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Are you year-round as well? You mention rich conversations -- I think that may be the best part of home study. I love there is so much time for them. That is partly why I like our unit studies loose, so we can go any route that interests my kid and then the discussions are so much deeper and more student-driven. Speaking of groove, it does only just now feel like we are in a steady routine, mainly because of so many extra curricular activities I'm not used to. They feel necessary yet disruptive. But our routine was faster to normalise than last year when we were new. Live Education requires that a homeschool purchase their entire curriculum but I suspect over time we will predominantly use their science and art. I definitely feel like I'm making it up as I go with Waldorf, but I like that.

I agree -- I remember geography being really fun when I was young and I think that was because there were so many maps and fun things to learn. The one-sheet-per-state thing would get tedious. When we were prepping for travel to Europe, I had Morgan pick the location she wanted to research and then asked her to find answers to things, like 'what is the location known for, what are 6 things you would want to do if you were there, how old is it, who lived there before the current people, average income, whatever. And then I let her look around online or in books for the answers. That worked really well. Maybe try that with a cartoon painting or drawing of the state or scenery from the state.

I am surprised how quickly we have taken to watercolour. My daughter and I do it for fun in our free time now while we listen to books. We must look silly plugged into our head phones, painting!

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy We've enjoy adding in a painting of one scene out of whatever book we are reading at the time. It's been really relaxing.

It is "Live Education!" www.live-education.com. I watched several hours of Hanah's "Pepper&Pine" TH-cam channel as I was deciding on curriculum once I discovered the Waldorf way of teaching/learning. She has a ton of videos covering several of the main lessons she has done throughout the years and also a flip through comparison between Live Education! and Oak Meadow and one other one that didnt appeal to me. Then I reached out to the Live Education! contact and spoke with him at length. It is a process to order the curriculum. They sort of want to interview you first to make sure the curriculum is something that will work for you and your family since it's a bit different. I am certain I was taught in the Waldorf fashion between 6th and 8th grade and so it really appealed to me and I really dove into it. It's something that really has to grab you and you must be really comfortable creating the details of the lessons and curating your own books and teaching from what you have read and learned vice reading to the child or doing a workbook. I am most interested in botany, physics and chemistry paired with art. But I didnt realize how fun geography would be this year.

It was hard to admit. I come from a career where, if you are on time, you are 15 minutes late! I was so exacting and tough on myself for years and years and now I don't even know what time it is when I wake up! I think that is why our daily huddle now before we start our day is so important -- between the two of us, I don't think we will miss anything again. That same week, we missed band. I was so annoyed and disoriented. I hadn't realised how carefree we had become.

Yeah, they dont highlight it at all. It seems to me there is a large info gap between homeschool moms who use curriculum at home to teach and those who outsource. So far, I have only seen people outsource math and it's usually only a couple of companies plus Oak Meadow. There is so much out there for homeschool moms that is not on TH-cam or not obvious.

Nope, not fluent. I'm probably at a B1 level which means I can easily travel and talk to people and I could attend college in France but I'm a weak B1. I need practice.

The nice thing about moving it to the summer is that I think even if we have moved to a year round school, I was planning on taking a few weeks completely off in the summer. And then 3 hours of immersive French overseas for a few weeks counts as school without adding in the other course so we wouldn't bring the rest of the curricula... maybe a book to read and hands-on social studies by learning the bus and train system, museums, cultural aspects, etc.

This may sound weird, but I wonder if you contacted the Chinese consulate closest to you and asked them for information. They may know about something you don't. And then there is Berlitz.

Have you thought about Outschool classes?

@@jessie19painter I have but have only briefly looked into them. Have you done any?

I do like it. It's focused and slowly builds on the same subject. I just purchased both measurements series for Key To as well so we can spend time on conversions occasionally. It's a nice one-page addition to the math part of the day.

Yes, there seems to be a bit of interest in this main lesson/unit study -- I'll compile my resources and attempt to put together a cohesive video for you in the very near future😊

Thank you so much!

Ok, so I left a long comment, and I don’t know what happened to it. Is it me…my iPad…TH-cam??? Sigh. So if you go to Alaska Department of Fish and Game, then Education, then For Educators, then Wild Wonders, there’s a six or eight page free download called A Mustelid Mystery. It’s really sweet, and I think you two would like it. Also, if you haven’t seen it, there’s a PBS Nature episode from about four years ago about weasels and stoats, and all mustelids. It’s excellent. Can’t wait to see how you enjoy the ferret PBL unit!

