Abigail's Homeschool (Poverty Style)

[desertvixen]

And a spelling rant that I forgot to include earlier: I rarely studied my spelling words because it was my strongest subject, and aside from the one year when my teacher gave us individualized lists, I wasn't challenged. I got the word omelette marked wrong on a test because we were supposed to spell it omelet. It burned me up. I tried discussing with it my teacher and she wouldn't budge. It still kind of burns me up. I get that it was like that on the list and I should have looked at it, but jeez! I spelled the word correctly. I can't stand the look of omelet. It seems lazy or something.

Sort of like a certain character's insistence on Anne-with-an-E. I like it (and agree with you).

[OkToBeTakei]

Sort of like a certain character's insistence on Anne-with-an-E. I like it (and agree with you).

:lol: I know mostly Annes, also mainly Claires.

Common differences.

If you must frequently work with both American and British spellings, you may find it helpful to keep in mind these spelling rules:

Words ending in RE in British English have been changed to ER in American English.

Words containing the silent letters OUGH in British English have been changed in American English to be spelled phonetically.

Words ending in OUR in British English have been changed to OR in American English.

Words ending in IOUR in British English have been changed to IOR in American English.

Many words ending in YSE or ISE in British English have been changed to YZE or IZE in American English, although there are exceptions.

Many words ending in YSED or ISED in British English have been changed to YZED or IZED in American English, although there are exceptions.

Many words ending in ISATION in British English have been changed to IZATION in American English, although there are exceptions.

Technically, both American and British spellings are correct. However, American spellings are gaining an advantage in many circumstances because Microsoft Word is set to default its spell check feature to American spellings. Thus, all British spellings will appear as incorrect when using this program.

If you are a student preparing a research paper, ask your teacher which spellings he or she prefers. If your instructor has no preference, simply choose either American or British spellings and be consistent throughout the piece.

Not much fun for my child who is told quite frequently to spell 'properly.' Microsoft I'm sure could address that? Make provision for both.

[Scone]

Common differences.

Huh. Thanks. :)

Not much fun for my child who is told quite frequently to spell 'properly.' Microsoft I'm sure could address that? Make provision for both.

Word does have a British spell checker, but it's not the default so you have to know how to change it, and that depends which version of Word you have. Usually it can be found in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen near where more recent versions have the word count.

[Zoom]

Grammer

:angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

GrammAr it is grammAr

:angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

I teach ESL and I tell my students that both British and American spelling is correct but they need to be consistent, colour should be paired with neighbour not neighbor

[AmyP]

I've been using Seton for years. It's been a fantastic experience. Their spelling helped a ton for my kids, and their writing program is rigorous. More than most home school folks want. But my ten year old has now written eight book reports and can write his own sentences and paragraphs.

I take a lot of the busy work out. As long as they know the material and pass the tests. I use a different Math curriculum, and also didn't use their phonics for my struggling nine year old (she has issues with phonemic awareness, but after two years of tutoring is doing so, so well). I used All About Spelling, which the tutor recommended.

I'm not using all Seton materials for her for third grade, but will for some. Like English and Religion.

The high school kids I know who were homeschooled with Seton are some of the best writers I have seen. It seems like a great program.

[Trynn]

In New Zealand, British English is the officially correct version but we are generally allowed to use American English as long as we're consistent. Unfortunately, I don't always know which spelling belongs to which country, having grown up with about equal input from each country's literature. Generally the longer version of the word is the British one, but what about grey and gray? I have no idea. (Spell check is correcting gray, so I guess that's the American one?)

I'm really glad other people commented on ax vs axe. I saw "ax" in the op and thought "Well, she's got that wrong already!", and then no one seemed to notice for over a page and I was getting worried that I might be crazy and there never was any 'e' after all :shrug:

I believe I read somewhere that, here in the states, one spelling is the color, the other spelling is the feeling/emotion. Can't remember which is which though...

As a child, I read a lot and constantly confused British spelling with American, since reading was how I learned things. I never understood why I kept failing spelling tests, because my teachers never bothered to explain the differences to me.

