learning and materials are efficient and effective, we are all much more content, relaxed and productive. We also tend to gain some confidence in what we are studying, which then leads to the best chance of developing a liking for the subject. I don't know about other folks, but we all tend to hate the things we aren't good at - and for many of mine that results in avoidance, which leads to no progress which leads to deeper dislike of the subject.
For schooling, we try to look at each child and where they are at. Using that as a starting point, we try to focus on goals that stetch them from where they are to the next step and so forth. We focus our attention on the area that is most likely to create the biggest roadblock for that particular child - so my history and writing fan - science would kill her if she couldn't at least get an overall handle on basic science vocabulary and she couldn't avoid it forever and continue imagining that the clouds were cotton candy and the moon made of swiss cheese. My science fan wouldn't even write a sentence - now how was he going to report his great scientific discoveries if he couldn't communicate them. We were on a mission to make him a competent writer. You just cannot start rushing things when a child isn't where they need to be. My science avoiders were not going to make it doing honors/ AP chemistry and they weren't going to learn in a week everything they should have learned over the years. We had to take it one step at a time. These folks did end up doing fine - and older children can absorb more than younger folks so it isn't the same as bogging through every grade texts - just I had to find a way to give lots of background info when reading the science book was like reading Greek. (I pulled out a lot of elementary books for references and quick reads and did get a tutor at one point). It took us 2 years to get through our first highschool science course - but then things sort of clicked together and things are much faster now. The writing avoider was not going to suddenly crank out papers every week, especially not in a subject like reading where there was so much inferred stuff he just didn't get. We used science to get him writing, then moved over to learning how to infer things from reading and writing a book analysis (gentle one with lots of hints on how to get started and plenty of accountability).
If my child has never put words to paper because they hate to write, I'm not going to get very far trying to teach them to write a polished 5 paragraph essay all at once. I might have to start out with requiring that they answer some questions in writing in complete sentences - and learn to write complete answers with full detail rather than avoiding it. I might have to be a stickler about capitalization and punctuation and neatness for a while. Then, we move to the next step. Take it one step at a time and try not to panic at where they need to be 5 years from now. Starting where they are at and moving steadily forward gets you to long term goals much more effectively than panicing and trying to do it all at once. (At least that has been my experience.)
I must point out, in all fairness, that our house seems to be full of one passion folks who have the ability of houdini to avoid at least one subject if I'm not on top of it. In areas of passion, learning takes place totally without me (and the passion gradually grows and expands into other areas if I provide enough practice and baseline requirements in those other areas). I have always said that when folks find out we are homeschooling and begin the quiz show routine with our kids, our children come out looking either like geniuses or dunces depending on which subject matter the questioner is focusing on for which child. Oh, and I've learned to commandeer my workforce as well. So if I have a child that has run to the stars with a passion and it is an area where I'm the dunce - well, that child teaches us all! Elementary science in our house has become so much more fun and effective since science fan runs that show. I just supply lots of materials and a general requirement that science study of some sort must take place. However, this same child could not be left free to just learn to write and even now, if accountability wasn't worked into the show, he probably wouldn't write at all - he'd spend all day doing some science project. At least now, his writing is good, he is competent and he can communicate what he wants to say in a fairly efficient manner. He probably wouldn't say he loves it, but he would no longer say he hates it. If he were left totally to himself, writing would never happen so I do have to take a more proactive role to make sure it does. It doesn't have to be horrible, and we celebrate progress!
Oh, and you asked about 4REal chemistry. My science fan loved it - but then again, he also loved and read Prentice Hall Physical science and quite a few college textbooks on organic and inorganic chemistry and started racing (too fast) through his math to try to get to where he could balance chemical equations. I actually don't think there was a science book, ever, that he didn't like. My science haters - well, I don't think they'd say it was all that interesting. But then I did have it around as a reference when the text they were using assumed knowledge they didn't have. In the end, for these few science haters, my best bet was to delegate science for just enough time to get them over the hump. They studied with a real science fan that could be enthusiastic and hands on - then they could come back to whichever text and understand it.
A lot depends on your energy, your enthusiasm for a subject and the time you have to remediate and explore with the child. I just couldn't do it in science. I didn't have enough of the background, fuller understanding to help it click for them - and I've only developed an interest after watching science fan get all excited.
I guess what I'm saying is that we found something that worked and it made all the difference in the world - but it was a real live teacher, not a particular text. With a knowledgeable, enthusiastic teacher, any text or no text at all can work just fine. I just couldn't deal with the pressure of trying to learn science well enough to teach it (or help child understand it) to my frustrated, overstressed science-hater. I can be efficient enough in just about any other subject, but this one just stumped me. A semester of a tutor turned our house around. I have more enthusiasm now - but I'm the student.
Janet
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Elena
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| Posted: Nov 09 2009 at 8:25am | IP Logged
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Tricia have you checked outBravewriter for English? It's literature based, it goes over parts of speech, copy work and spelling. It's really a fun program and low-pressure and they have so many books now in archive that there is plenty to choose from! My boys who were around your son's age enjoy(ed) that program and it might be one you want to consider.
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At_His_Feet
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| Posted: Nov 10 2009 at 12:02am | IP Logged
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Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I'm slowly digesting them all.
Bravewriter looks great, but atm I think buying another curriculum/book would be a mistake. Reading through old threads and the site has given me a few ideas though. I am considering going back to ILL (which we never really started!) and just sticking with it combined with some free writing.
Tricia.
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Tricia
Mum to 3 boys 17, 15, and 10.
Do whatever He tells you
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Gloria JMJ
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| Posted: Nov 12 2009 at 9:51am | IP Logged
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I've read that it is OK to just let them do copy work untill they are ready to write their own thoughts down. Some have a really hard time with the thinking-to-writing process. Mine did untill he was about 12-13yrs old. HTH~Gloria
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: What do you think?