I’m going to start being pretty harsh with cutting work that can wait. If we do the math on how much homeschoolers do, I think it’s a ton. So skipping some subjects all together I think will be ok and necessary for us. It really hit me when I let Morgan do her own research and she learned so much with little to no guidance. So in our case, some of the curricula is actually in the way of natural learning. I could totally be an unschooler if I had the guts! Thanks for watching 😊

I can. And I just looked and I can't believe it but the Personal Geographies book no longer has a flip thru on Amazon... I just bought the book 2 weeks ago based off the images they had! Thanks for the grammar tip. It may be that we do that but I suspect if we ramp up in reading or more French, it will wait for maybe the summer or 6th grade.

I never took statistics and I haven't looked into it, so thank you very much. I like the idea of taking tricky subjects in HS and then repeating them in college so the post HS subjects are not as scary.

I really appreciate your comment and knowing there are others who have more unusual and very important core subjects they wish their kids to learn. It really helps me navigate and gain insight -- and stronger opinions on it.

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy in the future kids are going to need skills that not everyone has. For American children other languages will do that. Most of them only speak English.

That's OK! The separate ideas are easier to follow sometimes. Do you have littler kids? That makes for a busy house. Don't let the first month stress you out. The rhythm you set will eventually be one they follow with practice.

Thank u!!!

Thanks! I think she is ok with what she has. It's what I will argue after the fact later! lol

LOL! Well, I'll tell YOU but I didn't want to say in case it is a total dud of a book (but I don't think it will be). It is "The Broken Circle: The Story of the Last Black-Footed Ferrets" by Bill Rudd. It's free on amazon kindle prime. But I wanted the hard copy. I chose it because it's a short novel, not a picture book, and the author is a former game warden and wildlife biologist. Morgan is pretty young so I was thinking the book, if she starts it a couple days before she gets her first letter from her dept of interior boss, would help her not be in in the total dark but doesn't get help from me, either. I skimmed it but I haven't had time to read it on kindle... I'm swamped. Waldorf is real. 😳 But I like it.

I just looked at the Personal Geographies book on amazon and they no longer have the flip thru sample. Weird! I'll doo a geography unit study review in a bit and do a flip thru then of the book.

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy My library has it so I was able to put a hold on it!

@@TheMommaLibrarian oh GOOD! I wanted "Get Lost" by Victionary and "Great City Maps" by DK but thought one was enough. If your library has those, they might be great to borrow as well

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy Thanks, I’ll check those out!!

It felt like such a huge gamble last year going back to the beginning. I can't tell you how relieved I am, too!

History takes a back seat and so does our “ELA curriculum” but we separated out grammar and eng lit, 🫣

Oh, man. US history in particular. We may touch on it as a requirement or turn it into part of our literature. It's all I can do to keep Story of the World because we truly do like the chapters in it -- nice quick world history. I find the world history ties in really well with our conversations during reading so I'm keeping it. I am laughing at your "ELA curriculum." How many of us actually admit this? lol!

I think I was grumbling about our core subjects this week because if I don't pay special attention, they are at risk of being watered down and I know that would be a mistake. Also, the change from 4th to 5th grade is real... more sleep, tired faster... I don't think we would be at a loss if all we did was reading-creative writing, math, French and unit studies (that will eventually turn into physics, chemistry...) until the 9th grade.

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy I agree with you. We could probably 'get away' without the science but it is what makes homeschool enjoyable for mine - it is HIS priority so we make it work. I'm sorry to hear about the change from 4th to 5th grade... the negativity about older age ranges has made me dread the coming years. Attempting to change my mindset about this as, obviously, that is not the experience we want to create.

It's more like a realisation that things are changing -- so much faster than any time after the first year of life. For us, it makes us as close as ever because she is interested in having a say and working out a plan together. It's that time where they want to see what the reigns in their own hands feel like. And then of course, you have to sit back and observe and act like you aren't watching but you ARE! This age seems to prefer not to be told what to do but asked, and then they can say yes. They know they dont have a choice but... it's different. This is how I have always felt: I miss yesterday, I love today, and I can't wait for tomorrow. Seriously though... 12 hours of sleep some days! lol I'm going through menopause so I get, like, FOUR! 😂 It's why I vlog. I'm up by 4:30 drinking coffee.