[Sobeknofret]

I've heard a lot of great things amongst homeschoolers about Seton. If my son decides he wants to stay at home through middle and high school, Seton is on my short list of curricula.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

In New Zealand, British English is the officially correct version but we are generally allowed to use American English as long as we're consistent. Unfortunately, I don't always know which spelling belongs to which country, having grown up with about equal input from each country's literature. Generally the longer version of the word is the British one, but what about grey and gray? I have no idea. (Spell check is correcting gray, so I guess that's the American one?)

Yeah, gray is the American spelling. I actually prefer grey. I think it must have been spelled that way in a book I read as a child so in my mind that was how it was supposed to be spelled.

[OkToBeTakei]

That Seton thing seems fairly biblical. What's that all about?

Just asked my kid who had an end of year test yesterday for some words she got in her spelling. She would be I think 4th grade in the US.

neighbourhood.

tariff.

fright.

elegant.

microphone.

There was fifty apparently and that is all she can remember :shock: Probably best not to ask when she is on her way out to play.

I have despaired of her spelling to be honest over the years. I think it may be a generational thing as all the 'chattering' parents have felt the same. The teachers consistently told us that spelling would happen and that fluency in writing was more important. They use Analytic/Synthetic phonics with phonemic awareness from age 5. The Scottish executive love to letter us with their studies, quite often.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications ... 0682/52383

Really until this year I would have doubted the above. But as predicted by her teachers suddenly it seemed to work with my child. But having to look at crappy spelling for a few years was tough. Now that confidence and fluency in writing is there, accuracy and using the above tools seems really to have made the approach as successful as they claim. By the end of Primary school the kids are on average 3.6 years ahead of other systems for literacy for chronological age. Granted it's a govt. study. But from my personal view I do see it happening as do the rest of us 'chattering' parents at the school. Lets face it, poor teachers, parents are a tough crowd :lol:

[luv2run]

Seton is super religious. Especially too much I think for the younger kids. Spelling can be something like N is for Nun. I'm thinking, why does it have to be nun? Can't it be something without a religious undertone? But yes, they are heavy on the biblical and religious aspect. I do feel, for the older grades, they are strict, but even my middle school child (reluctantly) addmitted to me the other week that she is glad we do Seton because she's learned how to become a better writer and their vocab curriculum is something she enjoys. What she has learned with Seton she incorporates into her own creative writing, and has even started writing poetry. I was floored by some of the words she used.

[OkToBeTakei]

Seton is super religious. Especially too much I think for the younger kids. Spelling can be something like N is for Nun. I'm thinking, why does it have to be nun? Can't it be something without a religious undertone? But yes, they are heavy on the biblical and religious aspect. I do feel, for the older grades, they are strict, but even my middle school child (reluctantly) addmitted to me the other week that she is glad we do Seton because she's learned how to become a better writer and their vocab curriculum is something she enjoys. What she has learned with Seton she incorporates into her own creative writing, and has even started writing poetry. I was floored by some of the words she used.

That's good the results outweigh the method I suppose. But I would be reluctant to use something so...religious (was trying to find a better word :lol: ) Is it just thatgood spelling curriculums are thin on the ground? Why not one based on some of the American literary giants say?

n for nymphomaniac :)

[France Nolan]

When I was in school our spelling/vocabulary lists were chosen in one of two ways:

In the lower grades (first and second) the lists had a phonetic theme. For example, one week we would be studying the "ch" sound, so the list would have words like chair, teach, chimp, rich, etc. The teachers used the spelling words to reinforce what we learned in reading/phonics.

By third grade the spelling lists were pulled from whatever novel we were reading. The teacher would go through the book and pull out words that would be unfamiliar to us. We spent the next week defining, spelling, and practicing usage. Sometimes math and history terms were also on the list.

[JMarie]

Merriam-Webster, which is the default dictionary for many publishers, including academic presses, prefers "ax" over "axe." The tendency in U.S. usage is to simplify. I'm a copy editor for some quite presitigious academic publishers (and some crummy genre ones as well) and I would change "axe" to "ax" to follow Merriam-Webster, as well as general convention. In any case, like serial commas, it's a choice, not a rule.

Axe "must" be correct, 'cause there's a whole line of manly shower stuff called Axe.

[Olive Plant]

Sort of off topic, but maybe not, I've noticed a few of the fundies I have access to sharing David Botkin's quote about homeschooling today on Facebook:

"A lot of conservatives are concerned about the immigration bill that’s looming. The big danger, they tell us, is that millions of immigrants will be added to the list of voters and that these people will largely vote liberal. So let’s say over the next five years 8 million new voters are added to the system.

Well, the public school system indoctrinates over four million unique kids PER YEAR (4m enter ninth grade each year but only about 3.4m graduate 12th grade). This is the biggest source of new, more liberal, voters in America (look at the school's positions on guns and sodomy, for example). People worried about the immigration bill should be way more worried about the public schools - and what they are doing to our country. Conservatives of every stripe need to recognize that the schools are their single greatest enemy."

That last line, "Conservatives of every stripe need to recognize that the schools are their single greatest enemy," is totally true, of course. Education is BAD BAD BAD because it might push you outside of the la-la-la-God-Jesus-Bible crap you've been spoon-feeding yourself or your children all these years.

Bringing it back to Abigail, if her kids can't spell or do math, that's not really the point, is it? It's all about insulating kids from any other form of education for their entire lives, because school = enemy.

[JMarie]

Sort of off topic, but maybe not, I've noticed a few of the fundies I have access to sharing David Botkin's quote about homeschooling today on Facebook:

"A lot of conservatives are concerned about the immigration bill that’s looming. The big danger, they tell us, is that millions of immigrants will be added to the list of voters and that these people will largely vote liberal. So let’s say over the next five years 8 million new voters are added to the system.

Well, the public school system indoctrinates over four million unique kids PER YEAR (4m enter ninth grade each year but only about 3.4m graduate 12th grade). This is the biggest source of new, more liberal, voters in America (look at the school's positions on guns and sodomy, for example). People worried about the immigration bill should be way more worried about the public schools - and what they are doing to our country. Conservatives of every stripe need to recognize that the schools are their single greatest enemy."

That last line, "Conservatives of every stripe need to recognize that the schools are their single greatest enemy," is totally true, of course. Education is BAD BAD BAD because it might push you outside of the la-la-la-God-Jesus-Bible crap you've been spoon-feeding yourself or your children all these years.

Bringing it back to Abigail, if her kids can't spell or do math, that's not really the point, is it? It's all about insulating kids from any other form of education for their entire lives, because school = enemy.

I cannot describe how much the bolded part scares me.

[LadyBlue]

That Seton thing seems fairly biblical. What's that all about?

Just asked my kid who had an end of year test yesterday for some words she got in her spelling. She would be I think 4th grade in the US.

neighbourhood.

tariff.

fright.

elegant.

microphone.

There was fifty apparently and that is all she can remember :shock: Probably best not to ask when she is on her way out to play.

I have despaired of her spelling to be honest over the years. I think it may be a generational thing as all the 'chattering' parents have felt the same. The teachers consistently told us that spelling would happen and that fluency in writing was more important. They use Analytic/Synthetic phonics with phonemic awareness from age 5. The Scottish executive love to letter us with their studies, quite often.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications ... 0682/52383

Really until this year I would have doubted the above. But as predicted by her teachers suddenly it seemed to work with my child. But having to look at crappy spelling for a few years was tough. Now that confidence and fluency in writing is there, accuracy and using the above tools seems really to have made the approach as successful as they claim. By the end of Primary school the kids are on average 3.6 years ahead of other systems for literacy for chronological age. Granted it's a govt. study. But from my personal view I do see it happening as do the rest of us 'chattering' parents at the school. Lets face it, poor teachers, parents are a tough crowd :lol:

I looked up the synthetic phonics and was quite interested to find that's how I teach my kids to read. I also do analytic, but we start with synthetic, except I haven't been able to keep them from learning the letter names thanks to tv and other kids. I've used a book called "Teach Your Child to Read in 10 Minutes a Day" by Sidney Ledson, which starts with teaching 'u' & 'p' phonetically, quickly giving your child 'up' and 'pup'. They gradually learn other letters and words and you do a lot of repetition. Once they have enough sounds to make it worthwhile, they start doing sentences and eventually stories.