This is the one I bought and it worked out well for us: www.amazon.com/One-Question-Day-Journal-Kids/dp/1638073899/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2SJ6KSQKPR1NC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.R_YVfIGr5sNDRJAPy8nX4idPsEdUuli7Hr-8Eu-I60bQH9MR_7HCqe0JeXSixx1mGYPgSIFdMDUiJBLPa128QkSzQKkWmKrPjgH3siEzPxdcuprsDnNByr1NcXJvc24aBu28xl_gn5Bl1vbcpIkRno68_QNIH8ZbYyYVmD_qPIzMUlF8ofOfLa_5hwY_it1STMiA9zO3UUXgZ8SjQx8PO8EOrh-p5biAebPMpzmA_Mw.gDSYnYc-F7QGU6a5wAt3qWijm45vgnWlL6EIQbdSL_A&dib_tag=se&keywords=one+question+a+day+journal+for+kids&qid=1725307394&sprefix=one+question%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

You are so welcome! And thank you!

Thanks so much for that comment! That's all I want -- to generate ideas others might want to consider but not sell them on anything. Everyone is so different but the more in-depth conversation that goes on regarding the 'how' of a subject rather than the 'what' of curriculum choices is more meaningful to me.

This year, maybe 40-ish minutes. Last year, we pushed hard and were doing upwards of an hour/hour and 15. To avoid burnout, we seem to have found this pace of 40 mins a day pretty good for now. I think there may be an ebb and flow to math as we move ahead. Some months we may crush it and others we may kick back and just maintain. How long is yours? What are you working on?

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy We have tried 30 & 40 minutes. We also switched curricula which has skewed the results of the time frame preference so we're re-adjusting this year and I think I question if I'm "doing enough", like most homeschool parents. Thank you for your response!

@@karlyw.b.4125 Yeah, I always wonder that. Mostly it has to do with other second tier subjects getting in the way and me wondering how I can get rid of them altogether and just focus on our core subjects. I may do a video on that. There are a lot of 'how much is enough' videos but none that go into a deep discussion about exactly how and WHAT. For me, 5 seconds a day on grammar is enough but 30 mins of math isn't. That is why I decided to make the math timeline video because I need to get some things into perspective. If we get to Pre-calc in the 12th grade, that is enough, but I know that if I plan for more, we may very well do it and it not seem pushed. Just a slow methodical plan beyond thinking about HS grad credits. Every day, little by little, year after year.

I’ve been hearing MUS being referred to as less rigorous but I’m not sure who gets to gauge that or even if it is accurate. As mastery, you can move fast. So maybe doing one page a day is really light but we do many a day and move along. To me, that is also rigorous AND less stress of muddling through 2 pages of Saxon. If we didn’t have MUS as an option I think math would be terrible for us. A real disaster. I suspect that is why my daughter had such a hard time of it in school before we homeschooled.

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy I’ve always heard the rigor difference is pretty minimal, at least between Singapore and MUS. For us I think, well we can do Saxon and hate it and not retain anything….and that can’t be good for “rigor” overall, right 😂 We aren’t there yet but I’m interested in Denison. Although…..I am not sure we could give up MUS, it’s just been so magical and I can’t figure out why exactly.

@@ninagonzales7061 I remember Morgan looking down at the Saxon pages and just deflating. Visually it looked like she would never finish. I’m there is something about the clean page and staying on one topic for a while that is really appealing. And you are right about rigor. That made me laugh

Hi! We used the Seton Testing website and I had my daughter take the DORA reading, DORA phonemic, ADAM-7 and the Stanford-10. In my 4th grade wrap-up video at the 4:06 mark, I discuss testing and how it went and what I learned: th-cam.com/video/RNO72t_k4wY/w-d-xo.html

I'm thinking about doing one for sciences because we may lean heavily into physics and chemistry in middle school. Someone has asked that I do one for ELA and foreign languages. Do you have preferences?

Foreign language I candy , but LA, oh gosh lol! That one is tricky because there is so much. I often have a plan for literature and then change it a minute later. Sometimes it's just "Pick a book on the shelf." You know how you have a TBR you are really excited to read and then you finish a book and all the other books on that TBR suddenly need shuffling? Maybe some drop off and others either return or new ones come in? That's LA. I suppose there are a few constants in my planning I can discuss. I will need to think about that. For instance, I do have a lot of classics from which to choose but it is always Morgan who gets to pick the next book. For French, I have a long view and a long plan but how I get there is sort of snaking around as I learn more and as I realize options are open. I will discuss a lot of that in my upcoming French monthly update that I publish in tandem with my Monthly homeschool updates. Look for that around 1 Sept.