My eldest just took the provincial writing test and while his writing is below grade (we're working on it over the summer), his reading is at the high end of grade level.

[August]

Seton is super religious. Especially too much I think for the younger kids. Spelling can be something like N is for Nun. I'm thinking, why does it have to be nun? Can't it be something without a religious undertone? But yes, they are heavy on the biblical and religious aspect. I do feel, for the older grades, they are strict, but even my middle school child (reluctantly) addmitted to me the other week that she is glad we do Seton because she's learned how to become a better writer and their vocab curriculum is something she enjoys. What she has learned with Seton she incorporates into her own creative writing, and has even started writing poetry. I was floored by some of the words she used.

A is for Angel

B is for Bible

C is for Christ

D is for Devil

E is for Ecclesiates

F is for Faith

G is for God

H is for Heaven

[Arete]

Is Seton a Catholic curriculum? Elizabeth Ann Seton was a very famous nun in this area who I believe was tracked for sainthood, she may even have been granted sainthood.

[Mudball]

A is for Angel

B is for Bible

C is for Christ

D is for Devil

E is for Ecclesiates

F is for Faith

G is for God

H is for Heaven

It's not too bad until E and then POW. :lol:

[JenXer]

LOL at "E". I don't think I could get that one.

By third grade my children can pronounce, spell and define "transubstantiation". That's all I ask of them that year. They might not be able to tie their shoes or ride a bike without training wheels, but by golly, they know transubstantiation. (Pretty much just kidding... they can ride two wheeled bikes.)

Is Seton a Catholic curriculum? Elizabeth Ann Seton was a very famous nun in this area who I believe was tracked for sainthood, she may even have been granted sainthood.

Yes, Seton is a Catholic curriculum. And you are right... Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized in 1975, the first native born U.S. citizen to be so.

[OkToBeTakei]

I looked up the synthetic phonics and was quite interested to find that's how I teach my kids to read. I also do analytic, but we start with synthetic, except I haven't been able to keep them from learning the letter names thanks to tv and other kids. I've used a book called "Teach Your Child to Read in 10 Minutes a Day" by Sidney Ledson, which starts with teaching 'u' & 'p' phonetically, quickly giving your child 'up' and 'pup'. They gradually learn other letters and words and you do a lot of repetition. Once they have enough sounds to make it worthwhile, they start doing sentences and eventually stories.

My eldest just took the provincial writing test and while his writing is below grade (we're working on it over the summer), his reading is at the high end of grade level.

The whole 'Annie apple says a in words, a in words, a in words, Annie apple says a in words thing drove me to feckin' distraction the first few weeks :lol:

I agree though about having to blend a few methods. I think at three my kid could recite the alphabet, but actually using it was a different matter.

The only blanket repetition I've found useful was for her times tables. I remember saying to my own horror it does not matter WHY 8 x 7 is 56 just learn it. It made nearly all Maths easier for her when she knew them so easily. Long division etc.

Oh. If anybody can tell me how to answer 'What part of life will require me to do long division, long multiplication,' I would be grateful. I think I said something pathetic like 'So when YOUR kid has homework, you can help like I am.' :lol:

[Trynn]

The whole 'Annie apple says a in words, a in words, a in words, Annie apple says a in words thing drove me to feckin' distraction the first few weeks :lol:

I agree though about having to blend a few methods. I think at three my kid could recite the alphabet, but actually using it was a different matter.

The only blanket repetition I've found useful was for her times tables. I remember saying to my own horror it does not matter WHY 8 x 7 is 56 just learn it. It made nearly all Maths easier for her when she knew them so easily. Long division etc.

Oh. If anybody can tell me how to answer 'What part of life will require me to do long division, long multiplication,' I would be grateful. I think I said something pathetic like 'So when YOUR kid has homework, you can help like I am.' :lol:

Lol I was a very stubborn child. In 2nd grade I flat out refused to learn multiplication because I didn't know what it was. And I didn't have the words to verbalize that, so was lucky I had an observant teacher.

As far as long division goes, ummm.... well, how about trying to divide up rent between 3 people? Is that considered long division, or does it have to be multiple numbers?