Thanks!

That's a really good idea. I hadn't thought of that. Otherwise, I guess it would feel like a punishment to read more, always having to go back and answer too many questions. I guess, also, that a fast, interested reader is likely farther ahead with comprehension and, therefore, doesn't need as much of a guide?

Oh gosh the pressure is real right?! It’s hard not worry about curricula! I think so many are super good. Also depends on the kid. We did well using both. We have switched up this year but not because we didn’t like either fix-it of TWTM . Let me know how it goes!

It's fun and it changes all the time. In fact, just since this video, Morgan and I are re-reading her writing and she is correcting her syntax so it easier to read it again later on down the road. So we are correcting as we go on paper but you dont need to start with that if it is too daunting.

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy Wow, that's really great! Yeah, we're going to go slow and I'll let him guide me. I was thinking of getting a journal and having him write for 5 mins a day about anything, then steadily increase the time. Maybe after a while give him easy prompts, and eventually move into having him go back and re-read. It will be nice to see his transition from reluctance to eagerness.

Good luck! Let me know if it works. I’ll put out some more videos on writing as we go. If there is anything you think I could explain on video please let me know.

You know, you might think about getting a journal like we had last year where it was just a fun question a day. It brings out the interest in the child because there are interesting questions to answer about themselves. If you have a real reluctant writer, maybe that might help? Also, putting some fun prompts in a jar that can be pulled out randomly. They get the element of choosing and the surprise of discovering what the question or prompt is. You could do weird things like, "If you met an alien that had no eyes, how would describe the colour green to it?" or "Write about your favorite food by describing how it smells without writing the name of the dish". Stuff like that. Just pure fun stuff with no detectible connection to that horrible word called "learning". Ooh, how about, "If you could invent anything, what would it be and how much would it cost to make?" That's a two-parter.

​Yes, that would be great! It would be good to hear what you guys are doing with writing as the school year progresses.​@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy

I'm the same -- I learned much later. College reteaches so much anyway. By the time I got to college, I was finally mature enough to sit still and learn since I certainly didn't prior to that. There is so much I don't sweat because I WAS the terrible student and I made it just fine. I just didnt care one iota about a lot of subjects someone wanted to teach me at a younger age. I use my past to Morgan's advantage. She is doing exactly what she needs to do for herself.

I am so glad, thanks for letting me know. I will be doing our first French homeschool update in a couple weeks at the same time as my monthly homeschool update. If you are interested in how The Well Trained Mind Academy is going and what that is like, tune in to that. I'm still looking for and considering options for the future. It never ends!

Thank you -- we live in an area that is super friendly to homeschoolers. But if anyone was negative about it, I don't think I would bother worrying about them. People can be afraid of and mean about things they don't understand. It's human. Annoying, but human!

Thank you so much!

I will admit my first reaction was to think there was something wrong with me and my kid. Then I thought, "hang on... lemme rethink that. What happens if we do the things we love and not self-persecute?"

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy think about this! When we, as adults, read books do we do a “literature guide” to go along with it to get the most out of our reading?!? Noooooo! If it’s a great book, we will talk about it with our husbands, friends, maybe even our teen child who also loves to read 😄 I cringe when I hear of kids having to do literature guides and/or book reports. I’m sure there are kids out there who love them, but I think for the most part they take the joy out of reading for most kids.

Schultie Sweeties Homeschool just did a video on Essentials in Literature 2 weeks ago. Did you watch that? I think it's the latest review there is out there. I guess I'm doing this without a curriculum with articles and short stories we read and discuss. The problem with literary analysis curricula for us is that I wouldn't have chosen the articles they do and it makes the study of literature so boring for us. The curricula I have looked through feel really clinical or surgical -- for us. It can work for so many people. I think it would lose our attention. When I choose our study material, I can add in the history of the time around which the literature was written, politics, religion, economics, lifestyle, etc. It generates questions FROM Morgan that she and I can research as opposed to the curriculum asking HER a question she needs to answer that she may not have cared about. So with me, she is answering questions, but she is also the one asking them. I don't know. I'm weird and picky about literature. I like MCT because there are only 3 books. There is the assumptions you are doing way more on your own.

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy ooh thank you! No, I hadn’t heard of their channel and couldn’t find many reviews of EIL, so I’ll definitely watch it! I really like doing TWR for literature questions, but sometimes I feel maybe it’s not enough….we will see!

@@ninagonzales7061 Good, I'm glad you have a new channel idea! She does a lot of reviews. She has one video from last year where she listed every single science curriculum. It was great. Sometimes when we search for stuff we should be able to find, TH-cam just doesn't offer it up. I don't know why.

Haha! Nice to know! Also, my husband screwed up the demographics and subscribed to me so it shows that .05% are male

lol! I looked one day out of curiosity and thought “oh my gosh, I’m more than 10yrs older!” What does that mean? It’s a trend with younger people or homeschool moms my age don’t watch TH-cam videos?

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy I assume we were just older than most when we had our kids 🤣

Funny you should ask!!! I just uploaded another video that premieres in a couple hours. It discusses MCT literature I bought and how I am viewing the teaching style along with the Waldorf style I also find intriguing. For poetry, we will use "The Creative Writer" from The Well Trained Mind. We haven't started it yet. Probably in January. For writing, no. I'm keeping Morgan purposefully away from structured writing for now. I want to see her own light shine through and I want her to experience writing well through reading literature and copying it in her own way and learning structure through creative writing vice essays. It will be a long time before we bother with structure beyond that. We write every day. Morgan writes freely for a set time and doesn't edit. She continues her story each day and grows it -- free style writing. Over time she catches some errors and month by month she becomes stronger. When it comes to my kid, I believe practiced structure is something she can learn really fast when she is older instead of hampering her with it now. There are a lot of opinions on this and I realize I'm the extreme side of the spectrum with this subject. I'm also kicking the can on it because we have a lot of other things we want to take time on. I'm so glad you found my video helpful! Thanks!!!

I think we might be past that level of Homeschool Languages, but I had never heard of it. Thank you for sharing. There are so many moms interested in languages for their kids and we all have the same problem -- trouble finding a serious instruction with the intent to have the child develop the ability to speak and use the language. It's a super elusive topic in the U.S. and you would think it might become easier homeschooling. But right now, I find it just gets expensive and doesn't get my kid to where I know she can be if we could somehow be more immersed. One mom said she has a one-on-one tutor for her daughter for conversation 3 times a week for 45 mins each. That could be an expensive endeavour but an effective one. After a year of piecing things together, however, and not giving up and always doing French every single day, Morgan is slowly starting to speak. The determined shall prevail!!! lol

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy No worries. The creator claims that her program keeps up with immersion students. I see there are coming out with a level 2 in French. Maybe that would be more at her level? I'd shoot the creator a message. My son can recite and read many of the things in level one already vs being a beginner. But he cannot not easily apply it to conversing well. This is where this program shines. I'd use this program for older kids just beginning too before the book work.

Oh gosh, I bet we become real experts just as they leave the nest!

I kept thinking, "this can't be how it's done," as I read through the book. I have a "let's gone on with it" approach to many things. I'm the person who jumps off the cliff and then looks up to check I have the parachute. So, since Morgan has had grammar last year with Fix-It! and she was diagramming sentences with TWTM First Lessons lvl 4, I feel like we can totally wing this. I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. My plan is to get Morg used to marking the parts of speech and then moving to the parts of the sentence as we review the book. Caesar's English is intriguing. There isn't a lot out there on video for it, is there? I have a feeling I'm going to buy it over Xmas and read it. I'm holding out on formal English lessons as long as I can because I think in a couple more years, my kid could move through a lot of it faster and also enjoy it quite a bit. Right now, the more we study English, the less time we have to read.

@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy that makes total sense! I'm sure she will do well with it since she already has some of that grammar under her belt. So far, my kids have found labeling the parts of speech to be kind of fun! I hope she enjoys it too. As a language lover, I really appreciate MCT's explanations of grammar. So writerly.

That's a lot of interesting info. I didn't know FIG had changed that much. I wonder why they did that? Also, might there be contact info for asking questions? Sometimes these curriculums have points of contact who help walk you through tougher stuff.

I hear you. We would not have started with MCT last year. FIG is exactly what we needed. I like it a lot.

I haven’t. I don’t see a flip through of it on Amazon. Have you used it?

@@ThePattersonHomeschoolAcademy No, that’s why I was wondering! :) A relative of mine used it a long time ago and really liked it. And it’s been recommended to me a few times. I think I will get it, and if I like it, I’ll get the English/Italian version for using with my daughter this year.

@@Hot_Springs_Homeschool Well, now I want to read it. If you like it, let me know and I'll read it too

Sounds good!