Honestly, I've never found a real use for long division. Also never saw a reason to memorize the multiplication tables. One of my math teachers in high school made a huge fuss about this one kid not knowing his times tables (and looking back on it, why was he telling the entire class?) And I remember thinking, "so? I don't know mine either." I don't remember if I was smart enough not to say it out loud, but if I was, nothing happened to me. I was still capable of doing the work laid out for me, so I don't think it REALLY would've mattered to the other kid either.

[dawbs]

I was in high school (on a STEM track) before I learned my multiplication tables--and I still can't recite them. That said, I *understood* them, and knew how to get to the answer...and knowing that 5*5 = 5+5+5+5+5 is actually more fundamentally useful than knowing 5*5=25.

That said, I do use long division. Not often (in a world of cell phones, I carry a calculator around all the time)--but I constantly use the thinking skills associated with it--it laid the math foundations for what would come later.

Here's an example. There's a hands-on-science project that we do at work--making slime w/ kids.

Ingredient #1 is a 4% solution of PolyVinylAlcohol (PVA). The cheapest way to buy PVA is in a giant bag of powder.

So, If it costs $13 for 100g of PVA, how much does it cost per 'batch' of slime--if each batch of slime is made out of 2 oz of PVA?

I can draw up the whole story problem (I have, several times. And I've added the costs for colorant, Borax, baggies, labels, stirrers--etc). It's not *exactly* a long division problem but it is based on the same thought structure that learning division sets the foundations for.

And, in this case, it happens to be (more or less) STEM related--but if I were making cookies, it would be the same type of math!

[OkToBeTakei]

I was in high school (on a STEM track) before I learned my multiplication tables--and I still can't recite them. That said, I *understood* them, and knew how to get to the answer...and knowing that 5*5 = 5+5+5+5+5 is actually more fundamentally useful than knowing 5*5=25.

That said, I do use long division. Not often (in a world of cell phones, I carry a calculator around all the time)--but I constantly use the thinking skills associated with it--it laid the math foundations for what would come later.

Here's an example. There's a hands-on-science project that we do at work--making slime w/ kids.

Ingredient #1 is a 4% solution of PolyVinylAlcohol (PVA). The cheapest way to buy PVA is in a giant bag of powder.

So, If it costs $13 for 100g of PVA, how much does it cost per 'batch' of slime--if each batch of slime is made out of 2 oz of PVA?

I can draw up the whole story problem (I have, several times. And I've added the costs for colorant, Borax, baggies, labels, stirrers--etc). It's not *exactly* a long division problem but it is based on the same thought structure that learning division sets the foundations for.

And, in this case, it happens to be (more or less) STEM related--but if I were making cookies, it would be the same type of math!

That's an issue here. The kids start using calculators at secondary school, it really negates the need for even simple arithmetic. When I was at school (back in the day) we were totally not allowed to use them.

I have no idea if it was the right thing to do to make her learn the tables but I was totally fed up whilst I was cooking at night and child was at the kitchen table writing out 8+8+8+8+8+8 etc. I remember thinking for fuck sake we are going to be here all fecking night when she gets to the 12x table :lol:

I have probably never used long division but I would imagine it would really depend on your choice of career. It has come up as both previous comments prove. Fractions though? I still tend to break that down into multiples. Also hand on heart I have never used Trigonometry. Yup...that there be a HUGE triangle and that be a smaller one :lol:

[AuntCloud]

I find that even with calculators, you still need to have a grasp of numbers simply as quality control. Sometimes my students punch the wrong keys or the calculator hiccups because they forgot to press "clear" after the last operation or something, and they get a ridiculously improbable result. When I ask them if that makes sense, they don't have a clue that the omniscient calculator may not give them the right answer after all.

Also, it just speeds up life. I was able to calculate concentrations in the lab while my much younger lab buddy was still punching away, and when financing our car, I estimated the payments within $20 of the actual number as the sales representative was still busy entering the numbers. I struggled with math in school but once I had the concept of quantities and relations it definitely made life easier. I'm still not sure why people need trigonometric functions in everyday life, though - not a lot of situations call for an ability to prove that cos2a + sin2a = 1.